Optimizing the use of visual aids to improve students’ vocabulary mastery (a classroom action research at the 4th grade of SD N Kenokorejo 04 Sukoharjo in the academic year of 2009/2010)

Oleh :
Wulan Fajar Setyorini - X2206054 - Fak. KIP

ABSTRACT The 4th grade students of SD Kenokorejo 04 Sukoharjo in the academic year of 2009/2010 had problems in mastering vocabulary. It could be seen from several indicators: the first, their achievement of vocabulary was low. The second, it was difficult for them to pronounce, to spell and to understand the meaning. The problems were caused by several factors: The first, they didn’t have motivation in learning English. The second, they had low attention to the teacher’s explanation, the third, they were passive. To overcome the problems, the researcher designed an action research using visual aids to improve students’ vocabulary mastery. The purpose of the researcher was to investigate whether or not optimizing the use of visual aids can improve the students’ vocabulary mastery and students’ motivation in learning English. The action research was conducted in two cycles. The first cycle consisted of six steps. They were identifying the problems, planning the actions, implementing the action, observing the action, reflecting or evaluating the result, and revising the plan. The second cycle consisted of five steps. They were identifying the problems, planning the actions, implementing the action, observing the action, and reflecting or evaluating the result. The researcher collected the data using qualitative and quantitative techniques. The qualitative data consisted of interview, observation and documents (field notes, students’ diaries, students’ worksheet and photographs); she also used pre-test and post-test for quantitative data. In analyzing the data, the researcher used qualitative and quantitative analysis. The results of this research showed that optimizing the use of visual aids can effectively improve students’ vocabulary mastery. The improvement can be seen in the form of students’ motivation and students’ score. The students’ motivation in teaching and learning process has improved, they paid attention to the teacher and became more active. Their achievement also increased. The improvement of the students’ achievement can be seen from the difference between the scores of the pre-test and the post-test. The mean score of pre-test is 4.8 and it improved to 6.4 in the first post-test and it also improved to 7.8 in the second post-test. From the test result, it showed that there was a significant improvement of students’ vocabulary mastery after the writer conducted the research. It proved that optimizing the use of visual aids can improve students’ vocabulary mastery. The result of the research implied that English teachers needed to choose the appropriate media in teaching vocabulary. The appropriate media to teach vocabulary is visual aids.