DEVELOPING A TRADITIONAL BENTENGAN GAME DESIGN TO SUPPORT SPEAKING SKILLS OF GRADE I ELEMENTARY STUDENTS

Traditional games represent an important component of local culture and offer potential as contextual learning media in elementary education.However, their use in formal instruction often remains incidental and lacks pedagogical structure.This study aimed to examine the initial condition of the traditional Bentengan game as practiced at SDN 1 Tomoahi and to design a modified Bentengan game intended to improve the speaking skills of Grade I students.The study employed a Research and Development approach, focusing on the analysis and design stages of the ADDIE model.Data on the initial condition of the game were collected through observations, teacher interviews, and document analysis to identify patterns of gameplay and verbal interaction.Based on these findings, a modified version of the Bentengan game was designed by integrating simplified rules, structured verbal prompts, and stages of play aligned with Grade I Bahasa Indonesia learning objectives.The results indicate that, prior to development, Bentengan functioned primarily as a recreational activity emphasizing physical movement and competition, with verbal interaction occurring spontaneously and without instructional guidance.The game did not systematically support speaking skill development, as language use was limited, unstructured, and not aligned with learning goals.In contrast, the designed version of Bentengan embedded speaking activities directly into gameplay, encouraging the use of simple sentences, clear articulation, and confident verbal interaction while maintaining cultural authenticity.In conclusion, the study demonstrates that traditional games require intentional instructional design to function effectively as language-learning media.The proposed design highlights the potential of Bentengan to support early-grade speaking skills when pedagogically structured, offering implications for culture-based language instruction and future game-based learning research.