IMPROVING THE CLASS VII STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY ACHIEVEMENT THROUGH FLASHCARDS AT SMP PLUS ROUDLOTUL ISLAM KEMUNING LOR – ARJASA IN THE 2011/2012 ACADEMIC YEAR

Abstract

This Classroom Action Research was intended to improve the class VII students’ vocabulary achievement through flashcards at SMP Plus Roudlotul Islam Kemuning Lor - Ajasa in the 2011/2012 Academic year. This research was begun with conducting semi-structured interview with the English teacher of the class VII students of SMP Plus Roudlotul Islam Kemuning Lor – Ajasa. It was known that the class VII students of SMP Plus Roudlotul Islam Kemuning Lor – Ajasa had problems in understanding the English lesson and the English text because they were lack of vocabulary and did not know the meaning of the words. It was shown by the percentage of the students who got good score category ( ≥70) on vocabulary which was 54.5%. This classroom action research was done in collaboration with the English teacher by adapting the model of action research from Lewin, as quoted by Elliot (1991:70) with a sequence of steps namely the planning of the action, the implementation of the action, the class observation and evaluation, and the data analysis and reflection. This research was carried out in two cycles, each of which was conducted in two meetings. The primary data was about the students’ vocabulary achievement collected by administering vocabulary test and class observation by using observation checklist. The criteria used to evaluate the success of the actions were: 1) The mean score of the vocabulary test in each cycle was at least 70 and 75% of the students got at least good score category (≥70) in the vocabulary test, and 2) 75% of the students participated actively in the vocabulary teaching learning process in every meeting. The result of the mean score (M) of the students’ vocabulary test in Cycle 1 was 71.02 but the percentage of the students who got scores at least 70 were 68.18%. Moreover, the result of observation in the first meeting of Cycle 1 showed that there were 14 of 22 students (63.6%) actively participated in the vocabulary teaching learning process. Meanwhile, in the second meeting, there were 16 of 22 students (72.7%) actively participated in the vocabulary teaching learning process by using flashcards. It showed that this research had not fulfilled the criteria of the success of the action. Therefore, the actions in cycle 2 were needed to be conducted in order to improve the students’ vocabulary achievement. The result of the actions in Cycle 2 showed the improvement. It was indicated by the mean score (M) of the students’ vocabulary test that was 76.82 and the percentage of the students who got scores at least 70 was 77.27%. It was higher than the one in cycle I. Besides, the result of observation in the first meeting of Cycle 2 showed that there were 17 students of 22 students (77.27%) who were actively participated in the vocabulary teaching learning process. While in the second meeting, there were 19 students (86.36%) who were categorized as active. It means that all the target evaluation criteria had been achieved. In other words, the actions done in this cycle had been successful. Based on the research result, it could be concluded that the use of flashcards could improve the students’ vocabulary achievement and their active participation in the teaching learning process since flashcards could activate the students’ photographic memory and stimulate their visual memory. Besides, flashcards could gain the students’ interest to pay attention on the lesson and they could stimulate the students’ mind to quickly look for references to identify the flashed images. So that’s why flashcards were ideal to use as educational games. Therefore, the English teacher was suggested to use flashcards as alternative media to motivate the students in learning English vocabulary in the classroom. Besides, the students were suggested to be more active in the teaching learning process in the classroom in order to improve their vocabulary achievement. The researcher also expects that the result of the research can give valuable information to other researchers as the input or a reference to conduct a further research either with the same or different research design, like an experimental research on the effect of flashcards on the students’ vocabulary achievement.