IMPROVING THE FIFTH YEAR STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY ACHIEVEMENT AND THEIR ACTIVE PARTICIPATION THROUGH REAL OBJECTS AND/OR REALIA AT SDN BLINDUNGAN 1 BONDOWOSO IN THE 2011/2012 ACADEMIC YEAR

Abstract

Based on the preliminary study conducted through interview with the English teacher at SDN Blindungan 1 Bondowoso, it was known that the students still faced difficulties in learning and mastering vocabulary (in memorizing and pronouncing the words), especially the fifth year students. There were two classes of the fifth year, class V A and V B. Between those classes, it was known that class V B got the lowest score of English. It was found that only 10 students achieved the passing grade of English which was 69, while 20 students got score below 69. It could be said that only 33.3% of the students had achieved the passing grade of English. Moreover, the students’ mean score of English previous score was low, that was 59.6. The classroom action research by using real objects and/or realia was implemented in this research because this research was intended to improve the fifth year students’ vocabulary achievement and to improve their active part icipat ion in the teaching learning process of vocabulary. The research was done collaboratively with the English teacher of SDN Blindungan 1 Bondowoso. It was conducted in class V B of SDN Blindungan 1 Bondowoso consisting of 31 students. The observation and the vocabulary test were the instruments used to collect the primary data. Meanwhile, the secondary data were gained from interview and documentation. The action was implemented in two cycles in order to achieve the objectives of this classroom action research. The first cycle was done in two meetings and followed by a test. The results of the classroom observation showed that 66.67% of the students in meeting 1 and 75.86% of the students in meeting 2 were active during the teaching learning process. It showed that there was improvement of the students’ active participation from meeting 1 to meeting 2, but the average percentage of the students’ active participat ion in the first cycle was 71.27%. It means that the result of observation had not achieved the successful criterion of the research that was 75% of the students actively participated in the teaching learning process of vocabulary. In addition, the result of the vocabulary test in the first cycle had not achieved the successful criteria of the research (at least 75% of the students got score ≥ 69 and the mean score of the students’ vocabulary test was ≥ 69). The percentage of the students who got score ≥ 69 was only 20 of 31 students or 64.52% of the students and the mean score of the students’ vocabulary test was 73.66. Based on the results of the first cycle above, the second cycle was necessary to be conducted. Some revisions had been made to solve the problems found in the first cycle. The results of the classroom observation and vocabulary test in the second cycle showed an improvement. In the classroom observat ion, the students’ participation showed that 86.21% of the students in meeting 1 and 90.32% of the students in meeting 2 were actively participated in the teaching learning process. In addition, the average result of the students’ act ive participat ion was 88.27%. It means that the result of observation in the second cycle had achieved the successful criterion of the research. Meanwhile, the result of the vocabulary test in the second cycle were 27 of 31 students or 87.10% of the students could achieve 69 or higher and the mean score of the students’ vocabulary test was 92.16. Based on those results, it could be concluded that the actions in the second cycle were successful because the results of classroom observation and vocabulary achievement test achieved the objectives of the research. Finally, it can be summarized that the use of real objects and/or realia can improve the fift h year students’ vocabulary achievement and their act ive part icipat ion in the teaching learning process of vocabulary at SDN Blindungan 1 Bondowoso. By considering the results above, it is suggested that the English teacher use real objects and/or realia as an alternate media in teaching vocabulary to improve the students’ vocabulary achievement as well as their active participation, the students are suggested to increase their vocabulary through real objects and/or realia and the result of this research can be used as a source of information for the future researchers who want to conduct a further research that deals with a similar topic by using different research design, such as “The Effect of Using Real Objects and/or Realia on Vocabulary Achievement at Elementary School Level”.