IMPROVING STUDENTS’ ABILITY IN UNDERSTANDING IDIOM THROUGH READING TEXT
(A Case Study )
A Thesis
Submitted to the Faculty of Cultural Sciences of Hasanuddin University
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain Sarjana Degree
In English Department
INDA LESTARI
F21114003
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF CULTURAL SCIENCES
HASANUDDIN UNIVERSITY
MAKASSAR
2018
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. All praises belong to
Allah, Lord of the world, who has given His love and mercy to the writer to finish her thesis. Peace and salutation be upon to the prophet Muhammad
SAW, his family, his companion, and his followers.
It is a pleasure to acknowledge the help and contributions to all of lecturers, institution, family and friends who have contributed in the different ways hence this thesis is processed until it becomes a complete writing which will be presented to the Faculty of Cultural Science in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree Bachelor in English Department.
The writer also realized that she will never finish this paper without the help of some people around her. Therefore, the writer would like to give her deepest gratitude and appreciations to:
1. Dra. Marleiny Radjuni, M.Ed. and Dra. Francisca E. Kapoyos.M.Ed. as
her advisors who have given to the writer precious help, the guidance,
valuable suggestions, constructive critics and the advices patiently to
her during the completion and the development of the study.
2. She would like to thank her parents for their examples of strenght and
faith with the gratitude for their love, care and prayer, and also to her
beloved brother-sisters and all families who always pray and motivate
her to finish her study.
3. Prof. Dr. Akin duli, M.A. as the Dean of Faculty of Cultural Science in
Hasanuddin University and all the staffs.
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4. Dr. Abidin Pammu, M.A., Dipl. TESOL as the Head of English
Department and Sitti Sahraeny, S.S., M.A as the Secretary of The
English Department in Hasanuddin University.
5. All lecturers in English Department who always give motivation and
valuable knowledge during her study.
6. All students of the seventh semester of English Department, as the
participants of this study.
7. The seniors who have never been bored to listen and answer her logical
and unlogical questions.
8. All of her friends as “EXCALIBUR” who accompanied her when she
was “in trouble”, her dearest teammates for their willingness to give a
straightaway and useful help any time needed. They are good
supporters who keep on encouraging her to be always optimistic.
The words are not enough to say any appreciation for their help and contribution in this paper. May Allah, the Almighty bless them all.
Moreover, the writer also realized that this paper is far from perfect. It is a pleasure for her to get critiques and suggestions to improve this paper.
Makassar, January 12th 2018
The Writer
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE ...... i LEGITIMACY ...... ii AGREEMENT ...... iii APPROVAL ...... iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ...... v TABLE OF CONTENTS ...... vii ABSTRAK ...... ix ABSTRACT ...... x CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
A. Background of Study ...... 1 B. Identification of Problem ...... 3 C. Scope of Problem ...... 4 D. Research Question ...... 4 E. Objective of the Study ...... 4 F. Significance of the Study...... 5 CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW A. Previous Study ...... 6 B. Theretical Framework...... 9 a. Reading ...... 9 1. The Definition of Reading ...... 9 2. Comprehending the Reading Text ...... 10 3. Types of Reading ...... 12 4. Strategies in Comprehending Text ...... 14 5. Purpose of Reading ...... 16 6. Techniques in Assessing Reading Comprehension ...... 17 7. Recount Text ...... 18 b. Idioms ...... 19 1. The Definition of Idiom ...... 19 2. Types of Idiom ...... 21
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3. Factors Idiom Comprehension ...... 24 4. Mastering the Idiom ...... 25 C. Theoretical Hypothesis ...... 28 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY A. Method of Research ...... 29 B. Population and Sample ...... 30 C. Research Instrument ...... 30 D. Procedure of Collecting Data ...... 31 E. Procedure of Data Analysis ...... 33 CHAPTER IV: FINDING AND DISCUSSION A. Findings ...... 36 B. Discussion ...... 50 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTION A. Conclusions ...... 52 B. Suggestions ...... 52 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 54 APPENDICES ...... 57
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ABSTRAK
INDA LESTARI. 2018, Improving Students’ Ability in Understanding Idiom Through Reading Text (A Case Study) (Dibimbing oleh Marleiny Radjuni dan Fransisca E. Kapoyos)
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui apakah kemampuan mahasiswa dalam memahami idiom dapat meningkat melalui teks bacaan pada mahasiswa sastra Inggris semester 7 di Universitas Hasanuddin.
Sampel yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini berjumlah 20 responden. Metode yang digunakan untuk menganalisis skor yang diperoleh mahasiswa dalam penelitian ini adalah metode kuantitatif melalui teknik pre-experimental dengan melakukan pre-test dan post-test. Untuk menunjukkan pandangan mahasiswa terhadap belajar memahami idiom melalui teks bacaan, penulis memberikan kuesioner dengan 8 pertanyaan. Hasil dari kuesioner tersebut dianalisis dengan metode kualitatif.
Penemuan dari penelitian ini menyatakan bahwa terdapat peningkatan yang signifikan dari pre-test ke post-test. Hasil dari penelitian ini menunjukkan skor rata-rata mahasiswa dalam post-test adalah 87.3, sementara skor rata-rata mahasiswa dalam pre-test adalah 64. Dapat dikatakan bahwa hipotesis dari penelitian ini diterima, yaitu penggunaan teks bacaan dapat meningkatkan kemampuan pemahaman idiom mahasiswa. Berdasarkan hasil kuesioner, mahasiswa pada umumnya lebih suka mempelajari idiom dengan teks. Oleh karena itu, penelitian ini dapat disimpulkan bahwa adanya relasi positif antara kemampuan pemahaman idiom dan kemampuan pemahaman bacaan. Hal ini membuktikan bahwa mahasiswa dengan kemampuan idiom memiliki pemahaman membaca yang baik.
Kata Kunci : Idiom, Teks.
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ABSTRACT
INDA LESTARI. 2018, Improving Students’ Ability in Understanding Idiom Through Reading Text (A Case Study) (supervised by Marleiny Radjuni and Fransisca E. Kapoyos)
This research aimed to know whether students’ ability in understanding idiom could improve through reading text at the 7th semester students of English Department in Hassanuddin University.
The sample of this study consisted of 20 students. The method used in this study to analyze the students’ score was quantitative method. This research used a pre-experimental design with one group pre-test and post-test design. Pre-test was given to the students before the treatment, and post-test was given to the students after the treatment to find out the students’ achievement. To show students’ perceptions in understanding idiom through reading text, a questionnaire contained 8 questions was distributed to the treated students. The writer analyzed the result of questionnaire using qualitative method.
The finding of this study indicated that there is a significant improvement on students’ ability in idiom from their pre-test to post-test score. The result of this study showed that the mean score of students’ post-test was 87.3, meanwhile the mean score of students’ pre-test was 64. It is considered that the hypothesis of this study is accepted that the use of reading text improves students’ ability in understanding idiom. Based on the result of questionnaire, all of the students preferred understanding idiom through reading text. In conclusion, there is a positive relationship between idiom and reading comprehension. It means, the students’ with a good comprehension in idiom certainly have a good reading comprehension.
Key words : Idiom, Reading Text.
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
English is an international language and has become the most important
language to people in many parts of the world. In addition to its status as a mother
tongue in many countries, English is growing for communication among speaker
of other languages in place where English is not the majority language.
In Indonesia, English is considered as foreign language. To learn English,
students learn four skills; listening, speaking, reading, and writing. One of skills
that usually to be found by the students is reading. They can read the English
texts in a lot of media; such as English books, magazine, newspapers, novels,
film, advertisements, and even social media. Through reading, students can get
new information to enrich their knowledge. Reading is not easy because it
requires a reader to receive the messages, process in their brain, and make
understanding on what has been delivered by a writer.
To understand the written text, students must be able to decode words or
sentences and then extract the meaning of the words or sentences itself. Reading is
an activity to deliver messages from the writer to the reader. In delivering the
message, every writer has a style to deliver and express the messages by using
language style. One of language styles that uses several terms or specific words to
express is by using idiom. The aim of learning idiom is to understand what the
meaning of idiom based on context to get a complete comprehension. Sometimes,
1 students translate the text word by word and idiom can not be translated word by word because idiom has a different meaning with its individual word. This is the cause some students get difficulty to understand the text which consists of .
Mastering idioms is like mastering vocabulary. Vocabulary can not be mastered if students do not know the meaning, and this is especially the same as idioms. There is a variety of idiom dictionaries such as McGraw-Hill’s American
Idioms Dictionary, Oxford Dictionary of English Idioms, and Cambridge Idioms
Dictonary for those who wish to learn more about idioms. Besides, internet is the easiest and fastest way to get the meaning of idiom. Newspapers and magazines, radio programs, television shows and films are also sources of idioms.
Roleplaying, writing and interactive activities such as matching the parts of idioms are some activities that can help non-native speaker expand their knowledge and use of idioms.
Based on writer’s observation, some of seventh semester students of
English Department in Hasanuddin University have difficulties in understanding story, poem, novel and reading text that consist of idioms. They interpret the meaning of idioms by translating word by word that has different meaning from the real meaning words. This misunderstanding can bother their reading comprehension, because the complete comprehension can be reached when the students know and understand the meaning of sentences constructed from some words including idioms. Moreover, this case may happen when the students are not aware about the idioms that they read in the text. This thing emphasizes that
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idioms need to be noticed more in reading, because it also influences reading
comprehension.
If idiom comprehension is related to general abilities in processing
linguistic information, skilled text comprehends should also be better at
comprehending an idiomatic. The aim of idiom mastery must be directly
proportional with the aim of reading comprehension. It can be said that students
who master idioms well, they get better in reading comprehension. Then, students
who lack of idiom mastery, they also lack of reading comprehension, because
when students read a text and find idioms, they must know what the meaning of
idioms itself, at least they guess the meaning of idioms by the context, to get a
complete comprehension.
Based on the explanation above, the writer assumes that idiom gives a big
effect towards reading comprehension, so the writer wants to conduct a research
with the title : “Improving Students’ Ability in Understanding Idiom Through
Reading Text (A Case Study)”.
B. Identification Of The Problems
Based on the background above, the writer identifies some students’ problems as
follows :
1. Students find some difficulties in understanding idioms that are found in
recount text.
2. The students find it difficult to find appropriate method to improve their
ability in understanding the idiom.
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3. The students are not aware of the importance of idiom.
4. The students interpret the meaning of idiom word by word.
C. Scope Of The Problem
Based on the identification of problem faced by English Department
students which is explained above, this research focused on the effect of using
recount text to improve students ability in understanding idiom and the students’
perceptions in learning idiom through recount text.
D. Research Questions
The formulation of the problem in this study based on the scope
above:
a. How does the recount text improve students’ ability in understanding the
idiom ?
b. What are the students’ perceptions in understanding idiom through recount
text?
E. Objective of the Study
Based on the research question above, the objective of this study could be
formulated as follows :
1. To explore how effective the use of recount text technique in understanding
idiom.
2. To find out the students’ perceptions in understanding idiom through recount
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text.
F. Significance of the Study
There are two significances of this research, they are; theoretical and
practical. Theoretically, this research gives a contribution to development of
knowledge about teaching method in understanding idiom. Practically, this
research is expected to give contribution to the students, the English teachers and
other researchers. This study is expected to give benefits for English students in
comprehending the idiom and reading comprehension and make their
understanding in idiom imroves. The better students know about idioms, the better
they comprehend in reading. This study is also an evaluation for the students to
know how good their skill in idiom and reading. For lecturers, the writer hopes
this study can share the description about students’ limitation about idioms and
reading comprehension. And also the lecturers could train the student to master
common idioms through recount text. Besides, this study is important for the
students or researchers who have the same interest to compare and to make
comprehensive research
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CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
This chapter consists of three main parts: previous studies, theoretical framework which further comprised: Explanations of reading and idiom, and theoretical hypothesis.
A. Previous Study
Previous study means studies published are disseminated in the past that report result of research finding. Previous study may have been reviews, meta studies or practical reporting. There are five previous studies that the writer takes related to this study, they are Levorato, Nelsi, and Cacciari (2004), Cain, Oakhill, and Lemmon (2005), De Caro (2009), Andriani (2014) and Kurnia (2016)
Levorato, Nelsi, and Cacciari (2004) conducted experiment 1 and 2 in investigating The Relationship between Text Comprehension and Idiom
Comprehension in Italian Elementary School-Age Children who were 101 Italian second- graders and 98 Italian fourth-graders. The results of both experiments showed that the ability to understand a text indicated the children’s understanding of idioms in context. For verification, possible improvements in children’s comprehension skills that might produce an increase in figurative language understanding, experiment 3 is carried out. A group of poor comprehenders who participated in Experiments 1 and 2 are tested eight months later. The results of
Experiment 3 showed that children’s general comprehension skills improved their
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performance on an idiom comprehension test.
The same study was done by Cain, Oakhill, and Lemmon (2005). Based on the findings, There were 56 idioms used in this study namely, 14 for each type namely “real- transparent”, “real-opaque”, “novel-transparent”, and “novel- opaque”. The participants which were 28 Caucasian children from urban schools, and the majority of them are from lower middle-class families were tested individually. The findings revealed that children are slightly more likely to recognize “real-transparent” idioms than “real-opaque” idioms. In context, the real idioms were more likely to be interpreted more correctly than the novel expression.
Another study was done by De Caro (2009) who shared the results of a small scale project based on guiding students in the use of idioms through dialogues and readings, in order to improve students' communicative skill. The project was applied to one group of eleven Electronic Engineering students at
Universidad Santo Tomás -Tunja who attended an undergraduate education program. Dialogues, interviews, and informal speech or conversations were used to collect the data in this action research study.
On the other hand, Andriani (2014) did the same case with this current study, the method used in her study was quantitative method and the technique used was a correlational technique. In collecting the data, idiom test and reading comprehension test were used. The scores of idiom test were collected from twenty multiple-choice questions. In addition, the reading comprehension test was
7 also given to the students to assess their reading comprehension. The result of her study shows that there was a positive relationship between idiom mastery and reading comprehension.
In addition, Kurnia (2016) investigated about idiomatic expression in speaking skills. The data of this study was validated by applying percentage formula. They were analyzed based on observation and a multiple-choiced questionnaire. The results of this research exposed that students with the best idiomatic mastery and best speaking skill are 13.89% students within the predicate very good, the second best are 77.78% students within the predicate good, the third are 8.33% of the fair predicate or fair. The conclusion could be drawn is the students who master more idiomatic expressions speak natural English better than those who master less.
Based on the the previous studies above, the writer found out that there were three studies that aim to improve students’ skill in idiom the same as this study. The finding of Andriani (2014) which showed that reading text was the best medium to improve students’ comprehension in idiom was the closest to the result of this current study. While Andriani (2014) employed Pearson Product
Moment Correlation Formula to measure students’ ability in understanding idiom, the current study focused on the improvemnet score from pre-test to post-test.
Another difference between Andriani (2014) and this current study was the lack of treatment in Andriani (2014). This study had the same purpose with Levorato,
Nelsi, and Cacciari (2004) and De Caro (2009) which to improve student’s ability in understanding the idiom.
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B. Theoretical Framework
1. Reading
a. Definition of Reading
According to Grabe and Stoller (2002 : 11) , reading is the ability to draw meaning from printed text and interpret the information. A reader has several purposes and each purpose has different skills and strategies to understand the text. Reading is an interaction between the reader and the writer. The texts provide messages from the writer, and the reader understands what the writer wants to give. Reading is also about comprehending process. The readers need to understand what the writer intended to convey in written text (Grabe, 2009 : 5).
So, they have to be active to construct the meaning of the message, so that there is no misunderstanding between the writer and the reader.
In the same line, Harmer (1998 : 68) also stated that reading is useful for other purposes too; any exposure to English is a good thing for language students.
Some of language sticks in their minds as part of the process of language acquisition, and, if the reading text is interesting and engaging, acquisition is likely to be successful.
The definitions of reading text above indicate that reading is a process of delivering messages from the writer to the reader. The readers read the written text, bring it to their brain and interpret them with their background knowledge as information. The important reading is when students read the text, and then they understand what the writer wants to share with us. Sometimes writer expresses
9 their ideas using idiom, the reader has to be smart in interpreting the idiom that their found in the text they read. Even though the readers don’t know the meaning of idiom, the context can help them to comprehend the idiom or the massage that the writer wants to share with them.
b. Comprehending The Reading Text
Reading without comprehending is not actually reading. Reading requires interpreting on the printed text. To understand the text, students transform word by word in written text from eyes to brain, and then their brain processes it with their background knowledge, so that they understand what the text means. Reading comprehension is a skill to get meaning from the printed text.
It is not a static competency; it depends on the purpose of reading and the text that is involved. Reading comprehension interact the text and background knowledge of the reader. (Lems, 2010 : 170)
According to Willis (2008 : 127-128), to be successful in reading comprehension, students have to be active in processing meaning on what they read. Constructing meaning from text or spoken language is not separate literacy skill, but merging of all acquired prior knowledge, personal experience, and vocabulary with strategies of deductive and inductive reasoning and making connections. Moreover, Scott and Ellen said (Susan and Gerald, 2009 : 32),
“Reading comprehension is only a sub set of an ill-defined larger set of knowledge that reflects the communicative interaction among the intentions of the author/the speaker, the content text/message, the abilities and purpose of the
10 reader/listener, and the context/situation of the interaction”. What Susan and
Gerald said can be related to this current study that a good reader used to have a good comprehension in reading, even when the authors use idiom as their language style to express their intentions to the readers.
Reading Framework Committee (Susan and Gerald,2009 : 33) also defines reading comprehension as “an active and complex process that involves understanding written text, developing, and interpreting meaning, and using meaning as appropriate to type of text, purpose, and situation”. Without comprehension, students just read text word by word without understand meaning of text and purpose the writer gives.
From the 3 definitions of reading, we can say that reading comprehension is an ability to construct and comprehend meaning from written text through interaction between eyes, brain and background knowledge to interpret the meaning of the text. It is not easy to understand the text, it needs active reader to analyze and proces word by word to construct meaning by connecting personal experience, background knowledge, and vocabulary. When the students find it difficult to comprehend the meaning of idiom, they can use some strategies such as context clues that connect our background knowledge to guess the vocabulary. Furthermore, background knowledge and personal experience are very helping in constructing the meaning because students can get better comprehension when they already have little or even much knowledge on what they read.( Susan and Gerald, 2009 : 33). There are two ways readers process the text; Top-Down and Bottom-Up (Berardo, 2009 : 61). “Top-Down
11 processing is where a global meaning of the text is obtained, through “clues” in the text and the reader’s good schema knowledge”. Meanwhile,
“Bottom up processing is when the reader builds up meaning by reading word for word, letter for letter, carefully both vocabulary and syntax. This is often associated with poor and slow reads, but can sometimes occur when the readers own schema knowledge is inadequate”. In other words, Top-Down is used to predict the meaning of the text by activating past experiences, expectation, and intuition. Then, Bottom-Up is used to decode each individual element in text to construct the meaning of the text.
c. Types of Reading
Most of reading skills are trained by studying short texts to get detail information. But others require the use of longer texts to complete books. There are two kinds of reading; intensive and extensive reading.
1) Extensive Reading
Extensive reading is often assumed to comprehend the whole book.
Sometimes students have to understand the part of sentences, paragraphs, and chapters. Actually, they do not have to understand the whole book in every single part of it. They just get the general idea therefore, students can use some strategies to practice in understanding longer texts, such as scanning and skimming. The using of scanning is to get detail information on what they want to know. Then, skimming is the way students get the general information or main idea in the longer texts (Nuttall, 1996 : 38-39)
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Extensive reading can be a source of enjoyment and a way of gaining knowledge of the world. Extensive reading is focused on the story not on items to learn (Nation, 2009 : 49-50). So, it can be said that the aim of extensive reading is to read pleasure and get the general idea of the story or texts.
2) Intensive Reading
In comprehension, intensive reading aims to understand the particular text.
This comprehension comes from the interaction between the words and how the students relate their background knowledge to get the comprehension. Moreover, students’ attention on vocabulary can be drawn to useful words, underlying the meaning and use of these words for later study. By reading texts, students will discover new words that will be useful for their language skills. Intensive reading is important for students after they are taught by the teacher. Students can learn autonomously outside the classroom by reading. They can learn everything through reading; even the difficult grammatical features can be explained and analyzed by reading. ( Nuttal, 1996 : 27)
The students also learn phonics, spelling rules, and reading aloud. Reading is one of language skills that often used by foreign language students, because they can read in anytime and anywhere. Certain texts contain certain kinds of information and students can be helped to identify these different kinds of information. Intensive reading can focus on how the text achieves its communicative purpose through these features and what this communicative purpose is. Intensive reading can be used to help students develop useful reading
13 strategies. They can use the most effective way that they think can improve their learning achievement.
d. Strategies in Comprehending Text
The purpose in reading is to get information by comprehending the text. In comprehending, sometimes students do not know the meaning of words or unfamiliar words, so that it can disturb their comprehension. According to Jerry
(2009 : 196), there are 9 strategies that readers use to comprehend text:
1) Skip words they do not know
Finding the unfamiliar words in a text is common problem in reading. Students should not know all the words to comprehend the text. They can skip these words and get the complete meaning from the previous or the next words.
2) Predict the meaning of unfamiliar words from the context
Sometimes learners took most of their time in reading foreign language by discovering meaning in dictionary. Meanwhile, they can use their background knowledge about the topic and some words in the sentences that they have known.
So, they should not check all of the unfamiliar words but guess the meaning by looking up the words that interrelated.
3) Do not constantly translate
Students do not have to translate all words because sometimes there are multi- words or idioms that cannot be translated literally.
4) Ask someone what a word means
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Students can ask to their teacher or their friends about the meaning of words they do not know. It will help the students to comprehend the text.
5) Have knowledge about the topic
To make students comprehend the text easier, students have to relate their background knowledge to the topic.
6) Draw inferences from the title
Before read a text, students usually guess what will be discussed by seeing title.
The title of a text must be have a relation or draw the content of the text.
7) Read things of interest
Students can easily comprehend the text if they interested in what they read. They can be curious to know the content of the text.
8) Study pictures and illustrations
Some texts usually provide pictures or illustration to make the reader understand what the writer wants to say. The pictures or illustrations must draw the content of the text.
9) Purposefully reread to check comprehension
To make sure the students have got the complete comprehension, they can reread the text because some sentences or important words may be missed and that can make the students misunderstand.
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e. The Purpose of Reading
When students start to read, they may have some purposes in their head.
For examples, when students read newspaper, they usually read the headline of the news and search what they are interested in. Unconsciously, students do scanning and skimming to find what they want to read. Moreover, when students read magazine they like, they will read it from the start until the end because they love reading that magazine.
According to Grabe and Stoller (2002 : 15) there are 7 purposes in reading,
They are reading to search for simple information, secondly reading to skim quickly which use to get the general information of the text, and then reading to learn something new from texts, next reading to integrate information, furthermore reading to write or search for information needed for writing, next reading to critique a written texts and lastly, reading for general comprehension.
Many experts have their own point of view in dividing purpose of reading.
Actually, they have same general purposes of reading, such as reading to get general information. They just want to know what the book or text discussing about generally. Furthermore, the purpose of reading is to gain specific information. Here, the students read the text to search what they want to read to get information that they want. They do not have to read the whole book or text because it takes a long time. The last is reading for pleasure and for interest.
Reading can be fun when students love the content and interested in the information inside the text. For example, reading many novels is not a big deal because they like to read novels. The students can spend their leisure time to read
16 and it can be their enjoyment.
f. Techniques in Assessing Reading Comprehension
Typically comprehension question are used as the major means of focusing on comprehension of the text. The learners read a text and then answer question about the content of the text.
There are 8 question types that can be used (Nation, 2009 : 32) : First,
Pronominal questions is the question that begin with who, what, when, how, why often test writing ability as well as reading ability because the students must write the answers. Secondly, Yes/no questions is the question that only needs short answer, so the students do not need to have a high level of writing skill. And then,
True/false sentences which are the students look at each sentence and decide if it is true or false according to the text. Next, Multiple-choice questions, Good multiple-choice questions are not easy to make and often they are more difficult than they should be, because the wrong choices must seem possible and not stupid. Furthermore, Sentence completion or Gap-filling test, the students complete sentences by filling the empty spaces to show they understand the reading text. Moreover, Information transfer/Matching Technique where the students complete an information transfer diagram based on the information in the text. And then, Translation. The students must translate the text into another language with their own words. And the last is Summary Test, in which the students read the text, and then they write the summary of the text and can be discussed in group work.
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g. Recount Text
1) Definition
A recount text is a text which tells about something that happened in the past. The details in a recount can include what happened, who was involved, where it took place, when it happened and why it occurred. Its purpose or goal is to entertain or inform about the past activity to the reader or listener
Recount text can be factual information, such as a news story or procedural information, such as telling someone how you built something or personal information, such as a family holiday or your opinion on a subject.
2. Generic Structure of Recount Text:
▪ Orientation : It is about introduction the participants, place and time. It tells
who was involved, what happened, where the events took place, and when it
happened.
▪ Events : Describing series of event that happened in the past. Telling what
happened and in what sequence.
▪ Reorientation : It is optional. It consists of closure of events/ending. It is
stating personal comment of the writer to the story
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3. Idiom
a. Definition of Idiom
All languages have phrases that can not be understood literally and therefore cannot be used with confidence. They are usually opaque or unpredictable because they do not have a clear meaning. Even if people already know the meaning of all the words in a phrase and understand all the grammar of the phrase completely, sometimes the meaning of the phrase is still confusing.
A phrase or sentence of that type is said to be idiom (Richard A. 2004 : 5). Idioms can be found in many kind of texts, these can be found in educational texts, magazines or in advertisement on a newspaper.
According to Makkai (1987 : 6) Idiom consists of two or more words that have different meaning from their individually meaning of every word. Idiom forms a new meaning that usually unclear and different from the meaning of its words.
To understand the meaning of idioms, the reader cannot translate or the words because the meaning of the idiom can be interpreted by interrelate of the words. For example, if the students translate the sentence that contains of idiom in “these works are piece of cake for me” word by word it can be has a weird meaning, but when the idiom is translated as a whole sentence it can be interpreted as “these works are easy for me”.
Laflin (1993 : 3) also added, idiom is a phrase which means something different from the meanings of the separate words that are a part of it. It usually
19 cannot be understood by literal interpretation of the words that make up the expression. They put together but the meaning is often uncorrelated to the individual words in the idiom. In the same line, Lado (1989 : 1) stated that idiom is a sequence of words that cannot be translated literally. They have a new meaning that is different from the meaning of every word. It can be said idiom has a new meaning that cannot be translate word by word because it will change the meaning of idiom. The meaning of idiom can be known by understand the whole words.
An idiom is a sequence of words which has a different meaning as a group from the meaning it would have if you understood each word separately. Idioms add color to the language, helping us to emphasize meaning and to make our observations, judgments, and explanations lively and interesting. They are also very useful tools for communicating a great deal of meaning in just a few words.
Idiom is a language style that used in writing, so the writing can be interesting for the reader.
Ammer ( 2003 : 1) said that an idiom is a set phrase of two or more words that means something different from the literal meaning of the individual words.
These are the special features of some idioms, but the other idioms are completely regular and logic in their grammar and vocabulary. Because of the special features of some idioms, learners have to learn the idiom as a whole and cannot change any part of it (Seidl, 1978 :4).
From the definitions about idioms mentioned above, it can be concluded
20 that an idiom is a group of words that has different meaning from the individual word as part of it. It cannot be translated word by word, but the meaning of idiom is the meaning of a whole word. Idioms are sometimes irrational and ungrammatically, but another idioms are rational and fixed grammatical. It can be understood by guessing from the context.
b. Types of Idiom
To understand the idiom, it is important to know the most types of idiom.
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2000 : 752) categorizes the expression of idiom below:
1) Some idioms are imaginative expression such as proverbs and sayings: Too many cooks spoil the broth. (If too many people are involved in something, it will not do well.)
2) If the expression is well known, part of it may be left out: So, you knew everything would go wrong- it’s the usual story of too many cooks.
3) Other idiom is short expressions that are used for a particular purpose: Watch out! (In order to be careful), Hang in there! (Used to encourage somebody in difficult situation), Get lost! (A harsh way of saying “go away”).
According to Makkai, as quoted Lynn Grant, and Laurie Bauer (2004 :
40), there are two 'idiomaticity areas' in English: the lexemic and the sememic.
The lexemic idiomaticity area consists of expressions of more than one word, which are "subject to a possible lack of understanding, despite familiarity with the meanings of the components, or the erroneous decoding: they can potentially
21 mislead the uninformed listener.” The sememic idiomaticity area involves expressions with more than one word, which "have both a logical literal meaning and a moral or a deeper meaning." Makkai (2004 : 41), further classifies lexemic idioms into 6 groups:
Firstly, Phrasal Verbs Idioms. A phrasal verb is a verb that contains of two kinds of words. The first word is a verb, and the second word is particle.Examples: take off, put off, get in, get on, look after, etc.
Secondly, Tournures Idioms.Tournures idioms are the largest lexemic idioms, usually containing at least three words and mostly are verbs. A tournures idiom mostly falls into sentences. Based on its structure, tournures idioms are divided into: a. The form contains the compulsory definite and indefinitition article.
Example: to do a guy (to disappear secretly.) b. The form contains an irreversible binomial introduced by a preposition.
Example: to be at seven and eight (to be in a condition of confusion, at odds.) c. A direct object and further possible modifiers follow the primary verb.
Example: to build castle in the air (to make impossible plans.) d. The leading verb is not followed by direct object but by preposition plus noun
or nothing.
Example: to dance on air (to get hanged)
22
Furthermore, Irreversible Binomial Idioms. Irreversible Binomial Idioms consist of two words, which are separated by conjunction. The words orders in this structure are fixed. Example: high and dry (without resources), Romeo and Juliet (institutionalized symbols of ideal love or symbol of true love).
In additions, Phrasal Compound Idioms. Phrasal Compound Idioms are containing primarily nominal made up of adjective plus noun, noun plus noun, verb plus noun, or adverb plus preposition. Example: blackmail (any payment force by intimidation), bookworm (a person committed to reading or studying).
Moreover, Incorporating Verbs Idioms. Incorporating Verbs Idioms have the forms are Noun-Verb, Adjective-Noun, Noun-Noun, and Adjective-Noun.
Usually incorporating verb separated by (-). a. Noun-Verb, Example :Sight-see means “visit the famous places in a city,
country, etc.” b. Adjective-Noun, Example: Blackmail means “The crime of demanding
money from a person by treating to tell somebody else a secret about them.” c. Noun-Noun, Example: Bootleg means “Made and sold illegally.” d. Adjective-Verb, Example: Whiteish means “An attempt to hide unpleasant
facts about somebody/something.”
Next, Pseudo-Idioms. Pseudo-Idioms are also being able to mislead or misinform an unwary listener. Example: Cranberry (bright red acid berry produced by any plant of the genus oxycoccus), In the sentence “make a
23 cranberry face”. It means the face become red. Another example is tic-tac-toe
(special game).
Furthermore, Simile-Idioms. Similes are categorized as idioms. They come in the form of a phrase with the pattern (as) adjective as (a/the) noun/noun phrase.
Example: (as) brown as berry, (as) cleaver as a basket full of monkeys. A simile also use pattern verb like a noun. Example: Chatter like a magpie, sleep like a baby.
And lastly, Proverb Idioms. Proverbs are of sentence length and have both an acceptable literal meaning and an additional moral or message. Example: not count one’s chickens (before they are hatched) = (not be confident of getting a result, realizing something until it happens.) c. Factors Idiom Comprehension
According to Gholamreza Rohani, Saccd Ketabi and Mansoor Tavakoli
(2012 : 105), Idiom comprehension has three major factors: semantic transparency, familiarity, and context.
First, transparency is the degree of agreement between the literal and figurative meanings of an idiom. The meaning of a transparent idiom matches well with the image it describes. An idiom like “go by the book” is highly transparent because its literal meaning, to follow directions in a book exactly, is closely associated with its nonliteral meaning, to closely follow rules and regulations. But the expression “beat around the bush” is not transparent, because its literal meaning is not associated with its nonliteral meaning, reluctance to talk
24 about a topic. Semantic transparency is not a fixed and absolute feature.
Second, familiarity is the frequency of occurrence of an idiom in the language. While an idiom such as “piece of cake” is frequently used in
English,another idiom like “get your wires crossed” is one that is rarely used.
High-familiarity idioms are easier to understand than those of low familiarity.
The third major factor influencing idiom comprehension is context.
Idiomatic expressions are understood in relation to the context in which they are used. As a result, the skills used to process and understand language in context are thought to be important for the development of idiom understanding. d. Mastering The Idiom
There is common assumption that the more words a learner knows, the larger the learner’s vocabulary knowledge. However, there is another dimension to vocabulary knowledge that should be considered, namely how far a learner knows the combinatory possibilities of a word. Some linguists call them ‘lexical phrases’ or ‘ lexical items’, others prefer the term ‘multi- word chunks’ or just
‘chunks’ of language. It is the development of permanent sets of associative connections in long-term memory and the process which underlines the attainment of automaticity and fluency in language. Whatever the term, they are an important feature both in language use and language acquisition. These multi- word chunks or expressions are namely: idioms, proverbs, sayings, phrasal verbs and collocations (Maisa and Karunakaran, 2013 : 111).
Ideally, vocabulary shouldn’t be learned in a vacuum, and this is
25 especially true for idioms. There are a variety of idiom dictionaries for those who wish to learn more about idioms. Newspapers and magazines, radio programs, television shows and films also sources of idioms. Roleplaying, writing and interactive activities such as matching the parts of idioms are some activities that can help foreign learners expand their knowledge and use of idioms.
Even though complete mastery of idioms may be nearly impossible, every language learner must be prepared to meet the challenge because idioms occur so frequently in spoken and written English such as textbooks, novels, and conversation. They figured that "most English speakers utter about 10 million novel metaphors per lifetime and 20 million idioms per lifetime. This works out to about 3,000 novel metaphors per week and 7,000 idioms per week. Because of a lower level of linguistic competence in the target language, foreign learners get disadvantage in understanding idiom expressions; they will meet idioms in all forms of discourse: in conversations, lectures, movies, radio broadcasts, and television programs, newspapers, magazines, and book. Indeed, mastery of a second language may depend in part on how well learners comprehend initially and produce eventually the idioms encountered in everyday language (Cooper,
1999 : 233-234).
The problem is learner does not have a satisfactory home environment where he can be exposed to a wide variety of language and reading experiences. If the learner has had little or no experience in identifying and understanding the complexities of idiomatic language, he will be at a disadvantage when confronted with idioms in his reading material. A good understanding of idiom will usually
26 help this difficulty. Familiarity with idioms and metaphors will also enable a young person to cope more effectively with the changing nature of the English language.
According to Seidl (1978 : 8), Mastery of idiom comes only slowly, through careful study and observation, through practice and experience, but remember: practice makes perfect and all things are difficult before they are easy. Learning with idiom, practice, and apply it in daily are the best way to master idiom because when students know and understand the meaning of its idiom, it will be saved in their brain like they saved new vocabulary in their mind.
Knowledge of three major components seems useful to teach idioms effectively. Practical suggestions for implementing these components follow
Bromley (1984 : 274-275).
First, Definition. Most idioms can be taught directly, just like any new word or concept, by defining and explaining them when they are found in context.
In this way the idiom's actual meaning is clarified immediately.
Second, Usage. Once the idiom has been defined, its origin explained, and its meaning compared to its literal interpretation, students can be given a variety of opportunities to use it in class. A simple way to demonstrate knowledge of something is to identify its equivalent from a number of alternatives, using both oral and written exercises. Students can be given practice in listening for and identifying idioms used orally (Bromley, 1984 : 275)
Third, Application. Understanding idioms used in class needs to be accompanied by opportunities to apply this new knowledge outside the school. A
27 class might compile a running list of idioms they heard on TV or radio and in the conversations of parents or friends. The list could also contain idioms met in their own personal reading. Idioms lend themselves especially well to creative writing.
4. THEORETICAL HYPOTHESIS
Based on the theoretical framework above, the writer formulated the hypothesis: The use of recount text improves students’ ability in understanding idiom.
An independent variable is the variable that is changed or controlled in a scientific experiment to test the effects on the dependent variable. The independent variable in this current study is recount text, because the recount text affected students’ understanding in idiom. Meanwhile, The dependent variable is the variable being tested and measured in a scientific experiment. Meanwhile the dependent variable in this study is idiom, because students’ understanding in idiom is being affected by recount text.
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CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
To support the success of analysis, the method and technique used in the
research are the most important things. This chapter presents the description of the
research method used in this study, population and sample of the study, research
instrument, procedure of collecting data and procedure of data analysis.
A. Method of Research
The study was conducted through quantitative method. This research used
a pre-experimental design with one group pre-test and post-test. To analyze the
students’ perceptions, the writer used qualitative method. This design was
commited to one group with the discussion technique without comparison group.
The research formula design as follow: O1- - - X - - - O2
Where:
O1 : Pretest was given to the students in order to measure students’ ability before
the treatment.
X : Treatment was done by teaching the students idiom through reading text to
improve their ability in idiom.
O2 : Post-test was given to the students after the treatment to find out the students’
achievement.
(Sugiono , 2011 : 225)
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B. Population and Sample
1. Population
The population of this research was the 7th semester students of English
Deaprtment in Hasanuddin University. The population consisted of two classes:
linguistic and literature classes. The total number of population was 80 students.
2. Sample
The sample was the representative of population which was selected for
object of research. The sampling technique used by the writer in this research was
selected randomly 20 samples.
C. Research Instrument
There were two instruments used in this study. First, the researcher
conducted pre-test before the treatment to find out the students’ prior knowledge
and post-test after the treatment to measure the students’ achievement based on
the material that had been learned . In pre-test and post-test, the students were
examined with 2 types of test. The first type was “multiple choices” and the
second type was “fill in the blank”. The researcher recognized whether the
students’ ability in understandingg idiom improved or not after giving them
treatments.
The second instrument was questionnaire. The questionnaire was
administered to attain students’ perceptions in using recount text to improve
srudents’ ability in understanding idiom. The questionnaire contained 8
questions. The questionnaire was given after the post-test conducted.
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D. The Procedure of Collecting Data
In collecting the data, the researcher follows three steps as follows; a) Pre-test
The pre-test was administered to measure the students’ prior knowledge in
understanding idiom. In this pre-test, the researcher gave 2 types of tests. Those
types were consisted of 20 items of multiple choices and essay that contains 5
items which was taken from learning sites in internet which was written by
Beare (2017).
b) Treatment
The researcher treated the students by giving recount text to improve the
students’ ability in understanding idiom. These treatments were conducted for 10
weeks in two months and implemented in Pelataran IPTEKS, Hasanuddin
University.
The teaching procedures for this treatment as follows.
1) Firstly, the students were treated about idiom and strategies to lerarn
idiom through reading text.
2) After the students acquired explanations about idiom and reading
comprehension, the researcher gave the students recount text and
instructed them to read the text carefully.
3) Furthermore, the researcher asked the students to find out the idioms in the
reading text.
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4) And then, the researcher discussed with the students about idioms that
existing in the recount text.
5) In addition, the researcher opened question and answer session for the
students who had difficulities in each meeting.
6) Lastly, the students were given the review to wrap the lessons that had
been discussed.
Treatment implementation and the way to obtain the datas were claimed to be invalid due to the fact students were not thaught by the teacher or lecturer.
The researcher misunderstood that a person who does the treatment is the one who could teach well and have a good English especially in idiom despite the fact that her profession is not a lecturer or a teacher. Because of this misunderstanding , the resarcher then chose a person who is well recognized as good in teaching to obtain a better data quality.
This fatal mistake occured due to the difficulity to access the lecturer or teacher who was in charge of doing the treatments, hence the researcher accessed her senior from senior high school who has initial as known as Kurnia and works as a costumer service in one of the local bank in Makassar. And at the same time, she studied Industrial engineering from one of Polytechnic in Makassar.
Although her major was not English department, her English skill was proven since she won many competitions in junior and senior high school. Because of thesis qualities, the researcher asked for her help to do the treatment in this current researcher.
32 c) Post-test
After having the treatment, The post-test was administered to find out how
far students’ improvement after the pre-test. The test was the same with the test in
the pretest which was taken from learning sites in internet which was written by
Beare (2017)..
E. The Procedure of Data Analysis
In this method, the writer analyzed the data from the results of the test
which were given to the 7th semester students of English Department Hasanuddin
University and from the questionnaire. There were 7 steps to calculate the
students’ score and 4 steps to analyse the students’ perceptions, as follows:
A. Quantitative analysis
The data was taken from the pre-test and post-test. The data in this research was
analyzed in the following procedures:
1) Checking the correct answer of the students.
2) Coding. Each student as the sample is coded by giving code S1, S2, S3,...... until
S20.
3) Scoring. The way of scoring students’ ability in idiom, the writer gave 25
questions with two types. Those types were “multiple choice” which consisted of
20 items and “fill in the blank” test which consisted of 5 items. Each item had 1
point for each correct answer.
33
For the formula in scoring the students’ test was :
Students correct score
X 100
Total test items
( Depdikbud, 1989 : 7 )
4) Tabulating and classifying. The writer classified the students’ score into five
levels by using following criteria.
The score as follows :
a) 80-100 is classified as excellent
b) 70-79 is classified as good
c) 60-69 is classified as fair
d) 50-59 is classified as poor
e) 0-49 is classified as very poor
(Syah, 2008)
5) Finding out the percentage of the student’s scores :
F 푃 = 푋 100 % N
Where :
P : Percentage
F: Frequency
N: The total number of the students
(Gay, 1987:298)
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6) Calculating the mean score of the students pre-test and post-test by using the
following formula :
⅀X 푀 = N
Where :
M :Mean Score
⅀(X) : The sum of total score
N : Number of students
(Gay, 1987:298)
7) Calculating the standar deviation of the students’ pre-test and post-test with
Microsoft Excel.
B. Qualitative analysis of questionnaire
The writer distributed the questionnaire items to the students in order to
find out the factor influencing students’ ability in understanding idiom. After the
questionnaire data was collected, the researcher analyzed the data using 4 steps.
First, the writer checked the completeness of the data. Furthermore, the researcher
read all the data. During reading, the researcher wrote some notes related to the
data such as comments about the data and analyzed the students’ perceptions in
understanding idiom using reading text. The last, the writer made conclusion
related to this study.
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CHAPTER IV
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS
This chapter presented the findings and the discussions based on the data
that had been collected through the use of reading text to improve students’
ability in idiom at the 7th semester students of English department in Hasanuddin
university. Related to the research finding, it could be seen in two parts referring
to students’ score analysis and questionnaire analysis.
A. Findings
The findings of this research were based on the result of the data analysis.
The datas were obtained by commiting pre-test and post-test. The pre-test was
given to evaluate students’ ablity in understanding idiom before conducting the
treatments, meanwhile the post-test was given to figure out the improvement of
the students’ accomplishment in understanding idiom after committing the whole
treatments through recount text.
1. Students’ Achievement Score in Understanding Idiom
a. Students’ scores of pre-test and post-test
The data on students’ achievement score was obtained from students’ score
of pre-test and post-test.
36
The students’ score of pre-test and post-test were illustrated into tables as follows:
Table 1. The students’ scores of pre-test
Pre test
NO Correct Answer Score
S1 20 80 S2 20 80 S3 20 80 S4 19 76 S5 18 72 S6 18 72 S7 18 68 S8 17 68 S9 17 68 S10 16 64 S11 16 64 S12 16 64 S13 15 60 S14 15 60 S15 15 60 S16 14 56 S17 13 52 S18 13 52 S19 11 44 S20 10 40 Total 322 1280
37
Table 2. The students’ scores of post-test
Post test NO Correct Answer Score S1 25 100 S2 23 92 S3 24 96 S4 21 84 S5 23 92 S6 23 92 S7 25 100 S8 22 86 S9 24 96 S10 24 96 S11 19 76 S12 19 76 S13 20 80 S14 24 96 S15 25 80 S16 22 86 S17 24 96 S18 24 96 S19 12 50 S20 19 76 Total 442 1746
38
The table 1 and 2 above illustrated the students’ pre-test and post test scores indicating the students’ ability in uderstanding idiom before and after the treatment. For the majority of the students, their pre-test score was significantly different from their post-test score. The total score of pre-test was 1. 280, meanwhile the total score of post-test was 1.746 higher than that of pre-test. The lowest score of students’ pre-test was 40 and the highest was 80, meanwhile the lowest score of students’ post-test was 50 and the highest was 100.
By looking at the students’ score above, it showed that the students’ ability had an improvement in idiom understanding through recount text after giving the treatment. It was probably because text could give the students clues to understand the context. That is why the students were easier to comprehend the idiom.
To sum up, the data interpretation showed a finding that the using of recount text can improve students’ ability in understanding idiom significantly.
Thus, reading comprehension was affected by idiom mastery because idiom and reading comprehension have a positive relationship. Therefore, the better students master idiom, the better comprehension they get in reading. b. Percentages and Classifications of Students’ Score
This part presented the calculations of percentage and the classifications of students’ score. To classify the students’ score, the writer used a theory adopted from Muhibbin Syah as follows:
39
1. The Pre-test Percentages a) Excellent Classification
F 푃 = 푋 100 % N
3 = 푋 100 % 20
= 15% b) Good Classification
F 푃 = 푋 100 % N
3 = 푋 100 % 20
= 15% c) Fair Classification
F 푃 = 푋 100 % N 9 = 푋 100 % 20
= 45 % d) Poor Classification
F 푃 = 푋 100 % N 3 = 푋 100 % 20
= 15 %
40
e) Very Poor Classification
F 푃 = 푋 100 % N 2 = 푋 100 % 20
= 10 %
2. The Post-test Percentages
a) Excellent Classification
F 푃 = 푋 100 % N 16 = 푋 100 % 20
= 80 %
b) Good classification
F 푃 = 푋 100 % N 3 = 푋 100 % 20
= 15 %
c) Poor classification
F 푃 = 푋 100 % N 1 = 푋 100 % 20
= 5 %
41
The classification and the percentage of students’ score were presented in the following table :
Table 3. The Percentage of Students’ Scores in English Department of
Hasanuddin University, Makassar.
Pretest Posttest Classification Range Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage
Excellent 80-100 3 15% 16 80%
Good 70-79 3 15% 3 15%
Fair 60-69 9 45% - -
Poor 50-59 3 15% 1 5%
Very Poor 0-49 2 10% - -
Total 20 100% 20 100%
Based on the data above, it was clearly seen that there was significant improvement from pre-test to post-test.
In the pre-test, 3 students greatly achieved “excellent” classification with
15% and 3 students achieved good classification with 15% of the total samples of the research. Meanwhile, the highest frequency and percentage were in “fair” classification with 9 students or 45%. But 3 students were classified into “poor” classification with 15% and also 2 students achieve “very poor” classification or
10% of the total samples of the research.
42
On the other hand, post-test showed an extremely good result. 16 (80%) students greatly achieved “excellent” classification, 3 (15%) students were classified into “good” and there was 1(5%) student classified as poor. No one of them achieve “fair” or “very poor” classification. It indicated that almost all of students had an improved in understanding idiom significantly from pre-test to post-test. c. The Mean Score
After calculating the result of the students pre-test and post-test, the writer also calculated the mean score as follows:
1. Pre-test
∑푋 1280 푀 = = = 64 푁 20
2. Post-test
∑푋 1746 푀 = = = 87.3 푁 20
The mean score was presented in the following table:
Table 4. The Mean Score of the Students Pre-test and Post-test
Pre-test Post-test
Mean Score 64 87.3
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Table 3 above illustrated the mean score of the students pre-test and post- test. It showed that the students’ mean score in the pre-test was 64 which was categorized into “fair” classification, meanwhile the mean of post-test score was
87.3 which was classified into “excellent” classification. It could be concluded that the mean score of the post-test was greatly higher than pre-test. Therefore, recount text can improve students’ ability in understanding idiom. The relationship of idiom mastery and reading comprehension has significant value.
Overall, the 7th semester students of English department in Hasanuddin university had a good comprehension in reading and idiom after the treatments. d. Standard Deviation.
Standard deviation is a measure of how wide values are dispersed from average value (the mean). There are three ways to calculate standard deviation the first way is with formula, the second is using calculator and the last with
Microsoft Excel. The writer used Microsoft Excel to calculate standard deviation because this new function of excel provide improved accuracy in calculation and simple usage.
The standard deviation was presented in the following table:
Table 5. Standard Deviation of the Students Pre-test and Post-test
Pre-test Post-test
Standard Deviation 11.387 12.0048
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2. The Students’ Perception
In this research, the writer used questionnaire to analyze the students’ perceptions in understanding idiom through recount text. The writer delivered the questionnaire to the students after the post-test was conducted. The questionnaire consisted of 8 questions. Based on the respondents’ answer to the questionnaire, the writer found the result as follows :
Table 6. The Result of Questionnaire
No Question Answers Frequency Percentage
Yes, I do. 16 80% Do you think idiom is 1 interesting?
No, I don’t 4 20%
Do you like learning idiom Yes, I do. 17 85% through recount text? 2
No, I don’t. 3 15%
I practiced the idiom that i know in daily 3 15% conversation.
What is the best method to comprehend or learn I took a note in every 3 idiom you have had? idiom that i found. 1 5%
I learned to comprehend the idiom through 16 80% recount text.
45
When i’am reading text, story or magazine. 15 75%
When do you usually find 4 the idiom? When i’am watching a movie there are some 5 25% idiomatic expressions.
Do you like lecture using Yes, I do. 18 90% reading text in teaching 5 idiom? No, I don’t. 2 10%
Do you think this Yes, I do. 20 100% treatment give you better 6 understanding in idiom? No, I don’t. - -
Would you apply the Yes, I would. 17 85% method understanding 7 idiom through recount text continually? No, I don’t. 3 15%
I could predict the meaning of idiom through the reading text 14 70% without dictionary.
Recount text can be so helpful to solve the Choose your best reason misunderstanding of about understanding idiom idiom and it can 8 3 15% through reading text! stimulate my brain to understand idiom quickly.
It is more interesting and challenging, although idiom is 2 10% confusing.
46
I could memorize the idiom longer through 1 5% reading text.
The first question was about students’ self-interest in idiom, as predictable
16 students were interested in idiom. They were interested in idiom because idiom is interesting and challenging, meanwhile 4 students were not interesting in idiom.
It was probably because idiom is difficult to be understood, it needs an extra thought to interpret the meaning of the idiom. In the next question was about the using of recount text in understanding the idiom. 17 students liked to learn and comprehend idiom through recount text because recount text made the students easier to understand the meaning of idiom. But, 3 students disliked learn and comprehend idiom through recount text. It was probably because they were preferred learning idiom through speaking or practicing directly.
Furthermore, the question number 3 asked about the best technique that the students have had in learning idiom. 16 students preferred learning idiom through recount text. Learning idiom through reading text is more interesting and students can understand the meaning of idiom easier, and also it is a good technique to increase vocabulary. 3 students chose practicing the idiom in daily conversation as his/her best method meanwhile 1 student chose taking a note whenever they found the idiom. Mostly of the students preferred using of reading text to learn idiom as their best method.
47
In the following question was about the situation they usually found idiom.
There were two options, first “When i’m reading text, story or magazine” and another option was “When i’m watching a movie”. The percentage result showed that 85% or 17 students chose “When i’m reading text, story or magazine” and 3 students chose when im watching a movie. It is probably because they are from linguistic and literature majors, they have been used to read, hence the majority of the students chose the answer about reading.
The next question was about the lecturer used recount text in teaching idiom, as predicted 18 students preferred the lecturer using recount text in teaching idiom and only 2 students disliked this method. Mostly the students thought that recount text is a good medium to improve the students’ ability in understanding idiom rather than explanation from the books which is considered too monotonous. Another reason was undertanding idiom through recount text is more interesting and the students become more focus because it needs an extra thought to analyze the meaning of idiom itself. In addition, the students felt that after treatments, their ability in understading idiom improved and it was proven from the result of mean score of their post-test ( 87.3 ) was higher than their pre- test (64 ). Therefore, they would like apply the using of recount text in understanding idiom continously and then practice it in daily coversation is greatly a good method. It proved that the students have an improvement significantly.
In addition, the fact that the using of recount text to improve students’ ability in understanding idiom was a better method and this method was chosen
48 by 17 students to be used continually, but 3 students decided not to use recount text to learn/comprehend idiom. They preferred the other methods such as learning idiom through movie, practicing idiom through speaking, or taking a note every idiom and then memorized. There are some tecniques to comprehend idiom but majority of the students chose understanding idiom through recount text.
Lastly, the writer asked the students to choose their finest reason about learning idiom through recount text. The result showed that “I could predict the meaning of idiom through the recount text without dictionary.” was chosen by 14
(70%). Meanwhile the reason “Recount text can be so helpful to solve the misunderstanding of idiom and it can stimulate my brain to understand idiom quickly” was chosen by 3 (15%) students, following with the reason “It is more interesting and challenging, although idiom is confusing” was chosen by 2 (10%) students and 1 (5%) student chose “I could memorize the idiom longer through recount text”.
Based on the explanation above, it can be concluded that the students’ perceptions about the use of recount text in understanding idiom are mostly positive, because they thought the use of recount text to improve students’ ability in understanding is a good technique and easier way to improve their idiom comprehension. Finally, from the questionnaire that was given to the students, it can be concluded that they gave positive responses to the use recount text in understanding idiom.
49
B. Discussions
The discussion is based on how recount text could improve students’ ability in understanding idiom. In this section, the writer analyzed the data which had been collected and explained as the result of the research.The pre-test was given to evaluate students’ ablity in understanding idiom before conducting the treatments, meanwhile post-test was given to figure out the improvement of the students’ accomplishment in understanding idiom after the treatment. For the whole treatments, all the students pay attention well. Therefore, each meeting they show their great improvement until the end.
The finding of this study had shown that recount text improved students’ ability in understading idiom. It could be seen from the interpretation of the test results. In the pre-test, the students’ mean score was 64. Meanwhile in the post- test, the students’ mean score was 87.3. By looking at the students’ score, it showed that the students’ ability in understanding idiom through reading text had an improvement after giving the treatment. It was probably because the text can make the students easier to understand the meaning of the idiom.
In classifications for the pre-test, 3 students achieved “excellent (80-
100) classification” and 3 students achieved “good (70-79) classification”.
Meanwhile, the highest frequency and percentage were in “fair (60-69) classification” with 9 students, But 3 students were classified into “poor (50-59) classification” and also 2 students achieved “very poor (0-49) classification”.
Meanwhile the classifications for their post-test showed great achievement, 16
50 students were classified into “excellent (80-100) classification” and 3 students were categorized as “good (70-79) classification” although there was 1 student who was classified into poor. None of students in fair and even very poor. It proved that the students’ ability in understanding idiom was improved. That is a great achievement from the students.
Besides the improvemnet of students’ score, this technique can also increase the students’ ablility in analysis the ambigous sentences. Learning idiom through recount text is a good technique based on the result of the students’ questionnaire. Mostly students preferred to comprehend idiom through recount text with the reasons as follows ; The students could predict the meaning of idiom with the context of the text, the students felt their idiom improved with the use of recount text, it made the students easier to understand the meaning of idiom without using dictionary and also the use of recount text the students can increase their vocabulary. This technique gave many adventages for the students. So that, the writer concluded that reading (recount) text and idiom have a positive relationship. Idiom gives contribution in understanding the text and also reading text gives contribution in understanding the idiom.
To sum up, after implementation treatments, the students’ ability in understanding idiom had improved and the students become more interesting in learning and comprehending idiom with the use “recount text” technique. But after applying the use of recount text in understanding idiom, it is a good thing for the students to practice the idiom in daily activity ,so that the students become familiar with idiom.
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CHAPTER V
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
Based on the data analysis presented in the previous chapter, conclusions
about the improvement of students’ ability in understanding idiom through
recount text and suggestions are drawn as follows.
A. A. Conclusion
This study concludes that there was significant difference of mean score
between the pre-test which was 64 and the post test which was 87.3. It indicated
that there was significant improvement after conducted the treatments. Thus, this
study also found that the students were enthusiastic and enjoy in understanding
idiom through recount text. The most important thing is the students showed a
great accomplishment on the post-test. In short, the writer concludes that
understanding idiom through recount text is a very effective method to improve
students’ ability in understanding idiom.
B. Suggestion
Based on the conclusions above, the writer would like to suggest the
following :
a. For the Teachers and Lecturers.
The teacher should give the students input of idiom as much as
possible because the input of idiom will be an encouragement and helping
for students to comprehend the text. Therefore, introducing idiom can be
52
given by knowing the definition, and then use them, and then apply them
in daily activity, so the students become familiar with idiom in the text. b. For Language Learners.
It is suggested to enrich their knowledge and comprehension
through idiom if they want to improve their reading comprehension skill. c. For the Next Researches.
Future research shall focus on understanding idiom with the other
skills especially speaking, because one of the steps we have to take in
order to sound like a native is mastering idiomatic expressions. It would
be good if future researches focus on practicing the idiomatic expression
in order for improving students’ ability in understanding idiom.
Another part of future research is based on the weakness of this
study as mentioned in the chapter 3, The treatment is supposed to be done
by a person who is proven as having good teaching skill and has been
certified as a lecturer or teacher in order to obtain valid and accurate datas.
To avoid the same mistake, the treatment in the future research should be
conducted by a well recognizing teacher to obtain a better data quality.
53
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ammer, Christine., 2003. The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Andriani, Tias Atma. 2014. The Relationship Between Idiom Mastery and Reading Comprehension. Unpublished Skripsi. Jakarta: Department of English Education Faculty of Tarbiyah.
Beare, Kenneth. 2017. Odd Man Out. New York.(https://www.thoughtco.com/odd- man-out-1211989 ) (Accessed on 10 October 2017)
Bromley, Karen D'Angelo. 1984. Teaching Idioms. The Reading Teacher. Vol. 38. No.3.
Cain, Kate. et al., 2005. The Relation between Children’s Reading Comprehension Level and Their Comprehension of Idioms. J. Experimental Child Psychology. 90.
Cooper, Thomas C., 1999. Processing of Idioms by L2 Learners of English. TESOL Quarterly. Vol. 33. No. 2.
De Caro, Eliana Edith Roberto. 2009. The Advantages and Importance of Learning and Using Idioms in English. Cuadernos de Lingüística Hispánica N. 14.
Depdikbud, 1989. Sistem Pendidikan Nasional (UU RI no 2 tahun 1989). Jakarta : Armas Duta Jaya.
Edwards, Peter. 1974. Idioms and Reading Comprehension. Journal of Literacy Research. 6. Gay, L.R, 1987 Educational Research. New Yrk : Merrill and Macmillan Pub. And Co. Gebhard, Jerry G., 2009. Teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language. United Stated of America: The University of Michigan Press. Grabe, William and Fredricka L. Stoller. Teaching and Researching Reading. Harlow: Longman, 2002.
Grabe, William. 2009 Reading in a Second language: Moving from Theory to Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Grant, Lynn. and Bauer, Laurie. 2004.Criteria for Re-defining Idioms: Are We
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Barking up the Wrong Tree? Applied Linguistics. 25. 1.
Harmer, Jeremy. 1998 How to Teach English. Harlow: Longman.
Israel, Susan E., and Duffy, Gerald G.,2009 Handbook of Research on Reading Comprehension. New York: Routledge.
Jacob, William. 2014. Idioms Used in A Short Story. German.(http://www.americanenglishinskype.com/student- homework/2014/11/5/idioms-used-in-a-short-story-written-by-a-german- student (Accessed on 10 October 2017)
Kurnia, Gadis Rizky . 2016. The Students’ Ability of Using Idiomatic Expression in Speaking Skills. Unpublished Skripsi. Jakarta: Department of English Education Faculty of Tarbiyah.
Lado, M. J. 1989. Ungkapan Kata Kerja dan Idiom (Phrasal Verbs and Idioms). Jakarta: PT. Gelora Aksara Pratama.
Laflin, Shelley Vance. 1993 Something to Crow About: A Concise Colloction of American English Idioms for Everyday Use. Ishington D.C.: Materials Development and Review Branch.
Lems, Kristin. et al., 2010.Teaching Reading to English Language Learners: Insights from Linguistics. New York: The Gilford Press. Levorato, Maria Chiara. et al., 2004. Reading Comprehension and Understanding Idiomatic Expressions: A Developmental Study. Brain and Language. 91. Maisa, Sridhar. and Karunakaran, T. , 2013. Idioms and Importance of Teaching Idioms to ESL Students: A Study on Teacher Beliefs. Asian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (AJHSS). Vol. 1. No. 1.
Makkai, Adam. et al.1987 A Dictionary of American Idioms. New York: Barron’s Educational Series.
Mackin, R and Cowie, A.P. 1983. Oxford Dictionary of Current Idiomatic English. Oxford : Oxford University.
Nation, I . S. P., , 2009 Teaching ESL/EFL Reading and Writing. New York: Routledge.
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Nuttall, Christine. 1996. Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language. Oxford: Heinemann, O’Dell., Felicity & Michael Mc Charthy. 2003. English Idioms in Use. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Spears, Richard A. 2005. Dictionary of American Idioms. USA : McGraw-Hill Companies.
Syah, Muhibbin, 2008. Psikologi Pendidikan dengan pendekatan baru. Bandung : PT Remaja Rosda Karya.
Ridwan. and Sunarto, H. 2011.Pengantar Statistika Pendidikan, Sosial, Ekonomi, Komunikasi, dan Bisnis. Bandung: Alfabeta.
Rohani, Gholamreza. et al. 2012. The Effect of Context on the EFL Learners’ Idiom Processing Strategies, English Language Teaching. Vol. 5. No. 9.
Scarlett. 2012.A Story Full of Idioms, My English Club. Britain.(http://www.myenglishclub.com/profiles/blogs/a-story-full-of- idioms-would-you-like-to-try-finding-them ) (Accessed on 10 October 2017)
Seidl, Jennifer. 1978.English Idioms and How to Use Them. Oxford: Oxford University Press,
Spears, Richard A. 2004., Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. New York: McGraw-Hill. Sugiyono. , 2011 “ Metode Penelitian Kualitatif, Kuantitatif dan R&D.” Bandung. Alfabeta,CV. Willis, Judy. , 2008 Teaching the Brain to Read. Alexandria: ASCD.
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APPENDICIES
APPENDIX 1
Pre-test and Post-test
NAME: ______
IDIOMS TEST
ODD MAN OUT
Bob had a little money socked away, so he didn't have to live from hand to mouth. I found the reasons for his decision to throw in the towel and become free as a bird compelling. In any case, Bob had been working for over twenty years for a corporation. While he had been successful at his job, and had made plenty of hay while the sun is shining, he still felt he is tilting at windmills. "I mean," he said to himself "how hard can it be to strike out on your own and live off the fat of the land?" The more he pondered the idea the more he came to realize that he isn't able to see the forest for the trees. Certainly, he never questioned the powers that be, but he did wonder if things might be a bit more interesting if he gave living by the seat of his pants a go.
Bob is very careful not to let on what he is thinking to anyone until he got all his ducks in a row. He knew that such a decision couldn't be made on the spur of a moment.
Things could go terribly wrong in the twinkling of an eye. "No," he thought to himself "I need a plan." It is then he remembered his grandfather Bill. Bill is salt of the earth. He never cared too much for the "finer things in life", as he liked to call them. Bill repeatedly told Bob that tagging along with everyone else would eventually get boring.
Bill made his living as a jack-of-all-trades. Sure, he never had money to burn, but he managed to get by. More importantly, Bill is content, and never worried about what others are saying or who he had to impress to get promoted. In any case, these memories of Bill came flooding back as Bob began to to prepare to get a new lease on life.
Finally, the big day arrived and Bob announced that he is stepping down as manager. His colleagues are incredulous: "How can you throw all you've worked
57
for down the drain?" they commented. "He's lost his marbles" commented others. However, Bob is in the the prime of life and he is ready for adventure. He walked out the door and never looked back. Who knows where he is and what he's doing today, but my guess is that he's happy - if not wealthy.
i. Determine the meaning of the bolded expression. Choose the best answer! Example : After going to the zoo, the mall, and the movies, Cassie is sick of bending over backwards to entertain her nieces. a. Cassie is doing very little to entertain her nieces. b. Cassie is making small efforts to entertain her nieces. c. Cassie is trying very hard to entertain her nieces.
1. Bob had a little money socked away, so he didn't have to live from hand to mouth. a. Bob felt a little bit regret because he didn’t save his money b. Bob lived with enough money in his life c. Bob didn’t have to worry because he saved his money
2. I found the reasons for his decision to throw in the towel and become free as a bird compelling. a. He had the reasons to resign from his job. b. He is so into to his job. c. He would have continued his job for a long time.
3. In any case, Bob had been working for over twenty years for a corporation. While he had been successful at his job, and had made plenty of hay while the sun is shining a. Bob went to work when the sun is shining. b. Bob earned money and saved it while he had the opportunity. c. Bob kept earning money with his job.
4. Bob had a little money socked away, so he didn't have to live from hand to mouth. a. Bob didn’t have to live with enough money to survive. b. Bob is so poor because he isted his money back then. c. Bob lived with much money that he could buy everything.
5. He still felt he is tilting at windmills a. He felt like working on things or dedicate oneself to impossible tasks.
58 b. He is not ready to begin working on a complicated job. c. He still felt that he could do his job well.
6. "I mean," he said to himself "how hard can it be to strike out on your own and live off the fat of the land?" a. Living health without fat. b. A good land is a good way to live. c. To live from the products of nature.
7. The more he pondered the idea the more he came to realize that he isn't able to see the forest for the trees. a. He could not see the trees anymore. b. He became so focused on details or the things in his life. c. He just focused on unimportant things.
8. I found the reasons for his decision to throw in the towel and become free as a bird compelling. a. He is a good employee. b. He is looking for a job that makes him feel free. c. He is a man without responsibility and completely free.
9. Certainly, he never questioned the powers that be, but he did wonder if things might be a bit more interesting if he gave living by the seat of his pants a go. a. He wondered if things are more interesting with improvising something without predetermined plan. b. He wondered if things are more interesting with keeping on his seat. c. He wondered if things are more interesting he went with a good planning.
10. Bob is very careful not to let on what he is thinking to anyone until he got all his ducks in a row. a. Bob hated a person who knew what he thought. b. Bob is a person who did the necessary preparation / well organized about something. c. Bob is a person who kept what he thought about.
11. He knew that such a decision couldn't be made on the spur of a moment a. The decision couln’t be decided without thinking about it. b. A good decision should be conveyed shortly. c. He didn’t even know the right moment to convey his desicion.
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12. Things could go terribly wrong in the twinkling of an eye. a. A wrong thing came rarely. b. A wrong thing is going to be a right thing. c. A wrong thing could happen immediately or instantly.
13. Bill is salt of the earth. He never cared too much for the "finer things in life", as he liked to call them a. Bill is glamour person. b. Bill is a simple person. c. Bill is a rich person.
14. Bill repeatedly told Bob that tagging along with everyone else would eventually get boring a. Bill hated to gather with everyone. b. Bill told Bob that it is boring to do everything alone. c. Bill told Bob that following with everyone is boring in the end.
15. Bill made his living as a jack-of-all-trades. a. Bill loved trading all kind of things. b. Bill made his good life a trader. c. Bill did many different types of jobs.
16. Sure, he never had money to burn, but he managed to get by. a. He bought all he wants. b. He did not like isting his money. c. He said that burning money is a bad habits.
17. In any case, these memories of Bill came flooding back as Bob began to to prepare to get a new lease on life. a. Bob is about to look for a new job. b. Bill couldn’t forget his memories. c. Bob would have developed a new attitude towards his life.
18. The big day arrived and Bob announced that he is stepping down as manager. His colleagues are incredulous: "How can you throw all you've worked for down the drain?" they commented. a. His colleagues ruined Bob’s decision to step down as manager. b. His colleagues couln’t believe that Bob ignored his position as a manager.
60 c. His colleagues felt happy for Bob’s announcement.
19. The big day arrived and Bob announced that he is stepping down as manager. His colleagues are incredulous: "How can you throw all you've worked for down the drain?" they commented. "He's lost his marbles" commented others a. His collegues said that Bob had been crazy of his decision. b. His collegues said that Bob lost his enthusiasm. c. His collegues said that Bob’s decision is a right one.
20. However, Bob is in the the prime of life and he is ready for adventure. He walked out the door and never looked back. a. Bob missed his life in the past time. b. Bob is in the best period of his life. c. Bob wanted to go adventure instead of stay at home.
61 ii. Fill these blanks with the appropriate idiom!
1. He's a smart man because he has ______a lot of money for his
retirement.
2. I'm sure you'l feel ______once you graduate from
college.
3. Ever since I got the new job, I feel like I've gotten ______.
4. My grandfather is a ______. He did
everything!
5. Sometimes it seems like I'm ______by trying to start a
new business.
A new lease on life As free as a bird Tilting at windmills
Jack-of-all-trades Socked away Throw in the towel
Source : https://www.thoughtco.com/odd-man-out-1211989
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APPENDIX 2
Reading Text
“Story of Bob”
Bob is sick as a dog. But after having fully recovered from his illness, Bob had a new lease on life. He took up work again, but his boss is a pain in the neck. After work Bob used to go for a walk, which did him a world of good. Just like that, he could recharge his batteries. After the walk he felt fresh as a daisy. After getting home from his walk, Bob had dinner. He used to eat fast food for dinner, but he kicked that habit and preferred to fix something himself. He knew “You are what you eat”.
Source : http://www.americanenglishinskype.com/student- homework/2014/11/5/idioms-used-in-a-short-story-written-by-a-german-student
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English language is full of fun stuff I'd like to put a bug in your ear about something that just has me rolling in the aisles. It's been a month of Sundays since I heard it through the grapevine but if I don't dish the dirt on this soon I'll be beside myself.
One day when it is raining cats and dogs, my best bud stuck her foot in her mouth and spilled the beans about her main squeeze. She's always had loose lips but this time she really talked my arm offabout her sugar daddy.
It seems he'd had his nose to the grindstone for months till he finally popped a cork and went on the lamfrom work. He hot-footed it to the local watering hole and really tied one on. In two shakes of a lamb's tail he wound up three sheets to the wind. I mean drunk as a skunk. The next thing you know, someone ticked him off and like a bull in a china shop he wiped the floor withthe guy - totally cleaned his clock. Of course, he didn't know the guy from a hole in the wall, but it turns out the guy is born with a silver spoon in his mouth and is all but_ joined at the hip with the son of Sugar Daddy's boss. Are you getting the big picture here? At this point in time, I'm about to blow off- the whole shootin' match cause I just can't quite get my arms around this- walk in the park. But my girlfriend is becoming a real basket case over the whole can of worms. So even though it sounds all out of whack, I let her rattle on bending my ear with this cock and bull story. Well, to make a long story short, Sugar Daddy finds his heart in his mouth when he sees what a pickle he's in. So he grabs his cell phone and calls his flavor of the month (my friend) and starts crying in his beer about how he's going to be toast if she doesn't hustle her bustle over there and help him put some lipstick on the pig before the police throw him in the pokey. Now, I have to admit, she's a little wet behind the ears, otherwise she would have known that he isfeeding her a line. But no, she swallows it hook, line and sinker.
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She throws caution to the wind and lays rubber all the way across town to rescue a drunk who's dumber than a stump. When she walked in the bar, the victim is still out cold and she actually thought he had kicked the bucket - you know, bought the farm. But she got him on his feet and paid through the nose for a cab to take him home. Then she and Sugar Daddy took a powder before the cavalry arrived. But here's the icing on the cake. The next day, Sugar Daddy hands my friend the green weenie! That's right. He says he needs some space, wants to consider his options, and thinks they should cool it. Well, I tried to soft peddle it for my friend's sake, but she really kissed the pooch on this one. I should have just put my cards on the table and told her that's what happens when you wear your heart on your sleeve. So put that in your pipe and smoke it! Oh well, that's how the cookie crumbles.
Source : http://www.myenglishclub.com/profiles/blogs/a-story-full-of-idioms- would-you-like-to-try-finding-them
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APPENDIX 3
STUDENT EVALUATION QUESTIONNAIRE
Please choose the most appropriate answer with (√) sign.
1. Do you think idiom is interesting? Yes, i do. No, i don’t. 2. Do you like learning idiom through reading text? Yes, i do. No, i don’t. 3. What is the best method to learn idiom you have had? I practiced the idiom that i know in daily conversation. I took a note in every idiom that i found. I learned the idiom through reading text. 4. When do you usually find the idiom? When i am reading text ,story or magazine. When i am watching a movie there are some idiomatic expressions. 5. Do you like lecture using reading text in teaching idiom? Yes, i do. No, i don’t. 6. Do you think this treatment give you better understanding in idiom? Yes, i do. No, i don’t. 7. Would you apply the using of reading text in learning idiom continually? Yes, i would. No, i would not. 8. Choose your best reason about learning idiom through reading text! I could predict the meaning of idiom through the reading text without dictionary. Reading text can be so helpful to solve the misunderstanding of idiom and it can stimulate my brain to understand idiom quickly. It is more interesting and challenging, although idiom is confusing. I could memorize the idiom longer through reading text.
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APPENDIX 4 The Result of Questionnaire No Question Answers Frequency Percentage
Yes, I do. 16 80% Do you think idiom is 1 interesting?
No, I don’t 4 20%
Do you like learning idiom Yes, I do. 17 85% through recount text? 2
No, I don’t. 3 15%
I practiced the idiom that i know in daily 3 15% conversation.
What is the best method to comprehend or learn I took a note in every 3 idiom you have had? idiom that i found. 1 5%
I learned to comprehend the idiom through 16 80% recount text.
When i’am reading text, story or magazine. 15 75%
When do you usually find 4 the idiom? When i’am watching a movie there are some 5 25% idiomatic expressions.
Do you like lecture using 5 reading text in teaching Yes, I do. 18 90% idiom?
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No, I don’t. 2 10%
Do you think this Yes, I do. 20 100% treatment give you better 6 understanding in idiom? No, I don’t. - -
Would you apply the Yes, I would. 17 85% method understanding 7 idiom through recount text continually? No, I don’t. 3 15%
I could predict the meaning of idiom through the reading text 14 70% without dictionary.
Recount text can be so helpful to solve the misunderstanding of idiom and it can 3 15% Choose your best reason stimulate my brain to about understanding idiom understand idiom 8 through reading text! quickly.
It is more interesting and challenging, although idiom is 2 10% confusing.
I could memorize the idiom longer through 1 5% reading text.
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APPENDIX 5 Pre-Test Score
Pre test
NO Correct Answer Score
S1 20 80 S2 20 80 S3 20 80 S4 19 76 S5 18 72 S6 18 72 S7 18 68 S8 17 68 S9 17 68 S10 16 64 S11 16 64 S12 16 64 S13 15 60 S14 15 60 S15 15 60 S16 14 56 S17 13 52 S18 13 52 S19 11 44 S20 10 40 Total 322 1280
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APPENDIX 6 Post-Test Score
Post test NO Correct Answer Score S1 25 100 S2 23 92 S3 24 96 S4 21 84 S5 23 92 S6 23 92 S7 25 100 S8 22 86 S9 24 96 S10 24 96 S11 19 76 S12 19 76 S13 20 80 S14 24 96 S15 20 80 S16 22 86 S17 24 96 S18 24 96 S19 21 50 S20 19 76 Total 443 1746
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APPENDIX 7
Percentage and Classification of Students’ Score
Pretest Posttest Classification Range Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage
Excellent 80-100 3 15% 17 85%
Good 70-79 3 15% 3 15%
Fair 60-69 9 45% - -
Poor 50-59 3 15% 1 5%
Very Poor 0-49 2 10% - -
Total 20 100% 20 100%
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APPENDIX 8
The Mean Score of Students’ Pre-test and Post-test
Pre-test Post-test
Mean Score 64 87.3
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APPENDIX 9 Standard Deviation of the Students Pre-test and Post-test
Pre-test Post-test
Standard Deviation 11.387 12.0048
73