Improving Students’ Vocabulary Mastery Using Children Songs

Oleh :
Artha Ratna Wijayanti - X2209008 - Sekolah Pascasarjana

The aims of this research are to identify how the use of children songs can improve the students’ vocabulary mastery and how children songs affect the class situation in teaching and learning vocabulay. The research focuses on solving the problems of the fourth grade students of SD N Polokarto 01 Sukoharjo. The problems are the difficulties in pronouncing and spelling English words, memorizing the meaning of English words, using the words in a simple sentence and their low motivation in joining English lesson. The research was conducted from April to June 2013. The subject of the study was the fourth grade students of SD N Polokarto 01 Sukoharjo. The researcher conducted the action in two cycles. Each cycle consisted of six steps: identifying the problems, planning the action, implementing the action, observing the action, reflecting the action, and revising the plan. Data were collected through observation and interview. The observation was reflected in field notes and photographs. To find out the improvement of the students’ vocabulary mastery after the research implementation, the researcher conducted tets. The tests were pre-test and post-test. The researcher analyzed the scores of the tests. The result of the research shows that children songs can improve the students’ vocabulary mastery. With children songs, the students can pronounce and spell the words correctly. They can remember the meaning of the English words. They can also use the words in a simple sentence. The students’ motivation in joining the English lesson improves. Combining children songs with games can improve the students’ pronounciation and spelling skills. The students’ vocabulary improvement is reflected in the test scores. The mean score between pre-test and post-test 1 improves from 4.95 to 6.48. It improves again in post-test 2 which is 8.94. It shows that there is improvement of the students’ vocabulay mastery after the research. During the teaching and learning process, the students enjoyed it very much. They were more active and always paid more attention to the researchers’ explanantion. They made a competition with other classmate, asked about the songs, and answered the teachers’ question enthusiastically. Based on the result of the study, the researcher concludes that the implementation of children songs improves the students’ vocabulary mastery and motivates the students in learning English. In line with the result, the researcher suggests that children songs is one of the effective media to increase students’ motivation and achievement in learning English. This result hopefully will motivate teachers to use children songs in their classroom, especially when teaching vocabulary to the fourth grade students of elementary school.