Effectiveness of Outdoor Activities for Teaching Vocabulary

Emanuel Nanda Paramita Abstract Most of young learners faced difficulties in memorizing and acquiring new vocabulary items. Thats why, teachers tried to find effective vocabulary teaching method for children. The review of this study focused on teaching vocabulary to young learner using outdoor activities. The type of this research was an experimental research since the study involved variables that revealed the effect of teaching English vocabulary items using outdoor activities and classroom activities. The sample of this study was the first grade students in SD Pangudi Luhur, Ambarawa. Of the 73 first grade students, 36 were randomly selected for this study. These 36 students were further divided in two groups, A and B which had 18 students for each group. Group A was given the treatment (outdoor activities), and group B used the standard teaching methods (classroom activities). Both groups were evaluated and measured by post-test. I analyzed the data using the Independent Sample t-test to find out the significant difference of students achievement between outdoor activities and classroom activities. The finding of my research showed that there was a significant difference of students achievement between outdoor activities and classroom activities. Therefore, teaching vocabulary through outdoor activities was more effective than teaching vocabulary through classroom activities. Keywords : vocabulary, young learners, outdoor activities

Introduction
English has become a compulsory subject for the first grade in SD Pangudi Luhur, Ambarawa. The goals of learning English for the first grade students are to introduce English language and to give basic skills knowledge of English. For the first grade students, English subject was taught by the teacher one hour a week. The teaching method that the teachers used was translation method and drilling vocabulary items. The teachers gave some pictures and list of vocabulary items to the children in teaching vocabulary. However, most of them found difficulties to memorize vocabulary items.

Effectiveness of Outdoor Activities for Teaching Vocabulary

In this study, I used outdoor activity as a method in teaching vocabulary items. An outdoor activity is an activity which is held in the open area where the student can have an inquiry learning process. This learning process refers to a learning process which allowed the students to learn a language by doing a real experiment. Furthermore, outdoor activities can help the students to learn through their own real experiences. By seeing and touching the real objects, students will memorize vocabulary items easily. I think that the children cannot just be drilled inside the classroom to memorize vocabulary items. They are more interested in active and challenging activities where subconsciously they learn many new vocabulary items. Vocabulary teaching technique using outdoor activities provides a lot of teaching learning activities which encourage the children to practice in acquiring vocabulary items. By doing outdoor activities, the children are expected to be able to memorize vocabulary items more easily and to apply vocabulary items correctly. Vocabulary is the core of language learning process. Each language learners started to learn a language by learning vocabulary first. According to Wehmeier, et al (2005), Vocabulary is defined as all the words in a particular language (p. 1707). In this case, vocabulary is the basic and crucial part of a language. Having enough knowledge of vocabulary, people will able to at least to read, write, or speak the language and also understand the language. Based on Henry (2010), vocabulary was explained as words meaning which have main control over a specific domain of language learning. Henrys statement indicated that in learning a language, language learners should have deep understanding on the vocabulary since it had main control over the process of language acquisition.

Effectiveness of Outdoor Activities for Teaching Vocabulary

According to Krashen (1987), vocabulary is very important in acquisition process. Acquisition crucially depends on the input being comprehensible, and the comprehensibility depends directly on the ability to recognize the meaning of key elements in the utterance. Moreover, if someone wants to acquire the language but he or she does not recognize the meaning of key words used by those who address them, they will be unable to participate in the conversation. Nation (2002) stated, vocabulary growth is such an important part of language acquisition that it deserves to be planned for, deliberately controlled and monitored" (p. 267). The use of vocabulary should be planned before in order to communicate a language better. The importance of vocabulary in recent years has been elevated by three recent developments in the theory and practice of language teaching (Seal, 1991, p. 297); the de-emphasis on grammar, the newly-placed emphasis on communication, and the perceived needs of students of English for academic purposes (EAP). Vocabulary teaching deals with the selection and presentation of words (lexis) for learners. Kristiyaningrum (2005) citing Furneaux stated that vocabulary teaching aimed at enabling learners to understand the concepts of unfamiliar words, gained a greater number of words, and used words successfully for communicative purposes. It is necessary for the teacher to prepare carefully before they teach vocabulary to the students. In vocabulary teaching, the teacher may do unplanned and planned vocabulary teaching. Unplanned vocabulary teaching refers to vocabulary being taught unsystematically, arising because one student has a problem with a word that has come up in the lessons, or because the teacher thinks that an important vocabulary item is unknown to the majority of the students. In contrast, planned vocabulary

Effectiveness of Outdoor Activities for Teaching Vocabulary

teaching involves two types: one incidental to the objective of the lessons and the other one specifically designed as vocabulary lessons. In presenting new vocabulary, the teacher might use some strategies to make the children understand in acquiring new vocabulary items. Those strategies are: realia or visual, teachers teach new vocabulary items using real object, so that the students are able to see, touch, and experience with the real object of vocabulary items. There are several strategies in presenting vocabulary items. First, word building. Teachers give list of vocabulary building to the students, so that the students will be easier in memorizing the vocabulary items. Second, matching words. Usually some of teachers use this strategy to teach vocabulary items, the students will match some vocabulary items in a box for example. Third, guessing meaning in context. When we face difficulties finding the meaning of a word in a reading text, one of strategy is guessing meaning from context. The meaning will be found before or after the word in a sentence. Fourth, using song. This strategy is the most attractive to teach new vocabulary items to the children. It helps the children to memorize vocabulary items more easily. Fifth, demonstrating. Teachers do movement when they teach new vocabulary items. For example, when the teacher teach wash your hand before eat. The teachers do movement by practicing it. Sixth, translating. This is common strategy that the teachers do when the students could not get the meaning of a word, then the teacher translate it in their language. This strategy is used when the students do not understand the meaning of words clearly. By mastering those strategies, the teacher will be easier when teaching new vocabulary items to the students. Moreover, the teaching learning process will run smoothly. According to Rachmajanti (2008), teaching

Effectiveness of Outdoor Activities for Teaching Vocabulary

English vocabulary at the primary schools was mainly aimed at arousing the learners' interest in learning a foreign language. Thus, it is better to teach vocabulary from the early ages. Alam (2009) stated that children have certain characteristics and it is more challenging to teach them. Therefore, the teacher should know the characteristics of the students in order to use an appropriate technique. According to P ibilov (2006), there are some characteristics of young learners. Young learners are happy when they can play. Young learners love to share their experiences, they love when people pay attention to them and their talking. Young learners are able to talk about what they are doing. Young learners use imagination a lot. Young learners can think, argue, discuss and they are able to interact with both children and adults. They are able to concentrate for certain time. Young learners understand situations and through situations and use several senses. Young learners are able to use language skills not even realizing them. Young learners do not realize what fact is and what fiction is sometimes. Young learners want to learn and are happy when they learn something, then they have to share it with somebody and they are proud that they learnt something, they can show off a little bit. Young learners love to be admired for what they have done and learnt, this is very important fact to keep their motivation. Moreover, Philips (1993) found that young learners have the advantage of being great mimics, are often unselfconscious, and are commonly prepared to enjoy activities prepared by their teacher. Basically, children enjoy activities rather than listen to the teachers explanation in the classroom. Children can learn through outdoor activity in their daily life. Outdoor activity is defined as the activity which is done outside the civilization. Francis (1988) stated that childrens play in an unstructured physical environment, preferably a natural one gives the children a real
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Effectiveness of Outdoor Activities for Teaching Vocabulary

understanding of reality.

Learning in natural environment encourages children to be more

creative and active. Bjerke, cited in Kristiyaningrum (2005) stated that outdoor activity means the physical outdoor environment and the natural environment as a play for pupils. There are some advantages of using outdoor activities in teaching English vocabulary. Children deal with real examples and situations more easily than with abstract things. Children enjoy learning about new things, have good imagination, and are creative. The teacher can help children learn English in the real situation by letting them do outdoor activities. The children can learn from their environment by watching closely things around them that they find in the teaching and learning process. Besides, learning using outdoor activities is not limited by time since children can learn whatever they go outside. As a matter of fact, studies on teaching vocabulary have been done previously by some researchers. Kristiyaningrum (2005) investigated teaching simple English for children using outdoor activity. The technique that she used was outside the classroom practice or learning by doing. She taught vocabulary items outside the class. Vocabulary items that she taught were about the things around the school. The students could learn in school garden about many kinds of plants, the color, animals, etc. When presenting vocabulary, teacher introduced things that the students could see, feel, play-with, touch, and experience every day. Therefore, the students were very interested when they learned outside the class or do outdoor activities. Her finding was teaching vocabulary using outdoor activities technique was more effective than using classroom activities. By using outdoor activities, she found that learning English could be fun, easy, and of course interesting since the students were perform better than in-classroom activity. Some

Effectiveness of Outdoor Activities for Teaching Vocabulary

students had improvement to memorize vocabulary items. Through observation, it was clear that the students learned English much more easily and in a more relaxed manner. It gave a lot of contribution in helping them to learn English. Therefore, the outdoor activity method gave worthy contribution to children in learning English that built their interest as a key in learning English. Moreover, Huyen and Nga (2003) investigated learning vocabulary through games. The writers focused on the students awareness and attitudes as well as what students achieved by using vocabulary games. The techniques that the writers used were observation, reviewed other teachers' lesson plans, and interviewed some teachers and students. There were three findings in their study. The first finding was students expectation and attitude. The students were satisfied in learning vocabulary through games. Most of them were active in game while learning vocabulary. They found that game was helpful in their learning process. The second was students progress. In learning vocabulary through games, most of the students became more active and they quickly mastered new vocabulary items. The finding showed that there was a progression of students ability in acquiring new vocabulary items using games. The third was unanticipated problems. The finding showed that some students were active in learning activities through games, so that they were not facing any difficulties in learning new vocabulary items. Thus, learning vocabulary items using games was an effective way that can be applied in any classroom. It was also important for the students since enabled them to apply vocabulary items correctly and encouraged them to be more actively in any activities.

Effectiveness of Outdoor Activities for Teaching Vocabulary

Furthermore, Masahe (2005) investigated the effectiveness of using video in teaching English vocabulary to elementary school children. He used descriptive method since he interviewed the subject about the use of English video program in learning English vocabulary. The findings of his study were learning vocabulary through video basically enabled the children to comprehend vocabulary items shown on the video. Learning vocabulary through video encouraged the students to speak, listen and read. Based on observation and interview, students enjoyed to learn English because the video provided children with entertainment. For example: the cartoon story, colorful pictures, songs, amusing motion and sounds and games part. Children could have fun during the learning. Most of the activities described in the research above were done in class which focused on the students participation and encouraging the students to be more active. However, this research focused on the effectiveness of teaching vocabulary using outdoor activities. Therefore, to achieve the goal of research in teaching vocabulary items using outdoor activities, an experimental research was done to find the answer to the question, Is there any significant difference of students achievement between outdoor activities and classroom activities? Thus, the hypotheses of the study have been formulated as follows: Null hypotheses (H0) : there is no significant difference of students achievement

between outdoor activities and classroom activities. Alternative hypotheses (H1) : there is a significant difference of students achievement between outdoor activities and classroom activities

Effectiveness of Outdoor Activities for Teaching Vocabulary

The study
This study investigated the effectiveness of teaching English vocabulary items using outdoor activities. The sample of this study was the first grade students in SD Pangudi Luhur, Ambarawa. Of the 73 first grade students in SD Pangudi Luhur, Ambarawa, 36 were randomly selected for this study. Moreover, I gave pre-test to 36 of 73 students that had been selected. The purpose of pre-test was to assign the students into experimental group and control group before conducting the experiment. The test was about matching the name of colors into English based on the list of names of colors in the box. The example of questions: 1. Merah 2. Kuning 3. Hijau = _____________ = _____________ = _____________ Yellow Green Red

I gave ten questions and ten points for right answer to the students. The table below shows the result of pre-test. Table 1. The frequency statistic of pre-test score

Pre-test

Score Valid 40 50 80 85 90 100 Total

Frequency 2 2 3 1 5 23 36
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Effectiveness of Outdoor Activities for Teaching Vocabulary

The frequency statistic of pre-test score showed that two students got 40, two students got 50, three students got 80, one student got 85, five students got 90, and twenty three students got 100. These 36 students were further divided into experimental group and control group of 18 subjects for each group. I divided the groups by selecting the subject based on the frequency score. Table 2. The score of the experimental group and the control group. The experimental group 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 90 90 80 80 50 40 90,5 The control group 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 90 90 90 85 80 50 40 90,3

Name 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Average

Name A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R

Based on Table 2., the average score of the experimental group was 90,5 and the control group was 90,3. Both groups had almost the same average score, so the abilities of both groups were equal.
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Effectiveness of Outdoor Activities for Teaching Vocabulary

The experimental group received treatment using outdoor activity, while the control group did not receive any treatment. The control group was taught using the standard teaching method in classroom. Both groups had the same materials: color, vocabulary items, and sentence pattern. Both groups were tested on the vocabulary proficiency test at the end of the experimental study. During the research, the teacher used the following teaching procedures. In teaching colors for the experimental group, the teacher invited the students to go outside the class and showed the colors using cards. The teacher asked the students to pay attention to the colors of objects around them and the meaning. Those colors were red, white, black, purple, brown, yellow, blue, grey, green, and orange. Moreover, the teacher explained the colors of the objects and asked the students to pronounce the words correctly after the teacher. The teacher asked the students to name the colors of the objects around them. While in teaching colors for the control group, the teacher wrote the words to be taught on the blackboard. The teacher gave the meaning of the words to the students. The students pronounced the words correctly after the teacher. Moreover, the teacher pointed some the students to mention the name of colors on the blackboard. In teaching vocabulary items for the experimental group, the teacher invited the students to go out side the class and showed the real objects around them related to the vocabulary items. The teacher asked the students to pay attention to the words of the objects and the meaning. The students pronounced the words after the teacher. The vocabulary items were flower, tree, water, soil, chair, stone, tomato, paper, leaf, and uniform. After that, the teacher asked the students to look for and wrote the words of the objects around the school that had been showed by the
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Effectiveness of Outdoor Activities for Teaching Vocabulary

teacher. While in teaching vocabulary for the control group, the teacher showed the pictures and wrote the words to be taught on the blackboard. The teacher gave the meaning of the words and drilled vocabulary items to the students. Then, the students pronounced the words after the teacher. In teaching sentence pattern for the experimental group, the teacher invited the students to go out side the class and showed the sentence pattern to the students using cards. The teacher asked the students to pay attention to the sentence pattern. By giving example of sentence pattern using cards, the teacher asked the students to repeat after him and practiced it with their partner. For example: A: What color is the flower? B: It is purple. While in teaching sentence pattern for the control group, the teacher wrote the sentence pattern to be taught on the blackboard. The teacher asked the students to repeat after him. The teacher gave one picture for each student then asked them to practice with their partner in the class. In the end of session, I gave post-test for experimental group and control group. The purpose of post-test was to evaluate the students comprehension after they got the treatment. In post-test, I provided ten questions about the names and the color of objects. Both groups did the post-test at the same time with the same questions. The examples of questions are presented below. 1. A: What color is the f__ __w__ __? (bunga) B: It is __ __ __ __. (merah muda) 2. A: What color is the t__ __ __? (Pohon) B: It is __ __ __ __ __. (coklat)
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Effectiveness of Outdoor Activities for Teaching Vocabulary

Result
After the students did the test, I assessed their vocabulary ability by counting the right answers. Table 3. The post-test score of the experimental group and the control group.
Name 1 100 2 100 3 80 4 100 5 80 6 90 7 100 8 100 9 100 10 100 11 90 12 80 13 85 14 100 15 80 16 65 17 70 18 R Q 50 P 90 O 75 N 60 M 85 L 80 K 75 J 100 I 90 H 95 G 50 F 90 E 80 D 100 C 75 B 85 The experimental group 100 Name A 90 The control group 85

Based on the post-test score, I analyzed the data using the Independent Sample t-test. The dependent variable was the vocabulary mastery, indicated by the scores, and the independent
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Effectiveness of Outdoor Activities for Teaching Vocabulary

variable was the teaching method, outdoor activity and classroom activity. If the significance value or the probability (p) was higher than 0.05 (p > 0.05), H0 was accepted. If the probability was lower than or equal to 0.005 (p<=0.05), H0 was rejected. The result of the experiment is presented in the table below. Table 4. The descriptive statistic of post-test score for both groups

Descriptive Statistics Teaching Method Score Outdoor activity Classroom activity Valid N (list wise) N 18 18 18 Minimum Maximum 65 50 100 100 Mean 90.00 80.83 Std. Deviation 11.757 14.877 Sig. (2-tailed) .048

Based on the descriptive statistic table, both groups had the same numbers of students. The minimum score of experimental group was 65 and the maximum score was 100, while the minimum score of control group was 50 and the maximum score was 100. The mean of experimental group was 90.00 and the standard deviation was 11.757. Then, the mean of control group was 80.83 and the standard deviation was 14.877. The performance of the two groups was good. The significance value or the probability (p) was .048, so H0 was rejected. The finding of this study was that there was a significant difference of students achievement between outdoor activity and classroom activity.

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Effectiveness of Outdoor Activities for Teaching Vocabulary

Conclusion
Based on the findings of this study that there was a significant difference of students achievement between outdoor activities and classroom activities, I concluded that teaching vocabulary items through outdoor activities was more effective than teaching vocabulary through classroom activities for the first grade students in SD Pangudi Luhur, Ambarawa.

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Effectiveness of Outdoor Activities for Teaching Vocabulary

Acknowledgement
Puji Tuhan. Finally, I was able to finish my thesis. Therefore, I would like to express my appreciation to the people who help and support me in completing this thesis. I am so grateful to my Lord, Jesus Christ who always guide my way. I owe my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Prof. Dr. Gusti Astika, MA, whose encouragement, guidance and support for me to finish this study. Next person, I would like to thank to my parents, for your encouragement and support for me every time. Thanks for my friends who support and remind me to finish this thesis as soon as possible.

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Effectiveness of Outdoor Activities for Teaching Vocabulary

References
Alam, R. Y. S. (2009). Factor Causing Difficulties in Teaching Vocabulary to the Fifth Year Students of SD Negeri 8 Sragen. Unpublished Thesis, School of Teching Training and Education, Muhammadiyah University, Surakarta. Francis, M. (1988). Negotiation between children and adult design values in open space projects. Design Studies, 9 (2), 6775. Huyen, N. T. T., & Nga, K. T. T. (2003). The Effectiveness of Learning Vocabulary Through Games. Asian EFL Journal, 5, (4), 6 12. Retrieved September 17, 2010, from http://www.asian-efl-journal.com/dec_03_sub.Vn.php Krashen. D. S. (1987). The Natural Approach: Language Acquisition in the Classroom. London: Redwood Burn Ltd. Kristiyaningrum, R. (2005). Teaching Simple English for Children Using Outdoor Activity. Unpublished Thesis, English Department, Faculty of Language and Literature, Satya Wacana Christian University, Salatiga. Masahe, S. (2005). The Effectiveness of Using Video in Teaching English Vocabulary to Elementary School Children. Unpublished Thesis, English Department, Faculty of Language and Literature, Satya Wacana Christian University, Salatiga. Nation, I. S. P. (2002). Best Practice in Vocabulary Teaching and Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Philips, S. (1993). Young Learners. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Pikulski, J. J & Templeton, S. (2004). Teaching and Developing Vocabulary: Key to Long-Term Reading Success. Litho: Houghton Mifflin Company. P ibilov, L. (2006). Teaching vocabulary to young learners. Brno: Masaryk University. Rachmajanti, S. (2008). Impact of English Instruction at The Elementary Schools on The Students' Achievement of English at The Lower Secondary School. TEFLIN journal, 19, (2), 1-26. Retrieved September 26, 2010, from http://journal.teflin.org/index.php/teflin/article/view/8/6

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Rixon, S. (1999). Young Learners of English: some research perspectives. London: Longman. Seal, B. D. (1991). Vocabulary Learning are Teaching, Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language. Harlow: Longman Publishing. Scoot, W. A & Ytreberg, L. H. (1990). Teaching English to Children. London: Longman Wehmeier, S., McIntosh, C., Turnbull, J., & Ashby, M. (Eds.). (2005). Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary of Current English. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

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Effectiveness of Outdoor Activities for Teaching Vocabulary

Appendices
The pre-test question sheet. COLOUR Name : ________________ No : ________________ Match these words (Pasangkan kata kata dibawah ini dengan kata kata yang ada di kolom)

Merah Kuning Oranye Biru Coklat Hijau Ungu Abu abu Hitam Putih

= _________________ = _________________ = _________________ = _________________ = _________________ = _________________ = _________________ = _________________ = _________________ = _________________

YELLOW RED BLACK GREEN BLUE ORANGE WHITE GREY BROWN PURPLE

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Effectiveness of Outdoor Activities for Teaching Vocabulary

The post-test question sheet. Name: ______________________ Please do the exercise below! 1. A: What color is the f __ __ w __ __? Bunga (Merah muda) B: It is __ __ __ __. 2. A: What color is the t __ __ __? Pohon (coklat) B: It is __ __ __ __ __. No: ____________

3. A: What color is the w __ t __ __? Air (Biru) B: It is __ __ __ __. 4. A: What color is the s __ __ __? Tanah (Hitam) B: It is __ __ __ __ __. 5. A: What color is the c __ __ __ r? Kursi (Ungu) B: It is __ __ __ __ __ __. 6. A: What color is the s __ __ __ e? Batu (abu - abu) B: It ____ __ __ __ __. 7. A: What color is the t __ m __ __o? Tomat (Oranye) B: It ____ __ __ __ __ __ __. 8. A: What color is the p __ __ __ __? Kertas (Putih) B: It ____ __ __ __ __ __. 9. A: What color is the l __ __ __? Daun (Hijau) B: It ____ __ __ __ __ __. 10. A: What color is the u __ __ f __ __ __? Seragam (Merah) B: It ____ __ __ __.

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