containing the unknown word and other sentences or paragraphs” Nation, 1990, p. 162. Relationships between sentences or paragraph may well serve as a clue
for the learners to guess the meaning of an unknown word. After collecting sufficient information, the learner can now guess the meaning of the word. The
last step of Clarke and Nation’s procedure is checking, which consists of four
steps when dictionary work is included. To begin with, the learners must check that his guessing has exactly the same part of speech as the unknown word. The
guess may be wrong if the parts of speech are different. Hereafter, they need to substitute the unknown word with their guess. Check if the meaning of the
sentence makes sense after the word is replaced. If it does, there is a great possibility that the guess is correct. The last sub-step of
this step is breaking “the unknown word into its prefix, root, and suffix
, if possible” Nation, 1990, p. 163 and see if the meanings of the prefix and suffix match that of your guess. When
unsure, the learners may use a dictionary to help them decide the meaning of the unknown word.
Having examined the two theories that will be largely used in this study, the researcher can now outline the steps of how the study will be carried out.
Table 2.4 outlines the steps of the research:
Table 2.2 The Steps of the Research
Step Johnson’s Procedure for Conducting
Experimental Research The Procedure for Guessing from
Context 1.
Select subjects
- 2.
Assign subjects
- 3.
Administer pretest
- 4.
Implement and monitor treatment 1.
Determine the part of speech of the unknown word.
2. Pay attention to the sentence in
which the unknown word is embedded and see if there are
other words modifying the word or going with it.
3. Observe the relationship of the
sentence with other sentences or paragraphs as it can help
determine the meaning of the unknown. Punctuations and
conjunctions may also serve as a clue.
4.
Guess the meaning of the unknown
word using
the information gained from steps 1-
3. 5.
Check if your guess is correct by: a.
Seeing the parts of speech of your guess and the unknown
word. If they are of the same part of speech, you are
probably correct.
b. Substituting the unknown
word with your guess. You guess is probably correct if
the sentence makes sense.
c.
Breaking the unknown word into its prefix, root, and
suffix.
5.
Administer posttest
-
22
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents the methodology the researcher used for answering the questions of the study, which are
how Clarke and Nation’s guessing from context procedure is implemented in vocabulary learning to the first semester
students of English Extension Course and the results of the implementation of Clarke and Nation guessing from context procedure. Technically, this chapter is
divided into six parts, which are research method, research participants, research instruments, data gathering, data analysis, and research procedures. Each of this
chapter’s parts is discussed below.
A. Research Method
This study was that of experimental research. Many experts have managed to define experimental research. Even though they define the term in different
words, but the essence is practically the same. Anderson 1969 is among the experts that have attempted to define experimental research. He defines the term
as “a situation in which one observes the relationship between two variables by deliberately producing a change in one and looking to see whether this alteration
produces a change in the other” as cited in Brown Rodgers, 2002, p. 211. While this definition is a rather broad one,
it applies to “any discipline which considers itself a science” Brown Rodgers, 2002, p. 211. This definition by
Anderson is affirmed by Johnson 1992, who states that experimental research
aims to “establish that one variable, the independent variable, causes changes in another variable, the independent variable” p. 165. When conducting this type of
research, a researcher will have to “manipulate at least one independent variable, control over relevant variables, and observe the effect on one or more dependent
variables” Gay, 1992, p. 298. Experimental research consists of several types. Some experts have
suggested possible types of experimental research. Brown and Rodgers 2002, for instance, suggest that there are four types of experimental research. Table 2.1
shows the four types of experimental research:
Table 3 .1 Brown and Rodgers’ Types of Experimental Research
One treatment Two treatments
One group
A Pre-testPost-test. Single group followed throughout
treatment. Treatments may be simultaneous
or sequential. For example, one might involve two L2s taught
with two different methods.
Two groups
Groups vary on some assumed critical dimension
such as
age, sex,
intelligence, motivation,
etc. Classic method studies involving
a control
group and
an experimental group, each taught
by a different method.
Meanwhile, Cohen, Manion, and Morrison 2000 argue in their book entitled Research Methods in Education that there are three types of experimental
research, which are pre-experimental design, true experimental design, and quasi- experimental design. The pre-experimental design involves only one group and
one dependent variable. This pre-experimental design is the design which the researcher employed in the study. The writers represent the pre-experimental
design as seen in Figure 2.1:
Figure 3.1 The Pre-experimental Design
O represents the single group involved in the study. This group will be pretested at the beginning of the research. The scores of the pretest are represented
by O
1
. This group of, for example , students, will then be exposed to a variable χ
following the pretest. Having been exposed to the variable, the research subjects will then be posttested. The results of the posttest are represented by O
2
. To determine whether or not there is a significant different between the pretest and
the posttest results, a scientific test will be used. For example, one researcher would like to discover if clue pictures or cards would improve a group of
students’ writing ability. Therefore, the researcher will have to conduct a pretest to measure the students’ initial level of writing ability without using clue cards.
After conducting the pretest, he will have to expose the students to his experimentation; that is, teaching the students how to write using the assistance of
clue pictures or cards. The last step is then to test the students if their writing ability has been increased after being exposed to the experimentation.
1. The Process of Experimental Research
The process of this type of experimental design basically follows the same steps. Gay 1992 outlines the process of experimental research as “selection and
definition of a problem, selection of subjects and measuring instruments, selection of a design, execution of procedures, analysis of data, and formulations of
conclusion” p. 299. Slightly different from Gay’s process of experimental
O
1
χ O
2
