THE EFFECT OF USING CROSSWORD PUZZLE ON VOCABULARY ACHIEVEMENT OF THE FIFTH GRADE STUDENTS AT SDN KEPATIHAN 06 JEMBER AT SDN KEPATIHAN 06 JEMBER IN THE 2011/2012 ACADEMIC YEAR IN THE 2011/2012 ACADEMIC YEAR

Abstract

Vocabulary is one of language components that must be mastered first by the students because it is the bridge to learn other language. Students generally have difficulty in learning English, especially in vocabulary because English and Indonesian have differences both in writing and spelling. Besides, English is a foreign language for students. Therefore, the English teacher is expected to be able to cover the students’ problems in vocabulary mastery. One of the techniques that can be used and applied by the English teacher is using Crossword Puzzle. Crossword Puzzle is a kind of vocabulary game in which the students have to fill the required words from numbered clues into the squares vertically and or horizontally. This research was conducted to know whether or not there was a significant effect of using Crossword Puzzle on vocabulary achievement of the fifth grade students at SDN Kepatihan 06 Jember. The total number of the population was 103 students. Based on the homogeneity test result, the two classes were taken into two equal groups as the research samples, the experimental group with the mean score of 50.86 and the control group with the mean score of 54.80. The experimental group consisted of 37 students who were taught by using crossword puzzle, while control group consisted of 36 students who were taught without using crossword puzzle but using Question-Answer techniques and 30 students who did not participate in this research because they had to attend the rehearsal of farewell party. The primary data of this research were gained from the students’ vocabulary achievement test. The supporting data were gained from the interview with the English teacher and from documentation. The primary data were analyzed by using Independent sample t-test. Based on the calculation, the value of t-computation was 5.409 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 value of t-table (5.409 > 2.00) which means that the null hypothesis (H ) formulated: “there is no significant effect of using crossword puzzle on the fifth grade students’ vocabulary achievement at SDN Kepatihan 06 Jember in the 2011/2012 academic year” was rejected, thus the alternative hypothesis: “there is significant effect of using crossword puzzle on the fifth grade students’ vocabulary achievement at SDN Kepatihan 06 Jember in the 0 2011/2012 academic year” was accepted. Based on the result of this research, the teacher is recommended to use and apply crossword puzzle as the teaching technique especially in teaching vocabulary to make students interested in learning English and increase their English vocabulary. Besides, the students are suggested to use crossword puzzle not only in school but also at home to improve and to develop their vocabulary achievement, because studying vocabulary through Crossword Puzzle is interesting, motivating and challenging the students to check the meaning of the word(s). Moreover, the future researchers are also suggested to conduct a research deeply with a similiar problem but using different research design or research subjects to improve the students’ vocabulary achievement.