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The Effectiveness of Teaching Vocabulary Using Flashcard Game on Vocabulary Mastery of the Eleventh Grade Students of MAN Kota Kediri 3
Nurul Aini Madrasah Aliyah Negeri Kota Kediri 3, Indonesia E-mail address: Florida_aini@yahoo.com Abstract Teaching vocabulary is a crucial skill for some teachers. They often get difficulty in facilitating the students in learning vocabulary. To develop the students vocabulary mastery, teachers should shoot an appropriate strategy and media in teaching vocabulary. Then flashcard becomes one of the alternative solutions to be used. Therefore this study is aimed atinvestigating the effectiveness of teaching vocabulary using flashcard game on vocabulary mastery. The study was carried out in quasi experimental design. The researcher gave a treatment by applying flashcard as a media and a game as a technique to the experimental group, while traditional media and traditional memorizational technique given to the control group. The subjects were 82 students with 50 English vocabularies including the synonym and meaning played in matching card in 1 meeting. IQ and test (retest) were used to collect the data then analyzed using SPSS 17. From the result the null hypothesis is rejected which means there is significantly different vocabulary mastery between the students who were taught using flashcard game and traditional memorization. Thus, flashcard game is effective to improve the students vocabulary mastery. Keywords: teaching vocabulary, vocabulary mastery, flashcard game, traditional memorization Vocabulary is important for a person who learns a language. Hornby (2004) stated that vocabulary is a total member of words in a language which is used by a person. It means vocabulary is allthe wordsthat people use in a language. Without knowing vocabulary, we can not use the language and will not understand on what other people mean. Thus, vocabulary plays a very important role in using the language. For students, vocabulary is very important to be mastered as the basic factor of learning language. Unfortunately, learning vocabulary is not always easy for some students. In this case, the researcher conducted a research based on the students difficulty in learning vocabulary. The basic reasons of this research were begun because of two problems. The first problem was from the students in the researchers school who mostly argued that mastering vocabulary is extremely needed to support their skills in English: listening, speaking, reading and writing. For them, mastering vocabulary was not always easy because there were a lot of vocabularies that the students should know well. Mostly, they complain that they have words but these words will only retain in their memory for a
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short period of time. Moreover, students easily forgot the words they have memorized. As stated by Wenden&Rubin (2001, p. 43) human memory is crucial to the concept of learning. The ability to understand spoken and written language, and to produce them depends on the ability to recognize and retrieve information stored in memory. Thus, the students vocabulary learning difficulty can be answered by the theory stated above. The second problem was from the researchers officemates who are also English teachers often shared the students problem dealing with the teachers technique and media in teaching vocabulary. Mostly, the teachers taught English using power point media as the result of changing their old teaching media previously then students wrote the vocabulary in their writing book. Again, the English teachers still got the problems because it was no longer effective since it was used for a long time while some other media were never used. Thus, the researcher needed to find another media which provided the new teaching method and technique. She thought that sometimes it is better to use the moving media in teaching vocabulary to the students as the new media. Later on, the teacher took a media of picture series from the internet however the students get difficulty in creating some sentences because of limited vocabulary. Then the researcher was inspired by Akeelah and the Bee movie which tells about a girl who had a brain like a sponge and she learned thousand words through flashcard, that was, a card written a word then finally she won a vocabulary contest in USA. From the movie, the researcher then thought that she was intended to apply teaching vocabulary using instructional media, that is, flashcard. Instructional media is a means of communication used to carry message with an instructional intent. (Heinich in Kasbolah, 2001, p.3). Furthemore, he said that there are three kinds of instructional media; they are visual media, audio media, and audio visual media. Visual media consists of blackboard, pictures, flashcards, flannel boards, etc. Audio media includestape, language laboratory and audio visual media are film, television, and DVD player. Among these three groups of media, visual media is relatively cheap and easy to be developed. Wright in Maulidyawati (2008, p. 16) said, flashcards are a piece of cardboard or thick paper on which a picture, a word, a phrase or a sentence is written that can be handled easily by the teacher. It is one of the learning sources used in teaching English. For the researcher, flashcard is so simple material that she only needs to prepare a piece of paper, the next is cut the paper then writes one English vocabulary and the Indonesian meaning in the back side. In addition, Wright in Kasbolah (2001) statedthat flashcard as instructional media is easy to prepare and organize in the classroom. Furthemore, the researcher can develop many methods in teaching by using flashcard such as game. Moreover, teaching vocabulary using flashcards is useful to facilitate the students to acquire language skillsin which theyuse the language actively (Heinich in Kasbolah, 2001). It means, the teacher can facilitate the students in learning vocabulary as a part of language skills through flashcard.
There are two points can be done to learn vocabulary suggested by Hadfield: fix the meaning of the word and use the word to communicate with others. In other word, showing the meaning can be used to learn vocabulary. In this case, the researcher concerns on teaching vocabulary using flashcard game by mentioning the meaning and the synonym of the word (Hadfield, 2007). In the research, flashcard is played in terms of a game. Hadfield (2007) said that a games is an activity with rules, a goal and an element of fun focuses on remembering the word. Vocabulary games can be in the terms of memorising, personalising, and communicating. Those three stages are self-contained, so that the teacher is free to select or discard any game based on the students need in which different students have different in nature and make use of different technique. Furthemore, he stated that some games can be played are: sorting, ordering or arranging,

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information gap games, guessing, searching, labelling, exchanging, role-play, board and card games, and matching games. Matching game is aimed to transfer information. It involves matching corresponding pairs of cards or pictures, and may be played as a whole class activities, where everyone must circulate until they find a partner with a corresponding card or a picture. Another theory said that words are slippery things, in order to retain a word, students have to fix the meaning of the word in their minds. Based on the concept and reviews above, finally flashcard is choosen to be used in learning vocabulary. It was applied in terms of a game, that was, matching cards.

Method Design The research design was experimental aimed at investigating the effectiveness of using flashcardgame on the studentsvocabulary mastery. The researcher chose experimental because the variable can be manipulated (discrete manipulated). Furthemore, the design used was Quasi Experimental Design which is similar to Nonrandomized design in that they involve manipulation of an independent variable but differ in that subjects are not randomly assigned. There are two variables in the research: the dependent variable is vocabulary mastery and independent variable is flashcard game. Participants The subject of the research was 82 students in which XI Social 2 (experimental group) consists of 41 students: 13 boys and 28 girls and XI Social 4 (control group) which consists of 41 students: 11 boys and 30 girls. Materials 50 new English vocabularies (verb) taken and combined from the book entitled, Word Power 4500 and Word Power 3000 (Hill, 1985) in which 25 English words together with their meanings and synonym. Treatments The researcher gave the treatment to the subjects of the research of both groups: experimental (Social 2) using flashcard as a media and a game as a technique and control group (Social 4) using traditional memorization instead of traditional media and traditional memorizational technique (the students write on their writing book to memorize vocabulary by themselves). The treatment was given in only 1 meeting for 1 hour in additional times (after school). There were attempts done by the researcher to control the threats which may interfere the validity of the research. First, the researcher chose the two classes which the place were far each other to avoid the effect of listening the teacher and students voice during teaching and learning process run. Second, the researcher did not let the students take notes of the list of vocabulary or bring the note at home. The note (book) was directly submitted after the class. It was applied to minimize the memory effect of the students because the note might be studied by the students at home. Third, the students were certainly uninformed on this matter, also in terms of retesting the test. The researcher did not discuss the answers of post test with the students so the students did not remember and keep on their mind about the test given. Fourth, dealing with the differential lost of the research subjects, the researcher made sure that there was no student drops out during the experiment. Fifth, the students were not been told that they were in an experimental class or research so that the research ran well as naturally as possible.
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Considering all above attempts, this research was expected to have a high degree of validity. However, it must be admitted that there may be some threats beyond the researchers control, which influenced the experiment, especially when it deals with human beings. Instruments The first instrument is IQ. The researcher did not take the students pre test to be compared with the post test score but she took students IQ score of both control and experimental class. IQ is the abbreviation for Intelligence Quotient. Philip (2008) said that IQ tests are standardised after being given to many thousands of peoplein which IQ remains constantthroughout life. The IQ test was conducted by Univeristas Merdeka Malang cooperated with MAN Kota Kediri 3 taken on July, 9th 2011 when the students were in the first grade as the primary prerequisite for them before choosing the program in the second grade. The second instrument is a test. According to Brown (2004), A test is a method of measuring a persons ability, knowledge, or performance in a given domain(p.3). The test was in the form of matching task which totally consists of 50 questions in post test through matching task divided into two parts: part I consists of 25 words asking the meaning of the word in target language and part II consists of 25 others asking the synonym of the words but there were 60 words provided as the answer choice: 30 words for part I and 30 others for part II. The researchers reason choosing matching task because that was the only test appropriately covered all the questions instead the students directly shoot one word as the answer of one question without disturbance of other words, phrases or sentences. If the researcher applied multiple choice or essay task, there would be interfierring words in a sentence which could make the students were disturbed in answering the questions. The students might be in the position where they could or could not answer the question because of the other words in the sentence. Then the researcher needed to avoid such that interfierring thing. The researcher analyzed the result of the post test to see whether the test is good or not by providing practicality and validity checklist taken from Brown (2004) also realibity score by retesting the test. The test was given to the subject of the research in Social Class after they got some treatments. It was at the same time both control and experimental group on May, 15th 2013, Wednesday at 14.00- 14.30. The researcher asked her two friends to conduct this test instead of controlled by the researcher, her self. The test then retested to both of groups at the same time on Saturday, May, 18th 2013 from 13.00 to 13.30 (2days after the previous test given). Harris (1969) said that testretest method is retesting the same individual with the same test which is as the instrument to measurethe reliability or the consistency of the score. The result of retest analyzed using SPSS 17 correlation Pearson Product Moment with the specific scoring criteria as follows (Wibowo, 2012, p. 36).
Table 1 Correlation Range Correlation Coefficient Interval 0.80 1.000 0.60 0.799 0.40 0.599 0.20 0.399 0.00 0.199 Relationship Level Very High High High Enough Low Very Low

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The correlation between students post test and retest score of control group was .880 while experimental group was .994 at level signficance 0.01. If we look at the correlation range in the table above, we can conclude that both of the scores have high correlation. To keep on the validity of the retest score, the researcher never discussed the questions or the answers of post test previously together with the students so the students did not remember and keep on their mind about the test given so they did not share the questions and answer to the students of another class. Procedure There were some procedures in collecting the data: choosing the subject of research, looking for students IQ, giving treatments, giving post-test, and the last was retesting the test. Analysis Data analysiswas aimed at testing hypothesis. The data gained from post test were analyzed using ANCOVA. It is the the combination between analysis of variance (Anova) and correlation. The researcher followed four steps in hypothesis testing: stating the null hypothesis, processing the empirical data statistically using ANCOVA, hypothesis testing, rejecting or accepting the null hypothesis, and inferring the result of hypothesis testing. Results The result of IQ score of control and experimental group is summarized below:
Table 2 The Summary of IQ Test Score Group Control Experimental N 41 41 Mean 110.43 109.87 Highest 130 130 Lowest 100 98

The result of of post test and retest score of control and experimental group is summarized below:
Table 3 The Summary of Post Test and Retest Score Group Post Test N Mean Highest Lowest Control 41 56.682 76 30 Exper. 41 61.121 88 50 N 41 41 Mean 57.121 60.292 Retest Highest 74 82 Lowest 36 50

Based on SPSS analysis, the correlation between students post test score and retest of control group was .880 while experimental group was .994 at level significance 0.01. It can be concluded that between the students post test and retest score of both control and experimental group have high significant correlation. The summary score of Anova is below:
Table 4 The Summary of ANOVA SSt SSb 9909.122 352.439 SSw 9556.683 MSb MSw F Sig.

352.439119.4592.950 .090

The last step was that the researcher used ANCOVA with the covariate variable (IQ). The result of correlation analysis was stated that r1= 0.366, r2= 0.838 and rt= 0.583. Then the result of ANCOVA analysis is sumarized below.
Table 5 The Summary of ANCOVA

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SSt SSw SSb MSb 6549.929 6097.163 452.766 452.766

MSw F Sig. 76.214 5.94 .019

The next step is testing hypothesis. The objective of testing hypothesis is to test the research hypothesis using the result of ancova to determine the effectiveness of flashcard game on students vocabulary mastery. To test the research hypothesis, the researcher proposed the hypothesis into a null hypothesis (H0) then from the calculation it can be seen whether the null hypothesis is rejected or accepted. If F value is higher than t-table means the teaching model is effective and vice versa. From overall data, the researcher concluded that F value was 5.94 then the critical F was 3.96 at level significance .019 which is lower than .05. In other word, F value > ttable = 5.94 > 3.96 at level significant .05. It means the F value is higher than t-table. The summary table of hypothesis testing is below:
Table 6 The Testing Hypothesis of SPSS 17
Tests of Between-Subjects Effects Dependent Variable:Achievement Type III Sum of Squares 3813.587a 565.773 3461.148 442.478 6095.535 292996.00 0 9909.122 Mean Square Partial Eta Squared .385 .085 .362 .068 Noncent. Parameter 49.425 7.333 44.858 5.735 Observed Powerb 1.000 .763 1.000 .657

Source Corrected Model Intercept IQ Teaching_m odel Error Total Corrected Total

Df

Sig. .000 .008 .000 .019

2 1906.79 24.713 4 1 565.773 7.333 1 3461.14 44.858 8 1 442.478 5.735 79 82 81 77.159

a. R Squared = ,385 (Adjusted R Squared = ,369) b. Computed using alpha = ,05

Table 7 The Summary of Hypothesis Testing Hypothesis (Ha): The students who are taught using flashcard game have significantly different vocabulary mastery than those who are taught using traditional memorization (Ho): The students who are taught using flashcard game do not have significantly different vocabulary mastery than those who are taught using traditional memorization

F value 5.94

t-table .05 3.96

Decision Accepted

Rejected

From the summary table above, it can be concluded that the null hypothesis is rejected, in other word, alternative hypothesis is accepted. So, the students who are taught
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using flashcard game have significantly different vocabulary mastery than those who are taught using traditional memorization. Discussions This part focuses on the discussion between the research finding and the theory presented in the previous chapter. The researcher strengthens the theory by correlating with the result of the research. Based on the research finding, including the analysis of covariance in terms of statistical computation, it was found that the F value is higher than t-table, that was, 5.94 > 3.96 level significant .05. Then the researcher answered the problem of the research, that was, the students who are taught using flashcard games have significantly different vocabulary mastery than those who are taught using traditional memorization. In other word, teaching vocabulary using flashcard game on the eleventh grade students of MAN Kota Kediri 3 was effective. The result of this research also proves and supports the theory proposed by Heinich in Kasbolah (2001) Instructional media is a means of communication used to carry message with an instructional intent.(p. 3). As the researcher did, she used flashcard as one of instructional media which functions is to transfer the message of the vocabulary to the students. Furthemore, Heinich said that there are three kinds of instructional media; they are visual media, audio media, and audio visual media. Among these three groups of media, visual media is relatively cheap and easy to be developed. The researcher agrees on what Heinich said that the use visual media, in this case is flashcard, is relatively cheap and easy to be developed. In addition, Heinich in Kasbolah (2001) said that teaching vocabulary by using flashcards is useful to facilitate the students to acquire language skillsin which theyuse the language actively. It means, the teacher can facilitate the students in learning vocabulary as a part of language skills through flashcard as a media. Another theroy proposed by Wright in Maulidyawati (2008, p. 16) said, flashcards are a piece of cardboard or thick paper on which a picture, a word, a phrase or a sentence is written that can be handled easily by the teacher. It is one of the learning sources used in teaching English. As the researcher did that she used flashcard as a piece of paper on which a word is written. There are two points can be done to learn vocabulary suggested by Hadfield (2007) that is by fixing the meaning of the word and using the word to communicate with others. In this case, the researcher concerns on teaching vocabulary using flashcard game by mentioning the meaning of the word. Clearly, presenting the meaning of the word is appropriate way to help the students learn vocabulary. The result of this research supports those theory proposed above, that is, learning vocabulary by showing the meaning of the word. As done by the students of Man Kota Kediri 3 indeed learning vocabulary through the definition was really helpful. Showing the meaning of the word is a kind of explanation technique applied by the researcher. In this case, the theory from Hadfield plays an important role to be the basic foundation to support the researchers treatment done in the classroom. Hadfield (2007) said that a games is an activity with rules, a goal and an element of fun focuses on remembering the word. Vocabulary games can be in the terms of memorising, personalising, and communicating. Those three stages are self-contained, so that the teacher is free to select or discard any game based on the students need in which different students have different in nature and make use of different technique. The researcher also did based on Hadfield theory. She plays the flashcard in a game instead of memorising technique as the way to remember the word.
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Furthemore, Hadfield (2007) also stated that some games can be played are: sorting, ordering or arranging, information gap games, guessing, searching, labelling, exchanging, role-play, board and card games, and matching games. Matching game is aimed to transfer information. It involves matching corresponding pairs of cards or pictures, and may be played as a whole class activities, where everyone must circulate until they find a partner with a corresponding card or a picture. The same as what the researcher did that she asked the students to play the card in matching game, that was, matching the cards from the meaning to the synonym of the card. The previous research also proved the effectiveness of teaching using flashcard improved the students vocabulary mastery. As the researcher conducted by Mujiono in 2008 entitled, Improving the Students Vocabulary Mastery through Flashcard at Islamic Junior High School Maarif 2 Malang. The research revealed that the use of flashcards picture as instructional media improved the students vocabulary mastery. Based on the result, the mean score of the students vocabulary test increased from 71,50 to 76,16. In addition, another similar research was conducted by Sri Astutik in 2012 entitled, Improving the Students Vocabulary Mastery through the Use of Flashcards and Vanished Showing Technique for Junior High School of Class 8A of SMPN 2 Panarukan in Situbondo. The researcher proved that the use of flashcards and vanished showing technique improve the students vocabulary mastery. It was found out that the means score improved from 60.2 to 64. In short, the researcher proved the improvement on students vocabulary mastery though teaching by using flashcard games. Finally, the overall finding support the theory and the previous research. From all the explanation above, finally it can be concluded that the use of flashcard is effective since the result was found and it supports the theory given by some experts. Conclusion and Suggestion Conclusion Based on the research finding, the researcher concludes that the students who were taught using flashcard game have significantly different vocabulary mastery than those who are taught using traditional memorization. This conclusion answered the problem of the research, do the students who are taught using flashcard game have significantly different vocabulary mastery than those who are taught using traditional memorization?. It was proved by the data of both control and experimental group. The data shown F value is higher than t-table, that is, 5.94 > 3.96 at level significant .05. Then null hypothesis is rejected on the other hand, alternative hypothesis is accepted. Finally, this research supports some previous researches conducted by Mujioni (2008) and Sri Astutik (2012) who proved that teaching vocabulary by using flashcards improved the students vocabulary. In addition, this research also supports the theory stated by some experts. In short, teaching vocabulary using flashcard game is effective to improve the students vocabulary mastery. Suggestion The researcher proposes the suggestions for teachers, students, and those who will do the further research. Teachers and students may apply flashcard game technique to help mastering vocabularies as long as it is appropriate with the students need, situation and characteristic of learning. In addition, for those who would like to conduct such similar research should provide much more vocabularies as the material given to the students and the vocabularies can be taken from genre-based text. It will be far better not only to provide the meaning and the synonym but also the antonym of the words to enrich the
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students vocabulary in the form of sentence practice based on the syllabus. However, true experimental design with many more subjects is advised to conduct for further research. References Brown, H. D. (2004).Language assessment. California: San Francisco State University. Hadfield, J. (2007). Intermediate vocabulary games. England: Longman. Harris, D. P. (1969). Testing English as a second language. USA: MC Graw-Hill Book Company. Hill, L.A. (1985). Word power 4500. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hornby, AS. (2004). Oxford advanced learners dictionary of current English. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Kasbolah, K. (2001). Foreign language teaching media. Malang: Universitas Negeri Malang. Maulidyawati. (2008). The effectiveness of using flashcards in teaching vocabulary to the fifth year students of sdn mejoyolosari gudo Jombang in academic year 2007-2008 (Unpublished thesis. STKIP PGRI, Jombang. Philip, C. (2008). Test and assess your IQ. Great Britain: MPG Books Ltd. Wenden, A & Joan.R. (2001). Learner strategies in language learning. England: Prentice Hall. Wibowo, A. E. (2012). Aplikasi praktis SPSS dalam penelitian. Yogyakarta: Gave Media.

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