RESEARCH PROPOSAL

THE USE OF PUZZLE GAME TO IMPROVE STUDENTS VOCABULARY

MASTERY

PENGGUNAAN GAME PUZZLE UNTUK MENINGKATKAN PENGUASAAN KOSAKATA

TERHADAP SISWA

Submitted to the faculty of language and literature

Universitas Negeri Makassar
As the Partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Diploma Degree

SYAMSULMA’ARIF
NIM 1852152042

BUSINESS ENGLISH STUDY PROGRAM

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

STATE UNIVERSITY OF MAKASSAR

2022

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This chapter consists with the background, problem statement,

objective of the research, and significance of the research.

A. Background

English is an international language throughout the world, there are

countries that use English as their first language, there are also those who use English

as their second language and there are also English as a foreign language. Most popular

puzzle games were made for personal computers, though some of them have been

adapted for play on portable gaming systems and mobile telephones. Important games in

this genre include Sokoban (1982), Tetris (1985), Windows Minesweeper (1990), and

Lumines (2004).

Vocabulary is the important part of learning a language and as a meaning of a

new word is emphasized in books and classrooms. Alqahtani (2015) claimed that

Vocabulary means words that we use to communicate effectively in speaking

(expressive vocabulary) and in listening (receptive vocabulary). Others such as Hornby

(1995) defined vocabulary as the total number of words in a language and Sedita (2005)

included that vocabulary is one of the five core components of reading instruction which

includes phonemic awareness, phonics and word study, fluency vocabulary, and

comprehension.

Vocabulary is one of the important elements in teaching English. This statement

is supported by Hatch and Brown (1995: 1). They say, “Vocabulary is 2 the foundation

to build languages, which plays a fundamental role in communication”. It describes that

by mastering vocabulary; people can express their ideas and understand the other basic

competence well. Students of Elementary School study basic English. They study about

simple words or things in their surroundings, it is aimed that students are able to

understand simple English used in daily context. However, it is difficult to master the

other competences without understanding the vocabulary, because vocabulary is the

basic competence that must be reached by students in order to get other competencies

like reading, writing, listening, and speaking.

 According to Haycraft (1978: 102), flashcards can be used for consolidating

vocabulary, practicing structure and words order or a variety of games. The use of

flashcards is related to the characteristics of elementary school students as children who

commonly feel interested in something with attractive shapes and color. According to

Ur (1995: 60) vocabulary is the words we teach in the foreign language. It means

vocabulary is written or spoken unit of language as symbol of idea in foreign language

for the learners. Moreover, Hatch and Brown (1995: 1) state that vocabulary refers to a

list or set of words for a particular language or a list or set of words that individual

speaker of a language might use. It means that vocabulary as the words of certain

language which are used by language speaker in using language.

According to Oxford Advanced Learner‟s dictionary of current English

(1995:721), the word mastery means complete knowledge; great skill. From this simple

definition, the word mastery is tightly related to the complete knowledge, and great skill

of something. From those description of vocabulary and mastery, it can be concluded

that vocabulary mastery as complete integrated word knowledge (knowing its form,

meaning, and use) of certain language. Ur (1998: 60 – 62) states some aspects that the

learner should be mastered and the teacher should be taught in order to help the learners

in mastering vocabulary. They are namely; 1) Form (pronunciation and spelling), 2)

Grammar, 3) Collocation, 4) Aspect of meaning (a. Denotation, connotation,

appropriateness and b. Meaning relationship), 5) Word formation. From all of the

aspects, the appropriate aspects for teaching to young learners in Elementary School are

form (its spelling and pronunciation) and the meaning (its denotation 5 meaning). It is

because they are basic aspects in presenting vocabulary. According to Cross (1991: 11-

13) the procedure of teaching vocabulary can be divided into three stages, they are

namely: a) Presentation. In this stage, the teachers can use various techniques which are

recommended in the previous discussion. However, the teachers have to be careful in

selecting the techniques that they used in teaching activity; b) Practice. In the second

stage, the teacher give exercises to the students in order to practice the subject items
 being learnt, making completion, matching, words classification, etc. those are several

types of exercise that can be used by the teacher in this stage; c) Production. In this

stage the students are expected to apply the newly learn vocabulary through the

speaking activities or writing activities. Vocabulary mastery is one of the factors to

master English as foreign language. It means that the students have the ability in

understanding and using the word and meaning. The larger vocabulary the students

master, the better they perform their language.

In teaching vocabulary, the teacher can use games, methods or techniques to

present their lesson one of them is using the game. A game is an instrument that is used to

attract students to participate in classroom activities. Games are related to a happy

experience in response, although they are not familiar with the rules, most students prefer

the game and are happy to participate in activities. It means that games are the instrument

that can motivate students and sure that they enjoy interacting in the studying process.

Words search puzzle games, which student work on for longer periods, are one

approach that can be used to teach vocabulary. An educational game that put words in to a

box persuade students to come up with their puzzle clue ideas. The objective of the words

search puzzle games is to find the hidden word listed. This game is very good for

reviewing basic vocabulary without tiring the students. Where in this game words can be

hidden in any direction.

According to Santi, words search puzzle games are games that educate students on

vocabulary proficience, because they can produce a pleasant learning environment.

Furthermore there are various adventage to playing word search puzzle, including :

1. Practicing consentration, accuracy and patience

2. Practice eye and coordination

3.Strengthen memory

4. introduce children to concept of relationship

5. train children to think mathematically using the left brain

B. Problem Statement
 From the background, the research question is “Does the application of

puzzle games increase students in vocabulary mastery?”

C. Objective of the Research

This study aims to determine whether the use of puzzle games can improve

students' vocabulary mastery.

D. Signifcance of the Research

1. Theoretical Benefits

The results of this study can provide scientific information about

vocabulary mastery, the factors that influence vocabulary mastery, and provide

students' interest and interest in puzzle games.

2. Practical Benefits

a. For Student

The results of this study are expected to increase vocabulary mastery, the

factors that influence vocabulary mastery, and provide students' interest and

interest in puzzle games.

b. For Teacher

As a consideration to determine students' ability in understanding vocabulary by

giving puzzle games to each student

c. For School

The research can provide benefits to improve the quality of learning,

especially in the field of vocabulary in class Senior High School.

 CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter consists with partinent ideas and conceptual framework.

A. Partinent Ideas

1. Vocabulary Mastery

a. Defenition of vocabulary mastery

Vocabulary is a language that is important thing to be mastered by the students

in learning a foreign language because it is a foundation for other language

components such as pronunciation, spelling, meaning and grammar. Therefore, since

vocabulary as a foundation in language learning can improve students’ vocabulary

mastery, it has become priority in education. In addition, students’ vocabulary

mastery academically is needed language learning, because it is essential to be

successfully in reading, listening, speaking and writing. In mastering vocabulary,

students should master some elements of vocabulary, such as pronunciation of the

word, spelling of the word is meaning of the word, and grammatical pattern of the

word.

Vocabulary is one of the important elements in teaching English. This statement is

supported by Hatch and Brown (1995: 1). They say, “Vocabulary is 2 the foundation
to build languages, which plays a fundamental role in communication”. It describes

that by mastering vocabulary; people can express their ideas and understand the other

basic competence well. Students of Elementary School study basic English. They

study about simple words or things in their surroundings, it is aimed that students are

able to understand simple English used in daily context. However, it is difficult to

master the other competences without understanding the vocabulary, because

vocabulary is the basic competence that must be reached by students in order to get

other competencies like reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Vocabulary is a

collection of several words that are combined, so that they have meaning or meaning.

This vocabulary cannot be separated from the four skills in language, writing,

writing, listening, and speaking (Hornby: 1984: 959). Furthermore, it is said by

Charles D. Fries (1945: 959) that vocabulary is an essential part in learning a foreign

language, where students learn to master words so as to allow the increase in the

student's vocabulary. Vocabulary mastery is one of the factors to master English as

foreign language. It means that the students have the ability in understanding and

using the word and meaning. The larger vocabulary the students master, the better

they perform their language.

b. Skill that affect vocabulary mastery

1. Pronunciation

Pronounciation is one of the aspects that have a great influence of vocabulary.

“Pronounciation is the way in which a particular person pronounces the word of a

language” (Wehmeler, 2003:1057). Children need to hear a new word in foreign

language in order they can notice the sound at the beginning and at the end, the stress

pattern of the word. There is different pronunciation between English and Indonesia

vocabularies, as it is stated by Sailun (2001:24): “Every language has special

phonemes”.

Ur (1997:54) gives his ideas in helping students’ pronunciation:

1. Imitating teacher or recorded model of sound word and sentence

 2. Recording of learner speech, contrasted with native model

3. Systematic explanation and instruction (including detail of the structure and

movement of part of the mouth)

4. Imitation drill, repetition of sound, word and sentences

5. Choral repetition of drill

6. Varied repetition of drill

7. Tongue twister

8. Learning and performing dialog

9. Self-correction through listening to recording of own speech

2. Spelling

Children also need to know the letters and syllables that make up the word that is

called spelling. “Spelling is the act of forming words correctly from individual letter

or the way that a word is spelt” (Wehmeler, 2003:1293).

3. Grammar

Grammatical information is tied into words, and learning words can take students

along the way into grammar. This suggests that if we give a high priority to

vocabulary, we are not thereby abandoning grammar. (Cameron, 2001:72).

4. Meaning

Nation and Cameron (2001:85) argue ways to explain the meaning of new words

in the young learner classroom that is by using an object, a cut-out figure, gesture,

performing and action, photograph, drawing or diagram on the board, and picture

from story book. actually, finding the meaning for the new foreign language word is

the amount of mental work done by the learner affects well a new word is engraved

in memory, the students have to think it’s about word and meaning, the more likely

they are to remember it. Ur (1997:62) says that to find the meaning it can be done

through translation that is word in learners’ mother tongue that are equivalent in

meaning to the item being taught.

2. Puzzle game
a. Defenition of puzzle game

A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge.

In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together in a logical way, in order to arrive

at the correct or fun solution of the puzzle.

Word Puzzle Game is an English word-spelling game where you make words out

of given letters. There should be some letter tiles on the screen. Think about whether you

could spell a word using some or all of the letters you see. No repeat usage of a letter tile.

Most popular puzzle games were made for personal computers, though some of them have

been adapted for play on portable gaming systems and mobile telephones. Important

games in this genre include Sokoban (1982), Tetris (1985), Windows Minesweeper

(1990), and Lumines (2004).

b.The Advantages and Disadvantages of Words Search Puzzle Game

There are some advantages and disadvantages of the puzzle according to Rosita, as

follows :

1. The Advantages

-. Puzzle provide a source of a word that the teacher can resolve if they require a

specific illustration

-. A puzzle can be source of inspiration for teacher who do not have ideas.

-. All teachers can use a puzzle and the objectives of the puzzle can be employed

by another teacher with different objectives

2. The Disadvantages

- There are only a few tools that employ puzzles to teach English in school

- The students will spend a lot of time in class if the teacher does not provide the

tools for the teaching

C. The Step In Teaching Vocabulary Using Word Search Puzzle Game

Michele gives the following example of vocabulary learning using a word search

puzzle : each of the words on the right side of the puzzle is concealed among the letters on
the left side. Words will be find in the order in which they are spelled. However, they may

be written left to right, right to left, up and down, or diagonally. Besides, Haynes and

Zacaria said the procedure is as follows : the teacher instruct the student to make a word

search game on graph paper employing their vocabulary words. Providing a list of the

words ro be found, the students provide the definition of the words as indications. When

they are finished the student work together to solve each further puzzle. Dobson in Rivi

explained to his student to divide into small group of three to six students each. It can be

concluded that no one can determine correctly the size of small group, but five to six

would be the suitable size for small groups.

According to some theories, the researcher conclusion about how to teach

vocabulary using a word search puzzle is as follow :

1. The students were divide into five groups consisting of four members.

2. Each group is given a photocopied word search puzzle from the researcher.

3. The researcher explain the game’s rule that the student have to find all of the letters are

hidden in the grid, written horizontally and vertically.

4. When the student find the words, they should circle them.

5. After their works are finished, they make a sentence and correct it together.

B. Conceptual Framework

Vocabulary is one of the difficulties in increasing English, particularly among

eighth-grade student at school. The word search puzzle is one of many games that can be

used to teach vocabulary. This game will help students in learning vocabulary and easy to

play. The independent variable is the word search puzzle, and the dependent variable is

vocabulary. The word search puzzle encourages students to increase their vocabulary.

Based on the statement above the researcher uses a word search puzzle game to

teach vocabulary. In the research, student will be given a pre-test to determine their

increasing vocabulary in English before receiving treatment. Following that, student will

receive treatment as part of a process of increasing vocabulary through the use of a word
 search puzzle game in the research, the conceptual framework is shown in the diagram as

follow :

Teaching vocabulary by using words puzzle games

The advantages of words puzzle :

sasdswds
a. Puzzle provide a source of a word that the
teacher can resolve if they require a specific
illustration.
Student’s Vocabulary
b. A puzzle can be a source of inspiration for
teacher who do not have ideas

c. All teacher can use puzzle and the objective of

the puzzle can be employed by another teacher
with different objective

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH

METHOD

A. Research Design

This research used a quasi-experimental method. Quasi-experimental

research was conducted to find out the relationship of cause-effect of reality, such

as whether it is difficult to change control or not, whether grouping randomly will

make it difficult, etc.31 In this research, two classes were used as samples. Before

the treatment, both classes were given a pre-test to assess the students' vocabulary

ability. Only the experimental group received the treatment.

 Following the treatment, the students' vocabulary ability was measured

with a post-test. Students in the experimental class were given treatment by

playing a word search puzzle game to effectively increase their vocabulary, while

students in the control class were given traditional instruction

The formula is as follows:

Experimental
O1 X O2
Control O3 - O4

Notes:

OI: Pre-test experimental group

O2: Post-test experimental group

O3: Pre-test control group

O4: Post-test control group

X: Treatment

- : Without treatment

A. Population and Sample

1. Population

The populations in this research were eighth-grade students at SMPN 5

Palopo during the 2018/2019 academic year. The total population was 215

students.

2. Sample

Purposive sampling was used by the researcher in this research. The

researcher took VIII. A an experimental class and VIII. B as control class because

of VIII. A and VIII. B has almost the same average score, each class consisted of

23 students and the total students were 46 students.

C. Reasercher Variable

The variables of this research according to the researcher are independent

variables and dependent variables:

3. The dependent variable is the students' vocabulary improvement

4. The Independent variable is a Word Search Puzzle Game.

D. Instrument of the reasercher

The researcher used a pre-test and post-test to collect data on the students'

increased vocabulary through word search puzzle games in this study. The

following instruments in this research are:

5. Pre-test

The pre-test was applied to know the students' vocabulary before

increasing their vocabulary through a word search puzzle game. The researcher

asked 30 questions in the pre-test. Multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, and

translating the picture into English were all part of the test. Pre-test would take 90

minutes in both the experimental and control classes.

6. Post-test

The post-test was applied to know students’ vocabulary after increasing

through a word search puzzle game. Here, the researcher gave the same test in the

pre-test for experimental and control classes. It is to find out the students’

vocabulary improvement, the post-test will be given for 90 minutes.

E. The Procedure of Collecting data

The procedure for collecting data in this research is as follows:

1. Pre-test

The pre-test was given before treatment; researchers came to the class and explained the

purpose to the students. Then, the researcher gave a pretest to find out prior knowledge

of the students about vocabulary.

7. Treatment
a. Experiment Class

- In the first meeting, the researcher gave vocabulary at school. Then divided students
into some small groups and each group consisted of 4 or 5 members. The researcher
explained the word search puzzle and asked about the game’s rule that the students
have to find all of the letters are hidden in the grid, written horizontally and vertically to
the experimental class.

-In the second meeting, the researcher gave vocabulary in the classroom. The researcher
gives the word search puzzle photocopied to each group. Then, the researcher explains the
game’s rule that the students have to find all of the letters are hidden in the grid, written
horizontally and vertically.

-In the third meeting, the researcher gave vocabulary at home. In pre- activity, the
researcher gives the word search puzzle photocopied to each group. The researcher
explains the game’s rule that the students have to find all of the letters are hidden in the
grid, written horizontally and vertically

-In the fourth meeting, the researcher gave vocabulary about nouns around us. In pre-
activity, the researcher asked the students to make word search puzzle games based on the
material that has been given by the researcher.

1. Post-test

After giving treatment the researcher gave the posttest to know the ability of the

students’ vocabulary. If there was a significant difference between the achievements of

the students in English, who are taught vocabulary through word search puzzle games.

F. The Technique of Data Analysis

Before analyzing the data, the researcher collected it and analyzed it using the following

procedures:

1. Analyzing the raw data of the pretest. Each of the students` correct answers got 1

and the wrong answer got 0.

2. Raw scores were converted to a set of the core maximum of 100, using the following

formula:
 thetotal of the students correct answer
Score = ×100
thetotal of items

3. Converting the score of the students into values.

4. Classifying the score of the students into the following score classification

a. The score of 96-100 is excellent

b. The score of 86-95 is very good

c. The score 76-85 classified as good

d.The score 66-75 classified as average

e. A score of 56-65 classified as fair

f. A score of 36-55 classified as poor

g. The score of 0-35 is very poor.32

5. Using SPSS 20 from computer software/program for the process of calculating or

analyzing data, calculate the mean score, standard deviation, frequency table, and t-

test between vocabulary achievements in experimental and control classes.

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2. Instrument of the Research

The researcher used a pre-test and post-test to collect data on the students'

increased vocabulary through word search puzzle games in this study. The following

instruments in this research are:

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