i
IMPLEMENTING CLARKE
AND NATION’S PROCEDU
RE
FOR GUESSING FROM CONTEXT IN VOCABULARY
LEARNING TO THE FIRST SEMESTER STUDENTS OF THE
ENGLISH EXTENSION COURSE
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Laurensius Bretya Anindito Student Number: 071214149
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA
iv
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY
v
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH
UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:
Nama : Laurensius Bretya Anindito Nomor Mahasiswa : 071214149
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
IMPLEMENTING CLARKE AND NATION’S PROCEDURE FOR GUESSING FROM CONTEXT IN VOCABULARY LEARNING TO THE
FIRST SEMESTER STUDENTS OF THE ENGLISH EXTENSION
COURSE
beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikannya secara terbatas, mempublikasikannya di Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian surat pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
Dibuat di Yogyakarta,
viii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Through this particularly important part of my thesis, not only do I intend to express my sincerest gratitude to those who have helped me a great deal and offered their support in, as far as I am concerned, the most difficult years of my life up until now, but I would also like to apologize to those who I have let down so many times because it took me so long to finish my thesis. I would like to thank Christ Jesus, who has always been my biggest supporter through thick and thin. I cannot describe how much I owe Him for this. I can never thank Him enough.
My gratitude also goes out to my parents, Joseph Chris Nugroho and Margaretha Yuliawati Tedy. I wish I could have finished this earlier. I would like to thank them for being such good parents and for the support they have shown in during my college years. My gratitude also goes to Stefanus Diptya Anindito for being such an inspiring brother.
I would also like to thank Veronica Triprihatmini, S.Pd., M.Hum., M.A., who always had faith in me, even though I was always this lazy, unmotivated student. For that, I offer her my apology. I would also like to thank her for her patient guidance for the past two years.
ix
Another who deserves a special mention is Agnes Armita Ekarista, who has always been a great friend to me. I would like to thank her for the encouragement and believing that I could actually finish this off.
I also owe my gratitude to Antonius Jody and Adesti Komalasari for acknowledging that I was more than just capable of doing this and for being my proofreader. They were the first ones to say such encouraging words to me and that meant a lot more than all those empty “Semangat!” messages I have ever received.
I am eternally thankful to all of the lecturers and staff of the English Education Study Program at Sanata Dharma University. Although not all them were directly involved in the process of finishing my thesis, they all deserve all the credits for helping me all the way these 13 semesters. They will all be remembered.
I would also like to dedicate my gratitude to Damasus Desta, Yusak Charisma, Dwi Yulianto Nugroho, Yohanes Heri, Gloria Rosario Putri, Nidya Kusuma, Angela Asri, Wendy Rahmad Biyandi, Asep Nugroho, Epiphana Ratri, Christine Permata Sari, and all those who have been personally close to me and helped me grow all these years, and also Zoo Wee, Chilli, and Ciro for all the great times and laughter we have shared together. This scientific work of mine is also dedicated to all three of them.
x
xii
CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
A. Theoretical Description ………....
1. Guessing from Context as a Vocabulary Learning Technique…….. 2. The Dependent T-Test and the Null Hypothesis………
B. Theoretical Framework ……….
10 10 10 15 18
CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 22
A. Research Method ………...……
1. The Process of Experimental Research………..
2. Variables in Experimental Research………..
B. Research Setting ………...
C. Research Subjects ………..
D. Instruments and Data Gathering Technique ...………... 1. Tests………...………...
CHAPTER IV. RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 32
1. The Implementation of Clarke and Nation’s Guessing from Context
Procedure………
2. The Results of the Implementation of Clarke and Nation’s Guessing
from Context Procedure………..
32
xiii
1. The Pretest and Posttest Results……….
a. The Retention of the Null Hypothesis……….
b. Two Possible Causes Which May Account For the Failed
Experiment………..
2. The Results of the Questionnaire………
3. The Students’ Mistakes in Using Clarke and Nation’s Guessing from
Context Procedure in the Posttest………
1. The Results of the Experiment………
2. The Questionnaire Results……….
xiv
LIST OF TABLES
Tables Page
Table 2.1 Clarke and Nation’s Procedure for Guessing for Context ... 14
Table 2.2 The Steps of the Research ... 20
Table 3.1 Brown and Rodgers’ Types of Experimental Research ... 23
Table 3.2 The Process of Experimental Research Design ... 25
Table 3.3 The Data Analysis Table ... 29
Table 4.1 The Students’ Pretest and Posttest Scores... 37
Table 4.2 The Students’ Responses toward the First Part of the Questionnaire ... 42
Table 4.3 The Advantages of Using Clarke and Nation’s Guessing from Context Procedure according to the Participants ... 45
Table 4.4 The Disadvantages of Using Clarke and Nation’s Guessing from Context Procedure according to the Participants ... 46
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figures Page
Figure 2.1 Bruton and Samuda’s Procedure for Guessing from Context ... 13
xvi
LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix Page
A – Pretest ... 60
B – Posttest ... 65
C – Pretest Result ... 73
D – Posttest Result ... 76
E – Questionnaire Result ... 81
1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Generally, this chapter provides the background, focus, and benefits of the study. In a systematical order, the discussion in this chapter will be the background of the study, problem identification, problem limitation, problem formulations, objectives of the study, benefits of the study, and the definition of terms.
A. Research Background
As the era of globalization comes into effect, the world becomes narrower day to day. Many people with different social backgrounds and languages move from one country to another for their own purposes, such as work and education. This leads to the fact that people need to communicate with one another using different languages from their mother tongues. English, among other international languages, has therefore been established as an international language in order for people to be able to communicate with one another easily. Nowadays, many language courses can be found in Indonesia. This reflects the ever-increasing need and desire of the people to be able to speak English. But in reality, acquiring a foreign language, English in this particular case, is not really that simple.
language learner (as cited in Coady and Huckin, 1997, p. 5).” A foreign language learner will obviously find no or much less difficulty understanding the language and using it in daily life once he has acquired a sufficient range of vocabulary.
However, according to Zimmerman, vocabulary learning has been severely undervalued (as cited in Coady and Huckin, 1997). Take a look at English language education in elementary and primary schools in Indonesia. As far as the researcher is concerned, there has not been a single school which pays much attention to vocabulary, and nor does the government. In general, the English education in elementary and primary schools in Indonesia is divided into the four skills of language, which are listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Although it can be true that teachers can interject and focus on vocabulary within the four language skills being taught, the amount of time dedicated to the subject matter might not be sufficient. Moreover, as vocabulary is focused on while students are learning the language skills, they might consider vocabulary not important. It is a possibility that they learn or memorize a number of novel vocabulary items only in order to get a good learning outcome for a certain language subject matter, for instance reading.
which will be very much useful when they take other subjects in latter semesters and in their roles as teachers, the study program decided to make vocabulary two of the compulsory subjects; Vocabulary I was to be taken in the first semester, while Vocabulary II had been made an elective subject to be taken in the second semester. However, since the beginning of the 2011/2012 academic year, Vocabulary I and Vocabulary II have been excluded from the curriculum for some reason.
Up until the researcher’s first semester studying in the study program, the
Sanata Dharma University Yogyakarta, in which vocabulary lessons are still part of the curriculum. Having found this particular problem, the researcher was convinced a study of contextual vocabulary learning would be worth conducting.
Nowadays, people will seldom find discrete vocabulary learning in most elementary and primary schools in Indonesia, even in universities with English programs. English learning and teaching in Indonesia pay more attention to the four skills of language; reading, writing, listening, and speaking. This, according to Zimmerman (1997), is because “teaching and learning of vocabulary have been undervalued in the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) throughout its varying stages and up to the present day.” Most English learners, when it comes to vocabulary learning, will think of lists of words to memorize. Some of them might find this learning method boring and not really helping them memorize the words although there are still many English teachers who employ this out-of-date method. In fact, what learners need are meaningful learning activities, which will help them understand the material being taught.
(1990) argues that to be able to understand a simplified book, one should already have 300-400 words. He adds that most simplified books are written to take the readers to a higher level of vocabulary mastery, of, for example, 2000 words. These books provide students with words that the students may have not encountered before in the hope that the students will acquire the words. In order to acquire a word, one must know the meaning of the word. Most students will refer to dictionaries (known as resourcing) to figure out the meaning of the word while they can guess the meaning. The problem, then, is how effective is this guessing from context vocabulary learning strategy when used by teachers to improve
students’ vocabulary learning process?
B. Research Problems
The study was built around the following two questions:
1. How is Clarke and Nation’s guessing from context procedure implemented
in vocabulary learning to the first semester students of the English Extension Course of Sanata Dharma University?
2. What are the results of the implementation of Clarke and Nation’s guessing from context procedure in vocabulary learning to the first semester students of the English Extension Course of Sanata Dharma University?
C. Problem Limitation
used as a vocabulary learning technique by the first semester students of English Extension Course at Sanata Dharma University Yogyakarta. Therefore, there will not be any other vocabulary learning technique nor students of other institutions discussed in the study.
D. Research Objectives
This study has two main objectives. The first objective of the study is to see how Clarke and Nation’s procedure for guessing from context is implemented in vocabulary learning to the first semester students of English Extension Course at Sanata Dharma University. Having figured out the answer to the first research question, the researcher would analyze the results of the implementation, including the t-test result, the students’ responses to the questionnaire, and the mistakes committed by the students when using Clarke and Nation’s guessing from context procedure in the posttest.
E. Research Benefits
Having pondered the likely results of the study, the researcher is certain that the research will benefit all of the parties involved in the study. The parties are as follows:
1. The researcher
By conducting this study, the researcher will be familiar with conducting research in the world of education, which will be tremendously useful in the
educational problems in Indonesia which remains to be solved and it is by conducting educational research that those problems can be solved for the sake of
the future generations to come. The study will also enrich the researcher’s
knowledge of vocabulary learning techniques in general. While doing the research, the researcher had to read a lot of books and internet articles that discuss vocabulary learning and teaching. All of the things that the researcher got from reading those books will be enormously great additions to the researcher’s existing knowledge and, hopefully, to the researcher’s bank of vocabulary teaching techniques.
2. The students
After being exposed to a completely different kind of vocabulary learning technique, which is guessing from context, the students will be able to employ the learning technique to enrich their English vocabulary without relying too much on the use of bilingual dictionaries. As guessing from context can be employed
without a teacher’s guidance, the students will be able to use the technique
whenever necessary. For instance, when a student is taking a TOEFL test, he is likely to find reading segments in which there are several reading passages with many unknown words. While it is impossible to look up a dictionary, he needs to
make a guess to determine the words’ meanings to completely comprehend the
passages, and, eventually, to correctly answer the questions. 3. The lecturers
Yogyakarta on how vocabulary learning can be learned in a completely different, meaningful way.
F. Definition of Terms
As the reader reads the paper, there will be several important terms, which the researcher may need to define so as not to bring confusion and misunderstanding to the reader. The terms include guessing from context, vocabulary learning, and first semester students of the English Extension Course. 1. Guessing from Context
Guessing from context has been long identified and included as one of the strategies which language learners employ to acquire a new language. The
strategy was mentioned by J. Michael O’Malley and Anna Uhl Chamot in their
book, Learning Strategies, published in 1990. Several experts have proposed their own procedures for guessing from context. Clarke and Nation’s guessing from context procedure was the one used by the researcher in the experimental study. 2. Vocabulary Learning
Perhaps the best definition of vocabulary learning can be summed up from Schmitt (1997), who defined vocabulary learning strategy as “any strategy that
results in the learning of vocabulary” (as cited in Ozturk, p. 21). From that
concept, the researcher concludes that vocabulary learning is any process which
3. The First Semester Students of English Extension Course
This experimental research involved one class of first semester students of English Extension Course of academic year 2011/1012. English Extension Course is a course managed by lecturers of both English Education and English Letters Study Program at Sanata Dharma University. They underwent a pretest, learned
Clarke and Nation’s guessing from context procedure, took a posttest, and filled
10
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter provides the theories underlying the study. These include the theories of experimental research, guessing from context, the dependent t-test, and the null hypothesis.
A. Theoretical Description
The first part of this chapter covers several theories that were useful and central to the study. The researcher begins with the theory of guessing from context as a vocabulary learning technique. Following the discussion of the first theory, the researcher reviews the t-test and null hypothesis theory.
1. Guessing from Context as a Vocabulary Learning Technique
Nation (1990) claims guessing from context as one of “the most important
vocabulary learning strategy” (p. 130). In spite of this, not many second language
(1990) even argues that no fewer than 30 foreign words can be learned in an hour by a single student. He continues his argument by stating that some learners can even manage to acquire as many as one hundred novel words in just sixty minutes’ time when the words being learned are associated with their
equivalences in the students’ mother tongue (p. 126).
Guessing from context is one of the most important vocabulary learning
techniques. It teaches the students “to be able to make a well-informed guess at
the meaning of an unknown word in context” (Nation, 1990, p. 130). This is what makes guessing from context an important vocabulary learning technique to acquire. However, this is not to claim that this technique is “the most effective, or
even a relatively effective, way of teaching that vocabulary” (Sternberg, as cited
in McKeown & Curtis, 1987, p. 89). Needless to say, the word “teaching” in the
previous quote can be replaced by the word “learning”, depending on how the
reader views the sentence – as a learner or a teacher. In fact, as Sternberg (1987)
points out, “most vocabulary is learned from context” (as cited in McKeown and
Curtis, 1987, p. 90). Throughout his life, one will be exposed to countless numbers of words seen in newspapers, books, magazines, internet articles, blogs, and even video games. This particular vocabulary learning technique becomes all the more important for an individual who plans on taking standardized tests, such as TOEFL, TOEIC, and IELTS, where he is faced with a number of reading passages, which require him to make guesses of some of the words’ meanings in
text. Guessing from context enables individuals to make an informed guess of the new word. Therefore, the researcher believes it is important for any language teacher to teach guessing from context to his students bearing in mind how important this technique will be for the students, not only during their formal study period, but also throughout their lifetime.
In order to help language teachers easily transfer this vocabulary learning technique to the students, some experts have formulated their own steps of how one can guess a word’s meaning from the context in which the word is embedded.
The two prominent procedures for guessing from context have been prescribed by Bruton and Samuda (as cited in Nation, 1990, p. 161) and Clarke and Nation (as cited in Nation, 1990, p. 162). There are two major things that differentiate one
procedure from the other. Bruton and Samuda’s procedure for guessing from
context consists of six steps. On the other hand, Clarke and Nation’s procedure comprises only five steps. The other thing that distinguishes the two procedures is
that Bruton and Samuda’s procedure is “based more on a trial-and-error approach,
with guessing occurring very early in the procedure and being followed by justification and elaboration” (Nation, 1990, p. 162). Meanwhile, in Clarke and
Nation’s procedure guessing occurs at a later stage after students have gained
sufficient information needed to guess the meaning of an unknown word. Figure
2.4 displays Bruton and Samuda’s procedure for guessing from context while
Stage 1: Focus on The Unknown Word
Stage 2: Teacher Asks for Guesses Students Hazard Guesses
Are Any Students Close?
Stage 3: Context Clues Leading to Approximate Meaning
Stage 4: Justify Choices
Stage 5: Teacher Elaboration
Stage 6: Backup YES
NO
Table 2.1 Clarke and Nation’s Procedure for Guessing for Context
By examining both procedures for guessing from context shown in Figure 2.4 and Table 2.2, one can notice the slight difference between the two distinct procedures, where the guessing occurs at two different stages of each procedure.
Clarke and Nation’s procedure might seem rather confusing than the other
procedure being discussed in the paper, yet, when applied, it is “basically very
simple” (Nation, 1990, p. 162). The researcher discusses how one should apply
the procedure in the last section of this chapter.
Although one might conclude that guessing from context is a vocabulary learning technique which does not require the use of a dictionary, it actually does. By using this technique, one’s dependence on the use of dictionary may be reduced. Nation (1990) argues that “unless the learners already have a reasonable idea of what a word means, they will be unable to choose the most suitable meaning from those given in the dictionary” (p. 165). The learners may use a Step 1 Determine the part of speech of the unknown word.
Step 2 Pay attention to the sentence in which the unknown word is embedded and see if there are other words modifying the word or going with it. Step 3 Observe the relationship of the sentence with other sentences or
paragraphs as it can help determine the meaning of the unknown. Punctuations and conjunctions may also serve as a clue.
Step 4 Guess the meaning of the unknown word using the information gained from steps 1-3.
Step 5 Check if your guess is correct by:
a. Seeing the parts of speech of your guess and the unknown word. If they are of the same part of speech, you are probably correct. b. Substituting the unknown word with your guess. You guess is
probably correct if the sentence makes sense.
dictionary as another means of checking whether or not their guess is correct (p. 165).
Another noteworthy thing that teachers should bear in mind when teaching guessing this technique of vocabulary learning to students, despite which procedure being employed, is that they must not tell the students the meaning of the unknown words. The idea of teaching this technique is that the students may someday become independent learners or users of the technique who know how to deal with unknown words. McGregor (1970) strongly argues that every time a teacher tells their student what a word means they take away the opportunity to practice the skill from the student (as cited in Nation, 1990, p. 164).
2. The Dependent t-Test and the Null Hypothesis
This research sought to find out whether or not Clarke and Nation’s
procedure for guessing from context could help the first semester students of English Extension Course learn vocabulary in a significant manner. To determine this, the researcher had to compare the mean of the pretest results of the research subjects to the mean of the posttest results using the dependent t-test. The result of the t-test, known as t, would then determine the researcher’s decision to either retain or reject the null hypothesis. The following paragraphs provide the reader with brief theories about the dependent t-test and the null hypothesis.
requires a pretest and a posttest administered before and after the experimentation. It is called the dependent t-test because the two sets of scores from both the pretest and posttest belong to the same group of subjects. The result of the dependent t-test determines whether or not the treatment has resulted in a significant change in the subjects after the exposure of the treatment for a certain period of time and will enable a researcher to either retain or reject the null hypothesis.
According to Ary et al. (1990), the null hypothesis is “a statement that there is no actual relationship between the variables and that any observed
relationship is only a function of chance” (p. 162). A null hypothesis must always
Null Hypothesis (H0)
There is no significant difference between the mean of the pretest scores and the mean of the posttest scores.
Alternative Hypothesis (H1)
The mean of the posttest scores is significantly higher than the mean of the posttest scores.
An important part of the null hypothesis theory is the theory of level of significance. Ary et al. (1990) define the level of significance as the
“predetermined level at which a null hypothesis would be rejected” (p. 165). A
researcher must determine the level of significance before he carries out his research. The level of significance one chooses may vary, but the most used level of significance is the .05 level, as was the level of significance set by the researcher before the experiment. If, for example, a researcher decides that he uses the .05 level of significance for his research and based on the test of significance he rejects the null hypothesis, he implies that he does not believe that “the null hypothesis is true because the chances are only 5 out of 100 (.05)” (Gay, 1992, p.
431).
Apart from the theory of level of significance, another inseparable part of any type of tests of significance is degrees of freedom. According to Gay (1992), degrees of freedom constitute “a function of such factors as the number of
subjects and the number of groups” (p. 434). Different formulas to determine
formula used to determine the degrees of freedom is df = N-1, with N being the number of research subjects. Since this study involved a total of 15 students, the degrees of freedom of the study are 14.
B. Theoretical Framework
In this part of the paper, the researcher provides theories which would be used to provide answers to the questions of the research. There were three theories which the researcher used to conduct the research. The first theory is that of experimental research. As explained in the early part of this chapter, experimental research comprises several designs. One of these designs, the one group pretest-posttest design, was the design that the researcher employed in the study. There was one group of subjects, one pretest, one variable, and one posttest involved in the research.
Many experts have managed to formulate steps on how experimental research, no matter which design is being employed, should be carried out. Among those experts were Gay and Johnson. Although the two experts proposed similar processes of how researchers should conduct their experiment, Johnson’s process of experimental research was the one which the researcher followed due to its simplicity.
Johnson’s procedure for conducting experimental research begins with the
some experimental designs which involve only one group of subjects. The third step is the administration of the pretest. The scores of the pretest serve as a measure to see the current level the subjects are on before the treatment is given. After the administration of the pretest, the researcher will go to the core step of any experimental study, the implementation of the treatment or experimentation. At this stage of experimental research, the subjects of the study are exposed to a different method, learning environment, program, or any other variables over a particular period of time. Having done this step, the researcher will then administer the posttest to see how well the subjects have improved or excelled at a certain lesson or class after being exposed to the treatment. The researcher’s last
task is to compare the mean of the pretest scores to the mean of the posttest scores using the dependent t-test.
Another theory which the researcher used in the study is the guessing from context theory. In the previous part of this chapter, the reader has been provided with two different procedures for guessing from context. Of the two procedures proposed by Bruton and Samuda (1981) and Clarke and Nation (1980), it is the latter that the researcher employed when teaching the subjects because it was easier for the researcher and, presumably, the subjects, to comprehend. Clarke and
Nation’s procedure for guessing from context starts with the learners focusing on
the unknown word and determining the part of speech of the word. Afterwards,
they have to “look at the clause or sentence containing the unknown word”
containing the unknown word and other sentences or paragraphs” (Nation, 1990,
p. 162). Relationships between sentences or paragraph may well serve as a clue for the learners to guess the meaning of an unknown word. After collecting sufficient information, the learner can now guess the meaning of the word. The last step of Clarke and Nation’s procedure is checking, which consists of four steps (when dictionary work is included). To begin with, the learners must check that his guessing has exactly the same part of speech as the unknown word. The guess may be wrong if the parts of speech are different. Hereafter, they need to substitute the unknown word with their guess. Check if the meaning of the sentence makes sense after the word is replaced. If it does, there is a great possibility that the guess is correct. The last sub-step of this step is breaking “the unknown word into its prefix, root, and suffix, if possible” (Nation, 1990, p. 163) and see if the meanings of the prefix and suffix match that of your guess. When unsure, the learners may use a dictionary to help them decide the meaning of the unknown word.
Having examined the two theories that will be largely used in this study, the researcher can now outline the steps of how the study will be carried out. Table 2.4 outlines the steps of the research:
Table 2.2 The Steps of the Research
Step Johnson’s Procedure for Conducting Experimental Research
4. Implement and monitor treatment 1. Determine the part of speech of the unknown word.
which the unknown word is embedded and see if there are other words modifying the word or going with it.
3. Observe the relationship of the sentence with other sentences or paragraphs as it can help
22
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents the methodology the researcher used for answering the questions of the study, which are how Clarke and Nation’s guessing from context procedure is implemented in vocabulary learning to the first semester students of English Extension Course and the results of the implementation of Clarke and Nation guessing from context procedure. Technically, this chapter is divided into six parts, which are research method, research participants, research instruments, data gathering, data analysis, and research procedures. Each of this
chapter’s parts is discussed below.
A. Research Method
This study was that of experimental research. Many experts have managed to define experimental research. Even though they define the term in different words, but the essence is practically the same. Anderson (1969) is among the experts that have attempted to define experimental research. He defines the term
as “a situation in which one observes the relationship between two variables by
deliberately producing a change in one and looking to see whether this alteration
produces a change in the other” (as cited in Brown & Rodgers, 2002, p. 211).
While this definition is a rather broad one, it applies to “any discipline which
considers itself a science” (Brown & Rodgers, 2002, p. 211). This definition by
aims to “establish that one variable, the independent variable, causes changes in
another variable, the independent variable” (p. 165). When conducting this type of
research, a researcher will have to “manipulate at least one independent variable,
control over relevant variables, and observe the effect on one or more dependent
variables” (Gay, 1992, p. 298).
Experimental research consists of several types. Some experts have suggested possible types of experimental research. Brown and Rodgers (2002), for instance, suggest that there are four types of experimental research. Table 2.1 shows the four types of experimental research:
Table 3.1 Brown and Rodgers’ Types of Experimental Research
One treatment Two treatments
Treatments may be simultaneous or sequential. For example, one experimental group, each taught by a different method.
Figure 3.1 The Pre-experimental Design
O represents the single group involved in the study. This group will be pretested at the beginning of the research. The scores of the pretest are represented by O1. This group of, for example, students, will then be exposed to a variable (χ)
following the pretest. Having been exposed to the variable, the research subjects will then be posttested. The results of the posttest are represented by O2. To
determine whether or not there is a significant different between the pretest and the posttest results, a scientific test will be used. For example, one researcher would like to discover if clue pictures or cards would improve a group of
students’ writing ability. Therefore, the researcher will have to conduct a pretest
to measure the students’ initial level of writing ability without using clue cards.
After conducting the pretest, he will have to expose the students to his experimentation; that is, teaching the students how to write using the assistance of clue pictures or cards. The last step is then to test the students if their writing ability has been increased after being exposed to the experimentation.
1. The Process of Experimental Research
The process of this type of experimental design basically follows the same
steps. Gay (1992) outlines the process of experimental research as “selection and
definition of a problem, selection of subjects and measuring instruments, selection of a design, execution of procedures, analysis of data, and formulations of
conclusion” (p. 299). Slightly different from Gay’s process of experimental
research is Johnson’s steps in sample experiment. Johnson (1992) formulates the
steps in a more simple way and represents the steps in Table 2.2:
Table 3.2 The Process of Experimental Research Design
Step Procedure Symbol
1. Select subjects R-S or No R-S
2. Assign subjects R-A or No R-A
3. Administer pretest O1
4. Implement and monitor treatment X1 vs. X2
5. Administer posttest O2
Note: R-S = Random Selection; R-A = Random Assignment; O = Observation/Testing; X = Treatment/Instructional intervention
2. Variables in Experimental Research
Independent and dependent variables are two essential elements in any experimental research. The use of the terms independent and dependent variable may be confusing to some people. Experts refer to either variable using several different terms. Gay (1992), for example, claims that independent variables can be
referred to as “the experimental variable, the cause, or the treatment” (p. 298).
Therefore, the researcher would like to simplify both terms in order for the reader to be able to comprehend the paper better. Basically, what is termed independent variable is the treatment a researcher exposes the subjects of his research to in the hope that the treatment will lead to a change of some aspects possessed by the research subjects. According to Gay (1992) independent variables can be in the
forms of “method of instruction, type of reinforcement, frequency of
reinforcement, arrangement of learning environment, type of learning materials,
Having examined what independent variables are, the writer goes on explaining dependent variables. The concept of dependent variables is much easier to comprehend than that of independent variables. A number of experts have attempted to define the term dependent variable. Johnson (1992) defines the
term as a variable “that will be affected by the independent variable; that is, it is
the goal of instruction that will be studied” (p. 172). Another definition of the
terms has been suggested by Gay (1992), who states that dependent variables are
“the outcome of the study, the change of difference in groups that occurs as a
result of manipulation of the independent variable” (p. 298). Similar to
independent variables, dependent variables can take any possible forms as long as
they “represent an outcome that is measurable” (Gay, 1992, p. 298). As claimed
by Johnson (1992), dependent variables can be “various aspects of comprehension
and production, the use of processes and strategies, and affective outcomes as
well” (p. 172). Therefore, dependent variables should not always be in the form of
tests (Gay, 1992, p. 298). Gay (1992) continues his argument by suggesting that
dependent variables can also be “attendance, number of suspensions, attention
span, or even number of books checked out of the library” (p. 298).
B. Research Setting
C. Research Subjects
As pointed out by Johnson (1992), the persons involved in an experimental study are called subjects rather than participants (p. 173). The use of the word
“subjects” may sound dehumanizing, but “this is merely conventional terminology
from psychology and other disciplines and not intended to be dehumanizing.” The study involved only one class of Vocabulary I of the 2011/2012 academic year at the English Extension Course, which belongs to Sanata Dharma University Yogyakarta. The reason for choosing the research subjects was because they were the only viable option as far as the researcher was concerned as the students learned only the English vocabulary and no other subject matters and language skills, such as speaking, writing, listening, or reading were involved in the classroom.
D. Instruments and Data Gathering Technique
There were two types of instruments that the researcher used in order to gather the data required for the importance of the study. One instrument was in the form of tests, which consisted of the pretest and posttest, and the other was in the form of questionnaire, filled out by the research subjects on December 20, 2011, after they completed their Vocabulary I final test.
1. Tests
provide the researcher with useful information on the students’ initial ability to infer a word’s meaning out of its context without using any particular guessing from context procedure. The scores of the pretest would then be compared to those of the posttest, which would be conducted upon the completion of the vocabulary learning technique implementation in the classroom, to see whether
Clarke and Nation’s guessing from context procedure helped them improve their
vocabulary learning process. In the posttest, however, the research subjects were
faced with 10 test items to answer using Clarke and Nation’s guessing from
context procedure.
2. Questionnaire
Apart from the pretest and posttest, the researcher also employed questionnaire as one the research instruments. The questionnaire was distributed to the whole group of the research subjects subsequent to the implementation of the guessing from context procedure as a vocabulary learning technique in the classroom, which was on the final test day of the Vocabulary I class. The questionnaire would provide beneficial information on how the students view
Clarke and Nation’s procedure for guessing from context after being exposed to
the procedure for two meetings. The questionnaire consisted of open-ended and closed-ended questions in order for the researcher to elicit as much useful, specific information as possible from the students.
implementation of the vocabulary learning technique lasted for two meetings, in which each meeting lasted for 110 minutes. The procedure for implementing guessing from context in the classroom is explained in the next part of this chapter.
E. Data Analysis Technique
The data that had been gathered from the research would be processed and analyzed according to the research instruments used for gathering the data. Table 4.1 shows the reader how the researcher would analyze the data and what instruments would be used to collect the data:
Table 3.3 The Data Analysis Table
No. Problem Data Required Instruments
1. How is Clarke and Nation’s
The students’ works 1. Student
worksheets
2. What are the results of the implementation of Clarke and
do this, the researcher used the dependent t-test. Figure 3.2 shows the formula for the dependent t-test.
̅
√
Figure 3.2 The Dependent t-Test Formula
where:
t : t ratio
̅ : average difference
: different scores squared, then summed
: different scores summed then squared
N : number of pairs
F. Research Procedure
Hereafter, the research subjects would learn how to guess the meanings of the unknown words using the context in which the words were found. The researcher would introduce them to Clarke and Nation’s procedure for guessing from context. The subjects would then do some tasks, both in groups and individually, in which they had to apply Clarke and Nation’s procedure for guessing from context. This step would last for two meetings.
After two meetings, they were posttested using the same material. Their scores on the pretest and posttest would then be compared and analyzed using the t-test in order to see if they had improved their guessing from context skills. The result of the analysis would answer the first question of the thesis. The researcher would distribute the questionnaire to the group to see how the subjects view
Clarke and Nation’s procedure for guessing from context as a vocabulary learning
technique.
To answer the last question of the study, the researcher would also analyze and examine the research subjects’ posttest results to see in which stage of the
32
CHAPTER IV
RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Throughout this chapter, the researcher presents and elaborates the research findings in detail. The research data were gathered from the two tests, which were the pretest and posttest, conducted at the beginning and the end of the experimentation consecutively, and the questionnaire, which was filled out by the research subjects upon finishing their Vocabulary I final test at the end of the first semester of the 2011/2012 academic year. The researcher uses these data to answer the two research questions stated in the first chapter of the thesis. This chapter is divided into three parts. The first part discusses whether or not the participants’ vocabulary test results are significantly increased after being exposed to Clarke and Nation’s procedure for guessing from context. In the second part of
the chapter, the researcher discusses the students’ view toward the guessing from
context procedure they were exposed to based on the questionnaire results. Meanwhile, the third part discusses the participants’ errors in using Clarke and
Nation’s procedure for guessing from context which occurred the most.
A. The Implementation of Clarke and Nation’s Guessing from Context
Procedure
After choosing the subjects, the researcher directly went to the third step of
Johnson’s procedure for experimental research as there was no need to assign the
subjects to groups because the research required only one group of subjects. The pretest was then carried out to measure the subjects’ initial ability in guessing several words’ meanings based on the context in which the words were found, that is guessing from context without using any procedure or technique. The pretest consisted of 20 test items and took place on November 15, 2011 and lasted for 30 minutes. The test items were compiled by the researcher from a number of English newspaper articles. In the pretest, the students were not provided with possible answers, so they were required to guess the closest words which had the same meanings as the underlined words in the test items without using any particular guessing from context procedure.
Afterwards, the subjects were exposed to Clarke and Nation’s guessing from context procedure for two meetings, including the meeting in which they took the pretest, and given a couple of assignments. The researcher began the experiment by asking the class if they had known any guessing from context procedure for vocabulary learning, to which they answered they had not known any. The experiment continued with a slide show presentation on how Clarke and
Nation’s should be done. Following the presentation, the students were given a
group assignment in which they were required to guess the meanings of the words
found in several newspaper articles using Clarke and Nation’s guessing from
The first step of Clarke and Nation’s guessing from context procedure is
undoubtedly the easiest of all the steps. The students did not find much difficulty determining the parts of speech of the underlined words although they needed to be reminded of the parts of speech (noun, verb, adjective, and adverb) in the beginning.
In the second and third steps of the procedure, the students were required to observe the relations of the unknown word to the others word in the context which modified it and look at any conjunction or punctuation which could serve as a clue. These two steps proved to be the most challenging for the students. They seemed to struggle to understand the relations between the words and sentences and find the conjuctions and punctuations which could have helped them a great deal in guessing the meaning of the unknown words. This was reflected later in the posttest, where most of the mistakes they committed were found in these two steps of the guessing from context procedure.
Unfortunately, the assignment could not be finished on time for it to be discussed at the end of the class. Before the class was dismissed, the researcher assigned the students to finish the rest of the practice at home and to bring some English newspaper articles to class the following week.
meeting, the researcher asked the students to form groups of four to five to do the assignment. The researcher went around the classroom to help those needing guidance with the task. Some of the students were enthusiastic and asked a lot of questions, but some others were too hesitant to do so.
Finally, they were posttested to see if the guessing from context procedure helped them improve them learn vocabulary. The posttest was carried out on November 29, 2011. The students had to answer 10 posttest items using Clarke
and Nation’s procedure for guessing from context in 100 minutes’ time. There
were originally 20 test items to be answered by the students, but they were reduced to just 10 items after the researcher consulted the lecturer in charge of the Vocabulary I class. The results of the pretest and posttest played a significant role in determining the effectiveness of the guessing from context procedure as a vocabulary learning technique.
Originally, the research was going to involve two groups of subjects. The researcher had planned to give each group a different treatment. One group was to be told to memorize a list of words before being tested. This was the vocabulary learning technique used in Vocabulary I and II classes in the English Education Study Program during the 2007/2008 academic year. The other group were to be
taught Clarke and Nation’s guessing from context procedure. However, this
B. The Results of the Implementation of Clarke and Nation’s Guessing
from Context Procedure
The second part of this chapter reveals the results of the experimental study. The results include the pretest, posttest, and dependent t-test result, the
research objects’ responses to the questionnaire, and the mistakes done by the
students in using Clarke and Nation’s guessing from context procedure in the
posttest.
1. The Pretest and Posttest Results
completed both the pretest and posttest. This was due to the fact that most of them already had jobs or were students of other majors. Therefore, there were always absentees, which was inevitable.
Table 4.1 displays the participants’ performances in both of the tests, the
difference between each student’s pretest, and posttest scores and the square of
each difference, which are required to determine the t value.
Table 4.1 The Students’ Pretest and Posttest Scores
Having determined the total of the score differences and the squared score differences, the researcher now proceeds to calculating the t value to determine whether or not the mean of the posttest scores are significantly higher than that of the pretest scores. In order to find the t value, the researcher used the formula for the dependent t-test, which can be seen in Figure 3.2 in Chapter 3.
From the equation shown in Figure 3.2, the t value equals 1.451. In order to see if this value indicates a significantly higher mean of the posttest scores, the t value has to be matched with the required t value at the .05 significance level for a directional test previously set by the researcher before the experimentation. The t value needed for significance at the .05 level of significance for a directional test with 14 degrees of freedom is 1.761. The t of 1.451 does not exceed the t value needed for significance. This implies that the mean of the posttest scores is not significantly higher than the mean of the pretest scores.
a. The Retention of the Null Hypothesis
In Chapter III, the researcher stated the null hypothesis and the alternative hypothesis to this research. Having calculated the t value and consulted the t table, the researcher can now either retain or reject the null hypothesis. Here are the null hypothesis and the alternative hypothesis once again:
Null Hypothesis (H0)
Alternative Hypothesis (H1)
The mean of the posttest scores is significantly higher than the mean of the pretest scores.
In order for the researcher to be able to reject the null hypothesis, the t value of the experimentation must exceed the required t value needed for significance at the .05 level. Because the t value did not exceed the given t value needed for significance, the researcher retains the null hypothesis. In conclusion, this implies that the treatment, Clarke and Nation’s procedure for guessing from context has failed to significantly improve the vocabulary learning process of the first semester students of the English Extension Course at Sanata Dharma University Yogyakarta.
b. Two Possible Factors Which May Account for the Failed Experiment Based on what the researcher observed during the implementation of the treatment, which was Clarke and Nation’s procedure for guessing from context, there could be several possible problems which led to the failure of the procedure to bring about the change on the part of the students expected by the researcher at the beginning of the experiment. The following are the possible problems:
The Lack of Time to Practice Clarke and Nation’s Procedure for Guessing
from Context
220 minutes to conduct the pretest. To anticipate this, the researcher gave them an assignment after the first meeting to practice the technique themselves at home, which was to be discussed the following week, but this did not seem to work out because they mentioned they did not have the time to do the assignment at home. This was understandable because they were all students, either from Sanata Dharma University or other universities in Yogyakarta, and employees. As a result, the assignment, which was supposed to be homework, was done in the
classroom under the researcher’s guidance.
The researcher might have miscalculated the time needed for the students to thoroughly comprehend and familiarize themselves with using Clarke and
Nation’s procedure for guessing from context. The procedure was obviously new
to the students and one or two more meetings would have been crucial to their attempt in understanding the completely unknown procedure, which eventually, and arguably, would have made them perform better on the posttest to a certain degree. What the researcher failed to take into account was the students’ limited time to practice using the procedure outside the classroom on their own due to their college activities and work. In addition to this, the researcher also did not want to take too many meetings for the sake of the research because it would have caused discomfort on the part of the Vocabulary I’s lecturer because she would have had to re-arrange her syllabus.
The Students’ Reluctance to Ask Questions
reluctance to ask questions while doing their classroom exercises. A few of them did ask questions, but the majority of them were just sitting quietly not knowing that what they were doing was wrong. As suggested by the posttest results, a lot of them had problems understanding what they were supposed to be doing at certain stages of the guessing procedure, particularly at the second and third step of the guessing from context procedure. The students’ mistakes in using Clarke and
Nation’s procedure for guessing from context are discussed in more detail in the
last part of the chapter.
2. The Results of the Questionnaire
The second part of the chapter discusses the results of the questionnaire filled out by the research subjects following their Vocabulary 1 class final test. Unfortunately, out of a total of 15 students who had already taken both the pretest and the posttest, only 10 of them showed up on the final test day. Therefore, only 10 research subjects completed the questionnaire. The questionnaire was written in the first language of the participants, which is Bahasa Indonesia, to enable them to comprehend each and every item of the questionnaire in the best possible way. The questionnaire was divided into two parts. The first part consisted of five close-ended items in the form of statements aiming to find out whether or not
Clarke and Nation’s procedure for guessing from context helped improve their
vocabulary learning process. The participants’ possible responses were
research subjects’ opinions on using the procedure after two weeks’ time of exposure.
Table 4.2 displays the research subjects’ responses to the first part of the questionnaire. The researcher analyzes the tendency of their’ responses to each of all five items in this part of the questionnaire.
Table 4.2 The Students’ Responses toward the First Part of the
Questionnaire
No. Statement SD D A SA
1. I tend to consult the dictionary upon discovering a new English vocabulary item.
10% 80% 10% 2. I am now able to use the guessing from context
technique after learning it for two weeks.
10% 30% 60% 3. I am now able to use the guessing from context
technique without having to follow the exact steps which were previously taught.
40% 50% 10%
4. The guessing from context technique helps me find out the meanings of the words I have never encountered before.
70% 30%
5. I can remember the words whose meanings I found out using the guessing from context procedure in a relatively long period of time.
30% 40% 30%
The students’ responses to the first statement of the questionnaire show that 10% of them strongly agreed, 80% agreed, while the other 10% disagreed that they tended to consult the dictionary to find out what an unknown word meant.
This confirms the students’ reliance on the use of dictionary, which was exactly
why the researcher thought it was important to conduct the research and see whether or not the guessing from context procedure would help them find out the
meaning of new words on their own. By introducing Clarke and Nation’s guessing
The next two statements of the questionnaire are correlated. They aimed to
find out whether or not two weeks of practicing using Clarke and Nation’s
Participant number three disagreed with the second statement, but strongly disagreed with the third statement. Additionally, participant number ten strongly disagreed with the second statement, but disagreed with the third statement. Nevertheless, the responses to these two statements of the questionnaire do confirm the students’ scores of the posttest, which has been proved by the t test to not be significantly higher than those of the pretest because not all of them had completely understood how the guessing procedure should have been used. Apparently, this resulted from the lack of time given by the researcher for them to comprehend the procedure, as suggested by the questionnaire result of statement number two, where only 60% of the questionnaire participants agreed that two weeks of practice using the procedure had been enough for them to be able to use it.
The forth questionnaire statement aimed to find out whether or not Clarke
and Nation’s procedure for guessing for context helped the participants figure out
the meanings of the words they had just met. Their responses to this statement were highly positive. 70% of them agreed that the procedure helped them and the rest of them (30%) strongly agree with the statement. This means that the agreement level of this questionnaire item reaches 100%.
statement, while the other three (27.27%) disagreed. The agreement level of the questionnaire item is 72.73%, which is quite high.
After elaborating the findings of the research from the closed-ended part of the questionnaire, the researcher now shifts his focus to the findings from the open-ended one. There were five questions in this part of the questionnaire. These five questions were designed elicit responses from the participants with regard to
their experience practicing using Clarke and Nation’s procedure for guessing from
context for two weeks, such as the advantages and the drawbacks of the procedure, their difficulties while using the procedure, the most difficult step of the procedure, and the clue that helped them the most in figuring out a word’s meaning using the procedure.
The first question of the second part of the questionnaire was about the
advantages of Clarke and Nation’s procedure for guessing from context
experienced by the research participants. The researcher presents the findings in Table 4.3.
Table 4.3 The Advantages of Using Clarke and Nation’s Guessing from
Context Procedure according to the Participants
Number Advantages of the Guessing from Context Procedure Based on the Questionnaire Results
1. “The procedure was easy to remember and understand.”
2. a) “The procedure paid attention to the parts of speech.”
b) “It reduced the use of the dictionary.”
3. “I could figure out the meaning of a word step by step.”
dictionary.”
5. “I had to analyze the meanings of the words, so I could remember the
words better.”
6. a) “It did not depend on the use of the dictionary.”
b) “I could understand the sentences faster.”
7. “I could tell the parts of speech of the words.”
. a) “It was easy to remember.”
b) “It did not require the use of the dictionary.”
9. “I could understand a word without consulting the dictionary, so it was
faster (than using the dictionary).”
10. “The procedure made it easier for me to understand those words.”
The next open-ended question was designed by the researcher in an
attempt to discover the drawbacks of Clarke and Nation’s procedure for guessing
from context from the point of view of the participants who had already learned using the procedure for two weeks. A large number of the participants admitted
that the procedure was not practical and complicated. The participants’ responses
to this question are listed in Table 4.4.
Table 4.4 The Disadvantages of Using Clarke and Nation’s Guessing from Context
Procedure according to the Participants
Participant Number
Disadvantages of the Guessing from Context Procedure Based on the Questionnaire Results
1. “Not practical.”
2. “Not practical.”
4. “Not practical.”
5. “Nothing.”
6. a) “Not practical.”
b) “One must be able to identify a word’s part of speech well.”
7. “Nothing.”
8. “Difficult and not practical.”
9. “Sometimes the answers did not match with the dictionary.”
10. “It was hard to understand the context when the context was
too short.”
As seen in Table 4.4, as many as six out of a total of 10 participants
conceded that the guessing from procedure was not practical. The researcher’s
early assumption is that this is due to the fact the procedure was new to the research subjects and has five steps to it. Being unfamiliar with the procedure, it took a long time for the research subjects to figure out what a word meant using the procedure.
Through the next question in the open-ended section of the questionnaire,
the researcher attempted to elicit the participants’ opinions on the difficulties they
participants, only three of them (30%) used the options provided by the researcher. Two of them conceded that the difficulties they faced when learning to use the procedure was the limited time. The other participant said it was the
researcher’s incomprehensible explanation on the procedure which became his
difficulty in learning the procedure. The rest of the participants (70%) opted to not use the options and specify their own responses instead.
Participant number three and nine stated that their difficulty lay in
determining a word’s synonym. In Clarke and Nation’s guessing procedure, this is
the last step of the procedure. Another three of them said that their difficulty was in identifying a word’s part of speech. Participant number six’s answer was slightly different from the aforementioned responses. She stated that the
procedure’s many steps were her main difficulty when learning how to use the
procedure properly.
3. The Students’ Mistakes in Using Clarke and Nation’s Procedure for
Guessing from Context in the Posttest
In this part of the chapter, the researcher presents and analyzes the mistakes the participants made in the process of guessing word meanings using
Clarke and Nation’s procedure which occurred the most. This part aims to answer
the third research questions. The data for this discussion were obtained from the
students’ performance in the posttest. The researcher classifies their’ mistakes by
the steps of Clarke and Nation’s procedure for guessing from context. Table 4.5
classifies the participants’ mistakes in using Clarke and Nation’s procedure for
step of Clarke and Nation’ procedure as the researcher did not instruct the
participants to do the fifth step of the procedure, checking, which involves the use of the dictionary.
Table 4.5 The Students’ Mistakes Found within Their Posttest Work
