IMPROVING CLASS VIII F STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY ACHIEVEMENT BY USING REAL OBJECTS AND REALIA AT SMPN 04 LUMAJANG IN THE 2010/2011 ACADEMIC YEAR

Abstract

English as one of the foreign languages should be learnt by Indonesian students as a local content at elementary schools and as a compulsory subject at secondary schools and universities. Learning English means learning the four language skills, namely speaking, listening, reading, and writing. In addition, the students should have enough vocabularies as the basic requirement to master those four language skills. Thus, vocabulary plays a very important role in language learning. Prior to the writing of this study, a preliminary study was conducted on July, 7th and 14th 2010 by interviewing the English teacher of class VIII F and by analyzing the school documents. The teacher gave information related to the students’ vocabulary achievement. Based on the vocabulary test conducted by the English teacher it was found that students in class VIII F still had difficulty in vocabulary. They were often confused with the meaning of the words or the sentences. It was proven by the percentage of students who scored 70 in vocabulary was 48. 57% or 17 students. The teachers in that school used conventional techniques, such as lecturing method, question and answer, and drilling the students with exercises and giving them assignments, like working with the students’ worksheet (LKS) in order to make their students master the vocabulary. These kinds of techniques are less challenging. Besides, they had never used real objects as the media of teaching vocabulary, but they used word card. As a result, the students lost their interest in learning. Therefore, to overcome the problem above, the writer conducted a Classroom Action Research (CAR) to the VIII F Year students of SMPN O4 Lumajang by using real objects or realia in teaching vocabulary. The main concern in this research was the use of real objects which facilitate the language learning and promote opportunities for the students to be more active in the teaching and learning process. There were four steps in the procedures of the classroom action research.They cover (1) planning the action, (2) implementing the action, (3) observing and evaluating, (4) analyzing the data and reflecting the action. These activities were conducted in each cycle. This research was set and carried out several cycles, at least two cycles. This research was conducted collaboratively with the English teacher of the eight year at SMPN 04 Lumajang. The action that would be given to the subjects in this research was teaching vocabulary by using real objects. The action was considered successful if 75% of the students had achieved the standard score of 70 and 75% of the students were active in class when vocabulary activities were being conducted. If the first cycle did not achieve the target, the action would be continued to the second cycle by revising the weaknessess found in cycle one. The action started on August 19th, 2010 and finished on September 7th, 2010. The result of this research in Cycle 1 showed 71.42% (24) of the whole students in VIII F who actively took part in learning vocabulary and the score of the students’ vocabulary achievement by using real objects in Cycle 1 was 60% (21) of the whole students who got 70. This showed that the requirement of at least 75% of the students’ active involvement in the vocabulary teaching learning process by using real objects had not been fulfilled yet. And the result of the research in Cycle 2 was 80% of the whole subjects actively took part in learning vocabulary and the score of vocabulary achievement of 85.71% (30) students in VIII F was 70. It means that the results of vocabulary achievement test in Cycle 2 achieved the target of the research. The result showed the use of real objects and realia in teaching vocabulary could improve the VIII F year students’ vocabulary achievement as well as the students’ participation during the teaching learning process of SMPN 04 Lumajang. This finding supports the theory suggested by Scott and Ytreberg (1992:108) that lesson will be much easier and much exciting for the students if the teacher uses the objects optimally to help the students understand the materials taught. In other words, real objects and realia can help the teacher deliver information to the students simply and in turn the students also understand and get the information easily because the teacher can show the objects while giving the materials to the students. This is because real objects and realia provide the students concrete and direct experience with the language especially in learning vocabulary. By considering the results of the implementation of real objects and realia in teaching vocabulary that could improve the students’ vocabulary achievement and the students’ active participation, some suggestions are proposed for the English teacher to apply real objects and realia in teaching vocabulary, for the students they are suggested to increase their vocabulary by using real objects and realia provided in their environment, and for the the other researcher to conduct another research on similar problem using different research design to develop the students’ vocabulary achievement.