MINI SKRIPSI CHAPTER I, II, III

Subject

Name

: Nyayu Khoirunnisa
NPM

Class

: Metoda Penelitian Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris

: 11220210

: Regular A2 2011

English Education Study Program Language and Art Departmen

(STKIP) Siliwangi Bandung
2014

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Vocabulary skill is one of linguistic features, which influences the communicative
competence. Paulston et al (1976: 55) state that the one thing that interferes most with our
students communicative competence is pitiable vocabulary and we have recently come to
accept the fact that our student have been right all these years when they complained about
not knowing and not being taught sufficient words. The above statement reveals that
vocabulary skill is very important but students are very weak in it. Furthermore, Hammer
(1991: 23) assets that for many years that vocabulary was seen as supplementary to the
main purpose of language teaching, namely the acquisition of grammatical knowledge
about the language. Vocabulary was necessary to give student something to suspend on
learning structures, but was frequently not a main focus for learning itself. Words are basic
structure blocks of language, in fact survival level of communication can take quite
comprehensibly when people simply link words together without any grammatical rules applied
at all. So if we interested in being communicative, words are among the first order of business.
In line with the above statement Carter and Nunan (2001: 42) write the English teachers
learn to ignore the significance of vocabulary in their teaching of speaking or communication
performance. In fact the use of suitable vocabulary can cancel out structural incorrectness.
Based on this authenticity, recently, methodologist and linguist have increasingly turned their
attention to vocabulary, learning stressing their importance in language teaching and reassessing
some of the ways it is thought and learn. It means that vocabulary plays a very essential task in
language teaching.
1.2 Problems of Study
The problems are formulated as follows:
1 What is the main problem faced by the four grade students of SDN Arjasari Barat in
mastering English vocabulary ?
2 How is the implementation of using Tic Tac Toe game in improving the students
ability in mastering English vocabulary?
3 How is the comparison of the students work before and after treatment?
1.3 The Objectives of the Study
In view of the formulating problems, the objectives of this study are:
1. To find out the main problem faced by the Four grade students of SDN Arjasari Barat in
mastering English in academic year 2014/2015.
2. To describe the implementation of using Tic Tac Toe game in improving the students ability
in mastering English vocabulary
3. To find out the comparison of the students work before and after treatment

I.4 Significance of The Study

The significance of this study can be viewed from both theoretical and practical aspects,
as describe below:
1. Theoretically, conducting a pedagogical research is of use in developing the theories of
language teaching and learning. With respect to this consideration, it is expected that this
study will be able to contribute to the application of linguistic theories especially to the
teaching of English as a foreign language for Indonesian students.
2. Practically, the result of this study will be expected to give benefit for the students,
teacher and another research himself, as follows.
(a) For students;. this study is expected to help the students learn vocabulary in a good and
enjoyable way through Tic Tac Toe game.
(b) For teacher; the result of this study will be directly in tended to provide them with more
understanding of the effectiveness of teachin g vocabulary through Tic Tac Toe Game.
(c) For other researcher, hopefully this can be used as a reference in conducting the some
study for obtaining better result.

CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW, CONCEPT,
THEORETICAL FRAME WORK AND RESEARCH DESIGN
2.1 Literature Review
The research was done by testing three papers concerning vocabulary from the previous students.
The subject in this research was seventh grade students, which consists of 50 students. In
this study only 50 students were determined as the samples by means of purposive quota
random sampling method with lottery system. The use of random sampling method
suggest that all population have the same independent probability to be chosen and
included as the samples of the study. Her study is based on the statement of Ary et al., ( 1979:135
) who argues that there is in fact no precise and fixed single rule of concerning the determintion
of representative sample of any students. The determination of the sample of any study
whatever involves some degrees of subject judgement. Here she stated that the use of
pictures and sentences matching is a technique to improve students ability in mastering
vocabulary. The method that was used in her research is observation research by taking the data
only in one meeting. We have to do more research because it is an observation research.
Wiyanjani (2009), in title Teaching Vocabulary Through Cooperative Learning with
Puzzle Technique to the Eight Grade Students of SMP N 2 Sidemen Academic Year
2008/2009. In this paper she explained the learning process of vocabulary through cooperative
learning with puzzle technique which encourage the students to find the words as many as
they can diagonally horizontally and vertically. The subject in this study is the eight grade
students of SMP N 2 Sidemen which consists of 34 students altogeher with 14 females and 20
males. She offers this technique to solve the problem faced by the students in order it can
improve their vocabulary mastery. The learning process will not be interesting for the students
who have a fair achievement in memorizing vocabulary, so it is hard for them to find the
words in the puzzle frame.
2.2 Concept
2.2.1 Vocabulary
Vocabulary is all of the words that a person knows or uses (Oxford Advanced Learner s
Dictionary of Curent English, 1995 : 1331).
2.2.2 Tic Tac Toe Game
Tic tac toe, also spelled tick tack toe, or noughts and crosses as it is known in the UK, Australia,
New Zealand, is a pencil and paper game for two players, O and X, who take turns marking the
spaces in a 3 x 3 grid, usually X going first. The player who succeeds in placing three
respective marks in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal row wins the game. The simplicity of tic
tac toe makes it ideal as a pedagogical tool for teaching the concepts of combinatorial game
theory and the branch of artificial intelligence that deals with the searching of game trees.

2.2.3 Improve ability

To improve means to become or make something better (Oxford Advance Learner s Dictionary
of Current English: 1995: 598). Improve ability in this study is an action which is conducted
to make students achievement in vocabulary better.
2.2.4 Mastering
Master is to gain complete knowledge
of or skill in something (Oxford Advance
Learners Dictionary of Current English, 1995: 721). While mastering in this study means an
action which is shown the ability of using and understanding vocabulary well.

2.3 Theoretical Framework

2.3.1 The Acquisitions of Vocabulary
In recent years, second language vocabulary acquisition has become an increasingly interesting
topic of discussions for researchers, teachers, curriculum designers, theoritists and other involved
in second language learning. Vocabulary has long had synergistic asosiation with reading, each
activity nourishes the other. According to Laufer (in Coady and Huckins book) there are
three serious problems that may seriously impede reading comprehension in second language
acquisition. First, the problem of insufficient vocabulary, the second is misinterpretations
of deceptively transparent words and the last is inability to guess unknown words correctly.
She claimed that by far the greatest lexical factors in a good reading is the number of the
words in the learners lexicon. A vocabulary of 3000 word families or 5000 lexical items is
needed for general reading comprehension, as this would cover 90-95% of any text.
Below this threshold, reading strategies become ineffective. A large vocabulary is also claimed
to solve the other two problems: deceptive transparency and guessing ability. Deceptive
transparent words are the words that look familiar to the learner even though they are they are
unfamiliar. These are words with deceptive morphological structure ( e.g. nevertheless =
never less ), idiom false friend, words with multiple meaning and synforms ( cute/acute). Laufer
argues that missing interpretation of such words are widespread among second language
learner. Guessing words meaning by use of contextual clue is far more difficult , according
to Laufer than is generally realized. Guessing can be impaired by any of the following factors ;
nonexistence of clues, lack of familiarity with the word in which the clues are located, presence
misleading or partial clues, and incompatibility between the reader schemata and text content.
Methodologists and linguists have increasingly been turning their attention to vocabulary,
stressing their importance in language teaching and reassessing some of the ways it is
taught and learnt It means that vocabulary plays a very important role in language teaching.
As the objective of language teaching is to cultivate students skill, namely listening skills,
speaking stills, reading skills and writing skills. The acquisition of meaning also influences
the performance of students on those skills. The acquisition of meaning here is
considered as the readers prior knowledge and learning (Carter and Nunan, 2001:44).

2.3.2 The Basic of Vocabulary

Pikulski and Templeton (2004: 1) point out that there are some differences in the number
of words that are used by and understood by the students.
a. Receptive Vocabulary
It is the words that the students understand when they listen to speech and when they read. The
term receptive vocabulary is used to refer to listening and reading vocabularies.
b. Expressive Vocabulary
It is the words that the students use when they speak and write. The term expressive vocabulary
is used to refer to both since these are the vocabularies they use to express themselves.
c. Oral Vocabulary
It is the words that the students understand when they hear them and they can use in their
speech. The term oral vocabulary refers to the combination of listening and speaking
vocabularies.
d. Written Vocabulary
It is the words that the students understand when they read and they can use in their writing. The
term written vocabulary refers to the combination of reading and writing vocabularies.
To make it clear, the relationship of the eight different terms can be seen in the following
figure:
Figure 2.1: The Relation of Vocabulary through Language Skills (Pikulski and Templeton,
2004:2)
According to Chall (1987) in Cooper (2000: 228), to develop their vocabulary, the
students need to learn two aspects about words, namely: recognition and meaning
vocabularies.
a. Vocabulary Recognition
The students vocabulary recognition consists of that body of words they are able to pronounce
or read orally.
b. Vocabulary Meaning
The students vocabulary meaning consists of that body words whose meanings they understand
and can use. Those two aspects, however, are not separate from each other.
Beginning literacy learners focus much of their attention on recognizing words, even
though their primary focus is on meaning. Furthermore, Hatch and Brown (2001: 218) classify
the vocabularies (words) into two based on their functional categories, they are: major classes
and closed classes. They are explained as follows with examples.
a. Major Classes
1) Noun: it refers to a person, place or thing, i.e. Maria, teacher, book, etc.
2) Adjective: it refers to the words that give more information about a noun or pronoun, i.e.
kind, bad, smart, beautiful, ugly, etc.
3) Verb: it refers to the words that denote action, i.e. walk, read, eat, run, smile, etc.
4) Adverb: it refers to the words that describe or add to the meaning of a verb, adjective,
another adverb or a whole sentence, i.e. carefully, diligently, honestly, etc.
b. Closed Classes

1) Pronoun: it refers to nouns that have already been mentioned, i.e. she, they, her, etc.
2) Preposition: it refers to the words that help locate items and actions in time and space, i.e. at,
on, beside, under, between, etc.
3) Conjunction: it refers to the words that connect sentences, phrases or clause, i.e. and, so, but,
etc.
4) Determiner, it refers to the words that used before a noun to show which particular example
of the noun you are referring to, i.e. the, a, an, my, your, that, this, those, etc.
2.3.3 Kinds of Vocabulary Meaning
The characterizing of the word meaning of a word not in terms of its component
features, but in terms of its relationship to other word is treated as the analysis of lexical relation
(Yule : 2010). The types of lexical relations which are usually appealed to can be briefly defined
and exemplified thus:
1. Synonymy. Synonymy is a word which has the same or nearly the same meaning as
another word ( Richard et al,1985;7). Thus synonyms are two or more forms with very closely
related meaning, which are often but not always, intersubstitutable in sentences. Example of
synonyms are the pairs : applaud-cheer, brief-short, bold-brave.
2. Antonymy. Antonymy is a word which is opposite in meaning to other word. Hence,
two forms opposiite meaning are called antonyms. Antonyms are futher distinguished into
two type via, gradable and non gradable antonyms. The pairs bad-good and dry-wet are
examples of the gradable and non-gradable antonym respectively. A thing is not bad must
be good, but the season which is not wet must be dry.
3. Hyponymy. Hyponymy is the relationship between two words, in which the meaning of
one words includes the meaning of the other. Typical examples of such pairs are : doganimal, carrot-vegetable. The concept of inclusion involved here is the idea that if any
object is a dog, it is necessarily an animal. So, the animal is included in the meaning of dog,
or dog is hyponym of animal.
4. Homophony. Homophony is used to describe the relationship between two more different
forms (written) which have the same pronounciation like the pairs : die-dye, curb-verb, keyquay, fore-four, gait-gate.
5. Homonymy. The term homonymy is used when one form (written or spoken ) has two
or more unrelated meaning. Examples of homonyms are the pairs : lead (first palce of position)
lead (of water pipes), sow (adult female pig) sow (plant).

6. Polysemy. Polysemy is defined as one form (written or spoken) having multiple

meaning which are all related by extension (Richard et al,1985: 15). Polysemy is a property of a
single lexeme (lyons,1984:67). Example of polysemous words are head which can be used to
refer the object on top of our body, on the top of company, and foot which can be used

to refer a person, of bed,of mountain and so forth. The difficulties of learning as aquiring new
word is likely to convey when it is put in different sentences contexts. Indeed the
essence of learning vocabularies are learning the meanings they conveyed, otherwise the
learning and aquisition of words are simply nothing.
2.3.4 Teaching Vocabulary
Nowdays, it is widely accepted that vocabulary teaching should be part of the syllabus and taught
in a well planned and regular basis. Some authors, led by Lewis in Wijayani (2009: 15) argue
that vocabulary should be at the centre of language teaching, because language consist of
grammaticalized lexis, not lexicalized grammar. There are several aspects of lexis that need to
be taken into account when teaching vocabulary. The list below is based on the work of
Redman (2001: 98) :
1. Boundaries between conceptual meaning; knowing not only what lexis refers to, but also
where the boundaries are that separate it from words of related meaning (e.g. cup, mug,etc).
2. Polysemy; distinguishing between the various meaning of a single word from which several
but closely related meaning (head: of a person, of a pin, of an organization).
3. Homonymy; distinguishing between the various meaning of a single words form which
has several meanings which are not closely related ( e.g. a file: used to put papers in or a tool).
4. Homophony; understanding words that have the same pronounciation but different spellings
and meanings (e.g. mints, mince, muscle, mussel).
5. Synonymy; distinguishing between the different shades of meaning that synonymous
words have (e.g. extend, increase, expand).
6. Affective meaning : distinguishing between the attitudinal and emotional factors (denotation
and connotation), which depend on the speakers attitude or the situation. Sosio-cultural
associations of lexical items is another important factor.
7. Style, register, dialect ; being able to distinguish between different levels of formality, the
effect of different context and topics, as well as differences in geographical variation..
8. Translation : awarness of certain differences and similarities between the native and the
foreign language (e.g. false cognates)
9. Chunks of language : multi-words verb, idioms, strong and weak collocations, lexical
phrases.
10. Grammar of vocabulary : learning the rules that enable students to build up different
forms of the words or even different words from that word (e.g. sleep, slept, sleeping, able,
enable, disability).
11. Pronunciation : abilty to recognize and reproduce items in speech. The implication of the
aspects only mentioned in teaching is that the goals of vocabulary teaching must be more than
simply covering a certain number of words or word list. We use teaching techniques that can
help realize this global concept of what it means to know a lexical item. And also we must go
beyond that giving learners opportunities to use the item learnt and so helping them to
use effective written storage systems. Beside that, there are alternative ways of teaching
vocabulary. First, give the students a few items of vocabulary and tell them to find the

meaning, pronounciation, and write an example sentenced with the word in. They can then teach
other in groups. Second, prepare worksheet and ask the students to match words to
definitions. Third, ask students to classify a group of words to a different categories. For
example, a list of animal words into tame and wild animals. Forth,ask students to find a new
vocabulary from reading homework and teach to other students in the class.
2.3.5 The Assessment of Vocabulary
The term assessment refers to the ways of collecting information on learner s language
ability or achievement. Madsen (1983:12) stated that the purpose of vocabulary test is to
measure the comprehension and production of words used in speaking or writing.
Madsen (1983:12) specifies four general kinds of vocabulary test : the first, limited
respons, is for the beginners. These test items require either a simple physical action like
pointing at something or a very simple verbal answer such as yes or no. The second,
multiple-choice completion, is a test in which a sentence with a missing words is presented,
students choose one of the four vocabulary items given to the complete sentence. The third type,
multiplechoice paraphrase, is the test in which a sentence with one word underline is
given. Students choose which four words is the closest in meaning to the
underline item. The fourth kind of test, simple completion (words), has students write in the
missing part of words that appear in sentences.
2.3.5.1 Limited Response
In testing children and beginning-level of adults, we often use directed physical responses
and visuals. We do this to avoid language skills that have not been mastered yet. For these tsts,
students do not have to know to read or write. In fact, they do not even have to know how to
speak.
1. Individual Testing
Directed physical responses can easily be used when we test one student at a time. When
elementary school students are taught to read, their teachers generally arrange for a small-group
activity and individual work. Individual interaction can also be very productive when testing
language skill of beginning students.
2. Group Testing Nonverbal physical responses can be used as well to test the whole class at
the same time. A good way to draw or duplicate a sketch such as the one on the opposite page
and give one to each person in the class. After an example ( such as : Draw a circle around the
boy), it can continue by saying Now draw a circle around the tree.
Advantages of Limited Response are:
1. It causes less stress or nervousness than other types of tests
2. It avoids skills such as reading and writing that have not yet been developed
3. It can be scored easily and objectively.
Limitations of Limited Response are:
1. It requires individual testing, which takes longer than group testing
2. It is usually difficult to test abstract words with thie technique
3. Sketches are sometimes ambiguous (e.g.,an orang may look like a ball; running may
look like dancing or jumping)

2.3.5.2 Multiple-Choice Completion

A good vocabulary test type for students who can read in the foreign language is
multiple-choise completion. It makes the students depend on context clues and sentence
meaning. This kind of item is constructed by deleting a word from a sentence, for example:
She quickly ... her lunch
A.drank B.ate C.drove D.slept ( the correct choice is B.ate ) After reading a sentence, the
student looks at the group of words and chooses which one best completes what he has read.
The following steps should be taken in writing multiple-choice completion items : (1) Select the
words to be tested, (2) Get the right kind of sentence to put each word in ( this sentence
context is called the stem ). (3) Choose several wrong words to put the right word with (
these three wrong words are called distractors ). Three distractors and the right word are enough
for a written item. (4) Finally, prepare clear and simple instructions. And if this kind of test
question is new to the students, it would be good to prepare one or two examples.
Advantages of Multiple-choice Completion are :
1. It helps students see the full of meaning of words by providing natural contexts. Also,
it is a good influence on instruction, it is discourages wordlist memorization
2. Socring is easy and consistent
3. It is a sensitive measure of achievement
Limitations of Multiple-choice Completion are :
1. It is rather difficult to prepare good sentence contexts that clearly show the meaning of the
words being tested
2. It is easy for students to cheat by copying what others have circled
2.3.5.3 Multiple-choice Paraphrase
Multiple-choice paraphrase tests of vacabulary items offer much of the same advantage
that multiple-choice completion tests do, and the contexts are much easier to prepare.
Understanding it is checked by the students having to choose the best synonym or
paraphrase of the vocabulary item. A sentence context is still used. However chosing the right
word depends more on knowing the key vocabulary item than on finding meaning in the
sentence. In fact, the context may simply show that the item is a noun. In writing paraphrase
items, it is needed to follow the same steps that we took to prepare completion items : (1) Select
the words to be tested; (2) Prepare a sentence context; (3) Choose distractors ; and (4) write
instructions. Choose words just you did in the last section, but we can spend less effort in
preparing sentence contexts. Now the meaning comes from the emphasized word than
from its context.
Here isa typical item:
He was irate when he heard about the new plans. A.interested B.surprised C.angry D.sad
( the correct answer is C.angry ) But students with very little English wont know synonyms for
very many words. There are also some words in their ESL books that are difficult to find
equivalents for. Consider the word pilot, for example which appears in a number
of elementary ESL texts. It can be tested by explaining the meaning: My sister is a pilot. She
can.....

A.help sick people B.make clothes

C.fly an airplane D.teach students at school
( the best answer is C.fly an airplane )
Advantages of Multiple-choice Paraphrase are:
1. Context preparation is rather easy
2. Scoring is easy and consistent
3. It is a sensitive measure of achievement
Limitation of Multiple-choice Paraphrase are;
1. It is difficult to find good synonyms (but recall the explanation alternative item)
2. It is easy for students to cheat
2.3.5.4 Simple Completion (Words)
Word-formation items require students to fill in missing parts of words that appear in
sentences. This missing parts are usually prefixes and suffixes , for example, the un- in untie or
the ful in thankful. A related task to use words like the following in a sentence and have
students supply missing syllables of any kind, such the rel- in relative or the ate in
deliberate. There is a simple emphasis in simple-completion tests than in those we have just
looked at. Context is still usefull, but the emphasis in on word building. Moreoever, this is a
test of active not passive skills.
The steps in preparing a simple-completion vocabulary test are similar to those followed in the
two previous sections, but with one difference. Now no distractrors are needed. Here are the
steps: (1) List the prefixes and suffixes that we have taught to have studied (including even
their passive vocabulary). (2) Prepare sentences that clarify the meaning of these words.
(3) Then write the instructions and examples.
It is possible to check the students knowledge of when not to add a prefix
or suffix. For example:
1. My teach..... is very helpful
2. Did she teach.... you anything?
In the first sentence, the suffix er is required. In the second sentence, no suffix is needed. Such
sentences are not left empty. Students must put an X in the blank.
Advantages of simple completion (words) are:
1. It reflects teaching approaches
2. It is generally faster and easier to construct than are items with distractors
Limitations of Simple Completion (words) are:
1. Fewer words can be tested this way than with multiple choice
2. There is some difficulty in avoiding ambiguous contexts.
Assessment may at first sound treating and not suited to a childs nature, but it is a necessary
part of teaching and learning. Assessment can serve the following purpose:
1. To monitor and aid childrens progress. A teacher needs to be constantly aware of what the
children know,what difficulties they are experiencing, and how to help them. On the basis
assessment outcomes able to give individualized help to each child.

2. To provide children with evidence of their progress and encance motivation.

Assessment result give children tangible evidence of their progress. Learning a language is a
long progress.
3. To monitor our performance and plan future work. The information we get from assessment
can help us to evaluated our own work, to find out how effective we have been and how
successful our choosen methodology or materials are.
Assessment is not complete as soon as you collect the children work. Offering feedback
is an integral part of the assessment process and should follow as soon as possible after the
assessment task is carried out. One of the best ways to give feedback is through conferencing
with the children , when we discus the results of the assessment by written feedback in the
form of short comments.
2.3.6 Tic Tac Toe Game Teaching Approach
According to Zaslavsky's book , the game Tic Tac Toe is originally from ancient Egypt
The name "tic-tac-toe" may ultimately derive from "tick-tack", the name of an old version of
backgammon first described in 1558. The first print reference to "noughts and crosses", the
British name appeared in 1864. The first print reference to a game called "tick-tack-toe"
occurred in 1884, but referred to "a children's game played on a slate, consisting in trying
with the eyes shut to bring the pencil down on one of the numbers of a set, the number hit being
scored". The U.S. renaming of noughts and crosses as tic-tac-toe occurred in the 20th century
For learning activities there are two kinds of Tic Tac Toe can be applied. They are Tic Tac
Question Formation and Tic Tac Vocabulary. Below is the rule of Tic Tac Question Formation
Game :
1. Draw a tic tac grid on the board and fill it with the questions words. For
example:
Where? Who? How often? What? Does? When? Is? Do? Why?
2. Divide the class into two teams. Give each team a mark: A = X, B= O.
3. Ask a question about the text of reading that begins with one of the question words then
provide the answer to the question. If the answer is correct,the team gets to put its mark in
that space.
Teacher : is Dan a teacher?
X team : No, hes a scientist
Where? Who? How often?What? Does? When?X Do? Why?
4. The first team to mark out three boxes in a straight line,vertically, horizontally,or
diagonally win the game.
2 Write nine words that will become the answers of the tic tac grid on the
board. For example: - policeman - gardener - custodian - nurse - chef - dancer - doctor singer - farmer
3. Devide the students into two groups. Give each teams a mark. Group A = X, group B = O.
4. Ask the students to memorize the nine words in five minutes, then erase the nine words
slowly.

5. Ask the students about the question that the answer is one on the words that already erased
on the board. If the answer is correct,the team gets to put its mark in that space.
Teacher : a person who takes care the patients is a
O team : nurse
6. The first team to mark out three boxes in a straight line, vertically, horizontally,or
diagonally win the game.
2.4 Research Design
This research was done by using classroom action research, to observe the implementation
of Tic Tac Toe game in vocabulary mastery, so it can help the students in imroving their
ability in mastering English vocabulary. The qualitative data were obtined from the researchers
diary applied during the treatment in each cycle and also through informal interview.
While the quantitative data were obtined from the result of pre-test, post-test 1, post-test 2, and
questionnarie.
Both of the data were analyzed descriptively. The analysis of the data shown the effectiveness
of the treatment given, by comparing the result of the pre-test and post-test which was consisted
of two cycles.

CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHOD
3.1 Research Approach
This research was used qualitative and quantitative approaches. Quantitative approach deals
with the comparison of the result from the test that was done before and after treatment.
The qualitative approach deals with how the students understand about the material given. The
data was got from the direct observation and teachers diary.
3.2 Location of the Research

Classroom action research design was used in this study. This research was conducted to
find out the solutions of learning problems encountered by a particular group of the
students. It was conducted in seventh grade students of SMP Negeri 1 Payangan in
academic year 2010/2011 which is located in Melinggih community, Payangan district,
Gianyar regency.
The seventh A class was chosen based on the qualitative data got from the teacher by the
interview, that overall score of English subject especially in learning and aquiring
vocabulary.
3.3 Data Source
The data source of this research was class 7A of SMP Negeri 1 Payangan which consists
of 36 students altogether with 13 males and 23 females. They are still considered as young
language learners because their age is from 12 until 13 years. They were chosen as the
subjects of this study because their vocabulary mastery was poor. The data of the research
was qualitative and quantitative data. The qualitative data was obtained from the
researchers diary applied during the treatment in each cycle. While the quantitative data was
obtained from the result of pre-test, post-test 1, post-test 2, and questionnaire.
3.4 Research Instrument
In this study, the instruments that were used to colllect the data are questionnaire, test,
and researchers diary.
3.4.1 Questionnaire
Qustionnaire was given to the students in order to get some informations which related
to the students feeling, motivation, and interest before and after doing the activity. There
were two questionnaires used in this study. The first questionnaire was carried out in the
pre-test. The purpose of conducting questionnaire in the pre-test was to know the problem
faced by the students in mastering English vocabulary. The second questionnaire was carried
out in the last session of the post-test 2, which was conducted in order to know the students
response toward the application of the use of Tic Tac Toe game. The questionnaire was
written in Indonesian and each questionnaire consisted of ten items; five items to
determine students attitude toward vocabulary mastery and five others to determine their
perception about their teacher in teaching vocabulary.
3.4.2 Test
The test particulary consisted of pre-test (objective test) and post-test (objective test ). The
pre-test was done to find out the students vocabulary, while the purpose of doing post-test is to
examine whether or not the treatment that wastaken effectively improve their vocabulary
mastery.
3.4.3 Researchers diary
Researchers diary recorded all the situation and condition of the class during the teaching
learning activities; it was formed in unstructured observation sheet and used to find out the
result of applying the method. It was used to note some important events.
3.5 Research Procedure

This research was done by using classroom action research, to observe the implementation of
Tic Tac Toe game in vocabulary mastery, so it can help the students in imroving their
ability in mastering English vocabulary. In line with this, Kember (2000: 25) states that a
classroom action-based research is a cyclical or spiral process involving steps of planning,
action, observation and reflection. It is normally for project to go through two or more cycles.
There were two cycles conducted in this study in which each cycle consisted of three
sessions. First and second meetings were used to give treatment and the third meeting was used
to do the post-test. Here, each cycle involve the four procedures: planning, action, observation
and reflection.
1. Planning
Planning refers to the activity of preparing all the material or instruments that would be used.
2. Action
Action refers to what the teacher did in the classroom and how the class was managed based on
the teaching learning scenario.
3. Observation
Observation refers to to the activity to observe the classroom situation and to know the
students behaviour during the process of teaching and learning. The information then
recorded in the researchers diary. The students work could be evaluated. The observation
needed to be carried because it can be used as a basis of reflection in order to know the effect of
the action.
4. Reflection
Refelction refers to a process of analyzing an experience pf practice in order to describe,
analyze, evaluate and so inform learning about practice. On the reflection, it was tried to
understand the process, the strength and the weaknesses of an action. Moreover, it could
be decided whether or not the action would be continued.

3.5.1 Pre-test
A pre-test was developed in order to know the problem in detail. There wereseveral steps
followed in conducting the pre-test:
a. Planning
1. Making teaching and learning scenario
2. Determining the time allotment and the schedule.
3. Preparing pre-test.
b. Action
1. Introducing the topic
2. Giving the students the pre-test concerning vocabulary

3. Observing the students when they are doing the test

4. Collecting the students work
5. Distributing questionnaire

c. Observation
The purpose of this process was to find out whether the students found difficulty or not
in mastering vocabulary. After the result of the pre-test in interpreted to find out the
problem encounters by the students.
d. Reflection
The observation of the pre-test shown that the students ability in mastering vocabulary was
poor. From the result, it was tried to conduct a treatment by applying Tic Tac Toe game.
3.5.2 Cycle 1
a. Planning
1. Determing the schedule and the time allotment
2. Setting up teaching and learning scenario for each meeting
3. Preparing the instrument needed in doing the observation, like diary.
4. Preparing Tic Tac Toe game
5. Preparing post-test at the end the cycle.
b. Action
In this cycle, the action was also divided into three activities,those are preactivity, whilstactivity and post-activity.
1. Pre-activity
1.1 Opening the class by greeting the students
1.2 Checking the students presence list
1.3 Explaining about what are they going to learn (introduces the
material)
2 Whilst-activity
2.1 Giving a text related to the material would be discussed.
2.2 Reading the text and students are listening and underlining the difficult words from the
text.
2.3 Asking the students to pronounce and give the meaning of the words.
2.4 Asking some questions about the text.
2.5 Giving Tic Tic Toe game in the class
3 Post-activity
3.1 Concluding the lesson being taught
3.2 Giving the chance to the students to ask about the material being taught
3.3 Giving post-test
3.4 Ending the class
c. Observation

During the actions process was conducted, there was found that the treatment would get a
positive response from the students. The result of the first post-test was used to see the progress
made by the students, whether there were improvement compared to the result of the pre-test.
d. Reflection
By doing this process, it could be identified the weakness or the strenght of the action based
on the result of the planning, action and observation. This result was used as an input for the
researcher, whether to stop or rearrange another action to solve the problem in the first cycle.
If the result less than 65, the second cycle would be conducted.
3.5.3 Cycle 2
In this cycle, the activities was almost the same as the activities in the first cycle. It would
modify the activity by giving an additional exercise. There werealso be four processes in this
cycle.
a. Planning
1. Determing the schedule and the time allotment
2. Preparing teaching and learning scenario for each meeting.
3. Preparing the instrument needed in doing the observation, like diary and questionnaire.
4. Designing and preparing some additional exercises, like teaching language focus on
vocabulary.
5. Preparing Tic Tac Toe game for the second cycle
6. Preparing the second post-test that would be given at the end of the cycle.
b. Action
1. Pre-activity
1.1 Greeting the students
1.2 Checking the presence of the students
1.3 Telling the students what they are going to study
2. Whilst-activity
2.1 Introducing the topic
2.2 Giving a reading text to the students
2.3 Asking the students if they have any questions and checking their understanding of
each words.
2.4 Asking some questions about the text given
2.5 Giving Tic Tac Toe game
3. Post-activity
3.1 Concluding the lesson being taught
3.2 Giving chance for the students to ask about the lesson.
3.3 Giving second post test and questionnaire
3.4 Ending the class
c. Observation
The result of the action was known from the researcher s diary and the observation during
the action conducted in the classroom. The result of the second post-test was compared with

the result of the first post-test, which was used to find out the improvement made by the
students
d. Reflection
In this process, it was made decision on the result of the planning, action and observation,
whether the action would be stopped or not. If the result reach upper score of the level good,
there will be no more teatment.
3.6 Method and Technique of Collecting Data
In collecting data, there were three instruments used, such as questionnire, test and researcher s
diary. Before the teacher was carried out, the pre-test and the questionnaire were administered
to the students and also taking some notes to the researchers diary while observing the
situation.
Pre-test was administered in order to find out the students pre existing ability in
mastering vocabulary before they are taught by using tic tac toe game.
The questionnaire in this research was done to know the students problem in vocabulary
mastery and to know the students pre existing learning behaviors, attitudes, motivations,
and learning difficulties in English especially in learning vocabulary. The researcher s
diary here dealed primarily with recording the activities of the students, which happened
during the process of teaching and learning.
The result of the pre-test, questionnaire and researchers diary were used as indicator or starting
points concerning the subjects achievement in vocabulary and their corresponding learning
behaviors and problem in learning English. The post test was administered at the end of each
cycle in order to find out the whether or not the use of tic tac toe game could effectively
improve the subjects achievement in vocabulary. It was also conducted the second
questionnaire to the subjects under study at the end cycle 2 which conducted in order to get
a clear picture of the changing degrees of subjects learning behaviors, attitudes,
motivations, and learning difficulties after they have been taught in mastering vocabulary
through tic tac toe game.
3.7 Method and Technique of Analyzing Data
There were two kinds of data, namely qualitative and quantitative data. The qualitative
data involved data that were obtained from the reseachers diary applied during the treatment
in each cycle. While the quantitative data were obtained from the result of pre-tet, post-test
1, pot-test 2 and questionnaire. Both of the data were analyze descriptively. The result of
the questionnaire was descriptively analyzed by comparing the result of the first, second
and the third questionnaire. They were used to describe the subjects changing learning
behaviors and learning difficulties. The result of the analysis was only used as an
additional supporting data to conform the results of the quantitative data analysis.
The quantitative data was analyzed descriptively so as to reveal the extent of the subjects
progress or increasing ability in mastering vocabulary by comparing the result of pre-test
and post-test. The mean score shown the level of improvement achieved by the students after
following teaching and learning process through the implementation of Tic Tac Toe game.
a. The mean score of each student

b. The mean score of the whole students

c. The students level of mastery
The students level of mastery was also calculated. The aim is to
know the students ability in mastering the English vocabulary. The student s level of
mastery in vocabulary was determined based on the criteria designed by Hamalik (2001:120) that
is criterion referenced evaluation. In this type of evaluation, the students result can be
categorized into excellent, good, sufficient, insufficient, or poor. The minimum competency,
which is considered as passing score, is 65 %. Students have to be able to answer 65 %
from the whole material before they can be categorized into sufficient level.