2. They can tell the differences between fact and fiction. 3. They ask questions all the time.
4. They rely on the spoken word as well as the physical world to convey and to understand meaning.
5. They are able to make some decisions about their own learning. They have definite vie w about what they like and they dislike doing
6. They have a developed sense of fairness about what happens in the classroom and begin to question teacher’s decisions.
7. They are able to work with others and to learn from others. From those descriptions above, it is crucial to know how they learn. It
becomes a great guidance in choosing a strategy to increase students’ vocabulary retention.
2. Theoretical Framework
Vocabulary mastery is turned out to be an essential key to the success of English teaching and learning. Harris 1997 states that word as a mark or a sign
of language is the vehicle of human communication. In addition, vocabulary is essential to construct reality Taylor, 1990. Without name, it is hard to accept the
existence of an object, an event or a feeling. Thus, the high frequency vocabularies are chosen as they are mostly used vocabularies. Therefore, students
are expected to be more aware of the meaning of English words they learn. These the English words are more applicable, hence, the learners could easily recall the
words and use them in simple communication using English. This selection will PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
help the students to expose themselves with daily English words and to give them more exposure toward their needs of certain words related to their daily life.
Nevertheless, in local context as in OI 743 Petra Children Development Center, it is arduous for learners in the fifth grade of Elementary school to master
English vocabulary. These students are from under average socioeconomic background. Some of students are still able to memorize some of the words but
some are not. However, most students are not accustomed to memorize effectively. Even though, they are able to memorize the sound of the words, it is
sometimes difficult for them to write into right spelling. As a result of the research objective that is to find an appropriate strategy
to teach English vocabulary in OI 743 Petra Children Development Center, some principles must be taken into consideration. Firstly, words of daily life
communication will vary in nature; according to Brooks 1962, “Learner’s vocabulary is divided into two groups, active and passive.”
Active vocabulary is the vocabulary that the learner should use in speaking and writing. While passive vocabulary is vocabulary the learner needs to
recognize in listening and reading. This research covers both vocabularies. This fact is supported by Nation 2002: 6. He proposes all words are created equal.
The second, in order to be aware of student’s way of learning, the researcher comes up with ten principles of teaching children in elementary school.
Brewster 2004: 39 explains the ten principles for teaching young learners. The principles may give direction and guidance to teach language to children
effectively the ten principles of teaching young learners. They are 1 starting PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
where the child is, 2 Encouraging social interaction, 3 Supporting negotiation of meaning and collaborative talk early, 4 Allowing the children to be active, 5
Pitching input within the zone of proximal development, 6 Introducing language at discourse level, 7 Planning meaningful and purposeful activities with in a
clear, familiar context, 8 Helping learners to become more independent and autonomous, 9 Developing a supportive, non-threatening, enjoyable learning
environment and 10 Testing and assessing in the way that we teach. The third, the researcher recommends direct learning toward English
words. Nation 1990: 2 defines direct vocabulary learning as the learners do exercises and activities that focus their attention on vocabulary. Some examples of
those activities are word-building exercises, guessing words from context when it is done as a class exercise, learning words in list and vocabulary games.
The fourth, the researcher considers the learning of vocabulary which is done in 743 OI Petra Children Development Center as productive learning.
Productive learning supports the students to produce the foreign word by speaking and writing. It requires more time than receptive learning. For productive
learning, “saying the words aloud brings faster learning with better retention” Wallace, 1991: 29. For instance the teacher shows a picture of an elephant and
asks the student to write the English word. By being productive and direct toward the English words, learners are provided with the supporting atmosphere to ease
them in their vocabulary learning. The fifth, the research suggests “grading” Nation, 1982 as the strategy in
vocabulary learning. It means the grades in learning vocabulary are constructed PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
based on many factors. The examples of the factors are time needed to learn, number of words to be learned, the difficulty of words, and the repetition of the
words. The last, the researcher proposes the cognitive strategies as the learners
involved in manipulation or transformation of material to be learned; in other words, the learner interacts directly with what is to be learned Wenden and
Rubin, 1987: 72. Cognitive strategies can vary in the amount of learner’s interactions or transformations involved; greater involvement is thought to result
in increased learning. Quoted in Wenden and Rubin 1987, Brown and Paliscar 1982 divide cognitive strategies into several kinds. They are repetition,
resourcing, directed physical response, translation, grouping, note taking, deduction, recombination, imagery, auditory representation, key word,
contextualization, elaboration, transfer, and differencing. In this research, the researcher uses imagery as the strategy to teach
vocabulary. Here are some alternatives of imagery strategy through demonstration or picture. They are 1 using an object, 2 using a cut-out figure, 3 using
gesture, 4 performing an action, 5 photographs, 6 blackboard drawing or diagrams and 7 pictures from books. As a specific strategy which is used in this
research, the researcher chooses pictures as the media in teaching English words to the fifth grade students in 743 OI Petra Children Development Center.
To wholly conclude, this research views that vocabulary mastery is an essential key to successful English mastery. Thus, appropriate strategy must be
thoroughly elected, particularly for teaching young learners that is 743 OI Petra PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
Children Development Center learners, who are in the fifth grade of Elementary school.
29
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY
This chapter discussed the methodology of the research. In this research, there were six points which were going to be explained. They were method of the
research, research participants, research instruments, data gathering techniques, data analysis technique, and research procedure.
3.1 Method
The research used CAR Classroom Action Research during the process. As it was cited in Sagor 2005: 1, “action research is a disciplined process of
inquiry conducted by and for those taking the action. The primary reason for engaging in action research is to assist the actor in improving or refining his or her
actions.” In this research, the researcher investigated an appropriate teaching strategy to improve students’ achievement in their English vocabulary learning in
OI 743 Petra Children Development Center. In this case, treatment was given by the researcher to improve the results
of learners’ vocabulary retention. The treatment influenced participants’ achievement in their English vocabulary learning. The treatment dealt with control
toward students’ retention capability in their English language learning. The results of the treatment could be seen as numeric and word data. In order to gather
pure natural numeric data inside the class, the researcher proposed to use a test as the measurement device of students’ achievement in their vocabulary learning.
