CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, the writer discusses about background of the study, previous study, statements of the problems, objectives of the study, limitation of the study and benefits of the study. 1.1 Background of the Study English is an important means of communication, which is used by many countries in this world. It plays an important role as an international language. This is why the Indonesian government chooses English as the first foreign language to be taught in schools (Ramelan, 1992 cited in Royanti, 2007:1). There is several language components involved in language learning; they are: vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, etc. Keith folse state in his article, The Underestimated Importance of Vocabulary in Foreign Language Classroom argue that vocabulary is one of the most important components in learning a foreign language and foreign language curricula must reflect this. Vocabulary has a significant role in language. Basically, learning a foreign language is a matter of learning vocabulary of that language. Research has shown that vocabulary knowledge plays a critical role in students literacy development (Scott, Jamieson-Noel, & Asselin, 2003). Wilkins (1972:8) stated that without grammar very little can be conveyed; without vocabulary nothing can

be conveyed. Thus, it can be concluded that learning vocabulary is important as the basic need to encounter a new language. Vocabulary is taught in many different ways. Based on a study conducted by Rosmayanti (2008), in most Indonesian English language class most teachers used conventional teaching method in teaching vocabulary. The teachers only give the students a non-stop drilling memorization practice. This types of learning can sometimes make the learners frustrated when they have to memorize a list of new words at once. Therefore, the look and remember way of vocabulary learning seems not to be effective for the learners of English language. Cited in Nurhasanahs paper (2006), studies conducted by Beck, Mc Keown and Kucan (2002) shows that provided dictionary definitions and asked brief questions about the words indicated 63% of students sentences were judged to be odd (Miller and Gildea, 1985), 60% of students responses were unacceptable (Mc Keown, 1993), and students frequently interpreted one or two words from s definition as the entire meaning (Scott & Nagy, 1989). In the first case study in Indonesia, that type of vocabulary learning makes the students bored and less motivated. The students are unlikely to be successful at learning unless they enjoy the process. In the second case, memorization may feel burdened when they cannot remember the list of words given. Therefore, teacher needs strategy to avoid this kind of problem by creating activities which is interesting and worth doing, especially in this case is vocabulary learning lesson to encourage the students. 2

One of the best activities in teaching and learning vocabulary is through a game. According to Nguyen Ti Huyen (2003) games have been shown to have advantages and effectiveness in learning vocabulary in various ways; First, games bring in relaxation and fun for students. Thus help them learn and retain new words easily. Second, games usually involve friendly competition and keep learners interested, thus create the motivation for the learners. Third, vocabulary games bring real word context into the classroom and enhance students use of English in a flexible, communicative way. One of popular games named crossword now has been beneficially used in teaching learning process. Jones (2007) stated that crossword solving, involves several skills including vocabulary, reasoning, and spelling skills. From the explanations above, the writer thinks that crossword puzzle game might be a solution for the vocabulary learning problems. The researcher will conduct a Classroom action research as a learning therapy. In this research, the researcher will implement Crossword puzzle game in vocabulary learning of the second grade students of MTS Darul Ulum Purwogondo to know whether the Crossword puzzle game improves the students vocabulary mastery or not and to investigate how the students respond toward the implementation of this game.

1.2

Statement of the Problem

Considering the background of the study above, the problem statements are as follows: 1. Does the use of Crossword puzzle game significantly improve the students vocabulary mastery? 2. What are the students responses toward the use of Crossword puzzle game in improving their vocabulary mastery?

1.3

Objective of the Study

Based on the problem statement, the writer states the objective of the study as follow: 1. To find out whether the use of Crossword puzzle game improves the students vocabulary mastery or not. 2. To find out the students responses toward the use of Crossword puzzle game in improving their vocabulary mastery.

1.4

Limitation of the Study In this research the writer focused on: 1. The improvements of the students vocabulary mastery taught by using Crossword puzzle game. 2. The students responses toward the use of Crossword puzzle game in improving their vocabulary mastery. 4

1.5 Significance of the Study This research has some advantages as follow: The results of this research are expected to give alternative activity to the teachers to use Crossword puzzle as one of good activities in improving students vocabulary mastery. The most significant contribution of this study is to provide the description of Crossword puzzle game and vocabulary learning which will show the implementations of Crossword puzzle game in improving vocabulary mastery. The findings from this study can be used by the teachers to improve the quality of teaching learning process especially in teaching and learning vocabulary.

1.6 Operational Definition Vocabulary: a list of words, usually in alphabetical order and with explanations of their meanings, less complete than dictionary (Paul P, 1978:1229). Crossword Puzzle game: a word puzzle that normally takes the form of a square or rectangular grid of white and shaded squares. The goal is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words or phrases, by solving clues which lead to the answers (Binta A, 2010:6)

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITETERATURE

This chapter consists of some theories related to Vocabulary and Crossword puzzle suggested by some linguists, review of previous study and the theoretical framework.

2.1 Vocabulary Vocabulary is a list of words, usually in alphabetical order and with explanations of their meanings, less complete than dictionary (Paul P, 1978:1229). There are many ways to study vocabulary, according to Mr. Cheung (2010) there are eleven interesting ways to study vocabulary, they are: 1. Written Repetition - copy the word and/or its definition a number of times on paper. 2. Oral Repetition - Read the word and its definition aloud a number of times. 3. Art - Draw a picture next to the word. 4. Visualization - Imagine an image with the word or first letter. 5. Association - Make up a story about the word(s), or associate an idea or a part of the word with it's meaning. 6. Dramatization - Act out the word physically. 7. Word Parts - Use prefix and suffixes to help id the meaning of the word. 8. Music - Write a rap or song about it. 9. Computers - Type the word and its definition into a computer. 10. Write a story about the words. 11. Using game - Quiz each other with a partner. 6

2.2.1

Teaching Vocabulary Through Games According to Ghada Sari (2009) Learning vocabulary through games is

one effective and interesting way that can be applied in any classroom. In this paper I suggest that games are used not only for mere fun, but more importantly, for the useful presenting, practice and review of vocabulary to improve the learners' communicative competence. Language learning is a hard task which can sometimes be frustrating. Constant effort is required to understand, produce, and manipulate the target language. Games have proven to have advantages and effectiveness in learning vocabulary in various ways: Games bring in relaxation and fun for students, thus help them learn and retain new words more easily. Games usually involve friendly competition and they keep learners interested. Vocabulary games bring real world context into the classroom and enhance students' use of English in a flexible, communicative way. Games are highly motivating and they give students more opportunity to express their opinions and feelings. Games add diversion to the regular classroom activities," break the ice", but they are also used to introduce new ideas. (Ghada S, 2009) 7

The role of games in teaching and learning vocabulary cannot be denied. However in order to achieve the most from vocabulary games, it is important that suitable games are chosen. Whenever a game is to be conducted, the number of students, proficiency level, cultural context, timing, learning topic, and classroom settings are factors that should be taken into account. Suggested games: Ambiguous picture: draw a small part of a picture. Ask the students what it is going to be. Encourage different opinions. Do not confirm or reject their ideas. Add a little more to the drawing and ask the question again. Build your picture in about four stages. Association: start by suggesting an evocative word:" storm", for example. A student says what the word suggests to him or her-it might be "dark", and so on round the class. You might start with any other word or use an item of vocabulary the class has recently learnt. Crosswords: ask a student to write a word of not more than five letters in the middle of the board, for example, "melon". The letters should be written clearly and separately. Now think of a word which shares one letter with the word on board. Give students a clue to your word. For example," I like reading them". If somebody guesses: books" he or she writes the word so it crosses the first word and shares a letter. The students now take over.

2.2 Crossword Puzzle Crossword Puzzle game is a word puzzle that normally takes the form of a square or rectangular grid of white and shaded squares. The goal is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words or phrases, by solving clues which lead to the answers (Binta A, 2010:6) Crossword puzzles are the world's most popular word game. The first crosswords appeared in England during the 19th century. They were a far cry from what appears today in US newspapers, derived from word squares, groups of words that can be read across or down. These appeared in children's books and various periodicals. In the United States, however, the puzzle evolved to become a serious adult pastime. During the height of the crossword craze in the 1920s, people lost their jobs and marriages were destroyed due to the addictive nature of these new puzzles. The first known crossword puzzle was created by Arthur Wynne for the eight-page comics section of the New York World. Usually, the page featured word squares, hidden words and connect-the-dots exercises. However, Wynne wanted to try something different. He sketched a diamond-shaped grid (without black squares) and wrote the word "fun" (the name of the comics section) across the top of the square. There are three different types of crossword puzzles: freeform or crisscross crossword puzzles, American-style crossword puzzles and cryptic crossword puzzle. (http://puzzles.about.com/od/crosswords/p/crosswords.htm) 9

2.3 Review of Previous study

The previous study was done by Rindi Risanah Yulidesti, entitled; Implementing Crossword Puzzle to Improve The Vocabulary Achievement of the Fourth Graders at SDN 1 Tapen, Bondowoso.

This study used collaborative classroom action research. The researcher together with the EFL teacher designed the lesson plans and set the criteria of success. The EFL teacher collaborator acted as the observer during the teaching and learning process. The research was conducted in one cycle since the result of the fourth graders' vocabulary quiz have achieved the criteria of success and the students could actively participated during the implementation of the crossword puzzle in the first cycle.

The first cycle consisted of two meetings and covered planning an action, implementing the action, observing the action, and reflecting on the observation. The subjects were 34 fourth grade students of SDN 1 Tapen, Bondowoso in academic year 2009/2010 that consisted of 19 males and 15 females.

The instruments that were used to collect the data were observation sheets, field notes, vocabulary quiz, and students' questionnaire. The materials were selected on the basis of the words' frequency of occurrence. In this selection

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by frequency of occurrence, the researcher counted the number of items that occurred in the textbooks that they used in the class. The vocabulary materials taught were grouped into three parts of speech, namely noun, verb, and adjective.

The topic of the materials was Home Activities that was divided into Simple Present Tense and Present Continuous Tense. In this study, the researcher expected more than 17 (>50% of 34 students) scored equal to or above the SKBM of 70 and actively participated in the implementation of crossword puzzle.

The result of this study shown us that Crossword Puzzle effectively improved the fourth graders' vocabulary achievement. At the end of the implementation, more than 17 students (>50% of 34 students) had reached the SKBM and actively participated in the implementation of crossword puzzle.

2.4 Theoretical framework

According to Mr. Cheung (2010) there are eleven interesting ways to study vocabulary, they are:
1. Written Repetition - copy the word and/or its definition a number of times

on paper.
2. Oral Repetition - Read the word and its definition aloud a number of times. 3. Art - Draw a picture next to the word. 4. Visualization - Imagine an image with the word or first letter. 5. Association - Make up a story about the word(s), or associate an idea or a

part of the word with it's meaning.

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6. Dramatization - Act out the word physically. 7. Word Parts - Use prefix and suffixes to help id the meaning of the word. 8. Music - Write a rap or song about it. 9. Computers - Type the word and its definition into a computer. 10. Write a story about the words. 11. Using game - Quiz each other with a partner.

According to Ghada Sari (2009) Learning vocabulary through games is one effective and interesting way that can be applied in any classroom. In this paper I suggest that games are used not only for mere fun, but more importantly, for the useful presenting, practice and review of vocabulary to improve the learners' communicative competence. Language learning is a hard task which can sometimes be frustrating. Constant effort is required to understand, produce, and manipulate the target language. Games have proven to have advantages and effectiveness in learning vocabulary in various ways: Games bring in relaxation and fun for students, thus help them learn and retain new words more easily. Games usually involve friendly competition and they keep learners interested. Vocabulary games bring real world context into the classroom and enhance students' use of English in a flexible, communicative way. Games are highly motivating and they give students more opportunity to express their opinions and feelings. 12

Games add diversion to the regular classroom activities," break the ice", but they are also used to introduce new ideas.

(Ghada S, 2009) Crossword puzzles are the world's most popular word game. The first crosswords appeared in England during the 19th century. They were a far cry from what appears today in US newspapers, derived from word squares, groups of words that can be read across or down. These appeared in children's books and various periodicals. In the United States, however, the puzzle evolved to become a serious adult pastime. During the height of the crossword craze in the 1920s, people lost their jobs and marriages were destroyed due to the addictive nature of these new puzzles (http://puzzles.about.com/od/crosswords/p/crosswords.htm).

Based on data of the previous study, the use of crossword game significantly improved the students vocabulary mastery. The data shown us that more than 17 students (>50% of 34 students) had reached the SKBM and actively participated in the implementation of crossword puzzle

2.5 Action Hypothesis

Based on the statement of the problem, previous study and the theoretical framework, the writer proposes an action hypothesis that crossword puzzle as media of teaching significantly improve the students vocabulary mastery. 13

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES

This chapter focuses on the research design, the object of the study, role of the researcher, procedure of data collection, and procedures of data analysis.

3.1

Research Design Regarding to the main aims of the study, classroom action research is

used to find out the answers of the mentioned research questions. Classroom action research is research that is done by a person (teacher) which aims to improve teaching learning process in his/her classroom (Kemmis&McTaggart, 1988:6, as cited in Nunan, 1992). This research will also employ descriptive qualitative research method. Verma &Beard (1981:57) states that descriptive method of research is primarily concerned with portraying the present, while according to Mc Milan& Schumacher descriptive design simply describes an existing phenomenon by using numbers to characterize individuals or a group (1989:33). Qualitative research is the research method aimed to observe people and their environment, interact with them and attempt to understand their language and point of view about their surrounding (Nasution, 2003:5).

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3.2

Subject of the Research The subject of research are 2nd grade students of MTs. Darul Ulum

Jepara. The subjects are chosen since they experienced vocabulary learning problems. The participant of the class consists of 20 students.

3.3

Research Procedure Action research consists of cycle. According to Kemmis & McTaggart,

there are four basic steps in the action research. They are planning, acting, observing and reflecting.
1. Planning

Determining the appropriate strategy; using crossword puzzle game as the solution to the students vocabulary problems.

Designing the instructional media intended. The crossword puzzles are made in pieces of A3 papers (in the first cycle) and a flash game of crossword puzzles in the second cycle.

To collect the data on the attitudinal factors of the students the researcher design three instruments; observation checklist, interview, field note.

To collect the quantitative data, the researcher designed a vocabulary test.

2. Acting

In this stage, the researcher must obey the planning but should make the process of teaching and learning natural. The teacher does the teaching as usual

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without creating a different atmosphere among the students. So, they do not think that they are being the subject of research. The research will be conducted two meetings each cycle, and the time is 90 minutes/meeting. The schecule is shown in table 1. Table 1 Activities Schedule: Date July 9, 2012 July 12, 2012 July 16, 2012 July 19, 2012 Meeting 1 2 1 2 Cycle 1 1 2 2

In the first meeting, the students will be taught by using cross word puzzle as media of teaching. They will be asked to answer the simple questions and fill the blanks in the puzzle. They should be competitive in this game, and they are asked to open their dictionary if they dont know the meaning of the words in the puzzle. Here, they will remember the list of words naturally. In the second meeting, the students will be asked to do tests that already prepared by the researcher.
3. Observing

There are two main aspects of the effect of implementing the crossword puzzle in vocabulary learning that will be observed. First is the vocabulary score

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that could be seen from the score of the tests. Second is the process of learning using crossword puzzle in the classroom. The present of the researcher is important for the sake of an objective feedback.
4. Reflecting

In this stage, the researcher will analyze all of the data from the vocabulary tests, observation, interview and field note; and then the researcher will compare the data with the criteria of success: The research is completed when 75 % of the students achieve minimally 75 in their vocabulary test score. The research is completed when 75 % of the students highly motivated toward the use of crossword puzzle in their vocabulary learning in the classroom. If the students score in vocabulary test do not achieve the goal in the first cycle, the researcher will conduct the second cycle. The procedures of the second cycle are same with the procedures of the first cycle, but the researcher will use a flash game of crossword puzzles as media to make the learning process more interactive. 3.4 Data Collection The data will be gathered by using some instruments as follow: a. Observation is used to gain a description of how well the game work in vocabulary learning process and to the students responses toward the use of crossword game in improving students vocabulary mastery.

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b. Interview is used to gain students perception toward the use of crossword puzzle in improving their vocabulary mastery. c. Field notes are used to know the instructional activities in the class during the implementation of crossword puzzle in vocabulary learning obviously in written form. d. Test is used to measure students improvement of vocabulary learning.

3.5

Data Analysis The qualitative data will be obtained from the result of observation,

interview and field notes. The gathered data will be analyzed descriptively. The analysis of is to find out how the crossword puzzle is used in the class to improve students vocabulary mastery and the students responses toward the use of crossword puzzle. To support the descriptive data, the result of test will be used to measure the students improvement in vocabulary mastery.

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REFERENCES

Folse, S.K., (2004) The Underestimated Importance of Vocabulary in The Foreign Langauge Classroom. Taken from: CLEARNews Fall 2004. [27 Agustus 2010] Gairns, R and Redman, S. (1986) Working with Words. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Jones, Kerry (2007) Building Vocabulary Skill. Retrieved from:

http://vocabulary.co.il/blog/learning_vocabulary/teaching-with-crosswordpuzzles/ [28Agustus 2010] Moras, S., (2001) Teaching Vocabulary to Advanced Students: A Lexical Approach. Retrieved from www.telus.net/linguisticsissues/teachingvocabulary.html [27 Agustus 2010] NN. Crossword-Wikipedia, the Free Enclycopedia. Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CrosswordUSA.svg24 [24 July 2010] Nurhasanah, Iin. (2006) The Implementation of The Clarifying Routine Technique in Improving Students Vocabulary Mastery. A Research Paper in FPBS UPI Bandung: unpublished. Susilowati. (2007) A Descriptive Study on the Vocabulary Mastery of The Eleventh Year Students of SMA Negeri 2 Surakarta Academic Year 2007/2008. Retrieved from:http://one.indoskripsi.com/judul-skripsi/pendidikan-bahasainggris/descriptive-study-vocabulary-mastery-eleventh-year-students-smanegeri-2-surakarta-ac [24Juli 2010] Ur, Penny. (1991) A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Wright, A., Betteridge, D., and Buckby, M., (1983) Games for Language Learning. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.

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