THE INFLUENCE OF VOCABULARY MASTERY ON SPEAKING ABILITY OF THE THIRD YEAR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF NUSANTARA PGRI KEDIRI UNIVERSITY

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1 THE INFLUENCE OF VOCABULARY MASTERY ON SPEAKING ABILITY OF THE THIRD YEAR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF NUSANTARA PGRI KEDIRI UNIVERSITY By: DEWI KENCANAWATI The lecturer of English Department of Nusantara PGRI Kediri University ABSTRACT English is a foreign language in Indonesia. It is learnt by the students at all levels from elementary up to university. In learning a language, including English as a foreign one, the students should master the four language skills listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Speaking is one of the language skills that is usually used to express the students idea, opinion, and feeling with others orally. However, students need enough vocabulary when they make a conversation with their friends. Vocabulary is the main factor that helps the students to develop their speaking ability. By having more vocabulary, it can be easier for the students to understand well and use many words when they speak. Beside that, the students have to have more voabulary in order to be able to speak fluently. The objectives of the reserach is to find out the influence of vocabulary mastery on speaking ability of the third year students of English Department of Nusantara PGRI Kediri University (UNP Kediri). The writer used the quantitative research. There are two variable in this research. The first variable is the students vocabulary mastery and the second variable is the students speaking ability. The instrument used in this research was documentation the achievement of vocabulary and speaking lecture. The data was analized by using Pearson Product Moment. The result of the research shows that r table is 00.0 and r count is Based on the result r xy is bigger than r xy table. The effect is Ho is rejected and Ha is accepted. It means that there is significant influence between vocabulary mastery on speaking ability of the third year students of English Education Department of UNP Kediri. Key words: vocabulary mastery and speaking ability INTRODUCTION A. Background of the Research The objective of learning a language is to use it in real communication. People use a language to communicate and help them to establish social relationship with other in their environment. Boey (1975: 3) states that language is social phenomenon. It is a means of communication between individuals. It also brings them into relationship with their environment. Language is therefore socially learned behavior, a skill that is 7

2 acquired as we grow up in society. The statement shows that a language is used for communication. A language can be regarded as a communication system that relates something to be communicated with something that communicates. English is a foreign language in Indonesia. Students from elementary up to university learn it. In learning English, the students should master the four language skills. They are listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Out of the four language skills, speaking is an important part in English learning. Speaking is still a problem for most Indonesian learners although they have been learning it for years. Their ability to use it is still limited and they find it difficult to speak English outside the classroom in real life situation. Janet (1985) states that in our pluralistic society, an increasing number of students at schools come from where a language other than English spoken. Those students often have limited English proficiency. They also have difficulty in understanding and using English. Some of those students speak only their mother tongue. Others use both English and their mother tongue but still have great difficulty with English. Many of those students have learning disabilities in addition to their language problem. They must cope not only with learning English, but with their learning disabilities as well. Based on the condition, we should pay more attention on speaking course since it will form a speech habit automatically. Allen (1985) states that speaking is sound practice, particularly in the early stages of learning to give first priority. Similar statement stated by Nunan (1995: 39) saying that mastery the art of speaking is the single most important aspect of learning a second language, and success is measured in terms of the ability to carry out a conversation in the language. However, speaking can not be separated from vocabulary. When we speak we need words, for examples; if we speak a language at home and another at school, we use great number of words to express ideas and say or give information. Vocabulary is a supporting factor to develop learners ability in speaking. It is also a way to comprehend English widely. It can make easier to the learners to learn not only grammar but also language function. Nunan (1995: 117) argues that acquisition of an adequate vocabulary is essential for successful second language use because without an extensive vocabulary we will be unable to use the grammar and the language function that we may have learned for comprehensible communication. Considering the significance of vocabulary in speaking, the learners have to master vocabulary because it helps them to understand and communicate each other. B. Statement of the Problem Based on the background above, the writer formulates the problem as follow: Is there any influence of vocabulary mastery on speaking ability of the third year students of English Education Department of UNP Kediri? C. Objectives of the Research 8

3 This research is aimed to find out whether there is influence of vocabulary mastery on speaking ability of the third year students of English Education Department of UNP Kediri. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 1. Vocabulary a. Definition of Vocabulary According to Hornby (1089: 145) vocabulary is total number of words which make up a language. b. Good Vocabulary Deighton (1977: ) states that good vocabulary in speaking and writing is the words that permit to say quickly and accurately what people have in mind. Good listening or reading vocabulary is the words that permit people to understand quickly and accurately what they hear and read. It is a mistake if people think that good vocabulary depends on how many words they know but most important is how many words they understand. Some people suppose that the sign of good vocabulary is the ability to use long and difficult words. The sign of good vocabulary relates with one s vocabulary size. The more one s vocabulary develops it will help and make easy to add words. c. Kinds of Vocabulary Vocabulary consists of words and meanings. Deighton (1977: 1) states that everyone has four kinds of vocabulary, as follows: 1) Listening Vocabulary People understand enough the meanings of words when they listen to conversation, speeches, entertainment on television, and radio program. Even though using many words that people rarely hear, they can understand their meanings by referring to the context. ) Speaking Vocabulary When people talk to others, they use many words and try to understand each other. Furthermore, they do not hesitate to use the words because they do understand the meaning of those words. 3) Reading Vocabulary Reading vocabulary will help people to understand quickly and easily what they read. People understand the meanings of the words in the passage, but they are not sure enough the words they use in their own speech. 4) Writing Vocabulary Writing vocabulary is the words people use in letters and to make good composition. Writing vocabulary is probably somewhat larger that speaking vocabulary. In writing, people can use many different words because they can take more time. d. The Expansion of Vocabulary Deighton (1977: ) explains that vocabulary could be expanded and developed in two different ways, that is: 1) New words are added In communication, we get so many new words, for example when we meet someone and make a conversation, some strange words or new terms. Those words can develop our vocabulary and we will be able to use them. 9

4 ) New meanings are added to the familiar words A word does not only have one meaning, but also has some meanings. Adding meaning to familiar word is important to avoid misunderstanding between speaker and listener. People can add new meanings by looking up in a dictionary, so it can enrich their vocabulary and the new meanings become familiar to people who hear them. e. Tips for Vocabulary Learning According to Karl Fast et al on their website hptt:// there are nine best vocabulary learning tips. They are: 1) Read, Read, Read ) Improve your context skills 3) Practice, practice, practice 4) Make up as many associations and connections as possible 5) Use mnemonic (memory trick) 6) Get in the habit of looking up words you do not know 7) Play with words 8) Use vocabulary lists 9) Take vocabulary tests. Speaking a. The Definition of Speaking Speaking has main priority in a language. Allen (1985: 97) states that speaking is sound practice, particularly in the easy stages of a language and giving first priority to the development of automatic speech habit. It is supported by Lado (1989: 0) states that speaking is the ability to express the idea using the voice or talk. Speaking ability is described as the ability to express to converse or to express a sequence of idea fluently. Based on the statements above, the writer defines speaking as an ability to communicate using the voice to express the idea and has main role to the development of automatic speech. In curriculum 004 (003: 40) it is stated that standard in speaking and listening is high. Eighty percent is rated satisfactory including nearly half which is very good. In good oral work, pupils made extended, thoughtful contribution and built on points made by others. They contributed willingly in wellstructured Standard English and were able to ask, listen and explain. They learn to take turn to speak confidently and to debate. Some were clearly responding well to challenge, which had been carefully structured to conform to National Curriculum requirements. It is also more apparent that pupils of modest attainments were pushed to their personal limit in such oral work. So it is concluded that speaking is the most important skill in English learning. b. The Characteristic of Successful Speaking Ability Penny Ur (1987: 10) explains that there are some characteristics of successful speaking activity: 1) Learners talk a lot As much as possible of the period of time allotted to the activity is in fact occupied by learner talk. This may seem obvious, but often most time is taken up with teacher talk or pauses. ) Participation is even Classroom discussion is not dominated by a minority of talkative participants: all get a chance to speak, and 10

5 contributions are fairly evenly distributed. 3) Motivation is high Learners are eager to speak: because they are interested in the topic and something new to say about it, or they want to contribute to achieve a task objective. 4) Language is of an acceptable level Learners express themselves in utterances that are relevant, easily comprehensible to each other, and of an acceptable level of language accuracy. Based on the characteristics above, it is assumed that the students should talk and practice to speak as much as possible, participate actively in speaking, and be motivated to speak without being forced by the teacher, as well as speak appropriately that is understandable. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY A. Design of the Research In this research, the writer uses the quantitative research because the research has two variables. It is administered to find out tendency between two variables that is the students vocabulary mastery and the second variable is the students speaking ability. B. The Subject of the Research The subject of the research was the third year students of English Education Department of UNP Kediri. C. The Method of the Research In this research, the researcher collected the data by using documentation. The documentation is used to get data dealing with the students achievement in their speaking and vocabulary lectures that is taken from their teacher. After that, the students vocabulary mastery is X variable and the students speaking achievement is Y variable. Variable X and Y are measured to obtain score X and score Y. The two sets of score will be correlated. D. Technique of Collecting Data There are many kinds of techniques to collect the data, such as interview, observation, and documentation. In this research, the writer uses instrument documentation to get the data. The document is a type of technique to obtain the data which have already been exist. The documentation in this research is the score of vocabulary and speaking lecture that are taken from the lecturer s document. Since the score of vocabulary mastery and speaking achievement are obtained from documentation, the writer is required to check the validity and reliability of both vocabulary and speaking tests used by the teacher. E. Technique of Analyzing Data The writer analyzed the data by using statistical analysis. To analyze the data, the writer uses Pearson Product Moment. Furqon (198: 176) states that coefficient correlation of product improves by statistical expert Karl Pearson and it was call Pearson r, mostly used correlation index. This correlation is used when the measurement scale is interval or ratio. After collecting the data, it is analyzed to find the correlation between the students vocabulary mastery that is considered as dependent variable and the speaking ability that is considered as the independent variable. After that it is 11

6 examined whether the students vocabulary mastery has a significant correlation with their speaking ability by using Pearson Product Moment correctional coefficient correlates the raw scores of those variables. Pearson Product Moment coefficient is used to describe in quantitative terms and the degree that is relative degree or relation is expressed as a correlation coefficient. The formula of Pearson Product Moment is as follows: NO Student Score XY X Y X Y Y X n n RESEARCH FINDINGS A. Description of the Research Data Description of the research data is analyzed to get the result of the research. The table below shows the students achievement in vocabulary and speaking lectures. Student Score NO Code Vocabulary Speaking Code Vocabulary Speaking n 1

7 B. Data Analysis Based on the table above, the writer describes the result of the research on the first year students of English Education Department of UNP Kediri, as follows: Number Student X Y X Y XY Code

8

9 The writer analyzed the data using Pearson Product Moment, as follows: X XY X Y X Y Y n n n xy = Based on the data report, the result of the research shows that n is 95, r table 5% (00.0) and r xy count (0.630). So, it is concluded that there 15

10 is significant influence of vocabulary mastery on speaking achievement of the third year students of English Education Department of UNP Kediri. CONCLUSION Vocabulary mastery is one of the factors that can help the learners to develop their speaking ability. Learners will be difficult to speak and can not understand well if they have less vocabulary. By having more vocabulary, learners can be easy to express their ideas and communicate with others. It can be concluded that there is high influence of vocabulary mastery on speaking ability of the third year students of English Department of UNP Kediri. The result shows that r table is 00.0 and r count is So r xy > r table. The effect is Ho is rejected and Ha is accepted. BIBLIOGRAPHY for the Language Teacher. London. Lado, Robert Lado English Series. Hempstead London Prentice Hall: Macmillan Education. Ltd. Nunan, David Language Teaching Methodology. Great Britain: Redwook book, Trowbridge, Witshire. Ur, Penny A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Janet, W. Learner Learning Disabilities. Boston: Hughton Mufslin Compony. Allen, JPB Speech and Writing. Longman: Singapore Publisher Ltd. Deight0n, Lee Words and Meaning. New York: Harcoort Brace Jovanovic. Furqon, Arif Pengantar Pendidikan dalam Dunia Pendidikan. Yoyakarta: UGM. Hornbyt, As Oxford Advanced Learner s Dictionary of Current English. London. Com. Johnson, John Can We Raise the Standard of Speaking and Listening. Routledge: New York. Kiat Boey, Lim An Introduction to Linguistics 16