Improving Students’ Vocabulary Mastery By Using Puzzles (An Action Research Conducted At The Sixth Grade Students Of Sd Negeri Sidoharjo 2, Sragen In The Academic Year 2011/2012)

Oleh :
Ari Sulistyowati - X2209007 - Fak. KIP

The objectives of the research are: (1) to know the extent of the students’ vocabulary mastery improvement by using puzzle in the sixth grade students’ class (2) to identify the class situation when puzzles are implemented in the sixth grade students’ class of SD Negeri Sidoharjo, 2, Sragen of the academic year 2011/2012. The study is a classroom action research that is carried out in two cycles from March 9th to March30rd 2012 of the sixth grade students’ class of SD Negeri Sidoharjo, 2, Sragen. The subject of the research is the students of the sixth grade that consist of 29 students, 18 males and 11 females. The data is in the form of qualitative and quantitative data. Qualitative data were collected by interview, questionnaire, students’ diary, and field note, while quantitative data were collected by test (pre test and post test). The qualitative data are analyzed by using Burn method analyzing action research data while quantitative data are analyzed by using descriptive statistic method. The research finding shows that the use of puzzle improves the students’ vocabulary mastery in four aspects and English class situation. The improvement of students’ vocabulary mastery includes: (a) the students’ memorization improves in grasping the meaning (b) the students easily use the words in the context (c) the students make fewer mistakes in spelling the words (d) the students’ pronunciation improves gradually. The improvement of students’ vocabulary mastery can be proved by the students’ achievement in vocabulary mastery from pre test and post test. In the pre test, the students’ mean score is 4.34 while in the post test of first cycle the students’ mean score is 7.89 and in the post test of second cycle the students’ mean score is 8.99. Meanwhile, before the research was done, the students have low motivation and they are in active in teaching learning process. After the research was done, the class situation improves. The improvement of class situation includes: (a) the students are more motivated in teaching learning process and (b) the students are more active in teaching learning process. By implementing the use of puzzle in teaching learning process, the students of SD Negeri Sidoharjo 2, Sragen can improve vocabulary mastery. Hopefully, the research can obtain the researcher’s knowledge and the researcher suggests that the other English teachers be able to use puzzle in improving students’ vocabulary mastery