Journal of English Language Teaching: Aulia Putri and Refnaldi
Journal of English Language Teaching: Aulia Putri and Refnaldi
Journal of English Language Teaching: Aulia Putri and Refnaldi
1
Journal of English Language Teaching
ISSN 2302-3198
Published by English Language Teaching Study Program of
FBS Universitas Negeri Padang
available at http://ejournal.unp.ac.id/index.php/jelt
Abstract
This research aimed to find out the correlation between students’ vocabulary
mastery and speaking ability at grade 8 of SMP Negeri 26 Padang. This research
was quantitative research which used correlational technique design. The sample
of the research was 30 students of grade eight selected by clustering sampling.
The instruments used in the research were vocabulary test and speaking test.
Vocabulary test consisted of 50 questions of multiple choices, and speaking test in
the form of role play. The research data were in the form of interpretation of
students’ vocabulary and speaking test results, and their correlation. Based on data
analysis, it was found that students’ vocabulary mastery and speaking ability were
fair. They were proved by the mean score 65 for vocabulary mastery and 68 for
speaking ability. Moreover, there was strong correlation between students’
vocabulary mastery and speaking ability. It was shown by the rvalue = 0,703.
A. INTRODUCTION
Speaking has a crucial role in the English instruction. Speaking as productive
skill produces language through sound which requires us to use vocal track and
brain. Moreover, the purpose of speaking is to communicate effectively. In many
contexts, people often judge person’ language competence from speaking rather
than any of the other language skills. This phenomenon happens because people
are aware that speaking has important role in many aspects of life. McDonough
(2013) stated that people want to speak something to achieve a particular goal.
This activity involves expressing ideas and opinion, expressing wish or desire to
do something, negotiating or solving problem, or establishing and maintaining the
relationship. Furthermore, speaking skill is found as the most enjoyable learned
skill for students. However, it also becomes the hardest one (Darancik, 2018).
However, there are many factors influencing students’ English-speaking
ability. According Adila & Refnaldi (2019) found that there were 6 kinds in
consonant sounds made by students’ speaking performance: alveolar, interdental,
1
English Language Education Program English Language and Literature Department of FBS
Universitas Negeri Padang graduated on March 2020
2
Lecturer of English Language and Literature Department of FBS Universitas Negeri Padang
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with Nunan (2003) who believe that people learn languages by interacting, then
learners should interact during lesson.
In order to add new research for analysing the correlation students’ vocabulary
mastery and speaking skill, the researcher used role play as interactive skill to
assess students’ speaking ability. This research will be conducted because of some
reasons. First, junior high school English Curriculum expects the students are able
to communicate effectively, however they face some problems in speaking. One
of the crucial problems is the lack of vocabulary. Second. There were few
researches which used role play as the activities to assess students’ speaking
ability.
Bas on the background above, the researcher was interested to analyse the
correlation between students’ vocabulary mastery and speaking ability of Grade 8
students of SMP Negeri 26 Padang
.
B. RESEARCH METHOD
This research was quantitative research which used the correlational technique
design. The purpose of a correlational study is to determine the correlation
between variable or use these correlation to make prediction (Gay, 2009:195). In
this research, the researcher found out the correlation of vocabulary as
independent variable through speaking skill as dependent variable.
The population of this research was the grade eight students of SMP Negeri 26
Padang with academic year 2019/2020. The total number of grade eight students
is 244 which is the combination of grade eight classes of grade eight of SMP
Negeri 26 Padang. The samples of this research were taken by using clustering
sampling. Clustering sampling means choosing an intact group of population
members as samples of the research with similar characteristics (Gay, 2009:1929).
The researcher chose randomly the group of population, then VIII-3 class was
selected as the sample of research. The total number of samples was 30 students.
The instruments used to collect data in this research were vocabulary test and
speaking test. In the vocabulary test, the students were given a vocabulary test
which consisted of 50 questions in form of multiple choices for 50 minutes. Then,
the students had speaking test in form of role play. After conducting the
vocabulary test and speaking test, the researcher gave a score on students’ answer
sheet for vocabulary test and speaking assessment for speaking test.
To analyze vocabulary test and speaking test, the researcher used the formula
below:
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Vocabulary and Speaking – Aulia Putri and Refnaldi
0 – 49 Poor Insufficient
(Arikunto,2009)
Table 3. The Percentage of the Scores Obtained from the Real Vocabulary
Test
Indicators Students’ Score Classification Level
Word Meaning 73% Fair Satisfactory
Synonym 71% Fair Satisfactory
Antonym 67% Fair Satisfactory
Complete Sentence 59% Less Below average
In this research students’ vocabulary mastery in word meaning, synonym and
antonym generally was fair. Based on the score range of classification of students
achievement by Arikunto (2009), score range 60 – 74 was classified into fair
classification and in satisfactory level. Thus, they were in fair classification.
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Vocabulary and Speaking – Aulia Putri and Refnaldi
N 30 30
Speaking Pearson Correlation .703** 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 30 30
2. Discussion
Based on the findings, the students’ vocabulary master of Grade 8 of SMP
Negeri 26 Padang was fair. It was shown by the mean score 65. Students’
vocabulary mastery was assessed by some aspects: word meaning, synonym,
antonym, and completing sentence. Word meaning was the highest indicator.
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This is due to word meaning means the basic level to assess vocabulary
knowledge. In line with Thornburry (2002:130) the most basic level of
knowing a word involves knowing its form and its meaning. Gasparri, L and
Marconi, D (2019) also stated word meaning has played a somewhat marginal
role in early contemporary philosophy of language, which was primarily
concerned with the structural features of sentence meaning and showed less
interest in the nature of the word-level input to compositional processes.
However, the lowest indicator was completing sentence. It was in below
average level.
Relating to this study, Yuliastuti (2009) found that studnets’ vocabulary
mastery of second grade students at MTSN N Gemplak was fair with the ability
of word meaning (73.5%) and sentence construction (72.3%). Moreover, Aristi
(20017) found that the second year students of SMPN 12 Bintan got good level
with the average 83.16 in vocabulary mastery. Furthermore, Andriani &
Sriwahyuningsih (2019) found that students had good ability in mastering
vocabulary. Meanwhile, they had difficulties which were caused by grammar
and spelling such as in comparison degree and past tense, and other difficulties
are caused by meaning of word.
Beside students’ vocabulary mastery, the research also analyzed students’
speaking ability of SMP Negeri 26 Padang. From the finding, the students’
speaking ability was fair, it was shown by the mean score 68. Students’
speaking ability was assessed based on five indicators: grammar, Vocabulary,
fluency, pronunciation, and interaction. For grammar and vocabulary aspects,
students had fair categories; and interaction had good category. Meanwhile,
fluency and pronunciation had less category. This finding was similar with
Harahap (2015) which found that students’ speaking skill of SMP 8 Rambah
Hilir was fair. However, he assessed it based on pronunciation, intonation,
fluency, and content. Most students got the highest score in content. It meant
all students master the content which was tested. In the other hand, Khairani,
Rusdi, & Syafei (2017) assessed speaking ability based on grammatical
features and lexical features. They found that grammatical and lexical features
obtained fair and very good category. In grammatical features, students were
able to use the correct present perfect tense, modal auxiliary, and personal
pronouns. Then, in lexical features, students are able to use correct choice of
words, use discourse markers, and social formula in their speaking
appropriately. Moreover, Naskah, Refnaldi, & Syafei ( 2018) found that based
on grammar and knowledge of genre, students’ speaking ability of grade 10
Marketing 2 SMK Negeri 3 Padang was very good with mean score of
grammar 73,81 and knowledge of genre 69.27.
Furthermore, Kartika (2019) found overall students’ speaking ability of
grade eight students in one of Public Junior High School in academic year
2018/2019 was fair. Students’ speaking skill in grammar, vocabulary, and
comprehension were fair. Meanwhile, in fluency, they were poor.
After finding the students’ vocabulary mastery and speaking ability of
grade 8 of SMP Negeri 26 Padang, the researcher analyzed the correlation
between of them. Regarding to the computation of both their scores and
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D. CONCLUSION
Based on the finding and discussion above, it could be concluded that the
students’ vocabulary mastery of grade 8 of SMP Negeri 26 Padang was
categorized as fair or in satisfied level with the mean score 65. Specifically, word
meaning obtained the highest score percentage as the indicator of vocabulary
mastery (73%). Moreover, based on the result of the test students’ speaking ability
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was categorized as fair or in satisfied level with the mean score 68. Students had
sufficient vocabulary to speak. It was proved by the percentage of students’
vocabulary as indicator of speaking ability 72%. Therefore, regarding to the result
of students’ vocabulary and speaking tests, it was found that there was a
significant correlation in strong level between students’ vocabulary mastery and
speaking ability of SMP Negeri 26 Padang based on rvalue = 0.703 was higher
than rtable = 0.361 at df 28 with the significant level of 5% and 0.462 at df 28 with
the significant level of 1%. It mean that there was strong significant between
students’ vocabulary mastery and speaking ability.
Therefore, the researcher suggested to teachers to concern to the ability of
students to mastering vocabulary because it gives contribution to the ability of
students’ speaking. Moreover, teacher should develop and improve their teaching
learning strategies for delivering their material to make students more excited in
learning English, especially in speaking. Teacher also should use target language
in classroom activities and maintain to use media or other sources in teaching
learning process to increase students’ vocabulary.
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Adila, S., & Refnaldi, R. (2019). Pronunciation Errors Made By Senior High
School Students In Speaking Performance. Journal of English Language
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Arikunto & Suharsimi. 2009. Penelitian Tindakan Kelas. Jakarta: Bumi Aksara.
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