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IMPROVING STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY MASTERY THROUGH
GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS
(An Action Research at Fifth Grade of SD Negeri Kentingan No.79
Surakarta in Academic Year 2010/2011)
Written by:
Titik Purwoningsih
K2206010
Thesis
Presented as Partial Requirements for the Undergraduate Degree of
Education in Teacher Training and Education Faculty of
Sebelas Maret University
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION FACULTY
SEBELAS MARET UNIVERSITY
SURAKARTA
2011
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ABSTRACT
Titik Purwoningsih. K2206010. “Improving Students’ Vocabulary
Mastery through Graphic Organizers (An Action Research at Fifth Grade of SD
Negeri Kentingan No.79 Surakarta in Academic Year 2010/2011.” A Thesis.
Surakarta. Teacher Training and Education Faculty, Sebelas Maret University,
2011.
This thesis is written 1) to know whether graphic organizers can improve
students’ vocabulary mastery 2) to know the participation of the students in
teaching learning vocabulary by using graphic organizers and 3) to know the
students’ interest in teaching learning vocabulary by using graphic organizers at
the fifth grade students of SD Negeri Kentingan No.79 Surakarta.
The research was conducted in two cycles from July 30th until October 29th
2010 at the fifth grade students of SD Negeri Kentingan No. 79 Surakarta. The
techniques in collecting the data are qualitative and quantitative method. In the
qualitative method, the researcher uses observation and questionnaire. In the
quantitative method, the researcher uses tests. The test consists of the pre-test and
post-test. The technique to analyze the test result is by comparing the mean score
of pre-test and post-test.
The results of this research show that graphic organizers can improve
students’ vocabulary mastery. First, the improvement can be seen from the
differences between the pre-test and post-test. In the pre-test, the mean of the
students’ score is 41. 48 while in the first post-test the mean of the students’ score
is 67. 15 and the mean score of second post-test is 79. 81. Second, from the
participation of the students in the classroom during the research. In the first
meeting in cycle 1, the participation of 15 students (45.45 %) is enough and the
participation of 18 students (54. 55 %) is still low. In the second meeting in cycle
1, the participation of 5 students (15. 15 %) is still low, the participation of 25
students (75. 75 %) is enough and the participation of 3 students (9. 10 %) is
good. In the first meeting in cycle 2, the participation of 24 students (72. 73%) is
enough and the participation of 9 students (27. 27 %) is good. In second meeting
in cycle 2, the participation of 12 students (36. 36%) is enough and the
participation of 21 students (63. 64 %) is good. Third, the improvement can be
known through the students’ interest. They are more enthusiastic during teaching
learning process. They are more active than before. There are so many students
who raise their hands to answer the question on the whiteboard or oral answer.
When they do the tasks, many of them can finish the exercise quickly. They also
like having discussion with their friends.
The result of the research implies that English teachers need to choose the
appropriate technique in teaching vocabulary. The appropriate technique to teach
vocabulary is graphic organizers.
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ABSTRAK
Titik Purwoningsih. K2206010. MENINGKATKAN PENGUASAAN
VOCABULARY
SISWA
MELALUI
GRAFIK
ORGANIZERS
(PENELITIAN TINDAKAN KELAS TERHADAP SISWA-SISWI KELAS V
SD NEGERI KENTINGAN NO. 79 SURAKARTA TAHUN AKADEMIK
2010/2011). Skripsi. Surakarta. Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan,
Universitas Sebelas Maret, 2011.
Skripsi ini ditulis untuk 1) mengetahui apakah grafik organizers dapat
meningkatkan penguasaan kosa kata bahasa Inggris siswa 2) mengetahui partisipasi
siswa dalam pembelajaran vocabulary dan 3) mengetahui minat siswa dalam
pembelajaran vocabulary menggunakan grafik organizers.
Penelitian ini dilaksanakan pada 30 Juli 2010 s/d 29 Oktober 2010 melalui 2
siklus di SD N Kentingan No. 79 Surakarta. Metode yang digunakan dalam
pengumpulan data adalah kualitatif ( observasi dan angket) dan kuantitatif (pre test
dan post test). Teknik yang digunakan dalam menganalisis hasil tes yaitu dengan
membandingan nilai pre test dan post test.
Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa grafik organizers dapat meningkatkan
pengusaan vocabulary siswa. Pertama, peningkatan tersebut dapat dilihat dari
perbedaan nilai rata-rata pre tes dan post tes. Nilai rata-rata pre test yakni 41. 48
sedangkan pada post tes 1 nilai rata-ratanya 67. 15, dan 79. 81 pada post tes 2.
Kemudian, adanya peningkatan partisipasi siswa. Pada pertemuan pertama saat
siklus pertama berlangsung, 15 siswa (45.45 %) cukup berpartisipasi dan 18 siswa
partisipasinya sangat rendah. Pada pertemuan kedua siklus pertama, 5 siswa (15.
15 %) partisipasinya rendah, 25 siswa (75. 75 %) cukup berpartisipasi, dan 3
siswa berpartisipasi baik saat pelajaran. Pada pertemuan pertama siklus ke 2,
sebanyak 24 siswa (72. 73%) cukup berpartisipasi dan 9 siswa (27. 27 %) sudah
berpartisipasi dengan baik. Pada pertemuan kedua siklus kedua 12 siswa (36.
36%) cukup berpartisipasi dan 21 siswa (63. 64 %) sudah berpartisipasi dengan
baik. Ketiga, peningkatan yang terjadi bisa diketahui melalui minat siswa terhadap
kelas vocabulary. Mereka lebih antusias selama proses belajar mengajar. Mereka
juga lebih aktif dari sebelumnya. Banyak siswa yang bersedia untuk menjawab
pertanyaan di papan tulis maupun menjawab secara langsung. Saat mengerjakan
latihan soal, banyak dari mereka yang bisa menyelesaikan latihan dengan cepat.
Mereka juga menyukai diskusi dengan teman-temannya.
Berdasarkan temuan di atas, dapat ditarik kesimpulan guru bahasa Inggris
harus memilih teknik yang tepat untuk mengajar vocabulary. Teknik yang tepat untuk
mengajar vocabulary adalah grafik organizers.
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MOTTO
“If there is a will, there is a way”
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DEDICATION
With love, this research is devoted to:
1. My beloved mother and father, Turipah and Karnoto
(alm),
2. My
precious
grandpa
and
grandma,
Ta’ali,
Sardinah, Sukhemi and Rasmin.
3. My understanding and supportive sweetheart,
Ahmad Junaidi,
4. My delightful aunts and uncle, Nanik, Diyah, Uum
and Cahyo.
5. My dear sister,Tasya,
6. And my charming friends from English Department
’06.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Alhamdulillahirabbil’alamin. Praise and thank to God the Almighty for his
blessing to the writer so that she can accomplish the writing of this thesis. In this
occasion she would like to express her deepest gratitude and appreciation to the
following:
1. Prof. Furqon Hidayatullah, M.Pd as the Dean of Teacher Training and
Education Faculty of Sebelas Maret University who approved this thesis.
2. Drs. Martono, M.A as the Head of English Department who gave her
permission to write the thesis.
3. Drs. Siswantoro, M. Hum as the first consultant and Drs. A. Handoko
Pudjobroto, who patienly gave her the guidance, advice, encouragement
and time from beginning up to the completion of this thesis writing.
4. The lectures in English Department.
5. Yuni Trihastuti, S.Pd. M.Pd. as the Headmaster of SD Negeri Kentingan
No. 79 Surakarta.
6. Bibit, A.MA as the collaborative English teacher for his help.
7. The fifth grade students of SD Negeri Kentingan No. 79 , Surakarta.
8. Novientiers, who always cheer her up when she is down: Pita, Mery, Utik,
Nana, Ita, Ninis, Ayuk, Chika, Pipin, etc.
9. Her motivators: Tiwi, Indah, Risty, Nanik, Wiwit.
10. Her beloved friends in English Department of year 2006 who cannot be
mentioned one by one.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE ….......................................................................................................... i
ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………….... ii
ABSTRAK ………………………………………………………………….. iii
THE APPROVAL OF THE CONSULTANTS……………………………… iv
THE APPROVAL OF THE BOARD EXAMINERS……………………….. v
MOTTO ……………………………………………………………………… vi
DEDICATION ……………………………………………………………….
vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT …………………………………………………… viii
TABLE OF CONTENT………………………………………………………
ix
LISTS OF APPENDICES……………………………………………………
xii
LISTS OF TABLES ………………………………………………………… ..xiii
LISTS OF PICTURES……………………………………………………….
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II
xiv
INTRODUCTION ................................................................
1
A. Background of the Study ...............................................
1
B. Problem Limitation ........................................................
5
C. Problem Statements ........................................................
6
D. The Objectives of the Study ……………………………
6
E. The Benefit of the Study ……………………………….
7
THEORITICAL REVIEW.....................................................
8
A. Vocabulary Mastery ..........................................................
8
1. The Definition of Vocabulary Mastery.........................
8
2. The Importance of Teaching Vocabulary ..................... 10
3. Word Classification…………………………………… 10
4. Active Vocabulary vs. Passive vocabulary…………… 17
5. The Various Techniques in Teaching Vocabulary……. 17
B. Graphic Organizers ........................................................... 22
1. The Definition of Graphic Organizers ......................... 22
2. The Kinds of Graphic Organizers................................. 23
3. The Benefits of Graphic Organizers ............................. 31
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C. Teaching Vocabulary through Graphic Organizers ……... 33
1. Vocabulary Words Out of Context …………………… 33
2. Vocabulary Words n Context …………………………. 34
D. Motivation
1. The Definition of Motivation ………………………….. 35
2. The Type of Motivation ……………………………….. 36
3. The Characteristic of Motivated Students …………….. 36
E. Basic Assumption ............................................................. 37
F. Hypothesis ......................................................................... 38
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .......................................... 39
A. Place and Time of the Research ....................................... 39
B. The Subject and the Object of the Research ..................... 39
C. Method of Research........................................................... 39
1. The Nature of Action Research .................................... 39
2. The Model of action Research ..................................... 41
3. The Procedures of Action Research ………………….
43
D. Technique of Collecting Data …………………………… 45
E. Technique of Analyzing Data …………………………… 46
CHAPTER IV RESEARCH FINDING AND DISCUSSION ........................ 47
A. Research Finding .............................................................. 47
1. Cycle 1.......................................................................... 47
a. Pre Research ............................................................ 47
b. Planning .................................................................. 51
c. Action ...................................................................... 52
d. Observation .............................................................. 54
e. Reflection................................................................. 59
2. Cycle 2 ......................................................................... 60
a. Revised Plan ............................................................ 60
b. Action ...................................................................... 62
c. Observation ............................................................. 64
d. Reflection................................................................. 66
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3. Findings………………………………………………
67
a. Test Data………………………………………….. 66
b. Non-Test Data…………………………………….. 68
B. Discussion ........................................................................ 69
C. Hypothesis Testing ............................................................ 71
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION..................................... 72
A. Conclusion ........................................................................ 72
B. Suggestion ......................................................................... 73
BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................... 75
APPENDICES ................................................................................................. 77
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LIST OF APPENDICES
1. Research Schedule ………………………………………………………… 78
2. Pre Research Observation ………………………………………………… 79
3. Lesson Plan ……………………………………………………………….. 83
4. The Grade of the Participation of the Students in Learning Vocabulary … 116
5. Pre-Test, Post-Test 1, and Post Test 2 …………………………………… 125
6. Samples of Students’ Works …………………………………………….. 135
7. Answer Key ……………………………………………………………… 141
8. Test Blue Print …………………………………………………………...
147
9. List of Students of Fifth Grade of Sd Negeri Kentingan ………………..
149
10. List of Students Score …………………………………………………..
150
11. Questionnaire …………………………………………………………… 151
12. Letters of Permission ……………………………………………………
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LIST OF TABLE
1.
Table 4.1 Pre Research Schedule.............................................................. 48
2.
Table 4.2 The Research of Pre-Test.......................................................... 50
3.
Table 4.3 The Schedule of First Cycle...................................................... 52
4.
Table 4.4 The Observer’s Comments in Cycle 1 ...................................... 55
5.
Table 4.5 The Grade of the Participation of the Students in - Learning
Vocabulary................................................................................................ 58
6.
Table 4. 6 The Comparison between Pre-test and Post-test 1 Result ..... 58
7.
Table 4. 7 The Schedule of Second Cycle ................................................ 62
8.
Table 4. 8 The Observer’s Comments in Cycle 2 ..................................... 64
9.
Table 4.9 The Grade of the Participation of the Students in - Learning
Vocabulary................................................................................................ 65
10. Table 4. 10 The Comparison between Post-test 1 and Post-test 2
Result ........................................................................................................ 66
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LIST OF PICTURES
1.
Picture 2.1 Star Diagrams ........................................................................ 24
2.
Picture 2.2 Spider Diagrams .................................................................... 25
3.
Picture 2.3 Fish Bone Diagrams ............................................................... 26
4.
Picture 2.4 Word Box ............................................................................... 27
5.
Picture 2.5 Cluster Diagrams .................................................................... 28
6.
Picture 2.6 Tree Diagrams ........................................................................ 28
7.
Pictures 2.7 Chain Diagrams..................................................................... 30
8.
Picture 3.1 Action Research Spiral (Kemmis & McTaggart) ................... 41
9.
Picture 3.2 The Scheme of Action Research............................................. 42
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Nowadays, teaching English is popular in Indonesia. As everybody knows,
English is the first foreign language that is taught in formal school starting from
the elementary school until university. So, Teaching English from the very
beginning is a good choice. Many reasons promote the teachers introducing
English at an early age. Firstly, the learners are keen and enthusiastic during
teaching learning process. Brumfit (1995: VI) states that young learners have
more opportunities than adults. They are learning all time without having worries
and responsibilities of adults. Their parents, friends, and teachers all help them in
learning. Secondly, teaching English in early age is very useful to prepare the
students in entering the secondary level. The students who begin early are usually
much further along in high school and in college. They will be already familiar
with English and they will understand and they can implement it as well as
possible. Thirdly, it is useful to face globalization era. In globalization era, the
people are demanded to use English for communication. So, it will be better if
young learners can master English at an early age.
In the elementary school curriculum, English is included as a local
content. So, it is optional to the school to teach this subject or not as what is stated
in the Elementary Education Curriculum: pelajaran bahasa Inggris tidak di
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wajibkan di sekolah dasar, melainkan sebagai Muatan Lokal. (GBPP Muatan
Lokal SD Bahasa Inggris: 1995.p.1).
However, most of elementary schools decide to teach it. Even in some
private kindergartens, English is included in their curriculum and in some private
elementary schools it is thought from the first grade.
The aims of teaching English to Elementary School students are that the
students are expected to have the language competence covering pronunciation,
vocabulary, writing, structure and culture awareness. The students are then
expected to have the skills to use the language in a simple form.
Muatan pelajaran Bahasa Inggris diajarkan kepada siswa dengan harapan
siswa memiliki:
1. Kemampuan (language competente) yang mencakup unsur-unsur tata
bunyi, kosa kata, tata bahasa dan tata budaya.
2. Keterampilan menggunakan (language performance) unsur-unsur
diatas tersebut dalam bentuk sederhana.
(GBPP muatan local SD Bahasa Inggris: 1995.p.2)
Meanwhile, vocabulary is one of the subjects taught when students are
learning a language. Dale and O’Rourke (1971) state that vocabulary development
is conceptual development, a basic educational aim of any school or college. A
study of vocabulary is still going on and will never stop and it is not limited on its
knowledge as word and meaning but also its instruction to students from the
earliest grade to the highest one.
Vocabulary according to Hatch and Brown (1995:1) is the term of
vocabulary refers to a list or set of words that individual speakers of language
might use. It is required in all kind of language skills covering listening, speaking,
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reading, and writing. It is also the basic step to learn English in written form as
well as spoken form. The experience of most language course is vocabulary. No
matter how well the students learns grammar, no matter how successful the
sounds of L2 are mastered, without words to express a wide range of meanings,
communication in an L2 just can not happen in any meaningful way.
As everybody knows that students have difficulties when they study
vocabulary, so the teachers should pay attention to find appropriate or good
methods in teaching vocabulary. It is important for teachers to have a command of
the knowledge based on teaching and that research is valuable resource to guide
teaching practices. Furthermore, she explains that teachers can become
researchers for the purpose of improving their teaching and learning environments
in their classrooms.
One of the techniques in teaching vocabulary is by using graphic
organizers. Ellington (2006) states that graphic organizers are visual and spatial
displays designed to facilitate the teaching and learning of textual material.
Graphic organizers actually have the power and potential to enhance the learning
ability of students in all age groups. Because the use of visual learning tools is
becoming widespread, the introduction of graphic organizers from an early age
has been pushed as a means of facilitating familiarity with these extremely
effective tools as early as possible.
Graphic organizers aid in learning across all subjects by nature, and the
processes involved with them are actually applicable in a myriad of different uses.
However, the true effectiveness of these graphic organizers actually lies in the
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ability of the teachers, as it is their responsibility to show students how to
efficiently make use of them.
When used in effective ways, graphic organizers have a great amount of
potential for fostering learning in a variety of different areas in education. The
most prevalent educational areas that are positively affected by the effectiveness
of graphic organizers are comprehension, reading and vocabulary knowledge. A
number of studies have been conducted that indicate that graphic organizers have
the ability to improve reading and vocabulary knowledge and understanding
exponentially.
This is because the child is not only being required to read a bunch of
words, but instead is being allowed to learn the importance or lack of importance
of these words in order to attain increased clarity about them.
However, based on the observation, the writer found that the vocabulary
test scores of the fifth grade students of Sekolah Dasar Negeri Kentingan No.79
Surakarta are still low. So, the writer assumes that the students’ vocabulary
mastery needs improvement. While from the interview with the teacher, the writer
knows that he seldom uses graphic organizers in his teaching.
Based on the description above, the writer in her thesis decides to make an
action research to improve the vocabulary mastery of the fifth grade students of
Sekolah Dasar Negeri Kentingan No. 79 Surakarta by using one of the techniques
in teaching vocabulary. In this case, the writer tries to use graphic organizer. The
research is entitled “Improving Students’ Vocabulary Mastery through
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Graphic Organizers (An Action Research at Fifth Grade of SD Negeri
Kentingan No.79 Surakarta in Academic Year 2010/2011).”
B. Problem Limitation
The writer is fully aware that it is impossible for her to cope with all
problems. She will get difficulties to handle the study consisting of so many
complicated problems. Therefore, she has to limit the problems on how to
improve vocabulary mastery (passive vocabulary) of the fifth grade students
through graphic organizers (stars diagrams, spider map, and word boxes) in SD
Negeri Kentingan No.79 Surakarta in 2010/2011 academic year.
C. Problem Statements
The problems can be formulated as follows:
1. Can graphic organizers improve students’ vocabulary mastery at the fifth
grade students of SD Negeri Kentingan No.79 Surakarta?
2. How do the fifth grade students of SD Negeri Kentingan No.79 Surakarta
participate in teaching learning vocabulary by using graphic organizers?
3. How is the students’ interest in teaching learning vocabulary by using graphic
organizers at the fifth grade students of SD Negeri Kentingan No.79
Surakarta?
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D. The Objectives of the Study
The study aims at finding the answer to the questions stated in the problem
statement. Therefore, the objectives of the study are:
1. To know whether graphic organizers can improve students’ vocabulary
mastery at the fifth grade students of SD Negeri Kentingan No.79 Surakarta.
2. To know the participation of the students in teaching learning vocabulary by
using graphic organizers.
3. To know the students’ interest in teaching learning vocabulary by using
graphic organizers at the fifth grade students of SD Negeri Kentingan No.79
Surakarta.
E. The Benefit of the Study
The research result is expected to be able to give some benefits to several
sides, they are:
1. Teacher
It is expected that the teachers become more creative in selecting the suitable
techniques or methods to teach vocabulary. Here, teaching vocabulary using
graphic organizers may become one of the choices.
2. Students
It is expected that the result of this research can give some advantages to the
students at fifth grade of SD Negeri Kentingan No.79 Surakarta. Through
graphic organizers students are expected to have a good improvement in
vocabulary and behavioral change during the teaching learning process.
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3. School
Through this research, it is expected that the information can be useful input
for teaching English in SD Negeri Kentingan No.79 Surakarta and it is hoped
that the school is able to improve its quality of teaching learning process.
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CHAPTER II
THEORITICAL REVIEW
A. Vocabulary Mastery
1. Description of Vocabulary Mastery
Vocabulary mastery consists of two words “vocabulary and “mastery”. It
is important to know the definition of vocabulary at first. Talking about
vocabulary, there is a general perception that vocabulary is always related to
words and dictionary. There are some definitions of vocabularies. Allen (1983:2)
states that vocabulary is a large number of words. While according to Coady and
Huckin (1997:5) in the Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition, it is stated that
vocabulary is central to language and words are of critical importance to the
typical language learner. Hatch and Brown (1995:1) state that the term of
vocabulary refers to a list or set of words that individual speakers of language
might use. While according Hornby (1995:p.1131) vocabulary defined as number
of words in a language. The other ideas comes from Penny Ur (1996:60) who
states that vocabulary can be defined, roughly, as the words people teach in the
foreign language. However, a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single
word: for example, post office and mother in law, which are made up of two or
three words but express a single idea. There are also multi word idioms.
Supporting
the
previous
definitions,
we
found
in
http://www.
yourdictionary.com/vocab that vocabulary is all the words known and used by a
particular person and often phrases, usually arranged alphabetically and defined or
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translated; a lexicon or glossary. However, the words known and used by a
particular person do not constitute all the words a person is exposed to. From the
definitions above it concluded that the meaning of vocabulary in this study is a
number of words which are students should know so that they can understand and
master the words, sentences, or the text completely.
Meanwhile, according to Webster (1981:1930), mastery is the position or
display of skill or technique. In addition, it is stated in Oxford Learner’s
dictionary that mastery is great skill or knowledge which people understand
something completely.
So, vocabulary mastery is a great skill to understand the set of words
completely that usually taught in a foreign language course.
Thornbury (2002: 27) declares some factors why learning vocabulary is
rather difficult for second language learner. If those factors are fulfilled, someone
can be said that he or she has achieved the vocabulary mastery. The example is
when an Indonesian student has an English subject at school and it is the second
language for her or him. She or he can not understand the lesson easily. It is
because she or he should know the appropriate word, how to spell, how to
pronunce, what’s the meaning, etc to express the idea of the subject. Here,
Thornbury says that the factors come from the word’s aspects such pronunciation,
spelling, length and complexity, grammar, meaning, and range, connotation and
idiomatic are the indicators in vocabulary mastery.
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2. The Importance of Teaching Vocabulary
Vocabulary is very important. Without mastering or understanding a
certain number of vocabularies, it will be hard to master the language. For
example: vocabulary from which a sentence is formed often makes students
confuse and misinterpret the proposed meaning or message. This can happen
when most of words that are really strange for the students to grasp their meaning.
Although only a few words arise in the sentence, however if they are the key
words the students will find it difficult to understand them. As a result, they will
fail in comprehending the idea. In this case, students are demanded to learn
vocabulary seriously and productively. This learning can involve the growth of
either receptive or expressive vocabulary in general language development.
Furthermore, Coady and Huckin (1997:5) who state” vocabulary is central
to language and of critical importance to the typical language learner.” Moreover,
Coady and Huckin add, “No text comprehension is possible either in one’s native
language or in a foreign language without understanding the text vocabulary”
(1997:20). It means that vocabulary is an important role in teaching language.
With more vocabulary, it will give easiness for the learner in understanding and
using language.
3. Word Classification
Considering the previous description of vocabulary, we find out that
vocabulary deals with a list or set of words in a language. However, words can be
classified based on their functional categories. There are content words and
function words. Content words have semantic qualities that can be describe. The
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classifications include nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. In addition, there are
pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions, articles, and demonstratives which are
typically called function words. The meanings of these words show how we are to
determine relations between words in utterances.
The classification will be discussed as follows:
a. Content Words
1) Nouns
In a grammar class, students may have learned that a noun refers to a
person, place, or thing. However, nouns based on functional approach can have
some semantics roles such as agents, patients, dative, benefactive, instrumental,
recipient, and locative. Nouns as agents mean that they can carry out action. For
instance, “Titik biked to Bahama.” Nouns as patients mean that they can receive
actions carried out by others. For example, “Titik crashed her bike.” Nouns can be
dative when nouns affected by state of action. For example, “Titik felt so
frustrated.” Noun can be benefactive, for whom something is done. For example,
“I changed the bike tire for Titik.” Nouns can be instrumental in helping to
complete an action. For example, “I mended the tire with a patch.” Nouns can be
recipients. For example, “I give the bike to Titik.” Nouns can be locatives. For
example, “Bahama is a great place to have a condominium.”
2) Verbs
Verbs are words that denote action. Verbs are also words that denote states
and process.
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a) Verbs Classifications
(1) Activities, Accomplishments, Achievements and States Verbs
Vendler (1967) in Hatch & Brown (1995) placed verb into four classes:
activities, accomplishments, achievements and states. For example:
activities
accomplishments
achievements
states
run
paint a picture
recognize
know
walk
draw a triangle
find
love
write
run a mile
lose
have
seek
build
hear
be(tall)
It will be easy for the children to learn activities and accomplishment
verbs because they can implement it in their real activities.
(2) Lexical, Modal and Primary Verbs
- Lexical or full verb are those with a meaning that can be clearly and
independently identified (e.g. in a dictionary) such as run, jump, walk, want, etc.
They act as main verbs.
- Modal verbs have function as auxiliary verbs. The verbs are: can, could, may,
might, will, would, shall, should, must, ought to, and used to.
- Primary verb can function either as main verbs or as auxiliary verbs. The verbs
are: be, have and do. For example:
Main verb use: I am sad. She has a cat. They do sums.
Auxiliary verb use: We are going. She has seen it. Do they go?
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(3) Finite and Nonfinite Form of Verbs
- The finite forms of a verb are the forms which show tense, person, or number.
For example: I go, she goes, and they went.
- The nonfinite verb forms have no person or number, but some types can show
tense. For example: to go, going, gone.
(4) Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
- Transitive verbs are verbs which require an object. For example: Jane makes a
cake. The function of the word Jane in this sentence is subject, the word makes is
transitive verb and the word a cake is object.
- Intransitive verbs are verbs which can be used without an object. For example: I
am waiting.
b) Verbs for Children
Brown (1957) in Hatch & Brown (1995) states that 57% of the verbs used
by children are action verbs. In addition, action words are acquired early. The
words allow children to talk about actions in here and now. Transitive actions
such as hug and bite and intransitive actions such as sleep, sit serve this purpose.
An –ing form of the verbs (e.g. playing, reading) is needed to talk the now or
ongoing actions, so, the –ing of the present progressive is acquired early.
3) Adjectives
Hatch & Brown (1995) state that adjectives are words used to highlight
qualities or attributes. An adjective has several criteria:
- An adjective can occur immediately before a noun as in a big car. This is called
the adjective’s attributive function.
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- An adjective can occur alone after forms of the verb be: The car was big. This is
the adjective’s predicative function.
- An adjective can be immediately preceded by very and other intensifying words
as very big, terribly nice.
- An adjective can be compared as in bigger/biggest, more/most beautiful.
- Many adjectives permit the addition of –ly to form an adverb. For example:
quiet> quietly.
4) Adverbs
Adverbs are similar to adjective in many ways. The difference is that
adjectives assign attributes to noun while adverbs assign attributes to verbs,
clauses or entire sentences.
Most adverbs are easy to recognize because they are formed by adding an
–ly suffix to an adjective, as in sadly and happily. There are some types of adverb:
- Adverbs which have no distinctive element, such as just and soon, or compound
adverbs, somehow and whereby
- A few other endings which mark a word as an adverb, used especially in
informal speech: new-style, earthwards, clockwise, and sideways.
b. Function Words
1) Pronouns
Hatch & Brown (1995) states that pronouns refer to nouns that have
already been mentioned in the discourse or point ahead to noun that we are about
to mention.
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There are many kinds of pronouns:
- Personal pronouns are the main means of identifying speakers, addresses, and
others: I, you, he, she, it, we, and they.
- Reflexive pronouns, always ending in-self or selves. For example: I cooked for
myself.
- Possessive pronouns express ownership, and appear in two forms. My, your, etc.
are used as determiners in the noun phrase, as in my house, his motorcycle. Mine,
yours, etc. are used to express their own as in, This is mine. Hers is over there.
There are several other subclasses, they are:
- Reciprocal pronouns are used to express a two way relation ship. For example:
each other, one another.
- Interrogative pronouns are used to ask questions about personal and non
personal nouns. For example: who?, whom?, whose?, which?, what?.
- Relative pronouns (who, whom, whose, which, that) are used to link a
subordinate clause to head of the noun phrase, as in That’s the video which caused
the problem.
- Demonstrative pronouns (this/these, that/those) express a contrast between near
and distant, as in Take this one here, not that over there.
- Indefinite pronouns express a notion of quantity. Two types of indefinite
pronouns: compound pronouns and of-pronouns. Compound pronouns consist of
two elements: every-, some-, any-, or no-, -one, -body, or thing as in someone and
anything. Of-pronouns consist of several form which may appear alone or be
followed by of (I’ve bought all the candies/ all of the candies). Their meanings
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range from the universal sense of all and both to the negative sense of none and
few. Other items in this class include each, much, many, more, moat, less, fewer,
some and neither.
2) Conjunctions
Conjunctions are words that join words, phrases or sentences. There are
two kinds of conjunctions:
- Coordinating conjunctions consist of and, or and but. And there are few pairs
such as neither…nor. These conjunctions signal such meanings as addition and
sequence (and), the expression of alternatives (or), and contrast (but).
- Subordinating conjunctions will exist when one clause is subordinated to
another, as in “I love you because you are handsome.” Here, the main clause (I
love you) is joined to subordinate clause (you are handsome) by the conjunction
because.
3) Prepositions
Hatch & Brown (1955) states that prepositions are all those words that
help locate items and actions in time and space. There are two prepositions:
1) Single words prepositions include: about, at, on, in, before, by, down, for,
etc.
2) Multi-word prepositions include: ahead of, because of, due to, instead of,
as far as, by means of, etc.
Preposition can have two kinds of meaning:
- Showing destination such as: to, onto, into, out of, off, etc.
- Telling about position such as: at, on, in, behind, under, beside, etc.
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4) Articles and Demonstratives
There are three articles in English: a, an, the. This, these, that and those are
the kind of demonstratives.
4. Active Vocabulary vs. Passive Vocabulary
Based on Lewis and Hill, the differences between active vocabulary and
passive vocabulary are:
1. Active Vocabulary
It means for students to add the word to their active vocabularies they need
to know the contexts in which it can occur, the possible and impossible
collocations of the word or a learner's active vocabulary is words that learners
understand and use in speaking or writing. In other word active vocabulary is
made up of words that come to students’ mind immediately when they have to use
words in a sentence, as they speak.
2. Passive Vocabulary
It means recognizing the its meaning when it occurs in context (a
relatively simple process). A learner's passive vocabulary is the words that they
understand but don't use yet. Learners often have an extremely large passive
vocabulary but a considerably smaller active one. Passive vocabulary usually is
used in reading and listening.
5. The Various Techniques in Teaching Vocabulary
Teaching learning vocabulary sometimes is difficult and ineffective when
the teacher does not use appropriate techniques to present new vocabulary. As the
result, the students are not interested in learning vocabulary and they do not
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understand about new vocabulary. To solve this problem, the teacher should find
and use the appropriate ways or techniques while the teacher teaches new
vocabulary to the learners. Based on Lewis and Hill (1992:102), there are nine
ways or techniques in presenting new vocabulary. There are:
a. Demonstrate
.If the teacher does give a verbal explanation, it should at least be
accompanied by a physical demonstration. The demonstration both helps to make
the meaning clearer and helps to fix the word in the students’ minds.
It is not usual for students to be able to tell people where they learned a
new word, what the weather was like on the day, etc. The more the students can
be involved as a person in what is going on in the language classroom, the more
likely the new language is to be retained effectively in the memory. If every word
is “explained” in the same way either by translation or verbal explanation, they
merge into a set of language in which is difficult to distinguish individual items.
Demonstration highlights particular words and helps associate it in the students’
minds with both visual and aural memories.
b. Use the real thing
Teacher become so pre-occupied with teaching that sometimes they
explain, or even draw on the blackboard things which are immediately available in
the room. The teacher will show real objects or pictures of real objects to the
learners.
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c. Draw or sketch
Teacher do not need to be artists to make simple sketches which illustrate
meaning, particularly if they bear in mind the advice given above about teaching
contrast rather than meaning itself. The meaning of bush was explained by two
very simple sketches.
d. Use the blackboard to show scales or grades
Words like cool, orange (color), or probably may be explained by
presenting them with groups of related words:
Hot
red
certainly/definitely
Warm
orange
probably/possibly
Cool
yellow
Cold
e. Antonyms
Antonyms indicate oppositions in meaning between terms (A is the
opposite of B; e.g. cold is the opposite of warm). There are two kinds of
antonyms.
BINARY ANTONYMS
GRADABLE ANTONYMS
Binary antonyms are predicates
Gradable
antonyms
are
two
which come in pairs and between
predicates which have relation with
them exhaust all the relevant
scale of values.
possibilities.
For example: good and bad.
For example:
Rich and Poor,
between
and
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continuous scale of values, which
may be given names such as middle
class.
Sometimes it is usually much easier to offer explanations about the
meaning of word in antonyms. For example the kind of rude means not polite.
It is worth mentioning that the explanations given here are not exact
definitions of the word. The level of the explanation must be suitable to the
students’ level of English at the time so that dictionary-like accuracy can often be
counter being productive.
f. Synonyms
Two words (or phrases) are synonyms when they have the same meaning.
(Terms with subtle differences between meanings are termed near-synonyms). It
can be said that A denotes the same as B; A is equivalent with B). For example:
“She looks pretty” is synonym with “She looks beautiful. Sometimes it is helpful
particularly with a relatively unimportant word of passive vocabulary to provide a
quick synonym explanation. It is still helpful if teacher remember to say It is
similar in meaning to…, rather than It means the same as…., The former phrase
helps to build up in the student’s mind the idea that language consists of choice,
that words do not mean the same as each other; the second undermines this
important attitude.
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g. The dictionary
Silberstein (1948: 110) states that dictionary is a source of many kind s of
information about words. Students often benefit from instruction and practice
using an English dictionary. The elements of a dictionary entry should be
introduced before students are asked to use dictionaries independently. Too often
teachers forget that it is the students who are learning and, in general, the more the
students are involved in the process the more successful that is likely to be. Text
should not contain very large numbers of new words so there should not be a great
number of new words at any one time. One technique for explaining these which
teacher s too frequently overlook is asking the class whether anybody knows the
word-individual students do learn things outside the classroom. If not, asking one
or more students to look the word up in a dictionary (at lower levels a bilingual
dictionary; at higher levels a monolingual dictionary). In this way the process of
“learning a new word” also provides practice in important learning skillsdictionary using-and, for those using a good monolingual dictionary-ensures that
they do have other examples for words used in context, a note on its stress, etc.
h. Verbal explanation
Some language items are best explained by being used in a variety of
contexts, with the teacher commenting on the use. It is important with such
explanation s to use more than one context to avoid any accidental features of that
particular context.
This kind of explanation is particularly useful in dealing with lexical items
common within functional teaching. Most “functional phrases” are best explained
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by two or three examples and description of the function performed. It is not
usually necessary to add further explanation.
i. Translation
In this technique, the teacher explains the meaning of the new words using
the learners’ mother tongue. Although some teachers over use this technique, it is
equally true that others under use it. To some it is seen as boring and traditional.
B. Graphic Organizers
1. The Definition of Graphic Organizers
One way to help make a curriculum more supportive of students and
teachers is to incorporate graphic organizers. Basically graphic organizers are
instructional tools used to illustrate a student or class’s prior knowledge about
topic or section of the text. "Semantic Map, structured overview, web, concept
map, semantic organizer, story map, graphic organizer...No matter what the
special name, a graphic organizer is a visual representation of knowledge. It is a
way of structuring information, of arranging important aspects of a concept or
topic into a pattern using labels" (Bromley, Irwin-DeVitis,& Modlo, p. 6). Hall &
Strangman
in
http://www.grapicorganizer/GraphicOrganizersHTML.asp.htm
states that graphic organizer is a visual and graphic display that depicts the
relationships between facts, terms, and or ideas within a learning task. Graphic
organizers are also sometimes referred to as knowledge maps, concept maps, story
maps, cognitive organizers, advance organizers, or concept diagrams. Semantic
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mapping or graphic organizer based on Stahl and Vancil (1986) in Coady and
Huckin (1992) involves drawing a diagram of the relationships between words
according to their use in a particular text. It has the effect of bringing relationships
in a text to consciousness for the purposes of deepening understanding of a text
and creating associative networks for words. It is best introduced as collaborative
effort between the teacher and the class. Graphic organizers are visual
representations of the material a student is learning. The organizer assists the
student in brainstorming and/or organizing information to make it easier to
understand how ideas connect. The other definition is stated by Ellington (2006)
that graphic organizers are visual and spatial displays designed to facilitate the
teaching and learning of textual material. They help students structure their
learning, visualize the way information is presented in lectures and organized in
texts, map out stories to improve comprehension, and see the relationships among
vocabulary and concepts.
So, it can be concluded that graphic organizers are kinds of visual and
graphic displays which are designed to facilitate the teaching and learning textual
material in the form of diagrams that depict the relationship between facts, terms,
and or ideas.
2. The Kinds of Graphic Organizers
a. Star diagrams
Star diagrams are a type of graphic organizer that summarize and organize
data about multiple traits or characters, fact, or attributes associated a single topic.
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Star diagrams are useful for basic brainstorming about a topic or simply
listing all the major traits related to a theme. For example, a star diagram can be
used to create a graphic display describing all students know about dinosaurs
(when they lived, what kinds there were, how big they were, what they ate, where
fossils have been found, etc.) or a graphic display of methods that help students’
study skills (like taking notes, reading, doing homework, memorizing, etc.).
Another use is a story star, a star diagram used to describe the key points of a
story or event, noting the 5 W's: who, when, where, what, and why.
Picture 2.1 Star Diagrams
b. A spider map
A spider map (sometimes called a semantic map) is a type of graphic
organizer that is used to investigate and enumerate various aspects of a single
theme or topic, helping the student to organize their thoughts. It looks a bit like a
spider's web, hence its name.
The process of creating a spider diagram helps the students focus on the
topic, requires the students to review what they already know in order to organize
that knowledge, and help the students to monitor their growing comprehension of
the topic. It also helps point out the areas where the students must investigate
more.
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If the topic at hand involves investigating attributes associated with a
single topic, and then obtaining more details on each of these ideas, use a spider
diagram as the graphic organizer. The spider diagram is like a star graphic
organizer with another level of detail.
For example, a spider diagram can be used to find methods that help
students study skills (like taking notes, reading, memorizing, etc.), and investigate
the factors involved in performing each of the methods. Another example is to use
a spider map to prepare for a writing assignment; the student must concentrate on
the main topic, list the big ideas concerning the topic, and think of the
attributes/qualities/functions associated with each of these ideas.
Picture 2.2 Spider Diagrams
c. A fishbone map
A fishbone map (sometimes called a herringbone map) is a type of graphic
organizer that is used to explore the many aspects or effects of a complex topic,
helping the student to organize their thoughts in a simple, visual way. The use of
color helps make a fishbone map clearer and easier to interpret.
If the topic at hand involves investigating attributes associated with a
single, complex topic, and then obtaining more details on each of these ideas, use
a fishbone diagram as the graphic organizer. The fishbone diagram is like a spider
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map, but it works for more complex topics - topics that require more details to be
enumerated.
The process of creating fishbone diagram helps the students focus on the
topic, requires the student to review what they already know in order to organize
that knowledge, and helps the students to monitor their growing comprehension of
the topic. It also helps point out the areas where the student must investigate more
(where the fishbone is difficult to fill out).
For example, a fishbone diagram can be used to prepare for a writing
assignment; the student must concentrate on the main topic, list the big ideas
concerning the topic, and think of the attributes/qualities/functions/effects
associated with each of these ideas. Another example is to use a fishbone map to
explore the implications of improved farming methods or a new scientific
discovery - or any other cause-and-effect scenario.
Picture 2.3 Fish Bone Diagrams
d. Word Boxes
Vocabulary maps or word boxes are graphic organizers that can be useful
in helping students learn new vocabulary words. For each new vocabulary word,
the students write the word, its definition, its part of speech (noun, verb, adjective,
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adverb, etc.), a synonym, an antonym, draws a picture that illustrates the meaning
of the word, and write a meaningful sentence using the word.
Picture 2.4 Word Box
e. Cluster diagrams
Cluster diagrams (also called cloud diagrams) are a type of non-linear
graphic organizer that can help to systematize the generation of ideas based upon
a central topic. Using this type of diagram, the students can more easily
brainstorm a theme, associate about an idea, or explore a new subject.
To create a cluster diagram, the students first thinks of as many terms or
ideas relating to the stimulus topic as possible (and then writes the second-level
ideas in circles attached to the main topic) - this first step is like creating a star
diagram. Then the students explore each of these new second-level ideas in turn,
and for each, find as many related ideas as possible (and add these third-level
terms to the diagram around the idea). If more detail is desired, the previous step
can be repeated for each of the third-level ideas (or more).
For example, a cluster diagram can be used to create a graphic display to
brainstorm about a topic like pollution. The first level of ideas could be specific
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types of pollution (like air pollution, water pollution, polluted soil, etc.), and the
second-level could be details on each of those subtopics (for air pollution, you
could include causes of air pollution, effects of air pollution, how to stop it, etc.).
You could go on to include further details on these third-level topics, and more
levels, until you are out of ideas.
Picture 2.5 Cluster Diagrams
f. Tree Diagrams
Tree diagrams are a type of graphic organizer that shows how items are
related to one another. The tree's trunk represents the main topic, and the branches
represent relevant facts, factors, influences, traits, people, or outcomes.
Tree diagrams can be used to sort items or classify them. A family tree is
an example of a tree diagram. Other examples of trees are cladistic trees (used in
biological classification) and dichotomous keys (used to detemine what group a
specimen belongs to in biology). Tree diagrams are also used as visual in statistics
to document the outcomes of probabalistic events (like tossing a coin).
Picture 2.6 Tree Diagrams
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g. Story maps
Story maps are graphic organizers that can be useful in helping students
analyze or write a story. This type of analysis is especially good for examining
fables and folktales.
Story map graphic organizers help the students identify the elements of the
story and the theme or moral of the story. Some of the many elements of a story
include the important characters (their appearance, personality traits, and
motivations), the setting of the story (time and place), the problem faced by the
characters, how the problem is approached, and the outcome.
There are many types of story maps that examine different elements of the
story (and reveal different structures within a story).
1. Some summarize the beginning, middle and end of a story.
2. Some list the 5 W's: who, when, where, what, and why of a story.
3. Some list the title, setting, characters, the problem, the solution and the moral
or theme of the story.
4. Some list a complex chain of events that summarize all key elements of the
story, in chronological order.
5. Some, like a storyboard, are mostly pictorial, and illustrate the major events of
a story in chronological order.
h. Chain diagrams
Chain diagrams also called sequence of events diagrams, are a type of
graphic organizer that describe the stages or steps in a process.
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The students must be able to identify the first step in the process, all of the
resulting stages in the procedure as they unfold, and the outcome (the final stage).
In this process, the students realize how one step leads to the next in the process,
and eventually, to the outcome.
Chain diagrams are useful in examining linear cause-and-effect processes
and other processes that unfold sequentially.
Pictures 2.7 Chain Diagrams
i. Continuum or timeline diagrams
Continuum diagrams are a type of graphic organizer that is used to
represent a continuum of data that occur in chronological (time) order or in
sequential order.
If the topic has a definite beginning and/or ending points and the data
points in between are not discrete, use a continuum/timeline.
For example, a continuum or timeline diagram can be used to display
milestones in a person's life.
In making a timeline, the students must first determine appropriate
endpoints for the timeline and important points/dates to label on the continuum.
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3. The Benefits of Graphic Organizers
a. Development of Higher Level Thought
Graphic organizers almost always incorporate higher-level thinking must
evaluate input and select only the most essential information since there is
generally not enough room to copy directly from a source. Metacognitive
development occurs as students explain their own thought processes and are
exposed to the strategies and thinking of others. The format often encourages
students to expand beyond the source(s): to access prior knowledge, to predict and
question, to investigate further. Because people are thinking at a higher level, they
can more readily identify: ambiguities, the need for clarification, and information
that is missing.
b. Applicability for A Wide Range of Learners
Students with very diverse levels can often collaborate meaningfully on a
graphic organizer. More advanced learners are often challenged by graphic
organizers because the format gives them an opportunity to incorporate prior
knowledge and real-world applications. Students who did not initially know the
information at the comprehension level still have the opportunity to demonstrate
their intelligence when higher-level thinking is required in completion of the
organizer. Students with low literacy skills, limited fluency in the language of
instruction, and those with diverse learning styles can often process information
presented in this format more readily than they can traditional text material.
Organizers are often easily modified for special needs students.
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c. Increased Language Development
Higher-level thinking prompts more use of language. Students have more
exposure to the language of thought. New content vocabulary is clearly presented
on the organizer. Students must incorporate their own words when summarizing
the information presented on an organizer.
d. Greater Retention for All Learners
People retain:
10% of what they read
20% of what they hear
30% of what they see
50% of what they see and hear
70% of what they say
90% of what they say as they do or teach something. (E.Dale)
When students collaborate on a graphic organizer, they are saying, doing,
and teaching each other. They are also changing written or oral input to visual
input that is meaningful to them. People retain information more readily when
they are processing it at higher levels of thought. (Examples: Students are
categorizing words rather than memorizing them. Students are reading and
listening at the analytical level rather than at the comprehension level.) The visual
presentation of any organizer reflects the relationship of the concepts contained
which promotes retention for most learners. It is more beneficial, and more fun, to
study from notes on organizers than from traditional notes.
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e. More Equitable Assessment Measures
After using an organizer for instructional purposes, they are often very
effective for assessment purposes. Many students, who have trouble accurately
reflecting their learning on traditional forced choice tests, can perform well on
alternative assessment measures that include graphic organizers. The conceptual
and strategic essence of a lesson is more evident to students who study from
graphic organizers. It is easier to make modifications for special needs students
with graphic organizers used for assessment purposes than it is to modify a
traditional exam.
Prepared by Jeanette Gordon, Illinois Resource Center
.
C. Teaching Vocabulary through Graphic Organizers
Although more and more teachers are using graphic organizers to teach
reading and writing, many do not realize how powerful they can be in teaching
vocabulary.
There are two main types of graphic organizers based on the purpose:
1. Vocabulary words out of context
The most basic vocabulary word organizers can be used to memorize the
meanings of words out of context. They are helpful when the students are
studying a list of vocabulary words. To study a word out of context, the teacher
would include several boxes for students to fill in – one for the word itself, one for
the definition, one for an example of the word, one for synonyms, one for
antonyms, and one for a sentencecommit
using the
word. For visual learners, the teacher
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might want to include a box asking them to draw something connected to the
word. In addition, the teacher may wish to include an additional box in which the
student will explain a strategy they will use to remember the definition of the
word. After they have filled in all of these boxes, they will truly “own” the
vocabulary.
2. Vocabulary words in context
While students are reading, sometimes they do not understand some
words. Even if the teacher has taught them vocabulary strategies to help them
guess the definition of the word, the strategies may not be appropriate. That’s
where graphic organizers can help.
In these graphic organizers, include a box for the word itself, a box or two
for “context clues”. In this way, the graphic organizer will help them understand
how the vocabulary strategies the teacher has taught them can really help them
guess the meaning of an unfamiliar word.
Based on the explanation above, the writer just uses three kinds of graphic
organizers (star diagrams, spider map, and word boxes) which are appropriate for
the material of vocabulary of fifth grade students.
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D. Motivation
1. The Definition of Motivation
Learning is fun and exciting, at least when the curriculum is well matched
to students’ interest and abilities. When the teacher teach the right things the right
way, motivation takes care itself. Motivation is very important so the teacher
should know about it.
Some experts define some definition of motivation. Brophy (1998: 3) says
that motivation refers to the students’ subjective experiences, their willingness to
engage in teaching learning activities and their reasons for doing this. Next, Ford
(in Elliot 1999: 330) states that motivation is recognized as consisting of three
interrelated components: personal goals, personal agency beliefs, and emotions.
Next, Elliot (1999: 329) state that motivation is a subject that intrigues teachers,
because they realize both through their professional training and instinctively that
is an issue that can mean the difference between success and failure in the
classroom.
From the definition above it can be concluded that motivation is an
arousal, impulse, or desire that moves and leads learner to do a particular action in
order to meet and needs or to attain a set of goals of teaching learning process.
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2. The Type of Motivation
There are many kinds of learning motivation stated by the experts. Elliot
(1999: 333) states that there are two categories of motivation, namely: intrinsic
motivation and extrinsic motivation.
Intrinsic motivation means the desire of students themselves to learn in
order to achieve specific objectives. While, extrinsic motivation means motivation
where the students learn because of consequences to obtain rewards and
inducements.
3. The Characteristic of Motivated Students
Naiman et al, in Ur (1996: 275) comes to conclusion that the most
successful students are not necessary those to whom a language comes very
easily; they are those who display certain typical characteristic, most of them
clearly associated with motivation, those are as follows:
1). Positive task oriented. The learner willing to tackle tasks and challenges, and
has confidence in his or her success.
2). Ego-involvement. The learner finds it important to succeed in learning and
promote his or her own positive self-image.
3). Need for achievement. The learner has needs to achieve, to overcome
difficulties and succeed in what he or she sets out to do.
4). High aspiration. The learner is ambitious, goes for demanding challenges, high
proficiency, top grades.
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5). Goal orientation. The learner is very aware of the goals of learning, or of
specific learning activities, and directs his or her effort towards achieving
them.
6). Perseverance. The learner consistently invests a high level of effort in learning,
and it is not discouraged by setbacks or apparent lack progress.
7).Tolerance of ambiguity. The learner is not disturbed or frustrated by situations
involving a temporary lack of understanding will come later.
E. Basic Assumption
In learning a foreign language, there are some difficulties faced by the
learners. For the students of SD Negeri Kentingan No. 79 Surakarta, vocabulary
mastery is considered as the most difficult skill. The students are not interested in
English class, they think English is a difficult lesson, some students do not pay
attention to the teacher, and the way of her teaching vocabulary is not attractive.
Besides, the students lack of time to study vocabulary. Subsequently, the lack of
teaching aids and sources (only from book) make the students so bored.
To overcome problems above, here, the writer decided to use graphic
organizer that is one of visual aids which can make the new content vocabulary is
clearly presented by structuring the words that have relation based on topic
concept on graphic. It helps the students to create their own organizers as they
become more comfortable. They understand content better (there is definition
about the meaning of word), and help the students to structure their learning,
visualize the way information is presented in teacher and organized in texts, map
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out stories to improve comprehension, and see the relationships among vocabulary
and concepts.
From the explanation above, it can be assumed that graphic organizers can
improve students’ vocabulary mastery of the fifth grade students of SD Negeri
Kentingan No. 79 Surakarta.
F. Hypothesis
Based on the theory above, the action hypothesis can be formulated as
follows: graphic organizers can improve students’ vocabulary mastery of the fifth
grade students of SD Negeri Kentingan No. 79 Surakarta.
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CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
A. Place and Time of the Research
This action research is carried out in SD Negeri Kentingan No. 79
Surakarta. It is located on Jalan Ir. Sutami No. 52, Jebres Surakarta 56172.
Meanwhile, the research is conducted from July to October 2010.
B. The Subject and the Object of the Research
The subjects of the study are the students of the fifth year of SD Negeri
Kentingan No. 79 Surakarta. It is one class that consists of 33 students, 19 boys
and 14 girls. However, the object of the study is improving students’ vocabulary
mastery through graphic organizers.
C. The Method of the Research
This chapter presents the discussion about the research or classroom action
research as follows:
1. The Nature of Action Research
The seeds of action research are to be found as early as the late nineteenth
century in the Science in Education movement and a variety of other social reform
initiatives (McKernan:1996). It also grew out of the moves by progressive
educators, such as John Dewey and Kurt Lewin .There are some definitions of
action research. The first is by Kemmis (in Elliott: 63) who states:
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Action research is a form of self-reflective enquiry undertaken by the
participants in social (including educational) situation in order to improve the
rationality and justice of (a) their own social or educational practices, (b)
their understanding of these practices, and (c) the situation in which the
practices are carried out. It is most nationally empowering when undertaken
by participants collaboratively, thought it is often undertaken by individuals,
and sometimes in cooperation with ‘outsiders’. In education, action research
has been employed in school-based curriculum development, professional
development, school improvement programs, and systems planning and policy
development.
A second definition is stated by Elliott, who states as follows:
Action research might be defined as ‘the study of a social situation with a view
to improving the quality of action within it’. It aims to feed practical judgment
in concrete situations, and the validity of the ‘theories’ or hypotheses it
generates depends not so much on ‘scientific’ tests of truth, as on their
usefulness in helping people to act more intelligently and skillfully. In action
research ‘theories’ are not validated independently and then applied to
practice. They are validated through practice.
The third definition is stated by Wallace (1998:15) that action research is
therefore a sub-area of inquiry, which simply means the process of answering and
questions by using various kinds of evidence in some kind of reasoned way. In
addition, it is different from other more conventional or traditional types of
research in that it is very focused on individual or small group professional
practice and is not so concerned with making general statements.
From the definition above, action research is a systematic study which is
focused on small group professional practice in social situation by the researcher,
to know about their particular school operates how they teach, and how well their
students learn so they can improve the quality of professional action. Action
research starts with practical judgment and the validity of the theories or
hypothesis is applied in practice.
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2. The Model of Action Research
Action research has been developed by Kemmis and McTagart in Burns
(1999:32). There are four stages: planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. The
scheme of this model can be shown as follows:
Picture 3.1 Action Research Spiral (Kemmis & McTaggart)
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The scheme in action research can be visually reflected as follow:
1.
Plan
2.
Act
4.
Refle
ct
3.
Obse
rve
1.
Plan
2.
Act
4.
Refl
ect
3.
Obse
rve
Picture 3.2 The Scheme of Action Research
The teacher as researcher has to practice the action research as a spiral of
steps that consist of four stages as follows:
1. Planning : How can I encourage my students’ vocabulary mastery? Perhaps I
should give them different technique in teaching vocabulary.
2. Acting
: I take them to training classes using graphics organizer.
3. Observing : Observing and recording students’ activity when the students
undertake the exercise after the teacher gives a different way of teaching
vocabulary.
4. Reflecting : Perhaps I should do the same way or another way at class in a
consistent fashion.
When the problem has not been overcome, this process can be repeated in
some cycle until the researcher finds a solution.
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3. The Procedures of Action Research
According to the model of action research that has been developed by
Kemmis and McTagart in Burns (1999:32), action research occurs through a
dynamic and complementary process, which consists of four essential ‘moments’:
of planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. These stages are included in the
procedure of action research. The procedure is as follows:
1. Surveying
This is a very open-ended and uncertain phrase where teacher feels her
way into research question. It involves identifying and agreeing upon a general
idea or issue of interest to the students. After the researcher knows about the lack
of vocabulary mastery of the fifth grade students, the researcher starts for
undertaking some initial action, such as documenting the general observations of
the situation, in order to clarify the understandings about the problem and to bring
these back to the students. It may also involve doing some reading of recent
articles or books to obtain ideas for research.
2. Identifying
The second step is identifying the problem based on the result of the
survey. The researcher has taken the problem to be overcome such as: What is the
effective ways to improve students’ vocabulary mastery?
3. Planning
The third step is planning. This phase involves developing a viable plan of
action for gathering data, and considering and selecting a range of appropriate
methods. Burns (1999:37) states that the plan is aimed at trialing a particular
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course of action and collecting data on the outcomes of this action. Develop a plan
of critically informed action to improve what is already happening,
4. Implementation
During this period, the researcher develops and put into action. She will
teach by giving new activities for the students. For example:
she teaches
vocabulary through graphic organizers. In all these activities the focus is on
students interacting much more in groups than would normally have occurred. She
uses a number of methods to collect data on the students’ interaction:
a. She holds a weekly programming and assessment meeting where formal and
informal observations on progress were shared.
b. She observes each other teaching and noted the students’ classroom
behavior.
5. Analyzing
Close analyzes of data is often the stimulus for reflection. Burns (1999:38)
states that the data are analyzed using a systematic process of analyzes and
interpretation according to agreed criteria.
6. Writing report
Burns (1999:41) states that this is a summative phase where the research
questions, the strategies, developed, the process of research, and the analyses and
results observed are drawn together by writing up an account in a report. This is a
very important phase as it aims to ensure that the research has a chance of being
disseminated to others, rather than remaining as a private or isolated activity.
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D. Technique of Collecting Data
In collecting the data, tests in the form of objective test and essay are used.
It is started by pre test and post test in the end of the research. Pre test and post
test are used to ensure the improvement of the students’ vocabulary mastery.
The validity of the Instruments is very important. Wallace (1998:36)
defines validity means testing what the researcher is supposed to test, and not
something else. It is clearly and extremely important issue: there is no point in
reflecting on data that are misleading or irrelevant. In her research, the researcher
uses content validity.
To support the data, an observation technique is used in which observation
notes serves as instruments. In her research, the researcher collaborates with the
English teacher of the class. The English teacher acts as the observer. He observes
and notes all that happen during the teaching and learning process. Meanwhile,
the researcher acts as the teacher. Questionnaire is also used.
E. Technique of Analyzing Data
The researcher evaluates the teaching of vocabulary by giving written test
(pre test and post test). The data from the tests are analyzed in order to prove
whether or not teaching vocabulary using graphic organizer can overcome the
students’ problems in vocabulary mastery. The formula is:
1. The mean of the pre test and post test
X =
X
N
Y=
Y
N
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X
= The mean of pre test and post test
X
= The total score of post test
Y
= The mean of post test score
Y
= The total score of post test
N
= The number of the students
(Ary, Jacobs & Razavieh, 1979: 107)
In addition, the teacher also analyzes the process of teaching vocabulary
by evaluating observation and questionnaire.
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CHAPTER IV
RESEARCH FINDING AND DISCUSSION
This chapter presents the result of the action research conducted in grade
V of SDN Kentingan No. 79 Surakarta in academic year of 2010/ 2011. The
action of this research was done in the classroom. During the action, the
researcher was helped by Mr. Bibit as the collaborator. The aim of this research is
to improve the students’ vocabulary mastery through graphic organizers as
teaching media at fifth grade of SD Negeri Kentingan No.79 Surakarta in
academic year 2010/2011. This chapter describes and discusses the data collected
from the research.
A. Research Finding
The research was conducted in two cycles. The procedure of the research
consisted pre research, research implementation and research discussion. The
research finding can be described as follows:
1. Cycle 1
a. Pre Research
Before the researcher conducted this research, she had surveyed and
recognized the problems faced by the students and the teacher in teaching and
learning process. In identifying the problems, the researcher collected the data in
three ways; those are questionnaire, observation, and test. This section describes
the results of the data collected. These results led the researcher to continue the
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next step that is planning the action. Following is the table of pre-research
schedule.
Table 4. 1 Pre Research Schedule
No.
Activity
Date
1.
Pre-Observation
Friday, July 30th, 2010
2.
Pre-test
Friday, August 6th, 2010
3.
Giving questionnaire
Friday, August 6th, 2010
1) Pre Observation
Based on the pre-observation result, the researcher found some problems.
Those are:
a) Students’ Vocabulary Mastery
The students’ vocabulary mastery was still low. Actually, they did not use
English in daily conversation. Consequently, they felt so strange when they
learned about English especially vocabulary. A lot of unfamiliar words made them
confused. They also got some difficulties in understanding the meaning of
vocabulary, how to pronounce the vocabulary, and how to write the vocabulary.
b) Students’ Interest
The students’ interest in learning English, especially vocabulary, was also
low. They thought that English was a difficult lesson. This assumption made them
passive students. When the teacher was still explaining, they did not pay attention
to him. They did not have enough confidence to ask and answer the questions.
They were so afraid if they made mistakes. They kept silent until the teacher
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pointed one of them. Sometimes, they made a lot of noise to show that they were
bored and wanted to go home.
c) The Teaching Method and Teaching Media
The teacher had a good control to the classroom. But most of the students
did not like him because he was impudent and impatient. The other factor that
made the students not enjoy English class was he tended to use same teaching
method with limited teaching media.
As children, they needed more attention from the teacher. The teacher had
assumption if he could control them, they could be nice students. Unfortunately,
the students thought that the teacher was so impudent and impatient. The teacher
could not be a nice person in the class. Most of the students did not like him.
The problems were also caused by the teacher’s teaching method and the
teaching media. The teacher’s teaching technique used conventional way. The
teacher just explained the lesson in front of class without using attractive media.
They just had LKS as handbook. Consequently, the students were bored and they
were lazy to study vocabulary.
2) Pre-test
In the pre-test, the topics were hobbies and (foods and drinks). The
questions were 40 items: 20 items for multiple choices, 10 items arranged the
letters (essay) and 10 item were about to pronounce the words (essay). The
researcher gave 30 minutes for the students to answer the questions.
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Table 4. 2 The Result of Pre- 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
30
31
32
33
NAMA
Febri M. Al Fajar
Latifah Ramadhani
Rima Melati
Bella Andriani
Aldi Iwang Saputra
Feryan Maulana
Pitaloka
Robi Darmawan
Yolanda Alamsyah
Alwi Alamsyah
Aqifah Febrianti
Andrianus Yoga P.
Albertino
Alia Damar Ratri
Handi Prabowo
Kristian Aji Nur C.
Namdiva Raka
Prafitri Adisti
Sholeh Galih U.
Titi Eraning F.
Toni Aji Saputra
Tria Riska A.
Yoriko Kristavan
Muh. Anisul Fahmi
Melinda Enggi R.
Islamia
Novianto
Pramesti
Reynaldi
Annisa Meliana F.
Muh. Zidane S.
Raditya Galuh
Vicky Avianti
SUM
MEAN
PRE-TEST
17
40
20
19
29
23
22
18
50
40
43
69
62
79
49
43
37
60
27
51
19
49
70
76
47
50
16
45
40
46
13
63
37
1369
41.48
Based on the result of the pre-test, researcher concluded that the students’
vocabulary mastery was still low. They had difficulties in understanding the
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meaning of vocabulary, how to pronounce the vocabulary, and how to write the
vocabulary.
3) Questionnaire
After giving pre-test, the researcher distributed questionnaires to the
students. Questionnaire is used to prove the general assumptions about the
teaching learning process in SD Negeri Kentingan No. 79 Surakarta, especially in
English lesson.
Based on the analyzing of the questionnaire result, the researcher
concluded that the students had many problems in learning English. Based on the
result of the questionnaire, the researcher listed some problems, those are:
1. Students had difficulties in understanding the vocabulary.
2. Students often felt bored and they made a lot of noise when they studied
vocabulary.
3. The teacher rarely used interactive media and fun activities to study
vocabulary.
b. Planning
Before the action was conducted, everything related to the action that
would be implemented was prepared. A pre test and a post test were prepared to
know the students’ vocabulary mastery before and after the action. The tests are
multiple choice types. Besides that, lesson plans of cycle 1 were made. The
teaching materials were taken from Students Evaluation Work Book (LKS) and
Active and Interactive English for the Fifth Grade of Elementary School. The
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topic of cycle 1 was “Hobbies”. There are 2 meeting in this cycle. The meetings
were conducted once a week. One lesson plan was made for each meeting.
c. Action
The first cycle consisted of two meetings and one test. Following are the
schedule of first cycle implementation.
Table 4. 3 The Schedule of First Cycle
Meeting
I
Date
13-08-2010
Teacher
Titik
Observer
Mr. Bibit
Material
Vocabulary of verbs
(hobbies)
II
20-08-2010
Titik
Mr. Bibit
Vocabulary of nouns
(hobbies)
Post test 1
27-08-2010
Titik
Mr. Bibit
Vocabulary of verbs
and nouns about
hobbies.
The implementation of teaching vocabulary through graphic organizers
was conducted by the researcher.
1) The first meeting ( 09.00 – 10.10)
The first meeting was conducted Friday, 6 August 2010. The topic was
“Hobbies”. After sticking pictures of some hobbies and doing routines, the teacher
asked some questions dealing with the topic about hobbies. For example: “What is
your hobby?”, “Do you like reading?” etc. After that, some of the students are
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asked to write his/her hobby on the whiteboard. From this activity, the teacher and
the students drew a conclusion that everybody has own hobbies.
The teacher asked the students to make groups of 4. After that, she asked
them to prepare their dictionary. At first, the teacher gave the explanation about
how to do the task and gave one example. Then they should do task 1 and 2 about
vocabulary verb (the topic was still hobbies) to know about some kinds of hobbies
by knowing the meaning of the words and how to pronounce the words in the
right way. While the students did their work, the teacher walked around the class
to check their work and gave guidance to help. From this activity, the students
knew about some kinds of hobbies and they could pronounce the words well.
After the students had finished, the teacher asked the representation of the
groups to write the answers on the whiteboard. Because the whiteboard was not so
large, there were only 2 groups that could write their answers on the whiteboard.
After they had finished, the teacher and the students evaluated their work.
If there were incorrect answers, the teacher and the other students helped them to
answer the correct one. Then, the teacher drilled the vocabulary to the students.
She corrected students’ pronunciation whenever they made a mistake.
The task 3 the teacher asked students to summarize about kinds of hobbies
that they had learned before and wrote them on star diagram. From this activity,
the students could be helped to automatically understand the kind of hobbies
because the information organized well on star diagram. She closed the lesson by
summarizing the lesson and gave the students homework (task 4).
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2) The second meeting (09.00-10.20)
The second meeting was conducted on. The topic was still “Hobbies”. For
the first activity, the teacher asked the students do the task 1 to rearrange letters
into words (vocabulary noun about hobbies) in group. The students were allowed
to consult with the dictionary in solving the task 1. The teacher and students
discussed together. The students were asked to follow after the teacher in
pronouncing the words. After that, they were asked to do task 2 individually.
There were pictures about the equipments which were used for doing the activity
of hobbies. After, the students had finished doing each exercise; they discussed
the answers together with the teacher. Then, she taught them how to pronounce
the vocabulary.
The last activity, the teacher used spider web. First, she divided the
students into 4 groups. Every group took one lottery to get 1 picture about hobby.
Every group looked for the words which had relation with the pictures’ hobbies
on the spider web. The teacher counted the words found, the group found more
words than others was the winner. Then, the teacher pointed the winner and gave
reward.
d. Observation
In this research, the researcher used collaborative action research. When
teaching learning process was still happening, the observer Mr. Bibit always
accompanied her to observe. The researcher prepared a field note form to be filled
by the observer in each meeting. Those field notes were very useful as the
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researcher’s reflection to make plan for the next steps. The observer gave
suggestion or give criticism orally and in written form.
The result of the observation can be explained as follows:
Table 4. 4 The Observer’s Comments in Cycle 1
Meeting
Activity
a) Opening
Comment

The
students
at
this
class
were
not
disciplined. It could be seen when the recess
time was over, the students did not enter the
class completely. The new teacher was not
explicit enough. She should give serious
warning to discipline the students and prepare
the readiness of the students to begin the
lesson.
b)Main Activity

The teacher spoke loud when she was
I
teaching. The students were too enthusiastic
because they were thought by a new teacher
using star diagram (a kind of graphic
organizers). They also enjoyed the activities.
Unfortunately, they still made a lot of noise
when they did the tasks. Some of them were
passive and gave limited responses towards
the teacher’s question. The students were also
confused with the teacher’s instruction in
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English because they weren’t accustomed to
it. The teacher should teach bilingually to
make the students understand the teacher’s
commands and instructions. Most of them
also did not bring vocabulary so they did not
know the meaning of some words. The
condition began worst when they took away
to borrow vocabulary from their friends. But
finally,
the
teacher
could
give
them
understanding and the situation was under
control.
c) Closing

The teacher gave the students homework and
she did not forget to make a summary of the
lesson. Overall, the teaching learning process
was good.
1) Opening

The students wasted a lot of time when some
of them ask to change their sport wear to
uniform. They entered the class so late. The
teacher should be patient to wait them. The
teacher didn’t forget to pray and checked the
attendant list. She also asked the students to
II
collect the homework.
2) Main activity

The students were enthusiastic (especially
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girls) because the teacher showed some
colorful pictures and she used spider web
game (a kind of graphic organizers) as the
teaching media. When they did the tasks,
many of them could finish the exercise
quickly. It means that they could understand
the meaning of the vocabulary well. The
teacher should give them more practice to
pronounce the vocabulary because they made
a lot of mistakes. The good thing was they
were more active than before. Many students
raised their hands when the teacher asked for
volunteers to write the answers of the
exercises on the whiteboard. Unfortunately,
the situation began to be noisy when most of
the students wanted to be the volunteers. The
teacher should work hard to persuade the
boys to be active students. On group, they did
not understand their position and job so
sometimes misunderstanding happened. The
teacher should give job description first so
that the students knew their job in group and
it will be better if she did not use lottery to
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make groups because it wasted time.
3) Closing

It can be concluded that the teaching was
successful enough.
The observer also observed by himself the participation of the students in
learning vocabulary at class. In the first and the second meetings the participation
of the students was still low. It could be seen from this table below:
Table 4.5 The Grade of the Participation of the Students in Learning Vocabulary
Meeting
1st meeting
2nd meeting
Result

The participation of 15 students (45.45 %) was enough.

The participation of 18 students (54. 55 %) was still low

The participation of 5 students (15. 15 %) was still low.

The participation of 25 students (75. 75 %) was enough.

The participation of 3 students (9. 10 %) was good.
Table 4. 6 The Comparison between Pre-test and Post-test 1 Result
NO
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
NAMA
Febri M. Al Fajar
Latifah Ramadhani
Rima Melati
Bella Andriani
Aldi Iwang Saputra
Feryan Maulana
Pitaloka
Robi Darmawan
Yolanda Alamsyah
Alwi Alamsyah
Aqifah Febrianti
PRE-TEST
17
40
20
19
29
23
22
18
50
40
43
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POST-TEST 1
71
60
43
71
66
43
49
37
60
69
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12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
Andrianus Yoga P.
Albertino
Alia Damar Ratri
Handi Prabowo
Kristian Aji Nur C.
Namdiva Raka
Prafitri Adisti
Sholeh Galih U.
Titi Eraning F.
Toni Aji Saputra
Tria Riska A.
Yoriko Kristavan
Muh. Anisul Fahmi
Melinda Enggi R.
Islamia
Novianto
Pramesti
Reynaldi
Annisa Meliana F.
Muh. Zidane S.
Raditya Galuh
Vicky Avianti
SUM
MEAN
69
62
79
49
43
37
60
27
51
19
49
70
76
47
50
16
45
40
46
13
63
37
1369
41.48
91
80
89
71
60
71
63
54
66
74
71
86
91
71
66
74
69
54
63
49
77
66
2216
67.15
e. Reflection
After analyzing the observation result in cycle 1, it was found that there
was an improvement of students’ vocabulary mastery. The students could
memorize most of words that had been learnt and could understand the meanings
of the words. The teacher concerned to practice the students’ pronunciation, how
to spell the words and the meaning of the words so they remembered, they
understood the meaning of the vocabulary that they had learnt and their
pronunciation was quite good.
The new teacher, colorful pictures and attractive graphic organizers made
the students more motivated to learn English, especially vocabulary. Their new
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teacher taught them by heart. It meant the teacher was friendly. She gave a new
way and activities in class. She tried to make them fun and relax by using graphic
organizers to learn vocabulary. By using graphic organizers, the students were
enthusiastic when the teacher gave activities. They were interested and gave more
attention. Because of that, the students enjoy in learning English.
However, the teacher got some problems during the teaching and learning
process in cycle 1. The teacher should speak loudly since there were 33 students
or the class was large. The students got difficulty to be disciplined. Some of them
were troublemakers, they made too much noise, and disturbed the others. When
they did the task, the teacher should repeat the instruction more than twice
because suddenly most of them came to in front of class to see the properties
without teacher’s permission. Sometimes they were confused to choose the leader
and representative of the groups. During the activity, most of them wanted to
answer the questions individually although there was representative on each
group. Therefore, they spent too much time in finishing the activity.
Based on those facts, the researcher thought that it was necessary to
conduct the second cycle.
2. Cycle 2
a. Revised Plan
Based on the first cycle, it was found that there was an improvement of
students’ vocabulary mastery. The students were interested and paid more
attention when the teacher used some media. Unfortunately their interest and
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enthusiasm did not follow by their awareness to create good condition to study
vocabulary. It could be denied that there were still problems dealing with the class
management. Some of the students were talking and undisciplined. They made a
lot of noise so that they wasted a lot of time and made bad situation to study. They
got difficulty to share to another. Misunderstanding still happened when they
worked on group.
Based on those facts, some ways were planned for cycle 2. The teacher
planned to change something, for examples: to reduce the time consumption in
making groups, the teacher herself would choose who became the members of a
group. Every student had to bring dictionary. The teacher would give the same
attention to all students. The teacher would use some real objects to help students
pronounce the vocabulary related to the topic. Two meetings were planned in
cycle 2. The topic was “Foods and Drinks”. The activity in the first meeting was
the students would guess and pronounce a number of vocabulary related to the
topic by themselves by using some real objects of foods and drinks. They also
would differentiate between kinds of foods and kinds of drinks in their daily life.
Meanwhile, in the second meeting, the activities consisted of answering the
question about what the people do in restaurant, doing exercises about like and
dislike, and answering what kinds of foods or drinks based on the pictures. The
students could practice the vocabulary they learnt. Besides some real objects,
some media, and teaching aids were used to support the teaching and learning
process.
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b. Action
The second cycle consisted of two meetings and one post-test. The
schedule of the second cycle is listed on the following table.
Table 4. 7 The Schedule of Second Cycle
Meeting
I
Date
08-10-2010
Teacher
Titik
Observer
Mr. Bibit
Material
Vocabulary of noun
about foods and
drinks
II
15-10-2010
Titik
Mr. Bibit
Vocabulary of verb
about foods and
drinks
Post test II
29-10-2010
Titik
Mr. Bibit
Vocabulary of noun
and verb about foods
and drinks
1) The first meeting (09.15- 10. 45)
The first meeting was conducted on Friday, 8 October 2010. The topic was
“Foods and Drinks”. As a warming up activity, the teacher and the students
discussed about their favorite foods and drinks. The teacher gave the examples of
many kinds of foods and drinks by showing the real objects to the students and
then they should complete the words about foods and drinks individually. In
groups, the teacher asked the students to do the activity using word box.
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Before the students did the activity, the teacher divided them into groups
of 4. Each group consisted of 7-8 people. The teacher chose one student to be the
leader of each group. They would find some words (20 items) in the box, they
should choose them based on the categories (foods or drinks). A leader of each
group should organize their members so that they did the work well. They should
discuss together and the members have a right to give his/her idea to decide the
right answers on group. After the students had finished their discussion and found
the answers, four representatives of four groups wrote the results of their
discussion on the whiteboard. Then, the teacher and the students evaluated the
answers. She also thought them how to pronounce the vocabulary.
The last task was doing multiple choices. There were 10 items. They
should put cross to the correct answer. When they did the task, they did not find
any difficulties. The teacher asked some volunteers to answer the questions. She
taught them how to pronounce the vocabulary and finally she made summary.
She closed the lesson by saying good bye.
2) The second meeting (09.15- 10. 45)
The second meeting was conducted on Friday, 15 October 2010. The topic
was still “Foods and Drinks”. For the first activity, the students should answer
about what these people are doing. There were 5 numbers. They were allowed to
do this activity with their friends. The teacher pointed some passive and naughty
students to write the answer on the whiteboard. After checking the answers, she
taught the students how to pronounce the vocabulary.
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The second activity was doing task 2. The students should choose “like” or
“dislike” based on their favorite foods and drinks. There were 10 numbers. After
the students had finished, there were some volunteers who spoke the answers.
After that, the teacher checked the answers.
The last activity was answering the question in the dialogues about foods
and drinks. The students discussed in pairs. After they had finished doing the 5
items, the teacher asked the representatives of some pairs to go to in front of class
to read the dialogues and the answers.
c. Observation
In the second cycle, the researcher action was observed by Mr. Bibit. He
gave some important points related to the classroom situation.
Table 4. 8 The Observer’s Comments in Cycle 2
Meeting
Activity
a) Opening
Comment

The teacher accustomed to greeting and
checked attendant list.
b) Main
Activity

The teacher gave good examples by showing
real objects and used word boxes as teaching
media. To minimize the noisy, the teacher
I
should go around the students and showed
the real objects clearly. There were some
progresses in this meeting:
1. The
students
could
understand
the
meaning of vocabulary about food and
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drinks.
2. The students pronounced the vocabulary
fluently.
c) Closing

Good. The whole class was actively involved
in the activity. The teacher was good in
teaching, the teaching media was right, and
the students gave good response
1) Opening

Good
2) Main

The passive and naughty students felt
activity
confident when they answered the questions.
II
3) Closing

Good
Table 4.9 The Grade of the Participation of the Students in Learning Vocabulary
Meeting
1st meeting
2nd meeting
Result

The participation of 24 students (72. 73%) was enough.

The participation of 9 students (27. 27 %) was good

The participation of 12 students (36. 36%) was enough.

The participation of 21 students (63. 64 %) was good.
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Table 4. 10 The Comparison between Post-test 1 and Post-test 2 Result
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
30
31
32
33
NAMA
Febri M. Al Fajar
Latifah Ramadhani
Rima Melati
Bella Andriani
Aldi Iwang Saputra
Feryan Maulana
Pitaloka
Robi Darmawan
Yolanda Alamsyah
Alwi Alamsyah
Aqifah Febrianti
Andrianus Yoga P.
Albertino
Alia Damar Ratri
Handi Prabowo
Kristian Aji Nur C.
Namdiva Raka
Prafitri Adisti
Sholeh Galih U.
Titi Eraning F.
Toni Aji Saputra
Tria Riska A.
Yoriko Kristavan
Muh. Anisul Fahmi
Melinda Enggi R.
Islamia
Novianto
Pramesti
Reynaldi
Annisa Meliana F.
Muh. Zidane S.
Raditya Galuh
Vicky Avianti
SUM
MEAN
POST-TEST 1
71
60
43
71
66
43
49
37
60
69
91
91
80
89
71
60
71
63
54
66
74
71
86
91
71
66
74
69
54
63
49
77
66
2216
67.15
POST-TEST 2
77
63
71
71
77
51
69
57
97
80
91
91
86
100
94
71
86
91
54
74
77
89
100
91
91
86
74
83
97
71
52
100
80
2634
79.81
d. Reflection
After analyzing the observation result in cycle 2, it was found that there
was an improvement of students’ vocabulary mastery. They could memorize well
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and grasp the meanings of vocabulary. They still remembered and understood the
vocabulary that had been learnt. They enjoyed the activities in cycle 2. They
showed their interest and enthusiasm than before. They felt that studying
vocabulary was fun and they were happy to study English more than they felt in
the cycle 1.
The additional times made the lessons longer but they were not bored. The
teacher gave her best effort to create friendly situation. She gave the same
attention to the students and she was not impudent. She used creative technique by
using game graphic organizers. She also showed them some real objects so the
students gave more attention. The students felt confident to ask and answer the
questions because they didn’t feel shy. The making of students’ groups did not
spend too much time. It meant the use of time was effective.
In cycle 2, some of the troublemakers realized that they should change to
be good students. Their changing gave a good impact in teaching learning process.
The students joined the class calmly because the noise could be reduced.
3. Findings
This section presents the discussion of the research finding concerning the
students’ responses towards the vocabulary teaching through graphic organizers.
a. Test Data
Based on the test result, after the actions of this research the students’
vocabulary mastery was improved. The analysis of the students’ score shows that
there is an improvement of the students’ vocabulary mastery.
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In the pre-test, the mean of the students’ score is 41. 48 while in the first
post-test the mean of the students’ score is 67. 15. Then, mean score of second
post-test was 79. 81. Based on the pre test, first post test and second post test, it
can be concluded that there is improvement between the score of pre-test, first
post test and second post-test. It means that teaching vocabulary using graphic
organizers as the media improves the students’ vocabulary mastery.
b. Non Test Data
Besides analyzing the test data, the researcher also analyzed the non-test
data. It includes the teaching observation report, and the questionnaire result.
1) Observation
During the researcher was implementing the actions, the students were
actively participated. In the first meeting in cycle 1, the participation of 15
students (45.45 %) is enough and the participation of 18 students (54. 55 %) is
still low. In the second meeting in cycle 1, the participation of 5 students (15. 15
%) is still low, the participation of 25 students (75. 75 %) is enough and the
participation of 3 students (9. 10 %) is good. In the first meeting in cycle 2, the
participation of 24 students (72. 73%) is enough and the participation of 9
students (27. 27 %) is good. In second meeting in cycle 2, the participation of 12
students (36. 36%) is enough and the participation of 21 students (63. 64 %) is
good.
2) Questionnaire
Based on the first questionnaires that distributed before the action result,
the students admitted that their confidence and their intrinsic motivation were low.
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They thought that English lesson was very completely difficult because they did
not understand the meanings. Non-cooperative teacher, the conventional way in
teaching and boring media made them not interested learning vocabulary.
After implementing the action, the researcher distributed the second
questionnaires and she got good responses from the students. The students
admitted that they had a better understanding in vocabulary mastery. They
enjoyed English class because the new media was attractive and helped them to
understand vocabulary and they had high confident to ask and answer the
questions related to vocabulary.
B. Discussion
The goal of this research is to improve students’ vocabulary mastery. The
research findings show the improvements in many aspects by comparing the
condition before and after graphic organizers were used. In this section, those
findings are discussed by justifying them with the theories in Chapter II.
As mentioned before in Chapter I, graphic organizers are appropriate
media to improve students’ vocabulary mastery. Graphic organizers are design to
facilitate and enhance the learning of vocabulary.
There are more benefits when graphic organizers are used in the teaching
learning process. The benefits are explained below:
a. Development Of Higher Level Thought
Graphic organizers can make the students to thing one step higher than
before. The designs of graphic organizers have ability to facilitate the teaching
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and learning textual material in the form of attractive diagrams. Students’ brain
can process the information easily when the numbers of vocabulary which they
learn are presented systematically in the relevant topic. Because of that, they can
understand the meaning of words easily.
b. Applicability for A Wide Range of Learners
Graphic organizers are applicable not only for advance students but also
for the beginner students. Students are helped in learning vocabulary because the
format of graphic organizers gives them an opportunity to incorporate prior
knowledge and real-world applications. Graphic organizers are also often easily
modified for special needs students. Especially for primary students, the simple
and colorful graphic organizers are needed to attract their attention.
c. Increased Language Development
New content vocabulary is clearly presented on the organizer. Students
can incorporate their own words when summarizing the information presented on
an organizer.
d. Greater Retention for All Learners
When students collaborate on a graphic organizer, they are saying, doing,
and teaching each other. They are also changing written or oral input to visual
input that is meaningful to them. The visual presentation of any organizer reflects
the relationship of the concepts contained which promotes retention for most
learners. It is more beneficial, and more fun, to study vocabulary from notes on
organizers than from traditional notes.
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e. More Equitable Assessment Measures
After using an organizer for instructional purposes, they are often very
effective for assessment purposes. There is significant improvement after they
study vocabulary use graphic organizers. It can be seen from their mean scores
before and after using graphic organizers.
Table 4.11 The Mean Scores Table
Mean of students’ pre
Mean of students’ post-
Mean of students’ post-
test scores
test 1 scores
test 2 scores
41. 48
67. 15
79. 81
C. Hypothesis Testing
The hypothesis of this research is that graphic organizers can improve
students’ vocabulary mastery at the fifth grade students of SD Negeri Kentingan
No.79 Surakarta. The data have been analyzed and proved that that the hypothesis
of this research is accepted. Graphic organizers are effective media to improve the
students’ vocabulary mastery. The use of graphic organizers in teaching
vocabulary attracts their interest to study vocabulary in an easy and enjoyable
way.
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CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
This chapter presents the conclusion and suggestion of the study about
improving students’ vocabulary mastery through graphic organizers.
A. Conclusion
Based on the result of the research, it can be concluded that graphic
organizers can improve students’ vocabulary mastery at the fifth grade students of
SD Negeri Kentingan No.79 Surakarta. The results of students’ tests show that
there is an improvement of students’ vocabulary mastery after action. The mean
score gets improved from the pre-test to the cycle 2 test. In the pre-test, the mean
of the students’ score is 41. 48 while in the first post-test the mean of the students’
score is 67. 15 and the mean score of second post-test is 79. 81.
The participation of the students in class is improved. During the
researcher implements the actions, the students are more active. In the first
meeting in cycle 1, the participation of 15 students (45.45 %) is enough and the
participation of 18 students (54. 55 %) is still low. In the second meeting in cycle
1, the participation of 5 students (15. 15 %) is still low, the participation of 25
students (75. 75 %) is enough and the participation of 3 students (9. 10 %) is
good. In the first meeting in cycle 2, the participation of 24 students (72. 73%) is
enough and the participation of 9 students (27. 27 %) is good. In second meeting
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in cycle 2, the participation of 12 students (36. 36%) is enough and the
participation of 21 students (63. 64 %) is good.
The students’ interest also improved. The researcher found a good
atmosphere in the class. The students are more enthusiastic during teaching
learning process. Furthermore, the good thing is they are more active than before.
There are so many students who raise their hands to answer the question on the
whiteboard or oral answer. When they do the tasks, many of them can finish the
exercise quickly. They also like having discussion with their friends.
B. Suggestion
The researcher would like to give some suggestions related to teaching and
learning. The researcher hopes that these suggestions will be useful, especially for
teachers, institutions, students, and other researchers.
1. For the Teachers
Vocabulary is one of the subjects taught when students learn a language.
One of several ways to teach vocabulary effectively is by using graphic
organizers. Graphic organizers are new technique to present vocabulary by using
graphic display. It is more fun to study vocabulary through graphic organizers.
Moreover, graphic organizers can attract students’ interest so the teacher will
easily deliver the materials.
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2. For the Institutions
The institutions that deal with English teaching-learning in their programs
should provide the appropriate facilities that support the teaching learning process
in order to improve the educational quality, such as an appropriate language
laboratory, audio visual room, internet, library et cetera. The institution should
encourage English teachers to use different techniques to teach English especially
vocabulary in order to improve quality of teaching learning process.
3. For Other Researchers
This research studies the improvement of students’ vocabulary mastery
through graphic organizers as the technique. The result of the research is expected
to be able to encourage other researchers to conduct research dealing with the
graphic organizers in the other subjects, such as speaking, writing, reading, or
listening. Otherwise, they can also study the improvement of students’ vocabulary
mastery through other technique.
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