ENHANCING STUDENTS’ ENGLISH LEARNING MOTIVATION THROUGH DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION WITH FUN GAME ACTIVITIES

Abstract

Motivation has been considered as one factor determining students' meaningful learning. The Classroom Action Research (CAR) integrating fun game-based learning activities into Differentiated Instruction is aiming at enhancing students' English learning motivation. This CAR will recruit 32 seventh graders of a public junior high school in Central Java. Observation will be data collection methods. This study is cyclical in which each cycle follows such stages as planning, action, observation, and reflection. The focused aspects of Differentiated instruction will be content and process. Regarding the content aspect, instructional materials will be designed aligning with students’ characteristics such as motivation, competence, and learning styles. In terms of the process aspect, different game-based learning activities will be provided to help students be more engaged in the classroom. Qualitative methods will be used for the data analysis. The results of the pre-cycle study indicated that the average student motivation was 35.63% which means it needs to be increased. However, in Cycle 1, this percentage increased to 75.63%, which means it is good, and further improved to 82.50% in Cycle 2, which means it is very good. Therefore, it can be concluded that integration of fun game-based learning into Differentiated Instruction will be able to boost students' English learning motivation.