IMPROVING VOCABULARY OF THE SEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS THROUGH BLINDFOLD TECHNIQUE

Yusmayanti1, Jos. E . Ohoiwutun 2, Wahyudin  3
Abstract
The research aims to find out whether blindfold technique improve vocabulary of the seventh grade students or not. The researcher applied quasi experimental research design. The population of this research was the seventh grade students of SMP Negeri 5 Sojol which consisted of 75 students. The sample was selected by using purposive sampling technique to assign class VII B as the experimental class and class A as the control class. The data were collected by using test. The test was pre-test and post-test. The pre-test was given before the treatment and the post-test was administered after the treatment. It is to measure whether the students vocabulary can be improve or not. The data were analyzed statistically by using t-test formula. After analyzing the data, the researcher found that the result of experimental class was (27.98) and control class was (14.09). The results of data analysis showed that the t-counted value was (5.06) while the degree of freedom was Nx + Ny - 2 = 46. By applying 0,05 level of significance, it was found that the t-counted value (5.06) was greater than t-table (2.01). In this case, the research hypothesis was accepted. It means that the use of blindfold technique improves the students’ vocabulary.
Keyword: Improving, Vocabulary, Blindfold, Technique

INTRODUCTION	
 	English becomes one of compulsory subjects taught from SMP to University level. It aims at helping students to be able to understand text books which are written in English. In addition, the purpose of teaching English is to improve their skills and language components. The language skills are listening, speking, reading, and writing while the language components are vocabulary, grammar and pronounciation. These language skills and components function as devices in improving science, technology, culture and art.

	Learning English is very important, because English is an international language. Many countries use English as their second language. In Indonesia, English is not considered as a second language but it is a foreign language. To improve the students’ ability in mastering English, the teachers have to think how to make the students mastery English for their own purposes. There are so many approaches, methods, and techniques that can be used by the teacher.
 	English components are very important in mastering English language. They are grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary. Those components can give some advantages to the learners such as; the students can communicate by using accurate sentences, the students can pronounce words well, and the student can understand reading passages easily. Mastering English components is a way to improve other skills.

 	The students get dificulty in mastering English because of their lack of vocabulary. Vocabulary is considered as the basic component of language learning. It is important for the students especially for those who realise that they need to learn the vocabulary. It has a good supply to make sentence which is used to communicate by the students. The effect that could happen if the vocabularies are not taught to them is that they will get difficulty to communicate or express what they have in their mind. The students get bored and uninterested in learning the lesson if the teacher presents the materials in monotonous way. As the result, the learning achievement tends to be low. 

 	Vocabulary is important to be learnt not only for senior high school students but also junior high school students, as stated in English Curriculum of KTSP for junior high school (2006:11) “ memang diakui seseorang tidak mungkin akan dapat berkomunikasi dengan baik kalau pengetahuan kosa katanya rendah. Oleh karena itu, penguasaan kosakata memang tetap diperlukan”. It means that English vocabulary is very important to learn.

 	There are some reasons why the researcher is interested in conducting this research especially of the seventh grade students. Firstly, most of the students have lack of vocabulary and difficulty in pronouncing the word correctly. Secondly, it was difficult for them to know new vocabulary items and differentiate which one is noun, verb, and adjective. Thirdly, the students still get difficulty in making sentences.  

 	To overcome the problems, the researcher proposed blindfold technique to be applied in teaching and learning vocabulary because the students are more interested in blindfold as a technique in teaching learning English. The blindfold technique requires students to guess something after touching it with closed eyes. It is a challenging activity where the students have to touch and guess the name of things and describe the things. In addiitions, it helps the students to memorize the new word,  remember the vocabulary items. Moreover, it is expected to make the students  enjoy the teaching and learning process. Therefore, this technique will help the students in solving the problem when they have difficulty in vocabulary. For some students who do not have confidence to practice spoken English, blindfold technique can help them overcome it. 

Based on the background above, the researcher assumes that the the seventh grade students of SMP Negeri 5 Sojol have problems in learning English particularly in vocabulary. The reason of choosing them as the researh subject because they were lack of vocabulary especially in nouns, verbs, and adjectives, they cannot find out the meaning of words and cannot differentiate which one is noun, verb, and adjective, and they have low ability in making sentences because of lack of vocabulary. 
METHODOLOGY
	The researcher used quasi experimental design. Ary et al. (2010:316) state, “Quasi-experimental designs are similar to randomized experimental designs in that they involve manipulation of an independent variable but differ in that subjects which randomly assigned to treatment groups”. The sample of the research was divided into two groups which were experimental and control group. The pre-test was given to both groups. Only the experimental group was taught by the researcher through blindfold technique. The design of this research is proposed by Cohen, Manion, and Morrison (2005:214) as seen below:

O1	 X	O2
---------------------
O3 		O4

Where:
		O1 : pre-test of experimental class
		O2 : post-test of experimental class
		O3 : pre-test of control class
		O4 : post-test of control class
		X:  treatment of experimental class
		----------- : there was no random of subject
 	Population is considered as participants of the research. Creswell (2012:142) states, “Population is a group of individuals who have the same characteristic”. Thus, the population of this research was seventh grade students which consisted of three parallel classes. Each class consists of 24 until 27 students. Therefore, there were 75 students.

 	Creswell (2012:142) defines, “ A sample is a group of the target population that the researcher plans to study for the generalizing about target population. In an ideal situation, you can select a sample of individuals who are representative of the entire population”. Therefore, the researcher determined the sample to be the subject of the research. The sample of this researcher was selected through purposive sampling technique. In applying purposive sampling, the researcher choosed VIIB as the experimental class and VIIA as the control class because both of classes were lack in vocabulary. The researcher took the classes based on the teacher’s recommendation because the students of this research class had similar characteristic in their problem, that was lack of vocabulary. 
 	Variable is a focus of the research that we want to measure through the use of blindfold technique. Creswell (2009:157) describes, “The variable need to be specified in an experiment so that it is clear to reader what groups are receiving the experimental treatment and what outcomes are being measured.” In this study, the variable was divided into  independent and dependent variables. The independent variable of this research was the use of blindfold technique, while the dependent one was English vocabulary of the seventh grade students.
The researcher used test as the instrument in collecting the data. The test consisted of pretest and post-test. The pre-test was given before the treatment in order to know the students’ prior knowledge. It consisted of multiple choices, completion, and spelling items.. Pretest was conducted by the researcher after collecting the data. The researcher did it for the control and experimental group. The researcher wanted to know the comparison between them. 
 	After conducting the pretest, the researcher applied the treatment and used the blindfold technique to teach vocabulary to experimental class only. The students of experimental group learnt vocabulary through blindfold technique. The treatment was conducted for eight meetings and each meeting spent about 80 minutes. 
	Therefore, the researcher continoue to gave the posttets to the experimental. The aimed of giving the postest to experimental group is to find out whether or not the using blindfold technique can improve the students vocabulary.  
 	After conducting the treatment, the reseacher gave the posttest to both of experimental group and control group. The purpose of this posttest was to know the students ability in vocabulary after giving treatment. It was intended to find out whether there was any significant change after the researcher gave the treatment to the students or not. At the end, it can prove whether the technique in the treatment would be succesful or not. 
To score the students’ result in pretest and posttest, the researcher presents the scoring rubric in the following table:

Table 1. The Scoring Rubric

No	Explanation	Score	
1	Correct answer	1	
2	Wrong answer	0	
3	No answer	0	
					Source : Adapted from KTSP (2006) 

 	The researcher analyzed the data by using statistical analysis. Firstly, she counted the individual score by using formula that proposes by Margono (1996:208). Secondly, the researcher calculated  the students’ mean score of each group by using formula stated  by Gay (1996:208)  After getting the mean score of  both experimental and control group, the researcher analyzed the data of  the pre-test and post-test by using standard deviation formula stated by Gay (1996:486). Then researcher also analyzed the data that she got from pre-test and post-test by using t-test formula proposed by Gay (1996:486).
FINDINGS
 	The data presentiation of this research was explained in this chapter. In applying the technique which was given to experimental group, the students’ result of pretest and posttes were examined before and after the treatment. while, in control gruop the students’ result in the pretest and posttest was examined without the treatment.
 	The researcher observed the instructional process in the classroom in order to find out the real condition of the English classroom activities especially the students’ behaviour toward English lesson. The students were quite interested in learning English especially in vocabulary, but they were not able to  differentiate which one is noun, verb, and adjective. The researcher gave test (pre-test and post-test) as the instrument in collecting data. The researcher used the tests to asses the students’ prior knowledge. The researcher gave pre-test and post-test to find out the effectiveness of blindfold technique. The pre-test was given on Monday, August 22th 2016 and the post-test was given on September, 30th 2016. 
	The researcher presented the results of pre-test of both experimental group and control group. The test consisted of 10 items of multiple choices, 5 items of completing and 10 items of spelling. In multiple choices, there were 10 questions. Each correct answer was scored 1. In completion, there were 5 numbers and the score for each correct number was scored 2. If one of the column is incorrect or empty, the score was minus 0,5.  The maximum score would be 10. In spelling, there were 10 numbers and each of them was scored 1. So, the total score of three kinds of test were 30.
 	After conducting this research by using blindfold technique to improve the students’' vocabulary in noun, verb, and Adjactive, the researcher conducted the treatment. For the first meeting, the students still confused and did not understand about noun, verb and adjective. Then, the teacher provided them blindfold technique but before that the teacher gave explanations and examples of noun, verb, and adjective. After that, the teacher told them the role of blindfold technique   While they played blindfold technique, they were still confused about the rule because that was the first time for them and the technique was not familiar for them. However, they were interested to play blindfold technique. For the second meeting of the treatment, they had understood how to play  and they work in group by using blindfold technique. Eventhough, they still confused but they slowly understand because they enjoy the technique. For the third meeting of the treatment, they had significance in their vocabulary than meeting one and two. For the fourth and five meeting of the treatment, thet had significance improvment in their vocabulary but they still difficult in making sentences. For the sixth and seventh meeting for the treatment, they focused how to make a sentences well and slowly. After that, they can make it by looking many example and practicing. For the eight meeting for the treatment, they progress vocabulary was better than previous meetngs and their vovabularuy were  really improve and the way they make sentence was also good. Furthermore, the researcher presented the pretest and postest of experimental group in the following table:  

Table 2. Experimental Group’s Score on Pretest and Posttest

No	Initials	Maximum	Standard Score	
		Score	Pretest	Posttest	
1	Abd	30	40	76.66	
2	Ach	30	70	93.33	
3	Ald	30	70	93.33	
4	Aim	30	56.66	60	
5	Ang	30	23.33	71.66	
6	Asm	30	23.33	60	
7	Asw	30	61.66	66.66	
8	Fer	30	43.33	96.66	
9	Fit	30	50	71.66	
10	Mas	30	46.66	96.66	
11	Moa	30	43.33	63.33	
12	Mor	30	60	66.66	
13	Nah	30	56.66	96.66	
14	Nis	30	56.66	96.66	
15	Nov	30	56.66	93.33	
16	Nur	30	26.66	50	
17	Ran	30	43.33	80	
18	Ren	30	43.33	60	
19	Rif	30	43.33	53.33	
20	Sai	30	13.33	60	
21	Sap	30	43.33	66.66	
22	Sil	30	50	63.33	
23	Wit	30	36.66	56.66	
24	Raf	30	40	76.66	
Total Score	1098.25	1769.6	

 	By looking at the result above, the students’ highest score of the experimental group students on the pre-test was 70 and the lowest was 23.33. When these scores were compared with minimum mastery standard used of 70, there was no student of experimental group who passed the pretest.. This result proved that the students still got difficulties in learning noun, verb, and adjactive. Meanwhile, The highest score of the experimental group on the posttest was 96.66 and the lowest score was 56.66. Thus, total students categorized ‘pass’ was 10 students, while the remaining 13 students were categorized ‘fail’. The result of the data indicated that there was a significance progress of the students achievment after the treatment.
Table 3. Control Group’s Score on Pretest and Posttest

No	Initials	Maximum	Standard Score	
		Score	Pretest	Posttest	
1	Afr	30	40	46,66	
2	And	30	53,33	73,33	
3	Ari	30	71,66	76,66	
4	Eko	30	36,66	63,33	
5	Ela	30	40	53,33	
6	Hae	30	65	86,66	
7	Hai	30	60	83,33	
8	Fer	30	76,66	90	
9	Fit	30	50	53,33	
10	Mas	30	55	56,66	
11	Moa	30	63,33	93,33	
12	Mor	30	50	56,66	
13	Nah	30	50	75	
14	Nis	30	30	40	
15	Nov	30	43,33	73,33	
16	Nur	30	55	48,33	
17	Ran	30	50	66,66	
18	Ren	30	80	86,66	
19	Rif	30	65	61,66	
20	Sai	30	40	73,33	
21	Sap	30	66,66	83,33	
22	Sil	30	63,33	73,33	
23	Wit	30	48,33	63,33	
24	Raf	30	50	63,33	
25	Afr	30	40	46,66	
26	And	30	53,33	73,33	
Total Score	1233.63	1461.58	
By looking at the result above, the students’ highest score of the control group on the pre-test was 80 and the lowest score was 30. The result showed that there were 1 student passed and 23 students failed. The students highest score of the control group on the post-test was 86.66 and the lowest score was 40. It also showed that 7 students got passing score, while others failed. 	
	 After collecting the score of the students in both experimental group and control group, the researcher computed the mean deviation of the experimental group which was 27.98 and the control group was 14.09. Next, the researcher computed the t-counted to find out the significant difference between the control and experimental groups. The value of t-counted  is 5.06. Next, the researcher tested the t-counted with the table by using the level of significance 0.05. The researcher found that the value of the t-table is 2.01. Thus, the researcher tested the hypothesis of the research by comparing the values of t-counted and t-table.
 	Referring to the t-table value above, the researcher drew a conclusion that the research hypothesis of this research was accepted because the value of  t-counted was higher than the value of ttable. It means that the use of blindfold technique is effective in improving the students’ vocabulary of the seventh grade students.

DISCUSSION
 	The discussion was provided to explain about the result. Based on the result of observation and the test given, there were some points need to be discussed. When the researcher did preliminary observation, the researcher found that the students had difficulties in learning English especially vocabulary. Therefore, they have low ability in making sentences. Furthermore, they cannot find out the meaning of word and cannot differentiate which one is noun, verb, and adjective. 
 	To collect the data, the test is used as the instrument of the research. The tests are pretest and posttest. The main purpose of conducting pretest and posttest in this research was to find out whether the use of blindfold technique improved the vocabulary of the seventh grade students or not. The researcher conducted pretest for both class on Monday, August 22th. Experimental class at 7.15-8.45 a.m. while control class at 10.30-12.00 a.m. Experimental class and control class received the same form of pretest. The researcher gave pre-test to know the students prior knowledge before giving the treatment. The mean score of experimental group in pre-test was 45.76 and the mean score of control group in pre-test was 51.40. It indicated that the ability of the sevent grade students was low before getting the treatment.   
 	The result of pretest in experimental class only one student who gets score 4 in the pretest, while the maximum score is 30. The highest score is 70 and the lowest score is 13,33, whereas the highest score of control class is 76.66 and the lowest score is 36.66. The slight difference indicates that the level of knowledge between the both classes in pretest was nearly equal before conducting the treatment. It means that most of students got low scores in vocabulary. There are some reasons why all of the students failed in pretest
 	After doing pretest in experimental and control class, the researcher conducted treatment to experimental group. In doing the treatment, the researcher taught vocabulary in terms of noun, verb, and adjective. During the treatment, the students got difficulties in learning noun, verb, and adjective. At the beginning of the treatment, the students’ vocabulary is really lack. When the researcher taught those three parts of speech, the students found it easier to understand noun than adjective or verb. It was because in learning noun, they could see things around them, such as table, pen, and chair which were familiar with them. However, even though the students knew the word, they did not know how to spell the word orally or written.  But after the researcher provided blindfold, they were interested to learn vocabulary. After several meetings, the students had already understood about noun, verb, and adjective and they also had known how to make sentences by using those three parts of speech (noun, verb, and adjective). By using blindfold, the students’ vocabulary was improved because they were enthusiast in guessing the things while learning vocabulary.  
 	After conducting the treatment, the researcher gave posttest to both experimental and control groups in order to find out whether the students’ understanding was improved after getting the treatment or not. The students who received posttest in experimental group are 24 students, and in control one are 24 students. The result posttest of experimental group can be divided into 2 categories. There are 3 students in poor category and 8 students very poor. Most of students of control class fail in posttest. Based on the KKM for English lesson in SMP Negeri 5 Sojol there are 13 students in successful qualification and there are 11 students failed, because they do not achieve the KKM, 70. Based on the result of the post-test, there was a progress of student achievement. The result showed that the students post-test was better than pretest. It can be seen from the mean score of experimental group which was 73.74. 
 	The mean score of control group was 60.89. Furthermore, the total score of the students in experimental group was higher than the total score in control group. It was influenced by teaching and learning process using blindfold technique which was conducted in experimental group. Based on the result, almost all of the students could make a simple sentence and describe the things. It indicated that the use of blindfold technique can improve the students’ vocabulary particularly noun, verb, and adjective. In addition, the result above revealed that there was a significant improvement after giving the treatment and it supported the hypothesis of this research.  
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
 	After collecting and analyzing the data, the researcher comes to a conclusion that vocabulary of the seventh grade students was improved through blindfold technique. First, the teacher asks the students about the previous material related the topic, then the students answer the question orally. Second, the teacher explains noun, verb, and adjective of the topic, then the students pay attention to the teacher’s explanations and ask the students to mention of noun, verb, and adjective. Third, the teacher tells the students to play the blindfold technique. Fourth, the teacher guides the studen to do exercises. By selecting 0.05 levels of significances with 46 degrees of freedom, the researcher got the t-counted was 5.06 is greater than the t-table was 2.01. Based on the result of the t-counted and the t-table, it can be concluded that there is a significant improvement of the students’ achievement. It means that the researcher hyphothesis is accepted because the t-counted is greater than t-table. In other word, the use of blindfold technique improves the students’ vocabulary of the seventh grade students of SMP Negeri 5 Sojol.

 	Based on the conclusions above, some suggestions are provided for the improvement of English teaching in general by using blindfold technique. Firstly, the students should learn much about vocabulary as a language component. When they are learning vocabulary through blindfold technique, it will be better if they also try to improve their ability in constructing vocabulary, because this is the interesting way to sharp their brain in learning English. Secondly, the teacher should motivate the students to learn English and provide them with more classroom practices. They should also solve the students’ learning problem. The teacher can apply blindfold technique as one of the ways in teaching. When using blindfold, the teacher can minimize the difficulties on teaching vocabulary. Thirdly, for other researcher, the result of this research can be used for them. They should be creative not only preparing the media but also motivating the students in learning English especially in vocabulary. 

REFERENCES
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