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A Comparison of Online Games and Pictures Instruction

in the Context of EFL to Enhance Students’

Vocabulary Achievement

Beauty Gatari Cathleen Wenas and Caroline V. Katemba Tobing

Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan, Universitas Advent Indonesia

Telp/Fax: +62 (022) 2700247

Jl. Kol. Masturi No. 228 Parongpong, Bandung 40559, INDONESIA

Email : beautyuty18@yahoo.co.id

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to find the enhancement of students’ vocabulary

achievement using Online Games and Pictures Instruction. This study used

quantitative research method and comparative design. This study was designed to

seek the answer to the following question: Is there any significant difference on the

students’ vocabulary enhancement between those who are taught using Online Games

and Pictures Instruction? In order to answer that question, there were two classes in

grade eight of SMP Perguruan Advent XV Ciracas, Jakarta Timur. They were divided

into two groups, grade 8-a was Pictures Instruction group and grade 8-b was Online

Games group. The vocabulary test (pre-test) was given at the first meeting. After 16

hours of treatment, the post-test was administered to both groups to see the significant

of both methods. The data was analyzed using SPSS 17. The normalized gain of the

students who are taught using Online Games 0.2802. It can be concluded that the gain

level of Online Games is low. While the normilezed gain of the students who are

taught using Pictures Instruction is 0.4631. It can be concluded that the gain level of

it can be concluded that the gain level of Picture Instruction is average. The obtained

result through the normalized gain indicated there was a significant difference

between the group which was taught through Online Games and Pictures Instruction.

Based on the result of the data the null hypothesis was rejected and some

recommendations are given at the end.

Key Word: vocabulary, teaching, Online Games, Picture Instruction

INTRODUCTION

In this era of technology everything is associated with gadget. Well, the

children having their own gadget such as computer, smartphone, laptop, tab, etc.

Some of those stuff provided by parents since their early age. One of the most

popular activities done by children under the age of 17 are playing online games. The

curriculum used today is based on competence.

Education based on competence is education that emphasizes the ability to

be possessed by graduates of a given education level. It means students are required

to have certain competencies or skills as a result of the learning process in schools.

To compete in a global world, the competence or the ability of the main assets that

must be owned by the students. Therefore it is expected that a competency-based

curriculum can produce students who can compete globally. But some schools have

difficulty in achieving basic competency in English language lesson. This is because

the lack of mastery of the English language vocabulary. Students often have difficulty

understanding the meaning of a word for the understanding of their relatively

inadequate vocabulary so that the process of achieving a basic competency will be

longer.

This study offer a new method to teach vocabulary through online games.

Because today many children are addicted to playing online games. Turgut and Irgin

(2009) said that learning via computer games can be considered as surreal and

outrageous. Many people are troubled with the themes that constitute certain games,

and concerned with the intensity of involvement and amount of time that youth

devote to playing computer games. In this case the researcher sees this online games

can also be used as a tool for learning English. According to Jan (2013) and Thomas

& Brown (2011), learning through games is one of the most effective ways to learn,

because games are used to improve content mastery, higher-order thinking skills, and

social skills during the learning process. The uptake and use of games in educational

and training contexts indicate a significant level of interest in game-based activities

(De freitas & Griifiths, 2008). Processes of language learning have become more

engaging by means of educational games which are believed to add fun to classrooms

where students would feel more relaxed and comfortable. This study seeks to find out

the effect of online games in enhance the ability of students vocabulary that compared

with the picture instruction method. These things needed for enhancing student

vocabulary ability.

EXPERIMENTAL

1. Population and Sample

The participants of this study were the pupils of SMP Perguruan Advent XV

Ciracas, East Jakarta, Jakarta. They were divided into two groups. Grade 8A and 8B

consist of 56 students of SMP Advent Ciracas in East Jakarta. None of the

participants had any experience of participating in this kind of experiments.

2. Research Instrument

The instrument used in gathering the data was vocabulary test. It is used to

measure pupils’ comprehension of their vocabulary. The instrument used in the

treatment method are computer’s laboratory, Wi-Fi, pictures that captured from the

online game, online game, LCD-projector. The test was administered at the beginning

and before the treatment is administered and a post test administered at the end of 16

hours treatment to find out the pupils’ achievement in vocabulary using online games

and Pictures instruction.

3. Treatment

Procedures of Online Games:

 Teacher gave some new words with a broad application domain in game nets

or online games were selected to be presented to the students’ application

domain in game nets. Online games are selected to be presented. Teacher told

the kinds of the game online that student can play and explain to them step by

step on playing the online game.

 Students are allowed to use the internet in the classroom where they could

play online games.

 During the class time students in the online games group enjoyed an enjoyable

environment where they used a variety of words in the context.

 Students wrote the vocabulary that they recently learn.

 Teacher give test about the vocabulary that student recently know.

Procedures of Pictures Instruction:

 Teacher introduced the lesson to the student

 Teacher gave pictures to the student using Power-point Presentation with the

English word that describes the pictures.

 After the presentation the students in each group practiced the words through

repetitions and question-answer drills using the same mode of instruction used

to present new items in the class.

 Teacher gave students worksheet about the PicturesTeacher introduced the

lesson to the student.

4. Data Gathering

 Pilot test

Data collection instrument was preceded by pilot studies in children who are

part of the student population not sample. That is to determine whether the

instrument is sufficiently reliable or not, communicative, understandable, and

so on.

 Pretest

The pretest for the grade 8A and 8B pupils administered on February 1, 2016.

It is consist of 30 and design in form of multiple-choice questions.

 Post Test

After the treatment student was given a post-test. The post-test found out

whether the use of Online Game and Pictures Instruction make impact on the

students’ vocabulary improvement.

 Validity of test question

Validity test was intended to find out wheatear the instrument test is

appropriate to be used in this research or not.

∑ ∑ ∑

∑ ∑ ∑ ∑

The result of the statistical computation on the pilot-test is presented in the

following table.

Table 1.1 Classification of Validity Question

Number of Question Rxy Interpretation

3,6,18,21,28,36,43,45 = 8 0.40 < ≤ 0.60 Moderate

2,4,7,11,12,13,14,15,17,19,26,27,30,32,

35,39,41,42,44

0.20 < ≤ 0.40 Low

5,8,9,10,20,22,23,25,29,33,34,37,38,40,

46,49

0.00 < ≤ 0.20 Very Low

1,16,24,31,48,47 ≤0.00 Not Valid

Questions are valid if the score is larger than 0.00. Based on the result of the

table calculation above there were 44 questions that were valid. There were 4

questions that were not valid, 16 questions were very low, 20 questions were low and

8 questions were moderate. The result of the table above showed that there were 20

items that had raw score 0.20 – 0.40. So, it can be concluded that the validity was

low.

 Reliability Test

Reliability is the constant of a test when the test is done in the same subject.

1
∑

Arikunto (2012)

Table 1.2 Classification of Reliability Test

Coefficient of

Reliability

Interpretation

0.90< ≤ 1.00 Very High

0.70 < ≤ 0.90 High

0.40 < ≤ 0.70 Moderate

0.20 < ≤ 0.40 Low

≤ 0.20 Very Low

The result of the computation of reliability test showed that the reliability is

0,60. It can concluded that reliability of the test was moderate.

 Discrimination Index of Question

The discrimination index of item is the ability to distinguish between good

student (high ability) and the students who are less in intelligent (low ability).

(Arikunto, 2012)

The result of statistical computation on the pilot test is presented in the

following table.

Table 1.3 Result of Discrimination level of Question

Number of Question Discrimination index Interpretation

3 0.70-1.00 Excellent

4,6,19,21,28,36,43,45 0.40-0.70 Good

14,15,18,20,25,26,27,30,32,37,38,

40,41,42

0.20-0.40 Satisfactory

1,2,5,8,9,10,17,22,23,29,33,34,35,

44,47,48,49

0.00-0.20 Poor

16,24,31,39,46 < 0.00 Very Bad

The result of the table above showed that there are 17 items with discrimination index

between 0.00-0.20. It can be concluded that the discrimination index of the test is

poor.

 Statistical Treatment Data

The researcher used the t-test to find out whether the achievement of the

pupils who are taught by using Online Games is different from those who were

taught by Pictures Instruction. To examine the data, the researcher compared

means of the test between two independent data group which is done by using

statistical or t-test.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

1. Result of Data Analysis

In gathering data of the research, the researcher taught two classes at SMP Perguruan

Advent XV Ciracas, one class was Online Games group and the other class was

Pictures Instruction group. The following table is the result of pre-test and post-test of

each group.

Table 1.4 Result of Pre-test, Post-test, Standard Deviation and Normalized Gain

Based on the result of the table above showed that the mean and

standard deviation in students’ vocabulary achievement, it has gained

0.2802 and the mean of the students who were taught using Online Games

60.31 and the post-test is 71.35, while the gain of the students who are taught

using Pictures Instruction is 0.4631. The mean in pre-test is 58.93 and the

post-test is 77.33. The standard deviation for each group in SPSS 17, the

standard deviation result of Online Games group is 0.25763, while the

standard deviation of Pictures Instruction group is 0.18223.

Online Games Pictures Instruction

Mean St. Deviation Mean St. Deviation

Pre‐test 60.31 11.390 58.93 12.128

Post‐test 71.35 12.903 77.33 11.025

Normalized Gain 0.2802 0.25763 0.4631 0.18223

2. Test of Normality

The researcher is using the test of normality to observe probability distribution of the

data.

Table 1.5 Result of Normalized Gain

Based on the table above, this reseach used the output from the Shapiro-Wilk

because Shapiro-Wilk is the most powerful normality test and because the test is

originally restricted for sample size of less than 50 (Razali & Wah, 2011). If both data

have ρvalue (sig) > α=0.05 it means data is normally distributed and if ρvalue (sig) <

α=0.05, it means data is not normally distributed. Based on the data above, both data

was normally distributed because the significant score of gain for Online Games was

(sig) 0.887 > α=0.05 and the significant of the normalized gain for Pictures

Instruction was (sig) 0.214 > α=0.05.

3. Test of Homogeneity of Variance

Based on statistic if both of the data were normally distributed, then the data

homogeneity test was used.

Group

Shapiro-Wilk

Statistic df Sig.

Gain Gain PI .954 30 .214

Gain OG .981 26 .887

Table 1.6 Result of Homogeneity of Variance

Gain

Levene

Statistic df1 df2 Sig.

3.432 1 54 .069

The data is homogenous if ρvalue (sig) > α=0.05 it means data is

homogenous and if ρvalue (sig) < α=0.05, it means data is not homogenous. Based on

the result of the table above, the result of the data between Online Games and

Pictures Instruction were homogenous because Sig (0.069) > α=0.05.

4. Hypothesis Testing

Table 4.4 Independent Samples Test

Independent Samples Test

Levene's

Test for

Equality of

Variances

t-test for Equality of Means

F Sig. t df Sig.

(2-

taile

Mean

Differ

ence

Std.

Error

Diffe

rence

95%

Confidence

Interval of

the

Difference

Lowe

Upp

Gain Equal

varianc

assume

3.43

.06

3.09

54 .00

.1828

.0590

.0645

.301

According to the data above, the researcher used the data of equal variances

assumed concern that the sample data was distributed homogenous and sig (2-tailed).

Based on the result of the data sig (2 tailed), it shown that sig. (0.003) ≤ α (0.05), it

means that Ha is accepted and Ho is rejected. For that researcher concluded there is

significant difference between those who were taught through Online Games and

those who were taught through Picture Instruction.

Based on the result of this study online games have significant result because

through online games that students can learn vocabulary without feeling stress to

memorize. With a good atmosphere and fun, students unconsciously forcing

themselves to understand the words that exist in the online game. and the result of

this study was also supported by research of Purushotma (2005) who has suggested

that games can be so highly motivating that even addictive they become so engaged

in game activities that they stay in the classroom even in the break time. Rivalry and

fun go together, creating both a friendly and competitive environment.

For the treatment of Pictures Instruction, there is also significant result

because the images have appealed and have a permanent effect when students learn

vocabulary. Pictures also help students memorized the new words and help teachers

to make lesson more interesting. Colored images make students more interested in

learning the language. this study was also supported by Mansourzadeh (2015) who

mentioned that pictures are those kinds of visual instruction materials that can be

used more effectively to develop and sustain motivation in producing positive

attitudes towards English and to teach or reinforce language skills.

Based on the results of the two methods of learning, the mean of the picture

has a higher score than the mean of the online games. This could be due to the

method which has been frequently used by teachers in introducing new vocabulary to

students that use the images as a tool. Since the beginning students learn the English

language, is frequently used media images. In terms of textbooks also may be seen

that the textbooks of English in Indonesia using a variety of images.

Conclusion

From the result of the data analysis based on the normalized gain from the

pre-test and post-test, the enhancement of EFL students’ vocabulary achievement for

Online Games and Pictures Instruction class were average. Based on the research

finding, the researcher can concludes that there is significant difference in the

enhancement of students’ vocabulary achievement in English between those who

were taught using Online Games and Pictures Instructions.

References

de Freitas, S. and Griffiths, M. (2008). The Convergence of Gaming Practices with Other
Media Forms: What Potential for Learning? A Review of the Literature.
Learning, Media and Technology, 33(1), 11-20.

Jan, M. (2013). A literature review of game-based learning. Singteach, 45. Retrieved
from

http://singteach.nie.edu.sg/ issue45-research02/

Purushotma, R. (2005). Commentary: You’re not studying, you’re just … Language

Learning & Technology, 9(1), 80-96.

Mansourzadeh, N. (2015). A comperative study of teaching vocabulary through pictures

and audio-visualaids to young Iranian EFL learners. Journal of Elementary
Education Vol.24, No. 1 pp. 47-5.9

Thomas, D., & Brown, J. S. (2011). A new culture of learning cultivating the imagination

for a world of constant change. Lexington, KY: CreateSpace.

Turgut,Y. & Irgin, P. (2009). Young Learners’ Language Learning Via Computer

Games.