Developing Snake-and-Ladder-Based Board Game for the Speaking Activities of the Seventh Graders of Junior High School

ABSTRAK Hidayati, Lilis Nur. 2016. Developing Snake-and-Ladder-Based Board Game for the Speaking Activities of the Seventh Graders of Junior High School. Undergraduate Thesis. English Department, Faculty of Letters, State University of Malang. Advisors: (1) Francisca Maria Ivone, M.A., Ph.D., (II) Dr. Sri Rachmajanti, Dip. TESL, M.Pd. Keywords: board game, instructional medium, speaking activity, teaching medium, seventh graders This study aims to develop an educational product for the seventh graders of SMP Negeri 2 Malang. The product was developed as a supplementary medium for speaking activities. The final product of this study was a set of a board game entitled “ZOOMBA” that facilitates the students to speak. The board game was developed based on the basic competences of the second semester syllabus used for the seventh graders of SMP Negeri 2 Malang. The language functions of the selected basic competences are asking and answering question and describing animals in a simple way. This study was classified into Research and Development (R&D) research because the result was a product used for educational purposes. This study adapted R&D cycle by Borg and Gall (2003) to simplify the process that involved seven stages of development: needs analysis, product development, expert and teacher validation, revision, try-out, final revision, and producing the final product. From the needs analysis, the target students needed an instructional medium for speaking activities. In the developing material stage, the prototype of the product was developed. Some aspects of the products: the design and layout, content, skill, language, sudents’ interest, the board game materials and the pedagogy were validated by the experts: a lecturer and a teacher. A revision was conducted based on the feedback from the experts’ validation. In addition, the comprehensive data about the use of product were obtained from the try-out stage, students’ questionnaire and observation sheets of the teacher and the researcher, as the input for producing the final product. Based on the result of the try-out, the board game achieved the objective of the study. The board game helps the students gain their confidence and motivate them to speak by facilitating them with the attractive Question, Bonus, and ZOOMBA Cards. The questionnaire was distributed after the try-out showed that the students were really interested in the board game because of the attractiveness of the board game and contextual materials which were appropriate with their level. For the English teachers, the board game is expected to be useful as a supplementary medium for speaking activity. The board game, however, was only designed for the speaking activities of seventh graders of junior high school. Other researchers are suggested to integrate other English skills such as listening, reading, and writing or developed other games which are more attractive and addressed to different level of students