CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

In this chapter, the writer presents the background of the problem,

identification of the problem, delimitation of the problem, formulation of the

problem, objectives of the study, and significance of the study.

A. Background of the study

As a foreign language, students are not familiar with English. Although

they have learnt English lesson from elementary school, they still get many

difficulties in learning this language. A classroom usually will be the only place

for many students to practice their English. They believe English as a difficult

subject because of some reasons. One of the reasons is that it is difficult to master

vocabulary. It happens because they must adopt the new pronunciation and

meaning of the word.

Vocabulary is one of the core components of language proficiency and

determines how well learners speak, listen, read, and write (Richards and

Renandya, 2002: 255). The words that students choose in speaking will affect

how well they understand what a speaker says. In writing, students‟ vocabulary

mastery describes how clearly they can convey the readers‟ thinking. In reading,

students‟ vocabulary mastery will affect their ability in comprehending and in

understanding the writers‟ message through the writers‟ writing. The first thing

people will understand a sentence by investigating the meaning of the

vocabulary.

Learning vocabulary is very important. Wilkins (in Thornbury, 2002: 13)

says, “Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing

can be conveyed.” Thus, vocabularies are the flesh of a language while grammar

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is the skeleton. Therefore, many studies have attempted to improve the efficiency

and performance of learners when learning English vocabulary.

Students of junior high schools are teenagers, so it is important to

introduce English, especially vocabulary to junior high school since vocabulary

is very crucial in learning a foreign language. Unfortunately, mastering

vocabulary is not easy for students, especially for students in Indonesia where

English is learned as a foreign language because English is not used in daily

communication. So, it is more difficult to master English vocabulary. As a result,

vocabulary mastery of students is still low.

The next problem is concerned with the technique of teaching vocabulary

and media used. The teaching of vocabulary needs more attention because

vocabulary mastery is important in language proficiency. Teachers should

prepare all the components in teaching learning process well. The components

are the media, the materials, and the teaching method. In fact, teachers do not

prepare them well. It means that teachers usually ignore one or two components.

For example, they prepare the materials which are based on the lesson plan well,

but they do not use the media or teaching method in proper place. In this case, it

can make the teaching learning process ineffectively and the students will get the

consequence such as they did not know what the teacher explains.

To achieve the communicative function, it is necessary to have general

knowledge and skills of English and language components. There are four

language skills taught in junior high school. They are listening, speaking,

reading, and writing. The language components involve vocabulary, grammar,

and pronunciation. In fact, all language components are important, including the

most important one in language teaching is vocabulary.

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Vocabulary is very crucial in learning a foreign language. Unfortunately,

mastering vocabulary is not easy for students, especially for students in Indonesia

where English is learned as a foreign language. So, if students want to improve

their English language skills like listening, speaking, reading, and writing, they

have to master English vocabulary first. Vocabulary mastery is a must for a

person who wants to master English.

There are difficulties of English vocabulary learning that are often found

by the students. This study tries to find out an alternative solution to reveal

difficulties related to vocabulary mastery. It is difficult for the students to

differentiate the function of English vocabulary or words in a sentence such as

subject, predicate, object, complement, etc. In addition, the students find

difficulties in the pronunciation or spelling of words. They do not know the

sentence meaning that uses English vocabulary and the students find it difficult to

remember new vocabularies.

B. Identification of the Problem

Several activities are done to know the English teaching learning

problems in the English teaching learning process at second grade of SMP N 1

Borobudur. The researcher was having a disccussion with the headmaster and the

English teacher, doing observations in the English classes and interviewing some

students of the eighth grade. The problems are classified into three groups. They

are teaching method, media and materials, and the students.

The first group of the problem is related to the teaching method. The

variety of teaching and learning methods which is used within a course is an

important ingredient in creating an interesting English class with interest to

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students. To improve their vocabulary mastery, the teacher should adapt some

teaching methods in order to make the English teaching learning process

interesting. This condition did not happen in the second grade of SMP N 1

Borobudur. The teacher still used grammar translation method to improve the

students‟ vocabulary. She did not try to do other methods. When the students

found new vocabulary, the teacher did not give explanation about how to find the

meaning. She only found the meaning with her dictionary and told it to the

students. It means that the teaching method is still monotonous.

The second problem related to the students. The students need

motivation to learn vocabulary. Moreover, English words are different from

Indonesian words. It can be seen from their spelling and pronunciation. The

students‟ motivation in learning new words can be seen from their effort in

learning vocabulary, such as the willingness to bring the dictionary and making

the list of new vocabulary that can help the students memorize them. These

factors can be caused by the teaching method. The teacher did not ask them to

bring the dictionary and use the monotonous method when he or she was

teaching vocabulary. It makes the students unwilling to join the English lesson.

The third problem is related to the media and materials. Media and

materials have important roles in the teaching learning process. It can make the

teaching learning process effective. The students can understand the materials

that the teacher explains easily. There are some media such as, language

laboratory, OHP, and projector, but the teacher did not use them maximum. The

materials that the teacher used are limited, especially in vocabulary activities.

The teacher still used a course book and all of the activities in the classroom were
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based on it. The teacher did not explore or combine the materials with other

course books.

C. Limitation of the Problem

From the identification problems above, it can be seen that the use of

media and teaching method as the vocabulary learning strategies is less. On one

hand, there are more than one teaching strategies to teach vocabulary. On the

other hand, to teach vocabulary, the teacher still used the monotonous method

such as drill and grammar translation method. She did not try other method so

that her students were not bored.

The limitation of the problem is needed in order to make this research

will achieve its objective. The problem chosen is the problem that is achievable

by the researcher and other related parties. This research is limited on the level of

use and meaning in the vocabulary mastery for the eighth grade of SMP N 1

Borobudur. The reason for choosing the eighth grade students is that they still

have lower vocabulary mastery because they came from different class in the

school with different background knowledge.

D. Formulation of the Problem

Based on the background of the study, identification of the problem, and

limitation of the problem, the problems are formulated as follows:

a. What is the English vocabulary mastery of the eighth grade students of

SMP N 1 Borobudur like?

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b. What are the difficulties in English vocabulary faced by the eighth grade

students of SMP N 1 Borobudur in term of meaning and use?

c. What are the possible causes of the difficulties in English vocabulary

faced by the eighth grade students of SMP N 1 Borobudur?

d. What are the solutions to solve the difficulties in English vocabulary

faced by eighth grade students of SMP N 1 Borobudur?

E. The objectives of the study

The objectives of the research are

1. to describe what the English vocabulary mastery of the eighth grade

students of SMP N 1 Borobudur is like ,

2. to describe the English vocabulary difficulties faced by the eighth grade

students of SMP N 1 Borobudur,

3. to describe the difficulties in English vocabulary mastery, and

4. to describe the possible causes of the difficulties in English vocabulary

mastery faced by the eighth grade students of SMP N 1 Borobudur.

F. The Significance of the Study

1. Scientific Significance

It is intended to give more insight and ideas to improve vocabulary

learning.

2. Practical Significance

a. For the teacher

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The result of this study can be used as an input for the teachers teaching

English vocabulary, which in fact, the students have many difficulties

related to English vocabulary learning so the teacher will improve the

effectiveness in the teaching and learning process.

b. For the students

The students are able to understand their own weaknesses and strengths,

so they will try to find out other ways to increase their strengths and reduce

their weaknesses.

c. For other researchers

This research hopefully gives the contribution to further researchers to

study not only in vocabulary but also in other language skills and

components. It can be used as a reference for helping them when they have

similar research about vocabulary mastery.