Download - Action Research Proposal Done
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, the writer discusses about background of the study, previous study,
statements of the problems, objectives of the study, limitation of the study and
benefits of the study.
1.1 Background of the Study
English is an important means of communication, which is used by
many countries in this world. It plays an important role as an international
language. This is why the Indonesian government chooses English as the first
foreign language to be taught in schools (Ramelan, 1992 cited in Royanti, 2007:1).
There is several language components involved in language learning;
they are: vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, etc. Keith folse state in his article,
The Underestimated Importance of Vocabulary in Foreign Language Classroom
argue that vocabulary is one of the most important components in learning a
foreign language and foreign language curricula must reflect this.
Vocabulary has a significant role in language. Basically, learning a
foreign language is a matter of learning vocabulary of that language. Research has
shown that vocabulary knowledge plays a critical role in students’ literacy
development (Scott, Jamieson-Noel, & Asselin, 2003). Wilkins (1972:8) stated
that without grammar very little can be conveyed; without vocabulary nothing can
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be conveyed. Thus, it can be concluded that learning vocabulary is important as
the basic need to encounter a new language.
Vocabulary is taught in many different ways. Based on a study
conducted by Rosmayanti (2008), in most Indonesian English language class most
teachers used conventional teaching method in teaching vocabulary. The teachers
only give the students a non-stop drilling memorization practice. This types of
learning can sometimes make the learners frustrated when they have to memorize
a list of new words at once. Therefore, the “look and remember” way of
vocabulary learning seems not to be effective for the learners of English language.
Cited in Nurhasanah’s paper (2006), studies conducted by Beck, Mc
Keown and Kucan (2002) shows that provided dictionary definitions and asked
brief questions about the words indicated 63% of students’ sentences were judged
to be “odd” (Miller and Gildea, 1985), 60% of students’ responses were
unacceptable (Mc Keown, 1993), and students’ frequently interpreted one or two
words from s definition as the entire meaning (Scott & Nagy, 1989).
In the first case study in Indonesia, that type of vocabulary learning
makes the students bored and less motivated. The students are unlikely to be
successful at learning unless they enjoy the process. In the second case,
memorization may feel burdened when they cannot remember the list of words
given. Therefore, teacher needs strategy to avoid this kind of problem by creating
activities which is interesting and worth doing, especially in this case is
vocabulary learning lesson to encourage the students.
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One of the best activities in teaching and learning vocabulary is through
a game. According to Nguyen Ti Huyen (2003) games have been shown to have
advantages and effectiveness in learning vocabulary in various ways; First, games
bring in relaxation and fun for students. Thus help them learn and retain new
words easily. Second, games usually involve friendly competition and keep
learners interested, thus create the motivation for the learners. Third, vocabulary
games bring real word context into the classroom and enhance students’ use of
English in a flexible, communicative way.
One of popular games named crossword now has been beneficially used
in teaching learning process. Jones (2007) stated that crossword solving, involves
several skills including vocabulary, reasoning, and spelling skills.
From the explanations above, the writer thinks that crossword puzzle
game might be a solution for the vocabulary learning problems. The researcher
will conduct a Classroom action research as a learning therapy.
In this research, the researcher will implement Crossword puzzle game
in vocabulary learning of the second grade students of MTS Darul Ulum
Purwogondo to know whether the Crossword puzzle game improves the students’
vocabulary mastery or not and to investigate how the students respond toward the
implementation of this game.
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1.2 Statement of the Problem
Considering the background of the study above, the problem statements are as
follows:
1. Does the use of Crossword puzzle game significantly improve the students’
vocabulary mastery?
2. What are the students’ responses toward the use of Crossword puzzle game
in improving their vocabulary mastery?
1.3 Objective of the Study
Based on the problem statement, the writer states the objective of the study as
follow:
1. To find out whether the use of Crossword puzzle game improves the students’
vocabulary mastery or not.
2. To find out the students’ responses toward the use of Crossword puzzle game
in improving their vocabulary mastery.
1.4 Limitation of the Study
In this research the writer focused on:
1. The improvements of the students’ vocabulary mastery taught by using
Crossword puzzle game.
2. The students’ responses toward the use of Crossword puzzle game in
improving their vocabulary mastery.
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1.5 Significance of the Study
This research has some advantages as follow:
- The results of this research are expected to give alternative activity to the
teachers to use Crossword puzzle as one of good activities in improving
students’ vocabulary mastery.
- The most significant contribution of this study is to provide the description of
Crossword puzzle game and vocabulary learning which will show the
implementations of Crossword puzzle game in improving vocabulary mastery.
- The findings from this study can be used by the teachers to improve the
quality of teaching learning process especially in teaching and learning
vocabulary.
1.6 Operational Definition
- Vocabulary: a list of words, usually in alphabetical order and with
explanations of their meanings, less complete than dictionary (Paul P,
1978:1229).
- Crossword Puzzle game: a word puzzle that normally takes the form of a
square or rectangular grid of white and shaded squares. The goal is to fill the
white squares with letters, forming words or phrases, by solving clues which
lead to the answers (Binta A, 2010:6)
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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITETERATURE
This chapter consists of some theories related to Vocabulary and Crossword
puzzle suggested by some linguists, review of previous study and the theoretical
framework.
2.1 Vocabulary
Vocabulary is a list of words, usually in alphabetical order and with
explanations of their meanings, less complete than dictionary (Paul P, 1978:1229).
There are many ways to study vocabulary, according to Mr. Cheung (2010) there
are eleven interesting ways to study vocabulary, they are:
1. Written Repetition - copy the word and/or its definition a number of times
on paper.
2. Oral Repetition - Read the word and its definition aloud a number of times.
3. Art - Draw a picture next to the word.
4. Visualization - Imagine an image with the word or first letter.
5. Association - Make up a story about the word(s), or associate an idea or a
part of the word with it's meaning.
6. Dramatization - Act out the word physically.
7. Word Parts - Use prefix and suffixes to help id the meaning of the word.
8. Music - Write a rap or song about it.
9. Computers - Type the word and its definition into a computer.
10. Write a story about the words.
11. Using game - Quiz each other with a partner.
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2.2.1 Teaching Vocabulary Through Games
According to Ghada Sari (2009) Learning vocabulary through games is
one effective and interesting way that can be applied in any classroom. In this
paper I suggest that games are used not only for mere fun, but more importantly,
for the useful presenting, practice and review of vocabulary to improve the
learners' communicative competence.
Language learning is a hard task which can sometimes be frustrating.
Constant effort is required to understand, produce, and manipulate the target
language. Games have proven to have advantages and effectiveness in learning
vocabulary in various ways:
Games bring in relaxation and fun for students, thus help them learn and
retain new words more easily.
Games usually involve friendly competition and they keep learners
interested.
Vocabulary games bring real world context into the classroom and enhance
students' use of English in a flexible, communicative way.
Games are highly motivating and they give students more opportunity to
express their opinions and feelings.
Games add diversion to the regular classroom activities," break the ice",
but they are also used to introduce new ideas.
(Ghada S, 2009)
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The role of games in teaching and learning vocabulary cannot be denied.
However in order to achieve the most from vocabulary games, it is important that
suitable games are chosen. Whenever a game is to be conducted, the number of
students, proficiency level, cultural context, timing, learning topic, and classroom
settings are factors that should be taken into account.
Suggested games:
Ambiguous picture: draw a small part of a picture. Ask the students what it is
going to be. Encourage different opinions. Do not confirm or reject their ideas.
Add a little more to the drawing and ask the question again. Build your picture in
about four stages.
Association: start by suggesting an evocative word:" storm", for example. A
student says what the word suggests to him or her-it might be "dark", and so on
round the class. You might start with any other word or use an item of vocabulary
the class has recently learnt.
Crosswords: ask a student to write a word of not more than five letters in the
middle of the board, for example, "melon". The letters should be written clearly
and separately. Now think of a word which shares one letter with the word on
board. Give students a clue to your word. For example," I like reading them". If
somebody guesses: books" he or she writes the word so it crosses the first word
and shares a letter. The students now take over.
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2.2 Crossword Puzzle
Crossword Puzzle game is a word puzzle that normally takes the form of
a square or rectangular grid of white and shaded squares. The goal is to fill the
white squares with letters, forming words or phrases, by solving clues which lead
to the answers (Binta A, 2010:6)
Crossword puzzles are the world's most popular word game. The first
crosswords appeared in England during the 19th century. They were a far cry
from what appears today in US newspapers, derived from word squares, groups of
words that can be read across or down. These appeared in children's books and
various periodicals. In the United States, however, the puzzle evolved to become
a serious adult pastime. During the height of the crossword craze in the 1920s,
people lost their jobs and marriages were destroyed due to the addictive nature of
these new puzzles.
The first known crossword puzzle was created by Arthur Wynne for the
eight-page comics section of the New York World. Usually, the page featured
word squares, hidden words and connect-the-dots exercises. However, Wynne
wanted to try something different. He sketched a diamond-shaped grid (without
black squares) and wrote the word "fun" (the name of the comics section) across
the top of the square.
There are three different types of crossword puzzles: freeform or criss-
cross crossword puzzles, American-style crossword puzzles and cryptic
crossword puzzle. (http://puzzles.about.com/od/crosswords/p/crosswords.htm)
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2.3 Review of Previous study
The previous study was done by Rindi Risanah Yulidesti, entitled;
Implementing Crossword Puzzle to Improve The Vocabulary Achievement of the
Fourth Graders at SDN 1 Tapen, Bondowoso.
This study used collaborative classroom action research. The researcher
together with the EFL teacher designed the lesson plans and set the criteria of
success. The EFL teacher collaborator acted as the observer during the teaching
and learning process. The research was conducted in one cycle since the result of
the fourth graders' vocabulary quiz have achieved the criteria of success and the
students could actively participated during the implementation of the crossword
puzzle in the first cycle.
The first cycle consisted of two meetings and covered planning an
action, implementing the action, observing the action, and reflecting on the
observation. The subjects were 34 fourth grade students of SDN 1 Tapen,
Bondowoso in academic year 2009/2010 that consisted of 19 males and 15
females.
The instruments that were used to collect the data were observation
sheets, field notes, vocabulary quiz, and students' questionnaire. The materials
were selected on the basis of the words' frequency of occurrence. In this selection
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by frequency of occurrence, the researcher counted the number of items that
occurred in the textbooks that they used in the class. The vocabulary materials
taught were grouped into three parts of speech, namely noun, verb, and adjective.
The topic of the materials was Home Activities that was divided into
Simple Present Tense and Present Continuous Tense. In this study, the researcher
expected more than 17 (>50% of 34 students) scored equal to or above the SKBM
of 70 and actively participated in the implementation of crossword puzzle.
The result of this study shown us that Crossword Puzzle effectively
improved the fourth graders' vocabulary achievement. At the end of the
implementation, more than 17 students (>50% of 34 students) had reached the
SKBM and actively participated in the implementation of crossword puzzle.
2.4 Theoretical framework
According to Mr. Cheung (2010) there are eleven interesting ways to
study vocabulary, they are:
1. Written Repetition - copy the word and/or its definition a number of times
on paper.
2. Oral Repetition - Read the word and its definition aloud a number of times.
3. Art - Draw a picture next to the word.
4. Visualization - Imagine an image with the word or first letter.
5. Association - Make up a story about the word(s), or associate an idea or a
part of the word with it's meaning.
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6. Dramatization - Act out the word physically.
7. Word Parts - Use prefix and suffixes to help id the meaning of the word.
8. Music - Write a rap or song about it.
9. Computers - Type the word and its definition into a computer.
10. Write a story about the words.
11. Using game - Quiz each other with a partner.
According to Ghada Sari (2009) Learning vocabulary through games is
one effective and interesting way that can be applied in any classroom. In this
paper I suggest that games are used not only for mere fun, but more importantly,
for the useful presenting, practice and review of vocabulary to improve the
learners' communicative competence.
Language learning is a hard task which can sometimes be frustrating.
Constant effort is required to understand, produce, and manipulate the target
language. Games have proven to have advantages and effectiveness in learning
vocabulary in various ways:
Games bring in relaxation and fun for students, thus help them learn and
retain new words more easily.
Games usually involve friendly competition and they keep learners
interested.
Vocabulary games bring real world context into the classroom and enhance
students' use of English in a flexible, communicative way.
Games are highly motivating and they give students more opportunity to
express their opinions and feelings.
12
Games add diversion to the regular classroom activities," break the ice",
but they are also used to introduce new ideas.
(Ghada S, 2009)
Crossword puzzles are the world's most popular word game. The first
crosswords appeared in England during the 19th century. They were a far cry
from what appears today in US newspapers, derived from word squares, groups of
words that can be read across or down. These appeared in children's books and
various periodicals. In the United States, however, the puzzle evolved to become
a serious adult pastime. During the height of the crossword craze in the 1920s,
people lost their jobs and marriages were destroyed due to the addictive nature of
these new puzzles (http://puzzles.about.com/od/crosswords/p/crosswords.htm).
Based on data of the previous study, the use of crossword game
significantly improved the students’ vocabulary mastery. The data shown us that
more than 17 students (>50% of 34 students) had reached the SKBM and
actively participated in the implementation of crossword puzzle
2.5 Action Hypothesis
Based on the statement of the problem, previous study and the
theoretical framework, the writer proposes an action hypothesis that crossword
puzzle as media of teaching significantly improve the students’ vocabulary
mastery.
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CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES
This chapter focuses on the research design, the object of the study, role of the
researcher, procedure of data collection, and procedures of data analysis.
3.1 Research Design
Regarding to the main aims of the study, classroom action research is
used to find out the answers of the mentioned research questions. Classroom
action research is research that is done by a person (teacher) which aims to
improve teaching learning process in his/her classroom (Kemmis&McTaggart,
1988:6, as cited in Nunan, 1992).
This research will also employ descriptive qualitative research method.
Verma &Beard (1981:57) states that descriptive method of research is primarily
concerned with portraying the present, while according to Mc Milan&
Schumacher descriptive design simply describes an existing phenomenon by using
numbers to characterize individuals or a group (1989:33). Qualitative research is
the research method aimed to observe people and their environment, interact with
them and attempt to understand their language and point of view about their
surrounding (Nasution, 2003:5).
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3.2 Subject of the Research
The subject of research are 2nd grade students of MTs. Darul Ulum
Jepara. The subjects are chosen since they experienced vocabulary learning
problems. The participant of the class consists of 20 students.
3.3 Research Procedure
Action research consists of cycle. According to Kemmis & McTaggart,
there are four basic steps in the action research. They are planning, acting,
observing and reflecting.
1. Planning
- Determining the appropriate strategy; using crossword puzzle game as the
solution to the students’ vocabulary problems.
- Designing the instructional media intended. The crossword puzzles are made
in pieces of A3 papers (in the first cycle) and a flash game of crossword
puzzles in the second cycle.
- To collect the data on the attitudinal factors of the students the researcher
design three instruments; observation checklist, interview, field note.
- To collect the quantitative data, the researcher designed a vocabulary test.
2. Acting
In this stage, the researcher must obey the planning but should make the
process of teaching and learning natural. The teacher does the teaching as usual
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without creating a different atmosphere among the students. So, they do not think
that they are being the subject of research.
The research will be conducted two meetings each cycle, and the time is
90 minutes/meeting. The schecule is shown in table 1.
Table 1 Activities Schedule:
Date Meeting Cycle
July 9, 2012
July 12, 2012
July 16, 2012
July 19, 2012
1
2
1
2
1
1
2
2
In the first meeting, the students will be taught by using cross word
puzzle as media of teaching. They will be asked to answer the simple questions
and fill the blanks in the puzzle. They should be competitive in this game, and they
are asked to open their dictionary if they don’t know the meaning of the words in
the puzzle. Here, they will remember the list of words naturally. In the second
meeting, the students will be asked to do tests that already prepared by the
researcher.
3. Observing
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There are two main aspects of the effect of implementing the crossword
puzzle in vocabulary learning that will be observed. First is the vocabulary score
that could be seen from the score of the tests. Second is the process of learning
using crossword puzzle in the classroom. The present of the researcher is
important for the sake of an objective feedback.
4. Reflecting
In this stage, the researcher will analyze all of the data from the
vocabulary tests, observation, interview and field note; and then the researcher will
compare the data with the criteria of success:
- The research is completed when 75 % of the students achieve minimally 75 in
their vocabulary test score.
- The research is completed when 75 % of the students highly motivated toward
the use of crossword puzzle in their vocabulary learning in the classroom.
If the students’ score in vocabulary test do not achieve the goal in the
first cycle, the researcher will conduct the second cycle. The procedures of the
second cycle are same with the procedures of the first cycle, but the researcher will
use a flash game of crossword puzzles as media to make the learning process more
interactive.
3.4 Data Collection
The data will be gathered by using some instruments as follow:
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a. Observation is used to gain a description of how well the game work in
vocabulary learning process and to the students’ responses toward the
use of “crossword” game in improving students’ vocabulary mastery.
b. Interview is used to gain students’ perception toward the use of
crossword puzzle in improving their vocabulary mastery.
c. Field notes are used to know the instructional activities in the class
during the implementation of crossword puzzle in vocabulary learning
obviously in written form.
d. Test is used to measure students’ improvement of vocabulary learning.
3.5 Data Analysis
The qualitative data will be obtained from the result of observation,
interview and field notes. The gathered data will be analyzed descriptively. The
analysis of is to find out how the crossword puzzle is used in the class to improve
students’ vocabulary mastery and the students’ responses toward the use of
crossword puzzle. To support the descriptive data, the result of test will be used to
measure the students’ improvement in vocabulary mastery.
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REFERENCES
Folse, S.K., (2004) The Underestimated Importance of Vocabulary in The Foreign
Langauge Classroom. Taken from: CLEARNews Fall 2004. [27 Agustus 2010]
Gairns, R and Redman, S. (1986) Working with Words. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Jones, Kerry (2007) Building Vocabulary Skill. Retrieved from:
http://vocabulary.co.il/blog/learning_vocabulary/teaching-with-crossword-
puzzles/ [28Agustus 2010]
Moras, S., (2001) Teaching Vocabulary to Advanced Students: A Lexical Approach.
Retrieved from www.telus.net/linguisticsissues/teachingvocabulary.html [27
Agustus 2010]
NN. Crossword-Wikipedia, the Free Enclycopedia. Taken from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CrosswordUSA.svg24 [24 July 2010]
Nurhasanah, Iin. (2006) The Implementation of The Clarifying Routine Technique in
Improving Students’ Vocabulary Mastery. A Research Paper in FPBS UPI
Bandung: unpublished.
Susilowati. (2007) A Descriptive Study on the Vocabulary Mastery of The Eleventh
Year Students of SMA Negeri 2 Surakarta Academic Year 2007/2008. Retrieved
from:http://one.indoskripsi.com/judul-skripsi/pendidikan-bahasa-inggris/
descriptive-study-vocabulary-mastery-eleventh-year-students-sma-negeri-2-
surakarta-ac [24Juli 2010]
Ur, Penny. (1991) A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
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Wright, A., Betteridge, D., and Buckby, M., (1983) Games for Language Learning.
Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.
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