Abstract:
Mistake buster technique considered efficient to improve students’ activeness
in teaching learning process and improve students’ understanding about grammar in
simple past tense. This research was aimed to find out whether Mistake Buster Technique
can help students solve their difficulties in learning simple past tense or not. The topic
was discussed through the experimental research at the eighth grade of SMP Swasta
Satria Dharma Perbaungan in the academic year of 2019/2020. VIII-A and VIII-B were
used as the data sources to find out the effectiveness of Mistake Buster Technique to
teach simple past tense. The data was gathered through documentation and test. The
researcher used simple random sampling. VIII-A was chosen as an experimental class and
VIII-B as a control class. The experimental class was taught by using Mistake Buster
Technique and control class taught by using conventional method. The test instrument
were 10 multiple choice questions of simple past tense. T-test formula was used to
analyze the data. The result was obtained through comparing the posttest’s average score
between experimental class and control class. The average score of experimental class
was 71.14 and the average score of control class was 62.43. Meanwhile the pre-test’s
average score of the experimental class was 32.86 and the average score of control was
33.71. In addition, it is proven that the independent t test result for posttest that the tcount
is higher than ttable (4.445 > 2.000). It means there is significant difference in the
achievement between experimental class who were taught by using Mistake Buster
Technique and control class who were taught without Mistake Buster Technique.
