CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of study
In recent years, English language is used by a lot of countries all over the world. English as a language widely used in the world has played an important role in international
relationship. It has become a communication tool among countries in the business fields, politics, diplomatic, and other international relationships. It is shown that English is an
International language. In Indonesia, English has become one of the foreign languages that is taught at many schools, start from junior high level up to university level.
In learning English language, students must find difficulties to comprehend the language directly. It is because English has different structure, grammatical, and the
pronunciation which is difficult to understand. Therefore, many English learners still get confused in mastering the language. Basically the general purpose of English teaching is to
help the students understand or comprehend the language correctly. Basically, in teaching English, students are required to use that language to
communicate with others. By communicating, students are able to express ideas, thought, and feel to the partners of speaking. It means that students have to be able to speak fluently
by using good and proper language. It would be impossible to learn a language without
knowing the vocabulary. Vocabulary is an inseparable part of any language learning process. Manurung 2003 states that the ability of speaking, listening, reading, and writing
English depends on the mastery of vocabulary and grammar. That is why vocabulary supports all of the English skills namely Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking.
Learning the vocabulary is the basic thing that should be learnt by the English learners in order to be able to communicate well. The more vocabularies are in control then
the skill of speaking is getting better. While the less vocabulary you have, then skill of speaking is getting worse. Cahyono 1997:93 states that Vocabulary is one of the language
elements that should be mastered by English learners. Learning Vocabulary as a foreign language seems easy but most students still feel fear about that. English teacher should find
out the solution by creating an efficient and effective technique in teaching Vocabulary. Besides, the teachers should establish condition which makes teaching vocabulary possible.
The learning will occur within reasonable period of time. The mastery of vocabulary becomes very essential in supporting a foreign language
skill. In other side, vocabulary building is not easy thing to do because there are many various meanings, word forms, and also word choices. Therefore, English teachers are
expected to create some exercises and activities for the learners in order to improve their vocabulary mastery.
Realizing how important the vocabulary to the English learners, the teacher here has provided a new way to deliver vocabulary to the students. The teacher creates an interesting
way to the students by giving them a game. This game is trusted more effective to improve students’ vocabulary mastery because it has a lot of entertainment in doing the activity. In
other words, the students will really enjoy the learning process. The subject of this classroom action research is 7A grade students of SMP Muhasa
Malang. Based on the result of the observation, students still found many difficulties in understanding the vocabulary. They still got confused in learning English vocabulary which
made them passive in learning English in class. This situation is really unsuitable with curriculum 2013 which demands the students to be more active in class during the teaching
and learning process. This caused their score in understanding the vocabulary low. In order to know 7A graders’ vocabulary mastery, they were given a test. The result was really
astonishing; from 30 students in 7A grade, only 8 students who had scores above the criteria KKM. 16 of the students got score 60-65, and the rest of the students got below
50. It showed that 7A graders are still confused in mastering English vocabulary. When 7A graders got some new English vocabulary, they tend to memorize them instead of
comprehending. Learning English vocabulary just by looking and remembering is not really effective way. Students have to understand them firstly, then they can master the English
vocabulary.
According to the result of the interview with an English teacher at SMP Muhasa, Miss Novriska Andhini, about the condition in 7A during learning and teaching process,
there are still many problems in implementing and delivering the lesson. The teacher often had difficulty in stimulating the students in order to be more active in class during learning
and teaching process. This is caused also by the method of English teacher in delivering the lesson. The teachers still do not know the use of learning media and also learning model
which is appropriate in teaching; therefore the understanding of 7A graders is still low. Another reason why 7A graders are difficult to understand English vocabulary is because
they never got English subject when they were at elementary school. Most of the students in 7A grade never recognize all about English. From that case, the researcher takes
Classroom Action Research in that class by using the effective teaching and learning technique that is game.
The learning method is one of
important components of
the learning process that
needs to be
controlled by the teacher
.
In this case
,
learning foreign languages, especially
English should be packed in
an attractive form of learning
.
Therefore
, it is important to have a good teaching media as well. The suitability of teaching media selection with the development and need
of learners can affect the achievement of learning objectives.
Therefore
,
the selection and use
of media as a tool
must be in accordance with
the needs and
development of learners
.
One of them is
the use of game as a tool
to improve
students mastery of
English vocabulary
.
Game is one of the methods to learn vocabulary. This will make the students remember things faster and better. This strategy will increase the learners’ attention to the
lesson and it will produce a better learning result. Game also helps the teacher to create context in which language is useful and meaningful.
“What’s missing” game is an effective, challenging, and motivating game because this game uses some colorful pictures that make the learners excited to follow the lesson. It
means that the learners will give their attention to the lesson only. It will help them to remember the things they see in that activity. Based on Sari 2013, what’s missing game
can motivate the students to master English vocabulary. By implementing this game, students are able to master new English vocabulary easily and in a fun way. On the other
hand, what’s missing games are really effective methods to improve students’ vocabulary mastery because it is encouraging them to share ideas during playing the game in
classroom. It is also supported by the previous research which is conducted by Dwi 2010
about the use of what’s missing game to increase students’ mastery of vocabulary. The subject of her study is eight graders at SMP 3 Pasuruan. What’s missing game has two
steps in doing the activities. First, the students find certain aspect related to the word. For example, the students match words with their synonym, antonym, and meaning, etc. It
makes the students more active and communicative with their friends in group. Second, students are able to recall the name of items that have been studied in the first step in a
specific category and guess which item has been removed. She concludes that the game makes students remember things faster and better unconsciously.
Related to the background of the study above, the researcher conducts the classroom action research about the use of “what’s missing” game to improve students’ English
vocabulary mastery.
1.2 Statement of the problem:
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