THE CORRELATION BETWEEN VOCABULARY AND STUDENT’S READING

COMPREHENSION
OF EIGHTH GRADE AT SMPN 14 SAMARINDA IN THE ACADEMIC YEAR
2018/2019

THESIS

Presented to
Mulawarman University
to Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for Degree of Sarjana Education

By:

SAKINA AMALIA MISRIANTO

Student’s Number: 1605085089

MULAWARMAN UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
SAMARINDA
2018
 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of Study
Students in many places in the world learn English for many years. In Indonesia,
English is regarded as Foreign Language which formally taught from primary schools
until university. There are four basic language skills that student for students to able
master English. They are listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Beside those skills,
there are some components namely vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, etc., to support
that four skills.
One of those skills, reading, has important role to students learning. Reading is
important to students to gain written information. Through reading we can get the
message that the writer wants to express, and we can also find new ideas and our
supporting ideas through reading. To understands the meaning of what they read, students
need to mastery the vocabulary. Vocabulary is one of important component when
learning language to help students to acquire and understand language. Vocabulary can
influence student’s reading comprehension. If students want to comprehend whole text
that they read, they should know large amount of vocabulary.

1.2 Question of the Study

a. Why mastering vocabulary important to reading comprehension of eighth grade
students at SMPN 14 Samarinda?
b. How vocabulary mastery support students in reading of eighth grade students at
SMPN 14 Samarinda?
c. Is there any significant correlation between vocabulary mastery and reading their
comprehension?

1.3 Research Objectives/Aim

Based on research question above, the purpose of this study is to find out the
importance of vocabulary towards reading comprehension of eighth grade students at
SMPN 14 Samarinda, to find out the support of vocabulary mastery in reading, and to
find out the correlation between vocabulary mastery and their comprehension a.
1.4 Hypothesis
Based on explanation above, the researcher formulated hypothesis as
followed:
Ho There is no significant correlation between vocabulary mastery and students
reading comprehension of the eighth students of SMPN 14 Samarinda
Ha There is significant correlation between vocabulary mastery and students
reading comprehension of the eighth students of SMPN 14 Samarinda

1.5 Definition of Key-Term

1. Correlation
A statistical measure that indicates the extent to which two or more variables fluctuate
together.
2. Vocabulary
The result of an activity that has been done, created, pleasing, obtained with tenacity
the way of work.
3. Mastery
Skill or knowledge that makes one master of a subject.
4. Reading Comprehension
A process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through interaction
and involvement with written language.
 CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

2.1 The Nature of Vocabulary Mastery

Vocabulary is one of the language aspects that students need to learnt.
Knowing many vocabulary is important to people who want to learn English because
if they know the vocabulary they will be able to listen, speak, read and write nicely. A
person can be said “know” a word if they can recognize it when they see it. While
learning vocabulary, we have to know the meaning of the word and the use of the
word in sentences. Mastering a large amount of vocabulary will help people
developing the four language skills. According to Lewis and Hill (1990:12) in Yogi
Fauzi, vocabulary mastery is important for the students. Without mastery vocabulary
people cannot master English. As Yang Zhihong (2000,p.38) said “ Words are the
basic unit of language from supports it without vocabulary, one cannot communicate
to the effectively or express idea” .

2.2 The Nature of Reading Comprehension

Reading is an important activity in learning process, it is a major skill to
student to develop their knowledge in reading activity. While comprehension is the
ability of students in comprehending an English text. White (1997: 41) in Yogi Fauzi,
states that comprehension involves more that simply decoding. Reading
comprehension is defined as the level of understanding a writing. According to Spratt,
Pulverness, and Willia (2005), one of part of comprehending a text is understanding
the language of the text at word level, sentences level, and whole-text level. Reading
comprehension. To have a good ability in reading comprehension, students need to
develop their competence by put interest on reading English text and be able to
translate English text to target language.

2.3 Correlation between Vocabulary and Reading

Vocabulary and reading are related to each other and cannot be separated.
Mastering vocabulary, will make us know the meaning of vocabulary and avoid of
misunderstanding the context. The reason why many students find that reading is
difficult is because the lack of vocabulary. The amount of vocabulary that we have is
influence reading comprehend. Krasen (1986) in Celce-Murcia(1991:305) state that
rather than learn through direct vocabulary, most efficient way to improve non-native
speaker is through reading program. Quoted from Djuharie (2005:257), to understand
English text, we should know the structure , vocabulary, and techniques. With master
vocabulary, students will be able to catch the meaning of the text.

2.4 Previous Related Study

Many researchers have examined the correlation between vocabulary mastery
and reading comprehension. There are two previous study that related to this study.
The first study was conducted by Irwan Ro’iyal Ali entitled The Correlation Between
Students’ Vocabulary Mastery and Reading Comprehension. The population of this
study are 135 students of second semester English Department, the Faculty of
Tarbiyah and Teachers Training Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University Jakarta,
and the sample are 30 students by using random sampling techniques. The aims of
this study is to know whether there is any correlation between vocabulary
achievement and reading comprehension, and the second purpose is to get empirical
data about the formulated problem. The instrument of this research are interview and
documentation. The result of hypothesis is there is significance correlation between
the scores in Vocabulary and the score in Reading because the result of this research
shows a moderate positive correlation.
The second study was conducted by Dewi Ratnawati entitled The Correlation
Between Vocabulary Mastery and Reading Comprehension: The Case of the Seventh
Grade Students of SMP N 13 Semarang in the Academic Year 2005/2006. The
population of this study is seventh grade student of SMP N 13 Semarang in the
academic year 2005/2006 and the sample is 80 respondents. The instruments that the
writer used objective test in the case, the writer used multiple choice type for both
vocabulary and reading comprehension. The technique of data analysis used by the
writer is the formula of Pearson’s product moment correlation. The result of data
analysis shows that the correlation coefficient between the two variables is 0. 417,
while the critical value for 80 samples of 95 % confidence level is 0. 220. It means
that there is a positive correlation between the two variables.

Therefore, based on the previous studies above, the writer is interesting to

conduct the same study entitled The Correlation Between Vocabulary and Students’
Reading Comprehension of Eighth Grade at SMPN 14 Samarinda in the Academic
Year 2018/2019.
 CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METODOLOGY
3.1 Research Design
This study is measure the relationship between vocabulary mastery and reading
comprehension. This study is quantitative research with correlational design because this
study want to find the relationship between two variables. According to Gay, Mills, &
Airasian (2012, p.7) in Unun Prahesti, Quantitative research is the collection and analysis of
mathematical data to define, explain, predict, or control phenomena of interest. Donald Ary
(1985:327) in Dewi Ratnawati says that:

“Correlation studies are concerned with determining the extent of relationship

between variables. They enable one to measure the extent to which variations in
one variable are associated with variations in determined trough the use of the
coefficient of correlation”.

There are two variables in this vocabulary mastery as dependent variable (variable X) and
reading comprehension as independent variable (variable Y).

3.2 Population and Sample

According to Creswell (2012, p. 381),population is a group of individuals having one
typical that differentiate them from other groups, and according to Lodico, Spaulding, &
Voegtle (2010, p. 25), sample is a smaller type of population. The population of this study is
eighth grade students of SMPN 14 Samarinda in Academic year 2018/2019 that is 210
students from seven class. The writer take the sample 50% from the population which is 105
students. The writer use random sampling as the sampling techniques.

3.3 Data Collection Techniques

The data collection techniques that the writer use is objective test. The writer use test
to measure the level of vocabulary mastery and the ability to comprehend text. The type of
objective test that the writer use is multiple choices for vocabulary and reading test. The
result of this test later will be process to find out is there any correlation between vocabulary
mastery and reading comprehension.
3.4 Instruments

In this study, the writer use this test to obtain the level vocabulary mastery and reading
comprehension, the tests are:
1. Vocabulary test
First test is Vocabulary test. In this test. students will find out the similar meanings of
the word that given in the question. This test is multiple choices with the total number
of the test is 50 items with five options: A, B, C, D, or E. The students will have sixty
minutes to finish the test.
2. Reading test

Second is reading test. In this test, the question that the writer use is the standardized
test of reading that taken from many sources. This test is multiple choices with the
total number of the test is 50 items with five options: A, B, C, D, or E. The students
will have sixty minutes to finish the test.

3.5 Data Analysis Techniques

To find out the correlation between vocabulary mastery and reading
comprehension, the writer of Pearson’s product moment correlation as the data
analysis technique. The formula of the data analysis techniques is:

Where:

R : correlation coefficient of variable X and Y

∑xy : the sum of the products of X and Y scores for each students
∑X : the sum of X scores
∑Y : the sum of Y scores
∑X2 : the Sum of square of students’ mastery in vocabulary score
∑Y2 : the sum of square of student’s ability in reading comprehension score
(∑X) 2 : the sum of the squared X scores
(∑Y) 2 : the sum of the squared Y scores
N : the total of respondents
 REFERENCES

Celce-Muria, Marianne. 1991. Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language. USA.

Heinle and Heinle Publisher.
Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating
quantitative research (4th edition). Boston: Pearson
Dewi Ratnawati (2006). The Correlation Between Vocabulary Mastery and Reading
Comprehension: The Case of the Seventh Grade Students of SMP N 13 Semarang in
the Academic Year 2005/2006. Semarang: State Institute for Semarang States
University

Djuharie, Otong Setiawan. Intisari dan Bank Soal Bahasa Inggris Untuk SMP/MTs. Bandung:
Yrama Widya.
Irwan Ro’iyal Ali (2010). The Correlation Between Students’ Vocabulary Mastery and
Reading Comprehension. Jakarta: State Institute for State Islamic University Syarif
Hidayatullah.

Lodico, M. G., Spaulding, D. T., & Voegtle, K. H. (2010). Methods in Educational Research:
From Theory to Practice (2nd Edition). San Fransisco: Jossey-Bass.
Spratt, M., Pulverness, A., & Willia, M. (2005). The TKT (Teaching Knowledge Test)
Course. Cambridge: Cambridge University Test.
Unun Prahessti (2018). The Correlation Between Students’ Motivation and Reading
Comprehension Achievement of Eighth Grade at SMPN 2 Tenggarong. Samarinda:
State Institute for Mulawarman University

Webster, Meriem, Collegiate Dictionary, Amerika: Meriem Web Inc, 2018.

Yang Zhihong. (2000). .An Introduction to The Practice of English Language Teaching.
Malaysia: Longman
Yogi Fauzi (2017). A Correlational Study Between Students’ Interest on English Text and
Vocabulary Mastery Toward Reading Comprehension on Descriptive Text at the Eighth
Grade Students of MTs N Ngemplak in Academic Year of 2016/2017. Surakarta: State
Institute for Islamic Institute of Surakarta