Methods and media in teaching vocabulary to pre-school student of ``Speak First`` Klaten.

METHODS AND MEDIA IN TEACHING VOCABULARY TO PRE-SCHOOL STUDENTS OF “SPEAKFIRST” KLATEN

A THESIS

Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree

in English Language Education

By

Stefani Yustita Asdra Noveani 061214151

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

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Dedication Page

R

emember what we receive &

F

orget what we give

to others

I

dedicate this thesis for those whom I love much,

Jesus Christ & Virgin Mary My beloved family All of my friends

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ABSTRACT

Noveani, Stefani Yustita Asdra. 2011. Methods and Media in Teaching Vocabulary to Pre-School Students of “Speak First” Klaten. Yogyakarta: English Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University.

Teaching methods had an effect on the students’understanding, especially to learn English vocabulary for pre-school students. The teacher should vary methods in teaching, so the students understood what they learnt. Furthermore, the role of media was also very helpful in teaching-learning process. In this study, media helped the teachers to teach English to pre-school students, especially in teaching vocabulary. Teaching vocabulary to pre-school students would be interesting if media were included in it. The teachers used media to support their teaching methods. The participants of this study were early children whose ages are between 3-4 years old in 2009/2010 academic year. It was not easy for early-age young learners to learn vocabulary because they were also still learning

Bahasa Indonesia as their mother tongue. According to Dodge (1992: 7), English as foreign language was best to be taught since early ages of school since

pre-school was the basic education to develop human’s quality. According to Ritter

(1950), young learners “learn by seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, and tasting.”

There were three problems in this study: (1) What kinds of methods are used in teaching vocabulary for pre-school students of “Speak First”? (2) What kinds of media are used in teaching vocabulary for pre-school students of “Speak First”? and (3) What are the underlying reasons to use different methods and media in each meeting?

This study was a qualitative research, which used three data gathering instruments, which included observation checklists, field notes, and interview. The writer conducted the observation in “Speak First” Pre-School in Klaten. In this study, field notes were used to write everything that happened in the classroom during the observation. Observation checklists and field notes were used to answer the first and second questions, which were about the methods and media that were used in teaching vocabulary for pre-school students. Then, interview was used to gain more data and to answer the third research question which was about the underlying reasons to use different methods and media in each meeting.

The results showedthat Desuggestopedia, Multiple Intelligences (MI), and Total Physical Response (TPR) were the methods which were used in teaching vocabulary. The media used during the teaching-learning process were based on the methods used. The teacher used different media in turns based on the methods used in teaching vocabulary to pre-school students in each meeting. The general underlying reasons to use different methods and media in each meeting were to

improve students’ motor, to increase students’ confidence, and to broaden students’ knowledge.

viii ABSTRAK

Noveani, Stefani Yustita Asdra. 2011. Methods and Media in Teaching Vocabulary to Pre-School Students of “Speak First” Klaten. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Metode pengajaran sangat berpengaruh terhadap pemahaman anak dalam menerima pelajaran, khususnya belajar vocabulary bahasa Inggris untuk anak-anak usia pra-sekolah. Pendidik hendaknya membuat variasi metode pengajaran agar anak-anak mengerti apa yang dipelajari. Selain itu, peran media juga sangat membantu dalam proses belajar-mengajar. Dalam hal ini, media juga dapat membantu proses pengajaran bahasa Inggris untuk anak-anak pra-sekolah. Pengajaran kosakata Bahasa Inggris akan menarik jika media disertakan di dalamnya. Pendidik menggunakan media untuk mendukung metode mengajar yang digunakan. Subyek dalam penelitian ini adalah anak-anak usia 3-4 tahun tahun ajaran 2009/2010. Tidaklah mudah belajar kosakata bahasa Inggris untuk anak-anak usia pra-sekolah karena mereka masih belajar Bahasa Indonesia sebagai bahasa ibu. Menurut Dodge (1992: 7), bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa asing paling baik diajarkan sejak awal usia sekolah karena usia pra-sekolah sebagai dasar dalam mengembangkan pengetahuan seseorang. Menurut Ritter

(1950), pelajar usia muda ”belajar melalui melihat, mendengar, merasakan apa

yang dialami, mencium, dan mengecap rasa.” Ada tiga hal yang akan ditunjukkan dalam penelitian ini, yaitu: (1) Apa saja metode yang digunakan dalam mengajar kosakata bahasa Inggris untuk anak-anak pra-sekolah di “Speak First”? (2) Media apa saja yang digunakan dalam mengajar kosakata bahasa Inggris untuk anak-anak pra-sekolah di “Speak First”? dan (3) Apa alasan yang mendasari penggunaan metode dan media dalam setiap pertemuannya?

Penelitian ini merupakan jenis kualitatif deskripsi yang menggunakan tiga cara pengumpulan data, yaitu pengamatan, catatan lapangan, dan wawancara; digunakan. Penulis melaksanakan pengamatan terhadap anak-anak usia pra-sekolah ”Speak First” di Klaten yang berusia 3-4 tahun dalam tahun ajaran 2009/2010. Dalam penelitian ini, catatan lapangan digunakan untuk menuliskan segala sesuatu yang terjadi di kelas selama pengamatan berlangsung. Pengamatan dan catatan lapangan digunakan untuk menjawab pertanyaan pertama dan kedua, yaitu tentang teknik dan media yang digunakan dalam pengajaran kosakata bahasa Inggris untuk anak-anak usia pra-sekolah. Wawancara terhadap pendidik juga digunakan untuk menggali data lebih dalam dan menjawab pertanyaan ketiga, yaitu tentang alasan yang mendasari penggunaan teknik dan media dalam setiap pertemuan.

Dari data penelitian, diperoleh bahwa Desuggestopedia, Multiple Intelligence (MI), dan Total Physical Response (TPR) adalah pendekatan dan metode yang mendasari metode mengajar kosakata bahasa Inggris. Media yang digunakan dalam pengajaran ternyata berdasarkan pada teknik yang diterapkan oleh guru. Pendidik menggunakan media yang berbeda-beda berdasarkan metode yang diterapkan di kelas dalam setiap pertemuannya. Alasan secara garis besar yang mendasari untuk menerapkan metode dan media yang berbeda setiap

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pertemuannya adalah untuk meningkatkan kemampuan motorik anak, meningkatkan rasa percaya diri, dan menambah pengetahuan anak.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I want to express my greatest gratitude to Almighty Jesus Christ for the everlasting love, blessing and amazing grace in every step of my life. I thank Him for giving me a great chance to fill this world with anything I can

do my very best for the people around me. I always believe that there is nothing

impossible in Him. I also thank Mother Mary, who always teaches me to be patient and strong whenever the situation is.

My sincere gratitude goes to my sponsor, Christina Kristiyani, S.Pd., M.Pd., for her correction, advice, suggestion, and support during my thesis. I am deeply grateful to all PBI lecturers for guiding and teaching me during my study in Sanata Dharma University. I would also like to thank all secretariat staffs of PBI for always helping me with the administrative matters. Furthermore, I thank

all librarians of Sanata Dharma University for giving me their kind service and enjoyable place to study.

My special thanks are addresed to Speak First Klaten where I conducted the research. I thank Mrs. Siska, Ms. Ayun, Ms. Cici, and Ms. Tanti very much for helping and guiding me conducted the research. I also thank all Pre-school students who actively and enthusiastically studied in class.

From my deepest heart, I thank my beloved parents, Bapak St. Agus Sriyanta and Ibu V. Sri Wigiarti. I thank them for their prayer, love, support, advice, patience they have given to me. My gratitude also goes to my brother

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Ridwan for giving me support and moments we have shared together. With all my love, I thank Pius for his praying, support, patience, and everlasting love.

My special thanks are addressed to all the fighters: Yoana, Indi, Kaje, Siskey, Niken,Ata, Nana, Esti, Oliph, Septi, Nita, and Zico for the support and friendship, and all the happiness and sadness we have spent together. We have

worked hard and worked smart together. Then, I will never forget the beautiful

life in the nicest boarding house “Kost Pelangi” with all togetherness in happy and sad moments: mbak Weni, Riyutz, Popon, Cepti, Ningsih, Dora, Nina,

Nita, and Vida.

Next, I would like to thank all the members of “Cantus Firmus” choir, friends of KKN Angkatan 39 Desa Gedogan, play performance group “Fatal

Desire” and LPPM staffs of Sanata Dharma University for the togetherness, sadness, and happiness moments – I miss them. Thanks for the unforgettable memories during the struggle.

Last but not least, my gratitude also goes to all PBI 2006 students for the

unforgettable moments during the study in Sanata Dharma University, and to all

people who cannot be mentioned one by one. God bless us.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

TITLE PAGE ………... i

APPROVAL PAGES ... ii

DEDICATION PAGE ... iv

STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ... v

ABSTRACT ……... vii

ABSTRAK ... viii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... x

TABLE OF CONTENTS ... xii

LIST OF APPENDICES... xviii

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION A. Research Background ... 1

B. Problem Formulation ………... 4

C. Problem Limitation ……….. 5

D. Research Objectives ……… 5

E. Research Benefits ……… 6

F. Definition of Terms ………. 7

CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE A. Theoretical Description ... 10

1. Principle of Teaching ... 10

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a. The Important of Vocabulary ... 14

b. Vocabulary Learning ... 15

c. Vocabulary Teaching ... 16

3. Methods ... 17

a. Desuggestopedia ... 18

b. Multiple Intelligences (MI) ... 20

1.) Logical / Mathematical ... 20

2.) Verb / Linguistic ... 20

3.) Bodily / Kinesthetic ... 21

4.) Musical / Rythmic ... 21

5.) Visual / Spatial ... 22

6.) Interpersonal ... 22

7.) Intrapersonal ... 22

c. Total Physical Response ... 23

4. Teaching Media ... 24

a. Pictures ... 26

1.) Context-Oriented Picture ... 27

2.) Structured-Oriented Picture ... 27

b. Real Things ... 27

1.) Object ... 28

2.) Events / Real Pictures ... 28

5. Teaching Children in the Pre-School Ages ... 28

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b. Principle of Teaching Pre-School Students ... 31

B. Theoretical Framework ... 32

CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY ... 34

A. Research Method ... 34

B. Research Participants ... 35

C. Research Instruments ... 36

1. Observation Checklist ... 36

2. Field Notes ... 39

3. Interview ... 39

D. Data Gathering Techniques ... 40

E. Data Analysis Techniques ... 41

F. Research Procedures ... 43

CHAPTER IV.RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ... 45

A. Research Findings ... 45

Table 4.1. Teaching Topic ... 45

Table 4.2. Classroom’s Daily Activities ... 46

Table 4.3. Teaching Activities ... 47

Table 4.4. Teaching Media ... 50

Table 4.5. Classification of Methods and Media ... 55

B. Discussion ... 56

1.) The Methods Used in Teaching Vocabulary to “Speak First” Pre-School ... 56

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a. Total Physical Response ... 57

b. Multiple Intelligences (MI) ... 57

1.) Logical-Mathematical Intelligence ... 57

2.) Verb- Linguistic Intelligence ... 58

3.) Bodily- Kinesthethic Intelligence ... 59

4.) Musical-Rhythmic Intelligence ... 60

5.) Visual-Spatial Intelligence ... 60

6.) Interpersonal Intelligence ... 61

7.) Intrapersonal Intelligence ... 61

c. Desuggestopedia ... 62

2.) The Media Used in Teaching Vocabulary to “Speak First” Pre-School ... 62

a. Pictures ... 63

1.) Context-Oriented Pictures: Crepe Paper and Glue ... 63

2.) Context-Oriented Pictures: Decoration Pictures, Glue, and a Piece of Paper ... 64

3.) Structured-Oriented Pictures: Photos ... 64

b. Real Things ... 65

1.) Objects ... 65

a) Money ... 65

b) Dry Leaves, Drawing Pictures, and Glue ... 65

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d) The Greeting Cards, Stamps, and Glue ... 66

e) Musical Instrument, Songs, Sponge Blocks, Puzzles, Sand and Water, and Table Toys ... 66

2.) Events / Real Places ... 68

a) Swimming Pool ... 68

b) Post Office ... 69

3.) The Underlying Reasons Using the Methods and Media Used in Teaching Process ... 69

Table 4.6. The Classification of Methods and Media in The 1st Meeting ... 70

Table 4.7. The Classification of Methods and Media in The 2nd Meeting ... 72

Table 4.8. The Classification of Methods and Media in The 3rd Meeting ... 74

Table 4.9. The Classification of Methods and Media in The 4th Meeting ... 74

Table 4.10. The Classification of Methods and Media in The 5th Meeting ... 76

Table 4.11. The Classification of Methods and Media in The 6th Meeting ... 78

Table 4.12. The Classification of Methods and Media in The 7th Meeting ... 79

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in The 8th Meeting ... 81

CHAPTER V.CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ... 85

A. Conclusions ... 85

B. Suggestions ... 88

1. For Students ... 88

2. For English Teachers ... 88

3. For Future Researchers ... 89

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LIST OF APPENDICES

Page

APPENDIX A ... 1

Letter of Permission ... 2

APPENDIX B ... 3

Teaching and learning Process in “Speak First” Pre-School ... 4

APPENDIX C ... 14

“Speak First” Pre-School ... 15

APPENDIX D ... 23

Observation Checklists ... 24

APPENDIX E ... 42

Vocabulary Learnt through Each Meeting ... 43

APPENDIX F ... 51

List of Interview Questions (Bahasa Indonesia)... 52

List of Interview Questions (English language) ... 53

APPENDIX G ... 54

Interview Transcripts (Bahasa Indonesia)... 55

Interview Transcripts (English language)... 59

APPENDIX H ... 63

Figure 3.1. ... 44

Figure 1. Snack Time ... 64

Figure 2. Cooking Chocolates ... 64

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Figure 4. Students Played in The Playing Area ... 65

Figure 5. The Teacher Guided the Students Sticking a Stamp... 65

Figure 6. A Student Sent a Greeting Card ... 66

1

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents the methods and media that the teacher used in

teaching vocabulary. The methods and media which are used will be in line for

the teaching-learning situation nowadays.

A. Research Background

English language becomes an important language nowadays. Smith (1976)

defines the term “international language”, noting that an “international” language is one which is used by people of different nations to communicate with one

another. English becomes an international language as well due to the fact that it

has been widely used around the world. In addition, English has been involved in

wider communication between individuals of a country and among different

countries.

In Indonesia, English is taught as a foreign language. It is introduced to

very young learners. “In its development, English is not only introduced and

taught to adult anymore, but also today, English has early been introduced to

children as young learners” (Suyanto, 2005: 15). What is meant by young learners here are the children whose ages are between 1 - 4 years old. In this study, the

writer focuses on young learners whose ages are 3 - 4 years old. Pre-school is the

right choice to start learning English because the children are still fresh in their

to develop human‟s quality (Depdiknas, 2005: 1). The purpose of pre-school is preparing thechildren to continue their education to the higher level. According to

Ritter (1950), young learners “learn by seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, and

tasting”. Moreover, pre-school students are always active. They still like learning by playing. In their ages, they still cannot write well, but they use their senses of

sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch to understand the language. With respect to

the students as young learners and the objective of teaching English, the teachers

can introduce them to the language study habits beginning in the early grades.

To teach vocabulary beginning in the early grades, the teacher should use

interesting methods so the students will understand what they have learnt.

Interesting teaching method can make the students enjoy the teaching-learning

activities. As stated in Larsen-Freeman (2000: ix), methods can aid teachers in

bringing to conscious awareness the thinking that underlies their action. Methods

offer teachers alternatives to what they currently think and do. Teachers can vary

the methods in their teaching process.

Teaching vocabulary to pre-school students will also be interesting if the

teachers use media. Media means the tools that are used to transfer the knowledge

from the teacher to the students. “The most common conception of the role of a

teacher is that of an information giver, so teaching has been described as a

transmission of the material from an instructor‟s notebook to a student‟s notebook by passing the mind of both” (Gerlach & Ely, 1980: 5). To change this paradigm, the teachers are rapidly becoming a facilitator of the learning experiences. The

and real things. Those kinds of media give a big contribution to the students in

their learning process. The teachers have to know the basic concept of English

vocabulary so that they know what they want to teach to their students. The more

technology develops, the more media can be used by the teacher to conduct the

teaching method. Both methods in teaching English and media are needed to

make the pre-school students learn better.

In this study, the writer is interested in conducting a research in “Speak

First” Pre-school since it is a new billingual school in Klaten. There are two reasons why the writer chooses “Speak First” to be observed. The first reason is practicality. Since the distance of “Speak First” is near to the writer‟s house, the writer knows well about the school. The second one is that “Speak First” has experienced teaching English for six years. Since “Speak First” has lots of experiences, most people in Klaten believe that “Speak First” gives the best education quality from the early grades. In this study, the writer wants to know

what methods the teachers of “Speak First” conducting in teaching-learning process and what kinds of media used to support their teaching process.

The participants in this study were students of “Speak First” pre-school whose ages are between 3 – 4 years old. The students belonged to pre-school in the academic year 2010-2011. Based on my informal observation, each student

has different characteristics. There were active, passive, shy, and brave students in

one class.

Based on The Policy of (Indonesia) Department of National Education RI

education, including interpersonal skill, social skill, and academic skill to learn

independently. According to Napitupulu (2001: 2), this policy is related to

UNESCO‟s educational pillars, those are learning to know, learning to do,

learning to be, and learning to live together. Learning to know means that children

learn through media and teacher‟s explanation. Learning to do means that children

do learning activities directly, and learning to live together means that children

have interaction with other people. In the teaching process, pre-school students

will have social interaction with other students. It is very difficult to teach

pre-school students because they are not able to write well. Their process of learning

is still to learn through the sense of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. Based

on those senses, it is hoped the students will be accustomed to understand the

meaning of vocabulary list step by step with continuous teaching process through

appropriate methods and media. The vocabulary lists will be useful for the

students to face life skill education in their future. In today‟s circumstances, life skill education for pre-school students has not appeared yet because they are still

too young to understand the meaning of life skill. Life skill will be used

throughout their lives.

B. Problem Formulation

This study aims to identify the methods and media used in teaching

English and to identify why the methods and media can be applied correctly in

1. What kinds of methods are used in teaching vocabulary for “Speak First” pre-school students?

2. What kinds of media are used in teaching vocabulary for “Speak First” pre-school students?

3. What are the underlying reasons to use different methods and media in each

meeting?

C. Problem Limitation

In order to limit the scope of the study in conducting the research, the

writer deals only with the vocabulary activities conducted by English teachers in

“Speak First” Klaten. The observation on the vocabulary activities was about how an English teacher teaches vocabulary in every meeting by using methods

and media. The observation also covers in what situation the methods and media

can be applied in class.

D. Research Objectives

The general objective of this study is to investigate what the English

teacher in “Speak First” Klaten conducts vocabulary teaching-learning for pre-school students. The specific objectives can be stated as follows.

1. To find out the methods the teachers applied in teaching-learning

vocabulary as the foreign language.

2. To find out the media the teachers used in teaching-learning vocabulary as

3. To know what the underlying reasons are to use the methods and media in

each meeting in teaching vocabulary.

E. Research Benefits

This study is expected to be able to give several benefits for the students,

teachers, and the future researchers.

For students, this study aims to give new experience to the students in

learning vocabulary as their foreign language and the basic knowledge of their

learning English language. The students can understand the meaning of

vocabularies that they learn although they are not able to write yet. The students

can get experiences in vocabulary and also expand their understanding of word

meaning.

For the English teachers, the result of this study is to gain insight into

methods in teaching vocabulary. After knowing the methods in teaching

vocabulary, the English teachers are expected to provide better methods in

teaching vocabulary in which vocabulary is an important element that can support

students‟ quality in learning English. The English teachers may also find out

whether the learning activities and teaching methods and media they planned and

applied are useful or not in order to encourage students during the class. In

addition, English teachers may also find out whether the teaching-learning

activities through the methods enable students to learn vocabulary in easier ways.

To other researchers, hopefully this study gives understanding and

level to learn English. It is also expected in the future that the researchers can

know the underlying reasons of using the methods and media during the teaching

process.

F. Definition of Terms

This section presents the definition of term used in this study. The terms

defined here are the methods, media, teaching vocabulary, and the pre-school

students in “Speak First”.

1. Methods

According to Brown (2001: 16), a method is a generalized set of

classroom specification for accomplishing linguistic objectives. Methods tend to

be concerned primarily with teacher and students roles and behaviors and

secondarily with such features as linguisitc and subject-matter objectives and

materials.

In this study, the methods refer to the generalized set of classroom

specification which is conducted by the English teacher in teaching vocabulary to

“Speak First” pre-school students during the teaching-learning process. The methods which are used will be effective for the students in understanding

vocabulary. Moreover, the teachers can improve their creativity in teaching

vocabulary based on its various genres so that the students grasp more the words

that they learn.

2. Media

According to Soeparno (1988: 1), “media is a mean that are used by the

education world, the source of information is the teacher and the receiver is the

students. The information is the lesson that students have to learn in every

meeting. The purpose of media is to communicate the transformation of

knowledge from the teachers to the students. In this study, media are used

appropriately based on the teaching methods which are applied by the English

teacher in teaching vocabulary to pre-school students. One method can be used

with the same and different media in the teaching-learning process. The examples

of media are pictures and real things.

3. Teaching Vocabulary

According to Channel (1988), “a new vocabulary item is acquired when the learner can identify its meaning in and out of context and it can be used

naturally and appropriately.” There are five genres of vocabularies; those are

vocabulary of noun, verb, adjective, adverb, and chunks. What are learnt by

pre-school students are vocabulary of noun and vocabulary of chunks. In this study,

teaching vocabulary refers to how the teachers teach vocabulary of noun and

chunks, then to how pre-school students learn and respond to those kinds of

vocabularies as the basic knowledge in learning English in the future. Allen

(1983) pointed out that “it is useful to provide the learner with words for „classroom language‟ just at the early stages of the course. It is important for the

teacher to predict what words the student needs to know for talking about

4. Pre-school Students in “Speak First”

“Speak First” objectively accepts the students every year. The students who study in this school are children whose ages between 1 – 4 years old. This research will focus on students whose ages are 3-4 years old. The comparison

between the teacher and students are 1:3. It means that one teacher will handle

three students at most, so that the teachers can observe the students‟ process of learning. “Speak First” was built for about six years ago. Although it belongs to a new school in this era, the quality of the teachers is good. Because of the

development of technology and curriculum, this school starts to teach English as

the basic knowledge for students from the beginning in the early grades in

10

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter presents the literature review of the study. This chapter

includes two main parts, namely theoretical description and theoretical

framework.

A. Theoretical Description

This part elaborates five key points used in this study. They are principles

of teaching, vocabulary, method, media, and teaching children in the pre-school

ages.

1. Principles of Teaching

According to Gerlach & Ely (1980: 49), one of the tasks as a teacher is to

facilitate learning. Teachers are to establish conditions which make it probable

that learning will occur within a period of time. Teaching cannot be defined apart

from learning. Nathan Gage (1964: 269) as cited in Brown (1994: 7) noted that

“to satisfy the practical demands of education, theories of learning must be stood

on their head so as to yield theories of teaching.” Teaching is guiding and

facilitating learning, enabling the learner to learn, setting the conditions for

learning. Teachers’ understanding of how the learner learns will determine

teachers’ philosophy of education, teachers’ teaching style, teachers’ approach,

Teachers who teach pre-school students have the limitation of the

curriculum because pre-school students are unique. The major element of

developing pre-school students’ education is through playing. Albrecht and Miller (2000: 216-218) stated that the development of curriculum for pre-school students

should give priority to the freedom of students’ creativity. According to Kitano

and Kirby (1986: 27-167), curriculum for pre-school students is a plan to

maximize the interaction of learning in order to have potential behavior.

Curriculum should have major element in every stage of education which covers

all the teaching-learning process. According to Catron and Allen (1999: 30),

curriculum covers the answer of all the questions about what have to be taught to

the students and how to teach them by using a planner program which based on

the philosophy of children’ development and learning. The teachers can apply playing as one of the effective ways to be done in the curriculum, which will be

used as the main level for children’ development.

The creative curriculum is rooted in educational philosophy and theory as

well as practice. “It builds on Erik Erikson’s stages of socio-emotional

development, Jean Piaget’s theories of how children think and learn, on principles of physical development, and appreciation of cultural influences” (Dodge, 1992:

5). During the early childhood years, children deal with three of eight stages of

socio-emotional growth. They learn to trust others outside their families, to gain

independence and self-control, and to take an initiative and assert themselves in

The creative curriculum shows teachers how to encourage positive

responses to the three stages. The type of environment helps children develop a

sense of trust and belonging. Children can feel safe and encouraged to explore not

only materials but also their relationship with peers and adults. The environment

encourages both autonomy and self-control. Children learn to handle their feeling

in acceptable. When they are encourage to make decisions for themselves,

children experience a sense of control over their lives. Competence and initiative

are fostered in this type of environment. By setting clear, age-appropriate

expectations for behavior and by letting children know what is expected of them,

teachers can endanger success and minimize frustration. Children’s concern about

doing things because they are encouraged to learn from their mistakes, to explore,

and to take risks.

Creative curriculum explains how children learn to think. “Children learn

by doing. Through active involvement with their environment, children attempt to

make sense of the world around them” (Dodge, 1992: 7). They learn by observing what happens when they interact with materials and other people. They

spontaneously engage in activities such as block building, house corner or

dramatic play. They learn simple concepts and then used the concepts to grasp

more complex ideas.

“Children learn concrete and literal thinking. Young children view the world concretely, as they mature, their view changes” (Dodge, 1992: 6). What

had. By interacting with indoor and outdoor physical environment and their social

environment, children broaden their frame of reference.

“Children learn from the environment.” The creative curriculum builds on Piaget’s theories of development of young children. Piaget believed that all

children learn through active exploration of their environment” (Dodge, 1992: 7).

By grasping, rolling, pounding, smelling, sucking, and crawling around and over

everything they come in contact with. As children’s learning expands, the environment plays a critical role. The richer the environment, the more concrete

opportunities there are for children to learn by interacting with materials and

people.

“The creative curriculum also explains how the children develop their physical, both gross and fine motor physical development. Physical development

is taken for granted in early childhood education” (Dodge, 1992: 9). Normally

physical development relies on good health, proper nutrition, and safe

environment. Proper nutrition is crucial to both mental and physical development.

Proper nutrition comes from nutritious food. Dodge (1992: 271) stated that

“cooking enables children give experience the world of food firsthand.” It means that the students are given an opportunity to experiment with the food, to be

creative, and to prepare nutritional snacks. The students had experience how to

prepare the ingredients, to stir and decorate the chocolate creatively. Moreover,

cooking activity gave positive impact to the students. The students also learnt

about science, developed physical skills and increased vocabularies. A safe

need indoor and outdoor space where they can try out all their newly acquired

skills without danger of injury.

2. Vocabulary

English language in Indonesia is used as an international language.

“English is a language of wider communication both among individuals from

different countries and between individuals from the country” (McKay, 2002: 6). It is not easy to learn foreign language for pre-school students because they also

still learn their mother tongue. Vocabulary is taken into account since this study

requires some enlightenment of related theories that is significant to the research.

The discussion on vocabulary covers the importance of vocabulary, vocabulary

learning, and vocabulary teaching. Further, the theories will be elaborated in this

sub-chapter.

a. The Importance of Vocabulary

It is helpful to know what vocabulary refers to before dealing with the

discussion on how important vocabulary is since a better understanding of what is

meant by vocabulary can be obtained. Vocabulary is often encountered in daily

spoken as well as in written form. People usually name a thing or an issue with

the word that is meant when they refer to it. Therefore, names, which are

represented by the meant words, are important for the construction of reality

because it is quite difficult to accept the existence of an object, a feeling, or an

event without a name (Taylor, 1990: 1). It is said that the importance of having a

communicate the language (Willis, 1996: 118). For instance, if learners are

visiting a foreign country in which they do not speak the language, they tend to

take a dictionary to look up the meaning of the word rather than a grammar book.

It indicates that learners initially need vocabulary if they want to communicate in

the intended language.

b. Vocabulary Learning

Vocabulary learning is central to language acquisition whether the

language is first, second, or foreign (Decarrico as cited in Muria-Celce, 2001:

285). A language contains a number of words or what is so called vocabulary.

Such words in a language are often used by people to communicate everything,

which is processed in their minds, for example to express what they feel and do.

Thus, to be able to acquire a language, people first need to acquire its vocabulary

so that they are able to communicate the language.

Nation (1990: 2) also supports the above view. He says that both teachers

and learners see vocabulary as being an important element in language learning. It

is often encountered in language learning, a situation in which the major difficulty

faced by language learners is an inadequate vocabulary. Learning is defined by

Rubin (1987: 29) as a process by which information is obtained, stored, retrieved,

and used from what is being learnt. It also occurs in vocabulary learning that

involves those processes altogether. Therefore, it can be said that vocabulary

learning is a process of obtaining, storing, retrieving, and using a number of words

c. Vocabulary Teaching

It is imperative to know the current issues in vocabulary teaching since

both language teachers and language learners are involved in it. These issues

concern with deciding which items of vocabulary to teach and how to teach them.

According to Meara (1995) as cited in Muria-Celce (2001: 287) in vocabulary

teaching, learners should initially be taught a large productive vocabulary. The

productive vocabulary refers to such words that are regularly heard or seen by

learners. Language learners need to be exposed to a large amount of vocabulary

since they are to make use of it, either actively or passively, in any language use.

That is why learners should learn large vocabularies even when they first start to

acquire a language.

Deciding which items of vocabulary to be taught to the learners can be one

of such matters faced by a language teacher. A language teacher should therefore

decide what vocabulary to teach. Dealing with this matter, a teacher should fit

what vocabulary to learn and what level of the learners. For instance, teaching

vocabulary to young learners, as this study concerns with, the teacher should

select the items of vocabulary to teach. A real example can be given in the

following. As learners often feel much more difficult to learn verb than to learn

noun, so at the beginning level, the teacher present nouns to teach. It does not end

at this point however. The teacher has to distinguish how to present either abstract

noun or concrete noun. As the learners are still young, it will be easier to teach

pictures or any other teaching aids in order to make learning more comprehensive

to the learners.

The beginning language learners, especially, can be assisted to acquire

vocabulary for instance by presenting them such word association lists. It is done

to make them easier to learn new vocabulary. On the other hand, more advanced

learners can be taught to acquire vocabulary through context. It is important that

new vocabulary items were presented in contexts in order to provide the learners

any clues to meaning. The learners can learn new vocabulary that they might not

know the meaning by contextualizing the meant words, so they are able to guess

the meaning of the words.

Creative curriculum is needed to increase students’ creativity, interaction, and social communication with others. The purpose of pre-school students’ curriculum is to have the basic knowledge of information, skill, and creativity for

students to adapt with their environment for their next step of development

(Depdiknas 2004: 3).

3. Methods

According to Brown (2001: 16), a method is a generalized set of

classroom specification for accomplishing linguistic objectives. Methods tend to

be concerned primarily with teacher and students roles and behaviors and

secondarily with such features as linguistic and subject-matter objectives and

bringing to conscious awareness the thinking that underlies their actions. Methods

offer teacher alternatives to what they currently think and do.

In this study, the writer found several methods which are used in the

teaching-learning process. Desuggestopedia, Multiple Intelligences (MI) and

Total Physical Response (TPR) are the methods. Based on those methods,

teaching vocabulary is applied. The methods are as follows.

a. Desuggestopedia

Desuggestopedia is a method the teacher used in this study. It was firstly

introduced in the 1960s and 1970s by a Bulgarian psychiatrist-educator by the

name of George Lozanov. Larsen-Freeman (2000: 73) stated that:

language learning can occur at a much faster rate than ordinarily transpires. Lozanov asserts that we set up psychological barriers to learning. Desuggestopedia is the application of the study of suggestion to pedagogy, has been developed to help students eliminate the feeling that they cannot be successful or the negative association they may have toward studying and thus, to help them overcome the barriers to learning.

Desuggestopedia would make the classroom situation to be different.

Everything is bright and colorful. There would be various posters and pictures on

the walls. One of those posters might be containing grammatical information and

vocabulary of the name of the pictures. According to Larsen-Freeman, there are

several principles of desuggestopedia. They are: (1) learning is facilitated through

a cheerful environment, (2) students can learn from what is present in the

environment, even if their attention is not directed to it, (3) the teacher should

recognize that learners bring certain psychological barriers with them to the

learning situation, (4) songs are useful for evoking positive emotion, (5) the

you can do”) into the learning situation, (6) the teacher should present and explain the vocabulary, but not dwell on them, (7) fine arts provide positive suggestions

for students, (8) one way that meaning is made clear is through native language

translation, (9) the fine arts (music, art, and drama) enable suggestion to reach the

subconscious, and (10) errors are corrected gently, not in a direct, confrontational

manner.

The teacher can use these following Desuggestopedia’s principles

meaningful to alter the classroom environment as stated in Larsen-Freeman (2000:

84).

1.) Classroom set-up

The challenge for the teacher is to create a classroom environment which

is bright and cheerful, where the walls were decorated scenes from a country

where the target language is spoken. The teacher should try to provide as positive

an environment as possible.

2.) Peripheral learning

Peripheral learning is based upon the idea that the teacher perceive much

more in the surrounding environment than that to which the teacher consciously

attend. It is claimed that, by putting posters containing grammatical information

about the target language on the classroom walls, students will absorb the

necessary facts effortlessly. The teacher may or may not call attention to the

posters. They are changed from time to time to provide grammatical information

3.) Creative adaptation

The students engage in various activities designed to help them learn the

new material and use it spontaneously. Activities particularly recommended for

this phase including singing, dancing, and games.

b. Multiple Intelligences (MI)

Multiple Intelligences or MI is a method in teaching-learning English

which proposed by Howard Gardner in 1983. According to Larsen-Freeman

(2000: 172), “teacher has always known that the students have different strengths. In the language teaching field, some of the differences among students have been

attributed to students’ having different learning or cognitive styles.” It means that

the students not only improve their cognitive and linguistic intelligences, but also

to explore their ability through art, music, body movement, space, relationship

with others, and to understand themselves. Gardner has a theory that the students

have at least seven distinct intelligences. The seven intelligences are as follows.

1.) Logical-mathematical – is the ability to use numbers effectively, to see abstract patterns and to reason well, for example: puzzles and games.

Logical-mathematical intelligence plays a larger role in thinking and

learning. Gardner (in Campbell, 1996: 37) stated that by working with

concrete objects, students become actively engaged in problem solving.

2.) Verb-linguistic – is the ability to use language effectively and creatively,

for example: storytelling. According to Verney as well as the National

Association for the Education of Young Children (in Campbell, 1996:

provided with opportunities to make meaningful choices and decisions.”

Pre-school students as young learners who born in into such an

environment has a leading-edge on becoming a competent listener,

speaker, reader, and writer in the future. Gardner (in Campbell, 1996: 2)

suggested that language is a “pre-eminent instance of human

intelligence” that has been indispensable to human society. Furthermore,

self-confidence grows when the students learn how to involve in

discussion, speaking in front of the class, and any activities in class. It is

good for the early young learners stronger their self-confidence.

3.) Bodily-kinesthetic – is the ability to use one’s body to express oneself and to solve problems, for example: body movement and hands-on

activities. Gardner (in Campbell, 1996: 67) stated that bodily-kinesthetic

intelligence includes the ability to unite body and mind to perfect

physical performance.

4.) Musical-rhythmic – is an ability to recognize tonal patterns and to sense therhythm, pitch and melody; for example: singing and playing musical

instrument. Gardner (in Campbell, 1996: 133) stated that because of the

strong connection between music and the emotion, music in the

classroom could help creating an emotionally positive and conducive

learning environment. “It showed the utilizing the human voice and body as natural instruments and means to express self-expression” (Campbell, 1996: 133). Gardner in Campbell (1996: 134) explained that Plato

soul and take the strongest hold there, bringing the grace of body and

mind which is only to be found in one brought up in the right way.”

5.) Visual-spatial – is the ability to orient oneself in the environment, to create mental images, and to sense the shape, size, and color; for

example: drawing. “Visual-spatial includes an aggregate of related skills including visual discrimination, recognition, projection, mental imagery,

spatial reasoning, image manipulation and the duplication of inner or

external imagery, any or all of which may be expressed by a single

person” (Gardner in Campbell, 1996: 96).

6.) Interpersonal – is the ability to understand another person’s moods, feelings, motivation and attention; for example: working in group.

Gardner (in Campbell, 1996: 160) stated that interpersonal intelligence

enabled students to understand and communicate with others, noting

differences in moods, temperaments, motivation, and skills. Humphrey

in Campbell (1996: 160) stated that the greatest creative use of the

human mind is to maintain human society effectively.

7.) Intrapersonal – is the ability to understand oneself and to practice self-discipline, for example: self-evaluation. Gardner (in Campbell, 1996:

195) stated that intrapersonal intelligences included thought and feelings.

Students will be well-served by realizing that making an honest mistake

should not automatically lead to self depreciation, shame, or anger. The

mistake. The teacher should guide students’ intrapersonal condition to

avoid laughing at the mistake if there is a student did a mistake.

MI can be useful for remindingabout the unique qualities of each student.

Studentscannot be forced to learn one of intelligence continuously. They are free

to express and explore what they want to learn more based on their interest. The

teacher guides them to learn their ability deeply.

c. Total Physical Response (TPR)

Total Physical Response (TPR) is a method developed by Dr. James J.

Asher. The most important thing is that TPR is emphasized on students’ developing basic communication skills and vocabulary through their receiving

meaningful exposure to the target language. The students listen to the teacher

using the target language communicatively from the beginning of instruction.

They do not speak at first. The teacher helps the students to understand the teacher

by using pictures and occasional words in the students’ native language and by

being as expressive as possible.

According to Larsen-Freeman (2000:111), there are several principles of

TPR as follows.

1.) Meaning in the target language can often be conveyed through action.

Memory is activated through learner response. Beginning foreign

language instruction should address the right hemisphere of the brain,

the part which control nonverbal behavior.

3.) Students can initially learn one part of the language rapidly by moving

their bodies.

4.) Students can learn byobserving action as well as through performing the

actions themselves.

5.) It is very important that students feel successful. Feeling of success and

low anxiety facilitate learning.

6.) Students are expected to make errors when they first begin speaking.

Teacher should be tolerant of them.

4. Teaching Media

According to Brown, Lewis, and Harcleroad (1977: 2), media are regarded

as central elements in the approach to systematic instruction in order to aid

teachers to improve instruction and stimulate learning by increasing the

effectiveness of their work. There are two concepts of media in teaching. The first

one is that media is the improvement of instruction, systematic planning and the

wise and skillful use of the products of technology. According to National

Education Association (NEA), media is kinds of aids which can be listened, heard,

saw, and read; moreover it can be used for transferring the knowledge from the

teachers to the students. It is a systematic way of designing, carrying out, and

evaluating the total process of learning and teaching in terms of specific

objectives. Then, the second one is that constantly in the minds of successful

teachers and instructional planners is the adaptation of technology to protect, to

purposes: to provide a preview of some of the ways that media can be employed

to enhance student learning opportunities, to provide alternative settings for the

transmission of information and give the teacher powerful new tools that can

significantly improve the quality of learning experiences for students. Creative

uses of a variety of media will increase the probability that students will learn

more, retain better what they learn, and improve students’ performance of the skill

they are expected to develop.

According to Brown, Lewis, and Harcleroad (1977: 71), the generalized

principles of media selection and media use are as follows.

a. No one medium is the best for all purposes

Recognize that no one medium, procedure, or student experience is

necessarily best for learning a particular subject, for acquiring a particular

skill, or for developing a specific desirable attitude or level of appreciation.

b. Media uses should be consistent with objectives

Media should be fit with the goal in teaching process. As the example is by

using flashcards if the objective is to make students understand about fruits or

numbers.

c. Media must fit student capabilities

Because the students are early young learners whose age between 1 – 4 years old, media must fit student capabilities. They still like playing while studying,

so media must fit with their condition of teaching-learning.

There are two kinds of media, namely pictures and real things. Pictures

consist of objects and events / real places. Objects include anything such as

puzzles. Events/ real places include any place to study such as bus station, market,

and beach. Teachers as the coordinator of teaching-learning process in the

classroom have a wide variety of media from which to choose. In this study, the

writer concerns much about those kinds of media.

Two kinds of media according to Gerlach & Ely (1980: 22-24) are as

follows.

a. Pictures

Pictures are one of the valuable aids. Pictures bring “images of reality into

the unnatural world of the language classroom” (Hill, 1990: 1). It means that pictures represent things in the real world. Pictures are functioned as a fun

element in the class because they are colourful. There are several reasons for

using pictures in language teaching. The first one, as Wright (1990: 2) pointed

out, is that a picture is a motivation and it draws learners’ attention. Pre-school students as early young learners like things which have eye-catching colours.

Colourful pictures will grab students’ attention to focus on the teaching-learning activities. The second one still referred to Wright (1990: 2), is that pictures

provide a sense of the context of the language and give a specific reference point

or stimulus. Students will be stimulated to learn new vocabulary through the

combination of various pictures, colours, and methods in teaching. Third is that

pictures are being suitable for any group of learners independently on age or level.

According to Hill (1990: 1), “he listed several advantages of pictures, such

as availability (one can get them in any magazines, on the internet, etc.); they are cheap, often free; they are personal (teacher selects them); flexibility - easily kept, useful for various types of activities (drilling,

comparing, etc.), they are always fresh and different, which mean they come in a variety of formats and styles and moreover the learner often

wonders what comes next.”

There are two types of pictures for teaching-learning process. The writer

follows the classification offered by Kreidler (_: 21-25). They are context-oriented

picture and structured-oriented picture as follows.

1.) Context-Oriented Picture

In this study, context refers to the general condition in which an event

or action takes place. As stated in Kreidler (_: 4), context-oriented picture depicts

a situation or topic that includes several people and actions such as market scene,

mountain scene and birthday. It may be drawn by hand or people or cut from

magazines. Colored pictures are preferable to pre-school students since they like

something which is colorful.

2.) Structured-Oriented Picture

In this study, structure refers to anything formed of many parts. As

stated in Kreidler (_: 4), structured-oriented picture depicts one person or one

object, like a man or a girl. It should be simple, without distracting background or

captions. Individual picture cards can be cut from magazines illustration or they

can be drawn.

b. Real Things

Real things refer to any real objects and events (or real places) that the

teacher brings into the teaching-learning process. There are two types of real

1.) Objects

Brown, Lewis, and Harcleroad (1977: 270) stated that objects should

be determined by the purposes for which they are to be used. In this study, objects

show the things in its real size or shapes, such as whiteboards, cassettes, and tape.

2.) Events / Real Places

Events provide stimuli to the students by means of field trips.

Therefore, event is also called real places because the students conduct direct

observation (Gerlach & Ely, 1980: 375). It refers to buildings which has the real

width and length, where people use it as a place to meet and to gather one another.

The examples of real places are market, train station, and hotel.

5. Teaching Children in The Pre-School Ages

The discussion on pre-school students covers two major points. Those are

the characteristics of children in school ages and principles of teaching

pre-school students.

a. The characteristics of children in pre-school ages

The discussion of young learners in English course is taken up since the

subjects of this study are children in the pre-school stage of “Speak First”.

According to Ritter (1950), “Young learners learn by seeing, hearing, feeling,

smelling, and tasting”. Their growths in this grade are indicated by special characteristics that differentiate them from others. “Those characteristics include

social characteristics” (Cole, 1956: 125). Further, the special characteristics of children as young learners will be explained.

Within physical characteristics, children grow through special

characteristics. During the years of schooling, children grow physically as their

bones, muscles, as well as nerve system develop. “The physical development of

the body requires children to do any physical activities at one moment that make

them easily exhausted” (Cole, 1956: 126). Therefore, it is better if children are not burdened with too many complicated activities that demand great effort and

concentration, since their nerve and muscular control will rapidly become worse if

too much complex work is required over them.

“Within the intellectual development, children possess immature mind that leads them to poor memories since their development has not been accomplished

yet in this stage” (Cole, 1956: 127). It is quite hard for them to memorize all the

things they find in their environment in detailed way. Children usually have a

good memory only at a thing that interests them most particularly on concrete

thing. Added to intellectual development of children, their fantasy is strong since

their reality of knowledge is weak. Any fantasy that they find and they create in

their little environment leads them to experience a new thing involving their

imaginations that are somewhat overrated. Generally, children need to have the

feeling of being secure and safe when they do such activities. The feeling of

security is found when they do the same things repeatedly. The same activities or

that is somehow unfamiliar and terrible for them. As they make repetition at the

known and familiar things, hence, they are devoted to routine.

“Emotional development is indicated firstly by lack of self-control and

inhibition and secondly by assortment of exaggerated fears over children” (Cole,

1956: 128). This means that they want to do something processed in their mind

immediately. In other words, children intend to do a large variety of things at one

moment. Secondly, the emotional development that is indicated by assortment of

exaggerated fears is caused by little knowledge that children have on any point.

For instance, they are afraid of thunder, wind, or darkness for they lack of

information about them. In this phase, children experience intense feeling of

insecurity. They always need some help from an adult to do or even to accomplish

their work for they are not yet old enough to understand what is happening in their

environment. In an ordinary school environment, children usually have a load of

anxiety towards anything that they cannot concentrate upon pre-schoolwork. The

anxiety often makes them ask several things to an adult until they feel that their

curiosity has been satisfactorily fulfilled.

According to Cole (1956: 130), “the social characteristics of children are indicated by two significant characteristics”. They are highly individualistic in

their interests and desires, but highly depend upon others for putting their desires

into effect. Children usually have desires particularly on everything that interests

them. They really want their desires to be fulfilled even without being able to

satisfy those. Hence, children are almost always dependent upon others in order to

they do not know how to get along with others. Thus, it is to say that they are

intense individuals.

b. Principle of teaching pre-school students

Cole (1956: 317-321) “pinpoints two important principles in teaching pre

-school students.” The principles consist of study environment and directions for studying. The principles will be clarified in the following paragraph.

“Study environment is considered important in building favorable environment to the learners’ mental effort to study” (Cole 1956: 317). Two

primary things included in study environment are that there should not be any

competing activity going on in the classroom and the elimination of any

whispering while the other learners are learning. When learning activities are

carried out, it is better for teacher to manage the class that can support the learners

to learn.

Learning objective can help learners much to cover what they are

supposed to do. Children need clear directions when they are learning. It is meant

to give them obvious picture about what they are about to learn. It is expected

from a teacher to provide the learners with clear direction towards learning. By

doing so, children are able to understand about what to do and what is expected

from them to accomplish. Thus, it leads the learning process more meaningful for

B. Theoretical Framework

Teaching vocabulary is introduced in very young ages. It is not easy to

teach vocabulary to young learners whose ages between 3-4 years old. Knowing

the importance of learning vocabulary, it is better to start teaching vocabulary

when learners are still young. The teacher needs to use attractive methods to make

the students excited. The writer uses the theories of Dr. James J. Asher, George

Lozanov, and Howard Gardner to classify what kinds of methods applied by the

teacher during teaching-learning process. The writer, then, uses those theories as

the foundation to find the reasons why the teacher uses the methods.

To support the applied methods in teaching-learning process, media are

also used. Media can grab students’ attention to join the class. “Media will activate students and as they learn actively, the teachers can enjoy the evidence of

their learning progress” (Brown, Lewis, and Harcleroad, 1977: 2). The teacher

should avoid boredom, hence, it is needed interesting methods and supporting

media to create pleasant teaching-learning atmosphere. The writer uses the

theories of Brown, Lewis, and Harcleroad on media to analyze kinds of media

used in the teaching-learning process. Kinds of media are pictures and real things.

Pictures consist of context and structured pictures. Real things consist of objects

and events / real places. The writer analyzes the media based on the applied

methods by the teacher.

The applied methods and media in teaching vocabulary, then, must be

adjusted with the applied curriculum of pre-school, creative curriculum. The

create the teaching-learning activities independently. “Speak First” pre-school used this curriculum in the teaching-learning process. Basically, the curriculum is

a curriculum to teach early ages students and propose “learning by playing”. Pre -school students have special characteristics in their learning process. The students

cannot be forced in their process of learning. They use the sense of sight, hearing,

tasting, smell, and touch in the teaching-learning process because they are directly

connected with what they do. The writer then analyzes what the underlying

reasons of using applied methods and media by using the curriculum. Teaching

34

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY

In this chapter, the writer will discuss the methodology used in this study.

The discussion covers research method, research participants, research

instruments, data gathering techniques, data analysis, and research procedures.

A. Research Method

The study aimed to help the English teachers to find out the methods the

teachers applied in teaching-learning vocabulary as the foreign language and the

media used to support the teaching-learning process. The study also aimed to

know what the underlying reasons to apply the methods and media in teaching

vocabulary for pre-school students in “Speak First”.

In the study, the writer used qualitative research as the research method.

“Qualitative research is a study that is done to understand a phenomenon by

focusing on the total picture rather than breaking down into variables” (Ary et al,

2002: 25). Qualitative research was a combination between the qualitative

research and descriptive research, since one of the characteristics of qualitative

inquiry is rich description. As stated by Merriam (2009, p.16) “… the product of a

qualitative inquiry is richly descriptive”, which meant that words had been used rather than numbers to convey what the researcher has learnt about the

phenomenon. Qualitative research was chosen because this study mainly dealt

students. As this study offered, it examined the methods and media in teaching

vocabulary used by the teachers as the object to be observed and the students as

the supporting element of this study.

B. Research Participants

Research participants in this study consisted of the students and the

English teacher of “Speak First”. The first participant was one of the English teachers of “Speak First” who would be interviewed. The teacher was chosen because of two reasons. Firstly, the teacher was graduated from ABA St.

Pignatelli. The teacher joined seminars and trainings for children so the teacher

was fluent in teaching English to early ages students. Secondly, the teacher had

experiences in teaching vocabulary in this course for three years through various

methods and media. Teacher’s experiences influenced the underlying reasons of why the teacher used the same methods with different media, why the teacher

used the same media with different methods, and why the teacher used different

methods and media in each meeting. The teacher was accompanied by two

assistants in every meeting. The assistants helped the teacher to handle the class

because the students actively moved around the class during the teaching-learning

process.

The second participant was “Speak First” pre-school students whose ages between 3 – 4 years old. The students were in the academic year 2010-2011. One class consisted of nine students at the most. All of them would be observed

There were active, passive, shy, and brave students in a class. The students were

chosen because their characteristic started to appear between ages 3-4 years old.

The students were chosen since the students had different background. It

meant that each student had his or her own characteristic in receiving the materials

during the teaching-learning process and the English teacher had to know the

students’ characteristic in order to deliver the materials well. Moreover, pre -school students were young learners who needed guidance to learn. The teacher

would always give guidance in teaching-learning process so that the students

could follow the learning activities.

C. Research Instruments

This study used observations, field notes, and interview as the instruments.

These instruments had a significant role in this study. They were used as a set of

instruments to collect data or information from the subject under the research. The

discussion of the instruments is divided into three sub-sections namely, the

observation checklist, thefield notes, and the interview.

1. Observation Checklist

In this study, the observation included the activities of teaching-learning

process which are conducted inside or outside the classroom, the methods and the

media used in the teaching-learning process, the atmosphere formed in the

classroom, and the students’ respond to the teacher’s explanation. Observation was used for answering the first and the second problem formulation. Checklist

interaction among teacher, student, and content. According to Ober, Bentley, and

Miller (1971: 4), “observation will describe skills and/or methods that have been found to be useful for studying the behavior of a teacher as he or she operates in

the classroom.” It could be said that teachers would be able to control the students better in ways that will facilitate and result in maximum learning when actively

engaged in a classroom situation as a teacher. All activities happened inside or

outside the classroom could be clearly seen through observation.

The results of the observation, then, were put in the form of table 3.1.

Table 3.1. Observation Checklist (Blank)

Date : Time/Period :

Place : “Speak First” A. Teaching Activities

No Aspect to consider Yes No Note

1. The teacher introduces the new topic of vocabulary.

2. The teacher explains to the students what kind of activity will be conducted. 3. The teacher speaks in English at the

most.

4. The teacher speaks in Indonesian. 5. The teacher ignores students’ mistake in

pronouncing words.

6. The teacher asks the students to guess the words.

7. The teacher practices new vocabularies based on the technique used.

8. The teacher helps the students when they have difficulties.

9. The teacher directs the students carefully.

No Aspect to consider Yes No Note

10. The teacher motivates the students if they lack of spirit in learning.

11. The teacher creates interesting teaching during teaching-learning process.

12. The teacher always reviews today’s lesson.

13. The teacher teaches the students patiently.

14. The teacher points each student to answer the question.

Others…

B. Teaching Media

No Aspect to consider Yes No Note

1. The teacher uses textbook.

2. The teacher writes on the black/white board.

3. The teacher uses pictures and movement to explain the vocabularies.

4. The teacher uses flashcards.

5. The teacher uses cassette and speaker to listen songs.

6. The teacher uses books of stories. 7. The teacher uses scrambled pictures. 8. The teacher conduct a game

9. The teacher uses a film. 10. The teacher uses photos. 11. The teacher uses puppets. 12. The teacher uses dolls.

13. The teacher uses cartoons and posters.

Others…

Notes:

1. ………

2. Field Notes

Field notes are the written account of what the writer sees, hears,

experiences, and thinks in the course of collecting and reflecting on the data in

qualitative study (Bodgan and Blinker, 1982: 74). In this study, field note was

used for writingeverything that happened in the classroom during the observation.

It contained the teacher’s talk, attitude, movement, and also the classroom conditions including the students’ activity. The teachers’ word, attitude, and movement gave influences for students’ learning process. Field notes were used in every meeting during the observation.

3. Interview

This study applied two types of questions in interview, namely structured

(or closed) form and unstructured (or open) form of questions.

Open interview provides the interviewee with broad freedom of expression and elaboration and often resemble informal talks. In closed interview, there are specific core questions determine in advance from which the interviewer branches off to explore in-depth information, probing according to the way interview proceeds, and allowing elaboration, within limits (Seliger & Shohamy, 1989:167).

The interviews were conducted informally to the English teacher in

“Speak First”. The writer interviewed a pre-school English teacher by using

Bahasa Indonesia, so that the teacher would simply catch the point of the

questions. The information was an important consideration in evaluating and

revising this study. The problems questioned in the interview were the methods

Figure 1. Snack Time

Figure 2. Cooking chocolates

Figure 2. Students played in the playing area

Figure 2. A student sent a greeting card

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ABSTRACT

Noveani, Stefani Yustita Asdra. 2011. Methods and Media in Teaching Vocabulary to Pre-School Students of “Speak First” Klaten. Yogyakarta: English Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University.

Teaching methods had an effect on the students’understanding, especially to learn English vocabulary for pre-school students. The teacher should vary methods in teaching, so the students understood what they learnt. Furthermore, the role of media was also very helpful in teaching-learning process. In this study, media helped the teachers to teach English to pre-school students, especially in teaching vocabulary. Teaching vocabulary to pre-school students would be interesting if media were included in it. The teachers used media to support their teaching methods. The participants of this study were early children whose ages are between 3-4 years old in 2009/2010 academic year. It was not easy for early-age young learners to learn vocabulary because they were also still learning

Bahasa Indonesia as their mother tongue. According to Dodge (1992: 7), English as foreign language was best to be taught since early ages of school since

pre-school was the basic education to develop human’s quality. According to Ritter

(1950), young learners “learn by seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling, and tasting.”

There were three problems in this study: (1) What kinds of methods are used in teaching vocabulary for pre-school students of “Speak First”? (2) What kinds of media are used in teaching vocabulary for pre-school students of “Speak First”? and (3) What are the underlying reasons to use different methods and media in each meeting?

This study was a qualitative research, which used three data gathering instruments, which included observation checklists, field notes, and interview. The writer conducted the observation in “Speak First” Pre-School in Klaten. In this study, field notes were used to write everything that happened in the classroom during the observation. Observation checklists and field notes were used to answer the first and second questions, which were about the methods and media that were used in teaching vocabulary for pre-school students. Then, interview was used to gain more data and to answer the third research question which was about the underlying reasons to use different methods and media in each meeting.

The results showedthat Desuggestopedia, Multiple Intelligences (MI), and Total Physical Response (TPR) were the methods which were used in teaching vocabulary. The media used during the teaching-learning process were based on the methods used. The teacher used different media in turns based on the methods used in teaching vocabulary to pre-school students in each meeting. The general underlying reasons to use different methods and media in each meeting were to

improve students’ motor, to increase students’ confidence, and to broaden students’ knowledge.

viii

ABSTRAK

Noveani, Stefani Yustita Asdra. 2011. Methods and Media in Teaching Vocabulary to Pre-School Students of “Speak First” Klaten. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Metode pengajaran sangat berpengaruh terhadap pemahaman anak dalam menerima pelajaran, khususnya belajar vocabulary bahasa Inggris untuk anak-anak usia pra-sekolah. Pendidik hendaknya membuat variasi metode pengajaran agar anak-anak mengerti apa yang dipelajari. Selain itu, peran media juga sangat membantu dalam proses belajar-mengajar. Dalam hal ini, media juga dapat membantu proses pengajaran bahasa Inggris untuk anak-anak pra-sekolah. Pengajaran kosakata Bahasa Inggris akan menarik jika media disertakan di dalamnya. Pendidik menggunakan media untuk mendukung metode mengajar yang digunakan. Subyek dalam penelitian ini adalah anak-anak usia 3-4 tahun tahun ajaran 2009/2010. Tidaklah mudah belajar kosakata bahasa Inggris untuk anak-anak usia pra-sekolah karena mereka masih belajar Bahasa Indonesia sebagai bahasa ibu. Menurut Dodge (1992: 7), bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa asing paling baik diajarkan sejak awal usia sekolah karena usia pra-sekolah sebagai dasar dalam mengembangkan pengetahuan seseorang. Menurut Ritter

(1950), pelajar usia muda ”belajar melalui melihat, mendengar, merasakan apa

yang dialami, mencium, dan mengecap rasa.” Ada tiga hal yang akan ditunjukkan dalam penelitian ini, yaitu: (1) Apa saja metode yang digunakan dalam mengajar kosakata bahasa Inggris untuk anak-anak pra-sekolah di “Speak First”? (2) Media apa saja yang digunakan dalam mengajar kosakata bahasa Inggris untuk anak-anak pra-sekolah di “Speak First”? dan (3) Apa alasan yang mendasari penggunaan metode dan media dalam setiap pertemuannya?

Penelitian ini merupakan jenis kualitatif deskripsi yang menggunakan tiga cara pengumpulan data, yaitu pengamatan, catatan lapangan, dan wawancara; digunakan. Penulis melaksanakan pengamatan terhadap anak-anak usia pra-sekolah ”Speak First” di Klaten yang berusia 3-4 tahun dalam tahun ajaran 2009/2010. Dalam penelitian ini, catatan lapangan digunakan untuk menuliskan segala sesuatu yang terjadi di kelas selama pengamatan berlangsung. Pengamatan dan catatan lapangan digunakan untuk menjawab pertanyaan pertama dan kedua, yaitu tentang teknik dan media yang digunakan dalam pengajaran kosakata bahasa Inggris untuk anak-anak usia pra-sekolah. Wawancara terhadap pendidik juga digunakan untuk menggali data lebih dalam dan menjawab pertanyaan ketiga, yaitu tentang alasan yang mendasari penggunaan teknik dan media dalam setiap pertemuan.

Dari data penelitian, diperoleh bahwa Desuggestopedia, Multiple Intelligence (MI), dan Total Physical Response (TPR) adalah pendekatan dan metode yang mendasari metode mengajar kosakata bahasa Inggris. Media yang digunakan dalam pengajaran ternyata berdasarkan pada teknik yang diterapkan oleh guru. Pendidik menggunakan media yang berbeda-beda berdasarkan metode yang diterapkan di kelas dalam setiap pertemuannya. Alasan secara garis besar yang mendasari untuk menerapkan metode dan media yang berbeda setiap

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pertemuannya adalah untuk meningkatkan kemampuan motorik anak, meningkatkan rasa percaya diri, dan menambah pengetahuan anak.