IMPROVING LISTENING SKILLS THROUGH INTERACTIVE GAMES IN THE SEVENTH GRADE AT SMP N 2 KALASAN IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR OF 2012/2013

IMPROVING LISTENING SKILLS THROUGH INTERACTIVE GAMES IN THE SEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS AT SMPN 2 KALASAN IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR OF 2012/2013 By Aprilia Dyah R 07202244066 ABSTRACT The objective of this research is to improve the students’ listening skill in the seventh grade at SMPN 2 Kalasan in the academic year of 2012/2013 through interactive language games. This research was an action research study that consisted of two cycles. Each cycle consisted of two meetings. There were two kinds of data. The first data were qualitative. To obtain the qualitative data, the researcher conducted observation and interviews, and took photographs. The instruments were interview guidelines, field notes, and observation checklists. The qualitative data were in the form of field notes, observation checklists result, and photographic data. Meanwhile, the quantitative data were gained by assessing the students’ ability through the listening tests conducted at the end of each cycle. To deal with the problems, the researcher implemented the actions of using interactive games. Those games were doing what you’re told, pointing, Simon says, pass the ball, the sheriffs and the bandits, the whisper race, the great shopping race and go shopping one. The results of the first cycle show that the implementation of interactive games is successful to improve the students’ listening skills. However, there was still a weakness which was the researcher explained the materials too fast. Meanwhile, the results of the second cycle show that the implementation of interactive language games is successful to improve the students’ listening skills. The indicators of the success of the implementation are all students could respond to the teacher’s questions and instructions orally or physically. The second indicator is that the students could recognize the word classes and the rules. The research findings are supported by the result of means of the students’ listening scores that improved from 7.25 in Cycle 1 to 8.56 in Cycle 2