The Use of Mnemonic Technique in Increasing Students‟ English Vocabulary Mastery at the Tenth Grade Students of SMKS Muhammadiyah Marawol

Vocabulary is one of the most important elements in a language that must be mastered. One of difficulties in learning English is the lack of vocabulary. Lack of vocabulary mastery greatly affects language skills; listening skill, speaking skill, reading skill, and writing skill. Difficulties can also arise because the students do not understand meaning of words. Therefore, many techniques are used to improve vocabulary mastery well. One of the techniques that can be used is Mnemonic. Based on the research background, the researcher formulates the problem as follow, “How effective is Mnemonic Technique to increase vocabulary mastery of the tenth grade students of SMKS Muhammadiyah Marawola?”. The objective of this research was to find out how the use of Mnemonic Technique can be effective to improve vocabulary mastery of students at the tenth grade of SMKS Muhammadiyah Marawola. The hypothetical formulation based on the previous explanation is (1) the students at the tenth grade of SMKS Muhammdiyah are being responsive in teaching and learning process by using Mnemonic Technique, (2) the students at the tenth grade of SMKS Muhammdiyah are more creative in finding their own way to remind previous vocabularies, (3) the students at the tenth grade of SMKS Muhammdiyah are more synthesis in understanding the meaning of words to increase their vocabulary mastery. This research was conducted as a Classroom Action Research and the research subject is tenth grade students’ of SMKS Muhammadiyah Marawola. The data is collected by using field notes, observational sheets, and test (pre-post test).
Mnemonic Technique is easy-to-use and effective technique to help the students to improve their memory. One way of applying Mnemonic Technique is to use acrostic technique. It is a technique of practicing memory by using sentences. In the form of Classroom Action Research, there were four steps in each cycle: planning, action, observation, and reflection. The cycle was done in two cycles. In this research, The researcher gave a pre-test and post-test. The achievement of students by applying Mnemonic Technique can be seen from the comparison between the mean score of pre-test and post-test in cycle I and cycle II. In cycle I, the mean of pre-test score was 65.87 and increased in the mean of post-test score which was 73.87. In the cycle II, the mean of post-test score improved which was 89.87. In cycle I, only 75% students could reach the target of passing grade, and when the researcher continued to the cycle II, 87.5% students could reach the target of passing grade. Based on the data explained previously, it can be concluded that the use of Mnemonic Technique can improve students’ vocabulary mastery at the seventh grade students of SMKS Muhammadiyah Marawola. By using Mnemonic Technique, students can be more responsive in joining teaching and learning process, creative, and synthesis with the result that their achievement is increased.

Keywords: Mnemonic Technique, Vocabulary Mastery, Classroom Action Research