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The time of the research was arranged based on the school’s academic schedule. Therefore, the writer conducted the research in the second semester of
academic year 20092010 from April to June.
B. The Subject of the Research
The subject of the research was the fourth grade students of SD Negeri Cengklik II Surakarta. This class consists of 37 students. They are 14 boys and 23
girls. The writer chose class IV as the subject of the research based on the fact
that several of the students are cleverer and some are very active while the others have low achievement in English especially on vocabulary. It seems that some of
them do not have willingness to study. This unwillingness can be seen from their behavior in English lesson time, from the observation of teacher’s class and from
the first day of the research, researcher had seen that some students are asleep and some even making their own conversation with friends. The researcher conducted
the study through teaching and learning process by employing board games in teaching vocabulary. The researcher acted as the teacher and the English teacher
acted as the observer.
C. The Method of the Research
The research used in this study is a classroom action research. Action research is classroom-based research conducted by teachers in order to reflect
upon and evolve their teaching. It is a systematic, documented inquiry into one aspect of teaching and learning in a specific classroom. The purpose of teacher
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research is to gain understanding of teaching and learning within one’s classroom and to use that knowledge to increase teaching efficacystudent learning.
Classroom action research helped the researcher to discover what works best in a certain classroom situation as what stated by Zuber-Skerrit 1982
Through systematic, controlled action research, higher education teachers can become more professional, more interested in pedagogical aspects of
higher education and more motivated to integrate their research and teaching interests in a holistic way. This, in turn, can lead to greater job satisfaction,
better academic programmes, improvement of student learning and practitioner’s insights and contributions to the advancement of knowledge in
higher education.
In this study, the classroom action research is conducted to solve the problems that appear in teaching and learning of vocabulary. The purpose of the
research is to improve the students’ vocabulary mastery through board games and can give the best solution from the problem that appears during the teaching and
learning process on the fourth grade of SD N Cengklik II Surakarta. This class Action Research is carried out by the writer as a practitioner who implemented the
action and the English teacher helped the researcher by being the observer.
D. The Model of Action Research
The model of classroom action research used in this study is based on the model developed by Stephen Kemmis in Hopkins 1993:48. Based on the model,
there are four steps in implementing the action research: 1 planning; 2 acting; 3 observing; and 4 reflecting. The cycle of research steps can be visually seen
as follows:
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Plan
Reflection
Step I
Action
Observation Revised Plan
Reflection
Step II
Action
Observation Revised Plan
Next Cycle
Figure 1. Cycles of Action Research
The four elements above can be explained, as follows: 1. Planning the action.
The writer prepared everything related to the action as follows: a. Preparing material, making lesson plan, and designing the steps in
doing the action.
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b. Preparing sheets for classroom observation. It is prepared to know the situation and condition of the teaching and learning process
when the technique is applied. c. Preparing teaching aids needed, for example copies worksheets of
picture or word list of board games, chalk, blackboard, duster, and so on.
d. Preparing test. It was done to know whether students’ vocabulary mastery could be improved or not. Thus it can be identified how
effective the technique is. 2. Implementing the action
The writer conducted teaching and learning vocabulary through board games. The real implementations were generally presented as
follows: a. The writer prepared materials containing some exercises and
practices taken and adapted from the source. b. The writer distributed copied material according to the number of
the students. c. The writer gave short explanation and guided the students to
understand, practice and do the exercise of board games. d. The writer gave examples of board games that would be performed
for other students in the class. e. After ensuring that all students had understood, board games could
be played.
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f. After doing board games, the teacher and the students reviewed materials and gave some evaluation.
g. The writer asked the students’ feeling and their comment dealing with board games had been performed.
3. Observing or monitoring the action The writer as the practitioner observed the students’ activities
when teaching and learning process occurred. The result of the observation was written on field notes as the data. The English teacher
as observer gave some input and suggestion to the practitioner. 4. Reflecting the result of the observation
In this step, the researcher as practitioner made an evaluation and investigation towards what she had observed in order to find out the
strengths and weaknesses of the teaching activity that had been carried out. Through the observation, the teacher can see whether the students
are active or passive during the teaching and learning process. 5. Revising the plan
Based on the weaknesses of the activities that had been carried out using board games in teaching vocabulary, the writer revised the
plan for the next cycle.
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E. The Technique of Collecting Data
