that are used in the crossword puzzle and must be suited to the students’ ability so
that they are taken to the material closely.
2.8 The
Procedure of Utilizing the Crossword Puzzles in the Classroom
Karim and Hasbullah 1986:2.36 say that by using the crossword puzzle, students are trained to look for the relation of the answers in the boxes provided. It
will be much better if easier problems are given at first so that the students involved in the games will not get frustrated. Further, Karim and Hasbullah
1986:2.51-2.52 propose the steps or procedures concerning with the application of crossword puzzles in the English classroom. The steps are as follows:
1. Prepare the crossword puzzles based on the topic that will be discussed. The teacher can take some topics from the books, the internet, or even
other sources; or heshe can make one by himselfherself. 2. Explain how the students should fill or complete the crossword puzzles.
3. Check whether or not all the words in the clues are understandable by asking each student.
4. Give the students time in order to finish the puzzles. 5. Discuss the answers together so that the students will be aware of the
correct answers.
2.9 The Advantages of Crossword Puzzles in Vocabulary Teaching
One of the essential images in teaching and learning of English is vocabulary. This is such a big consideration to build appropriate materials to
discuss. Most of the students say that English is hard to study that they have to memorize the words. Some others say that English classroom is not such
interesting due to the fact that the teacher would not apply various presence in the way they teach.
According to the challenges above, the individual teacher is supposed to make hisher own way to create moderate atmosphere so that the existence of
lively classroom makes the students interested in it. One of the ways a teacher may take is utilizing the crossword puzzles.
Karim and Hasbullah 1986:2.34 find the advantages of the crossword puzzles as follows:
1. The crossword puzzle can stimulate the students’ interest in learning
vocabulary. 2. The crossword puzzle makes students feel relax and free from stress in the
teaching and learning process. 3. The crossword puzzle can motivate students in learning vocabulary.
4. The crossword puzzle can increase the students’ vocabulary.
5. The crossword puzzle helps the students to think, to study English words and to memorize indirectly and easily.
In addition, Coffey 1998:14 states that the crossword puzzles have become more widely used in recent years and they have a great deal of influence
on the acquisition of the students’ language components. In the conclusion, the use of crossword puzzle makes the vocabulary
teaching tend to arouse the interest of the students. Those advantages might be gained if the teacher is creative in the way of using the crossword puzzle as the
tool for English vocabulary teaching and learning process.
2.10 The Disadvantages of the Crossword Puzzles
