commit to user built the students’ knowledge of words. The teacher could also implement
word webs during and post activity. 7. The students were not bored because they were challenged to play games.
They not only sat on their chair but also moved although just a little. It quite decreased their boredom.
The researcher and collaborator concluded that teaching vocabulary using word webs could help the student understand new words. Word webs
could encourage the students to participate in the teaching learning activity, so their vocabulary mastery improved. The students’ vocabulary improvement
could be seen from their mean score in the post test 2 which was better in the post test 1. The mean score in post test 2 was 79.60, while the mean score in
post test 1 was 63.40. Because the students’ vocabulary mastery and behavior improved significantly, the researcher and observer decided to stop the cycle.
C. Discussion
Nowadays, English has been taught in elementary school although it is just an optional subject. SDN Sidorejo Lor 1 Salatiga has taught English since the first
grade. In the first to second grade, the students are introduced by words. The teacher usually uses picture to introduce new words. In the next grade, that is third grade, the
commit to user students are encouraged to use English in simple sentence or even text. Sometimes
they get difficulties in reading activity. To solve the problem, the researcher tried to use new technique. The
technique was “Word Webs”. Word webs are diagrams to present the relationship among the words to build students’ vocabulary mastery. This technique is good to be
implemented for the beginners. Based on the students’ test result and researcher’s observation, word webs can improve students’ vocabulary mastery.
There are some reasons why word webs should be implemented in teaching vocabulary for young learners. Nation in Cameron 2001: 85 states that the teacher
can explain new word in the young learner classroom by demonstrating. Demonstrating means using visual aids to help young learners understand new words.
In demonstrating, the teacher can use diagram. The diagram which is chosen should be able to stimulate the students to the topics. Word webs can be used because it is
diagrams which show the relationship among words. Ur 1996: 63 says that presenting new vocabulary to the students by giving
examples or hyponyms. Word webs is also a way to give examples or hyponyms of themes. Children will be enthusiastic if they are taught using fun activities or being
involved in activities http:peni.staff.uns.ac.id20081010young-learner- characteristcs. That is why word webs should be chosen. It can be implemented as a
game and it can encourage students to involve in activity, in brainstorming for example. By using word webs, the teacher can ask students about certain topic. There
is a significant change before and after action research. Students’ learning activity is
commit to user improved from passive to active. The improvement includes the students’ activeness
during teaching learning process, asking, and answering questions. Word webs help the students in understanding the relationship among words. Their pre-knowledge is
built before the main activity. In activity, the students’ knowledge increases after they add some words related to the topic in word webs. After main activity, the students’
knowledge also increases after the teacher leads them to add new words in word webs.
Based on the reasons above, word webs is an appropriate technique for teaching vocabulary to young learners. The concept of word webs is like mind map. It
is a diagram used to represent ideas linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea www.wikipedia.com. How this technique can improve students’ vocabulary
mastery? Before activity, the teacher uses word webs for brainstorming. Firstly, the teacher writes the main topic on the middle of the board. Then, the teacher asks the
sub-theme to the students. From the sub-theme, the students are stimulated to think some words belonging to each branch. Ur 1996: 68-69 suggests to use diagram to
show word association word webs. This activity is mainly for revising words the class already knows, but new ones may be introduced, by teachers or students. Word
association can help the students make concept about topic. For example in cycle 1, the theme was “Things in My House”. The theme was categorized into sub-theme.
The teacher helped the students categorize things in their house according to the rooms for example bedroom and kitchen. After categorizing the words, the students
will easily remember the meaning. The teacher can also use pictures to help the
commit to user students understand word meaning. This technique is not only for teaching noun, but
also giving stimulus words by asking the students to think the possible verb, adjective or adverb dealing with the noun. In line with Ur’s statement, it can be concluded that
word webs can be used to teach word use. One of the benefits of using word webs in teaching vocabulary is expanding
students’ written and oral vocabularies http:www.readwritethink.org. When brainstorming, the students were asked to write some words on the board and their
note book. This activity help them in spelling. If there was a mistake, the teacher helped them to correct it. After making word webs, the teacher drilled the students to
pronounce each word. It helped them in pronunciation. When the students had seen and known the word belonged to which strands, they will easily internalize word
meaning. In introducing words in word use, the teacher stimulated the students by asking them to think the possible verb, adjective, or adverb dealing with the noun.
Then, the teacher gave the example of the use of word in sentence. It is obviously known implementing word webs in teaching vocabulary
encourages the students’ interest and understanding. After finishing a meeting, the researcher interviewed some students. She asked about the students’ feeling after
learning English through word webs. A student said, “Saya jadi mudeng Miss membaca text bahasa Inggris.” The other student added, “Iya, Miss. Kalau dikasih
soal tentang bacaan, sekarang jadi bisa.” It means that word webs in brainstorming is able to encourage the students’ pre knowledge. After that, easily the students can
understand texts. The other students said, “Sekarang aku udah bisa baca kata – kata
commit to user bahasa Inggris, Miss.” She continued, “Aku juga udah mulai bisa nulisnya.” Besides,
helping the students in understanding the relationship of words and meaning, word webs can also help them spell word. The teacher’s examples in pronunciation also
help the students to pronounce each word. Based on the researcher and collaborator observation during teaching learning process and also the students’ score in post test
1 and 2, almost all students are able to use words properly. For example, the students have known how to use word “fry” and “fried”. They use the word “fry” in “I fry
chicken”, and use the word “fried” in “I eat fried chicken”.
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CHAPTER V CONCLUSION, IMPLICATION, AND SUGGESTION
A. Conclusion
All stages in the action research were completely done from December to June 2010. Based on the result of the research, it can be concluded that word webs
can improve the students’ vocabulary mastery and the quality of the teaching learning process. The improvement was showed by the result of the post test in cycle 2 which
was better than post test in cycle 1 and pretest. The mean score in post test 2 was 79.60. It is better than 59.52 in pre-test 2, and 63.36 in post-test 1.
There were some changes as the result of the actions. The changes were either in the participation or the behavior of the involved members, and also the
students’ vocabulary mastery. The changes were as follows: 1. The changes in the English teaching learning process
Before the action research, the English teacher just taught the students through LKS and asked the students to do many assignments from the LKS. Therefore,
the teaching learning process was monotonous and boring. The students were also passive in the teaching learning process. They just did the assignment. The
communication and discussion between students and teacher were not built. During the implementation of the action, the students were actively involved in
