also supported by the principle for teaching English to children theory in which the researcher should start where the child was and supported negotiation of
meaning a collaborative talk early. In an oral practice, students were facilitated with the chance to exchange their ideas or opinions to train them in negotiating
meaning and collaborative talk. Wenden and Rubin 1987: 71 stated that “learning strategies are
techniques, approaches, or deliberate actions that the students take in order to facilitate the learning and recall both linguistic and content area information. ”
Based on the effectiveness of imagery to retain memory, the researcher considered picture as an appropriate strategy to improve students’ retention in learning
vocabulary. This strategy was proven to be effective enough in improving students’ mastery in their English vocabulary learning.
4.1.1.1 The First Cycle
The first cycle applied pictures as the chosen strategy. The first cycle consisted of clarifying vision, articulating theories, implementing action
collecting data afterwards, and reflecting planning informed action afterwards. The first research was conducted on April 23
rd
, 2007 and reviewed on April 30
th
, 2007. The place was in OI 743 Petra Children Development Centre. The research
subjects were the fifth grade students of elementary school. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
4.1.1.1.1 Clarifying Vision
In the initial stage of clarifying vision of the research, the researcher identified a crucial problem that occurred in OI 743 Petra Children Development
Center. The identification led into the focus of the research. This research focused on a strategy that was appropriate to teach English words toward the fifth grade
students of OI 743 Petra Children Development Center. The students could not memorize the English words they learned. The percentage of the words that they
could memorize was only 50 out of 100. The result was considered poor thus it was important to be solved. In the first cycle, the researcher had chosen pictures
as the strategy to teach English words. The second stage, the researcher selected achievement target. The students
were expected to be able to memorize 80 out of 100 English words they learned. During the research, students were given fifteen English words in each
meeting. From those fifteen English words, students were expected to memorize fourteen English words. If during the process students could achieve the target,
they were considered successful in their English vocabulary learning. The third stage was establishment of assessment criteria. In this research,
the researcher established the assessment criteria for the strategy which was used to teach English words. The assessment criteria of English words teaching should
measure effectively students’ achievement in their English vocabulary learning. The assessment criteria should be able to measure the effectiveness of pictures in
English vocabulary learning. Based on the criteria, the strategy worked if it could improve students’ retention in their English words learning in OI 743 Petra
Children Development Center. Out of fifteen English words, students used to be able to memorize five up to six words. Therefore, the strategy should facilitate the
students to achieve fourteen words out of fifteen English words.
4.1.1.1.2 Articulating Theories
This research was based the research on theories of children language and learning, theories of ten principles of teaching young learners, and theories of
English language teaching. These theories were used as references in achieving the objective of this research problem formulation question. The theories were
used as a guidance to search for an appropriate strategy to teach English vocabulary.
The theories of children language learning were used to investigate student’s ways of learning a language. Hudelson 1991: 2 stated four basic
principles of children language learning. They were learning by doing, learning in social contexts, learning with experimenting using the language, and learning
through social interaction. These theories were adopted in the research to support the teaching of English vocabulary. Students were facilitated to experience
learning English words through social context in which they were involved in simple conversation. It facilitated the students to memorize the English words by
applying the words they learned from the given pictures and by using the ir interaction with their classmates with the given pictures. The activities were
proven to be effective as it was mentioned by Hudelson’s theories of four basic principles of children language learning. The above theories supported selection
of a strategy that was used to teach English vocabulary and construction of lesson plans.
Theories of ten principles of teaching young learners helped the researcher to adopt his teaching based on students’ age. The principles gave direction and a
guidance to teach language to children effectively. They are 1 starting where the child is, 2 encouraging social interaction, 3 supporting negotiation of meaning
and collaborative talk early, 4 allowing the children to be active, 5 pitching input within the zone of proximal development, 6 introducing language at
discourse level, 7 planning meaningful and purposeful activities with in a clear familiar context, 8 help ing learners to become more independent and
autonomous, 9 developing a supportive, non-threatening, enjoyable learning environment and 10 testing and assessing in the way that we teach. The above
theories were applied in this research and used to help the researcher to teach English words. Each point of these theories facilitated the researcher to explain
English words and to conduct the teaching. The last theories were English language teaching. The theories explained
that the meaning of words could be communicated in many different ways. They were by demonstration or pictures and by verbal explanation. Demonstration or
pictures were conducted by using an object, using a cut-out figure, using gesture, performing an action, photographs, blackboard drawing or diagrams, and pictures
from books. Verbal explanation could be done by analytical definition, putting the new word in defining context and translating into another language. The relation
in communication process was shown as in Figure 4.1. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
Figure 4.1 The Relation in Communication Process Nation, 1990:3
Encoding Decoding
In this research, the information source to teach English words was the teacher’s brain. The transmitter was the teacher’s voice when the teacher gave a
verbal explanation, the teacher’s hands when the teacher drew or pointed to a picture, the teacher’s body when the teacher gave a demonstration and a real
object when the teacher showed it to the class. The researcher used one type of cognitive strategies which was called
imagery. Imagery could be done by demonstrations and using pictures as it translated the idea in the information source. In addition, English language
teachers could help their learners to grasp the concept. It was done by varying the situation in which it was demonstrated and by giving verbal definition as well as
nonverbal one in learning English vocabulary. The above explanation stated that imagery was used by correlating new
information to visual concepts in memory via familiar easily retrievable visualizations, phrases or locations. Those visual concepts were suitable and
helpful for students in memorization of English words. They were used to choose a strategy to teach English words.
Information Source
Information Destination
Receiver Transmitter
4.1.1.1.3 Implementing Action and Collecting Data
The first stage of implementing action and collecting data in the research was determination of research question. The question was formulated as “What is
the teaching strategy that is appropriate to improve the achievement of the fifth grade students in their vocabulary learning in OI 743 Petra Children Development
Center?” Thus, the research focused on a strategy that was effective to teach English words.
The second stage, based on the research question, the researcher started to create a data-collection plan. Data collection plan which was used were
Triangulation Matrix and weekly quizzes. The Triangulation Matrix was used to
collect the qualitative data which became the main source data of the research. The Triangulation Matrix was a journal. These data collection plans were used to
record the process of applying the chosen strategy to teach English vocabulary. The data were words. All of changes and progress of students were recorded in
details. Weekly quizzes were given in order to measure students’ achievement in their English vocabulary learning and to pursue the initial standard. The initial
standard was the strategy worked if it could improve students’ English vocabulary retention. It meant that students were required to be able to memorize up to
fourteen out of fifteen English words. The third stage, the researcher took actions. They were selecting the topics
of teaching, choosing a strategy to teach English vocabulary, and applying the chosen strategy. During the implementation of the chosen strategy, the researcher
observed the progress of the students, whether the chosen strategy worked PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
effective or not. In order to record students’ progress and to measure students’ achievement, the researcher used Triangulation Matrix and weekly quizzes.
The first research was conducted on April 23
rd
, 2007 and reviewed on April 30
th
, 2007. The class was conducted for one hour; it started at 16.00 p.m. and finished at 17.00 p.m. The place was in OI 743 Petra Children Development
Center. The subjects of this research were the fifth grade students of elementary school. The class consisted of 20 students and 5 students were chosen as samples.
5 students were selected because they were considered as an appropriate number that could represent the total number of the class. They were selected based on the
consideration that the students were at the same level and the y had similar characteristics. The researcher chose three girls and two boys. This proportion was
based on the number of the students. The students consisted of 20 students and the numbers of the class were dominated by girls. The class consisted 23 of girls and
13 of boys. Dealing with the learning activities inside of the class, the researcher had
set the lesson plans for the meetings. In the class, the researcher provided the students with some exercises. They were written and oral exercises. The
researcher drilled the students orally to pronounce the words correctly. It was done as an oral exercise. Then for the written exercises, the researcher applied the
use of fill- in-the blanks practice. The class was ended by reviewing the English words.
4.1.1.1.4 Reflecting and Planning Informed Action
The first stage of reflecting and planning informed action in this research was analyzing data. Based on the data the researcher found that students were able
to memorize fourteen out of fifteen English words. Students were also more active in joining the class. They seemed more interested when pictures took place in the
teaching. Moreover, the pictures also helped the students to understand the translation of each English word.
The second stage, the researcher revised theory of action. It was proved that imagery was effective to teach English vocabulary in OI 743 Petra Children
Development Center. As it was mentioned that for productive learning, “saying the words aloud brings faster learning with better retention” Wallace, 1991: 29.
This theory was work effectively during the research. For example the teacher showed a picture of an elephant and asked the student about the words in English.
In order to support the success of the research, the researcher also based the research on theories of children language and learning, theories of ten principles
of teaching young learners and theories of English language teaching as Nation 1990: 51 explained that the meaning of words can be communicated in many
different ways. They are by demonstration or pictures and verbal explanations. The last action of this research was to plan future action. It had been
proven from the data that imagery like pictures or demonstrations could improve students’ retention in their English words learning since the initial standard of the
research had been achieved. It stated that from fifteen English words students were expected to be able to memorize fourteen English words. Based on the
results of data analysis of research subjects in their English words learning achievement, they were able to achieve the initial standard.
Students’ characteristics in OI 743 Petra Children Development Center were suit able to the use of pictures in learning English words. They were
interested in the use of imagery stuffs as the strategy to teach English words. By concentrating on the visual objects, the researcher could lead the subjects to focus
their mind on the English words they learned.
4.1.1.2 Second Cycle
