The effectiveness of using Duolingo to improve students’ vocabulary mastery at the seventh grade of SMPN 8 Bandar Lampung

Abstract

The objectives of this research are to find out whether there is any significant improvement in students’ vocabulary mastery after being taught through Duolingo and to investigate the students’ perception of it. The subject of the research was thirty students of SMP N 8 Bandar Lampung who were in seventh grade when the research was conducted. The research was conducted by using one group pretest and posttest design. The data were analyzed by using Repeated Measure T-Test in which the significance was determined by p<0.05 and hypothesis testing was computed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). The students’ perception toward the implementation of Duolingo was also investigated through a close-ended questionnaire. The result of the research showed that the mean score improves from the pretest was 62,1333 and the posttest was 76,3333 in which the gain was 14,2000. The result of the t-value was 12.836 and the sig.2-tailed 0.000. It means that the hypothesis was accepted, there is a significant improvement of the students’ vocabulary mastery after being taught through Duolingo. Furthermore, it was found out that students have a positive perception of the treatment.  They also stated their reasons regarding their answer to the statements in the questionnaire.

Keywords: Duolingo, Vocabulary Mastery, Perception.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23960/UJET.v10.i1.202101