IMPROVING STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY MASTERY BY USING PUZZLE GAME AT THE SECOND GRADE OF MTS AL-

This research was conducted at Mts AL-Washliyah Medan. The background of this research is base on the fact that the second grade of students AL-Washliyah Medan, teacher still used conventional methods and students achievement is still low and needs to be improved. The use of Puzzle Game as a method is very effective and can increase students motivation in learning. Students more interested and happy when learning English. The Objectives of this study were as follows: To describe the increase in students’ vocabulary by using Puzzle Game for seacond grade of MtsAL-Washliyah Medan, to determine the increase in students’ vocabulary after using the Puzzle Game. And the results showed that in the pre-cycle the students score was 63,2. In cycle I the students score was 66,8. In cycle II, the students score was 73,2. There has been an increase in students’ vocabulary skills in each cycle. Using Puzzle Game can make students more interested and motivated in learning. The conclusion, Puzzle Game was effectived for improving students’ vocabulary.


The Background of Study
Language is a very important for communication. Language is used in daily activities as a means of communication with many people. Language is used as a communication tool for carrying out commands, cooperation and many other things. If there is no language, humans will have difficulty communicating.
In Indonesian, English has become second language after Indonesian. To make it better the use of English has been applied early in School. But only included in local content lessons. And the purpose of learning english early on is to introduce English to students.
Difficulties of students in learning English, lack of students' vocabulary skills.
Learning English in junior high school includes several abilities such as speaking, listening, reading, and writing. And English learning is also taught like vocabulary.Understanding vocabulary is generally considered as an important part of the learning process of a language or the development of one's abilities in a language that is already mastered. In this research, the researcher focus on improving vocabulary' mastery by using Puzzle Game.

The Problem of the Study
From the research background mentioned, identify the research problem: How is the application of Puzzle Game to improving vocabulary'mastery at the second grade of MTS Al-Washliyah Medan?.

The Objective of the Study
The purpose of this study can application students'vocabularymastery at the second grade of MTS Al-Washliyah Medan by using Puzzle Games .

The Scope of Study
There are many games that can be used to improve teaching learning of English such as Puzzle, Anagram, guessing word, crossword puzzle, and scrabble. To minimize to wide area, the researcher focused on Improving Students' Vocabulary Mastery by Using Puzzle

The Significance of the Study
The researcher chooses the strategy above with the consideration that were benefits for the relavant research involve, as elaborate below.
1. Teacher: expanding teacher knowledge, more creative teachers use a variety of techniques especially English teacher, students are more interested in learning vocabulary and enjoying learning.
2. Students: first, introduce them to the puzzle game and start to play it to improve their vocabulary mastery. The results of this research will be useful for students to be more interested and to improve their vocabulary mastery.
3. Researchers: the results of this study will be useful for researchers who wants to conduct research related to this research.

Theoretical Description
Vocabulary According to Anderson (2010: 1) states that vocabulary can be defined generally as knowledge of words or word meaning. Vocabulary become basic element in learning language and without vocabulary knowledge people can not learn any language. Two kinds of vocabulary first receptive vocabulary and second productive vocabulary.
According to Graves (2016) Vocabulary knowledge is an essential aspect of succesful literacy program, so any time that teachers devote to vocabulary instruction is time well-spent.

The Aspect of vocabulary
Meaning Teacher should teach their students that a word may have more than one meaning when used in different context.

Spelling
Spelling is needed in reading. Spelling is as the connector sound a letter. Pronunciation is difficult to learn because there is no connection between word spelling and pronunciation.

Word classes
Word classes are categories of word such as nouns, verb, adverbs, adjectives

Word use
Word use is the way a word, phrase, or concept is used in a language

Teaching vocabulary
Teaching English vocabulary is better then other aspect of the language, such as grammer, speaking, reading and writing.

Assesing for vocabulary mastery
Students assessment is the process of evaluating students' abilities when they learn new vocabulary during class lessons.

Definition of game
Games are the most interesting and fun way to make students more excited about using their ability. Games are usually used as a competition to win, follow the rules, and enjoyment of experience.According to Allen (2010:52) that game is helpful because they can make students feel that certain words are important and necessary, because without thouse words, the object of the game can not achived.

Puzzle Game
Puzzle game can attract students learning and create enthusism for learning while playing.Puzzle game can also be used at home or in schools that have been given by the teacher.

Scrabble
According to Robert B. Taylor in Huda (2013:303) srcabble is one of the learning methods that can improve students' concentration and speed of thinking.

Crossword Puzzle
According to Oxford Learner dictionary (2003:349) Crossword puzzle stands out from the rest as a classroom tool. Puzzle is a game that you have to think about carefully in order to answer it or do it.Based on the opinion of experts, crossword is one game that can be used to improve students' vocabulary learning skills, crossword puzzle game will make the brain get a stimulus to make a word.

Conceptual Framework
As mentioned above, students must be able to vocabulary. Vocabulary is one of important basics in mastering English. If students can not vocabulary, students automatically can not acquire four skills English, such as reading, speaking, writing and listening.Puzzle games were make them more competitive during playing scrabble and crossword puzzle, each group must arrange letters into a word correctly and then they take turns in turn with other friends. The researcher proposed that puzzle game in teaching vocabulary can improve students' vocabulary mastery.

Research Design
According to Creswell (2008:597) Classroom Action Research (CAR) is systematic sprocedure used by teachers (or other individuals in the educational context) to capture quantitative and qualitative data in order to improve educatinal components such as teacher teaching technique or student learning processes. While the observers during the class action process are researchers. There are several stages in the study, namely: Planning, Action, Observation, Reflection.

Research Subject
The subject of this research was be conducted at MTS Al-Washliyah. The sample of research was one class second grade. The researcher only devides the class only one class consisted of 25 students.

Cycle II
The action plan in Cycle II that will be carried out is intended. As a result of reflection and improvement tto the implementation of the program in Cycle I. The action stages in Cycle II follow the stages of the action Cycle I.

Technique of Data Analysis
This research used qualitative and quantitative data. The researcher used research observation of students' activities during teaching learning process, and the interview before and after Classroom Action research (CAR).To know the mean of the students' score of vocabulary in each cycle, the following formula:

The Preliminary Study
This research are taken from the results of cycle I and cycle II. This research was carried out results of cycle I and cycle II and three meetings in class. The class used by researcher for this study was class VIII A with 25 students.

Data Analysis
The results of the evaluation between the researcher and teacher, it can be assumed that the application of CAR by using crossword puzzle to improve students' vocabulary skills.  Based on the data score above, the average students in this cycle is 73,2 and there are 23 students who passed the KKM or 15,8% of students. There are 2 of students who did not passed the KKM. There was improvement the score in this cycle and the CAR action research criteria where minimum of 75% of students passed the KKM. As a result of this cycle, the researcher stops this research and will not proceed to the next cycle. such as: scrabble and crossword puzzle. These strategies helped students in ways that faster, easier and more fun to master the vocabulary. So, the teacher support the improvement of students' vocabulary mastery. The researcher and teacher decided to stop the research because the implementation of using crossword puzzle.

Conclusion
The researcher concludes that use of crossword puzzle had improved the vocabulary mastery at second grade of Mts Al-Washliyah Medan.
In conclusion, using crossword puzzle helped the students to improve their vocabulary skills. It really helps them not only meet new words but also still remember the words they already know. They find it easier to remember words when they learn because activities allow them to fulfill more than one word. The use of crossword puzzle are very interesting and really enjoyed by students, so students can learn without feeling like force.
Therefore, the learning process becomes more fun.

Suggestion
The results of the research that has been done, there are some suggestions to English teacher and other: 1. Crossword puzzle is effective to improve vocabulary skills.
2. Crossword puzzle can be alternative for students when bored .
3. This strategy is recomended to English teacher or other researchers who wants to do similar research.