Improving Students’ Vocabulary Mastery Using Cartoon Films (A Classroom Action Research Conducted at the Seventh Grade in SMP Negeri 1 Grogol Sukoharjo in the Academic Year 2010/2011)

Oleh :
Prima Ardya Mukti - X2207024 - Fak. KIP

The objectives of this research are to know whether the use of cartoon films can improve the students’ vocabulary mastery and to identify what happens when cartoon films are used as media in teaching vocabulary to the seventh grade students of SMP Negeri 1 Grogol Sukoharjo. The method used in this research is action research. In this action research, the researcher acted as the teacher in teaching learning process. Meanwhile, the English teacher acted as the observer. The researcher conducted this research from 9th February until 3rd June 2011 at SMP Negeri 1 Grogol Sukoharjo at class VII A. This class consisted of 40 students. In this research, the researcher taught vocabulary by using cartoon films. The research was conducted in two cycles, in each of which there were four meetings. Every cycle consists of four steps: planning, implementing, evaluation, and reflection. The data were collected through pre-observation, observations, interviews, questionnaires, and tests. The tests were conducted before the action (pre-test) and after the action (post-test). These data were compared and analyzed to get a conclusion as the result of this research. The result shows that cartoon films are attractive and effective media to teach vocabulary. During the action, the researcher found that students had shown their improvement in pronouncing English words correctly. By repeating after the narrator saying in the film, the students can minimized their mispronunciation. Besides, it can build the students’ enthusiasm to learn pronunciation. Moreover, by using pictures with text line in the film, the students were helped to grasp and recall the words better. Furthermore, difficulties in the use of vocabulary in making sentences can be solved by giving correct sentence which is shown by the text line in the cartoon films. In addition, the students were enthusiastic and become active in joining the class. The classroom became interactive. It was proved by the interaction between the researcher and the students. It was indicated by the students’ questions to the researcher when they found some difficulties. It was easy for them to answer the researcher’s questions. From the vocabulary test, the students’ pre-test mean score, which was 5.04, increased to 7.85 in the first post-test, and increased to 8.53 in the final post-test. Therefore, it can be concluded that by using cartoon films as teaching media, students’ vocabulary mastery can be improved.