collocation clusters to help the students of english
TRANSCRIPT
COLLOCATION CLUSTERS TO HELP THE STUDENTS
OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY
PROGRAM IMPROVE COLLOCATIONAL
KNOWLEDGE
A THESIS
Presented as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
to Obtain the Magister Humaniora (M.Hum) Degree
in English Language Studies
by
Siwi Karmadi Kurniasih
Student Number: 076332016
THE GRADUATE PROGRAM IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2011
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
ii
COLLOCATION CLUSTERS TO HELP THE STUDENTS
OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY
PROGRAM IMPROVE COLLOCATIONAL
KNOWLEDGE
A THESIS
Presented as a Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
to Obtain the Magister Humaniora (M.Hum) Degree
in English Language Studies
by
Siwi Karmadi Kurniasih
Student Number: 076332016
Approved by
F.X. Mukarto, Ph.D. ______________________________
Thesis advisor Yogyakarta, August 23, 2011
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
iii
A THESIS
COLLOCATION CLUSTERS TO HELP THE STUDENTS OF
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
IMPROVE COLLOCATIONAL KNOWLEDGE
Presented by
Siwi Karmadi Kurniasih
Student Number: 076332016
Defended before the Thesis Committee
and Declared Acceptable.
THESIS COMMITTEE
Chairperson : F.X. Mukarto, Ph.D. _________________
Secretary : Dr. B.B. Dwijatmoko, M.A. _________________
Members : 1. Dr. Fr. B. Alip, M.Pd., M.A. _________________
: 2. Dr. J. Bismoko _________________
Yogyakarta, August 23, 2011
The Graduate Program Director
Sanata Dharma University
Prof. Dr. Augustinus Supratiknya
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
iv
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY
This is to certify that all ideas, phrases, sentences, unless otherwise stated,
are the ideas, phrases, and sentences of the thesis writer. The writer understands
the full consequences including degree cancellation if she took somebody else's
ideas, phrases, or sentences without proper references.
Yogyakarta, August 23, 2011
Siwi Karmadi Kurniasih
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
v
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN
PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma:
Nama : Siwi Karmadi Kurniasih
Nomor mahasiswa : 076332016
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan
Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
Collocation Clusters to Help the Students of English Language Education Study
Program Improve Collocational Knowledge
beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan
kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan
dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data,
mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di Internet atau media
lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun
memberikan royalty kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai
penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
Dibuat di Yogyakarta
Pada tanggal: 23 Agustus 2011
Yang menyatakan
(Siwi Karmadi Kurniasih)
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
vi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My profound sincere gratitude goes to Jesus Christ who has always had
infinite mercy to me so that I could complete my study. He has always guided me and
led me through the hard time. And, I eventually managed to step on the final stage.
I also would like to express my deep gratitude to my thesis advisor, F.X.
Mukarto, Ph.D. He had continuously given me invaluable support, encouragement,
supervision and useful suggestions throughout my research work. I would like to
thank all the lecturers in English Language Studies who really helped me doing this
thesis. They, in fact, have opened up my mind and inspired me to learn more and to
be better.
I also thank my beloved family. My family is always there when I need them,
particularly my beloved husband, Kumara, for his endless love and encouragement. I
also received a great moral support from my parents and brother, Adek. I also wish to
thank my friends, Mas Koko, Mbak Pipin, and Atiek for their support and suggestions
for this study. In addition, I also would like to express my thanks to all my friends for
their encouragement and input into this research.
Finally, my heartfelt thanks go to the head of English Language Education
Study Program of Yogyakarta State University (UNY), who has allowed me to
conduct the research in my class.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE …………………………………………………………………… i
APPROVAL PAGE …………………………………………………………….. ii
DEFENSE APPROVAL PAGE ………………………………………………… iii
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY …………………………………………….. iv
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI ……………………. v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS …………………………………………………….. vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS ……………………………………………………….. vii
LIST OF TABLES ………………………………………………………………. viii
LIST OF APPENDICES ………………………………………………………… ix
LIST OF FIGURES ……………………………………………………………... x
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS …………………………………………………… xi
ABSTRACT …………………………………………………………………….. xii
ABSTRAK ………………………………………………………………………. xiii
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background ………………………………………………………………….. 1
B. Problem identification ……………………………………………………….. 4
C. Problem limitation ………………………………………………………….. 6
D. Research question …………………………………………………………… 7
E. Research goal and objectives …………………………………………….. 7
F. Research benefits ……………………………………………………………... 8
CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW
A. THEORETICAL REVIEW
1. Learning vocabulary ……………………………………………………….. 9
a. The nature of vocabulary ………………………………………………. 10
b. Building learners‟ vocabulary? ………………………………….…….. 12
c. The influence of L1 …………………………………………………….. 15
2. Learning collocation ……………………………………………………….. 17
a. The importance of collocations ………………………………………… 20
b. Collocational knowledge ……………………………………………….. 22
c. Explicit teaching of collocation ………………………..………………. 23
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
viii
d. Collocation clusters (Collocation notebook)………… ………………… 27
3. Independent Learning ……………………………..………………………. 30
4. Review of related research ……………………………………………...…. 32
B. Theoretical framework ………….…………………………………………….. 33
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
A. OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH METHOD
1. Action research …………………………………………………...………... 37
2. Research setting ……………………………………………………………. 40
a. The nature of the class ………………………………………………….. 41
b. The nature of the students ………………………………………………. 41
3. Research design (or procedure)
a. Research procedures ……………………………………………………. 43
b. Data collection methods ………………………………………………... 45
c. Organization of data ……………………………………………………. 46
4. Course design ………………………………………………………………. 47
5. Ethical issue ………………………………………………………………… 51
B. DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
1. Data summary ……………………………………………………………… 52
2. Data organization ………………………………………………………....... 52
3. Interpretation ………………………………………………………………. 53
CHAPTER IV RESEARCH PROCESS AND FINDINGS
1. Students‟ problems of learning collocations ………………………………. 54
2. Responding to the situation…………………………………………………. 56
a. Teaching collocations explicitly ……………………………………….. 56
b. Introducing collocation cluster ………………………………………… 58
c. Introducing BNC ……………………………………………………….. 59
3. Students‟ feeling and learning……………………………………………… 59
4. Dealing with students‟ difficulty learning collocation..……………………. 61
a. Using an English collocation dictionary ……………………...……….. 62
5. Students‟ learning development …..……………………………………….. 63
a. Students‟ learning achievement …………………………………… 63
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
ix
b. The students‟ collocation learning strategy …………………………… 67
c. Student‟s learning independence ………………………………………. 68
d. Students‟ learning sustainability ……………………………………….. 69
6. Limitations of the findings ………………………………………………… 70
CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
A. CONCLUSIONS ……………………………………………………………… 71
B. SUGGESTIONS ………………………………………………………………. 72
BIBLIOGRAPHY ………………………………………………………………. 74
APPENDICES …………………………………………………………………... 77
Appendix 1. Questionnaire ……………………………………………………….. 78
Appendix 2. Students‟ weekly journals …………………………………………… 81
Appendix 3. Student‟s first and second reflections ………………………………. 84
Appendix 4. The blueprint of interview ………………………………………….. 88
Appendix 5. Interview transcript – Student 1…………………………………….. 89
Appendix 6. Interview transcript – Student 2 ……………………………………. 93
Appendix 7. A samples of student‟s collocation clusters ……………………….. 96
Appendix 8. Teacher‟s journal ………………………………………………….. 98
Appendix 9. A sample of an input text …………………………………………. 99
Appendix 10. Pre and post test questions ……………………………………….. 101
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
x
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1. The scope of learner‟s task in learning vocabulary ………………….….. 13
Table 2. Collocation grid ………………………………………………….……… 27
Table 3. Research course ………………………………………………………… 47
Table 4. The results of pre test and post test …………………………………….. 64
Table 5. Data of standard deviation (SD) ………………………………………... 65
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
xi
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1. A sample of collocation cluster on „memory‟ ……………………….… 28
Figure 2. Theoretical framework ……………………………………………….… 36
Figure 3. Cyclical AR model based on Kemmis and McTaggart‟s …………….... 39
Figure 4. Action Research model proposed by O‟Leary ………………………… 40
Figure 5. Research Design ………………………………………………………... 43
Figure 6. A sample of collocation clusters ……………………………………….. 51
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
xii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
L1 : First language
L2 : Second language
FL : Foreign Language
A : Adjective
V : Verb
N : Noun
T : teacher
S/Ss : student/students
Coll : collocation
SD : standard deviation
PCK : prior collocational knowledge
FCK : final collocational knowledge
PEE : pleasant emotional experience
LI : learning independence
LS : learning sustainability
OP : obstacles of the process
CCII : Collocation clusters impact on collocational knowledge improvement
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
xiii
ABSTRACT
Siwi Karmadi Kurniasih. 2011. Collocation clusters to help the students of English
Language Education Study Program improve collocational knowledge. Yogyakarta:
The Graduate Program in English Language Studies, Sanata Dharma University.
Vocabulary learning plays a major role in English language learning, and
learning vocabulary for the students of English Language Education Study Program
is no exception. Some problems emerged and were identified. First of all, the students
were used to using bilingual dictionary to check word meaning and translation.
Secondly, they were not aware of the importance of learning collocation.
Encountering new words, they tended to look for meaning and part of speech.
Thirdly, the students had not been formally introduced to one particular technique to
learn vocabulary.
An action research was performed to discover the answer of the research
question “How can collocation clusters improve collocational knowledge of the
student of English Language Education Study Program?” An action research was a
wise choice since it was conducted by a practitioner. A prior observation and
reflection started the process of cycle one. The results of the reflection were used as
the basis for planning interventions (or actions) to improve the situation. The
interventions and modifications were carried out based on the students‟ problems and
suggestions, and also the teacher‟s reflection. During the implementation of the
actions, an observation was done which was followed by a reflection. When problems
were found, another action for cycle two was planned. The same process was
repeated and ended with another reflection.
The results of the research were the presented in description of the process and
the interpretation of what went on and what the students gained during the process.
The process was quite smooth but the learning progress was slow. Before the
collocation dictionary was introduced in class, the students got much difficulty in
recognizing collocations. At the end of the course, the students got a slight increase in
their scores. They also enjoyed the learning process and some got knowledge
improvement which was depicted on the results of the tests.
The research brought some benefits not only to the students but also to the
teacher. The students were aware of the importance of collocation in language
learning and use. They also got immediate advantage in doing tasks on other classes,
such as reading and writing. Even though the collocation clusters did not significantly
promote independent learning, it could be the basis of independent learning.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
xiv
ABSTRAK
Siwi Karmadi Kurniasih. 2011. Collocation clusters to help the students of English
Language Education Study Program improve collocational knowledge. Yogyakarta:
The Graduate Program in English Language Studies, Sanata Dharma University.
Pembelajaran vocabulary (kosakata) memiliki peranan penting dalam belajar
bahasa Inggris, dan hal ini berlaku juga bagi mahasiswa Program Studi Pendidikan
Bahasa Inggris. Beberapa masalah timbul dan teridentifikasi. Yang pertama, para
mahasiswa terbiasa menggunakan kamus dwi bahasa (Inggris – Indonesia) untuk
mencari arti kata atau terjemahannya. Yang kedua, mereka tidak menyadari
pentingnya collocation. Ketika menemukan kata baru, mereka cenderung mencari
artinya atau jenis katanya. Yang ketiga, para mahasiswa belum pernah dikenalkan
atau diajari secara formal (disengaja) teknik belajar tertentu untuk belajar vocabulary.
Action research (Penelitian tindakan) dipilih sebagai metodologi penelitian
untuk mencari jawab pertanyaan penelitian “How can collocation clusters improve
collocational knowledge of the student of English Language Education Study
Program?” (Bagaimanakah collocation clusters dapat membantu meningkatkan
collocational knowledge mahasiswa Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris?)
Penelitaian tindakan adalah pilihan yang tepat karena penelitinya adalah praktisi.
Pengamatan awal dan refleksi mengawali proses siklus pertama. Hasil refleksi
digunakan sebagai dasar penyusunan rencana tindakan untuk peningkatan. Tindakan
dilakukan atas dasar pertimbangan kebutuhan, masalah dan saran mahasiswa, juga
refleksi pengajar. Selama pelaksanaan tindakan, pengamatan dilakukan kemudian
diikuti refleksi. Ketika ditemukan masalah, rencana tindakan pada siklus ke dua
dirancang. Proses yang sama diulang dan diakhiri dengan refleksi.
Hasil penelitian disajikan dalam bentuk deskripsi proses dan interpretasi akan
apa yang terjadi dan apa yang mahasiswa peroleh dari proses tersebut. Prosesnya
berjalan lancar tapi kemajuan belajar berlangsung lamban. Sebelum penggunaan
kamus collocation diberlakukan, para mahasiswa mengalami kesulitan mengenali
collocation. Pada akhir penelitian, mahasiswa memperoleh sedikit kenaikan skor.
Mereka juga menikmati proses dan beberapa mengalami peningkatan pengetahuan
akan collocation yang tergambar dari hasil tes.
Penelitian ini memberikan keuntungan tidak hanya bagi mahasiswa namun
juga pengajar. Para mahasiswa menjadi sadar akan pentingnya collocation dalam
pembelajaran dan penggunaan bahasa. Mereka juga mendapatkan keuntungan dalam
mengerjakan tugas di mata kuliah lain seperti reading dan writing. Meskipun
collocation clusters tidak sepenuhnya mendorong pembelajaran mandiri, collocation
cluster dapat mejadi langkah awal.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
In this early part of Chapter One the overall introduction to the thesis will
be supplied. The background of the study, the problem identification, the problem
limitation, the research questions, the research goal and objectives, and the
benefits that can be taken from this research will be discussed respectively.
A lot of research on the techniques of learning and/or teaching vocabulary
has been conducted. The research on the effectiveness of keeping vocabulary
notebook to learn vocabulary conducted by Walters and Bozkurt (2009, 403-423)
as reported in their article is one of the inspiring work affected my study. I would
like to modify the use of it for a more specific purpose i.e. recording collocation
clusters.
A. Background
There has been a change in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research
in recent times. Lexicon used to get less attention than other parts of language;
however it is getting more attention now. One of the factors contributing to the
change is the availability of computerized database of words or corpora (e.g.
British National Corpus, Cambridge International Corpus, etc.); it has revived the
interest in vocabulary teaching and research (Thornbury, 2002).
That lexis is important in SLA is admitted by some linguists. Gass &
Selinker (2001, 372) point out that “… there are numerous reasons for believing
that lexis is important in second language acquisition. In fact, the lexicon may be
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
2
the most important language component for learners.” Zimmerman (1997a, 5)
states “vocabulary is central to language and of critical importance to the typical
language learner.” In addition, among the error types being the subject of research
in SLA, vocabulary errors are considered as the most serious by learners (Politzer,
1978, cited in Levenston, 1979, 147).
Further, collocation in particular is an essential part of vocabulary aspects
as what Hill (in Lewis, 2001, 49) expressed “within the mental lexicon,
collocation is the most powerful force in the creation and comprehension of all
naturally-occurring text.” He added that lack of collocational knowledge lead to
confusing language productions (writing and speech). Seesink (2007, 7) even
cited a strong comment made by Kennedy (1990) about the importance of
collocation that some researchers believed that collocations are “overwhelmingly
pervasive” in English. In addition, since collocations occur in combinations (or
chunks), acquiring them enables learners to be an efficient language users. They
just need to recall those readily-made units, not individual words and put them
together. As Nation (2001, 323) comments “most of the language we use consists
of familiar combinations.” All those comments affirm that collocations are
important in language use.
The salient facts of how vocabulary plays major role in language learning
is one ground for providing the vocabulary subject in English language study at
universities. Problems in teaching vocabulary often come about, though. Students
seem to easily forget the words they have learned and discussed in class. And the
further impact is when the students have lack of vocabulary, whether it is in terms
of size or the depth of knowledge: they have difficulty comprehending texts in
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
3
listening and reading classes. Then, the problem continues when they have to
articulate their ideas in speaking and writing. Having lack of collocational
knowledge, students combine words that do not belong together that often confuse
the listeners or readers. As language receptors, having good collocational
knowledge is important as well. It enable them to understand the language as it is
exactly intended.
Being a Vocabulary teacher in a state university for about five years, I
have not found the students‟ learning result satisfactory even though more and
more learning facilities are available to make learning easier. Many students in
every year have to retake the subject twice or even more due to failure.
Moreover, I have heard complaints about students‟ limited proficiency in
English; they show low competence of receptive skills like reading and listening
and even lower competence of the productive skills. The complaints mostly were
made by lecturers teaching writing and translation as students were requested to
produce a piece of writing that usually turned out to be „grammatically incorrect,‟
„lexically poor,‟ or „collocationally awkward.‟ And, frequent complaints were
made by those who were appointed as students‟ language advisors in doing
bachelor‟s thesis (skripsi); they usually „suffer‟ most since they have to assist
students complete their thesis in which a complicated process goes on. It is often a
pains taking task for the lecturers when the students can not express their ideas in
correct sentences. Many students find it difficult to pick the right word and even
more difficult to determine the collocation to convey their ideas. Often, the
advisers have to frown thoughtfully as they read students‟ writing and reconstruct
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
4
the sentences to convey the intended meaning. I was quite skeptical about it until I
experienced it myself.
The indispensable role of vocabulary in language learning and the
aforementioned condition aroused my curiosity about whether I could do
something to help the students improve their vocabulary learning especially the
knowledge of collocation by introducing an appropriate learning strategy that they
can use even outside the classroom to support their individual and independent
learning.
B. Problem identification
The students were barely aware of the importance of collocation in
language use. When they read, they focus on comprehending the content. When
they learn vocabulary, they learn individual words. Students at the beginner level
prefer to use a bilingual dictionary to the monolingual one to learn vocabulary.
They feel more secured to know the translation of the words they learn, even
though it often creates problem in the usage as the translations carry grammatical,
semantic, or even pragmatic aspect in them. Moreover, aside from the translation,
students usually look only the definition or the meaning of words up in the
dictionary. So, their knowledge of vocabulary is limited only on the definition or
meaning of individual words. When they have to use them in speaking and/or
writing, they produce wrong pronunciation for they do not know how to
pronounce it correctly or put them on the wrong combination since they do not
have the idea of the word collocation. Their L1 acquisition usually influences their
choosing the wrong combination. For example, „mistake‟ that is translated into
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
5
„kesalahan.‟ In Indonesian it is an action that is done (dilakukan or melakukan) so
that students tend to combine it with „do‟ like in „I do a mistake.‟ The problem
previously discussed leads to another problem that the students were not familiar
with collocation because the dictionary they referred to did not provide any
information about collocation.
One thing I perceived to be a potential problem was the students had not
been introduced formally to one particular strategy for learning vocabulary in
general and collocation in particular. They mostly learned vocabulary through
reading and/or listening to songs that they did in casual way. And, it turned out
that the aforementioned strategy did not help the students hold the memories of
the learned vocabulary. Whereas, intentional learning put the focus of learning on
the vocabulary knowledge per se that traditionally it is in the form of a word list.
On the other hand, in incidental vocabulary learning, “learners are focused on
comprehending meaning than on the explicit goal of learning new words”
(Wesche and Paribakht, 1999b cited in Gass and Selinker, 2001).
Hereby, I think collocation has to be taught explicitly, and collocation
cluster is one of the alternatives. Collocation clusters technique is a modification
of the so-called Vocabulary cluster that was introduced by West Virginia
department of education in its web page
http://wvde.state.wv.us/strategybank/VocabularyCluster.html to help learners
learn “difficult” words. It is in the form of graphic organizers in which learners
put related information of a word (definition, synonyms, antonyms, etc.) and add
new words. Thereby, it gives the students holistic and comprehensive
understanding of vocabulary. Different from vocabulary clusters that are based on
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
6
individual word to start the clusters with, the collocation clusters concentrate on
developing learners‟ proficiency with lexis, or words and word combinations. It is
based on the idea that an important part of language acquisition is the ability to
comprehend and produce lexical phrases as unanalyzed wholes, or “chunks,” and
that these chunks become the raw data by which learners perceive patterns of
language traditionally thought of as grammar (Lewis, 1993 as cited in Maudraia,
2001). Furthermore, most linguists agree that vocabularies are not just collections
of words, and that vocabularies are essentially interlocking network (Meara,
2004).
C. Problem limitation
To answer the research question, I set up some limitations to the research.
The limitations are on the group participants and technique of learning
vocabulary. Since the research was conducted during my teaching in my
department in accordance with the classes assigned to me, I conducted the
research at one of the two Vocabulary classes of the English Education Study
Program in Faculty of Arts and Languages of Yogyakarta State University. In
fact, there are two majors in English Department i.e. English Education and
English Literature. The choice of participants is based on the reason that English
Education students only get the subject once during their study, and it is given in
the beginning. Moreover, the participants were all „retakers‟ i.e. the students
retake the subject(s) they have taken before because they fail or dissatisfied with
the result. In fact, there were two classes of vocabulary class which had 38
students. However, I selected one class as the subject of my research since in the
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
7
beginning of the class the numbers of students joining the vocabulary classes were
small that it was possibly dropped. However, by the time the number was
increasing and two classes were held by the department. However, they were
uneven in the number of the students between the two classes.
The second limitation was on the technique of collocation cluster that was
chosen to see its effect on students‟ vocabulary learning development especially in
the receptive or passive vocabulary. The study also tried to find out how this
technique gives different impact on the students‟ learning that was revealed
through interview. The technique is believed to accommodate learner‟s needs in
learning vocabulary holistically and comprehensively.
D. Research question
Vocabulary in its broad meaning plays fundamental role in mastering
English for the students of English Language Education Department. The lack of
lexicon leads to low competency of the language skills.
This study is employed to find out the positive impact of an alternative
technique i.e Collocation clusters in building up learner‟s collocational
knowledge. The research question is:
How can collocation clusters help the students of English Language
Education Study Program improve their collocational knowledge?
E. Research goal and objectives
Vocabulary teaching and learning especially in L2 setting have been
taking more attention and techniques in teaching and learning are developed. That
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
8
collocation clusters is one of promising ways in developing learners‟ collocational
knowledge was examined in this research. The goal of the research is to empower
students to develop their collocational knowledge using collocation clusters. The
objectives of the research are 1) to improve students‟ collocational knowledge and
2) to foster learner‟s collocation learning independence.
F. Research benefits
The research is expected to offer meaningful contribution to learners and
teachers in collocation learning/teaching. It provides practical benefits to the
participants. The result of the research provides evidence that collocation clusters
technique gives positive and immediate impact on the learners. The learners do
not only develop their collocational knowledge but also their writing and reading
skills. It encourages them to learn collocation consciously and intensively that in
the long run they make a good habit of considering collocation important in
language use. Furthermore, this technique is expected to provide the base for
independent learning. Following the learning strategy through, a learner will have
a tool to develop his collocation and a mini collocation „dictionary‟ consisting of
collocations they will frequently encounter in the future. The research
dissemination will present teachers an alternative in teaching collocation.
For the future researchers, this research is to encourage in-depth
exploration of collocation learning especially in the outer circle countries like
Indonesia. Here, English is positioned as foreign language but it becomes more
important nowadays.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
9
CHAPTER II
LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter is devoted to elaboration of the construct and concept as well
as the theoretical framework of the study. A brief overview of some theories on
teaching and learning vocabulary is presented prior to the discussion on
collocation learning. One particular technique i.e. vocabulary notebook (in which
learners record collocation clusters), however, is the main focus.
A. Theoretical review
In this chapter I provide brief explanation of what learning vocabulary is
and its complexity. I go into detail discussing what collocation is, why it is
important in language learning, why it is essential for L2 learner, and how to learn
it.
1. Learning vocabulary
Vocabulary is an essential and integral part of learning languages; without
vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed. As what Wilkins (1974) comments in
Lewis (2001, 8) “Without grammar little can be conveyed; without vocabulary
nothing can be conveyed.” Let us take an example, a person who does not know
any English word will not be able to communicate with a native speaker unless he
and the other interlocutor master sign language. On the other hand, if he knows
few words he will be able to „communicate‟ by making use of the words even
though (s)he makes a lot of grammatical mistakes. For example, to use wrong
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
10
plural form „peoples‟ and determiner „much‟ in the sentence „There were too
much peoples in the room‟ may not confuse the listener. In addition, learners
generally consider lexical errors as a fatal error compared to other types of error
(Gass, 2008 cited Politzer, 1978).
Learning vocabulary is no longer memorizing a long list of words that will
be put into questions to test vocabulary knowledge. Memorizing words without
deep understanding and comprehensive knowledge is likely to fade away.
Teachers and researchers (McCarthy, 1997; Nation, 1990; O‟Keefe, 2007) have
been working hard to formulate and define vocabulary learning, and to find
effective ways to learn vocabulary and retain them.
a. The nature of vocabulary
It is necessary to discuss what vocabulary is since defining vocabulary is a
challenging and tricky business. Laypersons usually consider vocabulary as the
individual word that has a meaning and we can find it in the dictionary. However,
the current development in language teaching brings a broader perspective in
vocabulary learning. It will not be enough to memorize a list of L2 words when
we learn vocabulary.
As pointed earlier, word is not an easy concept to define as admitted by
Read (2000). Discussing vocabulary, we need to talk about some vocabulary-
related terms such as type and token, function word and content word, lexical
item, word family, collocation, idioms, etc. When we count every single word
form occurs in a text, no matter how many times it occurs, it means that we
consider the word as token. On the other hand, when words are counted based on
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
11
the form, we consider them as type. For example, the sentence „It is difficult to
define what a word is‟ contains 9 tokens but only 8 types since we do not count
„is‟ again on its second occurrence.
Words of such kind like a, the, to are referred to as function words which
belong more to the grammar of the language. Content words like adjective, verb,
noun, and adverb serve more to provide links within sentences, modify the
meaning of content words and so on (Read, 2000, 18). Next, a set of word forms
which share a common meaning such as develop, developed, developing, and
development is known as a word family. When words come together with their
partners in combination we have collocations, for examples, entirely free, long-
term memory, and have no right to interfere in.
Vocabulary does not always occur as single words. For a start, there are
phrasal verbs (sit down, look up, put up with) and compound words (pen pal,
nature lover, applied school science). Then, there are also idioms like a piece of
cake, beat around the bush, and bite off more than one can chew. These
constructions can add L2 learner‟s learning complication since their meanings can
not be figured out from the meaning of the individual word.
Some distinctions are made to classify vocabulary. The first is between
potential and real vocabulary (Berman, Buchbinder, and Beznedeznych, 1968,
cited in Gass and Selinker, 2001, 374). Potential vocabulary is the words that
learners will recognize even though they have not seen them yet in L2. Real
vocabulary consists of words that the learners will be familiar with after (and
because of) exposure.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
12
Another distinction is drawn by other researchers i.e. active and passive
vocabulary (Meara, 1990; Laufer, 1998; Nation, 2001). However, lexical
knowledge cannot be simply described using simple dichotomy (Teichroew, 1982
cited in Gass and Selinker, 2008, 452). Rather, he makes an important point that
“vocabulary knowledge can best be represented as a continuum with the initial
stage of recognition and the final stage of production.” Vocabulary building will
not stop at certain phase or level; it continues to expand and deepen.
b. Building learner’s vocabulary
The next thing to discuss is what a learner should know about a word if
they are to acquire it completely. Richards (1976) in Read (2000, 25) suggests the
required knowledge to know a word wholly. First, one knows the frequency of the
word recurrence in speech or text. Secondly, she knows the word limitations on
the use and its syntactic behavior. Next, she has the knowledge of its derivational
aspects and the knowledge of its possible associations in the language. Besides,
she knows the semantic value and possible different meanings it has.
Nation (2001, 27) takes the assumptions further by combining them with
other components into a table to specify the scope of the learners‟ task. Nation
incorporates receptive and productive knowledge into the table (see table 1). The
table tells us that building up vocabulary will not be sufficient only to know its
single form and the meaning. Developing vocabulary in this sense refers to the
breadth of vocabulary knowledge. Nonetheless, language which is not sufficiently
accurate or appropriate can be an obstacle in communication, and may well create
the wrong effect or understanding on the receptor. Therefore, the knowledge of
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
13
collocation, fixed expressions and idioms, grammatical patterns, awareness of
style and register, connotations of words and phrases will be essential. In this
sense, the vocabulary is learnt with the emphasis on the depth of the vocabulary
knowledge.
Table 1. The scope of learner‟s task in learning vocabulary
Form
Spoken form R What does the word sound like?
P How is the word pronounced?
Written form R What does the word look like?
P How is the word written and spelled?
Word parts R What parts are recognizable in this word?
P What word parts are needed to express the meaning?
Meaning
Form and meaning R What meaning does this word form signal?
P What word form can be used to express this meaning?
Concept and referents R What is included in the concept?
P What items can the concept refer to?
Associations R What other words does this make us think of?
P What other words could we use instead of this one?
Use
Grammatical functions R In what patterns does the word occur?
P In what patterns must we use the word?
Collocations
R What words or types of words occur with this one?
P What words or types of words must we use with this one?
Constraints on use
(register, frequency …)
R Where, when, and how often would we expect to meet
this word?
P Where, when, and how often can we use this word? R = Receptive, P= Productive
Nation (2001, 27)
The next really essential question to answer is how vocabulary should be
learnt. Considering the nature of vocabulary, learner should learn vocabulary
entirely in terms of form, position, function, and meaning. Instead of memorizing
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
14
a list of vocabulary containing the necessary information, students need to
experience using them.
…learners who wrote compositions using a set of target words remembered
them better than those who encountered the words in a reading
comprehension task and, in the Israeli experiment, the learners who wrote
the missing words in gaps in the reading text retained more of the words
than those who just read marginal glosses (Hulstijn & Laufer, 2001 in
Read, 2004).
Another important thing for learners to learn is of the meta-cognitive aspect i.e.
knowing what to learn and learning how to learn. Knowing the best learning
strategy for oneself can help learners to be independent.
Another consideration in vocabulary learning is the word selection. The
studies on vocabulary size of native speakers (i.e. educated native speakers of
English know around 20,000 word families) (Nation, 2001, 9) seem demand that
L2 or FL learners know those large numbers as well. It is quite impossible to cope
with for one reason; the studies see “all words as being of equal value to the
learner.” Nation (ibid.) states that several studies of word frequency report that
some words are more useful than others (and have higher frequency than others).
Since high-frequency words cover approximately 80%, whereas, low-frequency
words make up about 5% of the running words in an academic text. Therefore,
teaching high-frequency words is more expected than the low-frequency ones.
The claim that word frequency may affect lexical development has been
proven by numerous studies, especially in psychology research. Balota &
Chumbley‟s (1984, 1985) experiments reveal that lexical access and word
retrieval is faster for high-frequency words than for low-frequency words.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
15
c. The influence of L1
When L2 adult learners start learning L2 vocabulary, they already acquire
and develop the language system of their L1. Therefore, they automatically link
the new L2 words to the existing conceptual meaning of L1 (Tacac, 2008, 8; Gass
and Selinker, 2008). As cited by Schmitt (2008), psychological studies reveal the
most convincing evidence of L1 exertion in L2 learning; L1 is active during L2
lexical processing in both beginning and more advanced learners.
Singleton (1999) as cited by Gass and Selinker (ibid.) points out the
„connectivity‟ between L1 and L2 lexicon. Furthermore, Jiang (2000, 2002, and
2004 in Gass and Selinker, 2008) suggests three-stage model of adult secondary
vocabulary learning. The first stage is called “lexical association” in which
learners associate the form (spelling and sound) of L2 words with those of L1 and
it is processed through L1 translation. The second stage is “L1 lemma mediation”
in which learners do not only have recognized the lexical representation of L2
form, but also been able to transfer the semantic-syntactic information of their L1
to L2. The third stage is “L2 integration” in which learners do not employ L1
representation at all. The semantic, syntactic, and morphological features of L2
words are gained through exposure and use.
Thereby, we can say that L1 acquisition plays an important role in learning
L2 and building L2 vocabulary as well. It facilitates the learning when the words
have close and direct equivalences, for example, the group of words „gain new
knowledge‟ and „mendapat pengetahuan baru,‟ „ingatan jangka pendek‟ and
„short-term memory.‟ Prince (1996) in Schmitt (2008) finds that “more newly
learned words could be recalled using L1 translations than L2 context, particularly
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
16
for less-proficient learners”. On the other hand, the L1 acquisition interfering can
also mislead, for example, „menurut saya‟ which is simply translated as
„according to me,‟ instead of „in my opinion,‟ and „merapikan tempat tidur‟ as
„tidy the bed‟ not „make the bed.‟
Bahn in Lewis (1993, 93) points out that some collocations have direct
equivalents in another language but some do not. Those without direct equivalents
create more difficulty for L2 learners. He suggests that those having high
meaning-content are likely to have close or exact equivalent in word by word
translation. Those of low meaning-content with complex patterns, especially the
de-lexicalized words, less likely have direct correspondence.
Nesselhauf (2003) in Seesink (2007) and Schmitt (2008) find in her study
conducted on 32 essays of German-native university students that a quarter of the
collocations had some sort of error caused by wrong choice of verb from which
she concluded that about 50% of the mistakes were influenced by their L1.
Another study of lexical errors found in Thai university EFL students‟
compositions shows that nearly one-quarter were caused by L1 influence
(Hemchua and Schmitt, 2006).
Granger in Seesink (2007) also reported the influence of L1 in the adverbs
used in the L2. She found that non native speakers underused native-like
collocations and used atypical word-combinations. She also discovered that
“learners‟ phraseological skills were severely limited: they [used] too few native-
like prefabs and too many foreign-sounding ones.”
Considering the results of the previous studies, I suggest that teachers
teach L2 vocabulary explicitly. By doing so, teachers can raise students‟
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
17
awareness of L2 collocations occurrence in everyday texts. Besides, teachers can
show the differences of L1 and L2 collocations and how they are not always
transferable.
2. Learning collocations
Grammar-based language teaching was dominant until 1970‟s. Lewis
(1993) suggests that language teaching was based on the assumption that
mastering a language was achieved from mastering the language structures –
sentence patterns with slots to fill in with words. It was believed that once
students mastered the patterns, they would immediately learn how to use them to
produce correct expressions by simply putting the right words on the slots within
sentences. The introduction of Lexical Approach by Lewis was then an
implication of the decreased role of sentence grammar. Lexical approach posits
that lexis performs the central role of language learning.
It is essential to discuss lexis as a start, and discuss collocation later. Lexis
does not only include single words but also the word combinations that we store
in mental lexicons (Moudraia, 2001). Recently, lexis plays an important role in
language learning. Lewis‟ refrain (1993) “A language consists of grammaticalized
lexis, not lexicalized grammar” echoes in many discussions of language learning.
He suggests some considerable points regarding the principle: a) lexis is the basis
of language; b) lexis is misunderstood in language teaching because of the
assumption that grammar is the basis of language and that mastery of the
grammatical system is a prerequisite for effective communication; c) one of the
central organizing principles of any meaning-centered syllabus should be lexis.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
18
In any normal situation when people establish communication, they use
words together to build discourse or context. The words they put in the
combinations are not just any words they like (arbitrary) but the words that
naturally and linguistically belong to each other to represent certain meaning or
idea. We must not use horse and barks together since the two words will not
represent a correct and acceptable intended meaning. Horse goes with neigh or
whinny, and dog goes with barks. Thus, learning vocabulary in chunks is essential
to build a whole understanding. Also, using words in combination make
communication effective, natural and fluid.
It is not simple to describe collocation. It represents a wide spectrum of
word combinations; from the loosest ones to the most fixed combinations as
idioms. For example, rancid butter, speak a language, native speaker,
neighboring country are few of the varying degree of the fixedness. Oxford
Collocations Dictionary for Students of English defines collocation as “the way
words combine in a language to produce natural-sounding speech and writing”.
Indeed, forming a collocation is not as simple as putting arbitrary words
together. The words have to co-occur naturally. It usually creates problems for L2
learners since they are not usually aware of the natural co-occurrence and their
learning is affected by their L1 knowledge. For example, in Indonesian people say
„minum obat‟ but they can not say „drink medicine‟ in English. Instead, the
combination has to be „take medicine‟ because „drink‟ and „medicine‟ are not
collocates. It is confusing for the learners. Besides, non-reciprocal nature of
collocations makes matter worse. Lewis put it this way “One element of a
collocation pair may strongly, perhaps almost uniquely, suggest the other element,
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
19
but this degree of fixedness is non-reciprocal." Nattinger in Lewis (1993) takes
„rancid‟ and „butter‟ as examples. „Rancid‟ has a very limited collocates so that it
almost always determines its collocate „butter’ while butter does not suggest any
preceding adjective with the same degree of certainty.
Given the complexity of collocation, an operational definition can be
proposed like “groups of words that are frequently used together to convey
meaning precisely.” Some terms are frequently used to refer to collocations such
as „prefabricated patterns,‟ „formulaic speeches,‟ and „fixed expressions.‟ And
some writers as pointed out by Lewis (2001) classify collocations into lexical and
grammatical collocations. Lexical collocations refer to the combinations of lexical
components (open class words), for instance, grey area (adjective + noun) and
language acquisition (noun + noun), while grammatical collocations are the
combinations of a lexical component and a grammatical component such as good
at (adjective + preposition) and knowledge of a (noun + preposition).
Collocations are often similar to idioms, and they even sometimes are
overlapping. Lewis (2000, 130) suggests that we need to consider it as part of
wider concept of idiomaticity. Furthermore, there are categories to consider as he
cited the compilers of The Oxford Dictionary of Current Idiomatic English (1984)
to describe idiomaticity: 1) Pure idioms: they are almost fixed and can not be
interpreted literally; 2) we cannot guess the meaning of the whole expression by
getting the meaning of individual word. For example: beat around the bush; 3)
Figurative idioms: they are fairly fixed such as catch fire and tread water; 4)
Restricted collocations: they have one element used non-literally and the others
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
20
literally such as jog someone’s memory; 5) Open collocations: they have free-
combined elements with each having literal meaning.
Further help to clarify idioms and collocations is from Chitra Fernando
(1996) as cited by Lewis (2000)
“The same group of words may be treated as both an idiom and a
collocation but the focus of the two descriptions is different. Idioms
focus mainly on the meaning of the whole, while collocation is
concerned with combination of words which do or do not occur.”
a. The importance of collocations
Aside from the problems discussed initially, collocations play substantial
role in language use. To communicate effectively, the parties involved in it have
to have good command of the language in which collocation serves a substantial
role. Moreover, Hill cited by Lewis (2000, 53) posits some reasons of the
importance of collocation:
1. Lexicons are not arbitrary
When a person produces expressions, the combinations are actually
predictable. Let us take an example of „eat‟ that is usually combined with
„kinds of food‟, and we may expect „pizza,‟ „banana,‟ „rice,‟ etc. The words
such as „wood‟ and „grass‟ are the least expected.
2. The size of the phrasal mental lexicons is large
The fixed expressions possibly make up 70% of all naturally-occurring texts;
one of the forms is collocation. It means that ideas conveyed in any text,
spoken and written, make use of „ready-made chunks.‟ Getting exposed to the
chunks as input text, L2 learners start to build their collocation storage. Later
on it enables L2 learners to use English in fluent way by retrieving the chunks.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
21
In addition, Williams (1998) as cited by Lewis (2001, 139) in her analysis
learns that native speakers regularly rely on a large amount of fixed and semi-
fixed expressions when negotiating. It offers them two advantages: firstly the
expressions that are generally conventionalized ensure that the parties
involved in the negotiation know exactly the „here and now‟ situation and
secondly they are largely pragmatic and used as whole units so they allow the
users to concentrate on the content of negotiation since they need the least
processing. Furthermore, Hill (2000) states that collocational competence
enable learners understand and produce language in more efficient and fluent
way in terms of using the „chunks.‟ Learners can produce proper expressions
and convey complicated ideas which are lexically accurate.
3. Human brain has retentive memory
Native speakers have a large store of fixed expressions which are ready for use
when required. Linguists now give much more attention to memorized,
familiar and idiomatic expressions.
4. Complex ideas are often expressed lexically
Intermediate or lower learners usually employ simple words to express simple
and complex ideas. Complex ideas are usually difficult to express in simple
language, though. They are generally conveyed in complex lexical
expressions.
5. Pronunciation is integral
The way learners utter an expression is usually the result of their saying
individual words so that the pronunciation, stress, and intonation will not
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
22
sound correct. Learning collocations, learners know the stress patterns of an
expression as a whole.
Oxford Collocation Dictionary (2002, vii) ensures learners that “choosing
the right collocation will make his speech and writing sound much more natural.”
Even though, in this period of „world English‟ to sound like native speakers is not
an issue for L2 learners, acquiring collocation is crucial since it makes the
learners‟ language products accessible to a wide public. Further, Oxford
Collocation Dictionary (2002, vii) affirms “A student who chooses the best
collocation will express himself much more clearly and be able to convey not just
a general meaning, but something quite precise.” A learner will not use an
expression like He treats me badly to get something good for his own benefit, if he
has learnt the expression of He takes advantage of me. In other words, having
good knowledge of collocation, a language user can use the language effectively
and a language receiver can understand it easily. Using collocation, a language
user can express his ideas more precisely and effectively. Instead of “I got
confused and I thought that she was her sister,” one can simply say “I mistook her
for her sister.”
b. Collocational knowledge
O‟Keefe, McCarthy and Carter (2007, 59) state “Collocations are not
absolute or deterministic, but are probabilistic events, resulting from repeated
combinations used and encountered by the speakers of any language.” A learner
of English as L2 or FL is expected to have collocational knowledge to use the
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
23
language well and effectively. Having collocational knowledge, a learner
understands how a word occurs in a combination with other words in actual use.
She also learns that many word combinations are easily recalled when stored in
units and that they establish speech routines.
Nation (2001, 321) underscores the importance of having collocational
knowledge “The strongest position taken on the importance of collocational
knowledge is that it is essential because the stored sequences of words are the
bases of learning, knowledge and use.” He also suggested that the collocational
knowledge is acquired through frequent meeting with the language chunks in
order that they are stored in the long-term memory.
Collocation is used pervasively in English language use, written or oral.
Moreover, the readily available input texts are produced by native speakers who
inevitably use native language system. Thus, language learners, either as receivers
or as producers, are used to it and have to embrace it in communication. Having
the knowledge of collocation enables language users produce the language
accurately and comprehend the language fully.
c. Explicit teaching of collocation
Having the knowledge of vocabulary in the form of individual words will
not guarantee the learning of collocation. Learning collocation requires awareness
of the natural co-occurrences of words; complete understanding of the
construction and use. Learners need various exposures of different strength
spectrum of collocations, from the loose ones like read a book, eat rice and two-
month-old baby, to the strong ones like rancid butter and sprained ankle.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
24
At early stages, L2 learners usually are not aware of the occurrence of
collocations. Since at this stage learners have insufficient knowledge of English
language system that enables them to recognize them in the context they read or
listen, the teacher has to provide materials that can make them aware of their
„true‟ occurrence in any text the students encounter. Careful selection of the text
has to be done so that the students are exposed to good examples and get ample
opportunity to practice recognizing the recurring chunks in real texts. As what
Lewis (2001, 163) suggests “the more aware learners are of the chunks of which
any text is made, the more likely that the input they notice will contribute to
intake.”
Raising learner awareness of collocation, the teacher has to be aware that
the learners need a sense of purpose during the learning process. There is no better
way to instill it than to put the learning in communicative activities.
Communicative language teaching creates the needs for learners to learn and use
the language. In communicative language learning activities, learners are “forced”
to absorb knowledge that they need to be able to function well in communication.
L2 learners tend to see collocations having no patterns or unpredictable
combinations. Therefore, teachers should teach collocations in groups by patterns
e.g. Verb + Noun, Adjective + Noun, Preposition + Noun, Verb + Adverb, etc., so
that learners are first aware of the patterns of collocation. The teacher can guide
the learners to recognize one type of pattern at a time. For example, in one
meeting the class reads a text and focuses on the identification of N category (see
appendix 9). Identifying the collocations, the students organize them into clusters
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
25
(appendix 7). In the following week, the same text can be used for another
category.
At a higher level, many experts believe that raising awareness of
collocations can be done by teaching them explicitly in which the learners practice
them overtly that is followed by the process of writing the words in order that
learners can easily check and recheck for collocational words (McCarten, 2007).
However, whether vocabulary should be taught explicitly (directly) or implicitly
(indirectly) is still a key issue among researchers. Nation and Newton (1997) in
Seesink (2007, 21-22) describe explicit teaching by
…explicit vocabulary exercises, which may include word-building
exercises, matching words with various types of definitions, studying
vocabulary in context, semantic mapping and split information
activities focusing on vocabulary.
To contrast with the previous description, they state that implicit vocabulary
learning involves “communicative activities like listening to stories, information
gap activities, and group work.”
Furthermore, a teacher needs to provide learners with a guide about what
words naturally occur together and which words do not. Teacher has to help
learners understand and have the knowledge of what Lewis (2000) calls “blocked
collocations,” i.e. impossible combinations. Teacher should explicitly point out
the unacceptable combinations by contrasting them with collocations, for instance,
conscious thought is a collocation but aware thought* is not.
They need their teacher to point out and guide them to recognize and
identify existing collocations. Teachers can employ various techniques to build
learners‟ awareness, such as underlying collocations, matching collocates, finding
collocations based on given clues, etc. Besides, the teacher has to help learners
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
26
select out the language which is useful and deserves more attention and which is
not useful enough for learners to devote their time to on the limited course of time
(Lewis, 2001).
In addition, examples for L2 learners are of their necessity, but selecting
appropriate examples for teaching has to be done carefully. What mostly taught
are dictionary-like expression such as suggest an idea and believe in something.
Such an assumption about how „general‟ rule will enable learners to acquire and
produce real-life expressions like She suggests that we wait and see and I don’t
believe in what she said (Lewis, 2007).
Explicit teaching is proposed and supported by many experts. Coxhead
(2000) as cited by Seesink (2007) advocates “courses that involve direct attention
to language features have been found to result in better learning than courses that
rely solely on incidental learning.” Schmitt (2001) as cited by Seesink (op.cit., 29-
30) also believes that
“…attention [was] what allows speakers to become aware of a
mismatch or gap between what they [could] produce and what they
need[ed] to produce, as well as between what they produce[d] and
what proficient target language speakers produce[d].”
In addition, Harwood (2002) proposes two principles in collocation
learning on which teachers should base their teaching: teach real language, not
„TEFLese‟ and recycle and revisit. The first principle suggests English teachers
not base the teaching solely on course books but also on corpora so that learners
can gain access to authentic language. The second principle warns that teaching
vocabulary without necessary recycling is wasted effort (Nation, 1990). EFL
learners‟ need for “recycling/revisiting material is even greater since they are not
constantly surrounded by the target language from which they can get repeated
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
27
exposures that later they can use for spontaneous production” (Kojiic-Sabo and
Lightbown, 1999 in Harwood, 2002).
d. Collocation clusters (Collocation notebook)
There are some names used to call the technique of organizing vocabulary
such as „vocabulary clusters‟, „word clusters‟, „lexical notebook‟, or „vocabulary
notebook‟. The technique with different names basically provides a tool for
learners to record and store newly encountered vocabularies; it usually makes use
of notebooks. The way vocabulary recorded in a notebook can vary. It can have
different organization like semantics-based, theme-based, form-based, or
collocation-based. An example of the organization is given by Cohen (1990) in
Schmitt and Schmitt (1995) where learners include topics, parts of speech,
themes, and speech acts. Of course, collocation-based organization is the
appropriate way for learning collocations. Lewis (2001) proposes a collocation
grid in which learners complete it with (+) or (-) to show possible collocates. For
example,
Table 2. A sample of a collocation grid of A – N
events furniture history ideas movies
old - + - + +
antique - + - - -
ancient ? - + ? -
Another way to organize and record the collocations is to include pronunciation,
translation, definition, use in context, and the collocates. For example,
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
28
CRITICISM
(ˈkrɪt.ɪ.sɪ.z ə m)
- definition: when you say that something or someone is bad; disapproval
- use: The designs for the new mosque have attracted widespread criticism.
- V= attract, …
- A= widespread, …
Considering the incremental nature of vocabulary learning, teachers have
to accommodate it in the procedure of recording collocations. Collocation clusters
may be an alternative (see Figure 1). Using a collocation cluster, learners can add
and store collocational information to an entry every time they find a new
collocation. For example, from the text „Five Ways to Hold on to Permanent
Memory‟ (see Appendix 9) the students at first encounter „memory.‟ The students
record its part of speech, phonetic transcription, meaning, and one of its collocate
„long-term,‟ that is found together with „memory.‟ Later, when they meet its
another collocate from another reading text, for example, a Verb „search,‟ they
can add the information in the collocation cluster, as seen below.
Figure 1. A sample of collocation cluster on the word „memory‟
Memory (N)/ˈmem.ə r.i/ meaning: the ability to
remember information,
people and experience
A+ __ : long-term, short-term,
V+ __ : regain, search,
phrase: in recent memory Blank cell for future
addition (if, any)
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
29
More information which is obtained from reading can be added to an
entry, either added to one cell of the same category or to the cluster by adding a
new cell. It gives learner opportunity to re-visit what they have learned
previously. This regular action builds learner‟s vocabulary gradually and helps the
learner preserve the memory of the vocabulary. To help L2 learners acquire
vocabulary successfully, teachers need more than providing the students a list of
words to memorize or a reading material in which they may encounter new
vocabulary and unconsciously learn the new vocabulary. Schmitt in Walter and
Bozkurt (2009) describes a taxonomy of learning strategy that distinguishes
between discover strategies (used to find the meaning of a word) and
consolidation strategies (used to store the new word in long-term memory).
Keeping vocabulary notebook (in which learners take notes of related information
of the collocations they encounter) is a strategy that is classified in cognitive
strategy that is of consolidation strategy. Furthermore, vocabulary notebook is
often referred as an effective tool in learning vocabulary (McCarthy, 1990;
Nation, 1990; Schmitt and Schmitt, 1995; Lewis, 2000; Fowle, 2002 in Walter
and Bozkurt, 2009).
Woolard (2001) points out that it is essential for teachers “to train their
students to record, visit, re-visit, and re-activate the significant vocabulary they
meet.” This strategy to learn vocabulary is also suggested by some writers
(Schmitt and Schmitt, 1995; Woolard, 2001; Nation, 2001; Seesink, 2007):
recording the new words together with the lexical information in a notebook i.e.
vocabulary/lexical notebook.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
30
Many believe that some significant benefits can be reaped from
vocabulary notebook (Walter and Bozkurt, 2009): 1) it enhances vocabulary study
(Schmitt and Schmitt, 1995); 2) it improves ability to use dictionaries and guess
from context; 3) it keeps teachers informed about learners‟ progress (Fowle, 2002;
Nation, 1990); and 4) it enhances learner autonomy (Fowle, 2002).
Walter and Bozkurt (2009) prove empirically that vocabulary notebook
enhances vocabulary knowledge. They find that the treatment group out-
performed the control groups on the receptive and controlled productive
vocabulary tests. The treatment group could even use some of target words in free
writing that was not exhibited by the control groups.
3. Independent learning
In this rapidly changing and full-of-challenge world learners need to equip
themselves with something that can make them always keep up with the world.
They also need to excel themselves not to be discriminated by others. They have
to be the best on their own right to emancipate.
Considering the pervasiveness of collocation presence in English, teachers
have solid ground to teach collocation. They may utilize competency-based
teaching that allows teachers to establish and maintain standard of competency
that they expect their learners to meet i.e. specific collocational knowledge. The
use of collocation cluster helps learners meet the standard accordingly. Besides,
collocation cluster gives the students autonomy to work at their own pace since
the strategy can also be implemented outside the classroom.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
31
Learning autonomy is essential for students or learners since they are the
subjects of the teaching learning process, especially in higher education level.
Students should be able to determine and choose for themselves what they want to
learn. Two features of autonomy as proposed by Lier (1996) are choice and
responsibility. Being autonomous, learners are able to choose what they want or
do not want to do. When they decide not to do a task, they are aware of what they
may miss or waste (Scharle and Szabo, 2005). There is a quality of responsibility
in making the choices. It means that they are aware of what they are doing and
understand the consequences.
Some experts estimate that average native university graduates know about
20,000 word families (Goulden, Nation, and Read 1990 in McCarten 2007). The
number is too huge for English learners to cope with. However, there is less
number of words that are used more frequently than others. Knowing the most
frequent 2,000 words, a learner can understand 80 percent of the average texts
(Francis and Kucera in McCarten 2007) originally from Nation. It still presents
teachers problem on how to teach the words in class with limited time available.
As what Ellis (1994) cited by Seesink (2007) points out that it is unrealistic to
teach all the necessary L2 vocabulary in class. A way out to the problem is
learners‟ independence; learners have to be taught to be self sufficient. The
teacher‟s role is more to suggest the learning strategies that the learners can use to
develop their lexicon since learners‟ lexicon is immense (Lewis, 2007). Besides, a
teacher has to select the words to teach in class whether it will be based on the
students‟ need of oral or written vocabulary.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
32
4. Review on related research
How vocabulary is acquired is still the most intriguing question in Second
Language Acquisition (SLA) studies. As cited by Schmitt, Nation noted:
There isn‟t an overall theory of how vocabulary is acquired. Our
knowledge has mainly been built up from fragmentary studies, and at the
moment we have only the broadest idea of how acquisition might occur.
We certainly have no knowledge of the acquisition stages that particular
words might move through. (Schmitt, 1995b, p. 5)
Several researches (Sinclair, 1991; Lewis, 2001; Woolard, 2001) on
vocabulary reveal findings supporting the rationale why the idea of separating
language learning into two basis, “vocabulary” and “grammar,” has to be
abandoned since they are actually inseparable. Another finding reported a word
does not usually occur by itself but in combination with others. Thus, one should
learn vocabulary together in chunks (i.e. collocations), including fixed expressions
and idioms.
The interest in vocabulary teaching/learning has been revived lately;
searching and developing effective learning strategies is gaining more attention.
Keeping a vocabulary notebook is one of the strategies recommended by some
researchers (Schmitt and Schmitt, 1995; Lewis, 2000; Fowle, 2002). Despite little
research done on how the strategy works on a classroom setting, Walter and
Bozkurt (2009) find vocabulary notebooks can be an effective learning tool in
EFL classrooms.
Laufer (1994) in Seesink (2007) is one of those supporting the explicit
teaching of vocabulary. She conducted a research on academic writing of
university students. The students were non native speakers whose L1 are Hebrew
and Arabic, and she found out that “explicit vocabulary teaching [was] needed to
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
33
compensate for the insufficient quantity of input” (p. 31). Further, she suggests
that “if explicit vocabulary teaching became an integral part of a written
proficiency course, the lexical profiles of the students might be more impressive at
the end of such a course.” Carrying out explicit teaching, a teacher can provide
students the proper and essential inputs on collocation. It also enables teachers to
eliminate the strong influence of students‟ L1 in their learning since it turns out to
be one factor of students‟ difficulty combining words (Nesselhauf, 2003).
Thus, teaching collocation explicitly using collocation clusters can help
learners to improve their collocational knowledge independently. The explicit
teaching helps learners be more aware of the occurrence of collocations and learn
them intensively. In addition, collocation clusters provide learners a learning
strategy that they can use outside the classroom. It is beneficial for vocabulary
learners since most of the learning process takes place outside the classroom.
B. Theoretical framework
The brief review above is served to justify my decision to focus on teaching
collocations. The fact that L2/FL learners (the students of English Education
Department) generally learn vocabulary in the form of individual words is my
concern. It results in lexically „awkward‟ sentences or utterances even though
grammatically correct. Considering that a word does not normally occur in
isolation when it is used in real-life situation, teaching collocation is essential. In
other words, teaching vocabulary using lists of words is not applicable to
vocabulary learning but vocabulary in its true contexts.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
34
In addition, Coady (1997), Paribakht and Wesche (1997) state that
consciousness-raising and direct teaching will produce even greater gains. Thus,
vocabulary teaching (i.e. collocations) should employ activities arising learners‟
awareness of collocations, and that the teacher has to point out important
collocations to promote awareness. Moreover, collocation recording is likely to be
useful because it leads the learners to a focus on form and increases awareness.
The collocation recording is done in learners‟ vocabulary notebooks. Therefore,
such a technique like a vocabulary notebook where learners keep a record of
related information is effective and psychologically justified because it leads the
learner to process the items to be learnt and to set them in a rich matrix of
associations (Leeke and Shaw, 2000).
The principles of teaching vocabulary as suggested by Nation (2005) as
follows are my guide in running the vocabulary class:
1. Keep the teaching simple and clear. Don‟t give complicated explanations.
2. Relate the present teaching to past knowledge by showing a pattern or
analogies.
3. Use both oral and written presentation - write it on the blackboard as well as
explaining. Give most attention to words that are already partly known.
4. Tell the learners if it is a high frequency word that is worth noting for future
attention.
5. Don‟t bring in other unknown or poorly known related words like near
synonyms, opposites, or members of the same lexical set.
Language learners need to always enrich and develop their vocabulary to
have good command of the language. Knowing suitable learning strategies is
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
35
essential. Learning strategies that can encourage learners to be independent
learners is likely more recommended since learners get or are introduced to a kind
of learning strategies perhaps once whereas their learning lasts a lifetime. By
introducing an effective learning strategy, I worked toward a long-term goal that
the students have a tool to use throughout their academic life, especially for
writing thesis.
The availability and use of concordancer, electronic collocation dictionary,
and BNC (British National Corpus) to complete the collocational information was
introduced. I aimed at providing another tool for the students to check how the
collocations are used in real contexts.
Instead of enhancing their skill of academic writing, I focused primarily on
the receptive skill and awareness. Students were exposed to various academic
texts to get as many examples of collocation as possible. The evaluation was
conducted on their identifying collocations.
The research was conducted in the class mainly to improve the class
performance related to the collocational knowledge. Being an action research, it
supplied me in-depth understanding of the process. I was totally involved in the
process: selecting the material, teaching the collocations, providing necessary
supporting tools, assigning students to write vocabulary notebook, evaluating the
outcomes, and exploring students‟ perception of the learning strategy.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
36
Figure 2. Theoretical framework
Collocation
learning
Given texts
Dictionary use
BNC checking
Improved
collocational
awareness
Independent
learning
Improved
collocational
knowledge
Collocation
notebook/
Collocation web
Collocation
teaching
Memorizing
words
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
37
CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
This chapter describes all relevant factors about the method of solving my
research problem empirically. Elaboration is made on the research setting
including the nature of the class and the students, the data collection methods, the
nature of the data collected, data source, and the intended outcomes of the study.
The techniques used for the analysis of the data are also discussed.
A. Overview of the research method
For teachers, research gives important contribution to their improving
teaching. Carrying out research in their classroom, teachers know what is really
going on in the process of teaching-learning, whether there are shortcomings, and
how to deal with them. In short, research can help teachers to be more effective
teachers (McKay, 2006).
1. Action research
Action research is a part of a critical theories approach which aims to
emancipate (Cluskey, 1997). It insists that participants work together to improve
the situation. In the classroom, teachers together with other stakeholders enhance
lives by improving practice in education at schools. The role of the participants is
the key of action research (Kroeger, 2003). In addition, Hopkins (1985) suggests
"The original purpose of teacher research was to free teachers from the limiting
constraints of prespecified research designs".
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
38
I find action research is appropriate research methodology applied in
education since the researcher can employ either qualitative or quantitative
enquiry or both. As we understand that in education the research often investigate
the people involved in it like learners, teachers, or other stakeholders who are
unique and impossible to quantify their responses. Moreover, action research is
cyclical that make it possible for innovation and modification to occur during the
process to improve the practice in the classroom continuously.
In fact, action research has been conducted intensively since it was
introduced in 1940s to respond to the challenges emerging in educational settings.
Action research is regarded as the right treatment to solve the problems in
education since the subjects of the research are human beings who are unique
individuals. They have different way to learn from the experience.
In general, action research has the following characteristics (Cohen and
Manion, 1980; Burns, 1999 in McKay, 2008, 30):
1) situational, contextual, small-scope, and localized and relevant to the real
situation;
2) evaluative and reflective;
3) participatory;
4) the changes in practice are based on the information or data gathered that
encourage the changes.
One research model adopted by many action researchers is proposed by
Kemmis and Taggart (1988) as shown in Figure 3. Even though the model
received criticisms as it looked rigid, it was not what they proposed. Kemmis and
Taggart (1988) as cited by Koshy (2005, 5) suggest that researchers not use the
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
39
model rigidly. In reality the process may be dynamic and far from what has been
preplanned. In actual fact, the process is flexible and adaptable.
Figure 3. Cyclical AR model based on Kemmis and McTaggart‟s (1988).
I do believe in the nature of action research as flexible and adaptable, and
that the ultimate goal of the process is better understanding and developed
situation. Thereby, I adopted the model as suggested by O‟Leary (2004) in Koshy
(2005) that the preceding cycles continually refine the methods, actions, data
gathered, and interpretations of the next cycles.
As a practitioner of English teaching (and learning), I found carrying out
action research essential since it offers advantages as what Koshy (2005, 21)
stated:
a) action research is contextual or situational;
b) the researcher does not have to be „outside‟ but attached in the situation;
c) evaluations and modifications can be made as the project progresses;
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
40
d) theory may be proposed from it;
e) it can produce open-ended outcomes and the researcher can bring a story to life.
Figure 4. Action Research model proposed by O‟Leary (2004)
2. Research setting
The research was carried out at English Language Education, Yogyakarta
State University. The students were given Vocabulary as one of the subjects in
their study. The subject was given once, on the first semester. Regarding the
importance of vocabulary acquisition for them and the time limitation, vocabulary
teacher has to find a way that can build their learning foundation so that when
they pass and do not take the subject again, they can continue developing their
vocabulary in an effective way.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
41
Regarding the condition that Vocabulary is a compulsory subject given to
the students, the teaching conducted is more to help intentional learning. The
vocabulary is taught directly to the students using various activities and tasks.
a. The nature of the class
The class of vocabulary was normally held once a week for about 16
weeks or less, however, the research was performed in 10 weeks. On the first few
weeks the students came and go because they were still arranging the classes they
planned to enroll in. The class usually has around 20 – 25 students, but the class
on which I conducted the research had only around 15 students. The students were
„retakers‟ meaning it was not the first time they took Vocabulary. They got as low
as C on the previous class. They were from different groups of class (A to G) and
year (2005, 2007, and 2008).
b. The nature of the students
The students were in their late teens or early twenties. They mostly got Cs
for their former vocabulary class(es), meaning they had limited vocabulary
knowledge. Thereby, I wrote the questionnaire in Indonesian to avoid
misunderstanding.
In addition, they did not talk a lot and quite shy to articulate their ideas to
the class, but they worked well in small group discussions. Their shyness may be
caused by their coming from different classes so that they did not know each other
well.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
42
3. Research design
As the guidance of my research design, I referred to a list of processes
involved in an action research as suggested by O‟Leary (2004, 139) which was
cited by Koshy (2005, 26-27):
1. addresses practical problem: the problem I found during my teaching was that
the students found difficulty combining words in collocation so that often I
found „awkward‟ or „funny‟ phrases or sentences;
2. generate knowledge: I explained what collocation is, why it is important, how
to form it, how to learn it using collocation clusters and exemplified it;
3. enact changes: I introduced collocation clusters to organize collocational
information for easier learning;
4. keep it participatory: the students were involved during the process. They
wrote their thoughts and suggestions in their journals and reflections;
5. go through cyclical process: I introduced the use of collocation cluster in the
beginning, then I also introduced the use of collocation dictionary to
accompany it.
The depiction of the process is presented by Figure 5.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
43
a. Research procedures
Conducting action research, I followed some procedures as depicted on
Figure 5. First of all, I asked the head of department for permission to perform the
research in my class. When it was granted, I started to make a plan on when, how
Giving a questionnaire and
a pre test to the students of
Vocabulary 1.
The use of
Collocation clusters
- Teacher‟s
field notes
- Student‟s
journals
- Student‟s
reflection
Post test of
collocation
knowledge
Data analysis
- Comparing the result of pre and post test composition
- Analyzing student‟s journals, reflections, and interview
- Triangulation data for cross validation
The use of
collocation
dictionary
Interview with
selected
students
Identifying the students‟
problems.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
44
long, and where the research was to be done which included deciding who the
participants/respondents were.
Secondly, I selected the class to conduct the study since there were
actually two vocabulary classes. I chose the class that was not too heterogeneous
in terms of the year of the students (2005, 2007, and 2008) joined it. The other
class consisted of the students of year 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007. It was a
„repeater‟ class of English Language Education Study Program. However, the
students who were selected to take part on the study were only those who
completed the whole process.
Thirdly, the data collection methods were determined: using questionnaire,
conducting interviews, gathering documents, and conducting a pre and a post test.
At the same time, the instruments to implement the methods were prepared.
Fourthly, in the class I gave clear explanation about the research: why it
was pursued and how it was done. I also gathered information on students‟
learning background using a questionnaire. Then, the course design including the
syllabus, reading materials, tasks was made on the basis of the questionnaire
responses.
Finally, the course was run as planned and observed. An intervention was
made during the process to improve the situation. All the research participants
then made reflection on the process. The reflection formed the basis for the next
plan on the next cycle.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
45
b. Data collection methods
To get the most reliable and valid data, I employed several methods of
data collection like questionnaire, interview, field notes, and students‟ collocation
notebooks.
1) Using questionnaire
At the start of the research, two Vocabulary 1 classes available were
asked to fill in a questionnaire to collect information regarding students‟
vocabulary knowledge, learning preference and strategies. The information
supplied the baseline data to plan the actions. I employed multiple choice
questions that the students could answer with ease. Besides, it avoided or at
least minimized misinterpretation. Nevertheless, I provided open-ended
option to give the students opportunity to reveal their aspirations.
2) Conducting interview
An interview was done to selected students representing different
groups. One student was representing those whose scores demonstrate an
increase; the other was representing those of decreasing score of the posttest
compared to the pre test. It was to gain more information on the student‟s
feeling, learning strategy, and the effect of collocation web on their learning.
3) Gathering documents
Some types of documents were examined e.g. teacher‟s field notes or
diary, students‟ reflections and journals, and students‟ notebooks. The
information obtained was especially to show progress during the process.
Another purpose was to understand the factors affecting the different tests
results achieved by the students.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
46
4) Conducting collocation tests (pretest and posttest)
Numerical data were also gathered by conducting pretest and posttest.
The data gained were to reveal to what extent collocation web affects
students‟ vocabulary learning and improvement. The results were processes
using descriptive statistics to see whether the students‟ post test scores
increase.
c. Organization of the data
The data obtained were organized in tables. Some of them were in
numbers such as the results of the questionnaire and tests. The others were
descriptions of what the participants understood from the process such as those
of the journal, reflection and interview. The data then were coded.
Within this stage, there were some actions to do:
1. collecting, selecting, and organizing the target collocations to be used in the
pre and post test;
2. preparing the key answers, scoring system, and test administration;
3. designing the lesson plans to be carried out;
4. providing teacher‟s field note;
5. preparing guiding questions for the students‟ journals;
6. providing reflective questions for the students to answer at the end of every
cycle;
7. designing interview questions.
Next, I conducted a pretest, prior to teaching collocation using collocation
web. The results of the pretest were used as the baseline that later were compared
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
47
with the posttest results. Finally, based on the result of the tests, I interviewed
three of the participants representing different categories: those whose score of the
posttest was higher and lower than the pretest. Also, I checked their documents
i.e. collocation notebooks.
Triangulation of the research data was obtained by simultaneously
collecting both quantitative and qualitative data, merge the data, and use the
results to understand a research problem (Creswell, 2002). The quantitative data
were obtained through pretest and posttest scores and the qualitative data were
collected from the documents checking and an interview. The flowchart below
represents the process of the study.
4. Course design
The whole process of the course took place 10 weeks of the even semester.
I started the process with performing reconnaissance to reveal students‟ learning
background. Then, I carried out some actions to help the students enhance their
collocational knowledge using collocation web. The process was illustrated by
Table 3.
Table 3. Research Course
Meeting Day/Date Phase Description
1 6 October
2009
Taking an
inventory of
students‟
learning
background
(reconnaissance)
1. Ss filled in questionnaire about their
vocabulary learning habits and strategies.
2. T gave Ss questions on word family and
collocations to do.
3. T examined and observed Ss‟ work.
4. T started organizing plans for teaching.
2 Planning 1. T designed lesson plans based on the result
of the observation
2. T selected the teaching material
3. T selected the collocates to be used in the
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
48
pre/post tests from the selected material.
4. T sorted the collocates out based on their
frequency of recurrence using BNC.
3 10 Nov‟ 09 Action
Reading text:
Collocation
1. T conducted pretest (multiple choice/30
questions).
2. T introduced the patterns/categories of
English collocations.
3. T introduced one technique of recording
information of a newly-encountered word
using collocation clusters.
4. Ss identified the collocations of Noun
category in a text.
5. Ss recorded the basic information of the
collocations such as meaning, part of
speech and important collocation-related
information i.e. the patterns of the
collocation in their notebooks.
6. Ss shared their work to the class.
4 November
17, 2009
Observation
Reading text:
Five Ways to
Hold on to
Permanent
Memory
1. T explained and gave examples of other
collocation patterns i.e. V and A.
2. Ss identified the collocations of V and A
categories in a text.
3. Ss recorded the information such as
meaning, part of speech, and pattern of the
collocation in their notebooks using
collocation clusters.
5 November
24, 2009
Observation
Reading text:
From Corpus to
Classroom
(preface)
1. T reviewed the previous discussion.
2. T checked the students‟ understanding of
the previous lesson.
3. Ss shared what they have done to the class
(the collocation pattern and samples.
4. T together with the Ss checked the Ss‟
work on the board, discussed it together
with the class, found any mistakes, and
revised them.
5. Ss completed the collocation clusters based
on the discussion.
6 December
01, 2009
Observation
Reflection
Reading text:
The Incremental
Nature of
Vocabulary
1. T checked Ss‟ understanding on the
previous discussion; Ss identified
collocational phrases and their patterns.
2. Meanwhile, T checked Ss‟ notebook on
how they did the assignment and their
reflections.
3. T gave a new reading text to the class.
4. The class took several minutes (about 10
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
49
Acquisition
minutes) to read and grasp the main idea
of the text.
5. Ss shared their understanding one
another.
6. T completed the ideas of the content of
the text
7. T assigned Ss to write their opinion on
whether the use of corpus in learning
vocabulary is important and why. It was
to see how they used the collocations.
8. The class was ended by writing
reflections on what the Ss feel, what they
have learned, what obstacles or
difficulties they had, and their
suggestions to improve the class learning
process.
7 December
08, 2009
Planning 1. T asked Ss to trade their notebooks to
check what they had written at home
2. Ss read the work for its content; they
didn‟t need to pay attention to the
mistakes.
3. Ss gave comments on the content of their
friends‟ work
4. Ss checked any collocational mistakes
their friends made on their homework and
gave their feedback on how to revise
5. Ss returned the notebooks to the owner.
6. Ss studied the mistakes they made and
their friends‟ suggestions
7. Some Ss shared the mistakes they made
to the class by writing them on the board
8. T asked Ss to answer reflection questions
and submit them together with their
notebooks.
8 December
15, 2009
Action
Reading text:
Scaffolding for
Motivation and
Engagement in
Reading
1. T utilized Oxford Collocation Dictionary.
2. T gave Ss a quiz where Ss have to
provide the contexts for the collocations
given. T allowed Ss to open their
dictionaries. T gave 15 minutes to do 10
questions.
3. T explained how they had to put the
information they got about certain
collocation from the text into word net.
4. T gave the class some examples.
5. The class then discuss homework (new
reading material)
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
50
6. T assigned the Ss do the same thing at
home (recording information in the
collocation clusters).
9 December
22, 2009
Observation
Reading text:
Taboos and their
origins
1. T checked Ss‟ notebooks for the
homework on the collocation clusters.
2. T gave comments and suggestions on
how Ss can improve it
3. T asked Ss what problems they still had
in learning collocations
4. T showed Ss how to develop a collocation
cluster into a linked clusters
5. T gave Ss new text
6. T gave them exercise
7. T supervised Ss writing their journal.
8. T assigned Ss the rest of the text to be
identified and record the information in
the collocation clusters.
10 December
29, 2009
Observation
Reflection
1. T continued discussing the exercise given
in the previous meeting
2. Ss volunteered themselves answering the
questions.
3. T checked on the Ss whether any of them
had questions about the exercise
4. T gave Ss new text about
5. Ss read the material for several minutes
6. T lead the discussion on the idea of the
text
7. T together with Ss identify collocations of
the new text
8. T asked Ss to continue doing the building
of the collocation webs at home.
9. Ss answered the second reflection
questions.
10. T repeated her instruction for Ss to
continue developing the collocation
clusters and bring along their notebooks
to the final exam.
During the course, the students were expected to record the collocational
information together with the new vocabulary they encountered from the texts
discussed in class. They got the samples of collocation web and imitate the
technique in their notebooks (Figure 6).
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
51
Figure 6. A sample of collocation cluster
5. Ethical issue
The most considered ethical issue in my action research was permission to
conduct the research from participants and authority. In the research I conducted,
the participants were the students taking Vocabulary class that I taught. And, the
authority was the head of the study program i.e. English Language Education
Study Program.
In order that the participants and the authority of the study program gave
me the permission to carry out the study, I explained the purpose of the research
and the expected outcomes. The students in particular were to whom I shared the
information gained during the process intensely. They controlled the accuracy and
relevance of the information that I interpreted.
Difference (N)
/dɪfərənts/ the way in which two or more
things which you are
comparing are not the same.
___+ P = from, between [students can add more
words on] Its basic difference from short-term memory is that it is permanent. These studies deal with similarities and differences
between the L1 and L2 mental lexicon.
Phrase = no difference There is no other difference in the form of
a compound.
Adj +___ = basic Its basic difference from short-term memory is that it is
permanent.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
52
B. Data analysis and interpretation
1. Data summary
The questionnaire given to the Vocabulary students in the beginning of the
class was to reveal their vocabulary learning background whether they had used
collocation web when they learned collocation before, and how they previously
learned vocabulary.
Another type of data collected was to answer the research question “To
what extent do collocation clusters help learners improve their collocational
knowledge independently?” It was the test scores gained from a pretest and a
posttest. The scores were also the baseline for further process of data gathering
from which I determine the participants to be interviewed. The selected
interviewees‟ notebooks were examined to see how they recorded the collocation
webs. In addition, learners‟ reflections were summarized and grouped. My field
notes and reflections were another source of data.
2. Data organization
Descriptive and inferential statistics were provided to display the data in
numbers. The data were processed statistically to determine the Mean and
frequency, and one-tail t test to see whether the improvement is significant. They
were organized into tables to make them easily understood. The reflections of the
students were also summarized into tables. The data gained from a questionnaire
were coded and put into a table.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
53
3. Interpretation
The data which were organized were then interpreted. To establish the
validity of the research, I consider the triangulation of the data. As what Seesink
(2007) stated in her dissertation that triangulation which means to gather
information from different sources does not only help the researcher establish the
validity of the study but also reduce its bias.
Interpreting the data, I refer to the research question: “To what extent does
a collocation clusters help students improve their collocational knowledge?” To
answer the question, I firstly compared the scores obtained from the pretest and
posttest. Then, students‟ notebooks were collected to see how they recorded the
information in the collocation webs. Later, the results were used to see whether
the way they recorded the information affected their results of the test.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
54
CHAPTER IV
RESEARCH PROCESS AND FINDINGS
The description of the cyclical processes taking place in the classroom
setting is elaborated in this chapter. The process began when the problem of
learning collocation was identified. Reflecting on the problem, I planned an
intervention to be implemented to improve the situation. Then, the process of
implementation was observed and reflected to see whether the intervention
brought about some changes. When the next process suffered from some
shortcomings, I took another intervention and another cycle began again.
1. Students’ problems of learning collocations
Instead of making generalization of the findings of the study, I would like
to supply descriptive analysis of the study and elaborates the process of the
administration of the action. According to Koshy (2005, 109) in classroom action
project the researcher examines what is going on without bias and analyzes the
data gathered based on the observation. This part describes what problems
students had, what can be done to solve the problem, what happened in class
during the intervention done, the results yielded, the obstacles, the understanding
reflected, and the development of the action undergone.
The whole process was initiated by distributing a questionnaire consisting
of 9 questions to gather information concerning the learners‟ learning background
and problems. The questionnaires were distributed to 22 students who were
initially registered in Vocabulary 1 class. The number of the students changed
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
55
when the actions took place, though. It was because some students had to move to
the other class, or even to drop the class due to a particular reason. When the
classes settled in the fifth meeting, only 16 students remained in Vocabulary 1
class in which I conducted the study. Nevertheless, three of them were not eligible
for the study due to incomplete scores leaving 13 students as the subject of the
study.
The questionnaire revealed that 19 (86%) of the student respondents (22
were sitting in Vocabulary 1 when the questionnaires were administered) took the
subject for the second time and three others took it for the third time. It did not
mean that they failed the exam on the previous class but most of them were
unsatisfied with their grades. Their former grades were between C and C+. More
than half of the students attributed the „failure‟ to „not knowing the appropriate
strategy to learn vocabulary‟ and the others to „are not able to memorize
vocabulary‟. Most students used reading and listening to songs as the strategy to
enrich their vocabulary. However, considering the fact that they did not get good
grade, I supposed that the strategies they adopted did not work well.
The questionnaire also revealed that students were not familiar with
collocation. Learning vocabulary, students believed that what they had to learn
was how to pronounce the word. The next considered important aspects of
learning vocabulary is the translation and the part of speech. The most important
word-related information to seek when they encounter new words is its meaning
and translation. None of the student respondents referred collocation as a „must-
to-know‟ element in learning vocabulary. As a consequence of the unfamiliarity,
the students had difficulty recognizing, identifying, and combining collocations. It
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
56
was demonstrated by the students‟ journals and first reflection that at first they did
not know what collocation is and how to form it and they were confused about
collocation and compound words (Appendix 2 and 3). Learning collocation was
even harder for some students since they had limited knowledge of English
collocation. The students‟ average score of pretest was 14.62 of the total 30
points. Some even could not identify the part of speech of a word.
In fact, I learned that some students just got acquainted with the
knowledge of what collocation is from the pre test questions they did. The pre test
was to find out the students‟ prior knowledge of collocation. They conveyed their
thoughts in their journals. Some students stated “Soal itu lumayan ‘donk,’
membuat saya tau jenis-jenis soal collocation,…”(The questions of the test helped
me understand collocation) and “I could understand about collocation by doing
this test. But, unfortunately, there are many words that I don’t know what is the
meaning of it. So I done it by my feeling” (cited as written).
2. Responding to the situation
To respond to the shortcomings that my students have in learning
collocation, I carried out some actions.
a. Teaching collocations explicitly
Identifying the problems the students had in learning vocabulary or
collocation in particular: having very little or even no knowledge of collocation,
not knowing any particular strategy to learn vocabulary, and having difficulty
memorizing vocabulary, I planned to teach them collocations explicitly. During
my teaching I also introduced BNC as one tool to check collocations. To help
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
57
them memorize the collocations they learned, I taught the students how to make
and use collocation clusters to record collocations found from reading.
The fact that the students hardly knew what collocation is and its
importance encouraged me to teach collocation. In stages the students were
introduced to the patterns of collocation (V – N, V – Adv, A – N, etc), what
necessary information they can record together with a newly encountered word,
how they can get the right information, and how they can organize the
information. The collocations were presented in written context. The students
were given academic texts on the grounds that they would have to read a lot of
them and write tasks during their study.
In the first stage, the students were introduced to the Noun category since
it is the most frequently used. At the same time, they were also introduced to
some available tools to help them learn collocation such as collocation dictionary,
BNC (British National Corpus) and some other web sites available to check
whether the word combinations the students encountered are frequent
collocations. Then, Verb category and Adjective category were taught
respectively. At this initial stage the students were in the state of confusion and
had difficulty identifying word partners/word combinations as collocations.
To facilitate the learning process, I asked the students to share their ideas
and discuss their collocation clusters one another. It was meant to provide
assistance to the students who had limited language proficiency to correct their
mistakes and facilitate their understanding. Besides peer correction, the students
understood the lesson better through group discussion. Class discussion was also
considered enjoyable, as the result of the interview done with S2 (student 2):
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
58
R: “What did you enjoy most? Yang paling dinikmati atau
disenangi dari proses belajar itu bagian apanya?”
S2: ”Eh…kalo lg diskusi di kelas. Itu enak gitu lho, ....” (when we
were having a discussion in class. It was fun, ...)
b. Introducing collocation cluster
During the process of learning collocation in the classroom, the students
were also introduced to collocation clusters to organize the information in the
form of graphic organizers. The students started a collocation cluster by drawing a
rectangular shape (I named it a cell) into which they wrote a head word of a
collocation. Then, they developed it by adding another or other cells to record the
collocates of the word. The shapes were organized and linked with lines. After
reading a text, the students identified the collocations based on certain category
and put them in the collocation clusters. If they already had a cluster of the same
head word or entry, they could simply add the information to the available cell or
add a new cell. For example, in the first reading the students enter „memory‟
together with „long-term.‟ In the second reading, they encountered „long-term
goal‟ and wrote the new information „goal‟ in the cluster in a new cell. However,
when they encountered „short-term,‟ they did not need a new cell but wrote it in
the same cell as „long-term‟ since both the collocates of „memory‟ were of the
same category (A + ____) (see Appendix 7).
In addition, they were shown the benefits of it that they could easily add
new information to the cluster as their vocabulary expands. And, their notebooks
could function as their mini English collocation dictionary. Also, the clusters gave
clear border to each category that the students could easily identify. However, I
found some students did not organize the information as they supposed to.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
59
Instead, they preferred to put them in a list that did not leave necessary space to
add more information.
c. Introducing BNC
In fact, I introduced the BNC (the British National Corpus) as a tool to
check collocations to accompany the collocation clusters. The BNC is a corpus
that can be accessed for free for limited display. What the students had to do was
to enter a word or combination into its searching machine. It would process and
display the occurrence of the word or word combination from the corpus. Then, I
learned that it was not very practical since the class had to stay connected to the
internet to access it. Even, it was impossible to be done in the classroom because
not all the students had portable computers that they could bring to the class. One
student expressed her idea “It‟s complicated if we have to check BNC to get the
correct collocations.”
3. Students’ feeling and learning
During the process, the students and I (as the teacher) kept journals to
express our thoughts and feeling of an ongoing situation. The students wrote it in
their notebooks together with the collocation clusters. The journals were used as
the ground to take necessary actions to help the students in class. Aside from the
journal, the students wrote their reflections twice during the 10-week course; one
was written after completing one cycle of action (week 7) and the other was at the
end of cycle two (week 10).
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
60
I found that in general, the collocation cluster technique brought valuable
experience for the students. Some students expressed their good feeling during the
course like “I‟m happy, I understand collocation…” “I‟m interested with this class
today…” and “I‟m happy because I really understand...” However, few students
expressed their feeling bored of always discussing „similar‟ reading materials.
They wrote “I get bored with the material…;” “…I want to discuss different
topic;” “Get bored of studying the same thing” (Student‟s Journal, Appendix 2).
The journals also revealed the students‟ difficulty learning collocations. It
took them almost the whole course to figure out the best way to identify and use
collocations. When they thought they had understood collocations, it turned out
that they still had to struggle to identify them on the other texts (Appendix 2). A
new reading material brought new challenges to the students. What they do was
mostly guessing. It might be because the students did not give themselves
sufficient exposure of academic texts outside the classroom. They relied on what
they discussed in the classroom. “…I still have less handbook/material of learning
collocations;” “I must find many resources to make me understand;” “…since I
have never seen the words before.” (Student‟s reflection)
Some students stated that they got difficulty identifying collocations as
they had never seen them before. One of them stated:
“I found some questions difficult. I never met with those collocations
because (when I opened the website to search collocations) I only
search collocations for the words which I got from the handout.”
(The student‟s reflection, Appendix 3)
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
61
Nonetheless, the students acknowledged on their reflection that the
technique did help them learn collocation in an easier way. The collocation
clusters helped them check whether a word combination is a collocation.
“Yes, it can help me to finding collocation word easily because the
source of collocation is very limited”. (sic)
“I think it can help me to learn collocation more details”. (sic)
“The technique is good I think, it help me to understand
collocation‟. (sic)
(Some student‟s original writing on the student‟s reflection)
There were some problems emerged along the way, though. One of them
was the students‟ lack of grammatical knowledge that caused some fundamental
mistakes in the information organization such as wrong categorization (e.g.
recognize „clear‟ (which is an Adjective in the text) as a Noun or „teaching‟ (N) as
a V). To support the learning process, the students discussed their work to each
other from which they got correction and feedback. Another problem was that
while they are reading, the students kept their focus on the patterns of collocations
that they needed to put into the collocation clusters. They were so focused on the
forms that they did not pay attention to the content of the text. Hence, class
discussions on the content of the text were necessary to be conducted in which the
class shared their understanding of the text in turn. At this phase, the students
were in the state of confusion: they still had difficulty identifying and forming
collocation.
4. Dealing with students’ difficulty learning collocation
Cycle two was an attempt to better the learning process in class. On the
second cycle I tried to facilitate students‟ learning more to remedy shortcomings
recognized on the previous cycle. Considering the fact that the students still had
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
62
difficulty identifying collocations, I plan to give them more explanation and
examples. I also introduced the use of English collocation dictionary (Oxford
Collocations Dictionary for Students of English) since it is more practical than the
BNC.
a. Using an English collocation dictionary
The first reflection done by the students reported that after few meetings of
learning collocation using collocation clusters, most of the students remained
confused about how to recognize and form collocations (see appendix 3).
Considering the fact that the students still got considerable difficulty identifying
collocations, I made another intervention that was introducing the use of an
English collocations dictionary. The dictionary was a supplement to the
collocation clusters.
Asking the students to buy an extra dictionary would be too demanding.
Asking them to borrow it from the library would not be possible since if there
were any at the library, they would not be enough for all the students. So, I did not
only introduce the dictionary but also made it available for the students. I made a
copy of an electronic dictionary (in PDF format) of Oxford Collocations
Dictionary for Students of English (2002) that I downloaded for free from the
internet. The dictionary served as a reference book to determine whether a word
combination is a collocation.
In addition, my action was based on the students‟ reflections “Kamus
collocation penting” (Collocation dictionary is essential) and “Hope that we can
providing the needed material such as: collocation dictionary, etc.”(I hope that
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
63
you provide necessary material such as collocation dictionary for us). The
dictionary could help the students learn and extent their vocabulary by themselves
outside the classroom. The dictionary helped the students to check whether the
combinations they encountered were collocations. They could make anything they
listened to or read a source of learning with the collocation dictionary, from which
they can look up the words. In other words, the provision of collocation dictionary
was to span the gap between the students‟ present and the expected knowledge.
5. Students’ learning development
At this point, the learning process continued better. Given the fact that
some students had not yet fully understood, the students in general acknowledged
that their learning collocations helped them perform better, even in other classes
they took. Besides, some students admitted openly the importance of collocation
dictionary. Five students wrote in their reflections that one supporting step to help
them learn collocations better was by looking words up in the dictionary to check
whether they were collocations, for example, one wrote “Use collocation
dictionary as often as possible,” and another wrote “I think I must always check
the dictionary, always read to find the new words.” (Appendix 3)
a. Students’ collocational knowledge development
To complete the process, I collected the data of the students‟ learning
achievement. The data were obtained by giving the students a post test with the
same questions as they did on the pre test. The results then were compared with
those of the pre test. Comparing the results of the pre test and post test, we can see
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
64
the average of the post test scores is higher than the pre test (Table 4). The post
test average is 17.31 and the pre test is 14.62. The difference between the averages
is 2.69.
Based on the result below, I can say that the particular learning strategy
i.e. collocation clusters brought positive impact to most of the students. The result
showed that 9 out of 13 students achieved any increase of the score. One student
(student no. 13) could even increase her score dramatically from 7 (out of 30) to
16 (out of 30).
Table 4. The results of pre test and post test
Student X1 (Post
test) X2 (Pre
test)
1 19 14
2 14 18
3 16 18
4 16 17
5 17 17
6 16 12
7 17 15
8 18 16
9 19 16
10 18 14
11 22 15
12 17 11
13 16 7
Total 225 190
Mean 17.31 14.62
Xi (ideal mean) 18.75
Furthermore, I discovered that those who retook the class normally had
limited knowledge of English language. One of the obvious proofs was the
average of the students‟ previous grades (C). Another proof can be produced from
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
65
the following calculation. The pre and post tests given to the students consisted of
30 multiple choice questions with four options (o = 4) for each question. The
highest possible score was 30 (Xh = 30). It means that the chance score is 7.5 (cs
= 30/4 = 7.5). Finding out the chance score, we can look for the ideal mean of the
scores that is Xi = (Xh + cs)/2 (37.5/2 = 18.75). Table 4 shows that all of the
students‟ pre test scores are under the ideal mean scores, but on the post test three
students achieved an increase in their scores.
Further calculation of the data also depicts the variability of student‟s
learning achievement which was reflected by the value of SD (standard deviation)
of the post test (see Table 5). The value of SD of the pre test that was 3.124 and
the SD of the post test was 1.974, it means that the students‟ learning achievement
was heterogeneous and became more homogeneous by the end of the course.
Another implication was that the collocation clusters could help low achievers to
learn more or less at similar pace with the others. One obvious example was
student no. 13 who got seven (7) on the pre test but could manage to increase her
score to 16 on the post test.
Table 5. Data of standard deviation (SD)
n X1 (Po)/post test X2 (Pe)/pre test
n 13 13
∑ X 225 190
∑ X² 3941 2891
X 17.31 14.62
∑ x² 46.77 117.08
SD 1.897 3.001
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
66
Another finding was that difficulty identifying collocations remained a
problem for some students even at the end of the course (student‟s second
reflection – appendix 3). One of the causes was probably they had not yet fully
embraced the idea and principles of collocation. It was the first time they
consciously learned collocation, organized it in such a way that it is easily learnt
and they realized its importance. Formerly, they only valued word meaning and
translation as they learned new words (questionnaire – appendix 1). The problem
escalated when the students encountered synonyms which are non
interchangeable. For example, they were uncertain whether it was „look‟ or „see‟
to be combined with „an interesting point‟.
Although collocation cluster could make the students‟ learning easier, the
collocation clusters alone did not help the students to enhance their collocation
knowledge since they had limited lexicons. The collocation dictionary provided a
bridge between lack of vocabulary knowledge and collocation knowledge
acquisition.
All in all, the technique gave more benefits for the students who learn best
by doing. So they got input text, identified the collocations with the help of
collocation dictionary, and put them in the collocation clusters. The activity then
was followed by doing exercises in which the students put the lexicons into use.
The results of the test can not be a sole factor of consideration to assess the
success of implementation of the strategy. Learners‟ experience, both cognitive
and affective aspects, during the process is another essential.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
67
b. Students’ collocation learning strategy
In another aspect, the students thought that collocation cluster helped them
enrich their vocabulary as one stated “Collocation is useful to developing
vocabulary.” Some more specific expressions of how their vocabulary was
enriched were conveyed
“I just learnt that not all suffix of/in are collocations,”
“I got many new vocabulary today,” and
“I got new vocabularies and knowledge that not all prepositions are
interchangeable in collocations. And I know more about collocation.”
Moreover, one student‟s statement “Every week I get enlightenment for
collocations” (student‟s original writing) cherished the belief of the vocabulary
learning nature that it was built by small incremental pieces.
Another discovery was made based on the students‟ journals and
reflections that the learning experience got in Vocabulary 1 contributed to
learning other subjects such as reading, writing, and translation as another claimed
“Learning experiences that I’ve got, help me when we do writing and translate
English.” Furthermore, for those who were working on their theses, it facilitated
correct expressions in conveying ideas. The interview with Triana who was doing
her thesis presented the fact (R: researcher; T: Triana):
R: Did the technique give you other impacts in learning than
broader knowledge? Did it give other impacts?
T: Iya, terutama itu, di itu buk, writing a thesis juga bisa
membantu, itu membantu, terutama help me to write a
sentence…to make statement, to make sentences in my
thesis. (Yes, especially in writing the thesis. It helps me to
write a statement or a sentence.)
R: So far, how did you feel the impact in writing thesis?
T: Maksudnya? (What do you mean?)
R: When you write the thesis then what the ….impact give you?
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
68
T: Untuk meng-arrange the sentences, kan kadang kita
menemukan…apa…kayak collocation, nah, kata ini
tuh…harus cocoknya dg apa… (To construct the sentences,
what words have to collocate with others).
R: Now, do you think that you already have improvement in
writing the thesis?
T: Yes.
R: Do you consult your thesis writing to your advisor? And,
does he or she?...Do they (advisors) tell you that you
already improved in terms of writing the thesis?
T: Yes.
Yet, the selection of the reading material as the main input text had to be
done more carefully. Academic texts such as „What collocation is and how to
memorize vocabulary‟ were considered boring by few students. During the
process, three students declared that they got bored having similar topic of
vocabulary/collocation learning. The others did not complain about it. When I
responded to their wish by selecting different topics to vary the texts, still few
students wished to have different materials, but they did not tell specifically what
topics they would like to have. I learnt that academic text was dull to some of
them.
c. Student’s learning independence
One thing that I expected to achieve from the research was the students‟
learning independence. Yet, the students‟ seemed to depend their learning on sole
class activities and what the teacher gave them in the class. The evidence could be
revealed from the teacher‟s field note (Appendix 8). For example, when I asked
the students to copy of the electronic collocation dictionary on their computers, it
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
69
took at least 2 weeks to remind them to do so. Without tight supervision, some
students would not do the necessary things as they should.
Another proof could be obtained from the interview conducted to two of
the students. One student admitted that she worked independently to advance her
knowledge outside the class.
R: When you study vocabulary, did you read any text and then you
record the information in the notebook
T: just text from you…
Given the fact that the students seemed to spare little effort to develop
their collocations outside the classroom, I thought they did realize it needed to be
done. One student reflected “I must find many resources to make me understand.”
d. Students’ learning sustainability
The students generally agreed that their experience in class was valuable
for their learning. They stated that they wanted to continue doing the strategy to
learn collocation after they passed the class. One student stated that she would
keep consulting the collocation dictionary when she was writing. Another wrote
that she wanted to write her own research for her Bachelor‟s thesis about
collocation learning. If it really worked the way they stated, it could also support
learning sustainability.
The results of the interview with two selected students give a part of the
picture of the learning strategy sustainability outside the class. Both the students
stated that they no longer kept a collocation notebook to help them learn and
develop collocational knowledge.
R: Apakah kau msh menggunakan buku, semacam spt yang kita punya
di kelas vocab ato sekedar menuliskannya misalnya di sembarang
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
70
kertas? (Do you still keep a vocabulary notebook like the one we had
in vocabulary class?)
S: kadang yo sembarang kertas sih, gak di buku… (sometimes I wrote
on any paper, not in a book...)
R: …do you have a notebook?
T: No, but a notebook kayak gitu tidak, tapi di catetan (not
particularly, but I wrote it in a notebook)
6. Limitations of the findings
I acknowledge that the findings of the research had some limitations. First,
the classroom research was limited by a period of one semester. The class on
which I carried the research was the last vocabulary class, meaning the class
would not be held anymore by the department of English Language Education.
Due to the limited time, I could not conduct a thorough study on student‟s
collocation learning experience.
If I have another chance to redo, I would like to plan it better. First of all, I
would reword some of the reflection questions since some students understood
them in different ways. As a consequence of the misunderstanding, some
information did not count for the research. Another thing that I wish I had done
better was to give more detailed instructions or guiding questions for the students
to write their journals. In fact, they expressed their feeling and thought without
profound reflection. Finally, I would select more various input reading texts so
that students did not get bored of discussing “heavy” topics. If students‟ interest
could be maintained, the results would probably better.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
71
CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
This very final chapter provides the summary of the answers to my
research question. In addition, it attempts to suggest practical applications in
language teaching and discusses some suggestions to me as the researcher and
others who are interested in the same field and are willing to conduct similar
research in the future.
A. Conclusions
The actions I conducted in the research were to seek the answer to my
question “How can collocation clusters help the students of English Language
Education Study Program improve their collocational knowledge?” The results of
the study discovered that collocation clusters gave positive impacts on student‟s
collocation learning. The explicit teaching of collocation using collocation
clusters accompanied by English collocations dictionary brought about a small
increase in most of the students‟ scores. By the end of the course, the students‟
post test scores compared with the pre test scores were improved slightly. Three
out of 13 students could achieve higher scores than the ideal average/mean.
Moreover, the learning process in the classroom affected the students
psychologically and cognitively. They were happy to learn something new using a
new way that they had never done before. The students acknowledged that it
helped them learn vocabulary and collocation easier. It also helped them to
perform better in writing and reading. Besides, the students who were working on
their theses gained the advantages of the technique in writing their theses. The
collocation clusters helped them construct proper sentences.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
72
However, collocation clusters did not function successfully without other
actions and factors; class discussions, exercises, and dictionary use were a good
combination the collocation cluster mixed with.
The results of the study contribute to language teaching in general and
vocabulary teaching techniques in particular. It gives English teacher an
alternative of teaching collocation. It also teaches teachers to develop along with
their students. For the students, the technique also offers them an alternative of
learning collocations in a more independent and sustainable way. In the long run,
it has the potential to promote autonomous learning.
B. Suggestions
Teaching collocation using collocation clusters offers three advantages: 1)
developing students‟ collocational knowledge, writing, and reading skills, 2)
making students aware of the importance of collocation, and 3) establishing a base
for independent learning. Collocations should be taught purposefully because it
makes students learn consciously and intensively. Learning consciously, students
devote their attention to one thing and have a sense of purpose. Besides, teachers
should always make thoughtful consideration of what students need in planning
the teaching materials. The materials that are balanced in fulfilling both the needs
and wants will seemingly maintain students‟ interest. A modification to the
technique will possibly lead to different result.
The university should reevaluate the curriculum and reestablish
Vocabulary as one of the subjects offered in English Language Education
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
73
Department. Learning collocation using an appropriate technique helps the
students in writing, even writing Bachelor‟s thesis (skripsi).
Finally, I would like to encourage a study on the sustainability of the
technique practiced by students after the research is completed. I think it will be
interesting to find out whether the learning strategy introduced in class really
affects students‟ learning in their daily basis.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
74
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Balota, D.A and Chumbley, J.I. (1984). Are lexical decisions a good measure of
lexical access? the role of word frequency in the neglected decision stage.
Journal of Experimental Psychology; Human Perception and Performance. Vol.
10, No. 3, pp. 340-357.
Cluskey, M. (1997). How can I Facilitate Learning amongst my Leaving Certificate
Applied Students? Master’s dissertation. The University of West of England.
Coady, J., and Huckin, T. (eds). (1997). Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition: a
Rationale for Pedagogy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cohen, L., Manion, L., and Morrison, K. (2000). Research Methods in Education. 5th
ed. London: RoutledgeFalmer.
Ellis, R. (1997). Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Fowle, C. (2002). Vocabulary notebooks: implementation and outcomes. ELT
Journal, Vol. 56, No. 4, pp. 380-388.
Gass, S. M. and Selinker, L. (2001). Second Language Acquisition: An Introductory
Course. Second edition. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Harley, B., Howard, J. and Roberge, B. (1996). Teaching vocabulary: an exploratory
study of direct techniques. Canadian Modern Language Review, Vol. 53, pp.
281-304.
Hopkins, D. (1985). A Teacher's Guide to Classroom Research. Buckingham: Open
University Press.
Jiang, N. (2000). Lexical representation and development in a second language.
Applied Linguistics, Vol. 21, Pp. 47-77.
Kennedy, G. D. (1990). Collocations: where grammar and vocabulary teaching meet.
In S. Anivan (Ed.), Language Teaching Methodology for the Nineties. pp. 215-
229. SEAMEO.
Koshy, V. (2005). Action Research for Improving Practice – A Practical Guide.
London: Paul Chapman Publishing.
Kroeger, S. D. (2003). The Voice of Students at Rrisk. Ed. D. dissertation. University
of Cincinnati.
Laufer, B. and Hulstijn, J. (2001). Incidental vocabulary acquisition in a second
language: the construct of task-induced involvement. Applied Linguistics, Vol.
22, No. 1, pp. 1-26.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
75
Leeke, P. and Shaw, P. (2000). Learners' independent records of vocabulary. System,
Vol. 28, pp. 271-289.
Lewis, M. (1993). The Lexical Approach. Hove: Language Teaching Publications.
Lewis, M. (ed). (2001). Teaching Collocation: Further Developments in the Lexical
Approach. Hove: Thompson – Heinle Publications.
Lotto, L. and De Groot, A. M. B. 1998. Effects of learning method and word type on
acquiring vocabulary in an unfamiliar language. Language Learning, Vol. 48,
pp. 31–69.
McCarten, J. (2007). Teaching Vocabulary: Lessons from the Corpus; Lessons for
the Classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
McKay, S. (2006). Researching Second Language Classrooms. ESL and Applied
Linguistics Professional Series. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
McNiff, J. (1988)) Action Research: Principles and Practice. London: MacMillan
Education Ltd.
Meara, P. (2004). Modelling vocabulary loss. Applied linguistics, Vol. 25, No. 2, pp.
137-155.
Moudraia, O. (2001). Lexical approach to second language teaching. CAL digest:
Centre for Applied Linguistics, 2008.
Nation, I. S. P. (2001). Learning Vocabulary in Another Language. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Nation, I. S. P. (2005). Teaching vocabulary. Asian EFL Journal.
Nesselhauf, N. (2003). The use of collocations by advanced learners of english and
some implications for teaching. Applied Linguistics, Vol. 24, No. 2, pp. 223-242.
O’Keefe, McCarthy and Carter. (2007). From Corpus to Classroom: Language Use
and Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
O’Leary, Z. (2004). The Essential Guide to Doing Research. London: Sage
Publications Ltd.
Peppard, J. (2007). Exploring the relationship between word-association and learners’
lexical development. An assignment for Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics
Module 2 – Lexis. Birmingham: Centre for English Language Studies
Department of English, University of Birmingham.
Read, J. (2000). Assessing Vocabulary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
76
Read, J. (2004). Research in teaching vocabulary. Annual Review of Applied
Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Richards, J. C. and Rodgers, T. S. (2001). Approaches and Methods in Language
Teaching. 2nd
ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Scharle, A. and Szabo, A. (2005). Learner Autonomy. 3rd
ed. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Schmitt, N. and Meara, P. (1997). Researching Vocabulary through a Word
Knowledge Framework – Word Associations and Verbal Suffixes. SSLA, Vol.
20, pp. 17–36.
Schmitt, N. (2000). Vocabulary in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Schmitt, N. (2008). Review article: instructed second language vocabulary learning.
Language Teaching Research, Vol. 12, p. 329.
Seesink, M. T. (2007). Using Blended Instruction to Teach Academic Vocabulary
Collocations: a Case Study. Ph.D Dissertation. College of Human Resources
and Education. West Virginia University.
Sinclair, J. (1991). Corpus, Concordance and Collocation. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Tacac, V.P. (2008). Vocabulary Learning Strategies and Foreign Language
Acquisition. Toronto: Multilingual matters ltd.
Van Lier, L. (1996). Interaction in the Language Curriculum: Awareness, Autonomy
and Authenticity. Applied linguistics and language study series. London:
Longman.
Walter, J.D. and Bozkurt, N. (2009). The effect of keeping vocabulary notebooks on
vocabulary acquisition. Language Teaching Research, Vol. 13, No. 4, pp. 403–
423.
Wolter, B. (2001). Comparing the L1 and L2 mental lexicon – A depth of individual
word knowledge model. SSLA, Vol. 23, pp. 41-69.
Zimmerman, C. B. (1997a). Historical trends in second language vocabulary
instruction. In J. Coady & T. Huckin (Eds.), Second Language Vocabulary
Acquisition (pp. 5-19). New York: Cambridge University Press.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
77
APPENDICES
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
78
Appendix 1. Student’s questionnaire
Instruksi:
Jawablah pertanyaan di bawah ini dengan memilih satu atau lebih pilihan yang tersedia
atau dengan menulis jawaban Anda sendiri bila pilihan jawaban yang telah tersedia tidak
mewakili jawaban Anda.
1. Berapa kali Anda mengambil mata kuliah Vocabulary I (termasuk kali ini)?
a. dua kali
b. tiga kali
c. empat kali atau lebih
2. Tolong sebutkan skor nilai yang Anda dapatkan pada pengambilan mata kuliah
Vocabulary I pada kali sebelumnya.
a. kali pertama =
b. kali kedua =
c. kali ketiga =
3. Bagaimana Anda menggambarkan pengetahuan kosakata (vocabulary knowledge)
Anda?
a. Saya memiliki sedikit pengetahuan kosakata sehingga saya kesulitan dalam
memahami materi kuliah dan dalam mengerjakan tugas
b. Saya memiliki cukup pengetahuan kosakata sehingga saya dapat memahami materi
kuliah dan mengerjakan tugas dengan cukup baik, meskipun kadang-kadang masih
mengalami sedikit kesulitan
c. Saya memiliki pengetahuan kosakata lebih dari cukup sehingga saya dapat
memahami materi dan mengerjakan tugas dengan baik
4. Mengapa Anda gagal/atau mendapat nilai yang kurang memuaskan sehingga Anda
harus mengambil mata kuliah Vocabulary I lagi?
a. Saya tidak tahu strategi belajar kosakata
b. Saya malas menghafal kosakata
c. Saya kesulitan mengingat kosakata
d. Saya tidak mengerjakan tugas dengan baik.
e. Saya tidak mengumpulkan tugas dengan lengkap
f. Saya tidak mengikuti ujian tengah semester
g. Saya tidak mengikuti ujian akhir semester
h. Kehadiran saya di kelas kurang
i. ………….
5. Apakah Anda berusaha mempelajari kosakata baru di luar kelas?
a. Ya
b. Tidak
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
79
6. Dari mana Anda mendapatkan kosakata baru?
a. Acara TV seperti berita dalam bhs Inggris
b. Lagu
c. Film
d. Buku
e. Majalah
f. Game computer
g. ………..
7. Ketika Anda mempelajari sebuah kosakata baru, informasi apa yang Anda serap dari
kata baru tersebut selain artinya?
a. Pronunciation
b. Part of speech
c. Translation
d. Synonym
e. Antonym
f. Collocation
g. Idiom
h. …………
8. Bagaimana cara Anda mengingat dan menambah kosakata?
a. Membuat daftar kosakata baru dan menghafalnya
b. Bertanya pada seseorang mengenai arti kata-kata baru
c. Membaca teks/buku dan mencatat kata-kata asing yang ditemukan dari bacaan,
mencari artinya dari kamus dan membaca ulang bacaan
d. membaca, menebak kata-kata baru berdasarkan konteksnya
e. mendengarkan lagu berbahasa Inggris, mencatat kata-kata baru yang ditemukan,
mencari arti dari kamus dan membaca ulang dan/ menyanyikan lirik berulang-
ulang
f. mendengarkan lagu, membaca liriknya dan menebak kata-kata asing berdasarkan
konteksnya
g. Menggunakan kata baru berulang-ulang dalam berbicara dan/atau menulis
h. Membuat visualisasi kata dalam pikiran
i. Menghubungkan kata dengan benda tertentu
j. Meminta orang lain mengetes saya
k. Mengetes diri sendiri dengan latihan dari buku
l. ………………
9. Informasi apa yang biasa Anda cari tahu bersama dengan kosakata baru yang Anda
pelajari?
a. Arti kata
b. Phonetic transcription
c. part of speech
d. kata lain dalam word family yang sama
e. synonyms
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
80
f. antonyms
g. homonyms
h. translation dalam bahasa Indonesia
i. collocation
j. the use in context
k. …………….
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
81
Appendix 2. Students’ weekly journals
27 October 2009 3 November 2009 10 November 2009 17 November 2009 24 November 2009 2 December 2009 15 December 2009 22 December 2009
1. I feel confused.
But I think the
explanation can
make me
understand
‘compound’
I have little spirit
because I missed
the quiz and I still
don’t understand
collocation.
I haven’t
completely
understood (msh
samar2).
I get more
confused. I thought
I have understood
but many of my
answers were
wrong.
I get understand
collocation a bit
more. But when I
learn more, I get
confused again.
I get understand
collocation a bit
more. We have to
be able to identify
the part of speech
before we are able
to identify
collocation.
I get bored with
the material but I
have to keep my
spirit.
I get my spirit back
because today’s
class was fun.
codes PCK CCII OP
2. It’s difficult and
confusing how to
combine
collocations.
The questions of
the test help me
understand
collocation but
synonymous
options confused
me.
I have understood
N category better.
I am still confused
with some words.
I think explanation
using LCD can
make us
understand better.
Exercise help me
understand
collocations.
codes PCK CCII
3. It’s difficult to
identify collocations. I must
find many
resources to make
me understand.
I’m still confused.
I can’t do the test
because I didn’t
study last night.
The explanation
was clear, but I still
get confused how
to use collocations.
I get bored because learning
coll takes a lot of
time.
Sleepy. I
understand a bit
better.
Discussing the tests
will help
understand
collocation.
The text for the
exercise help me
understand
collocation
Codes PCK OP
4. I don’t have any
idea what the test
is all about. But
doing it give me an
idea of what
collocation is.
I can understand
today’s material
pretty well, about
what coll is, the
forms, and how to
distinguish them.
I understand the
material, but
explaining using
LCD will be much
better.
I just learnt that
not all suffix of/in
are coll.
Codes CCII FCK
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
82
5. I’m little confused.
There are some
words in the
explanation and
material that I
don’t understand.
It’s better if
exercise given to
follow explanation.
I understand
better today because I have an
exercise to do after
listening to the
explanation. But, I
still have difficulty
differentiating
collocation and
compounds. Using
LCD may help me
understand better.
Doing the test
help me
understand what
collocation is but
there were many
words I don’t know
the meaning so I
did it as I feel right.
I understand
better since the
lecturer ask us to
identify the
patterns of
collocation found
on the text.
I’m still confused
with the material as
the language used
is more difficult
than before.
I could do the quiz
quite well. I got a
new text, it’s
difficult, there were
many difficult
words.
I got many new
vocabulary today.
And I know more
about collocation
Codes OP CCII PCK CCII
6. I’m confused. I
still don’t know
how to make
collocation
I could do the test
well. I found some
questions difficult
since I have never
seen the words
before.
I could do the test
well. Some coll
make me doubtful
since I have never
seen the words
before.
My lecturer was
angry because we
kept silent when
we were asked to
discuss collocation.
They’re still
confusing.
Get bored of
studying the same
thing.
I didn’t come to
class as I had to go
home to Kaltim.
Codes PCK OP OP
7. Collocations and
compounds are
difficult to
differentiate.
I need more
exercise to make
me understand
collocations better.
The test given help
me understand
collocations.
Exercises really
help me understand
collocations and
make them familiar
I have understood
collocations and
not worry to use
them in
communication.
But, I want to
discuss different
topic.
I got new
vocabularies and
knowledge that not
all prepositions are
interchangeable in
collocations
Codes PCK OP OP FCK
8. I sometimes can’t
differentiate collocations from
compounds
I could do the test
well. I found some
questions difficult
since I have never
seen the words
before.
Some explanations
were not clear on
how to identify
collocations
I have enough
knowledge of
collocation
I still have similar
topic. I hope next
meeting we
discuss something
different
Codes PCK OP
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
83
9. I still have
difficulty writing
compounds
correctly (combine
the words,
separate, or put a
dash)
I’m happy, I
understand
collocation but still
confused diff coll
from compounds
I could do the test
well. I found some
questions difficult
since I have never
seen the words
before.
I feel happy. I
understand better
and better.
I understand better
because the
lecturer give us
examples.
I need a lot of
examples to make
me understand
better
I enjoy the class
because I have the
collocation
dictionary so I can
do the tasks easily
Codes PCK CCII LI PEE OP PEE
10. I learn collocation
and compound but
still confused. I
prefer individual
task so that I won’t
be sleepy.
I’m interested
with this class today, because we
did exercise so
there was no
sleepiness. I love
the assignment.
I found some
questions difficult.
I never met with
those collocations
because when I
only search for
the collocations on
the handout.
Every week I get
an enlightment
for collocations. I
love this subject.
The teaching-
learning process is
good.
If the lecturer give
us a quiz every
week, it will be
helpful. Doing a
quiz shows me how
far I understand
collocation.
I always love this
class. It will be
better if there is a
quiz in the
beginning of the
class so we can
restore our
memory.
Codes PCK PEE LI CCII PEE
11. It’s better if the
teacher give us
quiz to do to
improve our
knowledge
I understand what
collocation is
I know more about
collocations. It’s
complicated if we
have to check BNC
to get the correct
collocations
Today the
discussion is still
about collocation.
I got more
experience . it is
fun
Codes PCK CCII PEE
12. I haven’t
understood what
collocation is.
I understand better. I ‘m a bit confused
to identify
collocations.
I need a handout so
I won’t easily
forget the material.
Codes PCK CCII
13. I want to get good
mark so I try to
work hard (I got a
flu)
I can’t do some
questions. I thought
I have understood,
but I haven’t
I’m still confused.
Some combinations
look like
collocations but
they turn out to be
not
The more I learn
the more difficult it
is. But many
examples given are
helpful.
I understand
better, but the text
is more difficult to
understand
Codes PCK FCK
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
84
Appendix 3. Student’s first reflections
No.
of
stude
nts
What do
you feel of
the class?
How do
you
understand
the class
discussion/
the
material so
far?
What
has been
unclear
to you?
What do
you think
of the
technique
used in
class for
learning
collocations
; does it
help you to
learn
collocations
?
What do
you
disagree
with?
What
obstacles
do you still
have in
learning
collocation
s?
What do
you
conclude
from the
learning
experiences
?
How are the
learning
experiences
reflected in
other things
you read,
see, or do
outside the
class?
What
would you
like to do
as a result
of the
learning
experiences
?
What do
you
suggest for
improve-
ment?
Code PEE PCK PCK CCII OP CCII LI/LS
1. A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 A7 A8 A9 A10
2. B1 B2 A3 A4 A5 A6 B7 A8 B9 B10
3. C1 C2 B3 A4 A5 B6 A7 B8 A9 C10
4. A1 C2 B3 A4 A5 A6 C7 C8 C9 B10
5. A1 A2 A3 A4 B5 A6 D7 D8 D9 D10
6. A1 D2 C3 B4 B5 A6 E7 E8 D9 D10
7. D1 A2 C3 A4 B5 A6 E7 E8 E9 E10
8. E1 A2 C3 A4 B5 A6 E7 D8 D9 D10
9. A1 A2 D3 A4 A5 A6 F7 F8 E9 F10
10. A1 C2 D3 A4 A5 C6 G7 E8 E9 G10
11. B1 C2 A3 A4 A5 D6 H7 E8 F9 G10
12. A1 A2 A3 A4 B5 A6 F7 G8 E9 D10
13. A1 A2 A3 A4 C5 A6 A7 H8 D9 A10
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
85
The meaning of the codes
A1 = comfortable/good feeling A5 = nothing A8 = Improve vocabulary to write skripsi
B1 = fun B5 = monotonous materials B8 = to do exercise
C1 = hot C5 = class atmosphere C8 = know more about coll than others not take vocab class
D1 = free D8 = Learning corpus is useful; it’s used in another class
E1 = enthusiastic B6 = the materials bored me
C6 = memorizing A9 = useful in writing skripsi
A2 = understand adequately D6 = have to check the words in writing B9 = Writing skripsi about vocabulary learning
B2 = the class is interesting C9 = I know more about collocation
C2 = understand well A7 = Improve vocabulary by using it D9 = it helps me to write
D2 = understand partially B7 = vocabulary is difficult E9 = continue learning collocation
C7 = Do the exercise and look for other sources F9 = Always check the collocations in writing
A3 = how to form collocations D7 = Know what collocation is and how to use it
B3 = grammatical errors E7 = know about collocations more A10 = Collocation dictionary is important
C3 = how to use collocation in writing F7 = New friends, knowledge and experience B10 = Use LCD
D3 = everything is clear G7 = Learning vocabulary is interesting C10 = I hope I can improve my knowledge
H7 = collocation is useful D10 = Vary the material and select simple texts
A4 = yes E10 = Study more based on one’s weaknesses
B4 = good enough F10 = more examples
G10 = more exercises
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
86
Appendix 3. Student’s second reflection
What do
you feel
of the
whole
course of
the
vocabular
y class
you took
this
semester?
What do you
find
different on
the second
cycle from
the first
one?
So far, do
you
understand the class
discussion/t
he material
presented in
the
vocabulary
class well?
What is still
unclear to
you?
Do you
think the
technique
used in class
(Wordnet)
help you
learn
collocations
? How does
it help you
learn
collocation?
What do
you
disagree with the
technique
?
What
obstacles (hambatan)
do you still
have in
learning
collocations
?
What
benefits do
you get from
the
technique?
How are the
learning
experiences
you got in
the
vocabulary
class
reflected in
other things
you read,
see, or do
outside the
class?
What can
you
conclude about the
learning
experiences?
What do you
suggest for
improving
the
vocabulary
learning?
Code PEE FCK CCII OP CCII CCII CCII LS
1. 1a 2a 3a 4a 5a 6a 7a 8a 9a 10a
2. 1a 2b 3a 4a 5a 6b 7b 8b 9b 10a
3. 1a 2c 3b 4a 5b 6c 7a 8b 9c 10b
4. 1a 2c 3b 4a 5c 6a 7a 8c 9c 10c
5. 1a 2d 3c 4a 5d 6a 7b 8d 9d 10a
6. 1a 2b 3b 4a 5e 6d 7b 8e 9d 10d
7. 1a 2b 3a 4a 5f 6e 7a 8b 9c 10b
8. 1b 2c 3b 4a 5g 6e 7c 8f 9d 10d
9. la 2e 3a 4a 5a 6f 7b 8g 9a 10e
10. 1a 2e 3a 4a 5a 6g 7d 8b 9e 10f
11. 1a 2d 3a 4a 5a 6a 7a 8g 9f 10f
12. 1a 2d 3b 4a 5a 6a 7d 8h 9b 10a
13. 1a 2d 3b 4a 5a 6a 7a 8b 9b 10a
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
87
The meaning of the codes
1a = happy, enjoy, satisfied 6a = how to identify collocation 9a = Vocabulary is an important to improving the
English
1b = my vocabulary knowledge increases 6b = I can hardly imagine the new words I found 9b = I got much knowledge and can use it in my
life
6c = it makes me bored 9c = It helps me understand collocation easier
2a = I feel comfortable and understand
about the material
6d = memorizing patterns 9d = Get more information about collocation
2b = The second one is easier 6e = A lot of unknown collocation 9e = Collocation is useful to make good sentences
2c = more explanation 6f = To put collocations into sentences 9f = Nice and helpful
2d = Different topic and technique 6g = nothing
2e = Learn more focused on collocation 10a = I think I must always check the dictionary,
always read to find the new words
7a = I can understand about collocation, and how to use 10b = get other media
3a = yes 7b = enrich my vocabulary 10c = keep the spirit
2b = partially 7c = easier to get the material 10d = Provide more various material
3c = Recognizing collocations in a text
with many unfamiliar words
7d = can memorize collocation better 10e = no suggestion. It’s good.
10f = more exercise is better
4a = yes 8a = it can make me rich about my vocabulary and it is
important for me
8b = I can understand while reading
5a = nothing 8c = conventional class is boring
5b = can’t see my score 8d = Help me in writing and translation
5c = LCD is better 8e = I can share my opinion
5d = the material 8f = Help me in reading and writing
5e = sometimes I feel bored 8g = Use it in other lessons
5g = read and find collocation 8h = Help me in writing
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
88
APPENDIX 4. Interview Question Blueprint for Students
CONSTRUCT CATEGORY SUB CATEGORY INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Collocational
knowledge is
the way in
which words
co-occur in
natural text in
statistically
significant
ways
Collocation
notebook is
students’
notebook in
which they
record
collocations
together
with their
associated
information
Collocation
webs
Feeling Memory What do you remember about
the vocabulary class last
semester?
Likes or
dislike
Did you enjoy the vocabulary
class?
What made you enjoy it (or
not)?
Technique Did you enjoy the use of the
technique used in the
vocabulary class? Why?
Technique Feeling of
like or
dislike
What do you like about the
technique?
Information
organization
How did you organize the
information you recorded in
your vocabulary notebook?
Notebook
use
How did you use the notebook
to learn collocation?
Benefits Did the technique help you
learn vocabulary, and
collocation in particular?
Results What made you get higher/the
same/ lower result for the post
test do you think?
Effect Learning Does the technique change
your vocabulary learning
strategy?
Independ-
ence
Did the technique give you
other impacts in learning than
broader knowledge of
collocation? (Like to be more
independent, to be more aware
of new vocabulary)
Other
subjects
Does the technique give you
benefits in learning other
subjects?
What subjects are affected by
the way you learn collocation?
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
89
Appendix 5. Interview transcript
February 15, 2010
Setting: classroom
Atmosphere: semi formal
R: Researcher S1: Student 1
Interview Codes
R: What do you remember about the vocabulary class?
S1: Yes, of course I remember. (R: repeat the question). Learning collocation,
er…and then, sebentar buk tak inget2. The teacher, you, give me er… the
master of dictionary, and I learn about words,… and then, I think that… we
er…learn more about collocations, suffixes… affixes…
R: Did you enjoy the class?
S1: Yes. I enjoy the class.
PEE
R: What made you enjoy the class?
S1: You explained clearly and give assessment and… er…I enjoy about the
material.
R: What did you enjoy most from the class activity?
S1: about the assessment.
R: so, you enjoy the assessment?
S1: Yes. Because before you give me the material first so we can study before
we do the assessment.
R: so did you enjoy the use of the technique of word web at that time, in the
vocabulary class?
S1: Yes, about the technique? (pake bhs ind ya bu). Mungkin teknik yang itu
apa namanya (R: wordweb)…ya…terus yg kita suruh nyari collocation di teks
itu, found the collocation in the text.
PEE
R: but what I call technique here is the way you record the information in the
notebook,
S1: iya, itu yang buat bagan2. (R: yes.)
R: What made you enjoy the technique?
S1: We can learn about the vocabulary, is not only from find in the text or
what, but we can learn how to make… diajari ibu buat draft 2 itu, jadi
memudahkan. kayak diajari ibuk
CCII
R: how did you organize the information in the wordweb?
S1: looking in the dictionary. Looking for the part of speech, and then the
meaning, the phonetic.
R: so what do you have in the chart there, in the bagan…yang dituliskan apa
saja
S1: words, phonetic, part of speech, collocationnya dg apa (what does it
collocate with), trus meaning sama contoh kalimat.
CCII
R: When you study at home using the notebook, how do you use the notebook
to study?
S1: ya, dibaca …terus itu bu misalnya menemukan kata baru, itu yg
lebih….dicek di dictionary itu collocate dg apa…
R: kalo penggunaan notebooknya sendiri itu?
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
90
S1: dibaca.
R: Tidak dilakukan hal yang lain di notebook itu?
S1: ya kadang kalo menemukan kata...katanya itu nanti dicari lagi bercollocate
dg apa
R: so, did the technique help you learn the vocabulary…how did it help
you?
S1: yes…because in the draft there is the phonetic symbol, and the word
collocate with other words, so we can learn more with using the draft.
CCII
R: when you study vocabulary, did you read any text and then you record the
information in the notebook
S1: just text from you…
R: so what you did with the text from me
S1: read, and then looking for difficult words, and the new words and then…I
am looking for the collocation and then dictionary
LI
CCII
R: What about the collocation? So…you look for the collocation?
S1: I’m looking for the collocation and then I check in the dictionary, read the
er…apa…contoh kalimat yang ada di dictionary
R: so you learn more from dictionary than from your notebook?
S1: lebih dari dictionarynya
CCII
R: jadi waktu belajar itu jadi notebook digunakan utk apa?
S1: ya paling kalo ada tugas dari ibuk (only when I got assignment from
you) kalo ada...nyari kata2 yang ada di teks lewat itu dictionary
LI
R: terus, selanjutnya?
S1: itu dibaca
R: jadi di notebook itu sdh ada kata-kata collocation
R: but did you use the notebook to record new collocation you found from the
text
S1: yes. (So, you recorded there?)
R: What do you think made you get lower result for your post test?
S1: I think, mungkin itu…kata2nya lebih sulit
R: really? Because I had the same tests for pre test and post test. (S1:
maksudnya, bu?) Itu soal yang sama yg saya berikan utk pre tes dan post tes.
S1: oh…tapi hasilnya berbeda gitu ya? harusnya naik ya buk…
R: that’s what I expected, tapi the reality tells…
S1: mungkin kurang teliti... tapi maksudnya, padahal saya yakin, ibu kan
sdh memberi teks, terus says baca… misalkan …hardly imagine kayak gitu
OP
R: because it is decreasing, then I was so curious kira2 knp, that is why I want
to have an interview with you probably you have different knowledge or ideas
why it goes down
S1: Ya mungkin karena kurang teliti
R: Does the technique change your strategy in learning vocabulary?
S1: yes, learning collocation, especially.
R: do you still use the same strategy until now?
S1: yes, I still remember what you give.
LS
R: did you keep a notebook too for your…?
S1: yes, about the material and about the notebook.
R: I mean, do you have a notebook?
S1: No, but a notebook kayak gitu tidak, tapi di catetan
LS
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
91
R: did the technique give you other impacts in learning than broader
knowledge? Did it give other impacts?
S1: iya, terutama itu di itu buk, writing a thesis jg bisa membantu, itu
membantu terutama help me to write a sentence to make statement, to make
sentences in my thesis.
CCII
R: so far, how did you feel the impact in writing thesis? (S1: maksudnya)
When you write the thesis then what the ….impact give you?
S1: untuk meng-arrange the sentences (help me construct sentences), kan
kadang kita menemukan apa kayak collocation na kata ini tuh harus cocoknya
dg apa
CCII
R: did you still use the dictionary to check?
T jd belajarnya itu ya pake buku itu, ya pake dictionary yang ibu berikan
R: so did it give you more awareness of collocation? So, you become more
sensitive S1: ya
LS
R: for now, what do you do when you find new collocation
S1: check in the dictionary
R: in what way do you check the dictionary, for the meaning or…
S1: kata itu berkolokasi dg apa
R: I mean if you, let say read a book, check the book…do you now realize
when there are collocations?
S1: oh…sometimes. Not all.
R: When you find collocations from book…what do you do now?
S1: er…I think that I just read and if I know it is collocation…and perhaps I
check in the dictionary, but ya kalo tidak ya udah biarin aja gitu, misalkan gak
terlalu…kalo misalkan menemukan kata collocation kalo masih ingat, oh…tadi
itu collocation ya…tapi kalo misalkan nggak ya…diliat artinya apa.
R: but you didn’t try to record the information like what you did in …
S1: oh, no. tapi kalo misalnya butuh utk referensi saya ya…
LI/LS
R: you still do the record especially for, especially for important quote..
R: so what subjects are affected by the way you learn the collocation. Do you
still take subjects?
S1: No.
R: so the impact it gives is that when you write a sentence you will always try
to look for the dictionary?
S1: iya
LS
R: can you give me an example that you have in your writing thesis related to
collocation
S1: If I go to library and then I read a book…if I found reference, and then I
take reference to…as my references, and then… I just copied but I learn about
those words… which one is collocation
LS
R: how much do you aware that certain groups of word are collocations…
S1: 50 percent (R: of their occurrence?)Yes.
CCII
R: Now you do not always write it in a notebook?
S1: not always
LS
R: When you copy or..record beside the importance of the quotes or the
text,…you decide ok I will copy this on a piece of paper. Biasanya yang
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
92
membuatmu memutuskan mau menuliskan sesuatu itu…ini harus saya
catat…gitu, apa?
S1: paling yang itu bu,..apa… teori2 itu. (R : berarti bukan karena menemukan
collocation) Tapi, cari teori dulu, nah baru setelah itu dibaca itu baru kita
menemukan collocation
R: setelah menemukan collocation itu, apa ada catatan lanjutan yang dibuat?
S1: gak selalu menemukan collocation, terus dicari
R: now, do you think that you already have improvement in writing the
thesis?
S1: yes.
CCII
R: Do you consult your thesis writing to your advisor? And, does he or she?
Do they (advisors) tell you that you already improved in terms of writing the
thesis?
S1: yes.
R: Do you think that it is because one way or another because you have learn
collocation?
S1: yes.
R: do you have any questions that you want to ask?
S1: No.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
93
Appendix 6. Interview script
March 3, 2010
Setting: classroom
Atmosphere: semi formal
R: Researcher S2: Student 2
Interview codes
R: I want to know first about your feeling. So, what do you remember about
the vocabulary class you got last semester?
S2: mmm…in the er…my vocabulary class I feel happy and relaxed er… more
than vocabulary di semester yg dulu saya pernah ambil… soalnya kayaknya
materinya jg beda. Kalo dulu kan… Kalo ibu kan collocation. Kalo itu kan
kayak verb… gitu2 lho jd kayak lebih bervariasi yg collocation, lbh menarik
gitu lho, kan kayak itu jg bisa mbantu saya bikin kalimat misal cocoknya
ini, ini, ini, jadi bisa diterapin gitu lho bu…
PEE
R: what did you enjoy most? Yg paling dinikmati ato disenangi dari proses
belajar itu bagian apanya?
S2: eh…kalo lg diskusi di kelas. Itu enak gitu lho, kalo mau ngomong apa,
juga nggak ada gimana, mungkin krn ngripit, kayak lbh gimana gitu lho. Kalo
dulu kan msh pertama, mungkin msh malu, po piye.
PEE
R: ada yg tdk disukai dr proses itu?
S2: kalo suruh nyari collocation yang banyak itu bu. Berapa puluh…itu
suka… duh…males.
OP
R: malesnya itu lbh krn apa?
S2: Karena, yo kan dulu itu saya belum bawa laptop, jadi kan kadang itu
pinjem punya Novi ato ke warnet itu kan yo lama… gitu2 lho buk. Tp kalo dah
punya itunya sih yo gampang. Soale saya kan gak bawa komputer.
R: did you enjoy the technique? Yg membuat wordnet itu?
S2: itu enak kalo menurut saya, jd kita tu tau kalimat ini ini ini, gitu. Kan
sebelumnya mungkin gak tau pasnya ini...ini...tapi bagus kok, jd enak gitu lho.
Jd kalo bkin kalimt
CCII
R: yg berbeda dari sebelumnya, dari teknik di vocab sebelumnya?
S2: Kalo...yo sama sih, ngasih tugas, ngasih kayak gitu-gitu, sama, Cuma
mungkin suasanannya aja yg beda.
R: dari temen2nya kah? Ato...
S2: kalo tmn2 nya dulu tu banyak yg repeater jd banyak banget tu lho, kalo
kita kan dikit, jd enak gitu lho, kalo kelas sedikit tu enak.
PEE
R: Now, er…what do you think about the technique itself? Kalo tekniknya
sendiri menurutmu apa sudah sesuai ato kurang sesuai utk mempelajari
collocation?
S2: yo sesuai sih kalo ada dukungan itunya lho, kalo itu kan hrs diinstal to bu,
kadang kan yo gak semuanya, kayak saya dulu kan gak ada alatnya
R: Sekarang sudah ada laptop? Dulu belum ada?
S2: belum bawa
R: sesudah menginstal dictionary, kmd ada teknik wordweb itu, utk belajar
vocab bagaimana?
S2: yo bisa nggunain itu (I can make use of it), kadang kalo mbukak itu
mbukak Cambridge juga
CCII
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
94
R: so how do you organize the information you recorded in your vocabulary
notebook…di buku tulisnya kan ada word web…itu caramu mengatur
wordweb…kan itu ada teks, ada wordweb…apakah hanya seperti yg saya
terangkan di kelas jadi misalnya…di setiap chartnya ato kotak2nya itu,
misalnya kita menemukan kata benda kmd diberi plus kata kerjanya apa
S2: he, agak lupa e…carane bikin…ya kayak gitu2 jg, tp ibu jg akhirnya kan
bilang kalo ini kan gak cocok jg sama ini eh gak hanya cocok sama ini to, ya
dikasih gitu2 jg.
R: jd itu berkembang setiap minggunya (does it develop each week)?
S2: he eh, iya
CCII
R: how did you use the book to learn collocation…notebook itu kau gunakan
utk apa?
S2: kalo bkin kalimat itu kadang yo sering buka itu buat ngecek2 gitu kan itu
sudah banyak contoh2nya, kayak gitu
CCII
R: apakah hanya digunakan selama menghadapi kegiatan yg ada hubnya dg
vocabulary, ato jg utk mata kuliah yang lain?
S2: yo kadang…misale structure kan kadang cari contoh2 dari situ kan
tinggal di, misale kalo kita belajar kan gak Cuma dari situ, kadang kita nyari2
sendiri…kan tekse itu banyak jadi cari2 dari situ
CCII
R: tapi lbh banyak mana yg digunakan, notebooknya yg berisi wordnet ato
kamus ato?
S2: kalo saya sih lebih banyak kamus collocationnya
R: jd seberapa membantu utk wordweb itu terhadap pembelajaran?
S2: yo sangat membantu, kan kalo kamus kan harus diituin lagi jg ke wordweb.
kan saya agak lama gitu kalo ngapalin vocab.
R: What made you get higher result for the post test do you think? Menurutmu
peningkatan itu terjadi karena apa
SS2: mungkin krn terbiasa ngerjain tugas, Otomatis kita kan mbaca
CCII
R: Now, talking about other effect, does the technique change your vocabulary
learning strategy?
S2: mm, iya…kalo dulu kan kalo saya ngapalin vocab cuma saya baca. Kalo
sekarang bisa dikembangin (I can develop it), jadi dengan adanya itu saya
bikin wordnet saya bikin kalimat ato apa
CCII
R: Bentuknya gimana kalo belajar vocab, setelah mengenal teknik itu
S2: yo dibikin itu, kadang2 buk, kayak gitu
R: did the technique give you other impacts in learning? Selain pengetahuan
ttg collocation yang meningkat, Misalnya membuatmu lebih mandiri dalam
belajar vocab ato membuatmu lebih curious kalo ada kata baru…lebih…
S2: iya kayak gitu. Jadi kadang kalo ada kata baru,… kan buat nambah
pengetahuan
R: apakah kau msh menggunakan buku, semacam spt yang kita punya di kelas
vocab ato sekedar menuliskannya misalnya di sembarang kertas
S2: kadang yo sembarang kertas (any piece of paper) sih, gak di buku…o, ya
kan pernah nulis
LS
R: does the technique give you benefits in learning other subjects?
S2: iya, kan jg bisa dipake ngerjain tugas yang lain (I used it when I did
assignment from other subjects). (Misalnya tugas apa?) Kalo structure kan
butuh kalimat banyak to. Kalo translation kan yo biasa mbukak2…kan ada
artinya
CCII
R: selain itu, selain translation dan structure? Bagaimana dengan Writing?
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
95
S2: o, iya…. Misale mo bikin apa…mengurangi kesalahan lah
R: so, apa impact terbesar dari mempelajari collocation dg technique itu?
S2: vocabnya jd tambah (I developed my vocabulary)
CCII
R: Ada secara khusus…pengaruh thd pembelajaran collocation. misal menjadi
sangat aware. Jadi begitu melihat collocation langsung “thing” ini collocation.
S2: ya nggak kayak gitu lah, nggak segitunya, ya dicari dulu,…tapi yang
kayak…oh…misalnya…masih agak keinget
R: menurutmu apakah technique itu baik utk di…. Saya sebagai guru untuk
saya terapkan terus di kelas vocabulary?
S2: bagus itu, buk…
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
96
Appendix 7. A sample of a student’s collocation cluster
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
97
continuation
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
98
Appendix 8. Teacher’s journal
October 06, 2009
Students obviously had difficulty doing the test. They needed more
time than I expected, around 30 minutes.
October 22, 2009
To understand Ss’ difficulty, I asked some questions to the Ss. One
came up with “It’s difficult to memorize the words”. And to answer
my next question on how I can help them, some stated “give us a lot of
samples and assignment.”
PCK
November 17, 2009
They looked more confident in doing the task and had more
enthusiasm.
PEE
December 1, 2009
T found that only one students wrote her reflection that the T assigned
them to do at home last week Ss seemed not to be ready yet to
work independently.
T found some Ss didn’t do as they should (two Ss didn’t do the
assignments in her notebook) so the notebook was barely used to record
the class activities and tasks. One S didn’t bring the notebook to the
class.
LI
December 15, 2009
I asked whether Ss already had a copy of Oxford collocation dictionary.
I actually offered them to borrow from the other class or from me but
no one has got it, let alone installed it. (T tried to figure out what
made Ss so indifferent or lazy not to get one. One reason: “We don’t
know any of the Ss in the other class, ma’am.”). It was silly reason
since they had the second choice to borrow it from me.
LI
December 22, 2009
T checked Ss’ notebooks for the homework on the wordnet
T gave comments and suggestions on how Ss can improve it (some
made it in the form of list NOT word net)
T asked Ss what problems they still had in learning collocations
T showed Ss how to develop a wordnet into a linked wordnet
T gave Ss new text, but T had to show them the collocations since they
didn’t bring the dictionary.
T gave them exercise. Ss succeeded doing the exercise (no 2-9).
T supervised Ss doing their reflection. T assigned Ss the rest of the text
to be identified and record the information in the wordnets.
LI
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
99
Appendix 9. A sample of Input text (1)
Five Ways to Hold on to Permanent
Memory
Many people confuse long-term memory with events that happened a long time ago. That may or may not be so. Long-term memory holds data that were learned 30 years ago as well as material learned 30 minutes ago. In recent years, the term long-term memory has been replaced with permanent memory. This is more accurate. Its basic difference from short-term memory is that it is permanent. It holds items as varied as the following:
Your birthday What a now-deceased relative looked like Which keys on your ring fit which locks How to operate your microwave oven Your spouse’s new phone number at work
Permanent memory refers to any data that are no longer in conscious thought or short-term active memory but are stored for future retrieval or recollection. Memory can be thought of as learning and storing information so that it can be retrieved in the future. Short-term memory is like the in-basket on an office desk. Permanent memory is like the file cabinets lining the wall. The in-basket has a limited capacity. It can hold only so much and then the contents are dumped to make room for more. Some of it is discarded. Nothing goes into the file cabinet until it has been sorted in the in-basket. Our permanent memories are virtually limitless - although some of the file cabinets are hard to reach. “What Can I Do to Hold onto Important Items in My Permanent Memory?” There are five ways you can keep from forgetting what you have stored:
1. Use it or lose it. Memories leave a trace in the brain that gradually fades with time. The basis of forgetting is disuse. You can combat this by repeating, rehearsing, using, or practicing what it is you want to remember.
2. Maintain interest. People with excellent memories have varied interests. There is a
natural tendency to remember what we are interested in. We remember what we want to remember. Make the material more interesting or of greater value to you and your recollection of it will soar.
3. Make it meaningful. If it doesn’t make sense it will be hard to learn. If it has meaning
for you it will be easier to learn. When material has no real meaning for you, you learn it by “rote.” Rote memory is tedious, like learning the multiplication tables in school.
4. Think around it. You know that word or name is stored in your permanent memory,
but you’re having trouble pulling it out. You can’t recall the name of the female lead in a motion picture you enjoyed last year. The technique entails thinking of everything you can that might be associated in any way with the actress’s name: her costar, the film’s title, whom you saw him/her with, the theater, the story line, the character’s name, her face, other films with the actress, and so on. It’s similar to the steps you would take to find your eyeglasses when they are misplaced. We sometimes call this verbal elaboration.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
100
5. Relax and take a deep breath. Any kind of stressful situation can interfere with memory. The antidote is to relax. That’s why minutes after a student turns in an exam paper the difficult answers occur to him. The stress ended and the memory returned. People speaking in public think of great points to make - after the speech is over and they are seated. Taking a deep breath, relaxing the skeletal system, and closing your eyes can all help in retrieving the information you know is there.
The Sharper Mind – FRED B. CHERNOW © 1997 by Prentice Hall, Inc.
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
101
Appendix 10. Pre and post test
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
YOGYAKARTA STATE UNIVERSITY
VOCABULARY – FINAL EXAMINATION
60 MINUTES (Post test) January 13, 2010
Student No.: Name:
(Pre- and Post-test questions)
Choose the best answer to form word collocations by crossing (X) one of the options
provided.
1. She has …………..memory for number; she can remember all her friends’ numbers.
A. powerful C. excellent
B. clean D. strong
2. I …..an interesting point in your speech.
A. look C. watch
B. see D. pay attention
3. The students have to ……….the final exam tomorrow.
A. attend C. take
B. conduct D. write
4. Children improve their skills to face their lives.……… time.
A. in C. by
B. at D. over
5. Rote ……….is tedious, like learning the multiplication tables in school.
A. learning C. memorization
B. thinking D. studying
6. There is ………difference between home computer and laptop.
A. minor C. inessential
B. little D. mini
7. His job is repetitive, it does not require much conscious…………….
A. action C. idea
B. thought D. decision
8. The interviewers in the job fair enquire detailed……………..about the job seeker’s
background.
A. question C. information
B. story D. fact
9. The burglar …………….no trace of having been breaking into the house.
A. left C. went
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
102
B. abandoned D. deserted
10. There is a growing tendency………women to marry later.
A. to C. at
B. for D. from
11. People often can not grasp the ………meaning of his words.
A. true C. realistic
B. actual D. concrete
12. I could ……….imagine living in such a remote and unpleasant place.
A. sadly C. only
B. merely D. hardly
13. His reason for his resignation was ………….understood.
A. entirely C. absolutely
B. fully D. comprehensively
14. These actions only have meaning within certain ………… context.
A. peculiar C. special
B. individual D. specific
15. The government should take ………. steps to reconstruct the economy.
A. practical C. wise
B. rational D. realistic
16. Although some ……..knowledge of programming and/or statistics is an advantage, it is
not a prerequisite for the course.
A. ante C. before
B. early D. prior
17. The entrance test is designed to help each applicant to make an informed ………
before applying for a particular study program.
A. decision C. investigation
B. determination D. conclusion
18. When it comes to …….. of prey the tiger, like many predators, is an opportunist.
A. choose C. choice
B. eat D. option
19. If there is a single …….. concept in the idea of higher education, it is criticism.
A. urgent C. substantial
B. chief D. key
20. It is important to determine, by a pre-test, the students' ……………..knowledge.
A. beginning C. before
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
103
B. prior D. primary
21. Paradoxically, the manner in which a given biographical narrative chooses to be false
determines the extent to which it can …….. claim to truth.
A. make C. arrange
B. propose D. expect
22. By establishing formal links with the universities, and international specialists,
researchers hope to redress……….
A. the harmony C. the equality
B. the justice D. the balance
23. In any surveying practice, labour is the key issue …….. and since it is an expensive
commodity it must be used to the highest level of productivity.
A. occurring C. happening
B. arising D. emerging
24. Short walks ………. the countryside lead into tranquil surroundings.
A. at C. to
B. in D. into
25. Understanding general differences between spelling and speaking may help you to
improve your own spelling, and may make it more interesting to focus………spelling
as an issue in your writing.
A. at C. in
B. to D. on
26. There does seem to be …………agreement amongst teachers that the school
curriculum should be broad and balanced for all pupils.
A. general C. public
B. common D. wide
27. We find that the fainter a star looks to us the farther away the ………….of galaxies
must be.
A. cluster C. batch
B. collection D. kaleidoscope
28. It is suggested that the funding authorities should ………consideration for the
fundamental purposes underlying Ph.D. research and to output measures of the value
of such work to the community.
A. provide C. have
B. do D. take
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
104
29. Animals are superbly aware of the way a mind is reflected ….. body posture and there
is no way that a hunter could have concealed his alertness and readiness for attack,
whatever disguise he adopted.
A. in C. by
B. at D. from
30. A teacher cannot hope to function as a normal communicative support system in most
………….interaction since it is a one-to-many rather than a one-to-one situation.
A. teaching C. teacher
B. school D. classroom
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
105
PRE AND POST TEST SCORES
Students Pretest score Posttest score Scores difference
1 14 19 8 ↑ 5
2 18 14 8.5 ↓ 4
3 18 16 5.5 ↓ 2
4 17 16 5.5 ↓ 1
5 17 17 8 ↔
6 12 16 7 ↑ 4
7 15 17 9 ↑ 2
8 16 18 12.5 ↑ 3
9 16 19 6 ↑ 3
10 14 18 10 ↑ 4
11 15 22 14 ↑ 7
12 11 17 9 ↑ 6
13 7 16 5 ↑ 9
205 259
14.64 18.5
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJIPLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI