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CHAPTER IV RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
This chapter discusses the answers to the two research questions. The result and discussion are presented as a whole. Therefore, based on the research
questions, this chapter is divided into two sections: A vocabulary coverage of “English in Focus” and B word recycled in
English in Focus
.
A. Vocabulary Coverage of
English in Focus
The importance of textbook is going to be the primary source for vocabulary in a teaching learning. In order to make decision in choosing the best
textbook, teachers need to know the vocabulary content of their textbooks. One of the considerations is to know the vocabulary coverage. It is used to meet the
students‟ vocabulary level. Thus, knowing vocabulary coverage, teachers should find the tokens, types and word family of textbook in order to identify the word in
the textbook. This research also identifies the vocabulary coverage of textbook, so a program RANGE Heatley, Nation, Coxhead, n.d. is used as an instrument to
analyze the data. Since this research analyzes Junior High School textbook entitled
English in Focus
, the result is the number of tokens, types and word families of
English in Focus
textbook. Alberding 2006: 714 states that the simplest way for teachers to
d etermine if a textbook‟s vocabulary level is suitable for a specific group of
learners is to look at the distribution of tokens and types across the lists and words not in the lists. This research also looks at the distribution of tokens and types. In
the corpus, 91.29 of the tokens are covered in the first 2,000 words types of English. The percentage shows that the textbook provides good opportunities for
students to learn and deepen knowledge. 2,345 types and 1,153 word families are not too difficult for Junior High School students. Moreover, 1,643 types and 1,048
word families most of them are found in GSL_1 and GSL_2. As stated by Sánchez and Criado 2009, 2
,000 most frequent types needs to be recognized by intermediate level students. Thus, this textbook is appropriate for students in
Junior High School. 1. Vocabulary Coverage of the Whole Textbook
The relevant research about vocabulary coverage was also done by Alberding 2006. He
did research on vocabulary level of a textbook in Japanese universities. The result shows that the textbook covers appropriate vocabulary
level for students. However, the textbook does not provide sufficient vocabulary items and repetition for a year-long course. Thus, it needs supplementary
materials in order to improv e students‟ vocabulary level. The summary data show
that 82 of the corpus was covered by the first 1000 words of English and about 91 was covered by the first 2000 words. This was an appropriate result since the
focus of the textbook is on developing speaking and listening skills. The analysis of the vocabulary in the textbook showed that the overall contents of the textbook
reflected a difficulty level appropriate for the group of learners. The coverage by the first 2000 words of English is at 798 types within 500 word families in the
first 1000 words of English. However, the textbook does not contain adequate vocabulary items for a year-long course, and does not provide enough spaced
repetition of the word items. Thus, it needs supplementary materials in order to improve students‟ vocabulary level. Seeing the result of the relevant research
above, it confirms that this research has the same field and discussion. This research also has the same goal with the previous research which is to
find the vocabulary coverage of textbook. The summary results of running RANGE over the textbook corpus are shown below Table 4.1. It was analyzed
from the whole of textbook, from chapter I until chapter VIII and glossary. In this research, the corpus consisted of 23,183 tokens, or running words comprises of
2,345 types. The summary data show coverage of the corpus by the words in the three words lists and those words not in the lists. For example, the first line shows
that 18,912 running words were found in the list of the first 1.000 words of English, and that these made up 81.58 of all running words in the corpus, the
1,149 types found in the list made up 49 of all types in the corpus, and 683 word families were represented. The second line shows that the corpus covers
2,251 tokens are found in the second 1,000 words from A General Service List of English Words GSL_2 and made up 9.71 of all tokens in the corpus. The 493
types are found in the list and made up 21.02 of all types in the corpus. And the representation of word families was 365. Furthermore, the third line which is
academic word list shows that the corpus covers 719 tokens and made up 3.10 of all tokens in the corpus. The 137 types found in the list are made up 5.84 of
all types in the corpus and 105 word families are represented.
Table 4.1 Vocabulary Coverage of whole parts
English in Focus
Whole Parts Word Lists
Tokens Types
Word Family
1
st
1,000 GSL_1
18,91281.58 1,14949.00 683
2
nd
1,000 GSL_2
2,251 9.71 49321.02 365
Academic AWL
719 3.10 137 5.84 105
Not in the list 1,301 5.61
56624.14 NA
Total 23,183
2,345 1,153
According to Alberding 20 06: 714, “the simplest way for teachers to
determine if a textbook‟s vocabulary level is suitable for a specific group of learners is to look at the distribution of tokens and types across the lists and words
not in the lists”. In the corpus, 91.29 of the tokens are covered in the first 2,000 words of English, which is the most frequently referred as the level for the basic
initial goal of second language learners Schmitt, 2000. Thus, it can be inferred that the textbook is appropriately aimed for students in the beginning level of
learning English. Furthermore, Richards 2001: 251 supports Schmitt‟s theory
that textbooks serve as the basis for much of the language input learners receive and the language practice that occurs in the classroom.
The finding is in line with what the government has set in Curriculum 2006. The achievement literacy level for junior high school students is functional
level. It means that students are expected to be able to communicate both orally and in written form in their daily life. Moreover, English is not a compulsory
subject in elementary school. As the result, English is first introduced formally in junior high schools as a compulsory subject. In the starting level of learning
English, 1,642 types and 1,048 word families are not too demanding, moreover
most of them 1,149 types and 683 word families are found in GSL_1. It means that the contents are accessible enough to students whose vocabulary knowledge
is within that range. This makes this textbook suitable for low-level students who have not had any experience of learning English.
The textbook provides small learning opportunity for students to learn new vocabulary outside those in the first and second 1,000 frequent words. The
learning opportunity is obtained from the Academic Word List and those words not in the list of the textbook which cover 2,020 8.71 tokens, 703 29.98
types, and 105 word families. However, this textbook can be used for improving students‟ learning opportunity as long as their teacher guides them with some
exercises or activities. The textbook only provides 1,153 word families. As stated by Nation and
Waring 1997: 17, a textbook with only 1,153 word families does not support the students to acquire a vocabulary size. Since the level for a very good basis for
language use and for productive use in speaking and writing has at least 2,000 word families. According to Hwang and Nation 1995, if the students have
vocabulary knowledge of 2,000 most frequent word families, they will recognize easily 84 of the words in various texts. Moreover, to understand in reading, the
students should recognize 95 of words in the text. It means that they require vocabulary size of 3,000 word families.
This textbook only covers 1,048 word families listed in the 2,000 most frequent word families. If only depending on this textbook, it will be impossible
for students to recognize at least 84 of the words in authentic texts. To help
students have good understanding of the textbook, which requires recognition of 95 of tokens in it, teachers need to pre-teach the tokens listed in the Academic
Word List. It is not very demanding, considering that the tokens are comprised of 137 types and 105 word families spread throughout the parts of the textbook.
The total tokens from GSL_1, GSL_2 and AWL are 94.39. It means that the students‟ text coverage is 94.39 and it is close to the percentage of 95.
To achieve 95 of text coverage, the teacher should teach the tokens from „not in the list‟ list. However, this is not a big matter considering that the textbook is
targeted for junior high school students, English learners in beginning level. In order to reach the appropriate level, the textbook needs to be supplemented by
other books which help students acquire a higher level of vocabulary size. Some treatments should be done to the students such as giving some activities to
introduce the vocabulary from „not in the list‟ list. The criteria of incidental learning of vocabulary is proposed by Nation
and Meara 2002. This textbook does not meet the criteria of incidental learning because incidental learning requires students to know 98 tokens in the textbook
Hu Nation, 2000. It is assumed that students only recognize tokens in GSL_1 and GSL_2. Then, this textbook does not support incidental learning as it only
covers 91.29 tokens. Furthermore, Hu and Nation also explain that students need to receive large amount of input, at least one million tokens or more per
year. However, the textbook only offers 23,183 tokens for a year long course. Then, students need to learn the unknown words in the textbook deliberately to
increase the learning. Unfortunately, the textbook does not provide any
vocabulary exercise for deliberate learning. Nevertheless, students can still learn the vocabulary in the textbook incidentally if they receive more input from other
sources and have opportunities to learn the vocabulary deliberately. It is expected that their tokens coverage increase to 98 in order to enable incidental learning.
2. Vocabulary Coverage of Chapter I The data in table 4.2 are the results from chapter I after running RANGE
of the textbook corpus. The detail vocabulary coverage of chapter I is presented in table 4.2 below.
Table 4.2 Vocabulary Coverage of Chapter 1
Chapter I Word Lists
Kategori