IMPROVING STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY ACHIEVEMENT IN READING DESCRIPTIVE TEXT THROUGH ANAGRAM TECHNIQUE.

IMPROVING STUDENTS’

VOCABULARY ACHIEVEMENT

IN READING DESCRIPTIVE TEXT THROUGH ANAGRAM

TECHNIQUE

A THESIS

Submitted to the English Department Faculty of Language and Arts UNIMED in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

the Degree of Sarjana Pendidikan

BY:

TIUR ULI OCTAVIA SITOHANG

Reg. Number : 071222210084

ENGLISH AND LITERATURE DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS

STATE UNIVERSITY OF MEDAN

2014

ABSTRACT

Sitohang, T. U. O. Registration Number: 071222210084. Improving Students’ Vocabulary Achievement in Reading Descriptive Text Through Anagram Technique.A Thesis. Faculty of Languages and Arts. State university of Medan. 2014.

This study attemps to improve students’ vocabulary achievement through anagram technique. This research was conducted by using action research method. The subject of this study was grade VII students of SMP PAB 10 Medan. The number of the students were thirty one students. The research was carried out in two cycles, Cycle I and Cycle II. The data obtained were quantitative and qualitative. The instrument used for quantitative data was vocabulary tests while the qualitative data were gathered through the observation sheet and questionnaire. Questionnaire was gathered twice, before and after applying the technique. Based on the data analyses, the mean of the students’ score in the orientation test was 38,70, in Cycle I was 66,29, and in Cycle II was 82,74. It can be concluded that the students’ vocabulary achievement through Anagram Technique showed a significant improvement from 38,70 to 82,74. Therefore, English teachers are suggested to use Anagram Technique to improve students’ achievement in vocabulary.

vi

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE Page

3.1 Action Research Model based on Kemmis and Mc. Taggart

1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

A. The Background of The Study

The Curriculum Department of National education (Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan), students implemented and focused on the achievement of the four skills in order to enable to communicate well in English. To achieve this aims, students should master a number of vocabularies. By mastering a number of vocabularies they will be able to conceive what they hear and read, and better they will be able to say what they want to speak or write.

Learning vocabulary is one of the first steps of learning a foreign language, yet one never reaches the last step of the vocabulary acquisition. Whether in one’s native language or as a second language, the acquisition of new vocabulary is a continuous process. Vocabulary is very useful for everyone who is studies a foreign language, and is a very essential tool to comprehend the language well, speak better or compose a good writing.

Based on the writer’s experience during the Field Teaching Experience (Program Pengalaman Lapangan : PPL) at SMK Negeri 1 Binjai to grade XI students of Senior High School in 2011, most of the students had many problems in mastering English words and this situation made them lazy to study English. Students usually had many problems in mastering English words. They had limited vocabulary to comprehend the meaning of a text; they did not know the context of word used in the text, they could not recognize the meanings of the word, they were unable to heard the English words from speakers, they could not

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compose their writing task successfully and they got difficulties to state some sentences in English. So, it could be concluded that vocabulary was seen as the problems difficulty for students.

Based observation that was done by the research in grade XI at SMK Negeri 1 Binjai from 40 students it was found that they were only 8 could pass the passing grade (KKM) and students still could not pass the passing grade which made by the teacher, the score of the passing grade was 70, moreover, it was happened because the approach that was used by the teacher was not suitable. The teacher just applied lecturing method. The teacher gave some explanation about the theory and after that asked the students to read the text and answered the question on the text book.

Table 1.1 Students who could not pass the KKM No Students’ initial

Name Score KKM

1 MGS 60 70

2 MS 50 70

3 UMS 30 70

4 RS 40 70

5 JPS 65 70

6 BFT 55 70

7 RG 40 70

8 MT 50 70

9 DOS 20 70

10 ND 40 70

At present many students are not aware of the importance of studying vocabulary. They feel bored with the way of teaching in which they are asked to find out the meaning of difficulty words in dictionary and then they try to memorize the words. It seems that they need something different in studying the vocabulary. Many techniques can help one acquire new vocabulary. It is the

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teachers’ duty to find out the way to provide the students different style of teaching vocabulary. The use of different technique of teaching considered as one of the solution.

To make the students to be inspired in studying English especially vocabularies, the teacher must involve students and control the class. Based on the above problem, the teacher should find the best or the effective technique to teach English vocabulary. It is also used to stimulate the students’ motivation and students’ interest to the lesson.

For this purpose teaching vocabulary by using Anagram technique can motivate students and make them interested in learning vocabulary English for junior high school. The students know about the new words by using Anagram. The topic must be selected according to the knowledge of the students. Since the students may not use a lot of logical analysis it is important for teacher ought to emphasize the use of memory.

Anagram technique is a type of word play, the result of rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce a new word or phrase, using all the original letters exactly once; for example orchestra can be rearranged into carthorse. Someone who creates anagram is called an anagrammatist. The original word or phrase is known as the subject of an anagram. An anagram is the rearrangement of the letters of a word, name, phrase, sentence, title, or the like into another word or phrase. All the letters of the name or phrase must be used once and only once. This is the basic rule of anagramming. The best anagrams are meaningful and

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relate in some way to the original subject. They can be apposite, funny, rude, satirical or flattering.

Anagrams are in themselves a recreational activity, but they also make up part of many other games, puzzles and game shows. The Jumble is a puzzle found in many newspapers in the United States requiring the unscrambling of letters to find the solution. Cryptic crossword puzzles frequently use anagrammatic clues, usually indicating that they are anagrams by the inclusion of a descriptive term like “confused” or “disarray”.

B.The Problem of the Study

Based on the background of the study, the research problem is formulated as the following: Is the students’ of junior high school vocabulary achievement improved through Anagram technique?

C. The Objective of the Study

The objective of the study is to investigate improvement of the students’ vocabulary achievement if they are taught by applying anagram technique.

D. The Scope of the Study

There are so many games that can be used to improve teaching-learning process of English, including scrabble, scramble, word wall, and puzzle. This study is focused on the application of anagram technique in teaching vocabulary that have related to the descriptive text or descriptive story.

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E. The Significance of the Study

Finding of this study are expected to be relevant and useful practically and theoretically. Theoretically, the findings added new horizon to the theories of English learning.

Practically, the findings will be useful for:

1. English teachers to improve the students’ achievement in vocabulary through anagram technique.

2. Students to develop their vocabularies through anagram technique. 3. Reader’s knowledge about this research.

vi

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE Page

1.1 Students Who Could Not Pass the KKM ... 2 3.2 Penilaian Acuan Patokan (PAP) to ascertain the extent of

Students’ Vocabulary Achievement ... 32 4.1 Students’ Score in Orientation Test and Cycles I and II ... 33 4.2 The Comparison of Students’ Score in Three

Vocabulary Test ... 35 4.3 The Percentage of Students who Got the Score 70 or

vi

LIST OF APPENDICES

APPENDIX Page

A. Lesson Plan ... 50

B. Students’ Score in Orientation Test, Cycles I and II ... .. 68

C. The Calculation of Students’ Mean Score ... 70

D. The Percentage of Students’ Vocabulary Achievement ... 72

E. Observation Sheet ... 74

46

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

A. Conclusions

After the data analysis and based on the research findings, it was found out that in teaching vocabulary, the using of Anagram technique is a good choice as a technique. After analyzing the data, it was found out that the students’ vocabulary scores improved from Orientation test to Test I and test II. It means that the use of anagram technique in teaching vocabulary gave an improvement

for the students’ vocabulary achievement.There is an improvement in students’ mean scores. The mean of students’ score in Orientation test was 38,70. The mean of students’ score in test I was 66,29 and the mean of students’ score in test II was

82,74. The analysis of quantitative data showed that the scores improved from the first test to the last test.Through the observation sheets and questionnaire, the improvement in learning vocabulary by anagram technique was also proved.

Therefore, the use of anagram technique could significantly improve the students’

vocabulary achievement.

B. Suggestions

Based on the conclusion drawn, the result of the finding contribute some valuable suggestions for those who interested in teaching vocabulary. These following suggestions are directed to:

47

1. For English teacher, it is useful to use anagram as one of the alternative ways in teaching vocabulary to make variation in it, so that the students do not get bored in learning English especially in vocabulary.

2. For the students, they feel more interested and motivated in improving their vocabulary because they can gain their knowledge, remember the vocabulary in long term memory and can refresh or remain their vocabulary.

3. For the other researchers, it is very useful as the information in conducting in depth research related to this study.

48

REFERENCES

Aqib, Z. 2006. Penelitian Tindakan Kelas. Bandung: Yrama Widya.

Block, Collins, C. & Mangieri, J. 2006. The Effects of Powerful Vocabulary for Reading Success on Students’ Reading Vocabulary and Comprehension Achievement. Journal of Reading Behavior, 1, 2963 – 005.

Brown, H.D. 1995. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. USA: University of Illinois.

Brown, H.D. 2003. Language Assessment: Principles and Classroom Practices. NY: Longman.

Ferrance, E. 2000. Action Research. LAB, Northeast and Island Regional Education Laboratoryat Brown University.

Hatch and Brown, Cheryl. 2000. Vocabulary, Semantic and Language Educations: Cambridge Univeristy Press.

Hiebert, E. H and Kamil, M. L. 2005. Teachning and Learning Vocabulary. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Hills. 2008. OCC Assesssment Definition, Accessed on August 19, 2013/ 13:31:40 from http://www.oaklandcc.edu/assessment/definition.htm

Hopkins, D. 2002. A Teacher’s Guide to Classroom Research. Open University Press.

Isnian, Sofyan. 2009. Students’ Achievement, Accessed on August 20, 2013/ 20:15:33 from f.ahttp://www.definition.ochievement.html

Junika, Desi. 2012. Improving Students’ Vocabulary Achievement Through Anagram in SMP N 1 Bandar. Medan: Thesis (unpublished)

Kameli, S. Baki, Bin, R. 2013. The Impact of Vocabulary Knowledge Level on EFL Reading Comprehension. International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature, 2 (1), 85 – 89.

Kamil, M. L. & Hiebert, E. H. 2005. Teaching and Learning Vocabulary : Bringing Scientific Research to Practice. Mahwah, NJ : Erlbaum.

Kemmis, S and Mc. Taggart, R. 1992. The Action Research Reader. Deakin University Press. Victoria.

49

Krashen, S. 2013. Reading and Vocabulary Acquisition : Supporting Avidence and Some Objections. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research, 1 (1), 27 – 43.

Kustaryo, S. 1988. Reading Techniques for College Students. Jakarta: Proyek Pengembangan Lembaga Pendidikan Tenaga Kependidikan.

Matsuoka, Warren & Hirsh, David. 2010. Vocabulary Learning Through Reading: Does an ELT Course Book Provide Good Opportunities?. Reading in a Foreign Language Journal, 22 (1), 56 – 70.

Nation, P. Teaching Vocabulary. Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. ASIAN EFL Journal 1-2.

Pradiono. 2007. Pasti Bisa! Teaching Genre. Based Writing : Metode Mengajar Writing Berbasis Genre Secara Efektif. Yogyakarta : Andi,

Pikulski, John, J. & Templeton, Shane. 2004. Teaching and Developing Vocabulary : Key to Long-Term Reading Success. USA. Houghton Miffin Company.

Richard, J. C and Rodgers, S. T. 1988. Approaches and Method in Language Teaching. Cambridge: LUP.

Sharma, K and Tuteja, T. 2008. Teaching of English. New Delhi: Commonwealth Publisher.

Siboro, H. 2011. Improving Students’ Vocabulary Achievement Through Anagram Technique. Medan: Thesis (unpublished)

Simpson, T. 2009. The Art of Written Persuasion: Improve Your Vocabulary, Improve Your Success.

Thornbury, S. 2002. How to Teach Vocabulary. Longman.

Zimmerman, C. B. 1997. Historical Trends in Second Language Vocabulary Instruction in Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition. New York: Cambridge University Press.

vi

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE Page

1.1 Students Who Could Not Pass the KKM ... 2 3.2 Penilaian Acuan Patokan (PAP) to ascertain the extent of

Students’ Vocabulary Achievement ... 32 4.1 Students’ Score in Orientation Test and Cycles I and II ... 33 4.2 The Comparison of Students’ Score in Three

Vocabulary Test ... 35 4.3 The Percentage of Students who Got the Score 70 or

vi

LIST OF APPENDICES

APPENDIX Page

A. Lesson Plan ... 50

B. Students’ Score in Orientation Test, Cycles I and II ... .. 68

C. The Calculation of Students’ Mean Score ... 70

D. The Percentage of Students’ Vocabulary Achievement ... 72

E. Observation Sheet ... 74

46

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

A. Conclusions

After the data analysis and based on the research findings, it was found out that in teaching vocabulary, the using of Anagram technique is a good choice as a technique. After analyzing the data, it was found out that the students’ vocabulary scores improved from Orientation test to Test I and test II. It means that the use of anagram technique in teaching vocabulary gave an improvement for the students’ vocabulary achievement.There is an improvement in students’ mean scores. The mean of students’ score in Orientation test was 38,70. The mean of students’ score in test I was 66,29 and the mean of students’ score in test II was 82,74. The analysis of quantitative data showed that the scores improved from the first test to the last test.Through the observation sheets and questionnaire, the improvement in learning vocabulary by anagram technique was also proved. Therefore, the use of anagram technique could significantly improve the students’ vocabulary achievement.

B. Suggestions

Based on the conclusion drawn, the result of the finding contribute some valuable suggestions for those who interested in teaching vocabulary. These following suggestions are directed to:

47

1. For English teacher, it is useful to use anagram as one of the alternative ways in teaching vocabulary to make variation in it, so that the students do not get bored in learning English especially in vocabulary.

2. For the students, they feel more interested and motivated in improving their vocabulary because they can gain their knowledge, remember the vocabulary in long term memory and can refresh or remain their vocabulary.

3. For the other researchers, it is very useful as the information in conducting in depth research related to this study.

48

REFERENCES

Aqib, Z. 2006. Penelitian Tindakan Kelas. Bandung: Yrama Widya.

Block, Collins, C. & Mangieri, J. 2006. The Effects of Powerful Vocabulary for

Reading Success on Students’ Reading Vocabulary and Comprehension

Achievement. Journal of Reading Behavior, 1, 2963 – 005.

Brown, H.D. 1995. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. USA: University of Illinois.

Brown, H.D. 2003. Language Assessment: Principles and Classroom Practices. NY: Longman.

Ferrance, E. 2000. Action Research. LAB, Northeast and Island Regional Education Laboratoryat Brown University.

Hatch and Brown, Cheryl. 2000. Vocabulary, Semantic and Language

Educations: Cambridge Univeristy Press.

Hiebert, E. H and Kamil, M. L. 2005. Teachning and Learning Vocabulary. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Hills. 2008. OCC Assesssment Definition, Accessed on August 19, 2013/ 13:31:40 from http://www.oaklandcc.edu/assessment/definition.htm

Hopkins, D. 2002. A Teacher’s Guide to Classroom Research. Open University Press.

Isnian, Sofyan. 2009. Students’ Achievement, Accessed on August 20, 2013/ 20:15:33 from f.ahttp://www.definition.ochievement.html

Junika, Desi. 2012. Improving Students’ Vocabulary Achievement Through

Anagram in SMP N 1 Bandar. Medan: Thesis (unpublished)

Kameli, S. Baki, Bin, R. 2013. The Impact of Vocabulary Knowledge Level on

EFL Reading Comprehension. International Journal of Applied Linguistics &

English Literature, 2 (1), 85 – 89.

Kamil, M. L. & Hiebert, E. H. 2005. Teaching and Learning Vocabulary :

Bringing Scientific Research to Practice. Mahwah, NJ : Erlbaum.

Kemmis, S and Mc. Taggart, R. 1992. The Action Research Reader. Deakin University Press. Victoria.

49

Krashen, S. 2013. Reading and Vocabulary Acquisition : Supporting Avidence

and Some Objections. Iranian Journal of Language Teaching Research, 1 (1),

27 – 43.

Kustaryo, S. 1988. Reading Techniques for College Students. Jakarta: Proyek Pengembangan Lembaga Pendidikan Tenaga Kependidikan.

Matsuoka, Warren & Hirsh, David. 2010. Vocabulary Learning Through

Reading: Does an ELT Course Book Provide Good Opportunities?. Reading in

a Foreign Language Journal, 22 (1), 56 – 70.

Nation, P. Teaching Vocabulary. Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. ASIAN EFL Journal 1-2.

Pradiono. 2007. Pasti Bisa! Teaching Genre. Based Writing : Metode Mengajar

Writing Berbasis Genre Secara Efektif. Yogyakarta : Andi,

Pikulski, John, J. & Templeton, Shane. 2004. Teaching and Developing Vocabulary : Key to Long-Term Reading Success. USA. Houghton Miffin Company.

Richard, J. C and Rodgers, S. T. 1988. Approaches and Method in Language

Teaching. Cambridge: LUP.

Sharma, K and Tuteja, T. 2008. Teaching of English. New Delhi: Commonwealth Publisher.

Siboro, H. 2011. Improving Students’ Vocabulary Achievement Through Anagram

Technique. Medan: Thesis (unpublished)

Simpson, T. 2009. The Art of Written Persuasion: Improve Your Vocabulary, Improve Your Success.

Thornbury, S. 2002. How to Teach Vocabulary. Longman.

Zimmerman, C. B. 1997. Historical Trends in Second Language Vocabulary

Instruction in Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition. New York: