STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS
TOWARD THE USE OF CONCEPT MAP IN
LEARNING ENGLISH VOCABULARY
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirement of the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Adrian Christandhi 112013114
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION PROGRAM FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN SATYA WACANA
ii
STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS TOWARD THE USE OF CONCEPT MAP IN
LEARNING ENGLISH VOCABULARY
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirement of the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Adrian Christandhi 112013114
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION PROGRAM FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS UNIVERSITAS KRISTEN SATYA WACANA
vii
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
This thesis contains no such material as has been submitted for examination in any course or accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, this contains no material previously published or written by any other person except where due reference is made in the text.
Copyright @2017: Adrian Christandhi and Dra. Martha Nandari, M.A
All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means without the prior written permission of at least one of the copyright owners or the English Language Education Program of Universitas Kristen Satya Wacana, Salatiga.
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1
Students’ Perception
s Toward the Use of Concept Map in Learning
English Vocabulary
Adrian Christandhi11203114
Abstract
The concept map is a visual technique which can be used to help the students learn English vocabulary. This study aims to find out students‟ perceptions toward the use of the concept map in learning English vocabulary. The quantitative methodology with a questionnaire was used in this study. The experiment was conducted in SMK Negeri 1 Salatiga and the questionnaire was distributed to 25 students of X Boga 1 class. The result shows positive responses in which students that learning using the concept map was easier, clearer and more interesting. It also shows that the use of concept map improves brainstorming skill and does not take a lot of notes. On the other hand, the use of concept map requires a lot of time both in using and creating one. Another weakness of using the concept map is that it lacks of team work. Keywords: Students’ perception, the concept map, English vocabulary
Introduction
In this era, English is an important language because it is used for international communication. The English language has been taught in secondary schools as a compulsory subject. Unfortunately, some people find it hard to learn English. In order to solve this problem, some linguists have developed some techniques which make it easier to learn English. Using concept map is one of them. Concept map is a visual technique which divides a significant topic or information into several parts of diagram which are related to each other. According to Sutrisno and Kartono (2007) as cited in Prayogung (2014, p. 13), “concept map is a visual technique to show the information structure in how the concepts in certain domain are connected.” Prayogung (2014) in her study found how the use of concept map affected on students‟ achievement on English exercises. She compared the result of students‟ minimum
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most of the students were able to pass the minimum requirement for graduation after she applied the concept map in the lesson.
It seems that the students were helped a lot when concept map techniques were applied. As an English teacher to be, the author wondered if the same technique could be useful for learning English vocabulary. The author did his teaching practicum in Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan Negeri 1 Salatiga (State Vocational School 1, Salatiga), the writer observed that the students had difficulties in learning vocabulary in the English class. So the writer was interested in finding the perceptions of students of SMK Negeri 1 Salatiga towards the use of concept map techniques in learning English vocabulary. The research question of this study is; what are the SMKN 1 Salatiga students‟ perceptions toward concept map in learning English vocabulary?
The finding of this research hopefully will give more insights to teachers of English about what aspects of vocabulary learning the students find most useful, or less useful when the concept map techniques are used. Such knowledge may become a useful consideration for teachers to be able to apply concept map techniques in the appropriate situation.
Literature Review
Language Learning
Language is the most important tool in communication. Moeller and Catalano (2015, p. 327) say that “language is the vehicle required for effective human to human interactions and yields a better understanding of one‟s own language and culture.” However, language can be mastered through „learning‟. Learning is the acquisition of knowledge or skills through
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learning is related to the conscious process of accumulating knowledge of the vocabulary and grammar of language.”
In language learning, there are four skills which need to be focused on: speaking, writing, reading, and listening. These four skills are important to master languages, especially in learning a foreign language. Besides these four skills, there are language components that are important as the four skills: vocabulary and grammar. Some people say that these language components can be a bridge to master a language rather than focusing on the four skills. However, some people also argue that the four skills is the main things to master a language. In this time, people who are learning languages especially foreign languages, have to find an easy way to master a foreign language. The concept maps are said to be an alternative tool in learning language in an easy way.
Definition of Perception
Perception is about how we see on things or our opinion on things. Angell (1906, p. 122) defines the perception as “the consciousness of particular material things present to sense.” Relating to Angell‟s definition before, the “things” can refer to the concept map itself which the
learners will sense as a visual sense with the help from their teacher.
Concept Map
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visual technique to show the information structure in how the concepts in certain domain are connected.” In other words, a concept map is a tool which spells out the structure of an
information or a topic into several parts which are related. Another definition of a concept map comes from Buzzetto-More (2007) as cited in Nada (2008, p. 59) who said that “Concepts are usually depicted by circles or boxes, forming the nods of the new work by labeled links.” Novak and Canas (2006, p. 1) see that “concept maps are graphical tools for organizing and representing knowledge.” Concept maps are usually used for brain-storming ideas, and concept maps can also be used to stimulate the generation of ideas.
The technique of the concept map was first developed by Joseph D. Novak in 1970s to represent the emerging science knowledge of students. Novak‟s work was based on the theories
of David Ausubel, who stressed that the meaningful learning takes place when new knowledge is consciously incorporated into the concepts and ideas previously acquired by the learner (Clark and James, 2004, p. 224). Novak started by teaching his six-year-old students to make concept maps based on the focus questions such as “What is water?” “What causes the seasons?”
In teaching English, the concept maps have been used in different ways to build an effective learning and teaching. Affana and Al Khozendar (2007) as cited in Nada (2008 suggested some steps in using concept maps for the teachers in order to have an effective learning and teaching:
1. A teacher tells their learners about the item or the subject that he is going to teach with identification for the main concepts in the lesson.
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3. A teacher finds key words or link-words between the sub-concepts in order to make a meaningful relation between these concepts.
4. A teacher organizes the concepts in a pyramid form and put the link-words on the arrow.
5. A teacher explains the sub-concepts by giving examples, so that teacher can transfer his students from main concepts at the top of the map to subordinate at the bottom.
6. A teacher asks learners to make concept maps in the subject matter either individually or groups.
From Affana and Al Khozendar suggestions before, English teachers may as well understand how to apply concept maps to create an effective learning and teaching. During the learning process using concept maps, there are three ways which can be used. Al Hwidi (2005) as cited in Nada (2008, p. 64) has suggested:
1. Pre-teaching: The teacher can survey the concept maps in front of the students as an advanced organizer, either by drawing the map on the board or by using the overhead projector.
2. During-teaching: Learners may use concept maps during-learning, when teacher copies the map and gives everyone a copy to benefit from.
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Moreover, there were some researchers who mentioned some reasons in using concept maps in English learning. Pill and et. Al (2005) as cited in Nada (2008, p. 66) mentioned some reasons:
1. Facilitate the development of self-directed learning within which conceptual and prepositional relationships can be reflectively and critically explored.
2. Enhance problem-solving practically in the context of acquisition and sequencing of the new information.
3. Aid the development of deep meaningful teaching moving towards critical thinking rather than more surface approaches.
4. Have potential value in assessment during students‟ learning journey.
Fitzgeraled (1999) as cited in Nada also added some reasons for using concept maps:
5. Generate ideas.
6. Design complex structure.
7. Communicate complex ideas.
8. Aid learning by explicitly integrating new and old knowledge.
9. Assess understanding or diagnose misunderstanding.
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concept map itself can help students in the way they receive and understand the material, and as for the teachers it can help them in how they deliver the material. In order to know whether concept maps are helpful or not, some researchers in their study mentioned the advantages and disadvantages of concept maps. Researcher Ellis (2001) as cited in Burdiana (2015, p. 31) stated that “the traditional concept maps make the learning process easier and help students separate the
most important information from what is not essential.” Fitzgeraled (1999) as cited in Nada (2008, p. 67) mentioned some certain advantages in using concept maps:
1. Visual symbols are quickly and easily recognized.
2. Minimum use of text makes it easy to scan for a word, phrase or general idea.
3. Visual representation allows for development of holistic understanding that words alone can‟t convey.
Other advantages of concept maps came from Ruiz-Primo (2005, p. 28) who sees concept maps may give students an opportunity to:
1. Think about the connection between the terms being learned.
2. Organize their thoughts and visualize the relationship between the key concepts in semantic way.
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Despite of the advantages of the use of concept maps in English learning, there are some disadvantages which came along. Prayogung (2014, p. 15) in her research found some disadvantages of concept maps during the learning process. She found that:
1. Using concept maps lack of cooperation between the learners.
2. It takes lot of times to make and arrange the concept maps.
3. It is difficult to find words which relate one concept with another concept.
Davies (2010, p. 4) also added the disadvantages of the concept map in the study which he conducted:
1. The types of links being made are limited to simple associations.
2. It is also limited in dealing with more complex relationship.
3. Concept map requires some expertise to learn.
Vocabulary
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has the knowledge and meaning of those words. Vocabulary is commonly described as all the words known and used by a particular person. There are definitions of vocabulary which come from some researchers. Nation (2001) as cited in Alqahtani (2015, p. 22) defined that “vocabulary knowledge implies knowing a word in the spoken form of the word and the spoken
form can be recognized and understood in and out of the context rather than guessed at.” Other definition comes from Henriksen (1996) as cited in Waring (2002, p. 3) who stated that “vocabulary knowledge is often defined as precise comprehension which is operationalized as
the ability to translate the lexical items into L1, the ability to find the right definition in a multiple-choice task, or the ability to give a target language paraphrase.” From Nation and Henriksen, it can be assumed that vocabulary requires the learners in second language learning to react to words without taking so much time to think about the words and they just need to use the words naturally and appropriately.
Previous Studies
The previous study which conducted by Prayogung (2014) found a significant improvement among students when using a concept map. In her study which was conducted in SD Negeri Tegalrejo 04, she observed 38 students as the participants. Her study‟s purpose was to
analyze the students‟ understanding on material given using the concept map and compare the students‟ result on the minimum requirement for graduation. Before the concept map was used,
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able to pass the minimum requirement for graduation after they learned using the concept map technique.
Another previous study came from Nada (2008) who researched on the effects of the concept map in English grammar. Nada‟s study was to find out how the concept map affected on
achieving the English grammar. The study was conducted in UNRWA schools in Gaza governorate. The participants in Nada‟s study were all of ninth grader students, which were 226 students. In his research, Nada found that using concept map in English grammar helped students a lot. He found that the concept map provided the students with a better learning environment that reflects on their learning to English grammar. The concept map also stimulated the students toward an independent practice of English language.
The Study
Research Question
“What are the SMKN 1 Salatiga students‟ perceptions toward the use of concept map in learning English vocabulary?”
Context
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Participants
The participants in this study were the first grader students of SMK Negeri 1 Salatiga. Their age was around 14 and 15 years old. The participants were 25 students from one of the course programs in SMK Negeri 1, which is X Boga 1. The first grader was chosen to make them feel new experience in learning English using concept map. It is also to make them know how to learn English in different style and an easy way.
Data Collection Instrument
The data in this study were collected using a questionnaire. The questionnaire used was a close-ended question, with 16 questions and five options on each question. The options were: Strongly Agree (SA), Agree (A), Hesitant (H), Disagree (D), and Strongly Disagree (SD). The questions in the questionnaire were adapted based from the theories and opinions of the experts. The experts were Nada (2008), Prayogung (2014), Davies (2017), and other researchers. The
1. Learning English language is easier using the concept map
2. Learning English vocabulary is easier using the concept map
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5. The use of concept map can enrich the English vocabulary
6. The use of concept map makes the English vocabulary learning interesting
7. The use of concept map takes a lot of time
8. The use of concept map finds vocabulary more specific
9. The concept map is difficult to understand
10. The concept map making process is complicated
11. The concept map making process improves brainstorming skill/deep thinking
12. The concept map making process improves creativity 13. The concept map making process takes a lot of time
14. The use of concept map does not take a lot of note
15. The use of concept map lacks of team work (individual)
16. It is difficult to find words related to each other in the concept map making process
Data Collection Procedure
The data collection began with the teaching section for X Boga 1 students about „describing people‟. The students of Boga 1 had not been encountered the English lesson using
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the grammar context was explained by showing the students the structures of the sentence, for example: S + have/has + O. After that, the students moved to vocabulary section using a concept map technique. A picture of simple a concept map which was related to the material was shown to the students. The students were also given exercises to make a simple concept map which described a person. After the teaching section was nearly over, the questionnaire was distributed to the whole X BO 1 class, and the students were asked to fill in the questionnaire.
Data Analysis
The data were analyzed using percentages. The data were of the students‟ answers who chose the options „strongly agree, agree, hesitant, disagree, strongly disagree‟ in the 16 statements were counted and put in percentages. Then, each statement was analyzed to see which one has the biggest percentage. The percentages were used to answer the research question “what are the students‟ perceptions toward concept map in learning English vocabulary?”
Finding and Discussion
The aim of this study is to find out the students‟ perception toward the use of concept
map in English vocabulary learning. The questionnaire consists of 16 statements. Based on the students‟ answers on the questionnaire, the percentage of each answer category was put in
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Table 2. The percentages of the questionnaire result
No Statements
11. The concept map making process improves brainstorming
skill/deep thinking 12% 88% - - -
12. The concept map making process improves creativity - 56% 40% 32% -
13. The concept map making process takes a lot of time 12% 76% 4% 8% -
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16. It is difficult to find words related to each other in the concept
map making process 12% 36% 36% 16% -
Generally, the results show positive responses towards the use of concept maps in the English vocabulary learning matter. The students gave positive responses that the concept map can make English vocabulary learning easier. The students also agreed to some statements in questionnaire, such as concept map enriched vocabularies, made the learning process interesting, improved brainstorming and creativity. The students also agreed to the negative statements of the concept map that it took a lot of time and also it lacked on the team work.
The table above shows the percentages of the students‟ perception on the 16 statements in the questionnaire. On item 1, the students showed positive opinions on „learning English using concept map is easier‟ statement. There were 28% of the students that strongly agreed and 60%
of them agreed while 12% of them were unsure of their opinions and chose the option „hesitant‟. The purpose of the item 1 was to know whether the students find it easy or not when learning English using the concept map. According to the result, it showed that the concept map could be an alternative teaching method to make the students be able to learn English easier. It was also in line with Ellis‟ (2001) statement that “the concept maps make the learning process easier and help students separate the most important information.”
On the item 2, there were 28% of the students that strongly agreed and 64% agreed on „learning English vocabulary is easier using the concept map‟ statement while 8% of them were unsure and chose the option „hesitant‟. Based on the result, it showed that the majority of the
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simply learning words in language. By using the concept map, the students were able to scan for words and learned or remembered vocabulary easily, because in general the concept map is a set of diagram which connects with each other. The result matched with Fitzgeraled‟s (1999) opinion that “minimum use of text makes it easy to scan for word, phrases, or general idea.”
From the result of item 3, the students gave positive response on „it is easier to remember English vocabulary using the concept map‟ statement. There were 8% of the students that
strongly agreed, 76% agreed and the rest 16% of them chose “hesitant”. The concept map can be seen as a diagram because it contains circles or boxes which link to each other as Buzzetto-More said. According to Davies (2017, p. 3), “it is easier to remember a diagram than to remember a description.” It meant that the use of concept map helped the students to remember words or vocabulary easier.
Meanwhile on item 4, there were 20% of the students that strongly agreed and 80% agreed on „learning English vocabulary is clear using the concept map‟ statement. From the
result, it showed that all students agreed on how the concept map made the learning English vocabulary process become easier. Fitzgeraled (1999) said that “visual symbols are quickly and easily recognized.” Based from Fitzgeraled‟s opinion, the concept map which categorized as a visual technique makes the students recognize and remember vocabulary easily. So, it also affected on the learning process that made the concept map became clearer.
On item 5 (the use of concept map can enrich the English vocabulary); there were 12% of the students that strongly agreed, 48% agreed, and 40% of them were not unsure and chose “hesitant” as their response. From the result, most of the students agreed that using concept map
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on how the concept map worked in enriching their vocabulary. Fortunately, the students showed positive responses that the concept map could aid them to enrich their vocabulary.
On the item 6, the students gave positive opinion on „the use of concept map makes the English vocabulary learning interesting‟ statement. There were 8% of the students that strongly
agreed, 64% agreed, and the rest 28% of them were unsure. According to Ur (1984, p. 30), “visual have an important function as aids to learning simply because they attract student‟s
attention and help encourage them to focus on the subject.” This showed that the concept map which is categorized as a visual technique made the learning process interesting for the students, as Ur said that visual intrigued the students to focus on it.
On item 7 (the use of concept map takes a lot of time), 24% of the students chose the option strongly agreed while 64% agreed and 12% were unsure. Item 7 is quite similar with item 13 (the concept map making process takes a lot of time). On item 13, there were 12% of the students that strongly agreed, 76% agreed, 4% were unsure and chose the option “hesitant”, and 8% of them disagreed. On both item 7 and item 13, most of the students agreed with those statements that the use of concept map in learning took a lot of time in using concept map as a visual tool technique and the making process. This is one of the disadvantages from the concept map, and it matched with Prayogung‟s study (2014) “it takes lot of times to make and arrange the concept maps.”
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mentioned that concept map “designs complex structures” in his research. By using the concept map, teachers should be able to make a complex structure of concept map so that the students could understand it in detail.
The purpose of item 9 (the concept map is difficult to understand) to make sure whether the students find the use of concept map in vocabulary learning easy or not. Item 9 was a contrast statement with item 1. However, the result between item 1 and item 9 is different. On item 9, there were 8% strongly agreed, 24% agreed, and 36% chose hesitant while 32% of them disagreed. The results between both options agree and disagree were same, they are 32%. This showed that some students thought the concept map was difficult to understand and some thought that it was not difficult. Though, 36% of the students seemed to confuse and ended up to be neutral and chose the option hesitant.
On item 10 (the concept map making process is complicated); the result was 4% of the students strongly agreed, 24% agreed, and 40% hesitant, while 32% of them disagreed. The aim of the item 10 was to know the students‟ opinions whether the use of concept map was complicated or not. Based from the result, most of the students were neutral while less than 30% agreed. This showed that some students thought the concept map was complicated and some found it was not complicated.
The students‟ perceptions on item 11 were really positive. All of them agreed that the
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On the item 12 (the concept map making process improves creativity), more than 50% of the students agreed. There were 56% of the students agreed and 40% of the students unsure while 4% of them disagreed. The result on item 12 went along with the experts‟ opinion that “when mind mapping is used in the classroom, it offers an opportunity to have an extremely
interactive and dynamic classroom. This technique allows for creativity to flow from the students (Dell, B., Garrick, R., Romanowski, C., Slifka, M., 2017).” This showed that the concept map did not only focus in aiding the language learning process, but also could improve the students‟ creativity.
On item 14 (the use of concept map does not take a lot of note), almost all of the students agreed. 44% agreed while 8% were unsure and chose the option “hesitant”, and 4% of them disagreed. Because of the concept map that contains of circle or boxes which link each other, the concept map does not need too much note taking. Fitzgeraled (1999) mentioned that “minimum use of text makes it easy to scan for a word, phrase or general idea.”
On item 15 (the use of concept map lacks of team work), 36% of the students strongly agreed, 56% agreed, 4% hesitant, and 4% disagreed. Most of the students agreed that the use of concept map applied individual work in the learning process. This in line with Prayogung‟s (2014) research that found that in the use concept maps lack of cooperation between the learners.
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of them thought that it was difficult to find related words, just as Prayogung (2014) said that “it is difficult to find words which relate one concept with another concept.” Although, some of the students also thought that it was not difficult to find words which linked to another.
Conclusion
The purpose of this study is to find out the students‟ perceptions toward the use of
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
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References
Alqahtani, M. (2015). The importance of vocabulary in language learning and how to be taught.
International Journal of Teaching and Education, 3(3), 21-34.
Angell, J. R. (1906). Psychology: An Introductory Study of The Structure and Function of Human Conscious. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 122-140.
Burdiana, M. (2016). Rethinking the use of concept maps in introductory economics courses.
Journal of Economics and Economics Education Research, 16(1), 31-41.
Clark, I. F. & James, P. R. (2004). Using concept maps to plan an introductory structural geology course. Journal of Geoscience Education, 52(3), 224-230.
Davies, W. M. (2017). Concept mapping, mind mapping,and argument mapping: what are the differences and do they matter?. The University of Melbourne, Australia, 1-18.
Dell, B., Garrick, R., Romanowski, C., Slifka, M. (2017). Using mind mapping to influence creativity and innovation. Rochester Institute of Technology,1-9.
Fu, Jie. (2009). A study of learning styles, teaching styles, and vocabulary teaching strategies in Chinese primary school. Kristianstad University College The School of Teacher Education English IV, 1-50.
Lee, Y. (2013). Collaborative concept map as a pre-writing strategy for L2 learning: A Korean application. International Journal of Information and Education Technology, 3(2), 254-258.
Moeller, A. J., & Catalano, T. (2015). Foreign language teaching and learning. International Encyclopedia for Social and Behavioral Sciences 2nd Edition (9), 327-332.
Nada, M. K. A. (2008). The effect of using concept maps on achieving English grammar among ninth graders in Gaza Governorate. The Islamic University – Gaza, 1-130.
Novak, J. D, & Canas, A. J. (2006). The theory underlying concept maps and how to contruct them. Institute for Human and Machine Cognition.
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Ruiz-Primo, M. A. (2000). On the use of concept maps as an assessment tool in science: what we have learned so far. Revista Electŕnica De Investigacίn Educativa, 12(1), 29-48.
Ur, Penny. (1948). Teaching listening comprehension. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press. Waring, R. (2002). Scales of vocabulary knowledge in second language vocabulary assessment.
The Occasional Papers of Notre Dame Seishin,1-17.
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Appendix 1
Questionnaire Sheet
Mohon kesediaan saudara untuk mengisi angket yang telah kami sediakan sebagai istrumen penelitian. Angket ini ditujukan untuk melakukan penelitian tentang bagaimana persepsi murid terhadap pembelajaran vocabulary inggris menggunakan peta konsep. Pengisian instrument penelitian ini tidak akan berpengaruh pada nilai anda. Data yang kami peroleh digunakan sepenuhnya untuk penelitian ilmiah. Mohon kepada adik-adik untuk mengisi sesuai dengan keadaan yang sebenarnya dan sesuai dengan petunjuk. Terimakasih.
Kelas : Umur :
Jenis Kelamin : Laki-laki / perempuan
Berilah tanda centang pada jawaban sesuai dengan pendapat anda.
Keterangan:
SS: Sangat Setuju S: Setuju RG: Ragu-ragu TS: Tidak Setuju
STS: Sangat Tidak Setuju
No Pertanyaan
Jawaban
SS S RG TS STS
1. Pembelajaran bahasa Inggris menggunakan peta konsep memudahkan dalam proses belajar.
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3. Penggunanan peta konsep memudahkan dalam mengingat vocabulary dalam bahasa Inggris.
4. Penggunaan peta konsep membuat pembelajaran vocabulary menjadi lebih jelas.
5. Pengunaan peta konsep dapat memperkaya vocabulary Inggris.
6. Penggunaan peta konsep menjadikan pembelajaran vocabulary Inggris menjadi menarik.
7. Penggunaan peta konsep memakan waktu dalam proses belajar.
8. Mencari vocabulary menggunakan peta konsep menjadi lebih detail / lebih terperinci.
9. Peta konsep sulit untuk dipahami.
10. Proses pembuatan peta konsep rumit.
11. Proses pembuatan peta konsep membuat berpikir secara dalam (mencari ide/brainstorm).
12. Proses pembuatan peta konsep membuat lebih kreatif.
13. Proses pembuatan peta konsep memakan banyak waktu.
14. Penggunaan peta konsep tidak perlu banyak mencatat.
15. Penggunaan peta konsep kurang menerapkan kerja di dalam kelompok (individu).
