ABSTRACT
INCREASING STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY ACHIEVEMENT THROUGH GUESSING GAME AT THE NINTH GRADE OF
SMP MUHAMMADIYAH 1 SENDANG AGUNG LAMPUNG TENGAH
By:
MIFTAHUL HIDAYATI
Vocabulary is one of important elements in language learning in which it is used to developlearners’language skills. The learners will get difficulties in
communicating or expressing their ideas if they lack of vocabulary. Therefore, the teacher has to use an appropriate technique that is able to raise thestudents’ motivation students to learn vocabulary. There are many ways to teach
vocabulary, one of which is guessing game. Guessing game can be used to make the students interested and enjoyable in learning English.
Therefore, the objective of this research was to find out whether there was a significant increase of the students’ vocabulary achievement after being taught through guessing game. This research applied one group pretest-posttest design. The sample of the research was the grade IX students in academic year of 2011/2012. Vocabulary test in the form of multiple choices was used as the instrument of the research and repeated measures t-test was accomplished to analyze the data.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Alhamdulillahirobbil ‘alamin, Praise is merely to The Mightiest Allah SWT for the gracious mercy and tremendous blessing that enable me to accomplish this research project entitled“Increasing Students’Vocabulary Achievement Through Guessing Game at the Ninth Grade of SMP Muhammadiyah 1 Sendang Agung Lampung Tengah”. This script is submitted as a compulsory fulfillment of the requirements for S1 degree of English Education Study Program at Teacher Training and Education Faculty, University of Lampung.
It is important to know that the script would never have come into existence without any supports, encouragements, and assistance by several generous persons.
First of all, I would like to dedicate my sincere gratitude and respect to Prof. Dr. Cucu Sutarsyah, M.A. and Dra. Hartati Hasan, M.Hum., as my advisors who have given their advices invaluable guidance and unlimited patience and
encouragement to me during the completion of this research project. My deep gratitude is also given to Dr. M. Sukirlan, M.A. as my examiner suggested and criticized for the improving of the script. It will be hard for me to make the script becomes better without his contributions.
My great appreciation is also extended to Drs. Khaidir as the headmaster of SMP Muhammadiyah 1 Sendang Agung Lampung Tengah Lampung and Nur Khoiri, as the English teacher who have given chance to conduct my research at that school and all students of class IX A and IX B, academic year 2011/2012 for their good participation in this research.
I would like to direct my indebtedness to my wonderful Mama and Papa, Dra. R. Adawiyah and Drs. Khaidir, who always give their endless love, materials, pray motivation and moral encouragement to finish my study. I dedicated this script special for you to make you happy and proud of me. To my dearest sister,
Mesyithatul Umamah and all my big family who cannot be mentioned directly in this script. I am very grateful that I have all of you in my life. Thanks for your pray and give me support in my life. My endless thanks go to my beloved future one Ricky Adiguna who always gives me extra care, loves, and attention. Thank you for your care in accompanying me both of in sadness and happiness patiently
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hospitality, knowledge, and wisdom have supported, enlightened, and entertained me over the many years of our friendship. They have consistently helped me keep perspective on what is important in life and shown me how to deal with reality.
My special appreciation is also extended to all of unforgettable beloved friends in English Department Study Program‘07 especially, Emilia Rosanti, S.Pd., Seftia Rosalina, S.Pd., Siti Maisaroh, S.Pd., Mulyani, S.Pd., Maulisa Muhas, Vera Welianti, Winda Tri Mundari, Rahmawati Bekti R., Tati Fatmawati, Muhammad Kharisma, Harris Tamzil, Iwan Hari Purnomo, Noprisyah Harianto, Y. Alvin Novan, Nyoman Adi Irawan. Thanks for your nice ideas, friendship, help, support and care given.
A deep thankfulness is addressed to my best friends at English Education Study Program ’07: Dony Alfaruqy,Anisa Kencana, Elvita Handayani, S.Pd., Selvia Wuri H. S.Pd., Leni Apridawati, S.Pd., Harits Setyawan, Sulis Heryanto, Markhamah, Nur Sartika, Ariful Hakim, Desy Putriani, Mesi Astriani, Yuyun Fadillah, Irma Junita, Dwi Paramita, Siti Nurjannah, Elfina Putri S, Betty Tresya MN, Rima Wati, Heru Herdianto, Arif Hidayat, Rizco Angga Ariestama,
Abdullah Rizky, Tri Wahyuningsih, Rima Septiana, Okta Yulinda, Manja Restu Sari, Reni Ariyanti, Puput Heri Waskito, Our friendship will not be forgotten.
Last but not least, all the people who have helped me to finish my script that I cannot mention one by one. May The Almighty Allah SWT bless you now and forever. Amien.
Although I have spent several months and have done my very best effort in
completing this script, I realize that this script is still far from being perfect, due to my limited knowledge and experience in English. Therefore, I will warmly accept and highly appreciate any constructive and helpful criticisms addressed to this writing. Hopefully, this research project can be beneficial to the readers or those who want to carry out further research.
Bandar Lampung, April 2012
The writer
Research Title : INCREASING STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY
ACHIEVEMENT THROUGH GUESSING GAME AT THE NINTH GRADE OF SMP MUHAMMADIYAH 1 SENDANG AGUNG LAMPUNG TENGAH
Students’ Name :
Miftahul Hidayati
Students’ Number : 0743042023
Department : Language and Art Education
Study Program : English Education
Faculty : Teacher Training and Education
APPROVED BY
Advisory Committee
Advisor I Co-Advisor
Prof. Dr. Cucu Sutarsyah, M.A.
Drs. Hartati Hasan, M.Pd.
NIP 19570406 198603 1 001 NIP 19490928 197603 2 001
The Chairperson of
Language and Arts Education Department
By
MIFTAHUL HIDAYATI
LAMPUNG UNIVERSITY
BANDAR LAMPUNG
By
MIFTAHUL HIDAYATI
A Script
Submitted in a Partial Fulfillment of The Requirement of S-1 Degree
in
The Language and Arts Department of The Faculty of Teacher Training and Education
LAMPUNG UNIVERSITY
BANDAR LAMPUNG
The writer,Miftahul Hidayati, was born on April 4th, 1990 in Bukittinggi, West Sumatera. She is the oldest child of the great
couple, Drs. Khaidir and Dra. R. Adawiyah. She has a younger
sister, Mesyithatul Umamah.
She began her study from Kindergarten at TK Miftahul Huda Sendangagung
Lampung Tengah in 1994 and graduated in 1995. In the same year, she continued
at Elementary School at SD Negeri 2 Sendangagung Lampung Tengah. In 2001,
she joined a state Junior High School at SMP Muhammadiyah 1 Sendangagung
Lampung Tengah. After graduating from Junior High School in 2004, she entered
SMA Negeri 1 Kalirejo Lampung Tengah. She directly entered English
Department at Teacher Training and Education Faculty, Lampung University in
2007.
From Juli 20thto September 30th, 2011 she accomplished her Teacher Training
Program (PPL) as one of the requirements for FKIP students, at SMA Al-Azhar 3
LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
1. Table of Specification of Try Out Test ... 30
2. Distribution Frequency of the Students’ Score of the Pretest... 39
3. Distribution Frequency of the Students’ Score of the Posttest... 40
4. The Mean Scores of the Pretest and the Posttest ... 42
Allah always answers your pray, maybe not always
with yes but with the best
-Anonim-The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
-Franklin D.
Roosevelt-Only those who dare to fail that would be
successful
Kennedy-TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS ... x
LIST OF TABLES ... xii
LIST OF APPENDICES ... xiii
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Problem ... 1
1.2 Formulation of the Problem ... 4
1.3 Objective of the Research ... 5
1.4 Uses of the Research ... 5
1.5 Scope of the Research ... 5
1.6 Definition of Terms ... 6
CHAPTER II. LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Concept Of Vocabulary ... 7
2.2 Concept of Teaching Vocabulary ... 10
2.3 The Ways of Learning Vocabulary ... 11
2.4 Concept of Game... 13
2.5 Concept of Guessing Game ... 18
2.6 Teaching Vocabulary through Guessing Game ... 19
2.7 Procedures of Teaching English Vocabulary through Guessing Game ... 22
2.8 Theoretical Assumption ... 23
2.9 Hypothesis ... 24
CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHOD 3.1 Research Design ... 26
3.2 Subject of the Research ... 26
3.3 Data Collecting Technique ... 27
3.3.1 Pretest ... 27
3.3.2 Treatments ... 28
3.3.3 Posttest ... 28
xi
3.4.4 Discrimination Power... 33
3.4.5 Scoring System ... 35
3.5 Data Analysis ... 34
3.6 Hypothesis Testing ... 35
CHAPTER IV. RESULT OF THE RESEARCH AND DISCUSSIONS 4.1 Results of the Research ... 36
4.1.1 The Results of Try Out ... 37
4.1.2 The Results of Pretest ... 38
4.1.3 The Results of Posttest ... 40
4.1.4 Increase of the students’ Vocabulary achievement ... 41
4.2 Discussions ... 43
CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 5.1 Conclusions ... 50
5.2 Suggestion ... 51
REFERENCES ... 52
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Problems
English curriculum in Indonesia is formulated with the intention that Indonesian
students can master English fluently. The government of Indonesia has set up a
policy that English is the first foreign language which is taught as a compulsory
subject. It is taught not only in elementary school, junior high school, and senior
high school, but also in university level. It is taught in order to make students able
to communicate in English. To make the students able to communicate in English,
they should learn language.
In learning English, vocabulary plays an important role as a starting point for
mastering other language skills. Vocabulary is one of the elements that enable
learning to develop the four skills, i.e. speaking, listening, reading and writing. In
order to communicate well, students should acquire an adequate number of words
and they also should know how to use them accurately. Rivers (1983:125) stated
that the acquisition of an adequate vocabulary is essential for successful second
language. Without an extensive vocabulary, the students will be unable to use the
structures and function they may have learned for comprehensible
together to build the language. Furthermore, Wallace (1989:9) says that
vocabulary is the vital aspect of language. It means that when the students want to
construct a sentence to express their idea, they will get difficulties to express or to
understand a language without adequate mastery of vocabulary.
Based on the observation at SMP Muhammadiyah 1 Sendang Agung where the
researcher carried out the research, in third grade of that school, there were many
students who had very limited mastery of vocabulary. It can be proven by the
result of vocabulary test. From the test, it was found out that there were only six
students who got score 60. Meanwhile, the other students got low score above 50.
The result of the test suggests that the students’ vocabulary mastery is still low.
In addition, the English teacher faces several problems. First, the teacher got
difficulties to handle the class because the condition of the class was very noisy.
Although some of the students are active, most of them are little bit slowly in
understanding the materials.
Second, the teacher was not able to motivate the students to learn vocabulary
because the lack of strategy to arouse their attention and motivation to study.
Sometimes teacher teach vocabulary using the same way as they teach the other
aspects such as structure, reading, writing, speaking, or listening. As a result, they
are bored when they learn English. Suprapto (1992: 2) also supports that in his
experience for 12 years of teaching English, he realizes that he tends to use the
conventional technique in teaching vocabulary. He could not motivate his students
3
Based on the problems above, the researcher assumed thatthe students’ lack of vocabulary is caused by the teachers’in ability to select appropriate technique. In
Teaching learning process the teacher should consider the way of teaching in
order to get better result. In fact, it is the teacher`s responsibility to determine an
appropriate way of teaching which is easier and more useful that can motivate the
students to involve in the activity of learning. As Moore (2000: 25) states that
students may want to complete particular assignment. Principally, it interests and
excites them, rather than in order to achieve a high grade or to pleased their
teacher or parents. The statement suggests that it is better to motivate the students
by giving an interesting and exciting activity rather than just giving them a high
score.
There are many techniques that can be used to teach vocabulary. According to
Napa (1991), there are many ways that can be used to develop students’
vocabulary achievement. It can be taught by using many different techniques,
such as picture, crossword puzzle, song, game, text, scrabble, translation, etc. At
the technique stated above, the writer chooses game technique for teaching
vocabulary because in game, all kinds of game, there is an element of fun and the
students are active to take part in it.
Among the games offered, the researcher selected guessing game as a technique in
teaching vocabulary of sports. McCallum (1980:3) states that guessing game is a
good exercise to teach or to revise some specific vocabulary, grammatical
slow and fast learners because guessing game is interesting, each student get
engaged in the task.
It is expected that this technique canincrease the students’ vocabulary
achievement since the process of vocabulary teaching would be more enjoyable,
interesting, and motivating. Huyen and Khuat (2003: 3) states that learning
vocabulary through guessing game is one of effective and interesting way that can
be applied in any classrooms. They also state that guessing game has shown to
have advantage and effectiveness in learning vocabulary in various ways. First,
guessing game brings in relaxation and fun for students, thus helps them learn and
retain new word more easily. Second, guessing game usually involves friendly
competition and they keep learners interested. These create the motivation for
learners of English to get involved and to participate actively in the learning
activities. Third, guessing game bring real world content into the classroom, and
enhance students’ use of English in flexible, communicative way. It will help them to get a new vocabulary and remind the previous vocabulary that they have
already learned. So their vocabulary will stay longer in their mind.
Based on the advantages a guessing game that had explained above, the researcher
is interested to apply this for teaching vocabulary. It is expected that, by using
guessing game, the teachercan increase the students’vocabulary achievement.
1.2 Formulation of the Problem
Referring to the background above, the researcher formulated the problem of the
5
“Is there any significantincrease of students’vocabulary achievement after being taught through guessing game?”
1.3 Objective of the research
Based on the formulation above, the objective of this research is to find out
whether there is a significant increaseof the student’s vocabulary achievement at
the ninth grade of SMP Muhammadiyah 1 Sendang Agung after being taught
through guessing game.
1.4 Uses of the Research
The research will be useful both practically and theoretically.
1) Theoretically, the results of this research are expected to confirm and
clarify previous theories about teaching vocabulary through guessing
game.
2) Practically, the results of this research can be used as information for
English teacher, especially about the process of teaching vocabulary
through guessing game.
1.5 Scope of the Research
This research is about increasing students’ vocabulary achievement through
guessing game. This research will be conducted at the ninth grade of SMP
Muhammadiyah 1 Sendang Agung, Lampung Tengah in the academic year of
2011/2012. In this research, the researcher focused on the implementation of
treatments. This research is focused on vocabulary of sport especially content
words (noun, verb and adjective). Adverb is not used in the training because it
seemed difficult to be used in guessing game. The materials taught are based on
the students’hand book for the ninth grade of Junior High School.
1.6 Definition of Terms
Some terms are defined in order to give the basic understanding of the related
variables and concepts, they are stated below:
1) Vocabulary
It isnumber of words that have been learned by the students with “the sport” as the topic.
2) Guessing games
This technique is used by the researcher to teach the students about the
vocabulary of sport by using Yes/No questions.
3) Vocabulary achievement
It isthe increase of students’ vocabulary thathave been achieved after
being taught through guessing game that is seen by the result of pretest
CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Concept of Vocabulary
Vocabulary is one of the important factors that can support the students to
communicate. It has an important role in language learning because it is a basic
element of language that will make the language meaningful. Vocabulary is also a
list of words found in a particular language. Webster (1988: 110) states that
vocabulary is a list of words usually arranged alphabetically and defined,
explained, or translated into the range of language, the stockof word a person’s command the word used in particular, the branch of object language referring to
the definition of vocabulary, it is understood that vocabulary is the basic element
of language which will make human communication passive.
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
If the learners want to communicate with others in certain language, they must
master enough the vocabulary of that language. Without vocabulary, the learners
cannot communicate effectively or express their idea. Harimurti as cited in
Suprapto (1999: 6) states that vocabulary is a component of language containing
information about the meaning and using of words in language. If learners have
the vocabulary they need, it is usually possible to communicate after a fashion. An
adequate vocabulary may enable the message to be expressed clearly.
Dealing with the ideas above, the researcher assumes that the learners have to
learn vocabulary in order to express their idea. One needs to understand an
adequate number of words. It is supported by Rivers (1970:462) who says that it
would be impossible to learn a language without words or vocabulary. The
statement suggests that people do nothing to communicate if they do not know the
words or vocabulary. In other words, vocabulary is important for the students to
learn in order that they can express their minds, make sentences, speak and get
knowledge from the context. Learning vocabulary plays an important contribution
in learning a language which must be considered by the teacher in order to be
careful in selecting the vocabulary that would be taught. Teacher must decide
which words should be taught since there are many kinds of words that belong to
types of vocabulary.
There are some types of vocabulary, Fries (1974: 4) classified English words into
four groups as follows:
1. Content words represent the name of object or thing that is concrete nouns
9
kick, push, run, etc) and the qualities of these things that are adjectives (fast,
good, bad, heavy, etc) and adverb (quickly and slowly).
2. Function words are those which are used as a means of expressing relation of
grammatical structure, such as conjunction (and, but, however, etc) article (a,
an, the), and auxiliaries (do, does, did).
3. Substitute words are those which represent to individual things or specific
action as substitutes for whole form classes, that is indefinites articles
(anybody, nobody, someone, somebody, etc)
4. Distributed words are those that are distributed in use according to
grammatical matters as the presence or absence of negative, such as, any,
either, neither, too, or yet.
In this research, the material of teaching English vocabulary will be taken from
the content words (noun, verb, and adjective) since the researcher assumes that it
is appropriate with guessing game. The researcher will choose them as the
material because they are often used as a satisfactory means of communication.
Finally, it is better to teach vocabulary by taking the students into account, so that
teaching vocabulary can more meaningful and useful. Therefore, the students will
be easier to understand the meaning of words taught and their vocabulary increase
2.2 Concept of Teaching Vocabulary
Traditionally, the teaching of vocabulary above elementary levels (Junior High
School until University) was mostly incidental, limited to presenting new items as
they appeared in reading or sometimes listening texts. This indirect teaching of
vocabulary assumes that vocabulary expansion will happen through the practice of
other language skills, which has been proved not enough to ensure vocabulary
expansion.
Teaching vocabulary should be taken into account and the technique that is used
by the teacher must be considered. He should search for better ways of teaching
vocabulary so that it will be meaningful and useful and the students will find it
easier to understand the words which are taught and they can also increase them
well. So, in teaching vocabulary, the teachers have responsibility to make their
teaching successful. There are very strong reasons for systematic and principle
approach to vocabulary by both teacher and learner. The teacher should be able to
teach vocabulary or words as much as possible to the students by using certain
technique of course. Nation (1974: 18) says that when we teach a word, we must
teach three things:
1. We must teach the shape of form of the word.
2. We must teach the meaning of the word.
3. We must teach that form and the meaning of the word go together.
Allen & Vallete (1983: 116-117) in Gnainoska (1998: 12) state that teaching
11
combining the available technique of teaching. It is hoped that a good technique
will be more enjoyable, interesting and motivating so that the students will not be
bored in the teaching and learning process. It will help them to get the materials
stay longer. It means that the teacher has to be aware with the kind of teaching
technique that she will use to come to her goal.
2.3 The ways of Learning Vocabulary
Ideally, the teacher needs to take into account of teaching vocabulary. He/she
should search for better ways of teaching vocabulary so that it will be meaningful
and useful and the students will find it easier to understand the words which are
taught and they can also increase them well. According to Kustarjo (1988: 24),
there are five ways of teaching vocabulary, they are:
1) Teaching vocabulary through creativity
By using this technique, the teacher should provide many choices to the
students as they want to learn. The teacher can apply some techniques which
enable the students to be creative in producing vocabulary, such as giving
pictures, game, drama, providing key words, etc.
2) Teaching vocabulary through translation
This method considered as ancient one. Here, the teacher teaches the
meaning of the words through translation. For example, the word “lovely”
in Indonesian means “indah”
3) Teaching vocabulary through guessing
This technique needs the teachers’ ability to encourage students to guess first the consult their dictionary. To guess right, students should have a good
rational. The teacher can draw five pictures on board. Then teacher
pronounce a word and ask one of students to point at one of the pictures,
students think relevant to the word pronounced by teacher.
4) Teaching vocabulary through context clues
In this case, the teacher can use the context clues on word recognition by
figuring out the meaning of a word based on the clues in the surrounding
context, for example by giving the antonym, synonym, etc.
5) Teaching vocabulary through derivation
This technique requires the teacher to involve the four classes of words on
the basis of their position of occurrences in English sentence pattern. The
teacher can use the noun, verb, adjective, and adverb then asks the students
to mention the derivation of the words. For example: to jump (verb), jumper
(noun), and jumping (noun).
From those five possible ways of teaching vocabulary above, the researcher is
going to apply game especially guessing game as a technique in this research, so
the techniques is included in teaching vocabulary through creativity. By teaching
through the games, the researcher will create a good atmosphere in the classroom
so that the students will be tense to learn. The researcher hopes the by applying
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2.4 Concept of Game
A game is an activity that can be used as a teaching technique in order to make the
lesson more enjoyable, interesting, and motivating. It is supported by Waldman
(1979: 53) as cited in Sartika (2003: 10), who says that games are, by definition,
fun, and nearly everyone would agree that if learning can be made enjoyable, then
students will learn more. Moreover, Rodger (1961) states that a game is a kind of
teaching aids that can be applied to a class. A game has such components, such as,
it should involve from a play to be performed or activity to be done, it should has
particular objective to be achieved and it also has particular rules to be followed
because students not only enjoy the game but also compete among others.
In addition, Rodger (1981: 1) also states that the use of game can develop
activities to make students forget that they are in the class that is to relax the
students by engaging them in stress. It means games offer a variety of interesting
activities in which the students may explore many enjoyable aspects of learning.
Games help the students to keep on concentrating to what have been discussed
during the hours. This statement is supported by Wright (1989: 1) who says that
games help and encourage learners to sustain their interest and work. In this case,
the students learn the vocabularies through the activities that they play in the
games. It can be guessing from the instruction, action or information played in the
games. This technique will make the students learn the vocabularies without
realizing that they are learning. So by applying a game the presentation of
compete with each other. Games also help the teacher to create context in which
the language is useful and meaningful.
It is obviously that games can be used as teaching techniques in order to make a
lesson more interesting and exciting. Thus, games motivate and encourage
students in learning English actively. Games are a great technique to pick up new
vocabulary and play with the vocabulary that has already familiar. Games consist
of fantasy, ritual, competition, and luck that are interesting for students. These
things make games enjoyable. It means games reduce boredom. When games are
used, the situations of classroom become life and natural.
Games create situations that make students need and want to use English. Lee
(1994) explained it occurs because in games language is linked by action. Thus,
games are appropriate to the principle of language accompanying action. As a
technique of teaching games involve students actively. Through games all
students can get opportunity to succeed. Besides, they will enjoy and relax in
learning. As stated by Paul (2003:49), they will take what they learn through
game and use it in daily life. Besides that, games have comfortable environment,
so that they will be able to take a risk and try something new.
But, in choosing the game, the teacher should consider several things.
Well-chosen games are invaluable as they give students a break and the same time
allows students to practice language skill. The teachers need to use the games that
students like and do not use too many or too few kinds of games. Too many kinds
15
the game too predictable so that the games are not challenging. In using that
technique, teachers should not to play games for too long because children will
begin to lose interest. Even though games have advantages, using games must
consider other factors. Tyson in Mei and Jang (2000: 4) state that there are some
factors that should be considered before choosing the games:
A game must be more than just fun
A game should involve “friendly” competition
A game should keep all students involved and interested
A game should encourage students to focus on the use of language rather
than on the language itself
A game should give students a chance to learn, practice, or review specific
language material.
Those points are very important in selecting the game since there are so many
kinds of game that there are sometimes overlap. As stated by Hadfield (1999), he
classifies language games into some types, they are:
a. Sorting, ordering, or arranging games
For example, students have a set of cards with different products on them, and
they sort the cards into products found at a grocery store and products found
at a department store.
b. Information gap games
In such games, one or more people have information that other people need to
complete a task. For instance, one person might have a drawing and their
by the person with the drawing. Information gap games can involve a
one-way information gap, such as the drawing game just described, or a two-one-way
information gap, in which each person has unique information.
c. Guessing games
These are a variation on information gap games. One of the best known
examples of a guessing game is 20 Questions, in which one person thinks of a
famous person, place, or thing. The other participants can ask 20 Yes/No
questions to find clues in order to guess who or what the person is thinking
of.
d. Searching games
These games are yet another variant on two-way information gap games, with
everyone giving and seeking information. Find Someone Who is a well
known example. Students are given a grid. The task is to fill in all the cells in
the grid with the name of a classmate who fits that cell, e.g., someone who is
a vegetarian. Students circulate, asking and answering questions to complete
their own grid, and help classmates complete theirs.
e. Matching games
As the name implies, participants need to find a match for a word, picture, or
card. For example, students place 30 word cards, composed of 15 pairs, face
down in random order. Each person turns over two cards at a time, with the
goal of turning over a matching pair, by using their memory. This is also
known as the Pelmanism principle, after Christopher Louis Pelman, a British
17
f. Labeling games
These are a form of matching, in that participants match labels and pictures.
g. Exchanging games
In these games, students barter cards, other objects, or ideas. Similar are
exchanging and collecting games. Many card games fall into this category,
such as the children’s card game.
h. Board games
Scrabble4 is one of the most popular board games that specifically highlight
language.
i. Role-plays games
The terms role play, drama, and simulation are sometimes used
interchangeably but can be differentiated (Kodotchigova, 2002). Role play
can involve students playing roles that they do not play in real life, such as
doctor, while simulations can involve students performing roles that they
already play in real life or might be likely to play, such as customer at a
restaurant. Dramas are normally scripted performances, whereas in role plays
and simulations, students come up with their own words, although
preparation is often useful.
From the type of games which has explained above, to obtain more sufficient
results in teaching, the researcher wants to apply guessing game as one of the
techniques which is predicted to be good to reach the goals in teaching
2.5 Concept of Guessing Game
Essentially, in guessing and speculating games, someone knows something and
the others must find out what it is. It is supported by Merriam Webster (1988)
who says that, “Guessing game is game in which theparticipants compete
individually or team in the identification of something indicated obscurely (as in
riddles or charades). Based on the definitions above, it can be concluded that
guessing game is a game in which a person knows something and the others who
do not know competes individually, pairs or in a team to find out.
In this case, the students have to solve the problem by guessing. Guessing game
emphasizes the students working together upon the problem. As stated by Klippel
(1984: 155), a guessing game is a game where the students in each group have to
solve the problem by guessing. Each student is equally importance no matter their
abilities, they are trying to listen to all viewpoints. Then they finally try to weigh
or consider the alternative solution of the problem. That is why this game is said
to improve cooperation and mutual acceptance within the group.
Furthermore, Wikipedia (2011: 1) states that a guessing game is a game in which
the object is to guess some kind of information, such as a word, a phrase, a title,
or the location of an object. Guessing game is played co-operatively. Some
player(s) know the answer, but cannot tell the other(s), instead they must help
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A guessing game is a game in which the aim is to guess the answer to a certain
question or a problem. Hadfield (1999: 4) states that a guessing game is a
variation on an information gap games. One of the best known examples of a
guessing game is, in which one person thinks of a famous person, ideas, place, or
thing and then the other participants can ask 20 Yes/No questions to find clues in
order to guess who or what the person is thinking of. The students are forced to
think before the guessing. It needs a process that will make the vocabularies stay
longer in their mind.
Based on the statements above, it is clear that by applying guessing game in
learning vocabulary, the teaching and learning will be more interesting, enjoyable,
and motivating the students because it is the combination between language
practice and fun and excitement. Besides that guessing games are liked by
students. It will arouse considerable interest and encourages the students since
guessing game is appropriate with the characteristics of Junior High School
students who love competitive activity and group work.
2.6 Teaching Vocabulary through Guessing Game
This game will be the activity that students naturally and universally engage in.
Besides it is possible to be applied since this game can be used individual or in
group, howeveraccording to McCallum (1980: 4) “It is not an easy task to introduce guessing game into the classroom and many factors have to be taken
into account. We need to consider the learners age, the number of students in the
level they present and first and foremost the simple fact if they are willing to take
part in the activity.
Moreover, naturally when playing guessing game, students will try to win or to
beat other teams for themselves or on the behalf of their team. They will be so
competitive while playing since they want to have a turn to play, to score points
and to win. In the class, the students will participate in the activities. Therefore, in
groups or in pairs, they will be more willing to ask questions, to communicate and
to discuss with their partners and think creatively about how to use English to
achieve the goal. The competition in this game gives students a natural
opportunity to work together and communicate in English with each other a lot.
So that the students will be forced get the new vocabularies.
McCallum (1980: 4) also states that there are some advantages and disadvantages
of using guessing game in the classroom activity.
The advantages are:
a. Guessing game is used for learning some new material or revising the old
one. For example; vocabulary.
b. Guessing game is interesting and challenging in teaching learning
vocabulary.
c. Guessing game can be one of the highest motivating techniques in
teaching learning vocabulary.
d. Guessing game can be played in pair or group. So that, the students have a
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e. Guessing game can be used in any language teaching situation and with
any skill area whether reading, writing, speaking or listening is concerned.
f. Guessing game makes the students comfortable and enjoyable in learning
vocabulary so they are not bored in the classroom.
g. The students will play and learn attractively.
It is clear that guessing games are highly motivating since they are amusing,
interesting and at the same time challenging. The activities in this game get all the
students to move around and activate their mental capacities, thus motivating
learners in learning and retention. At that time, students who are shy also attend
the activities with fun, forgetting their shyness and feeling of fear. Besides that, in
this kind of games the learners interact a lot with one another.
The disadvantages are:
a. Guessing game sometimes can cause a lot of noise in the classroom.
Students who are too noisy may interrupt other learners and teacher as
well. The noisy behavior can be minimized with a simple rule which says
that it makes them lose points.
b. Problem related to students’ quarrels. Such conflicts are often started by students who lose a game. They do not want to accept they have lost. It
takes maturity and responsibility to deal with the problem of this kind and
again it is a thing students can be taught while playing a guessing game.
c. The teacher often finds difficulties in controlling the class.
2.7 Procedures of teaching English Vocabulary through Guessing Game
To do the research, the researcher proposes the steps in teaching vocabulary
through guessing game as follows:
1) The researcher greets the students. For example: “How is your life today?”
2) The researcher tries to attract their attention by asking some question
related to the topic of material, that is sport. For example: “Do you like
sport? How many kinds of sport do you know? Which one is your
favorite?”
3) The teacher tells the students that they are going to study about the
vocabulary of sports through guessing game.
4) The teacher divides them into 6 groups randomly and each group consists
of 5-6 students.
5) The teacher explains the rules of the activity and gives the example.
T : We usually find this person in a football game!
S : Does he play in the middle of the field?
T : No, he does not.
S : Is he a main player in the game?
T : Yes, he is.
S : Does he save a goal post?
T : Yes, he does.
S : Ehm, I guess he is a goalkeeper. It is right?
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6) The researcher asks them to play the game. It will be started from the first
group. A representative of the first should come to the front of the
classroom and tell the clue of the firstword. For example, “It is an equipment of sport”.
7) The researcher will allow the other group to ask some Yes/No questions to
lead them guessing the word.
7.1) The number of questions should not more than 20 yes/no questions.
7.2) The right answer will be given 10 score and the wrong answer will be
given -5. It will continue until the last group. But if they cannot
answer, the answer will be given to the group coming in front.
8) After finishing their guessing game using their words given, the teacher
calculates the score and announces the winner which has the highest
points.
9) The teacher reviews the lesson by asking them randomly the meaning of
vocabularies target that they have learnt in their games.
10) The teacher asks the students to discuss the words, which one is noun,
verb, and adjective.
11) At the end, the teacher gives the evaluation.
2.8 Theoretical Assumption
According to frame theories above, vocabulary is important for the students to
learn in order that they can express their minds, make sentences, get knowledge
without mastering vocabulary the students cannot communicate effectively or
express their idea.
Teaching vocabulary needs taking into account by an English teacher. She should
search for better ways of teaching vocabulary so that it will be meaningful and
useful and the students will find it easier to understand the words which are taught
and they can also increase them well.
There are many kinds of techniques in teaching vocabulary and the teacher should
be able to teach vocabulary or words as much as possible to the students by using
an appropriate technique of course. It means that the teacher has to be aware with
the kind of teaching technique that she will use to come to her goal.
This research was focused on teaching English vocabulary especially content
words at the ninth grade of Junior High School by using guessing game.
Based on the frame of theories by teaching through this game the researcher
believes that it will create a good atmosphere in the classroom so that the students
do not think that they are studying but they are playing game. However, it is done
to enrich their vocabulary. The researcher hopes by applying this technique, the
students will be interested in learning English.
2.9 Hypothesis
Based on the problem, theories, and theoretical assumption above, the researcher
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3.1 Research Design
As mentioned previously, this quantitative research was intended to find out
whether there was a significant increaseof students’vocabulary achievement at the ninth grade of SMP Muhammadiyah 1 Sendang Agung after being taught
through guessing game. The researcher used theone group pretest-posttest design.
The research design is described as follows:
T1 X T2 Where:
T1: pretest
T2: posttest
X : treatments (using guessing game)
(Setiyadi, 2006: 131)
3.2 Subject of the Research
The subjects of this research were the students at the grade IX of SMP
Muhammadiyah 1 Sendang Agung, Lampung Tengah in the academic year of
27
Sendang Agung. Each class had the same opportunity to be chosen as the subject.
In relation to the design, the researcher took one class to conduct the research as
the experimental class that was class IXA. That class consists of 33 students.
3.3 Data Collecting Technique
The data of the research was the student` vocabulary achievement of sport before
and after the treatments.
The instrument of the research was multiple choice tests, where the researcher
gave pretest and posttest in order to evaluate, to measure the students’vocabulary
achievement of sport (noun, verb, and adjective).
In collecting the data, the researcher used the following procedures:
3.3.1 Pretest
The pre-test was conducted before the treatment. It was done in order to know
how far the students have mastered the vocabulary before treatments were given.
The test used by the researcher was an objective test in the form of multiple
choices. The number of item in the test was 30 items and each item had four
options of answers (A, B, C, D). The time allocation is 60 minutes. The result of
3.3.2 Treatments
After giving pretest, the students were given three treatments by using guessing
games technique based on the lesson plan which was prepared. Each treatment
was held for 90 minutes.
3.3.3 Posttest
The posttest was administered to the students after they got the treatments. It is
done in order to know how far the students have mastered the vocabulary after
being taught tough guessing game. Similar to the pretest, in the posttest the
researcher also used an objective test in form of multiple choices. The questions
were the same as the pretest. But, the researcher changed the order of the
questions and the distracters from those in the pretest in order that the students not
only memorize or remember the order of the answer for each question but they
can really understand the questions. The posttest consisted of 30 items and each
item had four options of answers (A, B, C, D). The time allocation was 60
minutes. One is the correct answer and the rest are the distracters. The posttest had
the same difficulty and the systems of scoring as the pretest.
3.4 Try Out Test
The try out test was needed to be done to prove whether the test had good quality
or not. The test was said having a good quality if it had a good validity, reliability,
29
out the instrument of the test gained the data of the research. The test was
administered for 40 items in 60 minutes with four options of answer for each.
3.4.1 Validity
A test was said valid if the instrument measured what should was measured
Arikunto (1986:64). Besides, shohamy (1985:75) adds that it also examines
whether the test is good representation of the material, which needs to be tested.
To measure whether the test had a good validity, the researcher analyzed the test
from content, construct, and face validity.
Content Validity referred to the extent to which a test contents a representative
sample the subject matter, the focus of the content validity was adequacy of the
sample and simply on the appearance of the test (Hatch & Farhady, 1982: 251). In
the content validity, the material given was suitable with the curriculum. In this
case, the researcher used the vocabulary that was supposed to be comprehended
by grade IX students which was based on the KTSP of English for Junior High
School. To fulfill this validity, the researcher saw all the indicators of the instrument
and analyzed them whether the measuring instrument had represented the material
that was measured or not. In this research, the researcher arranged the instrument
based on the material that had been given, which was vocabulary, and the researcher
made the instrument related to vocabulary which was content words (noun, verb, and
adjective). The researcher took those three aspects since it was appropriate with
used in guessing game. The content of try out is presented in the table of specification
below:
Table 1. Table of specification of try out test
No. Word
Classes Number of Items Percentage
1
Construct validity was focused in the kind of the test that was used to measure the
ability. It was used to the research which had many indicators. According to
Setyadi (2006: 26), if the instrument just measure one aspect, for example
vocabulary, the construct validity can be measured by evaluate all items in the
test. If all items have measured vocabulary mastery, this instrument has fulfilled
construct validity. In this research, the researcher measuredthe students’
vocabulary mastery by giving vocabulary testing in the form of multiple choices.
So the test has been fulfilled the construct validity.
Face validity means that the test has good typing and clear instruction that will not
make the students get confused. (Arikunto, 1997: 173). In this case, questionnaire
was used to measure the face validity of the test. The questionnaires had been given
to two English teachers and two students of SMP Muhammadiyah 1 Sendang Agung
31
In this research the face validity of the vocabulary test will be checked and examined
by giving questionnaire to them. The questionnaire consisted of five questions in
which there were three optionsof answers, these were ‘Ya’, ‘Kurang’, and ‘Tidak’. Based on the result of the questionnaires, most teacher and students answered ‘Ya’
for question number 1 until 4. Then, for question number 5 only one of them who
answered ‘Kurang’ and three others answered ‘Ya’. So that, it can be stated that the
test which was in the form of multiple choices had looked right and understandable to
other testers, teachers, and students.
3.4.2 Reliability
Reliability refers to the extent to which the test is consistent in its score and gives
us an indication of how accurate the test score are. (Hatch and Farhady, 1982:
244). To estimate the reliability of the test this research, split-half technique was
used. To measure the coefficient of the reliability between odd and even group,
this research used the Person Product Moment Formula (Arikunto, 1997:69) as
follows:
r
l : The coefficient of reliability between first half and second half groupX : The total numbers of first half group
Y : total numbers of second half group
Y2 : The square of Y
(Lado in Hughes, 1991:3)
Then this researcher used“Spearmen Brown’s Prophecy Formula” (Hatch and
Farhady, 1982:286) to know the coefficient correlation of whole items. The
formula is as follows:
rk : the reliability of the test
rl : the reliability of half test
The criteria of reliability are:
0.90- 1.00 : high
0.50- 0.89 : moderate
0.0 - 0.49 : low
(Hatch and Farhady (1982: 286)
3.4.3 Level of Difficulty
In order to see the difficulty of level, researcher used the following formula:
N L U LD
Where:
LD : level of difficulty
U : the number of the students who answer correctly
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N : the total number of the students
The criteria are:
To see the discrimination power, the researcher used the following formula:
DP =
U : the proportion of upper group students
L : the proportion of lower group students
N : total number of students
The criteria are:
DP: 0.00-0.19 : Poor
DP: 0.20-0.39 : Satisfactory
DP: 0.40-0.69 : Good
DP: 0.70-1.00 : Excellent
1. If the value is positive discrimination a large number of more
knowledgeable students then poor students god the item in correct. If the
value is zero, no discrimination.
2. If the value is negative, means that more low-students than high level
students got the item correct.
3. In general, the higher the discrimination index, the better. In classroom
situation most items should be higher than 0.20 indexes.
(Shohamy, 1985:81)
3.4.5 Scoring System
In scoring students result ofthe test, this research used Arikunto’s formula. The
highest score was 100. The scores of pretest and posttest were calculated by using
formula as follow:
100 N R S
Where:
S : The score of the test
R : The right answer
N : The total items
(Arikunto, 1997:212)
3.5 Data Analysis
After conducting pretest and posttest, the researcher analyzed the data in order to
35
mastery. The researcher analyzedthe students’ vocabulary achievement by doing
these activities:
1. Scoring the pretest and posttest
2. Tabulating the score of student’s vocabulary test results using Repeated
measures T-test.
3. Drawing conclusion from the tabulated result of the pretest administering,
that is statistically analyzed using SPSS (statistical Program for Social
Sciences) in order to test whether increase of the students gain is
significant or not.
3.6 Hypothesis Testing
The researcher used the hypothesis testing to prove whether the hypothesis
proposed in this research was accepted or rejected.
The hypothesis of the research was: “There was a significant increase of students’
vocabulary achievement after being taughtthrough guessing game”
The hypothesis was statistically analyzed using Repeated measures T-test that was
used to draw the conclusion in significant level of 0.05 (P<0.05) in which the
hypothesis is approve if Sig<α.
H0 : There is no significant increase of students’vocabulary achievement after
being taught through guessing game.
H1 : There is a significant increase of students’ vocabulary achievement after
5.1 Conclusions
Having conducting the research at the ninth grade of SMP Muhammadiyah 1
Sendang Agung Lampung Tengah and analyzing the data, the researcher draws
the conclusions as follows:
1. There was a significantincrease the students’ vocabulary achievement at
the ninth grade of SMP Muhammadiyah 1 Sendang Agung after being
taught through guessing game. It can be proved from the increase of the
students’mean score of the pretest and the posttest. The result of the
posttest was higher than the result of the pretest. The mean of the pretest
was 47.07 with the standard deviation was 12.04027. And the mean of the
posttest was 61.81 with the standard deviation was 12.96617. The result of
the hypothesis test shows that the hypothesis was accepted (p<0.05, p=
0.000).
2. Seeing the teaching learning process IXA, it was noted that learning
vocabulary through guessing game could motivate, challenge, and involve
all students in the game. It can be seen from their enthusiasm and
participations in doing the game. All students were active and involved in
51
vocabulary that they had learnt stay longer in their mind. It can be seen
from increase of thestudents’ score.
3. Teaching English vocabulary through guessing game with an interesting
way, enjoyable, cooperative and competitive situation improved the
students’ interest in learning English and helped them understand the
vocabularies of sport. It is good result because they got new English
vocabularies.
5.2 Suggestions
Considering the conclusions, some suggestions were proposed as follows:
1. Since there is increase on students’ vocabulary achievement taught
through guessing game, English teacher are suggested to apply this game
as as variation of techniques in teaching vocabulary.
2. During the teaching learning process, the researcher was that there were
some students busy with themselves. Therefore, it needs good classroom
management for the teacher to make the teaching and learning process run
well.The English teacher should arrange the students’ chair position and
give time limitation in doing the game. It can make them focus their
attention to the representative of a group coming in front of the class.
3. The researcher found that there were some students did not know the
meaning of some English words used as vocabulary target. Therefore, the
English teacher should observe or review whether all the students in the
which has been learned. It is needed to avoid the students’ misconception
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