Improving vocabulary through comic

IMPROVING VOCABULARY ABILITY TROUGH COMIC

CHAPTER I

ABSTRACT

             This paper present the improving vocabulary through comic. Since we know that vocabulary is very useful for four skiils in English ,such as listening ,speaking ,reading and especially in writing . This paper discus about how to make comic in classroom interaction component. Besides that ,it also discuses about vocabulary itself, teaching technique in vocabulary, improving vocabulary through comic , comic influence on improving vocabulary and writing finding the right word, principles of vocabulary development and the last is using comic to improving vocabulary. All theories are delivered completely based on the fact theories found. The paper concludes that improving vocabulary through comic for the students ability.

A. Background of the Study

Language is a means of communication. People can communicate with each other by using language. It brings idea, opinions, thoughts, and feelings. English is the first foreign language in Indonesia which is important to transfer knowledge, science and technology, art and culture, and establish international relationship. English is considered as a difficult subject for the Indonesian students, because English is completely different from Indonesian language being look at from the system of structure, pronunciation and vocabulary. English teaching involves of four language skills, they are Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. In teaching and learning a language, there are four aspects that support four language skills above such as: grammar, vocabulary, spelling and pronunciation that are also taught in

English teaching and learning process.

Introducing a foreign language to children is challenging and is not as giving a toy to the crying child. It happens because children are unique in their characteristics and have a special way of learning a new thing. They acquire knowledge by asking, listening to people around them and also experienced things. Through these acquiring children develop their vocabulary. As cited by Schmitt “One of language elements in learning a foreign language is mastering

The vocabulary“(2000:19).

Students sometimes find some difficulties in the process of learning vocabulary in this case in English word, they may be confronted by words that are totally unfamiliar with them and that their problem is they have to produce language due to their lack of vocabulary. As an English teacher, we should be creative to find a good way to help them enrich their vocabulary so they will not feel bored in the class. One of the ways in by using teaching aids we can using variety of teaching aids to explain language meaning and construction engage students in a topic or as the basic of whole activities.
Comics is an artistic medium where images with text or other forms of information in order to express an idea. Comics frequently takes the form of juxtaposed sequences of panels of images.
The writer has several reasons for choosing this topic. First, she think that young learners or children need a way to help them to memorize the word easily and one of the effective ways to help children easily in memorizing and also increasing their vocabulary of transportation as a kind of media mass teaching in the classroom. comic can increase children vocabulary achievement earlier especially for the new words because it consists of colorful pictures and words.

B. Purposes of the Study

The purposes of the study are:
1. To find out the procedure of teaching vocabulary through comic.
2. To find out the students’ opinion about their vocabulary if use comic.
3. To find out whether there are any difficulties in teaching vocabulary through comic faced by the teacher

CHAPTER II
CONTENT

A. Vocabulary

1. The Nature of Vocabulary

Vocabulary is a component of language that maintains all of information about meaning and using word in language. Vocabulary building is really important in any language learning. Vocabulary also becomes the most important aspect in acquiring a language and mastering the second language. It is supported by Schmitt who says: “One of the keys in learning a foreign language is mastery the second language’s vocabulary“(2000:19). We know and use the words that suit our particular purposes and we continue to learn new words as long as we live. It is clear enough that everybody who learns a language as a foreign language is hoped to know and master the vocabulary to improve the language skills. Vocabulary becomes a major problem in learning English, teachers of Elementary School emphasizes on this matter earlier. In teaching vocabulary, generally the teacher teaches new words taken from reading text. It means that she integrates vocabulary with reading. This integration will lead to

integrative lesson plan.
The writer defines vocabulary as a group of word in a language which is related to the meaningful word. Every learner has to build up their vocabulary because it has relationship with comprehension on the second language. As Thornburry say; “That vocabulary and comprehension have powerful relationship (2002:15). It is clear that the learners have to increase their vocabulary to make them able to speak, read, write and listen.
In the first level of a course, the active vocabulary is more prominent. But, when the students in higher level of study such as intermediated or advanced level passive vocabulary is more useful. From the explanation above, we know that every expert in every book is different in classifying the kinds of vocabulary, because every person has different ways in showing and telling their opinions and ideas. It means that vocabulary is containing of two kinds function and content words.

2. Vocabulary Learning and Acquisition

Research in first and second language acquisition suggest that initial teaching priorities for language areas should be vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation. Deep strategies take more time but ensure greater retention and ease of retrieval from memory. They include learning lists, reading a variety of texts on the same theme so as to ensure multiple exposures to relevant items, making extensive use of dictionaries, building up deep knowledge through word associations and revising to ensure retention.
Teachers may have little role to play where a learner is using shallow strategies appropriately. But they have a clear and ongoing role both in using deep strategies in class work and in training learners in their use. This is especially true for weaker learners, who tend to use even shallow strategies ineffectively: they guess inaccurately from context and do not later modify wrong guesses, and they do not read widely enough. Therefore, the English teacher has to be able to organize teaching and learning activities; they have to give materials by using a suitable technique and master the lesson effectively. Especially in learning vocabulary, teachers must make the students able to memorize such words in English language and group of new words. The statements above mean, vocabulary is important to teach and teachers must try to find the most effective way to teach it.

3.  Lack of Vocabulary

Being able to master one or some foreign languages is a must for today’s people. When one is not able to master it well, it is possibly happen that he will be left behind as the world is somehow getting smaller. It is very common for us to name today’s condition as globalization era, where meeting other people from the very different background is surely possible. To prepare these such meetings, people – especially youth – have to be able to use other language than merely their mother tongue only.

English is noticed as one of international languages which is very common to be used by people from different region and country to communicate each other. Nevertheless, the ability to use this language should be developed during youth’s school-age. That is why the government puts this subject to be taught in elementary school.

For years, students are of the opinion that English is one of the most difficult subjects at school. This kind of opinion is surely will decrease students’ interest to learn English.  Moreover, students are often trapped by the very old-fashioned way of learning. They get bored even when they are not learning it. It makes students find that English is more difficult than it actually is.

The writer take junior high school students as her object of study. For most of this level of students, English subject is difficult because of their lack in vocabulary. They have very limited number of vocabulary. Students always find it is hard to express their ideas when they meet the word that they do not know its English word. As the result, they mostly will stop to express their ideas in English.

Some other students already have sufficient number of vocabulary but still find that English is difficult. Their vocabulary treasury is not the sole indication to say that they find English as an easy lesson. In fact, their difficulty is on the recognition of English part-of-speech. English treats its vocabulary in more specific way. During students’ time to learn English at school, they have to be very familiar with some language terms such as noun, verb, adjective and adverb. When students do not know this kind of word, they will judge English as a complicated subject to be learnt.

In line with the previous paragraph stated above that students are trapped by some old-fashioned ways of learning, the opinion of varying way of learning raises these days. Teachers and scholars are trying to find more alternatives to teach English, especially its vocabulary in a more interesting way. New methods and/or media come to overcome this kind of difficulties.

4. Teaching Vocabulary

Teaching vocabulary is presenting new words. Teaching vocabulary can help the students to learn the meaning of the words, understand the connection between the form and the meaning and how to use them. Student always deal with vocabularies in learning English because it appears in any language skills. Having enough vocabulary can make them able to listen, speak, read and write and paint. It also can make them easily to product the words without enough vocabulary, knowledge and the language skills seem to be useless. As cited by Schmitt “Because without the ability to recognize or product a word, any other kind of knowledge and language skill are virtual useless” (2000:45)
When teaching vocabulary, it is quite useful to have some ideas of what makes words relatively easy or difficult to learn. As cited Schmitt “Factors can be related to the word itself (intra lexical factors) or they can involve how well the first language learners matches the second language learners (cross linguistic factors)”. (2000:148). It means that when the teacher teach vocabulary, they probably face the problem from many factors related to the word itself and also the first language learners matches the second language learners.

The writer has assumption to fit explanation on some principles of teaching vocabulary, there are
1) The teaching of vocabulary should be based on the students’ ability.
2) The teaching of vocabulary should be suitable with student’s capability.
3) The words are taught from easiest to the difficult.
One of the principles that had been found useful in all methodological decisions is the principles of time effectiveness. The key in all, vocabulary teaching is to keep motivation high while encouraging students to develop strategies that they can continue to use once they leave the classroom.
According to the assumption above, explains that to know a word in a language as well as the native speakers knows it needs the ability to:
1. Recognize it in its spoken or written form.
2. Recall it will.
3. Relate it to an appropriate object or concept.
4. Use it in the appropriate grammatical form.
5. In speech, pronounce it in a recognizable way.
6. In writing spell it correctly
7. Use it with the words it correctly goes with i.e. in the correct collocation.
8. Use it at the appropriate level of formality.
9. Aware of its connotations and associations.

B. Comic
1. Definition of Comic

Comics is an artistic medium where images with text or other forms of information in order to express an idea. Comics frequently takes the form of juxtaposed sequences of panels of images.
The Good of Comic
- A great visual Representation of Knowledge
- Easier to remember a visual graphic containing key information
- Engaging through thinking, creating and vocabulary.
- Perfect avenue for writing dialogue
- Incites students with low interest in reading
- Helps organization through storytelling and storyboarding
- Using visual images convey meaning to a story or vocabulary
- Develops creative and higher level thought processes
- Enriches vocabulary, writing, and reading
- Sequencing promotes understanding

The students remember your powerful stories more than any other part of your presentation. She can burn the points in their memory even more by showing a picture based on the comic that releated with the material, telling a story related to that picture, and then making the point that the story and picture illustrate. In this way, the emotional impact of the picture will add weight to the point you make through the story.

2. The Usage of Comic

Most comic presentations are created from a template, which includes a background color or image, a standard font, and a choice of several sequence story .

The steps to use Comic there are:
1. Prepare the comicthat releated with the material and familiar to the students
2. Then, the teacher copying the piece of comic that releadted with the material and share to the students.

3. Collect up the vocabulary are you want to teach or revise based on the comic
4. Reading, this step to the teacher asks to the students to read the comic.

A purely inspirational presentation, like a pep talk you would give your students, has very few points you need the students to remember, perhaps only one key point.

Activity 1
This activity teacher says a sentence with contains a word that rhymes with one of the comic picture and words then spell with the same pattern.

Activity 2
Review Endings; This activity helps children to spell word in comic which needed.

Activity 3
Cross-checking; this activity for checking student’s work

3. Improving Vocabulary through Comic

In building up students’ vocabulary achievement, the students must learn it well. The Comic can be more effective if the student can understand with the sequence of the story; this effective includes the activities that can expand the students’ understanding of the words and the use of them in any language skill. In addition, Comic can add a new dimension to learning allowing teachers to explain abstract concepts, while accommodating all learning styles. Used properly, Comic can be one of the most powerful tools for sharing information ever known. Employed inappropriately, Comic could potentially confuse students and make

learning a difficult process.
The teacher have to assist the student in developing their vocabulary through comic by taking the following steps. Firstly, assist the students in choosing the words from the reading comic and suggest them to choose the words which are unfamiliar name for them. Secondly, ask them to write the words on the book. Thirdly, involve the students in interactive activities.
During the activities the student can see, say, hear, write and paint will be the result in greater vocabulary retention and enthusiasm for learning vocabulary. In addition, using PowerPoint can help the teacher teach vocabulary more interestingly.

But in learning with Comic method it is easy to apply the process of teaching learning because through Comic method the student can improve their vocabulary mastery easier getting new vocabularies and also feel happy fun and more interesting because they can see the colorful picture with each types, read about the text, read about the text with picture and write which the difficulty of text, paint the pictures too. The use of Comic method is very simple, the most important the teacher does not lazy to preparing the material which will be use in the class.

II.      Theoretical Review

1.       General Concept of Vocabulary

Vocabulary is about words – where they come from, how they change, how they relate to each other and how we use them to view the world (Bauer: 2001:34). Vocabulary is one of language components and no language exists without words. Napa (1991: 10) states that words are signs or symbols for ideas. They are the means by which people exchange their thought.

Vocabulary contains of words which make up a language. It is clear then that vocabulary is very important in foreign language acquisition. Hornby (2000: 1506) states that vocabulary is the total number of words that make up a language, or words known to a person, or used in a particular book or subject, or list of words with their meaning, especially one which accompanies a textbook in a foreign language.

Vocabulary is the most important material in foreign language teaching for learners. Therefore, the teaching of English vocabulary has a very essential role in enabling Indonesian students to master English as their foreign language. English vocabulary mastery, in fact, has become a big problem for most Indonesian students. If one does not have sufficient number of vocabulary, he will not be able to communicate with his surroundings.

Schmitt (1997: 40) states that vocabulary is a basis of a language. It is important to be mastered first. We cannot speak well and understand written materials if we do not master vocabulary. Schmitt (1997:41) also states that no matter how successfully the sound of the foreign language is mastered without words to express the wider range of meanings, communication in a foreign language just cannot happen in any meaningful way.

The followings are the classification of basic vocabulary as classified by Tarigan (1991: 10-11):

a.    The family term    : grandfather, grandmother, father, mother, child, etc

b.    Parts of body       : head, eye, ear, nose, hand, foot, etc.

c.    Number                : cardinal numbers (one, two, three, and etc);

ordinal numbers (first, second, third, etc)

d.   Verb                     : go, sleep, read, write, drink, eat, walk, etc.

e.    Noun                    : car, shirt, table, pencil, pilot, etc

f.     Adjective             : handsome, beautiful, ugly, good, pretty, etc.

g.    Universal things   : land, sky, moon, sun, water, etc.

2.   General Concept of Part of Speech

Knowing the part of speech of word is essential. It is important when learners know two or more forms for one-word, like wise (adjective), wisely (adverb), and wisdom (noun). It is also important when similar words confound the situation as lend (verb) and loan (noun) or affect (verb) and effect (noun).

3.       General Concept of Comic

The precise definition of comics remains a subject of debate, with som scholars insisting that their printed nature is crucial to the definition, or that they should be defined by the interdependence of image and text. Others define the medium in terms of its sequential art. McCloud (1993:42) states comics are juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer.

Comics are an art form using a series of static images in fixed sequence. Written text is often incorporated. The two most common forms of comics are comic strips (as appear in newspaper) and comic books (also popularly called “manga” when referring to Japanese comic books). Comic strips are serial comics that are published in a newspaper.

4.    The example of comic 

CHAPTER IV

CONCLUSION

Vocabulary is one of the language components which play an important role in learning a language. The need of studying vocabulary is essential even though it is not the main goal of the learning process itself. We can use Comic as one of the alternatives of the technique in

teaching vocabulary.
Comic is part of creating environment of the students’ because they can see, read, say and write the words. It can make students more exits in learning vocabulary.
Teaching vocabulary through Comic can make student enthusiastically to learn vocabulary because it can make happy and enjoy with color and picture. The use of comic method as media mass is very simple and also makes the students easier to learn the new vocabulary about the type of material and memorize it. Then there are no difficulties that face by teacher, even sometimes she fells little bit lazy and difficult to prepare material such as comic that

releated with the materials

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ArikuntoSuharsimi. 2002. ProsedurPenelitianSuatuPendekatanPraktek (Edisi VI). Jakarta: RinekaCipta
French Allen,Virginia. 2000. Teaching Technique in Teaching Vocabulary. New York. Oxford University Press
Tankersley, K. 2003. The Threads of Reading: Strategies for Literacy Development. Alexandria, VA: Association for the Supervision and Curriculum Developmen:
Thornburry, Scott. 2002. How to Teach Vocabulary. Oxfordshire: Longman Pearson Education

"Creating Comics: Visual and Verbal Thinking in the Ultimate Show and Tell" by Janette Combs, College of William and Mary, July 17, 2003.