CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents the background of the research, research problem,

purpose of the research, operational definition, significance of the research, and

the scope of the research.

1.1. Background of the Research

English as the standard communication in the world is regarded as the first

foreign language in Indonesia that is learned by the students from primary school

until university. It is important for everyone to learn English because it is used to

communicate over the world. Moreover, English becomes the only foreign

language which is included in National Examination (Ujian Nasional/UN) from

Junior High School to Senior High School and it becomes one of decision- maker-

subjects for the students’ graduation to know how well they understand English

during their study.

Learning English means learning the language skills of English. A study of

English includes four skills, they are writing, reading, speaking, listening, and also

has components namely vocabulary, grammar, and pronounciation.

Vocabulary as one of he language components that is very important than

the other component. It is a central to English language teaching because without

vocabulary it impossible to master one of English skills or students cannot

understand others or express their own ideas. Wilkins as cited in Thornbury

(2002, p. 13) states that without grammer very little can be conveyed, without
vocabulary nothing can be conveyed. It means that if students are lack of

vocabulary they may find some difficulties in learning English. In addition

Manurung in Mar’atul (2006, p. 4) states that the ability to speak, listen, read, and

write English depends on the mastery of vocabulary and grammar. From that

statement, we can assumed that vocabulary is very important in language learning.

Without vocabulary we are not able to speak, produce or understand what people

say.

Although English has been learned for many years, the Indonesian

students still have their own problem. Based on researcher’s observation through

conducting the prelimiary study at SMP Al-Irsyad Bondowoso. The researcher

found that many students had difficultiy in mastering vocabulary. The students

has difficulty in memorizing the words and easly to forget them. It is supported by

the English teacher who stated that the students’ ability in speaking and writing is

low beacuse they don’t have enough vocabulary and they were less motivated to

learn English. They tend to be bored and less attractive in learning English

because the process of teaching and learning activities was monotonous.

Megawati and Mandarani in Megawati (2016, p. 150) argued that the difficulties

frequently faced by students when speaking English is the lack of vocabulary.

Based on the problems mentioned above, the vocabulary enrichment with

creativity in such a different way is needed. The teaching of vocabulary for Junior

High School needs appropriate and different strategy. The teacher is expected to

help the students in developing their competence in achieving the target language.

In order to make students feel enjoyable and active in the class the

teaching and learning process should be improved. According to Wright et.al.

(1983, p. 1) Games help and encourage many learners to sustain their interest and

work. They also states that Games help the teacher to create contexts in which the

language is useful and meaningful. It is supported by Michael in Taslim (2014, p.

190) that another teaching problem arises with words which are in the same rough

area of meaning or semantic field.

Therefore, the researcher wants to use an alternative technique to enrich

students’ vocab ulary that has connection with the area of semantic field and it is

hyponym. In this research, the researcher wants to use hyponym game to teach

vocabulary. Harmer (2001, p. 19) states that another relationship which defines

the meaning of words to each other is that of hyponym, where words like

“banana”, “apple”, “orange”, “lemon”, etc. are all hyponyms of the superordinate

fruit. It is hoped to help the teacher to explain vocabulary items easier by giving

examples in the relation of a word with the other word. In addition, Harmer (2001,

p. 18) states that what a word means is often defined by its relationship to other

words.

To support this research, the researcher refers to the previous research. The

previous research was done by Lilis Sulistyowati. It is a quasi-experimental

research which entitled “The Effectiveness of Teaching Vocabulary Using

Hyponym Games”. She did the research for the VII grade students of MTs Daarul

Hikmah Pamulung. Both experimental class and control class consisted of 40

students. The researcher finds that the average score of the post-test in

experimental class showed higher than the control class or there is significant

influence of using hyponym game in teaching vocabulary. It means that the use of

Hyponym games is effective in improving students’ vocabulary.

 Based on the explanation above, the researcher would like to carry out the

research under title “Using Hyponym Game to Enrich Students’ Vocabulary

Mastery at VII Grade of SMP Al-Irsyad Bondowoso in Academic Year

2019/2020.

1.2 Problem of the Research

Based on the research background above, the problem of the research can

be formulated as follow :

1. How can the use of hyponym game enrich the sttudents’ vocabulary

mastery at VII Grade of SMP Al-Irsyad Bondowoso in Academic Year

2019/2020?”

2. How can the use of hyponym game improve the sttudents’ active

participation at VII Grade of SMP Al-Irsyad Bondowoso in Academic Year

2019/2020?”

1.3 Purpose of the Research

Based on the problem of the research above, the purpose of the research

are :

1. To enrich students’ vocabulary mastery by using Hyponym Game at VII

Grade of SMP Al-Irsyad Bondowoso in Academic Year 2019/2020.

2. To improve students’ active participation by using Hyponym Game at VII

Grade of SMP Al-Irsyad Bondowoso in Academic Year 2019/2020

1.4 Operational Definition of the Term

1.4.1 Vocabulary Mastery

Vocabulary mastery is the students’ of VII grade at SMP Al-Irsyad

Bodowoso in Academic year 2019/2020 understanding on noun, verb, adjective,

and their ability to use them in sentence.

1.4.2 Hyponym Game

Hyponym is one way to make hierarchy link by giving a word as a

superordinate or general and some subordinate or specific, such as “vegetable” as

superordinate and “carrot”, broccoli, lettuce, etc. as hyponym or subordinate.

1.5 Significance of the Research

The result of this research is expected to provide the following benefits’

1) For the Teacher

The result of this research are useful as information to develop the

technique and media in order to improve their performance in teaching and

learning process especially in vocabulary.

2) For the Students

The result of this research are useful for the students in order to maintain

their motivation to develop their vocabulary ability

3) For other Researcher

The result of this research can be used as a reference and information for

the future researcher to conduct further research for anytopic.

1.6 Scope of the Research

This classroom action research will be conducted to enrich students’

vocabulary mastery using Hyponym game at the VII grade of SMP Al-Irsyad

Bondowoso in Academic Year 2019/2020.