THE EFFECT OF DIGITAL LEARNING MATERIAL ON STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY MASTERY AT 8th GRADE STUDENTS OF SMPN 5 TARAKAN
This study aimed to determine the significant effect of digital learning media on the vocabulary mastery of grade VIII students at SMPN 5 Tarakan. In addition, this study also aimed to assess the significant effect of paper-based learning media on vocabulary mastery in students at the same grade level. This study also compared the difference in significant effect between digital learning media and paper-based learning media in improving the student vocabulary mastery. The method used in this study was a pre-experimental design with a non-equivalent control group. The research sample consisted of students in class VIII-C as the experimental group and students in class VIII-B as the control group, which was selected using the purposive sampling technique. The research instruments were in the form of pre-test and post-test, with the data analyzed using a t-test of two independent samples. As a result, the experimental group that used the digital material experienced a significant improvement in their vocabulary score from 59.07 to 85.72, while the control group that used the paper-based material showed only a small improvement, with the score increasing from 63.73 to 69.20. Non-parametric statistical tests, specifically the Mann-Whitney U test, confirmed the results showing that the p score was lower than 0.05 (p 0.05). The data showed that the null hypothesis (Ho) was rejected, while the alternative hypothesis (H.) was accepted. Therefore, the results of the study showed that the use of digital learning media significantly increased the student vocabulary mastery compared to paper-based learning media, which indicates that the digital learning media has an effect on student vocabulary mastery.