TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY MASTERY USING GAMES
AT THE THIRD GRADE STUDENTS OF SD NEGERI CITEUREUP MANDIRI I
ACADEMIC YEAR 2012/2013
Karina Bunga Septianti Suganda (09220239)
e-mail : [email protected]
English Education Study Program Language and Arts Department Sekolah Tinggi Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan
(STKIP) Siliwangi Bandung
ABSTRACT
The objective of this research entitled “Teaching English Vocabulary Mastery Using Games at The Third Grade
Students of SD Negeri Citeureup Mandiri I” was to find out whether or not teaching English vocabulary using games
was effective to improve the students’ vocabulary mastery. In this research the writer used one group pretest-posttest
design and quantitative research method. The instrument of this research was vocabulary test. The population of this
research was 79 students of the third grade of SDN Citeureup Mandiri I in academic year 2012/2013 and the sample
was 40 students selected using simple random sampling technique. The data of this research was collected by giving
the vocabulary test to the students sample. The collected data was analyzed by using t-test formula. The results of
this research showed that: mean score of pretest was 58.15, mean score of posttest was 78.25, and the tobserved was 7.9.
Tcritical value with df = n-1 (40-1 = 39) and significance level at 0.05 (5%) was 1,685. Based on the data analysis above,
the alternative hypothesis of this research was accepted, because the tobserved was higher than tcritical value (1.685<7.9). It
could also be concluded that teaching English vocabulary mastery using games at third grade of SDN Citeureup
Mandiri I in academic year 2012/2013 is effective to improve the students’ vocabulary mastery.
Key Words: Teaching English, Vocabulary Mastery and Games.
This study examines the students mastering of
vocabulary through games because games have been
shown to have advantages and effectiveness in learning
vocabulary in various ways.
A. BACKGROUND
Learning English is very important, because English
has become an international language, which is used by
most communities in the world. English is also called
as the target language that has to be taught at schools in
today’s Indonesian curriculum. There are so many
approaches, methods, and techniques that can be used
by the teacher.
Based on the background above, the researcher can
formulate the problem: Can games improve the
students’ mastery of vocabulary?
The aim of this study is to find out whether there is
a significant effect of teaching English vocabulary
mastery using games towards the third grade students
of SD Negeri Citeureup Mandiri I.
One technique that was used by the teacher to
increase the students’ ability in English is Games.
According to Lewis, et al (2003:5) Games are fun and
children like to play them. Playing games is a vital and
natural part of growing up and learning. Through
games children experiment, discover, and interact with
their environment. Games add variation to a lesson and
increase motivation by providing a plausible incentive
to use the target language. In this study the writer used
hangman and treasure hunt game.
In this research, the researcher used the quantitative
method.
The study involved the third grade students at SD
Negeri Citeureup Mandiri I with the total population 79
students but the writer used 40 sample students.
1
2
meanings, or whether they are difficult to
pronounce.
B. LITERATURE REVIEW
1. Teaching Vocabulary
Teaching English vocabulary is integrated into the
four skills of the language. It means that vocabulary
holds significant role in mastery of the four skills of the
language. In the teaching of English or any foreign
language, teaching vocabulary is one of the important
aspects because the unlimited number of vocabulary in
a language. Teaching vocabulary should be presented
interactively in teaching of the four language skills.
Nation (1990:1) states that there are four ways that
can be used in teaching vocabulary. They are:
1. Material is prepared with vocabulary learning as a
consideration. This step means the preparation of
simple materials and the careful graded of the first
lesson of learning English.
2. Words are dealing with as they happen to occur.
This means unknown words that appear.
3. A vocabulary problem is taught in connection with
other language activities, for example, the
vocabulary deals with the learners who have known
before.
4. Time is spent either in class or out of class where
vocabulary is studied without an immediate
connection with some other language activities.
2. How to Present Vocabulary in the Classroom
According to Decarico (2001:288) new words
should not be presented in isolation and should not be
learnt by simple rote memorization. It is important that
new vocabulary items be presented in contexts rich
enough to provide clues to meaning and that students
be given multiple exposure to items they should lean.
Exercise and activity include learning words in words
association list, focusing on highlighted words in texts
and playing vocabulary games.
According to Thornbury (2008:75) there is the
question of how many words to present. This will
depend on the following factors :
1.
The level of learners
intermediate or advanced).
(whether
beginners,
2. The learners likely familiarity with the words
(learners may have met the words before even
though they are not part of their active vocabulary).
3. The difficulty of the items – whether, for example,
they express abstract rather than concentrate
4. Their ‘teach ability’ – whether, for example, they
can be easily explained or demonstrated.
5. Whether items are being learned for production (in
speaking and writing) or for recognition only (as in
listening and reading). Since more time will be
needed for the former, the number of items is likely
to be fewer than if the aim is only recognition.
3. Teaching English Vocabulary Using Games
Teaching vocabulary is one of important things in
teaching English. By using successful techniques when
learn new vocabulary, students will find the words
which is easier to remember and will motivated them in
class. Vocabulary is words that are arranged to be used
by people in order to express their feelings and ideas.
In learning Vocabulary, students need to repeat the
vocabulary which they learn in the mind. One of
effective ways in teaching process in class, especially
to enrich students’ vocabularies is using games.
There are so many games for teaching English
vocabulary but the writer only used two games. They
are hangman and treasure hunt game.
1. Teaching English Vocabulary Using Hangman
Game
Hang man is a game that the student played on
groups. The student must memorize the word about
everything. After that, teacher devided the student into
two groups, the student must guess the word. “ Is that
A,I,U, etc” and if the word they guess false, teacher
make the picture people hang on the board.
According to Ward (2005:55) hangman is a great
way for kids to practice their spelling, pronunciation,
improve their vocabulary, and have fun at the same
time.
2. Teaching English Vocabulary Using Treasure
Hunt Game
Treasure hunt/scavenger hunt game is a game in
which the organizers (teacher) prepare a list defining
specific items, which the participants, individuals or
teams seek to gather all items (treasure hunt) on the
list.
3
According to Marlene (2007:5) treasure hunt can be
played as individuals or teams competing for time. But
in this study we play this game in group. Each group
must find a correct picture of the treasure (vocabulary)
list that the teacher gave to each group. The one of
member of team read aloud about the treasure list and
the other member must find a correct picture then
there’s a time limit for students to find the pictures.
The advantages of using this game in the classroom
are: it could improve student’s vocabulary mastery,
communication and cooperating skill, encourage
students to think, interact and communicate.
C. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
form and essay. The material for evaluating is about
the parts of body and things in the classroom.
The population of this research was 79 students of
the third grade of SDN Citeureup Mandiri I in
academic year 2012/2013 and the sample was 40
students selected by using simple random sampling
technique. With this sampling technique, every student
has an opportunity for being a sample. So the writer
selected 40 students randomly among 79 students.
To get vocabulary data of the students’ vocabulary
mastery, the writer used questions related with the
material has given in the process of learning through
games in the class. It is done to know the improving of
the students English vocabulary mastery after using
treatment by games.
1. Research Design
D. RESEARCH FINDING AND DISCUSSION
The design of this research, the writer used the preexperimental. In the pre-experimental method, only
one group of subjects observed, subjects were bot
randomly designed, one type of pre-experiment design
was called one group pre-test post-test design. So the
writer just took one class for the research.
In this research, one group pre-test post-test design
was applied. To know to improvement of students’
vocabulary mastery, the scores of pre-test and post-test
were compared. If the result of the post-test after the
treatment is higher than the pre-test, the treatment can
improve the students’ vocabulary mastery.
The research design is as follow:
T1 x T2
Notes:
T1 : Pre-test
T2 : Post-test
X
: Treatment
(Hatch and Farhady : 1982:20)
2. Research Method
This research uses the quantitative method.
The instrument for data collection is written test that
consist of 30 questions, they are multiple choice, match
1. Data Analysis
Before calculating the data, the following are the
data of the score obtained from the pretest. They are
displayed in the table below.
Table 1. The Score of Students Pre-test without Games
No
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
Name
S
AM
AL
BG
CA
DJ
DA
DP
EA
EF
FR
FF
FS
IM
MO
ME
MR
Score
56
66
58
48
50
58
60
58
48
62
52
50
74
76
66
42
50
4
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
MR
MI
MS
N
NA
PH
R
R
RW
RR
RA
RS
RN
RK
R
SA
SM
SA
SP
S
SN
TA
T
N=40
72
72
60
60
46
40
64
58
38
48
74
64
54
48
52
76
66
64
50
64
42
68
72
Total=
2326
X = 58, 15
The table score above show that the students’ score
still there are many students get low score in pretest
score. It means that the students’ ability in English
vocabulary mastery is still low.
Below is the table that shows the students’ score of
posttest.
Table 2. The Score of Students Post-test with Games
No
1
2
3
4
5
Name
S
AM
AL
BG
CA
Score
78
87
83
80
75
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
N=40
DJ
DA
DP
EA
EF
FR
FF
FS
IM
MO
ME
MR
MR
MI
MS
N
NA
PH
R
R
RW
RR
RA
RS
RN
RK
R
SA
SM
SA
SP
S
SN
TA
T
80
70
70
93
74
80
72
82
97
70
74
70
77
87
77
97
66
65
90
75
60
80
87
83
87
74
82
83
73
78
77
70
74
80
73
Total=
3130
X = 78,25
5
The table of posttest score above show that the
students’ achievements get increasing, because the
posttest score is higher than pretest score. It means
that the students are more understand than before the
treatment.
2. Data Calculation
Below is comparison data score pre-test and posttest.
Table 3. The Comparison Score pre-test and post-test
No
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
Name
S
AM
AL
BG
CA
DJ
DA
DP
EA
EF
FR
FF
FS
IM
MO
ME
MR
MR
MI
MS
N
NA
PH
R
R
RW
RR
RA
RS
pretest postest
56
66
58
48
50
58
60
58
48
62
52
50
74
76
66
42
50
72
72
60
60
46
40
64
58
38
48
74
64
78
87
83
80
75
80
70
70
93
74
80
72
82
97
70
74
70
77
87
77
97
66
65
90
75
60
80
87
83
D
22
21
25
32
25
22
10
12
45
12
28
22
8
21
4
32
20
5
15
17
37
20
25
26
17
22
32
13
19
D2
484
441
625
1024
625
484
100
144
2025
144
784
484
64
441
16
1024
400
25
225
289
1369
400
625
676
289
484
1024
169
361
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
RN
RK
R
SA
SM
SA
SP
S
SN
TA
T
54
48
52
76
66
64
50
64
42
68
72
Total=
2326
87
74
82
83
73
78
77
70
74
80
73
Total=
3130
X=
58, 15
X=
78,25
33
26
30
7
7
14
27
6
32
12
1
∑D=
804
1089
676
900
49
49
196
729
36
1024
144
1
∑D²=2
0138
N=40
a. Standard Deviation
To calculate standard deviation, the writer used the
following formula :
SD
=
=
=
=
=
= 10
6
b. Standard Error
2. Suggestion
To calculate standard error, the writer used the
following formula :
The writer would like to put forward some
suggestions that may be useful for the teachers
especially the English teachers they are; teacher should
be able to increase the students motivation in teaching
English, teacher must be more creative in choosing the
technique and giving materials in order to make the
students happier in learning process.
SD = SD
= 10
=
10 = 1,6
6,3
F. BIBLIOGRAPHY
c. T-test
To calculate t-test, the writer used the following
formula :
t = X1 – X2 =
58,15 – 78,25
SD
1,6
= 58,15 – 78,25 = -12,6
1,6
Decarico, J. (3rd ed.) (2001). Vocabulary learning and
teaching in Marianne Celce-Murcia (Ed.),
Teaching English as a Foreign Language, Pp.
285-299. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
Lewis, G. et al. (2003). Games for children. : New
York: Oxford University Press.
= -7,9
1,6
Then in order to complete the result of this research,
the writer tried to find out the degree of freedom ( df )
with the formula:
df = N – 1 = 40 – 1 = 39
Marlene, F. (2007). Treasure Hunt. America: Celtic
Marketing.
Nation, I.S.P. (1990). Teaching and learning
vocabulary. Retrieved March 5th, 2013, from
www.baleap.org.uk/pimreports/2003/warwick/u
h_intro.htm-10k.
Based on the table, df 39 at significant level of 0.05
(5%) are:
1. The significant level of 5 % , t-table = 1.685
2. The level of t-observation = 7.9
E. CONCLUTION AND SUGGESTION
1. Conclusion
Based on the result of the analysis of the data, it was
put found that the mean score of posttest is higher than
the mean score of pretest. That is, the average score of
the pretest is 58,15 , while the average score for
posttest is 78,25. The gain score between the mean of
pretest and posttest is 20,1. t-observed is 7.9 which is
higher than t-table (1.685<7.9) at the significance level
of 0.05% (5%). so, the null hypothesis is rejected. It
means that English teaching through games technique
is effective in improving students’ vocabulary mastery,
and the experiment method is accepted.
Thornbury, S. (2008). How to teach vocabulary.
Edinburgh: Longman.
Richards, J. & Theodore, S. R. (1996). Approach and
method in language teaching. Cambridge
Unversity Press.
Hatch, E. & H Farhady. 1982. Resarch design and
sttistics for applied linguistics. Cambrirdge :
Newbury House Publisher.
Ward, M. (2005). Scratch & solve hangman #1. New
York: Sterling Publishing.