Hermawan, et al., The Effect of Using Puzzle on the Eighth Grade Students’ Vocabulary Achievement at SMPN I4 Jember in the 2013/2014 Academic Year INTRODUCTION English has a very important position in Indonesia. Especially in the academic field, English has been taught from junior high schools up to universities. At present, English is also taught to the elementary school as the Based Curriculum (2006). Nowdays, English is the first foreign language that must be taught in junior and senior high school because English is an international language that becomes a general communication tool in globalization era. Thus, the teaching of English as a foreign language in Indonesia is extremely important. In learning a language, one of the language components that should be acquired by the learners is vocabulary. In this case, teachers need to introduce new words using a particular strategy to the students. However, if the strategy in teaching vocabulary is not conducted in a correct and interesting manner, the result tends to lead the students to memorize the words and they will make the students stressed. This means that teachers should be creative and innovative enough. This is in line with what Pikulski and Templeton (2005:5) state that the purpose for teaching vocabulary is to facilitate the comprehension of a text that students will be assigned to read. Teaching vocabulary as the major part in this process is the art of the language themselves. Students need to see the words in context, and to see how they are used in the process of interaction. Since vocabulary is a core component of language proficiency, it provides much of the basis for how well learners speak, listen, read, and write. Based on the curriculum 2006 of English in Indonesia , vocabulary should be integrated in the process of learning which is based on curriculum-based competence. In other words, any kind of strategy used to achieve the goal of vocabulary mastery should be provided properly by all language teachers. Campbell (2012:5) states that without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed. It means that the important thing when we start to learn English is vocabulary. It is a basis of English study because without vocabulary, we cannot comprehend a sentence. Vocabulary is given to students in English teaching learning process as the component of the four language skills: reading, listening, writing, and speaking. Thus, we can say that vocabularies need special attention in teaching learning process. It will be more interesting if the teacher uses game because game can be applied in the class while teaching English. Furthermore, games as one of the language teaching tools, is considered to be able to give students great motivation from which they can enhance their ability in speaking and writing English. Moreover, it can give contribution for the teachers to become a good motivator for their students. This motivation has a very important role in the students’ willingness in studying English. Therefore, the aims in teaching learning process will be achieved. Puzzles are obvious types of self motivating activity which will arouse the students’ interest in learning language. This is in line with what Cohen (2010:5) states that vocabulary puzzles can keep a student engaged in the lesson. Thus, games create a happy situation and they can definitely increase motivation. Puzzles are more effective than conventional way in teaching vocabulary. Because the ARTIKEL ILMIAH MAHASISWA, 2015, I (1): 1-3 Abstract This research was intended to investigate the effect of Using Puzzle on the Eighth Grade Students’ Vocabulary Achievement at SMPN I4 Jember in the 2013/2014 Academic Year. The research respondents were determined by using cluster random sampling. The design of this research was a quasi-experimental research with post test only design. The main data of this research were obtained from the students’ scores of vocabularies achievement test. The main data was analyzed by using Independent sample t-Test, and it showed that the value of significance which was less than 0.05 (confidence interval 95%) that is 0.000. (the value of t table p=5% Df=70), it indicated that there was a significant effect of Using Puzzle on the Eighth Grade Students’ Vocabulary Achievement at SMPN I4 Jember in the 2013/2014 Academic Year. Key words: Puzzles, Vocabularies Achievement, Quasi Experimental Research. Dedy Hermawan, I Putu Sukmaantara, Eka Wahyuningsih Language and Arts Education Program, The Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Jember University Jl. Kalimantan No.37 Jember 68121 E-mail: dedy_email94@yahoo.com The Effect of Using Puzzle on the Eighth Grade Students’ Vocabulary Achievement at SMPN I4 Jember in the 2013/2014 Academic Year 1