Improving Students’ Vocabulary Mastery Using Crossword Puzzles (A Classroom Action Research at The Fifth Grade Students of SD Negeri 2 Ngerangan in The Academic Year of 2011/2012)

Oleh :
Mohammad Iskandar Dzulkurnain - K2208085 - Fak. KIP

This research aims at: (1) identifying whether and towhat extent the use of crossword puzzle improve students’ vocabularymastery, and (2) describing the classroom situation when Crossword Puzzle is implemented in the English class of the fifth grade of SD Negeri 2 Ngerangan. The method used in this research is a collaborative action research. The research was conducted in two cycles at the fifth grade of SD Negeri 2 Ngerangan from April 2, 2012 to June 5, 2012 The research data were collected by using techniques of observation, interview, notes/journals, documents, and tests (pre-test and post-test). The qualitative data were analyzed through assembling the data, coding the data, comparing the data, building interpretations, and reporting the outcomes. Meanwhile, the quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive statistic. The research findings show that the use of Crossword Puzzle could improve students’ vocabulary mastery and classroom situation of English class. The improvement of students’ vocabulary mastery includes: (1) students had fewer mispronunciations; (2) students made fewer mistakes in spelling some vocabularies; (3) students could easily identify the meaning of vocabularies. The improvement of classroom situation includes: (1) the students made less noise during the lesson; (2) no student asked for permission to go to the bathroom as the reason to get out of the class; (3) students looked enthusiastic during the lesson; (4) most of students were active during the class activities; (5) students could be controlled during the lesson; (6) students voluntarily took notes of the lesson. Besides the two findings above, there are other findings as follows: (1) students could work either in group or individually; (2) students who were usually shy became more brave and active to express their answers. Keywords: vocabulary, crossword puzzle