THE EFFECT OF USING CROSSWORD PUZZLE ON THE TENTH YEAR STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY ACHIEVEMENT AT SMAN TEMPEH LUMAJANG

Abstract

This research was quasi experimental research. The purpose of this research was to measure whether or not there was a significant effect of using Crossword Puzzle on the Tenth Year Students’ Vocabulary Achievement at SMAN Tempeh Lumajang. The area of this research was SMA Negeri Tempeh Lumajang. It was chosen purposively because the use of Crossword Puzzle had never been applied in teaching learning process of English in this school. Permission was granted by the Principal of SMAN Tempeh to conduct the research at this school and the English teacher agreed to conduct the present research. The population of this research were the tenth year students of SMA Negeri Tempeh Lumajang in the 2011/ 2012 academic year. Homogeneity test was done to know the homogeneity of the population to determine the research sample. The result of the homogeneity test was analyzed statically using ANOVA formula and the result showed that F-computation (3.82) was higher than that of F-table (2.21). It means that the condition of the whole tenth year students of SMA Negeri Tempeh Lumajang was heterogeneous or there was significant difference mean of the six classes. Two classes from the population that have the closest mean differences were chosen. The lottery was done to determine the experimental group (class X 3) and the control group (X 6). The total number of the sample was 75 students that consisted of 37 students of X 3 as the experimental group that was taught by using Crossword Puzzle, while the control group consisted of 38 students of X6 that was taught by using Lecturing and Question-Answer technique. The primary data of this research were collected from the students’ scores of vocabulary achievement test. The supporting data were gained from interview and documentation. The students’ vocabulary achievement was collected from the post test to make comparison between the two groups after the treatment done, and the result was analyzed by using t-test formula. The result of analysis indicated that the value of t-computation was 2.176 while the t-table was 2.00 with degree of freedom 71 on the 5% significant level. It means that the value of t-computation was higher than the value of t-table. This means that the null hypothesis (H0):” there is no significant effect of using Crossword Puzzle on the tenth year students’ vocabulary achievement at SMA Negeri Tempeh Lumajang” was rejected. On the other hand, the alternative hypothesis (Ha):“there is a significant effect of using Crossword Puzzle on the tenth year students’ vocabulary achievement at SMA Negeri Tempeh Lumajang was accepted. In addition, it was found that the degree of relative effectiveness was 4,8 %. This means that the use of Crossword Puzzle in teaching vocabulary was 4.8 % more effective to increase the students’ vocabulary achievement than using lecturing and Question-Answer technique for the tenth year students of SMA Negeri Tempeh Lumajang in the 2011/2012 academic year. In conclusion, teaching vocabulary using Crossword Puzzle was more effective than using Lecturing and Question –Answer techniques. Based on the result of this research, the English teacher is advised to apply Crossword Puzzle, especially in teaching English vocabulary. Further, the students are suggested to practice using vocabulary with Crossword Puzzle in order to increase their English vocabulary. Moreover, the future researchers are also suggested to conduct a research more in depth with a similar problem but with applying different research design or research subjects, or other types of games.