vocabulary in bahasa inggris profesional course
TRANSCRIPT
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Information Technology Students’ Strategies in Learning
Vocabulary in Bahasa Inggris Profesional Course
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
MargarethaWardhani
112010070
English Teacher Education Program
Faculty of Language and Literature
SWCU
2014
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COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
This thesis contains no such material as has been submitted for examination in any course or
accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my
knowledge and my belief, this contains no material previously published or written by any other
person except where due reference is made in the text.
Copyright@ 2015. Margaretha Wardhani K.P. and Elisabet Titik Murtisari, M. TransStud.,Ph.D
All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means without the
permission of at least one of the copyright owners or the English Department, Faculty of
Language and Literature, SatyaWacana University, Salatiga.
Margaretha Wardhani K.P.
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Information Technology Students’ Strategies in Learning
Vocabulary in Bahasa Inggris Profesional Course
Margaretha Wardhani
Abstract
This study investigates the vocabulary learning strategies used by students of the Professional
English Class (Bahasa Inggris Professional - BIP) at the Information Technology Faculty of
Satya Wacana Christian University. The study aims to answer the research questions “What are
the strategies commonly used by BIP in learning vocabulary?” and “What are the levels of use of
these strategies?. Fifty eight students from BIP class were selected to be the participants in a
survey using questionnaires. The result of this study shows that metacognitive strategy was the
most frequently used type of strategies. It was followed respectively by Social strategies,
Determination strategies, Memory strategies and the least used type is Cognitive strategies. On
the second research question, the result shows that based on Oxford's result profile key,some
strategies such as metacognitive and social strategies have fair levels of use from the
participants. The rest of the stategies (determination strategies, memory and cognitive strategies)
had low users of vocabulary learning strategy.
Key words: ESP, Vocabulary Learning, Learning Strategies
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Introduction
English has become a language that is needed by most people across the globe. On the
last few decades we have seen a growth in the role of the English language around the world as
the lingua franca for economic, scientific, and political exchange. The term lingua franca means
„any language used for communication between groups who have no other language in
common‟ (Matthews, 2000:209). According to Crystal (1997), 85% of the world's international
organizations use English as their official language in worldwide communication.
As we enter globalization era, many institutions and companies use English as means of
communication. This globalization movement also impacts on how technology and English
become entities that complement each other. Computer as one influential invention in
technology demands the user to understand English in order to operate it. The necessity of
knowing English is not only on how to operate the computer but also on knowing that English
is needed in installing some essential software. In order to be successful in installing the
required software the users have to understand the operation instructions that are usually
written in English to avoid installation errors. Moreover, English for Specific Purpose (ESP) in
the computer technology field is also crucial for IT students to learn because of the register in
the field itself. Many computer terms are based on English specific terms. The term when it is
translated in the local language instead of English will be awkward to say or write. For
example, the term 'cookies' means a message given to a web browser by a web server, it is not
natural when translated as 'bread' in the Indonesian language. Thus, learning English is an
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obligatory for IT students to master their field of study since translation of terms rarely
available in their mother language.
To put it simply, information technology has been termed as the medium of a new, and
revolution in human communication. Thus, through this paper, the need for Information
Technology students in learning English has become inseparable part hence all of the term in
the internet and computer use English vocabulary that is specialized in the scope of technology.
It is often said that words are the basic unit of language use and, therefore, without
sufficient vocabulary, a person cannot communicate effectively. Further, having limited
vocabulary is also a barrier that prevents students from learning a foreign language (Zhihong,
2000). In other words, by reinforcing the learners‟ vocabulary, we are helping them to achieve
the goal of learning the foreign language. The reinforcement for instance can be learned by
trying to communicate the language with other people who master the language. Since the
learners having limited vocabulary, they may feel ashamed when they cannot have a good
conversation with others; this may lead to vocabulary stagnancy. Therefore, vocabulary will
have an actual effect on one's language proficiency. Just as Wilkins (Wilkins, 1972: 9-10)
stated that “without grammar little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be
conveyed”. I agree that by viewing vocabulary as an essential matter in learning foreign
languages is a point that needs to be emphasized. In my opinion, according to teaching's point
of view, this as important matter since communication and knowing the technical terms of IT is
the bridge that can connect them to their future career/work.
Statement of the problem
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The IT Faculty offered several English courses: Basic English Class (Bahasa Inggris
Dasar- BID) and Professional English class (Bahasa Inggris Professional-BIP). My research
was focused on BIP class since this was the only class opened in this semester 2 academic year
2014/2015. Most of students who take this course are normally repeaters and therefore I am
interested in knowing how their strategies of vocabulary learning contribute to the high number
of failures. Although, learning strategies may not be the only factor that causes students‟ failure
in BIP class, yet, knowing it will give an extra benefit for the teachers. The benefit is, the
teachers may apply the strategies in their teaching and learning process. Thus, the students can
apply the learning strategies that may be helpful in learning English .
Another reason is the text book used for the course contains short or long English texts on
IT subject matters. If the students have low mastery of vocabulary it will be hard for them to
pass the course since they are difficult to understand what the passages are about.
Further the students will have to do TOEFL test at the end of the semester. This test
usually contains rich vocabulary words and in order to pass TOEFL test, they have to reach the
preferred score and once they reach the targeted score, they are able to pass BIP class. Based on
these rationales, I consider that it is important for them to master vocabulary well. I hope the
findings of this research able to make the IT faculty consider teaching these strategies in the
English courses of the faculty. At the time the students able to apply these strategies, it may aid
the students in learning English.
Research Question
Based on this finding, the research questions of this research are:
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1. What are the strategies commonly used by BIP students of Information Technology
program in learning vocabulary?
2. What are the levels of use of these strategies?
Significance of the Study
Words are the components of parts in a language. By learning the lexical items, we start to
develop knowledge of the target language. Based on our experience of being a language
learner, we appear to have no hesitation in recognizing the importance of vocabulary in L2
learning. Meara (1980) points out those language learners admit that they encounter substantial
difficulty with vocabulary even when they improve it from an initial stage of acquiring a
second language to a much more advanced level. Therefore, it may be claimed that the role of
vocabulary in L2 learning is fundamental and it is not easy to learn. Knowing some VLS may
be helpful for teachers in guiding learners to master the technical terms of vocabulary in the IT
scope. Robinson (1991: 4) says that: “It may often be thought that a characteristic, or even a
critical feature, of ESP is that a course should involve specialist language (especially
terminology) and content.” As I mentioned before in the introduction, to be a language
specialist in the IT terminology, the learners need to know what strategies that can provide ease
for the students in mastering vocabulary.
The present paper concentrates on vocabulary (lexis) on the term of ESP IT context and the
vocabulary learning strategies (VLS) that are applied by the IT BID class‟s students. In
addition, even though they are learning vocabulary not commonly used in their active
communication, the students are expected to be able to acquire the vocabulary that attach with
the major that they are learning at the moment. Furthermore, I would like to provide
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recommendations for the teachers concerning the students' problems in their vocabulary's
mastery on the tertiary education of ESP (Information Technology) context. Finally, this
research is expected to give considerable contribution to knowledge in English Language
education, especially for the Information Technology Faculty of Satya Wacana Christian
University.
Literature review
Research into language learning strategies
Definition of learning strategies
Language learning styles and strategies are among the main factors that help determine
how –and how well – the students learn a second or foreign language. A second language is a
language studied in a location where that language is the main medium of daily communication
and where plentiful input exists in that verbal communication (Oxford, 2003). Furthermore, the
definition of foreign language is a language that is studied in a setting where it is not the main
means for daily interaction and where input in that language is limited (Oxford, 2003) Related to
this paper, vocabulary learning strategies are “specific strategies for learning vocabulary” as Ellis
(1999) put it.
Different definitions of learning strategies can be found in recent literature. A typical
sample of these definitions is presented. The first is, according to Tarone (1981), Learning
strategies are efforts to build up linguistic and sociolinguistic capability in the target language.
From the definition of Tarone (1981), in my opinion learning strategies are how the language
users put an effort to learn the target language in the form of linguistic or in their sociolinguistic
context. The linguistic competence can be seen in their ability in the grammar or lexis and their
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sociolinguistic ability is based on how the language user able to fit the language choice in social
surroundings. The second definition is presented by Chamot, (1987) who asserts that learning
strategies are deliberate actions that students take in order to assist the learning in both linguistic
and content area information. Thus, according to these definitions, it can be perceived that there
are some intentional actions in the linguistic and sociolinguistic context or content area
information to acquire the competence in the target language.
Additionally, it is said that language learning strategies are behaviors or actions which
learners use to make language learning more successful, independent and pleasurable (Oxford,
1989). From my frame of reference, it is not assert the strategies to master linguistic or
sociolinguistic competence, however this statement by Oxford(1989) points out that the goal to
study learning strategies are self directed to the learners' goals itself.
Ellis (1994), therefore, suggested that the following characteristic should be recognized.
Language learning strategies are strategies pass on to both common approaches and specific
actions or techniques used to study a language (Ellis, 1994). Related to VLS, the definition of
language learning strategies by Ellis (1994) asserts that there are general approaches and specific
actions conducted by language learners. General approaches can be in the form using the
strategies in global or analytic, auditory or visual –that students use in acquiring a new language
or in learning any other subject. These styles are “the overall patterns that give general direction
to learning behavior” (Cornett, 1983, p.9). Thus, related with VLS, take for instance the global
strategies; the students able to learn vocabulary in global context by skimming a text and learn
vocabulary that they don't know without specifically analyze it. Moreover, specific actions can
be in the form of applying some strategies in VLS. Some of the strategies are when the learner
consciously chooses strategies that fit his or her learning style and the L2 task at hand, these
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strategies become a useful toolkit for active, conscious, and purposeful self regulation of
learning. Learning strategies can be classified into six groups: memory, cognitive, metacognitive,
determination, affective, and social(Ellis 1994:535).. Each of these is discussed later in this
chapter.
Classification of Vocabulary Learning Strategies
Much of the earlier research on language learning strategies focuses on compiling
inventories of the learning strategies that learners were observed to use or reported using. Little
attempt was made to classify the strategies into general categories (Ellis 1994:535). Gradually
the classification of vocabulary learning strategies became the focus of research. However, so far
no agreement has been reached on this issue since researchers classify the strategies from
different angles and use different terms to describe them as we can see from the definition of the
vocabulary learning strategies. In this section some representative and influential strategy
classification models are presented. There are three groups that belong to direct strategies and
three groups belong to indirect strategy. The groups which belong in direct strategies are:
memory, cognitive, and compensation/determination (Oxford, 1990). Moreover, the groups
belong to Indirect strategies are metacognitive, affective, and social strategies (Oxford, 1990).
Direct strategy involves the mental process in absorbing the materials. According to
Oxford (1990), direct strategies require mental processing of the language (Oxford, 1990). It
means that the direct strategies are beneficial to the students because they help store and recover
information in the learners' mind. Furthermore, these strategies help learners to produce language
even when there is gap in knowledge. They also help to understand and use the new language.
Below are the descriptions of direct learning strategies:
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(1) Memory strategies as those “helping students store and retrieve new information”. which
engage learners in learning the new word through mental processing by associating their
existing or background knowledge with the new word. For example, if the learner comes
across the word “bird”, the learner can group theword “bird” under the category of
animals which can fly with its wing. It is caused the learners already knows the image of
these flying animals from his/her background knowledge.
(2) Cognitive strategies are “enabling learners to understand and produce new language by
many different means”. Cognitive Strategies in this taxonomy are similar to Memory
Strategies, but are not focused so specifically on manipulative mental processing; they
include repetition and using mechanical means to study vocabulary. Written and verbal
repetition, repeatedly writing or saying a word over and over again, are common strategies
in many parts of the world. Word lists and flash cards can be used for the initial exposure
to a word, but most students continue to use them to review it afterwards. Cognitive
strategies such as these appear to be directly linked to the performance of particular
learning tasks according to O‟Malley and Chamot (1990).
(3) Determination strategies are individual learning strategies, which help learners to discover
the meaning of words by themselves with no assistance from peers or teachers. (e.g.,
guessing from the context in listening and reading; using synonyms and “talking around”
the missing word to aid speaking and writing; and strictly for speaking, using gestures or
pause words) help the learner make up for missing knowledge. Here is an example of
guessing based on partial knowledge of the target language. When a learner recognizes the
words shovel, grass, mower, and lawn in a conversation, it could be understood that it is
about gardening.
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According to Oxford (1990) indirect learning strategies is strategy which able to help learners
control the learning process. These strategies support and manage language learning without
direct engagement with the material, and therefore called as indirect strategies (as cited in
Samida, 2004). Thus, below are the descriptions of indirect learning strategies:
(1) Metacognitive strategies are strategies that make use of knowledge about cognitive
process and regulate language learning by means of planning, monitoring and evaluating.
Moreover, Chamot et al (1999) say that metacognitive strategies are higher order executive skills
and include advance organizers, directed attention, selective attention, self-management, advance
preparation, self-monitoring, delayed production and self-evaluation. Here is an example of
arranging and planning learning. For a learner who wants to listen to the news in the target
language can plan the task by first determining what topics might be covered in the program.
Most news programs have segments of politics and economics. The learner can look up the
words related to the topics before listening to the news. This would better prepare the learner.
(2)Social/ affective strategies are the way in which learners interact with other learners or
native speakers, and represent a broad grouping that involves interaction with another person
(Liu Zhi-liang, 2010). Generally, they are considered applicable to a wide variety of tasks.
Social/affective strategies include cooperation and question for clarification since it deals with
interaction. Learners can apply the strategy of cooperating with others by doing something
together in the language they are learning. Daily telephone conversation with a friend in the
target language is an example to practice listening and speaking skills.
Previous Studies
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The first study by Liu Zhi Liang (2010) titled A Study on English Vocabulary
Learning Strategies for Non-English Majors in Independent College results that non-English
major learners in independent college have an active attitude about English vocabulary learning
and usually employ a large variety of learning strategies when they come across new words in
their English learning, either to discover the meanings of the new words or to consolidate the
words but did not form effective vocabulary learning strategies. The most frequently employed
strategies, the least-used strategies and the least-helpful strategies can be seen obviously in the
study. The most helpful strategy according to her research is discover meaning from bilingual
dictionary(determination strategy) with the rank 91% and least helpful strategies is use semantic
map(memory strategy) which ranked 11%.
The second study by Gina Howell (2012) which is titled Vocabulary Strategies for a
Fourth Grade Classroom yield result that the author has learned quite a few things from this
project. One of the first things that she learned was when games are used in correct manner and
used continually; they can be really helpful with students‟ recall of vocabulary words. The second
thing that she learned during this project was that participation in learning centers and class
discussions can affect a students‟ ability to successfully recall vocabulary words.During this
project, her students grew in their ability to recall their vocabulary words as well as their ability to
define their vocabulary words. The students were not the only ones who grew from this project,
she grew as well. She learned that she needs to help her students see the benefits of participating
in class. Before this project, she would just ask students to participate so that she would not be the
only one talking, but after this project she has realized that her students would benefit more from
truly participating in class instead of just doing it because it is required.
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The other study is a study that conducted by Cohen and Aphek (1981), they find
that the use of mnemonic association is helpful to vocabulary learning. Incidental learning
through guessing from the context is the most important strategies for vocabulary learning. Many
researchers have done comprehensive study in this field.
The Study
Methodology
The study was about the strategies that were used by IT BIP students in learning
vocabulary conducted with their vocabulary context in technology. The study used descriptive
study. Bickman and Rog (1998) suggest that a descriptive study is one in which information is
collected without changing the environment (i.e., nothing is manipulated) and it can answer
questions such as “what is” or “what was.” Thus, this is related with my research question that
started with "what is" question. Another thing is, descriptive studies can involve a one-time
interaction with groups of people (cross-sectional study) or a study might follow individuals over
time (longitudinal study). This research used cross-sectional study which means that the
information was collected at one point of time.
Participants/ sample
The Bahasa Inggris Profesional students from Information Technology Faculty of Satya
Wacana Christian University were the participants/ sample of the study since the problem arose
from the students. English is their foreign language and they are not using it as intermediate
language in their study beside in the class which specified in English such as BIP and BID
classes. It was specified on students who repeating BIP class in IT Faculty because this was the
only class which oriented in English that opened in this semester 2 academic year 2014/2015. It
was 58 students who were filling in the questionnaire.
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Data Collection Instrument
Questionnaire was the instrument that used in this study to collect the data. The
questionnaires were given to five BIP classes. The questionnaires are given to the students who
are taking BIP class in order to get the information related to their strategies in learning and
improving their vocabulary. The Close-ended questionnaire was used in this research because it
would help the writer to analyze the data collected. The language that used was in Bahasa
Indonesia to provide ease for students to fill out the questionnaires. The questionnaires were
adapted from Oxford‟s strategy inventory for language learning (SILL) (1989) was modified and
used to make the questionnaire that was appropriate to the context of the study. Oxford‟s SILL
was an effective way to track the learning strategies used by students and how often they used
them by scaling the strategies from always (5) to never (1).
Data collection procedure
In order to collect the data, there are some steps that have to be done. First, the writer
selected the participants from the Information technology BIP students. The key points were
explained by the researcher and one of the five Likert scale was ticked according to their
opinion. Then, the writer spread some questionnaires paper based on the number of the students
who participated to fulfill the questionnaires questions.
Data Analysis
In the data analysis procedure, in order to answer the research question, the frequencies
of each statement were calculated and analyzed descriptively by counting for each category.
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There will be five categories from Oxford (1990) which are, Memory strategy, Metacognitive
strategy, Cognitive strategy, Determination strategy and Social strategy.
Accordingly, the analysis the questionnaires were interpreted based on the Likert- scale
(1=never, 2= rarely, 3=sometimes, 4= often, 5=always). Then the result calculated in average
based on the category from the items in the questionnaire. The data display is in a form of chart.
Then after finishing the calculation the writer then summarized the result. The Likert scale that
was initially used from 1.0 (low) to 5.0 (high) was modified into 1.0 (low) to 4.0 (high) since
there were no result that higher than 4.0 , as seen below:
Results profile key (adapted from Oxford, 1990, p.300)
High always or almost always used 3.5 to 4.0
Medium Sometimes used 2.5 to 3.4
Low Generally not used 1.5 to 2.4
Never or almost never used 1.0 to 1
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Results and Discussion
The section below present data analysis obtained from the questionnaire
1. Overall strategy use
The figure below represents the SILL findings for the use of strategies averaged over all 58
participants, from a possible lowest ranking of 1, to a highest possible of 4, as per the Likert
scale as previously mentioned:
Figure1. Strategy used by all participants
Figure 1 shows that the most commonly used type of strategies by the participants was
the metacognitive strategy. Metacognitive strategies are those related to the learners' self
monitoring, for example arranging and planning learning their own learning materials associated
with vocabulary mastery. Referring to Oxford's result profile key, the number shows that it is
only moderately used by the students (3.38). On the second place, social strategies which
2,4 2,3 2,45
3,38
2,63
0
0,5
1
1,5
2
2,5
3
3,5
4
Memory Cognitive Determination Meta Cognitive Social
Overall Strategy Use
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associated with the way learners socialize with other learners or native speakers in mastering
new words rank on medium used by the participants (2.63). On the third place, determination
strategies which related with individual learning style placed on low rank (2.45). The next fourth
place is memory strategies which ranked on low usage (2.4), this strategies deal with learners'
background knowledge in order to master new vocabulary. The least used strategies are cognitive
ones, which demand the learners to use any means they know to learn new vocabulary item. This
type of strategy is also ranked on low or generally not used as the two previous strategies I have
mentioned (2.3).
This (Figure.1) showed that the students‟ preference in using the strategies varied. Some
strategies such as metacognitive and social strategies have fair levels of use from the
participants. The rest of them were low users of vocabulary learning strategy since the charts
generally are under 3.4 based on Oxford results profile key. It can also be concluded from the
findings above (Figure.1), although there are two strategies such as metacognitive and social
strategies that have fair number from participants' preference but three of the strategies which
consist of memory, cognitive and determination strategies are still unfavorable based on the data
on figure.1. It means that the students may still unfamiliar with the unfavorable strategies since
from all of the strategies only two of most strategies are generally used and the rest of the three
are still never or almost never used (based on Oxford results profile key).
2. Findings from each classification
Some figures below present the results of the study based on the strategy classification:
Memory, cognitive, determination, metacognitive, and social.
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2.A. Memory Strategies
Memory strategies are the strategies that engage learners in learning new words through mental
processing by associating their existing or background knowledge with the new words.
The chart below shows the questionnaire items of memory strategy and their average score:
Figure 2. Questionnaire items and average score of memory strategies
2,36 2,55
2,03
2,52 2,55 2,4
0
0,5
1
1,5
2
2,5
3
Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 AverageScore
Memory strategies
Memory strategies
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Figure 3. Trends of each questionnaire item
This strategy has the average use of 2.40 or low use (Figure.1). Further demonstrated
with the data in the figure 3 that shows from question number one until number five, the students
usually answered „never‟, „rarely‟ or „sometimes‟.
On the question number one, 'I use new English words in a sentence so I can remember
them‟, over half of the students (55%) were responded with „never‟ or „rarely‟ use new words in
a sentence to remember them. Almost the other half (45%) used it „sometimes‟ or „often‟ and
none (0%) responded with „always‟.
Based on responses to number 2 is one of the question in memory strategy that the most
frequently used .The question item 'I remember a new English word by making a mental picture
19% 19%
34%
14% 16%
36%
26%
38% 38%
28%
34% 36%
19%
33%
43%
10%
19%
7%
14% 14%
0% 0%
2% 2%
0% 0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
Q1:I use newEnglish words ina sentence so Ican remember
them.
Q2:I remember anew English
word by makinga mental pictureof a situation inwhich the wordmight be used.
Q3:I useflashcards to
remember newEnglish words.
Q4:I physicallyact out new
English words.
Q5:I remembernew English
words orphrases by
rememberingtheir localitieson the page or
street sign
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Often
Always
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of a situation in which the word might be used', almost half of the participants (45%) never or
rarely use the strategy to learn new words and more than half of the participants (55%) use the
strategy sometimes or often. The same as the previous strategy, none of the students responded
„always‟ (0%). From the high result of „sometimes‟ and „often‟ we can see that the participants
are like to remember new words in creating the setting where the new words will likely be used.
On the third question 'I use flashcards to remember new English words' has the lowest
users above all of the strategies, 72% of the students responded never and rarely use flashcards,
only 28% answered „sometimes‟, „often‟ and „always‟. This question item has the least
frequently used strategy among all of the questions in memory strategy. Probably the students
did not apply this strategy in learning English because they are still unfamiliar with using cards
or mechanical tools in learning new words.
The next questionnaire item which is question number 4 'I physically act out new English
words' has slightly more than half of the participants(52%) who choose „never‟ and „rarely‟ to
pronounce the new word and the rest of them (49%) answered „sometimes‟, „often‟ and „always‟.
The last question from this strategy which is number 5 has frequent use from the
questions in memory strategy. The question item 'I remember new English words or phrases by
remembering their localities on the page, on the board, or on a street sign' has 44% for „never‟
and „rarely‟. The rest of the students who remembering the new words in their localities on the
things they see are 56% for „sometimes‟, „often‟ and „always‟. although this strategy became the
most frequently used strategy in compensation/memory strategy, but its overall Likert scale
score is under 3,5 (figure.3). That means generally the students are not active users of the
strategies based on participants' preference.
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2. B. Cognitive strategies
Cognitive strategies are strategies that usually include mechanical means and repetition to study
vocabulary. Mechanical means can be in the form of word lists. Repetition is something to do
with saying or writing a word over and over again.
The chart below shows the questionnaire items of cognitive strategies and their average score:
Figure 4.Questionnaire items and average score of cognitive strategies
2,36
2,1
2,43
2,3
1,9
2
2,1
2,2
2,3
2,4
2,5
Question 6 Question 7 Question 8 Average score
Cognitive strategies
Cognitive strategy
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Figure 5.Trends of each questionnaire item
In deference with cognitive strategies, the average score for all of the questionnaire items
is 2.30, which means the participants were the low users of this category (see figure 1)
On the question number six 'I Say or write new English words several times' which can
be categorized on repetition of the new words falls on more than a half of the students never or
rarely use the strategy(56%) ,less than a half of the population (45%) use it sometimes or often
and none use it (0%) .This means that the low users of this strategy have greater numbers than
the medium users of this strategy.
On the next question which has the lowest score on the charts or question number seven,
'I find the meaning of an English word by dividing it into parts that I understand‟, means
dividing new difficult words into pieces that they are familiar with, we can see that more than
half of the students dominate on (67%) „never‟ or „rarely‟ and less than half answered
16%
26%
14%
40% 41% 41% 38%
29%
34%
7% 3%
9%
0% 0%
2%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
Q6:I Say or write newEnglish words several
times.
Q7:I find the meaning ofan English word by
dividing it into parts that Iunderstand.
Q8:I try not to translateword-for-word.
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Often
Always
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„sometimes‟ or „often‟ (32%), and constantly, „always‟ ranked at 0% from total population. This
least frequently used strategy gained much more percentage with the option „never‟ (26%) than
other questions (Q6:16% & Q8:14%). This may means that the students did not know about
dividing word parts. This strategy on question number 7 is a crucial strategy to do the TOEFL
test. The test requires the skill in dividing word into parts to know what the meaning of the
unfamiliar word. Take for example the word subway; they have to divide it into the word they
know. If in this case they know the meaning of the word sub which means under, they will able
to know that sub way means underground transportation.
The strategy number eight has a greatest number of the low users from all strategies. On
the last question which has the highest score on the charts or question number eight 'I try not to
translate word-for-word‟ has over than half of the students who answered „never‟ and
„rarely‟(55%), moreover less than half of the participants(45%) answered sometimes, often and
always. From the result, it can be concluded that most of the participants have the tendency to
not translate word for word in their learning English activity. They may have known some
vocabulary words thus they do not have to translate it word for word, although this strategy falls
with the score 2.43 or generally not used. The students may already use it, but not in frequent
time.
The trends in the table 2 show that the students dominantly answered never and rarely. As
we can see „sometimes‟, „often‟ and „always‟ ranked below „never‟ and „rarely‟. Furthermore,
the percentage of the students who answered „often‟ and „always‟ are very little. It is only one or
two person who ticked often and always. This may means that the students are reluctant to use
cognitive strategy since they are may already knew the strategy but rarely or occasionally used it.
This finding is contradictive to Howell‟s (2012) study. Her study yield results when games are
28
used in the correct manner and used continually they can be really helpful with students‟ recall of
vocabulary words. The finding unable to find that the students are comfortable learning with
mechanical means, as in Gina Howell case the mechanical means is in the form of game.
2.C. Determination Strategies
Determination strategies are used to discover a new word‟s meaning without recourse to
another‟s expertise when learners don‟t know a word. For instance, learners can use a dictionary,
analyze any available pictures or gestures or guess meaning from textual context.
The chart below shows the questionnaire items of memory strategy and their average score
Figure 6.Questionnaire items and average score of determination strategies
2,43
2,31
2,6
2,45
2,15
2,2
2,25
2,3
2,35
2,4
2,45
2,5
2,55
2,6
2,65
Question 9 Question 10 Question 11 Average score
Determination Strategies
Determination Strategy
29
Figure 7.Trends of each questionnaire item
In determination strategies, the average score for all of the questionnaire items is
2.45(Figure.1). Based on Oxford result profile key, the participants of determination strategy were
the low users of this strategy.
On the question number nine which has the most frequently used strategy 'To
understand unfamiliar English words, I make guesses' the students who never or rarely use the
strategy in making guesses on unrecognized words were more than a half of the total
population(58%) . Less than a half of them (40%) use it sometimes or often and 2% always use it.
This means that the low users of this strategy have greater numbers than the medium users of this
strategy. This also can mean that even though the students unfamiliar with a difficult word they
17%
28%
17%
41%
29% 28%
24%
33% 33%
16%
5%
22%
2%
5%
0% 0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
Q9:To understandunfamiliar English words, I
make guesses.
Q10:I read Englishwithout looking up every
new word.
Q11:If I can’t think of an English word, I use a word or phrase that means the
same thing.
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Often
Always
30
are trying to find the way for interpreting their idea in different word or phrase. At the moment
when the participants are dealing with their language learning problems, specifically for some
unfamiliar words, most of them tend to use synonym of the word that they unacquainted with.
On the question which has the lowest score in the charts or number ten 'I read English
without looking up every new word' we can see that over half of the total population never or
rarely use the strategy (58%) and less than a half of the total participants use the strategy
sometimes or often (38%), always ranked at 5% from total population. Although the percentage
of the students who answered always is higher than other strategies, the percentages of students
who still look up every new word are higher than students who use it. The trends of strategy
show that students have the tendency to look up the new words that they don't know without
trying to interpret the meaning by themselves.
On the last question which is question number eleven 'If I can‟t think of an English word,
I use a word or phrase that means the same thing' it has over than a half of students who
answered never and rarely (57%), moreover slightly less than a half of the participants use a
word or phrase that means the same thing for sometimes, often and always (47%). As usual the
numbers of the students who are never or rarely use the strategies are higher than those who use
it.
This finding is contradictive to Liang (2011) study titled A Study on English
Vocabulary Learning Strategies for Non-English Majors in Independent College. The study
resulted in that the most helpful strategy according to her research is discovering meaning from
bilingual dictionary (determination strategy) with the rank 91%. This is probably caused by the
students' hesitation to solve the language barrier by themselves. Solving the language barrier in
31
term of these strategies can be in the attempt of the students to try to think the other way to know
the new word with their background knowledge or with their own effort (e.g. look up at bilingual
dictionary and using synonyms).
2.D. Metacognitive Strategies
Metacognitive strategies are set of strategies that take the learner as the one who takes control on
how to regulate vocabulary learning by means of planning, monitoring and evaluating.
The chart below shows the questionnaire items of memory strategy and their average score
Figure 8.Questionnaire items and average score of metacognitive strategies
3,3
3,36
3,38
3,26
3,28
3,3
3,32
3,34
3,36
3,38
3,4
Question 12 Question 13 Average score
Metacognitive Strategy
Metacognitive Strategy
32
Figure 9.Trends of each questionnaire item
In metacognitive strategy, the average score for all of the questionnaire items is 3.38.(see
figure 1). That means the participants were the average users of this category. Among all of the
strategies, this strategy has the highest score.
On the question number 12 'I try to find as many ways as I can to use my English',
„sometimes‟ or „often‟ dominate with the percentage of 74% and 10% always use it. This result
is higher than other questions on previous strategies; it has 10% for „always‟ which so far is the
highest percentage on „always‟. The reason that strategy 12 being the least frequently may be
caused by the unspecific ways to use English. Through the perspective from one person and
another person, the ways to use English is not relatively in the same. The other thing is, the
students may confused on how they are able to use it, some may say that they will find native
speaker to use English, or some will say that the way to use it is by writing a story in English. If
the students able to be motivated to learn it, they will be high user of these strategies which can
help them in learning English.
The question number 13 is the most frequently used strategy „I look for opportunities to
read as much as possible in English' we can see that less than half of the total population never or
0% 0%
16%
21%
40% 38%
34%
26%
10%
16%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
Q12:I try to find as many ways as I can touse my English.
Q13:I look for opportunities to read asmuch as possible in English.
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Often
Always
33
rarely use the strategy (21%) and over half than the students look for opportunities as much as
possible in English with sometimes, often and always which reach 79%. The percentage also
shows that the students who were ticked always and often are higher than other strategies. The
other strategies usually only have 0% to 2% for often or always, but this metacognitive strategy
reach the percentage from 10% to 16% for always. This means that the students are thrilled to
find books or texts in English to help them elevate their ability in the scope of vocabulary.
2.E. Social Strategies
Social strategies are employed to ask someone who knows. Learners can ask teacher or
classmates about information in a variety of ways, such as a synonym, paraphrase, or L1
translation of new word.
The chart below shows the questionnaire items of social strategies and their average score
Figure 10.Questionnaire items and average score of social strategies
2,31
2,95
2,63
0
0,5
1
1,5
2
2,5
3
3,5
Question 14 Question 15 Average Score
Social strategy
Social strategy
34
Figure11. Trends of each questionnaire item
In social strategy, the average score for all of the questionnaire items is 2.63. That means
the participants were the medium users of this category.
On the question number 14 'I ask English speakers to correct me when I talk‟ Over half of
the participants answered „never‟ or „rarely‟ asking native speakers to correct them when they
talk (64%), 36% of them use it „sometimes‟, „often‟ and „always‟.
On the question number 15 'I practice English with other students‟, we can see that 34%
of the total population never or rarely use the strategy and 55% use the strategy sometimes or
often in practicing English with other students. Different with previous question, „always‟ ranked
at 10% from total population which is high compared to other questions. This finding shows that
this strategy is fairly preferred by the students. The study by Gina Howell(2012) yield result that
participation in learning centers and class discussions can affect a students‟ ability to
successfully recall vocabulary words. This finding is closely related since class discussion and
participation is liked by the students.
The table above shows that in social category, most of the participants chose strategy 15
as their solution in dealing with their learning problems. That means the students of BIP class
24%
10%
40%
24% 21%
36%
12%
19%
3%
10%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
I ask English speakers tocorrect me when I talk.
I practice English with otherstudents.
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Often
Always
35
felt more confidence and comfortable to learn with their peers. Although they are not highly
using this strategy, through motivation from the teachers they may highly use this strategy. The
teachers can provide some activities for the students to work with their peers considering they
are more comfortable learning English with this way. By practicing together with friends, the
students can share their difficulties and help each other.
Summary of key findings
Based on overall findings, the students are figuring out how to learn English based on
their motivation. Based on the questions in metacognitive part which are addressed to them, it
seems that the participants try to find the material and the way for learning English by
themselves (Q12: I try to find as many ways as I can to use my English.& Q13: I look for
opportunities to read as much as possible in English.). Thus, it does involve their self motivation
to look for the most suitable material or the method to learn English. Moreover, this finding is
different from other studies in this field. In the other previous studies which I already mentioned
above, none of them found that the most preferred strategy is metacognitive strategy. Take for
example the study from Liu Zhi Liang (2010) titled A Study on English Vocabulary Learning
Strategies for Non-English Majors in Independent College which results that the most used
strategy was determination strategy. Determination strategy belongs in direct strategy that
requires the students to directly engage in the discovery of the meaning of new word.
On the other hand, the least frequent strategy used was cognitive strategy that belongs to
direct strategy. According to Oxford (1990), direct strategies require mental processing of the
language. From the result, it can be said that the direct strategy is not the first choice for IT
students to learn English in BIP. It seems like they do not know well that the direct strategy is
also important in learning a new language because it contains how to memorize new words,
review the lesson, analyze tasks, etc.
36
Conclusion, Limitation, and Suggestion
Some language learning strategies used by BIP students has been examined and the study
showed that the most frequent learning strategy used by the students was metacognitive strategy.
This strategy belongs to indirect learning strategy. This strategy of learning involves self-
management, advance preparation, self-monitoring, and self-evaluation. From this result, the
students can be seen as students who are already have self-motivation to learn English. However,
they have to be more encouraged in learning English in order to pass the BIP course.
On the other hand, the least frequently learning strategy used was cognitive strategy,
which belongs to direct learning strategy. The students are expected to do the steps or operations
used in problem solving that require direct analysis, transformation or synthesis of learning
materials. This strategy ought to be taught for the students in the future since the students are
mostly unfamiliar with this strategy.
The result from this study is expected to be useful to the teachers to use some of the listed
learning strategies that can be used to learn English. The result of this study could also make
students aware with their learning strategy profile by knowing the mean score of their strategy
use. Since the questionnaire was only distributed for 58 participants (all of them were
Information Technology students of Satya Wacana Christian University) and it was done only
once time. Therefore, this study has a limitation and the result cannot be used as the
generalization for other similar studies. For further studies, some continuous analysis could be
examined. First, how the vocabulary learning strategies affect the score improvement of the
students?. Secondly, what makes the students who already know some vocabulary learning
strategies still fail to pass the course?. In addition, the research also can be done with the faculty
that teach these strategies in learning English, the researcher can try to prove that VLS
influencing the students‟ vocabulary mastery.
37
Acknowledgment
During the process of writing this thesis, I have been encouraged and assisted by many
people. Without their support, it would be impossible to complete this study. I would like to take
this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to all of the following people for their boundless
help.
First and foremost I want to thank my Almighty God for His blessing undeservingly
bestowed upon me. I can‟t thank enough for the bless He gave to me. Secondly, my sincere
gratitude goes to my advisor, Bu Titik Murtisari, I feel particularly honored to have such a warm-
hearted and erudite advisor. Bu Titik has offered me great help from the moment I began to
prepare my study. Her academic knowledge and scrupulous attitude has not only assisted me in
my thesis but also influenced me greatly in doing academic research. Also my gratitude goes for
my examiner, Pak Christian Rudianto, for his help, correction, and also the useful suggestion.
A million of thanks also goes to my little family. Above all, for my little angel, Aluna, in
your eyes I am a hero, I am strong and wise and I know no fear. I see who I want to be in your
beautiful bright eyes and this is all for you. I also want to thank my beloved husband, Nugroho. I
am very proud to call you my best friend, happy to call you my lover, and very blessed to have
you as my husband. Thank you for your limitless support and patience upon me.
My sincere gratitude goes to my family. For my father Yustinus Suwito and my mother,
Christiana Sri Winarni, I really thank you for this. I knew when my dreams are come true it is
based on both of your prayers. For my sister Linda, Lukie and Prita, thank you for never tired in
keep giving me motivation to reach success.
Lastly I want to thank my lovely former friends in college, Tanty, Vita, Luina, Olivia.
For all of the laughter, tears and the lessons of life that I‟ve learned when I was with all of you
in College. Moreover, for my lifetime friends, Mitha and Niko, you guys always keep
encouraging me with your never-ending support, I am grateful to know you guys. Last but not
least, for all of the teachers and staffs in ED, without them it is impossible for me to make my
dream happened.
38
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