The Background of the Study

to objectives and they can create an easier way of teaching which is based on the present curriculum. Using computer as the basis for exercises, students will be easier to absorb the materials because the learning activities will take place on the computer instead of inside the traditional class which mostly makes them lack of motivation to learn. The basis for learning and exercising vocabulary to improve students’ achievement is by means of computer. The computer is hoped to help students to create motivation toward vocabulary learning. Using computer the students can also expose themselves more on the vocabulary materials they are learning. Computer was first designed for military purpose to protect highly important documents from their opponents. With the end of the war world II, people were trying to develop computer for other purposes. Since then, computer was developing very fast and now computer has become a part of human activities and used for numerous aspects in life. For many years, people are trying to develop a technique to teach English to students and finally, they come up with the use of computer to help students in learning English. Started from 1960s, computers were used for language teaching “Computers have been used for language teaching since the 1960s” Warschauer and Healey, 1998, p.57, but it was only used for certain educational purposes. Starting from that moment, people were trying to develop technology which could help students and teachers to find suitable method to teach and learn English. Then, researchers proposed the Computer Assisted Language Learning CALL. Through CALL the teaching and learning activities are based on computer as the assistant. The involvement of PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI computer has been a way to solve students’ problem in learning languages. Nevertheless, technology is made to help humans accomplish their duties. The learning process through the use of computer will be in two 2 ways, online and offline. Using the online process, the students will need to connect their computers to Internet Service Provider ISP or other computers which have the Internet Service Provider. The online connection allows students to use the design anytime and anywhere they want, this is because the materials are already provided in the website and students are only to open the address of the website. Besides the online connection, the offline connection is also being used in the design. Offline connection demands the students to use their computers only without having to connect their computer to the Internet Service Provider. Offline connection allows student to learn using their computers. The form of the software will still be in form of a website page but it is bundled into Compact Disc CD, this is done to make the students easier to use the website. In the design, the features used in online and offline connection are the same; there are no extreme distinctions used in both connections. The focus of the research is that the designing application using the programming software used to teach vocabulary for the first grade students of Sekolah Menengah Atas Negeri 9 Yogyakarta provides the features needed to create a more attractive vocabulary learning design and help the students to have more exposure on vocabulary materials so that they can do exercise themselves to achieve better vocabulary mastery. There are many programming softwares that can be used to design the software such as Macromedia Dreamweaver™, PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI Macromedia Flash™, Java scripting™, Delphi™, which each has its own characteristics. The programming software used in the study is the Macromedia Dreamweaver™. The writer uses the Macromedia Dreamweaver™ as the programming software because the software is easy to apply, it has the features to create a more attractive design, and moreover, it has the characteristics which allow beginner users to learn the software independently. The programming software also enables teachers to design their own materials based on students’ needs and the present curriculum.

B. Problem Identification

The lack of vocabulary materials in class has created teacher to have less focus on the vocabulary teaching and learning. Teachers tend to use the vocabulary which is included in the book, teachers exercises their students mainly using the vocabulary exercises in the book. This situation has undervalued vocabulary teaching and learning in class and it will create the analogy that vocabulary is difficult. This is because of when the vocabulary is being undervalued, vocabulary teaching and learning will tend no to be maximum and students will have many problems dealing with English vocabulary. “Teaching and learning of vocabulary have been undervalued in the field of second language acquisition SLA throughout its varying stages and up to the present day” Zimmerman as cited by Coady, 1997, p.1. Since vocabulary is undervalued and considered the second, the teaching and learning of vocabulary is considered as not very important. In class, teachers seldom use attractive materials PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI when they are teaching vocabulary to their students which makes the students unmotivated to learn. When students are not motivated, they seldom understand materials they are learning. Creating attracting materials can help the situation from happening. Zimmerman also explains that: Most second language learners have traditionally been taught by methods that gave minimal attention to vocabulary. Consequently, it seems reasonable to expect that most teachers will also continue to neglect vocabulary, whether it is because of the methods by which they have learned or the method by which they are teaching. Zimmerman as cited by Coady, 1997, p.273 – 274 The perception is clear, in the implementation of vocabulary learning, most teachers and learners neglect the vocabulary learning for they think it is not very important no matter what method they are using. They always consider that vocabulary is just learning and memorizing list of words. For most students of senior high school, vocabulary is regarded difficult. “In learning a second language, you will find that vocabulary is comparatively easy, inspite of the fact that it is vocabulary that students fear most. The harder part is mastering new structure in both content comprehension” Gleason as cited by Carter, 2000, p.184. It is true that vocabulary is difficult for students who are lack of exposure in comprehending vocabulary, they seldom get any comprehension activities which are very helpful in learning vocabulary. “It is exceptionally difficult to teach an organized syllabus of both grammar and lexis at the same time.” Sinclair and Renouf, 1998 as cited by Coady, 1997, p.273. They say that we cannot do grammar and vocabulary teaching at the same time for it is very unlikely. This has affected the learning of vocabulary because it will create a PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI