CHAPTER I

Introduction

This chapter presents the general account of the present study. It covers

background of the study, purpose of the study, and research question.

1.1 Background of the study

Vocabulary learning is very useful in learning English. In KTSP,

vocabulary learning is taught implicitly. It means vocabulary learning is

taught together with texts that appear at that time or it is not independently.

Vocabulary learning should be taught contextually and interactively (Susilofy,

2010).

Commonly there are some difficulties in learning English especially for

non-native English. According to Artsiyanti (2002) the difficulties caused by

English is not their native language, so it is not habitually for them to hear and

speak English. Other factors that influence vocabulary learning are lack of

knowledge, low desire of student in reading, lack of media in vocabulary

learning, low quality of assignment, and inaccuracy technique and approach

that teacher use in learning and teaching process (Susilofy, 2010).

Among the factors have been mentioned, the using of unavailable media is

the most dominant factor. The teacher consistently introduce vocabularies

verbally without seeing contexts and being balanced by media. The teacher

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 monotonously explain without adapting with student's condition and situation.

Lack of interaction between the students and teachers makes improving

student's ability in vocabulary not optimum (Susilofy, 2010).

For handling the problem, it is necessary for using interesting media,

practical, easy to be gotten, communicative, contextual, and based on learning

meaning; therefore vocabulary learning with using learning media gives

opportunities for students to interact, practicing analysis, and concluding

vocabulary in using that has been leant. So that is why the researcher tries to

rise this topic "pictures can improve vocabulary ability for student in

vocabulary learning".

1.2 Purpose of the study

This research aims for improving the result study of students in

vocabulary learning at elementary school by using pictures.

1.3 Research Question

Based on the purposes above, the problems of the presented formulated in

the following research question are:

1. What are the students responses in learning vocabulary by using

pictures?

2. How to improve vocabulary students in elementary school by using

pictures?

CHAPTER II

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 Theoretical foundation

This chapter presents the general account of the present study. It covers

vocabulary, picture, and elementary school students.

2.1 Vocabulary

2.1.1 Definition of vocabulary

According to Merriam (2011) vocabulary is a list or collection of words

and phrases usually alphabetically arranged and explained or defined. Beside

Jack and Willy (255) say vocabulary is a core component of language

proficiency and provides much of the basis for how well learners speak,

listen, read, and write. Refer to Harimurti (1993) vocabulary is a component

of language that maintains all of information about meaning and using word

in language. Hatch and Brown define vocabulary as a list or set of words for a

particular language or a list or set of word that individual speakers of

language might use. While according to Roget, vocabulary is an alphabetical

list of words often defined or translated, the vocabulary includes idioms and

two words verb; specialized expression indigenous to a particular fields,

subject, trade or subculture.

From the definitions above, the researcher conclude vocabulary is

collection of word, phrases, and terms provides much of the basis for how

well people communication and every aspects of life as in trade, education

social, politic, etc.

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2.1.2 Types of vocabulary

According to Thornbury (2002:3-12), there are six kinds of vocabulary:

1) Word Classes; It is more known in morphology and syntax as parts of

speech, such as noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition,

conjunction. 2) Word Family; it is also more famous in morphology and

syntax. It is discuss about inflection or derivation. For example: play - plays -

played: inflected play - replay - playful: derivatives. 3) Word formation; there

are some of word formation in English like compounding (second-hand, word

processor, typewriter), blending (information + entertainment =

infotainment), conversion (I always google every information I need) google

is a noun, but at that sentence it is a verb, clipping (electronic mail = email,

influenza = flu). 4) Multi-word units; most of multi word units are verb

phrase and idiom. For example: Look for, look after, wipe off, throw on

(Phrasal Verbs). Famous last word, eat your words, jack me around (Idioms).

5) Collocations; this vocabulary can interpret as soul mate. It means always

appear together. For examples: this week, once more, once again, as well. 6)

Homonyms; words have same spelling and pronoun, but different in meaning

example Well (N/ Adj), left (V/ Adj), and so on.

Beside Nation has divided vocabulary in the specific reference, such a

word. 1) Receptive Vocabulary; knowing a word involves being able to

recognize it when it is heard (What is the sound like?) or when it seen (What

does it look like?) and having an expectation of what grammatical pattern the

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word will occurrence. This includes being able to distinguish it from word

with a similar form and being able to judge if the word form sounds right or

look right. 2) Productive Vocabulary; knowing a word involves being able to

pronounce the word, how to write and to spell it, how to use it in grammatical

pattern along with the word in usually collocates with it, it also involves not

using the word too often if it is typically a low frequency word and using it in

a suitable situation using the word to stand for the meaning it represents and

being able to think of suitable substitutes for the word if there any.

Ann and Mary classified vocabulary into two terms there are 1) Active

Vocabulary; It refers to items the learner can use appropriately in speaking or

writing and it is also called as productive vocabulary, although, in fact, it is

more difficult to put into practice. It means that to use the productive

vocabulary, the students are supposed to know how to pronounce it well, they

must know and be able to use grammar of the language target, they are also

hoped to familiar with collocation and understand the connotation meaning of

the words. This type is often used in speaking and writing skill. 2) Passive

Vocabulary; It refers to a language items that can be recognizes and

understood in the context of reading or listening and also called as receptive

vocabulary. Passive Vocabulary or comprehension consists of the words

comprehended by the people, when they read and listen.

From the explaining above, the researcher know that every experts in

every book is different in classifying the kinds of vocabulary, because every

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person has different ways in showing and telling their opinions and ideas. It

means that vocabulary is of two kinds function and content words.

2.1.3 The Use of Vocabulary

Vocabulary is important in case it could help the students to enjoy their

classes. One who masters enough vocabulary will find fewer difficulties than

those who have fewer vocabularies. When they read a certain text, they will

easily get the information from it since they can understand every word in the

text. On the others hand, those who lack of vocabulary will face a lot of

problems. Mastery of vocabulary will be useful for the process of achieving

language- teaching objectives.

Yang Zhihong who say that words are the basic unit of language from

supports it. Without vocabulary, one cannot communicate effectively or

express idea. He also states that having a limited vocabulary is also a barrier.

Furthermore, Long and Richards explain that vocabulary like grammar is an

essential component of all uses of language. Actually the researcher believe

that the vocabulary is very important in a language. Without knowing

vocabulary people cannot interpret their idea, in the other word people cannot

communicative effectively without mastering vocabulary.

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2.1.4 Strategies in teaching vocabulary

It is best taught in the context of teaching conversation strategies and

skills. It can be built around four broad functional areas (Jeanne McCarten:

2007): 1) Organizing your own talk; this area includes strategies such as

giving your own views and opinions, highlighting key points, taking time to

think, correcting yourself, or simply keeping a turn in the conversation. This

area of the syllabus can also include how speakers use vocabulary to repeat

their ideas. 2) Taking account of another speaker; this area of the syllabus

includes ways of being polite, not offending other people, or not being too

direct. For example, when people want to reply to a question with a “no”

answer, they often choose to say not really, which is softer. 3) Showing

listenership; this area of the syllabus includes a range of responses, from

acknowledgements that the listener is engaged and indeed listening (Huh, uh-

huh, etc.) to responses with more content, such as that’s right, wonderful, that

would be (nice), etc. In this way, the listener does more than just listen

silently and process the message. 4) Managing the conversation as a whole;

this area includes opening conversations or starting new topics (so, now) and

ending conversations (anyway, all right), going back to earlier topics (as you

were saying, going back to what you were saying), interrupting and restarting

conversations (Hold on a sec, where were we?). Many of these conversational

functions can be realized with vocabulary that is well within the grasp of

learners up to the intermediate level.

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 According to Ehow contributor (2011), there are six strategies in

teaching vocabulary, they are: 1) Choose a list of words to focus on that's an

integral part of the students' existing curriculum. Include words that students

find in their everyday lives. Provide vocabulary words that are age

appropriate. 2) Motivate students by creating rewards, games, puzzles and

other fun activities. Mix a variety of activities centered on vocabulary to

reach a broader range of students. 3) Model proper use of vocabulary words.

Use language creatively and with gusto. Have fun with your own vocabulary

and students will want to have fun with theirs. 4) Create a word wall where

students write new and interesting vocabulary words. Refer to the wall often

during class so students become familiar with it and its purpose. 5) Quiz and

test the students on their vocabulary words. Disguise the purpose, learning

vocabulary, of the quiz. Explain that quizzes and tests only help the teacher

know how well the students have been taught. 6) Revisit old vocabulary

words often. Bring them up casually in class and on quizzes. Tell students

that learning does not end after the test. It is important for them to recall

vocabulary words.

Beside, according to Sasson (2007), when a text may have too many

challenging or difficult words, a teacher may want to employ a variety of

techniques such as translation, picture matching, or explaining the new

vocabulary in context. According to Mehta (2009) the strategies are 1) Self-

defining Context; the context makes the situation clear, and this in turn

illuminates the meaning of the new word. This practice saves time and

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develops an intensive reading habit and better understanding. 2) Antonyms;

when one member of a pair of opposites is understood, the meaning of the

other can be easily comprehended. This helps the student to understand the

different shades of meanings of a word. 3) Synonyms; may be used to help

the student to understand the different shades of meaning if the synonym is

better known than the word being taught. Synonyms help to enrich a

student's vocabulary bank and provide alternative words instantly. 4)

Dramatization; this method can be practiced at ease. It can win the favor of

the students as learners like dramatizations and can easily learn through them.

Many situations can be dramatized or demonstrated. Examples: Sing [Sing a

song]; Open [Open a book]; Close [Close the book]. 5) Pictures and

Drawings; pictures of many types and colors can be used successfully to

show the meaning of words and sentence. Handmade pictures can also be

used as there is no need to be very artistic. Examples: into [Raj goes into the

circle]; in [Rahman is in the circle]. Drawings can be used to explain the

meaning of things, actions, qualities, and relations. A line drawing of a head,

for example, provides many useful nouns and verbs. 6) Realia; very effective

and meaningful in showing meanings but in handling of real objects, a

teacher must be practical and should not be superfluous. 7) Series, Scales,

Systems; the meaning of words such as the months of the year, the days of

the week, the parts of the day, seasons of the year, ordinal numbers, cardinal

numbers, etc. That form part of well-known series can be made clear by

placing them in their natural order in the series. 8) Parts of Words; the parts

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of complex and compound words may be more common than the words

themselves. Separating such words into their component parts generally

elaborates the meaning. 9) Illustrative Sentences; most words have a variety

of restrictions on their use. Systematic descriptions of these restrictions and

idiomatic uses would be laborious and not very effective in teaching. It is

better to give appropriate examples that elucidate the range and variation of

usage. 10) Practice from Meaning to Expression; controlled practice in which

the class does not create new uses or new contexts but simply recalls the ones

presented. There are many types of practices for this purpose. Pictures, realia,

context, and dramatization can be used. Series and systems can also be used.

11) Reading the Word; makes a learner familiar with the word and also

improves pronunciations of the learners. 12) Writing the Word; it will enable

the class to write the new word while the auditory memory is fresh, even if

the objective is only to read. Writing or copying the word from the

blackboard will give the student a chance to understand the grammatical

aspect of the word such as noun, verb, adverb, adjective etc. 13) Shift of

Attention; under this practice, the teacher provides a context by description or

through reading which elicits the use of the word. The learners should be

asked to pay attention to and develop an attitude or a point of view which he

defends or attacks.

In this point, the researcher also support teaching vocabulary using

pictures, because from the pictures the learner can easily understand the

meaning of the words by looking the certain pictures.

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2.2 Picture

2.2.1 Definition of picture

According to Banaparte (2011) picture is kinds of visual instruction

materials might be used more effectively to develop and sustain motivation in
producing positive attitudes towards English and to teach or reinforce
language skills.
Supposed by Shing (2002) that picture had an irascible appeal for the

children. They created suspense and surprises as well as interest, all of which

are indispensable in teaching and learning a foreign language. Mckenchnie

defines picture in Webster dictionary that. Picture is an image, or likeness of

an object, person, or scene produce on a flat surface, especially by painting,

drawing or photography. Meanwhile according to Andrew Wright picture is

not just an aspect of method but through its representation of place, object,

and people, it is essential part of the overall experiences. Gerlach stated

picture is a two dimension visual representation of person, places, or things.

Through pictures, learner can see people, place and things from areas for

outside their own picture can also represent image from ancient times or

portray the future.

From the meaning of pictures above, they indicate that the pictures have

exchanged and represented the real object into a simple device which has

displayed a series of places, object, person, or even experiences.

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2.2.2 Types of Pictures

There are some experts who divide the pictures in some types. Such as

Szyke finds especially useful as teaching aids, they are 1) Pictures of

individual persons or thing may be used mainly at the elementary level, to

introduce or test vocabulary items, for example: a man, and a car. 2) Pictures

of situations in which person and object can be perfect teaching aid for

introducing or reviewing grammatical or structures.

Beside, types of pictures According to Andrew Wright Are 1) Pictures

of single object; 2) Picture of person; 3) Pictures of places; 4) Pictures from

history; 5) Pictures with a lot of information; 6) Pictures of fantasies; 7)

Pictures of the news; 8) Pictures of maps and symbols.

Then, according to Betty Morgan Bowen, there are some types of

pictures as their shapes 1) Wall charts, 2) wall pictures; simply a large

illustration of scenes or events, it is usually to be used with the whole of

class, 3) Sequence picture; a series of pictures of a single subject it's function

tell a story or a sequence of events, 4) Flash cards, word flash cards; card with

printed words on it can help up rapidly, the cards can be used to demonstrate

exactly what the teacher wishes, picture flash cards; useful for the

representation of a single concept, such as an object or in action, 5) Work

cards; Includes visual as well as text magazine pictures drawing maps and

diagrams can be important part or work cards at all levels used for vanity of

purposes.

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 Meanwhile, Yunus in his book grouped the picture into four groups, 1)

Composite Picture; it is large single picture, which show a scene (Hospital,

beach, canteen, railway station, street) in which number of people can be

seen doing things, 2) A Picture Series; it is a number of related composite

picture form a series of sequences. Hence, it is main function is to tell a

sequence of events, 3) Individual Picture; these are single pictures of objects,

person or activities such pictures in size from small newspaper pictures and

can be mounted singly, 4) Specialized Pictures (Posters, charts,

advertisements, brochures); not designed specifically for teaching, but for

advertising or propaganda purposes. The description above teaching some

language- learning skills, which the language teacher helps the student enter

to an imaginative experience beyond the classroom.

2.2.3 Function of picture in teaching vocabulary

According to Leny (2006) there are five roles of pictures 1) Pictures can

motivate the students and make him or her want to pay attention and want to

take part, 2) Pictures contribute to the context in which the language is being

used. They bring the world into the classroom, 3) the pictures can be

described an objective way or interpreted or responded to subjectively, 4)

Pictures can cue responses to questions or cue substitutions through control

practice, 5) Pictures can stimulate and provide information to be referred to in

conversation, discussion and storytelling.

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 Besides, there are six reasons why pictures helpful in teaching learning

process, 1) Pictures are useful for presenting new grammatical and

vocabulary items, 2) Pictorial material allows for meaningful practice of

vocabulary and structures presented by the teacher, 3) Pictorial material can

also provide a stimulus for using the language at the reproduction and

manipulation stages to speak, to read and to write, 4) Pictures can be used for

revision from one lesson to another as well as for long term revision of

vocabulary and structures, 5) Pictorial material can be used to supplement

whatever textbook the teacher is using or whatever course he is following. 6)

Provide more practice of the exercises that students have done using the

textbook. 7) Pictorial material is easy to collect, to make and to transport.

In this case, the researcher believe that the pictures can use with

elementary students for vocabulary learning, because with using the pictures

the learners will easily understand the meaning of vocabulary by looking

certain pictures.

2.2.4 Advantages of Using Pictures

According to Leny(2006) the advantages of using pictures in

vocabulary teaching are the pictures are inexpensive and widely available,

they provide common experiences for an entire group, the visual detail make

it possible to study subject which would turn back to be impossible, they can

help you to prevent and correct disconcertion, they offer a stimulus to further

study reading and research visual evidences power tool, they help to focus

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 attention and to develop critical judgment, and they are easily manipulated.

The researcher believes that the use of pictures in teaching vocabulary is

effective because they have many advantages.

2.2.5 Disadvantages of Pictures Used

According to Gerlach there are some disadvantages of pictures used in

teaching and learning process such as: students pay attention on the picture

more than on learned material, It takes time and costs much to provide

attractive pictures, small and unclear pictures may arouse problems in the

teaching learning process since the students may misunderstand about the

pictures.

From the disadvantages above the researcher suggest to the teachers

should prepare the pictures well, so that the disadvantages will be

minimalized.

2.3 Elementary school

2.3.1 Definition of elementary school

An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children

receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or

primary education. Elementary school is a period of formal education

following pre-school but before high school. It usually encompasses grades 1-

8 and students learn basic skills in areas such as reading, writing and math.

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 In reading the learners will find many vocabularies, so they will study

about vocabulary. Teaching vocabulary in elementary school should be

thought in interesting way, such as using pictures and games. In this case the

researcher believes that using pictures in teaching vocabulary for elementary

school will be effective.

2.3.2 Characteristic elementary school student

Elementary children begin to develop their own vision of what their

self-image should be like. And often when elementary students begin to
develop their self-image they are trying to figure out how they can fit in with
a certain group of friends or peers. Often a child feels if he/she doesn’t look
or behave a certain way they will not be accepted by others (Huerta, 2008).
It is normal for elementary students to begin to compare themselves at

this stage in age compared to their younger years when self-image wasn’t

important and their peers were friends with them because they accepted them

for who they were. Now that elementary students are becoming aware that

self-image makes them who they are and that they are now going to be

accepted based on how they see themselves. However, not only do these

students pick up their characteristics from other peers they pick them up from

home. How one student sees his/her self may also be how his/her parent

reflect their own self-image? Family relationships need to be viewed carefully

because the children, who happen to be the students, will often link family

relationships to future behavior.

The researcher believes that the elementary students are young learner.

They will catch the knowledge thematically, so they will thing generally.

They will more interesting with the interesting teaching. Their principle is

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playing while studying. So, the researcher believes the elementary student

will be interesting in pictures when they learn vocabulary.

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