Improving The Students’ Grammatical Competence Through Cooperative Learning

Abstract

This research aims at answering the problems “Can Cooperative learning improve the grammatical competence of the students of ABA St. Pignatelli Surakarta?, and What effect may appear during the process of applying cooperative learning in class?”. Those problems are proposed as the students’ competence on grammar is still under what the lecturers expect.  The students who got score of 70 or more in the final test of the third semester are 47.05%. Therefore, their competence needs to be improved by cooperative learning method, especially STAD which is believed to be the most appropriate to apply. The source of data is the fourth semester students and their Structure and Grammar lecturer. The data were taken from the results of the final test of the third semester, mid-term test and final test of the fourth semester. Test, observation, questionnaire, interview and document were used to collect data. The technique of analyzing data was descriptive qualitative analysis. The result of research is cooperative learning can improve the grammatical competence of the students of ABA St. Pignatelli Surakarta. The improvement is especially on the number of students whose scores are 70 or more becomes 58.82% in mid-term test and 76.47% in the final test. A positive effect in the form of better atmosphere of the class appears during the implementation of cooperative learning. The students are more active in joining the lecture, and they feel appreciated for they are involved in seeking knowledge. They also begin to be confident and brave to ask and give opinion.