Implementing clarke and nation`s procedure for guessing from context in vocabulary learning to the first semester students of the English Extension Course.

i

IMPLEMENTING CLARKE

AND NATION’S PROCEDU

RE

FOR GUESSING FROM CONTEXT IN VOCABULARY

LEARNING TO THE FIRST SEMESTER STUDENTS OF THE

ENGLISH EXTENSION COURSE

A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS

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

in English Language Education

By

Laurensius Bretya Anindito Student Number: 071214149

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

SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA

iv

STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY

I honestly declare that this thesis, which I have written, does not contain the work or parts of the work of other people, except those cited in the quotations and the references, as a scientific paper should.

v

LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH

UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS

Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma: Nama : Laurensius Bretya Anindito

Nomor Mahasiswa : 071214149

Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:

IMPLEMENTING CLARKE AND NATION’S PROCEDURE FOR GUESSING FROM CONTEXT IN VOCABULARY LEARNING TO THE

FIRST SEMESTER STUDENTS OF THE ENGLISH EXTENSION COURSE

beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikannya secara terbatas, mempublikasikannya di Internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.

Demikian surat pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Dibuat di Yogyakarta,

ABSTRACT

Anindito, Laurensius Bretya. (2014). Implementing Clarke

and Nation's

Procedure

_for

Guessing

_from

Context

in

Vocabulary Learning

to

the First Semester Students

of

the

English Extension Course. Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University.

For anyone who attempts to acquire a foreign language, vocabulary holds an essential role. However, Zimmerman (1997) believes that vocabulary leaming has been "undervalued

in

the

field

of

second language acquisition (SLA) throughout its varying stages and up to the present day" (p. 5). This can be indicated by one's reliance on the use of the dictionary

to

find out a word's meaning, among other things.

This study sought to answer two research problems, which were (1) how is Clarke and Nation's guessing from context procedure implemented in vocabulary learning to the first semester students of the English Extension Course of Sanata Dharma University? and (2) what are the results of the implementation of Clarke and Nation's guessing from context procedure in vocabulary learning to the first semester students of the English Extension Course of Sanata Dharma University?

The researcher used the one group pretest-posttest experimental design in the study. The research subjects, one class of the first semester students of English Extension Course of the

20llll0l2

academic year, were pretested on November 15,2011. After the pretest, they were taught how to guess a word's meaning from context using the procedure proposed by Clarke and Nation for two meetings. The last step of the experiment was the posttest, which was carried out on November 29,2011.

To determine whether or not Clarke and Nation's guessing from context procedure led

to

a

significant increase

in

the students' posttest results in comparison to their pretest results, the researcher ran the dependent t-test. The result of the t-test revealed a non-significant increase

in

the students' posttest scores. Hence, the null hypothesis was retained. Additionally, the researcher used questionnaire, consisting

of one close-ended

part and one open-ended part, to elicit the students' general opinions on the guessing from context procedure they had learned.

One result of the questionnaire revealed that 10% of the students strongly disagreed that they had been able to use the procedure after two weeks, 30olo disagreed, and the other 60% agreed. On the contrar5r, another finding uncovered an interesting figure with 70% of the research subjects ageed that the procedure helped them find the meaning of the words they had rrcver encountered before while the rest of them strongly agreed. In the

las

part

of

chapter four, the researcher discusses the mistakes committed by the studenB in using Clarke and Nation's guessing from context procedure in the posttesl

Keywords: experimental research, vocabulary learning, guessing from context

ABSTRAK

Anindito, Laurensius Bretya. (2014).Implementing Clarke and Nation's Procedure for Guessingfrom Context inVocabulary Learningto the First Semester Students of

the English Extension Course. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa lnggrs, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Kosakata memainkan peran penting bagi siapapun yang mempelajari batrasa asing. Meskipun demikian, Zimmerman (1997) berpendapat batrwa pembelajaran kosakata "tidak cukup dihargai dalam pembelajaran bahasa asing (SLA) sampai pada saat

ini."

Hal

ini bisa dilihat

dari ketergantungan seseorang terhadap penggunaan kamus untuk menemukan arti sebuah kata.

Penelitian

ini

bertujuan untuk menjawab dua permasalahan, yaitu (1) bagaimana prosedur guessing _from context Clarke dan Nation diimplementasikan dalam pembelajaran kosakata pada matrasiswa-mahasiswa semester pertama English Extension Course

di

Universitas Sanata Dharma? dan (2) apa hasil pengimplementasian prosedu guessing _from context Clarke dan Nation dalam pembelajaran kosakata pada mahasiswa-mahasiswa semester pertama English Extension Course di Universitas Sanata Dharma?

Peneliti menggunakan desain eksperimen satu grup pretest-posttest dalarrt studi ini. Subyek penelitian ini, satu kelas mahasiswa semester pertama English Extension Course tatrun akademik 201112012, mengerjakan pretest pada 15 November 2011. Setelah mengerjakan pretest, mereka belajm menggunakan pmosedtn guessingfrom context Clarke dan Nation selama dua pertemuan. Langkah terakhir penelitian im, yaiit posffesf, dilaksanakan pada 29 November, 20l

l.

Untuk menentukan apakatr prosedur guessing

_from

context Clarke dan Nation menyebabkan kenaikan pada hasil posttest subyek penelitian jika dibandingkan dengan hasil pretesl merek4 peneliti menggunakan uji t berpasangan. Hasil uji t menunjukkan kenaikan yang tidak signifikan pada hasil posttest. Oleh karena

itq

peneliti menerima hipotesis nol. Selain itu, peneliti juga menggunakan kuesioner, yang terdiri dari satu bagran pertanyaan tertutup dan satu bagian pertanyaan terbuka, untuk memperoleh opini umum dari subyek penelitian mengenai prosedur gu essingfrom context yang sudah mereka pelajari.

Salah satu hasit kuesioner mengungkapkan bahwa sebanyak

l0% dart

mahasiswa-mahasiswa yang menjadi subyek penelitian sangat tidak setuju batrwa mereka telatr dapat menggunakan prosedur guesstng

_from

context Clarke dan Nation setelah dua minggu,3V/o tidak setuju, daln 6U/o sisanya setuju. Di sisi lain, hasil kuesioner lainnya menunjukkan 7A% dari subyek penelitian setuju batrwa prosedur Clarke dan Nation membantu mereka menemukan arti kata yang belum pernah mereka temui sebelumnya, sementara 30% sisanya sangat setuju. Pada again terakhir Bab

IV,

peneliti membatras kesalahan-kesalahan yang dilakukan oleh matrasiswa-mahasiswa dalam menggunakan prosedur Clarke dan Nation dalam mengerjakan posttest.

Kata kunci: penelitian eksperimental, pembelajaran kosakata guessingfrom context

viii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Through this particularly important part of my thesis, not only do I intend to express my sincerest gratitude to those who have helped me a great deal and offered their support in, as far as I am concerned, the most difficult years of my life up until now, but I would also like to apologize to those who I have let down so many times because it took me so long to finish my thesis. I would like to thank Christ Jesus, who has always been my biggest supporter through thick and thin. I cannot describe how much I owe Him for this. I can never thank Him enough.

My gratitude also goes out to my parents, Joseph Chris Nugroho and Margaretha Yuliawati Tedy. I wish I could have finished this earlier. I would like to thank them for being such good parents and for the support they have shown in during my college years. My gratitude also goes to Stefanus Diptya Anindito for being such an inspiring brother.

I would also like to thank Veronica Triprihatmini, S.Pd., M.Hum., M.A., who always had faith in me, even though I was always this lazy, unmotivated student. For that, I offer her my apology. I would also like to thank her for her patient guidance for the past two years.

I am also wholeheartedly grateful to M. Luluk Artika W., S.S, who allowed me to conduct the research in her class, and to all the students who took part in my research as research subjects.

ix

Another who deserves a special mention is Agnes Armita Ekarista, who has always been a great friend to me. I would like to thank her for the encouragement and believing that I could actually finish this off.

I also owe my gratitude to Antonius Jody and Adesti Komalasari for acknowledging that I was more than just capable of doing this and for being my proofreader. They were the first ones to say such encouraging words to me and that meant a lot more than all those empty “Semangat!” messages I have ever received.

I am eternally thankful to all of the lecturers and staff of the English Education Study Program at Sanata Dharma University. Although not all them were directly involved in the process of finishing my thesis, they all deserve all the credits for helping me all the way these 13 semesters. They will all be remembered.

I would also like to dedicate my gratitude to Damasus Desta, Yusak Charisma, Dwi Yulianto Nugroho, Yohanes Heri, Gloria Rosario Putri, Nidya Kusuma, Angela Asri, Wendy Rahmad Biyandi, Asep Nugroho, Epiphana Ratri, Christine Permata Sari, and all those who have been personally close to me and helped me grow all these years, and also Zoo Wee, Chilli, and Ciro for all the great times and laughter we have shared together. This scientific work of mine is also dedicated to all three of them.

Last but not least, I would love to thank all of my relatives in Yogyakarta, especially Bulik Iko and Om Sulis, who have let me stay in their house, and all the parties I cannot mention here who were involved in my development as a person

x

and contributed to my study in Yogyakarta. I am equally grateful to them, just as I am thankful to those mentioned on these acknowledgment pages.

xi

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE………... i APPROVAL PAGES ………... ii STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY………...

PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ………

iv v

ABSTRACT ………. vi

ABSTRAK……….. vii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS………..

TABLE OF CONTENTS………..

LIST OF TABLES ………...

LIST OF FIGURES ………. LIST OF APPENDICES………..

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION

A.Research Background ……….……

B.Research Problems ……….…....

C.Problem Limitation ……….……

D.Research Objectives ……….…..

E. Research Benefits ………..….

F. Definition of Terms ………....

viii xi xiv xv xvi 1 1 5 5 6 6 8

xii

CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

A.Theoretical Description ……….... 1. Guessing from Context as a Vocabulary Learning Technique…….. 2. The Dependent T-Test and the Null Hypothesis……… B. Theoretical Framework ……….

10 10 10 15 18

CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 22

A.Research Method ………...……

1. The Process of Experimental Research……….. 2. Variables in Experimental Research……….. B. Research Setting ………...

C.Research Subjects ………..

D.Instruments and Data Gathering Technique ...………... 1. Tests………...………... 2. Questionnaire ………...………...…………... E. Data Analysis Technique ………... F. Research Procedure ………...

22 24 25 26 27 27 27 28 29 30

CHAPTER IV. RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 32

1. The Implementation of Clarke and Nation’s Guessing from Context

Procedure………

2. The Results of the Implementation of Clarke and Nation’s Guessing

from Context Procedure………..

32

xiii

1. The Pretest and Posttest Results………. a. The Retention of the Null Hypothesis………. b. Two Possible Causes Which May Account For the Failed

Experiment……….. 2. The Results of the Questionnaire……… 3. The Students’ Mistakes in Using Clarke and Nation’s Guessing from

Context Procedure in the Posttest………

36 38

39 41

48

CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

A.Conclusions ………

1. The Results of the Experiment……… 2. The Questionnaire Results……….

B. Recommendations ……….

REFERENCES ……….

APPENDICES ………..

53 53 54 55 56

59 60

xiv

LIST OF TABLES

Tables Page

Table 2.1 Clarke and Nation’s Procedure for Guessing for Context ... 14

Table 2.2 The Steps of the Research ... 20

Table 3.1 Brown and Rodgers’ Types of Experimental Research ... 23

Table 3.2 The Process of Experimental Research Design ... 25

Table 3.3 The Data Analysis Table ... 29

Table 4.1 The Students’ Pretest and Posttest Scores... 37

Table 4.2 The Students’ Responses toward the First Part of the Questionnaire ... 42

Table 4.3 The Advantages of Using Clarke and Nation’s Guessing from Context Procedure according to the Participants ... 45

Table 4.4 The Disadvantages of Using Clarke and Nation’s Guessing from Context Procedure according to the Participants ... 46

xv

LIST OF FIGURES

Figures Page

Figure 2.1 Bruton and Samuda’s Procedure for Guessing from Context ... 13 Figure 3.1 The Pre-experimental Design ... 24 Figure 3.2 The Dependent t-Test Formula ... 30

xvi

LIST OF APPENDICES

Appendix Page

A – Pretest ... 60

B – Posttest ... 65

C – Pretest Result ... 73

D – Posttest Result ... 76

E – Questionnaire Result ... 81

1

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Generally, this chapter provides the background, focus, and benefits of the study. In a systematical order, the discussion in this chapter will be the background of the study, problem identification, problem limitation, problem formulations, objectives of the study, benefits of the study, and the definition of terms.

A. Research Background

As the era of globalization comes into effect, the world becomes narrower day to day. Many people with different social backgrounds and languages move from one country to another for their own purposes, such as work and education. This leads to the fact that people need to communicate with one another using different languages from their mother tongues. English, among other international languages, has therefore been established as an international language in order for people to be able to communicate with one another easily. Nowadays, many language courses can be found in Indonesia. This reflects the ever-increasing need and desire of the people to be able to speak English. But in reality, acquiring a foreign language, English in this particular case, is not really that simple.

For a start, in order for English learners to acquire the language, they need to previously acquire the language vocabulary. Vocabulary, according to Zimmerman, is “central to language and of critical importance to the typical

language learner (as cited in Coady and Huckin, 1997, p. 5).” A foreign language learner will obviously find no or much less difficulty understanding the language and using it in daily life once he has acquired a sufficient range of vocabulary.

However, according to Zimmerman, vocabulary learning has been severely undervalued (as cited in Coady and Huckin, 1997). Take a look at English language education in elementary and primary schools in Indonesia. As far as the researcher is concerned, there has not been a single school which pays much attention to vocabulary, and nor does the government. In general, the English education in elementary and primary schools in Indonesia is divided into the four skills of language, which are listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Although it can be true that teachers can interject and focus on vocabulary within the four language skills being taught, the amount of time dedicated to the subject matter might not be sufficient. Moreover, as vocabulary is focused on while students are learning the language skills, they might consider vocabulary not important. It is a possibility that they learn or memorize a number of novel vocabulary items only in order to get a good learning outcome for a certain language subject matter, for instance reading.

The situation in English Language Study Program at Sanata Dharma University Yogyakarta, where the researcher has been studying in, was much different. Vocabulary was given much attention in the study program because the goal of the study program is to produce qualified English teachers. In order to be a competent English teacher, of course, one should have a sufficient range of English vocabulary. To help the students obtain sufficient vocabulary items,

which will be very much useful when they take other subjects in latter semesters and in their roles as teachers, the study program decided to make vocabulary two of the compulsory subjects; Vocabulary I was to be taken in the first semester, while Vocabulary II had been made an elective subject to be taken in the second semester. However, since the beginning of the 2011/2012 academic year, Vocabulary I and Vocabulary II have been excluded from the curriculum for some reason.

Up until the researcher’s first semester studying in the study program, the

technique being used to teach the students in the Vocabulary I class had been the rote learning. Some experts refer to this kind of rote learning as resourcing technique. The students had to memorize approximately 100 vocabulary items or so each week and do the matching test the following week over and over again. Thus, the words they students had to memorize were taken out of context. Even though the lecturer sometimes used a different teaching technique, which was filling in the blanks of a given text (thus, words in context), the researcher still found the learning process boring and almost meaningless. However, this is not to mention that the teaching technique was not helping the students in acquiring new vocabulary items because some students were indeed dependent on their memory to learn and acquire new words. What the researcher wants to point out is that there may be another technique which can be used to supplement this technique, one that helps students acquire vocabulary in a more meaningful, challenging way. Now that the Vocabulary classes had been excluded from the curriculum, the researcher decided to conduct the research at the English Extension Course at

Sanata Dharma University Yogyakarta, in which vocabulary lessons are still part of the curriculum. Having found this particular problem, the researcher was convinced a study of contextual vocabulary learning would be worth conducting.

Nowadays, people will seldom find discrete vocabulary learning in most elementary and primary schools in Indonesia, even in universities with English programs. English learning and teaching in Indonesia pay more attention to the four skills of language; reading, writing, listening, and speaking. This, according to Zimmerman (1997), is because “teaching and learning of vocabulary have been undervalued in the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) throughout its varying stages and up to the present day.” Most English learners, when it comes to vocabulary learning, will think of lists of words to memorize. Some of them might find this learning method boring and not really helping them memorize the words although there are still many English teachers who employ this out-of-date method. In fact, what learners need are meaningful learning activities, which will help them understand the material being taught.

While it is almost impossible to help students at any level of education learn vocabulary in a vocabulary class, the idea of integrating vocabulary learning with some of the four skills of language may sound like an almost perfect plan. Inserting vocabulary learning into a particular language skill subject will allow teachers to cover more subjects of learning. Reading has been one language skill subject in which vocabulary is usually learned for in a reading class students will have to read a number of reading passages. To understand these learning passages, undoubtedly, students must have acquired a certain range of vocabulary. Nation

(1990) argues that to be able to understand a simplified book, one should already have 300-400 words. He adds that most simplified books are written to take the readers to a higher level of vocabulary mastery, of, for example, 2000 words. These books provide students with words that the students may have not encountered before in the hope that the students will acquire the words. In order to acquire a word, one must know the meaning of the word. Most students will refer to dictionaries (known as resourcing) to figure out the meaning of the word while they can guess the meaning. The problem, then, is how effective is this guessing from context vocabulary learning strategy when used by teachers to improve

students’ vocabulary learning process?

B. Research Problems

The study was built around the following two questions:

1. How is Clarke and Nation’s guessing from context procedure implemented in vocabulary learning to the first semester students of the English Extension Course of Sanata Dharma University?

2. What are the results of the implementation of Clarke and Nation’s guessing from context procedure in vocabulary learning to the first semester students of the English Extension Course of Sanata Dharma University?

C. Problem Limitation

As the title of the thesis suggests, this thesis focuses only on the implementation of Clarke and Nation’s procedure for guessing from context when

used as a vocabulary learning technique by the first semester students of English Extension Course at Sanata Dharma University Yogyakarta. Therefore, there will not be any other vocabulary learning technique nor students of other institutions discussed in the study.

D. Research Objectives

This study has two main objectives. The first objective of the study is to see how Clarke and Nation’s procedure for guessing from context is implemented in vocabulary learning to the first semester students of English Extension Course at Sanata Dharma University. Having figured out the answer to the first research question, the researcher would analyze the results of the implementation, including the t-test result, the students’ responses to the questionnaire, and the mistakes committed by the students when using Clarke and Nation’s guessing from context procedure in the posttest.

E. Research Benefits

Having pondered the likely results of the study, the researcher is certain that the research will benefit all of the parties involved in the study. The parties are as follows:

1. The researcher

By conducting this study, the researcher will be familiar with conducting research in the world of education, which will be tremendously useful in the

educational problems in Indonesia which remains to be solved and it is by conducting educational research that those problems can be solved for the sake of

the future generations to come. The study will also enrich the researcher’s

knowledge of vocabulary learning techniques in general. While doing the research, the researcher had to read a lot of books and internet articles that discuss vocabulary learning and teaching. All of the things that the researcher got from reading those books will be enormously great additions to the researcher’s existing knowledge and, hopefully, to the researcher’s bank of vocabulary teaching techniques.

2. The students

After being exposed to a completely different kind of vocabulary learning technique, which is guessing from context, the students will be able to employ the learning technique to enrich their English vocabulary without relying too much on the use of bilingual dictionaries. As guessing from context can be employed

without a teacher’s guidance, the students will be able to use the technique

whenever necessary. For instance, when a student is taking a TOEFL test, he is likely to find reading segments in which there are several reading passages with many unknown words. While it is impossible to look up a dictionary, he needs to

make a guess to determine the words’ meanings to completely comprehend the passages, and, eventually, to correctly answer the questions.

3. The lecturers

Hopefully, the results of the study will give birth to some new ideas for the lecturers at the English Extension Course of Sanata Dharma University

Yogyakarta on how vocabulary learning can be learned in a completely different, meaningful way.

F. Definition of Terms

As the reader reads the paper, there will be several important terms, which the researcher may need to define so as not to bring confusion and misunderstanding to the reader. The terms include guessing from context, vocabulary learning, and first semester students of the English Extension Course. 1. Guessing from Context

Guessing from context has been long identified and included as one of the strategies which language learners employ to acquire a new language. The

strategy was mentioned by J. Michael O’Malley and Anna Uhl Chamot in their

book, Learning Strategies, published in 1990. Several experts have proposed their own procedures for guessing from context. Clarke and Nation’s guessing from context procedure was the one used by the researcher in the experimental study. 2. Vocabulary Learning

Perhaps the best definition of vocabulary learning can be summed up from Schmitt (1997), who defined vocabulary learning strategy as “any strategy that

results in the learning of vocabulary” (as cited in Ozturk, p. 21). From that concept, the researcher concludes that vocabulary learning is any process which

3. The First Semester Students of English Extension Course

This experimental research involved one class of first semester students of English Extension Course of academic year 2011/1012. English Extension Course is a course managed by lecturers of both English Education and English Letters Study Program at Sanata Dharma University. They underwent a pretest, learned

Clarke and Nation’s guessing from context procedure, took a posttest, and filled

out the questionnaire devised by the researcher in order to find out how they perceived the guessing from context procedure.

10

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter provides the theories underlying the study. These include the theories of experimental research, guessing from context, the dependent t-test, and the null hypothesis.

A. Theoretical Description

The first part of this chapter covers several theories that were useful and central to the study. The researcher begins with the theory of guessing from context as a vocabulary learning technique. Following the discussion of the first theory, the researcher reviews the t-test and null hypothesis theory.

1. Guessing from Context as a Vocabulary Learning Technique

Nation (1990) claims guessing from context as one of “the most important vocabulary learning strategy” (p. 130). In spite of this, not many second language learners employ the technique as a means of acquiring new vocabulary items they encounter in daily life, especially in reading passages or newspaper articles. Instead of using guessing from context to obtain the meaning of novel words, they learn the new words they encounter by learning them in isolation. In other words, they take the words they wish to learn out of their context. As mentioned before, the researcher would like to reiterate that learning foreign language words by taking them out of context does help students acquire new words as one can learn a lot of new words by using this particular technique in a short time. Nation

(1990) even argues that no fewer than 30 foreign words can be learned in an hour by a single student. He continues his argument by stating that some learners can even manage to acquire as many as one hundred novel words in just sixty minutes’ time when the words being learned are associated with their equivalences in the students’ mother tongue (p. 126).

Guessing from context is one of the most important vocabulary learning techniques. It teaches the students “to be able to make a well-informed guess at the meaning of an unknown word in context” (Nation, 1990, p. 130). This is what makes guessing from context an important vocabulary learning technique to acquire. However, this is not to claim that this technique is “the most effective, or even a relatively effective, way of teaching that vocabulary” (Sternberg, as cited in McKeown & Curtis, 1987, p. 89). Needless to say, the word “teaching” in the previous quote can be replaced by the word “learning”, depending on how the reader views the sentence – as a learner or a teacher. In fact, as Sternberg (1987) points out, “most vocabulary is learned from context” (as cited in McKeown and Curtis, 1987, p. 90). Throughout his life, one will be exposed to countless numbers of words seen in newspapers, books, magazines, internet articles, blogs, and even video games. This particular vocabulary learning technique becomes all the more important for an individual who plans on taking standardized tests, such as TOEFL, TOEIC, and IELTS, where he is faced with a number of reading passages, which require him to make guesses of some of the words’ meanings in order to comprehend the whole texts. It is sometimes just impossible for any of us to look up a dictionary to find the exact meaning of an unknown word in a given

text. Guessing from context enables individuals to make an informed guess of the new word. Therefore, the researcher believes it is important for any language teacher to teach guessing from context to his students bearing in mind how important this technique will be for the students, not only during their formal study period, but also throughout their lifetime.

In order to help language teachers easily transfer this vocabulary learning technique to the students, some experts have formulated their own steps of how one can guess a word’s meaning from the context in which the word is embedded. The two prominent procedures for guessing from context have been prescribed by Bruton and Samuda (as cited in Nation, 1990, p. 161) and Clarke and Nation (as cited in Nation, 1990, p. 162). There are two major things that differentiate one procedure from the other. Bruton and Samuda’s procedure for guessing from context consists of six steps. On the other hand, Clarke and Nation’s procedure comprises only five steps. The other thing that distinguishes the two procedures is that Bruton and Samuda’s procedure is “based more on a trial-and-error approach, with guessing occurring very early in the procedure and being followed by justification and elaboration” (Nation, 1990, p. 162). Meanwhile, in Clarke and Nation’s procedure guessing occurs at a later stage after students have gained sufficient information needed to guess the meaning of an unknown word. Figure 2.4 displays Bruton and Samuda’s procedure for guessing from context while Table 2.2 display the steps of Clarke and Nation’s guessing from context procedure.

Stage 1: Focus on The Unknown Word

Stage 2: Teacher Asks for Guesses Students Hazard Guesses

Are Any Students Close?

Stage 3: Context Clues Leading to Approximate Meaning

Stage 4: Justify Choices

Stage 5: Teacher Elaboration

Stage 6: Backup YES

NO

Table 2.1 Clarke and Nation’s Procedure for Guessing for Context

By examining both procedures for guessing from context shown in Figure 2.4 and Table 2.2, one can notice the slight difference between the two distinct procedures, where the guessing occurs at two different stages of each procedure. Clarke and Nation’s procedure might seem rather confusing than the other procedure being discussed in the paper, yet, when applied, it is “basically very simple” (Nation, 1990, p. 162). The researcher discusses how one should apply the procedure in the last section of this chapter.

Although one might conclude that guessing from context is a vocabulary learning technique which does not require the use of a dictionary, it actually does. By using this technique, one’s dependence on the use of dictionary may be reduced. Nation (1990) argues that “unless the learners already have a reasonable idea of what a word means, they will be unable to choose the most suitable meaning from those given in the dictionary” (p. 165). The learners may use a Step 1 Determine the part of speech of the unknown word.

Step 2 Pay attention to the sentence in which the unknown word is embedded and see if there are other words modifying the word or going with it. Step 3 Observe the relationship of the sentence with other sentences or

paragraphs as it can help determine the meaning of the unknown. Punctuations and conjunctions may also serve as a clue.

Step 4 Guess the meaning of the unknown word using the information gained from steps 1-3.

Step 5 Check if your guess is correct by:

a. Seeing the parts of speech of your guess and the unknown word. If they are of the same part of speech, you are probably correct. b. Substituting the unknown word with your guess. You guess is

probably correct if the sentence makes sense.

dictionary as another means of checking whether or not their guess is correct (p. 165).

Another noteworthy thing that teachers should bear in mind when teaching guessing this technique of vocabulary learning to students, despite which procedure being employed, is that they must not tell the students the meaning of the unknown words. The idea of teaching this technique is that the students may someday become independent learners or users of the technique who know how to deal with unknown words. McGregor (1970) strongly argues that every time a teacher tells their student what a word means they take away the opportunity to practice the skill from the student (as cited in Nation, 1990, p. 164).

2. The Dependent t-Test and the Null Hypothesis

This research sought to find out whether or not Clarke and Nation’s procedure for guessing from context could help the first semester students of English Extension Course learn vocabulary in a significant manner. To determine this, the researcher had to compare the mean of the pretest results of the research subjects to the mean of the posttest results using the dependent t-test. The result of the t-test, known as t, would then determine the researcher’s decision to either retain or reject the null hypothesis. The following paragraphs provide the reader with brief theories about the dependent t-test and the null hypothesis.

Ary, Jacobs, and Razavieh (1990) stated that the dependent t-test is a statistical test used to measure the mean difference between two sets of scores (p. 196). This test is usually used when one intends to find out whether a certain treatment will lead to a change when given to one group of research subjects and

requires a pretest and a posttest administered before and after the experimentation. It is called the dependent t-test because the two sets of scores from both the pretest and posttest belong to the same group of subjects. The result of the dependent t-test determines whether or not the treatment has resulted in a significant change in the subjects after the exposure of the treatment for a certain period of time and will enable a researcher to either retain or reject the null hypothesis.

According to Ary et al. (1990), the null hypothesis is “a statement that there is no actual relationship between the variables and that any observed relationship is only a function of chance” (p. 162). A null hypothesis must always be stated in a negative sentence and can either be retained or rejected by a researcher depending on the result of the statistical test done previously. In order for a researcher to retain or reject the null hypotheses, the t-test result must either exceed or be less than the t-value required for significance at a certain level. By retaining the null hypothesis, a researcher states that he didn’t find any or less than enough evidence to prove that his experimentation had led to a change he had expected, or that any change observed after the experimentation could not be attributed to the variables he had modified. By doing the opposite, a researcher states that the change observed after the experimentation was likely to be the result of his experimentation; that the variables he had modified caused the change. This theory would be used by the researcher to answer research question number one. Here are the null and alternative hypotheses in this research:

 Null Hypothesis (H0)

There is no significant difference between the mean of the pretest scores and the mean of the posttest scores.

 Alternative Hypothesis (H1)

The mean of the posttest scores is significantly higher than the mean of the posttest scores.

An important part of the null hypothesis theory is the theory of level of significance. Ary et al. (1990) define the level of significance as the “predetermined level at which a null hypothesis would be rejected” (p. 165). A researcher must determine the level of significance before he carries out his research. The level of significance one chooses may vary, but the most used level of significance is the .05 level, as was the level of significance set by the researcher before the experiment. If, for example, a researcher decides that he uses the .05 level of significance for his research and based on the test of significance he rejects the null hypothesis, he implies that he does not believe that “the null hypothesis is true because the chances are only 5 out of 100 (.05)” (Gay, 1992, p. 431).

Apart from the theory of level of significance, another inseparable part of any type of tests of significance is degrees of freedom. According to Gay (1992), degrees of freedom constitute “a function of such factors as the number of subjects and the number of groups” (p. 434). Different formulas to determine degrees of freedom apply depending on the test of significance one would like to carry out. This research, for instance, used the t-test for dependent samples. The

formula used to determine the degrees of freedom is df = N-1, with N being the number of research subjects. Since this study involved a total of 15 students, the degrees of freedom of the study are 14.

B. Theoretical Framework

In this part of the paper, the researcher provides theories which would be used to provide answers to the questions of the research. There were three theories which the researcher used to conduct the research. The first theory is that of experimental research. As explained in the early part of this chapter, experimental research comprises several designs. One of these designs, the one group pretest-posttest design, was the design that the researcher employed in the study. There was one group of subjects, one pretest, one variable, and one posttest involved in the research.

Many experts have managed to formulate steps on how experimental research, no matter which design is being employed, should be carried out. Among those experts were Gay and Johnson. Although the two experts proposed similar processes of how researchers should conduct their experiment, Johnson’s process of experimental research was the one which the researcher followed due to its simplicity.

Johnson’s procedure for conducting experimental research begins with the selection of the subjects of the study. The subjects can be selected on a random basis or non-random basis. Upon the selection of the subjects, a researcher will have to assign the subject to different groups. However, this step does not apply to

some experimental designs which involve only one group of subjects. The third step is the administration of the pretest. The scores of the pretest serve as a measure to see the current level the subjects are on before the treatment is given. After the administration of the pretest, the researcher will go to the core step of any experimental study, the implementation of the treatment or experimentation. At this stage of experimental research, the subjects of the study are exposed to a different method, learning environment, program, or any other variables over a particular period of time. Having done this step, the researcher will then administer the posttest to see how well the subjects have improved or excelled at a certain lesson or class after being exposed to the treatment. The researcher’s last task is to compare the mean of the pretest scores to the mean of the posttest scores using the dependent t-test.

Another theory which the researcher used in the study is the guessing from context theory. In the previous part of this chapter, the reader has been provided with two different procedures for guessing from context. Of the two procedures proposed by Bruton and Samuda (1981) and Clarke and Nation (1980), it is the latter that the researcher employed when teaching the subjects because it was easier for the researcher and, presumably, the subjects, to comprehend. Clarke and Nation’s procedure for guessing from context starts with the learners focusing on the unknown word and determining the part of speech of the word. Afterwards, they have to “look at the clause or sentence containing the unknown word” (Nation, 1990, p. 162) and decide the words that modify or go with the word. The next step is to look whether there is a relationship “between the clause or sentence

containing the unknown word and other sentences or paragraphs” (Nation, 1990, p. 162). Relationships between sentences or paragraph may well serve as a clue for the learners to guess the meaning of an unknown word. After collecting sufficient information, the learner can now guess the meaning of the word. The last step of Clarke and Nation’s procedure is checking, which consists of four steps (when dictionary work is included). To begin with, the learners must check that his guessing has exactly the same part of speech as the unknown word. The guess may be wrong if the parts of speech are different. Hereafter, they need to substitute the unknown word with their guess. Check if the meaning of the sentence makes sense after the word is replaced. If it does, there is a great possibility that the guess is correct. The last sub-step of this step is breaking “the unknown word into its prefix, root, and suffix, if possible” (Nation, 1990, p. 163) and see if the meanings of the prefix and suffix match that of your guess. When unsure, the learners may use a dictionary to help them decide the meaning of the unknown word.

Having examined the two theories that will be largely used in this study, the researcher can now outline the steps of how the study will be carried out. Table 2.4 outlines the steps of the research:

Table 2.2 The Steps of the Research Step Johnson’s Procedure for Conducting

Experimental Research

The Procedure for Guessing from Context

1. Select subjects -

2. Assign subjects -

3. Administer pretest -

4. Implement and monitor treatment 1. Determine the part of speech of the unknown word.

which the unknown word is embedded and see if there are other words modifying the word or going with it.

3. Observe the relationship of the sentence with other sentences or paragraphs as it can help

determine the meaning of the unknown. Punctuations and conjunctions may also serve as a clue.

4. Guess the meaning of the unknown word using the information gained from steps 1-3.

5. Check if your guess is correct by: a. Seeing the parts of speech of

your guess and the unknown word. If they are of the same part of speech, you are probably correct.

b. Substituting the unknown word with your guess. You guess is probably correct if the sentence makes sense.

c. Breaking the unknown word into its prefix, root, and suffix.

22

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the methodology the researcher used for answering the questions of the study, which are how Clarke and Nation’s guessing from context procedure is implemented in vocabulary learning to the first semester students of English Extension Course and the results of the implementation of Clarke and Nation guessing from context procedure. Technically, this chapter is divided into six parts, which are research method, research participants, research instruments, data gathering, data analysis, and research procedures. Each of this

chapter’s parts is discussed below.

A. Research Method

This study was that of experimental research. Many experts have managed to define experimental research. Even though they define the term in different words, but the essence is practically the same. Anderson (1969) is among the experts that have attempted to define experimental research. He defines the term

as “a situation in which one observes the relationship between two variables by

deliberately producing a change in one and looking to see whether this alteration

produces a change in the other” (as cited in Brown & Rodgers, 2002, p. 211). While this definition is a rather broad one, it applies to “any discipline which

considers itself a science” (Brown & Rodgers, 2002, p. 211). This definition by Anderson is affirmed by Johnson (1992), who states that experimental research

aims to “establish that one variable, the independent variable, causes changes in

another variable, the independent variable” (p. 165). When conducting this type of

research, a researcher will have to “manipulate at least one independent variable,

control over relevant variables, and observe the effect on one or more dependent

variables” (Gay, 1992, p. 298).

Experimental research consists of several types. Some experts have suggested possible types of experimental research. Brown and Rodgers (2002), for instance, suggest that there are four types of experimental research. Table 2.1 shows the four types of experimental research:

Table 3.1 Brown and Rodgers’ Types of Experimental Research

One treatment Two treatments

One group

A Pre-test/Post-test. Single group followed throughout treatment.

Treatments may be simultaneous or sequential. For example, one might involve two L2s taught with two different methods. Two

groups

Groups vary on some assumed critical dimension such as age, sex, intelligence, motivation, etc.

Classic method studies involving a control group and an experimental group, each taught by a different method.

Meanwhile, Cohen, Manion, and Morrison (2000) argue in their book entitled Research Methods in Education that there are three types of experimental research, which are pre-experimental design, true experimental design, and quasi-experimental design. The pre-quasi-experimental design involves only one group and one dependent variable. This pre-experimental design is the design which the researcher employed in the study. The writers represent the pre-experimental design as seen in Figure 2.1:

Figure 3.1 The Pre-experimental Design

O represents the single group involved in the study. This group will be pretested at the beginning of the research. The scores of the pretest are represented by O1. This group of, for example, students, will then be exposed to a variable (χ)

following the pretest. Having been exposed to the variable, the research subjects will then be posttested. The results of the posttest are represented by O2. To

determine whether or not there is a significant different between the pretest and the posttest results, a scientific test will be used. For example, one researcher would like to discover if clue pictures or cards would improve a group of

students’ writing ability. Therefore, the researcher will have to conduct a pretest to measure the students’ initial level of writing ability without using clue cards.

After conducting the pretest, he will have to expose the students to his experimentation; that is, teaching the students how to write using the assistance of clue pictures or cards. The last step is then to test the students if their writing ability has been increased after being exposed to the experimentation.

1. The Process of Experimental Research

The process of this type of experimental design basically follows the same

steps. Gay (1992) outlines the process of experimental research as “selection and

definition of a problem, selection of subjects and measuring instruments, selection of a design, execution of procedures, analysis of data, and formulations of

conclusion” (p. 299). Slightly different from Gay’s process of experimental

research is Johnson’s steps in sample experiment. Johnson (1992) formulates the steps in a more simple way and represents the steps in Table 2.2:

Table 3.2 The Process of Experimental Research Design

Step Procedure Symbol

1. Select subjects R-S or No R-S

2. Assign subjects R-A or No R-A

3. Administer pretest O1

4. Implement and monitor treatment X1 vs. X2

5. Administer posttest O2

Note: R-S = Random Selection; R-A = Random Assignment; O = Observation/Testing; X = Treatment/Instructional intervention

2. Variables in Experimental Research

Independent and dependent variables are two essential elements in any experimental research. The use of the terms independent and dependent variable may be confusing to some people. Experts refer to either variable using several different terms. Gay (1992), for example, claims that independent variables can be

referred to as “the experimental variable, the cause, or the treatment” (p. 298).

Therefore, the researcher would like to simplify both terms in order for the reader to be able to comprehend the paper better. Basically, what is termed independent variable is the treatment a researcher exposes the subjects of his research to in the hope that the treatment will lead to a change of some aspects possessed by the research subjects. According to Gay (1992) independent variables can be in the

forms of “method of instruction, type of reinforcement, frequency of

reinforcement, arrangement of learning environment, type of learning materials,

Having examined what independent variables are, the writer goes on explaining dependent variables. The concept of dependent variables is much easier to comprehend than that of independent variables. A number of experts have attempted to define the term dependent variable. Johnson (1992) defines the

term as a variable “that will be affected by the independent variable; that is, it is the goal of instruction that will be studied” (p. 172). Another definition of the

terms has been suggested by Gay (1992), who states that dependent variables are

“the outcome of the study, the change of difference in groups that occurs as a result of manipulation of the independent variable” (p. 298). Similar to

independent variables, dependent variables can take any possible forms as long as

they “represent an outcome that is measurable” (Gay, 1992, p. 298). As claimed by Johnson (1992), dependent variables can be “various aspects of comprehension

and production, the use of processes and strategies, and affective outcomes as

well” (p. 172). Therefore, dependent variables should not always be in the form of tests (Gay, 1992, p. 298). Gay (1992) continues his argument by suggesting that

dependent variables can also be “attendance, number of suspensions, attention

span, or even number of books checked out of the library” (p. 298).

B. Research Setting

The research was conducted at the English Extension Course at the first campus of Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta. The room in which the research took place was room K.10. The research lasted for three meetings at the same place from 14.00 to 15.50.

C. Research Subjects

As pointed out by Johnson (1992), the persons involved in an experimental study are called subjects rather than participants (p. 173). The use of the word

“subjects” may sound dehumanizing, but “this is merely conventional terminology from psychology and other disciplines and not intended to be dehumanizing.”

The study involved only one class of Vocabulary I of the 2011/2012 academic year at the English Extension Course, which belongs to Sanata Dharma University Yogyakarta. The reason for choosing the research subjects was because they were the only viable option as far as the researcher was concerned as the students learned only the English vocabulary and no other subject matters and language skills, such as speaking, writing, listening, or reading were involved in the classroom.

D. Instruments and Data Gathering Technique

There were two types of instruments that the researcher used in order to gather the data required for the importance of the study. One instrument was in the form of tests, which consisted of the pretest and posttest, and the other was in the form of questionnaire, filled out by the research subjects on December 20, 2011, after they completed their Vocabulary I final test.

1. Tests

The tests which were used in this study were carried out twice. The first one was conducted before the researcher implemented the guessing from context procedure in the classroom. Hence, it was called the pretest. This pretest would

provide the researcher with useful information on the students’ initial ability to infer a word’s meaning out of its context without using any particular guessing from context procedure. The scores of the pretest would then be compared to those of the posttest, which would be conducted upon the completion of the vocabulary learning technique implementation in the classroom, to see whether

Clarke and Nation’s guessing from context procedure helped them improve their vocabulary learning process. In the posttest, however, the research subjects were

faced with 10 test items to answer using Clarke and Nation’s guessing from

context procedure.

2. Questionnaire

Apart from the pretest and posttest, the researcher also employed questionnaire as one the research instruments. The questionnaire was distributed to the whole group of the research subjects subsequent to the implementation of the guessing from context procedure as a vocabulary learning technique in the classroom, which was on the final test day of the Vocabulary I class. The questionnaire would provide beneficial information on how the students view

Clarke and Nation’s procedure for guessing from context after being exposed to the procedure for two meetings. The questionnaire consisted of open-ended and closed-ended questions in order for the researcher to elicit as much useful, specific information as possible from the students.

In addition to the tests and questionnaire as research instruments, the researcher also had to teach the students how to guess the meanings of unknown words using Clarke and Nation’s procedure for guessing from context. The

implementation of the vocabulary learning technique lasted for two meetings, in which each meeting lasted for 110 minutes. The procedure for implementing guessing from context in the classroom is explained in the next part of this chapter.

E. Data Analysis Technique

The data that had been gathered from the research would be processed and analyzed according to the research instruments used for gathering the data. Table 4.1 shows the reader how the researcher would analyze the data and what instruments would be used to collect the data:

Table 3.3 The Data Analysis Table

No. Problem Data Required Instruments

1. How is Clarke and Nation’s guessing from context procedure implemented in vocabulary learning to the first semester students of English Extension Course?

The students’ works 1. Student

worksheets

2. What are the results of the implementation of Clarke and

Nation’s guessing from

context procedure in vocabulary learning to the first semester students of English Extension Course?

The students’ pretest

and posttest results,

the students’

responses toward the questionnaire.

1. Questionnaire 2. Pretest and

posttest

Upon the completion of the posttest, the researcher would go on determining whether or not there had been a significant, positive difference between the mean of the pretest scores and that of the posttest scores. In order to

do this, the researcher used the dependent t-test. Figure 3.2 shows the formula for the dependent t-test.

̅

√

Figure 3.2 The Dependent t-Test Formula where:

t : t ratio

̅ : average difference

: different scores squared, then summed

: different scores summed then squared N : number of pairs

F. Research Procedure

The researcher began the study by stating the null hypothesis and alternative hypothesis. Having decided the two hypotheses, the researcher went on to choosing the subjects of the research, who were one class of first semester students of the English Extension Course of the 2011/2012 academic year. As the reader has read in Theoretical Description in Chapter II, the researcher did not randomly assign the subjects into two groups as the research required only one group of subjects, following the one group pretest-posttest design by Cohen, Manion and Morrison (2000).

Hereafter, the research subjects would learn how to guess the meanings of the unknown words using the context in which the words were found. The researcher would introduce them to Clarke and Nation’s procedure for guessing from context. The subjects would then do some tasks, both in groups and individually, in which they had to apply Clarke and Nation’s procedure for guessing from context. This step would last for two meetings.

After two meetings, they were posttested using the same material. Their scores on the pretest and posttest would then be compared and analyzed using the t-test in order to see if they had improved their guessing from context skills. The result of the analysis would answer the first question of the thesis. The researcher would distribute the questionnaire to the group to see how the subjects view

Clarke and Nation’s procedure for guessing from context as a vocabulary learning technique.

To answer the last question of the study, the researcher would also analyze and examine the research subjects’ posttest results to see in which stage of the

32

CHAPTER IV

RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Throughout this chapter, the researcher presents and elaborates the research findings in detail. The research data were gathered from the two tests, which were the pretest and posttest, conducted at the beginning and the end of the experimentation consecutively, and the questionnaire, which was filled out by the research subjects upon finishing their Vocabulary I final test at the end of the first semester of the 2011/2012 academic year. The researcher uses these data to answer the two research questions stated in the first chapter of the thesis. This chapter is divided into three parts. The first part discusses whether or not the participants’ vocabulary test results are significantly increased after being exposed to Clarke and Nation’s procedure for guessing from context. In the second part of the chapter, the researcher discusses the students’ view toward the guessing from context procedure they were exposed to based on the questionnaire results. Meanwhile, the third part discusses the participants’ errors in using Clarke and Nation’s procedure for guessing from context which occurred the most.

A. The Implementation of Clarke and Nation’s Guessing from Context Procedure

The researcher began the research by choosing the subjects of the study, who were the first semester students of Vocabulary I class of the English Extension Course at Sanata Dharma University of the 2011/2012 academic year.

After choosing the subjects, the researcher directly went to the third step of Johnson’s procedure for experimental research as there was no need to assign the subjects to groups because the research required only one group of subjects.

The pretest was then carried out to measure the subjects’ initial ability in guessing several words’ meanings based on the context in which the words were found, that is guessing from context without using any procedure or technique. The pretest consisted of 20 test items and took place on November 15, 2011 and lasted for 30 minutes. The test items were compiled by the researcher from a number of English newspaper articles. In the pretest, the students were not provided with possible answers, so they were required to guess the closest words which had the same meanings as the underlined words in the test items without using any particular guessing from context procedure.

Afterwards, the subjects were exposed to Clarke and Nation’s guessing from context procedure for two meetings, including the meeting in which they took the pretest, and given a couple of assignments. The researcher began the experiment by asking the class if they had known any guessing from context procedure for vocabulary learning, to which they answered they had not known any. The experiment continued with a slide show presentation on how Clarke and Nation’s should be done. Following the presentation, the students were given a group assignment in which they were required to guess the meanings of the words found in several newspaper articles using Clarke and Nation’s guessing from procedure. The researcher helped them do the assignment while going around the class.

The first step of Clarke and Nation’s guessing from context procedure is undoubtedly the easiest of all the steps. The students did not find much difficulty determining the parts of speech of the underlined words although they needed to be reminded of the parts of speech (noun, verb, adjective, and adverb) in the beginning.

In the second and third steps of the procedure, the students were required to observe the relations of the unknown word to the others word in the context which modified it and look at any conjunction or punctuation which could serve as a clue. These two steps proved to be the most challenging for the students. They seemed to struggle to understand the relations between the words and sentences and find the conjuctions and punctuations which could have helped them a great deal in guessing the meaning of the unknown words. This was reflected later in the posttest, where most of the mistakes they committed were found in these two steps of the guessing from context procedure.

Unfortunately, the assignment could not be finished on time for it to be discussed at the end of the class. Before the class was dismissed, the researcher assigned the students to finish the rest of the practice at home and to bring some English newspaper articles to class the following week.

On the next meeting, many of the students told the researcher they had not had the time to finish the assignment due to their college and work commitments. Several of them also did not bring the English newspaper articles as they were told the previous week. Fortunately, the researcher had already anticipated this by compiling a number of sentences taken from various English newspapers. In this

meeting, the researcher asked the students to form groups of four to five to do the assignment. The researcher went around the classroom to help those needing guidance with the task. Some of the students were enthusiastic and asked a lot of questions, but some others were too hesitant to do so.

Finally, they were posttested to see if the guessing from context procedure helped them improve them learn vocabulary. The posttest was carried out on November 29, 2011. The students had to answer 10 posttest items using Clarke and Nation’s procedure for guessing from context in 100 minutes’ time. There were originally 20 test items to be answered by the students, but they were reduced to just 10 items after the researcher consulted the lecturer in charge of the Vocabulary I class. The results of the pretest and posttest played a significant role in determining the effectiveness of the guessing from context procedure as a vocabulary learning technique.

Originally, the research was going to involve two groups of subjects. The researcher had planned to give each group a different treatment. One group was to be told to memorize a list of words before being tested. This was the vocabulary learning technique used in Vocabulary I and II classes in the English Education Study Program during the 2007/2008 academic year. The other group were to be taught Clarke and Nation’s guessing from context procedure. However, this design did not seem to be fair to the first group because they would not learn something new. Considering this problem, the researcher decided to change the design.

B. The Results of the Implementation of Clarke and Nation’s Guessing from Context Procedure

The second part of this chapter reveals the results of the experimental study. The results include the pretest, posttest, and dependent t-test result, the research objects’ responses to the questionnaire, and the mistakes done by the students in using Clarke and Nation’s guessing from context procedure in the posttest.

1. The Pretest and Posttest Results

The first part of this chapter serves to provide an answer the first research question, which is whether Clarke and Nation’s procedure for guessing from context significantly improved the vocabulary learning process of the first semester students of the English Extension Program at Sanata Dharma University. Before the research subjects were exposed to Clarke and Nation’s procedure for guessing from context, the researcher conducted a pretest to acquire a set of scores which the posttest scores would be compared to using the dependent t-test. The participants had to answer a total of 20 test items in 30 minutes’ time without using any guessing procedure. They basically only had to write down what they thought were the synonyms of the underlined words in context taken from a number of newspapers’ websites. In the posttest, however, they had only 10 items to answer within 75 minutes’ time. Although the students had to answer fewer test items in the posttest than they did in the pretest, they had considerably much more time as it required them to answer each test item using Clarke and Nation’s procedure for guessing from context. In the end, there were only 15 students who

completed both the pretest and posttest. This was due to the fact that most of them already had jobs or were students of other majors. Therefore, there were always absentees, which was inevitable.

Table 4.1 displays the participants’ performances in both of the tests, the difference between each student’s pretest, and posttest scores and the square of each difference, which are required to determine the t value.

Table 4.1 The Students’ Pretest and Posttest Scores

Participant Number Pretest Score Posttest Score

Difference Squared Difference

1. 6 4 -2 4

2. 5,5 7 1,5 2.25

3. 4 5 1 1

4. 5,5 6 0,5 0.25

5. 4 6 2 4

6. 5 6 1 1

7. 7,5 7 -0,5 0.25

8. 5 4 -1 1

9. 3,5 7 3,5 12.25

10. 5 2 -3 9

11. 5,5 6 0,5 0.25

12. 5,5 8 2,5 6.25

13. 5,5 6 0,5 0.25

14. 5 8 3 9

15. 1,5 2 0,5 0.25

∑D=10 ∑D2

Having determined the total of the score differences and the squared score differences, the researcher now proceeds to calculating the t value to determine whether or not the mean of the posttest scores are significantly higher than that of the pretest scores. In order to find the t value, the researcher used the formula for the dependent t-test, which can be seen in Figure 3.2 in Chapter 3.

From the equation shown in Figure 3.2, the t value equals 1.451. In order to see if this value indicates a significantly higher mean of the posttest scores, the t value has to be matched with the required t value at the .05 significance level for a directional test previously set by the researcher before the experimentation. The t value needed for significance at the .05 level of significance for a directional test with 14 degrees of freedom is 1.761. The t of 1.451 does not exceed the t value needed for significance. This implies that the mean of the posttest scores is not significantly higher than the mean of the pretest scores.

a. The Retention of the Null Hypothesis

In Chapter III, the researcher stated the null hypothesis and the alternative hypothesis to this research. Having calculated the t value and consulted the t table, the researcher can now either retain or reject the null hypothesis. Here are the null hypothesis and the alternative hypothesis once again:

 Null Hypothesis (H0)

There is no significant difference between the mean of the pretest scores and the mean of the posttest scores.

 Alternative Hypothesis (H1)

The mean of the posttest scores is significantly higher than the mean of the pretest scores.

In order for the researcher to be able to reject the null hypothesis, the t value of the experimentation must exceed the required t value needed for significance at the .05 level. Because the t value did not exceed the given t value needed for significance, the researcher retains the null hypothesis. In conclusion, this implies that the treatment, Clarke and Nation’s procedure for guessing from context has failed to significantly improve the vocabulary learning process of the first semester students of the English Extension Course at Sanata Dharma University Yogyakarta.

b. Two Possible Factors Which May Account for the Failed Experiment Based on what the researcher observed during the implementation of the treatment, which was Clarke and Nation’s procedure for guessing from context, there could be several possible problems which led to the failure of the procedure to bring about the change on the part of the students expected by the researcher at the beginning of the experiment. The following are the possible problems:

 The Lack of Time to Practice Clarke and Nation’s Procedure for Guessing from Context

Even though the experimentation lasted for two weeks, the participants only had approximately 220 minutes to practice using Clarke and Nation’s procedure for guessing from context in the classroom over the course of two meeting. Not to mention the researcher had already taken 30 minutes off those

________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ____________________

6. Why do you think matrimony will suit me? I cannot even imagine myself being married. I love my single life too much.

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________________________________________________________ ____________________

7. A chimpanzee is born with the ability to handle objects, but the actual tool-using patterns are not innate; the infants learn them by observing their elders.

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8. A naughty child may be more tractable in a small group than in a large one. In a bigger group, one tends to be more difficult to control.

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9. "Banks are flush with cash and they're not lending it. Investors and hedges are flush with cash, and they're not investing like they used to," he says.”

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10. "He does inspire devotion. He goes on and on about his routine and how it bores him to death but he still does it. He is an utter enigma, he is really strange. I think that's what people like about him."

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vi

Anindito, Laurensius Bretya. (2014). Implementing Clarke and Nation’s Procedure for Guessing from Context in Vocabulary Learning to the First Semester Students of the English Extension Course. Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma University.

For anyone who attempts to acquire a foreign language, vocabulary holds an essential role. However, Zimmerman (1997) believes that vocabulary learning has been “undervalued in the field of second language acquisition (SLA) throughout its varying stages and up to the present day” (p. 5). This can be indicated by one’s reliance on the use of the dictionary to find out a word’s meaning, among other things.

This study sought to answer two research problems, which were (1) how is Clarke and Nation’s guessing from context procedure implemented in vocabulary learning to the first semester students of English Extension Program? and (2) what are the results of the implementation of Clarke and Nation’s guessing from context procedure in vocabulary learning to the first semester students of English Extension Course?

The researcher used the one group pretest-posttest experimental design in the study. The research subjects, one class of the first semester students of English Extension Course of the 2011/1012 academic year, were pretested on November 15, 2011. After the pretest, they were taught how to guess a word’s meaning from context using the procedure proposed by Clarke and Nation for two meetings. The last step of the experiment was the posttest, which was carried out on November 29, 2011.

To determine whether or not Clarke and Nation’s guessing from context procedure led to a significant increase in the students’ posttest results in comparison to their pretest results, the researcher ran the dependent t-test. The result of the t-test revealed a non-significant increase in the students’ posttest scores. Hence, the null hypothesis was retained. Additionally, the researcher used questionnaire, consisting of one close-ended part and one open-ended part, to elicit the students’ general opinions on the guessing from context procedure they had learned.

One result of the questionnaire revealed that 10% of the students strongly disagreed that they had been able to use the procedure after two weeks, 30% disagreed, and the other 60% agreed. On the contrary, another finding uncovered an interesting figure with 70% of the research subjects agreed that the procedure helped them find the meaning of the words they had never encountered before while the rest of them strongly agreed. In the last part of chapter four, the researcher discusses the mistakes committed by the students in using Clarke and Nation’s guessing from context procedure in the posttest.

vii ABSTRAK

Anindito, Laurensius Bretya. (2014). Implementing Clarke and Nation’s Procedure for Guessing from Context in Vocabulary Learning to the First Semester Students of the English Extension Course. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.

Kosakata memainkan peran penting bagi siapapun yang mempelajari bahasa asing. Meskipun demikian, Zimmerman (1997) berpendapat bahwa pembelajaran kosakata “tidak cukup dihargai dalam pembelajaran bahasa asing (SLA) sampai pada saat ini.” Hal ini bisa dilihat dari ketergantungan seseorang terhadap penggunaan kamus untuk menemukan arti sebuah kata.

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menjawab dua permasalahan, yaitu (1) bagaimana prosedur guessing from context Clarke dan Nation diimplementasikan dalam pembelajaran kosakata pada mahasiswa-mahasiswa semester pertama English Extension Program? dan (2) apa hasil pengimplementasian prosedur guessing from context Clarke dan Nation dalam pembelajaran kosakata pada mahasiswa-mahasiswa semester pertama English Extension Program?

Peneliti menggunakan desain eksperimen satu grup pretest-posttest dalam studi ini. Subyek penelitian ini, satu kelas mahasiswa semester pertama English Extension Course tahun akademik 2011/2012, mengerjakan pretest pada 15 November 2011. Setelah mengerjakan pretest, mereka belajar menggunakan prosedur guessing from context Clarke dan Nation selama dua pertemuan. Langkah terakhir penelitian ini, yaitu posttest, dilaksanakan pada 29 November, 2011.

Untuk menentukan apakah prosedur guessing from context Clarke dan Nation menyebabkan kenaikan pada hasil posttest subyek penelitian jika dibandingkan dengan hasil pretest mereka, peneliti menggunakan uji t berpasangan. Hasil uji t menunjukkan kenaikan yang tidak signifikan pada hasil posttest. Oleh karena itu, peneliti menerima hipotesis nol. Selain itu, peneliti juga menggunakan kuesioner, yang terdiri dari satu bagian pertanyaan tertutup dan satu bagian pertanyaan terbuka, untuk memperoleh opini umum dari subyek penelitian mengenai prosedur guessing from context yang sudah mereka pelajari.

Salah satu hasil kuesioner mengungkapkan bahwa sebanyak 10% dari mahasiswa-mahasiswa yang menjadi subyek penelitian sangat tidak setuju bahwa mereka telah dapat menggunakan prosedur guessing from context Clarke dan Nation setelah dua minggu, 30% tidak setuju, dan 60% sisanya setuju. Di sisi lain, hasil kuesioner lainnya menunjukkan 70% dari subyek penelitian setuju bahwa prosedur Clarke dan Nation membantu mereka menemukan arti kata yang belum pernah mereka temui sebelumnya, sementara 30% sisanya sangat setuju. Pada again terakhir Bab IV, peneliti membahas kesalahan-kesalahan yang dilakukan oleh mahasiswa-mahasiswa dalam menggunakan prosedur Clarke dan Nation dalam mengerjakan posttest.

Kata kunci: penelitian eksperimental, pembelajaran kosakata, guessing from context