ABSTRAK This thesis is an action research study that is intended to overcome problems that appear in the teaching and learning vocabulary in order that: (1) the students can pronounce words correctly; (2) the students can remember and grasp the meaning of words easily, and (3) the students can improve their motivation in learning vocabulary. Besides that, the objective of the study is also to improve the effectiveness of teaching vocabulary. The subject of the research is the fourth grade students of SDN Pondok 02 Sukoharjo that consists of seventeen students. The action research has undertaken two cycles in which each of the cycle consists of six steps, namely: 1) identifying the problem; 2) planning the action; 3) implementing the action; 4) observing or monitoring the action; 5) reflecting the result of the observation; and 6) revising the plan for the following steps. Cycle 1, the identified problem refers to the students’ achievement and motivation in learning English that is low. The plan is presenting and introducing new English words through pictures. The implementation is distributing worksheets to the students and dividing the action into four terms, namely: warming up, presentation, practice, and production. The result is good enough. The students’ achievements are good. Their motivation and attention are good, but it is decreasing because the activities seemed to be monotonous. Cycle 2 is implementing the use of pictures in teaching vocabulary by grouping the students. It is conducted to improve the students’ motivation and attention that are decreasing as mentioned in cycle 1.The result in this cycle is better than before. The students are more active, creative, and enthusiastic in having lesson. The sources of the data were gotten from the writer as the teacher, and the students. The data were taken from the observation and the mean score of the tests. In general, the result of this study shows that there is improvement of students’ achievement and motivation in learning vocabulary. It can be seen from the mean score of the tests and the story told by the writer about students’ responses in having the lesson. The result of this study is expected to be able to solve the students’ problems in learning vocabulary; and to give meaningful contribution in improving the effectiveness of teaching vocabulary.
