| dc.description.abstract | English as one of the foreign language should be learnt by Indonesian
students as a local content at elementary school and as a compulsory subject at
secondary schools and universities. Learning English means learning the four
language skills, namely speaking, listening, reading and writing. In addition, the
students should have enough vocabularies as the basic requirement to master
those four language skills. Thus, vocabulary plays a very important role in
language learning.
This classroom action research was intended to improve the 8th grade
students’ vocabulary achievement by using picture files at SMP Nuris Jember in
the 2011/2012 academic year. The research subjects were the students of class 8
that were determined population by consulting to the English teachers at SMP
Nuris Jember. According to the results of preliminary study in the form of
interview with the English teacher, it was found that SMP Nuris Jember had only
one single class of the 8th grade students; The students still had problems in
mastering vocabulary; The 8th grade students were lack of motivation and they
had difficulties in learning English. It was proven by their English mean score that
was 62.02 which had not reached the standard score of Ketuntasan Minimum
(SKM) that was 70.
The English teacher in that school used the conventional techniques, such
as lecturing method, question and answer, and drilling the students with exercises
and giving them assignments, like working with the students’ worksheet (LKS) in
order to make their students master the vocabulary. These kinds of techniques are
xiv
less challenging. Besides, she had never used picture files as the media of
teaching vocabulary, but she only taught vocabulary based on LKS.
Therefore, to overcome the problem above, the writer conducted a
Classroom Action Research (CAR) to the 8th grade students of SMP Nuris Jember
by using picture files in teaching vocabulary. The main concern, in this research
was the use of picture files which facilitated language learning and provided the
opportunities to the students to be more active in the vocabulary teaching and
learning process.
This classroom action research was done in two cycles in which each
cycle covered four stages of activities, namely planning the action; implementing
the action; observing and evaluating; and analyzing the data and reflecting the
action. Each cycle was conducted in two meetings. The data about the students’
vocabulary achievement were collected by administering the vocabulary
achievement test after the actions given. Observation was used to monitor the
process of teaching vocabulary using picture files and the students’ active
participation in the classroom.
The results of this research were as follows: the students’ English mean
score improved from their previous mean score that was 62.02 to 67.8 after being
taught vocabulary by using picture files in the first cycle. In the first meeting in
cycle 1, there were 24 of 36 students (66.7%) who actively participated in the
teaching and learning vocabulary by using picture files. In the second meeting,
there were 25 students or 69.4% of 36 students who were active participation
during the teaching and learning vocabulary by using picture files. In the second
cycle, the result of vocabulary achievement test mean score that was 72.9 (28
students or 77.8% of the students got the score at least 70 or higher). The score
was improved from cycle 1 the mean score which was 67.8 to 72.9 in cycle 2. In
the first meeting in cycle 2, there were 28 students (77.8%) of 36 students who
actively participated in the teaching and learning process of vocabulary by using
picture files. In the second meeting, there were 31 students or 86.1% of the 36
students who actively participated during the teaching and learning of vocabulary
xv
by using picture files. It means that the result of vocabulary achievement test and
students’ active participation in cycle 2 achieved the target research.
The results showed the use of picture files in teaching vocabulary could
improve the 8th students’ vocabulary achievement as well as their active
participation during the vocabulary teaching learning process at SMP Nuris
Jember. This finding supported the theory by Scott and Ytreberg (1992:108) that
the lesson will be much easier and much exciting for the students if the teacher
uses the picture piles optimally to help the students understand the material
taught. In other words, picture files could help the teacher deliver information to
the students and they also understood and got the information easily because the
teacher showed the picture files while teaching the materials to the students. This
was because picture files provided the students concrete and direct experience
with the language, especially in learning vocabulary.
By considering the result of the implementation of picture files in teaching
vocabulary that could improve the students’ vocabulary achievement and the
students’ active participation; some suggestions are proposed to the English
teacher to apply picture files in teaching vocabulary. The students are suggested to
increase their vocabulary by using picture files and other researchers as sugested
to conduct another research with a similar problem using different research design
to develop the students ‘vocabulay achievement and their active participation. | en_US |
