Improving Students’ Vocabulary Mastery through Teaching Real

Objects
Puji Hariati
AMIK Medicom, Indonesia

Abstract Keywords
This study was aimed to find out the improvement of the students’ improving; vocabulary;
vocabulary mastery through teaching real object. This study was teaching
conducted by using Classroom Action Research. It was done
through 1) planning, 2) action, 3) observation, and 4) reflection.
The population of the research was the students of Amik Medicom.
To get the sample, the researcher took one class, it was MI18B.
This research applied quantitative and qualitative data.
Quantitative method were taken from the students' test. Qualitative
data were taken from observation, questionnaires sheet and diary
notes. The research found out that there are some improvements of
the students’ vocabulary mastery taught by applying real objects. It
was proved from the students’ improvement in cycle 1 until cycle 2.
The improvement can be seen that in pre test the means score was
34.66. In the first cycle, meeting 1 the means score was 37,33, in
meeting 2 was 47,66 and in meeting 3 was 53,5. In the second
cycle, meeting 1 the means score was 68,83, in meeting 2 was
80,33 and in meeting 3 was 91,66. The improvement also can be
seen from the percentage of the students’ achievement in mastering
vocabulary; in pre test, no one of the students got 75 points. In the
first cycle, in meeting 1, and there no one student got 75 point, in
meeting 3 there was 16.7% (5 students) got 75 points. It means
there was an improvement about 16.7 % . In the second cycle, in
meeting 1 there was 20% (6 students) got 75 points, it means that
there was an improvement about 3.3%. In meeting 2 there was
80% (24 students) got 75 points, it means that there was an
improvement about 70%. In meeting 3 there was 100% (30
students) got up 75 points, it means that there was an improvement
about 30%. It means that all of the students got better result. They
could master many new vocabulary items and composed them into
good sentences.

I. Introduction

Norrish (1983:2) says that language is not a set of facts to be learned but a medium for
expressing thoughts, feelings in communication with other people. It means that as the
principal medium of communication, it plays an important and indispensable role in all
aspects of human life, such as friendship, agreement, laws, convention, marriages and others.
One learns a language like English to enable him to communicate in that language. He
intends to be able to listen, read, speak and write in that language. In order for him to achieve
these goals, he must pile up and master a host number of vocabulary, for he cannot
communicate his ideas as clearly as he would like to, and he cannot grasp the ideas
transmitted to him, or reads newspaper columns or popular magazines or even understands
newscast on the radio or television if he does not have the basic vocabulary for particular or
general purpose.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33258/birle.v3i2.905 740

 Budapest International Research and Critics in Linguistics and Education (BirLE) Journal
Volume 3, No 2, May 2020, Page: 740-748
e-ISSN: 2655-1470 (Online), p-ISSN: 2655-2647 (Print)
www.bircu-journal.com/index.php/birle
emails: [email protected]
Flower and Michael (1989:5) write:
Learning vocabulary is a very important part of learning English, if you
make a grammar mistake, it may be wrong, but very often people will
understand you anyway. But if you do not know the exact word that you
need it is very frustrating for you and the person you are talking to. Good
English means having a big vocabulary.
The quotation above clearly states that learning vocabulary is very important and
becomes a must for every learner to make his English work well. It shows that English has a
special place in the teaching of the foreign language at schools and, recently, in preschools
and playgroups in this country.
Being a beginning teacher of English as a foreign language, the researcher has felt a
deep concern for the present situation in teaching the language. Many teachers have ignored
the importance of understanding how small children actually learn English at an early stage.
These kids should be prepared for a future higher education. Without a solid basis for
effective learning, they may lack the curiosity, creativity and even motivation to improve
their own language skills. A teacher should know how to stimulate her learners’ curiosity in
language learning which may slowly build up their motivation. And motivating the students
to learn is of course the most difficult job for the teacher. The learners’ interest may vary
from person to person. For that reason, the teacher ought to know and, in the end be familiar
with various methods, approaches and techniques of teaching to make the lesson more
interesting and inspiring.
The class interaction depends on the situation in which the students are involved and
how well the teacher controls the class. The teacher ought to use some gadgets such as, real
objects to help students learn more vocabulary for a playgroup right at their earlier stage. The
teacher must be able to present the lesson in such a way as to make it more interesting and
relevant to the students’ needs for learning. Real objects or realia can increase the students’
joy and will be interested in learning English. There are three ways of using realia, first for
descriptions, and second as props in drama and another type of activity is a creative thinking
exercise, finding different uses for an object, e.g. a ruler could be a weapon, musical
instrument, a symbol of authority and so on. However, there is another possibility of using
realia that is making a connection between objects and language.
Moreover, when students enjoy the class, they will receive the material better. That is
why the teachers are demanded to arouse the student's attention by using real objects. In the
dialogue, students use four separate strategies to increase their comprehension. The four
strategies are summarizing, question generating, clarifying, and predicting, and they are used
in that order (Sipayung, 2018). The problem of this study is formulated as: “The
improvement of the students’ vocabulary mastery through teaching real objects”.

II. Review of Literature

2.1 Theoretical Framework

a. Improvement
Kants says (2001:45) that the word improvement has three senses, namely:
 The act of improving something
 A change for the better; progress in development
 A condition superior to an earlier condition

It means that improvement is an act to make change for the better in certain condition.
In this research, the improvement is meant as a good result which is given by the students in
vocabulary mastery by using a media such as real objects.
741
 Teacher is an educator who is responsible for the implementation of education in the
classroom, the main task of a teacher is to educate and teach students as well as possible so
that the learning objectives can be achieved to the maximum (Samsuddin, 2019).

b. Vocabulary
Christopher (1999:35) states that vocabulary is language components which contain all
of information about meaning and using of words in language which are possessed by a
speaker, a writer or a listener. Furthermore, John (2000: 16) vocabulary is knowledge
involves knowing the meanings of words and therefore the purpose of a vocabulary test into
find out whether the learners can match each word with a synonym, a dictionary – tape
definition, or an equivalent word in their own language. In learning vocabulary automatically
it must to know the meaning of words it self and can use it in sentences.
A person is mentioned to be able to use good and correct language when they can
actively use the language in speaking and writing. For students writing skills are
extremely important, because at the end of their studies students should be able to write an
academic paperand they moreover should have a good competence especially in thesis
writing Kurniadi in Hafniati (2020).
From the explanation above, vocabulary is the total number of all words containing
toward specific concepts possessed by someone or found in a language and it must to know
the meaning of words it self and can use it in sentences.

c. Vocabulary Mastery
As is defined in terms of educational objectives, mastery is the ability each student is
expected to achieve in an educational objective. James (1981:7) states : “ Mastering was
defined in terms of specific set of major objectives (content and cognitive-behaviors)”, then,
Ray (1988:67) writes that vocabulary is the stack of words used by or known to particular
person or group of person, a list or collection of the words or phrases of the language
technical field.
Based on the description above, it can be explained that mastering vocabulary refers to
the students’ ability to recognize and understand the total amount of words (vocabulary) that
is presented in the vocabulary test.

d. The Principle of Teaching and Learning Vocabulary

The teacher has the job to manage learning so that learners can do things with the target
vocabulary that is learned. Wallace in Dongoran (1996:80) writes that there are nine
principles in teaching and learning vocabulary. They are:
 Aims
The teacher has to be clear about his or her aims, how many things are listed and has
the teacher expected the learners to be able to do. Unless the teacher is clear at this
point, it will be difficult to assess how successful the vocabulary learning has been.
Briefly, it should be clear what the teacher teaches and what the students learn.
 Quantity
After the teacher has decided the aims in learning vocabulary, he/she has to consider
the quantity of the vocabulary to be learned: how many new words the learners can
learn. The teacher selects the words that suit the level of the learners’ proficiency.
 Need
Teacher creates a certain situation. He or she has to communicate and get the words
he needs. The teacher is an informant. The vocabulary is then presented in response to
the learners’ own need and interest and then she or he perhaps is more active to

742
 remember it after asking the informants. The students will be satisfied with what he or
she needs as the target word.
 Frequent Exposures and Repetition
It is seldom, however, that we remember a new word simply by hearing it once. There
has to be a certain amount of repetition until there is evidence that the students have
earned the target words. A vocabulary must be used is often as possible.
 Situational Presentation
Using words must be related to the situation at hand. It is in line with how well the
user knows to whom, where, how, he or she is speaking. It seems sensible that
learners should learn words in the situation in which and to whom they are
appropriately used.
 Meaningful Presentation
The learner must have a clear and specific understanding of what it denotes or refers
to, i.e. its meaning. This requires that the word to be presented in such a way that is
denotation or reference is perfectly clear and unambiguous, which is not always an
easy task.
 Presentation in Context
Words very seldom occur in isolation. The meaning of a word can be influenced by
the other factors in the context. It is important to the learner to know the usual
collocations where a word occurs, the circumstances in which the event happens can
influence the meaning of a word
 Learning Vocabulary in the mother tongue and in the target language
It is a very different way to learn vocabulary in the mother tongue in comparison to
learning that in the target language. The teacher must provide both types of teaching.
 Inference Procedures in Vocabulary Learning
It is impossible for a student to master the words of a certain language. He needs the
various meaning of words specifically taught. They may look up in a dictionary
without understanding all the meanings. By making an inference from the context or
guessing their meanings from the contexts, he can understand the words.
Based on the explanation above, it can be inferred that the principle of teaching and
learning vocabulary is needed to make the materials more enjoyable, interesting, and
challenging to the students.

III. Research Method

3.1 Location
The location of the research was AMIK Medicom Medan. It is at Jalan Darat Number
77 Medan. This research location was chosen because the same research had never been
conducted there and also the facilities at the school support to take the research.
The research schedule can be seen as in the following:

Table 1. Research Schedule

N Activities Month / Week
o
Decemb January May June July Augus Sept
er t
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
1 Asking
the title X
of thesis
743
 proposal
2 Writing
thesis X
proposal
3 Seminar X
Proposal
4 Repairing XX XX XXXXX
the thesis
proposal
5 Research XXXXX
field
6 Analyzin XX
g the data
7 Writing X
thesis
8 Discussin XX
g thesis
9 Approval
of thesis
10 Examinat
ion

3.2 Population and Sample

The population of this research was the eight grade students of SMP Swasta Rahmat
Islamiyah Medan of 2019-2020 Academic Years. There were five classes, they are MI18A,
MI18B, MI18C , MI18D and MI18E . Each class consisted of 35, 30, and 32, 30, and 30
students respectively. It can be seen in Table 2.

Table 2. Population
No Class Total number
1 MI18A 35
2 MI18B 30
3 MI18C 32
4 MI18D 30
5 MI18E 30
Total 157

The sample in this research was taken 1 class. It was MI18B. This class was chosen
because they can be cooperative in this research and it can be represented all the students of
the second Grade of AMIK Medicom Medan.

3.3 Research Design

This research was based on Classroom Action Research. According to Ferrance (2000),
action research is a process in which participants examine their own educational practice
systematically and carefully, using the techniques of research which is used for various
purposes: school based curriculum development, professional development, systems
planning, school restructuring, and as an evaluative tool.
Action research can improve the teaching and learning process by reinforcing,
modifying, or changing perceptions based on informal data and nonsystematic observations.
Reasons for performing action research fall into three categories: to promote personal and
744
professional growth, to improve practice to enhance student learning, and to advance the
teaching profession according to Johnson (1995) quoted by Ferrance (2000).
There are four phases each of cycle, namely: 1) planning, 2) action, 3) observation, and
4) reflection. Actually, if the result fails, it continued to next cycle by renewing the previous
steps to solve the problem. The new cycle improved of teaching decision. If the new planning
increased students' vocabulary mastery, the cycle will stop. If it does not increase students'
skill, cycle will continue on and on the next cycle until result determined in research.

3.4 The Techniques of Data Collection

The technique of data collection in this research was conducted by administrating for
two cycles. These included four steps namely: planning, action, observation, and reflection.

Cycle 1 Cycle 2

Planning Planning

Action Action

Observation Observation

Reflection Reflection

(Riel, M. (2007). Understanding action research: Pepperdine University, Center for

Collaborative Action Research.
There were two cycles that was conducted by the researcher; each cycle was carrying
out in three meetings.

3.5 The Techniques of Data Analysis

This research applied quantitative data. It means that quantitative data were taken from
the students' vocabulary test. Score were used to analyze the improvement of the students in
mastering vocabulary in each cycle. The teacher tests students by some aspects as explained
before about testing of vocabulary.
To find out the class mean score in each cycle, the formula was applied as follows:
x
x
N
Where :
x  Class mean score
x  Total score
N = The total number of student
To categorize the number of master student, the formula was applied as follows:

745
 R
P x100%
T
Where: P = Percentage of student getting score 75
R = Number of student getting score 75
T = The total number of student taking the test

IV. Result

4.1 Data Analysis

The research was done in one class with two cycles and six meetings. In every
meeting, the teacher taught vocabulary mastery by teaching real objects. In this time, she
taught them through action research such as planning, action, observation, and reflection. All
these activities were done to know the improvement of students’ vocabulary mastery through
teaching real objects.

4.2. The Quantitative Data

The quantitative data showed the real score of the students’ test when they did the
vocabulary mastery test based on the topic given. For make it clearly, it can be seen Table 3
as follows:
Table 3. Students’ score in Cycle 1 and Cycle 2

NO Students’ Pre Cycle 1 Cycle 2

Initial Test
1 2 3 1 2 3
1 RY 40 40 50 60 70 80 90
2 AB 40 40 50 60 75 80 90
3 FH 40 50 60 75 80 90 100
4 ED 30 30 40 50 60 80 90
5 RT 40 40 50 60 70 90 100
6 GH 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
7 UI 40 40 50 60 70 80 90
8 DP 50 50 60 75 80 90 100
9 TY 40 40 50 60 80 90 100
10 PH 30 30 40 50 60 70 80
11 KI 40 40 50 60 70 80 90
12 SE 20 30 40 50 60 70 90
13 MT 40 50 60 75 80 90 100
14 YI 40 40 50 60 70 80 90
15 JI 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
16 MB 20 20 30 50 60 80 90
17 DR 30 30 40 50 60 70 80
18 ER 40 40 50 60 70 80 90
19 FU 20 30 40 50 60 70 90
20 OP 40 40 50 60 70 80 90
21 DF 40 40 60 75 80 90 100
22 SR 40 40 50 60 70 80 90
23 WA 30 30 40 50 70 80 90
24 TY 40 40 50 60 70 80 90
25 TU 30 30 40 50 60 80 100
746
 26 BU 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
27 NR 30 40 50 60 70 80 100
28 OI 30 30 40 50 60 70 90
29 DT 40 40 50 75 70 80 90
30 TR 40 40 50 60 70 80 90
Total Number 1040 1120 1430 1605 2065 2500 2750
Means 34.66 37.33 47.66 53.5 68.83 80.33 91.66

From Table 3, it showed that in pre test, the lowest score was 20 and the highest score
was 50. The means score was 34.66. It meant that all of the students did not have good ability
to master vocabulary. They got bad score because they could not answer the questions
because they focused to their dictionary to know the meaning of the objects.
In cycle 1 meeting 1, the lowest score was 20 and the highest score was 50. The means
score was 37.33. It explained most of the students got bad score because they could not
mention the name of the flowers eventhough they opened dictionary to find the objects.
In cycle 1 meeting 2, the lowest score was 30 and the highest score was still 60. The
means score was 47.66. It explained that there was an improvement but it was not give
satisfaction because most of the students still got bad score. They still could not mention the
name of the fruits eventhough they were taught real objects. They shocked to apply this
technique because they were used to be dictionary to find the ideas or opinion to be found the
meaning of the objects.
In cycle 1 meeting 3, the lowest score was 50 and the highest score was 75. The means
score was 53.5. It explained only few students gave good respond toward this technique. It
proved from their score which only 35% students could improved their achievement in
vocabulary mastery.
In cycle 2 meeting 1, the lowest score was 60 and the highest score was 80. The means
score was 68.83. It explained most of the students felt comfortable toward this technique.
Listing some new words in the blackboard gave them motivation and good feeling to predict
the name of the objects and made good sentence.
In cycle 2 meeting 2, the lowest score was 70 and the highest score was 90. The means
score was 80.33. It explained most of the students got good result, only 5 students still
unfocussed their attention toward the topic of vocabulary mastery. But the teacher still gave
motivation for them and guided them to improve their achievement.
In cycle 2 meeting 3, the lowest score was 80 and the highest score was 100. The
means score was 91.66. It explained all of the students got best result. They could master
many new vocabularies and made them into good sentences. Therefore, the result of the
research showed that all of the students got score up 75%.

V Conclusion

After analyzing the data, it can be concluded that there is some improvement of the
students’ vocabulary mastery taught by applying real objects. It proved from score of the
students got up 75%.
The result of this research in teaching learning process showed improvement toward
students’ vocabulary mastery by using real objects. Therefore the following suggestions are
offered to English teachers, it is better to apply real objects to improve the students’
vocabulary. These activities made the teaching learning process were active.

747
 References

Christopher, Klein. 1999. Let Start to Master Your Vocabulary. Vol IV. Teaching English
Forum.
Dongoran, T. 1996. Seminar on English Teaching. Medan : IKIP Medan (Unpublished)
Ferrance, Eileen. 2000. Action Research. New York: Brown University.
Flower, J and Michel, BJ. 1989. Build Your Vocabulary 2. London : Language Teaching
Publication.
Hafniati et al. 2020. Developing of Thesaurus Software to Increase the Writing Quality of the
Thesis of the Students at the German Language Department. Britain International of
Linguistics, Arts and Education (BIoLAE) Journal, 346-352.
James, H. 1981. Mastery Learning. Chicago : Reinhart- Winston.
John, Burn. 2000. Counting Words Every Day. Vol. XII. Teaching English Forum
Kants, R. 2001. Improvement Your Ability. London: Longman.
Norrish, Kufalshi. 1983. A Vocabulary-Building is a Necessary not a Luxury. Teaching
Forum 2. Vol.26. Washington D.C: Government Printing.
Riel, M. 2007. Understanding Action Research . New York: Pepperdine University.
Ray, G. 1988. Vocabulary . Singapore: Pelican Inc.
Sipayung, Rohdearni Wati. (2018). Improving Students’ Achievement in Reading Descriptive
Text through Reciprocal Teaching Strategy. Budapest International Research and
Critics in Linguistics and Education (BirLE) Journal, 29-48.
Samsuddin, Ananda, Rusydi. (2019). Communication of School Heads in Improving
Education Performancein SMA Plus Private Vocationa School, Al-Azhar Medan.
Britain International of Linguistics, Arts and EducationSciences (BIoLAE)Journal, 8-
15.
Wallace, M. 1984. Teaching Vocabulary. London: Heinemann International.

748