Teaching Vocabulary through the Implementation of Game-Based Learning for Junior High School Students; the Teachers’ Perceptions

Abstract

Investigating perceptions on the vocabulary teaching media plays a crucial role since it will be very helpful for the improvement of learning process and students’ vocabulary proficiency. This descriptive qualitative study was conducted to examine the teachers’ perception of the use of game-based learning in teaching vocabulary for junior high school students. One teacher from each three types of junior high school in Malang; private, public, and Islamic junior high school participated in the semi-structured interview. The interview was conducted through online meetings using Google Meet app due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Twelve questions were delivered in Bahasa (Indonesian) to ease the participants to understand and answer it then it was transcript to collect the data. Thematic analysis method was used to analyze the data This study found that game-based learning is worth to be used as a vocabulary teaching media based on the three participants’ perceptions, they stated that it has some advantages, such as it attracted the students’ interest. Additionally, vocabulary got after using game-based learning was remained last long in the students’ memory. It was also created a competitive environment that the students were getting more excited to join and it trained the students’ responsibility in teamwork. Still, there are some challenges faced when the teachers applied game-based learning. Finally, the teachers agreed that all of these challenges were still capable to be overcome and they prefer used game-based learning since it was easy to be used and there are more advantages for helping the students enhanced their vocabulary. It can be notable for other teachers to be creative preparing the games and keep assist the students when performing games. Future researchers can conduct studies about the use of game-based learning for the higher education level to figure out if it in line with the teacher’s perceptions in this study.