Description of the Transcendent Meaning of Vocabulary Learning

repeat doing the exercises. Being honest was more important than just getting good scores. There are always chances to be dishonest and it was actually easy to do it. What makes me to still be honest is I have another chance. It is OK to make mistakes. I can do it again later. The most important thing is I should be honest. Ra2.I3_Pr.Tr.T_Hon4 Even though the neither the teacher nor you referring to me see that I have cheated, God will have seen it. It is useless if I get a good score but at the same time I have committed a sin. Ra3.I3_Pr.Tr.T_Hon5 Honesty was important for her because it was not only about being caught red- handed by the teacher or about whether there was another person in the classroom who observed the teaching learning process, but it was also about being aware that God watched everything she did. She could not hide and she could not cheat God. As God watched her, being honest was the most important thing to do in life. c Acceptance Obtaining results which were not exactly like what we want could lead to disappointment. It was not easy to accept something that we did not want to have. I experienced it also. The participants’ did, too. However, they mentioned that they accept whatever their scores were like. Revalda stated, “I accepted my score the way it was. Then, after that, I tried doing the exercises again.” Re18.H2_Pr.Tr.T_Acc1. She felt dissatisfied actually. Therefore, she took the second chance in order to find out whether she could answer all questions correctly and obtain information about which one were the best answers to the questions. She further stated, “The unsatisfying score gave me an overview about which part I was still lacking knowledge of. Thus, I did the exercises again because I knew that I was still not good enough.” Re20.H2_Pr.Tr.T_Acc3. Meanwhile, Rani also stated that she should accept the scores whether it was good or bad. It turned out that she once obtained low scores. She stated, “Whether I liked it or not, I should accept my score the way it was. I got five then, I wrote it honestly on the score column as the way it was. Yet, actually I did not want it. That was why I did the exercise again so that I got a better score.” Ra10.H2_Pr.Tr.T_Acc1. Obtaining low score was a thing that no students had ever wanted to have. However, when it was the fact, Rani told me that since there was a second chance, she could try and test herself whether she could do better. She then focused on how to understand the parts which she had not understood yet. She did that so that she could comprehend the questions, the vocabulary, and the context better. She said, “I accepted it because I knew my vocabulary knowledge was only in that level, not good enough.” HRa12.2_Pr.Tr.T_Acc2. The scores were the proofs of her knowledge about vocabulary. She found the truth that she was not good enough at it. Accepting it was the only thing she could do because regret would bring her to nothing. 2 Composite Depiction Based on the Shared Emergent Transcendent Themes a Connection with a Bigger World According to Revalda, the IPALL that was applied was useful to help her speak with foreigners as she knew more vocabulary. The more vocabulary she had, the easier for her to speak. It was useful in a bigger scope because Jogjakarta was often visited by foreigners. She thought it would be better if the local citizens could speak English. She felt that vocabulary learning was not only for the sake of the number of vocabulary itself, but it was for Jogjakarta, her beloved city. She said, I use English when I write a status on social media or when I go to Malioboro. Being able to speak English fluently is able to give good impression to tourists who come here. It is much easier for them when they ask for help because most citizens are able to speak English. It gives a plus point to Jogjakarta. Re27.G1_Em.Tr.T_Conn1 She was thinking about Jogjakarta when she was learning vocabulary using IPALL. She knew that Jogjakarta was one of tourism destination in Indonesia. The tourists were both the local tourists and foreigners. She felt it was necessary to be able to have knowledge in English and to be able to speak. It was important because she thought that it was helpful both for us as the citizens of Jogjakarta and for the tourists. She also mentioned that she had a dream to be able to write a story in English version. She told me, “I had a hobby. It was writing a story, a fantasy. I wanted to write a story in English and post it to a blog. I had written some so far. If those were good, I hoped that those would be well-known.” Re40.H2_Em.Tr.T_Conn2 She had already had a blog and she had written some stories there. Meanwhile, Rani told me finding new friends from foreign countries was interesting. Learning English in general and learning vocabulary specifically helped her to be able to master English. She realized that it was the language which was spoken worldwide. She mentioned that it helped her able to later reach her personal intention which was finding friends from other countries. Travelling and making a lot of new friends would be an extraordinary, unforgettable experience for her. Friends do not always have to be from our own country, but they can be from other countries Ra31.H2_Em.Tr.T_Conn1. I have the characteristic of always wanting to get along with people. Being able to master English, their referring to people from other countries mother tongue is fun and when I am in trouble, they can help. I should not always stay here in Indonesia, but I also can travel to the United Kingdom or the United States of America Ra16.J4_Em.Tr.T_Conn2 It was what she always dreamt. Learning vocabulary was helpful in a way that she was more convinced that she could reach what she wanted. It also ensured her that having some friends from other parts of the world was not impossible. b God Talks to Me Most people embraced certain religions. It was also what participants did. As people who had religions, they admitted that God existed. They shared their experience of how God talked to them in their everyday life. They believed that God was telling them something. Both participants told me that the most vivid experience was the one they experienced through dreams. It was interesting to know how dream could be like a warning for the real life. They shared how their dreams had influenced the way they lived. In my experience, God talked to me through dreams. Those were recurring dreams. It was not about mistakes. It was about reminding me of something. At that time I was asked to bring something. In my dreams, I always forgot to bring the things people wanted me to bring. The next morning when I woke up, I automatically remembered what I should bring. It made me always prepare myself better for the next days Re35-38.J4_Em.Tr.T_G.T1-3. Revalda’s dreams may seem to be only small things. However, the dreams could not to be underestimated especially because it happened not only once but several times. Some people say dreams were just dreams and those were not to be taken into granted. It was not worth considering, contemplating. Yet, Revalda could not just ignore it, especially because Revalda mentioned that it was always related to her reality. Rani also had ever had similar dreams. She said that it was terrifying that even when she had woken up, she still felt scared. It had given her a portrait of how she should live this life. She told me, “ I could still recall my dream. At that time, in my dream, I slept and I could barely move. Then, suddenly it happened. It was the Doomsday.” Ra36.J4_Em.Tr.T_G.T1. The memory of the Doomsday that she saw in her dream made her realized that the world could end anytime. She was so terrified and she remembered it in each second of her life. As what happened to Revalda, she also could not just simply ignore it. The memory did not fade that fast and easily. It had been a part of her.

b. Interpretation of the Transcendent Meaning of Vocabulary Using

IPALL to Students The interpretation was written according to the order of the themes written in the description part. In this part, each theme was elaborated deeper and the narratives were presented according to story development. The order was the interpretation of the shared pre-figured themes, the interpretation of the shared emergent themes, and the interpretation of other themes found in each participant’s story. 1 Interpretation of the Shared Pre-Figured Transcendent Themes The text showed that there were some similar themes in which participants’ lived experience was constructed. It was predicted from their personal notes, observation, and some literature review. It highlighted what vocabulary learning using IPALL meant to their life and how it was related to their life as a whole by also considering what students have experienced before. a Perseverance Both participants mentioned that it was necessary to have perseverance. It was important not to easily give up. Having perseverance made them able to endure the obstacle which came into their way. From what participants’ mentioned, it could be understood that they keep struggling because they were aware of the importance of vocabulary. Donmall 1985: p.7 as quoted in Lier 1996 defines it as “…a person’s sensitivity to and conscious awareness of the nature of language and its role in human life.” Both participants were aware that vocabulary learning as a part of English learning, was not only useful for them to be able to do any exercises, but it was also useful for wider purposes of communicating such as writing short fictional stories or to get along with people from other countries. Knowing more vocabulary enabled them to do what they wanted. They understood that being able to know more vocabulary would help them that much. It was not only their awareness of the importance of vocabulary learning as a part of learning English which made them have perseverance, but it was also their awareness of their duty as students. Revalda admitted that she was sometimes lazy and it was her biggest fear. Rani also mentioned that when she had trouble with her laptop, she did not have any choice except doing and discussing the exercises at the school with her friends. However, giving up was not an option to take because they would never learn anything at all. Keep trying and studying hard was better than easily giving up. There was a good quotation about perseverance by Winston Churcill taken from an image in www.ohmyread.com. He stated, “If you are going through hell, keep going.” This quotation was straight to the point and the meaning was crystal clear. Churcill surely did not refer to the real hell. He was referring to the most difficult situation that a person may face in his or her life. The people may only pass the difficult even the most desperate time only if they keep going. It would not happen if they stopped. If they stopped they were still stuck in where they were. In a wider scope especially in life, perseverance was important to make a big progress. It was what kept them and all of us going forward even when we were at a lowest level of our life. Both participants, then, also mentioned that perseverance was a thing which prevented them of being left behind. It was what enabled us to step forward to get out of problems and continue our life. The perseverance that they had made them fulfil one of some types of transcendence which was stated by Maslow 1979: p. 264 is “the word transcend also means ‘surpass’ in the sense simply of being able to do more than one thought one could do, or more than one had in the past.” They mentioned that their scores improved and they knew more word meaning and forms which they did not know before. b Honesty Honesty was a thing which seemed to be difficult to find. Not all people were able to remain honest when they faced certain situation. Doing a right thing such as being honest would always have its own challenge. Honesty was a thing which constructed meaning in participants’ lived experience on vocabulary learning using IPALL. Both Rani and Revalda knew how much honesty meant to them. They knew they would have to pay the price at the end if they were being dishonest. Rani obtained one important thing from her parents that whenever she failed there was always another chance to fix it as long as she worked hard enough to make her performance better. Being dishonest was a thing her parents would never like. Rani also had awareness that dishonesty would bring her to difficulties. Therefore, being honest, including not writing fake scores and not cheating when she did the exercises had been permanently instilled into her. She also realized that vocabulary learning using IPALL was honesty training itself. It trained her how good she was without having to cheat and to write made-up scores. In Revalda’s lived experience, even though her parents did not control her often, they also had taught her to be honest. I took a simple example that she had told me. She asked her parents’ permission to go to her friend’s house. Later on, her parents would check if she really went to a place she had told them. By doing this her parents had indirectly taught her that it was necessary to be honest. From what the participants said, from the very first time they did the vocabulary exercises, they never had the intention to cheat. Warshaw and Davis 1985 as quoted in Konerding 1999 states that intention was “the degree to which a person has formulated conscious plans to perform or not to perform some specified future behavior.” They chose not to perform a certain behaviour, which was cheating or being dishonest. It was because they believed that it was a bad thing with risks that they had to take sooner or later. The risk could be anything; it could be a small thing such as being caught red-handed by the teachers or it could be a much bigger thing which was committing a sin. They realized that once they did dishonest thing, it would become a habit. By being honest, the participants’ indirectly showed that they were in the process of being self-actualized. Maslow 1979: p. 44 “self-actualization is an ongoing process...it means to make each of these choices as a growth choice.” The participants’ had made a choice which was wise. Wise people always thought and considered something more than once before they did it so that they could make a right decision based on their conscience. It showed that they also grew up into people who were responsible. They were taught to be honest and to not do something whose risks they did not want to take. Brigham Young made a statement which was good to make people understand the value of honesty. He said, “Honest hearts produce honest actions.” It was simple but it was meaningful. Honest actions were actions which would not bring disadvantages both for others and for us. People with honest hearts never played a trick on everyone and that they would never hurt someone. A much greater meaning was honesty was a thing God taught us to do. Rani realized that