A study on the lexical richness in the written work of the third year students of english language education department of Sanata Dharma University - USD Repository
A STUDY ON THE LEXICAL RICHNESS IN THE WRITTEN
WORK OF THIRD YEAR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH
LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM OF SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
A Thesis
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
ANDREAS DIMAS ARDITYA
Student number: 021214038
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
for the life I was, am and will be
STATEMENT OF WORK ORIGINALITY
I honestly declare that this thesis which I wrote does not contain the works or part
of the works of other people, except those cited in the quotations and
bibliography, as a scientific paper should.
Yogyakarta, 9 February 2007
The Writer
Andreas Dimas
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My gratitude goes to my major sponsor, Dr. F.X. Mukarto, M.S. I am also indebted to my cosponsor, C. Tutyandari, S.Pd, M.Pd. I wish to thank the third year students of English Language Education
Study Program of Sanata Dharma University who have volunteered themselves
participating in this study. My appreciation also goes to my beloved ones who have supported me inmy ups and downs. I wish to acknowledge all my colleagues and fellows, whose
list of names is too voluminous to be written here. I am grateful to those who have
directly or indirectly helped and supported me in writing this thesis.Andreas Dimas
TABLE OF CONTENTS Page
TITLE PAGE ............................................................................................... i
PAGE OF APPROVAL ............................................................................... ii
PAGE OF ACCEPTANCE .......................................................................... iii
PAGE OF DEDICATION ............................................................................ iv
STATEMENT OF WORK ORIGINALITY ................................................ v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................... vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................. vii
LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................... x
LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................... xiABSTRACT ................................................................................................. xii
ABSTRAK ..................................................................................................... xiii
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background ............................................................................................. 1
1.2 Problem Identification ………………………………………..……….. 3
1.3 Problem Limitation ................................................................................. 4
1.4 Problem Formulation ............................................................................. 5
1.5 Research Objective ................................................................................ 5
1.6 Benefits of the Study .............................................................................. 6
1.7 Definition of Terms ................................................................................ 6
CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW2.1 Theoretical Description .......................................................................... 9
2.1.2 Knowledge of Vocabulary .............................................................
11 2.1.3 Writing Process and Writing Feature ............................................. 14 2.1.4 Vocabulary in Writing Process ....................................................... 17 2.1.5 Measurement of Productive Vocabulary in Composittions ............ 18
2.2 Theoretical Framework of the Study ..................................................... 20
CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY
3.1 Method …………………………………………………………….....
22 3.2 Research Participants ………………................................................... 23 3.3 Data Source and Nature of Data ............................................................. 24 3.4 Data Collection ....................................................................................... 25
3.5 Data Analysis .......................................................................................... 25
CHAPTER 4 RESEARCH RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 4.1 Data Presentation of Written Works ....................................................... 28 4.2 Analysis Results and Discussion of the Lexical Richness ................... 30 4.2.1 Degree of Lexical Variation .......................................................... 30 4.2.2 Degree of Lexical Sophistication ..……………............................ 33 4.2.3 Degree of Lexical Density .............................................................
35 CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5.1 Conclusions ............................................................................................ 39 5.1.1 The Third Year Students’ Lexical Variation Degree in Their
Written Work ..........................................................................................
39 5.1.2 The Third Year Students’ Lexical Sophistication Degree in Their Written Work ……………………………….................................
40
Written Work ................................................................................
40 5.2 Recommendations ................................................................................ 41 5.2.1 to the Lecturers ............................................................................. 41 5.2.2 to the English Learners ................................................................ 41 5.2.1 to Other Researchers ...................................................................
42 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................
43 APPENDICES ..............................................................................................
45 Appendix A. Table of Number of Words, Word Families, Low Frequency Word Families, and Content Words Counts ...........................
46 Appendix B. Tables of Scores of Lexical Variation, Lexical Sophistication, and Lexical Density Measurements ...............
48 Appendix C. List of Words Used in the Participants’ Composition and Their Frequency ......................................................................
52 Appendix D. Samples of Third Year Students Written Works ....................
64 Appendix E. Text Fragment of Published Research Report .........................
66
LIST OF TABLES
Page Table 4.1 The Table of Descriptive Statistics of the Written Works ……… Table 4.2 The Table of Descriptive Statistics of Lexical Variation Measurement ………....………………………………………… Table 4.3 The Table of Descriptive Statistics of Lexical Variation Measurement …………………………………………………… Table 4.4 The Table of Descriptive Statistics of Lexical Density Measurement …………………………………………………... Table 4.5 Top Ten Most Used Words in the Students’ Written Works …...
28
31
33
36
37
LIST OF FIGURES
Page Figure 2.1 Chapelle’s vocabulary ability construct ...………...…………… Figure 2.2 Hayes’ Writing Model General Organization …...……………..
12
16
ABSTRACT
Arditya, Andreas D. 2007. A Study on the Lexical Richness in the Written Work of
Third Year Students of English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University. Yogyakarta: English Language Education Study Program,
Sanata Dharma University. Vocabulary is the bridge between what message is meant to be delivered
and what message is actually delivered. There seems to be an agreement among
researchers that lexical ability is given more emphasis in writing skill than it is in
the other skills. Writing possesses greater lexical density: it is densely packed
with information, less redundant and more fully formulated to fulfill the needs of
a distant reader and to avoid ambiguity; suggesting that written work draws on a
large supply of words.This study investigated the lexical richness in the written work of third
year students of English as Foreign Language in Indonesian university. The study
was meant to find out three measurements of lexical richness: (1) the degree of the
lexical variation, (2) the degree of the lexical sophistication, and (3) the degree of
the lexical density in students’ written work. The method used was document analysis on students’ written works.Descriptive statistics was used to determine how accurately inductive reasoning
can be employed to infer that what was observed on the sample in this study
would be observed on the third year students’ population. Cluster sampling was
used to represent the third year students of English Education Study Program of
Sanata Dharma University. The students’ written works were uploaded into a
computer and Simple Concordance Program 4.07 was used to analyze the lexical
statistics of the data. Analysis results indicated that the third year students’ level of lexicalvariation, lexical sophistication, and lexical density were 40.26%, 15%, and
48.89% respectively. The analysis results led to the conclusion that the third year
students (1) had a proper productive lexical repertoire, (2) had proper use of
specific and advance words in a given context, and (3) used more function words
rather than content words in written production.
ABSTRAK
Arditya, Andreas D. 2007. A Study on the Lexical Richness in the Written Work of
Third Year Students of English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris,
Universitas Sanata Dharma. Kosakata adalah jembatan antara pesan yang dikirimkan dan pesan yang
diterima dalam komunikasi bahasa. Dikatakan bahwa kemampuan kosakata
mendapat penekanan lebih dalam keahlian menulis, dibanding dalam keahlian
keahlian bahasa lain. Karya tulis memiliki kepadatan leksikal lebih besar:
informasi lebih padat, penggunaan bahasa lebih efektif, dan dibuat untuk
memenuhi kebutuhan pembaca dan dengan tingkat ambiguitas rendah;
menunjukkan bahwa karya tulis bersandar pada kemampuan kosakata.Studi ini meneliti kekayaan leksikal pada karya tulis mahasiswa Bahasa
Inggris tahun ketiga di Indonesia. Penelitian kekayaan leksikal dilakukan untuk
mencari: (1) tingkat keragaman kosakata, (2) tingkat penggunaan katakata sulit,
dan (3) tingkat kepadatan leksikal dalam karya tulis mahasiswa.Metode yang digunakan dalam studi ini adalah analisis dokumen pada
karya tulis mahasiswa. Statistika deskriptif digunakan untuk menentukan apakah
hasil observasi pada sampel dapat digunakan untuk mewakili seluruh popuplasi
mahasiswa tahun ketiga. 49 sampel digunakan untuk mewakil mahasiswa tahun
ketiga Progam Studi Bahasa Inggris Universitas Sanata Dharma. Karyatulis
mahasiswa dipindai ke dalam komputer dan program komputer Simple
Concordance Program 4.07 digunakan untuk membantu analisa data statistik
kosakata. Analisa temuan menunjukkan bahwa tingkat keragaman kosakata, tingkat
penggunaan katakata sulit, dan tingkat kepadatan leksikal dalam karya tulis
mahasiswa tahun ketiga adalah 40.26%, 15%, dan 48.89%. Temuan ini mengarah
pada kesimpulan bahwa mahasiswa tahun ketiga (1) sudah memiliki repertoir
kosakata aktif yang cukup besar, (2) mampu menggunakan katakata spesifik dan
sulit yang sesuai konteks, dan (3) lebih banyak menggunakan function words
(katakata fungsi gramatika) dalam menulis.
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
This chapter places the current research among previous research,especially those dealing with lexical characters and/or abilities of students of
English as a Second or Foreign Language. This chapter consists of background of
the study, problem identification, problem limitation, problem formulation,
research objectives, benefit of the study, and definition of terms. 1.1 BackgroundResearch in vocabulary has been various in kinds. According to Johnson
(2000, p. 177) these last decades were period of strong interest in vocabulary.
During the time, educators became convinced that most words probably are
learned from oral and written context—that is, through listening and reading. The
emphasis of the period, as during the earlier period, was predominantly on
reading and learning words as way to improve comprehension.Although much less attention has been paid to lexicon than other parts of
language, lexicon is an important factor in second language acquisition. This
importance is noted by Gass (1988b, as cited in Gass and Selinker, 2001, p. 372)
who observed that utterances with grammatical mistakes can be generally
understood, but lexical mistakes lead to interference of the communication. This
is because lexis corresponds closely with the meaning. Bloom (2000, as cited in
Wauters et al, 2003) said that "…to know the meaning of a word is to have a
the intended meaning cannot be produced and, thus, is not comprehended, then the
communication is a failure. Lexicon is the bridge of what message is meant to be
delivered and what message is actually delivered. As Levelt (1989, as cited by
Gass and Selinker (2001), p. 373) put it, “…lexicon is an essential mediator
between conceptualization and grammatical and phonological encoding...” In writing skill, the lexical ability is given more emphasis than it is inother skills. Composition process makes written work more concise, formulated
and explicit. Halliday (1985, cited in Nunan, 1991) pointed out that writing
possesses greater lexical density. Written work is densely packed with
information, it is less redundant. Written work is also more fully formulated to
fulfill the needs of a distant reader and to avoid ambiguity. These suggest that
written work draws on a large supply of words.Hayes and Flower (1980, as cited in Hayes, 2000) articulated a cognitive
process theory of writing. They refer to three writing processes: planning—which
includes goal setting and organizing, translating, and reviewing. Word selection
comes into play during any of these three writing processes, and each word
chosen is important. Each word that comes into a growing text gives impact to the
text; any words or choices of words coming after will be determined and limited
by the word. Analyzing students’ written work can reveal their lexical characteristics.The description of students’ vocabulary ability is available on the text they have
written . Laufer (1991) used free compositions written by English learners as
source of lexical richness data on determining their second language vocabulary
development. Laufer used four measurements in lexical richness analyses
namely: lexical variation, lexical density, lexical originality and lexical
sophistication. In the local context, Susilo (2001) and Saputro (2005) studied vocabularyof English students in university in Indonesia. Susilo investigated the controlled
active vocabulary size, using Laufer and Nation’s controlled active vocabulary
test. His study, which was crosssectional, aimed to find out whether differences
exist on students at different levels. Saputro’s investigation was also cross
sectional. He used students’ impromptu written compositions using The Passport
to IELTS to measure lexical density and lexical profile of the students. The current study is a follow up to Saputro’s study. The study measuresthe vocabulary characteristics of English students of the English Department in
university in Indonesia using their written works which are part of task they have
to do in their Writing V class. 1.2 Problem IdentificationOne way to analyze the students’ vocabulary in their written production is
by calculating various statistics that reflect their vocabulary knowledge. Read
(2000) summarized a set of statistical analyses toward written production. The
general term that is used for the vocabulary characteristics measured by these
statistics is lexical richness. Lexical richness analyzes four lexical features of a
written work, namely: lexical variation, lexical sophistication, lexical density and
number of errors. Lexical variation, or also known as typetoken ratio, is the use of a variety
compares the number of different lexical words used in the text with the total
number of the running lexical words used in the text. Lexical sophistication is the use of a selection lowfrequency words thatare appropriate to the topic and style of the writing, rather than general everyday
vocabulary. The measurement compares the number of the sophisticated word
families used in the text with the total number of word families in the text.Lexical density is the use of lexical words in a text. The measurement
compares the number of lexical or content words, which consists of nouns, full
verbs, adjectives and adverbs derived from adjectives, with the total number of
words in the textNumber of errors is the occurrence of lexical errors in a text. The
classification of what are included as lexical error can be varied including minor
spelling mistakes, major spelling mistakes, derivation mistakes, deceptive
cognates, interference from another language learning, confusion between two
items, etc.; depending on what is expected to be revealed of the counting.
1.3 Problem LimitationThe main emphasis of this study is on analyzing three out of four aspects
of the lexical richness, namely, the lexical variation, lexical sophistication, and
lexical density of the written work of third year students of English Education
Department of Sanata Dharma University. Measurement on number of error is
not included in this study because the measurement was the most subjective of all
measurement occurs because researchers are likely to have different identification
of lexical errors one another; their findings may be too different for them to have
a high level of agreement or interrater reliability. Read also added another
limitation for the errors measurement, which is the generalization of seriousness
errors: the measurement does not take into account the relative seriousness of
different errors. 1.4 Problem FormulationThe intention of this study is to find out the Lexical Richness of the third
year students of English Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University.
As has been explained above, although lexical richness in its respect is composed
of four elements—namely lexical variation, lexical sophistication, lexical density
and number of lexical errors—with regard to students’ written work of English
Education Department, this study strives to answer three questions:
1. What is the degree of the Lexical Variation in students’ written work?
2. What is the degree of the Lexical Sophistication in students’ written work? 3. What is the degree of the Lexical Density in students’ written work?1.5 Research Objective This study aims to find out the Lexical Richness of EED students, which
is interpreted from their written works’ statistical scores of Lexical Variation,
Lexical Sophistication, and Lexical Density.
1.6 Benefits of the Study To give contribution to English Language Teaching (ELT), This study is
hopefully able to: (1) offer insight for ELT teachers in perceiving vocabulary
knowledge usage—use of word types, specific vocabulary, and text’s vocabulary
density—especially in written composition of third year university students, (2)
provide ELT teachers and readers with understanding of how vocabulary
characteristics can be inferred from written work, and (3) give description of
productive vocabulary characteristics in written composition of EEDUSD third
year students.Some terms are used in this study; therefore, to avoid misunderstanding, it is necessary to explain the terms based on relevant sources.
This study analyzed documentary data of written text; then for practical reason lexical item—that is, a word—was basically defined as orthographic words, that is “…any sequence of letters (and a limited number of other characteristic such as hyphen and apostrophe) bounded on either side by a space or punctuation mark” (Carter, 1998). However, since a lexical item can have various forms, in this study lexical item is family, which is a fundamental unit underlying different grammatical variant or wordforms. For example, ‘makes’, ‘made’, ‘making’ etc. are underlain by the capitalized lexeme ‘MAKE’ and are counted as ‘MAKE’.
1.7.2 LowFrequency Item Laufer (1991) defined lowfrequency item as “advanced word” and what is included as this kind of word would depend on the level of the learner. In this study “advanced word” is taken to be words that are not in the top two bands of Collins Cobuild’s (2001) most frequent English word. The words in the top two band account for approximately 75% of all English usage. There are 1720 words in the top two bands list. Words that are not included in the bands are topic specific and advanced words.
1.7.3 Content Word Content word is “…word that has meaning in isolation and serve more to provide links within sentences.”(Read, 2000, p.18). In this study content words are nouns, full verbs, adjectives and adverb derived from adjectives occurred in the students’ compositions
1.7.4 Lexical Richness The term is a generic term Read (2000, p.200) used to subordinate four statistical vocabulary assessments, namely: lexical variation, lexical sophistication, lexical density and number of errors. In this study lexical richness refers to the first three.
1.7.5 Written Work Written work is intellectual composition produced as readable text. In this study written work are the written compositions of the EED students that consist of no less than 300 running words and no more than 500 running words. The texts are of argumentation type and are in their draft form, that is, the texts have gone through process of planning, drafting; but not revision, redrafting and final drafting. Further description of the nature of the written work used in this study is explained in Section 3.3.
1.7.6 Third Year Students of English Language Education Department The students study English as a Foreign Language. They are trained to master English and to qualify as English teachers. The students may have different traditional, ethnics or L1 background, but they are speakers of Bahasa Indonesia as a national language and they all use Bahasa Indonesia as lingua franca; therefore in the current study their competence in Bahasa Indonesia is considered as native.
Chapter 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
There are several theories that eventually lead to ascertaining students’lexical characteristic through statistical lexical analysis on their written work. This
chapter is dedicated to give a deeper topic understanding of the study. A number
of components on related points of the topic will therefore be clarified. 2.1 Theoretical DescriptionThis section discusses how a word is defined; and how vocabulary is
described as a part of language competence, and used in the written process. This
section ends in discussion on, as the focus of this study, analyzing vocabulary in
written production. 2.1.1 Definition of WordCarter (1998, p.4) discussed several definitions and their related problems
of a ‘word’. When we want to define the meaning of ‘word’, we tend to directly
think of it as a sequence of letters (and a certain added characteristics such as
apostrophe, hyphen, etc.) which is stringed together between spaces or
punctuation marks. This kind of word definition is an orthographical one.
Generally this kind of definition has considerable practical validity, for instance in
counting words or making wordlist. However, this definition has its problems. For
example, should we take swim, swims, swimming, and swam as separate items?