T1 112009142 Full text
TEACHERS’ TECHNIQUES IN TEACHING VOCABULARY FOR
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN
SD KRISTEN 03 SALATIGA
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirement for Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Riza Galuh Puspitasari
112009142
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2014
iv
v
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
This thesis contains no such material as has been submitted for examination in any
course or accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any university. To the
best of my knowledge and my belief, this contains no material previously published or
written by any other person except where due the reference is made in the text.
Copyright@2015. Riza Galuh Puspitasari and M. Ch. Eko Setyarini, S. S., M. Hum
All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means without the
permission of at least one of the copyright owners or the English Department, Faculty
of Language and Literature, Satya Wacana Christian University, Salatiga.
Riza Galuh Puspitasari:
vi
TEACHERS’ TECHNIQUES IN TEACHING VOCABULARY FOR
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN SD KRISTEN 03
SALATIGA
Riza Galuh Puspitasari
112009142
Abstract
This research was conducted in order to analyze the techniques used by
teachers in teaching vocabulary for elementary school students in Salatiga.
The participants of this study were three elementary school English teachers in
Salatiga. The data were collected through classroom observations and
semi-structured interviews which allowed the teachers to share their thought
and experience in teaching vocabulary. The findings revealed that the teachers
used pictures, repetition and pronunciation drill frequently in teaching
vocabulary as it was suitable for young learners and easier to check the students
understanding and abilities.
Keywords: Vocabulary, Young Learners, Teaching Technique
INTRODUCTION
Vocabulary is an important part to be taught for learners who learn a new
language, especially in learning English. Vocabulary is the basic in teaching English
because before learners learn the form, first they will start by learning the vocabulary.
Vocabulary is the collection of words that an individual knows. Vocabulary is one
component that is important in mastering the four skills of listening, speaking, reading
and writing (Nguyen & Khuat, 2003). From the statement, it is clear that vocabulary
influences four skills in learning English so that it is important to be taught, especially
to young learners. Teaching vocabulary is not only to make the learners know the
meaning, but also to make the learners understand how to use the vocabulary in
particular context and situation.
1
Teaching English to children since the early age is very important. In
Indonesia, English is used as a foreign language, so it will be difficult to learn if English
is not taught earlier. As (Hakuta, 2001) said, the earlier children learn English, the
better they will be. So, it’s better to learn English as early as possible. Children start to
develop English to be mastered in Elementary Schools. In the elementary school, they
start to learn many vocabularies and they have to memorize and remember the
vocabulary.
The problem faced was the elementary school students got difficulty in
memorizing the vocabulary because there are so many vocabularies and they should not
only memorize, but they also should comprehend them. I also found the difficulty when
I was an elementary school student. Here, teachers play an important role to help the
students master the vocabulary, and it depends on their techniques in teaching. The
teachers should provide some techniques that are appropriate and effective for the
students. The techniques should engage the students to learn English. Brown (2001),
stated that a lesson needs a variety of activities to keep interest and attention alive. As
Brown said above, variety of activities is needed by the students so that they feel
enthusiastic and actively participate in the teaching-learning process.
Many of English elementary school teachers use pictures as the media to teach
vocabulary, but actually there are other interesting media like flash card, games, short
story, song, etc. Thus, besides learning the vocabulary, students can also have fun and
enjoy the lesson. It’s good if they learn what they like. Through their enthusiasm the
materials given will be easier to understand.
Based on the problem this study had a research question, What are teachers’
techniques in teaching vocabulary for elementary school students? This research was
conducted to reveal the techniques used by teachers in teaching vocabulary which are
2
appropriate and effective to their students. It was aimed to describe the reason of the
teachers in using the techniques.
This study is expected will provide knowledge about techniques in teaching
vocabulary for elementary school students. It is also hoped that English teachers or
student teachers can use these techniques in teaching vocabulary. In addition, this
study is also hoped will give a contribution in English education to improve the quality
of both teachers and learners.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Defining vocabulary
Vocabulary is an important part of a language. The more words students acquire
and use it, the more meaning they can communicate in a wide variety of situations
(Coxhead, 2006). It means that vocabulary is one important part of language. It
influences the ability of speaking, listening, reading and writing. Like (Nguyen &
Khuat, 2003) said, Vocabulary is the collection of words that an individual knows. It is
a part related to listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. The same thing is also
stated by Nasr (1972), similarly he said that there are four abilities that need to be
developed in learning a language,
Four abilities to develop : hearing, reading, speaking, writing – with understanding.
This shows that our chief concern should not be about difficulties of pronunciation,
growth of vocabulary, and grammar; our chief concern should be with language
abilities (1972:7)
It’s true that to construct the four abilities we need to concern on language ability, but in
the language ability there are some parts such as pronunciation, vocabulary, and
grammar. So, pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar are included in language ability.
All of it should be taught and learned equally. Those opinions show that the vocabulary
3
is one of the basics in learning English. Through learning the vocabulary naturally, it
will improve other skills like reading, writing, speaking and listening.
Teaching young learners
It’s interesting to compare the way children and teenagers or adults in learning
English. I saw that some teachers teach teenagers and adults like children, on the
contrary, I also saw children were taught something that is not suitable with their ages.
Actually children and adults are different in some case in learning English. They have
different attitude and motivation toward English.
Children are often more enthusiastic and lively as learners. They want to please
the teacher rather than their peer group. Children easily lose interest and less able to
keep themselves motivated when they find the task that they think difficult. In other
words, they do not have the same access as older learners to meta-language that
teachers can use to explain about grammar or discourse (Cameron, 2001). It is quite
proved that they are really different with adult. They will do something they like and
leave it when they are not interested. Bardakçı (2010) said in his journal, teaching
young learners is different from teaching teenagers and adults according to their needs,
expectations, learning style and strategies, interest, psychological and cognitive
development (2010). Young learners have different characteristic with teenagers or
adult. Young learners are easily get bored and lose their interest to the materials that
conveyed. Cameron (2001: 29-31) as cited in (Şensoy & Özad, 2009) mentioned that
for young learners activity is important and should aim for a dynamic congruence. She
points out that activities and content that are suitable for children’s age and
socio-cultural background should be chosen. From those statements I found that the
way of children and teenagers or adults in learning foreign language is different, so the
way teachers teach them also should be different since in that age children cannot be
4
treated like adults. We cannot treat children with something that make them under
pressure because it influences their psychology.
Teaching techniques in teaching vocabulary
The first thing taught when children learn English is vocabulary. In the
beginning they learn English vocabulary, they will get difficulty in pronouncing and
memorizing the meaning of the words. It will be a problem if they do not have a
motivation to learn it because they think it is difficult and no use to learn English. It
might happen because they are accustomed to use their mother tongue (Bahasa
Indonesia or their vernacular) in communication and doing interaction with the
environment. To avoid those thoughts, teaching techniques are needed in order to make
the children feel interested and have a motivation to learn English. Bardakçı (2010)
stated, children facilitate their learning as possible as they can. Language teachers
should consider this fact, and they should try to teach language in the easiest way. In the
early stage, using picture can be used in teaching vocabulary.
There are some techniques that can be used in teaching vocabulary for
elementary school students. The first one is using pictures. Pictures have been used for
centuries to help students understand various aspects of foreign languages. Pictures can
represent non-verbal source of information (Wright, 2007). It can be said that pictures
have an important role in learning vocabulary. By using pictures, students are not only
imagined the object, but they can see it so that they will memorize and remember the
word and the meaning easily.
Nation (1990: 51) as cited in (Cameron, 2001) wrote some basic techniques by
which teachers can explain the meaning of new words, all of which can be used in the
young learners classroom. The techniques are using an object, using cut-out figure,
using gesture, performing an action, photographs, drawings or diagrams on the board
5
and pictures from books. Those techniques are simple and suitable for young learners
since young learners learn something by seeing real objects and situations.
The second technique is by singing songs. Teachers can singing some songs
related with the topic, for example singing song about family, fruits or animals. By
singing songs, children will learn the vocabulary through the lyrics. Abbot, (2002) as
cited in Gordon (2007), said that using songs helped to create a relaxed atmosphere
during the learning process. In addition, using songs made the learning process
memorable.
Telling story is another technique in teaching vocabulary for young learners.
Teachers can use the story that children are familiar with, such as the story of legend in
Indonesia or fairy tale like cinderella story or sleeping beauty. The children have
already known the story in Bahasa Indonesia, so when the teacher tells the story in
English they are still able to guess the main idea of the story. As stated by Cameron
(2001), young children learn many of their first language words through social
interaction with adults, and the use of stories in young learner classrooms will offer
similar rich opportunities for learning vocabulary indirectly, or incidentally, while
attending to something else. Thus, telling stories can be an advantageous technique in
teaching vocabulary because children learn vocabulary through interaction. Besides,
this technique is a way to grab students’ attention to avoid boredom in the classroom.
Another technique that can be used in teaching vocabulary is using repetition.
Coxhead (2006), said that repetition is a helpful technique to fluency because repetition
gives learners the chance to use the words again within a short amount of time. Thus,
through repetition the teachers try to help students speak English fluently and correctly.
6
Through the techniques that have been mentioned, students can improve their
vocabulary because they are not only memorizing the vocabulary, but they also
comprehend the meaning.
THE STUDY
This study was a descriptive qualitative research. It described the techniques used
by teachers in teaching vocabulary for students in an elementary school in Salatiga. It
also described the reasons why the teachers used those techniques in teaching
vocabulary. The setting of the study was in SD Kristen 3 Salatiga.
Participants of the study
The participants of this study were three teachers of SD Kristen 3 Salatiga. The
participants were selected based on a purposive sampling or criterion based - selection
(Blackledge, 2001 as cited in Zacharias, 2011). The teachers were selected with the
criteria English language teachers who graduated from English education and teaching
English in elementary school more than one year.
Research Instrument
To observe the teachers, I used observation protocol as seen in table 1. Besides
doing observations, I was also doing interviews. The interviews contained some
questions related with the techniques used in teaching vocabulary for the students.
Those questions were about their reasons of using repetition, picture, pronunciation
drill, modeling and demonstration, using clue, games, questions and answer, and also
read aloud technique.
7
Table 1. Observation Protocol
Techniques in teaching vocabulary
Date
Teacher
Class
Time
R
Q
C
M
R: Repetition
P: Picture
Q: Question and answer
RA: Read aloud
C: Clue
PD: Pronunciation drill
M: Modeling and demonstration
G: Game
P
RA
PD
Data Collection Procedure
In this research, I used observation and interview to gather the data. The type
of observation used was a non - participant observation, and it was held eight times
in four classes. Each class was observed two times. I recorded the activity between
the teachers and the students in the teaching and learning process during the
observation using a video recorder. The observation was held in order to see the real
activity in the teaching and learning process. It was hoped that the data gathered
were rich and reliable. In the observation, I focused on what was happening in class.
From the teaching - learning process, I got enough data from the class. I also used
8
G
field notes. I used field notes to describe the teachers’ techniques in teaching
vocabulary.
After the class observation I did an interview to the teacher that I had
observed before. As a technique in collecting the data I used a semi - structured
interview. My intention of using this kind of technique was to make greater
flexibility like changing the order of questions to provide an opportunity for follow
- up questions. The interviews were conducted to get deeper and specific
information on teachers’ technique in teaching vocabulary to young learners. The
interviews were conducted in informal situations where there was flexibility, so the
interviewees shared their opinions, experiences, and responses freely. The
interviews were held after each observation, and I finished doing the observations
and interviews in three weeks.
In each observation I gave checklists in the observation protocol to know
what the techniques used by the teachers in their teaching. From this observation
protocol I found the techniques that frequently used. This frequency of the
techniques used can be seen in table 2.
Table 2. Table of frequency
Frequency of the techniques used
Teacher
R
Q
C
M
P
RA
PD
G
Teacher A
2
1
1
-
2
1
2
-
Teacher B
2
2
-
1
2
2
2
1
Teacher C
4
2
2
2
3
2
4
-
Total:
8
5
3
3
7
5
8
1
9
R: Repetition
P: Picture
Q: Question and answer
RA: Read aloud
C: Clue
PD: Pronunciation drill
M: Modeling and demonstration
G: Game
There was eight observations for 3 teachers. Teacher A who teach grade 1
was observed 2 times, teacher B who teach grade 2 was observed two times, and
teacher C who teach grade 4 and 5 was observed 4 times. Based on the table of
frequency, the techniques that frequently used were repetition, using pictures and
pronunciation drill. It can be found that teacher A and B used repetition, pictures
and pronunciation drill in each teaching. It also can be seen that teacher C used
repetition and pronunciation drill in all the observations, and three times used
pictures.
Data Analysis Procedure
In this study, a clean transcription method was used to gather the data from
observations and interviews. As stated by Zacharias (2011), a clean transcription of
interview focuses on the content of the interview. Then, the transcriptions were
coded based on the kinds of techniques used. The quoted examples from the data
collected were used to support each point in the process of analyzing the data. The
findings were described, and to make it easier in the description I used codes to
name the teacher. They were teacher A, teacher B and teacher C. Besides, some
supporting theories were included in the analysis.
10
FINDING AND DISCUSSION
This section discusses the techniques used by elementary school teachers in
teaching vocabulary for young learners in Salatiga. The techniques were discussed
in the literature review.
When I observed the teaching - learning in class, the teachers used some
techniques in teaching vocabulary for their students. I found some techniques used
by the teachers.
Repetition
The first technique used by the teachers to teach vocabulary was repetition.
This technique was used by teacher A when she was teaching about colors. The
technique was presented as seen in excerpt 1:
Excerpt 1
Teacher A :
Students :
Teacher A :
Students :
Teacher A :
Repeat after me, the mangosteen is brown.
The mangosteen is brown
The mangosteen is brown
The mangosteen is brown
Oke, good (Observation 3)
The same with teacher A, teacher B was also using repetition in teaching
present continuous tense. It can be seen in observation 2:
Excerpt 2
Teacher B : Sekarang saya baca kalimatnya, kalian tirukan ya! Repeat after
me! Mei is playing the piano.
Students : Mei is playing the piano.
Teacher B : Mei is playing the piano.
Students : Mei is playing the piano.
Teacher B : Once again, Mei is playing the piano.
Students : Mei is playing the piano. (Observation 2)
11
In this technique, both teachers repeated the sentences more than once.
They asked the students to repeat it two to three times until they can pronounce it
correctly and clearly. Based on the interview, teacher A explained that the use of
repetition technique was to help students in speaking, especially to memorize how
to pronounce words correctly. She said:
Excerpt 3
Saya menggunakan repetition itu biar anak - anak terbiasa ngomong
bahasa inggris dengan benar. Dengan repetition itu kan akan membantu
mereka mengucapkan kalimat dengan benar, soalnya tulisan sama cara
membacanya itu kan beda. Jadi biar mereka tau cara pengucapannya itu
seperti apa. Kalau diulang - ulang terus kan lama - lama mereka ingat
bagaimana mengucapkannya. (Teacher A)
I used repetition to make students speak English correctly. By doing
repetition will help them to pronounce sentence correctly because the
written form and the way to read are different. So, they will know how to
pronounce it. If it is frequently repeated they will memorize how to
pronounce it. (Teacher A)
Almost same with teacher A, in the interview teacher B said:
Excerpt 4
Ya, dengan repetition itu menurut saya akan memudahkan anak untuk
mengucapkan kata - kata dalam bahasa inggris dengan lancar. Jadi disini
melatih fluency mereka dalam berbicara bahasa inggris. Makanya kalau
ada yang pengucapannya masih kurang jelas atau mungkin salah, saya
akan ulang terus sampai lancar, sampai benar gitu. (Teacher B)
I think by doing repetition they will be able to pronounce words in English
easily. In here, we practice the fluency in speaking. So, if the pronunciation
still not clear or they pronounce it wrong, I will repeat it until they
pronounce it correctly and fluently. (Teacher B)
The usefulness of repetition in teaching vocabulary is also stated by
Coxhead (2006), she said that repetition is a helpful technique to fluency because
repetition gives learners the chance to use the words over again within a short
12
amount of time. Thus, through repetition the teachers tried to help students speak
English fluently and correctly. It is useful for them because if they repeated the
words many times they will easily remember the meaning and they will know how
to pronounce it. We can see that the teachers had opinion that the repetition is
considered important in teaching vocabulary. I agree with the teachers because in
my opinion though repetition can be said as a common technique in teaching
vocabulary, but for early stage especially for young learners, repetition is a good
way to teach vocabulary. By repeating the words frequently students will remember
the meaning and the way to pronounce it.
Using pictures
The second technique used by the teachers was using pictures. Teacher A
used pictures when she was teaching vocabulary about objects in rooms. She used
printed pictures in A3 papers as seen below:
In this technique, teacher A combined using pictures with repetition
technique. After showing the picture, pointed out the object and mentioned it one
13
by one, the teacher would ask the students to repeat the word two to three times. It
was presented as seen in excerpt 5:
Excerpt 5
Teacher A :
Students :
Teacher A :
Students :
Teacher A :
Students :
Oke, now please look at the picture and repeat after me! Lamp.
Lamp
Lamp
Lamp
Once again, lamp
Lamp (Observation 5)
During the interview teacher A explained her reason of using pictures in
teaching vocabulary. She said:
Excerpt 6
Kalau using picture, I think by seeing the picture they will remember the
meaning easily because they see the object. Mereka nggak hanya
membayangkan saja, tapi melihat langsung. Jadi saya kira melalui gambar
itu lebih efektif. (Teacher A)
I think by seeing the picture they will remember the meaning easily because
they see the object. They will not only imagine it, but they will see it. So, I
think learning vocabulary through picture is more effective. (Teacher A)
The teacher used pictures in teaching vocabulary because by showing
pictures, students were not only imagining the objects, but they could see it. So, it
will help them to memorize and master the vocabulary. In line with the teacher,
Wright (2007) said that the picture is often helpful because it provides an
opportunity for non – verbal response. In here pictures have an important role in
learning vocabulary. Students learn vocabulary not only from list of words that
given by teachers, but they can see the shape of the objects. When I was in
elementary school, this technique helped me a lot in learning vocabulary. My
teacher was showing and appointing a picture then pronounced the word. She
14
repeated it several times, and through this combination of using pictures and
repetition I easily remember the word and the object.
Pronunciation drill
The third technique used by the teachers in teaching vocabulary was
pronunciation drill. This technique was used by teacher C in reading text session.
When the students read the text then pronounced the words incorrectly, the teacher
would do pronunciation drill as seen in the observation 1:
Excerpt 7
Teacher C
Students
Teacher C
Students
Teacher C
Students
Teacher C
Students
: Now read the sentences together! One, two, three, go!
: My family ‘live’ in a big city. (they pronounced it ‘laif’)
: No, no, no, no, no. /liv:/ ya, bukan /laif:/. Repeat after me! /lIv/
: /lIv/ (unclear)
: /lIv/ pake veh
: /lIv/
: Once again!
: /lIv/ (clear) (Observation 1)
I found in the observation that teacher C tried to drill the students in order to
make them pronounce the word correctly. In the interview, teacher C explained that
pronunciation drill was useful because it helped students to pronounce the word
correctly. After students did pronunciation drill, they also knew how to differentiate
the pronunciation between one word and another word that almost similar. In the
interview she said:
Excerpt 8
Saya hampir selalu memakai pronunciation drill. Karena mereka sering
menemui kosakata baru yang terkadang mereka belum tahu bagaimana
mengucapkannya. Dengan di drill seperti itu anak akan tahu oh ini bacanya
begini, oh ini begini. Jadi mereka bisa pronounce dengan benar. (Teacher
C)
15
I used pronunciation drill frequently. It is because students are often find
new words that they do not know how to pronounce it. Trough
pronunciation drill they will know how to pronounce it, so they will be able
to pronounce it correctly. (Teacher C)
This technique used by the teacher in order to teach students how to
pronounce words correctly. Besides, it was also useful to introduce new vocabulary
that they have never found and heard before. As stated by Coxhead, students have
to learn to say a word clearly using the correct sounds and the right word stress
(2006). From the teacher’s argument and Coxhead’s statement, we can see that
pronunciation drill is an important technique in learning English because the
incorrect sounds can have different meaning. Therefore, students are able to acquire
new words and know how to pronounce the words correctly. I think pronunciation
drill will also help students in communication when they learn English widely in
the next stage.
Modeling and demonstration
The fourth technique used by the teachers was modeling and demonstration.
In the observation, teacher C used modeling and demonstration when she taught
about the word ‘take’. It can be seen in the dialog in Excerpt 9:
Excerpt 9
Teacher C : Take itu apa sih?
Students : (Silent)
Teacher C : Take. Ini lho take tu. (the teacher took a pencil case from her
student’s table to show the meaning of the word ‘take’). I take
the pencil case. Jadi, apa itu take?
Students : Mengambil.
Teacher C : Oke, good. (Observation 4)
Teacher B was also using modeling and demonstration in her teaching
vocabulary. She did the modeling and demonstration as seen in excerpt 10:
16
Excerpt 10
Teacher B : What is bounce?
Student
: Meloncat
Teacher B : Hah, meloncat?Bounce. Begini ni apa ni? This is ball, then you
bounce it, like this (demonstrated bouncing ball) (Observation
1)
During the interview, teacher B and teacher C explained their reason why
they used modeling and demonstration in their teaching.
Excerpt 11
Dengan modeling and demonstration they can see the situation. Mereka
melihat situasi yang didemonstrasikan dan biasanya saya pertegas apa
yang telah saya demonstrasikan. Kayak misalnya tadi untuk menunjukkan
arti kata take. Biar mereka menebak sendiri artinya tanpa harus saya yang
menjawab. (Teacher C)
By doing modeling and demonstration, they can see the situation. They can
see the situation that was demonstrated. Like in the class earlier, I did
modeling and demonstration to show the meaning of the word ‘take’. It
encourages them to guess the meaning and they do not need to ask me.
(Teacher C)
Excerpt 12
Kalau alasan kenapa saya memperagakan sesuatu dalam menjelaskan arti
sebuah kosakata itu karena menurut saya dengan saya memperagakannya,
anak - anak kan bisa melihat apa yang saya lakukan. Jadi mereka bisa
menebaknya dengan melihat apa yang saya lakukan. (Teacher B)
The reason why I use modeling and demonstration is because in my opinion
by doing it, students can see what I am doing. So they can guess the meaning
of the word. (Teacher B)
Teacher B and teacher C in the interviews had the same opinion about using
modeling and demonstration technique. They tend to make their students guessed
the meaning of some words by seeing the situation through modeling and
demonstration. As cited in (Bardakçı, 2010), Harmer said that to understand
something, explanation is not enough for young learners. Things that they see and
17
hear are also needed. Modeling and demonstration encourage students to guess the
meaning of the words and it helped them to understand the meaning because they
saw what their teachers did.
Clues
The fifth technique used by the teachers was using clues. Teacher A used
this technique when she wanted to explain the word watch. It presented as seen in
observation 5:
Excerpt 13
Teacher A: Artinya watch apa?
Students : (Silent)
Teacher A: Watch TV, watch television, berarti?
Students : Melihat, menonton
Teacher A: Good, melihat atau menonton. (Observation 5)
The same with teacher A, teacher C was also using clue when she was
teaching about past tense, as we can see in excerpt 14:
Excerpt 14
Teacher C: We bought a coconut juice? Kami? Bought?
Student 7 : Minum
Teacher C: No, bought. You pay. Kamu bayar pakai uang, berarti apa?
Student 7 : Membeli. (Observation 8)
During the interview, teacher A and teacher C explained their reasons of
using clue in their teaching, they said:
Excerpt 15
Ya biar mereka aktif dan antusias untuk menjawab, kalau kata – kata yang
baru atau yang mereka tidak tau kadang – kadang saya yang nanya trus
saya juga yang jawab. Kalau pakai clue jadinya mereka yang jawab.
(Teacher A)
18
Clue is used to make students active and enthusiastic in answering
questions. If there are some new words that they don’t know,I will be the
one who ask and answer it. So by using clue, they can answer it. (Teacher A)
Excerpt 16
Saya seneng kalau dengan cara ini, jadi kayak tebak – tebakan dan ada
interaksi. Mereka jadi berfikir, tidak melulu saya yang jawab. Kalau nggak
digituin mereka nggak bisa jawab, apalagi kalau kosakata baru. (Teacher
C)
I’m happy with the technique; it’s like a quiz and there is interaction
between teacher and students. It encourage them to think, so not only me
will answer the questions. If I didn't do it they cant’ answer, especially if it is
a new word. (Teacher C)
Using clues in teaching vocabulary is advantageous in learning new words.
The teachers had opinion that by using clues help students to actively participate in
class and help them in mastering new words because students could guess the clue
that given by the teachers. In accordance with the teachers’ statements, as cited in
Jalongo & Sobolak (2010), several studies have shown that when students are
active participants in vocabulary instruction, more vocabulary words are learned
(Hargrave and Senechal, 2000). Those statements show that using clue is a
technique that make students actively participate in learning vocabulary. By using
clue there is interaction between teacher and students that result the atmosphere in
the class alive. Thus, the teachers prefer to use clue rather than explain the meaning
by the teacher itself.
I think it will be more fun if this technique is combined with game. For
example, students are divided into some groups, then they’re asked to guess some
words using some clue that given by teacher. Every student will take turns to
describe the characteristics of the objects and the group who guess the most words
19
correctly will be the winner. In my opinion using this kind of technique will
stimulate students to guess the meaning. They will learn the vocabulary using
different way. They will try to guess the meaning through the identification that
given, and I think they will be more enjoy in the learning process.
Games
The sixth technique used by the teachers in teaching vocabulary was games. The
teacher used this technique when she was teaching present continuous tense. This
technique was presented by Teacher B as we can see in excerpt 17:
Excerpt 17
Teacher B : Sekarang miss punya games, tadi udah tau kan arti – artinya?
Nah sekarang kalau saya bilang standing kalian berdiri, kalau saya bilang
walking kalian jalan, kalau crying ya nangis, gitu ya? Nanti yang salah
dihukum. Oke?
Students : Okee… (Observation 2)
During the interview, teacher B explained her reason of using games in the
teaching vocabulary, she said:
Excerpt 18
Biar nggak bosan anak – anaknya. They need something enjoyable in the
class. Daripada mereka berisik nggak jelas, mending mereka berisik tapi
bermanfaat. (Teacher B)
They need something enjoyable in class to avoid boredom. I prefer they
make some noisy but they get something useful rather than make noisy but
get nothing. (Teacher B)
During the observation, the students were enjoy and enthusiastic with the
activity. The teacher made the atmosphere in the class was alive. According to
(Neyadi, 2007) using games enhances students’ ability to memorize the words, as
they activate learners’ minds and give them the time to pause and think about the
20
words, whether to compare, contrast, match or draw pictures which represent them,
which store the words into students’ working memory and hopefully the long term
memory. Thus, games give influence in learning vocabulary. Because one of the
children characteristics is they are easily loose interest, game is a suitable technique
for them in the teaching-learning process because it is enjoyable for students.
Beside it is enjoyable, it is also helping students in memorizing and mastering
vocabulary.
Questions and Answers
The seventh technique used by the teachers in teaching vocabulary was
using questions and answers. This technique was presented by all the teachers.
Teacher A used this technique when she was reviewing material about fruit. The
purpose of using the technique was to recall students’ memory on materials that
have been taught. The teacher asked the students as seen in excerpt 19:
Excerpt 19
Teacher A : We’re going to review all the materials, the first one we’re
going to review about fruit. Fruit apa?
Students : Buah.
Teacher A : Oke, can you mention 10 names of fruit?
Student 1 : Watermelon
Teacher A : Watermelon, apa itu watermelon?
Students : Semangka
Teacher A : What else?
Student 2 : Grape
Teacher A : What is grape?
Students :Anggur (Observation 5)
The same way with teacher A, teacher C used question and answer
technique in her teaching vocabulary. It can be seen in excerpt 20:
21
Excerpt 20
Teacher C :
Students :
Teacher C :
Students :
Teacher C :
Student 1 :
Teacher C :
Traffic light. What is traffic light?
Lampu lalu lintas
Ya, lampu lalu lintas. Traffic sign?
Rambu lalu lintas
Ya. Oke, kita ulang dari atas. In front of, Nuel?
Didepan
Iya, good. Behind? Elvin? (Observation 7)
During the interview, teacher A explained her reason of using question and
answer technique, she said:
Excerpt 21
Biar tau sejauh mana mereka paham dengan materi yang telah
disampaikan. Biar mereka ingat juga apa yang sudah dipelajari. (Teacher
A)
It is to measure how far they understand with the materials that have been
conveyed. Besides, it is also to make them remember what have been
taught. (Teacher A)
Teacher C was also had the same opinion about the use of question an
answer. She said:
Excerpt 22
To check their understanding. Jadi dengan tanya jawab kitanya tau
seberapa jauh mereka memperhatikan, seberapa jauh mereka paham, gitu.
(Teacher C)
It is to check their understanding. So, by asking and answering questions, I
know their attention and their understanding on the materials given.
(Teacher C)
In the interview teacher A and teacher C had the same opinions that using
question and answer could check students’ understanding about the materials that
given. It was also to recall their memory on the materials that have been taught. In
other word, using question and answer in teaching vocabulary can measure
22
students’ understanding and ability in memorizing words. I agree with the teachers’
statement because I think it’s important to check students’ understanding on the
materials that given. Students can also ask their teacher when they don’t understand
the materials. Using questions and answers will be advantageous for both teacher
and students. Teacher can measure students’ understanding and students can
convey their thought when they find difficulty.
Read Aloud
The eighth technique used by the teacher in teaching vocabulary was read
aloud. Teacher B used this technique, in this technique teacher B asked students to
read some sentences together.
Excerpt 23
Teacher B : Oke, now read the sentences together! Starting from number 1,
one two three go!
Students : Pat is walking
Teacher B : Pat is walking, number 2! One two three go!
Students : Kimberly is wearing short.
Teacher B : Kimberly is wearing short. Once again! (Observation 1)
Teacher B used read aloud in order to make students pronounce the words
correctly and clearly. During the interview, she explained her reason of using read
aloud, she said:
Excerpt 24
Read aloud, menurut saya dengan read aloud itu melatih pronounciation
mereka. Jadi disini selain mengenal arti kosakata tertentu juga mereka tau
how to pronounce the word correctly. Kalau pengucapan mereka belum
benar atau nggak jelas saya bisa koreksi. (Teacher B)
I think read aloud help their pronunciation. So, besides they know the
meaning of the words, they also know how to pronounce it correctly. If their
pronunciation is still unclear and wrong I can give some correction.
(Teacher B)
23
In accordance with teacher B, teacher A had the same opinion with teacher
B. She had opinion that read aloud helped students in speaking and pronouncing the
words correctly, she said:
Excerpt 25
Read aloud membantu mereka agar terbiasa berbicara dalam bahasa
Inggris. Selain itu juga melatih mereka mengucapkan kata dalam bahasa
Inggris dengan benar. (Teacher A)
Read aloud helps them accustomed to speak in English. Besides, it also help
them in pronounce the word correctly. (Teacher A)
I found in both observation and interview that the teachers used read aloud
as the technique in teaching vocabulary. According to Anderson et al. (1985), the
most important activity to build the knowledge required for eventual success in
reading is reading aloud to children, as cited in (Pikulski & Templeton, 2004). Read
aloud helps students to speak up and pronounce the words correctly and clearly.
The teachers would repeat the word and asked students to read aloud the word until
their students could pronounce it correctly. I think besides teaching the meaning of
the vocabulary, reading aloud is also useful in teaching pronunciation. The students
will not only learn the meaning of the words, but also learning the way how to
pronounce the words correctly. It will be easier to check and then correct the
students’ mistake in pronouncing words.
CONCLUSION
This research was conducted to find out what the techniques used by
elementary school teachers are in teaching vocabulary for young learners. This
research was also held to describe what the teachers’ reasons are in using those
24
techniques in teaching vocabulary for elementary school students. The research
findings show, there were eight techniques of teaching vocabulary: repetition,
pictures, pronunciation drill, modeling and demonstration, clue, games,
question-answer, and read aloud. The teachers used those techniques in teaching
vocabulary in order to make the vocabulary taught would easily remembered, even
easily understood by the students. It is also to make students pronounce the words
correctly and clearly. Besides, trough those techniques the activity in the classroom
can be alive, fun and the students become more enthusiastic in the learning process.
As a pedagogical implementation from the findings, it will be better if in
teaching vocabulary English teachers use techniques which are interesting and grab
students’ attention such as using picture, flash card, singing songs, etc. English
teachers should able to create suitable activities which are interesting and make the
students enthusiastic in the learning process considering their age, needs, and
feelings. Thus, the teaching and learning process will be well – managed.
There were limitations in this study. The first one was this study focused on
the teaching context in Salatiga. The second one was this study involved a small
number of participants. Further research may extend the number of the participants
to cover more issues in teaching vocabulary. It is hoped there will be more research
about teaching vocabulary in order to give a contribution in English education to
improve the quality of both teachers and learners.
25
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This
thesis
would
not
have
been
finished
without
the
support
of
many people. I wish to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Ch.
Maria Eko Setyarini, S. S., M. Hum., who was abundantly helpful and patience in
guiding me to finish this thesis in a limited time. Deepest gratitude also goes to
Prof. DR. Gusti Astika, MA., as my thesis examiner. Without whose knowledge
and assistance this study would not have been completed. I would like to thank the
English elementary school teachers in SD Kristen 03 Salatiga who were willing to
share all their thought, experiences and knowledge for this thesis. I also wish to
express my love and gratitude to my beloved family who always supported me,
especially to my older brother, mas Bima thank you for everything. Special thanks
also go to my friends, Frizka who strove together with me in finishing our thesis,
Rina and Uswa who also supported me. All my best I give to Allah SWT that I can
finish this study.
26
REFERENCES
Allen, V. F. (1983). Techniques in Teaching Vocabulary. New York: Oxford
University Press.
Bardakçı, M. (2010). Teaching Young Learners English Through Language
Teaching Materials. e-Journal of New World Sciences Academy , 6.
Retrieved on February, 20, 2013 from http://web.ebscohost.com
Bjork, C. (2005). Indonesian Education Teachers, Schools, and Central
Bureaucracy. Newyork: Routledge.
Brown, H. D. (2001). Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to
Language Pedagogy (2nd Edition ed.). New York: Longman.
Cameron, L. (2001). Teaching Languages to Young Learners. United Kingdom:
Cambridge University Press.
Celik, M. (2003). Teaching vocabulary through code-mixing. ELT Journal, 57 (4):
361-369.
Coxhead, A. (2006). Essentials of Teaching Academic Vocabulary. Boston:
Patricia A. Coryell.
Day, E. M. (2002). Identity and the Young English Language Learner. Cromwell
Press Ltd.
Fan, M. Y. (2003). Frequency of Use, Perceived Usefulness, and Actual Usefulness
of Second Language Vocabulary Strategies: A Study of Hong Kong
Learners. The Modern Language Journal , 87 (2): 222-241.
Hakuta, K. (2001). A critical Period for second language acquisition. Baltimore:
Paul Brookers Publishing Co.
Jalongo, M. R., & Sobolak, M. J. (2010). Supporting Young Children’s Vocabulary
Growth: The Challenges, the Benefits, and Evidence-Based Strategies.
Early Childhood Educ J . Retrieved on February, 20, 2013 from
http://web.ebscohost.com
Kalajahi, S. A., & Pourshahian, B. (2012). Vocabulary Learning Strategies and
Vocabulary Size of ELT Students at EMU in Northern Cyprus. English
Language Teaching , 5 (4): 138 - 149.
Linse, C. T. (2005). Practical English Language Teaching: Young Learners. New
York: McGraw-Hill ESL/ELT.
27
Nasr, R. T. (1972). Teaching and Learning English. Lebanon: Longman Group
Limited.
Nation, I. S. (2008). Teaching Vocabulary: Strategies and Techniques. Boston:
Heinle.
Newton, J. (2001, January). Options for vocabulary learning through
communication tasks. ELT Journal , 55 (1): 30-37.
Neyadi, O. A. (2007, September). The Effects of Using Games to Reinforce
Vocabulary Learning. Retrieved on January, 14, 2014 from
http://www.marifa.hct.ac.ae
Nguyen, T. H., & Khuat, T. N. (2003). Learning vocabulary through games. Asian
EFL Journal , 5: 4.
Pikulski, J. J., & Templeton, S. (2004). Teaching and Developing Vocabulary: Key
to long-term reading success. Houghton Mifflin Reading. Retrieved on
January, 14, 2014 from www.eduplace.com
Şensoy, Ş., & Özad, B. E. (2009). Teachers’ Attitudes toward Using Activities
while Teaching English to Young Learners. Eurasian Journal of
Educational Research (37), 174-187.
Tedick, D. J. (2005). Second Language Teacher Education: International
perspective. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Wright, A. (2007). Pictures for Language Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Zacharias, N. T. (2011). Qualitative research methods for second language
education: A Coursebook. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars
Publishing.
28
Appendix 1.
Observation transcription
Teacher: can you mention what kind of room that you can find in your house?
Room. Ruangan. Can you mention it? What can you find in your house?
Ruangan apa?
Student 1: Bathroom
Teacher: Bathroom, oke good.
Student 2: Garden
Teacher: Garden
Student 3: Kitchen
Teacher: oke, kitchen.
Student 4: Bedroom
Teacher: oke, I will repeat. Room that we can find in our house is living room. What
is living room? Ruang? Ruang tamu. The second one is, bedroom. What is
bedroom? Kamar?
Student: tidur.
Teacher: can you close your book first? Close your book! Close your book an listen
carefully! Oke, I will repeat. Room that you can find in your house the first one
is living room. What is living room? The second one is bedroom. What is
bedroom? The third one is bathroom. What is bathroom?
The first one is, living room, bedroom, bathroom, the fourth one?
Student: dining room.
Teacher: what is dining room? Ruang?
Student: makan.
Teacher: Oke, now the fifth one?
Student: Kitchen
Teacher: what is kitchen?
Student: dapur.
Teacher: oke, I will repeat. Saya ulangi macam-macam ruangan yang ada dirumah
kita. The first one is living room. Yang kedua bedroom, the third one is
bathroom, the fourth one is dining room, the fifth one is kitchen, dapur. Living
room?
Student: ruang tamu.
Teacger: dining room?
Student 5:ruang mandi
Teacher: ruang (giving clue )
Student 6: ruang makan
Teacher: bedroom?
Student: ruang tidur.
Teacher: ruang tidur. Now please repeat after me! Living room, bathroom,
bedroom, kitchen, dining room (the students repeated the words that
mentioned by the teacher).
29
Oke, have you remember all? Sudah ingat? Kalau nanti miss novi suruh
menyebutkan macam-macam ruangan didalam rumah sudah bisa?
Student: bisa.
Teacher: bener?
Student: belum.
Teacher: oke, I will repeat. Living room
Student: living room
Teacher: ruang tamu
Student: ruang tamu
Teacher: bedroom
Student: bedroom
Teacher: kamar tidur
Student: kamar tidur
Teacher: bathroom
Student: bathroom
Teacher: kamar mandi
Student: kamar mandi
Teacher: dining room
Student: dining room
Teacher: ruang makan
Student: ruang makan
Teacher: kitchen
Student: kitchen
Teacher: dapur
Student: dapur
Teacher:oke, I will ask one of you. Ratih. What is kitchen?
Student 7: dapur
Teacher: dapur, good. Kitchen is dapur.
.
Oke, now we will learn one by one. Satu-satu ya. Bedroom. Can you remember
what object that you can find in bedroom? Coba diingat ada apa saja.
Student: lamp, bed, computer, gordain, window, door, pillow.
Teacher: Kevin, what object that you can find in bedroom?
Student 12: Picture
Teacher: Picture. Oke, ada pillow, curtain, lamp, what else? Bed, chair.
Now, I have a picture of bedroom.
Student: woooww...
Teacher: Oke, what can you see in bedroom? What is it? (pointing picture of
pillow) This is pillow. What is it?
Student: pillow
Teacher: What is it? Pi..
Student: Pillow
Teacher: Oke, now what is it? (pointing picture of bed)
Student: bed.
Teacher: Bed. Together!
Student: Bed
30
Teacher: Bed. What is bed? Tempat tidur
Student: Tempat tidur
Teacher: Oke, what is it?
Student: picture.
Teacher: picture. What is picture?
Student: gambar
Teacher: gambar. Picture
Student: Picture
Teacher: iya, gambar atau lukisan. This one?
Student: window
Teacher: window
Student: window.
Teacher: Good, and then this one. What is it?
Student 13: door
Student 14: almari
Teacher: Almari baju namanya apa ya?
Student: cup board.
Teacher: bukan cup board but wardrobe ya. Coba, one two three go! Wardrobe.
Student: wardrobe
Teacher: This one? What is it?
Student: lamp
Teacher: Lamp. Together, lamp.
Student: Lamp
Teacher: and this one?
Student 15: Table.
Teacher: No. Shelf. Shelf.
Student: Shelf
Teacher: Shelf. Itu rak ya.
Teacher: oke, now we move to living room. What can you see or do you remember
what objects that you can find in your living room?
Student: sofa
Teacher: sofa
Student: televisi
Teacher: television, oke what else? Only sofa, television, lamp, window, picture,
curtain. Oke, i have picture again. What can you see?
Student: picture
Teacher: picture
Student: lamp
Teacher: lamp
Student: sofa
Teacher: sofa
Student: meja
Teacher: table
Student: televisi
Teacher: television, then what is it?
Student: window
31
Teacher: window. Oke, now please look at the picture and repeat after me! Arm
chair, picture, picture, lamp, lamp, sofa, sofa, window, window, table, table,
television, television, television. Have you remember?
Student: yes
Teacher: Oke, good.
Appendix 2.
Interview transcription
I : Tekhnik apa saja yang miss Irene gunakan dalam pembelajaran tadi?
T: Apa aja ya tadi, ada repeating, pronunciation drill, gambar, trus apa lagi ya,, oh
tanya jawab juga. Itu aja sih ya kayaknya.
I: apa alasan anda menggunakan repetition saat mengajar?
T: pertama, biar mereka bisa mengucapkan kata yang dimaksud ya. Trus selain itu
juga biar mereka ingat kata tersebut.
I: apa miss Irene selalu pakai repetition dalam setiap pembelajaran?
T: kayaknya iya ya. Selalu ada kok kayaknya. Biarpun 1 atau 2 kata selalu saya
minta mereka mengulang kata yang saya ucapkan kalo saya pikir kurang jelas
atau salah mengucapnya.
I: Bagaimana dengan penggunaan pronunciation drill, apa juga sering digunakan
seperti repetition?
T: Iya, saya juga ha
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN
SD KRISTEN 03 SALATIGA
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirement for Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Riza Galuh Puspitasari
112009142
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
SALATIGA
2014
iv
v
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
This thesis contains no such material as has been submitted for examination in any
course or accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any university. To the
best of my knowledge and my belief, this contains no material previously published or
written by any other person except where due the reference is made in the text.
Copyright@2015. Riza Galuh Puspitasari and M. Ch. Eko Setyarini, S. S., M. Hum
All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means without the
permission of at least one of the copyright owners or the English Department, Faculty
of Language and Literature, Satya Wacana Christian University, Salatiga.
Riza Galuh Puspitasari:
vi
TEACHERS’ TECHNIQUES IN TEACHING VOCABULARY FOR
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN SD KRISTEN 03
SALATIGA
Riza Galuh Puspitasari
112009142
Abstract
This research was conducted in order to analyze the techniques used by
teachers in teaching vocabulary for elementary school students in Salatiga.
The participants of this study were three elementary school English teachers in
Salatiga. The data were collected through classroom observations and
semi-structured interviews which allowed the teachers to share their thought
and experience in teaching vocabulary. The findings revealed that the teachers
used pictures, repetition and pronunciation drill frequently in teaching
vocabulary as it was suitable for young learners and easier to check the students
understanding and abilities.
Keywords: Vocabulary, Young Learners, Teaching Technique
INTRODUCTION
Vocabulary is an important part to be taught for learners who learn a new
language, especially in learning English. Vocabulary is the basic in teaching English
because before learners learn the form, first they will start by learning the vocabulary.
Vocabulary is the collection of words that an individual knows. Vocabulary is one
component that is important in mastering the four skills of listening, speaking, reading
and writing (Nguyen & Khuat, 2003). From the statement, it is clear that vocabulary
influences four skills in learning English so that it is important to be taught, especially
to young learners. Teaching vocabulary is not only to make the learners know the
meaning, but also to make the learners understand how to use the vocabulary in
particular context and situation.
1
Teaching English to children since the early age is very important. In
Indonesia, English is used as a foreign language, so it will be difficult to learn if English
is not taught earlier. As (Hakuta, 2001) said, the earlier children learn English, the
better they will be. So, it’s better to learn English as early as possible. Children start to
develop English to be mastered in Elementary Schools. In the elementary school, they
start to learn many vocabularies and they have to memorize and remember the
vocabulary.
The problem faced was the elementary school students got difficulty in
memorizing the vocabulary because there are so many vocabularies and they should not
only memorize, but they also should comprehend them. I also found the difficulty when
I was an elementary school student. Here, teachers play an important role to help the
students master the vocabulary, and it depends on their techniques in teaching. The
teachers should provide some techniques that are appropriate and effective for the
students. The techniques should engage the students to learn English. Brown (2001),
stated that a lesson needs a variety of activities to keep interest and attention alive. As
Brown said above, variety of activities is needed by the students so that they feel
enthusiastic and actively participate in the teaching-learning process.
Many of English elementary school teachers use pictures as the media to teach
vocabulary, but actually there are other interesting media like flash card, games, short
story, song, etc. Thus, besides learning the vocabulary, students can also have fun and
enjoy the lesson. It’s good if they learn what they like. Through their enthusiasm the
materials given will be easier to understand.
Based on the problem this study had a research question, What are teachers’
techniques in teaching vocabulary for elementary school students? This research was
conducted to reveal the techniques used by teachers in teaching vocabulary which are
2
appropriate and effective to their students. It was aimed to describe the reason of the
teachers in using the techniques.
This study is expected will provide knowledge about techniques in teaching
vocabulary for elementary school students. It is also hoped that English teachers or
student teachers can use these techniques in teaching vocabulary. In addition, this
study is also hoped will give a contribution in English education to improve the quality
of both teachers and learners.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Defining vocabulary
Vocabulary is an important part of a language. The more words students acquire
and use it, the more meaning they can communicate in a wide variety of situations
(Coxhead, 2006). It means that vocabulary is one important part of language. It
influences the ability of speaking, listening, reading and writing. Like (Nguyen &
Khuat, 2003) said, Vocabulary is the collection of words that an individual knows. It is
a part related to listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. The same thing is also
stated by Nasr (1972), similarly he said that there are four abilities that need to be
developed in learning a language,
Four abilities to develop : hearing, reading, speaking, writing – with understanding.
This shows that our chief concern should not be about difficulties of pronunciation,
growth of vocabulary, and grammar; our chief concern should be with language
abilities (1972:7)
It’s true that to construct the four abilities we need to concern on language ability, but in
the language ability there are some parts such as pronunciation, vocabulary, and
grammar. So, pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar are included in language ability.
All of it should be taught and learned equally. Those opinions show that the vocabulary
3
is one of the basics in learning English. Through learning the vocabulary naturally, it
will improve other skills like reading, writing, speaking and listening.
Teaching young learners
It’s interesting to compare the way children and teenagers or adults in learning
English. I saw that some teachers teach teenagers and adults like children, on the
contrary, I also saw children were taught something that is not suitable with their ages.
Actually children and adults are different in some case in learning English. They have
different attitude and motivation toward English.
Children are often more enthusiastic and lively as learners. They want to please
the teacher rather than their peer group. Children easily lose interest and less able to
keep themselves motivated when they find the task that they think difficult. In other
words, they do not have the same access as older learners to meta-language that
teachers can use to explain about grammar or discourse (Cameron, 2001). It is quite
proved that they are really different with adult. They will do something they like and
leave it when they are not interested. Bardakçı (2010) said in his journal, teaching
young learners is different from teaching teenagers and adults according to their needs,
expectations, learning style and strategies, interest, psychological and cognitive
development (2010). Young learners have different characteristic with teenagers or
adult. Young learners are easily get bored and lose their interest to the materials that
conveyed. Cameron (2001: 29-31) as cited in (Şensoy & Özad, 2009) mentioned that
for young learners activity is important and should aim for a dynamic congruence. She
points out that activities and content that are suitable for children’s age and
socio-cultural background should be chosen. From those statements I found that the
way of children and teenagers or adults in learning foreign language is different, so the
way teachers teach them also should be different since in that age children cannot be
4
treated like adults. We cannot treat children with something that make them under
pressure because it influences their psychology.
Teaching techniques in teaching vocabulary
The first thing taught when children learn English is vocabulary. In the
beginning they learn English vocabulary, they will get difficulty in pronouncing and
memorizing the meaning of the words. It will be a problem if they do not have a
motivation to learn it because they think it is difficult and no use to learn English. It
might happen because they are accustomed to use their mother tongue (Bahasa
Indonesia or their vernacular) in communication and doing interaction with the
environment. To avoid those thoughts, teaching techniques are needed in order to make
the children feel interested and have a motivation to learn English. Bardakçı (2010)
stated, children facilitate their learning as possible as they can. Language teachers
should consider this fact, and they should try to teach language in the easiest way. In the
early stage, using picture can be used in teaching vocabulary.
There are some techniques that can be used in teaching vocabulary for
elementary school students. The first one is using pictures. Pictures have been used for
centuries to help students understand various aspects of foreign languages. Pictures can
represent non-verbal source of information (Wright, 2007). It can be said that pictures
have an important role in learning vocabulary. By using pictures, students are not only
imagined the object, but they can see it so that they will memorize and remember the
word and the meaning easily.
Nation (1990: 51) as cited in (Cameron, 2001) wrote some basic techniques by
which teachers can explain the meaning of new words, all of which can be used in the
young learners classroom. The techniques are using an object, using cut-out figure,
using gesture, performing an action, photographs, drawings or diagrams on the board
5
and pictures from books. Those techniques are simple and suitable for young learners
since young learners learn something by seeing real objects and situations.
The second technique is by singing songs. Teachers can singing some songs
related with the topic, for example singing song about family, fruits or animals. By
singing songs, children will learn the vocabulary through the lyrics. Abbot, (2002) as
cited in Gordon (2007), said that using songs helped to create a relaxed atmosphere
during the learning process. In addition, using songs made the learning process
memorable.
Telling story is another technique in teaching vocabulary for young learners.
Teachers can use the story that children are familiar with, such as the story of legend in
Indonesia or fairy tale like cinderella story or sleeping beauty. The children have
already known the story in Bahasa Indonesia, so when the teacher tells the story in
English they are still able to guess the main idea of the story. As stated by Cameron
(2001), young children learn many of their first language words through social
interaction with adults, and the use of stories in young learner classrooms will offer
similar rich opportunities for learning vocabulary indirectly, or incidentally, while
attending to something else. Thus, telling stories can be an advantageous technique in
teaching vocabulary because children learn vocabulary through interaction. Besides,
this technique is a way to grab students’ attention to avoid boredom in the classroom.
Another technique that can be used in teaching vocabulary is using repetition.
Coxhead (2006), said that repetition is a helpful technique to fluency because repetition
gives learners the chance to use the words again within a short amount of time. Thus,
through repetition the teachers try to help students speak English fluently and correctly.
6
Through the techniques that have been mentioned, students can improve their
vocabulary because they are not only memorizing the vocabulary, but they also
comprehend the meaning.
THE STUDY
This study was a descriptive qualitative research. It described the techniques used
by teachers in teaching vocabulary for students in an elementary school in Salatiga. It
also described the reasons why the teachers used those techniques in teaching
vocabulary. The setting of the study was in SD Kristen 3 Salatiga.
Participants of the study
The participants of this study were three teachers of SD Kristen 3 Salatiga. The
participants were selected based on a purposive sampling or criterion based - selection
(Blackledge, 2001 as cited in Zacharias, 2011). The teachers were selected with the
criteria English language teachers who graduated from English education and teaching
English in elementary school more than one year.
Research Instrument
To observe the teachers, I used observation protocol as seen in table 1. Besides
doing observations, I was also doing interviews. The interviews contained some
questions related with the techniques used in teaching vocabulary for the students.
Those questions were about their reasons of using repetition, picture, pronunciation
drill, modeling and demonstration, using clue, games, questions and answer, and also
read aloud technique.
7
Table 1. Observation Protocol
Techniques in teaching vocabulary
Date
Teacher
Class
Time
R
Q
C
M
R: Repetition
P: Picture
Q: Question and answer
RA: Read aloud
C: Clue
PD: Pronunciation drill
M: Modeling and demonstration
G: Game
P
RA
PD
Data Collection Procedure
In this research, I used observation and interview to gather the data. The type
of observation used was a non - participant observation, and it was held eight times
in four classes. Each class was observed two times. I recorded the activity between
the teachers and the students in the teaching and learning process during the
observation using a video recorder. The observation was held in order to see the real
activity in the teaching and learning process. It was hoped that the data gathered
were rich and reliable. In the observation, I focused on what was happening in class.
From the teaching - learning process, I got enough data from the class. I also used
8
G
field notes. I used field notes to describe the teachers’ techniques in teaching
vocabulary.
After the class observation I did an interview to the teacher that I had
observed before. As a technique in collecting the data I used a semi - structured
interview. My intention of using this kind of technique was to make greater
flexibility like changing the order of questions to provide an opportunity for follow
- up questions. The interviews were conducted to get deeper and specific
information on teachers’ technique in teaching vocabulary to young learners. The
interviews were conducted in informal situations where there was flexibility, so the
interviewees shared their opinions, experiences, and responses freely. The
interviews were held after each observation, and I finished doing the observations
and interviews in three weeks.
In each observation I gave checklists in the observation protocol to know
what the techniques used by the teachers in their teaching. From this observation
protocol I found the techniques that frequently used. This frequency of the
techniques used can be seen in table 2.
Table 2. Table of frequency
Frequency of the techniques used
Teacher
R
Q
C
M
P
RA
PD
G
Teacher A
2
1
1
-
2
1
2
-
Teacher B
2
2
-
1
2
2
2
1
Teacher C
4
2
2
2
3
2
4
-
Total:
8
5
3
3
7
5
8
1
9
R: Repetition
P: Picture
Q: Question and answer
RA: Read aloud
C: Clue
PD: Pronunciation drill
M: Modeling and demonstration
G: Game
There was eight observations for 3 teachers. Teacher A who teach grade 1
was observed 2 times, teacher B who teach grade 2 was observed two times, and
teacher C who teach grade 4 and 5 was observed 4 times. Based on the table of
frequency, the techniques that frequently used were repetition, using pictures and
pronunciation drill. It can be found that teacher A and B used repetition, pictures
and pronunciation drill in each teaching. It also can be seen that teacher C used
repetition and pronunciation drill in all the observations, and three times used
pictures.
Data Analysis Procedure
In this study, a clean transcription method was used to gather the data from
observations and interviews. As stated by Zacharias (2011), a clean transcription of
interview focuses on the content of the interview. Then, the transcriptions were
coded based on the kinds of techniques used. The quoted examples from the data
collected were used to support each point in the process of analyzing the data. The
findings were described, and to make it easier in the description I used codes to
name the teacher. They were teacher A, teacher B and teacher C. Besides, some
supporting theories were included in the analysis.
10
FINDING AND DISCUSSION
This section discusses the techniques used by elementary school teachers in
teaching vocabulary for young learners in Salatiga. The techniques were discussed
in the literature review.
When I observed the teaching - learning in class, the teachers used some
techniques in teaching vocabulary for their students. I found some techniques used
by the teachers.
Repetition
The first technique used by the teachers to teach vocabulary was repetition.
This technique was used by teacher A when she was teaching about colors. The
technique was presented as seen in excerpt 1:
Excerpt 1
Teacher A :
Students :
Teacher A :
Students :
Teacher A :
Repeat after me, the mangosteen is brown.
The mangosteen is brown
The mangosteen is brown
The mangosteen is brown
Oke, good (Observation 3)
The same with teacher A, teacher B was also using repetition in teaching
present continuous tense. It can be seen in observation 2:
Excerpt 2
Teacher B : Sekarang saya baca kalimatnya, kalian tirukan ya! Repeat after
me! Mei is playing the piano.
Students : Mei is playing the piano.
Teacher B : Mei is playing the piano.
Students : Mei is playing the piano.
Teacher B : Once again, Mei is playing the piano.
Students : Mei is playing the piano. (Observation 2)
11
In this technique, both teachers repeated the sentences more than once.
They asked the students to repeat it two to three times until they can pronounce it
correctly and clearly. Based on the interview, teacher A explained that the use of
repetition technique was to help students in speaking, especially to memorize how
to pronounce words correctly. She said:
Excerpt 3
Saya menggunakan repetition itu biar anak - anak terbiasa ngomong
bahasa inggris dengan benar. Dengan repetition itu kan akan membantu
mereka mengucapkan kalimat dengan benar, soalnya tulisan sama cara
membacanya itu kan beda. Jadi biar mereka tau cara pengucapannya itu
seperti apa. Kalau diulang - ulang terus kan lama - lama mereka ingat
bagaimana mengucapkannya. (Teacher A)
I used repetition to make students speak English correctly. By doing
repetition will help them to pronounce sentence correctly because the
written form and the way to read are different. So, they will know how to
pronounce it. If it is frequently repeated they will memorize how to
pronounce it. (Teacher A)
Almost same with teacher A, in the interview teacher B said:
Excerpt 4
Ya, dengan repetition itu menurut saya akan memudahkan anak untuk
mengucapkan kata - kata dalam bahasa inggris dengan lancar. Jadi disini
melatih fluency mereka dalam berbicara bahasa inggris. Makanya kalau
ada yang pengucapannya masih kurang jelas atau mungkin salah, saya
akan ulang terus sampai lancar, sampai benar gitu. (Teacher B)
I think by doing repetition they will be able to pronounce words in English
easily. In here, we practice the fluency in speaking. So, if the pronunciation
still not clear or they pronounce it wrong, I will repeat it until they
pronounce it correctly and fluently. (Teacher B)
The usefulness of repetition in teaching vocabulary is also stated by
Coxhead (2006), she said that repetition is a helpful technique to fluency because
repetition gives learners the chance to use the words over again within a short
12
amount of time. Thus, through repetition the teachers tried to help students speak
English fluently and correctly. It is useful for them because if they repeated the
words many times they will easily remember the meaning and they will know how
to pronounce it. We can see that the teachers had opinion that the repetition is
considered important in teaching vocabulary. I agree with the teachers because in
my opinion though repetition can be said as a common technique in teaching
vocabulary, but for early stage especially for young learners, repetition is a good
way to teach vocabulary. By repeating the words frequently students will remember
the meaning and the way to pronounce it.
Using pictures
The second technique used by the teachers was using pictures. Teacher A
used pictures when she was teaching vocabulary about objects in rooms. She used
printed pictures in A3 papers as seen below:
In this technique, teacher A combined using pictures with repetition
technique. After showing the picture, pointed out the object and mentioned it one
13
by one, the teacher would ask the students to repeat the word two to three times. It
was presented as seen in excerpt 5:
Excerpt 5
Teacher A :
Students :
Teacher A :
Students :
Teacher A :
Students :
Oke, now please look at the picture and repeat after me! Lamp.
Lamp
Lamp
Lamp
Once again, lamp
Lamp (Observation 5)
During the interview teacher A explained her reason of using pictures in
teaching vocabulary. She said:
Excerpt 6
Kalau using picture, I think by seeing the picture they will remember the
meaning easily because they see the object. Mereka nggak hanya
membayangkan saja, tapi melihat langsung. Jadi saya kira melalui gambar
itu lebih efektif. (Teacher A)
I think by seeing the picture they will remember the meaning easily because
they see the object. They will not only imagine it, but they will see it. So, I
think learning vocabulary through picture is more effective. (Teacher A)
The teacher used pictures in teaching vocabulary because by showing
pictures, students were not only imagining the objects, but they could see it. So, it
will help them to memorize and master the vocabulary. In line with the teacher,
Wright (2007) said that the picture is often helpful because it provides an
opportunity for non – verbal response. In here pictures have an important role in
learning vocabulary. Students learn vocabulary not only from list of words that
given by teachers, but they can see the shape of the objects. When I was in
elementary school, this technique helped me a lot in learning vocabulary. My
teacher was showing and appointing a picture then pronounced the word. She
14
repeated it several times, and through this combination of using pictures and
repetition I easily remember the word and the object.
Pronunciation drill
The third technique used by the teachers in teaching vocabulary was
pronunciation drill. This technique was used by teacher C in reading text session.
When the students read the text then pronounced the words incorrectly, the teacher
would do pronunciation drill as seen in the observation 1:
Excerpt 7
Teacher C
Students
Teacher C
Students
Teacher C
Students
Teacher C
Students
: Now read the sentences together! One, two, three, go!
: My family ‘live’ in a big city. (they pronounced it ‘laif’)
: No, no, no, no, no. /liv:/ ya, bukan /laif:/. Repeat after me! /lIv/
: /lIv/ (unclear)
: /lIv/ pake veh
: /lIv/
: Once again!
: /lIv/ (clear) (Observation 1)
I found in the observation that teacher C tried to drill the students in order to
make them pronounce the word correctly. In the interview, teacher C explained that
pronunciation drill was useful because it helped students to pronounce the word
correctly. After students did pronunciation drill, they also knew how to differentiate
the pronunciation between one word and another word that almost similar. In the
interview she said:
Excerpt 8
Saya hampir selalu memakai pronunciation drill. Karena mereka sering
menemui kosakata baru yang terkadang mereka belum tahu bagaimana
mengucapkannya. Dengan di drill seperti itu anak akan tahu oh ini bacanya
begini, oh ini begini. Jadi mereka bisa pronounce dengan benar. (Teacher
C)
15
I used pronunciation drill frequently. It is because students are often find
new words that they do not know how to pronounce it. Trough
pronunciation drill they will know how to pronounce it, so they will be able
to pronounce it correctly. (Teacher C)
This technique used by the teacher in order to teach students how to
pronounce words correctly. Besides, it was also useful to introduce new vocabulary
that they have never found and heard before. As stated by Coxhead, students have
to learn to say a word clearly using the correct sounds and the right word stress
(2006). From the teacher’s argument and Coxhead’s statement, we can see that
pronunciation drill is an important technique in learning English because the
incorrect sounds can have different meaning. Therefore, students are able to acquire
new words and know how to pronounce the words correctly. I think pronunciation
drill will also help students in communication when they learn English widely in
the next stage.
Modeling and demonstration
The fourth technique used by the teachers was modeling and demonstration.
In the observation, teacher C used modeling and demonstration when she taught
about the word ‘take’. It can be seen in the dialog in Excerpt 9:
Excerpt 9
Teacher C : Take itu apa sih?
Students : (Silent)
Teacher C : Take. Ini lho take tu. (the teacher took a pencil case from her
student’s table to show the meaning of the word ‘take’). I take
the pencil case. Jadi, apa itu take?
Students : Mengambil.
Teacher C : Oke, good. (Observation 4)
Teacher B was also using modeling and demonstration in her teaching
vocabulary. She did the modeling and demonstration as seen in excerpt 10:
16
Excerpt 10
Teacher B : What is bounce?
Student
: Meloncat
Teacher B : Hah, meloncat?Bounce. Begini ni apa ni? This is ball, then you
bounce it, like this (demonstrated bouncing ball) (Observation
1)
During the interview, teacher B and teacher C explained their reason why
they used modeling and demonstration in their teaching.
Excerpt 11
Dengan modeling and demonstration they can see the situation. Mereka
melihat situasi yang didemonstrasikan dan biasanya saya pertegas apa
yang telah saya demonstrasikan. Kayak misalnya tadi untuk menunjukkan
arti kata take. Biar mereka menebak sendiri artinya tanpa harus saya yang
menjawab. (Teacher C)
By doing modeling and demonstration, they can see the situation. They can
see the situation that was demonstrated. Like in the class earlier, I did
modeling and demonstration to show the meaning of the word ‘take’. It
encourages them to guess the meaning and they do not need to ask me.
(Teacher C)
Excerpt 12
Kalau alasan kenapa saya memperagakan sesuatu dalam menjelaskan arti
sebuah kosakata itu karena menurut saya dengan saya memperagakannya,
anak - anak kan bisa melihat apa yang saya lakukan. Jadi mereka bisa
menebaknya dengan melihat apa yang saya lakukan. (Teacher B)
The reason why I use modeling and demonstration is because in my opinion
by doing it, students can see what I am doing. So they can guess the meaning
of the word. (Teacher B)
Teacher B and teacher C in the interviews had the same opinion about using
modeling and demonstration technique. They tend to make their students guessed
the meaning of some words by seeing the situation through modeling and
demonstration. As cited in (Bardakçı, 2010), Harmer said that to understand
something, explanation is not enough for young learners. Things that they see and
17
hear are also needed. Modeling and demonstration encourage students to guess the
meaning of the words and it helped them to understand the meaning because they
saw what their teachers did.
Clues
The fifth technique used by the teachers was using clues. Teacher A used
this technique when she wanted to explain the word watch. It presented as seen in
observation 5:
Excerpt 13
Teacher A: Artinya watch apa?
Students : (Silent)
Teacher A: Watch TV, watch television, berarti?
Students : Melihat, menonton
Teacher A: Good, melihat atau menonton. (Observation 5)
The same with teacher A, teacher C was also using clue when she was
teaching about past tense, as we can see in excerpt 14:
Excerpt 14
Teacher C: We bought a coconut juice? Kami? Bought?
Student 7 : Minum
Teacher C: No, bought. You pay. Kamu bayar pakai uang, berarti apa?
Student 7 : Membeli. (Observation 8)
During the interview, teacher A and teacher C explained their reasons of
using clue in their teaching, they said:
Excerpt 15
Ya biar mereka aktif dan antusias untuk menjawab, kalau kata – kata yang
baru atau yang mereka tidak tau kadang – kadang saya yang nanya trus
saya juga yang jawab. Kalau pakai clue jadinya mereka yang jawab.
(Teacher A)
18
Clue is used to make students active and enthusiastic in answering
questions. If there are some new words that they don’t know,I will be the
one who ask and answer it. So by using clue, they can answer it. (Teacher A)
Excerpt 16
Saya seneng kalau dengan cara ini, jadi kayak tebak – tebakan dan ada
interaksi. Mereka jadi berfikir, tidak melulu saya yang jawab. Kalau nggak
digituin mereka nggak bisa jawab, apalagi kalau kosakata baru. (Teacher
C)
I’m happy with the technique; it’s like a quiz and there is interaction
between teacher and students. It encourage them to think, so not only me
will answer the questions. If I didn't do it they cant’ answer, especially if it is
a new word. (Teacher C)
Using clues in teaching vocabulary is advantageous in learning new words.
The teachers had opinion that by using clues help students to actively participate in
class and help them in mastering new words because students could guess the clue
that given by the teachers. In accordance with the teachers’ statements, as cited in
Jalongo & Sobolak (2010), several studies have shown that when students are
active participants in vocabulary instruction, more vocabulary words are learned
(Hargrave and Senechal, 2000). Those statements show that using clue is a
technique that make students actively participate in learning vocabulary. By using
clue there is interaction between teacher and students that result the atmosphere in
the class alive. Thus, the teachers prefer to use clue rather than explain the meaning
by the teacher itself.
I think it will be more fun if this technique is combined with game. For
example, students are divided into some groups, then they’re asked to guess some
words using some clue that given by teacher. Every student will take turns to
describe the characteristics of the objects and the group who guess the most words
19
correctly will be the winner. In my opinion using this kind of technique will
stimulate students to guess the meaning. They will learn the vocabulary using
different way. They will try to guess the meaning through the identification that
given, and I think they will be more enjoy in the learning process.
Games
The sixth technique used by the teachers in teaching vocabulary was games. The
teacher used this technique when she was teaching present continuous tense. This
technique was presented by Teacher B as we can see in excerpt 17:
Excerpt 17
Teacher B : Sekarang miss punya games, tadi udah tau kan arti – artinya?
Nah sekarang kalau saya bilang standing kalian berdiri, kalau saya bilang
walking kalian jalan, kalau crying ya nangis, gitu ya? Nanti yang salah
dihukum. Oke?
Students : Okee… (Observation 2)
During the interview, teacher B explained her reason of using games in the
teaching vocabulary, she said:
Excerpt 18
Biar nggak bosan anak – anaknya. They need something enjoyable in the
class. Daripada mereka berisik nggak jelas, mending mereka berisik tapi
bermanfaat. (Teacher B)
They need something enjoyable in class to avoid boredom. I prefer they
make some noisy but they get something useful rather than make noisy but
get nothing. (Teacher B)
During the observation, the students were enjoy and enthusiastic with the
activity. The teacher made the atmosphere in the class was alive. According to
(Neyadi, 2007) using games enhances students’ ability to memorize the words, as
they activate learners’ minds and give them the time to pause and think about the
20
words, whether to compare, contrast, match or draw pictures which represent them,
which store the words into students’ working memory and hopefully the long term
memory. Thus, games give influence in learning vocabulary. Because one of the
children characteristics is they are easily loose interest, game is a suitable technique
for them in the teaching-learning process because it is enjoyable for students.
Beside it is enjoyable, it is also helping students in memorizing and mastering
vocabulary.
Questions and Answers
The seventh technique used by the teachers in teaching vocabulary was
using questions and answers. This technique was presented by all the teachers.
Teacher A used this technique when she was reviewing material about fruit. The
purpose of using the technique was to recall students’ memory on materials that
have been taught. The teacher asked the students as seen in excerpt 19:
Excerpt 19
Teacher A : We’re going to review all the materials, the first one we’re
going to review about fruit. Fruit apa?
Students : Buah.
Teacher A : Oke, can you mention 10 names of fruit?
Student 1 : Watermelon
Teacher A : Watermelon, apa itu watermelon?
Students : Semangka
Teacher A : What else?
Student 2 : Grape
Teacher A : What is grape?
Students :Anggur (Observation 5)
The same way with teacher A, teacher C used question and answer
technique in her teaching vocabulary. It can be seen in excerpt 20:
21
Excerpt 20
Teacher C :
Students :
Teacher C :
Students :
Teacher C :
Student 1 :
Teacher C :
Traffic light. What is traffic light?
Lampu lalu lintas
Ya, lampu lalu lintas. Traffic sign?
Rambu lalu lintas
Ya. Oke, kita ulang dari atas. In front of, Nuel?
Didepan
Iya, good. Behind? Elvin? (Observation 7)
During the interview, teacher A explained her reason of using question and
answer technique, she said:
Excerpt 21
Biar tau sejauh mana mereka paham dengan materi yang telah
disampaikan. Biar mereka ingat juga apa yang sudah dipelajari. (Teacher
A)
It is to measure how far they understand with the materials that have been
conveyed. Besides, it is also to make them remember what have been
taught. (Teacher A)
Teacher C was also had the same opinion about the use of question an
answer. She said:
Excerpt 22
To check their understanding. Jadi dengan tanya jawab kitanya tau
seberapa jauh mereka memperhatikan, seberapa jauh mereka paham, gitu.
(Teacher C)
It is to check their understanding. So, by asking and answering questions, I
know their attention and their understanding on the materials given.
(Teacher C)
In the interview teacher A and teacher C had the same opinions that using
question and answer could check students’ understanding about the materials that
given. It was also to recall their memory on the materials that have been taught. In
other word, using question and answer in teaching vocabulary can measure
22
students’ understanding and ability in memorizing words. I agree with the teachers’
statement because I think it’s important to check students’ understanding on the
materials that given. Students can also ask their teacher when they don’t understand
the materials. Using questions and answers will be advantageous for both teacher
and students. Teacher can measure students’ understanding and students can
convey their thought when they find difficulty.
Read Aloud
The eighth technique used by the teacher in teaching vocabulary was read
aloud. Teacher B used this technique, in this technique teacher B asked students to
read some sentences together.
Excerpt 23
Teacher B : Oke, now read the sentences together! Starting from number 1,
one two three go!
Students : Pat is walking
Teacher B : Pat is walking, number 2! One two three go!
Students : Kimberly is wearing short.
Teacher B : Kimberly is wearing short. Once again! (Observation 1)
Teacher B used read aloud in order to make students pronounce the words
correctly and clearly. During the interview, she explained her reason of using read
aloud, she said:
Excerpt 24
Read aloud, menurut saya dengan read aloud itu melatih pronounciation
mereka. Jadi disini selain mengenal arti kosakata tertentu juga mereka tau
how to pronounce the word correctly. Kalau pengucapan mereka belum
benar atau nggak jelas saya bisa koreksi. (Teacher B)
I think read aloud help their pronunciation. So, besides they know the
meaning of the words, they also know how to pronounce it correctly. If their
pronunciation is still unclear and wrong I can give some correction.
(Teacher B)
23
In accordance with teacher B, teacher A had the same opinion with teacher
B. She had opinion that read aloud helped students in speaking and pronouncing the
words correctly, she said:
Excerpt 25
Read aloud membantu mereka agar terbiasa berbicara dalam bahasa
Inggris. Selain itu juga melatih mereka mengucapkan kata dalam bahasa
Inggris dengan benar. (Teacher A)
Read aloud helps them accustomed to speak in English. Besides, it also help
them in pronounce the word correctly. (Teacher A)
I found in both observation and interview that the teachers used read aloud
as the technique in teaching vocabulary. According to Anderson et al. (1985), the
most important activity to build the knowledge required for eventual success in
reading is reading aloud to children, as cited in (Pikulski & Templeton, 2004). Read
aloud helps students to speak up and pronounce the words correctly and clearly.
The teachers would repeat the word and asked students to read aloud the word until
their students could pronounce it correctly. I think besides teaching the meaning of
the vocabulary, reading aloud is also useful in teaching pronunciation. The students
will not only learn the meaning of the words, but also learning the way how to
pronounce the words correctly. It will be easier to check and then correct the
students’ mistake in pronouncing words.
CONCLUSION
This research was conducted to find out what the techniques used by
elementary school teachers are in teaching vocabulary for young learners. This
research was also held to describe what the teachers’ reasons are in using those
24
techniques in teaching vocabulary for elementary school students. The research
findings show, there were eight techniques of teaching vocabulary: repetition,
pictures, pronunciation drill, modeling and demonstration, clue, games,
question-answer, and read aloud. The teachers used those techniques in teaching
vocabulary in order to make the vocabulary taught would easily remembered, even
easily understood by the students. It is also to make students pronounce the words
correctly and clearly. Besides, trough those techniques the activity in the classroom
can be alive, fun and the students become more enthusiastic in the learning process.
As a pedagogical implementation from the findings, it will be better if in
teaching vocabulary English teachers use techniques which are interesting and grab
students’ attention such as using picture, flash card, singing songs, etc. English
teachers should able to create suitable activities which are interesting and make the
students enthusiastic in the learning process considering their age, needs, and
feelings. Thus, the teaching and learning process will be well – managed.
There were limitations in this study. The first one was this study focused on
the teaching context in Salatiga. The second one was this study involved a small
number of participants. Further research may extend the number of the participants
to cover more issues in teaching vocabulary. It is hoped there will be more research
about teaching vocabulary in order to give a contribution in English education to
improve the quality of both teachers and learners.
25
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This
thesis
would
not
have
been
finished
without
the
support
of
many people. I wish to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Ch.
Maria Eko Setyarini, S. S., M. Hum., who was abundantly helpful and patience in
guiding me to finish this thesis in a limited time. Deepest gratitude also goes to
Prof. DR. Gusti Astika, MA., as my thesis examiner. Without whose knowledge
and assistance this study would not have been completed. I would like to thank the
English elementary school teachers in SD Kristen 03 Salatiga who were willing to
share all their thought, experiences and knowledge for this thesis. I also wish to
express my love and gratitude to my beloved family who always supported me,
especially to my older brother, mas Bima thank you for everything. Special thanks
also go to my friends, Frizka who strove together with me in finishing our thesis,
Rina and Uswa who also supported me. All my best I give to Allah SWT that I can
finish this study.
26
REFERENCES
Allen, V. F. (1983). Techniques in Teaching Vocabulary. New York: Oxford
University Press.
Bardakçı, M. (2010). Teaching Young Learners English Through Language
Teaching Materials. e-Journal of New World Sciences Academy , 6.
Retrieved on February, 20, 2013 from http://web.ebscohost.com
Bjork, C. (2005). Indonesian Education Teachers, Schools, and Central
Bureaucracy. Newyork: Routledge.
Brown, H. D. (2001). Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to
Language Pedagogy (2nd Edition ed.). New York: Longman.
Cameron, L. (2001). Teaching Languages to Young Learners. United Kingdom:
Cambridge University Press.
Celik, M. (2003). Teaching vocabulary through code-mixing. ELT Journal, 57 (4):
361-369.
Coxhead, A. (2006). Essentials of Teaching Academic Vocabulary. Boston:
Patricia A. Coryell.
Day, E. M. (2002). Identity and the Young English Language Learner. Cromwell
Press Ltd.
Fan, M. Y. (2003). Frequency of Use, Perceived Usefulness, and Actual Usefulness
of Second Language Vocabulary Strategies: A Study of Hong Kong
Learners. The Modern Language Journal , 87 (2): 222-241.
Hakuta, K. (2001). A critical Period for second language acquisition. Baltimore:
Paul Brookers Publishing Co.
Jalongo, M. R., & Sobolak, M. J. (2010). Supporting Young Children’s Vocabulary
Growth: The Challenges, the Benefits, and Evidence-Based Strategies.
Early Childhood Educ J . Retrieved on February, 20, 2013 from
http://web.ebscohost.com
Kalajahi, S. A., & Pourshahian, B. (2012). Vocabulary Learning Strategies and
Vocabulary Size of ELT Students at EMU in Northern Cyprus. English
Language Teaching , 5 (4): 138 - 149.
Linse, C. T. (2005). Practical English Language Teaching: Young Learners. New
York: McGraw-Hill ESL/ELT.
27
Nasr, R. T. (1972). Teaching and Learning English. Lebanon: Longman Group
Limited.
Nation, I. S. (2008). Teaching Vocabulary: Strategies and Techniques. Boston:
Heinle.
Newton, J. (2001, January). Options for vocabulary learning through
communication tasks. ELT Journal , 55 (1): 30-37.
Neyadi, O. A. (2007, September). The Effects of Using Games to Reinforce
Vocabulary Learning. Retrieved on January, 14, 2014 from
http://www.marifa.hct.ac.ae
Nguyen, T. H., & Khuat, T. N. (2003). Learning vocabulary through games. Asian
EFL Journal , 5: 4.
Pikulski, J. J., & Templeton, S. (2004). Teaching and Developing Vocabulary: Key
to long-term reading success. Houghton Mifflin Reading. Retrieved on
January, 14, 2014 from www.eduplace.com
Şensoy, Ş., & Özad, B. E. (2009). Teachers’ Attitudes toward Using Activities
while Teaching English to Young Learners. Eurasian Journal of
Educational Research (37), 174-187.
Tedick, D. J. (2005). Second Language Teacher Education: International
perspective. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Wright, A. (2007). Pictures for Language Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Zacharias, N. T. (2011). Qualitative research methods for second language
education: A Coursebook. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars
Publishing.
28
Appendix 1.
Observation transcription
Teacher: can you mention what kind of room that you can find in your house?
Room. Ruangan. Can you mention it? What can you find in your house?
Ruangan apa?
Student 1: Bathroom
Teacher: Bathroom, oke good.
Student 2: Garden
Teacher: Garden
Student 3: Kitchen
Teacher: oke, kitchen.
Student 4: Bedroom
Teacher: oke, I will repeat. Room that we can find in our house is living room. What
is living room? Ruang? Ruang tamu. The second one is, bedroom. What is
bedroom? Kamar?
Student: tidur.
Teacher: can you close your book first? Close your book! Close your book an listen
carefully! Oke, I will repeat. Room that you can find in your house the first one
is living room. What is living room? The second one is bedroom. What is
bedroom? The third one is bathroom. What is bathroom?
The first one is, living room, bedroom, bathroom, the fourth one?
Student: dining room.
Teacher: what is dining room? Ruang?
Student: makan.
Teacher: Oke, now the fifth one?
Student: Kitchen
Teacher: what is kitchen?
Student: dapur.
Teacher: oke, I will repeat. Saya ulangi macam-macam ruangan yang ada dirumah
kita. The first one is living room. Yang kedua bedroom, the third one is
bathroom, the fourth one is dining room, the fifth one is kitchen, dapur. Living
room?
Student: ruang tamu.
Teacger: dining room?
Student 5:ruang mandi
Teacher: ruang (giving clue )
Student 6: ruang makan
Teacher: bedroom?
Student: ruang tidur.
Teacher: ruang tidur. Now please repeat after me! Living room, bathroom,
bedroom, kitchen, dining room (the students repeated the words that
mentioned by the teacher).
29
Oke, have you remember all? Sudah ingat? Kalau nanti miss novi suruh
menyebutkan macam-macam ruangan didalam rumah sudah bisa?
Student: bisa.
Teacher: bener?
Student: belum.
Teacher: oke, I will repeat. Living room
Student: living room
Teacher: ruang tamu
Student: ruang tamu
Teacher: bedroom
Student: bedroom
Teacher: kamar tidur
Student: kamar tidur
Teacher: bathroom
Student: bathroom
Teacher: kamar mandi
Student: kamar mandi
Teacher: dining room
Student: dining room
Teacher: ruang makan
Student: ruang makan
Teacher: kitchen
Student: kitchen
Teacher: dapur
Student: dapur
Teacher:oke, I will ask one of you. Ratih. What is kitchen?
Student 7: dapur
Teacher: dapur, good. Kitchen is dapur.
.
Oke, now we will learn one by one. Satu-satu ya. Bedroom. Can you remember
what object that you can find in bedroom? Coba diingat ada apa saja.
Student: lamp, bed, computer, gordain, window, door, pillow.
Teacher: Kevin, what object that you can find in bedroom?
Student 12: Picture
Teacher: Picture. Oke, ada pillow, curtain, lamp, what else? Bed, chair.
Now, I have a picture of bedroom.
Student: woooww...
Teacher: Oke, what can you see in bedroom? What is it? (pointing picture of
pillow) This is pillow. What is it?
Student: pillow
Teacher: What is it? Pi..
Student: Pillow
Teacher: Oke, now what is it? (pointing picture of bed)
Student: bed.
Teacher: Bed. Together!
Student: Bed
30
Teacher: Bed. What is bed? Tempat tidur
Student: Tempat tidur
Teacher: Oke, what is it?
Student: picture.
Teacher: picture. What is picture?
Student: gambar
Teacher: gambar. Picture
Student: Picture
Teacher: iya, gambar atau lukisan. This one?
Student: window
Teacher: window
Student: window.
Teacher: Good, and then this one. What is it?
Student 13: door
Student 14: almari
Teacher: Almari baju namanya apa ya?
Student: cup board.
Teacher: bukan cup board but wardrobe ya. Coba, one two three go! Wardrobe.
Student: wardrobe
Teacher: This one? What is it?
Student: lamp
Teacher: Lamp. Together, lamp.
Student: Lamp
Teacher: and this one?
Student 15: Table.
Teacher: No. Shelf. Shelf.
Student: Shelf
Teacher: Shelf. Itu rak ya.
Teacher: oke, now we move to living room. What can you see or do you remember
what objects that you can find in your living room?
Student: sofa
Teacher: sofa
Student: televisi
Teacher: television, oke what else? Only sofa, television, lamp, window, picture,
curtain. Oke, i have picture again. What can you see?
Student: picture
Teacher: picture
Student: lamp
Teacher: lamp
Student: sofa
Teacher: sofa
Student: meja
Teacher: table
Student: televisi
Teacher: television, then what is it?
Student: window
31
Teacher: window. Oke, now please look at the picture and repeat after me! Arm
chair, picture, picture, lamp, lamp, sofa, sofa, window, window, table, table,
television, television, television. Have you remember?
Student: yes
Teacher: Oke, good.
Appendix 2.
Interview transcription
I : Tekhnik apa saja yang miss Irene gunakan dalam pembelajaran tadi?
T: Apa aja ya tadi, ada repeating, pronunciation drill, gambar, trus apa lagi ya,, oh
tanya jawab juga. Itu aja sih ya kayaknya.
I: apa alasan anda menggunakan repetition saat mengajar?
T: pertama, biar mereka bisa mengucapkan kata yang dimaksud ya. Trus selain itu
juga biar mereka ingat kata tersebut.
I: apa miss Irene selalu pakai repetition dalam setiap pembelajaran?
T: kayaknya iya ya. Selalu ada kok kayaknya. Biarpun 1 atau 2 kata selalu saya
minta mereka mengulang kata yang saya ucapkan kalo saya pikir kurang jelas
atau salah mengucapnya.
I: Bagaimana dengan penggunaan pronunciation drill, apa juga sering digunakan
seperti repetition?
T: Iya, saya juga ha