Online Media-Based Game ‘Chain of Whisper’ as Innovation Strategy of Arabic Language Teaching of Speaking Skill to Support Study from Home During the Coronavirus Pandemic

The coronavirus pandemic that hit the world as well as Indonesia at the end of 2019, had impacts on all sectors of life, including education. Learning dan teaching process that was originally by face-to-face meeting has been changed to online meeting. The condition requires innovation in language teaching methods, especially for speaking (maharatul kalam) and listening skills (maharatul istima'), which are generally carried out offline (direct meeting). This study aims to offer an alternative language teaching method during the pandemic, especially teaching speaking skills to students through online media-based games (Chain of Whisper). The research is qualitative. Data was collected by the following methods: (1) collecting scores by documentation, (2) the process of course of the game by observation, (3) gathering feedback of students by interviews. The total participant is 59 students, consist of 30 students from A-class and 29 of B-class. It also indicated that in speaking skill student are still lack conformity to Arabic grammar by its lowest score of 70.5. The highest score of the groups is 79.8, the lowest is 67.5 when the average is 73.55. In conclusion, this online media-based game can enhance student experience to practice Arabic speaking skills directly and particularly for those elements. In addition, the game help students not only to practice the skills but also to provide them with fun and enjoyable learning activity, based on the feedback obtained.