how meaning of vocabulary learning using IPALL is constructed. The fact that they are currently using it makes this study able to be conducted within the
allocated time as the experiences in using IPALL are still fresh and are really vivid in students’ mind.
B. PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
The IPALL is selected and is the main focus of this research because IPALL is a brand new learning medium and I am interested whether it is indeed
meaningful and helpful to students. Previously, a classroom action research conducted by Sastrikirana Hanardi 2014 showed that there was significant
improvement in students’ scores. Now, I would like to see further how much IPALL is meaningful to students’ life. It is because there are a lot of things about
learning and becoming students which are often taken for granted. The exercises for the students in the IPALL are made into IPALL multiple choice and IPALL
matching. These types of exercises are chosen because like other students in other schools, students in SMKN 7 Yogyakarta will have to do especially multiple
choice exercises both in mid-term and final test. Meanwhile, IPALL matching helps students know the meaning first before they learn the vocabulary in context.
Doing IPALL multiple choice is not only about choosing but also about how students use their logic in order to be able to answer correctly. It is hoped that
students are able to learn vocabulary better and retain vocabulary that they have learnt.
However, vocabulary learning is not always like what is seen in surface. As students undergo vocabulary learning process, they have shaped new meaning
of learning as they bring the meaning of previous learning experiences, awareness, beliefs, and intention. This meaning is very subjective because it
depends on a person’s very own way of perceiving it. It is necessary to understand what vocabulary learning is like to students because by understanding how the
learning process is going, I am able to be aware myself about what is happening there.
Since it is a new medium to facilitate vocabulary learning process, and as students have just experienced learning using it, they have fresh, vivid lived
experiences to tell. Thus, this study is feasible. Also, because students use it continuously, it guarantees the validity of this study as there is a chance to do
observation. Learning media are often said to be helpful for students. However, as students have different previous learning experiences, awareness, beliefs, and,
intentions which precede their action they may perceive the use of IPALL in a different way as they have those aspects which cause them to shape meaning
differently, too. What this study aims to reveal is in what way the use of IPALL is meaningful to students especially in terms of vocabulary learning. It will be
revealed by the process of gathering anecdotes about students’ lived experiences as the experiences help the analysis process of meaning.
C. PROBLEM LIMITATION AND DELIMITATION
This is a study about meaning. Meaning is obtained through students’ lived experiences. It is about what they actually felt and did. It is subjective
depending on each person who experiences a certain phenomenon. As the phenomenon itself shows it differently to each person, and as each person has
shaped different meaning in their past, the meaning which is grasped by each person is also different. The meaning of vocabulary learning to students is not
related to how IPALL and the exercises are designed because designing the application and exercises are not a part of students’ experience.
The data about students’ scores is not included because this research focuses on what has not been addressed in the previous research about learning
media which is the transcendent meaning. It is also because the data about students’ scores have been discussed in an experimental research conducted by
Hanardi 2015. Meanwhile, the data in a form of writing scores cannot be
obtained because at the time in which this research was conducted, students were not given any writing exercises. Therefore, the data about how they use the
vocabulary that they have learnt using IPALL in the writing composition cannot be gathered.
This research is possible to be conducted and finished in time as students have experienced the learning process using IPALL. Thus, I am able to start
collecting data anytime as it is already there. The lived experience mentioned in this study is not a representative of the lived experience of other students in other
schools even though students in the other schools may have also used it. It is based on the characteristic of lived experience itself which is subjective. The
meaning of vocabulary learning using IPALL in this study does not represent other students’ lived experience. Meaning is not constructed in the same way from
one person to another and each person cannot be forced to perceive something the way other people do.
D. STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Because this research aims to discover the meaning of vocabulary learning using IPALL to students, there are two research questions this research is going to
answer, which is: 1.
What is the empirical meaning of vocabulary learning using IPALL to students?
2. What is the transcendent meaning of vocabulary learning to students?
There are two types of meaning; those are empirical and transcendent meaning. Both meaning is sought in this study. This is especially because the transcendent
meaning is there, but often ignored and has not become the main focus on some research reports. The definition of empirical and transcendent meaning is
elaborated in chapter two.
E. RESEARCH GOALS
There are some research goals that this study aims to achieve. The goals are divided into three. Those are immediate, intermediate, and ultimate goals. The
immediate goal is achieved when this study has presented description and interpretation of the participants’ lived experience. The intermediate goal is when
the description and interpretation has encouraged empathic understanding. The last, the ultimate goal is achieved when self-actualization happens after using
IPALL.
1. The Immediate Study Goal
The immediate study goal which this study aims to achieve is the description and interpretation of the meaning of students’ lived experiences in
vocabulary learning using IPALL. The description is achieved when the anecdotes are presented together with the code which indicates themes. In the description
part, there will be description to which themes certain anecdotes belong to. It is not explained further yet. This part also shows what new themes that emerge in
students’ lived experience. The interpretation of students’ lived experiences follows the description. It
is when students’ lived experiences are understood and explained further. The themes are explained one by one in detailed. Through this interpretation the lived
experiences will be clearer and more understandable to the reader. This research is said to have achieved immediate goal if both description and interpretation of
students’ lived experiences have been presented.
2. The Intermediate Study Goal
The intermediate study goal is for the better empathic understanding. It constitutes the understanding of students’ lived experiences as the people who
experience vocabulary learning using the IPALL. It is due to the fact that this study is about hermeneutics. It emphasizes the importance of understanding from
participants’ point of view. This understanding is able to be achieved when people listen and are aware of what others have experienced. Thus, this study aims to
achieve this goal. This goal is able to be achieved when readers are reading students’ lived
experiences and tries to understand it. When they are trying to understand it, they are capable of seeing from students’ perspective. It is when they understand how
it is like to be in students’ position and how it is like to learn vocabulary using
