Journal on Education

Volume 06, No. 01, September-Desember 2023, pp. 8403-8409

E-ISSN: 2654-5497, P-ISSN: 2655-1365
Website: http://jonedu.org/index.php/joe

The Description of Students’ Problem in Learning Vocabulary through

Flash Card at Tenth Grade of SMK Negeri 1 Tuhemberua in 2022/2023

Otomosi Gea1*, Yasminar A. Telaumbanua2, Adieli Laoli3, Nursayani Maru’ao4

1,2,3,4
Jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Universitas Nias, Jalan Yos Sudarso Ujung No.118/E-S, Ombolata Ulu, Kec.
Gunungsitoli, Kota Gunungsitoli, Sumatera Utara 22812
otomosigea94@gmail.com

Abstract
In learning process that occurred at the tenth grade of SMK Negeri 1 Tuhemberua, the students need to master
vocabulary in English learning. Therefore, the objectives of this research were to describe how the teacher
applies flash card to teach vocabulary to the students and to find out the students’ problem in learning
vocabulary through flash card at tenth grade of SMK Negeri 1 Tuhemberua in 2022/2023. The method used in
this research was descriptive qualitative. Data were obtained from observation sheet and field notes which were
then analyzed using after the lecturer used flash card by the English teacher and from interviews for tenth grade
students and English teacher. The results showed that students’ problem was the type of interaction carried out
during the English learning process and the students still do not have connotation and collocation as good as
possible in daily life. Therefore they need good method to encourage them to study effectively. Furthermore, the
influencing factors are the students still dislike learning vocabulary; they responded that they just study
vocabulary when the time of English course takes place in the class.
Keyword: Students’ Problem, Learning Vocabulary, Flash Card.

Abstrak
Dalam proses pembelajaran yang terjadi di kelas X SMK Negeri 1 Tuhemberua, siswa perlu menguasai kosakata
dalam pembelajaran bahasa Inggris. Oleh karena itu, tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mendeskripsikan
bagaimana guru menerapkan kartu flash untuk mengajarkan kosakata kepada siswa dan untuk mengetahui
masalah siswa dalam mempelajari kosakata melalui kartu flash di kelas sepuluh SMK Negeri 1 Tuhemberua
pada tahun 2022/2023. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah deskriptif kualitatif. Data diperoleh
dari lembar observasi dan catatan lapangan yang kemudian dianalisis setelah dosen menggunakan flash card
oleh guru bahasa Inggris dan dari wawancara terhadap siswa kelas sepuluh dan guru bahasa Inggris. Hasil
penelitian menunjukkan bahwa permasalahan siswa adalah jenis interaksi yang dilakukan selama proses
pembelajaran bahasa Inggris dan siswa masih belum memiliki konotasi dan kolokasi dengan baik dalam
kehidupan sehari-hari. Oleh karena itu mereka memerlukan metode yang baik untuk mendorong mereka belajar
secara efektif. Selain itu, faktor yang mempengaruhinya adalah siswa masih kurang menyukai pembelajaran
kosakata; mereka menjawab bahwa mereka hanya mempelajari kosa kata ketika waktu kursus bahasa Inggris
berlangsung di kelas.
Kata Kunci: Masalah Siswa, Pembelajaran Kosakata, Flash Card.

Copyright (c) 2023 Otomosi Gea, Yasminar A. Telaumbanua, Adieli Laoli, Nursayani Maru’ao
Corresponding author: Otomosi Gea
Email Address: otomosigea94@gmail.com (Jalan Yos Sudarso Ujung No.118/E-S, Ombolata Ulu, Kec.
Gunungsitoli, Kota Gunungsitoli, Sumatera Utara 22812)
Received 1 September 2023, Accepted 4 September 2023, Published 11 September 2023

INTRODUCTION
English subject equips the students with the ability to communicate in daily life according to
global demands, and develop communication to a higher level. English helps someone to be able
communicate and interact with other people from various countries, to convey wishes, suggestions
and ideas. Everyone cannot learn a language without learning vocabulary. Vocabulary is more than
just grammar, because vocabulary is the key to understand what students hear and read, especially at
school, with the aim that students are able to communicate with others.
8404 Journal on Education, Volume 06, No. 01, September-Desember 2023, hal. 8403-8409

In curriculum of 2013 says that vocabulary is an important focus of literacy teaching and refers
to the knowledge or words, including their structure (morphology), use (grammar), meanings
(semantics) and links to other words (word/semantic relationship). In vocabulary, it includes the parts
of speech, namely noun, pronoun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction and interjection.
However, based on the researchers’ pre-observation on January 17th in 2023, when the
researchers came to meet the English teacher at SMK Negeri 1 Tuhemberua, the researchers observed
the English teacher about the problems of students while teaching English. Then, based on reality that
the researchers got a problem of the students was in applying vocabulary order when the English
teacher was teaching in the classroom. The researchers also conducted pre-informal interview to the
English teacher about the students problem, and she responded that the result of the students’ learning
before were still not able to use the words in English. The students had difficulties in mastering
English vocabulary due to the lack of media used in the teaching and learning process. The problems
in this study are examined by qualitative descriptive research because the results of the approach are
explained by using words descriptively.
The method of the research is descriptive research. Descriptive research is about describing how
reality is. According to Gall, Gall, & Borg (2007) in Nassaji (2016:129) that the goal of descriptive
research is to describe a phenomenon and its characteristics. This research is more concerned with
what rather than how or why something has happened. A lot of descriptive research is trying to
describe reality according to a systematic approach rigorously followed. Usually, it is based on
theoretical considerations and is dependent on the objective of the study as well. The descriptive
qualitative research is a research tends to describe a phenomenon of human experiences in natural
setting. Therefore, observations and interviews were conducted to collect qualitative data from the
participants in SMK Negeri 1 Tuhemberua.
This article aims to find out how the teacher applies flash card to teach vocabulary to the
students and to describe the students’ problem in learning vocabulary through flash card at tenth grade
of SMK Negeri 1 Tuhemberua in 2022/2023. This article is hopefully able to familiarize instructors
with the effectiveness of using flash card in learning vocabulary.

METHOD
This study made by the means of qualitative methods of researchers. But in the process the
researchers have used the type of research is Descriptive Analysis to describe the students’ problem in
learning vocabulary. In conducting this research, the researchers used a qualitative research approach.
According to Harefa et al. (2022), qualitative research is a type of research that studies natural
conditions and tries to understand and interpret them. It has a line with the statement of Hancock
(2002) that Qualitative research is research of describing a phenomenon. Therefore, to find and
describe the verbal interaction between teacher and students that occur in the classroom, the
researchers used descriptive analysis which is a type of Qualitative Research. Creswell (2009) in
The Description of Students’ Problem in Learning Vocabulary through Flash Card at Tenth Grade of SMK Negeri 1
Tuhemberua in 2022/2023, Otomosi Gea, Yasminar A. Telaumbanua, Adieli Laoli, Nursayani Maru’ao 8405

Ngatmini & Yumrohtun (2021) state, “descriptive qualitative research is exploring and understanding
the meaning of individuals or groups ascribe to the social or human problem.” Smith in Telaumbanua
et al., (2022) says that qualitative research is research that describes and investigates a phenomenon
that occurs by involving reliable data collection. This qualitative research aims to describe the
information about the problem or phenomenon that occurs as clearly as possible and is a fact of truth.
Qualitative research must be objective so that the results or data provided must also be in accordance
with reality and also logical. The location of the research was in SMK Negeri 1 Tuhemberua. It is
located in Botolakha village, Tuhemberua Subdistrict. The researchers have conducted the research at
the tenth grade of SMK Negeri 1 Tuhemberua as the subject of the research that consisted of 1 class
especially at X-TKJ class. The students at the eighth grade of SMK Negeri 1 Tuhemberua consisted of
22 students.
The researchers did the research by the agreement of the headmaster of SMK Negeri 1
Tuhemberua. The subject of the research is the students at the tenth grade of SMK Negeri 1
Tuhemberua (X-TKJ) which consisted of 22 students. The researchers chose this class because the
students had difficulty in learning vocabulary. During conducting the research, the researchers were
helped by the English teacher of SMK Negeri 1 Tuhemberua. The English teacher was as the teacher-
collaborator of the students’ and the researchers’ activity. The researchers got help from the English
teacher in order to observe the researchers’ and students’ activities during teaching-learning process in
the classroom. The students were all present during conducting the research. The researchers
performed the research for two meetings.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Reasons for Using Flash Card
Priskinia in 2020:5 says that flash card is the media that use a picture to show the students about
the meaning from the picture in English. Flash card is very cheap because we can make by our own
from printing the picture on a piece of the paper, and we can make it whenever we need the flash card.
Teaching vocabulary using flash card can make the students easy to understand, because they can see
the visualization of the object and they can guess the meaning of the object in English.
Schmitt (1997:212) in Priskinia (2020:6) says that new words can be learned by the picture and
meaning by the definition. Flash cards are the printed or drawn card with the word or picture. They
have ideal size in order to be able to see the whole students in the class and be easy to handle them.
Flash cards are used to teach the new words. They help the students to understand the meaning of the
words, pronunciation and spelling, memorizing the new words, practicing the structure and word
order.
Flash cards are a learning medium that can be used to teach in various fields of science
(Ardiyanti et al., 2018 in Nurnaningsih 2021:50). One of them is in the field of teaching English;
however, the application of flash cards by young mothers in teaching English vocabulary to their
8406 Journal on Education, Volume 06, No. 01, September-Desember 2023, hal. 8403-8409

children definitely has advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, it is concluded that flash card is the
good media to teach vocabulary, because it is easy for the students to memorize.
Why Flash Card?
Indriana (2011: 69) in Priskinia (2020) says that advantage of flash cards is easy to carry
anywhere, flash cards help to memorizing and summarizing. Flash cards are very fun to use as media
learning, it can be used to play game too. Therefore, Based on Komachali and Khodareza (2012: 137),
the advantages of flash cards can be used to drilling new letters, syllables, words, and other
information. According to Wright (1968) in Matruty and Que (2021:25), the advantages of using flash
cards are: It can help the students to ease themselves in memorizing words they have learned; it can be
brought everywhere because the size of the cards is not too big; it gives variation in teaching. The
teacher is not only to teach and explain the lesson; and flash cards are very helpful to refresh the
students' minds before starting the new lesson plan.
Based on advantages above, it is concluded that flash card can be fun, colorful, and creative
way to add memorization and retention of vocabulary words. Flash cards are widely used as a learning
drill by way of spaced repetition.
Procedure of Using Flash Card
Nurnaningsih in 2021:47 says that there are some points to remember for presenting flash cards
to be successfully namely: pictures / words / numbers must be large and clear; images / words /
numbers must have eye-catching colors; the presentation should be brief; the card must be shaped or
decorated as beautifully as possible, where the card or decoration allows it to be made by yourself.
While the equipment used can use cardboard or by using used cardboard paper; the card can be used
alternately between mother and child in using the card, so that both parties can play an active role;
these cards can also be combined and matched with various games that can support the success of
these cards; and the card is used as often as possible to make it easier to remember about the
vocabulary on the card.
In the research, the problem is “How does the teacher apply flash card to teach vocabulary at
tenth grade of SMK Negeri 1 Tuhemberua in 2022/2023? The research was done in two meetings, the
average of the students’ problem in learning vocabulary. The common response in the research is the
researchers cooperated with the English teacher to lead the students in answering the questions. After
collecting the students' interview sheets, the researchers counted and made the recapitulation of the
students' responses.
Further explanation is discussed in the description and interpretation of the research findings.
Furthermore, based on the researchers’ field notes, the researchers found that some of the students did
similarity to English words already known effectively, then only some of them that conducted the
similarity to L1, spelling and pronunciation, and appropriate use when learning English in the
classroom. While when the researchers observed that the students still did not connotation and
The Description of Students’ Problem in Learning Vocabulary through Flash Card at Tenth Grade of SMK Negeri 1
Tuhemberua in 2022/2023, Otomosi Gea, Yasminar A. Telaumbanua, Adieli Laoli, Nursayani Maru’ao 8407

collocation as good as possible in daily life. It means that the students still less-understanding about
the vocabulary.

CONCLUSION
Dealing with the result of the research from the observation of students’ worksheet and
interview, it could be concluded that most of students at tenth grade were still have no similarity to
English words already known when learning English in the classroom. The research findings also
indicated that the major factors that affected that the students were difficult to memorize the learning
vocabulary, and they did not apply vocabularies what they have learned at school every day. Flash
card can support the students’ ability in learning vocabulary because it can make the students exciting
and understand the English vocabulary. In the field, the flash cards can support the teachers in
delivery of vocabulary, students are also more enthusiastic, excited and very happy to learn English
and make them dare to advance to appear in front of the class. Based on data, it concluded that the
positive interaction occurs for the teacher and students with learning vocabulary at tenth grade of
SMK Negeri 1 Tuhemberua.
There are some suggestions from the researchers after conducting the research, such as:
1. For the English Teachers of SMK Negeri 1 Tuhemberua
It is substantial to facilitate and use flash cards while teaching English in the classroom.
Because it can help the teachers that make the students can memorize material easily. Besides
that it can support the skill of teachers as the professional educator.
2. For the Principal of School
The researchers recommend supporting the learning media in the classroom, especially the
picture that can increase the creativity of the teacher in teaching learning process.
3. For the Next Researchers
The researchers suggests to conduct the relevant research to find out more the students’
problem in learning vocabulary and flash card media not only improves the ability to listen,
speak, read and write but flash card can also train students’ ability in vocabulary,
pronunciation, grammar and spelling. Furthermore, the researchers hopes the next researchers
can prepare anything as good as possible in doing research and can follow up the research
4. For University of Nias
This research is used to make the students of university of Nias produces a better quality as
the critically and scientifically students. Therefore, this research is expected to make the
University of Nias will has the good rank, particularly in the field of the research.

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