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overcome the problems that could lead to their reading comprehension weakness. To some extent, the reading comprehension weakness is caused by internal factors
of the learners, such as attitude, aptitude, motivation and interest. Those factors can not be ignored in teaching reading comprehension.
Interest is one of the learner’s internal factors. It may have a significant influence on the student’s reading ability. Kartini Kartono 1985:3 says that if a
student has a strong interest in learning a subject, she or he will, of course, pay attention to that subject. On the other hand, if she or he doesn’t have any interest,
she or he will be reluctant to pay attention to the subject being learnt. Based on the above explanation, a research on students’ interest in reading
scientific essays, scientific vocabulary mastery and how they are related to their achievement in reading comprehension was conducted to find out whether there is
a significant correlation.
1.2 REASON FOR CHOOSING THE TOPIC
Carin and Sund 1989:210 have stated that interest in reading and vocabulary mastery may influence the students’ achievement in reading
comprehension. In order to prove whether or not their statement is true, the writer conducts this study. This is the reason why she selects this topic for her study. It is
no exaggeration to say that the students’ interest in reading and vocabulary mastery should be considered as the important factors in reading comprehension.
It does not mean the writer considers the other internal factors unimportant. Vocabulary plays an important role in reading activity. Actually, most of
English learners’ activities deal with reading activities, such as: reading books,
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magazines, literature etc. Therefore they should have a larger vocabulary in order to comprehend and understand the content of the book.
Reading comprehension is very important for Indonesian students especially those who take English as their major in university. It is crucial for
Indonesian students because reading comprehension is a bridge to understanding scientific books written in English, either to obtain information or to enjoy them
or just for relaxation. Since the investigation into students’ internal factors, i.e. interest, aptitude,
motivation and intelligence will be too complex, the writer has to limit herself to students’ interest in reading scientific essays, scientific vocabulary mastery and
how they are related to the achievement in reading comprehension.
1.3 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
This study tries to answer the following questions : a.
To what extent is interest of the students of the English Department of UMK in reading scientific essays?
b. To what extent do the students of the English Department of UMK
master the scientific vocabulary? c.
To what extent do the students of English Department of UMK achieve in reading comprehension?
d. Is there any significant correlation between the students’ interest in
reading scientific essays, scientific vocabulary mastery and their achievement in reading comprehension?
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1.4 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
