Enhancing Eighth-Grade Students’ English Vocabulary Mastery Through The Use Of Realia

Abstract

Preliminary classroom observations at SMP Islam Bojonegoro indicated that many eighth-grade students had difficulty understanding and using English vocabulary and that instruction was largely teacher centered. This classroom action research examined whether the use of realia could support vocabulary learning in one class of 20 students during the 2025/2026 academic year. The study comprised two iterative cycles of planning, action, observation, and reflection. Vocabulary achievement was evaluated at the end of each cycle, while classroom participation was documented through structured observation sheets and field notes. The class mean increased from 43.5 in Cycle I to 77.5 in Cycle II, and the proportion of students meeting the Minimum Mastery Criterion increased from 5% to 80%. Classroom records also indicated more visible participation and willingness to respond during the second cycle, although these behavioral observations were not measured using a validated motivation scale. The findings show meaningful improvement within this specific classroom after the instructional procedures were revised and realia was used more systematically. Because the study involved a single class, had no comparison group, and used teacher-developed assessments with limited documented psychometric evidence, the results should be interpreted as context-specific classroom improvement rather than definitive causal evidence of general effectiveness