Then I directly introduced vocabulary with pictures. Laut could pronounce the words correctly. Then I chose randomly the picture and asked her to name the
hobby. She did the exercise while still lying on the bed but she did seriously. I did not take quite long time to finish. I checked the answer and surprisingly she
answered all the questions correctly. The second activity was using card. The cards were still about hobbies. I
gave the cards and asked Laut to pronounce the. She did not have problem in reading and pronouncing the words. Then I mention some vocabulary related to
the hobbies then Laut should give me the correct card. Here are the words that I used in card game for the second activity:
Table 4.2. Card game Knitting
Painting Playing chess
Cycling
Drawing Diving
Keeping pets Playing musical
instrument
Learning languages
Taking photos Collecting stamps
Sunbathing
The figure below is the illustration from the activity:
Figure 4.2. Vocabulary game
camera picture
sun beach
forest animal
bicycle sport shoes
beautiful fish sea
stamp post office
piano drum
English Indonesian
Needle Thread
Taking photos
sunbathing
hunting
cycling
diving
learning language
collecting stamps
playing musical instrumen
knitting
The target of this activity is to see whether Laut understands the vocabulary about hobbies so the clue cards were for me and the hobbies cards
were for Laut. I read the clue and Laut was supposed to give me the suitable card. Laut was great. She could answer correctly. I tried to initiate conversation but she
only replied with short answer. The interaction lasted for about twenty minutes. I stopped the activity because Laut suddenly cried. I saw tears dropped on her
cheeks, and then I decided took her back to the classroom. The other students were presenting their collection in front of the class one
by one. Laut sat in the first row and enjoyed the activity. After the class I told Bu Samudra that Laut cried, but she said it happened quite often. Laut could suddenly
cry or laugh when she was doing activities. Those situations of the symptoms of ADHD that appeared in grade four. The interaction with Laut gave me lots of
information. Unfortunately, I could not record or even take picture because the device could disturb her attention.
The last participant of this research was the coordinator of inclusive program, Pak Rimba. The interview aimed to gather detail information about Laut
related to her attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. In the first year Laut had emotional problem, she had problem in controlling emotion so she usually
shouted very loudly when she did not like something. This school applied team teaching technique. In the first three years Laut
studied with two teachers with one was the educator who was responsible to teach, while the other one is GPK guru pendamping khusus who was responsible
to assist special need student during the lesson. In these three years Laut showed significant progress in which she could manage the emotion better. In grade four
Laut could learn without GPK, both of the teachers in grade four were educators. Although the educators did not have specific education background dealing with
students with special need they had had trainings, workshops and experiences to handle students with special needs. The reason of pulling out the GPK was
because Laut had been able to learn in more independently. The coordinator of inclusive program kept monitoring her by doing observation in her class
occasionally. The assisting program for Laut focused on controlling her emotion. When
she showed emotional, the teacher approached and helped her. Laut often went out from the class when she got angry then she would come back to the classroom
when she got better. This treatment was very important because her emotional affects her academic performance. When her emotion was fine she could complete
the task well, but when she was in a bad emotional condition such as angry, panic, or frustrated she was usually unable to do the task well. Another problem was she
was easily distracted. To overcome this problem the teacher had strategy to put Laut in the first row to minimize disturbance especially the classroom situation.
The assisting program to help Laut had been developing based on Laut’s progress and need. The school pr
ovided assistance to control Laut’s hyperactivity both social emotional and behavior. RPI was applied as part of the treatment since
the symptoms were usually appeared when Laut got frustrated in completing task, so some subjects need to be adjusted. Involving peers was also applied, in which
the classmates were invited to help Laut when she got problems during class. During the interview I also asked about Laut’s performance in English
subject. In line with the teacher, the coordinator said that Laut had strength in this PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
subject. He noticed that Laut often spent time in the library reading English books for children and it became one of the inputs for Laut. The great potential in
English subject was also proved from the score she achieved in this subject, she could meet the passing grade without which is the same with other friends. The
difference is on the process. For example when laut was supposed to compose a short essay about a certain topic, Laut need a clear illustration about the topic. In
this case teacher needed to provide pictures to give Laut clear idea about what the topic is about.
4.2 DISCUSSION
This part is the answer of the research question “How does an Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder ADHD learner acquires English Vocabulary?
” The answer is derived from the result of data gathering and relating it with the
existing theories. Based on the analysis of the data these are the ways of how a student with ADHD acquires English vocabulary:
4.2.1 Habit Formation
When Laut was in kindergarten, the teacher started introducing new vocabulary about the things around her as a stimulus for Laut to learn a foreign
language. The respond was positive, Laut was interested. She looked enthusiastic and attentive. The teacher realized that Laut had great potential in English then
she introduced more new vocabulary. Laut became curious and actively asked the English of the objects around her. She asked quickly, “what is this, what is that?”
and it seemed that she did not pay attention when the answered. The teacher understood that Laut was a student with ADHD so she followed Laut’s learning
style and she patiently taught her. By the end of kindergarten school she could mention a lot of objects in English. Laut’s mother said see appendix 4 transcript
4 How did she learn vocabulary in early stage?
The teacher introduced vocabulary around her. At first it seemed that she did not pay attention, but later she asked a lot of questions. Luckily the
teacher was patient, so she kept teaching Laut new vocabulary.
After Laut finished her kindergarten, her mother continued the learning process but she did in a different way. She gave stimulus by giving list of words
to Laut then Laut memorize the words. Laut was happy to learn the list and she also kept asking new vocabulary and sometimes the mother got stuck because she
did not know the English of certain words. see appendix 4 transcript 4 She sometimes asked the English objects she found. But sometimes I don’t
know the English of a certain word. I gave her list of words. At that time I gave her around 250 words. I asked her to read the list then I sometimes
asked her. She could answer and finally she could memorize all the words.
When Laut studies at school, English is her favorite subject. Being rich of vocabulary helps her a lot. Usually the problem appears when she finds new
vocabulary. She will suddenly scream and feel frustrated. When it happens the teacher gives her time then Laut asks lots of questions.
The examples above show that Laut acquires new vocabulary through behavior. According to behaviorist theory, the process of second language
acquisition includes imitation, repetition, and reinforcement of grammatical structures. When Laut learns new vocabulary from the teachers especially her
kindergarten teacher, shows that she learns by imitating them. The treatment that what her mother did actually gave her reinforcement.
According to behaviorist theory if children make error during this process, they need to be corrected immediately in order to avoid forming bad habits that
would be difficult to overcome. In this case people who are involved in Laut’s
learning process will correct Laut when she makes error.
4.2.2 Interaction
In Laut’s learning process of acquiring new English vocabulary happens through interaction with the teacher in kindergarten, the mother, the English
teacher, and her classmates. From the interview, in the first stage Laut learned vocabulary from the teacher and the parent. The teacher introduced English
vocabulary when Laut was in kindergarten and it became the greatest moment because since then the teacher found that Laut showed her interest then regarding
the problem that Laut had, she was still encouraged to dig the potential. After kindergarten, Laut’s vocabulary mastery improved since her mother
also participated in the learning process. The mother gave her list of vocabulary and asked Laut to memorize. The mother monitored the learning process and she
usually asked Laut to mention the words from the list and Laut could memorize the well. Laut got more interested and asked more and more words and until
sometimes the mother clueless when she did not know the words in English. Laut also learns better by interacting with her teacher and classmates at
school although she has problem in controlling her emotion and it can appear anytime. She was usually bad tempered when she had difficulties in doing task,
then her friends were willing to help and Laut could do the task. Inclusive program gives positive environment for disabled learners. This school educates
non-disabled learners that they study together with disabled learners so they are supposed to respect and help their friends with disabilities. This situation makes
the students with disabilities including Laut feel comfortable so Laut did not hesitate to learn with her classmates. This interaction is effective since Laut could
perform better after her classmates help her. The coordinator of inclusive classroom said see appendix 3 transcript 3:
How does she learn with other students? Non-disabled learners in this school are open-minded. They know tha they
have friends with special needs. They are willing to help their friends with special needs. Laut feels happy when her friends help her. She feels that
her friend care.
Also see the statement from the head master in appendix 1 transcript 1. We apply spirit of inclusion. We educate the students that they learn with
student with special need so they are expected to be helpful and give their empathy.
The interaction with the English teacher also gives great contribution in the development and
improvement of Laut’s vocabulary. The teacher understands Laut’s psychological condition during the learning process. Laut’s always feels
frustrated when she can’t complete the task the teacher patiently helps. When Laut has problem in understanding certain vocabulary, she will help to explain or
illustrate or use media so that Laut has clear picture about the word .
Those findings show that people around Laut play important role in helping Laut to acquire new vocabulary. They support Laut to cope with her
problem and give opportunity to develop her potency. Based on interactionist theory it is believed that children learn their first language from the inter action
with the people around them. In this case mother and caretakers play an important role. Care takers facilitate the development of children vocabulary, develop the
ability to use the language in appropriate situations and to get the things done through conversation.
4.2.3 Innate
The third result that I found after interpreting the data is that emotional feeling really influences
Laut’s performance. The syndromes that appear related to her ADHD appear in different way in different level but the result is always the
same. When the syndrome appears Laut becomes less motivated or even she does not want to do anything. The performance is not satisfying enough. For the
homeroom teacher, the result of Laut’s work can tell what is happening to Laut
when she is doing the work. Even for English subject, her favorite subject, she makes errors in doing the task or even she does not want to do at all. Another
syndrome that appears in grade four is that she becomes anxious then suddenly screams when she cannot do the exercise from the book. When it happens she
usually leaves the class to take sometimes to calm down and after that she comes back to the classroom. After that she will feel better. The coordinator of inclusive
program said, see appendix 3, transcript 3 When the symptoms appear, we control her emotion. She needs time to
calm down. In grade 4 she knows how to control herself. When she feels uncomfortable she leaves the class. After some time she comes back to
class. When the mood is fine the learning process will be good as well.
See also the statement from the teacher in appendix 2, transcript 2 How is her performance in English subject?
She is good at English. Her listening, reading, and writing are good. But when she is not I a good mood she becomes careless. It is merely because
of her emotion and mood, she does not have problem in understanding materials.
