















































45  

JOURNAL OF ENGLISH EDUCATION AND TECHNOLOGY 

Vol. 04 No. 01, March 2023, pp. 45 - 56 

Available online at:  

http://jeet.fkdp.or.id/index.php/jeet/issue/current 

ISSN: 2721-3811 (media online) 

 

The Effect of Word Chain Game on Vocabulary Mastery 

(A Study at Mts Hidayatush Shibyan Cendoro Palang Tuban) 

 Salamun 

 Universitas Kiai Abdullah Faqih Gresik 

salamjamal45@gmail.com  

 

 

ABSTRACT 

Vocabulary is one of the important aspects in teaching language included English. Vocabulary is one of the 

important language components that need to be taught to support learners in mastering language skill. We can 

use a lot of media to attract the student’s interest in learning process. One of the media is games. The use of 

games is very helpful for teachers to bridge the student’s motivation and learning interest. The objective of the 

research is to know the effectiveness of Word chain game in teaching vocabulary mastery. The research design 

is experimental research. The researcher apply pre-experimental one group pre-test-post-test design. The 

subject of the research was students’ VIII A of Mts Hidayatush Shibyan Cendoro Palang Tuban. Tehnique of 

data collection is test, pre-test, treatment, and pos-test. Meanwhile, tehnique of data analysis the researcher 

used t-test. The result of the research showed the sum score of the students in pre-test before treatment was 1935. 

Then, the students sum score of post-test after treatment was 2470. The researcher analyzes the result of t-test 

analysis to answer the research problem. The researcher gets the value of t-test analysis which 7, 77. The value 

of t-test analysis is consulted in t-table. From t-table shows the value of 5% is 2, 06, it mean that value 2, 06 ˂ 

7, 77. So, this research showed a significant effective of Word Chain Game on Vocabulary Mastery. The result 

of this research, conclude that students who are taught by word chain game got higher score on their 

vocabulary.  

Key Word: Word Chain Game, Vocabulary Mastery 

http://jeet.fkdp.or.id/index.php/jeet/issue/current
http://u.lipi.go.id/1580741566
mailto:salamjamal45@gmail.com


46  

I. INTRODUCTION 

One of the important things in learning 

English is "vocabulary" because it has a major 

role in all language skills. Vocabulary is one 

of the basic components in language, no 

language can exist without words(Linse & 

Nunan, 2005). So, students will understand 

the reading text, they can write some notes, 

they can speak the language if they can 

master vocabulary. Students need a 

vocabulary to easily master in English. 

Students can't use English better if their 

vocabulary is low. 

Teaching vocabulary is one of many 

ways to develop English competence of 

person who are learning English (Kholis & 

Aziz, 2020). The difficulity in learning 

English is not only because the ineffective 

method that teacher applies but also the 

aspect of the vocabulary itself. Other 

difficulty in learning and using English 

vocabulary include understanding the 

meaning, the speeling, pronounciation, etc. in 

vocabulary usage. 

We can use a lot of media to attract the 

student’s interest in learning process 

(Khoiroh, 2022). One of the media is games. 

The use of games is very helpful for teachers 

to bridge the student’s motivation and 

learning interest. There are many kinds of 

interesting games to teach vocabulary. One of 

the games is Word Chain Game. Word Chain 

Game is a game in which players come up 

with word that begin with the letter or 

letters that the previous word ended with. 

This game is a challenging and interesting 

activity which stimulates the student’s 

motivation in learning vocabulary. 

The researcher assumed that using 

Word Chain Game seems to be a good 

alternative and effective way of teaching 

English in Mts Hidayatush shibyan Cendoro 

Palang Tuban, because this media can make 

students active in teaching and learning 

process, it also allows students to be creative 

without being shy. In addition, this 

technique to improve the students’ ability in 

mastering vocabulary on their knowledge. 

Based on explanation above, the 

researcher will intend to carry out research to 

solve that problem. It also implied that Word 

Chain Game can motivates the students in 

learning English. Therefore, the researcher 

has decides to conduct a research entitled 

“The Effect of Word Chain Game on 

vocabulary mastery.” 

II. LITERATURE REVIEW 

THE DEFINITION OF VOCABULARY 

In Oxford learner’s pocket dictionary 

states that vocabulary is all the words that a 

person knows or uses (Bull, 2008). 



47  

Vocabulary is all the words in a language. 

Vocabulary also lists of words with their 

meaning. Moreover, in Cambridge dictionary 

states that vocabulary is all the words that 

exist in a particular language or subject 

(Dictionary, 2008). According to 

Kridalaksana, vocabulary is a component of 

language that contains information about the 

meaning and using a word in language 

(Kridalaksana, 2013). 

Learning language includes learning the 

vocabulary or words. Learning is formed by 

words. Humans can communicate with 

others through verbal language, either to 

apply or to receive the information the animal 

cannot do. The learners have to know one by 

one the meaning of the vocabulary. If they 

know all the meaning of vocabulary, it will 

make them easy to make sentence and to 

practice their language. Vocabulary is 

important thing in language learning, for 

vocabulary is needed in all aspects of 

language. The explanation above is 

supported by Cameron’s statement that 

“vocabulary is fundamental to using the 

foreign language as discourse” (Pinter, 2017). 

Vocabulary takes an important role in 

teaching English to build the language 

proficiency. The student will have a good 

language proficiency in four language skills if 

the students know a lot of vocabularies. All 

that vocabulary will be used by students 

when they communicate with other people. 

So, the students in language teaching should 

use their vocabulary when they speak with 

other students. In other words, they should 

improve their speaking skill before the other 

skills. This skill will be improved by knowing 

a lot of vocabularies. 

Vocabulary takes an important role in 

teaching English to build language 

proficiency. The student will have good 

language proficiency in four language skills if 

the students know a lot of vocabulary. All 

that vocabulary will be used by students 

when they communicate with other people. 

So, the students in language teaching should 

use their vocabulary when they speak with 

other students. In other words, they should 

improve their speaking skill before the other 

skills. This skill will be improved by knowing 

a lot of vocabulary. 

THE IMPORTANCE OF VOCABULARY 

Vocabulary is basic aspect in learning 

English that must be mastered by learners 

(nur Aziz & Rohmah, 2022). Mastering 

vocabulary, it will help them to communicate 

orally or in written as well. According to 

rivers, vocabulary is essential for successful 

second language use because, without an 

extensive vocabulary, learners will unable to 

use the structures and function we may have 



48  

learned for comprehensible communication 

From the definition we can conclude that 

vocabulary is important elements in using 

English, that must be mastered by learners. 

Students can express their ideas well, when 

they have a good skill to mastery vocabulary. 

KINDS OF VOCABULARY 

There are at least five kinds of 

vocabulary (Hatch & Brown, 1995:181-243). 

They are follows: 

a. Word Classes 

It is known well as parts of speech 

such as noun, verb, adverb, adjective, 

pronun, preposition and conjuction.  

b. Word Families  

It clarifies about affix and the shift of 

word. 

Example: Play – plays – played = 

Inflected Play – replay – playful 

=Derivatives 

c. Word Formation  

Worf-formation can denote either a 

state or process, and it can be viewed 

either diachronically or 

synchronically. 

Example :  

1. Compounding = second-hand, 

word processor, typereseacher. 

2. Blending = information+ 

entertainment = infotainment. 

3. Clipping = electronic mail = mail. 

4. Influenza = flu 

d. Collocation 

It can be called as two wors usually 

found together. 

Example : this week, once more, once 

again, as well. 

e. Homonysms 

It has same form but different in 

meaning. 

Example : well = sumur, left = kiri, well 

= baik, left = berangkat 

ASPECT OF VOCABULARY 

   There are three aspects to teach 

vocabulary. These are: 

      a) Meaning 

The teacher should try to get the 

meaning to the class without using 

translation. This is not preferable on the 

ground that translation may or may not 

provide the meaning of the word accurately 

and precisely. It is advocated as it enables the 

class to go without grasping the meaning of a 

word thst they learned to pronounce rather 

that to depend upon the translation. 

       b) Spelling 

The students should know how to 

spell the word and how this differs from 

similary pronounced word. 

         c) Pronouncing 

Pronouncing the word enables the 

students to remember it longer and identify 



49  

it more readily when they hear see it. Those 

are the main the main aspects that should be 

implemented in teaching vocabulary. The 

word chain game focus on speeling and 

pronouncing. 

TEACHING VOCABULARY 

Teaching vocabulary is an important role 

in English teaching to improve the 

effectiveness anf effieciency, teachers should 

not only understand the students’ difficulties 

of word study, but also use some useful 

strategies and methods (nur Aziz & 

Rohmah, 2022). Only in this way they can 

help to improve the students’ language 

competence and their anility to use English 

freely in communication. 

Teaching vocabulary is one of the way to 

develop English competence of person who 

are learning English because vocabulary is 

pne of the success keys in learning English/ 

teaching vocabulary development involves 

more than teaching the definition of 

technical or unfamiliar words in texts. Many 

encounters with a word in a meaningful 

contexts are needed for students to acquire 

it. It also requires understanding how the 

words are learned in non-instructional 

context through conversation and reading. 

Researchers claim we don’t learn much from 

looking up words in a dictionary and 

memorizing definitions (Nagy, 1989). When 

teaching vocabulary special attention must 

be given not only to single words but also to 

playword (e.g. by the way); collections, or 

word partnerships (i.e. we’ll soon) and 

idioms. 

As an English teacher, we should know 

the appropriate techniques of teaching 

vocabulary for students. According to the 

study of  hatch and brownin the journal of Qi 

Pan and Rujiang Xu,  learners’ strategies for 

learning vocabulary fall into five essential 

steps: 

1. Having source for encountering new 

words. 

2. Getting the forms of the words. 

3. Learning the meaning of the words. 

4. Making a strong memory of the 

words. 

5. Using the words (Pan & Xu, 2011). 

While teaching vocabulary, teachers 

should take into account the three important 

aspects of vocabulary learning; words form, 

word meaning, and word use. In other words, 

teaching vocabulary should cover both the 

central features of lexical items and their 

relations with other words. 

On the basic of above-mentioned theory, 

Qi Pan and Rujiang Xu said that they used 

the following methods in their lexical 



50  

teaching, which have proved to be very 

powerful and effective. 

a) Teaching vocabulary in Context 

Context means the word that come just 

before and after a word, phrase or statement 

and help to understand its meaning. As Lu 

Shu Xiang said that only by being an a 

context will a word be alive. Similarly, 

stevick pointed out, vocabulary is eiser to 

learn in context than in isolated word lists in 

that such meaningful context permit this 

more context and deeper cognitive 

processing, which enhances strogr in 

memory. Thus words should not be thaught 

out of context. Moreover, context teaching 

caters to students need for effective reading 

and communication by maing correct use of 

words learnt. More importantly, context 

teaching helps cultivate students good 

reading habit of reading between the lines, 

thus improving their reading comprehension. 

Teaching vocabulary in the context is 

more helpful to learners to master word that 

carries different meanings in different 

context (nur Aziz & Hoesny, 2022). Take the 

word means for example: Only a man of means 

could afford to buy such a big house 

.(money,income or wealth). 

b) Teaching vocabulary with semantic Field 

Theory 

What that belong to the same semantic 

class are in the same semantic field. 

According to the theory of semantic field, the 

meaning of a word is decided by its 

relationships with other words in the same 

semantic field. There are various kinds of 

such sense relationships, for example: 

Hyponymy, part/whole relationships, 

synonymy and antonymy. By association of 

word in the same semantic field, we can train 

our students to constantly deepen their 

recollection of words learnt and rainforce 

learning and retention of newly learnt words. 

c) The use of dictionaries  

Usually we are sure that student want to 

know the meaning of many more words than 

teachers can teach them, the dictionary 

provides one of the best resources for 

students who increase the number of words 

they understand. But it’s better to use the 

monolingual dictionary. In it there are many 

more words than students will ever see in 

class. There is grammatical information 

about the words. There is information about 

pronounciation, spelling, word formation, 

and metaphorical and idiomatic use---a 

whole profile of a practical word. It requires 

teachers ti introduce to their methods of 

choosing and using a proper dictionary (Pan 

& Xu, 2011). 

d) Using games  



51  

One of the interesting way to teaching 

vocabulary is using game because the 

students feel something different with their 

English lesson. Some of them usually more 

understand with the material and remember 

the new words given. It is because almost all 

of the students feel bored with formalism in 

their lessons. So most of teachers using games 

in their teaching learning process to make the 

students understand with the materials. 

In this research the researcher will use 

games for her research. The name is word 

chain. This game is very interesting to makes 

students more interest with them materials. 

Beside that, this game also can makes the 

students remember the new vocabularies or 

words given.  

DEFINITION OF WORD CHAIN GAME 

Word chain game is a kinds of game 

purposing to improve the player’s ability in 

mastering vocabulary of words (Gardner, 

2007). According to Firmansyah and Adi  

mentions that Word chain game is a well-

known game that has been applied in 

language teaching class for a long time 

(Firmansyah, 2015). Based on those opinions, 

it can be said that word chain game is one of 

the games can be used by the teacher in 

language teaching process. 

In japan, Word Chain Game well-

known as Shiritori game. The Japanese give 

the definition to Shiritori game as a Japanese 

Word Chain Game. Hyakka argues that 

Shiritori game is a word game played 

bymaking a chain of words 20 and each of 

players must say a word which is starting 

with the last syllable of the word that has 

already given by the previous player 

(Hyakka, 2014). 

Word chain game specially used in 

vocabulary teaching learning process. 

Adachitoka  said that “someone says a word, 

and the next person has to saya word that 

starts with the last letter of the previous 

word” (Apriani et al., 2021). Moreover, 

Robico define word chain game as a game to 

create a new word by taking the last letter of 

the previous word. So, each of players must 

say word by word when they play this game. 

In other words, they will try to recollect all of 

their vocabularies that they have known 

before. It means, the writer can say that the 

rule of this game suitable to improve the 

mastery of English vocabulary. 

a. The steps of Word Chain Game  

In addition, Cullen the way to teach 

vocabulary by using Word Chain Game 

are : 



52  

1. In the spoken version, one player 

starts the game by saying any word, 

for example “cat”. 

2. The next player has to say a word 

that’s starts with the last letter of 

the previous our player‘s word. 

With cat, the last letter is t, so the 

next player might say “table”. 

3. The next player does the same, this 

time looking for a word that’s starts 

with –e for example “elephant”. 

4. The game continues does like this. It 

can stop when exhaustion sets in. 

5. The written version is the same, 

except that  the words are written 

on a sheet of paper that is passed 

from player to player (Alan, 50 C.E.). 

Variation: Whole-Class Word Chains  

1. Everyone in the class has a sheet of 

paper of the same size and writes a 

word on it at the same time. 

2. When everyone is ready, each child 

passes his or her paper to the closets 

child. Each player writes a word 

starting with the last letter of the 

word on the sheet of paper he or she 

received. Then, when everyone’s 

ready, they pass the papers on again. 

3. This goes on until the players get 

their own sheet of paper back. 

From explanation above, the writer can 

concludes that these word chains can make 

very interesting classroom displays. And if 

students successed in word of chain game, 

their vocabulary will increased and they can 

learn English language well. 

III. METHOD 

In this research the researcher used  

quantitative approach with pre- 

experimental research. Quantitative is a type 

of educational research in which the 

researcher used the statistical technique to 

understand and explain phenomena (Latief, 

2012). As cited in Donald Arys book 

“Introduction to Research in Education “Pre-

experimental has two design One-Group 

Pretest-Posttest Design, and Static Group 

Comparison. 

The research use one Group Pretest-

Posttest Design because according to the 

researcher, this is the most simple design, 

only comparing between pretest and posttest 

and easy to do for the research  

POPULATION AND SAMPLING 
The population in this research was 

students of 2nd grade of Mts Hidayatush 

Shibyan. That were 93 students and The 

sample of this research, the researcher  

choosed  students of VIII A, totally 27 

students (9 female and 18 male) 



53  

THE TECHNIQUE OF DATA 
COLLECTION 
Data Collection Technique is the way 

used by researcher to collect the data. As 

wrote by Creswell in his book Educational 

Research Planning, Conducting and Evaluating 

Quantitative and Qualitative Research that 

Collecting data means identifying and 

selecting individuals for a study, obtaining 

their permission to study them, and 

gathering information by asking people 

questions or observing their behaviors 

(Creswell, 2002). Based on the research 

method, the study was done into three steps. 

First step, the researcher wants to know the 

students’ vocabulary mastery by 

administering a pre-test. In the pre-test, 

students are ordered to do the test by 

multiple choices with 20 questions. Second 

step, the reasearher gave treatment to the 

students.  And the last step is the researcher 

wants to know the students’ vocabulary 

mastery after giving the treatment by word 

chain game 

DATA ANALYSIS TECHNIQUE 
In this research, the researcher prepared 

a test. As the technique for collecting the 

data. In this section, the research discussed 

about the technique to analyze the data. the 

technique of analyzing the data is test. After 

the results of pre-test and post-test were 

gotten by the researcher, the value of the pre-

test and post-test are analyzed. The 

researcher used t-test to get the result of this 

research. And formula is (Suharsimi, 2006):  

ᵗ = 
𝑀𝑑

√∑𝑋
2 

𝑑

𝑁 (𝑁−1)

 

Md : mean of difference pre test – post test 

value  

xd : deviation of each subject (d-Md)  

Σ : number of deviation quadrate  

    N : number of sample  

d.b : N-1 (number of sample – 1) 

Md = 
∑d

n
 

Md : mean of difference pre test – post test 

value.  

Σd : number of d (number of difference 

between pre test – post-test value) 

IV. RESULT 

final result of this research, the 

researcher used t-test as instrument in this 

research to analyze and get the value. Based 

on the computation of the test, the result of 

this research has a variant between before 

and after treatment. So, the t-test formula : 

MD  = 
∑ d

N
 

The data of research: 

∑x2d  = 15.175 

N  = 27 

MD  = 
∑ d

N
 

          = 
535

27
  

             = 19,814 



54  

∑x2d  = ∑d2 –  
(∑d)2

𝑁
 

 = 15.175 − 
535²

27
 

                 = 15.175 − 
286.225

27
 

 = 15.175 – 10.600 

 = 4.575 

So, the computation t-test: 

t  = 
𝑀𝐷

√ ∑X
2

d

𝑁 (𝑁−1)

  

 =  
19,814

√
4.575

27 (27−1)

 

 =  
19,814

√
4.575

27(26)

 

 = 
19,814

√
4.575

702

 

  = 
19,814

√6,51 
 

 = 
19,814

2,55
  

 = 7, 77 

With 𝛼 = 5% and df = (n-1) = 27-1 = 26, 

obtained ttable = 2,06.  So tcount  was higher 

than ttable (7,77>2,06).  

From the result, it can be concluded that 

there is a difference result between before 

doing treatment by word chain game and 

after do it. The students’ score of pre-test was 

1935 whereas the students’ score of post-test 

was 2470. 

V. DISCUSSION 

The objective of this study is to know the 

effectiveness in teaching vocabulary after 

being taught by word chain game on 

vocabulary mastery. In order to gain the 

objectives of the study, the researcher 

conducts an experimental study with the 

design pre-experimental research one group 

pre-test post-test design. Based on the research 

method, the study was done into two  steps.  

First step, the researcher wants to know 

the students’ vocabulary mastery by 

administering a pre-test. In the pre-test, 

students are ordered to do the test by 

multiple choices with 20 questions. The 

result of pre-test is all of the students score is 

under passin score 70. It can be concluded 

that the students’ vocabulary mastery of Mts 

Hidayatush Shibyan is low with the mean of 

pretest was 1935.  

The second step was giving a treatment 

to the students. The treatment here was 

teaching English vocabulary by word chain 

game. The researcher taught information 

related to the nature of people, animals, places, and 

job objects according to the context of their 

use. During getting the treatment, the 

students are enthusiastic to study 

vocabulary. All of the students were 

interested to memorize vocabulary by word 

chain game. The researcher did the treatment 

twice. The first treatment, researcher used 

material by the title the nature of people and 

animals. And at the second treatment, 



55  

researcher used material by the title places and 

job. 

As it was previously stated that the T-

test was used to check the significant 

different in scores achieved by one group. 

The data analysis shows that t-count bigger 

than t-table (7, 77 > 2, 06). It means that the 

alternative hypothesis (Ha) was accepted 

and null hypothesis (Ho) was rejected. It 

shows that there was significant different 

score of the students’ between before and 

after being taught by word chain game. Based 

on the hypothesis testing, the alternative 

hypothesis (Ha) was accepted and the null 

hypothesis (Ho) was rejected.  

From the explanation above, the 

implementation of word chain game in 

teaching and learning process gives a positive 

effect on the students’ vocabulary mastery, 

because they can study vocabulary easily and 

enjoy without any burden. It can be done 

because by fun learning, knowledge sharing 

and information can be understood and 

maintained well. This result is similar to Izza 

Zahrotul, Umi Sulusiatun Nikmah, and 

Wiwit Ariyani research. The result of their 

research suggest that Word Chain game is 

effective as media tool in teaching and 

learning vocabulary, and that media give 

significant effect to student’s vocabulary 

mastery 

VI. CONCLUSION 

Teaching vocabulary by word chain 

game is effective. Because, there is any 

significance difference in the achievement of 

the students’ score before and after taught by 

using word chain game. The result of 

statically computation using t-test shown 

that the result of pre-test and post-test was 

7, 77. The t-table with significant level 5% 

and df 27 was 2, 06. So, was greater than (7, 

77> 2, 06). From the data analyzed above, it 

can be conclude that Ha was accepted and 

Ho was rejected.  

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