Teaching english (A Classroom Action Research in the Second Grade Students of SD Negeri Dadapsari No. 129, Pasar Kliwon, Surakarta in the Academic Year 2007/2008)

Oleh :
Warso - K2201063 - Fak. KIP

Sebelas Maret University.The objective of this research is intended to know whether fun activities can improve students’ motivation and vocabulary mastery and what problems appear when fun activities are used in teaching and learning process. In this research, the writer conducted a classroom action research from 13 to 27 May 2008 in the second grade students of SD Negeri Dadapsari No. 129 Pasarkliwon Surakarta. There were 40 students as the sample of the research. At the pre-observation, it was found that the students had low motivation and difficulty in memorizing vocabulary given by the teacher. In this research, the writer taught vocabulary using Fun Activities. Fun Activities is any pleasure or playfulness learning situation in the classroom. Here, the students guided by the teacher did some fun activities. They did drawing and coloring; playing game; singing songs; and crafting during the teaching and learning process. The writer conducted three cycles of action and each cycle consists of a series of steps, namely: identifying the problems, planning the action, implementing the action, observing the action, reflecting and revising the plan. For the first cycle, the writer implemented drawing and coloring in the teaching learning process. For the second cycle, he used song and game. Meanwhile, he used plasticine models in the third cycle. The result of the action showed that the students’ motivation improved as shown in the result of the observation of students’ activities during the actions. During the action, the students paid good participation to the lesson. It was proven by their active participation in the class. There were also improvements in students’ vocabulary mastery. They could memorize and pronounce the vocabularies given by the teacher well. Moreover, the pre-test mean score was 6.3 increasing to 7.7 in the post-test. In implementing Fun Activities in the teaching and learning process, the writer faced problems in the first cycle dealing with their not optimal participation in the class and difficulty in memorizing vocabulary. In the second cycle, the writer could overcome the first problem by using game and song in the lesson. Meanwhile, the students’ difficulty in memorizing vocabulary could be solved by using crafting specifically plasticine models in the third cycle. Based on the result of the research, it is concluded that using fun activities improves the students’ motivation and vocabulary mastery.