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INCREASING THE STUDENT’S VOCABULARY MASTERY THROUGH

HOW SPECIAL AM I GAME OF THE TENTH GRADE SMK

NEGERI 1 GUNUNGSITOLI IN 2022/2023

Fitdarlin Waruwu

, Hidayati Daeli

, Yasminar Amaerita Telaumbanua

, Kristof

Martin Efori Telaumbanua

1,2,3,4

English Education Study Program, Universitas Nias

Jalan Yos Sudarso 118 E/S Gunungsitoli Nias 22812

Email: [email protected]

ABSTRAK

Kosakata merupakan komponen terpenting dari keseluruhan kompetensi komunikatif yang

memungkinkan siswa untuk menyampaikan informasi, ide atau gagasan kepada orang lain dalam

bentuk tertulis maupun lisan. Penguasaan kosakata adalah kemampuan untuk menggunakan kata-

kata dalam melakukan komunikasi dan memahami makna dari kata-kata atau frasa dalam bahasa

Inggris. Penelitian ini dilakukan dengan menggunakan desain Penelitian Tindakan Kelas (PTK).

Penelitian ini dilaksanakan dalam dua siklus. Setiap siklus terdiri dari perencanaan, tindakan,

observasi, dan refleksi. Pada pertemuan kedua siklus II, peneliti memperoleh peningkatan jumlah

siswa yang mencapai Kriteria Ketuntasan Minimal (70). Terdapat 14 (53%) siswa yang

mendapatkan nilai antara 85-100 dengan kategori "Sangat Baik", 12 (42%) siswa mendapatkan

nilai antara 75-84 dengan kategori "Baik". Berdasarkan hasil di atas peneliti menyimpulkan bahwa

permainan How Special Am I dapat digunakan dalam mengajarkan kosakata dan meningkatkan

kemampuan siswa dalam menguasai kosakata.

Kata kunci: Kosakata, Penguasaan Kosakata, Permainan How Special Am I.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 CC BY-SA International License.

ABSTRACT

Vocabulary is the most important component of the overall communicative competence

that enables students to convey information, ideas or notions to others in such written and

oral form. Vocabulary mastery is the ability to use the words in conducting the

communication and understanding the meaning of the words or phrases in English. The

research was conducted by using Classroom Action Research (CAR) design. This research

was applied into two cycles. Each cycle consisted of planning, action, observation, and

reflection. In the second meeting of cycle II, the researcher obtained the improvement of

students, who achieved the Minimum Competence Criterion (70). There were 14 (53%)

students who got score among 85-100 classified as “Very Good Criteria”, 12 (42%)

students got score among 75-84 classified as “Good Criteria”. Based on the result above

the researcher concludes that How Special Am I Game could be done in teaching

vocabulary and increasing the students’ ability in mastering vocabulary.

Key word: Vocabulary, Vocabulary Mastery, How Special Am I Game.

INTRODUCTION

Vocabulary is important to support the four English skills, such as reading, writing,

listening and speaking. Writing is one of the skills of organizing information or opinions in

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written form. Ruth in Yunus (2020) says that writing is one of the skills closely related to

vocabulary learning. Writing as a thinking process involves a student's ability to organize

words and explain them in writing. In other words, without vocabulary, students cannot

write well and communicate their ideas.

Vocabulary is words used to express ideas through writing skills. She is supported by

Fachrozi in Humairoh (2022) which states that vocabulary is the number of words that

people recognize and use in their linguistic activities. One of the most important elements

of writing is vocabulary, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed. And Endarto and

Subekti (2020) also argue that vocabulary is one of the most basic and important pillars of

English proficiency.

Regulations of the Government of the Republic of Indonesia no. Decree No. 19 of

2005 on national educational standards stipulates that the competence of graduates in

language subjects that emphasize reading and writing varies by grade level. Writing is one

of the language skills that the students use to communicate indirectly and not directly with

others. Without vocabulary, the students cannot communicate ideas or ideas. Moreover, the

choice of words also needs to be carefully selected and adjusted according to the rules of

the language, so mastering vocabulary for the students is extremely important.

Based on the syllabus of the 2013 curriculum that he used in SMK Negeri 1

Gunungsitoli, especially in the tenth grade, there are four skills that students must master.

Building on the Core Competencies, students are expected to understand, apply, analyze

and evaluate practical, conceptual, operational, analytical, and metacognitive knowledge

relevant to business and use. language in English at a technical, specific and

comprehensive level in the context of potential self-development. as a member of family,

workplace, community and international, regional and national community. Based on basic

skills, students must write short and simple descriptive texts, spoken and written, that relate

to people, things, and places, paying attention to social functions, cultural structures, etc.

text and linguistic elements, precisely and in accordance with their context. And this too,

the program hopes that the children can master the vocabulary to make descriptive writing

language in the future. In addition, regarding the student's academic performance,

especially English in the tenth of SMK Negeri 1 Gunungsitoli, the school has determined

the Minimum Comprehensive Criteria (MCC) that the students must meet , specifically 70.

The tudents may achieve MCC as an indicator of student success academically.

Based on the observation of tenth grade of SMK Negeri 1 Gunungsitoli, the

researcher found that the students were not able to pass or pass MCC 70, which was caused

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by the students' inability to write a short descriptive passage. and simply related to the

topic. describe personality. The reason why students can't write is because the descriptive

text contains many unfamiliar words. The students' vocabulary problems are affected by a

number of root problems such as: the students have difficulty identifying and

understanding the meaning of words, the students are not motivated to memorize

vocabulary, the students lack interest in English since it is not their mother tongue and the

students it is difficult in distinguishing noun and adjective.

This problem needs to be solved because it is difficult for the students to keep track

of the English learning process. The students need new strategies to enjoy learning

English. One of the strategies that can improve the students' vocabulary is the game How

Special Am I. How Special Am I is a more effective game to teach vocabulary to the

students. This game is intended to be a learning strategy where teachers will prepare

learning materials and practice in class using this game in relation to themselves. O'dell in

Sudirman (2020) argues that How Special Am I is a game that involves searching for

personal information, and also according to Long, Grout in Putri 2018 says the game "Who

am I" can expand information and understanding This game aims to practice vocabulary

and discover what we have in common with others.

Based on the previous explanation, the researcher will conduct a classroom action

study (CAR) because the researcher wants to improve the students' vocabulary building

ability. CAR is one of the techniques to enhance teacher managed learning through

continuous improvement of Sanjaya to Jalaludin (2021). This means that the quality of

learning needs to be assessed from two perspectives: the learning process and the

assessment/ evaluation of learning outcomes.

Considering the problems of the above the students, the researcher conducted a study

with the title, “Increasing the Student’s Vocabulary Mastery through How Special Am I

Game of the Tenth Grade SMK Negeri 1 Gunungsitoli in 2022/2023”

RESEARCH METHODS

The methods used in this research are quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative

data is data on students' abilities in writing skills by How Special Am I Game. This data is

obtained based on the evaluation results of each action taken in statistical form, namely in

the form of student answer scores. Quantitative data is obtained from oral tests (fill in the

blank) given to students by using the results of writing descriptive text. Qualitative data is

non-countable data that is needed to evaluate and analyze. In other words, qualitative data

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is subjective data that only requires reflection. In this study, qualitative data was obtained

from observation sheets and field notes.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In the research title was “Increasing the Students’ Vocabulary Mastery through How

Special Am I game of the Tenth Grade of SMK Negeri 1 Gunungsitoli in 2022/2023”. The

subject of the research was X-UPW 2 of SMK Negeri 1 Gunungsitoli in 2022/2023. Which

the total numbers of the students were 26. In conducted the research, the researcher used

classroom action research (CAR). The research conduct in two Cycles, the researcher

analyzed the result of the students’ vocabulary mastery and the observation sheet either for

the researcher’s and students’ activities the researcher did the research in two Cycle.

In Cycle I especially in the second meeting, the researcher gave test to the students

was extend to know the students’ ability in writing, and the students’ result showed that

most of the students did not pass Minimum Competence Criterion (MCC). There were 4

students (15,38%) who got mark classified in “Good” level. There were 5 students

(19,24%) who got mark classified in “Adequate” level. And there were 17 students

(65,38%) who got mark classified in “Less adequate” level. The higher value that the

students got was 80 and the lowest value was 50 while the average of the students’ value

was 60. Based on the students value in Cycle I, it can be concluded that the students’

vocabulary mastery in Cycle I still less. The students were not able to write descriptive text

especially in describing a people because the students did not have enough vocabulary

about the topic they got.

In Cycle II, the researcher taught the students about the improvements that had been

designed in the previous meeting. The improvements had been brought a huge influence of

the students’ achievements in Cycle II. It showed from the result of observation sheet, most

of the students had done all the activities or procedures of Conscience all strategy. The

students’ percentage activities in the first meeting Cycle II was 96,06%, and in second

meeting was 100%. Moreover, the students’ mark was upgrading, all of them passed of the

Minimum Competence Criterion (MCC) 70 score. There were 14 students (53,84%) who

got mark that classified in “Very good” level. There were 12 students (46,16%) who got

mark that clasified in “Good” level. The higher value that the students got was 84 while the

average of the students’ valuie was 86.

Based on the result of the research, the researcher observed that the students were

interested in teaching and learning vocabulary mastery. They were enthusiastic the learning

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process. The researcher assumes that teaching by How Special Am I Game. Using How

Special Am I Game the students could practice how to determine vocabularies, how to

make a descriptive text, and how to understand writing ability more easily and effectively.

So, it has proved that How Special Am I Game can be interesting technique in learning

writing. It is concluded that How Special Am I Game can increased the students

vocabulary mastery in writing descriptive text, so this strategy can used in teaching writing

for the students by using that How Special Am I Game the students problem in writing was

solve.

CONCLUSION

In Cycle I especially in the second meeting, the researcher gave test to the students

was extend to know the students’ ability in writing, and the students’ result showed that

most of the students did not pass Minimum Competence Criterion (MCC). There were 4

students (15,38%) who got mark classified in “Good” level. There were 5 students

(19,24%) who got mark classified in “Adequate” level. And there were 17 students

(65,38%) who got mark classified in “Less adequate” level. The higher value that the

students got was 80 and the lowest value was 40 while the average of the students’ value

was 60. Based on the students value in Cycle I, it can be concluded that the students’

vocabulary mastery in Cycle I still less. The students were not able to write descriptive text

especially in describing a people.