Acting Classroom Action Research Cycle 1

performance. Several students were busy with their own business when the teacher either explained something or asked the students to do the exercises on guessing words meaning. Because they did not pay attention to the lesson, when the teacher asked questions they could not answer it. Second, from the observation performed by the students, it was found that the teacher’s activities such as in opening the lesson; explaining the materials; using the learning media; involving students in the teaching and learning process; asking questions to the students; answering questions from the students; giving attention to all students; giving assignments, summary, or homework to the students were also good. Generally, most students commented that several things above were performed well by the teacher, in this case was the researcher. Meanwhile, as it was documented in the self-observation sheets, the researcher recognized that some of the actions mentioned had not been carried out well. There were several things that were not performed well such as the teacher’s explaining ability, the loudness and the clearness of the voice, the using of the learning media, and the answering-question ability. Third, the result of the observation on the strategy employed and the materials adopted showed that nearly all participants had neither known nor used this strategy previously. However, their response towards this strategy was good although they had never known and used it. They argued that, after two meetings learning vocabulary by employing contextual guessing, they found that employing contextual guessing strategy in learning new vocabulary was quite interesting. Another good thing found was that they felt happy and satisfied because they could find and understand the meaning of words they did not know without depending much on dictionary. Moreover, many students argued the words meaning that were guessed could be remembered better when contextual guessing strategy was employed. Meanwhile, a big number of students expressed that the materials adopted in the teaching and learning practice could help them understand about learning new vocabulary through guessing from context better. In addition to the observation on the students’ activities, the teacher’s activities, the strategy employed and the materials adopted; there were several things that should be noted after implementing contextual guessing strategy in learning vocabulary for XI-Social 1 class of Pangudi Luhur Sedayu Senior High School. First, since contextual guessing strategy was relatively new for them, it seemed that they found difficulties in acquiring the concept of it. Rather than trying to examine the context --the part of speech, the clause or sentence containing the word, or the paragraph Bruton Samuda, 1981 cited in Nation, 1990--, they tried to translate the sentence and paragraph containing the word. Second, it was recognized that a number of students had very limited vocabulary mastery even the high-frequency words. As the result, they were unable to perform the assignments as what had been expected. Third, it was found that the time allotment planned was not sufficient for the students to accomplish the task given. As elaborated by Kemp 1977, sufficient allotment of time provided to the students determines their successful of task accomplishment. Because of it, the teacher should give additional time for them to finish the assignments that made the planning was finished incompletely. The results of the observation elaborated above was summarized and presented in the following: 1 Observation on the students’ activities a From the students’ observation, it was found that basically the students’ activities were good. It could be seen from these activities: - They were ready to study when the teacher came. - Most students paid much attention to the lesson. - They always listened to the teacher’s explanation. - They wrote the important things. - They could accomplish the task given. b From the teacher’s observation self-observation, it was recognized that: - Many students had tried hard to understand the materials by paying attention to the lesson and trying to do the task as best as they could. - Several students had bad performance in class. They talked with their friends when the teacher was explaining something; did not do the assignments given; and were not able to perform it when the teacher asked them to do so. 2 Observation on the teacher’s activities a From the students’ observation, it was discovered that the teacher’s activities in opening the lesson; explaining the materials; using the learning media; involving the students in the teaching-learning process; asking questions to students; answering students’ questions; giving attention to all students, giving assignments, summary, and homework were also good. b From the teacher’s observation self-observation, it was found that there were several things that should be improved such as the teacher’s explaining ability, the loudness and the clearness of the voice, the using of the learning media, and the answering-question ability. 3 Observation on the strategy employed and the materials adopted The three things found were: a All students had neither known nor used contextual guessing strategy previously. b The students’ responses toward the implementation of contextual guessing strategy and the adoption of the materials in the first cycle were good. They argued that: - learning vocabulary by using contextual guessing was interesting - they did not need to depend much to dictionary - the vocabulary learned could be remembered better c The learning materials adopted could help them understand the application of contextual guessing strategy in learning vocabulary well. 4 There were two other findings recognized from the result of the observation; those were: a Most students still had difficulties in acquiring the concepts of contextual guessing strategy for this strategy was relatively new for them.