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CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
A. Place and Time of the Research
This action research is carried out in SD Negeri Kentingan No. 79 Surakarta. It is located on Jalan Ir. Sutami No. 52, Jebres Surakarta 56172.
Meanwhile, the research is conducted from July to October 2010.
B. The Subject and the Object of the Research
The subjects of the study are the students of the fifth year of SD Negeri Kentingan No. 79 Surakarta. It is one class that consists of 33 students, 19 boys
and 14 girls. However, the object of the study is improving students’ vocabulary mastery through graphic organizers.
C. The Method of the Research
This chapter presents the discussion about the research or classroom action research as follows:
1. The Nature of Action Research
The seeds of action research are to be found as early as the late nineteenth century in the Science in Education movement and a variety of other social reform
initiatives McKernan:1996. It also grew out of the moves by progressive educators, such as John Dewey and Kurt Lewin .There are some definitions of
action research. The first is by Kemmis in Elliott: 63 who states:
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Action research is a form of self-reflective enquiry undertaken by the participants in social including educational situation in order to improve the
rationality and justice of a their own social or educational practices, b their understanding of these practices, and c the situation in which the
practices are carried out. It is most nationally empowering when undertaken by participants collaboratively, thought it is often undertaken by individuals,
and sometimes in cooperation with ‘outsiders’. In education, action research has been employed in school-based curriculum development, professional
development, school improvement programs, and systems planning and policy development.
A second definition is stated by Elliott, who states as follows: Action research might be defined as ‘the study of a social situation with a view
to improving the quality of action within it’. It aims to feed practical judgment in concrete situations, and the validity of the ‘theories’ or hypotheses it
generates depends not so much on ‘scientific’ tests of truth, as on their usefulness in helping people to act more intelligently and skillfully. In action
research ‘theories’ are not validated independently and then applied to practice. They are validated through practice.
The third definition is stated by Wallace 1998:15 that action research is therefore a sub-area of inquiry, which simply means the process of answering and
questions by using various kinds of evidence in some kind of reasoned way. In addition, it is different from other more conventional or traditional types of
research in that it is very focused on individual or small group professional practice and is not so concerned with making general statements.
From the definition above, action research is a systematic study which is focused on small group professional practice in social situation by the researcher,
to know about their particular school operates how they teach, and how well their students learn so they can improve the quality of professional action. Action
research starts with practical judgment and the validity of the theories or hypothesis is applied in practice.
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2. The Model of Action Research
Action research has been developed by Kemmis and McTagart in Burns 1999:32. There are four stages: planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. The
scheme of this model can be shown as follows:
Picture 3.1 Action Research Spiral Kemmis McTaggart
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The scheme in action research can be visually reflected as follow:
Picture 3.2 The Scheme of Action Research The teacher as researcher has to practice the action research as a spiral of
steps that consist of four stages as follows: 1. Planning
: How can I encourage my students’ vocabulary mastery? Perhaps I should give them different technique in teaching vocabulary.
2. Acting : I take them to training classes using graphics organizer.
3. Observing : Observing and recording students’ activity when the students undertake the exercise after the teacher gives a different way of teaching
vocabulary. 4. Reflecting : Perhaps I should do the same way or another way at class in a
consistent fashion. When the problem has not been overcome, this process can be repeated in
some cycle until the researcher finds a solution. 2.
Act
4. Refl
ect 1.
Plan
3. Obse
rve 2.
Act
3. Obse
rve 4.
Refle ct
1. Plan
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3. The Procedures of Action Research
According to the model of action research that has been developed by Kemmis and McTagart in Burns 1999:32, action research occurs through a
dynamic and complementary process, which consists of four essential ‘moments’: of planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. These stages are included in the
procedure of action research. The procedure is as follows: 1. Surveying
This is a very open-ended and uncertain phrase where teacher feels her way into research question. It involves identifying and agreeing upon a general
idea or issue of interest to the students. After the researcher knows about the lack of vocabulary mastery of the fifth grade students, the researcher starts for
undertaking some initial action, such as documenting the general observations of the situation, in order to clarify the understandings about the problem and to bring
these back to the students. It may also involve doing some reading of recent articles or books to obtain ideas for research.
2. Identifying The second step is identifying the problem based on the result of the
survey. The researcher has taken the problem to be overcome such as: What is the effective ways to improve students’ vocabulary mastery?
3. Planning The third step is planning. This phase involves developing a viable plan of
action for gathering data, and considering and selecting a range of appropriate methods. Burns 1999:37 states that the plan is aimed at trialing a particular
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course of action and collecting data on the outcomes of this action. Develop a plan of critically informed action to improve what is already happening,
4. Implementation During this period, the researcher develops and put into action. She will
teach by giving new activities for the students. For example: she teaches vocabulary through graphic organizers. In all these activities the focus is on
students interacting much more in groups than would normally have occurred. She uses a number of methods to collect data on the students’ interaction:
a. She holds a weekly programming and assessment meeting where formal and informal observations on progress were shared.
b. She observes each other teaching and noted the students’ classroom behavior.
5. Analyzing Close analyzes of data is often the stimulus for reflection. Burns 1999:38
states that the data are analyzed using a systematic process of analyzes and interpretation according to agreed criteria.
6. Writing report Burns 1999:41 states that this is a summative phase where the research
questions, the strategies, developed, the process of research, and the analyses and results observed are drawn together by writing up an account in a report. This is a
very important phase as it aims to ensure that the research has a chance of being disseminated to others, rather than remaining as a private or isolated activity.
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D. Technique of Collecting Data
In collecting the data, tests in the form of objective test and essay are used. It is started by pre test and post test in the end of the research. Pre test and post
test are used to ensure the improvement of the students’ vocabulary mastery. The validity of the Instruments is very important. Wallace 1998:36
defines validity means testing what the researcher is supposed to test, and not something else. It is clearly and extremely important issue: there is no point in
reflecting on data that are misleading or irrelevant. In her research, the researcher uses content validity.
To support the data, an observation technique is used in which observation notes serves as instruments. In her research, the researcher collaborates with the
English teacher of the class. The English teacher acts as the observer. He observes and notes all that happen during the teaching and learning process. Meanwhile,
the researcher acts as the teacher. Questionnaire is also used.
E. Technique of Analyzing Data
The researcher evaluates the teaching of vocabulary by giving written test pre test and post test. The data from the tests are analyzed in order to prove
whether or not teaching vocabulary using graphic organizer can overcome the students’ problems in vocabulary mastery. The formula is:
1. The mean of the pre test and post test X =
N X
Y = N
Y
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X = The mean of pre test and post test
X = The total score of post test
Y = The mean of post test score
Y = The total score of post test
N = The number of the students
Ary, Jacobs Razavieh, 1979: 107 In addition, the teacher also analyzes the process of teaching vocabulary
by evaluating observation and questionnaire.
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CHAPTER IV RESEARCH FINDING AND DISCUSSION
This chapter presents the result of the action research conducted in grade V of SDN Kentingan No. 79 Surakarta in academic year of 2010 2011. The
action of this research was done in the classroom. During the action, the researcher was helped by Mr. Bibit as the collaborator. The aim of this research is
to improve the students’ vocabulary mastery through graphic organizers as teaching media at fifth grade of SD Negeri Kentingan No.79 Surakarta in
academic year 20102011. This chapter describes and discusses the data collected from the research.
A. Research Finding
The research was conducted in two cycles. The procedure of the research consisted pre research, research implementation and research discussion. The
research finding can be described as follows:
1. Cycle 1 a. Pre Research
Before the researcher conducted this research, she had surveyed and recognized the problems faced by the students and the teacher in teaching and
learning process. In identifying the problems, the researcher collected the data in three ways; those are questionnaire, observation, and test. This section describes
the results of the data collected. These results led the researcher to continue the
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