Correlation between Vocabulary Size and Morphological Structure Awareness

56 morpheme identification and morphological structure. Generally, this current study reveals that there is a significant correlation between vocabulary size and morpheme identification. In addition, there is also a significant correlation between vocabulary size and morphological structure. This current study also finds that there is a significant correlation between morpheme identification and morphological structure. However the level of correlation varies. The results reflect that the level of the correlation of the variables were not high. The level of the correlation between vocabulary size and morpheme identification was low. A bit different with the first result, the correlation between vocabulary size and morphological structure is in the moderate level. Yet the correlation between morpheme identification and morphological structure was again similar to the first result, that was in the low level. 1. The Correlation between Vocabulary Size and Morpheme Identification Awareness The assumption is based on the understanding that higher vocabulary size will influence the ability to breakdown the elements of the word. The result showed that the p-value is 0.03. Ho is rejected as p-value 0.03 0,05 meaning that there is a significant correlation between vocabulary size and morpheme identification. The correlation is positive meaning that the increase of the vocabulary size is in line with the increase of the morpheme identification. However, by looking at the table r = 0.267 show us that the degree of the correlation is low. 57 There are some findings based on the data of vocabulary size test and morpheme identification test which show that, in some cases, a student with relatively low vocabulary size get higher score of morpheme identification than the student with good vocabulary size. The finding was different with the study done by Tabatabei 2011. It can be examined by looking at the perspective of the nature of vocabulary size test and morpheme identification test. Vocabulary size test is a kind of test which measures the rough word families a language learner has. It measures the number of the word families a learner has after learning for certain period of time. The result will measure the actual number of the word families without too many factors affected. Without studying in advance one may get good score as long as shehe has mastered great number of vocabulary. . Differently, morpheme identification is closely related to morpheme. It requires the knowledge of morpheme as the elements which form a word. Carlisle 1995 stated that morphological awareness occurred accidentally depending on the number of language exposure the learner got. Morpheme- focused learning will maximize the quality and quantity of the morphemes the students learned. Moreover, Nation 2001 suggested that the students should make use the language skills learning for morphemes learning. The students will benefit from the learning activities if they are aware of the elements of the words they learn. One may specifically learn the morpheme in a certain period of time and has known sufficient amount of morpheme. Bertram, Laine and Virkkala 2000 stated that inflections and derivations are essential in morpheme identification .Good learner will learn both inflection and derivation to complete the 58 understanding of the free and bound morpheme. In addition, the knowledge of part of speech is also important especially for the derivations Zang and Koda, 2011. The result of the test showed that the students frequently failed to state the right meaning of a word because of incapability of part of speech change. 2. The Correlation between Vocabulary Size and Morphological Structure Awareness This correlation is based on the assumption that by having higher vocabulary size, a learner can construct a new word from the knowledge he has known. The result of the statistical analysis using Pearson Product Moment showed that p-value 0.03. The result indicated that there was a significant correlation between vocabulary size and morphological structure as p-value 0.001 0,05.. There was also a positive correlation between the variables. Yet the leveldegree of the correlation was moderate r = 0.404. Constructing new word from the elements of the word is not a simple matter. There are some knowledge to know before we actually form the word. Nation 2001 stated that there are at least four steps of constructing a word. The first is to determine the intended meaning of the word. The second is to choose the right morpheme or word to construct. The third is to determine the word order. The last is to give the right punctuation. The morphological structure test doesn’t only require the test takers to write the constructed words, but also considering the previous aspects as the consideration to construct new words. Some data of the test showed that the incapability of determining the right part of speech and word