THE EFFECT OF SHORT STORY IN IMPROVING THE EIGHT GRADE STUDENTSÂ’ VOCABULARY MASTERY AT SMP PGRI 1 KARANGPLOSO

i

THE EFFECT OF SHORT STORY IN IMPROVING THE EIGHT

GRADE STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY MASTERY

AT SMP PGRI 1 KARANGPLOSO

THESIS

Written By:

YOESI ROESITA DEWI 07360178

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG

ii

THE EFFECT OF SHORT STORY IN IMPROVING THE EIGHT

GRADE STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY MASTERY

AT SMP PGRI 1 KARANGPLOSO

THESIS

This thesis is submitted to meet one of the requirements to achieve Sarjana Degree in English Education

Written By:

YOESI ROESITA DEWI 07360178

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG

v

MOTTO AND DEDICATION

“

Hal yang paling berkesan dalam hidup adalah ketika seseorang

berperang mengalami keletihan namun tetap berusaha keras

untuk bangkit dan akhirnya memenangkan peperangan itu,

untuk

mencapai tujuan dan cita-cita yang diinginkan

”

.

“

Keyakinan adalah satu kekuatan dahsyat yang dimilki

manusia. Dia mampu mematahkan dan menggapai segala

sesuatu yang diinginkannya. Bahkan dengan keyakinan,

seseorang

bisa membuat dirinya “ADA”.

Berterima kasih untuk setiap nafas dalam kehidupan.

Berterima kasih untuk setiap kesempatan.

Berterima kasih untuk setiap rizki yang diberikan.

DEDICATION:

I dedicated this thesis to:

My beloved mother and father, My beloved brother and sister, My funny niece, My friends, Thank you for love and pray.

vi

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Alhamdulillahirabbil’ alamin. All praises to Allah, the most Gracious and Merciful, who has given the writer guidance and blessing in finishing this thesis. Shalawat and Salam are also delivered to the Prophet Muhammad SAW who has brought Islam as the rahmatan lil alamin.

Then, the writer would like to express her great appreciation and thanks to the people who have helped her in completing this thesis. She thanks to:

1. Her first advisor, Rina Wahyu S., S.Pd., M.Ed and her second advisor, Bayu Hendro Wicaksono, S.Pd., M.Ed., Ph.D, for their guidance, suggestions, corrections, and comments on this thesis. Without their guidance, this thesis would have never finished.

2. Her beloved parents, father Drs. H. Ruslan, M.M and mother Hj. Siti Juwariyah, who always pray, support, and give the affection during writing this thesis. 3. The Head of SMP PGRI 1 Karangploso Drs. Noor Hamid A., M.M and English

Teacher Diah Rianawati, S. Pd. who had gave the opportunity to conduct the research.

4. Her lovely sister (Puji Roesminingsih) and brothers (Imam Roesli Pringga Jaya and Tri Yoega Poerbaya) who give motivation.

5. Her great friends Wiwit, Silvi, Iis, Yusuf, Sandra, Triana, Shinta, Mbak Ika, Mia, Dian, A’yun, Mbak Dina, Mbak Linda, Mbak Iin, Silvia, Rasuna, Nana, Ibah, Sasy, Kiki, and many more (her friends in D class and in English Department).

Malang, 27 January 2012 The writer

vii

THE EFFECT OF SHORT STORY IN IMPROVING

THE EIGHT GRADE STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY MASTERY

AT SMP PGRI 1 KARANGPLOSO ABSTRACT

Vocabulary is an inseparable part of any language learning process. It would be impossible to learn a language without vocabulary because it supports all of the English skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing. Considering the importance of vocabulary, the introduction of new vocabulary at the first stages of learning process to the students is necessary because it will lead them understanding a lot of vocabulary easily. However, learning vocabulary is not easy, based on the fact that the students’ achievement in English was not satisfactory. Short story is one of interesting materials used to improve the students’ vocabularies.

This study used quasi-experimental research design because in many situations in educational research, it was not possible to conduct a true experiment research design. In quasi-experimental design the researcher can control the treatment but cannot randomly assign subjects to the treatment because the individual are already organized in classes. The researcher divided the classroom into experimental group and control group. In this case, the experimental group was given a treatment using short story and the control group was thought without using short story. The population in this study was all of the eight grade students of SMP PGRI 1 Karangploso which were divided into five classes. The researcher used cluster sampling to select the sample. The researcher took the sample based on the class which has the lowest mean score of examination and daily task. As a result, class 8A was the experimental group and 8E was the control group. The instrument of this study was vocabulary test consisted of 20 questions.

Based on the result of pre-test, it was found that there was no significant difference on the students’ vocabularies achievement between the experimental and control group. The pre-test mean score of experimental group was 49.21 and the control group was 51.71. And the finding of the research showed that short story improved students’ vocabularies achievement of eight grade students. This was because the mean score of post-test of experimental group was 67.76 while the mean score of the control group was 62.23. Moreover, after being computed by using t-test it was found that te was 3.068 and the df of 74, then the tt value were found 1.99 at the level

significance of 0.05 and the tt value were found 2.64 at the level significance of 0.01.

The data showed that the value of te was greater than tt. Therefore, the alternative

viii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

APPROVAL ... i

LEGALIZATION ... ii

MOTTO AND DEDICATION ...iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... iv

ABSTRACT ... v

TABLE OF CONTENTS ... vi

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 The Background of Study ... 1

1.2 The Statement of Problem ... .3

1.3 The Hypothesis ... .3

1.4 The Purpose of Study ... .4

1.5 The Significance of Study ... .4

1.6 The Scope and Limitation ... .5

1.7 The Definition of Key Terms ... .5

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 2.1 Vocabulary ... .6

2.2 The Importance of Vocabulary ... .7

2.3 Teaching Vocabulary ... .7

2.4 Technique of Teaching Vocabulary ... ..12

2.5 Short Story ... ..17

2.5.1 The Definition of Short Story ... ..17

2.5.2 The Advantages of Short Story in ELT ... ..17

2.5.3 The Advantages of Story in Teaching Vocabulary ... ..18

CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research Design ... .20

3.2 Population And Sample ... .22

ix

3.4 Treatment ... .23

3.4.1 Treatment for Experimental Group ... .24

3.4.2 Teaching Learning Process of Control Group ... .24

3.5 Data Collection ... .25

3.6 Data Analysis ... .26

3.6.1 Validity of Test ... .26

3.6.2 Level of Difficulty ... .27

3.6.3 Discriminating Power ... .38

3.6.4 Reliability of Test ... .29

3.6.5 Test Analysis ... .30

CHAPTER IV: RESEARCH FINDING AND DISCUSSION 4.1Research Finding ... .32

4.1.1 The Result of Pre-test of the Experimental Group ... .32

4.1.2 The Result of Pre-test of the Control Group ... .32

4.1.3 The Conclusion of the Pre-test ... .33

4.1.4 The Result of Post-test of the Experimental Group ... .33

4.1.5 The Result of Post-test of the Control Group ... .34

4.1.6 The Result of Hypothesis Testing ... .34

4.2 Discussion ... .35

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION 5.1 Conclusion ... .37

5.2 Suggestion ... 38

REFERENCES APPENDIXES

x

REFERENCES

Akbari, Omid. 2008. Teaching Vocabulary Items through Contextualization and Picture to Elementary Iranian EFL Students. Asian EFL Journal: Volume 10. Issue 3.

Arikunto, Suharsimi. 2010. Prosedur Penelitian Suatu Pendekatan Praktek. Jakarta: Rineka Cipta.

Ary, Donald, et al. 2002. Introduction to Research in Education (Sixth Edition). USA City: Wadsworth.

Cameron, Lynne. 2001. Teaching Languages to Young Learners. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Djiwandono, Soenardi. 2008. Tes Bahasa Pegangan Bagi Pengajar Bahasa. PT Macanan Jaya Cemerlang.

Erkaya, Odilea Rocha. 2003. Benefits of Using Short Stories in the EFL Context.

Asian EFL Journal.

Gairns, R and Redman, S. 1986. Working With Words A Guide To Teaching and Learning Vocabulary. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Gay, L. R. 2003. Educational Research Competencies for Analysis and Aplication.

Ohio: Prentice Hall.

Heaton, J.B. 1988. Writing English Language Tests. Long Man Inc. New York.

Harmer, Jeremy. 1991. The Practice of English Language Teaching. United States of America: Longman Group.

Hatch Evelyn and Brown Cheryl. 1995. Vocabulary, Semantic, and Language Education. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Hooper, Brad. 1992. Short Story Writers and Their Work: A Guide to the Best. United States of America: American Library Association.

Hornby, A.S. 2005. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (7th ed). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Indah, 2007. The Techniques of Teaching Vocabulary to The Fourth Grade Students at SDN Parangargo 02 Wagir, Malang. Unpublished Thesis. Malang: University of Muhammadiyah Malang

xi

Irawati, 2005. The Role of Simulation Method In Improving The Fifth Year Students’ Vocabulary Achievement at SDN Torongrejo 02 Batu. Unpublished Thesis. Malang: University of Muhammadiyah Malang.

Koesnosoebroto, SB. 1988. The Anatomy of Prose Fiction. Jakarta: Depdikbud, Dikti, P2LPTK.

Palupi, 2010. Enriching Vocabulary Mastery Using Short Texts. Unpublished Thesis. Surakarta: Sebelas Maret University.

Pardiyono. 2006. 12 Writing Clues for Better Writing Competence. Penerbit Andi Yogyakarta.

Sabillah, Fardini. 2004. Teaching English to Young Learners: It’s Policy,

Framework, and Activity –Based Teaching. Student’s Book. Malang:

Muhammmadiyah University.

Surapranata, Sumarna. 2004. Analisis, Reliabilitas, dan Interpretasi Hasil Tes.

Bandung: PT Remaja Rosdakarya.

Thornbury, S. 2002. How To Teach Vocabulary. Oxfordshire: Bluestone Press

Ur, Penny. 1998. A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Winarsunu, Tulus. 2009. Statistik Dalam Penelitian Psikologi dan Pendidikan.

1

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

This chapter discusses some topics related to the background of the study, the statement of problem, the hypothesis, the purpose of the study, the significance of the study, the scope and limitation, and the definition of the key terms. All of the items will be explained below:

1.1Background of Study

Vocabulary is an inseparable part of any language learning process. It would be impossible to learn a language without vocabulary because it supports all of the English skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing. And it should not be neglected for anyone who learns english. Laufer(in Akbari, 2008: 2) states that

“Vocabulary learning is at the heart of language learning and language use. In fact, it is what makes the essence of a language. Without vocabulary, speakers can not convey meaning and communicate each other in a particular language”.

Considering the importance of vocabulary, the introduction of new vocabulary at the first stages of learning process to the students is necessary because it will lead them understanding a lot of vocabulary easily. However, learning vocabulary is not easy. Cameron (2001), says that learning a new word is not the simple thing. A new word should be given at least 5-6 times in one unit of text book in order to be learned by the students. So, learning vocabulary repeatedly is very important in order to thestudents always remember the material that they have learned. Because learning

2

vocabulary is not the simple thing to be done, the students get difficulties in this subject. It can be seen from the data of eight grade students at SMP PGRI 1 Karangploso that 60% of the students got low scores in english vocabulary. Therefore, it is very important for the teacher to find the solutions in order to make the students easier mastering vocabulary. One of the solutions is by giving an appropriate method, technique, material and media. It is expected that the students will be more interested in learning vocabulary.

The previous research done by Irawati (2005) under the title “The Role of

Simulation Method In Improving The Fifth Year Students’ Vocabulary Achievement

at SDN Torongrejo 02 Batu” showed a good result. The finding showed that

simulation method were effective to be used in teaching and learning vocabulary. The experimental group got better mean score than the control group. The mean score of the post test of the experimental group was 77,10 and for the control group was 63,95. After all the data were analyzed using t-test, it was proved that t-value was greater than the t-table (3,97>2,042) at the level significance of 0,05.

The previous research above is conducted to know the role of Simulation

Method in improving the students’ vocabulary achievement. However, in this study,

the researcher wants to apply short story in vocabulary lesson. The researcher wants to know the effect of short story in improving students’ vocabulary mastery.

According to Burroway (in Koesnosoebroto, 1988: 12 ), “Short story is short, and can

waste no words. It can deal with only or a very few consciousnesses”. Furthermore, Hooper (1992),says that story is different from a novel in that it is short enough to be read in one sitting, with every word leading toward some final, preordained effect. In

3

short story, the sentences are generally shorter in order the students easy to understand the story.

The researcher uses short story because it is one of an interesting materialshelps the students to find out the keys to remember and grasp many new vocabularies. Besides that, the students will be easy to write down the correct words. It is because all the words are inside of the short story. Murdoch (in Erkaya, 2002: 3), tells that if the short story that is choosed appropriate and supply good quality text it will increase the ELT program to the students. Here, the researcher uses recount and descriptive short story because these texts are being taught in first semester of eight grade students. It can be proved from the syllabus for eight grades in first semester.

The explanation above is the reason why the researcher is interested to

conduct the research entitled “The Effect of Short Story in Improving the Eight Grade

Students’ Vocabulary Mastery at SMP PGRI 1 Karangploso”. The researcher wants

to know whether or not short story improves the students’ vocabulary mastery.

1.2Statement of Problem

Based on the background above, the problem of this research is stated as follows:Does ”Short Story” improve the eight grade students’ vocabulary mastery at SMP PGRI 1 Karangploso?

1.3 Hypothesis

In order to give tentative answers of the result problem, the hypotheses areformulated as follows:

4

1. Alternative hypothesis (Ha): Short Story improves the eight grade students’ vocabulary mastery at SMP PGRI 1 Karangploso.

2. Null hypothesis (Ho): Short Story does not improve the eight grade students’ vocabulary mastery at SMP PGRI 1 Karangploso.

1.4 Purpose of the Study

Based on the research question above, the purpose of the study is to find the answer whether or not “Short Story” improves the eightgrade students’ vocabulary mastery at SMP PGRI 1 Karangploso.

1.5 Significance of the Study

The result of this study is expected to give the teachers more information about one of the appropriate teaching materials in learning vocabulary, such as short story. So, they can create an interesting teaching learning process by using this teaching material. Besides, it is expected that the result of this study will give motivation to the students to have sufficient vocabulary in their level. Furthermore, it is expected that the result of this study will be very useful to school to give the other altenative teaching models, so the quality of teaching learning process can be

increased. The result of the research is also hoped to improve students’ ways of

5

1.6 Scope and Limitation

This study focuses on improving students’ vocabulary mastery by using short

story no more than 200 words. In addition, this study is limited to the eight grade students of SMP PGRI 1 Karangploso.

1.7 Definition of Key Terms

To avoid misunderstanding in terms and contents of the topic in this study, it is necessary for the researcher to define the key terms used in this study:

1. Improveis the process of increasing students’ ability based on before and after

during the presentation of teaching activity (Hornby, 2005).

2. Vocabulary is a list or set of words for a particular language or a list or a set of words that individual speakers of a language might use (Hatch and Brown,1995). 3. Short storyis different from a novel in that it is short enough to be read in one

sitting, with every word leading toward some final, preordained effect (Hooper, 1992).Short story that is used in this study is short story no more than 200 words.

xi

Irawati, 2005. The Role of Simulation Method In Improving The Fifth Year Students’ Vocabulary Achievement at SDN Torongrejo 02 Batu. Unpublished Thesis. Malang: University of Muhammadiyah Malang.

Koesnosoebroto, SB. 1988. The Anatomy of Prose Fiction. Jakarta: Depdikbud, Dikti, P2LPTK.

Palupi, 2010. Enriching Vocabulary Mastery Using Short Texts. Unpublished Thesis. Surakarta: Sebelas Maret University.

Pardiyono. 2006. 12 Writing Clues for Better Writing Competence. Penerbit Andi Yogyakarta.

Sabillah, Fardini. 2004. Teaching English to Young Learners: It’s Policy, Framework, and Activity –Based Teaching. Student’s Book. Malang: Muhammmadiyah University.

Surapranata, Sumarna. 2004. Analisis, Reliabilitas, dan Interpretasi Hasil Tes. Bandung: PT Remaja Rosdakarya.

Thornbury, S. 2002. How To Teach Vocabulary. Oxfordshire: Bluestone Press

Ur, Penny. 1998. A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Winarsunu, Tulus. 2009. Statistik Dalam Penelitian Psikologi dan Pendidikan. Malang: UMM Press.

1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

This chapter discusses some topics related to the background of the study, the statement of problem, the hypothesis, the purpose of the study, the significance of the study, the scope and limitation, and the definition of the key terms. All of the items will be explained below:

1.1Background of Study

Vocabulary is an inseparable part of any language learning process. It would be impossible to learn a language without vocabulary because it supports all of the English skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing. And it should not be neglected for anyone who learns english. Laufer(in Akbari, 2008: 2) states that “Vocabulary learning is at the heart of language learning and language use. In fact, it is what makes the essence of a language. Without vocabulary, speakers can not convey meaning and communicate each other in a particular language”.

Considering the importance of vocabulary, the introduction of new vocabulary at the first stages of learning process to the students is necessary because it will lead them understanding a lot of vocabulary easily. However, learning vocabulary is not easy. Cameron (2001), says that learning a new word is not the simple thing. A new word should be given at least 5-6 times in one unit of text book in order to be learned by the students. So, learning vocabulary repeatedly is very important in order to thestudents always remember the material that they have learned. Because learning

2

vocabulary is not the simple thing to be done, the students get difficulties in this subject. It can be seen from the data of eight grade students at SMP PGRI 1 Karangploso that 60% of the students got low scores in english vocabulary. Therefore, it is very important for the teacher to find the solutions in order to make the students easier mastering vocabulary. One of the solutions is by giving an appropriate method, technique, material and media. It is expected that the students will be more interested in learning vocabulary.

The previous research done by Irawati (2005) under the title “The Role of

Simulation Method In Improving The Fifth Year Students’ Vocabulary Achievement

at SDN Torongrejo 02 Batu” showed a good result. The finding showed that simulation method were effective to be used in teaching and learning vocabulary. The experimental group got better mean score than the control group. The mean score of the post test of the experimental group was 77,10 and for the control group was 63,95. After all the data were analyzed using t-test, it was proved that t-value was greater than the t-table (3,97>2,042) at the level significance of 0,05.

The previous research above is conducted to know the role of Simulation Method in improving the students’ vocabulary achievement. However, in this study, the researcher wants to apply short story in vocabulary lesson. The researcher wants to know the effect of short story in improving students’ vocabulary mastery. According to Burroway (in Koesnosoebroto, 1988: 12 ), “Short story is short, and can waste no words. It can deal with only or a very few consciousnesses”. Furthermore, Hooper (1992),says that story is different from a novel in that it is short enough to be read in one sitting, with every word leading toward some final, preordained effect. In

3

short story, the sentences are generally shorter in order the students easy to understand the story.

The researcher uses short story because it is one of an interesting materialshelps the students to find out the keys to remember and grasp many new vocabularies. Besides that, the students will be easy to write down the correct words. It is because all the words are inside of the short story. Murdoch (in Erkaya, 2002: 3), tells that if the short story that is choosed appropriate and supply good quality text it will increase the ELT program to the students. Here, the researcher uses recount and descriptive short story because these texts are being taught in first semester of eight grade students. It can be proved from the syllabus for eight grades in first semester.

The explanation above is the reason why the researcher is interested to

conduct the research entitled “The Effect of Short Story in Improving the Eight Grade

Students’ Vocabulary Mastery at SMP PGRI 1 Karangploso”. The researcher wants

to know whether or not short story improves the students’ vocabulary mastery.

1.2Statement of Problem

Based on the background above, the problem of this research is stated as follows:Does ”Short Story” improve the eight grade students’ vocabulary mastery at SMP PGRI 1 Karangploso?

1.3 Hypothesis

In order to give tentative answers of the result problem, the hypotheses areformulated as follows:

4

1. Alternative hypothesis (Ha): Short Story improves the eight grade students’ vocabulary mastery at SMP PGRI 1 Karangploso.

2. Null hypothesis (Ho): Short Story does not improve the eight grade students’ vocabulary mastery at SMP PGRI 1 Karangploso.

1.4 Purpose of the Study

Based on the research question above, the purpose of the study is to find the answer whether or not “Short Story” improves the eightgrade students’ vocabulary mastery at SMP PGRI 1 Karangploso.

1.5 Significance of the Study

The result of this study is expected to give the teachers more information about one of the appropriate teaching materials in learning vocabulary, such as short story. So, they can create an interesting teaching learning process by using this teaching material. Besides, it is expected that the result of this study will give motivation to the students to have sufficient vocabulary in their level. Furthermore, it is expected that the result of this study will be very useful to school to give the other altenative teaching models, so the quality of teaching learning process can be increased. The result of the research is also hoped to improve students’ ways of improving the vocabulary.

5 1.6 Scope and Limitation

This study focuses on improving students’ vocabulary mastery by using short

story no more than 200 words. In addition, this study is limited to the eight grade students of SMP PGRI 1 Karangploso.

1.7 Definition of Key Terms

To avoid misunderstanding in terms and contents of the topic in this study, it is necessary for the researcher to define the key terms used in this study:

1. Improveis the process of increasing students’ ability based on before and after during the presentation of teaching activity (Hornby, 2005).

2. Vocabulary is a list or set of words for a particular language or a list or a set of words that individual speakers of a language might use (Hatch and Brown,1995). 3. Short storyis different from a novel in that it is short enough to be read in one

sitting, with every word leading toward some final, preordained effect (Hooper, 1992).Short story that is used in this study is short story no more than 200 words.