IMPROVING THE SEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY ACHIEVEMENT BY USING CROSSWORD PUZZLES AT SMP NEGERI 3 LUMAJANG

Abstract

There were some factors that influenced the results of the observation and the vocabulary test in Cycle 1. They were (1) most of the students didn’t know how to complete the crossword puzzles correctly, (2) The teacher and the researcher often used English in explaining the materials and giving the instruction to the students, (3) some students did not bring the dictionary, and (4) Some students did not pay attention to the lesson, so they couldn’t answer the teacher’s oral questions. For those reasons, Cycle 2 was necessary to be continued to solve the problems found in Cycle 1 by revising some problems found in Cycle 1. The process and product evaluation in Cycle 2 showed an improvement. The observation of the students’ participation revealed there was 78.125% of th students categorized as active students in meeting I and 81.25% of the students in meeting II who actively participated in the vocabulary teaching learning process. So, the results of the observation both in meeting I and meeting II had achieved the goal of this research. In product evaluation, the percentage of the students who got score ≥ 73 in the vocabulary test was 81.25% of the students. Based on those results, it could be concluded that the action in Cycle 2 was successful because the results of process and product evaluation achieved the objectives of the research. Finally, it could be concluded that the use of crossword puzzles could improve the students’ vocabulary achievement and their active participation in the teaching learning process of vocabulary by using crossword puzzles at SMP Negeri 3 Lumajang in the 2013/2014 academic year.