Post on 16-Jan-2023
USING A PICTURE COMPARISON INTERACTIVE MEDIUM
TO IMPROVE SYNONYM MASTERY OF THE TENTH
GRADE STUDENTS OF SMA NEGERI 7 YOGYAKARTA
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Martha Erika Diana
Student Number: 131214136
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2017
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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USING A PICTURE COMPARISON INTERACTIVE MEDIUM
TO IMPROVE SYNONYM MASTERY OF THE TENTH
GRADE STUDENTS OF SMA NEGERI 7 YOGYAKARTA
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Martha Erika Diana
Student Number: 131214136
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2017
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
vi
ABSTRACT
Diana, Martha Erika. (2017). Using a Picture Comparison Interactive Medium to
Improve Synonym Mastery of the Tenth Grade Students of SMA Negeri 7
Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma
University, Yogyakarta.
Vocabulary is very crucial in the process of learning a second language. In
mastering English vocabularies, a lot of synonyms should be covered. One type of
synonyms is what we call near-synonym. Near-synonyms is expressions that are
more or less similar, but not identical in meaning (Lyons, 1996). According to the
document of 2013 curriculum, near-synonym topic is not emphasized on the
syllabus (Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, 2012). Somehow, neglecting
any subtle differences between them may trigger emergence of any word choice
problem. Therefore, the researcher proposed a picture comparison interactive
medium which presents verbal and nonverbal explanations of near-synonyms in a
customized computer multimedia. This study aimed to find out whether there was
any significant improvement in students’ mastery level after the medium
implementation.
The goal of this study is to answer a research problem: To what extent can
a picture comparison interactive medium improve synonym mastery of the tenth
grade students of SMA Negeri 7 Yogyakarta?
An experimental research was conducted towards 59 students. The
research instruments were vocabulary pre-tests and post-tests, observation sheets
and interviews. An implementation of the picture comparison interactive medium
was conducted in an experimental group and an implementation of PowerPoint
slides was conducted in a control group. Observation sheets were used to observe
the students’ behavior and 20 students were interviewed at the end of the lessons.
The results revealed that there were significant differences in the scores of
the pre-tests and post-tests in both control and experimental group with p<0.05.
However, the experimental group showed a higher improvement in the mean gain
than the control group. Furthermore, the results of the observation sheets and
interviews indicated that the picture comparison interactive medium could
motivate the students to learn the materials better than PowerPoint slides.
For the conclusion, the picture comparison interactive medium was
successful in improving the students’ mastery in near-synonyms. It could
encourage them to be more interested, active, and enthusiastic in learning the
materials. As recommendations, this study can be used to conduct another inquiry
related to this topic and as one of the sources in learning English.
Keywords: Vocabulary, Synonym, Near-synonyms, Picture comparison, Learning
media, Experimental research
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ABSTRAK
Diana, Martha Erika. (2017). Using a Picture Comparison Interactive Medium to
Improve Synonym Mastery of the Tenth Grade Students of SMA Negeri 7
Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Program, Sanata Dharma
University, Yogyakarta.
Perbendaharaan kata merupakan suatu hal yang sangat penting dalam
proses pembelajaran bahasa kedua. Dalam menguasai kosa kata Bahasa Inggris,
terdapat banyak sinonim yang harus dikuasai. Sinonim sempurna, salah satu jenis
sinonim, adalah ungkapan yang kurang lebih serupa, namun tidak memiliki arti
identik (Lyons, 1996). Berdasarkan dokumen kurikulum 2013, topik mengenai
sinonim sempurna tidak ditekankan dalam silabus (Kementerian Pendidikan dan
Kebudayaan, 2012). Mengabaikan perbedaan halus yang ada di antara sinonim
sempurna dapat memunculkan masalah dalam pemilihan kata. Peneliti
mengajukan media interaktif perbandingan gambar dengan penjelasan secara
verbal dan nonverbal dalam sebuah multimedia komputer yang telah disesuaikan.
Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui apakah media tersebut dapat
membuat siswa mengalami kemajuan yang signifikan dalam penguasaan materi.
Terdapat satu masalah dalam penelitian ini: Sejauh mana media interaktif
perbandingan gambar dapat meningkatkan penguasaan sinonim para siswa kelas
10 SMA Negeri 7 Yogyakarta?
Peneliti melakukan penelitian eksperimental terhadap 59 siswa dengan
instrumen pre-test dan post-test, lembar observasi, dan wawancara. Media
interaktif perbandingan gambar diimplementasikan pada kelompok eksperimen
sedangkan slide PowerPoint diimplementasikan pada kelompok kontrol. Lembar
observasi digunakan untuk mengamati perilaku para siswa dan 20 siswa yang
ditunjuk untuk diwawancara di akhir pembelajaran.
Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa dalam kelompok kontrol dan
eksperimen terdapat perbedaan yang signifikan dalam nilai pre-test dan post-test
dengan p<0.05. Namun, kelompok eksperimen menunjukkan peningkatan yang
lebih tinggi pada hasil rata-rata post-test dibandingkan dengan kelompok kontrol.
Selain itu, hasil dari lembar observasi dan wawancara menunjukkan bahwa media
interaktif perbandingan gambar dapat memotivasi para siswa dalam belajar
dibandingkan dengan slide PowerPoint.
Implementasi dari media interaktif perbandingan gambar berhasil
meningkatkan penguasaan para siswa akan sinonim sempurna. Sarana ini
mendorong para siswa untuk dapat lebih tertarik, aktif, dan antusias dalam belajar.
Penelitian ini dapat digunakan untuk mengadakan penelitian lainnya dengan topik
yang sama dan sebagai salah satu sumber dalam pembelajaran Bahasa Inggris.
Keywords: Vocabulary, Synonym, Near-synonym, Picture comparison, Learning
media, Experimental research
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DEDICATION PAGE
“For it is by grace you have been
saved, through faith – and this is not
from yourselves, it is the gift of
God!”
(Ephesians 2:8)
This thesis is dedicated to
Robertus Rudi Atana,
Rini Trimurti Margaretha,
Rosa Galuh Kristanti, and
Myself
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost, I would like to dedicate my deepest gratitude to
Almighty Lord Jesus Christ for His divine intervention in my academic
endeavor. Due to His blessing and guidance, I was able to endure the hard time
during my graduate study and finish my thesis.
My big appreciation goes to Ibu Yohana Veniranda, M.Hum., M.A.,
Ph.D., my thesis advisor, for opening her door to me whenever I ran into any
trouble spot in the completion of this thesis. She has already given much of her
time, attention, guidance, patience, and support for the sake of my success in
finishing this thesis.
I also acknowledge the big family of SMAN 7 Yogyakarta, the school in
which the research was conducted. I warmly thank Bapak Drs. Budi Basuki, MA.
as the headmaster of SMAN 7 Yogyakarta, for giving me the permission to
conduct my research there. Gratitude is also extended to Ibu Dra. Rahaju
Prihardarjati, the English teacher of SMAN 7 Yogyakarta, for giving me her
time, guidance, as well as advices to my research. Further, without the tenth grade
students of SMAN 7 Yogyakarta, particularly X MIA 2 and X MIA 5 who
participated in this research, this thesis would not have been possible so, I would
like to acknowledge their contribution to this study.
My sincere thanks are due to my proofreaders: Dian Prawesti, Indras,
and Rosa Galuh. Their suggestions and advices have been invaluable to this
thesis. My special thanks are also addressed to all of my friends, who were in their
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own ways could motivate me to always work on my thesis writing: Shinta, Liris,
Fennie, Astri, Liza, Willy, Boni, Bertha, Wira, Daniel, and Angel.
Appreciation is also expressed to Deron Walker, Ph. D., who in spite of a great
distance could shed his unceasing encouragement and kind words towards me
during this thesis writing.
Finally, special recognition goes out to my mother, Rini Trimurti
Margaretha, my father, Robertus Rudi Atana, and my elder sister, Rosa Galuh
Kristanti. I thank them for always being by my side, granting me with their
patience, help, unfailing support, and continuous encouragement throughout my
zyears of study.
Last but not least, I would like to thank everyone who directly and
indirectly has lent his or her hands in this venture.
Martha Erika Diana
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page TITLE PAGE ....................................................................................................... i
APPROVAL PAGE ............................................................................................ ii
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY .................................................. iv
PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI .................................................... v
ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................... vi
ABSTRAK ......................................................................................................... vii
DEDICATION PAGE ...................................................................................... viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................... ix
TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................... x
LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................... xiv
LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................... xv
LIST OF APPENDICES .................................................................................. xvi
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ........................................................................1
1.1 Research Background................................................................................... 1
1.2 Problem Formulation ................................................................................... 4
1.3 Research Objectives ..................................................................................... 5
1.4 Definition of Terms ...................................................................................... 5
1.4.1 Near-synonyms .................................................................................. 5
1.4.2 A Picture Comparison Interactive Medium ....................................... 6
1.4.3 SMA Negeri 7 Yogyakarta ................................................................ 6
1.4.4 Senior High School ............................................................................ 7
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Page
CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ..................................8
2.1. Theoretical Description ............................................................................... 8
2.1.1 Experimental Research ...................................................................... 8
2.1.1.1 True Experimental Research ................................................. 9
2.1.2 Near-synonyms .................................................................................. 9
2.1.3 A Picture Comparison Interactive Medium ..................................... 11
2.1.3.1 What is a Picture Comparison Interactive Medium? ........... 11
2.1.3.2 Why is a Picture Comparison Interactive Medium Used? .. 13
2.1.4 A Picture as a Learning Aid ............................................................. 14
2.1.5 Dual Coding ..................................................................................... 16
2.1.6 A Compare and Contrast Strategy ................................................... 20
2.1.7 Multimedia ....................................................................................... 21
2.1.8 Computer Assisted Language Learning ........................................... 23
2.1.8.1 Computers and Classroom Atmosphere .............................. 26
2.1.8.2 Making the Medium of Learning in CALL ......................... 27
2.1.9 Relevant Previous Studies ................................................................ 29
2.2 Theoretical Framework .............................................................................. 29
CHAPTER III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ........................................... 32
3.1 Research Method ........................................................................................ 32
3.2 Research Setting ......................................................................................... 36
3.3 Research Participant ................................................................................... 37
3.4 Instruments and Data Gathering Technique ............................................... 37
3.4.1 Instruments ....................................................................................... 38
3.4.1.1 Tests ..................................................................................... 38
3.4.1.1.1 Validity ................................................................. 43
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Page
3.4.1.2 Observation Sheets .............................................................. 45
3.4.1.3 Interviews ............................................................................ 46
3.4.2 Data Gathering Technique ............................................................... 47
3.5 Data Analysis Technique ........................................................................... 48
CHAPTER IV. RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ..................... 51
4.1 The Results ................................................................................................. 51
4.1.1 The Results of the Tests ................................................................... 51
4.1.2 The Results of the Observation ........................................................ 57
4.1.3 The Results of the Interviews .......................................................... 59
4.2 Discussion .................................................................................................. 63
CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS .................. 72
5.1 Conclusions ................................................................................................ 72
5.2 Recommendations ...................................................................................... 73
REFERENCES ................................................................................................. 75
APPENDICES ................................................................................................. 78
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LIST OF TABLES
Table Page
3.1 The Description of Near-synonyms in the First Session .................. 39
3.2 The Description of Near-synonyms in the Second Session ............. 41
3.3 The Distribution of Items in the First Session Tests ........................ 44
3.4 The Distribution of Items in the Second Session Tests ................... 44
4.1 The Result of Experimental Group’s Pre-test and
Post-test: Session 1 .......................................................................... 54
4.2 The Result of Experimental Group’s Pre-test and
Post-test: Session 2 .......................................................................... 54
4.3 The Result of Control Group’s Pre-test and
Post-test: Session 1 .......................................................................... 55
4.4 The Result of Control Group’s Pre-test and
Post-test: Session 2 .......................................................................... 56
4.5 The Results of the Observation Sheets ........................................... 57
4.6 The Results of the Interviews ........................................................... 60
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
2.1 A Picture Comparison Interactive Medium Example ...................... 13
2.2 A Schematic Depiction of Verbal and Nonverbal Symbolic
Systems by Allan Paivio, 1990 ........................................................ 17
3.1 Examples of a Picture Comparison Interactive Medium ................. 34
3.2 Examples of PowerPoint slides ........................................................ 35
3.3 Research Hypotheses ....................................................................... 49
4.1 The Comparison of Experimental and Control Group’s
Pre-test and Post-test: Session 1 ....................................................... 52
4.2 The Comparison of Experimental and Control Group’s
Pre-test and Post-test: Session 2 ...................................................... 53
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LIST OF APPENDICES
Page
Appendix A. Letter of Permission ..................................................................... 79
Appendix B. Lesson Plans ................................................................................. 81
Appendix C. Screen captures of Materials ......................................................... 86
Appendix D. Examples of Students’ Test Result ............................................. 105
Appendix E. Observation Sheets...................................................................... 110
Appendix F. List of Interview Questions ......................................................... 118
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
In this chapter, there are six points to be discussed. The first is research
background. The second is problem formulation. The third is research objectives.
The last is definition of terms. These four majors are provided to give some basic
information in order to prevent any misunderstanding in this research.
1.1 Research Background
Vocabulary plays a crucial role in the process of learning a second
language, especially English. As English being considered to be an International
language, learning English vocabulary turns out to be the basic step to master the
language. There are a lot of English vocabularies; some originally came from the
language itself and some were adapted from other languages such as Latin,
French, and German. The number of the vocabularies is in great quantities. It is
proved by the fact that the Ninth Edition of the Oxford Advanced Learner’s
Dictionary of Current English contains full entries for over 185.000 words,
phrases, and meanings. Further, it has more than 700 new words and meanings
such as bestie, defriend, and live-stream. Evenmore, there are still many English
words which have not been covered in the dictionary.
Due to the wide range of English vocabularies, the possibilities to find lots
of synonyms among them can be many. Synonym itself has several types. One of
them is what may be called near-synonyms. According to Lyons (1995, p. 60), a
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near-synonym is a word or phrase that is more or less similar to another word or
phrase, but not identical in meaning. The examples are soft and smooth, show and
exhibition, and gather and collect. Without taking account some subtle differences
between those near-synonyms in every context of sentences, it may entail to
emergence of any word choice problem.
The complexion of the word choice may become a threat to one function
of language which is to communicate or convey certain meanings. As Allen
(1983, p. 5) mentions in his book, “Through research, the scholars are finding that
lexical problems frequently interfere in communication; communication breaks
down when people do not use the right words”. Thus, understanding the use of
near-synonyms in the right context is essential to detain the emergence of any
misunderstanding.
The problem is that there are a lot of issues in English education
emphasizing word choice as a problematic matter among Indonesian EFL
students. This problem may emerge due to some factors. Two of them are the
distance between the native and the target language and minimum emphasis on
particular topics.
The first factor is the distance between the native language which is
Indonesian and the target language which is English. The word distance here is
viewed as linguistic differences occurring among those two languages. The
language distance may affect the second language learning either through positive
transfer or through negative transfer. Corder, as cited in Ellis (1994), argues:
... other things being equal (e.g. motivation and access to data etc.), the
mother tongue acts differentially as a facilitating agency. Where the
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mother tongue is formally similar to the target language, the learner will
pass more rapidly along the developmental continuum (or some parts of
it), than where it differs (p. 327).
In other words, it is easier for learners to learn any second language which
is similar to their own first language. In the case of Indonesian EFL students, the
distance between their own first language which is Indonesian and their second
language which is English is considered relative high. Related to the issue of near-
synonyms, Indonesian EFL students face some linguistic differences in which the
Indonesian vocabularies are not as complex as English vocabularies. For example,
there is only one word to define lembut in Indonesian vocabularies. In contrast,
the term lembut in English can be defined as soft or smooth, depending on the
context (Oxford Learner’s Pocket Thesaurus, 2010). By analyzing those two
words deeper, we can consider them as a pair of near-synonym because both
words are generally regarded as synonymous but they have their own contexts to
use. Thus, it is essential that we deal with meaningful vocabulary learning which
emphasizes on any aspect of the language. Otherwise, such different feature in the
languages may entail to any difficulties that may be faced by learners.
The second factor is the minimum emphasis on particular topics.
According to the document of 2013 curriculum, near-synonym topic is not
presented on the syllabus (Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, 2012).
Consequently, teachers may tend not to cover depth understanding of any
language aspect which has a higher difficulty level such as a near-synonym.
One more thing that should not be neglected in providing students a good
approach is facilitating their learning preferences. Every learner must have his or
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her own learning style that should be taken into account in order to achieve the
success of the learning. Trying to cater many learning styles of learners, the
researcher proposes a learning aid named a picture comparison interactive
medium. This learning aid presents verbal and nonverbal explanations of near-
synonyms in an interactive computer multimedia. In other words, this medium
tries to facilitate three learning preferences which are verbal, visual, and
kinesthetic preferences. Furthermore, the computer use in the learning aid is
supported by Pennington (1996). He notes that computer-assisted language
classroom environment can be highly motivating for students of all learning styles
(as cited in Egbert & Hanson-Smith, 1999, p. 298). Further, presenting three
modalities in the learning medium is expected to enhance the effectiveness of the
vocabulary learning process.
To make the focus on this study distinct, the researcher wants to underline
that this study does not discuss broadly synonyms in general. However, this study
focuses on using a picture comparison interactive medium to improve synonym
mastery of the tenth grade students of SMA Negeri 7 Yogyakarta.
1.2 Problem Formulation
Regarding the research background which is explained before, there is one
main problem to discuss in this study:
To what extent can a picture comparison interactive medium improve synonym
mastery of the tenth grade students of SMA Negeri 7 Yogyakarta?
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1.3 Research Objectives
Based on the problem formulation, the researcher formulates one objective
of this study. The objective of this study is to investigate to what extent a picture
comparison interactive medium can improve synonym mastery of the tenth grade
students of SMA Negeri 7 Yogyakarta. This study aims to examine whether the
medium can make the students able to differentiate near-synonyms and use them
contextually.
1.4 Definition of Terms
In order to avoid any confusion and misconception in perceiving and
understanding some important terms in this study, some significant terms related
to this study would be defined. There are four terms presented in this section:
Near-synonyms, A Picture Comparison Interactive Medium, SMA Negeri 7
Yogyakarta, and Senior High School.
1.4.1 Near-synonyms
Near-synonyms is one type of synonyms. As stated before, Lyons (1995, p.
60) has defined near-synonyms as the words or phrases which are more or less
similar, but they are not identical in meaning. The examples of the words that can
be considered to be near-synonyms are show and exhibition. Those two words are
generally regarded as synonymous. However, the two words are not synonymous
in meaning because they have their own context when they should be used. As
what is explained in the Oxford Learner’s Pocket Thesaurus (2010), show is a
more general word and it usually refers to a temporary event, whereas the word
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exhibition refers to any event which contains works of art or items of cultural or
scientific interest that may be on display for a long time. In conclusion,
understanding how to differentiate and use near-synonyms in context is very
crucial in order to successfully deliver the meaning of the sentences.
1.4.2 A Picture Comparison Interactive Medium
Before having the deeper understanding about this research, this section
explains what a picture comparison interactive medium is. A picture comparison
interactive medium is a learning aid proposed by the researcher to assist students’
vocabulary learning, particularly near-synonyms. It provides explanations of near-
synonyms in two modes which are verbal and nonverbal information. The verbal
information is presented through the presence of captions explaining lexical
categories of the words, contexts when the words should be applied, and examples
of sentences using the words, whilst the nonverbal information is presented
through illustrations of the near-synonyms. Further, that information will be
placed side by side in one page or screen. Besides, this learning aid is designed in
computer-enhanced multimedia which requires the students to operate the
medium and enables them to develop their independent and autonomous learning.
1.4.3 SMA Negeri 7 Yogyakarta
SMA Negeri 7 Yogyakarta is one of senior high schools in Yogyakarta.
This school is located in Jl. MT Haryono No. 47 Suryodiningratan Mantrijeron
Yogyakarta. There are eight classes of tenth grade consisting of 34 students in six
of the classes, 27 students in one of the classes, and 32 students in one of the
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classes. Then, there are nine classes of eleventh grade and eight classes of twelfth
grade.
1.4.4 Senior High School
Senior High School is defined as the continuation of the primary education
level in Indonesian formal education according to Kementerian Pendidikan dan
Kebudayaan (2015). This secondary education is further divided into general
upper secondary education and vocational upper secondary education. In this
study, the researcher uses the first level of general upper secondary education
which is the tenth grade students as the context of the study.
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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter consists of two sections. The first section explains theoretical
description which discusses several theories used as the bases in this study. The
second section is theoretical framework. In the theoretical framework, the
researcher explains more how the theories help the researcher to find out the
answer of the research problem.
2.1 Theoretical Description
There are nine theories to be elaborated in this study: Experimental
Research, Near-synonyms, A Picture Comparison Interactive Medium, A Picture
as a Learning Aid, Dual Coding, A Compare and Contrast Strategy, Multimedia,
Computer Assisted Language Learning, and Relevant Previous Studies. All of
those theories helped the researcher to support findings and discussions in this
study.
2.1.1 Experimental Research
The essential feature of an experimental research is the condition when
researchers deliberately control and manipulate conditions which determine the
events they are interested in (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2007). As cited in
Cohen et al. (2007), Smith argues that this approach concerns with the issue of
causality. There are many experimental models in educational research; one of
them is a true experimental design.
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2.1.1.1 True Experimental Research
True experimental research is one of experimental research types which is
usually used to investigate cause and effect relationships. This experiment is
considered to be an ideal design of instructional that can help researchers to
maximize internal validity. There are several criteria that we should meet in this
design. First, the subject of the study will be randomly assigned to control and
experimental group. In the intervention of this experiment, those groups will be
exposed to different treatments. In educational research, the researchers usually
conduct different instructional methods towards the subjects. The control group
consists of research participants who do not receive any experimental treatment.
This group later will provide the researchers reliable baseline data that can be
compared to the experimental group results. In contrast, the experimental group
consists of research participants who receive any experimental treatment.
In true experimental research, we have independent and dependent
variable. The independent variable is a variable which can be controlled by the
researchers. The researchers are supposed to manipulate the variable that is
assumed to be able affecting the outcome of the research. The dependent variable
is the outcome of the research. The researchers do not manipulate this dependent
variable.
2.1.2 Near-synonyms
Words which share same meanings are called synonym. There are two
kinds of synonyms, absolute-synonyms and near-synonyms. Absolute-synonyms is
words or phrases which are identical in every aspect of the meanings so that they
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can be intersubstituted. According to Lyons (1995, p. 61), two or more
expressions can be called as absolute-synonyms if all of their meanings are
identical. Further, they should be synonymous in all contexts and semantically
equivalent on all dimension of meaning. Seeing those conditions, it can be
inferred that the existence of absolute synonyms is extremely rare.
Another kind of synonyms is near-synonyms. Lyons (1995, p. 60) defines
near-synonyms as “the expressions that are more or less similar, but not identical
in meaning”. This definition is same as what Inkpen (2007, p. 2) explains, “near-
synonyms have the senses that are very close each other, they may occur in
similar contexts; therefore, we should capture the subtle differences of each near-
synonym”. In other words, even the near-synonyms have similar meanings; they
cannot be intersubstituted as they have their own certain context to be used. The
examples of the words that can be considered to be near-synonyms are soft and
smooth. The two words would be generally regarded as synonymous. However,
the two words are not synonymous in meaning. There are subtle differences
between those two words in which they have their own context to use. For
example, some people may be confused to decide which sentence is correct
between My aunt has very long smooth hair and My aunt has very long soft hair.
They may think that both the sentences are correct grammatically and
semantically. In fact, as what is explained in the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s
Dictionary (2008), the second sentence is incorrect since the use of the word soft
is less appropriate in the sentence. The adjective word soft refers to things which
are not hard or rough and feel pleasant to touch. Different from the word soft, the
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word smooth can be used for the noun hair because this adjective refers to the
things which have a surface that is perfectly regular without any holes or lumps.
Thus, choosing a wrong word in a sentence may bring any problem in
conveying any certain meaning of the sentence. In conclusion, understanding how
to differentiate and apply near-synonyms in the right context should be taken into
account in order to successfully deliver the meaning of any sentences.
2.1.3 A Picture Comparison Interactive Medium
It is needed to know the explanation of the medium which is proposed by
the researcher. This section will discuss the medium, namely a picture comparison
interactive medium. The explanation consists of what a picture comparison
interactive medium is and why a picture comparison interactive medium is used.
2.1.3.1 What is a Picture Comparison Interactive Medium?
In mastering English vocabularies, there are many difficulties that may be
faced by students. Seeing that problem, the researcher proposes a learning aid
which is named a picture comparison interactive medium to assist students’
vocabulary learning. The researcher expects that the implementation of the
learning aid can help students to tackle their problems related to vocabulary
learning especially in near-synonyms and improve their vocabulary mastery.
As explained before, the medium provides explanations of near-synonyms
in two modes which are verbal and nonverbal information. As the verbal
explanation, there are captions explaining the lexical category of the words,
context when the words should be applied, and examples of the sentences using
the words, whereas the nonverbal information is presented through illustrations of
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the near-synonyms. The Oxford Learner’s Pocket Thesaurus (2010) and
Cambridge Advanced Learners’ Dictionary (2008) come as the main references
for the researcher to compile the explanation of the near-synonyms in the
medium. Further, the researcher gets any illustration which can support the
explanation of the materials from many sources such as Imgur and Wallpaperxl.
In designing the learning aid, the researcher compares pairs of words
regarded as near-synonyms by placing them side by side in one page or screen.
Further, the use of computer supports the implementation of this medium since
this learning aid is designed in computer-enhanced multimedia. The researcher
used Articulate Storyline 2 software in making the computer-based learning aid.
Articulate Storyline 2 is e-learning authoring software for instructional designers.
It provides user interface and interactive learning elements. By using this
software, designers can build any interaction on their medium by letting students
to click, hover over, and drag any object to trigger any action.
In a picture comparison interactive medium itself, the software supports
drag and drop activities which can put students into a practice. This existence of
the computer use in the medium enables the students to develop their independent
and autonomous learning. Moreover, this medium is also equipped with simple
feedbacks to respond students’ answers. Therefore, this medium can be
considered interactive as it allows two-way flow of interaction between the
learning medium and the students. In sharing this medium, it can be shared via
web, Articulate Online, a learning management system (LMS), or offline. Below
is an example of a picture comparison interactive medium.
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Figure 2.1 A Picture Comparison Interactive Medium Example
In the Figure 2.1, learners are able to spot any differences between the
words listen and hear easily since the medium provides the descriptions,
illustrations, and examples explaining the pair of near-synonyms. Therefore,
learners can find out any differences which might enhance their understanding
visually and verbally. Further, the computer-enhanced multimedia required the
students to operate it actively by the presence of drag and drop activities on the
medium.
2.1.3.2 Why is a Picture Comparison Interactive Medium Used?
This learning aid touches a new approach in learning vocabularies
especially in near-synonyms by applying the presence of dual coding, multimedia,
and compare and contrast theory. Through this medium, learners will be invited
to understand near-synonyms through two modalities, visually (by pictures) and
verbally (by captions which go along with the pictures). The form of the picture
comparison interactive medium has been designed in a simple and fascinating
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way by presenting the explanation of each near-synonym side by side in one page
or screen. In addition, learners are encouraged to build their independent and
autonomous learning since this medium is supported by computer use in which
the learners are supposed to operate the medium in computer-enhanced
multimedia. It means that the medium also supports a kinesthetic learning
preference by putting learners into practices. Moreover, for the content, anyone
who wants to design the medium may adjust the difficulty level of the presented
near-synonyms depending on the learners’ need.
2.1.4 A Picture as a Learning Aid
The presence of visual elements in today’s teaching and learning increases
as the integration of images and visual presentations with text in textbooks,
instructional manuals, classroom presentations, and computer interfaces broadens
(Benson, 1997; Branton, 1999; Dwyer as cited in Stokes, 2001). As the
educational community is trying to embrace visual enhancements in instruction;
however, the connection of visual and verbal information has already existed
throughout history. Aristotle, as cited in Stokes (2001, p. 10), states, “Without
image, thinking is impossible”. Thus, putting visual elements to go along with
verbal elements can improve how we process certain information.
Pictures can be considered to be the most effective learning means in
teaching. The presence of any visual-enhancement in verbal learning is important
because visual literacy precedes verbal literacy in human development. It is the
basic literacy in the thought of processes that are the foundations for reading and
writing (Flattley, 1998; Sinatra, 1986, as cited in Stokes, 2001, p. 13). Franke
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(1884), as cited in Murdani (2011), states that a language could be best taught by
using pictures actively in a classroom. Chanlin (1998) supports the statement by
reporting that visual treatments in lessons can enhance learning with varying
degrees of success (as cited in Stokes, 2001). When prior knowledge is low,
graphics, either still or animated, are better for learning descriptive facts than
lessons with text only. Moreover, Kleinman and Dwyer (1999) also examined the
effects of specific visual skills in facilitating learning. They found out that the use
of color graphics in instructional modules as opposed to black and white graphics
could promote any achievement, particularly when learning concepts.
There are several instructional functions that visualizations may have
whether they are accompanied by verbal explanations or not. Levie and Lentz
(1982) assert that in the term of the affect, visualizations are often said to be
motivating for students because they can make a subject matter more interesting
and appealing to students. Furthermore, they can trigger specific emotions or lead
to any changes in learners’ attitude. In the further research, Levin, Anglin, and
Carney (1987) has conducted an analysis of instructional functions associated
with the use of visualizations as text-adjuncts in education literature. In the
review, the authors described five functions of visualizations as text-adjuncts.
They are decorative, representation, organization, interpretation, and
transformation function. In the decorative function, the verbal information is
presented only to make a text more appealing to learners. Then, as a
representational function, visualizations exist to make the meaning of a text more
accessible for learners by making a text more concrete. The presence of
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visualizations is considered having an organizational function if it can provide an
organizational framework for a text and make the content more coherent by
highlighting argumentative or organizational structures of the text. Interpretation
function of visualizations comes up by clarifying any texts which are difficult to
be understood and making them more understandable for learners. The last and
the rarest function is a transformation function. In this function, visualizations are
designed to improve memory performances directly by targeting any critical
information to be learned, recoding it into a more concrete and memorable form,
relating it in a well-organized content, and then providing the learners a
systematic means of retrieving the critical information. Thus, we can conclude
that there are five functions of visualizations we can bring to any enhancement of
learning processes. However, the presence of any visual-enhancement in
education settings must be properly designed and used; otherwise, it would not
function effectively in maximizing learners’ achievement.
2.1.5 Dual Coding
Considering individual’s cognitive preferences in designing learning aids
is needed to help teachers in achieving effective learning processes, Rayner and
Riding (1998) describe a cognitive style as an individual’s preferred and habitual
approach in organizing and representing information. In other words, it can be
concluded as the way an individual processes the information he or she received.
There are numbers of researchers who have been trying to investigate cognitive
preferences. Early work in cognitive styles identified a verbal-visual cognitive
style dimension. This dimension is in line with the fact that some people are better
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at processing words and some people are better at processing pictures (Mayer &
Massa, 2003).
The first verbal-visual model was introduced by Paivio (1986), namely a
dual coding theory. In this study, learners are described as either visualizers or
verbalizers. Visualizers tend to focus on imagery-based information such as
pictures and diagrams, whereas verbalizers prefer to focus on verbal information
such as texts or spoken narrations. Paivio’s theory of dual coding claims that
strong associative activation of mental imagery facilitates memory for words, and
these two processes – one verbal (symbolic codes) and one visual (analogue
codes) were separable in memory. The structural assumptions of dual coding can
be summarized in Figure 2.2, which illustrates the idea of separate but
interconnected systems.
Figure 2.2 A Schematic Depiction of Verbal and Nonverbal Symbolic Systems by
Paivio, 1990
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The figure shows that the symbolic systems are connected to sensory input
and response output systems. From the figure, Paivio tries to explain that there is
an equal weight to verbal and nonverbal processing. As Paivio (1986, p. 53)
states, “Human cognition is unique in that it has become specialized for dealing
simultaneously with language and with nonverbal objects and events”. This theory
notes that there are two cognitive subsystems, one is for dealing with nonverbal
objects and the other is for processing languages. The verbal and nonverbal
representations differ in their internal representation formed in the long-term
memory. Whereas, the nonverbal information will be processed into imagens, the
verbal information is more likely to be encoded into logogens. Then, according to
Paivio (1990), these two internal codes are interconnected by referential links so
that they can activate each other. For example, the word mango could activate a
mental image of a mango tree. In this case, we can note that verbal and nonverbal
information may yield a propositional representation as well as an analogical
representation by constructing a mental image for concrete words.
As what is mentioned in Zheng (2009), Ainsworth emphasizes her
functional taxonomy of multiple external representations. She proposes that every
representation has different functional roles for learning and support knowledge
differently.
She categorizes these roles into three groups; First, visual and verbal
representations may have complementary roles in instructions by
facilitating different cognitive processes, serving different learning
objectives, or addressing individual representational preferences of
different learners. Second, they can constrain interpretations and guide
learners’ reasoning about a domain. Third, visual and verbal
representations together might be suited to foster deeper understanding
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than what could be achieved by using just one representational format (as
cited in Zheng, 2008, p. 77).
Thus, Ainsworth’s taxonomy supports the presence of these roles in order
to contribute to learning. Then, the contribution of the roles is expected to give
any positive influence towards learners. However, if one of the representations
does not contribute to learning, it should be deleted.
Regarding to the information retention in a memory, Paivio (1990) argues
that in a dual coding theory, high imagery items readily evoke nonverbal imagery
and that imagined representations are served as supplementary memory codes for
item retrieval along with the verbal code elicited directly by words (p. 159). In
other words, we can conclude that this dual coding of information which is based
on a single input representation is more likely to occur for pictures instead of
words. This picture-superiority effect is also supported by Baggett’s bushiness
hypothesis. As cited in Zheng (2008, p. 72), Baggett states, “knowledge acquired
from visual rather than verbal external representations will be better accessible in
a memory because the respective nodes in the memory share more associations
with other nodes in the semantic network”. From this statement, visual concepts
are considered bushier than verbal concepts and more salient in the memory.
Moreover, this theory is also in line with Anderson and Bower (1973); he states
that memories for some verbal information is enhanced if a relevant visual is also
presented or if the learners can imagine a visual image to go along with the verbal
information. Likewise, visual information can often be enhanced when it is paired
with relevant verbal information, whether real-world or imagined”. Therefore, we
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can conclude that the existence of visual and verbal representations together may
be suited to enhance the information retention in the memory.
2.1.6 A Compare and Contrast Strategy
Comparing and contrasting methods will put students at ease to
differentiate and understand any given materials. There are many benefits that can
be acquired through this teaching method. Silver (2010, p. 7) has mentioned that
comparing and contrasting can strengthen students’ memories, develop higher-
order thinking skill, increase students’ comprehensions, enhance students’ writing
in the content areas, and develop students’ habits of mind.
First, a compare and contrast strategy attempts to strengthen students’
ability in remembering key contents of any information they got by focusing the
students’ thinking in analyzing pairs of ideas. Second, this strategy can develop
higher-order thinking skill since it has a role as a practical and easy-to-use
introduction to higher-order thinking. Third, a compare and contrast enhances
comprehension by highlighting any important details, making abstract ideas more
concrete, and reducing any confusion between related concepts. Fourth, the
strategy can enhance students’ writing in the content areas by providing a simple
structure that helps them to organize information and develop their ideas with
greater clarity and precision. The last, using a compare and contrast strategy in the
classroom will help students to develop five of 16 habits of mind which are:
thinking flexibly, thinking about thinking (metacognition), striving for accuracy,
applying past knowledge to new situations, and thinking and communicating with
clarity and precision. Thus, Silver’s theory of a compare and contrast strategy
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above can help the researcher to support the use of picture comparison interactive
medium as an aid in learning near-synonyms.
2.1.7 Multimedia
Mayer (2005) defines multimedia learning as an action of learning from
words (spoken or printed text) and pictures (illustrations, photos, maps, or
graphs). Further, Mayer (2009) argues that a cognitive theory of multimedia
learning centers on an idea that learners attempt to build meaningful connections
between words and pictures and that they learn more deeply than they could have
with words or pictures alone.
According to Mayer and Moreno (1998), cognitive theory of multimedia
learning is based on three assumptions. Those are dual-channel, limited capacity,
and active processing assumption. The dual-channel assumption is that the
working memory has auditory and visual channels based on Baddeley’s (1986)
theory of working memory and Paivio’s (1990) dual coding theory. Second, the
limited capacity assumption which is based on Sweller’s (1988) cognitive load
theory states that each subsystem of a working memory has a limited capacity.
The third assumption is the active processing assumption which proposes that
people could construct knowledge in a meaningful way if they pay attention to
any relevant material and organize it into a coherent material.
Optimally designed multimedia learning may help learners to reduce
cognitive loads, facilitate mental representations, and aid schema acquisition. As
what has been mentioned in Sorden (2005), Mayer (2010a) argues that meaningful
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learning from words and pictures happens when learners engage in five cognitive
processes.
The cognitive processes are selecting relevant words for processing in
verbal working memory, selecting relevant images for processing in visual
working memory, organizing selected words into a verbal model,
organizing selected images into a pictorial model, and integrating the
verbal and pictorial representations with each other and with prior
knowledge (p. 54).
These five cognitive processes later will determine which information will
be selected and which knowledge will be retrieved from the long-term memory.
Then, the information will be integrated to construct a new knowledge. The
cognitive processes will also take a part in determining which bits of the new
knowledge are transferred to the long-term memory. Knowledge which is
constructed in the working memory is transferred to the long-term memory
through the process of encoding (Mayer, as cited in Sorden, 2005).
Furthermore, Mayer (2009) identifies the following twelve multimedia
instructional principles. Those are: 1) Coherence principle: People learn better
when extraneous material is excluded rather than included; 2) Signaling principle:
People learn better when cues that highlight the organization of the essential
material are added; 3) Redundancy Principle: People learn better from graphics
and narrations than from graphics, narrations, and printed texts; 4) Spatial
Contiguity Principle: People learn better when corresponding words and pictures
are placed near each other rather than far from each other on a page or screen; 5)
Temporal Contiguity Principle: People learn better when corresponding words
and pictures are presented simultaneously rather than successively; 6) Segmenting
Principle: People learn better from a multimedia lesson which is presented in user-
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paced segments rather than as a continuous unit; 7) Pre-training Principle: People
could learn deeper from a multimedia message when they receive pre-training in
the names and characteristics of the key components; 8) Modality Principle:
People learn better from graphics and narrations than from graphics and printed
texts; 9) Multimedia Principle: People learn better from words and pictures than
from words alone; 10) Personalization Principle: People learn better from a
multimedia presentation when the words are in a conversational style rather than
in a formal style; 11) Voice Principle: People learn better when the words in a
multimedia message are spoken by friendly human voice rather than machine
voice; 12) Image Principle: People do not necessarily learn more deeply from a
multimedia presentation when the speaker’s image is on the screen rather than not
on the screen.
Despite of those principles, what is important is that the multimedia
instructional design remains focused on the concepts to be learned, rather than
trying too much to entertain. Too many appealing things may make the working
memory overloaded before the learners even get to the concept of the learning.
Mayer (2009) asserts that an effective instructional design depends on techniques
for reducing extraneous processing, managing essential processing, and fostering
generative processing.
2.1.8 Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL)
Every human comes with many differences. Those differences can be in
the matter of ethnic origins, languages, habits, or even food preferences. In
addition, almost everyone in society may not learn through the same way. Every
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individual may have his or her own learning styles and preferences that may affect
learning environments. Soo defines a learning style here as “an individual’s
natural, habitual, and preferred way(s) of absorbing, processing and retaining new
information and skills” (as cited in Egbert & Hanson-Smith, 1999, p. 290).
Further, Soo also notes that “differences learning styles among learners may affect
the learning environment by either supporting or inhibiting their intentional
cognition and active engagement” (p. 289).
A study conducted by Ehrman and Oxford (1990) reveals that more than
20 styles have been identified and every individual can have 6-14 strongly
preferred styles at the same time. These styles can be categorized into four broad
domains which are cognitive, affective, perceptual, and physiological (as cited in
Egbert & Smith-Hanson, 1990, p. 293). Perceptual domain focuses on the
different ways that learners take and give out information. According to Fleming
(2012, p. 1), there are four sensory modalities that are preferred by students to
learn information. Those are visual, aural, read or write, and kinesthetic. Visual
learners prefer to learn by using any depiction of information in videos, graphics,
pictures, charts, diagrams, posters, and any other visualization. Aural learners
prefer to learn any information which is spoken or heard. Read or write learners
have strong reverence for words. The last, kinesthetic learners are the ones who
have perceptual preferences which are related to the use of experiences and
practices. Besides, multi-modal learners can have a preference of two or more
styles of learning. They can switch or mix different modes of learning.
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Hence, helping students to learn means that we should know what the
students’ learning styles are and how to take any advantages of them. If the
teacher’s teaching style does not meet the learners’ learning styles and cannot
accommodate them, it may result in a clash which can affect the learners’ process
of learning and attitudes. Dunn, Griggs, Olson, and Beasley (1995) states that a
research on learning styles has highlighted the problem and it reveals that failing
learners did significantly better “when they were taught with strategies that
complemented their learning-style preferences” (as cited in Egbert & Hanson-
Smith, 1999, p. 289). Hence, here language teachers need to understand and take
this fact into account so that they could turn the learners’ differences causing the
clash to the learners’ advantage.
Teachers should be able to teach learners with various learning styles.
Therefore, they need to meet any approach providing the learners various means
in learning that can match the learners’ learning experiences to the learners'
learning styles. Thus, the learners can learn optimally even though they may learn
the materials differently. One of the solutions that may be approached is designing
learning activities that can address a variety of learning styles. By providing such
learning opportunities, there are more chances for the learners to develop styles
suited to their needs.
Multimedia is one of very good solutions for teachers to address their
students’ various learning styles. As cited in Egbert and Hanson-Smith (1999),
Shih and Alessi define multimedia as “a program or information environment that
uses computers to integrate texts, graphics, images, videos, and audios” (p. 299).
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According to Pennington (1996), multimedia computer can present language
games, simulations, and problem-solving activities as well. The computer-assisted
language classroom environment can be highly motivating for students of all
learning styles (as cited in Egbert & Hanson-Smith, 1999). Thus, the computer-
assisted language classroom offers a bigger market than traditional means of the
past to appeal the students more.
In a computer-assisted language classroom, there are more chances for the
teachers to develop learning means which can integrate two or more modalities of
a large number of learning styles simultaneously as what a dual coding theory
emphasizes. One single multimedia can be designed to cater several learning
styles since it may teach in auditory, visual, and kinesthetic media. In other words,
learners can learn the same content according to their individual learning style
preferences only by using one multimedia.
2.1.8.1 Computers and Classroom Atmosphere
From the previous section, we can conclude that the presence of computer-
enhanced activities may help teachers to convey learning means suited to learners’
style. However, we need to figure out how the computer use in education does
affect classroom atmospheres. Schofield’s (1995) study of computer use in a large
urban high school reveals a great number of interesting facts. As cited in Egbert
and Hanson-Smith, Schofield’s (1995) overall findings include the following:
a. The computer use in the learning enhanced the learners’ enjoyment of, interest
in, and attention to the conducted classroom activities. Finding the results,
Schofield then tried to investigate the reasons why those results occured. Then,
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he reported a research which confirmed that computers are motivating to the
extent that they can raise challenge, control, curiosity, and fantasy that allow
for personalization of one’s work.
b. The increasing computer use triggered a change in the role of the teachers from
being experts who presented information to coaches or tutors who assisted the
learners. In other words, it could turn a teacher-centered learning to a student-
centered learning. As the result, it could help the students to develop their
independent and autonomous learning.
c. In some classes, peer interaction increased when computers were used.
However, in some cases, the computer use did not have a demonstrable
influence on interaction. In others, interaction was competitive rather than
cooperative (p. 343).
To summarize, Schofield’s findings can give us some views about the
computer use in schools and other educational settings. The conclusion is that the
computer use in educational settings inevitably affects the classroom atmosphere
in varying the students’ attitude, role, and interaction. Consequently, those effects
may influence the success of the learning process.
2.1.8.2 Making the Medium of Learning in CALL
The great advantages of the computer-enhanced activities do not mean that
computers may supplant teachers. The learning media which can cater all learning
styles can be created only by designers who understand how to approach the
styles and many of those are teachers. In CALL, there are some aspects that the
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designers of learning media should consider. As cited in Egbert and Hanson-
Smith (1999), Holliday suggests that learning media should provide learners with:
a. Opportunities for any interaction to negotiate meanings.
b. Opportunities to hear or read modified comprehensible inputs.
c. Opportunities to produce or write modified comprehensible outputs.
d. Inputs that allow for a focus on target features of the second language.
e. Possibilities for any optimal feedback either in the form of self-access windows
or buttons or in the form of interaction.
f. A rich context in which the second language facilitates comprehensible input
(p. 188).
Accordingly, to make good computer-enhanced learning media, teachers’
role in being professional designers is needed. However, a question may arise
from educational settings in which we can question whether teachers are able to
cater their students’ different learning styles without any computer use. The
answer of the question is certainly yes. Yet, at this current rate of change, the
world of technology has been developing by the time. Education institutions are
expected to keep up with this rate of change. People will always need an
innovative approach which can ease their life. Another way of saying, people may
tend to choose any developed technology which is versatile instead of any
traditional means. Regarding to the educational settings, Bradin supports this idea
by stating that in time computers will permeate all aspects of teaching and
learning, and although “computers will not replace teachers, teachers who use
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computers will inevitably replace teachers who do not" (as cited in Egbert &
Hanson-Smith, 1999 p. 300).
2.1.9 Relevant Previous Studies
There are several previous studies which are also relevant with the topic of
this study. The first study came from Sarjono (2008). She made a study about the
mastery of synonymous words. Other previous research which has the similar
topic to this current paper came from Putera (2011). His paper was about using
pictures in enriching vocabulary.
The two studies above include the similar aspects of the topic of this study
which are about the mastery of synonymous words and the use of pictures to
enrich students’ vocabulary. However, in this study, the researcher tries to bring
up certain learning aid which is a picture comparison interactive medium to
improve students’ mastery in synonymous words. By applying the medium, the
researcher includes four new aspects which are the theory of dual coding, compare
and contrast strategy, computer assisted language learning, and multimedia.
2.2 Theoretical Framework
In learning English as a Second Language and English as a Foreign
Language, mastering the vocabulary has a vital role in all language skills (Nation,
2011). For students’ significance, teachers are supposed to realize that good
vocabulary mastery in students must be developed since this aspect will help them
to enhance other skills. Students need to have more time to learn vocabularies.
However, there are many factors that might make the students lose their interest in
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learning vocabulary. One of the factors is that the tendency that teachers cannot
cater the students’ learning preferences. In fact, as cited in Egbert and Hanson-
Smith (1999), Dunn et al. (1995) found out that failing students could do better
significantly when they were taught with strategies suited their learning
preferences.
Concerning the importance of vocabulary mastery for students, acquiring
synonyms in English is also important in the acquisition. In this study, the
researcher proposed a picture comparison interactive medium to be administered
in learning activities. This research aims to investigate to what extent a picture
comparison interactive medium can be a learning aid in fostering students’ in
synonyms, especially near-synonyms.
To conduct this study, the researcher implemented an experimental
research to figure out the causality of a picture comparison interactive medium.
The researcher adhered to the criteria and steps of true experimental research. In
so doing, the researcher assigned the research subjects to control and experimental
group then deliberately controlled and manipulated the conditions of every group
(Cohen et al., 2007). After that, the researcher could find out any effects of the
treatments.
The description of near-synonyms proposed by Lyons (1995) was used as
a basis for the selection of the pairs of near-synonyms that would be the materials
in the lesson. Fourteen pairs of near-synonyms were selected in this study. Those
selected words were regarded as near-synonyms since they were more or less
similar, but not identical in meaning.
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Since the aim of the study was to measure the students’ mastery in near-
synonyms after the implementation of certain treatments, the students were asked
to do some tests. The tests required the students to choose between two
synonymous words and determine which word was suitable to complete the
sentences based on the context. The results of the tests were used to show the
students’ level of mastery in using near-synonyms.
Theories of visualizations proposed by Levie and Lentz (1982) and Levin
et al. (1987) were used to identify how the presence of any illustrations in the
implemented learning media. Then, the theory of dual coding by Paivio (1971)
and multimedia by Mayer (2005) gave the elaboration of the influence from
verbal and nonverbal information occurring in the learning medium. Theory of
compare and contrast strategy proposed by Silver (2010) came as a basis to
analyze why and how this kind of strategy gave certain impacts to the students’
mastery in near-synonyms. Further, the study of computer assisted language
learning by Schofield (1995) and Holliday (1999) gave some views about how the
computer use could bring certain atmosphere in the learning processes.
All of the theories gave the basic views which were relevant to this
research. Those theories helped the researcher to analyze any effect of a picture
comparison interactive medium implementation. Then, it helped the researcher to
answer the question of to what extent a picture comparison interactive medium
can improve students’ mastery in near-synonyms.
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CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
In this chapter, the researcher presents a methodology used to conduct this
study. This chapter discusses the methodology systematically. The discussion
includes research methodology, research setting, research participants, research
instruments and data gathering technique, and data analysis technique.
3.1 Research Method
In conducting and organizing procedures of a study, choosing an
appropriate methodology is needed so that a researcher can answer questions of
the study. In this research, the researcher wanted to answer the question of to what
extent a picture comparison interactive medium can improve students’ vocabulary
mastery in near-synonyms particularly. Based on the problem, an experimental
research was considered to be the most appropriate methodology in conducting
this study. As cited in Cohen et al. (2007), Smith (1991) claims that it is the only
method that directly concerns with causality. The essential feature of an
experimental research is that researchers deliberately control and manipulate the
conditions, conduct certain interventions, and then assess the differences of the
results. This method conducts independent variables as the input and dependent
variables as the outcome of the research.
In conducting this study, the researcher adhered to the procedure of an
experimental research. The steps are as follows:
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1. Assigning subjects to two matched groups
The participants of the research were students of X MIA 2 and X MIA 5.
In the first step, the researcher randomly assigned the samples of the study. Both
classes were then assigned to two groups. X MIA 2 was assigned to an
experimental group, whereas X MIA 5 was assigned to a control group.
2. Conducting a pre-test 1
In this step, the researcher observed the students’ mastery in near-
synonyms. The researcher observed it by employing a pre-test to both
experimental and control group. The test was used to measure the students’
mastery in differentiating and using near-synonyms. By conducting this
instrument, the researcher tried to find out whether the students had any problems
in mastering near-synonyms.
3. Conducting an intervention and observation
This was the most crucial step in this study. Basically, the intervention
employed in both groups had the same time allocation and materials which
discussed 7 pairs of near-synonyms. However, the researcher administered
different learning media to each group. For the experimental group, the researcher
implemented a picture comparison interactive medium as the learning aid to learn
the materials. Below are the examples of a picture comparison interactive medium
implemented in the experimental group.
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Figure 3.1 Examples of a Picture Comparison Interactive Medium
Despite the different media implemented in every group, the researcher
endeavored to raise fairness between the two different groups. Therefore, the
researcher attempted to use a learning medium which might also have any
potential in maintaining students’ concentration and motivation in the control
group. In so doing, the researcher administered PowerPoint slides to the control
group. The slides had fewer pictures and did not directly compare the 7 pairs of
near-synonyms side by side as what a picture comparison interactive medium did.
Below are the examples of PowerPoint slides implemented in the control group.
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Wedding/ˈwed.ɪŋ/
• It is a noun.
• It refers to the occasion (the ceremony) of getting married.
1. They haven’ t yet settled w hen the
w edding is going to be.
2. You are invited to my w edding.
Marriage/ˈmer.ɪdʒ/
• It is a noun.
• It usually refers to the state/relationship of being married.
They have a long and
happy marriage.
Figure 3.2 Examples of PowerPoint Slides
The implementation of both learning media was paid attention. The
researcher prepared lesson plans, learning media, and any other instruments
needed for learning process. While the researcher was implementing the learning
media, she asked her classmate to be an observer who helped her to observe the
classroom interactions, classroom events, and students’ attitude occurred during
the implementation of the learning media. Then, the observation filled in the
observation sheets that have been prepared before.
4. Conducting a post-test 1, another cycle of intervention, and interviews
The researcher assessed whether the learning media have successfully
improved the students’ mastery in near-synonyms by administering a post-test.
However, within the research, the researcher realized that there were some hidden
factors which might influence the results of the research. The hidden factors might
be the different setting, time, and inner motivation in every student. Campbell,
Stanley, and Gage (1963) figured out that there are any internal and external
factors which may influence results of a research. In other words, those factors
may become threats towards the validity of the research results. To avoid such
problem, the researcher decided to conduct one more cycle consisting of a pre-test
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2, intervention, and post-test 2 towards both experimental and control group. The
intervention in the second session was same as the previous session in which a
picture comparison interactive medium was implemented in the experimental
group and PowerPoint slides were used in the control group. With the same time
allocation as in the first session, the learning material in the second session also
consisted of 7 pairs of near-synonyms. After the second session of intervention,
the researcher revealed the students’ opinion towards the materials and learning
media implemented in their class by interviewing some representatives of the
students.
5. Evaluating and reflecting the results
In this step, the researcher reflected everything that happened during the
implementation of the learning media. The researcher compared the results of the
pre-tests and post-tests, summarized all of the observation and interview results,
and then interpreted all of the collected data. After that, the researcher could
figure out the answers of the problem question.
3.2 Research Setting
This study was conducted at SMA Negeri 7 Yogyakarta. This school is
located in Jl. MT Haryono No. 47 Suryodiningratan, Mantrijeron, Yogyakarta.
SMA Negeri 7 Yogyakarta is one of state senior high schools in Yogyakarta
which had lots of achievements.
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3.3 Research Participant
The participants of this study were the students of the tenth grade in SMA
Negeri 7 Yogyakarta. There were eight classes of tenth grade consisting of 34
students in six of the classes, 27 students in one of the classes, and 32 students in
one of the classes; however, the researcher randomly chose two classes (X MIA 2
and X MIA 5) as the sample of the study. On the day when the research was
conducted, there were 26 students who were present at X MIA 2 and 28 students
were present at X MIA 5.
To get more comprehensive information about this study, the researcher
also chose 10 students from every class to be interviewed. Based on what has
been observed by the researcher during her pre-service teacher preparation
programme in the classes, the students from both experimental and control group
were considered having good basic mastery in English vocabulary. However,
most of them faced some difficulties in differentiating and using near-synonyms
in contexts.
3.4 Instruments and Data Gathering Technique
This section will discuss all instruments that were administered to obtain
the data for this study as well as the technique used by the researcher to gather the
data. There were three instruments used to collect the data needed for this
research. They were vocabulary tests, observation sheets, and interviews. In the
data gathering technique, the researcher will explain how to use the instruments in
collecting the data.
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3.4.1 Instruments
As explained before, the researcher used vocabulary tests, observation
sheets, and interviews as the instruments in this research. In conducting the
observation, the researcher used observation sheets to observe the students’
attitude during the tests and learning processes. Then, the vocabulary tests
consisting of pre-tests and post-tests were administered to measure whether the
learning media were successful in fostering the students' near-synonym mastery.
The last instrument was interviews which were aimed to get more comprehensive
information from the participants of this study. The researcher interviewed 20
students as the representatives of the participants. The researcher explained more
how the instruments were used in the data gathering technique section.
3.4.1.1 Tests
In this study, this instrument helped the researcher to measure the students’
improvement in their vocabulary mastery. Hence, the researcher administered two
kinds of tests. They were pre-test and post-test. The pre-test was aimed to measure
the participants’ mastery in using and differentiating near-synonyms before the
implementation of the learning media. This kind of instrument enabled the
researcher to figure out whether the participants faced any problems in
understanding and using near-synonyms. After the implementation of the learning
media, the post-test was employed to know whether the learning media could
successfully help the students in mastering the vocabulary.
Fourteen pairs of near-synonyms were selected in this study. For the first
session, the set of the near-synonym pairs were hear-listen, see-look at, look at-
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watch, wedding-marriage, complicated-complex, increase-raise, and govern-rule.
Then, in the second session, the set of the near-synonym pairs were taste-flavor,
live-stay, gather-collect, forecast-predict, shy-embarrassed, exhibition-show, and
soft-smooth. The following tables contain definitions of the fourteen near-
synonym pairs. In the tables, the researcher is going to write Cambridge to refer to
Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2008) and Oxford to refer to Oxford
Learner’s Pocket Thesaurus (2010).
Table 3.1 The Description of Near-synonyms in the First Session
Pairs of Near-
synonyms
Definitions and Subtle
Differences Examples
1) Hear – Listen
Hear
To receive or become
conscious of a sound using
your ears (Cambridge)
Listen
It refers to an action to give
attention to someone or
something in order to hear
them (Cambridge).
(1) I heard someone
calling my name
(Cambridge)
(2) What kind of music
do you listen to
(Cambridge)?
2) See – Look at See
To be conscious of what is
around you by using your
eyes (Cambridge)
Look at
To direct your eyes in order
to see (Cambridge)
(1) Jacqui saw the car
drive up outside the
police station
(Cambridge).
(2) She looked at me
and smiled (Oxford).
3) Look at – Watch Look At
To direct your eyes in order
to see (the objects are
usually static) (Cambridge)
(1) They looked at the
picture and laughed
(Cambridge).
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Pairs of Near-
synonyms
Definitions and Subtle
Differences Examples
Watch
To look at something for a
period of time, especially
something that is changing
or moving (Cambridge)
(2) I had dinner and
watched television
for a couple of hours
(Cambridge).
4) Wedding –
Marriage Wedding
It refers to the occasion (the
ceremony) of getting
married (Oxford).
Marriage
It usually refers to the state
or relationship of being
married (Oxford).
(1) We were invited to
my cousin’s wedding
(Oxford).
(2) They had a long and
happy marriage
(Oxford).
5) Complicated –
Complex Complicated
It is used more to describe
everyday situations
(Oxford).
Complex
It is often to describe
academic, scientific or
technical issues, especially
in written English (Oxford).
(1) The instructions look
very complicated
(Oxford).
(2) A complex
mathematical formula
(Oxford).
6) Increase – Raise Increase
To make something become
larger in amount/size. It is
used slightly more often
about numbers, prices,
figures (Oxford).
Raise
To make something become
larger in amount or size. It
is used often about feelings
and qualities (Oxford)
(1) They have increased
the price by 50%
(Oxford).
(2) Our little chat has
raised my spirits
(Cambridge).
7) Govern – Rule Govern
The subjects are elected
parties or governments
(Oxford).
(1) The Liberals had
governed the country
for 11 years (Oxford).
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Pairs of Near-
synonyms
Definitions and Subtle
Differences Examples
Rule
The subjects are nonelected
groups or individuals such
as kings, queens and
dictators (Oxford).
(2) Most modern kings
and queens rule their
countries only in a
formal way, without
real power
(Cambridge).
Table 3.2 The Description of Near-synonyms in the Second Session
Pairs of Near-
synonyms
Definitions and Subtle
Differences Examples
1) Taste – Flavor Taste
We use this word for food
you can find in nature
(Oxford).
Flavor
We use this word for food
that has been created by
somebody (Oxford).
(1) I do not like the
taste of olives
(Oxford).
(2) Which flavor of ice
cream would you
like (Oxford)?
2) Live – Stay Live
To have a home somewhere
or be a permanent resident
of a place (Cambridge)
Stay
To live or be in a place for a
short time as a visitor
(Cambridge)
(1) We live in London
(Cambridge).
(2) I stayed in Montreal
for two weeks then
flew home
(Cambridge).
3) Gather – Collect Gather
When talking about things,
we use this verb to talk
about things, belongings or
papers when things are
spread around within a short
distance (Oxford).
Collect
When talking about things,
we use this verb to talk
(1) They gathered their
belongings and left
(Oxford).
(2) A large crowd of
reporters collected
outside the Prime
Minister’s house
(Cambridge).
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Pairs of Near-
synonyms
Definitions and Subtle
Differences Examples
about getting examples of
something from different
people or places (Oxford).
4) Forecast – Predict
Forecast
To say what you expect to
happen in the future based
on the information available
and often using scientific
methods (Oxford)
Predict
To say that an event or
action will happen in the
future. It is usually based on
the information available,
opinions or magical powers
(Oxford).
(1) Snow is forecast for
tomorrow (Oxford).
(2) Who could have
predicted that within
ten years he would
be in charge of the
whole company
(Cambridge)?
5) Shy – Embarrassed Shy
To describe someone’s
personality or character of
being nervous and
uncomfortable with other
people (Cambridge)
Embarrassed
To describe the feeling that
someone has in a social
situation when that person
feels ashamed because of a
socially unaccepted event
(Cambridge)
(1) Children are often
shy with people they
do not know
(Cambridge).
(2) I was too
embarrassed to
admit that I was
scared (Cambridge).
6) Exhibition - Show Exhibition
When objects such as
paintings are shown to the
public, or when someone
shows a particular skill or
quality to the public. It
usually contains works of
art or items of cultural or
scientific interest that may
(1) The photographs
will be on the
exhibition until the
end of the month
(Cambridge).
(2) They hold a fashion
show twice a year
(Oxford).
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Pairs of Near-
synonyms
Definitions and Subtle
Differences Examples
be on display for a long time
(Oxford).
Show
An event which a group of
related things are available
for the public to look at. It is
a more general word and
usually refers to a temporary
event (Oxford).
7) Soft – Smooth Soft
Not hard or rough and feel
pleasant to touch
(Cambridge)
Smooth
Having a surface that is
perfectly regular and no
holes or lumps (Cambridge)
(1) A soft pillow
(Cambridge).
(2) The road ahead was
flat and smooth
(Cambridge).
3.4.1.1.1 Validity
As the researcher employed tests as the instruments to obtain the data, it
was necessary to determine the validity of the tests. This technique aimed to
measure how accurate and consistent the tests would be as one of the instruments
to collect the data. With regard to validity, we can note that the administered tests
in this research ensure adequate content, construct, and face validity.
a. Content Validity
Cohen et al. (2007) asserts that a test has content validity if the content of
the tests covers any relevant field of what is meant to be concerned. Since the
purpose of the tests administered in this research was to measure the students’
mastery in near-synonyms; therefore, the test contents included only near-
synonyms and nothing else. The items in the tests required the students to choose
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between pairs of near-synonyms and determine which word was suitable to
complete the sentences based the contexts. Table 3.3 and 3.4 below depict the
distribution of items in the tests.
Table 3.3 The Distribution of Items in the First Session Tests
No. Pair of Near-synonyms Test Item Number
Pre-test 1 Post-test 1
1. Hear – Listen 6 9
2. See – Look at 7 3
3. Look at – Watch 3 7
4. Wedding – Marriage 1 4
5. Complicated – Complex 5, 9 2, 10
6. Increase – Raise 2, 8 1, 6
7. Govern – Rule 4, 10 5, 8
Table 3.4 The Distribution of Items in the Second Session Tests
No. Pair of Near-synonyms Test Item Number
Pre-test 2 Post-test 2
1. Taste – Flavor 2, 6 1, 6
2. Live – Stay 3 4
3. Gather – Collect 4, 7 7, 8
4. Forecast – Predict 9 5, 9
5. Shy – Embarrassed 8 3
6. Exhibition – Show 5, 10 10
7. Soft – Smooth 1 2
The tables show that there were seven pairs of near-synonyms in each session.
Further, it is apparent that all presented items were near-synonyms. Thus, it can be
concluded that the tests fulfilled the content validity.
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b. Construct Validity
Cohen et al. (2007) asserts that construct validity is achieved by ensuring
that performance on the test is fairly explained by particular appropriate constructs
or concepts. A test should measure the ability which is intended to be measured.
In this research, the tests were intended to measure the students’ mastery in near-
synonyms. Therefore, the researcher administered tests which required the
students to choose between two synonymous words and determine which word
was suitable to complete the sentences based on the contexts. Since the tests
measured the students’ ability in using near-synonyms, it could be concluded that
the tests fulfilled construct validity.
c. Face Validity
Cohen et al. (2007) affirms that a test is said to have face validity if it
appears to measure what it is designed to test. To ensure that this research had
face validity, the researcher showed the tests to the supervisor and asked her
comments about them in relation to the format and validity. The researcher
revised the tests after getting some comments and suggestions.
3.4.1.2 Observation Sheets
Observation sheets were the recorder of the study when the researcher was
implementing the interventions. Through this instrument, the researcher
conducted observation towards classroom interactions and events during the
treatments. Besides, this instrument helped the researcher to focus on some
aspects of the students’ attitude such as their positive body language, consistent
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focus, verbal participation, confidence, fun and excitement, engagement question,
and role.
In the observation sheet form, there were three engagement levels of every
aspect. Those were very high, high, medium, low, and very low. Very high level
meant that more than seventy five percent of the student total number exhibited a
particular aspect. High level referred to the condition when more than half of the
student total number exhibited a particular aspect. Then, medium level meant that
half of the student total number showed a particular aspect. Low meant that less
than half of the student total number did not exhibit a particular aspect. The last,
very low level referred to the condition when more than seventy five percent of
the student total number did not exhibit a particular aspect. By observing the
students’ engagement level in the learning process, the researcher could evaluate
the implementation of the learning media.
3.4.1.3 Interviews
The use of interviews was to collect any information for this study by
asking the representatives of the students’ about their perspective of certain topics
or issues. According to Kvale (1996), the use of interviews in a research marks a
move away from seeing human subjects as simply manipulable and data as
somehow external to individuals, and towards regarding knowledge as generated
between humans, often through conversations (as cited in Cohen et al., 2007).
In this study, the interviews were done towards 10 representatives from
every group. The researcher made an appointment with the representative students
after the classes were over. Then, after gathering the students, the interviews were
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conducted in focus group discussions. By conducting the interviews, the
researcher expected to be able to obtain the students’ opinion towards the
implementation of the learning media.
3.4.2 Data Gathering Technique
In this part, the researcher explains how to use the instruments in gathering
the data. The data were collected from the beginning of the research until the end
of the research. As explained, there were three instruments used by the researcher
to obtain the needed data.
The first instrument was tests. A pre-test was conducted before the
implementation of the learning media. Through this instrument, the researcher
figured out whether the students had any problems in mastering near-synonyms.
However, a post-test was administered after the implementation of the learning
media so that the researcher knew whether the learning media could improve the
students’ mastery in near-synonyms.
The second instrument was observation sheets. During the implementation
of the learning media, the researcher observed the classroom interactions,
classroom events, and students’ attitude and then filled in the observation sheets.
This instrument eased the researcher to record any dynamics of the learning
process during the implementation of the learning media.
The last, interviews were conducted after the implementation of the
learning media. The interviews were done towards 10 representative students of
every class. Through the interviews, the researcher wanted to obtain more
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comprehensive information about the students’ opinion towards the
implementation of the learning media.
3.5 Data Analysis Technique
After obtaining all of the data needed in this study, the researcher then
analyzed the data. In analyzing it, the researcher adapted steps proposed by Burns.
As cited in Murdani (2011), Burns (2001) suggests five steps in analyzing a
research which were:
1. Assembling the data
In the first step, the researcher collected any needed data for this research.
The main data were obtained from the tests. After that, the researcher collected
any supporting data from the observation sheets and interviews.
2. Coding the data
After gathering the data, the researcher coded all of the data. The
researcher started to organize the data into some patterns. Those patterns would
ease the researcher to identify the results later.
3. Comparing the data
A paired samples t-test was used to test the significance between the mean
scores of the experimental group students’ pre-test 1 and post-test 1. To test
whether the similar result happened in the second session, the paired samples t-
test was also used to test the significance between the mean scores of the
experimental group students’ pre-test 2 and post-test 2. After assessing the
significance of the experimental group’ results, the mean scores of the control
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group students’ pre-test 1 and post-test 1 were examined by using the paired
samples t-test. Further, the mean scores of the control group students’ pre-test 2
and post-test 2 were also tested by the t-test to see whether there was a significant
difference between the scores in the second session. If the p-value or the
significant of the results was less than 0.05, we could conclude that there was a
significant difference between the pre-tests and post-tests.
After seeing the significance of the results, the researcher compared the
mean scores of the pre-tests and post-tests to figure out the mean gain in each
session. Then, the researcher compared the experimental group’s mean gain with
the control group’s mean gain in both first and second session to see which group
had the more significant one. The null hypothesis states that there is no significant
difference in the extent a picture comparison interactive medium can improve
synonym mastery of the tenth grade students of SMA Negeri 7 Yogyakarta
compared to Powerpoint slides. On the other hand, the alternative hypothesis
states that a picture comparison interactive medium can significantly improve
synonym mastery of the tenth grade students of SMA Negeri 7 Yogyakarta more
than Powerpoint slides. Then, the results of the observation and interviews were
used to support the finding.
Figure 3.3 Research Hypotheses
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4. Building interpretation
From the previous steps, the researcher started to make a conclusion from
the data. The coded and compared data were used to formulate a certain meaning.
Then, the researcher interpreted the meaning why the certain pattern in the study
happened.
5. Reporting the outcome
After doing the four steps above, then the researcher touched the final
stage. The interpretation made in the fourth step would help the researcher to
answer the research question. Then, the researcher presented the report of this
study in this final stage.
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CHAPTER IV
RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
This chapter presents the research results and the answers to the problems
formulated in this research. This chapter consists of two main sections. The first
section presents the results of the research. The second section deals with the
discussion of the findings.
4.1 The Results
This result section will be divided into three sections. The first is the
results of the tests. The second is the results of the observation sheets. The last is
the results of the interviews.
4.1.1 The Results of the Tests
In this section, the researcher presents the mean scores of the formative
tests administered in the first and second session. The researcher tried to examine
and compare the increasing mean scores of every group to analyze how the
learning media affect the students’ performances. The researcher provides the data
in the form of charts.
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Figure 4.1 The Comparison of Experimental and Control Group’s Pre-test
and Post-test: Session 1
In the first session vocabulary test results, there was a significant
difference between the mean gain of the experimental and control group. In this
session, the mean score of the students in the experimental group increases from
60.36 to 95.71. It means that there was a significant increase of the mean score
which is 35.35. The same as the experimental group, the mean score of the
students in the control group also has an increase from 63.85 to 94.23. It means
that there was an increase in the mean score which is 30.38. Yet, being compared
to the experimental group, the mean score does not increase as high as the
experimental group’s increase.
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Figure 4.2 The Comparison of Experimental and Control Group’s Pre-test and Post-
test: Session 2
Similarly, there was a significant difference between the mean gain of the
experimental and control group in the second session. From the experimental
group, the mean score increases from 57.86 to 97.5 which means that the group
encounters 39.64 as the increase. The same as the experimental group, the mean
score of the students in the control group encounters an increase as well from
48.08 to 83.46. That means that mean gain of the control group’s mean score is
not as high as the experimental group’s increase which is only 35.38.
In spite of the mean gain comparisons indicating that the experimental
group’s students showed the better performance compared to the control group’s
students, the researcher also presents a test of significance to analyze the test
results. The researcher used paired samples t-test to compare the results of the
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experimental and control group pre-tests and post-tests. The results of the t-test
came as follow:
Table 4.1 The Result of Experimental Group’s Pre-test and Post-test: Session 1
Table 4.2 The Result of Experimental Group’s Pre-test and Post-test: Session 2
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From the experimental group, there was a significant difference in the
scores of the pre-test 1 (M=60.36, SD=17.947) and post-test 1 (M=95.71,
SD=6.901); t(27)=-9.489, p=0.000. Looking at the p-value which was less than
0.05, this result confirms that a picture comparison interactive medium did
enhance the students’ performance in doing the vocabulary tests in the first
session. In order to verify the effect of the medium towards the students’
performance, the researcher conducted a second session towards the experimental
group. From the second session, there was also a significant difference in the
scores of the pre-test 2 (M=57.86, SD=18.127) and post-test 2 (M=97.50,
SD=5.182); t (27)=-11.967, p=0.000. The p-value which was less than 0.05
confirms that a picture comparison interactive medium did help the students’ to
increase their understanding about near-synonyms.
Table 4.3 The Result of Control Group’s Pre-test and Post-test: Session 1
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Table 4.4 The Result of Control Group’s Pre-test and Post-test: Session 2
Whilst, the good news is that applying PowerPoint slides with less pictures
and no direct comparison between near-synonyms could promote the students’
performance as well. From the control group, there was a significant difference in
the scores of the pre-test 1 (M=63.85, SD=15.768) and post-test 1 (M=94.23,
SD=9.454); t (25)=-7.634, p=0.000. The p-value which was less than 0.05 reveals
that another treatment which used PowerPoint slides did enhance the students’
performance in doing the vocabulary tests in the first session.
The results of the second session exhibit the similar fact. There was also a
significant difference in the scores of the control group pre-test 2 (M=48.08,
SD=14.972) and post-test 2 (M=83.46, SD=12.944); t(25)=-9.816, p=0.000. Thus,
we can conclude that both picture comparison interactive medium and PowerPoint
slides could help the students’ to promote their understanding about near-
synonyms.
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4.1.2 The Results of the Observation
The results of the observation show that there were some different
conditions occurred between the experimental and control group’ learning
process. The observant has already observed several aspects of the students’
attitude. Those are students’ positive body language, consistent focus, verbal
participation, confidence, fun and excitement, engagement question, and role
during the learning process. Below are the results of the observation.
Table 4.5 The Results of the Observation Sheets
Aspects Engagement Level
Experimental Group Control Group
Students’ Positive Body
Language Very High Very High
Students’ Consistent
Focus High Medium
Students’ Verbal
Participation High Very Low
Students’ Confidence Very High Very High
Students’ Fun and
Excitement High Low
Students’ Engagement
Question Medium Medium
Students’ Role Very High Low
Concerning the students’ positive body language during the learning
process in the experimental and control group, there were same conditions
occurred. In the experimental and control group, all of the students’ body postures
indicated that they focused on the learning activities. However, there were
different conditions occurred in the groups regarding to the students’ consistent
focus aspect. In the beginning of the lesson, some of the students in the
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experimental group used an internet access provided in the computers to browse
any other things which were irrelevant to the learning materials. Despite the
misbehavior, almost all of the students started to focus on the learning activities
with minimum disruptions as the teacher began the class. In the control group,
whereas, the students focused on the learning activities, sometimes half of the
students’ total number was busy talking to their friends. The teacher needed to
give more attention to groups of students who tended to misbehave during the
learning activities.
In the matter of the students’ participation during the class, most of the
students in the experimental group could express their thoughtful ideas, reflective
answers, and questions relevant to the learning. Contrary with that situation,
almost all of the students in the control group did not express any idea, answer, or
question relevant to the learning materials. They tended to respond the teacher’s
probing questions with jokes. However, the students in both experimental and
control group showed a very high level in the students’ confidence aspect. All of
them could complete the given tasks with limited prompting and work efficiently.
Moreover, it was also indicated that they felt comfortable in seeking any help and
asking questions. Nevertheless, that situation did not often occur during the
learning activities.
Learning activities without any excitement would be boring. That is why
the observant also observed the students’ fun and excitement during the learning
process. In the experimental group, the students’ fun and excitement level was
considered high. More than half of the students’ total number looked very
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interested in using the picture comparison interactive medium. They focused on
operating the medium with or without the teacher’s guidance. The different
condition happened in the control group. The students’ fun and excitement level
in the control group could only be considered low. In spite of some students of the
control group which looked enthusiast during the learning process, all of the
students complained and asked the teacher to show any movie for them.
The last aspect is the students’ role in the learning process. The students’
role during the learning activities in the experimental group was in a very high
level since all of the students needed to operate the medium actively. In the
control group, in contrast, the learning process tended to be teacher-centered by
using PowerPoint slides.
Thus, the observation resulted the finding that there were some different
situations occurred in the experimental and control group during the learning
process. The different level of the students’ engagement occurred in the students’
consistent focus, verbal participation, fun and excitement, and role aspect.
4.1.3 The Results of the Interviews
To discover the contribution of a picture comparison interactive medium to
the students’ learning, it is not enough to infer from how were the result tests and
students’ behavior during the learning process. The researcher also needed to take
account of the interview results in order to figure out the students’ perception
towards any difficulties in mastering near-synonyms, media used to teach them,
and media they wanted to have. The following table is the summary of the
interviews.
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Table 4.6 The Results of the Interviews
Experimental Group Control Group
The experimental and control group students considered English to be one of
difficult subjects they had.
Most of the students stated that they had not mastered lots of vocabularies.
All of the students admitted that they had a lot of difficulties in distinguishing
near-synonyms.
The students considered that the
learning aid (a picture comparison
interactive medium) played a
significant role in helping them to
understand the near-synonyms.
The students considered that the
learning aid (PowerPoint slides) could
help them to learn the near-synonyms.
The students liked the medium (a
picture comparison interactive medium)
because it was appealing, attractive,
interactive, and easy to be understood.
The students considered the learning
aid (PowerPoint slides) good and easy
to be understood but they wanted more
pictures and colors on it.
Some of the students suggested that the
teacher should have compared the pairs
of the near-synonyms side by side in
one slide.
The students preferred to learn English by using any visual and kinesthetic
elements as the means.
The experimental and control group students argued that English was one
of difficult subjects they had at the school. It was because they needed to have a
lot of vocabularies to learn in order to support their skills in English. However,
most of them admitted that they did not like studying vocabulary because it was
burdensome. They used to study English vocabulary by memorizing the words
one by one and translating them into their first language without figuring out
deeper understanding of the words. Studying vocabulary in such method tended to
make them feel bored. Moreover, they said that their retention towards the
vocabularies had been memorized was bad. Therefore, most of the students stated
that they had not mastered lots of vocabularies.
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Concerning the difficulties they might have in mastering near-synonyms,
all of the students admitted that they faced problems in answering the questions in
the pretest 1 and pretest 2. They said that they had not studied near-synonyms
before so that they faced a lot of difficulties in differentiating one word and the
others. Consequently, they might not be able to show a satisfying performance in
answering the tests.
From the experimental class, all of the interviewed students admitted that
they liked the picture comparison interactive medium. They considered the
medium appealing and attractive so that they were interested to study near-
synonyms. It was because the design was colorful and contained a lot of pictures.
Moreover, the medium was interactive enough because it required the students to
operate the medium by themselves. Through this way, the students could position
themselves as active subjects in learning the materials by figuring out the answers
of the provided questions from the medium. Hence, it could trigger the students to
feel challenged in mastering the materials. The result was they could foster their
understanding about near-synonyms. They used to learn vocabularies by being
passive subjects who directly looked for any difficult vocabularies on any
dictionary without trying to stimulate their critical thinking first. Besides, they
argued that reading a dictionary could easily make them feel bored and burdened.
By bringing an appealing design to the medium, the researcher
successfully raised the students’ enjoyment during the learning process.
Moreover, the medium could help the researcher to maintain the students’ interest
until the learning process was over. The interviewed students stated that the
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medium was creative and fascinating so that they could enjoy the learning process
without having the tendency of getting bored or sleepy. Thus, the students did not
feel that learning near-synonyms was burdensome.
Concerning the other advantages of the medium, the students felt that the
medium has played a significant role in helping them to understand near-
synonyms faster. Most students argued that learning by using the medium could
make them understand the vocabularies better than reading from a dictionary or
being explained orally. By the presence of lots of illustrations on the medium, the
students were helped to imagine and bring the words in the real word contexts.
Evenmore, some of the students stated that the existence of the illustration could
ease them in recalling the explanation of the materials. Further, through
presenting the brief and clear explanation of each synonym side by side, the
students can be put at ease to analyze any subtle differences between one word
and the other similar words.
From the result of the interview, the researcher could conclude that the
picture comparison interactive medium could facilitate the students’ learning
process in much better ways. We could see that through digging out the students’
perception towards the medium, they considered the medium interesting,
interactive, and easy to be understood. It is also supported by the students’
statements that they wanted to use such kind of learning aid in the next lesson. In
addition, some of the students suggested that the researcher should add any
auditory element such as audio pronunciations of the near-synonyms on the
medium.
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For the students in the control group, they considered the PowerPoint
slides used in their class good and easy to be understood. However, they
suggested that the teacher modify the learning aid with more pictures and any
colorful design. They argued that any additional pictures or colors on the medium
might boost their interest in learning the materials. In addition, some of the
students argued that it was better for the teacher to compare the pairs of the near-
synonyms side by side in one slide so that it would be easier for the students to
analyze any subtle differences of the near-synonyms.
The last interview question was about the learning media the students want
and need in learning. All of the students both in the experimental and control
group stated that they wanted to learn materials by using any movies, short
videos, pictures, or games. We can conclude that they preferred to learn by using
any visual and kinesthetic element as the means.
4.2 Discussion
In terms of the students’ understanding in mastering the materials, the
researcher could say it was improved. It was shown by the students’ achievement
in the formative evaluations which were the post-test 1 and post-test 2. From the
results of the pre-tests, we can indicate that the students had not mastered the use
of near-synonyms before. It is proved by the pre-test results showing that most of
the students could not achieve the minimum mastery criterion in their marks
which was 75. Moreover, the results of the interviews revealed that the students
faced several problems in answering the pre-tests’ questions. They added the fact
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that they did not aware the importance of mastering near-synonyms before.
Therefore, they faced a lot of difficulties in distinguishing one similar word and
the others.
Based on the paired samples t-test results, the control and experimental
group had significant increases in the post-test 1 and post-test 2 with p-values
which were less than 0.05. It means that both learning media successfully helped
the students to improve their near-synonym mastery. However, we can see from
Figure 4.1 and 4.2 that the mean gain of the students’ post-test 1 and post-test 2
results in the experimental group was higher than the mean gain of the students’
post-test 1 and post-test 2 results in the control group. It indicates that the use of
the picture comparison interactive medium could help the students to learn the
materials better than the PowerPoint slides.
The more significant mean gain of the students in the experimental group
indicates that the use of the picture comparison interactive medium successfully
helped the students to foster their understanding about near-synonyms. The
researcher tried to link-up this result with Paivio’s dual coding theory. As what
Paivio proposes (1986, p. 53), “Human cognition is unique in that it has become
specialized for dealing simultaneously with languages and with nonverbal objects
and events”. In a picture comparison interactive medium, the researcher applied
the theory of dual coding by integrating the explanation of near-synonyms in the
form of texts with some illustrations which could depict the near-synonyms. By
presenting those two modes, the researcher wanted to verify whether both modes
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could help one and another to activate the information it brought up as what
Paivio’s dual coding theory tried to propose.
In the medium, to compare the word exhibition and show for example, the
researcher presented the explanation of any subtle differences between those two
words in the form of verbal and nonverbal explanations. The researcher tried to
foster the students’ understanding by giving concrete illustrations of the words
which could give more cues to make the students understand and imagine the
words in a real situation. Whereas a picture of a fashion show was presented to
depict the meaning of the word show, a picture of a crowded painting exhibition
was brought up to represent the meaning of the word exhibition. The researcher
expected that the presence of the nonverbal information could help activating the
verbal information and vice versa.
Ainsworth in Zheng (2009) supports that every mode may have its own
different functional roles for learning and support any knowledge differently. The
presence of the two modes in a picture comparison interactive medium was
expected to bring several roles in learning. First, the two modes might
complement each other by facilitating different cognitive processes as in the dual
coding theory. The theory mentions that verbal and nonverbal information are
assumed having different subsystems in a memory. Moreover, their presence
could help teachers to serve students’ different learning preferences. Second, the
two modes might be suited to foster deeper understanding of any materials instead
of merely using one representational format (as cited in Zheng, 2009).
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Besides, the approach of using a picture comparison interactive medium is
also supported by Mayer’s (2005) theory of multimedia learning. In his theory, he
defines multimedia learning as an action to learn certain materials by using verbal
and nonverbal learning means. Mayer’s cognitive theory of multimedia learning
focuses on the idea that learners attempt to construct meaningful connections
between words and pictures and they can learn deeper more than being exposed to
either verbal or nonverbal information alone.
In his theory, Mayer also declares that meaningful learning from words
and pictures occurs when learners could engage in five cognitive processes (as
cited in Sorden, 2005). Therefore, the researcher attempted to trigger the existence
of those five cognitive processes in a picture comparison interactive medium. The
medium provides relevant words that later will be selected to be processed in a
verbal working memory and relevant images to be processed in a visual working
memory. Then, the selected information will be organized into a verbal and
pictorial model. After that, it can trigger students to integrate the verbal and
pictorial representations with their prior knowledge. The successful integration of
the information will result in students’ improvements in mastering the given
materials.
Regarding to the five cognitive processes explained before, the
visualization itself has its two functions in its presence in a picture comparison
interactive medium. First, visualization brings its representational function
because it could make the meaning of the near-synonyms more accessible for
learning by making the explanations in the form of texts more concrete. Then, it
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also brings its interpretation function by clarifying texts which are difficult to be
understood and making them more understandable for learners (Levin et al.,
1987). These important roles of pictures are in line with Chanlin (1998) which
reports that any visual treatment in lessons can enhance the learning with varying
degrees of success (as cited in Stokes, 2001). When prior knowledge is low,
graphics, either still or animated, are better for learning than a lesson with texts
only.
As what the students in the experimental group have stated in the
interview, they felt that a picture comparison interactive medium had played a
significant role in helping them to understand near-synonyms faster. They
admitted that the modes provided in the learning aid could help them to learn the
materials better than reading dictionary or being explained orally. It means that
the medium can meet five multimedia instructional principles proposed by Mayer
(2009). Those are signaling, redundancy, modality, and multimedia principle in
which the medium can help the students learn better by bringing cues, graphics,
and narrations. Moreover, the medium also meets spatial contiguity principle
where the similar explanation of the materials is placed side by side in a same
page or screen. Placing the corresponding words and pictures near in the medium
might make the students learn better because it can ease the students in analyzing
any subtle differences between the near-synonyms. It is in line with the theory of
a compare and contrast strategy which proposes that the implementation of this
strategy can reduce any confusion in understanding the near-synonyms by
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focusing the students to highlight any important details of differences between
one word to another word.
Concerning the memory retention of the materials, the students of the
control and experimental group that have been interviewed stated that they used to
learn vocabularies by memorizing them one by one and translating them into their
first language without figuring out any deeper understanding of the words.
Besides, some of the students admitted that they did not like opening dictionaries
since they considered dictionaries to be boring. Learning in such ways, they said
that their retention towards the vocabularies was bad. In contrast, some of the
students from the experimental group stated in the interview that the presence of
any illustrations in a picture comparison interactive medium eased them to recall
any information they have got from the learning aid. It could be explained by
some theories. One of the theories is Paivio’s dual coding theory. In his theory,
Paivio (1990) argues that high imagery items in dual coding evoke nonverbal
imagery and imagined representations are served as supplementary memory codes
for item retrieval along with the verbal code elicited directly by words (p. 159).
The second theory is Bagget’s bushiness hypothesis. In his theory, Bagget states
that “knowledge acquired from visual rather than verbal external representations
will be better accessible in a memory because the respective nodes in the memory
share more associations with other nodes in the semantic network” (as cited in
Zheng, 2008, p. 72). Thus, presenting any relevant visual information may
enhance any cognitive process of the verbal information. Besides, the students’
memory retention is also supported by the theory of a compare and contrast
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strategy. It proposes that inviting the students to think in analyzing the materials
in the form of pairs of ideas will strengthen their ability in remembering the key
contents.
Regarding to the students’ attitude and motivation, every individual must
have its own learning preferences which support its intentional cognition and
active engagement. This is a challenge for every teacher to teach more than one
student in the same class since he should be able to facilitate the students’
different learning style. Neglecting those differences might yield some problems
to the effectiveness of the learning process. As what Dunn et al. figure out (1995)
that failing learners did significantly better when they were taught with strategies
that suited their learning preferences (as cited in Egbert & Hanson-Smith, 1999, p.
289). Therefore, taking the issue of the differences in learning preferences into
account is important in the educational settings in order to achieve a meaningful
learning.
In a picture comparison interactive medium, the researcher tries to cater
three learning styles by integrating three sensory modalities and presenting them
in computer-enhanced multimedia. The three sensory modalities are visual, read,
and kinesthetic modes. While the visual mode comes by the presence of
illustrations, learners with a preference to read are facilitated by the presence of
texts. Those two modalities then are designed in computer-enhanced multimedia
which requires the students to have a drag and drop activity in learning the
materials. The drag and drop activity comes to accomodate the students’
preference in a kinesthetic mode since it can expose the students to practices.
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Therefore, multimedia is suitable for teachers to address their students’ various
learning styles. Supporting this issue, Pennington (1996) notes that computer-
assisted language classroom environments can be highly motivating for students
of all learning styles (as cited in Egbert & Hanson-Smith, 1999).
By integrating three modalities in computer-enhanced multimedia that can
facilitate students’ learning preferences, the researcher wants to raise the students’
motivation in learning the materials. As Schofield’s study of computer use in a
large urban high school shows that the use of computer in the learning could
enhance learners’ enjoyment, interest, and attention towards classroom activities,
that kind of finding also happened in this study (as cited in Egbert & Hanson-
Smith, 1999). The results of the interviews revealed that the students in the
experimental group considered the picture comparison interactive medium very
attractive so that it could raise their interest in learning the materials. Furthermore,
the results of the observation sheets exhibited the condition in the learning process
where the students in the experimental group focused on the classroom activities
and showed less minimum disruptions than the students’ in the control group.
Besides, Schofield’s (1995) study of computer use also figures out the
tendency that increasing use of computers could trigger a change in teachers’ role
from experts who presented information to be tutors who assisted learners. An
intervention by using a picture comparison interactive medium also emphasized
that kind of computer use. From the observation sheets, we could see that the
students’ role during the learning activities in the experimental group was very
high in that they had to operate the medium actively. The medium was equipped
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with simple feedbacks which could make it more interactive by allowing two-
ways of interaction between the medium and the students. The teacher positioned
herself only as a coach who guided the students during the learning process. In
contrast, the learning activities by using PowerPoint slides in the control group
tended to be more teacher-centered. Further, in the experimental group, the
students were brave enough to express their thoughtful ideas, reflective answers,
and questions relevant to the learning. That kind of situation did not happen in the
control group. Almost all of the students in the control group tended to be passive.
Taking a deeper understanding about the presence of visualizations in the
picture comparison interactive medium, they played an important role concerning
to the students’ motivation. The students’ fun and excitement level in the
experimental group were considered high since the students looked very interested
and focused in operating the medium. Yet, the students’ fun and excitement level
in the control group could only be considered medium. Within the process of the
learning activities, almost all of the students complained and requested the teacher
to play any movie or video. Supporting those findings, the students of the
experimental group stated that the picture comparison interactive medium was
interesting since its design was colorful and contained a lot of pictures. Further,
the students in the control group stated that they actually preferred to study by
using pictures or movies. These findings are in line with Levie and Lentz (2008).
They declare that the existence of visualizations motivates students as they can
make a subject matter more interesting and appealing. Further, any visualizations
can trigger specific emotions or lead to any changes in learners’ attitude.
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CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This chapter expounds two parts. The first part is the conclusions of this
study. The second part contains the recommendations for future researchers who
want to conduct a similar inquiry.
5.1 Conclusions
This research was conducted to answer a research question which is: To
what extent can a picture comparison interactive medium improve synonym
mastery of the tenth grade students of SMA Negeri 7 Yogyakarta?
To answer the research question, the researcher tried to interpret
information which was derived from the results of the tests, observation sheets,
and interviews. By seeing the results of the students' vocabulary tests and using
paired samples t-test to analyze them, the null hypothesis was rejected and the
alternative hypothesis was accepted. The researcher figured out that the
implementation of a picture comparison interactive medium could foster the
students’ mastery in near-synonyms better than the implementation of Powerpoint
slides. It is revealed from the significant differences in the scores of the pre-tests
and post-tests with p<0.05. Furthermore, being compared to the control group's
mean gain, the students in the experimental group showed a higher improvement
in the mean gain result. The experimental group showed significant increases in
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the first and second post-tests which were 35.35 and 39.64 respectively. In other
words, the implementation of the picture comparison interactive media could help
the students to improve their mastery in near-synonyms better.
Further, the results of the observation sheets and interviews revealed that
the implementation of the picture comparison interactive medium could
effectively raise and maintain the students' motivation, interest, and participation
in learning the materials.
5.2 Recommendations
After conducting this study, the researcher wants to give some
recommendations for future researchers about the implementation of a picture
comparison interactive medium in learning near-synonyms.
This study may inspire future researchers who desire to conduct another
study related to the implementation of a picture comparison interactive medium.
Therefore, the researcher recommends this study as a reference to develop this
kind of learning aid. The researcher recommends that future researchers reveal
more about the implementation of a picture comparison interactive medium. In
conducting a research, several factors may arise and affect the result of the
research. Therefore, to increase the validity of the result, the researcher suggests
that future researchers conduct a relevant research in a bigger sample and longer
cycles.
Besides, related to how the medium can cater students’ learning
preferences, the researcher suggests that future researchers improve this kind of
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learning medium so that it can facilitate more students’ learning preferences. The
more learning preferences can be raised in the medium, the more teachers can
figure out what the students want and what the students need in learning the
materials.
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www.shutterstock.com
[Untitled illustration of a wedding]. (n.d.). Retrieved February 26, 2017 from
http://created.byputy.com/wedding/
[Untitled illustration of memory foam]. (n.d.). Retrieved March 2, 2017 from
http://www.bedtimefriends.com/is-your-bed-too-soft-or-too-firm/
Urner, A. (1999). Image Led Get Silky Hair If You Are A Guy Step 10 [Online image].
Retrieved March 2, 2017 from http://www.ukrobstep.com/silky-hair/
Williams, V. S., & Dwyer, F. (1999). Effect of metaphoric (visual/verbal) strategies in
facilitating student achievement of different educational objectives. International
Journal of Instructional Media, 26(2), 205-211.
Zheng, R. (Ed.). (2009). Cognitive effectives of multimedia learning. New York:
Information Science Reference.
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LESSON PLAN Course : English Language (Specialization Course)
Class : X MIA 5 (as an Experimental Group)
Main Topic : Near-Synonyms
Time Allocation : 3 x 45 minutes
A. Goal
Helping the students to learn near-synonyms so that they are able to use
near-synonyms correctly and contextually.
B. Main objectives
1. Understanding near-synonyms
2. Being able to differentiate near-synonyms
3. Being able to use near-synonyms correctly and contextually
C. Specific learning objectives
At the end of the course, students are able to choose suitable vocabularies
to complete sentences.
D. Learning materials
Fourteen pairs of near-synonyms (the definitions, lexical categories, subtle
differences and other explanations of the near-synonyms)
E. Learning steps
Teacher’s Activities Students’ Activities
Time
Allocation
Opening
Activities
Teacher greets the students. Students respond the
teacher’s greeting.
10 minutes
Teacher introduces herself and
states her plan that will be
conducted in the class.
Students respond it.
Teacher leads the students to
pray.
Students follow the
teacher to pray.
Teacher guides the process of
apperception. She also explains
the objectives and steps of the
learning process.
Students actively
follow the process of
the apperception and
pay attention to the
explanation of the
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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objectives and steps.
Core
Activities
First
Session
Teacher asks students
to do a pre-test 1.
Students do the pre-test
1.
10 minutes
Teacher starts to do an
intervention in the first
session by asking the
students to operate a
picture comparison
interactive medium on
the students’
computers.
Students actively
follow the lesson.
40 minutes
Teacher helps the
students to summarize
the materials have
been learned.
Students try to sum up
what they have learned.
Teacher gives the
students a post-test 1.
Students do the post-
test 1.
10 minutes
Second
Session
Teacher asks students
to do a pre-test 2.
Students do the pre-test
2.
10 minutes
Teacher asks the
students to operate a
picture comparison
interactive medium on
the students’
computers for the
second session.
Students actively
follow the lesson.
40 minutes
Teacher helps the
students to summarize
the materials have
been learned.
Students try to sum up
what they have learned.
Teacher gives the
students a post-test 2.
Students do the post-
test 2.
10 minutes
Closing
Activity
Teacher closes the learning
activity.
Students respond the
teacher.
5 minutes
F. Teaching media
a. A picture comparison interactive medium
b. Computers
c. A projector
G. Scoring
Pre-test and post-test score: 1 point x 10
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
84
LESSON PLAN
Course : English Language (Specialization Course)
Class : X MIA 2 (as a Control Group)
Main Topic : Near-Synonyms
Time Allocation : 3 x 45 minutes
A. Goal
Helping the students to learn near-synonyms so that they are able to use
near-synonyms correctly and contextually.
B. Main objectives
1. Understanding near-synonyms
2. Being able to differentiate near-synonyms
3. Being able to use near-synonyms correctly and contextually
C. Specific learning objectives
At the end of the course, students are able to choose suitable vocabularies
to complete sentences.
D. Learning materials
Fourteen pairs of near-synonyms (the definitions, lexical categories, subtle
differences and other explanations of the near-synonyms)
E. Learning steps
Teacher’s Activities Students’ Activities
Time
Allocation
Opening
Activities
Teacher greets the students. Students respond the
teacher’s greeting.
10 minutes
Teacher introduces herself and
states her plan that will be
conducted in the class.
Students respond it.
Teacher leads the students to
pray.
Students follow the
teacher to pray.
Teacher guides the process of
apperception. She also explains
the objectives and steps of the
learning process.
Students actively
follow the process of
the apperception and
pay attention to the
explanation of the
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
85
objectives and steps.
Core
Activities
First
Session
Teacher asks students
to do a pre-test 1.
Students do the pre-test
1.
10 minutes
Teacher starts to do an
intervention in the first
session by using
PowerPoint slides to
explain the materials.
Students actively
follow the lesson.
40 minutes
Teacher helps the
students to summarize
the materials have
been learned.
Students try to sum up
what they have learned.
Teacher gives the
students a post-test 1.
Students do the post-
test 1.
10 minutes
Second
Session
Teacher asks students
to do a pre-test 2.
Students do the pre-test
2.
10 minutes
Teacher starts to do an
intervention in the first
session by using
PowerPoint slides to
explain the materials.
Students actively
follow the lesson.
40 minutes
Teacher helps the
students to summarize
the materials have
been learned.
Students try to sum up
what they have learned.
Teacher gives the
students a post-test 2.
Students do the post-
test 2.
10 minutes
Closing
Activity
Teacher closes the learning
activity.
Students respond the
teacher.
5 minutes
F. Teaching media
a. PowerPoint slides
b. A laptop
c. A projector
G. Scoring
Pre-test and post-test score: 1 point x 10
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
95
POWERPOINT SLIDES
1st Session
1. They haven’t yet settled when the
(marriage/wedding) is going to be.
They haven’t yet settled when the
(marriage/wedding) is going to be.
Wedding/ˈwed.ɪŋ/
• It is a noun.
• It refers to the occasion (the ceremony) of getting married.
1. They haven’ t yet settled w hen the
w edding is going to be.
2. You are invited to my w edding.
Marriage/ˈmer.ɪdʒ/
• It is a noun.
• It usually refers to the state/relationship of being married.
They have a long and
happy marriage.
2. Our main aim is to (raise/increase) sales
by 15% this year.
Our main aim is to (raise/increase) sales by
15% this year.
Increase/ɪnˈkriːs/
• It is a verb.
• To make something become larger in amount/size -> It is used slightly more often about numbers, prices, figures.
1. Our main aim is to increase
sales by 15% this year.
2. The department store
increases the jacket price by
25%.
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Raise/reɪz/
• It is a verb.
• To make something become larger in amount/size -> It is used often about feelingsand qualities.
Play ing w ith my lovely
dog could raise my
spirits.
8. I cannot doubt that having a chat with
my bae could (increase/raise) my mood.
I cannot doubt that having a chat with my
bae could (increase/raise) my mood.
7. Lina tries to (look at/see) the stars by
using her new telescope.
Lina tries to (look at/see) the stars by using
her new telescope.
Look at /lʊk æt/
• It is a verb.
• We make a special effort and concentrate our eyes on something.
1. Lina tries to look at the
stars by using her new
telescope.
See/siː/
• It is a verb.
• When your eyes are open, you do it spontaneously
1. While riding the fly ing
carpet, I can see many
stars on the sky.
3. I usually sit by the window and (look at/watch) people walking past.
I usually sit by the window and (look at/watch) people walking past.
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Watch/wɑːtʃ/
• It is a verb.
• The objects are usually things that are movingor changing such as a film or sport match.
1. I usually sit by the w indow
and w atch people w alk ing
past.
2. I’m going to w atch a football
match this afternoon.
Look at/lʊk æt/
• It is a verb.
• The objects are static such as photograph, a painting, or the stars.
I’m going to look at Picasso’s
paintings in the art gallery .
4. Most kings and queens (govern/rule)
their countries only in a formal way,
without the real power.
Most kings and queens (govern/rule) their
countries only in a formal way, without
the real power.
Rule/ruːl/
• It is a verb.
• The subjects are nonelected groups or individuals such as kings, queens and dictators.
1. Most k ings and queens rule their countries only
in a formal w ay, w ithout the real pow er.
2. You can trust Ruth to rule the library
membership.
Govern/ˈɡʌv.ɚn/
• It is a verb.
• The subjects are elected parties or governments.
The country now is being
governed by the Labour
Party .
10. The country has been being
(ruled/governed) by the Labour Party for
25 years.
The country has been being
(ruled/governed) by the Labour Party for
25 years.
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5. It is a (complicated/complex)
mathematical formula.
It is a (complicated/complex)
mathematical formula.
Complex/ˈkɑːm.pleks/
• It is an adjective.
• It is often to describe academic, scientific or technical issues, esp. in written English
1. It is a complex
mathematical formula.
Complicated/ˈkɑːm.plə.keɪ.tɪ̬d/
• It is an adjective.
• It is used more to describe everyday situations.
The rules are rather
complicated to follow .
6. Did you (hear/listen to) the noise?
Did you (hear/listen to) the noise?
Hear/hɪr/
• It is a verb.
• To notice sounds coming through your ears, but you are not paying attention to the sounds
1. Did you hear the noise?
2. My cat hears the young
girl screaming.
Listen/ˈlɪs.ən/
• It is a verb.
• To pay attention to the sounds coming into your ears
The doctor listened to my
heartbeat.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
99
2nd Session
1. Her skin is very (soft/smooth). It has no
spots or even hair. Her legs have probably
been waxed.
Her skin is very (soft/smooth). It has no
spots or even hair. Her legs have probably
been waxed.
Smooth/ smuːð /
• It is an adjective.
• Having a surface that is perfectly regular and no holes or lumps
1. Her sk in is very smooth. It has no
spots or even hair. Her legs have
probably been w ax ed.
2. My sister has very long smooth
hair.
Soft/ sɑːft /
• It is an adjective.
• Not hard or rough and feel pleasant to touch
1. Sleeping on a bed that is too soft
can be bad for your back.
2. They sell milkshake of every imaginable
(flavour/taste).
They sell milkshake of every imaginable
(flavour/taste).
Flavour/ˈ fleɪ.vɚ /
• It is a noun.
• Use this word for food that has been created by somebody.
1. They sell milkshake of
every imaginable flavour .
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Taste/ teɪst /
• It is a noun.
• Use this word for food you can find in nature
1. I do not like the taste of broccoli.
6. Lemon has a sharp (flavour/taste).
Lemon has a sharp (flavour/taste).
3. I (stayed/lived) in Montreal for two
weeks then flew home.
I (stayed/lived) in Montreal for two
weeks then flew home.
Stay/ steɪ /
• It is a verb.
• Someone temporarily lives in a place.
1. I stayed in Montreal for two weeks then flew home.
Live/ lɪv /
• It is a verb.
• Someone is permanent resident of a place.
1. I live in Indonesia w ith my
parents and tw o little sisters.
4. From the investigation, the police finally
could (gather/collect) the evidences from
several witnesses.
From the investigation, the police finally
could (gather/collect) the evidences from
several witnesses.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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Collect/kəˈlekt/
• It is a verb.
• When talking about things, use this verb to talk about getting examples of something from different people or places.
1. From the investigation, the police finally could collect the evidences from several witnesses.
Gather/ˈɡæð.ɚ/
• It is a verb.
• When talking about things, use this verb to talk about things, belongings or papers when things are spread around within a short distance.
1. Alex gathered the papers
w hich w ere spread out on
the floor.
5. The photographs will be on the
(show/exhibition) that will be held at the
city gallery.
The photographs will be on the
(show/exhibition) that will be held at the
city gallery.
Ex hibition/ˌek.səˈbɪʃ.ən/
• It is a noun.
• When objects such as paintings are shown to the public, or when someone shows a particular skill or quality to the public
• It usually contains works of art or items of cultural or scientific interest that may be on display for a long time.
1. The photographs will be on the exhibition that will be held at the city gallery.
2. There is a new exhibition of sculpture at the local art gallery.
Show/ʃoʊ/
• It is a noun.
• An event which a group of related things are available for the public to look at
• It is a more general word and usually refers to a temporary event.
1. Why don’ t w e go to London on
Saturday and w atch a fashion
show ?
10. The crowd is queuing in front of the
theater entrance, hoping to see the stars of
the (show/exhibition).
The crowd is queuing in front of the theater
entrance, hoping to see the stars of the
(show/exhibition).
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102
8. My cousin is very (shy/embarrassed).
She doesn’t like to appear in front of many
people.
My cousin is very (shy/embarrassed). She
doesn’t like to appear in front of many
people.
Shy /ʃaɪ/
• It is an adjective.
• To describe someone’s personality or character
1. My cousin is very shy. She doesn’t like to appear in front of many people.
Embarrassed/ɪmˈber.əst/
• It is an adjective.
• To describe the feeling that someone has in a social situation when that person feels discomfort because of a socially unaccepted event.
1. Spongebob w as so embarrassed
w hen he forgot to w ear his pants.
9. By the analysis of meteorological data,
he (forecasts/predicts) hot weather for the
next three days.
By the analysis of meteorological data, he
(forecasts/predicts) hot weather for the
next three days.
Forecast/ˈfɔːr.kæst/
• It is a verb.
• To say what you expect to happen in the future(based on the information available and often using scientific methods)
1. By the analysis of meteorological data, he forecasts hot weather for the next three days.
Predict/prɪˈdɪkt/
• It is a verb.
• To say that an event/action will happen in the future (usually based on the information available, opinions or magical powers)
The old fortune teller will predict the next president.
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Sources of the illustrations:
Anderson, Mark. (n.d.). Illustration of a Complicated Mathematical Formula [Online
Image]. Retrieved March 1, 2017 from https://www.shutterstock.com/image-
vector/fashion-models-represent-new-clothes-show-92660212
IconicBestiary. (n.d.). Kids Making Telescope Astronomical Observations [Online
Image]. Retrieved February 25, 2017 from www.bigstockphoto.com
Keshet, Ayelet. (n.d.). Cartoon Fortune Teller with Her Crystal Ball [Online Image].
Retrieved February 27, 2017 from https://www.shutterstock.com/image-
vector/cartoon-fortune-teller-her-crystal-ball-95204095
KenDeez. (2012). Illustration of Gathering Papers. Retrieved March 1, 2017 from
www.imgur.com
Lirch. (n.d.). A set of four delicious fruit flavored ice cream cones [Online Image].
Retrieved February 25, 2017 from https://www.123rf.com/photo_9920704_a-set-
of-four-delicious-fruit-flavored-ice-cream-cones.html
Nguriana, Hendri. (n.d.). Illustration of a Prisoner [Online image]. Retrieved March 2,
2017 from https://es.123rf.com/imagenes-de-archivo/detenido.html
Schwarzova, Hana. (n.d.). Family House [Online Image]. Retrieved February 26, 2017
from https://www.123rf.com/photo_14951786_family-house.html
Urner, Anja. (1999). Image Led Get Silky Hair If You Are A Guy Step 10 [Online
image]. Retrieved March 2, 2017 from http://www.ukrobstep.com/silky-hair/
[Untitled illustration of girls sleeping over]. (n.d.). Retrieved February 26, 2017 from
https://giphy.com/gifs/90s-daria-sOoyaVWqIVW1y
[Untitled illustration of an old couple in love]. (n.d.). Retrieved February 26, 2017 from
www.shutterstock.com
[Untitled illustration of a wedding]. (n.d.). Retrieved February 26, 2017 from
http://created.byputy.com/wedding/
[Untitled illustration of government]. (n.d.). Retrieved February 26, 2017 from
http://www.webgranth.com/best-websites-2013-100-best-websites-to-bookmark-
on-internet
[Untitled illustration of a librarian]. (n.d.). Retrieved February 26, 2017 from
https://id.pinterest.com/pin/21673641931237313/
[Untitled illustration of a weather forecast]. (n.d.). Retrieved February 27, 2017 from
http://cache2.asset-cache.net
[Untitled illustration of a cute shy cheerful little girl in a blue dress]. (n.d.). Retrieved
July 7, 2016 from https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-illustration-cute-shy-
cheerful-little-girl-blue-dress-cartoon-illustration-image42433598
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
104
[Untitled illustration of spongebob feeling embarrassed]. (n.d.). Retrieved February 27,
2017 from www.twitter.com
[Untitled illustration of a museum]. (n.d.). Retrieved March 1, 2017 from
https://www.toonpool.com/user/750/files/museum_448495.jpg
[Untitled illustration of complex rules]. (n.d.). Retrieved March 1, 2017 from
www.dreamstime.com
[Untitled illustration of memory foam]. (n.d.). Retrieved March 2, 2017 from
http://www.bedtimefriends.com/is-your-bed-too-soft-or-too-firm/
[Untitled illustration of a girl playing with a dog]. (n.d.). Retrieved March 2, 2017 from
www.google.com
[Untitled illustration of increasing diagram]. (n.d.). Retrieved March 2, 2017 from
www.google.com
[Untitled illustration of Stewie and broccoi]. (n.d.). Retrieved February 25, 2017 from
www.youtube.com
[Untitled illustration of Aladin and Jasmine]. (2011). Retrieved February 25, 2017 from
www.wallpapersxl.com
Wakeling, Ben. (2015). 10 Things Your Kids Can Learn About Life Watching Football
[Online Image]. Retrieved February 25, 2017 from www.huffingtonpost.co.uk
Zafiey21. (2015). Five Most Popular Online Art Galleries [Online Image]. Retrieved
February 25, 2017 from http://www.simpan.ml/2016/12/five-most-popular-
online-art-galleries.html
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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Student Engagement Walkthrough Checklist (Experimental Group)
Instruction: Insert a check mark symbol to the column displaying the different levels of engagement!
Students’ Positive Body Language Students’ body postures indicated focus on the speaker and/or other students Engagement
Level
Very High High Medium Low Very Low
Check Mark
Student Notes All of the students focused on the teacher’s instruction. They sat
down on their own chairs and they were ready to operate the
computers in front of them. They paid attention to the teacher’s
instructions and followed them.
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Students’ Consistent Focus Students focused on the learning activity with minimum disruptions Engagement
Level
Very
High
High Medium Low Very Low
Check Mark
Student Notes At the beginning of the lesson, some of the students opened the
browser on the computers and used the internet to browse
irrelevant things to the learning materials. However, after the
class begun, they closed the browser and started to focus on the
learning activities.
During the lesson, there were minimum disruptions and
misbehaviors. More than half of the students’ total number
payed attention to the learning process.
Students’ Verbal Participation Students expressed thoughtful ideas, reflective answers, and questions relevant or appropriate to the learning.
Engagement
Level
Very
High
High Medium Low Very Low
Check Mark
Student Notes More than half of the students’ total number could actively
express their thoughtful ideas and reflective answers every time
the teacher gave them probing questions.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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Students’ Confidence Students exhibited confidence and could initiate and complete the tasks with limited prompting and could work efficiently.
Engagement
Level
Very High High Medium Low Very Low
Check Mark
Student Notes All of the students could work efficiently. They were very fast
in understanding how to operate the learning medium. They
used the time to complete the tasks given in the learning aid
efficiently.
Students’ Fun and Excitement Students exhibited interest and enthusiasm and used positive humor
Engagement
Level
Very High High Medium Low Very Low
Check Mark
Student Notes The students’ behavior indicated that they were interested in
using the learning aid.
More than half of the students’ total number focused on
operating the medium with minimum misbehavior during the
learning process. There was no indication that the students felt
burdened with the learning activities.
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Students’ Engagement Question Students felt comfortable seeking help and asking questions.
Engagement
Level
Very High High Medium Low Very Low
Check Mark
Student Notes Half of the students’ total number raised some questions
which were relevant with the learning process. Yet, the
questions did not occur often.
Students’ Role The learning aid encouraged the students to be active and directly involved in the medium utilization.
Engagement
Level
Very High High Medium Low Very Low
Check Mark
Student Notes The learning aid could build an interactive learning process
which involved all of the students to operate the learning aid
and learn the materials from that.
The learning became more student-centered where the
teacher’s role tended to be the facilitator.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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Student Engagement Walkthrough Checklist (Control Group)
Instruction: Insert a check mark symbol to the column displaying the different levels of engagement!
Students’ Positive Body Language Students’ body postures indicated focus on the speaker and/or other students Engagement
Level
Very High High Medium Low Very Low
Check Mark
Student Notes All of the students focused on the teacher’s instruction. They
sat down on their own chairs and they were ready to operate
the computers in front of them. They paid attention to the
teacher’s instructions and followed them.
Students’ Consistent Focus Students focused on the learning activity with minimum disruptions Engagement
Level
Very
High
High Medium Low Very Low
Check Mark
Student Notes The students could focus on the learning activities. However,
almost half of the students’ total number sometimes showed
some misbehavior by talking about irrelevant topics with their
friends.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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Students’ Verbal Participation Students expressed thoughtful ideas, reflective answers, and questions relevant or appropriate to learning.
Engagement
Level
Very
High
High Medium Low Very Low
Check Mark
Student Notes There was no student who actively expressed any idea and
reflective answer. They tended to answer the teacher’s
probing questions with jokes which could not answer the
questions.
Students’ Confidence Students exhibited confidence and could initiate and complete the tasks with limited prompting and could work efficiently.
Engagement
Level
Very High High Medium Low Very Low
Check Mark
Student Notes All of the students could work efficiently.
Students’ Fun and Excitement
Students exhibited interest and enthusiasm and used positive humor
Engagement
Level
Very
High
High Medium Low Very
Low
Check Mark
Student Notes Some of the students looked enthusiastic. However, almost all of the
students complained and asked the teacher to show any movie or video.
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Students’ Engagement Question Students felt comfortable seeking help and asking questions.
Engagement
Level
Very High High Medium Low Very Low
Check Mark
Student Notes For about half of the students’ total number raised some
questions which were relevant with the learning process. Yet,
the questions did not occur often.
Students’ Role The learning aid encouraged the students to be active and directly involved in the medium utilization.
Engagement
Level
Very High High Medium Low Very Low
Check Mark
Student Notes The learning medium did not involve the students actively. The
teacher’s role was more dominant in the learning process
(teacher-centered).
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Interview Questions
• Do you think English is hard?
(Menurut kamu, apakah B. Inggris itu sulit?)
• Do you think you already have a lot of vocabulary?
(Apakah kamu merasa bahwa kamu telah memiliki banyak perbendaharaan
kosakata B.Inggris?)
• Related to the near-synonyms that we have learned together, did you have any difficulties in understanding near-synonyms before?
(Berkaitan dengan near-synonyms, apakah kamu memiliki kesulitan dalam
memahami near-synonyms sebelumnya?)
• After we learned together about near-synonyms, can it improve your understanding?
(Setelah belajar bersama mengenai near-synonyms, apakah sekarang kamu
merasa pemahamanmu di near- synonyms telah meningkat?
• Do you think that the learning media were interesting? Why is it so?
(Apakah media pembelajaran yang digunakan menarik? Mengapa demikian?)
• Do you think that the learning media could help you in understanding near-synonyms better? Why is it so?
(Apakah media pembelajaran yang digunakan dapat membantumu dalam
memahami near-synonyms? Mengapa demikian?)
• Do you think that the learning media were easy to be understood? Why is it so?
(Apakah media pembelajaran yang digunakan mudah dipahami? Mengapa
demikian?)
• What kind of learning media do you want to use?
(Media pembelajaran seperti apa yang ingin kamu gunakan?)
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI