Enhancing Junior High School Students’ Speaking Skills through Monopoly-Based Edutainment

Abstract

This study investigated the effectiveness of using the Monopoly game as an edutainment tool to improve the speaking skills of eighth-grade students at SMP Negeri 1 Pasekan, Indonesia. Employing a Classroom Action Research (CAR) design, the study involved 35 students through two cycles of intervention. Data were collected through speaking tests, observations, field notes, and a questionnaire. The speaking tests assessed pronunciation, fluency, vocabulary, and grammar. The findings showed an improvement in students’ speaking performance, with the mean score increasing from 54.46 in the pre-test to 74.64 in the post-test. Classroom observations indicated increased student participation, confidence, and use of English during the learning activities. In addition, 91.2% of students reported positive perceptions of using the Monopoly game as a learning tool. These findings suggest that the Monopoly game can provide an interactive context for spontaneous communication and support students’ motivation and engagement in speaking activities. However, its use should be combined with varied instructional strategies to prevent monotony and accommodate different learning needs. The findings imply that edutainment-based board games can serve as an alternative instructional medium for creating more engaging speaking activities in EFL classrooms.