11

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

In this chapter, the writer discuss some theories related to the study entitles

“The Effectiveness of Realia for Teaching English Vocabulary to The Third Year

Students at SDN Talun 02 Blitar which covers vocabulary, young learners, media,

teaching vocabulary through realia, the English curriculum of English young learner,

and result

A. Vocabulary

1. The Definition of Vocabulary

The basic of teaching and learning English is concerned with the

student’s abilities to use four language skills. In using language skills, they

need lots of vocabularies because they have important role in language

learning. Without having vocabulary, it is impossible to build communication

using words. Vocabulary is list of words it means that all words can be

identified into vocabulary.

Furthermore, Richard and Renandya state that vocabulary is a core

component of language proficiency and provides much of the basis for how well

learners speak, listen, read and write.1Without an extensive vocabulary and

1
Jack C Richard and Willy A Renandya, Method in Language Teaching, ( Cambridge University
Press, 2002 ), p. 255

11
 12

strategies for acquiring new vocabulary, learners often achieve less than their

potential and may be discouraged from making use of language learning

opportunities around them.

According to Jeremy harmer in the language test, there are two kinds

of vocabularies, active vocabulary and passive vocabulary.2 To make clearly

the writer explains both of them as follows:

a. Active Vocabulary

Active vocabulary means the stock of words that a person actually uses in

his own speech or writing. It is used in oral or written expression by the

student.

b. Passive Vocabulary

Passive vocabulary means the words that the students recognize and

understand them when they occur in a context or students need some one

to say something that help them recall the word meanings. The students

usually find passive vocabulary in listening or reading materials. They will

find the meaning of the word when they real the words in a text and will

know the meaning of the unknown word, on the text.

2. Kind of Vocabulary Topic for Elementary School

At beginning of elementary level certainly seems a good idea to

provides sets of vocabulary which students can learn most of these early

words be constantly practiced and so can presumable, be considered as active.

2
Harmer,Jeremy. The Practice of English Language Teaching, (New ed : Longman 1991)
 13

The using of active vocabulary can be shown by the students in speaking and

also simple writing. The student can learn passive vocabulary in high school.

The material for the third year is about their environment it means that after

met by the students they are about:

a. Fruit meal and drink

b. Animals

c. Clothes and colors

d. Day, month, weathers

e. School environment

These all can be developed by the teacher by using method, approach, and

technique that relate with the situation and condition of his/her student.

3. Teaching Vocabulary

Teaching is a complex process. According to Kimble and Garmazy as

quoted in Brown, teaching is “showing and helping someone to learn or to do

something. Giving instruction, guiding in the study of something, providing

with knowledge, causing to know or to do understand”. 3 Teaching is guiding

and facilitating the learns and setting the condition of learning. Teachers

should prepare them selves better in order to teach successfully.

Talking about teaching foreign language to elementary school

students, a teacher should know the characteristics of learners. According to

3
Dougles Brown, Principle of Language Learning and teaching, (San Fransisco State University :
Pretice Hall, 1984), p. 7
 14

Lamb the foreign language program, like any other area of curriculum, must

be planed according to basic principles of motivation. Habit formation, reward

and success. The characteristics of children at these age levels (for foreign

language Elementary school usually age 8-12) and recognize their urge to

communicate and their need for active participation.

Teaching vocabulary is apart of language teaching. According

Harmer “teaching vocabulary is clearly more than just presenting new words.

This may, of course, have its place but there are other issues too.” 4 It means

that when a teacher teaches vocabulary to his students, he should know their

characteristics so that be can choose suitable techniques or methods which

make the students enjoy and active in learning vocabulary in the classroom. It

will be to increase particularly their vocabulary mastery and their English

ability in general.

4. Teaching vocabulary for elementary students

Simply teaching vocabulary done for 4 steps. Those are:

a. Introduction

Teacher recognize new vocabulary with clearly and good pronunciation.

Use picture or real thing

b. modeling

Teacher gives an example by doing as model

c. Practicing

4
Harmer, Jeremy. The Practice of English Language Teaching (New ed : Longman 1991), p. 159
 15

Teacher trains the students to imitate and practice

d. Applying

Students apply vocabulary in the exact condition with the teacher aid.

B. Young learner

Must be known that this thesis, the writer observes the students in the third

year of elementary school. Before going on the writers explains who young

learners are and what their characteristic are. Young learner means the learner or

students are still young with their specially their age are about six years to thirteen

years. It is also called by school age.

Many years ago, parents put their children into the elementary school

when their children are in six year. But nowadays they must be seven year to be

registered to elementary school so that when they are in ten year of course their

development from the first year class up to third year are different.

a. The characteristics of the young learners.

Before we teach foreign language for young learners we should know

about the characteristic of the young learners. Actually, the characteristic of

the young learner is divided into two main groups. That are five to seven years

old and eight to ten years are old. The five to seven years old are all at level
 16

one, the beginners, or they may have been learning the foreign language for

some time.

a. The characteristic of eight to ten years old

1. The basic concepts are formed, they have very decided

view of the world

2. They can tell the difference fact and fiction

3. They ask question all the time

4. They rely on the spoken word as well as the physical world

to convey and understand meaning

5. They are able to make some decisions about their own

6. They have definite view about what they like and don’t like

doing

7. They have a develop sense of fairness about what happens

in the classroom and begin to question the teacher’s decisions.

8. They have a need for individual attention and approval from the

teacher.

9. They are keen to talk about themselves, and respond well to learning

that uses themselves and their own lives main topics in the classroom.

10. Their understanding comes not just from explanation, but also from

what they seen and heard and crucially, have a chance to touch and

interact with.
 17

11. They sometimes have difficulty in knowing what fact is and what

fiction is.

12. They have developed a sense of accomplishment, which centers on the

ability to learn and apply skills, deal with peers, competition, self-

control, and greater physical strength.5

13. They have developed and test values and beliefs, which guide present

and future behaviors.6

b. The developmental period of the children.

Piaget divided the stage of cognitive development of children into four

stages; they are sensory motor period, pre operational period, periods of

concrete operations and the period of formal operations. The sensor motor

period is from birth to about the age 2 up to seven years. The periods of

concrete operation is about seven to eleven years. The period of formal

operation is about eleven and on7. Because of the topic of this study is

student’s of ten years, the writer explains briefly about the period of concrete

operation.

The child who is functioning at the concrete operations period,

however, can comprehend the relation from both perspective that is his own

5
http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Child_Center_Nine/
6
Ibid
7
K.E. Suyanto Kasiani, English for Young Learner, (Jakarta : PT. Bumi Aksara,2007), p. 6
 18

and another of his brother. He has a more organized, systematized,

understanding of this relation. Not only has the concrete operation child

developed and understanding of type of this of relations chat is, relations

among brothers or sisters but he has also constructed several other types of

relations it is also called by class inclusion. Concrete here means that children

at the age cannot think about anything which is not real or concrete, however

nothing could further from the truth. Rather, the child at the stage is beginning

to extend his thought from the actual to the potential.

c. language development

Eight to ten years old have a language with all the basic element in

place. They are competent users of their mother tongue, and in this

connection, they are aware of the main rules of syntax in their own language.

By the age of ten children can: (1) understand abstract (2) Understand

symbols (3) Generalize and systematic8

This refers to the children’s general language development, when it

comes to learning a foreign language; there is still a lot we do not know. There

are many similarities between learning one’s mother tongue and learning a

foreign language. The differences in age and he time are available. So far

nobody has found a universal pattern of language learning which every one

agrees with. Much seems to depend on the social and emotional factors in the

child’s background. What is clear here is that most eight to ten year olds will

8
A. Scot Wendy and Lesbeth………,p.4
 19

have some sort of language awareness on readiness which they bring with

them into foreign language classroom.

Emotional or psychological factors include intellectual processing

which is involved in determination of grammatical structures and rules,

memory, which is essential for learning to occur, and motor skills which

involve the use of the articulators of speech (tongue, lips, vocal cord, etc)

Social factors, here, we consider the types of situation, setting,

interactions which affect our ability to learn foreign language in particular the

natural and classroom situation.

C. Media

As foreign language which is not used everyday in the society, English is

regarded difficult to learn. To minimize the difficulty of understanding, the

teacher must know the approach, strategy, method of teaching that can be used to

make the students interest in the lesson.

1. Definition of media

Media is one of the components of teaching by using media that relate

to the subject that is given by the teacher. The students are not bored with the

situation in the classroom or outside the class.

Definition of media are:

a. Media is any extension of man which allows him to

effect other people who are not in face to face with him. Thus it includes
 20

letters, television, film, and telephone and even the reads and rail ways as

there are extension by which man can communicate with another. It is also

carrying the messages to the students.9

b. Media is kind of type which is used to send idea so

it can be received by the idea receiver.10

2. Kinds of media

The important of media can not be separated on teaching process many

kinds of media in teaching now. Generally there are three kinds of media.

They are visual media, audio media and visual media.

a. Visual media

Visual media is also called by printing media. Visual media is all kinds

of media that can be seen or touch by the students.

The examples of visual media are: picture, photos, real things, miniature

charts, and graphs.

The characteristic of this media

1. Text is read in visual manner, in other hand visual is exceeded based

on the room.

2. Texts and visual show one way communication and receptive.

3. Texts and visual is shown in tactically

9
Kasihani Sunyoto, English for Young Learners, (Malang: Universitas Malang,2004), p. 42
10
Sadiman Arief, Media Pendidikan,(Jakarta:Rajawali,1990), p. 6
 21

4. In developing this media depend on the language principle and

visual perception.

5. It is oriented to the students

6. The information can be rearranged by the user.

b. Audio media

Audio media is also called by listen media, usually it is used to listen

and understand the passage. The characteristic for this media is that they

show one way communication for example: radio, tape recorder11

c. Audio visual media

Audio visual media is the function of two kids of media, they are audio

media and visual media. The audio visual media need mechanic

electronic to show the message of audio visual message.

There some characteristics of audiovisual media:

a. linearity

b. show dynamic visual

c. can be implemented by using ways which are stated before

d. able to be physical represent of real or abstract ideas

e. it was improved based on behaviorism psychology and cognitive

principles

f. teacher oriented through the low students interactive involve level

3. Media for young learner

11
Kasihani Sunyoto, English for…, p. 42
 22

Based on the characteristics of the young learner, so the teacher must be

carefully to choose, use, apply and develop kinds of technique or media in

teaching. Teacher must be active to demonstrate, to give example, to move the

hand or foot with face expression based on the situation and condition.

a. Selecting the media for young learner

In the English class, teacher must be creative to make, to imitate,

to adopt, to select the media that will be used in his/her teaching. There

are five questions that must be answered to the teacher in selecting the

media. They are:

1. Is the media easy to be prepared?

2. Is the media easy to be operated in the classroom?

3. Can the media make the student interest in learning?

4. Is the language used an authentic language?

5. Is the activity by using that media can improve the language ability?

b. Kinds of media for young learners

Kinds of media that can be used by the teacher for young learners or

elementary students are:

a. Card

b. Puppets

c. Song

d. Picture

e. Real things
 23

f. Realia

g. Book, etc

Today there are many English commercial books that are

written by using many approaches. One of them is written based on the

language structure, some of them also based on the activity. So that the

teacher should have skill to choose or take the material and media that

appropriate with the learner need.

D. Teaching Vocabulary through Realia

Because the focus of this research is realia, so that the writer explains as

follows:

1. Definition of Realia

Jeremy harmer states that realia is one way of presenting words is to

bring the things they represent into the classroom. Word like “postcard, rules,

pen ball, etc. can obviously in this way12

According to Sunyoto realia is three dimension things which can be

brought into classroom as media such as box, doll another things made from

plastics (vegetable toys, fruit toys, car toys)13

2. Kinds of Realia

12
Harmer Jeremy, the practice of English language teaching, (London: New York
Longman),1991, p,161
13
Sunyoto, Kasihani, English for young learner (Jakarta: PT Bumi Aksara),2007. p.110
 24

From the explanation before, writer concludes that there are two kinds

of thing which can be brought into classroom as realia, those are the real thing

(original thing) and imitative thing.

a. Real thing (original thing)

Real thing is existing of any original things, not copied in fact

that can be seen or touched.

There are many kinds of the real things which can be used as

realia. For example, the things that are already in the classroom (book,

bag, pencil, blackboard, ruler, eraser), the small things of house that

can be brought into classroom (magazine, newspapers, ashtray, watch),

there are also many kinds of real life that can be brought into

classroom such as flowers, vegetables, and some of small animal.

Teacher also can use human being as realia to present some of parts of

human body.

b. Imitative thing

There are many kinds of imitative things which can be brought

into classroom as substitute for the original things, such as doll, box,

globe, transportation toys (car, scooter, train, bicycle, ambulance,

plane, ship), fruit toys (orange, apple, cashew, banana, mangos teen),

vegetable toys (chili, eggplant, papaya, spinach), animal toys (horse,

lion, elephant, frog, deer, buffalo), and kitchen set toys (stove, frying

pan, knew, plate). Those things are plastic and wooden made, so they
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are saving for children and also they can be used as media in several

time.

3. Teaching Vocabulary by Using Realia

Teaching vocabulary by using realia helps students acquire new

vocabulary in practical way, the students will be easy to understand the

meaning of the words and make the learning experience more memorable for

the learner for example if we are going to teach vocabulary of fruit and

vegetables it can be much more affective for students if they can touch, smell

and see the objects at the same time as hearing the new word. This would

appeal to a wider range of learner styles than a simple flashcard picture of the

piece of fruit or vegetable.

Beside some items above realia also can be used to introduce about

culture to the students. For example to introduce students to Canada, teacher

can use Canadian flag, globe or miniature of Canada14

It can be concluded that using realia students can use all of their

senses, eyes, ear, and hand so their understanding do not only come just from

explanation but also from what they see, heard, and crucially they have a

chance to touch and interact with. Therefore, using realia is one of alternative

that can be used by teacher in teaching vocabulary for young learner and

expected by using realia the result of study can maximal. Finally, realia to be

an effective media in teaching learning.

14
Chiarantano, Stefan, Realia, http://www. Using English.com/.webblok/ archieve/000228.html
 26

E. The English Curriculum of English Young Learner

The word curriculum is divided from Greek “currier” pelari and “curer”

tempat berpacu15 . Than curriculum education is “asset of program learning,

planning, provided for student under responsibility of education school

competencies represent knowledge, skill and basic values which manifest in

habitual thinking and acting. That is he/she has knowledge, skill and basic values

to do something.

Gardon in Mulyasa book description about aspect of competence are:

knowledge understanding, skill, value, attitude and interest. The curriculum based

on competence is integrated with planning and arrangement of competence and

the result of learning activies and efficiency of educational source in developing

school curriculum to be taught in Indonesian’s constitution number 20 tahun 2003

section 2 verse that is curriculum pada semua jenjang dan jenis pendidikan

dikembangkan dengan prinsip difersivikasi sesuai dengan satuan pendidikan,

potensi daerah dan peserta didik16

Now curriculum gives instruction the teacher in preparing the material of

lesson because in a curriculum there are general instructional purposes. The

purpose of English lesson are using the topic are student get the beginning of

English language skill with the vocabulary. The skills are:

15
Nana Sujana, Pembinaan dan pengembangan kurikulum disekolah (Bandung Sinar Baru
Aalgasindo,1996), p. 4
16
UU RI No.26 thn 2003 ttg sesdiknas 2003 serta penjelasannya (Jakarta;Cemerlang,2003), p. 26
 27

1. Reading

Siswa dapat membaca teks sederhana dengan senang, menerka arti kata,

frase/kalimat berdasar konteks.

2. Listening

Siswa dapat menjawab pertanyaan berdasar informasi dalam teks,

mengungkap dan menggapai suatu tawaran.

3. Speaking

Siswa dapat menyebutkan nama benda/orang yang terdapat dalam gambar,

melakukan percakapan sederhana, pemain, peran dalam meminta sesuatu,

melakukan percakapan berdasar gambar.

4. Writing

Siswa dapat melengkapi kalimat pendek, menjodohkan kalimat dengan

gambar yang sesuai, menyalin dan menyusun kalimat. Menyusun kata yang

diberikan secara acak menjadi kalimat.

F. Result of Previous Study

This research is conducted to describe the implementation of teaching

vocabulary to the fifth year of SDN I Blimbing Ampelgading Pemalang and the

result of teaching vocabulary by using realia, which is taken as a result of

reflection on phenomena done by the writer, and it arises from some specific

problems of issues. In this research the writer faces some problems, such as the

students have low motivation in joining teaching-learning process and they are
 28

difficult to memorize the meaning and spelling, as well as to pronounce the

words. In addition, they are not interested in studying English because they feel

bored with the teacher’s technique.

Here the writer chooses the colorful picture and real things as media to

teach the vocabulary. To overcome this problem, the action research is conducted

in three cycles. Each cycle is conducted in two meetings. Each cycle consists of

planning, acting and observing, reflecting. The data are taken from the event,

documents and informants.

The result of the research shows that the way to increase the vocabulary

mastery is by providing the real object as a media and the result of post-test is

better than in pre-test. In pre-test, the highest score is 87, the lowest is 40, and the

mean score is 71, 58. While in post-test the highest score is 97, the lowest score is

50, and the mean score is 75, 37. The researcher concludes that teaching English

through realia can improve the vocabulary mastery of the fifth year students of

SDN 1 Blimbing Ampelgading Pemalang.