most of them were lazy to read English because of the difficult vocabulary which they got. Third, the problem was found in the school was, there were some
students who had many vocabulary, but when they took reading test, they had a little score of reading. Otherwise, there were some students who had a few of
vocabulary, but they had a good score of reading. Moreover, the ability to read is one of the goals in learning English. Eight
grade students are hoped that they can communicate functionally when they are accustomed to read. Therefore, in KTSP curriculum, the purpose of teaching
reading in the eighth grade of junior high school is students can respond the meaning in the functional text and in a short text such as descriptive and recount
text accurately.
7
It can be meant that students are hoped to be accustomed to read and they can apply what they read in their life, so that they can solve their
problems by themselves. Meanwhile, the purpose of teaching vocabulary for the eighth grade students
is to improve the communicative competences orally and written in order to achieve the language skills functionally.
8
By vocabulary which students have, students are hoped to use language in communication written and orally, so that
they can adapt with their time today. Based on KTSP curriculum, it shows that there are some texts that should be
mastered by eight grade students of junior high school. Those texts are descriptive, narrative, recount, procedure, and report. Whereas the texts which are
learnt to eight grade students of junior high school are three texts, those are descriptive, narrative, and recount.
However, from those three texts, the writer selects only descriptive text by some considerations. First, students in second grade of junior high school have
been introduced the descriptive text when they were in first grade, thus the writer considers that they can understand descriptive text. Second, description of
something can be met in several ways, for that reason the writer assumes that the students may have accustomed with description. In fact, the problem appeared,
7
Standar Isi untuk Satuan Pendidikan Dasar dan Menengah, Jakarta: Badan Standar Nasional Pendidikan, Kementrian Pendidikan Nasional, 2006, p. 129.
8
Ibid,, p. 124.
when students read descriptive text and could not comprehend the text because of the students had little vocabulary of description.
Seeing these cases, the writer is interested in doing the research to know the correlation between vocabulary mastery and reading comprehension of descriptive
text at second grade of MTs Syamsul Ulum Sukabumi. Therefore, the writer conducted the r
esearch by the title “The correlation between students’ mastery in vocabulary and their reading comprehension skill of descriptive text a
correlational study in second grade students of MTs Syamsul Ulum Sukabumi academic year 20132014”.
B. Identification of the problem
Seeing that background of the study, the writer identifies the problem such as:
1. Students could not put or could not understand the vocabulary in the context of
the sentences. 2.
Students had less motivation to read because they assume that reading English text is difficult.
3. Students who had many vocabulary could comprehend the descriptive text; and
students who had a few of vocabulary could not comprehend the descriptive text.
4. It is supposed that students who had many vocabulary could comprehend the
descriptive text, but in fact they got bad score in reading descriptive text. Otherwise, there were some students who had a few of vocabulary could
comprehend the descriptive text. 5.
There is a probability of correlation between students’ vocabulary and their reading comprehension of descriptive text.
C. Limitation of the Study
In order to become more effective in doing the research, therefore the writer limits the study by focusing on the correlation between students’ mastery of
vocabulary and their reading.
D. Formulation of the study
“Is there any correlation between students’ mastery in vocabulary and their reading comprehension skill of descriptive text at eight grade students of MTs.
Syamsul Ulum Sukabumi academic year 20132014? ”
E. Objective of the Study
The objective of this study is to see t he correlation between students’
mastery of vocabulary and their reading comprehension at eight grade students of MTs. Syamsul Ulum Sukabumi academic year 20132014.
F. Significance of the Study
The study can give the contributions to enrich English knowledge for some people such:
1. The Writer
The research can give some experiences for the writer as the bridge to increase knowledge of English.
2. The English teachers
The research can inform the English teachers about students ’ vocabulary
that must be mastered to get their comprehension of English text, so that the English teachers can improve their method in teaching reading effectively.
3. The Students
The research can motivate students to improve their vocabulary and practice their reading activity.
4. The readers
The research can inform them about the correlation between students’
mastery in vocabulary and their reading comprehension.
7
CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
A. Vocabulary
1.
Definition of Vocabulary
When some people hear word “vocabulary”, the first thing in their mind is word. They may think that vocabulary is a word that has meaning. Or, may be the
others assume that vocabulary is a foreign word when they are learning language. Whatever they said about vocabulary may be permitted. However, to emphasize
what actually vocabulary is, the linguistic experts have argued of vocabulary definition.
1
Acc ording to Troike “vocabulary or lexicon is the most important level of
L2 knowledge for all learners to develop-whether they are aiming primarily for academic or interpersonal competence, or for broader scope of communicative
competence that spans the two ”.
2
Ur argues what actually vocabulary is. Her opinion about vocabulary is that “vocabulary can be defined, roughly, as the words we teach in foreign language.
However, a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word: for example, post office, mother in law, which are made up of two or three words but express a
single idea ”.
3
Thus, vocabulary can be said as one of the important aspects in learning a language and vocabulary can be formed from some words that create
the meaning. When people learn foreign language, the first thing they probably input is
word. By knowing some words, they can be facilitated in language learning process. According to Hudson, l
earner’s vocabulary becomes a key in language and its acquisition and as long as they learn language, they learn lexical meaning,
1
Visnja Pavicic Takac, Vocabulary Learning Strategies and Foreign Language Acquisition, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters Ltd, 2008, p. 4.
2
Muriel Saville Troike, Introducing Second Language Acquisition, New York: Cambridge University Pree, 2008, p. 138.
3
Penny Ur, A course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996, p. 60.
syntax, and morphology, their vocabularies increase throughout their life.
4
In acquiring vocabulary native speaker and non native speaker may have different
ways to get it. As Lightbown and Spada state children whose their first language is English has little effort in learning vocabulary, and it is quite different with
those are non native speakers.
5
Native speaker of English may be easy in getting it because they are accustomed with the language. In contrast, some of non native
speakers of English may not get many vocabularies as easily as native speaker because their language is different with English, they must adapt with the spelling,
the letters and the meaning.
2. Kinds of Vocabulary
Nation divides kinds of vocabulary into three or four levels based on how its frequency and how its range; they are:
a. High frequency words. These words often occur in all kinds of uses of
language whether in formal and in informal uses, in speech and writing, in novels, conversations, newspaper, and academic texts. The number of
high frequency words are about 2000 words of English, it can be found in a text is about 80 or more of running words in formal written text and
about 90 in friendly conversation. b.
Academic words. These words are usually put or found in all kinds of academic subject area such as in academic writing that including
Economic or Geography textbook, Arts, Science, Commerce, and Law. Academic words do not often occur in daily uses. Less than 2 of the
running words in conversation are from academic word list. These words of academic words are important for people who will use English for
academic study. c.
Technical words. These words often occur in more special purposes and very common in one particular area such as the vocabulary of Physics or
4
Thom Hudson, Teaching Second Language Reading, New York: Oxford Universiy Press, 2007, p. 227.
5
Pasty M. Lightbown and Nina Spada, How Languages are Learned. Third Edition, New York: Oxford University Press, 2006, p. 97.
