Problem-Based Learning to Improve Students’ Grammar Competence

Abstract

ENGLISH ABSTRACT Grammar becomes one of the subjects studied in all Indonesian English Departments. It is because grammar has the important role in all English skills. Grammar makes those four English skills meaningful. Somebody can be said as a master of English when he or she also masters grammar. Unfortunately, learning grammar is not as easy as what we think. It needs the effective method that can make the learners motivated and active in learning as well as in applying the grammar in the real life. Problem-based learning applied in this research is one of the alternatives that can help the learners learn grammar easily. This research was a collaborative action research whose general purpose to know whether or not Problem-based learning could improve the students' grammar competence. Meanwhile, the specific purposes were to know the lecturer's activities, the students' activities, and the students' responses when problem-based learning was implemented in grammar class. Nine students of the fifth semester of English department of education faculty of Hasyim Asy'ari University (UNHASY) Tebuireng Jombang in the academic year of 2016/2017 became the subjects of this research. The data got was from the observation notes and the grammar test. There was an INTRODUCTIONWe all know that all English departments in Indonesian universities always put grammar as one of the subjects in their curriculum that should be taken by the students.Grammar is a very important language component that should be mastered by the English students. It is because grammar has the roles in all language skills. When reading, grammar is needed to understand the content of the reading texts well. When writing, grammar is needed to get understandable writing. It also happens when listening and speaking. It is supported by Mart (2013: 124) who states that understanding grammar is the key in foreign language acquisition. In line with this, Tomakin (2014: 116) states that somebody cannot master a language without learning its grammar because grammar helps him or her to construct meaningful words or sentences. Additionally, Priya (2015: 447) argues that communication becomes coherent and logical by using grammar. Then, Baleghizadeh and Mozaheb (2011: 364) state that the learners' age, their proficiency level, and educational background cause the importance levels of grammar to be different.It is a fact that learning grammar is not easy. Many students of the fifth semester of English Department of Education Faculty of Hasyim Asy'ari University (UNHASY) often make mistakes in their grammar. It is because the acquisition of grammar itself is related to somebody's cognitive skills (Uibu and Liiver, 2015: 72). Besides, Baleghizadeh and Mozaheb (2011: 364) state that there are some special characteristics to be a teacher of grammar for ESL/EFL learners. According to Lawrence and Lawrence (2013: 66), teaching grammar is not REGISTER JOURNAL, Language & Language Teaching Journals Vol. 10, No. 1, June 2017, pp.48-61 3 the easy work because the...

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