Template Artikel Jurnal Optimasi Sistem Industri JURNAL ARBITRER - VOL. 6 NO. 1 (2019) Online version available in : http://arbitrer.fib.unand.ac.id JURNAL ARBITRER | 2339-1162 (Print) | 2550-1011 (Online) | Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International. Some rights reserved DOI: https://doi.org/10.25077/ar.6.1.35-44.2019 Article Students’ Strategy in Learning Vocabulary at English Department of STKIP PGRI Nanik Sulastri1 1Padang State University, West Sumatra, Indonesia SUBMISSION TRACK A B S T R A C T Recieved: March 28, 2019 Final Revision: May 04, 2019 Available Online: May 23, 2019 This research was conducted to: (1) To examine the vocabulary learning strategies (2) To find out the most and the least vocabulary learning strategies that used by the (3) To analyze the factors affect the students in choosing the vocabulary learning strategy of English Language Education Program at STKIP PGRI Sumbar. The research applied a descriptive research; the population of this research was the eighth-semester students in academic year 2017/2018. The samples of this research were 49 students chosen by using total sampling technique. The data were analyzed by using descriptive analysis and used Power score and estimate stage for Academic vocabulary. The research result showed that (1) the students’ vocabulary proficiency; it was classified as late gradation. It can be said that most of the students are in late gradation in percentage 60.71% and only less students who get early gradation. (2) the most learning strategy mostly used by the students was Consolidation learning strategies in learning vocabulary on percentage 40,81% students . (3) Some factors affect the choosing of vocabulary language learning strategies were found. It was found that the late gradation students chose Memory learning strategies as their strategy in learning vocabulary because of believe, motivation and learning experience. It can be concluded that the students’ learning strategy affected their proficiency in vocabulary. KEYWORD Students’, strategy, learning, vocabulary KORESPONDENSI E-mail: naniksulastri2680@gmail.com I. INTRODUCTION Vocabulary is important thing in learning process, but some students in English department in STKIP PGRI Sumbar do not have any attention to increase their ability in vocabulary. It is evidenced when speaking class. Students who have limited in their vocabulary are just silent in the discussion. They are timid to speak because their limitation in grammar and vocabulary. On the contrary, the students who realize how important the vocabulary will consider study vocabulary deeper. They who have attention in developing vocabulary have learning strategy to expand their vocabulary. A more recent study conducted by Nirattisai and Chiramanee (2014) was used to investigate http://josi.ft.unand.ac.id/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ https://doi.org/10.25077/ar.6.1.35-44.2019 NANIK SULASTRI / JURNAL ARBITRER - VOL. 6. NO. 1 (2019) 36 vocabulary learning strategies employed by Thai university students. The relationship between the students’ vocabulary strategies and their vocabulary size also was explored. It could be concluded that language learners who use language learning strategies more than others generally achieve greater language proficiency, and good language learners used strategies more frequently and appropriately to enhance their target language learning. Therefore, in order to help language students to learn the target language more successfully, and effectively, the relationship between the employment of language learning strategies and language proficiency should be further explored on a worldwide scale. In addition, to help learners function well in language learning, they need to know strategies that may help them acquire English vocabulary. Vocabulary learning strategies refer to what learners do to achieve their learning tasks. These strategies are used by them when they learn grammar, literature, vocabulary and others. Students might have problems in their communication and cannot write when they want to convey their opinion or idea unless their vocabulary size is adequate. Liu (2010) have conducted a research on learning beliefs of Chinese university learners with regard to rote learning as a vocabulary learning strategy. The results show that the learners had a strong Chinese cultural belief rooted in Confucianism and preferred practicing, memorizing, reviewing and repetition. The findings further imply that this learning culture among the Chinese English Foreign Language university learners can be attributed to cultural learning tradition in China, which have their roots in Confucius teachings. In learning vocabulary, the students have various strategies. They learn based on their enjoyment in its learning process. Learning strategies in vocabulary are different among the students. Those strategies will influence their result in English achievement. Students who have good strategy in learning vocabulary can understand about what they have learned easier because some aspects of English learning need vocabulary in understanding the meaning. Takac (2008) explained that the benefit of strategic training in the fact that most of vocabulary learning strategy can be applied in all learning stages. Then vocabulary learning strategies are intended mental strategies that language learners employ to enhance vocabulary learning and retrieve easily new words. Language learners attempt several ways to use different vocabulary learning strategies. It is impossible for learners to memorize all the words in any language, and they cannot master the vocabulary of the target language. As a result, they need to use the techniques mentioned before at different stages of learning in order to advance their vocabulary acquisition and remember these vocabulary items. Moreover, vocabulary learning strategies vary from one learner to another in terms of different variables such as age, gender, language proficiency level. Asgari and Ghazali (2011) examined the type of vocabulary learning strategies used by Malaysian ESL students majoring at Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) whereby ESL students at University Putra Malaysia is a population that has been rarely included in any previous studies on vocabulary learning strategies. Based on the aim of the study, it was decided that the best method for this investigation to better understanding the use of VLSs by these particular students is to adopt the qualitative research design. There are several experts who have explored learning strategies of vocabulary through some researches. Most of them state that developing vocabulary is an essential and continuing challenge for language learners. Language learners need to use strategies to help them acquire new lexical items and to have rich vocabulary. The use of suitable strategies makes a distinction between experienced learners and beginners in many learning areas. It is a necessity for language learners to increase their vocabulary knowledge and to understand words to use NANIK SULASTRI / JURNAL ARBITRER - VOL. 6. NO. 1 (2019) 37 them correctly. In order to achieve this purpose, emphasis has to shift from language instructors and teaching to language learners and learning (Sadighi and Zarafshan, 2006). Some vocabulary’s taxonomy is developed by several experts related to their findings. These classification systems contribute vitally to the knowledge of vocabulary strategies such as Cohen, Gu and Johnson, Schmitt, Cook and Nation. However, Schmitt’s taxonomy of VLSs is a comprehensive inventory of vocabulary learning strategies. Schmitt took social, memory, cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies established by Oxford, and invented a new category that is determination strategies. Schmitt’s vocabulary learning strategies (VLSs) are divided into two groups: strategies used to define the meaning of new words and strategies used to consolidate the meaning of the new words when learners come across them again. As social strategies can be employed for both purposes according to Schmitt, he includes these strategies in both groups. The first group contains determination and social strategies and the second contains cognitive, metacognitive, and memory. The group of discovery strategies includes determination (such as analyzing part of speech, affixes and roots) and social strategies (such as asking teacher for an L1 translation). It is stated clearly that students choose their own learning strategies in expanding their vocabulary mastery. Learners use this category to discover the meaning of new words without asking from another person. Consequently, learners attempt to find out the meaning of a new word by using the context, structural knowledge of language, and reference materials. Some studies about the vocabulary learning strategy aim to give information about the diversity of learning strategies can cause different result of the students’ vocabulary mastery. Therefore, it can be assumed there is specific learning strategy can be powerful for some students. Different students’ character, motivation and intention make they choose different learning strategy to be used. II. METHODS This research was categorized as a descriptive research since the researcher involved collecting data about the student’s learning strategies in vocabulary at STKIP PGRI Sumatera Barat to answer questions about the opinion of people about learning strategies problem. As stated in problems of the research, this research was conducted to describe vocabulary learning strategies that are used by students at the second year. Dealing with the term of assessment in this research, the researcher also tried to find out the influences of vocabulary learning strategies by assessing the correlation of those variables to examine the result in term quantitative data. The descriptive study focuses on the collection and analysis of non-numerical data such as observation, interviews, and more discursive sources of information. It can be said that in the process of collecting the data, the researcher will involve fully in the context of research and interact with the participants. III. RESULT Students’ vocabulary gradation The data of this research were students’ achievement of Vocabulary. The vocabulary test was done two times. The gradation of the students’ vocabulary proficiency is suggested by Power score and estimate stage for Academic vocabulary. The students’ results were tabulated in table 1. Table 1. Frequency Distribution of vocabulary gradation Number of students percentage Category 34 students 60.71% Late gradation 14 students 25% Middle gradation 8 students 14.29% Early gradation The number of the students showed that more than half students had good achievement of vocabulary test. From the number of students who got high competence in vocabulary, it can be said that the students were had mastery NANIK SULASTRI / JURNAL ARBITRER - VOL. 6. NO. 1 (2019) 38 in understanding words. The result of vocabulary test indicated that 60.71 % students are categorized into late gradation student. It can be seen that and 25% students are categorized into middle gradation and 14.29% students are categorized into early gradation students. It can be said that most of the students are in late gradation and only less students who get early gradation. Fig. 1. The students percentage of the vocabulary gradation Data Description of vocabulary learning strategies mostly used by the students There were several description data of students’ vocabulary based on the students’ gradation of vocabulary. The gradation of students vocabulary was high gradation, middle gradation and early gradation. The category of students gradation of vocabulary learning strategies were classified into frequency of the five categories of VLS used by Late gradation, middle gradation and learly gradation participants frequency. Descriptive statistics for the frequency of the five categories of VLS used by Late gradation participants Table 2. VLS used by Late gradation participants No Strategies Mean score Frequency category Rank 1 Memory strategy 3,54 High use 1 3 Cognitive strategy 3,45 Medium use 2 4 Metacognitive Strategy 3,38 Medium use 3 5 Social strategy 3,33 Medium use 4 6 Determination 2,78 Medium use 5 Mean score 3,296 Medium use The descriptive statistics show that the most frequent employed vocabulary learning strategies by Late gradation of vocabulary of STKIP PGRI was Memory strategies. As mentioned earlier, in relation to scoring system the VLSs were used moderately by the participants. Indicates the overall strategy used by the participants with mean of (3,296) indicating they are medium. Fig. 2. Illustrate the VLS mostly used by late gradation student. The graph above shows that the VLS mosly used by the late gradation students in mean score 3,54 on category high use is Memory strategy. The second one, mostly used by the late gradation students is cognitive strategy in mean score 3,45 on category high use. The next strategy mostly used by the late gradation students is metacognitive strategy in mean score 3,38 on category medium use. After that, social strategy is in mean score 3,33 on category medium use. The least VLS is rare to be used as the students’ VLS is determination strategy in mean score 2,78 on category medium use. The data imply that most of the late gradation students use group words together as their learning strategy. They do not use words that they get separately. They tend to use the words by grouping them. The strategies in Memory learning strategy exposed that the students often used this kind of strategy in their learning. As knowing a word is not merely memorizing its dictionary definition, the learner has to learn how to connect it in related context, how to use it in actual communicaton in its correct form and also how to use the known word in different sentences. The relatively high means showed this group of students did well in this respect. The students were clear that the purpose of 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 Early grade Middle grade Late grade 0 1 2 3 4 Det Soc Cog Met Mem VLSs… NANIK SULASTRI / JURNAL ARBITRER - VOL. 6. NO. 1 (2019) 39 vocabulary learning is to use a word appropriately. Descriptive statistics for the frequency of the five categories of VLS used by Middle gradation participants Table 3. VLS used by Middle gradation participants No Strategies Mean score Frequency category Rank 1 Memory strategy 3,41 High use 1 3 Social strategy 3,10 Medium use 2 4 Metacognitive strategy 2,84 Medium use 3 5 Cognitive strategy 2,81 Medium use 4 6 Determination strategy 2,55 Medium use 5 Mean score 2,942 Medium use The descriptive statistics show that the most frequent employed vocabulary learning strategies by Middle gradation of vocabulary of STKIP PGRI was Memory strategies. As mentioned earlier, in relation to scoring system the VLSs were used moderately by the participants. Indicates the overall strategy used by the participants with mean of (2,942) indicating they are medium. Fig. 3. the VLS mostly used by middle gradation student. The graph above shows that the VLS mosly used by the middle gradation students in mean score 3,41 on category high use is Memory strategy. The second one, mostly used by the middle gradation students is social strategy in mean score 3,10 on category medium use. The next strategy mostly used by the middle gradation students is metacognitive strategy in mean score 2,84 on category medium use. After that, cognitive strategy is in mean score 2,81 on category medium use. The least VLS is rare to be used as the students’ VLS is determination strategy in mean score 2,55 on category medium use. It is clear that the participants were familiar with these techniques in Memory strategies. Word form knowledge includes the knowledge of word’s parts, spelling, and sound. Regarding word meaning knowledge refers to the concept of the word, what it refers to, which words can be associated with. This list of word knowledge can be achieved by using Memory strategies. Alternatively, the students can create their own mental images of a word's meaning. It is believed that imagery has been shown to be more effective than more repetition for the new words and sentences. Descriptive statistics for the frequency of the five categories of VLS used by early gradation participants. Table 4 VLS used by early gradation participants No Strategies Mean score Frequency category Rank 1 Social strategy 2,76 Medium use 1 3 Metacognitive strategy 2,3 Low use 2 4 Memory strategy 2,22 Low use 3 5 Cognitive strategy 2,18 Low use 4 6 Determination strategy 2,04 Low use 5 Mean score 2,3 Low use The descriptive statistics show that the most frequent employed vocabulary learning strategies by early gradation of vocabulary of STKIP PGRI was Social strategies. As mentioned earlier, in relation to scoring system the VLSs were used moderately by the participants. Indicates the overall strategy used by the participants with mean of (2,3) indicating they are low. 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 Det Soc Cog Met Mem VLSs of… NANIK SULASTRI / JURNAL ARBITRER - VOL. 6. NO. 1 (2019) 40 The graph above shows that the VLS mosly used by the early gradation students in mean score 2,76 on category medium use is social strategy. The second one, mostly used by the early gradation students is metacognitive strategy in mean score 2,3 on category low use. The next strategy mostly used by the early gradation students is memory strategy in mean score 2,22 on category low use. After that, cognitive strategy is in mean score 2,18 on category low use. The least VLS is rare to be used as the students’ VLS is determination strategy in mean score 2, 04 on category low use. The description of the data above show that the students are good enough in using social strategy as their vocabulary leraning strategy. It can be seen that most of the students are often use this strategy as their learning stratagey. Only few students who do not use this strategy as their vocabulary learning strategies with some specific reason such as they preffered to learn vocabulary with their own way. Theiy prefer to choose to take in order to interact with other learners or native speakers of the language. Eventually the strategies can act in specific ways to foster certain aspects of that competence, such as grammatical, sociolinguistic, discourse and strategic elements. The factor affecting the late gradation students in choosing vocabulary learning strategy Some factors affect the choosing of vocabulary language learning strategies were found. It was found that the late gradation students chose Memory learning strategies as their strategy in learning vocabulary because of believe, motivation and learning experience. They had high motivation in enriching their vocabulary through their own learning ways. It was proven from their statement that they usually interested in repetition. From four respondents, 100% respondents thought about their next quality if they repeat and practice their vocabulary. they prefer to believe on their own ability rather than depend on their friends to know the meaning of the words found. The factor affecting the middle gradation students in choosing vocabulary learning strategy Some factors affect the choosing of vocabulary language learning strategies were found. It was found that the middle gradation students chose Memory learning strategies as their strategy in learning vocabulary because of field of study, learning environment and class level. They had high motivation in enriching their vocabulary through building social relationship. It was proven from their statement that they usually interested in doing Graph 3. VLS mostly used by early gradation student. 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 Det Soc Cog Met Mem VLSs of early grad NANIK SULASTRI / JURNAL ARBITRER - VOL. 6. NO. 1 (2019) 41 cooperative learning. They prefer to ask and imitate what other students do to learn vocabularies. The factor affecting the early gradation students in choosing vocabulary learning strategy Some factors affect the early students in choosing vocabulary learning strategies were found. It was found that the early gradation students chose Social learning strategies as their vocabulary learning strategy because of many factors such as field of study, course type and class level. It was proven from their statement that they usually ask someone help for difficult words. They prefer to count on others rather than develop their own efforts to learn. IV. DISCUSSION Based on the research findings that have been collected from three subjects, the researcher knows that students who have medium grade in their result in English have strategy in learning vocabulary. This learning strategy carry them in successful when learning process. As Mehrpour (2008) revealed in his research that second or foreign language students who possess good word power or knowledge of vocabulary are usually more successful language students. It shows that the ability of students in mastering vocabulary influence their result in learning language. There are some kinds of strategy that are used by subjects in learning their vocabulary. The researcher takes the learning strategy classification by Schmitt’s taxonomy. As Schmitt (2002) revealed that there are two kinds of learning strategy generally, those learning strategies are discovery strategy and consolidation strategy. Discovery strategies consist of determination strategy and social strategy. Consolidation strategies consist of metacognitive strategy, cognitive strategy, and memory strategy. By conducting interview and distributed questionnaire to the subjects, the results are compared with five learning strategies above, the learning strategy that is most frequently used is social strategy. This result is consistent with the findings of Huang and Naerssen (2007) in which it reported that social strategies were highly used by middle to poor learners as opposed to other strategies. The students were also learning much from other students. Contrary with the findings of Huang and Naersen (2007), Wharton’s (2010) found that middle to poor language learners tend to use memory strategy as their learning strategy. As the STKIP PGRI students are categorized into middle to poor language learners , it is believed that memory strategy is the most common strategies to be used since middle or poor language learners usually depend on learning aids in learning . Metacognitive strategies were found to be the least frequent strategies of the VLSs to be used by the participants. The reason why Metacognitive strategies were the least frequent strategies might be that learners have much exposure to English in classes so they learn it consciously. Another reason might affect their usage of this strategy is that they rely on language instructors in classes. It might also be that learners are aware of the learning process even if language instructors adopt the communicative approach in classes. Other reflects different findings in which students’ actual strategy use do not rely on students’ beliefs. For example, students believe that the ability to use a word is to use it in real communication appropriately. However, the students rely too much on word form. This implies that students may lack the opportunities to use vocabulary in their real language situation. This is consistent to Maesin, Mansor, Shafie and Neyan (2009) who state that “in second language learning, students find difficulties to utilize the language skills outside the classrooms as there are fewer opportunities to do so due to poor language environment.” This seems to hinder their goal in vocabulary learning. Regarding attitude, motivation and language learning experience, all these factors seem to NANIK SULASTRI / JURNAL ARBITRER - VOL. 6. NO. 1 (2019) 42 positively correlate with learners’ Vocabulary Learning Strategy use. The more highly motivated students also employ a wider range of Vocabulary Learning Strategies than the less motivated ones. We may conclude that attitude, motivation and language learning experience appear to affect learners’ Vocabulary Learning Strategy use in the same manner. This may suggest that the use of Vocabulary Learning Strategies should be taught to students with negative attitudes, or those with low motivation and less experience. These students need to develop the skill of using Vocabulary Learning Strategies so that they can make full use of these skills to deal with new or unfamiliar vocabulary items. The situational and social factors mentioned in this paper include field of study, class level, course type, gender and language learning environment. Starting with the field of study, it is possible to conclude that it has been found to be related to the strategy preferences of students. This implies that students in different fields of study are likely to have different styles of learning vocabulary. Wu (2008) investigated the language learning strategy use of ten vocational English second language learners from a vocational institute in Hong Kong. The result shows that the learners favored the use of social affective strategies more than cognitive and metacognitive strategies. In this research social affective strategies consist of questioning for clarification, co-operation and positive talk, cognitive consist of grouping, note-taking, summarizing, and translation, then, metacognitive consist of organization, advance preparation, organizational planning and self-management. Regarding class level, it emerges as a clear factor affecting learners’ Vocabulary Learning Strategy choice. The findings seem to reflect the fact that the higher class level the students are in, the lesser rote memorization method they use. Therefore, it is important for language teachers to know what type of Vocabulary Learning Strategies do the students in the lower classes lack so that the teachers can promote Vocabulary Learning Strategies to them and encourage them to use a wider range of Vocabulary Learning Strategies. Rabadi (2016) on English Vocabulary learning strategies employed by Undergraduate EFL Jordanian students. This research was a descriptive research which employed both quantitative and qualitative method. The population Undergraduate EFL Jordanian students which consisted of 356 students. The sample for this research was 36 students (10% of the population). The data were collected by using three kinds of instruments: questionnaire, test, and interview. The findings reveal that the students’ preferences of strategies are dominated by cognitive, followed by social and metacognitive strategies. Learners’ learning outcomes are dealing with language achievement, language proficiency, and vocabulary knowledge. The findings from previous research works seem to indicate that successful learners employ a larger number and a wider range of Vocabulary Learning Strategies than the less successful language learners. Successful language learners often apply Vocabulary Learning Strategy in quite intricate ways to help them acquire new vocabulary items. However, it seems quite risky to infer that the higher language learning outcomes are the result of a larger number and a wider range of learners’ Vocabulary Learning Strategy use. The relationship between learners’ learning outcomes and learners’ Vocabulary Learning Strategy use may be described as bi- directional. In other words, it can either be that the learners’ Vocabulary Learning Strategy use resulted from their learning outcomes or that their learning outcomes can be the result of their Vocabulary Learning Strategy use. V. CONCLUSION It can be concluded that the learning strategies can help the learner to become more self- directed and contribute to the learning process. However, the students may not have NANIK SULASTRI / JURNAL ARBITRER - VOL. 6. NO. 1 (2019) 43 the appropriate tools for doing that even though they may acknowledge the meaning of vocabulary in language proficiency. 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Electronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching , Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 68–83 Article Nanik Sulastri1 I. INTRODUCTION II. METHODS III. RESULT IV. DISCUSSION V. CONCLUSION