Managing the class well and fostering enthusiasm for student learning is the teacher's job. In teaching vocabulary, students can learn more vocabulary through effective teaching technique that is able to attract students' interest in learning. English has become an international language that enables someone to communicate with someone from another country who has a different language through English.
Alqahtani (2015) stated that "vocabulary is the total number of words needed to convey ideas and express the speaker's meaning." With the help of vocabulary, students will be able to engage in communication and exchange ideas with others and understand what someone is talking about. Based on the above definitions, the researcher concludes that vocabulary is the stock of words in a language used to express opinions and feelings that will enable people to communicate properly.
The Importance of Vocabulary
The quality of a person's language skills depends on the quality and quantity of the vocabulary he has. Safitri & Rionaldi (2018) said that having more vocabulary can guide people to use language skills that can increase human quality of life. Based on the above statements, the researcher concludes that vocabulary is important to learn for the young students.
By mastering vocabulary, students will be able to master all the language skills and will improve their language quality.
The Kinds of Vocabulary
Function words are words that express a grammatical or structural relationship with other words in a sentence. Verbs are words or combinations of words that indicate action or state or condition. Verbs have tenses: the present tense is used to indicate that an action is being performed, the past tense is used to indicate an action that has been done, the future tense is used to indicate that an action will be performed.
Action verb is a verb used to express something that a person, animal or thing does. Regular verb is a verb in the present form and the same past participle. 3. Adjectives, used to describe nouns or pronouns.
Teaching Vocabulary
First, students need to know what vocabulary they are learning, what they can learn about it, how they learn it, how it is used, and how well it is learned and used. Third, students should use word frequency and personal need to determine what vocabulary to learn. Fifth, students should become familiar with the generalizable language systems behind vocabulary use.
Sixth, students should be aware of the most effective use of direct learning and decontextualization procedures. Seventh, vocabulary learning must operate across the four strands of meaning-focused input, meaning-focused output, language-focused learning, and fluency development.
The Principles of Teaching and Learning Vocabulary
When teaching vocabulary, the teacher must consider the number of words that the students will learn and master at one time. Attention should be paid to adjusting the number of words to be learned by high and low ability students. This requires the teacher to select and teach the words to be taught based on specific objectives.
For example, in the teaching and learning process, if the material the teacher has to teach is related to the sea, the teacher should also select vocabulary related to the sea. It takes a number of repetitions to prove that the student has learned the words previously learned. Once learned, students will be able to recognize the target words and identify their meanings.
Students should be given the opportunity to use productive vocabulary as often as possible so that they remember the words, know their pronunciation correctly, and can identify their meaning. This requires that the words be presented in such a way that their designation and references are perfect and unambiguous. Words can be connected with other words to create a sentence that contains a certain meaning.
To teach students about the meaning of words and how words are used, the teacher must show the use of the word together with other words in context.
Methods to Help Students Learn Vocabulary
The logic behind the origins of words and the story underlying how words appear and the meaning of what they do must be taught to promote students' interest and curiosity in words. Activities and tasks to be framed around the words so that; the earner could recall and retrieve the words to use contextually.
Vocabulary Mastery
Ice-Breaker Activities
- The Definition of Ice-Breaker
- The Principles of Ice-Breaker
- The Stages of Using Ice-Breaker
- The Purposes of Ice-Breaker
- The Advantages of Ice-Breaker
- The Types of Ice-Breaker
According to Kanu (2011) in (Farwati et al., 2019), icebreaker activities can be done at the beginning of the learning process as an opener to motivate students towards a lesson. Time Management: Icebreaker activities are performed within a set time, not too long and not too fast. Relevant: The selection of icebreaker activities should be adapted to the needs of the group and the learning objectives.
Energy: Icebreaker activities should be exciting in terms of activity level to rekindle students' enthusiasm for learning. Conducting icebreaker activities before the start of learning will create an excited atmosphere in the classroom that can capture students' attention. The teacher can also use this activity to confirm or review the material being discussed.
Based on these points, interesting ice breaker activities will make students more active and enthusiastic in participating in the teaching and learning process. The use of ice breaker activities allows students to interact, collaborate and establish relationships with their classmates. These types of ice breakers can be used to distract students from boredom during the learning process.
This type of ice breaker is the easiest technique to do, some types of claps include: hand back, spoken clap and clap gestures. This type of icebreaker aims to get the body moving after a certain number of hours of silence in learning activities. The safety factor should be the main priority, where the teacher should choose the type of ice breaker that is safe for the students.
Previous Research
The findings showed that ice breaking can motivate students to learn English, it was proved by the results of the students. The students also gave positive reactions through the use of ice breakers during the learning of English. The previous research focused on the students' motivation through the implementation of icebreaker, while this current research focused on the students.
The contribution of the previous research to the current research is as a reference in getting the information related to the research to be done and the researcher knows how the previous researchers have collected the data. The previous research focused on the speaking skills of 20-27 year old college students in Turkey, while this current research focused on the vocabulary mastery of high school students. The contribution of the previous research to the current research is as a reference in obtaining information related to the research that we will conduct.
The third study was done by Hutabarat (2019), entitled Improving Students' Vocabulary Mastery Through Memrise Application of the Tenth Grade Student at SMA HKBP Sidorame Medan. The quantitative data showed that there was a development in the students' score on the vocabulary test. In the previous study, the application of memrise was applied to improve students' vocabulary mastery, while in this current study, icebreaker activities were applied.
The fourth research was conducted by Tompul (2019) entitled "Improving Students' Speaking Ability Through Icebreaker Strategy at First Year Students of Junior High School at SMP Swasta Era Utama Pancur Batu Academic Year 2019/2020". The result showed that there was a significant improvement in the students' speaking ability by using the icebreaker and that the students gave good answers and showed enthusiasm in learning. The contribution of the previous research to the current research is as a reference for the current researcher in the implementation of learning procedures both in.
Conceptual Framework
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
- Research Design
- Population and Sample
- Population
- Sample
- Instrument of Collecting Data
- Technique of Collecting Data
- Cycle I 1. Planning
- Action
- Observation
- Reflection
- Cycle II
- Planning
- Validity and Reliability Test .1 Validity
- Scoring of the Test
- The Technique of Analyzing Data .1 Quantitative Data
Bogdan & Biklen in (Khasinah, 2013) explain that "action research is the systematic collection of information aimed at creating social change." Action research aims to improve teaching, for example the success of certain activities or actions performed by the teacher in the teaching and learning process. Population refers to the amount or group of all the units to which the results of the research are to be applied (Shukla, 2020). In this research, the researcher used Saturated Sampling technique because the population size is relatively small with the total population of 32 students.
According to Sugiyono in (Gofur et al., 2021), "Saturated sampling is a sampling technique when all members of the population are used as samples." The students conveyed the difficulties encountered with the use of ice breakers in the learning process. Table 3.1 Teacher's and students' activities in cycle I. In the observation phase, the researcher observed the students' and teachers' activities by using observation sheets.
At this stage, the researcher has reflected, evaluated and described the effects of the action. Reflection is an evaluative aspect used to judge whether the technique used can solve the problem and improve students' vocabulary mastery. The researcher continues with the research in cycle II if the results obtained do not reach the stated objectives.
In the second cycle of reflection, the researcher concluded that the results of the second cycle experienced an increase in students' vocabulary mastery. In other words, the degree to which a research instrument consistently produces the same results if used in the same situation on repeated occasions. P = Percentage of students who scored 75 R = Number of students who scored up to 75 T = Number of students taking the test.
After obtaining the data, the researcher calculated them in percentages using a simple statistical formula. The following formula is used to calculate the percentage of the total frequency of each item in the questionnaire:
