RESEARCH PROPOSAL

THE CORRELATION BETWEEN STUDENTS’

VOCABULARY MASTERY AND READING
COMPREHENSION OF THE EIGHTH GRADE
STUDENTS OF SMPN 1 ABIANSEMAL IN THE
ACADEMIC YEAR 2020/2021

I GEDE PUTU AGUS SUMARDI WIJAYA

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION
MAHASARASWATI DENPASAR UNIVERSITY
DENPASAR
2021
i
 RESEARCH PROPOSAL
THE CORRELATION BETWEEN STUDENTS’
VOCABULARY MASTERY AND READING
COMPREHENSION OF THE EIGHTH GRADE
STUDENTS OF SMPN 1 ABIANSEMAL IN THE
ACADEMIC YEAR 2020/2021

I GEDE PUTU AGUS SUMARDI WIJAYA

NPM: 17.01.88.20.3.0080

ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION
MAHASARASWATI DENPASAR UNIVERSITY
DENPASAR
2021

ii
 ACKNOWLEDGMENT

First of all, the researcher would like to express his great-sincere gratitude
to the Almighty God, Ida Sang Hyang Widhi Wasa, for the everlasting blessing
and mercies so that this research proposal could be completed on the date.
In addition, the researcher is also grateful to I Gde Putu Agus Pramerta,
S.Pd., M.Pd. for his valuable guidance, encouragement, suggestion and motivation
which were very helpful and useful in finishing this research proposal.
Besides, the researcher also wishes his gratitude to the Headmaster of
SMPN 1 Abiansemal for his permission and to the English teacher for her
assistance in doing this research, to the eighth grade students for their good
cooperation, support and hard work during the process of the data collection
without their help, this study could not be well accomplished on time.
Furthermore, researcher also expresses his thank to his beloved parents,
his special friend, all classmates in semester VIII C and all friends in English
Language Education Study Program that have given their love, motivation, and
solidarity therefore he is able to complete his study successfully. Then, for those
whose names could not be mentioned here one by one, he would like to thank for
their support so that this research proposal could be finally accomplished.
Finally, the researcher realizes that this research proposal is certainly far
from perfect. Therefore, the researcher hopes that the readers can give suggestion,
advice and criticism for the improvement of this research proposal in the future.

Denpasar, 11th January 2021

Researcher,

I Gede Putu Agus Sumardi Wijaya

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

COVER ........................................................................................................... i
INSIDE COVER ............................................................................................. ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .............................................................................. iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................ iv

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION .................................................................. 1

1.1 Background of the Study ................................................. 1
1.2 Research Problem ........................................................... 3
1.3 Objective of the Study ..................................................... 4
1.4 Limitation of the Study ................................................... 4
1.5 Significance of the Study ................................................ 4
1.6 Definition of Key Term ................................................... 5

CHAPTER II THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL REVIEW ..................... 7

2.1 Theoretical Review ........................................................... 7
2.1.1 The Theory of Reading ............................................ 7
2.1.1.1 Definition Reading ..................................... 7
2.1.1.2 Purposes of Reading ................................... 8
2.1.1.3 Type of Reading ......................................... 9
2.1.1.4 Factors Influence Reading .......................... 11
2.1.2 Reading Comprehension ......................................... 12
2.1.3 Vocabulary Mastery ............................................... 14
2.1.4 Correlation Between Reading Comprehension
and Vocabulary Mastery ........................................ 16
2.2 Empirical Review ............................................................. 18
2.3 Hypothesis ........................................................................ 19

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD ......................................................... 21

3.1 Research Design ............................................................. 21
3.2 Population and Sample .................................................... 22

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 3.2.1 Population .............................................................. 22
3.2.2 Sample ................................................................... 22
3.3 Research Instrument ......................................................... 23
3.3.1 Validity .................................................................. 24
3.3.2 Reliability ............................................................... 26
3.4 Data Collection ................................................................ 28
3.5 Data Analysis .................................................................. 29

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 1

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Reading comprehension is the activity of reading in which the readers build

comprehension of a text. Reading comprehension combined logical thinking that

is owned by a collection of letters, words, and sentences that are in the text.

Through reading comprehension someone can get more information, knowledge,

enjoyment and even problem solution. So, reading comprehension was very

important for the students to have in understanding the written language well.

English is one of compulsory subject in the school from elementary school

until university as a foreign language in Indonesia. According to Richard (2010:

196),‖ someone who learns English in a formal classroom setting, with limited or

no opportunities for use outside the classroom, in a country in which English does

not play an important role in internal communication, is said to be learning

English as a foreign language.‖ In order to master English, actually there are four

language skills in English which should be mastered by the students. They are

listening, speaking, writing and reading.

Reading is one of language skills which was listed as one of the standard

competencein national curriculum for junior high school. In junior high school

curriculum, reading is taught by giving five kinds of text types, for examples :

descriptive, recount, narrative, procedure and report text. Eighth graders have

descriptive and recount as the main texts for reading comprehension in the odd

semester and narrative for the even semester.

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 Duffy (2009: 39), state that reading is not a random process. It is a system: a

set of conventions we use to interpret and make sense of text. Through reading

you can understand the story you have read and focus on your material. In

reading, you remember every detail of the plot in order to understand the material.

In the process, your concentration and memorization skill is enhanced.

Even though reading is the basic skill to be taught to the students, many

students still have problems in reading. Such as, student difficult or make a

mistake when read some vocabulary. So, in this case reading comprehension and

vocabulary mastery have a strong relationship.

Vocabulary is a sum or stick of words employed by a language, group, an

individual or in relation to subject. Vocabulary and reading cannot be separated,

because both of them related to each other. By mastering vocabulary, we will

know the meaning of vocabulary in the context. It can also help to avoid making

mistake in understanding. Hatch & Brown (1995) define vocabulary as a list or set

of words particular language or a list or set or words individual speakers of

language might use. It means that, by using vocabulary itself, the interaction can

be happened. It is a tool for communicating each other in daily life.

Vocabulary mastery is the ability to get or to receive lots of words. By

mastering vocabulary, we will know the meaning of vocabulary in the context. It

can also help to avoid making mistakes in understanding a written or spoken text.

Good mastery of vocabulary is important for anyone who learn the language used

in listening, speaking, writing, and reading. A learner of a foreign language will

speak fluently and accurately, write easily, or understand what he or she has

enough vocabulary and has the capability of using it accurately.

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 Vocabulary mastery helps the students understanding the language. When

the students read something, it will sound good if the students understand the

words or vocabulary in their reading. Because it will guide and also help them in

pronouncing, reading, and grasping the idea from their reading, so they will

understand. Students who has a lot of vocabulary of foreign language, they could

learn language easily. It is supported by Susanto & Fazlinda (2016) vocabulary

mastery plays an important role in the four language skills and it has to be

considered that vocabulary mastery is one of the needed components of language.

Therefore, people can understand what the speakers mean.

Reading comprehension and vocabulary mastery have a strong relationship.

It is in line with Seditain Furqon(2005) who states that vocabulary knowledge is

crucial in reading comprehension and determining how well students are in

comprehending the texts. In the regard to this matter, this study attempts to find

out the ability of students’ reading comprehension,students’ vocabulary mastery

and the correlation between students’ reading comprehension and their vocabulary

mastery. After knowing the correlation, teachers are expected to be able to choose

appropriate strategies to teach their students. This study is also expected to give

significant contribution to others, especially English teachers and future

researchers. When the teachers know the correlation between vocabulary mastery

and reading comprehension, it may help them to figure out some appropriate

strategies in order to help their students to comprehend the texts.

Based on the description above, the researcher was interested in conducting

the research entitles : The Correlation Between Students’ Vocabulary Mastery

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and Reading Comprehension of the Eight Class Students of SMPN 1 Abiansemal

in the Academic Year 2020/2021".

1.2 Research Problem

Based on the background above, the researcher would like to identify the

problem as follows: is there any significant correlation between vocabulary

mastery and reading comprehension of eighth grade students of SMPN 1

Abiansemal in the academic year 2020/2021?

1.3 Objective of the Study

Based on the statement on the problems above, the objective of the

researcher is to know the significant of the correlation between vocabulary

mastery and reading comprehension for the eighth grade students of SMPN 1

Abiansemal the academic year 2020/2021.

1.4 Limitation of the Study

In this case, the researcher focused on the correlation between students’

vocabulary mastery and reading comprehension. To find out further information

and to know how the correlation between students’ vocabulary mastery and

reading comprehension.

1.5 Significance of the Study

One of the practical reflections which is taken into account in undertaking

the present investigation is the significance of the expected research findings.

Therefore, the findings of this research are expected to be advantageous for both

theoretical as well as practical in the context of English teaching and learning

process, especially in vocabulary mastery and reading comprehension.

1. Theoretically

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 the result of this research was expected to give information and

reference to the readers about the study between vocabulary mastery and

reading comprehension of the eighth grade students of SMPN 1

Abiansemal and also to complete the lack of previous research related to

the students’ vocabulary mastery and their reading comprehension on

acquiring English as foreign language.

2. Practically

the outcome of this research is expected to give feedback to the

English teachers of the eighth grade students of SMPN 1 Abiansemal, the

writer expects that this research may inspire teachers to make better

media and activities in teaching and learning process. The research

findings of this study are also intended as informative feedback for the

eighth grade students of SMPN 1 Abiansemal. This study is hoped to

motivate the students to read as much as possible and also learn

vocabulary. Then, the students realizing that reading and vocabulary can

give them many benefits and enable them to improve their English skills.

For other researchers, this research is expected to help them to get more

information about this research and can be used for better research. It can

help them to know the problem.

1.6 Definition of Key Term

In order to avoid misunderstanding the researcher would like to define the

following key term:

1. Correlation

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 Correlation is the connection between two things in which one thing

changes as the other does. Concur with it, correlation defines as a

statistical test to determine the tendency or pattern of two (or more)

variables or two sets of data to vary consistently. It means that correlation

is to connecting between first paragraph with second paragraph and the

goal is to test the tendency between two (or more) variables. Correlational

studies should always discuss evidence for the reliability and validity of

their measures. If no evidence of reliability or validity is provided or

available, the results of the study may be suspect.

2. Vocabulary

vocabulary is one of the most important elements in a language.

Tospeak the language well needs to master it. No matter how well you

learn grammar, how successfully the sound of the foreign language just

cannot happen in any meaningful way. It means that mastering vocabulary

is not easy yet other aspects of the languageare considered as sound, and

structure

3. Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension is about how well the students finding and

understanding the meaning of the text that have been read by the students.

The text is Descriptive text and the test is short answer task about place.

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 CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL REVIEW

2.1 Theoretical Review

A scientific investigation was expected to contribute practical significance

and should be conducted on the basic of some relevant theoretical constructs and

empirical evidence. Concepts and theories are needed as the standard in scientific

writing. It is crucially needed to bind and limit the topic, so that the writing will

focus on what is wroth to write. In this chapter, the researcher describes some

important related theoretical reviews which support this study. As a result, the

researcher puts some theories as her theoretical concepts which contain about

reading, reading comprehension, mastery vocabulary, relationship between

reading comprehension and vocabulary mastery.

2.1.1 The Theory of Reading

In the concept of reading there are 4 things, such as: Definition Reading,

Purposes of Reading, Type of Reading, and Factors of Influence Reading.

2.1.1.1 Definition Reading

Reading is useful for students because the more they read, the more they

will get understanding about something. Furthermore, reading can increase

students’ vocabulary when they spell or write something.(Harmer, 2001:99)states

that real readers do something with what they read. So, students think reading is

important when they use reading to achieve the goal important to them, to achieve

a purpose of text and to answer questions they want to answer. In short, they are

motivated to read when reading empowers or enriches them. Reading text

7
contains language components, from reading text, the readers can learn not only to

comprehend the text to answer the questions, but also expand their grammar

knowledge, vocabulary and so on.

From the definitions above, the writer assumes reading is an activity that the

reader does to get information and writer’s idea from textual sources. Reading is

not only looking at word in the form of graphic symbols but also getting meaning

from word to word or line to line to understand what we read. It means that

reading is the process to understand the text content and to get information

meaningfully.

2.1.1.2 Purposes of Reading

According to McDonough and Shaw (1993:102) as quoted from William;

classify the purposes of reading into three purposes. First, people read to get the

general information. Second, people read to get the specific information. Third,

people read to get pleasure or interest, although it is for enjoyment, it is still

purposeful.

McDonough and Shaw also stated as they quoted from Rivers and

Temperley (2003:103) that the specific purpose in reading are:

1. to get the information about a topic that students need, such as books,

encyclopedia, etc.

2. to get the instruction on how to do something, such as instruction of

electric devices.

3. to keep in touch with friends such as letters and email.

4. to know when or where something will take place or what is available,

such as time table, schedule, etc.

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 5. to know what is happening or has happened, such as newspaper or

magazine.

6. to get pleasure.

Those purposes are the reason why students usually want to read. In other

hand, Murcia (2001:187) also stated that there are some other specific reading

purposes for the students in academic setting, they are; to search information, to

learn new information, to synthesize and evaluate the information and for general

comprehension. Based on the description, the writer considers that there are two

general reading purposes. First, is to get the information whether it is general or

specific information. Second, people read only for pleasure, because he or she

likes the reading activity.

2.1.1.3 Type of Reading

There are so many types in reading techniques. According to Grellet

(1999:4) stated that proposes the way of reading, he defines the strategies of

reading into several points, and they are skimming, scanning, intensive and

extensive.

1. Skimming

In skimming, readers are reading rapidly over a text in order to get main

point. In other word, skimming is a process of over viewing the general

concept of the material; it can be started by selecting sub chapter move to

larger content material. Skimming permits reader to preview the text to

get the scheme of a text to read word by word. For example, reading

newspaper, people dismiss unimportant material and quickly identify

9
 main idea people usually do skimming in a multiple speed because of

limited time.

2. Scanning

Grellet (1999:4) states that Scanning is quickly scanning through a text to

find a specific word, numbers, and steps. The concept of scanning can be

defined in this way, in scanning the eye glances over the material aimed

to find specific information. In other words, scanning means readers

search through the material for a specific purpose, for example, finding

the answer to a question, and seeking words in dictionary or prices in a

catalogue.

3. Intensive

Seems to be stigmatized by some researcher as a boring style of reading,

because the readers need to find the details of the information required.

Intensive reading usually read at the slower speed, the aim of intensive is

to read shorter texts and to extract specific information.

4. Extensive

Grellet (1999:4) states that Extensive reading is to read a longer passage,

the aim of extensive reading usually for one’s enjoyment. This extensive

reading also called as a fluency activity and it include an overall meaning

from the passage. Extensive reading means to read abundantly, and

fluently. The purpose of this strategy is for pleasure, and the primary goal

in extensive reading is reading books after books like reading novel,

short stories, and articles. According to those reading strategies the writer

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 sums up the four points of reading strategies as follows: skimming,

scanning, intensive, and extensive.

2.1.1.4 Factors Influence Reading

Alderson, J.C. (2000:32) explained many factors which influence reading

that he classified into two elements, namely reader or factors from inside and text

or factors from outside.

The first factor is inside factors cover; linguistic competence, interest and

motivation. In linguistic competence, there are phonological system, semantic

knowledge, and syntactic system. Phonological system is knowledge of how

reader blended to create words. Semantic knowledge refers to reader’s knowledge

about word meanings. Syntactic system refers to the orderly arrangement among

words in sentences. Most of people who read based on their interest usually are

better than people who do not read based on their interest or forcefully. Role of

motivation is almost same with interest in influencing reading comprehension. If

reader has high motivation to read, it is easier for him/her to understand the text,

because motivation is in the reader self, therefore he/she is motivated by

him/herself to get the idea and point of reading.

Outside factor covers is the secondoutside factors cover; the message, genre

and type of text. The first factor that comes from outside is message. It can

influence one’s understanding from frequency and abstracting of word. The

frequency of word which is seldom seen makes reader gets difficulty to

comprehend and for abstracting of word, the reader gets difficulty in selecting the

meaning of abstract words. Beside word, longer sentences and more complex

sentences tend to appear in passage that people may be have difficulty

11
understanding. Next factor are the genre and type of text. Some people do reading

because the genre and type of the text. They feel enjoyable when they read what

they like. Everyone has their favorite genre of text. Genre or type that they

interested in usually makes them easier in understanding the text than the genre

they not interested in. All statements above state that reading is influenced by

readers’ prior knowledge, readers’ interest and motivation, readers’ competences

in language itself, and performance of text.

2.1.2 Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension is essentially defined as the ability to understand

the information which has been read. Reading is one of important skills that must

be mastered by the students. By reading, their knowledge gradually increases and

it improves other language skills. The students may reach all of these aims if they

understand and comprehend the reading text. Reading involves students

interacting with visual input of language, which they need to process and

understand (Pollard, 2008:44). The word “interacting” is used because reading is

most definitely an active process; the efficient reader interacts with a text, predicts

what will come next, and brings his or her knowledge of the subject and language

to the text. It is essential to train the students to read and to encourage the use.

There are certain aspects of reading, such as fluency, intonation and word

recognition which can be learned in few years. These basics must be mastered but

at the same time reading comprehension should be emphasized in the process.

Students can parrot or copy words on a page all day long but if they do not have

the necessary comprehension skills, they will not be able to make predictions

about what is happening, what will happen next, monitor their understanding of

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content, sequence or characters, clarify confusing parts of the text, or connect

what they are reading to their own experience or prior knowledge. This is what

true comprehension is all about (Hedgcock and Ferris, 2009:16).

Pang et al. (2003:14) describe that comprehension is the process of

deriving meaning from connected text. It involves word knowledge as well as

thinking and reasoning. Therefore, comprehension is not a passive process but an

active one. The reader actively engages with the reading text to construct meaning

and good readers normally take active steps to overcome difficulties in

comprehension. This active engagement includes making use of prior knowledge.

It involves drawing inferences from the words and expressions that the writers use

to communicate information, ideas and viewpoints through their writings.

Many foreign language students often have reading as one of their most

important goals, they want to be able to read for information and pleasure, for

their career, and for study purpose; in addition, reading comprehension is the

primary purpose of reading. Raising students’ awareness of main idea in a text

and exploring the organization of the text are essential for good comprehension

(Richard and Renandya, 2002:273). Furthermore, Lems et al. (2010:170) also

explain that reading comprehension is not a static competency; it varies according

to the purposes for reading and the text that is involved.

Klingner et al. (2007:8) describe that reading comprehension is a

multicomponent, highly complex process that involves many interactions

between readers and what they bring to the text (previous knowledge, strategy

use) as well as variables related to the text itself (interest in reading text,

understanding of content of the reading text). Snow (2002:11) defines reading

13
comprehension as the process of simultaneously extracting and constructing

meaning through interaction and involvement with written language. The use of

the word extracting and constructing is to emphasize both the importance and the

insufficiency of the text as a determinant of reading comprehension.

Comprehension entails three elements of reading; those are the reader who is

doing the comprehension, the text that is to be comprehended and the activity in

which comprehension is a part.

Based on the explanation above, it can be concluded that reading comprehension

is process of extracting and constructing meaning of the text to get the goal is

communication of messages.

2.1.3 Vocabulary Mastery

According to Nation & Newton (1997) vocabulary is knowledge of words

and word meanings. Actually, vocabulary is more complex, vocabulary mastery is

not only knowing the words and its meanings, but also knowing about how the

words sound and how the words are used in the context. It is according to Miller

& Gildea (1987) that knowing a word by sight and sound and knowing its

dictionary definition are not the same as knowing how to use the word correctly

and understanding it when it is heard or seen in various contexts.

Hatch & Brown (1996) define vocabulary as a list or set of words

particular language or a list or set or words individual speakers of language might

use. It means that, by using vocabulary itself, the interaction can be happened. It

is a tool for communicating each other in daily life. It is important and to express

the feelings and to express the ideas what is on our minds. Moreover, Richards

(2001) states, vocabulary is one of the most obvious components of language and

14
one of the first things applied linguists turned their attention to. It means that

vocabulary will make the students easy in learning language. If the students have

a good vocabulary mastery, they can read or listen English clearly and then write

or speak the sentences in English.

Vocabulary has been found as an essential component of second language

learning classroom Susanto & Fazlinda (2016), and also as a major resource for

language use, and one could not learn a language without learning vocabulary

Cameron (2001). Hence, vocabulary learning is of great importance as vocabulary

is an important unit to build up skills and knowledge. Anyhow, learning

vocabulary items is not such a simply matter of committing them to memory, but

how to use them in appropriate situations as well as how to expand the knowledge

of one’s vocabulary is also crucial. It is supported by Wallace (1982) who says

that vocabulary is one of the most important parts of languages, because when

speaking a language, the speakers need several words to convey ideas. Therefore,

people can understand what the speakers mean.

According to Hornby (1987:523) that mastery is complete control of

knowledge. Vocabulary is a sum or stick of words employed by a language,

group, an individual or in relation to subject. Vocabulary and reading cannot be

separated, because both of them related to each other. By having and mastering

vocabulary, we will know the meaning of vocabulary in the context. It can also

help to avoid making mistake in understanding.

Vocabulary mastery is the competence or complete knowledge of a list or

a set of word that make up a language which might be used by particular person,

class, profession. Vocabulary mastery is one component to master English as a

15
foreign language in elementary, intermediate, and advanced levels. In learning

four language skills, vocabulary is one basic component to be mastered. It is

reasonable, remembering that the four language skills need knowledge of words

because they will get nothing without vocabulary. Vocabulary mastery plays an

important role in the four language skills and it has to be considered that

vocabulary mastery is one of the needed components of language Susanto &

Fazlinda (2016).

Vocabulary mastery is the competence or complete knowledge of a list or

a set of word that make up a language which might be used by particular person,

class, profession. Vocabulary mastery is one component to master English as a

foreign language in elementary, intermediate, and advanced levels.

Based on the explanation above, it can be concluded that vocabulary is very

important in language learning, when we master vocabulary, we can understand

the information from the text and we can express our idea. And Mastery means as

comprehensive knowledge. Vocabulary mastery does not mean as knowing

meaning of vocabulary. It also means that the person is able to recognize,

understand and produce the stock of words and their meaning. If the students

have mastered the vocabulary, it will help the students to communicate with

everyone, make the students understand all information from other countries, and

vocabulary also help the students to speak and listen English clearly with native

speaker.

2.1.4 Relationship Between Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary

Mastery

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 The correlation between reading comprehension and vocabulary mastery

has been discussed by many experts. Hirsch (2003) found that knowing at least 90

percent of the words of a text enables the reader to get the main idea from the

reading and guess correctly what many of the unfamiliar words mean, which will

help them learn new words. Yildirim, Yildiz and Ates (2011) found that there was

a significant correlation between vocabulary and comprehending expository texts

as well as vocabulary and comprehending narrative texts. The findings also show

that vocabulary is a predictor of comprehending narrative and expository texts.

Roehrig and Guo (2011) explain that vocabulary knowledge is one of the major

factors that influence reading comprehension. It is also supported by Sedita

(2005) who states that vocabulary knowledge is crucial in reading comprehension

and determining how good the students are in comprehending the texts.

Based on above, it can be concluded that vocabulary is crucial to be mastered by

the learner in order to understand the language. Vocabulary mastery is needed to

express our ideas and to be able to understand other people’s sayings. Hornby

(1995) as cited in Alqahtani (2015) defined the mastery of vocabulary as complete

knowledge or competence skill. From that definition, mastery means complete

knowledge or great skill that makes someone a master in a certain subject. In

learning four language skills, vocabulary is one basic component to be mastered.

It is reasonable, remembering that the four language skills need knowledge of

words because they will get nothing without vocabulary. The larger the students

master vocabulary, the better they perform their language. By having too limited

vocabulary, the students will find difficulties in mastering reading and other skills.

17
2.2 Empirical Review

Empirical review is the way to reviewing other studies from other researcher

to know the strengths and also the weakness of those study which similar with the

presents study. Thus, by knowing it, the researcher can make a better research

than previous research in student vocabulary mastery and reading comprehension.

There are some researchers that have done the research about student vocabulary

mastery and reading comprehension. The researchers as follow:

The first study was conducted by Nadya Aprilia (2019) in his study entitled

“The correlation between students’ vocabulary mastery and their reading

comprehension in descriptive text.”. This research focused on the correlation

between students’ vocabulary mastery in reading descriptive text and their

achievement in reading comprehension whether students’ vocabulary influence

their achievement in reading comprehension. The result of this research that

vocabulary in reading descriptive text influenced students’ achievement in reading

comprehension. The calculation result is about 0.440 which means that it average

correlated.

The second study was conducted by Rona Yasa (2018) entitled “The

Correlation Between Students’ Vocabulary Mastery and the Students’ Ability in

Reading Comprehension at the Tenth Grade of SMA Cerdas Murni Deli Serdang

in Academic Year 2017/2018”. The result states that there is a significant

correlation between students’ vocabulary mastery and their reading

comprehension. In his research, the population for this study was the students of

SMA Cerdas Murni Deli Serdang with total number students of SMA Cerdas

Murni Deli Serdang is 90 students. By used random sampling, he chose 30

18
students of class X IPA-I of SMA Cerdas Murni Deli Serdang as the sample. The

data was collected by using 40 items of essay test. After the data was collected,

the correlation data was processed using product moment formula. The finding

was medium correlated to the result of the correlation coefficient which calculated

the correlation between vocabulary mastery and their reading comprehension. The

result of correlation coefficient is 0.491 which is specified as medium correlation.

Therefore, it can be concluded that there is medium correlation between students’

vocabulary mastery and reading comprehension. Additionally, the strength of this

research was in data analysis. It was because the previous researcher provided a

clear explanation about how to find out the correlation between two variables.

Besides, the word that used by the researcher was simple and easy to understand.

And for the weakness, there is no explanation about T-testing.

Based on the relevant of researches above, this research have similarity and

different with the both of researchers. this study found out the correlation between

vocabulary mastery and reading comprehension. The word uses by the previous

researchers was classified as a simple word and this makes other researchers

clearly understand the content of their thesis. However, the researcher also found

the weaknesses of both previous researchers. Considering these empirical, the

researcher was motivated to conduct research to discover the correlation between

vocabulary mastery and reading comprehension of the eighth grade student of

SMPN 1 Abiansemal in academic year 2020/2021

2.3 Hypothesis

Based on the assumptions above the writer formulates two hypothesis as

follows:

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 Ha: There is significant correlation between students’ vocabulary

mastery and their reading comprehension in descriptive text at the

eighth grade students of SMPN 1 Abiansemal in academic year

2020/2021

Ho: There is no significant correlation between students’ vocabulary

mastery and their reading comprehension in descriptive text at the

eighth grade students of SMPN 1 Abiansemal in academic year

2020/2021

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 CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHOD

3.1 Research Design

Research design is a choice of an investigator about the components of her

project and the development of certain components of the design. Research design

is the statement of the object of the inquiry and how a satisfactory culmination to

be affected. A research design is work before getting the project underway.

(Singh, 2006:77). In addition, Kothari (2004:31), also defines a research design

as the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of data in a manner

that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose with economy in

procedure. Research design determines how the researcher collects and analyzes

the data.

According to what the researcher has described on the research

significances, the type of this research used a quantitative approach with

correlation method. A correlation method was appropriate for this study because it

allowed two variables to show whether they have a positive or negative

relationship and examines the hypothesis. Regression coefficient technique was

used to estimate the degree of relationship between two variables.

In this research, the researcher wants to find out and describe the

correlation between vocabulary mastery and reading comprehension. Correlation

study determines whether two variables are correlated or not. Correlation is

concerned with establishing relationships between two or more variables in two

populations (Leedy & Ormord 2010). The independent variable of this research is

vocabulary mastery (variable X) and the dependent variable is reading

comprehension (variable Y). Finally, both variables can be tried to be correlated.

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3.2 Population and Sample

Population is defined as all members of potential sample which have

homogenous characteristics in terms of some traits like age, knowledge

background and so on. However, sample is population’s part which has same

opportunity being observed. If the researchers want to take sample as their

research’s subjects, they have to do sampling. Sampling is the way to get sample

that the researchers need in their study. It is done in order to acomodate budgets

and times for study. In addition, the sample itself have same opportunity and more

reliable if the researchers do sampling.

3.2.1Population

Population of this research was the tenth grade students of State Junior High

School 1 Abiansemal in the academic year 2020/2021. There are sixth classes.

Each class had 36 students. The sample was determined by using random

sampling technique since both classes had the same level of English competency.

In this case, 40 students from VIII E and VIII F were randomly selected and being

the subjects of this study.

3.2.2 Sample

According to Creswell (2012), the sample of correlational research (sample

size) is 40 persons. The research used simple random sampling to take the sample.

A simple random sample is one in which each and every member of the

population has an equal and independent chance of being selected. If the sample is

large, this method is the best way yet devised to obtain a sample representative of

the population of interest (Fraenkel, 1932. p. 94).So, the research took 4 students

as the sample or 11 % of total population. To take the sample from each classes,

the researcher used lottery technique, by rolling a piece of paper contained

number 1-4. The one who got the number could be the sample

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3.3 Research Instrument

The research instrument was constructed to find out the correlation

between vocabulary and reading comprehension. The instruments in this research

were synonym and antonym task for vocabulary mastery and short-answer task

for reading comprehension. In synonym and antonym task, the test-takers were

instructed to found out the synonym by write down the same meaning of the

word. For the antonym, the test-takers were instructed to write down the opposite

meaning of the word. Meanwhile, in short-answer task, the test-takers should read

the reading text carefully then they read the provided questions related to the

reading text properly and answer the question in complete and grammatical

sentence. The questions in the test were limited in finding out general

information, specific information, textual meaning and word meaning in each

reading text.

In vocabulary mastery, the researcher used synonym and antonym task.

The basic aspects of vocabulary are to measure the size of student's vocabulary

(breadth of knowledge) or test how well they know the individual’s words (depth

of knowledge) synonym and antonym tests are different from other verbal

reasoning tests because they emphasize the mastery of vocabulary words. Two

words are synonyms if they have similar meanings. In a synonym question, the

students must choose the word that is closest in meaning to the given word (e.g.,

happy–glad). Antonyms are two words that have opposite meanings. In an

antonym question, the students must choose the word or phrase that most nearly

means the opposite of the given word (e.g., happy–sad). In the present study, the

researcher used answer key to assess students in vocabulary mastery.

In reading comprehension, the researcher used short-answer task.

According to Purpura (2004:136), short-answer items suppose the students answer

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the question using a sentence or two. In scoring students’ answer, a different

correct response could be made for each item in the sequence. If the criteria in this

task are the answer which is related to the information of the text and grammatical

structure, designing a rating scale is necessary. The researcher adapted scoring

rubric from Brown because the scale is considered appropriate with the research

that was conducted. In the present study, the researcher did not only assess

students’ ability in reading comprehension based on the correct information that

they got in the text. However, the correct uses of grammar in their answers also

determined their score.

Therefore, the rubric of reading comprehension which was adapted from Brown

(2004:228) can be seen on the following table.

Table 3.1 Scoring Rubric of Short-Answer Task

No. Scoring Scale Score

1 The answer and the grammar are correct 2

2 The answer is correct but the grammar is incorrect 1

3 The answer is incorrect 0

As a research instrument, the test should be valid and reliable so that it can

be used to collect valid and reliable data. The validity and reliability are discussed

under the following subsequent sections.

3.3.1 Validity

One of some requirements in order to make an effective and legible test is

validity. Valid means that the instrument can be used to measure what it should be

measured. Validity refers to the appropriateness, meaningfulness, correctness, and

usefulness of the inferences a researcher makes based on the data they collect.

Moreover, validation is the process of collecting and analyzing evidence to

support such inferences (Fraenkel and Wallen, 2009:148).

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 Validity is an important key to effective research. As what is quoted by

Fulcher and Davidson from Hughes (2007:4), validity in testing and assessment

has traditionally been understood to mean discovering whether a test measures

accurately what it is intended to measure. According to Brown (2001:22), validity

is categorized into five types; those are content validity, criterion-related validity,

construct validity, consequential validity, and face validity. In this study, the

researcher tried to establish the construct, face, and the content validity as those

are crucially needed to assess an instrument used to gain the result of the present

study so that the instrument would be considered good to be applied.

Construct validity of the test is concerned with the extent to which a test

measuring a specific trait or construct (Ary et al., 2010:201). In addition, Cohen et

al. (2000:110) mention a construct is an abstract; this separates it from the content

validity which dealt in actualities and defined content. This type of validity

agreement is sought on the ‘operationalized’ forms of construct, clarifying what is

meant and when this construct is used. Demonstrating construct validity means

not only confirming the construction with the given in relevant literature, but

looking for counter examples which might falsify the construction. Moreover,

Fraenkel and Wallen (2009:148) explains that construct validity or some books

use the term of construct-related evidence of validity refers to the nature of the

psychological construct or characteristic being measured by the instrument.

Construct validity is focused on how well a measure conforms with theoretical

expectations. In addition, Buck (2002:1) also stated that a test is considered valid

if the test has a good construct.

In addition to be valid, a research instrument is considered to have a good

face validity. As what is quoted by Brown from Mousavi (2004:26), face validity

refers to the degree to which a test looks right, and appears to measure the

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knowledge or abilities it claims to measure, based on the subjective judgment of

the examinees who take it, the administrative personnel who decide on its use, and

other psychometrically unsophisticated observers. It helps the students understand

and believe that the test they are facing is valid through the appearance; then they

will feel that the test is testing what is supposed to be tested. The face validity of

the research instrument or test was simply judged from its standardized typing

format, spelling, clear instruction and structures.

Content validity means a test should be valid in the content. It means that

to test someone, the achievement that is going to be measured must be considered.

Content validity is used as the degree to which the samples of items, tasks, or

questions on a test are representative of some defined universe or domain of

content. It means that the researcher must seek evidence that the test to be used

represents a balanced and adequate sampling of all the relevant knowledge, skills,

and dimensions making up the content domain (Ary et al., 2010:226). The

content validity of any test which is used as a research instrument depended on a

careful analysis of the language component being tested and of particular

objective aims.

3.3.2 Reliability

Reliability is central concept in measurement and one of the characteristics

of a good test. It basically means consistency. Fulcher and Davidson (2007:196)

explain that reliability is the extent to which a measuring device is consistent in

measuring whatever it measures. Cohen et al. (2005:117) also mentions that

reliability is essentially a synonym for consistency over time, over instruments

and over group of respondents. In addition, Ary et al. (2010:236) indicate

reliability as a tool to measure the instrument that it shows consistent result when

it is administered to the similar groups.

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 Brown (2004:20) explains that reliable test is consistent and dependable

meaning that it shows consistency in its score. The same person taking the test

twice the result would be similar or if the test taken by the two groups of the same

proficiency level, the score would not be very much different even if the two tests

were taken in two different places. Cohen et al. (2005:146) further indicate a

reliable test consistently measures the items of skills being tested. There are a

number of aspects that make a test being unreliable, those are individual,

situational factors, and instrument variables.

Kothari, (2004:74) also adds that a measuring instrument is considered

reliable if it provides consistent results. Reliable measuring instrument does

contribute to validity; accordingly, reliability is not as valuable as validity, but it

is easier to assess reliability in comparison to validity. If the quality of reliability

is satisfied by an instrument, then while using it we can be confident that the

transient and situational factors are not interfering.

Frankel and Wallen (2000: 169) state that reliability refers to the

consistency of scores or answers from one administration of an instrument to

another, and from one set of items to another. Reliability is concerned with

consistency of scores if the instruments used repeatedly for different subjects or

different times. The researcher used Alpha Cronbach to measure the reliability of

the instrument.

The criteria of reliability measured using the comparison between the

values of correlation coefficient. If the value of correlation coefficient is higher

than the value of t-table, it means that the instrument is reliable, while if the value

of correlation coefficient is lower than the value of t-table, it can be concluded

that the instrument is not reliable. The researcher uses SPSS 25.0 for windows in

obtaining Alpha Cronbach.

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 In this study, the research instruments were antonym and synonym task for

vocabulary mastery and short-answer test for reading comprehension. The test

was constructed based on the crucial terms of validity and reliability; moreover,

the test was also shown to both of her advisors and they assumed that the test has

already possessed validity and reliability.

3.4 Data Collection

In the present study, the data was collected by administering synonym and

antonym task, and short-answer task as the research instrument. The researcher

then collected the data by directly administering the test to the 40 samples who

were chosen randomly using lottery system. The samples were instructed to

answer the questions in complete and grammatical sentences. They were only

given 50 minutes to do the test that the total of both are consisted of 40 items.

Finally, after the students finished working on their test, the result of the test was

scored to find the real score of the students in mastering vocabulary and

comprehending reading texts. In scoring, the researcher used answer key for

vocabulary mastery and adapted scoring rubric from Brown (2004) for reading

comprehension.

1.Instrument of Collecting Data

a. Test of Vocabulary Mastery

In vocabulary mastery, the test was constructed by presenting 3

reading texts on the test and each of the reading text was followed

by 5 until 10 questions; total questions were 20 items. The scoring

system for the test is that if the students answer the item correctly,

they will be scored 1 whereas if the students answer them

incorrectly, they will be scored 0. The way to score students’

vocabulary mastery:

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 Obtained score

Score = x100

Maximum score

So, the high score was gotten 100 if the students answer all of the

question correctly.

b. Test of Reading Comprehension

For reading comprehension, the test was constructed by presenting

4 reading texts on the test and each of the reading text was

followed by 5 questions; total questions were 20 items. The

scoring system for the test is used scoring rubric which was

adapted from Brown (2004:228). The way to score students’

reading comprehension:

Obtained score

Score = x100

Maximum score

So, the high score was gotten 100 if the students answer all of the

question correctly.

3.5 Data Analysis

The purpose of this research was to measure the correlation between

student’s vocabulary mastery and their reading comprehension. The data of the

study were analyzed by using statistical analysis. Statistic is the science of

collecting, organizing, summarizing, and analyzing information to draw

conclusions or answer questions (Sullivan, 2008:3). To measure the correlation

both the two variables, the researcher was used Spearman formula. According to
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Pallant (2007:1), “SPSS is an enormously powerful data analysis package that can

handle very complex statistical procedures”. It means, SPSS is a powerful data

analysis package that capable of handling large amount of the data and it can

perform all data of the analysis covered in the text.

a. Normality test

Normality test was conducted to determine whether the research data

obtained was normality disturbed or not, measures to the rest normality

by using Shapiro-Wilk test in SPSS 25.00.

b. Correlational Analysis

After collecting the data, the researcher analyzes two variables

(students’ vocabulary mastery and reading comprehension) by applying

a correlational analysis. In correlational analysis, the researcher was

determining the degree of relationship between two variables which the

students’ vocabulary mastery as the independent variable and reading

comprehension as the dependent variable. With regard to the purpose of

this study, it was to find out the correlation between students’

vocabulary mastery and reading comprehension. An instrument can be

said as the valid one if it can show the data from the research variable

accurately (Arikunto 2006:168). It means that the researcher has to

compute the result of his study by using Correlation Product Moment

formula.

The formula is as follows:

𝑁∑𝑋𝑌−(∑𝑋)(∑𝑌)

𝑟𝑋𝑌

(Arikunto, 2006: 72)

In which:

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 rxy : correlation coefficient between X and Y

∑XY : the result of multiplying scores between X and Y for each

respondent

∑X2 : the score of squared in X (X is the score for each test item)

∑Y2 : the score of squared in Y (Y is the total correct answer

score)

N : the number of students taking the test

After having the index score of rxy, correlation product moment usually

uses the interpretation such as bellow:

Table 3.2 Interpretation of Correlation Coefficient

“r” value of Product Interpretation

moment

0,00 - 0,20 Considered as no correlation

0,20 - 0,40 Low correlation

0,40 - 0,60 Medium correlation

0,60 - 0,80 High correlation

0,80 - 1,00 Very high correlation

C. Statistical Hypothesis of Research

Hypotheses are needed in order to answer the research question and

draw a conclusion for the research. The statistical hypotheses of this

research are Ho: rxy <rt and Ha: rxy > rt

In which:

Ho = there is no correlation between vocabulary mastery and reading

comprehension.

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 Ha = There is a significant correlation between vocabulary mastery and

the reading comprehension.

To test the hypothesis, the correlation coefficient from the calculation

(rxy) will be compared to correlation coefficientfrom Product Moment

table (rt). to find rt the degress of freedom must be calculated using the

following formula: df = N-nr

In which:

df = degrees of freedom. N

= number of

respondents. nr = number of

variables.

After the value of df is calculated rt can be determined in 5%

significance. The criteria for hypothesis testing are:

1. Ho will be accepted if rxy <rt, which means that there is no

relationship between two variables.

2. Ha will be accepted if rxy > rt, which means that there is any

relationship between the two variables.

d. Paired t- Test

Paired Samples tTest compares two means that are from the same

individual, object, or related units. Field (2013) stated with the paired

sample t-test we analyze the differences between scores. The researcher

testing paired sample t test by using SPSS.

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