Contribution of Word Games to the Improvement of Students’ Vocabulary Mastery
49
Figure 4.3 Number of Students Writing ≥50 of Words, Meanings, and Parts of Speech Correctly in Cycle Three
After comparing the results of students’ average scores from their pre- implementation and post-implementation vocabulary list sheets taken from all three
cycles, the researcher found that there was a significant increase in the percentage of the average scores. This percentage was deducted from the difference between the
overall average scores taken from their pre-implementation and post-implementation vocabulary list sheets in each cycle. The total number of words they had to write
determined the percentage results. In Cycle One, for example, the difference was 0.2 points. It was converted into percentage by comparing the points to the total number
of words the students had to write, i.e. 20 words. The percentage of the increase in students’ average scores in Cycle One, therefore, was 1. In Cycle Two, the
percentage was 4.5. In Cycle Three which had 25 words as the total number of words the students had to write, the percentage was the highest among all cycles, i.e.
69 97
24 79
10 20
30 40
50 60
70 80
90 100
Pre-Implementation Post-Implementation
Meaning Parts of Speech
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31.2. The increase from Cycle One to Cycle Two was only 3.5, but the increase from Cycle Two to Cycle Three was 26.7.
The researcher then calculated the average percentage of successful students to find the difference between the percentage of the number of successful students
before and after the implementation of word games in all three cycles. The term successful students here refers to those who had successfully written ≥50 of words,
meanings, and parts of speech correctly before and after the implementation of word games in all three cycles refer to Figure 4.1, Figure 4.2, and Figure 4.3. In Cycle
One, the increase was 6. In Cycle Two, the increase was 26.5. Compared to Cycle One and Cycle Two, Cycle Three had better increase, i.e. 41.5.
Figure 4.4 The Increase in Students’ Average Scores and Number of Successful Students
1 4.50
31.20
6 26.50
41.50
10 20
30 40
50
Cycle 1 Cycle 2
Cycle 3 Students
Average Scores
Number of Successful
Students
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The increases were presented in Figure 4.4. The ascending red and blue lines illustrate the significant increases found in the number of successful students and the
students’ average scores. It shows that the implementation of word games had helped the students to improve their scores. They also gained better understanding to work
with words, meanings, and parts of speech after the implementation of word games which was conducted in three cycles.
In order to corroborate the results deducted from the students’ score improvement, the researcher distributed the questionnaire to all students who were
present and did semi-structured interview with four students who were chosen randomly on May 29
th
, 2012. The questionnaire was given after all cycles were completed due to time limitation in the previous three meetings. The questionnaire
reflecting the students’ responses toward the games used during the implementation aimed to understand how the students monitored their progress after the three
meetings. Meanwhile, in order to evaluate the progress in each meeting, the researcher used the evaluation written by the observer and the opinion of the students
about how the meeting was going for them. The researcher asked for the students’ opinion before leaving the class by addressing some probing questions to them
briefly. For example, the researcher asked about their feelings when they played the game and about the difficulties that they encountered during the process.
The questions in the questionnaire aimed to find out how the students perceived their achievement according to the purposes of the games and how the
students evaluated the games as one of the methods used in language learning. The
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first five questions aimed to elicit the students’ responses on the purposes of the games, while the other five questions aimed to elicit the students’ responses on the
evaluation of the games. The questionnaire was distributed to all 30 students who attended the class on May 19
th
, 2012. One student was absent, and one student did not give the answer to question 3. The percentage represented the number of students
who chose the option based on their experience during the implementation of the games.
Table 4.5 Results of the Questionnaire No.
Statement Strongly
Disagree Disagree
Agree Strongly
Agree
1. Using
games to
teach English
vocabulary helps me to find the parts of speech easily.
- -
57 43
2. Using
games to
teach English
vocabulary helps me to find the meanings in Bahasa Indonesia easily.
- -
73 27
3. English words taught by using games
are easier to memorize. -
7 67
23 4.
Using games
to teach
English vocabulary motivates me to participate
more actively in the teaching-learning activities.
- 10
53 37
5. Using
games to
teach English
vocabulary motivates me to learn new English words.
- 3
70 27
6. Using
games to
teach English
vocabulary is interesting. -
3 50
47 7.
I enjoy playing games in a group. -
10 50
40 8.
I like learning English vocabulary using games.
- -
60 40
9. Using games to teach vocabulary can
create fun learning atmosphere. -
- 53
47 10.
Using games
to teach
English vocabulary helps me to avoid boredom.
- 10
50 40
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The results of the questionnaire, as elaborated in Table 4.5, showed that games helped all of the students to find the meaning and part of speech of an English
word questions 1 and 2. Even though the degree of agreement differs, it still indicated that the students found that using games did help them in finding the
meaning and part of speech of a word. On the other hand, three to ten percent of the students felt that using games did not help them in memorizing words question 3,
participating actively in the learning activities question 4, and motivating them to learn new words question 5.
Ten percent of the students admitted that they were not motivated to participate in playing games question 4, and thus did not help them to avoid
boredom during the lesson question 10. The other ten percent of the students found that they did not enjoy doing games in groups question 7. They preferred doing
games individually. On the other hand, the students showed good responses toward question 8
and question 9. Sixty percent of the students agreed while forty percent of them strongly agreed with the statement that they liked learning vocabulary using games.
Fifty-three percent of the students agreed while the remaining forty-seven percent strongly agreed with the statement that games can create fun teaching and learning
atmosphere. The questions in the second part of the questionnaire were designed to look
into the students’ feelings about their participation in playing the games and their opinions on the implementation of the games. Most of the students wrote that they
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felt happy when they participated in playing the games. They also felt more enthusiastic about learning English. Student 15 added that participating in the games
motivated her to find out the meanings of the words used in the games as well as motivated her friends to compete against each other positively.
When asked about the strengths and weaknesses of using games to teach vocabulary, the students mostly wrote that using games made learning English
become more interesting and less boring. Some of them admitted that they were motivated to participate more actively in playing the games. It also helped them to
memorize some words, categorize them into the correct parts of speech, and grasp the meanings of the words. On the other hand, the weaknesses that most of them found
were the situation of the classroom and the use of time. They wrote that sometimes the situation of the class was crowded. When they were asked to focus on the games,
some of them started to converse about the things unrelated to the learning process. They also wrote that the time spent to conduct the games reduced the time spent to
review the materials in details. It was particularly because the implementation of games in each meeting only spent around sixty minutes at the maximum. The
decision to limit the time only up to sixty minutes at the maximum was based on the consideration that the students would only have to focus on the games and the
vocabulary which was going to be taught. The activities themselves were designed to avoid excessive use of time because the students would probably grow tired if the
activities were too time-consuming.
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On the same day, the researcher randomly asked four students to be interviewed. The results of the interview with four randomly selected students
showed that the students were actually enjoying the games implemented in all meetings and they hoped that they could learn using games more frequently in their
real English class. One of them also said that the games had helped him to memorize the words more easily. It is shown by the statement of some students who were
interviewed by the researcher. Student 1: “Sangat membantu mengingat karena… jadi kayak, kita itu mengingat
sesuatu dalam keadaan senang. Jadi kalau kita mengingat sesuatu dalam keadaan senang, rasanya pengen nginget terus.” Games help
us to memorize the words. It’s almost like when we had to memorize something happily, we would always want to keep it in our mind.
All of the students interviewed admitted that it was important to learn in a happy mood. They thought that teachers had to be able to apply various teaching
methods which would result in the students developing enthusiasm and motivation to join the teaching and learning process. Games are the alternatives that teachers can
choose to enhance students’ participation and their interest in learning English. Student 24: “Termotivasi untuk mempelajari kata-kata baru karena dalam
pembelajaran kemarin itu bisa menumbuhkan semangat kembali untuk mempelajari Bahasa Inggris. Dulu saya SD suka Bahasa Inggris, tapi
sejak SMP karena gurunya mungkin terlalu formal mengajarnya dan tidak diselingi dengan games atau apapun, jadi terkesannya Bahasa
Inggris itu seperti pelajaran yang sangat asing kita pelajari.” I’ve grown my interest in learning English again after learning from the
previous meetings. When I was in primary school, I used to like English. However, English has become an “alien” lesson since I was
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in junior high school because the teacher taught us too formally without using other methods such as games.
Some of the students also stated that the games which had been implemented helped them to memorize the words more easily. The reasons were that the games
could help them to avoid boredom and lessen the burden of learning, so that it was easier for them to focus on the learning process. The games implemented in the three
meetings also motivated them to participate actively in the teaching and learning activities. They were able to interact with the teacher and their friends freely during
the class activities. However, they also had to think about how to make the most of the games as they tried to refrain themselves from merely thinking of having fun so
that they would be able to absorb the content of the games.
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