Background of the Research

2 vocabulary teaching. Hence, the researcher would like to investigate the implementation of weekly tests as a part of vocabulary teaching and discover whether they support the vocabulary learning. Vocabulary I course administers thirteen weekly tests in one semester. Therefore, there are thirteen tests which are held each week in the semester. By having weekly tests, the students are expected to know the meaning of the English items of the 3000-word level especially in Indonesian Dosen-dosen Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, 2006: 84. “Vocabulary mastery is becoming aware of a word, remember it, and have some ideas of its meaning then translate into the L1” Leverrets, 2006. In learning English as a foreign language, English learners must be alert of the significance of vocabulary mastery. Vocabulary mastery is an essential element for an English learner to have. For that reason, mastering English vocabulary will determine whether she will be successful or not in learning English. Likewise, the English learners cannot enhance their English skills without having enough vocabulary mastery foundation. On the contrary, they are in the stage of having enough vocabulary mastery when reaching the point where they do not need to translate the word in order to use it in a sentence. Furthermore, the research depicts the students’ perceptions on the implementation of weekly tests in Vocabulary I class. Altman, Valenzi, and Hodgetts 1985: 84 declared that the way the students perceive on something, whether in a positive way or in a negative way, influences their behavioral responses. If the students perceive the implementation of the weekly tests PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 3 positively, their behavioral responses will be positive too, which will then support the course goal achievement. Nonetheless, if the students perceive the implementation of the weekly tests negatively, their behavioral responses will also be negative too, which will hinder the course goal achievement. Thus, through the research, the researcher would like to make certain whether the students’ perceptions on the implementation of the weekly tests really influence their achievements.

B. Problem Formulation

The research problems are formulated as follows: 1. What are the students’ perceptions on the implementation of weekly tests in Vocabulary I class? 2. To what extent do the students’ perceptions on the weekly tests contribute to their vocabulary mastery?

C. Problem Limitation

There are several subjects in the English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University. Nevertheless, the research is limited to one subject, namely Vocabulary I class. The researcher chooses the Vocabulary I class since in this class, the students deal with the implementation of vocabulary weekly tests. Moreover, there are three classes of Vocabulary I class, namely A, B, and C. Class A is the biggest class among other classes. It is chosen to be the 4 research population since biggest number means a lot in providing representative data for the research. The research focuses on two main points. Firstly, it would like to describe the students’ perceptions on the implementation of vocabulary weekly tests in the academic year of 20072008. Secondly, due to the identification of the scope, it investigates the correlation between the students’ perceptions on the weekly tests and their vocabulary mastery which is shown in their final scores.

D. Objectives of the Research

In relation with the questions in the problem formulation, there are two objectives presented in the research. The first objective is to unveil the students’ perceptions on the implementation of weekly tests in Vocabulary I class. The second objective is to offer a general description as to what extent the students’ perceptions on the weekly tests contribute to their vocabulary mastery.

E. Benefits of the Research

The investigation of the research is aimed to give beneficial contributions, expectantly for the students who join Vocabulary I class, the lecturers who implement weekly tests in teaching vocabulary class, other researchers, and generally for all the readers.

1. Students of Vocabulary Class

The research provides information about what actually the general perceptions of the students on the implementation of weekly tests in Vocabulary I