5 Rules Clarifications
a If any tile touches another tile in adjacent rows, it must form part of a complete
word crossword fashion, with all such tiles. b
The same word can be played more than once in a game. c
Pluralized words are allowed. d
A word can be extended on both ends within the same move e.g. TRAINER to STRAINERS.
e All tiles played in any one turn must be placed in one continuous line only,
horizontally or vertically. f
Players may not add tiles to various words, or form new words in different parts of the board in the same turn.
g The bonus scores of the premium squares only apply to the turn in which the tiles
are placed on them. h
When more than one word is formed in a single turn, each word is scored. The common letters are counted with full premium value, when they are on premium
squares in the score for each word. i
If a word crosses two premium word squares, the word score is doubled and re- doubled - 4 times the complete word score; or tripled and re-tripled - 9 times the
complete word score. j
When a blank is placed on a Triple or Double Word square, the sum of the tiles in the word is doubled or tripled even though the blank itself has no score value.
When it is placed on a Triple or Double Letter square, the value of the blank tile is still zero.
k When one player has used all their tiles and the tile bag is empty, the game is
over. In some games, no player succeeds in using all their tiles. In this case the game continues until all possible moves have been made. If a player is unable to
move, they pass their turn. If all players pass twice, in consecutive turns, the game ends.
l A dictionary or word guide may not be used while a game is in progress to search
for words to fit the tiles on your rack. It may only be consulted after a word has been played and challenged.
The explanation of the scrabble rules above shows that playing scrabble game needs the techniques in making a new word from the tiles given. Besides, making a
new word needs the ability to recognize the letter that will form a word.
5. Scrabble and Vocabulary Mastery
Scrabble game is often perceived as being a recreational activity. For SHS students, scrabble can make their process of learning vocabulary enjoyable and a lot
of fun. Hebblethwaite in the Voinov Journal 2009, p. 217 states that scrabble can give mental activity that develops cognitive skills, practices in applying economic
principles, and activates the language learning in classroom. It means that scrabble game can expand the vocabulary and strengthen the language ability.
Scrabble is one of memory games used to help students to improve the students‟ vocabulary mastery. Learning vocabulary using scrabble can improve
students‟ vocabulary mastery such as vocabulary memorizing, pronouncing, and spelling elements. There are some experts who support that statement as mentioned
below.
a Memorizing
According to Rixon, memory games help students revise vocabulary and memorizing something that happened in a game and may help students remember the
language connected with it 1992, p. 82. Similarly, Wright, Betteridge and Buckby agree that memory games “challenge the players‟ ability to remember” 1984, p.
139. Those experts state that scrabble as one of memory games can help students to improve their vocabulary memorizing element.
b Pronouncing
The students also can improve their vocabulary mastery like pronouncing the words. Scrabble makes the student easier to improve their pronunciation skill because
when the students play scrabble in a group they will share their pronunciation element from one to another then they check it from the dictionary. According to Rixon,
vocabulary game provides a good chance for students to learn something from one another 1992, p. 80. Similarly, Al Zaabi 2007 state that learning vocabulary
through games give students more chances to learn something from one another.
c Spelling
Scrabble also helps students to spell a difficult word correctly. It is because when the student play scrabble they should arrange the word per character. According
to Cruickshank and Telfer, many types of games commonly used in second language learning include scrabble and puzzles, in which players use principles of a subject or
discipline and solve related problems as in math or spelling 2001, p. 76.
B. Theoretical Framework
This part is about all major relevant theories that help the researcher in conducting the research and answering the research questions. In analyzing the data
and answering the research questions, the researcher uses some related theories as the groundwork. The main theories used in this study are mostly related to the meaning
and level of vocabulary, the scrabble, and the roles of games. However, the researcher aims to investigate two important points of the objectives, they are the
students‟ perception on the implementation of scrabble for the 10
th
grade students and the use of scrabble improve 10
th
g rade students‟ vocabulary mastery.
The first research question is conducted to investigate the students‟ perception on the implementation of scrabble for 10
th
grade students at SMA N 2 Purworejo. The theory of perception is used to help the researcher in knowing students‟ perception on
the implementation of scrabble for 10
th
grade students. Based on Bootzin, Loftus, Zajonc, and Braun 1983, perception means the interpretation process which comes
from some stimuli of their sense organs.
The theory of vocabulary and the roles of games in learning vocabulary is used to help the researcher in understanding the importance of game as the learning media.
The researcher uses Baid and Lambert 2010 theory that reported that game-based learning can sti
mulate students‟ cognitive skills as well as boost their motivation. The researcher also use Hebblethwaite theory that states that scrabble can give mental
activity that develops cognitive skills, practices in applying economic principles, and activates the language learning in classroom.
To answer the second research question the researcher use Rixon theory that memory games help students revise vocabulary and recalling something that
happened in a game may help a student remember the language connected with it 1992, p. 82. Similarly, Wright, Betteridge and Buckby agree that memory games
challenge t he players‟ ability to remember 1984, p. 139. Al Zaabi 2007 advocated
that learning vocabulary through games give students more chances to learn something from one another.
According to Cruickshank and Telfer, many types of game commonly used in second language learning includes scrabble and puzzles, in which players use
principles of a subject or discipline and solve related problems as in math or spelling 2001, p. 76. They are used to indicate that the use of scrabble is able to improve the
10
th
grade students‟ vocabulary mastery which include memorizing, pronouncing, and spelling elements.
41
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter presents detailed information about the methodology used to accomplish this study. It is divided into six parts. They are the research method,
research setting, research participantssubjects, instruments and data gathering technique, data analysis technique and the research procedure.
A. Research Method
In this study, the researcher answers two problem formulations: 1 how is the students‟ perception on the implementation of scrabble for the 10
th
grade students of SMA N 2 Purworejo? and 2 how does the use of scrabble game improve the 10
th
grade students‟ English vocabulary mastery at SMA N 2 Purworejo? To answer those
problem formulations, the researcher uses a descriptive qualitative. To answer the research questions, the researcher conducted descriptive
qualitative research. According to Bogdan and Biklen 1998, descriptive qualitative research data collection is taken in the form of words or pictures rather than numbers.
The data includes the interview transcripts, the field notes, the photographs, the videotapes, the personal documents, the memos, and the other official records
Bogdan Biklen, 1998. To answer the first research question, the researcher described how the 10
th
grade students perceived the implementation of scrabble game in SMA N 2 Purworejo related to the data from questionnaire and interview. Then, to
answer the second research question, the researcher identified the questionnaires in order to gather the information about the 10
th
g rade students‟ vocabulary mastery
improvement through scrabble. Then, the researcher also identified the interviews related to the vocabulary mastery improvement which include memorizing,
pronouncing, and spelling elements in order to get the further explanation.
B. Research Setting
The research was conducted at SMA N 2 Purworejo. It is one of the favorite schools in Purworejo. It focused on the use of scrabble in teaching vocabulary for the
10
th
grade students of SMA N 2 Purworejo. The reason why the writer chose this school was because this school is located in strategic area and consists of students
from many areas, so it has heterogenic students from many background. The use of scrabble as the media in teaching vocabulary for senior high school in Purworejo was
rarely found. The researcher did previous project research by asking questions to students from 12 different senior high schools in Purworejo about the implementation
of scrabble game for vocabulary learning in the classroom. The result was 9 out of 12 schools never used scrabble in vocabulary learning activity. Even, they did not know
about scrabble game before. SMA N 2 Purworejo is one of schools which used scrabble as the vocabulary learning media and even there is a scrabble competition in
every semester.
C. Research Participants
The participants of this study were the students from the 10
th
grade of SMA N 2 Purworejo. In conducting the study, the writer observed one group of participants.
There were thirty-three students in the class consisted of twelve male and twenty one female students. The researcher conducted the observation and distributed the
questionnaire to the 10
th
grade students. For the interview, there were five students as representatives and one English teacher. The researcher chose X-1 class to be
researched because the X-1 class is the 3
rd
champion for the scrabble tournament in SMA N 2 Purworejo. Therefore, it really helped the researcher to conduct the research
because X-1 students are the real evidence that scrabble influence d the students‟
vocabulary mastery. The researcher selected the participants based on a purposive reason. The reason why the researcher chose 10
th
grade students was because they were in a transitional phase. The 10
th
grade students are in the higher level from junior high school.
By using purposive participants‟ selection method, the researcher was able to observe and identify the participants‟ characteristics that become the
representative in the group. In purposive sampling, sample elements judged to be typical. For representative, are chosen from the population Ary, Jacobs, and
Razzavieh, 2002, p. 169.
D. Research Instruments and Data Gathering Techniques
In the previously part, the researcher explained the method which was used in gathering the data. In this case, instruments helped to answer the research problems.
