CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

English is an international language. Almost all countries have adapted

English as a compulsory subject at schools. The national education has decided

that English is a foreign language taught in Indonesian schools. It is learned from

primary schools up to university. People realize that teaching English at this level

becomes very important and need much concern. As an English teacher, he or she

is demanded to explore effective techniques, method, and approaches.

The students have to master the four basic language skills. They are

listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Beside such basic skill, the student has

to master some vocabularies as well as possible.

Vocabulary is one important aspect in learning a foreign language. With a

limited vocabulary, anyone will also has a limited ability in speaking, reading,

listening, and writing. It is true that it might be impossible to learn a language

without mastering vocabulary. Vocabulary is one of the problems confronted by

English language learners. Because of the limited vocabulary, the learners cannot

communicate to others clearly. The acquisition of a large number of vocabularies

can help the students read, speak, listen, and write. A good vocabulary and ability

to use words correctly and effectively can help the students make school work

easily and more rewarding, and also many tests that they take in school including

vocabulary questions. The more vocabularies they know the better their chance to

do well on an English test.

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Mastering vocabulary is the ability to get or to receive a lot of words. By having

and mastering vocabulary we will know the meaning of vocabulary in the context.

Measuring vocabulary helps to avoid making mistakes in understanding.

In reality, foreign students learning English reading text often lack of

vocabulary, whereas vocabulary is the most important thing in reading skill.

Nowadays, the ability to comprehend English is necessary for peoples.

People have to able be to communicate in English and also able to read many

kinds of English texts. The ability to read is crucial in contemporary society.

People find many texts written in English, from holiday brochures to academic

books, newspaper, advertisements, etc. therefore, the ability to read English text in

any form will give a great deal of advantages in our lives.

Reading is good thing in life because it is a factor of great importance in

the individual development and the most important activity in school. It is needed

in every level of field of study. Particularly in cases when students have to read

English materials for their own special subject.

Being able to read English is very important as it is known that success in

reading is the most necessary because it is a basic tool of education. All the

subjects in Elementary School such as mathematics, science, language, and others

depend on the ability to read. In high school and college reading ability becomes

even more important. Through reading we acquire new ideas, obtain needed

information, seek support for our ideas and broaden our interest. We can also get

the message that the writer had expressed. The ability to read helps to distinguish

human being from other animal.

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And one of the purposes of teaching English of a foreign language to Indonesian

people is that they can read, grasp the idea and understand the book written in

English. To achieve those purposes, students need a lot of words of English to

master. As Norbert said” vocabulary is one of the most important skills in a

language. So to achieve the success in language teaching learning process

especially English, vocabulary is one of important factors in all language teaching

That statement above shows that they have close relation. To get empirical

data about it the writer will organize the test result to prove the influence of

student’s achievement in vocabulary and reading. By getting the grades, the writer

tries to find an answer that student’s achievement in vocabulary influencing

reading.

Based on the statement above, the writer takes the tittle as follows :

“Multiple Correlation of Reading Ability and Learning Motivation toward

Vocabulary Mastery of the Eight Year Students at SMP N 3 Srengat Blitar”.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Based on the background of the study above, the statement of the problem can

formulated as follows:

1. Is there any correlation between reading ability and learning motivation?

2. Is there any correlation between reading ability and vocabulary mastery?
3. Is there any correlation between learning motivation and vocabulary
mastery?
4. Is there any multiple correlation of reading ability and learning motivation

toward vocabulary mastery?

1.3 Purpose of the Study

Based on the above mentioned statements, the purpose of the study are to

find out:
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1. The correlation between reading ability and learning motivation.

2. The correlation between reading ability and vocabulary mastery.

3. The corelation between learning motivation and vocabulary mastery.

4. The multiple correlation of reading ability and learning motivation toward

vocabulary mastery.

1.4 Assumption

This study is based on the following assumption:

1. All the scores obtained through questionnaire and the test are the
manifestation of the students’ real competence.
2. The students are prepared for the questionnaire and the tests.
3. The test is vocabulary which have been taught before.
4. The students fill questionaire honestly and answer the questions correctly.

1.5 Statement of the Hypothesis

Based on the problems above, the writer formulates the following hypothesis:

1. There is positive significant correlations between reading ability and

learning motivation.
2. There is positive significant correlation between reading ability and

vocabulary mastery.
3. There is positive significant correlation between learning motivation and

vocabulary mastery.
4. There is positive significant multiple correlation of reading ability and

learning motivation toward vocabulary mastery

1.6 The Significant of the Study

According to the writer, this study will give much benefit to the English

teacher, so it is expected that the result of the study can be used:

1. To give feedback to English teacher in general especially at SMPN 3

Srengat for improving teaching and learning process.

2. To give feedback to the students in general especially students at SMPN 3
Srengat, the importance of mastering their English subject.
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3. To give feedback to the researcher in finding out the method how to teach
English effectively.

1.7 Limitation of the Study

This study has limitation as follows:

1. The research population is the eight year students of SMPN 3 Srengat.

2. This study is limited to reading ability, learning motivation and vocabulary
mastery of the eight year at SMPN 3 Srengat

1.8 Definition of the Key Terms

The terms used in this study are based on the following definitions:

1. Multiple Correlation
Multiple correlations are a measure of how well a given variable can be

predicted using a linear function of a set of other variables.

2. Reading Ability
Reading ability is a cognitive ability which a person is able to use when

interacting with texts.

3. Learning Motivation

Learning is shown by a change in behavior as a result of experience.

(Cronbach)

Motivation to learn is defined as a student’s willingness to engage in

efforts to achieve an academic goal and to persist in those efforts. (Byron.

G. Massialans and Rodney F. Allen : 1996)

3. Vocabulary Mastery
Vocabulary mastery is one component to master English as a foreign

language in elementary, intermediate and advanced levels. In learning the

four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing), vocabulary

is one basic component to be mastered.

4. SMPN 3 Srengat
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SMPN 3 Srengat is a junior high school lacated at the Ahmad Yani street

Selokajang Srengat Blitar.