Name’s
group : Egga Yuni R. (53.11.0459)
Ika Wahyu I. (53.11.0499)
Kristina Lisa R. (53.11.0507)
Zaidatul Masruroh (53.11.0475)
Title : The Correlation between
Students’ Vocabulary Knowledge and Students’ Reading Achievement at SDN 1
KARANGMULYO.
1.1 Introduction
Reading
is one of important skill that can influence students’ reading comprehension.
Vocabulary is one of important components that can influence students’ reading
achievement. As a language that as a tool of communication to deliver a message
or an idea that used by people who come from different Nations and culture, in
the form of written and spoken, English has to master by people. There are four
skills in English which has be mastered, they are listening, speaking, writing,
and reading. And also has to master three of language components they are
structure, vocabulary, and pronunciation. They are also given to the students
to support those language skills.
According
to Sulistyo (2011:20), reading is essentially a form of communication between
writers and readers which is mediated through a written text. Almost every day
we cannot escape from reading activities. We read a wide variety of English
reading material ranging from those with highly academic materials such as
textbooks, research reporters, or journal articles, to official stuff such as
work reporter, or email messages, even newspapers, novels, and recipes. In
addition, based on Krashen
and Cerrell (1983:131) in Jing (2013), suggest that “ reading may
also be a source of comprehensible input in a second language
”. Therefore, a large amount
of comprehensible
reading is a good
way to acquire a language. Students need to read English
materials for study
purpose
or simply for pleasure. Through
reading, sufficient language input
can be ensured. Hence,
the
goal of language competence
will be reached accordingly.
English reading
instruction
in many
primary
schools has not received a deserved treatment as required,
for teachers feel it hard to adapt to the
National English Curriculum Standard sand
pupils are not interested in English
reading as a result. Currently, English
reading in primary schools is severely lagged behind, which
can be manifested as (Guthrie 2006):
1.Reading instruction for pupils at higher level
is still dominated by activities
that focus on speaking
and listening excessively,
lacking ample written inputs.
2.Emphasizing
reading result, neglecting training of necessary reading
skills.
3.Many
teachers claim that it is not necessary
to emphasize primary school
pupils’ English reading because of their limited vocabulary.
Draw backs
above
leave reading
instruction
in primary schools in a predicament. The malpractices
of the
classroom teaching, however, have hampered pupils to master the necessary
reading
skills.
Unfortunately, most of students especially in
Primary school have some problem in reading. Based
on observation which had done by the researchers at SDN 1 KARANGMULYO in fourth
grade, the researchers found that many students have some problems in teaching
and learning process. Especially in reading skill because most of students have
lack vocabulary knowledge. Most of them felt difficult when their teacher asked
to them to read a written text. They also did not have enough ability about
pronunciation and mastering vocabulary and it made them difficult to understand
clearly the meaning of the written text which has read. It looked when the
teacher asked them to read the written text in the handout, they did not read
well and when the teacher asked about their comprehension about the text they
really did not understand clearly. Teaching students how to comprehend
different text genre is an important goal for the elementary school years,
especially for grade 4 students and beyond, when students are expected to read
a wide range of materials to gain knowledge and literary experience
(Alexander& Jetton, 2000) in Guthrie (2006).
In
English teaching and learning process, the way how the students’ master four
language skills are influenced by how the students master language components.
It happens because between language skills and language component have a
relationship in the use of a language. As we know that vocabulary is one of
language component which is important to influence the students mastering the
four language skills, and vocabulary is one of crucial components to master
English, without vocabularies the words or sentences have not meaning and none
of message or idea can be transferred.
Of the many compelling reasons for providing students with
instruction to build vocabulary, none is more important than the contribution
of vocabulary knowledge to reading achievement. Indeed, one of the most
enduring findings in reading research is the extent to which students’
vocabulary knowledge relates to their reading comprehension (e.g., Anderson
& Freebody, 1981; Baumann, Kame‘enui, & Ash, 2003; Becker, 1977; Davis,
1942; Whipple, 1925) in (Lehr: 2006:1). Most recently, the National Reading
Panel (2000) concluded that comprehension development cannot be understood
without a critical examination of the role played by vocabulary knowledge. Students’
success that be given in school and beyond depends in great measure upon their
ability to read with comprehension, there is an urgency to providing
instruction that equips students with the skills and strategies necessary for
lifelong vocabulary development.
One of the most persistent findings in reading research is
that the extent of students’ vocabulary knowledge relates strongly to their
reading comprehension and overall academic success (see Baumann, Kame‘enui,
& Ash, 2003). This relationship seems logical; to get meaning from what
they read, students need both a great many words in their vocabularies and the
ability to use various strategies to establish the meanings of new words when
they encounter them. Young students who do not have large vocabularies or
effective word-learning strategies often struggle to achieve comprehension.
Their bad experiences with reading set in motion a cycle of frustration and
failure that continues throughout their schooling (Lehr: 2006). Because these
students do not have sufficient word knowledge to understand what they read,
they typically avoid reading. Because they do not
read very much, they do not have the opportunity to see and learn very many new
words. This sets in motion the well known “Matthew Effects,” Stanovich’s (1986)
application of Matthew, 25:29–“the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” In
terms of vocabulary development, good readers read more, become better readers,
and learn more words; poor readers read less, become poorer readers, and learn
fewer words.
For beginning readers, evidence
indicates a link between word knowledge and phonological awareness. Young
children who have a large number of words in their oral vocabularies may more
easily analyze the representation of the individual sounds of those words (Lehr:
2006:3). In addition, vocabulary knowledge helps beginning readers decode, or
map spoken sounds to words in print. If children have the printed words in
their oral vocabulary, they can more easily and quickly sound out, read, and
understand them, as well as comprehend what they are reading. If the words are not in children’s oral
vocabulary, they have trouble reading the words and their comprehension is
hindered. Thus, an extensive vocabulary is the bridge between the word-level
processes of phonics and the cognitive processes of comprehension (Lehr: 2006).From explanation above,
it is clear that students’ vocabulary knowledge is important component that can
influence students’ reading comprehension.
Dealing
with the information above, it is necessary to conduct a research entitled “
The Correlation Between Students’ Vocabulary Knowledge and The Fourth Grade
Students’ Reading Comprehension at SDN I KARANGMULYO “
