Improving Students’ Mastery of Vocabulary through Computer-Based Tasks at the XII-IS-2 Grade

The standard competences of English were not gained yet. It could be caused by many problems. Lack of vocabulary is serious barrier for the students. Thus, they could not communicate by using English. The teacher should think about it. One ways to overcome that problem was teaching English by using computer-based tasks approach. It could help both the teacher and the students to overcome that problem. It was applied because the students liked to spend their time with the computer. It could be proved by the fact that they visited computer laboratory and spent their time there, even though it was time for them to go home. They were interested in computer since it was the new subject for them. This research aimed at improving the students’ mastery of vocabulary through Computer-Based Tasks at SMAN 4 Sawahlunto Sijunjung. The focus of the study was to analyze the extent to which the students could improve their vocabulary mastery by using of Computer-Based Tasks and factors of improving it. The participants of this research were the students of twelve grade social program-2 (XII IS-2) of SMAN 4 Swahlunto Sijunjung in 2007-2008 academic years. This class applied competence based curriculum. This research was a Classroom Action Research that consisted of two cycles. Each cycle conducted in five meetings. It involved plan, action, observation, and reflection. The data were collected through observation, interview, questionnaire, tasks, and tests. The finding of the research showed that implementing teaching and learning vocabulary by using Computer-Based Tasks could improve the students’ vocabulary mastery. It could happen because Computer-Based Tasks were interesting for the students for some reasons, such as: it could present vocabulary in context, visualized. If the students did not understand yet, they could assess them repeatedly without direct correction from the teacher. So, they were not afraid of making any mistakes hence computer could correct their mistake directly. It motivated the students to add their vocabulary by self learning. It was suggested for the teacher of English to try applying this strategy to improve students’ vocabulary mastery. Finally, the researcher suggested another researcher conducting another research on the other aspect of language competence.