ABSTRACT
The topic of this study is “The use of Total Physical Response (TPR) method in English Preposition Teaching (to the fifth grade students of the academic year 2006/2007 SDN Tajuk I Getasan Kab. Semarang)”. The discussion of the study is aimed to answer the question: is the Total Physical Response method more effective in improving students’ achievement in learning English preposition?
In order to achieve the objective of this study the writer used a quasi experiment using pre- test and post- test. The population of this study was the fifth graders of SDN Tajuk I kec. Getasan Kab. Semarang. The number of the subject was 33 students. Because the population was limited, the writer took all the students as a sample in her experiment. There were four meetings during the experimentation. Before the experiment was conducted, the students were given a pre- test. At the end of the experiment, the students were given a post- test.
Before the test was used, it had been tried out first. The purpose of conducting the try out was to find out the validity and the reliability of the test as an instrument. The writer had to revise some test items before they were used as the instrument of this study. The result of the study showed that the students’ progress in mastering English preposition during the teaching learning activity by using Total Physical Response method was good. The students’ achievement in English preposition improved. By comparing the post- test scores and the pre- test scores, the writer get the significant difference of the result. The mean of the pre- test and post- test scores were 68, 03 and 89, 96. If we compared the two means it was clear that the mean of the post- test was higher than that the pre- test. The difference between the two means was 21. 93. The result of applying one sample t- test revealed that the obtained value (7, 9631) was higher than the table value (2.013). It means that there is a significant difference in grade of English preposition test achieved by the students after they have been taught by using TPR method.
In line with the result, the writer suggests that English teacher should be able to create their own way to arise their students’ interest in following their teaching. The use of Total Physical Response as a method is one way to achieve this goal. However, teachers must select the suitable method related to the material they are going to teach.
