of the texts about participants’ lived experience. It aims to gain insights about what meaning a certain phenomenon, which is vocabulary learning using
Interactive PowerPoint Application for Language Learning, has brought to students’ life. The concept of meaning is proposed by Ferdinand de Saussure
through the explanation of a famous concept of the signifier and the signified. Saussure as quoted in Hall 2003: p. 31 as written in Marleku n.d states, “…a
sign as being composed by a signifier – the form which sign takes – and the signified – the idea or the concept it represents.” A sign always has an idea that it
refers to. The meaning of the sign is something which is constructed. Therefore, it is not suddenly there.
Meaning exists because people construct it. It is the concept which is proposed by Hall 2003 as quoted in Marleku 2011 which states, “This is a
matter of inventioncreation: there is no meaning that we simply can ‘find’ somewhere.” Meanwhile, in relation with meaning of lived experienced, Derksen
1983: p.165 attempts to tell that Gadamer defines meaning as “…the meaning of the statement, as referring to the ‘unsaid’.” The ‘unsaid’ meaning is what is
needed to be dug deeper as it is infinite or limitless depending on how people perceive the phenomenon when it shows itself. Dilthey as quoted in Palmer 1969:
p.119 states, “…what words point out and the expression that is behind the words. Meaning is historical, it changed over time…” A word such as the word
‘vocabulary’ has already had the concept it represents, but behind it there is something more than the word itself.
Meaning is subjective as it is differently perceived by different people. Ricoeur 1981: p.107 states, “Meaning, which is structured by fore-having, fore-
sight, and fore-conception, forms for any project the horizon in terms of which something can be understood as something.” How something is perceived as
something really depends on the participants. It is also similar with what Wiersma 1995 has highlighted, “The phenomenological approach emphasizes that the
meaning of reality is, in essence, in the “eyes and minds of the beholders.” Laverty 2003, attempts to explain what it means by horizon by stating, “A
‘horizon’ is a range of vision that includes everything seen from particular vantage point.” Everybody has his or her own way of thinking and that is the
vantage point which enables me to achieve the sense of understanding based on their point of view. This vantage point is specific only to the person and it is not
the same with the others who have experienced the same thing.
a. Empirical Meaning
Based on what Saussure mentions as quoted in Hall 2003: p. 31 a signifier must have something that it represents which is called as the signified.
Just like the word ‘cat’ signifies a four-legged mammal which has fur of different colour and two ears, the words ‘vocabulary learning’ signify learning word
meaning and other aspects involved. The aspects will be discussed further in the sixth part of the theoretical review section. McLeod 2008 states that empiric
means ‘a method of inquiry that used careful observation and experiments to gather facts and evidence.’ It comes from empiricism founded by John Locke
which states that the only source of knowledge comes through our senses – e.g. sight, hearing McLeod: 2008. It is about what we see, hear, and even feel and
taste. It is about what things can be obtained by using the senses.
Based on the definition of empiric and empiricism, empirical meaning in this research refers to meaning that vocabulary learning using IPALL has brought
to students’ life which can be seen through observation. Observation enables researcher to use senses; to see and to hear things that happen in the classroom
and jot them down in observational sheet. By seeing, the researcher can notice things which may be related to meaning which is being constructed in students’
life. By hearing, the researcher knows how students react through vocabulary learning by listening to what they say to their friends or to their teachers. It is
important because certain reaction can be the empirical meaning itself which is related to their previous horizon constructed by their awareness, beliefs, intention,
feeling, and action. More explanation about these aspects is presented in the sixth part of the theoretical review. Meanwhile, more explanation about observation is
presented in chapter three.
b. Transcendent Meaning
Transcendent meaning is also sought in this research. Thus, it is necessary to know what it actually is. Maslow has proposed a definition of being
transcendent. Maslow 1979 as quoted in Fernando 2002 states,
Transcenders are those who transcend, who live more at the level of being...who are more inclined to have had peak experiences, which are
experiences of ecstasy, rapture, bliss, the greatest joy, awe, mystery, humility, surrender and the happiest moments in life.
Maslow then, also explains some types of transcendence. From all types of transcendence, some definitions of transcendence types which are the most
appropriate for this research are taken. The first type of transcendence is
transcendence of one’s past. It is about understanding ourselves for everything that we have done. If we feel that what we have done is wrong then, we need to
forgive ourselves. “It means the transcendence of remorse, regret, guilt, shame, embarrassment, and the like.” Maslow, 1979: p.261 The second type of
transcendence is it is as mystical experience. It is “Mystic fusion, either with another person or with the whole cosmos or with anything in between.” Maslow,
1979: p.261 It is the sense of belonging with the universe and all the people in it. It is the feeling of connectedness to a bigger world; that we are a part of a bigger
thing. The third type of transcendence is love. It can be the love “for one’s child, or for one’s beloved friend. This means ‘unselfish’...this can also be phrased as
the more and more inclusive self.” Maslow, 1979: p.262 The last type of transcendence which is also stated by Maslow 1979: p. 264 is “the word
transcend also means ‘surpass’ in the sense simply of being able to do more than one thought one could do, or more than one had in the past.”
Meanwhile, a study conducted by Levin Steele 2005 mention transcendent experience as ‘difficult to describe’. It is difficult to describe as it is
very personal. The ones who do not experience it may not understand. It has some elements which make it be called transcendent experience. Levin Steele 2005
mention, “...the element of this experience is the perception of merging or identification with the source of being – whether known as God, Higher Self or
the Absolute or Eternal.” Further, they mention the key feature to transcendence.
A key feature to transcendence, as described by many experiencers, is that it is ‘beyond perception and beyond human understanding.’ For others, it is more
immediate, more present, more real than other experiences...in some crucial sense, higher than...the reality of everyday experience. Levin Steele: 2005
