TEACHERS’ TECHNIQUES IN TEACHING VOCABULARY FOR

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN

SD KRISTEN 03 SALATIGA

THESIS

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

Of the Requirement for Degree of

Sarjana Pendidikan

Riza Galuh Puspitasari

112009142

FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY

SALATIGA

2014

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COPYRIGHT STATEMENT

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course or accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any university. To the

best of my knowledge and my belief, this contains no material previously published or

written by any other person except where due the reference is made in the text.

Copyright@2015. Riza Galuh Puspitasari and M. Ch. Eko Setyarini, S. S., M. Hum

All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means without the

permission of at least one of the copyright owners or the English Department, Faculty

of Language and Literature, Satya Wacana Christian University, Salatiga.

Riza Galuh Puspitasari:

1

TEACHERS’ TECHNIQUES IN TEACHING VOCABULARY FOR

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN SD KRISTEN 03

SALATIGA

Riza Galuh Puspitasari

112009142

Abstract

This research was conducted in order to analyze the techniques used by

teachers in teaching vocabulary for elementary school students in Salatiga.

The participants of this study were three elementary school English teachers in

Salatiga. The data were collected through classroom observations and

semi-structured interviews which allowed the teachers to share their thought

and experience in teaching vocabulary. The findings revealed that the teachers

used pictures, repetition and pronunciation drill frequently in teaching

vocabulary as it was suitable for young learners and easier to check the students

understanding and abilities.

Keywords: Vocabulary, Young Learners, Teaching Technique

INTRODUCTION

Vocabulary is an important part to be taught for learners who learn a new

language, especially in learning English. Vocabulary is the basic in teaching English

because before learners learn the form, first they will start by learning the vocabulary.

Vocabulary is the collection of words that an individual knows. Vocabulary is one

component that is important in mastering the four skills of listening, speaking, reading

and writing (Nguyen & Khuat, 2003). From the statement, it is clear that vocabulary

influences four skills in learning English so that it is important to be taught, especially

to young learners. Teaching vocabulary is not only to make the learners know the

meaning, but also to make the learners understand how to use the vocabulary in

particular context and situation.

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Teaching English to children since the early age is very important. In

Indonesia, English is used as a foreign language, so it will be difficult to learn if English

is not taught earlier. As (Hakuta, 2001) said, the earlier children learn English, the

better they will be. So, it’s better to learn English as early as possible. Children start to

develop English to be mastered in Elementary Schools. In the elementary school, they

start to learn many vocabularies and they have to memorize and remember the

vocabulary.

The problem faced was the elementary school students got difficulty in

memorizing the vocabulary because there are so many vocabularies and they should not

only memorize, but they also should comprehend them. I also found the difficulty when

I was an elementary school student. Here, teachers play an important role to help the

students master the vocabulary, and it depends on their techniques in teaching. The

teachers should provide some techniques that are appropriate and effective for the

students. The techniques should engage the students to learn English. Brown (2001),

stated that a lesson needs a variety of activities to keep interest and attention alive. As

Brown said above, variety of activities is needed by the students so that they feel

enthusiastic and actively participate in the teaching-learning process.

Many of English elementary school teachers use pictures as the media to teach

vocabulary, but actually there are other interesting media like flash card, games, short

story, song, etc. Thus, besides learning the vocabulary, students can also have fun and

enjoy the lesson. It’s good if they learn what they like. Through their enthusiasm the

materials given will be easier to understand.

Based on the problem this study had a research question, What are teachers’

techniques in teaching vocabulary for elementary school students? This research was

conducted to reveal the techniques used by teachers in teaching vocabulary which are

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appropriate and effective to their students. It was aimed to describe the reason of the

teachers in using the techniques.

This study is expected will provide knowledge about techniques in teaching

vocabulary for elementary school students. It is also hoped that English teachers or

student teachers can use these techniques in teaching vocabulary. In addition, this

study is also hoped will give a contribution in English education to improve the quality

of both teachers and learners.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Defining vocabulary

Vocabulary is an important part of a language. The more words students acquire

and use it, the more meaning they can communicate in a wide variety of situations

(Coxhead, 2006). It means that vocabulary is one important part of language. It

influences the ability of speaking, listening, reading and writing. Like (Nguyen &

Khuat, 2003) said, Vocabulary is the collection of words that an individual knows. It is

a part related to listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. The same thing is also

stated by Nasr (1972), similarly he said that there are four abilities that need to be

developed in learning a language,

Four abilities to develop : hearing, reading, speaking, writing – with understanding.

This shows that our chief concern should not be about difficulties of pronunciation,

growth of vocabulary, and grammar; our chief concern should be with language

abilities (1972:7)

It’s true that to construct the four abilities we need to concern on language ability, but in

the language ability there are some parts such as pronunciation, vocabulary, and

grammar. So, pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar are included in language ability.

All of it should be taught and learned equally. Those opinions show that the vocabulary

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is one of the basics in learning English. Through learning the vocabulary naturally, it

will improve other skills like reading, writing, speaking and listening.

Teaching young learners

It’s interesting to compare the way children and teenagers or adults in learning

English. I saw that some teachers teach teenagers and adults like children, on the

contrary, I also saw children were taught something that is not suitable with their ages.

Actually children and adults are different in some case in learning English. They have

different attitude and motivation toward English.

Children are often more enthusiastic and lively as learners. They want to please

the teacher rather than their peer group. Children easily lose interest and less able to

keep themselves motivated when they find the task that they think difficult. In other

words, they do not have the same access as older learners to meta-language that

teachers can use to explain about grammar or discourse (Cameron, 2001). It is quite

proved that they are really different with adult. They will do something they like and

leave it when they are not interested. Bardakçı (2010) said in his journal, teaching

young learners is different from teaching teenagers and adults according to their needs,

expectations, learning style and strategies, interest, psychological and cognitive

development (2010). Young learners have different characteristic with teenagers or

adult. Young learners are easily get bored and lose their interest to the materials that

conveyed. Cameron (2001: 29-31) as cited in (Şensoy & Özad, 2009) mentioned that

for young learners activity is important and should aim for a dynamic congruence. She

points out that activities and content that are suitable for children’s age and

socio-cultural background should be chosen. From those statements I found that the

way of children and teenagers or adults in learning foreign language is different, so the

way teachers teach them also should be different since in that age children cannot be

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treated like adults. We cannot treat children with something that make them under

pressure because it influences their psychology.

Teaching techniques in teaching vocabulary

The first thing taught when children learn English is vocabulary. In the

beginning they learn English vocabulary, they will get difficulty in pronouncing and

memorizing the meaning of the words. It will be a problem if they do not have a

motivation to learn it because they think it is difficult and no use to learn English. It

might happen because they are accustomed to use their mother tongue (Bahasa

Indonesia or their vernacular) in communication and doing interaction with the

environment. To avoid those thoughts, teaching techniques are needed in order to make

the children feel interested and have a motivation to learn English. Bardakçı (2010)

stated, children facilitate their learning as possible as they can. Language teachers

should consider this fact, and they should try to teach language in the easiest way. In the

early stage, using picture can be used in teaching vocabulary.

There are some techniques that can be used in teaching vocabulary for

elementary school students. The first one is using pictures. Pictures have been used for

centuries to help students understand various aspects of foreign languages. Pictures can

represent non-verbal source of information (Wright, 2007). It can be said that pictures

have an important role in learning vocabulary. By using pictures, students are not only

imagined the object, but they can see it so that they will memorize and remember the

word and the meaning easily.

Nation (1990: 51) as cited in (Cameron, 2001) wrote some basic techniques by

which teachers can explain the meaning of new words, all of which can be used in the

young learners classroom. The techniques are using an object, using cut-out figure,

using gesture, performing an action, photographs, drawings or diagrams on the board

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and pictures from books. Those techniques are simple and suitable for young learners

since young learners learn something by seeing real objects and situations.

The second technique is by singing songs. Teachers can singing some songs

related with the topic, for example singing song about family, fruits or animals. By

singing songs, children will learn the vocabulary through the lyrics. Abbot, (2002) as

cited in Gordon (2007), said that using songs helped to create a relaxed atmosphere

during the learning process. In addition, using songs made the learning process

memorable.

Telling story is another technique in teaching vocabulary for young learners.

Teachers can use the story that children are familiar with, such as the story of legend in

Indonesia or fairy tale like cinderella story or sleeping beauty. The children have

already known the story in Bahasa Indonesia, so when the teacher tells the story in

English they are still able to guess the main idea of the story. As stated by Cameron

(2001), young children learn many of their first language words through social

interaction with adults, and the use of stories in young learner classrooms will offer

similar rich opportunities for learning vocabulary indirectly, or incidentally, while

attending to something else. Thus, telling stories can be an advantageous technique in

teaching vocabulary because children learn vocabulary through interaction. Besides,

this technique is a way to grab students’ attention to avoid boredom in the classroom.

Another technique that can be used in teaching vocabulary is using repetition.

Coxhead (2006), said that repetition is a helpful technique to fluency because repetition

gives learners the chance to use the words again within a short amount of time. Thus,

through repetition the teachers try to help students speak English fluently and correctly.

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Through the techniques that have been mentioned, students can improve their

vocabulary because they are not only memorizing the vocabulary, but they also

comprehend the meaning.

THE STUDY

This study was a descriptive qualitative research. It described the techniques used

by teachers in teaching vocabulary for students in an elementary school in Salatiga. It

also described the reasons why the teachers used those techniques in teaching

vocabulary. The setting of the study was in SD Kristen 3 Salatiga.

Participants of the study

The participants of this study were three teachers of SD Kristen 3 Salatiga. The

participants were selected based on a purposive sampling or criterion based - selection

(Blackledge, 2001 as cited in Zacharias, 2011). The teachers were selected with the

criteria English language teachers who graduated from English education and teaching

English in elementary school more than one year.

Research Instrument

To observe the teachers, I used observation protocol as seen in table 1. Besides

doing observations, I was also doing interviews. The interviews contained some

questions related with the techniques used in teaching vocabulary for the students.

Those questions were about their reasons of using repetition, picture, pronunciation

drill, modeling and demonstration, using clue, games, questions and answer, and also

read aloud technique.

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Table 1. Observation Protocol

Date Teacher Class Time

Techniques in teaching vocabulary

R Q C M P RA PD G

R: Repetition

Q: Question and answer

C: Clue

M: Modeling and demonstration

P: Picture

RA: Read aloud

PD: Pronunciation drill

G: Game

Data Collection Procedure

In this research, I used observation and interview to gather the data. The type

of observation used was a non - participant observation, and it was held eight times

in four classes. Each class was observed two times. I recorded the activity between

the teachers and the students in the teaching and learning process during the

observation using a video recorder. The observation was held in order to see the real

activity in the teaching and learning process. It was hoped that the data gathered

were rich and reliable. In the observation, I focused on what was happening in class.

From the teaching - learning process, I got enough data from the class. I also used

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field notes. I used field notes to describe the teachers’ techniques in teaching

vocabulary.

After the class observation I did an interview to the teacher that I had

observed before. As a technique in collecting the data I used a semi - structured

interview. My intention of using this kind of technique was to make greater

flexibility like changing the order of questions to provide an opportunity for follow

- up questions. The interviews were conducted to get deeper and specific

information on teachers’ technique in teaching vocabulary to young learners. The

interviews were conducted in informal situations where there was flexibility, so the

interviewees shared their opinions, experiences, and responses freely. The

interviews were held after each observation, and I finished doing the observations

and interviews in three weeks.

In each observation I gave checklists in the observation protocol to know

what the techniques used by the teachers in their teaching. From this observation

protocol I found the techniques that frequently used. This frequency of the

techniques used can be seen in table 2.

Table 2. Table of frequency

Teacher

Frequency of the techniques used

R Q C M P RA PD G

Teacher A 2 1 1 - 2 1 2 -

Teacher B 2 2 - 1 2 2 2 1

Teacher C 4 2 2 2 3 2 4 -

Total: 8 5 3 3 7 5 8 1

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R: Repetition P: Picture

Q: Question and answer RA: Read aloud

C: Clue PD: Pronunciation drill

M: Modeling and demonstration G: Game

There was eight observations for 3 teachers. Teacher A who teach grade 1

was observed 2 times, teacher B who teach grade 2 was observed two times, and

teacher C who teach grade 4 and 5 was observed 4 times. Based on the table of

frequency, the techniques that frequently used were repetition, using pictures and

pronunciation drill. It can be found that teacher A and B used repetition, pictures

and pronunciation drill in each teaching. It also can be seen that teacher C used

repetition and pronunciation drill in all the observations, and three times used

pictures.

Data Analysis Procedure

In this study, a clean transcription method was used to gather the data from

observations and interviews. As stated by Zacharias (2011), a clean transcription of

interview focuses on the content of the interview. Then, the transcriptions were

coded based on the kinds of techniques used. The quoted examples from the data

collected were used to support each point in the process of analyzing the data. The

findings were described, and to make it easier in the description I used codes to

name the teacher. They were teacher A, teacher B and teacher C. Besides, some

supporting theories were included in the analysis.

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FINDING AND DISCUSSION

This section discusses the techniques used by elementary school teachers in

teaching vocabulary for young learners in Salatiga. The techniques were discussed

in the literature review.

When I observed the teaching - learning in class, the teachers used some

techniques in teaching vocabulary for their students. I found some techniques used

by the teachers.

Repetition

The first technique used by the teachers to teach vocabulary was repetition.

This technique was used by teacher A when she was teaching about colors. The

technique was presented as seen in excerpt 1:

Excerpt 1

Teacher A : Repeat after me, the mangosteen is brown.

Students : The mangosteen is brown

Teacher A : The mangosteen is brown

Students : The mangosteen is brown

Teacher A : Oke, good (Observation 3)

The same with teacher A, teacher B was also using repetition in teaching

present continuous tense. It can be seen in observation 2:

Excerpt 2

Teacher B : Sekarang saya baca kalimatnya, kalian tirukan ya! Repeat after

me! Mei is playing the piano.

Students : Mei is playing the piano.

Teacher B : Mei is playing the piano.

Students : Mei is playing the piano.

Teacher B : Once again, Mei is playing the piano.

Students : Mei is playing the piano. (Observation 2)

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In this technique, both teachers repeated the sentences more than once.

They asked the students to repeat it two to three times until they can pronounce it

correctly and clearly. Based on the interview, teacher A explained that the use of

repetition technique was to help students in speaking, especially to memorize how

to pronounce words correctly. She said:

Excerpt 3

Saya menggunakan repetition itu biar anak - anak terbiasa ngomong

bahasa inggris dengan benar. Dengan repetition itu kan akan membantu

mereka mengucapkan kalimat dengan benar, soalnya tulisan sama cara

membacanya itu kan beda. Jadi biar mereka tau cara pengucapannya itu

seperti apa. Kalau diulang - ulang terus kan lama - lama mereka ingat

bagaimana mengucapkannya. (Teacher A)

I used repetition to make students speak English correctly. By doing

repetition will help them to pronounce sentence correctly because the

written form and the way to read are different. So, they will know how to

pronounce it. If it is frequently repeated they will memorize how to

pronounce it. (Teacher A)

Almost same with teacher A, in the interview teacher B said:

Excerpt 4

Ya, dengan repetition itu menurut saya akan memudahkan anak untuk

mengucapkan kata - kata dalam bahasa inggris dengan lancar. Jadi disini

melatih fluency mereka dalam berbicara bahasa inggris. Makanya kalau

ada yang pengucapannya masih kurang jelas atau mungkin salah, saya

akan ulang terus sampai lancar, sampai benar gitu. (Teacher B)

I think by doing repetition they will be able to pronounce words in English

easily. In here, we practice the fluency in speaking. So, if the pronunciation

still not clear or they pronounce it wrong, I will repeat it until they

pronounce it correctly and fluently. (Teacher B)

The usefulness of repetition in teaching vocabulary is also stated by

Coxhead (2006), she said that repetition is a helpful technique to fluency because

repetition gives learners the chance to use the words over again within a short

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amount of time. Thus, through repetition the teachers tried to help students speak

English fluently and correctly. It is useful for them because if they repeated the

words many times they will easily remember the meaning and they will know how

to pronounce it. We can see that the teachers had opinion that the repetition is

considered important in teaching vocabulary. I agree with the teachers because in

my opinion though repetition can be said as a common technique in teaching

vocabulary, but for early stage especially for young learners, repetition is a good

way to teach vocabulary. By repeating the words frequently students will remember

the meaning and the way to pronounce it.

Using pictures

The second technique used by the teachers was using pictures. Teacher A

used pictures when she was teaching vocabulary about objects in rooms. She used

printed pictures in A3 papers as seen below:

In this technique, teacher A combined using pictures with repetition

technique. After showing the picture, pointed out the object and mentioned it one

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by one, the teacher would ask the students to repeat the word two to three times. It

was presented as seen in excerpt 5:

Excerpt 5

Teacher A : Oke, now please look at the picture and repeat after me! Lamp.

Students : Lamp

Teacher A : Lamp

Students : Lamp

Teacher A : Once again, lamp

Students : Lamp (Observation 5)

During the interview teacher A explained her reason of using pictures in

teaching vocabulary. She said:

Excerpt 6

Kalau using picture, I think by seeing the picture they will remember the

meaning easily because they see the object. Mereka nggak hanya

membayangkan saja, tapi melihat langsung. Jadi saya kira melalui gambar

itu lebih efektif. (Teacher A)

I think by seeing the picture they will remember the meaning easily because

they see the object. They will not only imagine it, but they will see it. So, I

think learning vocabulary through picture is more effective. (Teacher A)

The teacher used pictures in teaching vocabulary because by showing

pictures, students were not only imagining the objects, but they could see it. So, it

will help them to memorize and master the vocabulary. In line with the teacher,

Wright (2007) said that the picture is often helpful because it provides an

opportunity for non – verbal response. In here pictures have an important role in

learning vocabulary. Students learn vocabulary not only from list of words that

given by teachers, but they can see the shape of the objects. When I was in

elementary school, this technique helped me a lot in learning vocabulary. My

teacher was showing and appointing a picture then pronounced the word. She

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repeated it several times, and through this combination of using pictures and

repetition I easily remember the word and the object.

Pronunciation drill

The third technique used by the teachers in teaching vocabulary was

pronunciation drill. This technique was used by teacher C in reading text session.

When the students read the text then pronounced the words incorrectly, the teacher

would do pronunciation drill as seen in the observation 1:

Excerpt 7

Teacher C : Now read the sentences together! One, two, three, go!

Students : My family ‘live’ in a big city. (they pronounced it ‘laif’)

Teacher C : No, no, no, no, no. /liv:/ ya, bukan /laif:/. Repeat after me! /lIv/

Students : /lIv/ (unclear)

Teacher C : /lIv/ pake veh

Students : /lIv/

Teacher C : Once again!

Students : /lIv/ (clear) (Observation 1)

I found in the observation that teacher C tried to drill the students in order to

make them pronounce the word correctly. In the interview, teacher C explained that

pronunciation drill was useful because it helped students to pronounce the word

correctly. After students did pronunciation drill, they also knew how to differentiate

the pronunciation between one word and another word that almost similar. In the

interview she said:

Excerpt 8

Saya hampir selalu memakai pronunciation drill. Karena mereka sering

menemui kosakata baru yang terkadang mereka belum tahu bagaimana

mengucapkannya. Dengan di drill seperti itu anak akan tahu oh ini bacanya

begini, oh ini begini. Jadi mereka bisa pronounce dengan benar. (Teacher

C)

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I used pronunciation drill frequently. It is because students are often find

new words that they do not know how to pronounce it. Trough

pronunciation drill they will know how to pronounce it, so they will be able

to pronounce it correctly. (Teacher C)

This technique used by the teacher in order to teach students how to

pronounce words correctly. Besides, it was also useful to introduce new vocabulary

that they have never found and heard before. As stated by Coxhead, students have

to learn to say a word clearly using the correct sounds and the right word stress

(2006). From the teacher’s argument and Coxhead’s statement, we can see that

pronunciation drill is an important technique in learning English because the

incorrect sounds can have different meaning. Therefore, students are able to acquire

new words and know how to pronounce the words correctly. I think pronunciation

drill will also help students in communication when they learn English widely in

the next stage.

Modeling and demonstration

The fourth technique used by the teachers was modeling and demonstration.

In the observation, teacher C used modeling and demonstration when she taught

about the word ‘take’. It can be seen in the dialog in Excerpt 9:

Excerpt 9

Teacher C : Take itu apa sih?

Students : (Silent)

Teacher C : Take. Ini lho take tu. (the teacher took a pencil case from her

student’s table to show the meaning of the word ‘take’). I take

the pencil case. Jadi, apa itu take?

Students : Mengambil.

Teacher C : Oke, good. (Observation 4)

Teacher B was also using modeling and demonstration in her teaching

vocabulary. She did the modeling and demonstration as seen in excerpt 10:

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Excerpt 10

Teacher B : What is bounce?

Student : Meloncat

Teacher B : Hah, meloncat?Bounce. Begini ni apa ni? This is ball, then you

bounce it, like this (demonstrated bouncing ball) (Observation

1)

During the interview, teacher B and teacher C explained their reason why

they used modeling and demonstration in their teaching.

Excerpt 11

Dengan modeling and demonstration they can see the situation. Mereka

melihat situasi yang didemonstrasikan dan biasanya saya pertegas apa

yang telah saya demonstrasikan. Kayak misalnya tadi untuk menunjukkan

arti kata take. Biar mereka menebak sendiri artinya tanpa harus saya yang

menjawab. (Teacher C)

By doing modeling and demonstration, they can see the situation. They can

see the situation that was demonstrated. Like in the class earlier, I did

modeling and demonstration to show the meaning of the word ‘take’. It

encourages them to guess the meaning and they do not need to ask me.

(Teacher C)

Excerpt 12

Kalau alasan kenapa saya memperagakan sesuatu dalam menjelaskan arti

sebuah kosakata itu karena menurut saya dengan saya memperagakannya,

anak - anak kan bisa melihat apa yang saya lakukan. Jadi mereka bisa

menebaknya dengan melihat apa yang saya lakukan. (Teacher B)

The reason why I use modeling and demonstration is because in my opinion

by doing it, students can see what I am doing. So they can guess the meaning

of the word. (Teacher B)

Teacher B and teacher C in the interviews had the same opinion about using

modeling and demonstration technique. They tend to make their students guessed

the meaning of some words by seeing the situation through modeling and

demonstration. As cited in (Bardakçı, 2010), Harmer said that to understand

something, explanation is not enough for young learners. Things that they see and

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hear are also needed. Modeling and demonstration encourage students to guess the

meaning of the words and it helped them to understand the meaning because they

saw what their teachers did.

Clues

The fifth technique used by the teachers was using clues. Teacher A used

this technique when she wanted to explain the word watch. It presented as seen in

observation 5:

Excerpt 13

Teacher A: Artinya watch apa?

Students : (Silent)

Teacher A: Watch TV, watch television, berarti?

Students : Melihat, menonton

Teacher A: Good, melihat atau menonton. (Observation 5)

The same with teacher A, teacher C was also using clue when she was

teaching about past tense, as we can see in excerpt 14:

Excerpt 14

Teacher C: We bought a coconut juice? Kami? Bought?

Student 7 : Minum

Teacher C: No, bought. You pay. Kamu bayar pakai uang, berarti apa?

Student 7 : Membeli. (Observation 8)

During the interview, teacher A and teacher C explained their reasons of

using clue in their teaching, they said:

Excerpt 15

Ya biar mereka aktif dan antusias untuk menjawab, kalau kata – kata yang

baru atau yang mereka tidak tau kadang – kadang saya yang nanya trus

saya juga yang jawab. Kalau pakai clue jadinya mereka yang jawab.

(Teacher A)

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Clue is used to make students active and enthusiastic in answering

questions. If there are some new words that they don’t know,I will be the

one who ask and answer it. So by using clue, they can answer it. (Teacher A)

Excerpt 16

Saya seneng kalau dengan cara ini, jadi kayak tebak – tebakan dan ada

interaksi. Mereka jadi berfikir, tidak melulu saya yang jawab. Kalau nggak

digituin mereka nggak bisa jawab, apalagi kalau kosakata baru. (Teacher

C)

I’m happy with the technique; it’s like a quiz and there is interaction

between teacher and students. It encourage them to think, so not only me

will answer the questions. If I didn't do it they cant’ answer, especially if it is

a new word. (Teacher C)

Using clues in teaching vocabulary is advantageous in learning new words.

The teachers had opinion that by using clues help students to actively participate in

class and help them in mastering new words because students could guess the clue

that given by the teachers. In accordance with the teachers’ statements, as cited in

Jalongo & Sobolak (2010), several studies have shown that when students are

active participants in vocabulary instruction, more vocabulary words are learned

(Hargrave and Senechal, 2000). Those statements show that using clue is a

technique that make students actively participate in learning vocabulary. By using

clue there is interaction between teacher and students that result the atmosphere in

the class alive. Thus, the teachers prefer to use clue rather than explain the meaning

by the teacher itself.

I think it will be more fun if this technique is combined with game. For

example, students are divided into some groups, then they’re asked to guess some

words using some clue that given by teacher. Every student will take turns to

describe the characteristics of the objects and the group who guess the most words

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correctly will be the winner. In my opinion using this kind of technique will

stimulate students to guess the meaning. They will learn the vocabulary using

different way. They will try to guess the meaning through the identification that

given, and I think they will be more enjoy in the learning process.

Games

The sixth technique used by the teachers in teaching vocabulary was games. The

teacher used this technique when she was teaching present continuous tense. This

technique was presented by Teacher B as we can see in excerpt 17:

Excerpt 17

Teacher B : Sekarang miss punya games, tadi udah tau kan arti – artinya?

Nah sekarang kalau saya bilang standing kalian berdiri, kalau saya bilang

walking kalian jalan, kalau crying ya nangis, gitu ya? Nanti yang salah

dihukum. Oke?

Students : Okee… (Observation 2)

During the interview, teacher B explained her reason of using games in the

teaching vocabulary, she said:

Excerpt 18

Biar nggak bosan anak – anaknya. They need something enjoyable in the

class. Daripada mereka berisik nggak jelas, mending mereka berisik tapi

bermanfaat. (Teacher B)

They need something enjoyable in class to avoid boredom. I prefer they

make some noisy but they get something useful rather than make noisy but

get nothing. (Teacher B)

During the observation, the students were enjoy and enthusiastic with the

activity. The teacher made the atmosphere in the class was alive. According to

(Neyadi, 2007) using games enhances students’ ability to memorize the words, as

they activate learners’ minds and give them the time to pause and think about the

21

words, whether to compare, contrast, match or draw pictures which represent them,

which store the words into students’ working memory and hopefully the long term

memory. Thus, games give influence in learning vocabulary. Because one of the

children characteristics is they are easily loose interest, game is a suitable technique

for them in the teaching-learning process because it is enjoyable for students.

Beside it is enjoyable, it is also helping students in memorizing and mastering

vocabulary.

Questions and Answers

The seventh technique used by the teachers in teaching vocabulary was

using questions and answers. This technique was presented by all the teachers.

Teacher A used this technique when she was reviewing material about fruit. The

purpose of using the technique was to recall students’ memory on materials that

have been taught. The teacher asked the students as seen in excerpt 19:

Excerpt 19

Teacher A : We’re going to review all the materials, the first one we’re

going to review about fruit. Fruit apa?

Students : Buah.

Teacher A : Oke, can you mention 10 names of fruit?

Student 1 : Watermelon

Teacher A : Watermelon, apa itu watermelon?

Students : Semangka

Teacher A : What else?

Student 2 : Grape

Teacher A : What is grape?

Students :Anggur (Observation 5)

The same way with teacher A, teacher C used question and answer

technique in her teaching vocabulary. It can be seen in excerpt 20:

22

Excerpt 20

Teacher C : Traffic light. What is traffic light?

Students : Lampu lalu lintas

Teacher C : Ya, lampu lalu lintas. Traffic sign?

Students : Rambu lalu lintas

Teacher C : Ya. Oke, kita ulang dari atas. In front of, Nuel?

Student 1 : Didepan

Teacher C : Iya, good. Behind? Elvin? (Observation 7)

During the interview, teacher A explained her reason of using question and

answer technique, she said:

Excerpt 21

Biar tau sejauh mana mereka paham dengan materi yang telah

disampaikan. Biar mereka ingat juga apa yang sudah dipelajari. (Teacher

A)

It is to measure how far they understand with the materials that have been

conveyed. Besides, it is also to make them remember what have been

taught. (Teacher A)

Teacher C was also had the same opinion about the use of question an

answer. She said:

Excerpt 22

To check their understanding. Jadi dengan tanya jawab kitanya tau

seberapa jauh mereka memperhatikan, seberapa jauh mereka paham, gitu.

(Teacher C)

It is to check their understanding. So, by asking and answering questions, I

know their attention and their understanding on the materials given.

(Teacher C)

In the interview teacher A and teacher C had the same opinions that using

question and answer could check students’ understanding about the materials that

given. It was also to recall their memory on the materials that have been taught. In

other word, using question and answer in teaching vocabulary can measure

23

students’ understanding and ability in memorizing words. I agree with the teachers’

statement because I think it’s important to check students’ understanding on the

materials that given. Students can also ask their teacher when they don’t understand

the materials. Using questions and answers will be advantageous for both teacher

and students. Teacher can measure students’ understanding and students can

convey their thought when they find difficulty.

Read Aloud

The eighth technique used by the teacher in teaching vocabulary was read

aloud. Teacher B used this technique, in this technique teacher B asked students to

read some sentences together.

Excerpt 23

Teacher B : Oke, now read the sentences together! Starting from number 1,

one two three go!

Students : Pat is walking

Teacher B : Pat is walking, number 2! One two three go!

Students : Kimberly is wearing short.

Teacher B : Kimberly is wearing short. Once again! (Observation 1)

Teacher B used read aloud in order to make students pronounce the words

correctly and clearly. During the interview, she explained her reason of using read

aloud, she said:

Excerpt 24

Read aloud, menurut saya dengan read aloud itu melatih pronounciation

mereka. Jadi disini selain mengenal arti kosakata tertentu juga mereka tau

how to pronounce the word correctly. Kalau pengucapan mereka belum

benar atau nggak jelas saya bisa koreksi. (Teacher B)

I think read aloud help their pronunciation. So, besides they know the

meaning of the words, they also know how to pronounce it correctly. If their

pronunciation is still unclear and wrong I can give some correction.

(Teacher B)

24

In accordance with teacher B, teacher A had the same opinion with teacher

B. She had opinion that read aloud helped students in speaking and pronouncing the

words correctly, she said:

Excerpt 25

Read aloud membantu mereka agar terbiasa berbicara dalam bahasa

Inggris. Selain itu juga melatih mereka mengucapkan kata dalam bahasa

Inggris dengan benar. (Teacher A)

Read aloud helps them accustomed to speak in English. Besides, it also help

them in pronounce the word correctly. (Teacher A)

I found in both observation and interview that the teachers used read aloud

as the technique in teaching vocabulary. According to Anderson et al. (1985), the

most important activity to build the knowledge required for eventual success in

reading is reading aloud to children, as cited in (Pikulski & Templeton, 2004). Read

aloud helps students to speak up and pronounce the words correctly and clearly.

The teachers would repeat the word and asked students to read aloud the word until

their students could pronounce it correctly. I think besides teaching the meaning of

the vocabulary, reading aloud is also useful in teaching pronunciation. The students

will not only learn the meaning of the words, but also learning the way how to

pronounce the words correctly. It will be easier to check and then correct the

students’ mistake in pronouncing words.

CONCLUSION

This research was conducted to find out what the techniques used by

elementary school teachers are in teaching vocabulary for young learners. This

research was also held to describe what the teachers’ reasons are in using those

25

techniques in teaching vocabulary for elementary school students. The research

findings show, there were eight techniques of teaching vocabulary: repetition,

pictures, pronunciation drill, modeling and demonstration, clue, games,

question-answer, and read aloud. The teachers used those techniques in teaching

vocabulary in order to make the vocabulary taught would easily remembered, even

easily understood by the students. It is also to make students pronounce the words

correctly and clearly. Besides, trough those techniques the activity in the classroom

can be alive, fun and the students become more enthusiastic in the learning process.

As a pedagogical implementation from the findings, it will be better if in

teaching vocabulary English teachers use techniques which are interesting and grab

students’ attention such as using picture, flash card, singing songs, etc. English

teachers should able to create suitable activities which are interesting and make the

students enthusiastic in the learning process considering their age, needs, and

feelings. Thus, the teaching and learning process will be well – managed.

There were limitations in this study. The first one was this study focused on

the teaching context in Salatiga. The second one was this study involved a small

number of participants. Further research may extend the number of the participants

to cover more issues in teaching vocabulary. It is hoped there will be more research

about teaching vocabulary in order to give a contribution in English education to

improve the quality of both teachers and learners.

26

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This thesis would not have been finished without the support of

many people. I wish to express my gratitude to my supervisor, Ch.

Maria Eko Setyarini, S. S., M. Hum., who was abundantly helpful and patience in

guiding me to finish this thesis in a limited time. Deepest gratitude also goes to

Prof. DR. Gusti Astika, MA., as my thesis examiner. Without whose knowledge

and assistance this study would not have been completed. I would like to thank the

English elementary school teachers in SD Kristen 03 Salatiga who were willing to

share all their thought, experiences and knowledge for this thesis. I also wish to

express my love and gratitude to my beloved family who always supported me,

especially to my older brother, mas Bima thank you for everything. Special thanks

also go to my friends, Frizka who strove together with me in finishing our thesis,

Rina and Uswa who also supported me. All my best I give to Allah SWT that I can

finish this study.

27

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Appendix 1.

Observation transcription

Teacher: can you mention what kind of room that you can find in your house?

Room. Ruangan. Can you mention it? What can you find in your house?

Ruangan apa?

Student 1: Bathroom

Teacher: Bathroom, oke good.

Student 2: Garden

Teacher: Garden

Student 3: Kitchen

Teacher: oke, kitchen.

Student 4: Bedroom

Teacher: oke, I will repeat. Room that we can find in our house is living room. What

is living room? Ruang? Ruang tamu. The second one is, bedroom. What is

bedroom? Kamar?

Student: tidur.

Teacher: can you close your book first? Close your book! Close your book an listen

carefully! Oke, I will repeat. Room that you can find in your house the first one

is living room. What is living room? The second one is bedroom. What is

bedroom? The third one is bathroom. What is bathroom?

The first one is, living room, bedroom, bathroom, the fourth one?

Student: dining room.

Teacher: what is dining room? Ruang?

Student: makan.

Teacher: Oke, now the fifth one?

Student: Kitchen

Teacher: what is kitchen?

Student: dapur.

Teacher: oke, I will repeat. Saya ulangi macam-macam ruangan yang ada dirumah

kita. The first one is living room. Yang kedua bedroom, the third one is

bathroom, the fourth one is dining room, the fifth one is kitchen, dapur. Living

room?

Student: ruang tamu.

Teacger: dining room?

Student 5:ruang mandi

Teacher: ruang (giving clue )

Student 6: ruang makan

Teacher: bedroom?

Student: ruang tidur.

Teacher: ruang tidur. Now please repeat after me! Living room, bathroom,

bedroom, kitchen, dining room (the students repeated the words that

mentioned by the teacher).

30

Oke, have you remember all? Sudah ingat? Kalau nanti miss novi suruh

menyebutkan macam-macam ruangan didalam rumah sudah bisa?

Student: bisa.

Teacher: bener?

Student: belum.

Teacher: oke, I will repeat. Living room

Student: living room

Teacher: ruang tamu

Student: ruang tamu

Teacher: bedroom

Student: bedroom

Teacher: kamar tidur

Student: kamar tidur

Teacher: bathroom

Student: bathroom

Teacher: kamar mandi

Student: kamar mandi

Teacher: dining room

Student: dining room

Teacher: ruang makan

Student: ruang makan

Teacher: kitchen

Student: kitchen

Teacher: dapur

Student: dapur

Teacher:oke, I will ask one of you. Ratih. What is kitchen?

Student 7: dapur

Teacher: dapur, good. Kitchen is dapur.

.

Oke, now we will learn one by one. Satu-satu ya. Bedroom. Can you remember

what object that you can find in bedroom? Coba diingat ada apa saja.

Student: lamp, bed, computer, gordain, window, door, pillow.

Teacher: Kevin, what object that you can find in bedroom?

Student 12: Picture

Teacher: Picture. Oke, ada pillow, curtain, lamp, what else? Bed, chair.

Now, I have a picture of bedroom.

Student: woooww...

Teacher: Oke, what can you see in bedroom? What is it? (pointing picture of

pillow) This is pillow. What is it?

Student: pillow

Teacher: What is it? Pi..

Student: Pillow

Teacher: Oke, now what is it? (pointing picture of bed)

Student: bed.

Teacher: Bed. Together!

Student: Bed

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Teacher: Bed. What is bed? Tempat tidur

Student: Tempat tidur

Teacher: Oke, what is it?

Student: picture.

Teacher: picture. What is picture?

Student: gambar

Teacher: gambar. Picture

Student: Picture

Teacher: iya, gambar atau lukisan. This one?

Student: window

Teacher: window

Student: window.

Teacher: Good, and then this one. What is it?

Student 13: door

Student 14: almari

Teacher: Almari baju namanya apa ya?

Student: cup board.

Teacher: bukan cup board but wardrobe ya. Coba, one two three go! Wardrobe.

Student: wardrobe

Teacher: This one? What is it?

Student: lamp

Teacher: Lamp. Together, lamp.

Student: Lamp

Teacher: and this one?

Student 15: Table.

Teacher: No. Shelf. Shelf.

Student: Shelf

Teacher: Shelf. Itu rak ya.

Teacher: oke, now we move to living room. What can you see or do you remember

what objects that you can find in your living room?

Student: sofa

Teacher: sofa

Student: televisi

Teacher: television, oke what else? Only sofa, television, lamp, window, picture,

curtain. Oke, i have picture again. What can you see?

Student: picture

Teacher: picture

Student: lamp

Teacher: lamp

Student: sofa

Teacher: sofa

Student: meja

Teacher: table

Student: televisi

Teacher: television, then what is it?

Student: window

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Teacher: window. Oke, now please look at the picture and repeat after me! Arm

chair, picture, picture, lamp, lamp, sofa, sofa, window, window, table, table,

television, television, television. Have you remember?

Student: yes

Teacher: Oke, good.

Appendix 2.

Interview transcription

I : Tekhnik apa saja yang miss Irene gunakan dalam pembelajaran tadi?

T: Apa aja ya tadi, ada repeating, pronunciation drill, gambar, trus apa lagi ya,, oh

tanya jawab juga. Itu aja sih ya kayaknya.

I: apa alasan anda menggunakan repetition saat mengajar?

T: pertama, biar mereka bisa mengucapkan kata yang dimaksud ya. Trus selain itu

juga biar mereka ingat kata tersebut.

I: apa miss Irene selalu pakai repetition dalam setiap pembelajaran?

T: kayaknya iya ya. Selalu ada kok kayaknya. Biarpun 1 atau 2 kata selalu saya

minta mereka mengulang kata yang saya ucapkan kalo saya pikir kurang jelas

atau salah mengucapnya.

I: Bagaimana dengan penggunaan pronunciation drill, apa juga sering digunakan

seperti repetition?

T: Iya, saya juga hampir selalu memakai pronunciation drill juga.

I: Apa alasannya?

T: Karena mereka sering menemui kosakata baru yang kadang mereka belum tahu

bagaimana mengucapkannya. Dengan di drill seperti itu anak akan tahu oh ini

33

bacanya gini, oh ini begini. Jadi mereka bisa pronounce dengan benar. Selain

itu juga biar mereka fasih ngomongnya karena biasa di drill tadi. Ya hampir

mirip sama repeating tadi sih.

I: Selain dua tekhnik itu, saya liat tadi miss Irene juga menggunakan gambar. Kalau

alasan menggunakan gambar apa ni miss?

T: Kalau gambar ya biar mereka lebih mudah dalam menghafal kosakatanya ya,

misalnya kosakata baru, saya tunjukkan sebuah gambar kayak tadi drugstore, saya

tunjukkan gambarnya dan katakan kalau itu drugstore. Jadinya kan mereka tau, oo

drugstore itu apotek. Gitu sih. Dengan melihat gambarnya mereka juga jadi tau

meaningnya.