TEACHERS
’ TECHNIQUES IN TEACHING VOCABULARY FOR
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN
SD KRISTEN 03 SALATIGA
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirement for Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Riza Galuh Puspitasari 112009142
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
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 my belief, this contains no material previously published or written by any other person except where due the reference is made in the text.
Copyright@2015. Riza Galuh Puspitasari and M. Ch. Eko Setyarini, S. S., M. Hum All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means without the permission of at least one of the copyright owners or the English Department, Faculty of Language and Literature, Satya Wacana Christian University, Salatiga.
TEACHERS’ TECHNIQUES IN TEACHING VOCABULARY FOR
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN SD KRISTEN 03
SALATIGA
Riza Galuh Puspitasari 112009142
Abstract
This research was conducted in order to analyze the techniques used by teachers in teaching vocabulary for elementary school students in Salatiga. The participants of this study were three elementary school English teachers in Salatiga. The data were collected through classroom observations and semi-structured interviews which allowed the teachers to share their thought and experience in teaching vocabulary. The findings revealed that the teachers used pictures, repetition and pronunciation drill frequently in teaching vocabulary as it was suitable for young learners and easier to check the students understanding and abilities.
Keywords: Vocabulary, Young Learners, Teaching Technique
INTRODUCTION
Teaching English to children since the early age is very important. In Indonesia, English is used as a foreign language, so it will be difficult to learn if English is not taught earlier. As (Hakuta, 2001) said, the earlier children learn English, the
better they will be. So, it’s better to learn English as early as possible. Children start to
develop English to be mastered in Elementary Schools. In the elementary school, they start to learn many vocabularies and they have to memorize and remember the vocabulary.
The problem faced was the elementary school students got difficulty in memorizing the vocabulary because there are so many vocabularies and they should not only memorize, but they also should comprehend them. I also found the difficulty when I was an elementary school student. Here, teachers play an important role to help the students master the vocabulary, and it depends on their techniques in teaching. The teachers should provide some techniques that are appropriate and effective for the students. The techniques should engage the students to learn English. Brown (2001), stated that a lesson needs a variety of activities to keep interest and attention alive. As Brown said above, variety of activities is needed by the students so that they feel enthusiastic and actively participate in the teaching-learning process.
Many of English elementary school teachers use pictures as the media to teach vocabulary, but actually there are other interesting media like flash card, games, short story, song, etc. Thus, besides learning the vocabulary, students can also have fun and
enjoy the lesson. It’s good if they learn what they like. Through their enthusiasm the
materials given will be easier to understand.
Based on the problem this study had a research question, What are teachers’
techniques in teaching vocabulary for elementary school students? This research was
appropriate and effective to their students. It was aimed to describe the reason of the teachers in using the techniques.
This study is expected will provide knowledge about techniques in teaching vocabulary for elementary school students. It is also hoped that English teachers or student teachers can use these techniques in teaching vocabulary. In addition, this study is also hoped will give a contribution in English education to improve the quality of both teachers and learners.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Defining vocabulary
Vocabulary is an important part of a language. The more words students acquire and use it, the more meaning they can communicate in a wide variety of situations (Coxhead, 2006). It means that vocabulary is one important part of language. It influences the ability of speaking, listening, reading and writing. Like (Nguyen & Khuat, 2003) said, Vocabulary is the collection of words that an individual knows. It is a part related to listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. The same thing is also stated by Nasr (1972), similarly he said that there are four abilities that need to be developed in learning a language,
Four abilities to develop : hearing, reading, speaking, writing – with understanding. This shows that our chief concern should not be about difficulties of pronunciation, growth of vocabulary, and grammar; our chief concern should be with language abilities (1972:7)
It’s true that to construct the four abilities we need to concern on language ability, but in
is one of the basics in learning English. Through learning the vocabulary naturally, it will improve other skills like reading, writing, speaking and listening.
Teaching young learners
It’s interesting to compare the way children and teenagers or adults in learning
English. I saw that some teachers teach teenagers and adults like children, on the contrary, I also saw children were taught something that is not suitable with their ages. Actually children and adults are different in some case in learning English. They have different attitude and motivation toward English.
Children are often more enthusiastic and lively as learners. They want to please the teacher rather than their peer group. Children easily lose interest and less able to keep themselves motivated when they find the task that they think difficult. In other words, they do not have the same access as older learners to meta-language that teachers can use to explain about grammar or discourse (Cameron, 2001). It is quite proved that they are really different with adult. They will do something they like and
leave it when they are not interested. Bardakçı (2010) said in his journal, teaching
young learners is different from teaching teenagers and adults according to their needs, expectations, learning style and strategies, interest, psychological and cognitive development (2010). Young learners have different characteristic with teenagers or adult. Young learners are easily get bored and lose their interest to the materials that conveyed. Cameron (2001: 29-31) as cited in (Şensoy & Özad, 2009) mentioned that for young learners activity is important and should aim for a dynamic congruence. She
points out that activities and content that are suitable for children’s age and
treated like adults. We cannot treat children with something that make them under pressure because it influences their psychology.
Teaching techniques in teaching vocabulary
The first thing taught when children learn English is vocabulary. In the beginning they learn English vocabulary, they will get difficulty in pronouncing and memorizing the meaning of the words. It will be a problem if they do not have a motivation to learn it because they think it is difficult and no use to learn English. It might happen because they are accustomed to use their mother tongue (Bahasa Indonesia or their vernacular) in communication and doing interaction with the environment. To avoid those thoughts, teaching techniques are needed in order to make the children feel interested and have a motivation to learn English. Bardakçı (2010) stated, children facilitate their learning as possible as they can. Language teachers should consider this fact, and they should try to teach language in the easiest way. In the early stage, using picture can be used in teaching vocabulary.
There are some techniques that can be used in teaching vocabulary for elementary school students. The first one is using pictures. Pictures have been used for centuries to help students understand various aspects of foreign languages. Pictures can represent non-verbal source of information (Wright, 2007). It can be said that pictures have an important role in learning vocabulary. By using pictures, students are not only imagined the object, but they can see it so that they will memorize and remember the word and the meaning easily.
and pictures from books. Those techniques are simple and suitable for young learners since young learners learn something by seeing real objects and situations.
The second technique is by singing songs. Teachers can singing some songs related with the topic, for example singing song about family, fruits or animals. By singing songs, children will learn the vocabulary through the lyrics. Abbot, (2002) as cited in Gordon (2007), said that using songs helped to create a relaxed atmosphere during the learning process. In addition, using songs made the learning process memorable.
Telling story is another technique in teaching vocabulary for young learners. Teachers can use the story that children are familiar with, such as the story of legend in Indonesia or fairy tale like cinderella story or sleeping beauty. The children have already known the story in Bahasa Indonesia, so when the teacher tells the story in English they are still able to guess the main idea of the story. As stated by Cameron (2001), young children learn many of their first language words through social interaction with adults, and the use of stories in young learner classrooms will offer similar rich opportunities for learning vocabulary indirectly, or incidentally, while attending to something else. Thus, telling stories can be an advantageous technique in teaching vocabulary because children learn vocabulary through interaction. Besides,
this technique is a way to grab students’ attention to avoid boredom in the classroom.
Through the techniques that have been mentioned, students can improve their vocabulary because they are not only memorizing the vocabulary, but they also comprehend the meaning.
THE STUDY
This study was a descriptive qualitative research. It described the techniques used by teachers in teaching vocabulary for students in an elementary school in Salatiga. It also described the reasons why the teachers used those techniques in teaching vocabulary. The setting of the study was in SD Kristen 3 Salatiga.
Participants of the study
The participants of this study were three teachers of SD Kristen 3 Salatiga. The participants were selected based on a purposive sampling or criterion based - selection (Blackledge, 2001 as cited in Zacharias, 2011). The teachers were selected with the criteria English language teachers who graduated from English education and teaching English in elementary school more than one year.
Research Instrument
Table 1. Observation Protocol
Date Teacher Class Time
Techniques in teaching vocabulary R Q C M P RA PD G
R: Repetition
Q: Question and answer C: Clue
M: Modeling and demonstration
P: Picture RA: Read aloud
PD: Pronunciation drill G: Game
Data Collection Procedure
field notes. I used field notes to describe the teachers’ techniques in teaching
vocabulary.
After the class observation I did an interview to the teacher that I had observed before. As a technique in collecting the data I used a semi - structured interview. My intention of using this kind of technique was to make greater flexibility like changing the order of questions to provide an opportunity for follow - up questions. The interviews were conducted to get deeper and specific
information on teachers’ technique in teaching vocabulary to young learners. The
interviews were conducted in informal situations where there was flexibility, so the interviewees shared their opinions, experiences, and responses freely. The interviews were held after each observation, and I finished doing the observations and interviews in three weeks.
In each observation I gave checklists in the observation protocol to know what the techniques used by the teachers in their teaching. From this observation protocol I found the techniques that frequently used. This frequency of the techniques used can be seen in table 2.
Table 2. Table of frequency
Teacher
Frequency of the techniques used
R Q C M P RA PD G
Teacher A 2 1 1 - 2 1 2 -
Teacher B 2 2 - 1 2 2 2 1
Teacher C 4 2 2 2 3 2 4 -
R: Repetition P: Picture Q: Question and answer RA: Read aloud
C: Clue PD: Pronunciation drill M: Modeling and demonstration G: Game
There was eight observations for 3 teachers. Teacher A who teach grade 1 was observed 2 times, teacher B who teach grade 2 was observed two times, and teacher C who teach grade 4 and 5 was observed 4 times. Based on the table of frequency, the techniques that frequently used were repetition, using pictures and pronunciation drill. It can be found that teacher A and B used repetition, pictures and pronunciation drill in each teaching. It also can be seen that teacher C used repetition and pronunciation drill in all the observations, and three times used pictures.
Data Analysis Procedure
FINDING AND DISCUSSION
This section discusses the techniques used by elementary school teachers in teaching vocabulary for young learners in Salatiga. The techniques were discussed in the literature review.
When I observed the teaching - learning in class, the teachers used some techniques in teaching vocabulary for their students. I found some techniques used by the teachers.
Repetition
The first technique used by the teachers to teach vocabulary was repetition. This technique was used by teacher A when she was teaching about colors. The technique was presented as seen in excerpt 1:
Excerpt 1
Teacher A : Repeat after me, the mangosteen is brown. Students : The mangosteen is brown
Teacher A : The mangosteen is brown Students : The mangosteen is brown
Teacher A : Oke, good (Observation 3)
The same with teacher A, teacher B was also using repetition in teaching present continuous tense. It can be seen in observation 2:
Excerpt 2
Teacher B : Sekarang saya baca kalimatnya, kalian tirukan ya! Repeat after me! Mei is playing the piano.
Students : Mei is playing the piano. Teacher B : Mei is playing the piano. Students : Mei is playing the piano.
Teacher B : Once again, Mei is playing the piano.
In this technique, both teachers repeated the sentences more than once. They asked the students to repeat it two to three times until they can pronounce it correctly and clearly. Based on the interview, teacher A explained that the use of repetition technique was to help students in speaking, especially to memorize how to pronounce words correctly. She said:
Excerpt 3
Saya menggunakan repetition itu biar anak - anak terbiasa ngomong bahasa inggris dengan benar. Dengan repetition itu kan akan membantu mereka mengucapkan kalimat dengan benar, soalnya tulisan sama cara membacanya itu kan beda. Jadi biar mereka tau cara pengucapannya itu seperti apa. Kalau diulang - ulang terus kan lama - lama mereka ingat
bagaimana mengucapkannya. (Teacher A)
I used repetition to make students speak English correctly. By doing repetition will help them to pronounce sentence correctly because the written form and the way to read are different. So, they will know how to pronounce it. If it is frequently repeated they will memorize how to pronounce it. (Teacher A)
Almost same with teacher A, in the interview teacher B said: Excerpt 4
Ya, dengan repetition itu menurut saya akan memudahkan anak untuk mengucapkan kata - kata dalam bahasa inggris dengan lancar. Jadi disini melatih fluency mereka dalam berbicara bahasa inggris. Makanya kalau ada yang pengucapannya masih kurang jelas atau mungkin salah, saya
akan ulang terus sampai lancar, sampai benar gitu. (Teacher B)
I think by doing repetition they will be able to pronounce words in English easily. In here, we practice the fluency in speaking. So, if the pronunciation still not clear or they pronounce it wrong, I will repeat it until they pronounce it correctly and fluently. (Teacher B)
amount of time. Thus, through repetition the teachers tried to help students speak English fluently and correctly. It is useful for them because if they repeated the words many times they will easily remember the meaning and they will know how to pronounce it. We can see that the teachers had opinion that the repetition is considered important in teaching vocabulary. I agree with the teachers because in my opinion though repetition can be said as a common technique in teaching vocabulary, but for early stage especially for young learners, repetition is a good way to teach vocabulary. By repeating the words frequently students will remember the meaning and the way to pronounce it.
Using pictures
The second technique used by the teachers was using pictures. Teacher A used pictures when she was teaching vocabulary about objects in rooms. She used printed pictures in A3 papers as seen below:
by one, the teacher would ask the students to repeat the word two to three times. It was presented as seen in excerpt 5:
Excerpt 5
Teacher A : Oke, now please look at the picture and repeat after me! Lamp. Students : Lamp
Teacher A : Lamp Students : Lamp
Teacher A : Once again, lamp
Students : Lamp (Observation 5)
During the interview teacher A explained her reason of using pictures in teaching vocabulary. She said:
Excerpt 6
Kalau using picture, I think by seeing the picture they will remember the meaning easily because they see the object. Mereka nggak hanya membayangkan saja, tapi melihat langsung. Jadi saya kira melalui gambar
itu lebih efektif. (Teacher A)
repeated it several times, and through this combination of using pictures and repetition I easily remember the word and the object.
Pronunciation drill
The third technique used by the teachers in teaching vocabulary was pronunciation drill. This technique was used by teacher C in reading text session. When the students read the text then pronounced the words incorrectly, the teacher would do pronunciation drill as seen in the observation 1:
Excerpt 7
Teacher C : Now read the sentences together! One, two, three, go!
Students : My family ‘live’ in a big city. (they pronounced it ‘laif’)
Teacher C : No, no, no, no, no. /liv:/ ya, bukan /laif:/. Repeat after me! /lIv/
Students : /lIv/ (unclear)
Teacher C : /lIv/ pake veh
Students : /lIv/
Teacher C : Once again!
Students : /lIv/ (clear) (Observation 1)
I found in the observation that teacher C tried to drill the students in order to make them pronounce the word correctly. In the interview, teacher C explained that pronunciation drill was useful because it helped students to pronounce the word correctly. After students did pronunciation drill, they also knew how to differentiate the pronunciation between one word and another word that almost similar. In the interview she said:
Excerpt 8
Saya hampir selalu memakai pronunciation drill. Karena mereka sering menemui kosakata baru yang terkadang mereka belum tahu bagaimana mengucapkannya. Dengan di drill seperti itu anak akan tahu oh ini bacanya
begini, oh ini begini. Jadi mereka bisa pronounce dengan benar. (Teacher
I used pronunciation drill frequently. It is because students are often find new words that they do not know how to pronounce it. Trough pronunciation drill they will know how to pronounce it, so they will be able to pronounce it correctly. (Teacher C)
This technique used by the teacher in order to teach students how to pronounce words correctly. Besides, it was also useful to introduce new vocabulary that they have never found and heard before. As stated by Coxhead, students have to learn to say a word clearly using the correct sounds and the right word stress
(2006). From the teacher’s argument and Coxhead’s statement, we can see that
pronunciation drill is an important technique in learning English because the incorrect sounds can have different meaning. Therefore, students are able to acquire new words and know how to pronounce the words correctly. I think pronunciation drill will also help students in communication when they learn English widely in the next stage.
Modeling and demonstration
The fourth technique used by the teachers was modeling and demonstration. In the observation, teacher C used modeling and demonstration when she taught
about the word ‘take’. It can be seen in the dialog in Excerpt 9:
Excerpt 9
Teacher C : Take itu apa sih?
Students : (Silent)
Teacher C : Take. Ini lho take tu. (the teacher took a pencil case from her
student’s table to show the meaning of the word ‘take’). I take
the pencil case. Jadi, apa itu take?
Students : Mengambil.
Teacher C : Oke, good. (Observation 4)
Excerpt 10
Teacher B : What is bounce?
Student : Meloncat
Teacher B : Hah, meloncat?Bounce. Begini ni apa ni? This is ball, then you
bounce it, like this (demonstrated bouncing ball) (Observation
1)
During the interview, teacher B and teacher C explained their reason why they used modeling and demonstration in their teaching.
Excerpt 11
Dengan modeling and demonstration they can see the situation. Mereka melihat situasi yang didemonstrasikan dan biasanya saya pertegas apa yang telah saya demonstrasikan. Kayak misalnya tadi untuk menunjukkan arti kata take. Biar mereka menebak sendiri artinya tanpa harus saya yang
menjawab. (Teacher C)
By doing modeling and demonstration, they can see the situation. They can see the situation that was demonstrated. Like in the class earlier, I did modeling and demonstration to show the meaning of the word ‘take’. It encourages them to guess the meaning and they do not need to ask me. (Teacher C)
Excerpt 12
Kalau alasan kenapa saya memperagakan sesuatu dalam menjelaskan arti sebuah kosakata itu karena menurut saya dengan saya memperagakannya, anak - anak kan bisa melihat apa yang saya lakukan. Jadi mereka bisa
menebaknya dengan melihat apa yang saya lakukan. (Teacher B)
The reason why I use modeling and demonstration is because in my opinion by doing it, students can see what I am doing. So they can guess the meaning of the word. (Teacher B)
hear are also needed. Modeling and demonstration encourage students to guess the meaning of the words and it helped them to understand the meaning because they saw what their teachers did.
Clues
The fifth technique used by the teachers was using clues. Teacher A used this technique when she wanted to explain the word watch. It presented as seen in observation 5:
Excerpt 13
Teacher A: Artinya watch apa? Students : (Silent)
Teacher A: Watch TV, watch television, berarti? Students : Melihat, menonton
Teacher A: Good, melihat atau menonton. (Observation 5)
The same with teacher A, teacher C was also using clue when she was teaching about past tense, as we can see in excerpt 14:
Excerpt 14
Teacher C: We bought a coconut juice? Kami? Bought? Student 7 : Minum
Teacher C: No, bought. You pay. Kamu bayar pakai uang, berarti apa?
Student 7 : Membeli. (Observation 8)
During the interview, teacher A and teacher C explained their reasons of using clue in their teaching, they said:
Excerpt 15
Ya biar mereka aktif dan antusias untuk menjawab, kalau kata – kata yang
baru atau yang mereka tidak tau kadang – kadang saya yang nanya trus
Clue is used to make students active and enthusiastic in answering
questions. If there are some new words that they don’t know,I will be the
one who ask and answer it. So by using clue, they can answer it. (Teacher A) Excerpt 16
Saya seneng kalau dengan cara ini, jadi kayak tebak – tebakan dan ada
interaksi. Mereka jadi berfikir, tidak melulu saya yang jawab. Kalau nggak
digituin mereka nggak bisa jawab, apalagi kalau kosakata baru. (Teacher
C)
I’m happy with the technique; it’s like a quiz and there is interaction
between teacher and students. It encourage them to think, so not only me
will answer the questions. If I didn't do it they cant’ answer, especially if it is
a new word. (Teacher C)
Using clues in teaching vocabulary is advantageous in learning new words. The teachers had opinion that by using clues help students to actively participate in class and help them in mastering new words because students could guess the clue
that given by the teachers. In accordance with the teachers’ statements, as cited in
Jalongo & Sobolak (2010), several studies have shown that when students are active participants in vocabulary instruction, more vocabulary words are learned (Hargrave and Senechal, 2000). Those statements show that using clue is a technique that make students actively participate in learning vocabulary. By using clue there is interaction between teacher and students that result the atmosphere in the class alive. Thus, the teachers prefer to use clue rather than explain the meaning by the teacher itself.
I think it will be more fun if this technique is combined with game. For
example, students are divided into some groups, then they’re asked to guess some
correctly will be the winner. In my opinion using this kind of technique will stimulate students to guess the meaning. They will learn the vocabulary using different way. They will try to guess the meaning through the identification that given, and I think they will be more enjoy in the learning process.
Games
The sixth technique used by the teachers in teaching vocabulary was games. The teacher used this technique when she was teaching present continuous tense. This technique was presented by Teacher B as we can see in excerpt 17:
Excerpt 17
Teacher B : Sekarang miss punya games, tadi udah tau kan arti – artinya?
Nah sekarang kalau saya bilang standing kalian berdiri, kalau saya bilang walking kalian jalan, kalau crying ya nangis, gitu ya? Nanti yang salah dihukum. Oke?
Students : Okee… (Observation 2)
During the interview, teacher B explained her reason of using games in the teaching vocabulary, she said:
Excerpt 18
Biar nggak bosan anak – anaknya. They need something enjoyable in the
class. Daripada mereka berisik nggak jelas, mending mereka berisik tapi
bermanfaat. (Teacher B)
They need something enjoyable in class to avoid boredom. I prefer they make some noisy but they get something useful rather than make noisy but get nothing. (Teacher B)
During the observation, the students were enjoy and enthusiastic with the activity. The teacher made the atmosphere in the class was alive. According to
(Neyadi, 2007) using games enhances students’ ability to memorize the words, as
words, whether to compare, contrast, match or draw pictures which represent them,
which store the words into students’ working memory and hopefully the long term
memory. Thus, games give influence in learning vocabulary. Because one of the children characteristics is they are easily loose interest, game is a suitable technique for them in the teaching-learning process because it is enjoyable for students. Beside it is enjoyable, it is also helping students in memorizing and mastering vocabulary.
Questions and Answers
The seventh technique used by the teachers in teaching vocabulary was using questions and answers. This technique was presented by all the teachers. Teacher A used this technique when she was reviewing material about fruit. The
purpose of using the technique was to recall students’ memory on materials that
have been taught. The teacher asked the students as seen in excerpt 19: Excerpt 19
Teacher A : We’re going to review all the materials, the first one we’re
going to review about fruit. Fruit apa? Students : Buah.
Teacher A : Oke, can you mention 10 names of fruit? Student 1 : Watermelon
Teacher A : Watermelon, apa itu watermelon? Students : Semangka
Teacher A : What else? Student 2 : Grape
Teacher A : What is grape?
Students :Anggur (Observation 5)
Excerpt 20
Teacher C : Traffic light. What is traffic light? Students : Lampu lalu lintas
Teacher C : Ya, lampu lalu lintas. Traffic sign? Students : Rambu lalu lintas
Teacher C : Ya. Oke, kita ulang dari atas. In front of, Nuel? Student 1 : Didepan
Teacher C : Iya, good. Behind? Elvin? (Observation 7)
During the interview, teacher A explained her reason of using question and answer technique, she said:
Excerpt 21
Biar tau sejauh mana mereka paham dengan materi yang telah
disampaikan. Biar mereka ingat juga apa yang sudah dipelajari. (Teacher
A)
It is to measure how far they understand with the materials that have been conveyed. Besides, it is also to make them remember what have been seberapa jauh mereka memperhatikan, seberapa jauh mereka paham, gitu. (Teacher C)
It is to check their understanding. So, by asking and answering questions, I know their attention and their understanding on the materials given. (Teacher C)
In the interview teacher A and teacher C had the same opinions that using
question and answer could check students’ understanding about the materials that
students’ understanding and ability in memorizing words. I agree with the teachers’
statement because I think it’s important to check students’ understanding on the
materials that given. Students can also ask their teacher when they don’t understand
the materials. Using questions and answers will be advantageous for both teacher
and students. Teacher can measure students’ understanding and students can
convey their thought when they find difficulty.
Read Aloud
The eighth technique used by the teacher in teaching vocabulary was read aloud. Teacher B used this technique, in this technique teacher B asked students to read some sentences together.
Excerpt 23
Teacher B : Oke, now read the sentences together! Starting from number 1, one two three go!
Students : Pat is walking
Teacher B : Pat is walking, number 2! One two three go! Students : Kimberly is wearing short.
Teacher B : Kimberly is wearing short. Once again! (Observation 1)
Teacher B used read aloud in order to make students pronounce the words correctly and clearly. During the interview, she explained her reason of using read aloud, she said:
Excerpt 24
Read aloud, menurut saya dengan read aloud itu melatih pronounciation mereka. Jadi disini selain mengenal arti kosakata tertentu juga mereka tau how to pronounce the word correctly. Kalau pengucapan mereka belum
benar atau nggak jelas saya bisa koreksi. (Teacher B)
In accordance with teacher B, teacher A had the same opinion with teacher B. She had opinion that read aloud helped students in speaking and pronouncing the words correctly, she said:
Excerpt 25
Read aloud membantu mereka agar terbiasa berbicara dalam bahasa Inggris. Selain itu juga melatih mereka mengucapkan kata dalam bahasa
Inggris dengan benar. (Teacher A)
Read aloud helps them accustomed to speak in English. Besides, it also help them in pronounce the word correctly. (Teacher A)
I found in both observation and interview that the teachers used read aloud as the technique in teaching vocabulary. According to Anderson et al. (1985), the most important activity to build the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children, as cited in (Pikulski & Templeton, 2004). Read aloud helps students to speak up and pronounce the words correctly and clearly. The teachers would repeat the word and asked students to read aloud the word until their students could pronounce it correctly. I think besides teaching the meaning of the vocabulary, reading aloud is also useful in teaching pronunciation. The students will not only learn the meaning of the words, but also learning the way how to pronounce the words correctly. It will be easier to check and then correct the students’ mistake in pronouncing words.
CONCLUSION
This research was conducted to find out what the techniques used by elementary school teachers are in teaching vocabulary for young learners. This
techniques in teaching vocabulary for elementary school students. The research findings show, there were eight techniques of teaching vocabulary: repetition, pictures, pronunciation drill, modeling and demonstration, clue, games, question-answer, and read aloud. The teachers used those techniques in teaching vocabulary in order to make the vocabulary taught would easily remembered, even easily understood by the students. It is also to make students pronounce the words correctly and clearly. Besides, trough those techniques the activity in the classroom can be alive, fun and the students become more enthusiastic in the learning process. As a pedagogical implementation from the findings, it will be better if in teaching vocabulary English teachers use techniques which are interesting and grab
students’ attention such as using picture, flash card, singing songs, etc. English
teachers should able to create suitable activities which are interesting and make the students enthusiastic in the learning process considering their age, needs, and feelings. Thus, the teaching and learning process will be well – managed.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
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Appendix 1.
Teacher: oke, I will repeat. Room that we can find in our house is living room. What is living room? Ruang? Ruang tamu. The second one is, bedroom. What is bedroom? Kamar?
Student: tidur.
Teacher: can you close your book first? Close your book! Close your book an listen carefully! Oke, I will repeat. Room that you can find in your house the first one is living room. What is living room? The second one is bedroom. What is bedroom? The third one is bathroom. What is bathroom?
The first one is, living room, bedroom, bathroom, the fourth one? Student: dining room.
Teacher: what is dining room? Ruang? Student: makan.
Teacher: Oke, now the fifth one? Student: Kitchen
Teacher: what is kitchen? Student: dapur.
Oke, have you remember all? Sudah ingat? Kalau nanti miss novi suruh menyebutkan macam-macam ruangan didalam rumah sudah bisa?
Student: bisa. Teacher: bener? Student: belum.
Teacher: oke, I will repeat. Living room Student: living room
Teacher:oke, I will ask one of you. Ratih. What is kitchen? Student 7: dapur
Teacher: dapur, good. Kitchen is dapur. .
Oke, now we will learn one by one. Satu-satu ya. Bedroom. Can you remember what object that you can find in bedroom? Coba diingat ada apa saja.
Student: lamp, bed, computer, gordain, window, door, pillow. Teacher: Kevin, what object that you can find in bedroom? Student 12: Picture
Teacher: Picture. Oke, ada pillow, curtain, lamp, what else? Bed, chair. Now, I have a picture of bedroom.
Student: woooww...
Teacher: Oke, what can you see in bedroom? What is it? (pointing picture of pillow) This is pillow. What is it?
Student: pillow
Teacher: What is it? Pi.. Student: Pillow
Teacher: Oke, now what is it? (pointing picture of bed) Student: bed.
Teacher: Bed. What is bed? Tempat tidur
Teacher: iya, gambar atau lukisan. This one? Student: window
Teacher: Almari baju namanya apa ya? Student: cup board.
Teacher: bukan cup board but wardrobe ya. Coba, one two three go! Wardrobe. Student: wardrobe
Teacher: oke, now we move to living room. What can you see or do you remember what objects that you can find in your living room?
Student: sofa Teacher: sofa Student: televisi
Teacher: television, oke what else? Only sofa, television, lamp, window, picture, curtain. Oke, i have picture again. What can you see?
Teacher: window. Oke, now please look at the picture and repeat after me! Arm chair, picture, picture, lamp, lamp, sofa, sofa, window, window, table, table, television, television, television. Have you remember?
Student: yes
Teacher: Oke, good.
Appendix 2.
Interview transcription
I : Tekhnik apa saja yang miss Irene gunakan dalam pembelajaran tadi?
T: Apa aja ya tadi, ada repeating, pronunciation drill, gambar, trus apa lagi ya,, oh tanya jawab juga. Itu aja sih ya kayaknya.
I: apa alasan anda menggunakan repetition saat mengajar?
T: pertama, biar mereka bisa mengucapkan kata yang dimaksud ya. Trus selain itu juga biar mereka ingat kata tersebut.
I: apa miss Irene selalu pakai repetition dalam setiap pembelajaran?
T: kayaknya iya ya. Selalu ada kok kayaknya. Biarpun 1 atau 2 kata selalu saya minta mereka mengulang kata yang saya ucapkan kalo saya pikir kurang jelas atau salah mengucapnya.
I: Bagaimana dengan penggunaan pronunciation drill, apa juga sering digunakan seperti repetition?
T: Iya, saya juga hampir selalu memakai pronunciation drill juga. I: Apa alasannya?
bacanya gini, oh ini begini. Jadi mereka bisa pronounce dengan benar. Selain itu juga biar mereka fasih ngomongnya karena biasa di drill tadi. Ya hampir mirip sama repeating tadi sih.
I: Selain dua tekhnik itu, saya liat tadi miss Irene juga menggunakan gambar. Kalau alasan menggunakan gambar apa ni miss?
