The Use Of Visual Aids To Improve The Vocabulary Mastery Of The Fifth Grade Students Of Elementary School (An Action Research In Sdsn 01 Suruh Karanganyar Of The Academic Year 2012/2013)

Oleh :
Reni Rosita - X2208536 - Fak. KIP

The fifth grade students in SD Negeri 01 Suruh had low vocabulary mastery. It could be seen from their low motivation in learning English. Besides, it was difficult for them to pronounce, to spell, to understand the meaning, and to use the words. The problems were caused by the teacher who did not take the appropriate technique in teaching, and the students did not pay attention well to the lesson. This action research was conducted in the fifth grade of SD Negeri 01 Suruh (SDSN), Tasikmadu. The objectives of this research are to find out how the use of visual aids can improve the students’ vocabulary mastery and to describe the classroom situation when visual aids are applied in teaching vocabulary. The action reasearch was carried out in two cycles from January to April. In collecting the data, the researcher used observation, interview, and test. The researcher was the teacher who implemented visual aids as the media in the instructional process. The result of the observation was presented in the field notes. The interview was done as the confirmation of the observation. The tests were in the form of pre test and post test to measure the students’ vocabulary mastery improvement The result of this research shows that the use of visual aids can improve the students’ vocabulary mastery. It can motivate and attract the students to be actively involved in the instructional process. They also do all the learning activities without any excuses. They become more active and attentive if compared with their behaviour before the research. The improvement can also be seen from their increased achievement. The mean score of the pre test is 6.30. It improves to 7.80 in the first post test. In the second post test, it increases to 9.20. In addition, the result of the research implies that the teacher needs to determine the appropriate technique in teaching vocabulary to children. Visual aids is one of the appropriate and effective media to teach vocabulary.