the students to memorize them. It can cause the students lose their vocabulary easily.
When the writer observed students of Nusantara vocational high school class XI Marketing 2, she found that students were full of enthusiasm
while they were learning English, but the problem that students face was vocabulary mastery. The writer tried to speak with them by using English, but
they said that they did not get what she was talking about, then she translated into Indonesian language, they tried to answer, but they did not know how to
express the sentence in English, they always asked how to say the words in English.
The writer conducted an interview with the teacher of Nusantara vocational high school class XI marketing 1, she said that students usually
memorized the words by using traditional method, the teacher wrote on the whiteboard, and then asked them to memorize the words, but some days later,
students usually forgot what they had memorized. Sometimes they still remembered the words, but just a few of them. Therefore, the writer is
interested in investigating students of Nusantara vocational high school class XI marketing 1
The writer chooses word cards as the media to enrich students‟ vocabulary because word cards are portable, students can take them wherever
they are, they can review all of the words on their word cards anytime and anywhere, when they forget their memorized vocabularies they just need to
open the cards and check them.
B. The Research Questions
According to the problems that the writer describes above, she formulates a research question. “Do the students get the higher score after
they are trained by using word cards?”
C. The Objectives of Research
The objectives of this research are to improve t he students‟
achievement and enrich students‟ vocabulary by using word cards.
D. The Significances of Research
In conducting this research, the writer will get knowledge how to use word cards in enriching learners‟ vocabularies and know its effectiveness.
This research also gives teacher knowledge about a method that can be used by himher to improve students‟ vocabulary, and if it is a good way,
teachers should consider applying it for other classes.
E. The Limitations of Research
This research is conducted in Nusantara vocational high school class XI.2
. It is all about using word cards in enriching students‟ vocabulary; it includes the vocabularies which are presented in material book of vocational
high school class XI semester 2.
F. The Method of Research
In this research, the writer gives a pre-test to the students, which consists of vocabulary knowledge based on their English materials; it is given
to know their vocabulary mastery. After giving the test and knowing students‟ vocabulary mastery, the writer finds what kinds of words that he
must give to the students, and then, give those words to the students by using word cards.
This research consists of 2 cycles, in the last of each cycle, the writer gives the students a test, to know their vocabulary progress and she knows
what she must do in the next cycle.
5
Chapter II Theoretical Framework
A. Vocabulary
1. The Definition of Vocabulary
Talking about language, it is inseparable from vocabulary, learning language means learning its component, including vocabulary. The importance
of vocabulary knowledge has long been recognized in language development. Vocabulary mastery becomes one of the requirements for people to speak a
language; it cannot be denied that without vocabulary, people cannot say anything. That is, language students need to learn vocabulary of language.
Even though vocabulary is not the only one component that students must have, it is undeniable that vocabulary becomes one of important components in
developing language.
According to Oxford English dictionary, vocabulary is defined as “total
number of words in a language, words known to a person, list of words and their meaning especially at the back of a book used for teaching a foreign
language. ”
1
Vocabulary is total number or list of words, and then it can be arranged into broader forms, such as phrase, clause, or sentence. Those arrangements
forming ideas that can be understood by others, ideas will not be able to be performed without vocabulary.
In The New Lexicon Webster’s Dictionary, vocabulary is defined as:
1
Oxford Learners Pocket DictionaryOxford: Oxford University Press,1991,p.461
