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TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY MASTERY USING GAMES
AT THE THIRD GRADE STUDENTS OF SD NEGERI CITEUREUP MANDIRI I
ACADEMIC YEAR 2012/2013
Karina Bunga Septianti Suganda (09220239)
e-mail :
English Education Study Program Language and Arts Department Sekolah Tinggi Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan (STKIP) Siliwangi Bandung
ABSTRACT
The objective of this research entitled “Teaching English Vocabulary Mastery Using Games at The Third Grade Students of SD Negeri Citeureup Mandiri I” was to find out whether or not teaching English vocabulary using games was effective to improve the students’ vocabulary mastery. In this research the writer used one group pretest-posttest design and quantitative research method.The instrument of this research was vocabulary test. The population of this research was79 students of the third grade of SDN Citeureup Mandiri I in academic year 2012/2013 and the sample was 40 students selected using simple random sampling technique. The data of this research was collected by giving the vocabulary test to the students sample. The collected data was analyzed by using t-test formula. The results of this research showed that: mean score of pretest was 58.15, mean score of posttest was 78.25, and the tobserved was 7.9. Tcritical value with df = n-1 (40-1 = 39) and significance level at 0.05 (5%) was 1,685. Based on the data analysis above, the alternative hypothesis of this research was accepted, because the tobserved was higher than tcritical value (1.685<7.9). It could also be concluded that teaching English vocabulary mastery using gamesat third grade of SDN Citeureup Mandiri I in academic year 2012/2013is effective to improve the students’ vocabulary mastery.
Key Words: Teaching English, Vocabulary Mastery and Games.
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A. BACKGROUND
Learning English is very important, because English has become an international language, which is used by most communities in the world. English is also called as the target language that has to be taught at schools in today’s Indonesian curriculum. There are so many approaches, methods, and techniques that can be used by the teacher.
One technique that was used by the teacher to increase the students’ ability in English is Games. According to Lewis, et al (2003:5) Games are fun and children like to play them. Playing games is a vital and natural part of growing up and learning. Through games children experiment, discover, and interact with their environment. Games add variation to a lesson and increase motivation by providing a plausible incentive to use the target language. In this study the writer used hangman and treasure hunt game.
This study examines the students mastering of vocabulary through games because games have been shown to have advantages and effectiveness in learning vocabulary in various ways.
Based on the background above, the researcher can formulate the problem: Can games improve the students’ mastery of vocabulary?
The aim of this study is to find out whether there is a significant effect of teaching English vocabulary mastery using games towards the third grade students of SD Negeri Citeureup Mandiri I.
In this research, the researcher used the quantitative method.
The study involved the third grade students at SD Negeri Citeureup Mandiri I with the total population 79 students but the writer used 40 sample students.
B. LITERATURE REVIEW
1. Teaching Vocabulary
Teaching English vocabulary is integrated into the four skills of the language. It means that vocabulary holds significant role in mastery of the four skills of the language. In the teaching of English or any foreign language, teaching vocabulary is one of the important aspects because the unlimited number of vocabulary in a language. Teaching vocabulary should be presented interactively in teaching of the four language skills.
Nation (1990:1) states that there are four ways that can be used in teaching vocabulary. They are:
1.Material is prepared with vocabulary learning as a consideration. This step means the preparation of simple materials and the careful graded of the first lesson of learning English.
2.Words are dealing with as they happen to occur. This means unknown words that appear.
3.A vocabulary problem is taught in connection with other language activities, for example, the vocabulary deals with the learners who have known before.
4.Time is spent either in class or out of class where vocabulary is studied without an immediate connection with some other language activities.
2.How to Present Vocabulary in the Classroom
According to Decarico (2001:288) new words should not be presented in isolation and should not be learnt by simple rote memorization. It is important that new vocabulary items be presented in contexts rich enough to provide clues to meaning and that students be given multiple exposure to items they should lean. Exercise and activity include learning words in words association list, focusing on highlighted words in texts and playing vocabulary games.
According to Thornbury (2008:75) there is the question of how many words to present. This will depend on the following factors :
1. The level of learners (whether beginners, intermediate or advanced).
2. The learners likely familiarity with the words (learners may have met the words before even though they are not part of their active vocabulary).
3. The difficulty of the items – whether, for example, they express abstract rather than concentrate meanings, or whether they are difficult to pronounce.
4. Their ‘teach ability’ – whether, for example, they can be easily explained or demonstrated.
5. Whether items are being learned for production (in speaking and writing) or for recognition only (as in listening and reading). Since more time will be needed for the former, the number of items is likely to be fewer than if the aim is only recognition.
3. Teaching English Vocabulary Using Games
Teaching vocabulary is one of important things in teaching English. By using successful techniques when learn new vocabulary, students will find the words which is easier to remember and will motivated them in class. Vocabulary is words that are arranged to be used by people in order to express their feelings and ideas.In learning Vocabulary, students need to repeat the vocabulary which they learn in the mind. One of effective ways in teaching process in class, especially to enrich students’ vocabularies is using games.
There are so many games for teaching English vocabulary but the writer only used two games. They are hangman and treasure hunt game.
1. Teaching English Vocabulary Using Hangman Game
Hang man is a game that the student played on groups. The student must memorize the word about everything. After that, teacher devided the student into two groups, the student must guess the word. “ Is that A,I,U, etc” and if the word they guess false, teacher make the picture people hangon the board.
According to Ward (2005:55) hangman is a great way for kids to practice their spelling, pronunciation, improve their vocabulary, and have fun at the same time.
2. Teaching English Vocabulary Using Treasure Hunt Game
Treasure hunt/scavenger hunt game is a game in which the organizers (teacher) prepare a list defining specific items, which the participants, individuals orteams seek to gather all items (treasure hunt) on the list.
According to Marlene (2007:5) treasure hunt can be played as individuals or teams competing for time. But in this study we play this game in group. Each group must find a correct picture of the treasure (vocabulary) list that the teacher gave to each group. The one of member of team read aloud about the treasure list and the other member must find a correct picture then there’s a time limit for students to find the pictures.
The advantages of using this game in the classroom are: it could improve student’s vocabulary mastery, communication and cooperating skill, encourage students to think, interact and communicate.
C. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
1. Research Design
The design of this research, the writer used the pre-experimental. In the pre-experimental method, only one group of subjects observed, subjects were bot randomly designed, one type of pre-experiment designwas called one group pre-test post-test design. So thewriter just took one class for the research.
In this research, one group pre-test post-test design was applied. To know to improvement of students’ vocabulary mastery, the scores of pre-test and post-test were compared. If the result of the post-test after the treatment is higher than the pre-test, the treatment can improve the students’ vocabulary mastery.
The research design is as follow:
T1 x T2
Notes:
T1: Pre-test
T2 : Post-test
X: Treatment
(Hatch and Farhady : 1982:20)
2. Research Method
This research uses the quantitative method.
The instrument for data collection is written test that consist of 30 questions, theyaremultiple choice, match form and essay. The material for evaluating is about the parts of body and things in the classroom.
The population of this research was 79 students of the third grade of SDN Citeureup Mandiri I in academic year 2012/2013 and the sample was40 students selected by using simple random sampling technique. With this sampling technique, every student has an opportunity for being a sample. So the writer selected 40 students randomly among 79 students.
To get vocabulary data of the students’ vocabulary mastery, the writer used questions related with the material has given in the process of learning through games in the class. It is done to know the improving of the students English vocabulary mastery after using treatment by games.
D. RESEARCH FINDING AND DISCUSSION
1. Data Analysis
Before calculating the data, the following are the data of the score obtained from the pretest. They are displayed in the table below.
Table 1. The Score of Students Pre-test without Games
No / Name / Score1 / S / 56
2 / AM / 66
3 / AL / 58
4 / BG / 48
5 / CA / 50
6 / DJ / 58
7 / DA / 60
8 / DP / 58
9 / EA / 48
10 / EF / 62
11 / FR / 52
12 / FF / 50
13 / FS / 74
14 / IM / 76
15 / MO / 66
16 / ME / 42
17 / MR / 50
18 / MR / 72
19 / MI / 72
20 / MS / 60
21 / N / 60
22 / NA / 46
23 / PH / 40
24 / R / 64
25 / R / 58
26 / RW / 38
27 / RR / 48
28 / RA / 74
29 / RS / 64
30 / RN / 54
31 / RK / 48
32 / R / 52
33 / SA / 76
34 / SM / 66
35 / SA / 64
36 / SP / 50
37 / S / 64
38 / SN / 42
39 / TA / 68
40 / T / 72
N=40 / Total= 2326
X = 58, 15
The table score above show that the students’ score still there are many students get low score in pretest score. It means that the students’ ability in English vocabulary mastery is still low.
Below is the table that shows the students’ score of posttest.
Table 2. The Score of Students Post-test with Games
No / Name / Score1 / S / 78
2 / AM / 87
3 / AL / 83
4 / BG / 80
5 / CA / 75
6 / DJ / 80
7 / DA / 70
8 / DP / 70
9 / EA / 93
10 / EF / 74
11 / FR / 80
12 / FF / 72
13 / FS / 82
14 / IM / 97
15 / MO / 70
16 / ME / 74
17 / MR / 70
18 / MR / 77
19 / MI / 87
20 / MS / 77
21 / N / 97
22 / NA / 66
23 / PH / 65
24 / R / 90
25 / R / 75
26 / RW / 60
27 / RR / 80
28 / RA / 87
29 / RS / 83
30 / RN / 87
31 / RK / 74
32 / R / 82
33 / SA / 83
34 / SM / 73
35 / SA / 78
36 / SP / 77
37 / S / 70
38 / SN / 74
39 / TA / 80
40 / T / 73
N=40 / Total= 3130
X = 78,25
The table of posttest score above show that the students’ achievements get increasing, because the posttest score is higher than pretest score. It means
that the students are more understand than before the treatment.
2. Data Calculation
Below is comparison data score pre-test and post-test.
Table 3. The Comparison Score pre-test and post-test
No / Name / pretest / postest / D / D21 / S / 56 / 78 / 22 / 484
2 / AM / 66 / 87 / 21 / 441
3 / AL / 58 / 83 / 25 / 625
4 / BG / 48 / 80 / 32 / 1024
5 / CA / 50 / 75 / 25 / 625
6 / DJ / 58 / 80 / 22 / 484
7 / DA / 60 / 70 / 10 / 100
8 / DP / 58 / 70 / 12 / 144
9 / EA / 48 / 93 / 45 / 2025
10 / EF / 62 / 74 / 12 / 144
11 / FR / 52 / 80 / 28 / 784
12 / FF / 50 / 72 / 22 / 484
13 / FS / 74 / 82 / 8 / 64
14 / IM / 76 / 97 / 21 / 441
15 / MO / 66 / 70 / 4 / 16
16 / ME / 42 / 74 / 32 / 1024
17 / MR / 50 / 70 / 20 / 400
18 / MR / 72 / 77 / 5 / 25
19 / MI / 72 / 87 / 15 / 225
20 / MS / 60 / 77 / 17 / 289
21 / N / 60 / 97 / 37 / 1369
22 / NA / 46 / 66 / 20 / 400
23 / PH / 40 / 65 / 25 / 625
24 / R / 64 / 90 / 26 / 676
25 / R / 58 / 75 / 17 / 289
26 / RW / 38 / 60 / 22 / 484
27 / RR / 48 / 80 / 32 / 1024
28 / RA / 74 / 87 / 13 / 169
29 / RS / 64 / 83 / 19 / 361
30 / RN / 54 / 87 / 33 / 1089
31 / RK / 48 / 74 / 26 / 676
32 / R / 52 / 82 / 30 / 900
33 / SA / 76 / 83 / 7 / 49
34 / SM / 66 / 73 / 7 / 49
35 / SA / 64 / 78 / 14 / 196
36 / SP / 50 / 77 / 27 / 729
37 / S / 64 / 70 / 6 / 36
38 / SN / 42 / 74 / 32 / 1024
39 / TA / 68 / 80 / 12 / 144
40 / T / 72 / 73 / 1 / 1
N=40 / Total= 2326
X = 58, 15 / Total= 3130
X = 78,25 / ∑D=
804 / ∑D²=20138
a. Standard Deviation
To calculate standard deviation, the writer used the following formula :
SD
=
=
= =
= = 10
b. Standard Error
To calculate standard error, the writer used the following formula :
SD = SD
= 10 = 10 = 1,6
6,3
c. T-test
To calculate t-test, the writer used the following formula :
t = X1 – X2 = 58,15 – 78,25
SD 1,6
= 58,15 – 78,25 = -12,6 = -7,9
1,61,6
Then in order to complete the result of this research, the writer tried to find out the degree of freedom ( df ) with the formula:
df = N – 1 = 40 – 1 = 39
Based on the table, df 39 at significant level of 0.05 (5%) are:
- The significant level of 5 % , t-table = 1.685
- The level of t-observation = 7.9
E. CONCLUTION AND SUGGESTION
1. Conclusion
Based on the result of the analysis of the data, it was put found that the mean score of posttest is higher than the mean score of pretest. That is, the average score of the pretest is 58,15 , while the average score for posttest is 78,25. The gain score between the mean of pretest and posttest is 20,1. t-observed is 7.9 which is higher than t-table (1.685<7.9) at the significance level of 0.05% (5%). so, the null hypothesis is rejected. It means that English teaching through games technique is effective in improving students’ vocabulary mastery, and the experiment method is accepted.
2. Suggestion
The writer would like to put forward some suggestions that may be useful for the teachers especially the English teachers they are; teacher shouldbe able to increase the students motivation in teachingEnglish, teacher must be more creative in choosing thetechnique and giving materials in order to make the students happier in learning process.
F. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Decarico, J. (3rd ed.) (2001). Vocabulary learning and teaching in Marianne Celce-Murcia (Ed.), Teaching English as a Foreign Language, Pp. 285-299. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
Lewis, G. et al. (2003). Games for children. : New York: Oxford University Press.
Marlene, F. (2007). Treasure Hunt. America: Celtic Marketing.
Nation, I.S.P. (1990). Teaching and learning vocabulary. Retrieved March 5th, 2013, from
Thornbury, S. (2008). How to teach vocabulary. Edinburgh: Longman.
Richards, J. & Theodore, S. R. (1996). Approach and method in language teaching. Cambridge Unversity Press.
Hatch, E. & H Farhady. 1982. Resarch design and sttistics for applied linguistics. Cambrirdge : Newbury House Publisher.
Ward, M. (2005). Scratch & solve hangman #1. New York: Sterling Publishing.