Improving Vocabulary Mastery Using Papercraft (An Action Research At The Fifth Grade Of Sdn Kemasan 02, Boyolali In Academic Year 2012/2013)

Oleh :
Dewi Murtiningsih - X2206034 - Fak. KIP

The 5th grade students of SD Kemasan 02 Sawit, Boyolali in the academic year 2012/2013 had problems in mastering vocabulary. It could be seen from several indicators. First, their achievement in vocabulary was low. Second, it was difficult for them to pronounce, to spell and to understand the meaning. The problems were caused by several factors. First, they did not have motivation in learning English. Second, they had low attention to the teacher’s explanation. Third, they were passive. To overcome the problems, the researcher designed an action research using Papercraft as teaching media to improve students’ vocabulary mastery. The purposes of the researcher were to describe how the use of papercraft improves the students’ vocabulary mastery, and to describe the students’ responses in the process of teaching and learning using papercraft. 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 action, implementing the action, observing the action, and reflecting or evaluating the result. The researcher collected the data using qualitative and quantitative techniques. The qualitative ways consisted of interview, observation and documents (field notes, students’ diaries, students’ worksheet and photographs); she also used pre-test and post-test to collect quantitative data. In analyzing the data, the researcher used qualitative and quantitative analysis The results of this research showed that the use of papercraft can improve the students’ vocabulary, especially for meaning aspect. But for spelling and pronouncing aspect drilling by teacher is needed. It can be indicated from the increase of students’ achievement. Moreover, the students’ motivation in learning English improves too. The students paid more attention to the teacher’s explanation and were more active in teaching and learning process. 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 57.5, improves to 63.9 in the first post-test and improves to 75 in the second post-test. From the test result, it showes that there is a significant improvement of students’ vocabulary mastery after papercraft was implemented. It proves that the use of papercraft can improve the students’ vocabulary. The result of the research implies that English teachers need to choose the appropriate media in teaching vocabulary. The appropriate media to teach vocabulary is Papercraft.