Statements of the Problems Aims of the Study Significance of the Study Clarification of Terms Organization of the Paper

Nida Mujahidah Fathimah,2013 The Implementation Of Theme- Based Teaching To Improve Young Learners’ English Vocabulary Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu which caused by inadequate recycling activities that do not relate to the learners’ real lives. In line with that, the implementation of theme-based teaching is expected to be an answer of this learning problem. As Cameron 2001:191 states, “theme- based work is likely to introduce new vocabulary items, with the theme providing support for understanding and recall ”. Since the learning will go around theme, there will be more opportunities for the learners to meet particular words in different context that might give broader meaning of the words. Moreover, the implementation of theme-based teaching seems also beneficial for teaching children as it has been found by Yang 2009 in his study that the children were very positive towards theme-based teaching. The majority of them thought that teaching activities and tasks are more integrated and organized with the implementation of theme-based teaching. Considering that there will be opportunities for children to develop their vocabularies through theme-based teaching, as it has been planned to be implemented as the method in the curriculum development 2013, the present study tries to investigate how theme based teaching improves young learners’ English vocabulary.

1.2 Statements of the Problems

This study was conducted to answer two questions: 1 “How does theme-based teaching improve young learners’ English vocabulary ?” 2 “What are the students’ responses towards the theme-based teaching that is implemented to improve their English vocabulary?”

1.3 Aims of the Study

This study is aimed to find out how theme-based teaching improves young learners’ English vocabulary and to find out students’ responses towards the theme-based teaching that is implemented to improve their English vocabulary. Nida Mujahidah Fathimah,2013 The Implementation Of Theme- Based Teaching To Improve Young Learners’ English Vocabulary Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

1.4 Significance of the Study

The result of this study is expected to be a beneficial contribution not only for English language teacher but also for institutions concerned with teaching English for young learners. It is also expected that the theme-based teaching can help the students to learn English mainly in improving young learners’ vocabulary.

1.5 Clarification of Terms

Here are several terms used that are clarified to avoid misconception and misunderstanding:  Theme-based teaching in this study refers to the approach that is used to teach English in order to improve students’ vocabulary. Theme-based teaching is an approach in which the learning activities are designed under a theme that will be linked based on the content. Cameron, 2001  Vocabulary in this study refers to all the words that the students learn in order to communicate effectively involving word identification, word meaning, and word use.  Young learners in this study refer to students in fifth grade of elementary school aged ten to eleven years old who learn English as a Foreign Language.

1.6 Organization of the Paper

This study is organized into five chapters as follow:

Chapter I Introduction