Developing The Mystique Game as a Medium for Encouraging Students to Speak English

Developing The Mystique Game as a Medium for Encouraging Students to Speak English
ADI SASONGKO ROMADHON*
English Education, Language and Art Faculty, State University of Surabaya

LIES AMIN LESTARI*

English Education, Language and Art Faculty, State University of Surabaya

Abstract
Speaking is considered as the most difficult skills among others. One of the reasons is the fact that
teachers mostly dominate the class and give only small chance for students to speak. Such teaching
atmosphere makes the student reluctant to learn to speak in English. Today, when ASEAN Economic
Community effectively runs, the ability to speak in English is paramount if one wants to succeed in the
ASEAN job market since English is accepted as the lingua franca among the ASEAN countries. In order to
boost the student eagerness to speak in English, English teacher needs to make some efforts, among others
is by creating appropriate media that can trigger students to speak. This paper aims to describe how The
Mystique, a game intended to make students to speak, was developed. The study used the modified R&D
design proposed by Gall, Gall, and Borg (2003). In addition, a discussion whether the game properly works
in the classroom is also presented.
Keywords: Speaking game, the mystique, research and development

Abstrak
Berbicara dianggap sebagai keterampilan yang paling sulit antara lain. Salah satu alasan adalah fakta
bahwa sebagian besar guru mendominasi dikelas dan hanya memberikan kesempatan kecil kepada siswa
untuk berbicara. Hal tersebut membuat siswa enggan untuk belajar berbicara dalam bahasa Inggris. Hari
ini, ketika masyarakat ekonomi ASEAN efektif berjalan, kemampuan untuk berbicara dalam bahasa
Inggris adalah yang terpenting jika ingin berhasil di pasar kerja ASEAN karena bahasa Inggris diterima
sebagai bahasa penghubung di antara negara-negara ASEAN. Dalam rangka untuk meningkatkan semangat
siswa untuk berbicara dalam bahasa Inggris, guru bahasa Inggris perlu melakukan beberapa upaya, antara
lain adalah dengan menciptakan media yang tepat yang dapat memicu siswa untuk berbicara. Makalah ini
bertujuan untuk menjelaskan bagaimana permainan "The Mystique", yang dirancang untuk membuat siswa
berbicara bahasa Inggris, dikembangkan. Penelitian ini menggunakan desain penelitian pengembangan
oleh Gall, Gall, dan Borg (2003) yang dimodifikasi. Selain itu, diskusi apakah permainan benar bekerja di
kelas juga disajikan.
Kata Kunci: Permainan berbicara, the mystique, penelitian pengembangan

INTRODUCTION

The appropriate learning strategies, particularly in

language learning, will result in students success in
learning (Awang et al., 2013). It means deciding which
learning strategy that suits best for students is essential.
However, many English teachers, particularly EFL
teachers, do not realize this (Meyer, 2012). For instance,
traditional grammar translation teaching method and text
book oriented teaching practice are still very popular to be
used in language classroom for several years (Exley,
2005; Faridi, 2010; Meyer, 2012). Teachers will mostly
rely only on students textbook or translate the grammar
into L1 rather than connecting it with context related with
the students surrounding. This conditions will eventually
cause less students involvement in the learning process
(Meyer, 2012) which will eventually result the learning
process become ineffective because they do not learn
language by experiencing them (Banegas, 2011).

The importance of English has been growing for every

aspect, such as international tourism, economic
development, military relationship, and etc (Graddol,
2006; Kam, 2002; Nunan, 2003 in Stroupe, 2012). It
means that everyone, especially those who live in
developing countries, should learn English, in order to
keep up with developed countries. However, learning
language, including English, is not a simple task, where
students should learn both receptive and productive skills,
i.e., listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Among
those four basic skills, speaking is considered as one of
the most important and the most challenging skills to
master (Brown & Yule, 1983; Nunan, 2003; Zhang, 2009;
Febriyanti, 2015). Among others, there are two factors
that cause students to find difficulty in learning speaking,
namely learning strategies and students environment.
*This paper has been published in The 63rd TEFLIN International
Conference 2016

Retain : Volume 5 Nomor 1 2017, 55-62

Moreover, the recent learning style that is used in typical
language classrooms often focus to make students able to
pass the exams, without considering whether they are able
to use the language or not (Exley, 2005; Meyer, 2012;
Hosni, 2014). Also, most materials given rarely require
the students to speak, or if it does, it fails to keep the
interaction going in the class, hence, the students tend to
keep quiet and shy in the class (Meyer, 2012; Hosni,
2014). Teachers mostly focus on elements or materials
tested in examinations, such as reading, grammar, and
vocabulary, which make students environment to speak
limited (Meyer, 2012).
Environment also plays an important role for students
to learn a language, including English (Febriyanti, 2007;
Meyer, 2012; Hosni, 2014). For instance, learning English
can be easier for those who live in English speaking
countries, or at least in countries where English is used as
a second language. However, learning English can be
challenging if the learners are dealing with the fact that
English is considered as a foreign language, where people
are seldom to use the language for communication, such
as in Indonesia (Febriyanti, 2007). It means the
opportunity that students get to communicate using
English is very limited. This condition is even worsened
by teachers who are most likely to use L1 for class
management (Hosni, 2014). The use of L1 to teach
foreign language will only devalue the foreign language
as a mean of communication, which results in
demotivating students to use English (Febriyanti, 2007;
Hosni, 2014). Additionally, dealing with the fact that most
schools in Indonesia have a lot of students in one
classroom may also demotivate students to speak using
English (Songsiri, 2012). As a result, students will indeed
tend to speak using their mother tongue as they do not see
any value to speak using the foreign language (Hosni,
2014).
It is very important that teachers know how to
overcome the challenge in teaching speaking which main
purpose is to encourage students to speak (Febriyanti,
2007). Based on some experts (Meyer, 2012; Hosni,
2014), encouraging students to speak can be made by
involving them in an interaction. Typically students in
Asia, including Indonesia, are shy, prefer to listen, and
mostly avoid taking risk, thus, they tend to become
passive or less involved in the class (Meyer, 2012).
Therefore, to overcome this condition, a comfortable
condition in the classroom should be built, where students
are no longer feel frightened to speak and enjoy
communicating with the teacher (Febriyanti, 2007). Also,
growing some independency is also an important matter
(Meyer, 2012). The teacher needs to grow awareness that
teacher-centred is no longer effective in learning language
process (Meyer, 2012). The reason is because the students

need to learn the language based on their experience in

using it so that the learning process can be effective, and
they know how to use it as mean of communication
(Banegas, 2011). Additionally, providing classroom
activity that can motivate the students to speak is also
essential (Febriyanti, 2007; Hosni, 2014). Students need
reason why they have to speak the foreign language, since
they do not speak the language for everyday
communication (Hosni; 2014). Therefore, speaking
activities that are interesting and meaningful should be
provided for students, in which one of the options is by
using media.
Game is kind of media that provide fun and interesting
yet meaningful activities in classroom for students (Lewis
& Bedson, 1999; Sanchez et al, 2007; Azar 2012). It has
set of rules, goal and component of fun (Lewis & Bedson,
1999; Sanchez et al, 2007; Azar 2012). It adds variation to
a lesson and can increase motivation for students in
language learning (Lewis & Bedson, 1999; Sanchez et al
2007). Also, it can make students more focus in learning,
because by playing game, they feel like they are not
forced to learn (Azar, 2012). However, game in language
learning should be more than just fun (Lewis & Bedson,
1999). It means it should highlight the language
component as the essential part (Lewis & Bedson, 1999;
Azar, 2012). Additionally, the element of competition
should also be added in game to make students more
motivated in the process of learning (Sanchez, 2007),
although, it is not a must to include the element of
competition in games. Students can also develop their
language proficiency in cooperative game with their
friends to achieve certain goals in the game (Lewis, 1999).
To help teachers overcome the challenges in teaching
speaking, a game, namely The Mystique, was designed
to encourage students to speak English. The game was
designed in such away so that it can encourage students to
speak by providing some rules and conditions where they
should speak in English in order to play the game or even
win it. By doing so, the students are basically forced in
subtle to speaking English. The game was basically
inspired from several famous board and card games that
are familiar to play, such as Chess and Yu-Gi-Oh. In order
to play The Mystique game, a set of properties consisting
of a game board, a set of base, gift, and question cards, a
set of pawns, a rules book, an answer key book and a dice
were made. This paper describes how the game was
developed.
METHOD
The study used educational research and development
design proposed by Borg, Gall, & Gall, (2003) with
qualitative approach. There are ten steps of R & D cycle
of Borg, Gall, and Galls version (2003). However, in

Developing The Mystique Game as a Medium for Encouraging Students to Speak English
completing the development of the game in this study,
some steps were omitted and some were merged since
they could be done in the same process. Therefore, the
modification R & D steps taken were (1) conducting
instructional analysis and analyzing learners and context,
(2) writing performance objectives, (3) developing
preliminary form of product, (4) material and media
expert validation, (5) conducting formative evaluation of
the product, (6) revising the product, (7) conducting
summative evaluation of the product, and (8) producing
the final product.
In developing the game, three experts, consist of two
material experts and one media expert, were invited to
validate the appropriateness of the game, in order that the
game could be properly used in as a medium to teach
speaking. The two material experts who validated the
material of the game were both English teacher of two
senior high schools in Sidoarjo. Meanwhile, the media
expert who validated the layout and design of the game
was a graphic design lecturer of State University of
Surabaya. In completing the development of the product,
two evaluations for the developed game were designed
and conducted. The first one was formative evaluation,
which involved 8 tenth graders of SMA Negeri 1 Taman,
who were randomly chosen for following the interview
section. The other one was summative evaluation which
involved 16 tenth graders, who were also randomly
chosen to follow the interview section.
There were three instruments, i.e., questionnaire,
observation checklist, and interview guidelines, that were
used to collect the data needed for this study. The type of
questionnaire was semi-structured type, which was
designed for both material and media experts. However,
the aim of the questionnaire given to both experts were
different. The questionnaire for material expert aimed to
validate the appropriateness of any English material of the
game, such as the relevancy of the narrative texts
included, the appropriateness of the narrative text
explanations, and the relevancy of the language level used
in the game and tenth graders English proficiency. In
contrast, the questionnaire given to the media experts
aimed to validate the design and layout of the game, such
as the design of the board, cards, dice, and the packaging,
the appropriate font type and size, so it could be properly
used for teaching students. Besides, observation checklist
was also used during the evaluation process to see the
effects of the game to the students and the error of the
game, so it could be revised then. Additionally, the
interview was also done to both the students and the
teacher, to see their response and opinion toward the
game.
To analyze the data, a qualitative approach was
employed. All of the data were analyzed based on the

order of the steps taken in this study. Firstly, the data from
material and media expert questionnaires were analyzed to
revise the material and the design of the product. Then,
the data gathered from observation and interview were
also analyzed to see the effect of the game and the
response of the students toward the game.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
(1) Conducting Instructional Analysis and Analysing
Learners and Context
In order to formulate the instructional objectives,
analysis on KD of English syllabus for the tenth grader
was made. From the analysis, the researcher concluded
that the kind of narrative text that should be learned by the
students was short local legends. Analysis on the textbook
provided for the Curriculum also showed that the
materials were mostly of the conventional ones in which
students should do question and answer activities, do
grammar exercises, and read texts and answer questions
based on the texts.
A preliminary observation was also done to analyze
the learners characteristics and environment. The result
was that the students needed an activity that could help
them learning speaking English. During the observation,
most of the activity only required the students to receive
what the teacher delivered. As a result, only few students
dominated and most of them preferred to keep quiet.
(2) Writing Performance Objectives
The findings from the preliminary observation in the
previous step the skill involved in the product was
speaking skill dealing with narrative text. Hence, by using
the developed product in this study, it was hoped that the
students were engaged to speak narrative text, by being
able to understand the sequence of a story in narrative
text. Because the game was intended to help the tenth
graders willing to learn and produce narrative texts orally,
the objectives formulated were (1) the students are able to
explain the characteristics of narrative text to their friends,
(2) the students are able to answer questions provided
about the characteristics of narrative text (3) the students
are able to rearrange a scrambled narrative text into
correct order and read it out loud. Additionally, some
questionnaires that were used for the expert validations
had also been made in Appendix 1, which purposes were
to check if the game was appropriate for the students or
not.
(3) Developing Preliminary Form of Product
Based on the formulated objectives it was then
decided that the game developed was the Mystique, a
game in which the students had to play in a group with the
peers. The game was intended to make the students learn
English in a more natural situation since in the game they
had to interact with their friends in order to win it. It

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consisted of (1) a square board of 60 X 60 centimeters, (2)
a set of base card which contained fragments of narrative
text that should be collected by the students and
rearranged into a complete story in order to win the game,
(3) a set of gift card containing explanations and
characteristics of narrative text, and some effects which
gave either advantages or disadvantages for the players
who took them, and (4) a set of quiz card (named
Quizard) which contained questions that helped students
comprehend narrative text, (5) a set of pawns, consisting
of 2 square pawns that moved horizontally and vertically,
2 pentagon pawns that moved diagonally, and 1 octagon
pawn that could move to any direction; were delivered to
each player; a set a pawns consisted of 5, (6) a manual, (7)
an answer key book, and (8) a dice that was used to decide
where a pawn could land. The packaging of the game was
made from medium-thick art paper. The preliminary form
of the product can be seen at the picture below.

(Picture 1: Preliminary form of the Mystique game)

Basically, the developed game was inspired from the
previous famous games, such as Chess, Yu-Gi-Oh card
game, and Monopoly. There were some components
adopted from those game to be added as the games
feature. The game of Chess inspired the researcher to
decide how the pawns should move. For instance, one
pawn moves horizontally and vertically and another pawn
moves diagonally or even both. Unlike the Chess game,
the developed game only used five pawns for each player,
which may move diagonally, horizontally and vertically,
or even to any direction. Besides, the Yu-Gi-Oh card game
inspired the researcher to add feature of the game which
was to include cards. The cards that gave effects for the
players, which could both harm or benefit the player, from
Yu-Gi-Oh inspired the researcher to apply the same
concept in the game. Thus, in playing the game, students
would have to take a card then applied any effects on the
cards which could be for the player or the opponent.
Additionally, the concept of Monopoly game was also
involved on the game development. Monopoly uses dices,
town cards, and can be played up to four students at once.
Inspired by the concept, the researcher decided to also
apply the same features, i.e., to use dices, town cards and
to involve four players in playing the game. However, in

the Mystique game, there was only one dice used. The
dice was used to decide when the player pawn would land.
Moreover, the game used the term Base Card instead of
Town Card, since it represented the players base instead
of town. The game itself could be played up to four
students to make the game applicable fully. However, it
was still possible if the game played by two or three
students.
(4) Material and Media Expert Validation
Based on the data gathered from the questionnaire
distributed to the material experts, it could be seen that the
game basically could be a good medium for teaching
students speaking. Both of the material experts mentioned
that the game was considered uncomplicated for the
students to play. In fact, the game could basically help
teacher to engage the involvement of students in learning
English in the classroom. The instruction or the game
rules were clearly defined. However, some phrases or
vocabularies needed to be simplified so it could be easily
understood by students. Moreover, the narrative texts
chosen in the game were appropriate, they suited with the
syllabus of Curriculum 2013. One material expert also
added that the language level dealing with narrative text
was suited well for students, so the whole material about
narrative text could be understood by students. However,
in terms of the narrative texts chosen for the base cards, it
was recommended that the stories were the ones which
were less popular in order that the students would be
curious when reading the story. That is why the story of
Tangkuban Perahu, Malin Kundang, and Roro Jonggrang,
the popular ones, were substituted by Keong Mas, Kebo
Iwa, and Lutung Kasarung.
Meanwhile, the review made by the media expert was
to judge the product in term of its design, layout, and
appearance. Based on the questionnaire distributed to the
media expert, he mentioned that the idea of making the
kind of game was good. The whole concept of the game
were basically engaging and educating for students.
However, some modifications needed to be done to make
the product appropriate for classroom use. Most of the
modification and adjustment focused on the game board,
since it was the vital point of the game. There were at
least three points that the media expert suggested about
the modification of the board. The first was to use
different colours for the different parts of the board. The
reason was because some colours on the board looked
similar, that could create confusion among players. For
instance, some players would find difficulties to
differentiate if some properties belong to them or belong
to their opponents, since the colours used on the board
were turquoise and light green, which basically looked
similar. The second one was to modify the images on the
board. He mentioned that the images on the board should

Developing The Mystique Game as a Medium for Encouraging Students to Speak English
be functional. The reason was because the game used
simple woody effect with different colours to identify
each Base. However, that kind of illustration was not
effective as the Base identities. There should be different
illustration that clarified the identity of one base to
another. The last modification suggested on the game
board was to change the font type, which was from Juice
ITC into Trajan Pro. He mentioned that the previous font
type chosen was difficult to read, which in fact, it could
also distract the players while playing the game. Aside
from the board modifications suggested, the other game
components, such as the cards, dice, they only needed
small adjustments with the board. However, he added that
the package of the game should be made from thick paper,
in order to protect the game properties, attract the
students interest, and give portability for the game.
(5) Formative Evaluation
In the formative evaluation of the product, the data
were collected through observation and interview with 8
students. During the evaluation, it could be seen that the
students were excited when the teacher announced that
they were going to play a game. The teacher started the
lesson by explaining the rules of the game briefly, after he
recalled the narrative text material that he had explained
in the previous meeting. To play the game the teacher
divided the class, which contained 32 students, into four
groups. Therefore there were eight students for each
group. When the students started to play the game, some
of them were still confused about the game rules, since the
game was new to them and the rules was only explained
briefly. The teacher then re-explained the rules to those
who were still confused in order that they all could play
the game properly.
Based on the data obtained, it could be seen that all
students were engaged to play the game. Moreover,
English was actively used during the game, even though
the use of L1 sometimes interfered in some situation. For
instance, when one student misunderstood an effect on the
card, the other student corrected it using L1 with Ini
disimpan kartunya or kamu kocok lagi dadunya.
Besides, the data from the observation also showed that
some of the game instructions needed to be changed.
There were at least two revisions needed to be done on the
game instructions, i.e.; (1) to add some relevant pictures in
the rules book to make the students follow the rules easily
by looking at the picture provided, (2) to give time limit in
answering the Quizard (Quiz card). The reason was
because some students took too much time thinking over
the answer for the question(s), which resulted in wasting a
lot of time. Therefore, it was decided that twenty seconds
were the maximum period for a students to answer the
quiz.

After the game was tested out, an interview, with 8

students as the representation of the class was conducted.
There were ten questions addressed. The interview was
aimed to find out the students responses toward the
developed game. In relation with the students opinion if
the game was enjoyable, all of the interviewees mentioned
that they enjoyed playing the game. They stated that the
game were easy to play and engaging. They also
mentioned that the element of competition was what made
them enjoyed the game very much. When asked about
their opinion about learning speaking English using the
game, they answered that the game helped them use
English better than the regular learning process, which
usually focused on using textbook. By playing the game,
they stated that they did not feel oppressed and forced to
learn, since the material delivered through the game could
be grasped well. In relation with the students opinion if
the game could help them learn narrative text, all of them
agreed that the game was helpful in understanding the
material related to narrative text. Three of them even
mentioned that they got more vocabularies and knowledge
about narrative text while playing the game. The ninth and
the tenth questions which aimed to find out the students
interest toward the game. Again, all of them mentioned
that they wanted to play the game again, since it helped
them learn speaking English and comprehend narrative
text with fun. Additionally, they also gave positive
feedbacks when they were asked if they wanted to play
the game with different text types.
(6) Revising the Product
Based on the suggestions given by the experts and the
data gathered from the formative evaluation, some
revisions were made. The major revision was on the
appearance of the board. Previously, the board was simply
coloured in green, turquoise, red, yellow, and brown with
woody effect. The board then was revised into more
colourful and attractive, where each colour on the board
had its own functions. The other components, such as the
cards, and the packaging were adjusted based on the latest
board design. Another revision was also done for the
game instructions. The time limitation for students to
answer the Quizard was added. Twenty seconds was the
time limit for the students to answer the quiz. That was
because, based on the data from observation during
formative evaluation, the students took too much time in
answering the Quizard. Also, a rule was eliminated to
make the game simpler and easier to play. Previously,
there were some effects on each base that could be
activated once. However, no one used the effects during
the game. Those effects only made the game complicated
and therefore omitted.
Besides, based on the suggestion given by the material
experts, they believed that the explanation of narrative

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text in the Gift Card should be simplified. The reason was
because the explanations would be grasped better if the
students were provided with simplified vocabularies.
Therefore, the narrative text content on the Gift Cards
then were changed, in which there were only main
explanations needed that were included in the card. Some
explanations, such as the explanation about types of
narrative text were shortened, hence, the explanation were
made packed into main points, in order to make the
material could effectively be grasped by students.
The other revision suggested by the material experts
was to change the narrative text stories included in the
game into the less popular storied. Previously, the
narrative stories included were The Legend of Toba
Lake, Tangkuban Perahu, Malin Kundang, and
Roro Jonggrang. However, those stories included were
considered to be well known by students, except for The
Legend of Toba Lake. One of the material experts
mentioned that the problem in including the familiar
stories in reading activities was that the students would
not be eager to read the stories anymore, because they
already knew the stories. Therefore, in order to avoid such
thing to happen, those three narrative stories, which were
Tangkuban Perahu, Malin Kundang, and Roro
Jonggrang, were substituted into stories that were
considered less popular, such as Keong Mas, Kebo
Iwa, and Lutung Kasarung.Thus, after all of the
revisions were made, a summative evaluation was
conducted.
(7) Summative Evaluation
In the summative evaluation, the students played the
game differently from that of the formative evaluation. It
was only played by four students in a group to test out
which format was more effective, whether the game
should be played by eight or four students. Unlike in the
previous evaluation, the rules ware explained in detailed
before the game was played in order that the students
understood the instructions well. There were only a few
students who were still confused about the instructions,
because the teacher explained them too fast. During the
game, it could be seen that the students were excited to
play it. As soon as the game was played, the whole class
then was filled with the sound of students playing the
game.
An interview with all of the 16 students to find out the
students responds toward the game. When the
participants were asked if the instructions were easy to
follow, they all stated that they could follow the
instructions well, because they were explained in detail
before the game started. Most of them even stated that
they did not find any difficulties in understanding the
instructions, even if they were entirely explained in
English. There were three out of sixteen students claimed

to find difficulties in grasping some vocabularies in the

instructions at first, however, after the teacher explained
them again, they could understand them. Also, when
asked if there were any difficulties in playing the game,
two of the participants mentioned that they had some
difficulties in answering some questions in the Quizard.
However, in terms of relevance, the students stated that
the material included in the game were already relevant to
the lesson. Additionally, all of the participants stated that
the game was fun and engaging, and they were willing to
play the game again. They also stated that it would be
better if another text types were added in order that they
were not always stuck in the textbook oriented of
learning.
An interview was also done with the teacher. There
were ten questions addressed, which objective was to find
out the teachers response toward the implementation of
the game in the classroom. In relation with the teachers
opinion if the game was an appropriate media, he stated
that the game was a good medium for the learning
process. The reason was because the game could attract
the students interest to focus on the lesson. Besides, he
also stated that most students did not find difficulties in
understanding the instructions. Only a few students failed
to understand the instructions, but they all eventually got
the idea after playing the game. Therefore, he suggested
that it would be wiser if the game instructions were
sometimes explained in both L2 and L1, therefore, some
misinterpretations could be avoided. Related to see the
teachers problem in implementing the game, he stated
that the game could take a lot of time to actually find the
winner. Therefore, the time allocation to play the game
should be set. Also, the teacher suggested that some
features should be added in the game. He also added that
in explaining the instructions, a small simulation should
be made to make it clearer for the students. He also
suggested that (1) the game should be made for another
type of texts, thus, later it could also be used for another
grade and level; (2) that the game would be more effective
if it was played by only four students.
(8) The Final Product.
Based on the data gathered on the summative
evaluation showed that most of the students gave positive
responds toward the game. There were only some minor
difficulties that the students had, such as some students
had difficulties in answering the quiz from the game.
Although, it was considered normal, since one question
that was considered difficult for one student, apparently
was not really a problem for other students. Therefore, the
questions on the Quizards were considered relevant with
the students.
Moreover, related to the teachers responds toward the
game, the revisions were made on two aspects. The first

Developing The Mystique Game as a Medium for Encouraging Students to Speak English
one was to add the time allocation on the instructions
book. The time was set to 30 minutes, in which previously
it took an hour for the students to play the game. The
other one was to include an instruction that the game
could be more effectively played by 4 students, which
previously was played by 4 pairs of students. Based on the
experts suggestions and both formative and summative
evaluations, the final form of the game was finally made
(Picture 2).

students are actively involved to use English when

playing the game indicate that the problem in learning
speaking can be overcome using the game. In means that
the game is also able to overcome the problems of having
nothing to say which is one of the problems of learning
speaking (Ur, 1996). By playing the game, the students
are forced to use the language in subtle, based the context
provided. As a result, their motivation to use the language
increases, as the game provides a context to use the
language. Moreover, the fun element in the game is able
to create a relaxing atmosphere in the classroom (Mi,
2012; Azar, 2012), which can be seen from the fact that
the students enjoy the game and are willing to answer the
questions provided when they are trying to win the game.
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
Based on all of the steps taken in developing a
product, an educational game, namely the Mystique has
successfully developed. The findings from the expert
validation show that the game is applicable for classroom
use. Besides, the formative and summative evaluation also
show that the game is an appropriate medium for
classroom use. The game can create relaxing atmosphere
in the classroom. Additionally, the findings from the
interview indicate that the game is also not only fun to
play, but the activities provided in the game can make the
students forget that they are learning, which make the
lesson more easily delivered.
That is why, it is suggested that other researchers or
teachers implement of the game in the classroom in other
grades and levels. Nevertheless, further modification and
adjustments to the game are recommended to make it
more applicable for the targeted grade and level.
Concerning with the fact that the game can be very
helpful as a medium to teach English, it is suggested that
other researchers or teachers to study the implementation
of the game to the real classroom situation in other grades
and levels. Therefore, modifying and giving adjustments
to the game are recommended to make it applicable for
the targeted grade and level. Additionally, as it is
mentioned that the game can effectively be played by four
students, however, it is recommended for the game to be
played by 8 students, if team work and cooperation is the
teachers concern for the students.

(Picture 2: Final Product of The Mystique)

DISCUSSION
Carrier (1980) and Lewis & Bedson (1999) argue that
a good language game should fit with the students
language level, hence the material delivered through the
game can be easily grasped. The result of the validation
process by the material experts show that the materials
used in the game are basically appropriate for the tenth
grader because it fits well with the tenth graders syllabus
in the Curriculum 2013. In addition, both material experts
agree that the material used in the game fits well for the
tenth graders, which indicates that the game can be
appropriately used as the medium for teaching.
It is generally believed that providing the exposure
needed for students is one of the main key in teaching
speaking (Febriyanti, 2007; Leon & Cely, 2010; Al-Sibai,
2004 in Hosni, 2014). The theory is in line with the fact
that English is used during the game while L1 is only used
occasionally in some situations. Thus, it indicates that the
activity in the game is able to engage the students to learn
English effectively and has successfully brought students
to be actively engaged in conversation when learning
English. Moreover, the principles that an educational
game should indeed be enjoyable, engaging, English
promoting, and easy to use (Lewis & Bedson, 1999; Hill,
Sumarningsih, & Lestari, 2013) are also fulfilled. The
positive feedbacks from all of the students that they agree
that the game is enjoyable and able to help them learning
speaking English, indicate that the game has successfully
fulfilled the basic requirement needed for an educational
games.
One of the factors that makes learning speaking in the
classroom is challenging is the uneven participation
among students (Ur, 1996). However, the fact that all

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