English Education Program Language and Arts Department Stkip Siliwangi

TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY USING CROSSWORD PUZZLE GAME AT THE FOURTH GRADE OF SDN CIBEBER MANDIRI 1 CIMAHI IN ACADEMIC YEAR 2012-2013

SITI HASANAH (09220536)

ENGLISH EDUCATION PROGRAM LANGUAGE AND ARTS DEPARTMENT STKIP SILIWANGI

ABSTRACT

The objective of this research entitled “Teaching English Vocabulary Using Crossword Puzzle Game at the Fourth Grade Students of SDN Cibeber Mandiri 1 Cimahi in Academic Year 2012-2013” was tofind out whether or not teaching English vocabulary using crossword puzzlewas effective toincrease students’ vocabulary mastery. In this research the writer used one group pretest-posttest design and quantitative research method.The population of this research was 39 of the fourth grade students of SDN Cibeber Mandiri 1 Cimahi in academic years 2012-2013 and the sample were entire population. The instrument of this research was vocabulary test. The data of this research were collected by giving vocabulary test to the students’ sample.The collected data were analyzed using t-test formula.The results of the data analysis showed that: mean score of pretest was 66.41, mean score of posttest was 86.67 andtobserved was 8.62. The ttable with df=n-1 (39-1=38) and significance level at 0.05 was 1.70. Based on the data analysis above, the alternative hypothesis of this research was accepted because tobserved was higher than ttable (8.62>1.7).It also means that teaching English vocabulary using crossword puzzle game was effective toincrease the students’vocabulary mastery at the fourth grade students of SDN Cibeber Mandiri 1 Cimai in academic year 2012-2013.

Key Words: Teaching, Vocabulary and Crossword Puzzle Game

A. BACKGROUND

Teaching English is one activity in a classroom. Like other classroom activities, teaching English brings some problems for students. Many students complain that learning English is difficult. If this case is let unheeded, most students will not have any interest in learning this language. To avoid this, many researchers have conducted to get the best technique, so that sometimes there are some or even many weaknesses from that technique. Probably that technique is good for some students but may not for others, due to the differences in students learning style. One of the teaching English activities is teaching vocabulary. Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary says “Vocabulary is the total number of words in a language. Knowing about vocabulary will make us able to speak, write, read, and listen to the language. The importance of learning vocabulary has been recognized by experts.” In most Indonesian traditional English classroom, most teacher still use conventional method in teaching vocabulary, in which they only gave the students a non-stop drilling and memorization practice in a classroom activities. These conventional methods make the students feels bored, not motivated to learn and even caused lack of vocabulary and fluency.If the learner doesn’t recognize the meaning of the words or even if the learner lacks enough word, he/she will be unable to participate in the conversation. We can assume that without vocabulary, people cannot communicative to each other.The teacher has to find out a kind of technique that can be used to teach vocabulary in a fun way. People also believe if the students can perceive English as a fun subject, it will be easy for them to absorb the material. And using games is one of the techniques that can be used as a tool to fulfill not merely fun but also as a learning style. As Jones (2007:359), posted in building vocabulary skill says that:

Crossword Puzzles involve several useful skills including vocabulary, reasoning, spelling, and word attack skills. To solve any crossword puzzle, a person must be able to identify and understand the terms which are being used. This often involves acquiring new vocabulary or terminology. Another benefit of using crossword puzzles in the classroom is that they are closely related to recreation, and can be less intimidating for students as a review.According to Kilickaya (2007, in a journal of Teaching English with Technology) “Crossword puzzles are an excellent way to review vocabulary, as students will immediately know their answer incorrect if they do not fit the puzzle.

B. LITERATURE REVIEW

Definition of Teaching

According to Brown (2001:7) “Teaching is showing or helping someone to learn how to do something, giving instruction, guiding in the study of something, providing with knowledge, causing to know or understand.”In another part, Gage in Brown (2001:10) also stated that “the teaching is guiding and facilitating learning, enabling the learner to learn setting the condition for learning.”

Definition of Vocabulary

Vocabulary is one of the language system components that is important to be learn. It plays an important role in the four skills. By mastering vocabulary, students will be able to produce many sentences either in spoken or written texts.In general, vocabulary is a word in a language. According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary “Vocabulary is total number of word in a language Without knowing vocabulary students will not be able to speak, write, read, and also listen comprehensively.” “Knowing a word is something to do with recognizing its meaning.” (Cameron, 2001:75) its means that in learning vocabulary, students have to know and understand the meaning, therefore, they will use it in a meaningful context.

Definition of Crossword Puzzle

One type of puzzle media commonly used in the learning process in crossword. Subsequently, a range of crossword puzzle definitions will be drawn from several sources.In general, crossword puzzle is a word game consisting of black and white squares. Webster’s New World College Dictionary defines “Crossword Puzzle as an arrangement of numbered squares to be filled in with words. A letter appearing in a word that is placed horizontally is usually a part of word that is placed vertically.” Crossword puzzle has clues which can be given in the form of numbered of synonyms of definitions.In line with the definition above, Cambridge Dictionary of American English adds that "Crossword puzzle is a word game that the answers have to be guessed based on the clues and be written into numbered squares that go across and down.” Crossword puzzle has been used in education for many years. Many teachers in the world see the educational values of crossword puzzle that benefits both teachers and students. Since the first crossword puzzle has been published in the New York in 1913 by Arthur Wyne (Jones et.al:2007), “most of teachers start adopting crossword puzzle as a game in teaching – learning, especially in teaching vocabulary.” Therefore, many teachers in the educational world believe that crossword puzzle provides many advantages in teaching vocabulary, those are:

-Crossword puzzle encourages student’s motivation to learn vocabulary.

-According to Dhand (2008:55): “crossword puzzle can stimulate students to use their dictionary to solve the puzzle because it requires accurate spelling.” (Whisenand, 2010:82). Furthermore, “students need to have critical thinking which encourages students’ curiosity in solving the puzzle.” (Goh and Hooper, 2007;450)

-Crossword puzzle also keeps students participation. Mei and Jang (2000:25) mention that “game such as crossword puzzle can make students participate positively.”

C. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

In this study, the researcher used the pre experiment method. It involved only one group of subject observed. The subject was not randomly designed on type a pre-experiment design which was called one group pretest-posttest design. So the writer just took one class for the research. They were treated by using crossword puzzle in a second, third, and fourth meeting after finishing a pretest before. And after getting some treatment they were received a posttest a find out the result of the treatment.The population of this study was the fourth grade at SDN CibeberMandiri I Cimahi, with the total population 39 students and the sample was entire population. The selection of the population sited was based on the writer’s willing to apply the crossword puzzle game and want to know whether using crossword puzzles game can increase student’s vocabulary mastery in learning English or not.To analyze the result, the writer followed some steps below:

Mean of Pretest and Posttest

According to Crowl (1996:135) “the mean is the most frequently used measure of central tendency in research. The mean is the arithmetic average of a set of scores.”To calculate the mean score from the pretest that was given to the sample, the writer used the formula as follow (Powell, 1666:47)

= the mean of the difference in scoring of the pretest and posttest

X = the difference in scoring of the pretest and posttest

N = the total number of students

Σ = sum of Score

b. Standard Deviation

Powell (1990:68) states that “standard deviation is a short of average of measurement from the simple mean.” To calculate the standard deviation the researcher used the formula as follows:

SD =

Where:

SD = the standard deviation of the difference in scoring of the pretest and Posttest.

X = the difference in scoring of the pretest and posttest pretest and posttest

= the mean of the difference in scoring of the

N = the total number of the students

c. t-Observed

According to Richard, (1980:299) that “t-test in quantitative procedure for determining the statistical significance of the different between the mean in two test of score.

The formula of t-test is:

Where:

D = the mean difference between the two sets of scores

Σ = Summation (Sum up)

D = the difference between the scores of one person (or matched pair)

D2 = the squared difference between the scores of one person

ΣD² = square each difference and sum the square

(ΣD)² = sum the differences and square the sum

N = the number of differences

d. Degree of Freedom

The term used to indicate that the sample size has been reduced by 1 is degrees of freedom (df). Degree freedom is needed when we want to compare between the obtained t (t – observed) with the table entry of the relevant df and level of significant.

The degree of freedom’s formula is:

Where:

df = Degree of Freedom

n = the total number of student

D. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

After collecting the data, the data analyzed the scores by using mean, standard deviation and t-test for getting the final result from this research.

Table 4.1

The student’s scores of pretest and posttest

Subject / Experiment group / Difference / Difference squared
N / Pretest / posttest / X / X²
1 / 50 / 70 / 20 / 400
2 / 40 / 100 / 60 / 3600
3 / 60 / 80 / 20 / 400
4 / 100 / 100 / 0 / 0
5 / 90 / 90 / 0 / 0
6 / 70 / 90 / 20 / 400
7 / 70 / 80 / 10 / 100
8 / 70 / 80 / 10 / 100
9 / 80 / 80 / 0 / 0
10 / 50 / 70 / 20 / 400
11 / 90 / 90 / 0 / 0
12 / 60 / 80 / 20 / 400
13 / 60 / 70 / 10 / 100
14 / 90 / 100 / 10 / 100
15 / 60 / 80 / 20 / 400
16 / 70 / 100 / 30 / 900
17 / 50 / 70 / 20 / 400
18 / 70 / 80 / 10 / 100
19 / 60 / 80 / 20 / 400
20 / 50 / 100 / 50 / 2500
21 / 60 / 90 / 30 / 900
22 / 60 / 100 / 40 / 1600
23 / 70 / 80 / 10 / 100
24 / 70 / 80 / 10 / 100
25 / 60 / 90 / 30 / 900
26 / 70 / 70 / 0 / 0
27 / 70 / 90 / 20 / 400
28 / 80 / 90 / 10 / 100
29 / 70 / 80 / 10 / 100
30 / 70 / 80 / 10 / 100
31 / 80 / 90 / 10 / 100
32 / 60 / 100 / 40 / 1600
33 / 50 / 100 / 50 / 2500
34 / 50 / 90 / 40 / 1600
35 / 60 / 80 / 20 / 400
36 / 70 / 100 / 30 / 900
37 / 60 / 90 / 30 / 900
38 / 80 / 100 / 20 / 400
39 / 60 / 90 / 30 / 900
N=39 / 2580 / 3380 / 790 / 24200

Result of the study

Mean

Based on the result of data analyzed the writer calculated the mean used the following mean formula:

∑x = 790

n = 39

20,26

Standard Deviation

Standard deviation, the writer used following standard deviation formula:

∑x2 = 24200

∑x = 790

n = 39

t-Observed

Based on the result of data analyzed the writer used the following t-test formula:

= 20, 26

ΣD² = 24200

ΣD = 790

N = 39

= 8,62

Degree of Freedom

Df= n – 1

Df= 39 – 1

Df= 38

Discussion

After the writer calculated the data, the data analysis showed that:

Mean of Pretest score is 66, 41
Mean of posttest score is 86, 67
Mean of the comparison between pretest and posttest is 20, 25
The standard deviation is 14, 67
The t test (tobserved) is 8, 62
The Degree of freedom is 38
The t table from degree of freedom 38 is 2, 05 or 1,70

Based on the data analysis above, the writer concluded that tobserved was higher than ttable, that was 8, 62 > 1, 70 at the significance level 0, 05. It means that the alternative hypothesis was accepted. There were significant differences of scores which were gotten by the students between pretest and posttest. It also means that the treatment which was given to the students was effective, so crossword puzzle game can increase the student’s vocabulary mastery.

E. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS

- The Conclusion

Based on the data analysis the writer concluded, the result of this research showed that the mean of pretest (20, 26) is less than the mean of posttest (86, 67), it means that there is the improvement of the students scores. Besides that, tobserved was higher than ttable, that was 8, 62 > 2, 05 or 1, 70 at the significance level 0, 05. It means that the alternative hypothesis was accepted. There were significant differences of scores which were gotten by the students between pretest and posttest. It also means that the treatment which was given to the students was effective, so crossword puzzle game can increase the student’s vocabulary mastery.

-The Suggestion

Based on the considerations which have been stated above, crossword puzzle is recommended to be used as an alternative media in teaching vocabulary. For the teacher of young learners, crossword puzzle might be implemented in the classroom because children learn best through play. It is better for the teacher to provide more like game activity in the classroom. So the students will not realize that they are learning and finally they will see learning English and have fun as one and the same thing. Crossword puzzle can also be used as a competition tool between the students. Providing the students with challenge will keep their enthusiasm and make them motivated to completely finish the crossword quickly because every students to be winner.For the next researcher who wants to do the research on the use of crossword puzzle too, the writer hopes this research paper can be make them easier in doing their research. It is better to find more theories that support the use of crossword puzzle in teaching vocabulary to achieve better result of English instruction.

F. REFERENCES

Brown, H. 2001. Teaching by Principles: an interactive approach to language Pedagogy. San Fransisco: Longman

Cameron, L.2001. Teaching Languages to Young Learners.The Edinburgh Building: Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Crowl, K. 1996. Fundamental of Educational Research.The United State of America.

Dhand, H. 2008. Techniques of Teaching. New Delhi: APH. Publishing Corporation.

TxT: That’s the Puzzle. The Journal of Information Technology Education, United States of America: the Informing Science Institute. Retrieved from: 283.pdf [March, 18th 2013]

Kilkickaya, Goh, T, and Hooper, V. 2007.To TxT or not to 2007.Teaching English with Technology, a journal for teacher, Vol 7 available at gerrys vocabulary teacher/teaching suggestion.html. [March, 18th 2013]

Mei, Yin Young and Jang Yu-Jing.2000.using games in an EFL Class for Children. Retrieved from [March, 18th 2013]

Powell, Sallie (1996). Statistics for Science Projects. London: Bath Press.

Richard, J. (1980). Approach and Method in language teaching.Cambridge University Press.

Whisenand, Thomas. G. 2010. Accelerating Srudent Learning of Technology Terms.The crossword puzzle. Exercise: Journal of Information System Education. Retrieved from: FindArticles.com

Wierus, Andrzej. 1989. Four Favourite Language Games. Forum XXVII.