Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPE

Scrabble is a board game usually played by two up to four persons where

each take turns in forming words from letter tiles which are chosen randomly.

Playing scrabble is a good way to expand vocabulary skills as well as practice

spelling. In addition to simply forming words, the game has a point system which

determines who wins the game. Each letter has a corresponding point where

commonly used letters are worth 1 point while the least used gives a whopping 10

points. When a player forms a word and places the tiles on the board, the points

on the tiles are summed up and tallied on a score sheet at the end of each turn. To

be able to win the game, a player needs to strategize on using as much letter tile

as he can per turn in order to get as much points as possible. There are also

multipliers found on the board where points can be doubled or tripled when they

land on the multiplier so strategy and planning are also needed in order to be able

to place your tiles on these multipliers while at the same time not giving the

opponents any openings that will allow them to place their tiles on the multipliers.

This point system also practices a player's skills in addition, multiplication, as well

as subtraction.
 Scrabble also encourages a person to read books. Since this game relies

on words, a players has to learn new words by reading the dictionary, thesaurus,

and other books. This, in turn, allows a person to unconsciously broaden their

minds and horizons. Scrabble is also a social game, meaning it can only be

enjoyed when played by two or more persons. This allows the players to also

hone their social skill; forming relationships with other people and enjoying the

company of others. Families that play scrabble and other board games together

form closer bonds and encourage healthy competition among family members.

Flexibility is another benefit derived from playing this game as the players will

also learn to react to situations that are brought about by the other person.

Because scrabble does not have a set difficulty, players from the age of 7 and

above can play the game. Whether you are a beginner or a pro, you can still

enjoy playing scrabble and hone your skills.

Vocabulary is a foundation needs of language. Through vocabulary we can

communicate idea, emotion, and desire. Word is a sign of symbols for ideas, they

are the means in which people exchange their thought because many students

cannot speak English and understand the text because they do not have

vocabulary in their mind. Sometimes they worry to converse with each other, they

are fear to make mistakes. Vocabulary is important point in learning a language,

because it is main part to begin our writing, speaking, reading, and listening. It

makes the students easy to translate some words into English or Indonesia and

also the more we can speak with other.

 Vocabulary is necessary to give students something to hang on when

learning in the class. Student needs to learn how to easy memorize vocabulary

because of the students can feel comfortable when they are speaking, writing,

etc. They are backed up by many vocabulary in their mind. Students must be

able to use a lot of vocabularies of English, if they want to be successful in

learning. Vocabulary is an important element in language beside pronunciation

and grammar. We cannot express ideas in English without learning English

vocabulary. So that, when students are given a passage with word that are

supposed to have been taught earlier, they still find difficult to understand the

meaning. To make students motivate and enjoyable to study vocabulary, the

teacher should be creatively in delivering material. We should use varieties

strategies in teaching vocabulary. One of the strategies that can be used by

teacher is using media to support the teaching learning process.

Theoretical Framework

In this study, researchers will be able to find out the difference score between the

students’ vocabulary mastery before and after being taught by using scrabble

game and investigate students’ responses in implementing the technique of

scrabble game. The objective of this study is to improve pupils’ use of English

language vocabulary. The researcher used the scrabble game to improve pupils'

vocabulary. Unfortunately, many teachers continue to teach and learn as a chore

and understand less teaching strategies and the learning process. In this

problem, the teacher must use appropriate media to teach the learning process.

The researcher used scrabble game as an interesting educational tool to

motivate pupils in the learning process and most of them are interested. There

were many victims of America's Great Depression in 1929. But in 1933 an out of

work architect named Alfred Mosher Butts invented a game that would lift the

spirits of millions. Scrabble game needs a strong memory, so it adopted

cognitivism theory of learning. Cognitive theorists look how human memory

works to promote learning and understanding of short and long term memory.

Word is a microcosm of human consciousness” (Vygotsky, Thornburry 2002:1).

According to Warmer and Brown, Scrabble Game is very proprietary board

game, which involves the building of words for point score, for two or more

players.4 Michael Lampis et all, stated that Scrabble Game is a board game that

consist of two or more players. In this game, the players arrange the word from

the lettered tiles, and tries to forming words on a board.5 Therefore, after

knowing those research results, the researcher find out further information about

whether or not Scrabble Game can improve students’ ‟ vocabulary

Conceptual Framework

Words are considered as the most important part of language and

vocabulary. Vocabulary is one of the English components taught to the learners

and it has primary role for all language skills. Vocabulary is important for young
learners, since it is the one area of the language learning that does not appear to

be showed down by age. it is mean, without a proportional amount of vocabulary

anyone will get trouble in speaking, reading, listening, and writing. Vocabulary is

not a developmental skill or one that can ever be seen as fully mastered. The

expansion and elaboration of vocabularies are something that for lifetime. It holds

a special place among the components. In other hand, vocabulary was the first

step for all learners to learn English. Vocabulary is not a single process, because

many aspects of the language is related, such us the sound and the structure. All

the aspects are related, they are attached one another.

Figure A: The Schematic Paradigm

Statement of the Problem

Based on the background above, the researcher formulated the research

question as follow: Is the Scrabble Game effective to enhanced high school

students’‟ vocabulary and word power at Christ the king college de Maranding.

The problems are the following:

1. What are the possible profiles of the respondents?

2. What is the contribution of scrabble as a recreational activity?

3. What are the impact of playing scrabble in spelling and vocabulary?

 4. What are the level of thinking skills and level of creativity of the

respondents?

5. What is the correlation of playing scrabble in enhancing word power?

6. What is the contribution of scrabble in enhancing word power?

7. What are the possible orientation program and workshop?

Hypotheses

In this study, it is hypothesized that:

Ho1: To test hypothesis in this research, the researcher aim to investigate the

contribution of scrabble in enhancing the student word power.

Ho2: The objectives of this research is to know the effect of using scrabble game

on the high school students of Christ the king college de Maranding INC. on how

it contribute to the students.

Scope and limitations

This study will focus on the contribution of the game scrabble in enhancing

the students learning vocabulary as well as its advantages and disadvantages.

The participants take only high school students of Christ the king collage de

Maranding INC.

Significance of the study

 Any purposeful research is expected to have benefits for the audience of

this research. It is also expected to benefit the writer or researcher herself.

According to the writer wishes this to be significant from both theoretical and

practical points of view. This research findings support one of the theories on

teaching techniques and add scientific studies in speaking based on theoretical

knowledge. Based on practically, the benefits for students are expected to give

opportunity to students in giving their opinion of scrabble game, in terms of how

significance scrabble game could supported their speaking skill and also by this

research the students could give their comment and suggestion about scrabble

game.

Students. Through this study, the learners were able to recognize the

value of playing scrabble to improved vocabulary knowledge in composing words

and understand the value of knowledge in vocabulary. With this realization, the

students became motivated to use games such as playing scrabble to

understand wide variety of words in composing sentences or phrases.

School Administrators. The result of this study would serve as a basis for

encouraging teachers to apply and or utilize this teaching approach in their

students.

Community. This study can give benefits to them an effective

communication and socialization with other people through using their

vocabulary.
 Future Researchers. This study can serve as a guide and reference for

the other researchers who would be interested in studying as base line

information in the conduct of future similar study.

Definition of terms

To understand the study more, the following terms are defined

conceptually and/or operationally based on how they are used in the study:

Academic Achievement. In this study, it refers to the educational

outcome of the high school students in Christ the king college de Maranding in

playing scrabble as a recreational activity and how it contribute on enhancing

their vocabulary and word power.

Implications. In this study, it means the future effect or result of whatever

had been tested.

Instruction. In this study, it points to the action, practice, or profession of

teaching.

Multimedia. In this study, it implies to the combination of various media,

text, video, and images.

Posttest. In this study, it is defined as a test given to the students after

completion of an instructional program or segment and used in conjunction with a

pretest to measure their achievement and the effectiveness of the program.

 Pretest. In this study, it defines as preliminary test or a test to evaluate the

preparedness of the students for a course of studies.

Subjects. In this study, it refers to the high school students of Christ the

king college de Maranding including Grade 7 and 8, which they are labelled as

the vocabulary learners of the study.

Vocabulary. In this study, it applies to the sum or stock of words employed

by a language, group, individual or work or in a field of knowledge.