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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

There are many elements in language, one of them is vocabulary.

Nowadays, people concern vocabulary as important element of language. As what

Zimmer Man stated (in James Coady: 1997), vocabulary is considered one of the

most important aspects of second language learning and priority was placed on

developing a scientific and rational basis for selecting the vocabulary content of

language courses

Learning vocabulary is important because to be able to speak, write, and

listen we have to know adequate vocabulary first. Peoples across the world have

the strong feelings that the lack of vocabulary mastery can impede the process of

English learning. They found problems in learning language that related to the

lack of vocabulary. The problems are: 1) cannot speak English fluently, 2) easy to

forget new words learned recently, 3) tend to use the same idiomatic expressions

to express different sort of things, 4) sometimes it is hard to find the correct word

to say (Thornbury, 2002:13). There are also other problems occurs related to the

lack of vocabulary mastery as quoted from Handayani’s thesis (2009), the

problems are: 1) the problems in catching words or sentences which were said, 2)

the problems in understanding meaning of words.

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The importance of learning vocabulary inspires the Indonesian government

to improve English learning system especially in vocabulary. This quotation

below suggests that English should be given to the students of elementary level: “

…..memilih dan menerapkan bahasa Inggris sebagai mata pelajaran muatan

local pilihan kabupaten untuk sekolah dasar. Untuk sementara diberikan di kelas

IV, V, VI “. ( GBPP Muatan Lokal Bhs. Inggris, 2004 ).

Despite the attention given to English language learning by the government,

there are still some problems found in English language learning. These problems

also happen to the students of SD Negeri Cengklik II Surakarta. It can be seen

from the mark the students get on the last semester examination. The mean of

their mark in the last semester examination is 5.22. It is considered as bad mark,

because the passing grade of the students in this school is 5.

The phenomenon above might be caused by various things; one of them is

the teacher teaches vocabulary through translation. Based on the interview with

the teacher herself, she said that in the teaching and learning process she usually

gives a list of words that should be found the meaning by the students in limited

time. Normally, it is hard for people to learn new thing (in this case new words) in

such of limited time by only consulting to a dictionary.

Besides, in this elementary school as most elementary schools in Indonesia,

English language learning is given to students once a week with only 60 minutes

for each meeting. It is not sufficient considering English is a foreign language not

the native language of the students.

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To solve this kind of problems, it is a need to give treatments to students

that will make them enjoy the vocabulary learning and learn it fast.

In this research the writer tried to give certain method which is teaching

vocabulary through board game. But why it is game? As purposed by Scott

(February, 2009) there are some areas can be improved by practicing game. First,

Cognitive: Games can assist memory, problem-solving, deduction and planning

skills. Second, Language: Many games can improve vocabulary skills. Third,

Math: Children can practice counting, learn to recognize number and engage in

math with game play. Forth, Social: Games with multiple players encourage

social skills and communication skills. The preset rules also teach children how to

share with others, take turns and win in a fair competition or loose without a

tantrum. Fifth, Motor: A number of games provide opportunities to sharpen fine

and gross motor skills such as hand and eye coordination, balance and the ability

to thread a shoelace. And Sixth, Sensory processing: Some games help stimulate

senses such as playing with water balloons, guessing objects by touch, singing

games or playing Musical Chairs may improve sensory disorders by engaging

different senses during game play

Games also help the teacher to create contexts in which the language is

useful and meaningful (Wright: 1984: 1). Suyanto (2007: 117) also stated that

“anak bermain karena mereka senang. Anak belajar melalui permainan. Pada

saat mereka bermain bersama, anak berinteraksi satu dengan yang lain”. From

this statement Suyanto want to say that beside games make a fun learning and

teaching atmosphere, games also train the learners to communicate with others.
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Because there are so many kinds of games based on the problems and

reasons above, the writer proposes one of them as teaching techniques as the

solution for the problem of learning vocabularies. The teaching technique, which

is suitable to overcome the problems, is board games. Board games provide all

materials needed by the students such as the exercises to improve spelling, word

understanding, pronunciation, and so on. Board games can also be an alternative

technique of teaching to make the students feel fun in learning English

vocabularies. The teacher also gets benefits to conduct the lesson effectively.

According to Elizabeth Stover at www.ehow.com, board games improve

vocabulary just by playing them. For example, scrabble and boggle (games that

included to board games) are two such games that improve vocabulary because of

the nature of the game. Beside the fact that board games naturally improve

vocabulary, board games are cheap. You can create your own games by

repurposing old game boards or creating your own using a word processing

program.

Kartikadewi on her thesis at www.karya-ilmiah.um.ac.id said that board

games are more effective than material memorizing because it gives chance to the

students to learn vocabulary by knowing the real thing by pictures. Wright (1984:

81) also stated that he believes that the learners will enjoy and derive value from

the board games.

Due to the facts above, the writer is interested in carrying out a study on

“Improving Students’ Vocabulary Mastery through Board Games“(A Classroom

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Action Research at the Fourth Grade Students of SD Negeri Cengklik II,

Surakarta in 2009/2010 Academic Year)

B. Statement of the Problem

1. Can board games improve student’s vocabulary mastery?

2. What happened when board games were employed in teaching

vocabulary?

3. What are the strengths and the weaknesses of board games?

C. The Objectives of the Study

Generally, the study is conducted to improve the students’ vocabulary

mastery at the fourth grade students of SD N Cengklik II Surakarta.

The study is conducted to get the information in some terms. The first is to

find the ability of board games to improve students’ vocabulary mastery at the

fourth grade students of SD N Cengklik II Surakarta. Secondly, the research is

conducted to find out whether the use of board games can improve the quality of

vocabulary teaching process. The third, the research is to evaluate the strengths

and the weaknesses of board games in teaching vocabulary.

D. The Benefits of the Study

The writer expects that the result of the study gives benefits for some aspect

involved. The intended benefits are:

1. The writer hopes that this study gives contributions in improving

the students’ vocabulary mastery. From the method used, it is expected that

the students will also have great motivations to learn vocabulary using
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Board games. The implementation of word games in learning vocabulary

could be a more fun way of effective vocabulary learning. Word games can

be one of choices to play when the students need a pleasure simultaneously

with learning vocabularies.

2. The teacher can use a new alternative to teach vocabulary. This

study is expected will give more information about vocabulary learning to

the teachers. Then, the teachers will more understand about problems and

difficulties in vocabulary teaching. It can be an alternative for the teachers

to solve the problems arises in teaching and learning vocabularies.

3. The school institutions can take the result of the study that is useful

for formulating an appropriate method for teaching English through Board

games and make an appropriate follow up based on it. The result of this

research can motivate other English teachers to implement the same

technique to solve the same problems in their class.

4. The writer expects that this research will give her a wider

knowledge about vocabulary mastery and the way to improve it.

5. Hopefully, the result of this study can provide a clear description

about teaching vocabulary. The study may become a reference for further

researches on the same topic for other researchers.

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CHAPTER II

THEORIES UNDERLYING THE STUDY

A. Theoretical Description

1. Vocabulary Mastery

a. Definition of Vocabulary

There are some experts who propose the definitions of vocabulary.

Hatch and Brown (1995: 1) stated that vocabulary refers to a list of a set of

words that individual speaker of a language might use. The definition given

by Hatch and Brown means that there is more than one words that being used

for a certain language.

Paul (1978: 1229) said that vocabulary can be defined as a list words,

usually in alphabetical order and with explanations of their meanings, less

complete than a dictionary.

Burns (1975: 295) also stated that vocabulary is the stock of words

used by a person, a class or profession. From this definition it can be

concluded that every individual use several different vocabularies.

The next definition is proposed by Ur (1996: 60). Ur says that

vocabulary can be defined, roughly, as the words we teach in the foreign

language. In this definition vocabulary is not the native language of the

learners. Vocabulary is the words being taught in a foreign course.

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From the statements above can be concluded that vocabulary refers to

stocks of words that learned as foreign language by individual speakers.

b. Kinds of Vocabulary

Notion (2008: 7) divides7 vocabulary into four levels on the basis of

how often it occurs in the language. They are high frequency words,

academic words, technical words, and low frequency words. These levels can

be explained as bellow:

1) High Frequency Words

High frequency words are the most important group of words.

These words occur very frequently in all kinds of use of the

language. They are needed in formal and informal uses of the

language.

The high frequency words of English have the following

characteristics.

a) Each high frequency word occurs very often, so the effort of

learning it will be repaid by plenty of opportunities to meet and

use it.

b) The high frequency words are useful no matter what use is

made of English.

c) Because of the frequency and wide range they make up a very

large proportion of the running words in all kinds of texts and

language use.
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d) They are relatively small group of words that could be covered

in a school program over three to five years.

2) Academic Words

Academic words are words that are not appear in daily

conversation frequently, less than 25 percent of the running words

in conversation are from the academic words list, but frequent and

widely used within specialized area. These words are very

important for learners who will use English for academic study

either in upper secondary schools or technical institutes (academic

words occur in all kinds of academic subject areas like Botany,

Politics, Accounting, and Family Law)

3) Technical Words

Technical words occur in more specialized area than academic

words. These words are very important for anyone who specializes

in a particular area. There have not been many statistical studies of

technical vocabulary, but it seems that at least 20 percent of the

running words in most technical texts, such as anatomy text and

economics text, are likely to be technical words.

4) Low Frequency words

This last words group is the biggest group among the other three.

Low frequency words are a diverse group. They include (1) words

that are not quite frequent or wide range enough to be high

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frequency words, (2) technical words from other areas (one

person’s technical vocabulary is another person’s low frequency

vocabulary), and (3) words that just occur rarely. Low frequency

words have the following characteristics.

a) Each word does not occur very often.

b) Most low frequency words have a very narrow range. They are

not needed in every use of the language.

c) The low frequency words make up a very small proportion of

the running words in a text.

d) They are a very large group of words.

The usage of those kinds of vocabulary above can be shown from the

table below.

Level Number of Words Text Coverage, %

High-frequency words 2,000 87
Academic vocabulary 800 8
Technical vocabulary 2,000 3
Low-frequency words 123,200 2
Total 128,000 100
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English has an enormous spool of vocabulary. No one, even native

speakers, is able to know them all. Fortunately, we do not need to know them

all in order to use English. We only need to know those that are relevant to

our practical purposes.

c. The importance of vocabulary

The importance of vocabulary can be shown from the statements of

experts below.

"Without grammar very little can be conveyed; without vocabulary

nothing can be conveyed." (Wilkins 1972:111)

"When students travel, they don't carry grammar books, they carry

dictionaries." (Krashen in Lewis 1993: iii)

"The more one considers the matter, the more reasonable it seems to

suppose that lexis is where we need to start from, the syntax needs to be put

to the service of words and not the other way round." (Widdowsen in Lewis

1993:115)

From the statements above it is clearly shown that vocabulary is the

more important than the other aspects of language and it is needed

everywhere people go.

d. Vocabulary Mastery
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The word mastery refers to some definitions. According to Swannel

(1994: 656), mastery is comprehensive knowledge. From the definition,

mastery is wide; it covers all of the elements of knowledge.

Hornby (1995) also stated that mastery is complete control of

knowledge. This statement strengthen the first statement that mastery covers

all of the elements of knowledge is true.

From the definition of vocabulary and mastery above, it can be

concluded that vocabulary mastery refers to the complete control of a stock of

words that learned as a foreign language by individual speaker in language

learning.

e. Teaching Vocabulary

According to Ur (1996: 60) there are six elements need to be taught in

teaching vocabulary. They are, (1) Form: pronunciation and spelling; (2)

Grammar; (3) Collocation; (4) Aspect of meaning: denotation, connotation,

appropriateness; (5) Aspect of meaning: meaning relationship; (6) and Word

formation

The approaches use to teach vocabulary mostly depends on who are

the beginners and what are the teaching aims, according to www.tesol-ua.org

the approaches are:

1) Use of Realia

It may be done by bringing real objects to classroom such as

postcard with book, pen, schoolbag, vegetables and everything that

is worth to be brought to the classroom. Even the classroom

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environment, such as: a chair, a table, a board, can also be used.

Realia is a vital part in presenting vocabulary at the beginners’

level, where pupils learn words, using concretes.

2) Pictures

This is incredibly efficient for the reason that it facilitates the

process of learning for children, since they are used in different

ways. There are: pictures, blackboard drawings, wall pictures,

charts, photos from magazines.

3) Context

Though challenging sometimes is in reality a good technique. Use

the words in a real environment or context.

4) Mime and Pantomime

It may be done with the help of gestures and facial expressions and

also through actions. This technique is useful for explanation of the

actions and grammar items.

5) Playing

Use numerous educational games. Playing make the lesson lively

and interesting.

6) Start with Irregular Verbs

Students memorize much needed words, starting with irregular

verbs then nouns, adjectives and so on. Everyday at least students

learnt 3 to 5 words.

7) Last Pages
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Students use the last pages of their notebooks to create their own

glossary, using just the words that are interesting for them or the

ones that they actually want to include in their everyday

vocabulary. It gives them autonomy to choose and to be more

active in the process of learning.

f. Procedures of Teaching Vocabulary

According to Cross (1991:11-13) the procedure of teaching

vocabulary can be divided into three stages, they are as follows:

1) Presentation

In this stage, the teachers can use various techniques to teach

vocabulary. Below are lists of method to give on presentation

according to Kwiatkowska (April, 2007).

a) Concise definition.

Definition is suitable method for upper-beginners and relies on

giving the definition of given word. It can be simple,

unnecessary precise and scientific definition, given by the

teacher. It can be the definition from the dictionary. This is a

good method in mobilization of students to the usage of

dictionaries.

b) Explanation (description and example)

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This is such a technique which is assigned to be utilized with

upper-beginners, who already have some knowledge of

English. It is essential for the teacher to bear in mind, that

while explaining certain words he should use the language that

is comprehensible for the students. Moreover, the information

about the frequency of the word should be included.

c) Give Illustration (pictures, objects)

This may be the most useful method in language teaching,

since it can be used in different ways. Those “aids” are used to

explain the meaning of words or to create a situation and

concept.

d) Make Demonstration (acting, mime)

This technique is useful for explanation of the actions and

grammar items. Such concepts as: jumping, smoking; are easy

items to explain through performing those actions. Mime,

action is a great fun for children who like acting and moving

very much.

e) Synonyms

This technique relies on explanation of meaning of new word

by giving other word, which students know and understand,

and which means nearly the same .For example: little-small,

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huge-big etc. The number of synonyms appearing in textbooks

is reasonable, in this way they can be introduced rather early.

f) Antonyms

In this technique teacher explains the meaning of new word, by

giving its opposite, if students know the word meaning

contrary feature e.g. warm -is not cold.

g) Do Translation.

Translation is a method which is used when it allows saving

the time during the explanation of new vocabulary item.

2) Practice

In this stage, the teacher gives exercises to the students in order to

practice the subject items being learnt. Below are several exercises

that can be used by the teacher in this stage.

a) Singing songs and playing games

b) semantic field and semantic mapping

c) key word method

d) vocabulary exercises

e) regular review

3) Production

Production also known as revision assists the learning process, so it

needs to be done regularly.

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Hatch and Brown (1995: 373-390) stated that there are five essential

steps in vocabulary learning:

1) Encountering new words

2) Getting the word form

3) Getting the word meaning

4) Consolidating word form and meaning in memory

5) Using the word

Based on the statement, new vocabulary is firstly derived from the

source. After getting the words, the learner can find out what the words refer

to in real life by visual, auditory representation or even the combination of

them. By looking the representation, the learner is expected to judge the

appropriate meaning of the words. The teacher’s job in vocabulary teaching

process is making a strong memory connection for both the words and

meanings for her students. Using the word in a sentence is the last step for

checking the students’ vocabulary mastery not only in understanding the

word and its meaning but also in placing it in a proper context.

2. Games in Language Learning

a. Definition of Games

Khan in Suyanto (2007: 117) stated that “permainan adalah aktivitas

yang dilakukan berdasarkan aturan tertentu”. From this definition, Khan

wants to define game as an activity played with certain rules. It means that

when we played game we have certain boundaries, whether it is seen or

unseen.
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Costikyan in Huyen & Nga (November, 2003) stated that game is a

form of art in which participants; termed players, make decisions in order to

manage resources through game tokens in the pursuit of a goal. In this

definition Costikyan wants to say that in a game there are should be players

as the master mind to achieve the goal.

In other definition from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/game.html, game

is defined as a structured activity, usually undertaken for enjoyment and

sometimes used as an educational tool. In this definition, beside it have rules,

game also gives pleasure to the players and educating them in the same time.

From those definitions above it can be concluded that game is an

enjoyable activity done by following certain rules to achieve the goal and

sometimes it is used as an educational tool.

b. Purpose of Language Games

Wright et al at Dalton (February, 2006) said that with the use of

games, the teacher can create various contexts in which students have to use

the language to communicate, exchange information and express their own

opinions.

Huang in Huyen & Nga (November, 2003) has the conclusion that

"learning through games could encourage the operation of certain

psychological and intellectual factors which could facilitate communication

heightened self-esteem, motivation and spontaneity, reinforcing learning,

improving intonation and building confidence."

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In summary, the purpose of games is to build the confidence of the

players in the learning processes.

c. Values of Games

Some experts have figured out characteristics of games that make

vocabulary learning more effectively. Lee in Huyen and Nga (November,

2003) lists several main advantages when games are used in the classroom,

including "a welcome break from the usual routine of the language class",

"motivating and challenging" "effort of learning", and "language practice in

the various skills." From this statement games have the values to bring

relaxation and fun for students, catches student’s interest, and creates an

active teaching learning process.

Wright et al in Dalton (February, 2006) stated that games help and

encourage many learners to sustain their interest and work. Games also help

the teacher to create contexts in which the language is useful and meaningful.

Games give profits to both teachers and learners. For the teachers games help

them to create context in teaching language and for the students games

support them to do their hobbies or task.

According to Scott (February, 2009), there are literally hundreds of

games that have been designed for children and adults today. Some of the

general benefits include learning:

1) That you cannot always win

2) How to take turns

3) Team work
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4) To be more patient

5) Risk taking

6) The importance of persistence

7) Anticipation skills

8) Memory

9) Colour and shape recognition

10) Pattern recognition

11) Vocabulary

But as well as these general benefits, there can be more specific

benefits for learning that are related to other forms of learning, including:

1) Basic counting and mathematics

2) Word recognition

3) Problem solving

4) General knowledge

5) Writing (numbers and words)

In summary, games are useful and effective tools for both students

and teacher, which should be applied in vocabulary classes.

d. Types of Games

According to Hadfield (1998: 4), there are two kinds of games, that is,

competitive games and co-operative games. Competitive games are games

where the players or teams compete to be the first to reach the goal. And co-
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operative games are those ones where the player or team works together

towards a common goal.

3. Board Games

a. Definition of Board Games

Board game is a game in which counters or pieces are placed, removed,

or moved on a pre-marked surface or "board" according to a set of rules.

(www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/boardgames/html/)

Free online dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia give the definition

of board games as games played on specially design board. Board games use a

special design board as a central tool. In this board the players' status,

resources, and progress are tracked using physical tokens. Many kinds of board

games use dice and/or cards as tools.

From the definitions above it can be concluded that board game is a

game which counters or pieces are placed, removed, or moved on a specially

design board. It means that to play board games we have to use a special board

made to play those games only.

b. Kinds of Board Games

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There are a numbers of different kinds of board games can. There are

war games, strategy games, sport games, word games, etc. but, not all of those

games can improve vocabulary. According to Stucky (December, 2008) there

are six board games that develop language skills, they are

1) Mad Gab-an excellent game for learning the importance of stress in

words.

2) Taboo-learn to describe an action, idea, or thing using different

words.

3) Cranium-develops word finding, spelling, unscrambling, and

vocabulary skills.

4) Scattergories-a game that requires you to express yourself quickly.

5) Balderdash-learn to use creative word expression.

6) Scrabble-an all time classic that builds vocabulary and spelling.

Differ from Stucky, Watcyn (1993: 7) stated that most students enjoy

doing crosswords and word squares. Supports Watcyn statement Philips

(1993:91) said that simple crosswords are easy to prepare and are excellent

way of revising vocabulary or structure.

Differ from others above Huntley at www.tefl.net said that the bingo

game would be one of the later stages of the process of covering a language

point

So, in order to follow the advice of those experts above, in this research

researcher is going to use three games that the researcher consider it as the

most appropriate games to teach vocabulary, the games are as follow:

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1) Scrabble

Scrabble is a board game in which words are formed from letters in

patterns similar to a crosswords puzzle; each letter has a value and those

values are used to score the game. (wordnet.princeton.du/perl/webwn)

Another definition of scrabble from www.wiktionary.org, Scrabble

is a board game in which players draw letter tiles and take turns to make

interlocking words like a crossword, scoring points according to the letters

played and their positions on the board. (en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Scrabble)

These are the ways to play Scrabble according to Saylor (2009).

Each player lays down the wooden letters to form words, the other players

can challenge if the word is spelled correctly or inquire about the words'

meaning. Prefixes and suffixes can be added to a word already played on

the board to gain additional points and make a new word. Each player

starts with eight wooden letters and takes turns spelling words and laying

them down on the game board in a crossword puzzle fashion. Points are

awarded for each word spelled according to the values assigned on the

letter.

Scrabble makes the players think and think again about finding new

word. In short, scrabble is a great game to play to improve vocabulary

mastery

2) Bingo
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Bingo is a vocabulary building game designed specifically for

young and very young learners (kindergarten and early elementary grades)

with a very low level of Basic English.

The games featured here are relatively simple, but clear enough for

young learners to grasp quickly and challenging and exciting enough for

students to maintain motivation and focus their concentration.

3) Crossword Puzzle

Crosswords are an excellent way to improve your vocabulary. They

help you remember words that you have already learned, and can even

help you learn new words.

Crossword puzzle is the combination of crossword and puzzle. In

this game beside the blocks to put the letter there are also pictures to help

students to figure the word being asked. It makes this game more

interested because it is different from the usual crossword and it is full

color. Young learners tend to attract to something with many colors in it.

c. Values of Board Games

The most simple and valuable thing of board games is that, once

laminated, they last and can be reworked easily for different levels and

situations by adding new risk cards to previous ones, upping the ante on several

tasks or changing the language requirements of the challenge. And also the use

of board games as part of school literacy can give the perceived benefits of:
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1) Repetition and over-learning (i.e. the repetition of

something until it becomes second nature and increases the speed of

recall);

2) Incorporating some forms of repetitive learning into game

situations to increase enjoyment and help concentration and time on

task;

3) Providing foundational knowledge for other more complex

learning.

It is very cheap, easy, and useful to use board games as an alternative

method to improve vocabulary mastery.

4. Teaching English for Young Learners

Singleton (1989: 242-245) stated that there are some reasons for teaching

English at primary level, namely: 1) the need to expose children from an early age

to an understanding of foreign cultures so that they grow up tolerant and

sympathetic to others; 2) the need to link communication to understanding of new

concept; 3) the need for maximum learning time for important languages the

earlier you start the more time you get; 4) the advantages of stating with early

second language instruction so that the language can be used as a medium of

teaching.

To help deciding material or method to give, teacher needs to know the

characteristics of young learners. As proposed by Brumfit (1995: v), there are

some special characteristics of young learners.

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a) Young learners are only just beginning their schooling, so that

teachers have major opportunity to mould their expectations of
life in school.
b) As a group they are potentially more differentiated than
secondary or adult learners, for they are closer to their varied
home cultures and new to the conformity increasingly imposed
across cultural groupings by the school.
c) They tend to be keen and enthusiastic learners, without the
inhibitions which older children sometimes bring to their
schooling.
d) Their learning can be closely linked with their development of
ideas and concepts, because it is so close to their initial
experience of formal schooling.
e) They need physical movement and activity as much as
stimulation for their thinking, and the closer together these can be
the better.

Since children have those special characteristics, teaching English for them

cannot be regarded similarly as teaching adult. Not all of the English teaching

methods can be used to teach young learners. It should be based on their needs

and characteristics.

B. Rationale

Teaching vocabulary for young learners is different to teaching vocabulary

to adults. Young learners nearly hard to concentrate when attends a teaching and

learning process. Because of that, we need to find the way to attract them to learn.

One way is by using board games. Board games are enjoyable and educating

in the same time. Young learners will give attention to something fun, so, we can

hold their attention with board games because board games is a fun way to learn.
 27

There are so many kinds of board games and it is nearly impossible to use

them all, so, the writers limit it in the use of three board games only. They are

scrabble, bingo, and crossword puzzle.

Teaching vocabulary using those games above is really possible. Beside the

games are easy played, there are pictures displayed to make it more attractive.

Even the learners would not realize that they are in the middle of learning process.

It is important to make young learners not realize that they are learning, because

the word “learning” sometimes give them pressure. That is way board games are

beneficial to improve students’ vocabulary mastery in elementary school.

C. Hypothesis

Based on the explanation above, it is assumed that board games can improve

the students’ vocabulary mastery in elementary school.

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

A. Research Setting

This classroom action research was held in SD Negeri Cengklik II

Surakarta. The school is located in Jl. Letjen Sutoyo no.16 Cengklik, Nusukan,
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Surakarta. Geographically, SD Negeri Cengklik II Surakarta has a strategic place.

This school is near to the main road; therefore, it is easy to get transportation.

Actually, there are some other buildings borders SD Negeri Cengklik II Surakarta.

There are SD Negeri Cengklik I and SMA N 5 Surakarta in the north side, Letjen

Sutoyo Street on the west side, SMA N 6 Surakarta on the south side and sport

field of SMA N 6 Surakarta on the east side. The location of SD Negeri Cengklik

II Surakarta is in educational environment where there are many other school

surrounding it. Beside SMA N 5 Surakarta, SMA N 6 Surakarta, and SD Negeri

Cengklik I Surakarta, there are also Tunas Pembangunan University and also

Tunas Pembangunan Vocational school. This environment make the students’

learning environment is quiet and safe enough to conduct teaching and learning

process.

SD Negeri Cengklik II Surakarta has six grades of class. They are the first

until the sixth grade. Each grade consists of one class only and each class consists

of 37 up to 50 students. There are six classrooms in SD Negeri Cengklik II

Surakarta. Beside the classrooms, the other rooms in SD Negeri Cengklik II

Surakarta are teacher office, headmaster office, and computer room.

The time of the research was arranged based on the school’s academic
27
schedule. Therefore, the writer conducted the research in the second semester of

academic year 2009/2010 from April to June.

B. The Subject of the Research

 29

The subject of the research was the fourth grade students of SD Negeri

Cengklik II Surakarta. This class consists of 37 students. They are 14 boys and 23

girls.

The writer chose class IV as the subject of the research based on the fact

that several of the students are cleverer and some are very active while the others

have low achievement in English especially on vocabulary. It seems that some of

them do not have willingness to study. This unwillingness can be seen from their

behavior in English lesson time, from the observation of teacher’s class and from

the first day of the research, researcher had seen that some students are asleep and

some even making their own conversation with friends. The researcher conducted

the study through teaching and learning process by employing board games in

teaching vocabulary. The researcher acted as the teacher and the English teacher

acted as the observer.

C. The Method of the Research

The research used in this study is a classroom action research. Action

research is classroom-based research conducted by teachers in order to reflect

upon and evolve their teaching. It is a systematic, documented inquiry into one

aspect of teaching and learning in a specific classroom. The purpose of teacher

research is to gain understanding of teaching and learning within one’s classroom

and to use that knowledge to increase teaching efficacy/student learning.

Classroom action research helped the researcher to discover what works best in a

certain classroom situation as what stated by Zuber-Skerrit (1982)

 30

"Through systematic, controlled action research, higher education teachers

can become more professional, more interested in pedagogical aspects of
higher education and more motivated to integrate their research and teaching
interests in a holistic way. This, in turn, can lead to greater job satisfaction,
better academic programmes, improvement of student learning and
practitioner’s insights and contributions to the advancement of knowledge in
higher education."

In this study, the classroom action research is conducted to solve the

problems that appear in teaching and learning of vocabulary. The purpose of the

research is to improve the students’ vocabulary mastery through board games and

can give the best solution from the problem that appears during the teaching and

learning process on the fourth grade of SD N Cengklik II Surakarta. This class

Action Research is carried out by the writer as a practitioner who implemented the

action and the English teacher helped the researcher by being the observer.

D. The Model of Action Research

The model of classroom action research used in this study is based on the

model developed by Stephen Kemmis in Hopkins (1993:48). Based on the model,

there are four steps in implementing the action research: (1) planning; (2) acting;

(3) observing; and (4) reflecting. The cycle of research steps can be visually seen

as follows:

Plan

Reflection

Step I
 31

Action

&

Observation

Revised Plan

Reflection

Step II

Action

&

Observation Revised Plan

Next Cycle

Figure 1. Cycles of Action Research

The four elements above can be explained, as follows:

1. Planning the action.

The writer prepared everything related to the action as follows:

a. Preparing material, making lesson plan, and designing the

steps in doing the action.

b. Preparing sheets for classroom observation. It is prepared to

know the situation and condition of the teaching and learning

process when the technique is applied.

c. Preparing teaching aids needed, for example copies

worksheets of picture or word list of board games, chalk,

blackboard, duster, and so on.

 32

d. Preparing test. It was done to know whether students’

vocabulary mastery could be improved or not. Thus it can be

identified how effective the technique is.

2. Implementing the action

The writer conducted teaching and learning vocabulary through

board games. The real implementations were generally presented as

follows:

a. The writer prepared materials containing some exercises

and practices taken and adapted from the source.

b. The writer distributed copied material according to the

number of the students.

c. The writer gave short explanation and guided the students

to understand, practice and do the exercise of board games.

d. The writer gave examples of board games that would be

performed for other students in the class.

e. After ensuring that all students had understood, board

games could be played.

f. After doing board games, the teacher and the students

reviewed materials and gave some evaluation.

g. The writer asked the students’ feeling and their comment

dealing with board games had been performed.

3. Observing or monitoring the action

 33

The writer as the practitioner observed the students’ activities

when teaching and learning process occurred. The result of the

observation was written on field notes as the data. The English teacher

as observer gave some input and suggestion to the practitioner.

4. Reflecting the result of the observation

In this step, the researcher as practitioner made an evaluation and

investigation towards what she had observed in order to find out the

strengths and weaknesses of the teaching activity that had been carried

out. Through the observation, the teacher can see whether the students

are active or passive during the teaching and learning process.

5. Revising the plan

Based on the weaknesses of the activities that had been carried

out using board games in teaching vocabulary, the writer revised the

plan for the next cycle.

E. The Technique of Collecting Data

In this research the researcher used observation, photograph, interview, and

test to collect the data:

1. Observation

Observation is an effective technique to learn about the method used by the

teacher, the condition of the clasroom, and the responses given by the students

towards the method given by teacher.

 34

This technique done by the researcher to observe students’ behavior and

activities during the teaching and learning process. This observation focused on

the development of students’ vocabulary mastery through board games. The

researcher acted as an active participant teacher and also observer. The researcher

observed the process of teaching and learning with the help of the English teacher

as observer.

The researcher made field notes and took some photograph describing the

students’ learning process. Photographs were taken to record activities happened

in the class. It could give real description about teaching learning process.

2. Interview

This technique was implemented in the beginning and the end of the

research to know the students’ and teacher’s view of the teaching-learning

process. In the pre research, the researcher conducted interview to know what

problems both the teacher and the students faced especially in learning English

and at the end of the research aims to know students’ improvement.

3. Test

The researcher gave vocabulary tests to the students. There were pre-test

and post-test which are used to collect the data of the improvement. Test was

conducted to verify whether or not board games helped to improve the students’

vocabulary mastery.

F. Technique of Analyzing the Data

After collecting the data, the writer then analyzed the data. There are two

ways in analyzing the data; they were qualitative and quantitative method. In this
 35

research the qualitative data were analyzed by using Constant Comparative

Method, while the quantitative data were analyzed by comparing the results of the

tests. The writer analyzed the result of the observation during the teaching and

learning process by using Constant Comparative Method as suggested by Strauss

and Glasser in Moleong (2004:288-289). They said that in general, the data

analysis process includes data reduction, data classification, data synthesis, and

ended by action hypothesis.

The quantitative data were analyzed by calculating the mean of pre-test and

post-test. Ary, Donald and Jacob (1979: 150) mention that the mean of pre-test

and post-test can be calculated with the formula as follows:

x=
∑x y=
∑y
N N

In which:

x = Means of pre-test scores

y = Means of post-test scores

N = Number of pairs

Based on the mean scores of the tests, it can show whether or not board

games could improve the students’ vocabulary mastery.

CHAPTER IV

RESEARCH FINDING AND DISCUSSION

A. Research Implementation

This research was held in two cycles. The writer divided first cycle into

three meetings. Each meeting took 60 minutes. It was conducted in 21 st April

 36

2010, 28th April 2010, and 12th May2010. Meanwhile, the second cycle included

two cycles. In both, first and second cycles, the writer used “Animals” and “Foods

and Drinks” as the topics. She conducted the second cycle on 26th May 2010 and

7th June 2010. Every cycle in this research consists of series of steps, namely

identifying the problems, planning the action, implementing the action, observing

or monitoring the action, evaluating and reflecting the result of the observation,

and revising the plan. They could be explained in the following parts.

1. Cycle 1

a. Identifying the problems

As stated previously in the first chapter of this thesis, it was seen that

students felt bored with the teacher’s technique in delivering material. They

saw that English lesson was something difficult and boring. Sometimes they

did not pay attention to the lesson. They played with other students or

sometimes they did nothing. The teacher never used other techniques to

present and practice new vocabularies. Then, the students found difficulties

in pronouncing, spelling, and understanding new vocabularies. The writer

could also see that the students’ English score of test were still low. It

seemed that they really found difficulties to remember and grasp the
3
meaning of words easily.
5
b. Planning the action

Before implementing the action, the writer and the teacher gave the

students a pre-test. The pre test was conducted on Thursday, April 15th 2010. It

was conducted to know the students’ basic knowledge about the topic, and it
 37

would be compared with the post test in the end of the cycle to know the

improvement. The writer prepared the materials, students’ worksheet, a lesson

plan as teacher’s guidance in teaching vocabulary and everything needed in

the action. The action plan would be implemented by the writer. Meanwhile

the teacher observed the whole process during the process of teaching and

learning in the classroom.

c. Implementing the Action

1) First Meeting

The first meeting was conducted on Wednesday, April 21st 2010. In the

first meeting the writer chose “Animals” as a topic and chose “Scrabble” as a

kind of board games would be played. After coming to the class and greeting

the students, the teacher checked the students’ attendance. Next, the teacher

talked about “animals” as the topic they would learn. Then, the teacher asked

the students whether they have pets or not. The teacher asked the students to

mention names of pets they have at home in English.

After introducing the topic, the teacher began the lesson of that day by

showing the students some pictures. The teacher asked and their meaning.

When the teacher asked the students to mention the names of each picture

some student didn’t answer it. Ensuring the students understood about the

pictures, the teacher continued to explain that the students would play board

games dealing with animals. The teacher explained that the rule of the game

was to fill the empty blocks on the scrabble board with the letters that the
 38

teacher had prepared and formed it into names of animals. To make the

explanation clearer, the teacher gave an example in the board.

After that the teacher divided the students in to four groups. The students

were divided into four groups based on their sitting row. Each group chose

their own leader. The students in each group enthusiastically discussed the

name of animal they used in the board game. Some of the groups got noisy in

discuss the name. Knowing the crowd happened in certain group, the teacher

asked them not to speak too loudly and not to disturb the other groups. The

students obeyed the teacher’s command.

The next part was playing the game. One student of each group came

forward to stack the letters to the scrabble board and form a word. The other

students waited to take turn. Beside waited to take turn, the other students

discussed the next answers would be written with their friends. In this game,

the fastest group who was able to finish the game would be the winner. The

limitation of time in performing the game gave motivation to the students to

finish the game as fast as possible. The students gave support to their friends

by shouting “ayo, ayo, ayo, ayo”. After finishing the game, the students went

back to their chair and waited the next instruction from the teacher.

To know the winner of the game, the teacher asked the students to

discuss the answers of questions in that game. The teacher asked the students

to mention the meaning and to pronounce of each word. The discussion which

was done also has function to correct the answers of each group. Having
 39

finished the discussion, the teacher announced the winner of that day. Then,

the teacher gave a reward to the winner as an appreciation.

Next, the teacher gave some reflection towards all activities had been

done that day by asking the students’ feeling and their comment. The teacher

asked “bagaimana pendapat kalian tentang permainan hari ini?” Some

students said “game ini terlalu sulit Bu”, “sebelumnya kami tidak pernah

diberi game semacam ini Miss”. Then, the teacher gave response and some

advice due to the students’ complaints and she closed the lesson because the

time was up.

2) Second Meeting

The second meeting was conducted on Wednesday, 28th April 2010. In

the second meeting the teacher still chose “Animals” as a topic and chose

“crossword puzzle” as the game. The teacher said,”Good morning class, how

are you?” to the students and greeted them using English. Then, the teacher

checked the students’ attendance. The teacher began the lesson by reviewing

the last lesson. The teachers showed some pictures of animals and asked the

students to say it names loudly in English. Some of the students could do it

well but the rest kept silent because they did not know the answer.

The teacher began the main activities by explaining the rules of

“crossword puzzle” game. The teacher also gave an example of that game. In

doing the task, the students were divided into four groups based on their

sitting position. Each group had to choose the leader to make job distribution

easier. While the students discussed their strategy, the teacher prepared four
 40

boards to play the game in front of the class. The teacher gave fifteen minutes

for each group to accomplish the task. The students did the task seriously.

There were some groups who made a circle to discuss the task. The other

groups sat on their chair and also make a discussion. The leader of each group

has his owns strategy to finish the task as soon as possible. There were some

students who read the LKS to find the answers, and the rest used their thought

and memories to do so. The answer should be written in boxes provided in the

board. When the time was up, the teacher asked each group to sit back on their

chair.

After that the students and the teacher held the discussion. The teacher,

followed by the students, read the words the students wrote on the board.

There were many different answers from the students. They looked happy

when their answers were right, but they looked sad when their answers were

wrong.

In the end of discussion, the teacher announced the winner. The winner

of that day received the reward from the teacher. The teacher said that the

other students still had chances to get the reward. Before continuing to the

next activity, the teacher asked about the students’ comment dealing with

“crossword puzzle” game. The students answered “menyenangkan buk,

gamenya gampang”. The teacher felt glad hearing the students answer.

After finishing the discussion, the teacher closed the lesson and gave

announcement to the students that for the next meeting there would be another

board game to play. The students seemed excited.

 41

3) Third Meeting

This meeting was conducted on Wednesday, May 12th 2010. In the third

meeting the teacher chose “Foods and Drinks” as the topic and chose “Bingo”

as the game. To start the class the teacher greeted the students used English.

Then, the teacher checked the students’ attendance. The teacher began the

lesson by reviewing the last lesson. The teachers showed some pictures of

animals and asked the students to say it names loudly in English. In this

meeting most of the students could say the animal’s name correctly, but they

sometimes mispronounced it.

After that the teacher began the lesson by asked the students what are

their favorite food and drink. Some students answered “bakso buk, bakso…”,

“mie ayam”, “es teh buk…”. The teacher got various answer from the

students. Next the teacher asked them to mention their favorite food and drink

in English. It seems that the students did not really know the English word, so

the teacher wrote their answer on the blackboard and wrote the English word

beside their answer. The teacher guided the students to read the English words

one by one. After the students read all words in the blackboard, the teacher

showed some new pictures of foods and drinks with a name on it and asked

the students to say it names loudly.

The teacher explained that today the students will play "bingo", she

explained the procedure to play "Bingo" is matching the pictures that will be

given to them with the words teacher wrote on the board. The pictures

provided are drawing "foods and drinks". In this game when they have an
 42

image in accordance with the writing on the board they must shout "Bingo". In

doing the task, the students were divided into groups of four based on their

registered number. While the students discussed their strategy, the teacher

prepared the board to play with. Early in the game the children were

embarrassed shouting "bingo" they just raised their hands shyly. But moments

later halted children excited and yelling "bingo" with full of spirit.

After the game had finished the students and the teacher held the

discussion. The teacher together with the students matched the pictures that

each group has with the words written on the board. It turns out that there

were two winners, group 1 and 7 are considered as the winner. To determine

the first champion, the teacher gave a question to those two groups "Who have

the picture of French fries?" The two groups seem concerned that images they

hold seriously. In the end, group 1 which was headed by Faisal shouted

"Bingo". After the teacher checked that the picture was really owned by group

1, the teacher decided that group 1 was the winner and she gave the reward to

the winner.

In this third meeting the rest of the time was used to do the first posttest.

The students had to finish the post test in twenty minutes. After finishing the

test, the teacher closed the lesson and gave announcement to the students that

for the next meeting there would be another board game to play.

d. Observing and Monitoring

In monitoring the implementation of board games in teaching

vocabulary, the writer used test, observation, and interviews to the students as
 43

the consideration to make a decision dealing with the next steps. The test was

given in the form of post-test one. The observation was done simultaneously

when teaching and learning process happened. The observation was made

based on the fieldnotes that written by the observer and the teacher. Then

interviews were taken from the conversation that taken place in teaching and

learning process.

Based on the fieldnote taken by the writer and observer, the observation

of the meeting in research action can be explained as follows:

1) First Meeting

In the first meeting the lesson focused on the topic animals meaning

aspect and simultaneously followed by other aspects of vocabulary. The other

aspects that should be improved were spelling and pronunciation. First of all

the writer who became the teacher asked and elicited vocabularies from

students. After getting many animals names on the blackboard, the students

made mistakes in mentioning the right words in English. Some students could

not pronounce the word “sheep” correctly, they pronounced it as “∫ ε p”

instead of “∫ i: p”. After that she showed some pictures of animals so that

students became more enthusiastic to guess the pictures in English. Many

students could guess them correctly but some of them mispronounced the

word. Before giving the right answer for the picture, the teacher discussed the

answer to the other students first. The teacher expected that the students could

fix the mistakes of their friends.

 44

After the discussion asked the students to play the scrabble game, the

students seemed very excited. This game made every single student came

forward and gave the answer in the board. From this step the teacher expected

that the students could be more active. Since this game was played in group,

some students were very noisy in discussing the game. The teacher had to

warn them to stay quiet. In the end of the game the teacher announced the

winner of the game and gave them reward. The teacher expected the students

to be motivated by giving rewards. After the game done, because of the

limited time the teacher had to end the lesson and said goodbye.

2) Second Meeting

The teacher began the lesson by reviewing the previous material on the

vocabulary about animals. The students forgot some vocabularies when she

did the review. Then, she decided to use the picture to attract their attention

and refresh their mind. The use of picture was helpful. Guided by the teacher,

the students could remember the previous vocabularies. The teacher used the

topic “animals” in this meeting. In this meeting the teacher gave some new

vocabularies about animals to the students. She used the crossword puzzle

game to transfer the new vocabularies to the students. This game still played

in group. By dividing the students in group she expected that the students

could be more communicative. In playing this game the teacher gave some

hints to the students, they had to guess the names of the animals with the

helping of the hints. Many students succeeded in finding the answer. Several
 45

students failed and looked sad. In the end of the game the teacher gave reward

to the winner.

3) Third Meeting

In this meeting students got a new topic. The topic was “foods and

drinks”. Before starting the lesson the teacher reviewed the last material. After

sure the students were ready to get a new topic she began the lesson. First, she

asked the students “what is your favorite food?” . She asked this question to

guided students mind to the new topic. After that she showed some pictures

and asked the students what is the name of the food and drink in the picture.

Some students had difficulties in answering this question. They know the

Indonesian word, but many of them did not know the English. For example,

many of them did not know the English word of “bakso” they kept saying

“bakso” instead of “meat ball”. It proved that some students had low

vocabularies in meaning aspect.

To improve their vocabulary especially in the meaning aspect, the

teacher used the bingo game as the media. To play this game the students were

divided into small group. Next the teacher explained the rules of the game and

gave them different pictures of foods and drinks to each group. The game is

about matching the pictures they had with the teacher’s pictures. The teacher

wrote the name of food or drinks she had in the blackboard. The group, who

brought the picture the teacher mentioned, quickly raises their hand and yelled

“BINGO”. With this game the teacher expected that the students could

recognize the name of the item they brought by its picture. It was so noisy but
 46

that was fine since it reflected the students’ activeness. The students’

activeness also reflected their improved motivation and improved quality of

vocabulary class. The winners of the game were group 1 and 7. The teacher

gave reward to the winner.

e. Reflection

The result in cycle I was not satisfying yet because there were some

weaknesses during the implementation of the action. Some students were still

made mistakes in pronouncing the words. Some of them also still weak in

meaning aspect. Moreover, board game was a technique that employs

cheerfulness and requires more participation from the participants. In

practicing this game, the students usually made a noise which disturbs the

other class. This condition caused the students were out of control. The

detailed of the reflection can be explained as bellow:

1) First meeting

Students had difficulties in getting the English vocabularies for some

Indonesian words at first. When the teacher showed the pictures, they got less

difficulty. The use of pictures attracted student’s attentions.

Some students still made mistakes in pronouncing some words correctly.

They also did not have confidence to pronounce the words loudly.

Because board games mostly played in groups, the students tended to be

noisy. The students tended to make noisy when discussing the answer of the

task. Therefore, it was needed to give warning to the students who were too
 47

noisy. But the use of group also give benefit by helped the students to do the

activity in cooperative way.

2) Second meeting

The second meeting was mostly for the game but firstly she reviewed the

vocabulary learned on the previous meeting. She paid more attention to repeat

the vocabularies that she felt difficult for the students. Then, the rest of the

time was used to play the game. The students who did not win looked sad. It

could be seen that they had more motivation to join the lesson and activity.

3) Third meeting

In the third meeting, students got a new topic. It was “foods and drinks”.

It needed more time to explain this topic. In this meeting students had

difficulties in getting the English vocabularies for some Indonesian words at

first. The teacher helped the students by showing them some pictures and

playing bingo. The bingo game was meant to improve student’s meaning

understanding and pronunciation ability.

To support the qualitative data, the writer conducted the pre test and the

post test in this cycle as the technique to collect the quantitative data. The

mean score of pre test was 5.82 and the mean score of post test was 6.72.

There was an improvement on the students’ vocabulary after the first cycle.

e. Recommendation

Based on the observation results above, the writer and the English

teacher thought that it was necessary to conduct the second cycle. To solve the

problems that appeared in cycle I, the writer and the English teacher revised
 48

the plan in order to complete the next cycle so the weaknesses would not

occur anymore. The plan in cycle II would be more focus on students’

participation in playing board games, improving students’ behavior from

passive to be more active, and improving students’ vocabulary mastery

especially on aspect meaning and pronunciation.

1. Cycle 2

a. Identifying the problems

Based on the result of the observation of the first cycle and the reflecting

phase in the first cycle, supported by test result cycle II would be more focus

on students’ participation in playing board games, improving students’

behavior from passive to be more active, and improving students’ vocabulary

mastery especially on aspect meaning and pronunciation

b. Planning the Action

In this cycle, the writer and the English teacher planned to solve the

problems in the first cycle by focusing students’ participation in playing board

games, improving students’ behavior from passive to be more active, and

improving students’ vocabulary mastery especially on the aspect of meaning

and pronunciation. In cycle II, the teacher still used “animals” and “food and

drinks” as the topic. The teacher expected the students’ motivation and

achievement increased; therefore, the objectives of the study can be achieved.

Before doing the second cycle, the writer prepared the lesson plans. Posttest

also would be given in the end of the cycle.

c. Implementing the action

 49

1) The first meeting

The first meeting of this cycle was conducted on Wednesday, May 26th

2010. The teacher said “hello, good morning” to the students in the class.

After that, the teacher did not forget to check the students’ attendance. The

teacher began the lesson by reviewing the last lesson. When the teacher asked

the students about the meaning, spelling, and pronunciation of some words,

most of them still remember it. In this meeting the teacher chose “Foods and

Drinks” as the topic and chose individual “crossword puzzle” as the game..

The teacher began the main activities by re-explaining the rules of

“crossword puzzle” game. Ensuring all students understood, the teacher then

gave a printable crossword puzzle board to each student.

After finishing the preparation, the teacher let everyone start the game.

The teacher gave 20 minutes to the students to finish the task. The fastest in

filling the words in the board became the winner. In this game, the students

looked so enthusiastic when thinking of the words. Some, even knocking their

pen to their head, maybe they thought it would make the answer came out of

their head. Different student needed the different time in searching the words.

It could be seen from the time that was needed by the students. Smart students

needed shorter time than the idle ones.

When the playing time was over, the teacher asked the students to put

their pen down. The teacher then asked the students to discuss their friend’s

answer together. In discussing the most of students were active. They

confidently answered the teacher’s questions and asked the teacher if there is
 50

something they do not understand. In pronouncing the words, most students

pronounce confidently. If the teacher corrected the students’ pronunciation,

they were not ashamed to repeat the right pronunciation. When the teacher

asked the students about the pronunciation of the word “bread”, there were

some students who answered “br:id”. Then the teacher corrected by telling

the right answer. When the teacher asked one of students to write the answer

in the whiteboard, many students raised their hand and came forward

voluntarily to write the answer. After discussing and checking the answer, the

teacher announced four students who win the competition. The winner of the

game then received a reward from the teacher.

After the discussion finished, the teacher made reflection of today’s

lesson. The teacher asked, “What do you think about these games today?” The

students answered, “menyenangkan, gampang gamenya miss.” Then, the

teacher closed the lesson.

2) The second meeting

The second meeting was conducted on Monday, June 7th 2010. The

teacher chose “animals” as the topic and chose “scrabble” as the board game

would be played. Before the teacher began the lesson, she greeted the

students. The teacher began the lesson by reviewing the last lesson. Then she

began the main activities by re-explaining “scrabble” rules. Ensuring all the

students understood, the teacher firstly began the game by dividing the

students into groups of four based on their sitting line.

 51

. Then the first group was asked to come forward and started the game.

The teacher provided five minutes for each group to perform the game in front

of the class. Each group should find words as much as possible in five

minutes. The teacher also explained that the next groups were not allowed to

repeat the words mentioned by the groups before. Each group should mention

the difference words. After that the teacher ordered the first group to continue

the game.

In practicing the game, the students looked cheerful and enthusiastic.

The group who performed the game in front of the class looked serious and

cooperative. If one or more students found it difficult in mentioning the words,

the other students helped them by whispering the answers. The other groups,

who waited to take turn, paid attention to the group stood in front of the class.

They made a list of words that had been mentioned and prepared the words

would be mentioned. The teacher had duty to note all the words that were

mentioned by students in each group. The teacher also asked the students

about the meaning, spelling and the correct pronunciation. From those steps,

the teacher could draw implicitly a conclusion about students’ mastery in

vocabulary especially their pronunciation. The teacher’s notes helped to make

an appraisal of each group’s performance.

After all groups gave their performance, the teacher announced the

winner of that day. The winner was the group who got the most words. The

winner might receive the prize from the teacher. The prize was as a symbol of

appreciation of hard work. Then the teacher and the students discussed
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together all the words that had been mentioned by all four groups. The

students who did not know the meaning of certain words could ask to the

groups who found those words. Here the students mentioned the words that

they knew confidently. After finishing the play, the teacher asked the students’

feeling as reflection. Students said that they were so happy and motivated.

They also told the teacher that they got less difficulty in learning vocabulary.

Finally she ended the class and said goodbye.

d. Observing and Monitoring the Action

In monitoring the implementation of the second cycle, the writer still

used tests, the observation, and interviews to see the effect of conducting the

second cycle. The observation was taken from fieldnotes of implementing the

action. Then, interviews were based on the conversation between students and

the teacher in conducting teaching and learning process.

The result of the research observation can be explained as follows:

1) First meeting

The topic of the first meeting is “foods and drinks”. The students already

knew what foods and drinks are. The teacher and students discussed the

vocabularies related to the topic.

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In this meeting the students played an individual game. Individual

activity is needed to improve student’s activeness. With individual game every

single students in the class got to be active. The students were very into this

game, it can be seen by their facial expression and gesture.

In the end of the lesson the teacher gave reward to the winner. The

winner seemed very happy, maybe because this time she could get the give for

her own.

2) Second meeting

Firstly, the teacher told the students about what they were going to do in

that meeting. Then the teacher began the main activities by re-explaining

“scrabble” rules. In practicing this game for the second time, the students

looked cheerful and enthusiastic. The group who performed the game in front

of the class looked serious and cooperative. The other groups, who waited to

take turn, paid attention to the group stood in front of the class. They made a

list of words that had been mentioned and prepared the words would be

mentioned.

The teacher also asked the students about the meaning, spelling and the

correct pronunciation. From those steps, the teacher could draw implicitly a

conclusion about students’ mastery in vocabulary especially their

pronunciation.

After time was up the teacher asked the students’ feeling as reflection.

Students said that they were so happy. They also told the teacher that they got
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less difficulty in learning vocabulary. Finally she ended the class and said

goodbye.

e. Reflection

Based on the observation results that were gathered in field notes, the

writer and the teacher reflected the result of the action in the second cycle.

There were some positive results reflected in the second cycle. Some positive

results were as follow: a) the students who were passive getting more active

when they were playing board games. They brave to answer the task

confidently. Moreover, they did not feel shame to come forward and write the

answer in the board. They actively participated in teaching and learning

process. b) Most of the students were able to pronounce the words correctly,

to understand the meaning easily, and to write the spelling smoothly. And c)

The teacher could manage the class better than the first cycle. Although some

students were noisy and disturbed the other students, but the number of them

was decreasing in the second cycle. In the other hand, most students made

noise in the class because they had discussion of the task given by the teacher.

The teacher asked the students not to speak loudly.

Based on the result of the observation, the teacher and the writer

concluded that teaching vocabulary using board games encouraged and

attracted the students to be more active in teaching and learning process.

Through board games, the students could learn English vocabularies easier.

The students showed more improvement on vocabulary mastery and behavior.

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There was also an improvement in achieving each aspect of vocabulary in the

final posttest.

Considering about the facts of some improvement dealing with teaching

vocabulary through board games above, finally the teacher and the writer

decided not to revise the next plan and stopped the cycle.

B. Discussion

This section presents the discussion of the research findings concerning on

the students responses toward vocabulary learning which are conducted through

board games and problems faced by the researcher during the research. The data

of the research findings were gained from the observation fieldnote, interview,

photograph, and test.

1. Observation

Based on the writer’s observation fieldnote, there was an improvement on

the vocabulary class quality in cycle I. Supported by the observer’s fieldnote, it

can be seen that the students were more active than before. Although there were

some students who looked bored and noisy, the teacher could see that most

students were enthusiastic. Many students could remember the vocabularies

taught in the first cycle. It also proved that the students’ motivation improved. The

use of pictures and board games were useful to gain the students attention. Group

work was good means to let the students communicate and share their knowledge

to others.

In the second cycle, the writer found out that the students were more

active. They asked the teacher about the lesson, replied the teacher’s questions,
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and even offered themselves to be the volunteers. Most students joined the

activities. The writer concluded that the students’ vocabulary mastery improved,

especially in their pronunciation, spelling, and word meaning understanding.

2. Interview

The writer conducted interview to the English teacher and some students.

The data taken from the interview could be used to support the data from

observation fieldnote. The writer conducted an interview with the English teacher

before the research. The interview was used to investigate the classroom situation

before the research. From the result of the interview, it can be concluded that the

teacher was the center of the teaching learning process. The English teacher

usually explained the material and made a discussion with the students without

giving further information. She took all the material from the textbook. She

seldom used communicative activity in the classroom.

In the end of cycle II, the writer conducted interview with some students.

The students said that they were happy to learn with the researcher and it was

easier to learn vocabulary with the researcher method.

3. Photographs

In this research, the writer used photograph as a technique in collecting

data. She took photographs in each meeting describing all steps in classroom

activities. The photographs were used to represent the classroom situation during

the action. It supported the other data which could provide visual description

towards the classroom activities.

4. Test
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The result of the students’ vocabulary mastery through the action can be

seen with the use of test. The writer conducted pre test and post test in each cycle.

The students’ achievement can be shown by analyzing the students score before

the research and the students’ score during the cycle. The students’ mean score in

the pre test before the action was 5.82. The mean score in the end of the first cycle

was 6.72. The students’ mean score improved to 7.50 in the second cycle.

Generally, employing board games are useful in teaching vocabulary. The

students’ mean score in doing tests was one of proof that board games can

improve students’ vocabulary mastery. The great students’ involvement in joining

the class also supported the activeness of employing board games. Therefore, it is

not necessary to put board games in doubt to improve students’ vocabulary

mastery. It is proven that board games can improve students’ vocabulary mastery,

actually for the students of the fourth grade of SD N CENGKLIK II.

C. Hypothesis Testing

Based on the explanation above, it can be concluded that the action hypothesis

is accepted. The use of Board games can improve students’ vocabulary mastery.

The improvement can be seen by analyzing the data collected. The students’ mean

score improved from 5.82 before the action to 7.50 after the second cycle.

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION, IMPLICATION, AND SUGGESTION

A. Conclusion
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Based on the discussion in the previous chapter, the researcher draws two

conclusions. (1) Board games can improve the students’ vocabulary mastery.

Students’ pronunciation, spelling, and meaning understanding are better than

before the research being implemented. Statistically, the students’ achievement

can be seen by analyzing the students score before the research and the students’

score during the cycle. (2) Board games can make students shows their positive

attitudes towards vocabulary learning. In addition, students also showed better

attitude in vocabulary learning it is indicated by their active participation in the

lesson conducted by the researcher. The students gave more participation in

responding or even answering the teacher’s questions in teaching and learning

process better than before the research being implemented in class. Through board

games, the students become active learners.

The students’ mean score in the pre test before the action was 5.82. The

mean score in the end of the first cycle was 6.72. The result in cycle I was not

satisfying yet because there were some weaknesses during the implementation of

the action. Some students were still made mistakes in pronouncing the words.

Some of them are also still weak in word recognizing. To solve the problems in

cycle I, the writer and the English teacher revised the plan for the next cycle. In

cycle II the researcher focused more on improving students’ vocabulary mastery

especially on meaning understanding and pronunciation through board games as

57
both individual and group activity to measure each student abilities.
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The test result in cycle 2 improved from 6.72 in post-test 1 to 7.50 in post-

test 2. It proves that teaching vocabulary through board games can improve

student’s vocabulary mastery.

B. Implication

In teaching English for young learners, the teacher has to recognize

students’ characteristics to choose certain teaching technique. This would bring

the students into good participation in the lesson. It is a must for the teacher to

find the appropriate teaching technique, method and approach for the students.

Creating an enjoyable situation in the teaching learning process is very important

to make the students motivated to learn.

Based on the conclusion in this study and supported by all of the data of

the research, there is an improvement in teaching vocabulary through board

games. The writer can imply that board games can be called as an effective

technique in teaching vocabulary to the students. Therefore, the use of board

games is recommended to improve students’ vocabulary mastery for young

learners.

C. Suggestion

The results of the study prove that teaching vocabulary through board

games can improve students’ vocabulary mastery. Based on the result above, the

writer hopes that this study will provide benefits in English teaching and learning

process. Dealing with the study that has been conducted by using board games in

teaching vocabulary, the writer would like to propose some suggestions.

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Hopefully, the suggestions will be useful for teachers, students, the other

researcher and educational institutions. The suggestions are:

1. To English teachers in primary school.

Board games can provide an enjoyable and comfortable environment

in the class. In this research it also showed that board games can improve

student’s vocabulary mastery in understanding meaning, spelling, and

pronunciation aspect. So it suggested for the teacher to use board games to

teach English in primary level.

In implementing board games the English teacher needs to identify the

students’ behavior first before presenting the lesson. This is aimed to choose

an appropriate game to use in the teaching and learning process. The right

technique is the key of success in using this technique. The English teacher

also should make the situation of instructional process fun and interesting.

2. To the student

Some students might consider English as a difficult subject if there is

no motivation to learn. The students should encourage themselves to learn

more, to ask more, and to know more. They have to be more active and

motivated to learn English. The students not only can study English in the

class but also can study everywhere and every time. They can practice English

in their daily life. English can be practiced at home using board games

designed for individual. It is very useful, cheap, and easy to get.

3. To educational institution.
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The institution should encourage and support the English teachers to

improve the quality of their teaching. It can be done by providing facilities

needed by both teachers and students so that the teaching and learning process

will run well. The institution should also give an opportunity to the teacher

with a brand new idea in teaching English by providing the facilities and

giving the teacher opportunity to express their ideas. The educational

institutions can also provide some activities like teacher training that can

improve the quality of the teachers in teaching English.

4. To other researchers.

This study introduces the use of board games as an approach to

improve the students’ vocabulary mastery. This study is just one of effort in

increasing the students’ motivation and achievement, therefore; the writer

hopes that the finding of this study will be used as a starting point of the future

research on similar problems for the other researchers, especially researches

dealing with the teaching of vocabulary.