IMPROVING STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY MASTERY USING CONTEXTUAL TEACHING AND LEARNING (A Classroom Action Research at the Third Grade of SD Negeri Kalimacan in Academic Year 2009/2010)

In recent year, English as a foreign language has been learned by Indonesian learners since they were in Elementary School. At the elementary school, English is taught as local content subject. The importance of English as the key to the international communication and commerce makes it compulsory subject for students from the Junior High School up to the Senior High School. English vocabulary is one of the elements in teaching English at the elementary school. Vocabulary is the basic competence that must be reached by students in order to get other competencies like reading, writing, listening, and speaking. It is difficult to master the other competences without mastering and understanding the vocabulary. Rivers in Nunan (1991: 117) argues that the acquisition of an adequate vocabulary is essential for successful second language use because without an extensive vocabulary, we will be unable to use the structures and functions we may have learned for comprehensible communication. In the field of education, including English education in Indonesia, our education is still dominated by the view that knowledge is a set of facts which have to be memorized. Teaching learning process focuses on teacher as prominent source of knowledge. As a result, students have problems to understand academic concepts as what they usually get is something abstract and lecture method. Many students can serve good level of memorization of teaching material but in the end of teaching learning process they actually do not understand it at all. Actually memorization of teaching materials lasts for a short time in their memory and knowledge is not sets of facts which have to be memorized. Zahorik (1995) in DEPDIKNAS (2003) states: Knowledge is constructed by humans. Knowledge is not a set of facts, concepts, or laws waiting to be discovered. It is not something that exists independent of knower. Humans create or construct knowledge as they attempt to bring meaning to their experience. Everything that we know, we have made. Based on this opinion, learning process which focuses on the teacher is no longer suitable. It is because our brain is continuously finding meaning and saving meaningful cases, and learning process has to involve students in finding meaning. Teaching and learning process has to make it possible for the students to understand the meaning of their learning material. Contextual teaching learning is one of the methods appropriate in teaching English for children. In a CTL learning environment, students discover meaningful relationships between abstract ideas and practical applications in a real world context. Students learn something by experiencing by themselves. Contextual Teaching and Learning creates a team, whether in the classroom, language laboratory, or in the worksite. Students learn best b y actively constructing their own understanding (CTL Academy Fellow, 1999). Considering the importance of implementing a method in teaching English, the writer decides to carry out a research on “Improving Students’ Vocabulary Mastery using Contextual Teaching Learning (A Classroom Action 6 Research at The Third Grade of SDN Kalimacan, Kalijambe, Sragen in Academic Year 2009/2010)

Communicative Language Teaching in Aviation Vocational College Context: The Effect of Students’ Learning Perception and Attitude on Their EFL Learning Performance

This study examines the effect of learning perception and attitude on students' learning performance while implementing communicative language teaching (CLT) in a vocational college. The quantitative study used a survey research method with a cross-sectional design. 270 students participated in the study selected using a voluntarily random sampling technique. These research respondents were among those who had completed intermediate English classes with the amplification of the CLT method. Data were collected using a questionnaire with a four-point Likert's scaling method from very disagree (1) to very agree (4) (α = 0.843). The obtained data were analyzed using ANOVA with the assistance of IBM SPSS 25. Results showed a significant effect of learning perception (β = .890; F = 1018.849; p = 0.000) and attitude on students’ learning performance (β = .850; F = 698.468; p = 0.000). Among the two, learning attitude had been the more influential factor in students' learning performance during the implementation of CLT. This study suggested that CLT could be a catalyst for learning perception and attitude to elevate students' learning performance in the context of EFL teaching in vocational college