316
THE USE OF SPELLING BEE GAME IN TEACHING VOCABULARY AT THE EIGHT GRADE STUDENTS
OF SMP YP PGRI 4 MAKASSAR
Widiawati Kamali 1, Antonius Aliwutun2, Rita Roswita Duyo3
1STKIP YPUP Makassar, Email: [email protected]
2STKIP YPUP Makassar, Email: [email protected]
3STKIP YPUP Makassar, Email: [email protected]
ABSTRACT
The objective of this research was to apply Spelling Bee game in teaching vocabulary at the eighth grade students of SMP YP PGRI 4 Makassar. This research employed pre-experimental method where one class was given pre-test, treatment and pos-test. The total sample was 20 students selected by purposive sampling technique. The result indicated that there was significant differences between pre-test and post-test mean score. The mean score of post-test was greater than the mean score of pre-test (83>45.5), and the result of t-test was greater than t-table (13.392>2.093) at the level significance 0.05. Based on the findings and discussion of the research, the researcher concluded that using Spelling Bee in teaching vocabulary significantly improve students’ vocabulary at SMP YP PGRI 4 Makassar.
Keywords: Spelling Bee; Vocabulary.
INTRODUCTION
Vocabulary is the main core component of the language proficiency and provide much of the basis for how learners speak, listen, read, and write. If the students want to be success in English learning language skill, must have a large of vocabulary. If they, have it, they can express their idea, they can be good reader. According to Stafford, “benefit of good vocabulary is communicated more effectively, improve self-confidence and self-esteem, adds sophistication to speech, better job offers and improve people’s perception. So, vocabulary is crucial to be master. Because it is impossible to master listening, speaking, reading and writing well without a vocabulary.
Using game in teaching vocabulary avoid the students from monotonous classroom. Every monotonous classroom will ruin the students learning spirit and teacher should change situation in the classroom. To change the situation, the teacher can give the students some activities like drama, games, or other demons tractions by using English. The change of classroom situation is very essential to avoid the students from being stressed and frustrated. The teacher also needed to find
317 out some solution by creating good atmosphere in the classroom though efficient and effective teaching techniques.
In the same way, the researcher got information from the teacher who teaches at SMP YP PGRI 4 Makassar that their students were difficult to express their ideas because of their limitation of vocabulary and based on the researcher’s observation when did internship for several days at school. She found that the students in the school faced some problems in vocabulary mastery, they were less motivation and laziness in memorizing the new words in teaching English.
Looking at the various problem faced students in the subject of English, especially in vocabulary, the researcher uses one technique in motivating the spirit of the students in learning English vocabulary that is Spelling Bee game. One idea that can help to make fun and exciting idea for students by introducing vocabulary game. This game is one way to take out the “boring”
of the process. When learning is fun, students can remember what they have learned longer.
Inayatullah (2012) “The Influence of Spelling Bee Game on The Students’ Achievement in English Vocabulary at The Seventh Grade Students of SMP Negeri 1 Suranenggala Cirebon”.
Research finding resulted indicated that Spelling Bee game was one of the vocabulary games that could be applied in teaching and learning process. It was use for memorizing, pronouncing, and improving students’ vocabulary and so forth. Haeri (2019), “The Implementation of Spelling Bee Game to Improve the Students’ Vocabulary Mastery at The Seventh Grade Students of SMP Aisyiah Paccinongan”. The results of the research show that the implementation of Spelling Bee game was found to be able to help the students to improve their spelling ability. Besides, the game could be used as an alternative activity to strengthen the students‟ memory to remember the vocabulary items that they learned and the spelling of those vocabulary items.
Relating to the explanation above, the researchers have conducted research by a title “The Use of Spelling Bee Game in Teaching Vocabulary at The Eighth Grade Students of SMP YP PGRI 4 Makassar”. Based on the background above, the researcher formulates the research question as follows: “Does the use of Spelling Bee game improve the students’ vocabulary at the eighth grade of SMP YP PGRI 4 Makassar?” Based on the problem above, the objective of study was to determine whether or not the Spelling Bee game improve the students’ vocabulary at the eighth grade of SMP YP PGRI 4 Makassar.
According Jamaris AM, M. Pd, (2014), vocabulary is knowledge of words and word meaning however, is more complex than this definition. First, words come in two forms: oral and print. Oral vocabulary includes those words that we recognize and use in listening and speaking.
Print vocabulary includes those words that we recognize and use in reading and writing. Second, word knowledge also comes in two forms, receptive and productive. Receptive vocabulary includes words that we use when hear or see them. Productive vocabulary includes words that we speak or write, receptive is typically larger than productive vocabulary, and may include many words to which we assign some meaning, even if we don’t know their full definition and connotation-or ever use them ourselves as we speak and write.
318 According to Broemly, K. (2007), vocabulary is a participle contributor to comprehension, fluency, and mastery. Vocabulary development is both an outcome of comprehension and a precursor to it, with word meanings.
From the definition above, the researcher conclude that vocabulary is number of words which is used in a language by human being to communicate each other. Simply, the vocabulary is a component which contains the words, its form and its can be usage that can be applied to communicate in the daily life.
a. Kinds of Vocabulary
Good in Hasan (2018), divides vocabulary into four kinds:
1) Oral vocabulary refers to words which a person employs them in expressing ideas orally and actively.
2) Writing vocabulary refers to words which commonly used in writing.
3) Listening vocabulary refers to words which a person can understand when they heard.
4) Reading vocabulary refers to words, which someone can recognize them when he finds them in written form.
b. The Important of Vocabulary
Vocabulary is one important aspect in learning foreign language and vocabulary is central to language and of critical importance to the typical language learner. With unlimited vocabulary anyone will also has limited understanding in term of speaking, reading, listening, and writing.
According to Viera (2017) the importance of vocabulary is essential in learning languages. Not only does it contribute in the comprehension and production of language, but is also work as a good indicator of the performance and acquisition of any language skill.
learning vocabulary does not only mean the learning of the new word but also to know their functions and applicability to different context and situation.
c. Procedure in Teaching Vocabulary
According to Intani (2012), to explain every as clearly as possible in order to make the students be able catch the meaning:
1) The first thing to in teaching vocabulary is matching the vocabulary materials with the students.
2) The second thing is the decision of the technique used in the teaching and learning of vocabulary to students will have fun while learning and their vocabulary means memorizing members of words to support the skill of listening, speaking, reading and writing.
3) The third stage is preliminary field testing. The product was validated by the experts and English teachers.
1. Concept of Game a. The Definition of Game
According to Kramer (2000), game is any activity which is executed only for pleasure and without conscious purpose. In this definition every activity that brings pleasure is a game.
319 For example, people dance, play musical instruments, act in plays, and play with dolls and model trains.
According to Kramer in Ningsih (2013), said that a game is an activity which has rules, a goal, and competition as parts. Game is an enjoyable activity involving an objective that is achieved by following certain rules, usually in competition with one or more other people.
Sari in Huyen and Nga (2017), said that games have a good contribution for students when they are given an opportunity to learn, practice, and review, the English language in pleasant atmosphere. In addition, Richard and Schmit (2002:580) argus that game is an organized activity that usually has the following properties such as: a particular task, or objective a set of rules, competition with players, and communication between players by spoken or written language.
b. The Use of Games in Teaching Vocabulary
In teaching and learning activities, there are many activities to develop vocabulary mastery. One of them is through the games. Nilwan in Nurjida (2010) defines game as structure in learning. Game is characterizing of what players do. Furthermore, Wright (2006) states that game is an activity which is entertaining, engaging and activity in which the learners play and usually interact with others. It is clear that game can improve students learning motivation. Based on Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, a game is an activity which involves people or teams compete against each other.
Games can be the alternative activity for learning vocabulary. Many experts of language teaching methodology agree that playing a game is a good way to learn vocabulary. As an effective and interesting way of teaching, there are good things to do in teaching vocabulary, such as reviewing vocabulary from previous lessons, checking vocabulary that students have already known, practicing new vocabulary, as an ice breaking activity before starting the lesson.
The definitions above are means that game is an activity with rules which people do it in a team or individually to reach a goal. And it is a fun activity.
c. Definition of Spelling Bee Game
According to Macmilan in Nurpitasari (2018), A spelling Bee is competition help children improve their spelling increase their vocabulary, and develop correct English usage. They also help build children’s self-confidence and more importantly, they are a lot of fun.
The Spelling Bee, an educational competition of spelling and vocabulary, can be an exciting, enriching experience, in other to understand, how to support these young minds, we examined the study tools that elementary and junior high school level spellers use to prepare for the spelling bee and the factors that affect their engagement.
d. Procedure of Spelling Bee Game
The researcher, will use the procedure according to Hangman Jeopardi in Nurjida (2018), Spelling Bee game has following steps:
1. Students to read the text and asks to write down the words noun, adjectives and verb that they found from the text.
2. The teachers prepare words that have been written by students for use in playing games.
320 3. Students into two teams. Where is the X and team O.
4. One team to move forward to the board.
5. The advanced team has a blackboard consisting of 2 students to play game.
6. The two students got 1 word that they would spell them together.
7. The teacher mentions the word and tells students to discuss together before they spell the word.
8. Before students spell the word, teacher will count 123 that students spell letters together.
9. If both students spell the words correctly, then they get 1 point and write it on the board.
And if one of them is wrong in spelling a word then they don’t get points.
10. Both teams that collects many points is the winner.
e. Benefits of Spelling Bee Game
Wright, in Nurpitasari (2018), said that Spelling Bee is one of a vocabulary game that can improve students spelling skill, vocabulary mastery and also comprehension toward the text. Games help the students know the meaning of the language that students know the meaning of the language that students listen, read, speak, and write. Spelling Bee creates relaxed and fun atmosphere in the classroom. By using game in learning vocabulary, students get a chance to practice and to learn new words by their own. Spelling Bee improve their learning vocabulary. This is supported by Lewis, in Nurpitasari (2018), said that games add variation to the lesson and increase motivation by providing a plausible incentive to use the target language.
The result of the research was expected to be useful information for the all of the students will be able to have more vocabulary and become more interested in learning vocabulary, could help teacher to improve students’ achievement especially on vocabulary as well as become an alternative method for English teacher in teaching vocabulary. And to give a new knowledge of the further researcher of teaching and learning cases, and to solve the student’s vocabulary problems by something new, and also the teachers that have the similar problem with this researcher. The scope of the research was improving the students’ vocabulary using Spelling Bee game in teaching vocabulary at the Eighth Grade Students of SMP YP PGRI 4 Makassar. The researcher will focus on English noun, adjective and verb.
RESEARCH METHOD Research Method and Design
The method that the researcher used was pre-experimental design with one group, it was be pretest (01), exposed to a treatment (x), and post-test (02). The design is written as follows:
𝟎𝟏 𝒙 𝑶𝟐 Where:
𝟎𝟏: Pre- test 𝒙 : Treatment 𝟎𝟐: Post-test
321 Variable of the Research
There are two variables use in this research namely independent variable and dependent variable. Independent variable was using Spelling Bee game, and the dependent variable was the students’ English vocabulary achievement.
Population and Sample a. Population
The population that used in this research was the eighth-grade students of SMP YP PGRI 4 Makassar. There were two classes, class A 20 students and class B 20 students. So the total population was 40 students.
b. Sample
The technique sampling that the researcher used in this research was purposive random sampling. The researcher took one class from the eighth-grade students of SMP YP PGRI 4Makassar. The researcher chose class B as a sample which consisted at least 20 students.
Instrument of the Research
The instrument of this research was test. The kind of test was vocabulary test where the test consists of the pre-test and post-test. While the post-test was used to measure the students’ vocabulary after the Spelling Bee game treatments. The test contained 20 items from which contains five options in each number.
Procedure of Collecting Data
The data collection procedure as describe below:
1. Pre-test
Before giving some information and explanation of Spelling Bee game, the researcher gave pretest to the students to know was students’ previous knowledge vocabulary.
2. Treatment
In conducting the treatments, the researcher acted as the teacher and the judge of the Spelling Bee game time.
a. The teacher asked students to read the text and asks to write down the words noun, adjectives, and verbs that they found from the text.
b. The teacher prepared words that have been written by students for use in playing games.
c. The teacher divided the students in two teams. Where is the X and O team d. The team consisted of 10 people in one team.
e. The teacher chooses one team to move forward to the board.
f. The advanced team had a blackboard consisting of 2 students to play the game.
g. The two students got 5 words that they would spell them together. The teacher mentions the word and told students to discuss together before they spell the word.
322 h. Before students spelled the word, teacher counted 123 so that students spell letters together.
i. If both students spelled the word correctly, then they got 1 point and write it on the board.
And if one of them was wrong spelling a word then they didn’t get points.
j. Both teams continue to play games in turn.
k. The team that collected many points is the winner.
3. Post-test
After giving treatment, the researcher gave post-test. The purpose of the post test was to determine the value of the treatment whether there is progress in the students’ vocabulary or not and whether the post test results are better than the initial test results. the standard time for pretest and posttest is 60 minutes.
Technique of Data Analysis
This research analysis technique to determine the results or student scores whether there is progress in the achievement of students’ vocabulary and to find out whether teaching vocabulary uses a Spelling Bee game that makes it possible to significantly increase students’ vocabulary or not.
1. Scoring the student correct answer of the pre-test and post-test Score = 𝑻𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒓
𝑻𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒔 X 100 2. Classifying the score of the students’ pre- test and post-test
Score Classification
96-100 Excellent
86-95 Very good
76-85 Good
66-75 Fairly good
56-65 Fair
36-55 Fairly Poor
0-35 poor
3. Calculating the mean score of the students’ pre-test and post-test 𝑿̅ =Ʃ𝑿
𝑵 Where:
𝑋̅= mean
Ʃ𝑋 = the sum of the scores 𝑁 = the number of the students
4. Findings the significance difference between the score of the pretest and posttest by calculating the value of t-test the following:
𝑫 =Ʃ𝑿 𝑵
323 Where:
D = The mean of the different between pretest and posttest Ʃ𝐷 = The sum of the difference between pretest and posttest 𝑁 = The total number of samples
5. T-test analysis t= 𝑫̅
√∑ 𝟐𝑫 —(Ʃ𝑫)𝟐𝑵 𝑵—(𝑵—𝟏)
where:
t = Test of significance difference 𝐷 ̅= Mean difference score
ƩD = The sum of total score difference N = Total number of samples
FINDINGS AND DICCUSSION Findings
The findings of the research deal with the students score of pretest and posttest, the frequency and rate percentage of the students’ score. The mean score, total score, and hypothesis testing.
1. The result of students’ pre-test
Table. 1 The result of students’ pre-test No Range of
score
Classification Frequency Percentage
1 96-100 Excellent 0 0%
2 86-95 Very good 0 0%
3 76-85 Good 0 0%
4 66-75 Fairly good 2 10%
5 56-65 Fair 2 10%
6 36-55 Fairly poor 13 65%
7 00-35 Poor 3 15%
Total 20 100%
Based on the table above, the pre-test showed that there were three students (15%) out of the 20 students classified into “poor” classification, there were thirteen students (65%) out of them were classified into “fairly poor” classification, two of the students (10%) out of them were classified into “fair” score, and there two of the students (100%) of them classified into “fairly good”, and there was none of the classified into good, very good, and excellent scores. From the result, it can be concluded that the students’ vocabulary in the pre-test was “poor”.
324 2. The result of Students’ Post-test
Table 2. The result of Students’ Post-test No Range of
score
Classification Frequency Percentage
1 96-100 Excellent 0 0%
2 86-95 Very good 7 35%
3 76-85 Good 9 45%
4 66-75 Fairly good 2 10%
5 56-65 Fair 0 0%
6 36-55 Fairly poor 2 10%
7 00-35 Poor 0 0%
Total 20 100%
In the post-test score, there was none classified into “poor” scores, two (10%) classified into “fairly poor” score, there were two (10%) students classified into “fairly good” score, nine (45%) students classified in “good” score, and seven (35%) students were classified into “very good” score. From the explanation about the classification above, it can be concluded that students’
vocabulary was improved. The student’s vocabulary after the treatment (post-test) was “good”.
3. The Students’ Total Score Pre-test and Post-test, Square Pre-test and Post-test, Gain and Square of the Gain
Table 3. The Students’ Total Score Pre-test and Post-test No Sample Pre-test (X1) Post-test (X2) Gain (D) D2
1 AA 40 90 50 2.500
2 AH 70 80 10 100
3 AI 40 85 45 2.025
4 APM 40 90 50 2.500
5 A 35 85 50 2.500
6 A 45 75 30 900
7 DA 60 85 25 625
8 I 40 80 40 1.600
9 M 30 75 45 2.025
10 MA 30 80 50 2.500
11 MA 40 55 15 225
12 MHR 45 95 50 2.500
13 N 40 85 45 2.025
14 N 45 80 35 1.225
15 NH 45 80 35 1.225
16 RS 50 75 25 625
17 SDP 60 90 30 900
18 SS 45 90 45 2.025
19 S 70 95 25 625
20 SRS 40 90 50 2.500
N=20 ∑X1=950 ∑X2=1.660 ∑D=750 ∑D2=31.150
325 The total gain or difference between the matched pairs was 750, and the total score of square gain was 31.150. It showed that the gain of post-test was high. The total score was very significant because the students got a better post-test score than those in the pre-test. In this case, the researcher was a success in applying the material by using the Spelling Bee game.
After calculating the data took from the pre-test and post-test score, the table showed that the gain (D) of the students maximum score was 50, and the minimum gain (D) was 10 where N=20, ∑X1=910, ∑X2=1.660, ∑D=750, ∑D2=31.150.
4. The Mean Score of Students’ Pre-test and Post-test Table 4. Mean score
Test Mean score Total score
Pre-test 45,5 910
Post-test 83 1.660
Based on the data above, the mean score of students’ pre-tests was 45,5 from the total score of 910, which classified as fairly poor and the mean score of student’s post-tests was 83 from the total score 1.660, which classified as good. It indicated that the mean score of post-tests was greater than the mean of the pre-test. It means the use of Spelling Bee game can improve students’
vocabulary at the eight-grade of SMP YP PGRI 4 Makassar.
5. Hypothesis Testing
After finding out the t-test value is 13,392, then determining the t-table value to know whether pre-test and post-test are significantly different. In determining t-table value, firstly finding out degree of freedom (df), the researcher used the following formula:
df=N-1
=20-1
=19
For the level significance (𝛼) = 0,05 and degree of freedom (df) = 21. Then the value of t- table = 1,093 and t-test = 13,392. Comparing with the test value, it can be concluded, t-test value (13,392) was higher than the t-table (1,093). In other hand we said that 13,392>1,093. It means that null hypothesis (H0) of this research is rejected and the alternative hypothesis (H1) is acceptable because there is significance different between the pre-test and post-test result by Spelling Bee game for improving students’ vocabulary
CONCLUSION Conclusion
Based on the result of the discussion, it could be concluded that effective way in teaching vocabulary by using Spelling Bee game could be achieved by gave motivation for students in learning. By using Spelling Bee game in teaching vocabulary, the students’ achievement can be improved. It can be seen from the post-test mean score (83). Which is higher than the pre-test
326 means score (45,5). Most of students enjoy with teaching and learning process. The researcher could say that research success to apply at the eighth-grade students of SMP YP PGRI 4 Makassar.
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