THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING COMIC TO
INCREASE STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY MASTERY OF CONTENT WORDS FOR THE SEVENTH-GRADE
STUDENTS OF SMP N 33 PURWOREJO
IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2011/2012
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATIONAL
SCIENCES FACULTY
MUHAMMADIYAH UNIVERSITY OF PURWOREJO
2012
ABSTRACT
Aziza, Tri Harviati. 2012. The Effectiveness of Using Comic to Increase Students’ Vocabulary
Mastery of Content Words for the Seventh-Grade Students of SMP N 33 Purworejo
in the Academic Year 2011/2012. English Department Teacher Training and
Educational Sciences Faculty, Muhammadiyah University of Purworejo. Consultant:
Zulia Chasanah
Key Word: Vocabulary, Comic, Content Words
English
is noticed as one of international languages which is very common to be used by
people from different region and country to communicate each other.
Nevertheless, the ability to use this language should de developed during
youth’s school age. Students are often trapped by the very old-fashioned way of
learning. They get bored even when they are not learning it. It makes students
find that English is more difficult than it actually is. Vocabulary is one of
the language components that have to be taught to the students in learning a
foreign language. To increase the students’ vocabulary mastery, the teacher can
use many media. By using comic as media, the student can learn easily and
interestingly.
The
aim of this research is to find out whether there is a significant effect of
teaching vocabulary using comic to increase students’ vocabulary mastery. In
this research, the writer took 65 students of the seventh-grade of SMP N 33
Purworejo in the academic year 2011/2012 as the sample. The writer used VII F
which consists of 33 students as experiment group, and class VIIG which
consists of 32 students as the control group. The writer conducted pre-test and
post-test. The writer taught vocabulary using comic as a treatment.
Statistically, the writer analyzed the data by using t-test separated variance.
The
result of this research shows that there is a significant effect of teaching
vocabulary using comic to increase students’ vocabulary mastery, since it was
found that the result of t-value is 5.11. Based on the 0.05 significant level,
the value of t-table is 2.0375, the computation shows that t-value is higher
than t-table that is 5.11>2.0375.
The
research findings indicate that the students are interested in learning English
vocabulary using comic. The teacher uses the variety of teaching methods in
teaching learning process in order to get the higher achievement of the
students.
I.
Introduction
Being
able to master one or some foreign languages is a must for today’s people. When
one is not able to master it well, it is possibly happen that he will be left
behind as the world is somehow getting smaller. It is very common for us to
name today’s condition as globalization era, where meeting other people from
the very different background is surely possible. To prepare these such
meetings, people – especially youth – have to be able to use other language
than merely their mother tongue only.
English
is noticed as one of international languages which is very common to be used by
people from different region and country to communicate each other.
Nevertheless, the ability to use this language should be developed during
youth’s school-age. That is why the government puts this subject to be taught
in elementary school.
For
years, students are of the opinion that English is one of the most difficult
subjects at school. This kind of opinion is surely will decrease students’
interest to learn English. Moreover,
students are often trapped by the very old-fashioned way of learning. They get
bored even when they are not learning it. It makes students find that English
is more difficult than it actually is.
In
this thesis, the writer takes junior high school students as her object of
study. For most of this level of students, English subject is difficult because of their lack in vocabulary. They
have very limited number of vocabulary. Students always find it is hard to
express their ideas when they meet the word that they do not know its English
word. As the result, they mostly will stop to express their ideas in English.
Some
other students already have sufficient number of vocabulary but still find that
English is difficult. Their vocabulary treasury is not the sole indication to
say that they find English as an easy lesson. In fact, their difficulty is on
the recognition of English part-of-speech. English treats its vocabulary in
more specific way. During students’ time to learn English at school, they have
to be very familiar with some language terms such as noun, verb, adjective and
adverb. When students do not know this kind of word, they will judge English as
a complicated subject to be learnt.
In
line with the previous paragraph stated above that students are trapped by some
old-fashioned ways of learning, the opinion of varying way of learning raises
these days. Teachers and scholars are trying to find more alternatives to teach
English, especially its vocabulary in a more interesting way. New methods
and/or media come to overcome this kind of difficulties.
a.
Statement of the Problem
In conducting this thesis, the writer states
the problem as follow: Is there any significant effect of teaching vocabulary
of content words using comic for the seventh-grade
students of SMP Negeri 33 Purworejo in the academic year 2011/2012?
b.
The Purpose of the Study
The objective of this research is to find out
whether there is any significant effect of teaching vocabulary of content words using comic for the seventh-grade students of
SMP Negeri 33 Purworejo in the academic year 2011/2012.
II.
Theoretical Review
1.
General Concept of Vocabulary
Vocabulary is about words – where they come from, how they
change, how they relate to each other and how we use them to view the world
(Bauer: 2001:34). Vocabulary is one of language components and no language
exists without words. Napa (1991: 10) states that words are signs or symbols
for ideas. They are the means by which people exchange their thought.
Vocabulary
contains of words which make up a language. It is clear then that vocabulary is
very important in foreign language acquisition. Hornby (2000: 1506) states that
vocabulary is the total number of words that make up a language, or words known
to a person, or used in a particular book or subject, or list of words with
their meaning, especially one which accompanies a textbook in a foreign
language.
Vocabulary
is the most important material in foreign language teaching for learners.
Therefore, the teaching of English vocabulary has a very essential role in
enabling Indonesian students to master English as their foreign language.
English vocabulary mastery, in fact, has become a big problem for most
Indonesian students. If one does not have sufficient number of vocabulary, he
will not be able to communicate with his surroundings.
Schmitt
(1997: 40) states that vocabulary is a basis of a language. It is important to
be mastered first. We cannot speak well and understand written materials if we
do not master vocabulary. Schmitt (1997:41) also states that no matter how
successfully the sound of the foreign language is mastered without words to
express the wider range of meanings, communication in a foreign language just
cannot happen in any meaningful way.
The
followings are the classification of basic vocabulary as classified by Tarigan
(1991: 10-11):
a.
The family term : grandfather, grandmother, father, mother,
child, etc
b. Parts of body : head, eye, ear, nose,
hand, foot, etc.
c.
Number : cardinal numbers (one, two, three, and etc);
ordinal numbers (first, second, third, etc)
d. Verb :
go, sleep, read, write, drink, eat, walk,
etc.
e.
Noun : car, shirt, table, pencil, pilot, etc
f. Adjective : handsome,
beautiful, ugly, good, pretty, etc.
g. Universal things : land,
sky, moon, sun, water, etc.
2.
General Concept of Part of Speech
Knowing
the part of speech of word is essential. It is important when learners know two
or more forms for one-word, like wise
(adjective), wisely (adverb), and wisdom (noun). It is also important when
similar words confound the situation as lend
(verb) and loan (noun) or affect (verb) and effect (noun).
3.
General Concept of Comic
The precise
definition of comics remains a subject of debate, with som scholars insisting
that their printed nature is crucial to the definition, or that they should be
defined by the interdependence of image and text. Others define the medium in
terms of its sequential art. McCloud (1993:42) states comics are juxtaposed
pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey
information and/or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer.
Comics are
an art form using a series of static images in fixed sequence. Written text is
often incorporated. The two most common forms of comics are comic strips (as
appear in newspaper) and comic books (also popularly called “manga” when
referring to Japanese comic books). Comic strips are serial comics that are
published in a newspaper.
III.
Data Analysis
Statistics has a very important role in research in collecting,
organizing, presenting, and analyzing data in number. To analyze the data, the researcher applies an appropriate technique to find
out whether teaching reading using pre-questioning is effective for the reading
comprehension ability on the eleventh
grade students of SMK Batik Sakti I Kebumen or not.
There are two kinds of techniques of data analysis:
1.
Descriptive Analysis
The descriptive analysis is used to describe the variable of this research
that is the students’ reading comprehension ability that is taught using
pre-questioning and teaching orally. In this analysis, the researcher presents the result of the test. The researcher uses two statistics (mean analysis and
standard deviation) to compute the students’ reading comprehension ability in
both groups. Additionally, the Mean, Mode, Median, SD, the highest and lowest
scores are also used to analyze the data.
a. Mean
(
)
)
Mean is the average of the set scores, obtained by adding the scores together
and dividing by the total number of scores (Nunan: 2007:232).
Where:
∑X : The sum of the score
N : The total number of
student
b. Standard
Deviation (SD)
Standard deviation is a measure of the dispersion of set of scores from
the mean of the scores. It is calculated by obtaining the square root of the
variance of a set of scores.
SD =
Where:
SD : the score of
the standard of the standard deviation
: the sum
of score
N : the total
number of the students
2.
Inferential Analysis
This analysis is done to find out the effect of using pre-questioning in
teaching reading. Test of hypothesis is used to know whether there is a
significant effect of teaching reading using pre-questioning on students’ reading comprehension
ability of the eleventh grade students of
SMK Batik Sakti I Kebumen in the academic year 2011/2012. According to
Sugiyono (2010:273) t-test can be formulated as below:
t = 
Note:
T
|
=
|
t-value
|
 |
=
|
the
mean of experiment group
|
 |
=
|
the
mean of control group
|
S12
|
=
|
variance of experiment group
|
S22
|
=
|
variance of control group
|
N1
|
=
|
number of sample of experiment group
|
N2
|
=
|
number
of sample of control group
|
In this inferential analysis, hypothesis testing is done. In this
testing, the hypothesis will be analyzed through t-test. The t-test is to
see the score difference between the two variables; the students’ reading
ability of the experiment group and the control group. After getting the result
of t-value, then the t-value is consulted to the t-table to be interpreted.
IV.
Findings
1.Descriptive Analysis Interpretation
a.
The
Vocabulary Mastery Result of Experiment Group
Experiment
group is the group which is given the treatment by the writer. In this group,
the writer taught the vocabulary material with comic. The data were taken on
November 5, 2011 for pre-test and on November 20, 2011 for post-test. In this
discussion, the writer calculates the post test result of experiment group.
From
the score table, the writer concludes; the highest score of students’
vocabulary mastery (H) is 100, the lowest score (L) is 76, the range (R) is 24,
the median (Me) is 88, the mode (Mo) is 76, and the total score of students’
vocabulary mastery (T) is 2860.
From
the data above, the writer tries to find the mean of the data by applying the
mean formula and the writer tries to find the variance and the deviation
standard of vocabulary mastery of experiment group. The mean (M) is 86.67, and
the deviation standard (SD) is 8.76.
According
to Arikunto (2001:245), the criteria of assessment of the students’ mastery of experiment
group are shown in the following table:
Table 4. Degree mastery of post test
score of experiment group
Interval
|
Interpretation
|
Frequency
|
Percentage
|
80 ─ 100
|
Very Good
|
26
|
78.79 %
|
66 ─ 79
|
Good
|
7
|
21.21 %
|
56 ─ 65
|
Fair
|
0
|
0 %
|
40 ─ 55
|
Poor
|
0
|
0 %
|
< 39
|
Fail
|
0
|
0 %
|
Sum
|
33
|
100 %
|
|
Based on the table above, the writer concludes that there
are 7 students (21.21 %) belong to good category, and 26 students (78.79 %)
belong to very good category.
b. The Vocabulary Mastery Result of
Control Group
Control group is the group which
is not given the treatment by the writer. In this group, the writer taught the
vocabulary material without comic or orally. The data were taken on November 5,
2011 for pre-test and on November 20, 2011 for post-test. In this discussion,
the writer calculates the post-test result of control group.
From the score above, the writer
concludes; the highest score of students’ vocabulary mastery (H) is 96, the
lowest score (L) is 20, the range (R) is 76, the median (Me) is 74, the mode (Mo)
is 76, and the total score of students’ vocabulary mastery (T) is 2196.
From the data above, the writer
tries to find the mean of the data by applying the mean formula and the writer
tries to find the variance and the deviation standard of vocabulary mastery of
control group. The mean (M) is 68.63, and the deviation standard (SD) is 18.04.
According to Arikunto (2001:245),
the criteria of assessment of the students’ vocabulary mastery of control group
are shown in the following table.
Table 5 Degree Mastery of Post –Test Score of Control Group
Interval
|
Interpretation
|
Frequency
|
Percentage
|
80 ─ 100
|
Very Good
|
9
|
28.13 %
|
66 ─ 79
|
Good
|
15
|
46.88 %
|
56 ─ 65
|
Fair
|
2
|
6.25 %
|
40 ─ 55
|
Poor
|
3
|
9.37 %
|
< 39
|
Fail
|
3
|
9.37 %
|
Sum
|
32
|
100 %
|
|
Based on
the table above, the writer concludes that there are 3 students (9.37%) belong
to fail category, 3 students (9.37 %) belong to poor, 2 students (6.25 %)
belong to fair category, 15 students (46.88%) belong to good category, and 9
students (28.13%) belong to very good category.
2. Inferential Analysis Interpretation
From
the computation, the value of F is 4.243. Then, it is compared with the value
of F table with df of numerator (33-1=32) and df of denominator (32-1=31).
Based on the table on F table, it is known that at the F value on the
significant level 0.05 is 1.84. Because F obtained is higher than the value of
F table (4.243 > 1.84), it means that the variance of two samples is not
homogeneous.
After
knowing that the variance of two samples are not homogeneous and the number of
sample of experiment group is different with the number of sample of control
group, so the t-test formula which is used by the writer is t-test separated
variance (Sugiyono, 2010:139).
V.
Conclusions
Based
on the analysis of the data, the testing hypothesis and the discussion in the
previous chapter, the conclusion can be drawn that teaching vocabulary by using
comic as media in Increasing Vocabulary Mastery of the Seventh-Grade Students at SMP N 33 Purworejo in
the Academic Year 2011/2012 is effective. It can be seen from
the result
of the mean score of post-test which is higher than mean of pre-test (76 > 57.11). In addition the
result of t-value is 5.11. Based on the 0.05
significance level, the value of the t-table is 2.0375. The computation shows
that the t-value higher than t-table that is 5.11
>
2.0375. Thus, the hypothesis is accepted and teaching vocabulary by using Comic in Teaching and Learning English
is effective in increasing vocabulary mastery of the seventh-grade students at SMP N 33 Purworejo in the Academic Year 2011/2012.
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