Abstract:
English is an international language which is really important to learn. The
importance of learning English is that learners can learn to communicate using it.
People use English to communicate with people from other countries because
English becomes an international language which has important role for
communication in the world. Vocabularies can help the students to learn English
more easily. The purpose of introducing English to junior high school is to
motivate them to be ready in learning English to the next level.
Vocabulary learning is an important and indispensable part of any
language learning process because it needed to understand every word in
sentence. So, the researcher wants to limit her study on vocabulary aspect only
and focus in junior high school. The objective of this research is to find out
whether there is any effectiveness in using crossword puzzle as a medium to
improve the students’ vocabulary mastery to the seventh-grade students of SMPN
12 purworejo in the academic year of 2011/2012 and to know whether using
crossword puzzle gives the advantages towards the teaching vocabulary.
The type of research is an experimental quantitave. The population in this
research is the seventh-grade students of SMPN 12 purworejo there are 217
students and the researcher takes 15% of the population as the sample. The
researcher takes two classes as the experimental group and control group. The first
group is the experimental group (EG) consist of 31 students, and the second one is
the control group (CG)) consist of 31 students. The researcher used test as the
instrument in this research. The researcher conducted the test twice. The first is
pre-test that is a test before learning has occurred. And the second post-test,it is
given after learning has occurred. The comparison of post-test in experimental
class and post-test in control class results measures the amount of progress a
learner has made. The mean of control class is 76.96, meanwhile the mean of
exprimental class is 88.25. the results of t-test is 4.85. and the critical value on the
table is 1.671. So, the t-value is higher than the critical value on the table. It
means that using crossword as the medium to improve the students’ vocabulary
mastery is effective. The hypothesis in this research is using crossword puzzle as a
medium to improve the students’ vocabulary mastery of SMPN 12 purworejo in
the academic year of 2011/2012 is effective. The hypothesis is accepted. In addition, using crossword puzzle as a medium to improve of vocabulary
mastery makes students more fun and comfortable. The crossword puzzle make
the student easier in understanding the materials. The researcher gives suggestion
to the English teacher, to the students and the reader. The researcher hopes that
the result of this research will be valuable.