NIDN. 0315088502 Periode [PDF]

LAPORAN PENELITIAN

STUDENTS’ PREFERENCES TO ASCERTAIN THE MEANING OF UNFAMILIAR WORDS WHILE READING

Oleh Nurul Hasanah Fajaria, M.Pd/ NIDN. 0315088502 Periode: Semester Ganjil Juli – Desember

PROGRAM PENDIDIKAN BAHASA INGGRIS FAKULTAS KEGURUAN DAN ILMU PENDIDIKAN UNIVERSITAS ISLAM ASYAFI’IYAH 2015

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2 HALAMAN PENGESAHAN KEGIATAN PENELITIAN DOSEN PEMULA 1. Judul Penelitian : Students‟ Preferances to Ascertain the Meaning of Unfamiliar Words while Reading 2. Ketua Tim Pengusul a. Nama : Nurul Hasanah Fajaria, M.Pd b. NIDN : 0315088502 c. Jabatan / Golongan : d. Program studi : Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris e. Perguruan Tinggi : Universitas Islam Asyafi‟yah f. Bidang Keahlian : Pendidikan dan Pengajaran g. Alamat Kantor/Telp/Surel : Jl. Jatiwaringin Raya No. 12 Pondok Gede Jakarta Timur 3. Anggota Tim Pengusul : Azizah, S,Pd, M.Si 4. Lokasi Penelitian : SMA Asyafi‟iyah Jakarta 5. Jangka Waktu Pelaksanaan : 6. Biaya Total : Rp. 2.000.000,7. Sumber Dana :

Mengetahui Dekan Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan

Jakarta, 1 Juli 2015 Ketua Pelaksana PPM

Drs. Ari Sumitro, MM, M.Pd NIP 195811031988031002

Nurul Hasanah Fajaria, M.Pd NIDN 0315088502

Menyetujui Ketua LPPM

Dr. Ir. Iffah Budiningsih, M.Pd NIP 195709131983032001

3 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study Vocabulary acquisition is a basic thing in terms of learning the foreign language, because one can not comprehend a reading passage well if he does not know or understand vocabulary. In the teaching of English at senior high school, vocabulary is usually taught in combination with reading comprehension. Thornbury (2002: 21) stated that the foreign learner need to know at least 2000-3000 words families, even if their productive vocabulary is half that number because too many words families they must comprehend. By increasing students‟ receptive vocabulary through reading, their productive vocabulary will increase gradually. Thus, to reach the target learning teachers should prepare their students well because improving the students‟ vocabulary is not easy. Much effort should be applied to meet the requirement of vocabulary mastery in the curriculum objective. According to Callahan and Clark “The most important means of development is wide reading” (1982: 246). In other word, the more students read many books, the more they acquire new vocabulary, and vice versa. Heru (2004: 32) in his thesis result also states that students who get opportunity to read a lot will get more vocabulary than the students who rarely get reading activity. In first language reading, even relatively advanced learners constantly acquire new vocabulary knowledge through reading. In second language reading, learners are exposed to get second language input, such as a lot of materials, which they can use to improve their second language acquisition. And in both first and second language reading, reading is the primary source of new information about all sorts of topics. The

goal of most second

language reading program is turn “learning to read” into “reading to learn”. In learning to read, the students are only expected to read aloud, and ignored their understanding of it. But in reading to learn, students are expected to learn something after they read that passage, thus their comprehension is improved in this process. It is also supported in basic competence of reading for the tenth graders that they should be able responding to and expressing meaning of written short functional text in various daily life contexts to access knowledge. (SI SKL, 2004). Thus, one way to access knowledge is by wide reading. Harmer (2002: 200) states that there are two purposes why someone is doing reading. Firstly, for instrumental purposes which help learners to achieve some clear aims, for

4 example ones read a road sign so that he knows where to go. Secondly, the purpose of reading is for pleasure. For example, people read magazines and spend all of his time in library only to read and get pleasure. To be a good reader, some skills are needed. Based on Harmer (2002: 201), there are six different skills of reading, those are identifying the topic, predicting and guessing, reading for general understanding, reading for specific information, reading for detailed information and interpreting text. Learners‟ use of those different skills will frequently depend on what they are reading for. In this case, the writer will give reading material to the students for realizing their strategies to encounter the meaning of unfamiliar words while reading. In fact, students often face problems when their teacher asked them to read. They are able to read aloud, but it was too difficult for them to understand the content of the text, because they found too many unfamiliar words they must comprehend. Without comprehending those unfamiliar words, it was very possible for them getting misunderstanding and also getting misinterpretation. Another fact, some Indonesian teachers still use traditional technique in teaching reading. They usually asked their students to read aloud and then answer the question based on the text. This kind of activity could not give more advantages to improve their vocabulary acquisition, because actually reading is an individual and silent activity. It is supported by Prowse (2002: 2) he states that reading at the learner‟s own pace while they turn the text into a theatre in their mind is vastly preferable to reading aloud. The teacher often asked the students to read aloud even the student did not understood what was he read because their lack of vocabulary. Similar with that fact before, vocabulary problem faced by foreign language learners is that they need to learn too many unfamiliar words. To solve that problem, Kang and Golden (1994) in Mori (1997:4) stated that teaching them some vocabulary strategies to handle the unfamiliar words is more important than teaching them the words themselves. Because by knowing some strategies to handle the unfamiliar words, learners can chose which strategies is suitable for them. Related to those facts above, the teacher as a controller has a big role to decide which activity is suitable for his students in learning English. The teacher should be aware that the students need effectives strategies for coping with unfamiliar words encountered during reading. Kusumarasdyati (2006) in her research found that every learner has their own strategies in overcoming unfamiliar words while reading, those are: ignoring the words,

5 opening dictionaries; monolingual or bilingual either, and using context clues to guess the meaning of the unfamiliar words. Learners took one or some strategies above based on their need. If they thought that no significance of knowing its meaning, he will lead to ignorance and proceed to read the rest of the passage. However, if this word or phrase turns out to play a major role in the meaning of the text, he will make a necessary attempt to figure out its meaning. The learner either uses a dictionary to select the relevant meaning, but the weaknesses of using the dictionary is about ineffective of the time. Thus, this study will figure out which strategy is effective for the tenth grade of EFL learners. There has been a growing interest in investigating second language vocabulary learning, and researchers have started to pay attention to the use of surrounding contexts in inferring meaning of unknown words. Some researches were conducted to elaborate the effectiveness of contextual information. Buikema and Graves (1993) described their study in teaching students using context clue to infer word meaning. In their study, they reported about the vocabulary instructional unit followed by repeated encouragement, modeling, and review helps in using context clues. Fukkink (2002) concerns about the effect of instruction on deriving words meaning from context and his result shown that students keen interest in learning new words during reading. Cain, Lemmon, and Oakhill (2004) tried to present individual differences in the inference of meaning from context. In this study, the writer is interested in describing students‟ preferencesto ascertain the meaning of unfamiliar words while reading and also to figure out the effectiveness of those preferences. It is accepted that learners perform differently in different situation. It means that they will use their own strategy which is suitable for them to convey the word meaning. By using their own strategy, hopefully they become more independent to solve their problem especially when they face unfamiliar words while reading passages, in other word they become an independent reader. It will also increase their confidence in producing other language skills because they know about their strong and weaknesses in learning English. From this present study, it is expected that students will be more aware about themselves. 1.2 The Research Question Based on the background of the study above, the research questions are formulated as follows: 1. To what extent do the students prefer to ascertain the meaning of unfamiliar words?

6 2. Are those preferences effective for the students to ascertain the meaning of unfamiliar words? 1.3 Objective of the Study Related to the research question, the objectives of the study are: 1. To measure the extent the students preferences to ascertain the meaning of unfamiliar words. 2. To figure out theeffectiveness of those preferences used by the students to ascrtain the meaning of unfamiliar words 1.4 Significant of the Study This study is expected to give some significance not only for teacher, but also for the learners. First of all, it hopefully can give useful information about what real some strategies used in determining the meaning of unfamiliar words through reading comprehensionis. Then, it is expected to remind the teacher about the important of enriching students‟ vocabulary through reading comprehension. Teachers will also aware their students‟ strategies to cope unfamiliar words in a text so that they are able to present some vocabulary strategies which are suitable for the students. As for the learners, they will realize poor vocabulary mastery might create negative effect in their reading ability. Vice versa, if they have large vocabulary they will have competence in comprehending a reading text. From presenting some different strategies in this present study, the students can be more aware about themselves. It means that they know about which strategy is suitable for each of them. It will also increase their confidence because they become more independent when they face unfamiliar words in a text so that they are not depending on both teacher and dictionaries. Hopefully the entire school member such as teacher, students and also the school have the same vision that recognizing many strategies has a big contribution to the students‟ success in learning English. 1.5 Scope and Limitation of the Study To limit the study in order not to make the discussion out of the ideas, the limitation is formulated as follows: 1. Sample of the study are tenth-grade students (X.1) of SMA Asyafi‟iyah Jakarta. 2. Strategies presented in this study are using dictionaries; both bi-lingual and monolingual dictionaries, and the using of contextual information.

7 CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

In this chapter, the review of related literature presents references, previous studies, and related theories that underlying the study. It discusses reading, vocabulary, relation between reading and vocabulary, and the theory of contextual information. 2.1 Reading Reading is not just pronouncing words, it requires understanding. According to Anderson, in Nunan(2003: 68) reading is a fluent process of readers combining information from a text and their own background knowledge to build meaning. The goal of reading is comprehension. Strategic reading is defined as the ability of the readers to use a wide variety of reading strategies to accomplish a purpose for reading. Good readers know what to do when they encounter difficulties. Fluent reading is defined as the ability to read at an appropriate rate with adequate comprehension. Meaning does not rest in the reader nor does it rest in the text. It means that meaning is depending on the situation or context of the text. For example, the meaning of „goal‟ in football (pair of posts between which the ball has to go in order to score) is different from the one in research (purpose). It is stated by Cook, in Harmer (2002: 199) that learners need to have pre-existent knowledge of the word. The reader‟s background knowledge integrates with the text to create the meaning. The text, the reader, fluency, and strategies combined together define the act of reading. Anderson, in Nunan (2003: 68) presents in figure 1 to represent the definition of reading.

strategies

fluency

Reading

the reader

the text

Figure 1 Definition of reading (Nunan, 2003)

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Reading is an essential skill for learners of English as a second language. For most of these learners it is the most important skill to master in order to ensure success not only in learning English, but also in learning in any content class where reading in English is required. With strengthen reading skills; learners will make greater progress and development in all other areas of learning. Abbott (1981) states reading is a silent and an individual activity. In about nineteenth century, a debate began on the advantages of silent reading versus oral reading. Finally, Huey, in Nunan (2003: 69) compiled a summary of the early studies on oral versus silent reading and come out strongly in favor of silent reading. Unfortunately, today many teachers still believe that oral reading is the best approach for teaching. Even though many experts who conducted related research found that reading is primarily a silent activity. Statement above give a brief explanation that the writer‟s expectation was that the text would be read, not heard. There are indeed some written texts which are meant to be read aloud and listening to, such as bulletins, television and radio. And the majority of the learner will not need to learn how to be competent news-reader. Thus, classroom approaches to teaching reading should emphasize the silent nature of silent reading and avoid overemphasis on oral reading. 2.1.2 Reading strategy 2.1.2.1 Definition Strategies are not a single even but rather a creative sequence of events that learners actively use (Oxford 1996 in Nunan, 2003: 76). Because there are other factors which are contributes to the students‟ success, such as the learners them selves. If they know a certain strategy well but they are not able to use it in what situation, it means that strategy is useless for them. In the context of second language learning, a distinction can be made between strategies that make learning more effective, versus strategies that improve comprehension. The former are generally referred to as learning strategies in the second language literature. Comprehension or reading strategies on the other hand, indicate how readers conceive a task, how they make sense of what they read, and what they do when they do not understand. In short, such strategies are process used by learner to enhance

reading comprehension and

overcome comprehension failure. Reading strategies allow readers to elaborate, organize, and evaluate information derived from text. English Foreign Language students may not have been taught reading

9 strategies in their previous schooling, or they may not be aware that strategies useful in first language reading can be transferred to English. Foreign language readers for example, may rely on bottom-up or word-by-word processing strategies exclusively and may not take advantage of top-down strategies in such as using background information about the topic (elaborating prior knowledge) or making inferences as unfamiliar words and phrases are encountered. Thus, Chamot (

: 291) states that lack of effective reading strategies can limit

students ability to construct meaning from text and also to communicate their idea in written or spoken forms. http://www.readinga-z.com/more/reading_strat.html classified reading strategies as follow: a. Make Prediction Predictions can encourage active reading and keep students interest, whether or not the predictions are correct. Incorrect prediction can sign misunderstanding that needs to be revisited. b. Visualize Many students think visually, using shapes, spatial relationships, movement, and colors, and can benefit greatly from this strategy. c. Ask and Answer Questions Having students form of their own questions help them recognize confusion and encourages active learning. d. Retell and Summaries Relating the text in students‟ own words clears up language issues. Retelling challenges them to aim for complete retention. Summarization allows students to discriminate between main ideas and minor details. e. Connect the Text to Life Experiences, Other Texts, or Prior Knowledge Connecting a text to students‟ experiences and knowledge helps students personalize the information. It is also help students remember information when they link it to their lives. f. Word-Attack Strategies Word-attack strategies help students decode, pronounce, and understand unfamiliar words. They help students attack words piece by piece from a different angle. Such as: use picture clues, sound out the word, look for chunks in the word, connect to a word students‟ know, reread the sentence, keep reading, and use prior knowledge.

10 2.1.3Reading Program To improve students‟ reading comprehension, suitable program is needed. Krashen (2000: 136) presents two major programs to fulfill it. They are: 1. A non-interventionist reading program Readers who do not require deliberate instruction in developing reading strategies will still profit from a reading program. A program will consist of two parts: (a) appropriate texts (b) appropriate goals When these two elements are provided, the rest will happen on its own- different reading skills and their strategies will develop and be used at the appropriate time, and second language acquisition will result. A text is appropriate for reader if it meets two criteria. First, it must be at an appropriate level of complexity. Second, the reader has to find it interesting. Complexity in a text can have several sources; three of them are vocabulary, syntax, and semantics. Text need not emphasize particular structures or vocabulary, but should simply aim at overall comprehensibility. Texts that accompany a Natural Approach class deal with topic similar to those discussed in class. The similarity of topic will facilitate comprehension for both reading and aural input in class. Teacher can influence students search for meaning in a text by the sort of question he ask. Some questions require only scanning; others require only skimming, while others may require intensive or extensive reading. The purpose of question is to encourage the use and hence development of the different skills.

Unfortunately, many questions typically asked

of readers are aimed at none of the four skills, asking for detailed information that may be irrelevant to the central meaning of text. This type of question serves only to encourage the students to read every word and to pay attention to all details, a practice which may impede the development of efficient strategies and result in the over application of the intensive skill to all texts. It may even focus the students completely off the central meaning of the text. 2. An-interventionist reading program Intervention means stimulating the development and use of efficient meaning-getting strategies in reading. Intervention programs may range from mild to heavy. Figure 3 illustrates the mild to heavy progression. A mild intervention program could contain just the following two strategies: 1) read for meaning 2) don‟t look up every word.

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Read for meaning Don‟t look up every word

Predict meaning

Use context

text

Look ahead Look back

illustrations

Outside the text

Real world information

headings

Knowledge of the language

Figure 3 Reading strategies (Krashen, 2000)

Heavier intervention gives students more explicit help on using context. This can be of two kinds: (1) strategies that encourage readers to utilize information in the text itself, and (2) strategies that use knowledge outside the text: the student‟s knowledge of the world and his knowledge of the language. Students knowledge of the world refers to their background knowledge, it is also related to their experience before. The more someone experienced, it is easier for him to understand about a certain text, and vice versa. Beside, students‟ knowledge of the language is referring to the vocabulary mastery. Someone who gets larger vocabulary will do better in understanding a reading text, because reading and vocabulary are deeply connected. Further about vocabulary will be presented below. 2.2 Vocabulary Deignton (1971: 461) state that vocabulary and grammar are essential components for language use. It is needs to use vocabulary to communicate to each other, deliver ideas, feelings, and thoughts. It also needs to understand the definition, the importance, and the use of the words in a particular context. Hence, vocabulary is the key to create good communication to other people.

12 2.2.1The Importance of Vocabulary „Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed’. David Wilkins in Thornbury (2002: 13) This is how the linguist David Wilkins summed up the importance of vocabulary learning. Further he states that students who spent most of their time studying grammar, their English will not improve very much. They will see most improvement if they learn more words and expressions. It means that learners can say very little with grammar, but they can say almost anything with words. The diversity and richness of vocabulary in literature can contribute positively to ESL students‟ English development as long as they know how to use appropriate strategies to address the potentially overwhelming array of unfamiliar vocabulary found in literature and other authentic texts. In contrast, lack of an extensive vocabulary may also impede ESL students from expressing their ideas both in writing and speaking as fully as they might wish. Thus, Swan and Walter in Thornbury (2002: 14) said that vocabulary acquisition is the largest and most important task facing the language learners. 2.2.2 Vocabulary Knowledge Knowing the meaning of a word does not just know its dictionary meaning (or meanings). It also means knowing the words commonly associated with it (its collocations) as well as its connotation, including its register and its cultural accretions. Thus, distinguish between receptive knowledge and productive one is needed. Further , Kitao (2006:2) dividedvocabulary knowledge into four types. 1. Active speaking vocabulary that is word that speaker is able to use in speaking 2. Passive listening vocabulary  which is words that the listener recognizes but cannot necessarily produce when speaking. 3. Passive reading vocabulary  which refers to words that the reader recognizes but would not necessarily be able to produce. 4. Active writing vocabulary  which is words that the writer is able to use in writing. 2.2.4 Train Good Vocabulary Learners Some years ago a leading authority on second language learning, Wilga Rivers in Communicating Naturally in a Second Language, wrote: “Vocabulary cannot be taught. It can be presented, explained, included in all kinds of activities, and experienced in all manner of associations…but ultimately it is learned by the individual. As language teachers, we must arouse interest in words and a certain excitement in personal development in this area … We can help our students by giving them ideas on how to learn, but each will finally learn a very personal

13 selection of items, organized into relationships in an individual way.” Rivers in Thornbury (2002: 144) Learner training has been informed by research into the strategies that successful learners use. Studies have shown that good learners do the following things: 1. They pay attention to form – which, in vocabulary terms, means paying attention to the constituents of words, to their spelling, to their pronunciation and to the way they are stressed. 2. They pay attention to meaning – which means they pay attention to the way words are similar or different in meaning, to the connotations of words, to their style and to their associations. 3. They are good guesser – which means they work out the meaning of unfamiliar words from their form and from contextual clues. 4. They take risks and are not afraid of making mistakes – which means they make the most of limited resources, and they adopt strategies to cope when the right words simply don‟t come forth. 5. They know how to organize their own learning for example, keeping a systematic record of new words, using dictionaries and other study aids resourcefully, using memorizing techniques, and putting time aside for the „spade work‟ in language learning, such as repetitive practice. This last point suggests that good language learners have achieved a measure of autonomy and have developed their own techniques – that they don‟t need to be trained how to learn. Nevertheless, less self-directed learners might benefit from guidance – by, for example, being shown a range of vocabulary learning techniques, and choosing those which best suit their preferred learning style. 2.2.5 Vocabulary Strategy in Reading Learners need to shift the input they receive and relate it to their existing knowledge. There are two possible explanations how they do this. They may use general cognitive strategies which are part of their procedural knowledge and which are used in other forms of learning. These strategies are often referred to as learners‟ strategies. Christison in Nunan (2003: 269) defines strategies as specific means that learners use to learn or improve their language. There are many kinds of learning strategies, depending on the context and task. Students need to master a number of strategies for learning the meaning of new words themselves since the number of words to be learned is too large for teacher to teach all the

14 words that are needed. They must develop strategies that they can use independently. By utilizing a variety of instruction strategies, teacher provide model for later, independent use. Kang and Golden (1994) in Mori (1997: 4) stated that teaching advanced learners strategies for handling unknown words on their own is more important than teaching them the words themselves. Nation, in Nunan (2003: 129) mentions some strategies; those are using word parts, dictionaries, and guessing from context. 2.2.5.1 Using word parts Using word part knowledge is a very useful way of learning low frequency words. The most common word parts (prefixes and suffixes) occur in a large number of different words. Longer words can be some of the most difficult to figure out, but they can be put into categories

that

will

help

the

learners.

Categories

presented

in

http://forpd.ucf.edu/strategies/strat_contextual_analysis.html are: a. Compound words are two known words joined together e.g : matchmaker, bookkeeper b. Words that contain a familiar stem to which an affix (prefix or suffix) has been added e.g : microscope, tasteless c. Words that can be broken down into regular pronounceable parts e.g : subterfuge, strangulate d. Words that contain irregular pronounceable parts so that there is no clear pronunciation e.g : louver, indictment 2.2.5.2 Using dictionaries There are several definitions of the term „dictionary‟. These are very similar. As is shown by John Sinclair in Scholfield (2003:4), a dictionary is a book in which the words and phrases of a language are listed alphabetically, together with their meanings or their translation in another language. Likewise, Judy Pearshall in Scholfield (2003:4) shows that it is a book that lists the words of a language in alphabetical order and gives their meaning, or that gives the equivalent words in a different language. For a long time the use of dictionaries in class was discouraged, generally on the grounds that dependence on a dictionary might inhibit the development of more useful skills, such as guessing from context. Also, it was argued that if the dictionary is a bilingual one, learners may over-rely on translation, at the expanse of developing a separate L2 lexicon.

15 Finally, indiscriminate dictionary use often results in the kind of errors where the wrong word has been selected for the meaning intended. However, the role of dictionaries in vocabulary learning has been reassessed. As sources of words, and of information about words, they are unequalled. Nowdays, an excellent selection of learner dictionaries is available, and coursebooks regularly include activities designed to encourage resourceful and efficient dictionary use. Thus, some skills to use a dictionary successfully is extremely needed. There are various kinds of dictionaries. These can be dictionaries of synonyms and antonyms, where the learners find words with the same meanings or words that express opposite ideas respectively; slang dictionaries, where the words are colloquial and vulgar; scientific, these are those which are specialized in a subject, such as, for example, computer science, literature, medicine, and so on. Depending on the language, there are three classes of dictionaries. These are multilingual, bilingual and monolingual. A multilingual dictionary is the one which can translate into several languages. Learners can find this type of dictionaries in the modern technology of internet, where there are a large number of pages that offer the possibility of translating individual words or phrases into the desired language and from any language. The bilingual dictionaries are those that, as their name indicates, are written in two languages, which usually are the mother tongue of that person that looks the word up in the dictionary, and the foreign language that is studied. These are, for example, IndonesianEnglish/English-Indonesian. It could be assured that the main advantage of this kind of dictionaries is the fact that they have a section written in the mother tongue. This is of vital importance when it comes to choosing among one of the dictionaries, because it makes the search of the wanted term easier and reduces the time spent on it. On the whole, elementary learners tend to favor bilingual dictionaries over monolingual ones. It is more understandable, and the time taken to refer to them only minimally interrupts reading. More importantly, it is also useful for production skills such as speaking and writing. On the other hand, bilingual dictionary also have the negative effects. Scholfield (2003:5) mention the main disadvantage is the fact that for the same word various translations can appear. This can confuse learner if s/he does not know very well the word s/he is looking for. Another disadvantage, no less important, is that normally it provides directly the translation of the term that it is looked up, but it does not usually give a definition or additional explanation. If the dictionary wrote the abbreviation, not always the meaning of

16 the abbreviations is known and it is necessary to look up repeatedly. As a consequence, learners can loose too much time. Jonathan Wright in Scholfield (2003:5) writes about bilingual dictionaries in similar terms: „….they can also be a cause of confusion, as demands of space result in drastic simplification. It is quite common for even large bilingual dictionaries to give a list of possible translations for verbs such as go, take, or make, with little information about which meaning applies in which context. Or perhaps suggest of a single translation, which can be even more misleading. Sometimes there is no guidance about the pronunciation of the word, or the grammatical patterns it operates in, and idiomatic expressions may not feature at all‟ Furthermore, there are those who defend that if learners are allowed or encouraged to rely on simple bilingual dictionaries, they will not get the practice they need in understanding explanations of words and expressions in English. In other words, they will not be efficient comprehenders and users of English if they operate always via an extra step of translating into their first language. The next turn will discuss the other kinds of dictionaries, which known as monolingual dictionary. These are written only in one language. Jonathan Wright may be correct when he divides this type of dictionaries in two sub classes: monolingual dictionary designed for native speakers and monolingual dictionaries for foreign students, often called learners‟ dictionaries. The latter use restricted vocabulary for their definitions. They also include data is of particular use for learners, such as grammar information – e.g. whether a noun is countable or not, or whether a verb is followed by the infinitive or the –ing form. The better learner dictionaries also include advice for learners that is based on an analysis of typical learners errors. On the right, for example, is a note on how actually is used: From the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English

USAGE NOTE: ACTUALLY WORD CHOICE: actually, currently, at present Actually (and actual) does not mean „at the present time‟ in English. Compare currently and at present: “Have you ever met Simon?” “I actually met him two years ago” (=in fact). “Is the company doing well?” “Yes.” “It’s currently doing very well/ It’s doing very well at present.” In conversation, especially in British English, actually can be used to make what you are saying softer, especially if you are correcting someone, disagreeing, or complaining: “Great! I love French coffee!” “Er, it’s German actually.” But it can be used with the opposite effect: I didn’t ask your opinion, actually.

In this occasion, it is begin with the disadvantages that have been well setted out by Geoff Thompson in Scholfield (2003:5), 1) the monolingual dictionary has head words in the foreign language. 2) The monolingual dictionary defines words in the foreign language. The main problem, as Thompson shows, is that this kind of dictionaries is written only in the foreign language. For this reason, it is said that if the students does not have a good level of English, s/he is not able to find what s/he wants, or, in the case that s/he finds it, s/he does not understand the definition of the term and, therefore, the meaning of this either.

17 After seeing the disadvantages now it is the turn to the advantages. Generally, the words are usually defined with straightforward terminology. As can be seen in John Sinclair in Scholfield (2003:6), whenever possible, words are explained using simpler and more common words.

With every definition expressed within a vocabulary of around two

thousand basic and familiar words, all learners –even those with as yet only a modest command of English, can readily understand all the meanings of the many thousands of headwords in the dictionary. This is exemplified by Sinclair (1999) in Scholfield (2003:6) in the following examples: 1. aircraft – An aircraft is a vehicle which can fly, for example an aeroplane or a helicopter 2. formative – A formative period of time or experience is one that has an important and lasting influence on a person‟s character and attitudes 3. readily – If you do something readily, you do it in a way which shows that you are very willing to do it 4. tickle – When you tickle someone, you move your fingers lightly over a sensitive part of their body, often in order to make them laugh

Another advantages is that are given with each term regularly appear in the most common structures, those used in daily life. Sinclair explains that the examples given in this dictionary have been carefully chosen to show typical contexts in which the word is used. This makes the dictionary a valuable resource for both students and teachers, showing how the words have been used in books, newspapers, magazines, broadcasting, and conversation. Scholfield (2003:6) has a familiar argument that learners need to get into the habit of thinking in the target language, because they will not be an efficient comprehenders and users of English if they operate always via an extra step of translating into their first language. Another advantage which no less significant, is that if learners use monolingual dictionary regularly, they will become accustomed to understanding explanations in English and, therefore, prepared to understand explanations when given by native English language speakers. It is also reasonable to suppose that learners, who used this, will be better prepared to explain what they mean in English, when they are stuck for words. In similar, it is assure that the use of monolingual dictionaries give a great help the students to improve their way of writing in English.

18 2.2.5.3 Guessing from context Learners need a threshold vocabulary of at least 2,000 word families. In fact, no matter how many words learners acquire, they will always be coming across unfamiliar words in their reading. This is why they will always need to be able to make intelligent guesses as to the meaning of unknown words. Guessing from context is probably one of the most useful skills learners can acquire and apply both inside and outside the classroom. The problem for most learners when guessing the meaning of words in a second language is that they are less confident about their understanding of the context than they would be in their L1. They therefore tend to rely on the context less. For this reason, vocabulary „guesswork‟ should be integrated as often as possible into text-based activities, such as reading for comprehension, and will be most effective after a global or general understanding of the text has been established. Thornbury (2002: 148) recommended steps for guessing from context, those are: 1. Decide the part of speech of the unknown word – whether, for example it is a noun, verb, adjective, etc. Its position in the sentence may be a guide, as might its ending (e.g. an –ed or –ing ending might indicate it is a verb) 2. Look for further clues in the word‟s immediate collocates – if it is a noun, does it have an article (which might suggest whether it is countable or not)? If it is a verb, does it have an object? 3. Look at the wider context, including the surrounding clauses and sentences – especially if there are „signposting‟ words, such as but, and, however, so, that might give a clue as to how the new word is connected to its context. For example: We got home, tired but elated: the presence of but suggest that elated is not similar in the meaning to tired. Compare: We got home, tired and downhearted. 4. Look at the form of the word for any clues as to meaning. For example: downhearted is made up of down + heart + a participle affix (-ed) 5. Make a guess as to the meaning of the word, on the basis of the above strategies 6. Read on and see if the guess is confirmed; if not – and if the word seems critical to the understanding of the text - go back and repeat the above steps. If the word does not seem critical, carry on reading. Maybe the meaning will become clearer later on. 7. When all else fails, consult a dictionary.

19 2.3 Relation between Reading and Vocabulary Anderson (1993) states thatthe best way to foster vocabulary growth is to promote wide reading. Wide reading as an important source for vocabulary learning and assume that readers learn words incidentally during normal reading by deriving word meaning from context (Fukkink, 1998). By understanding a large context they will also enlarge their knowledge. Related to the vocabulary, vocabulary knowledge is the key ingredient in successful reading, as Cobb and Horst (2001) statement in Rosszell (2006: 2) Reading and vocabulary are deeply connected. If ones improve skill in one, he improves his skill in others. Here, it can be seen that reading and vocabulary are two things, which are difficult to be separated. Vocabulary is not only taught to improve students‟ reading skill but also the other three skills. In the real presentation of the vocabulary through reading passage, there are three steps to be taken into consideration: how to select the context, how to reach the words, and how to follow up the activities. First of all, selecting context of vocabularies is not an easy way to do. The teacher is expected to be more active and creative to choose what context she is doing to use. She is not supposed to pick up context in very difficult structure. It will be more beneficial if the teacher likes to broaden herself in selecting the context. The reason for this is because vocabulary found in the textbook may not cover the students‟ need in improving their language skills. The context taken from other resources (authentic ones) will train them to get with vocabulary in the life situation. Rosszell (2006: 5) thought that extensive reading play a major role in the development of learner vocabulary knowledge. And it is also true that in developing the students‟ language skills, students need vocabulary more than those presented in the textbooks, which usually is limited. 2.5 Review of Previous Study There are some previous studies which are related o this research. The first is Carnine, et al in their research entitle Utilization of Contextual Information in Determining the Meaning of Unfamiliar Words (1984), they addressed three questions: 1) whether the form of the contextual information in a passage (synonym, contrast, or inference) has differential effects on students‟ learning of unfamiliar words 2) whether the proximity of the contextual information to the unfamiliar word has a differential effect on students‟ learning of unfamiliar words 3) whether a developmental trend exists across grade 4 through 6 in students‟ ability to use contextual information to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words in passages. After they held the research, they found that determining the unfamiliar words is easier when the words appear in context. Deriving word meaning from context appears to be simpler when

20 the contextual information is closer to the unfamiliar words. Contextual information is also simpler to use when it is in synonym rather than inference form. Finally, older students respond correctly more often than younger students, whether words appear in isolation or in context. The second study was done by Kusumarasdyati in her research entitle Vocabulary Strategies in Reading: Verbal Reports of Good Comprehenders (2006). She tried to describe the undergraduate students‟ strategy while finding unfamiliar word from the text. And the result shown that most of students used more than one strategy to cope their problems, they used bilingual dictionary and also context clue. Only one student who consistent used one strategy, that is by using monolingual dictionary. Referring to the previous study above, the writer used senior high school students as sample of the study. It is realized that guessing meaning is suitable for them, based on their language level. The previous studies more concern discuss the procedure of using contextual clue, the inference from context in children vocabulary development, and the readers‟ strategy to infer meaning in the undergraduate students. Furthermore, it is different from the previous studies because this study tried to describe the students‟ strategy and the effectiveness of those strategies used by them, so that the writer only focus on the students, not the procedures.

21 CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents research method used by the writer to conduct the study. The explanation of the research method includes the research design, population and sample, instruments (validity and reliability), the data collection technique, and the data analysis technique. 3.1 Research Design In conducting this study, the writer prefers using descriptive quantitative design since the objectives of the study were to measure the extent to which the students use some strategies and also to figure out the effectiveness of those strategies used by the students to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words. Quantitative research emphasize numbers, measurements, deductive logic, control and experiments (McMillan,:9). The power of quantitative research lies in the researchers‟ ability to summarize research findings in statistically meaningful ways. Given large enough data sets, findings can also be generalized to other populations (Libarkin and Kordziel, 2001: 4). In this present study, quantitative design used to measure the extent to which the students use some vocabulary strategies to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words. It was appropriate due to the data presented statistically in the form of percentages. Items of questionnaire allow the writer to gain insight into the students‟ strategies. In addition, traditional quantitative analysis also used to assess the effectiveness of those strategies above in terms of students‟ score. The scoring criteria focused on the meaning of unfamiliar words based on context of the text. 3.2 Population and Sample A population is a group of elements or cases, whether individuals, objects or events, that conform to specific criteria and to which the researcher intend to generalize the results of the research. Beside, the sample is the group of elements or a single element in which data are obtained (McMillan, : 69). In this study, the tenth-grade students were represented the population. Due to the sample of this study was a group, the writer preferred used cluster sampling as the sample procedure and then the selection of individual elements from the chosen groups or area involves the random selection of naturally occurring groups or areas. The sample of this study was X.1 students of SMA Asyafi‟iyah Jakarta, which consist of 33 students with different level of intelligence, sexes, and social background.

22 3.3The Research Instrument Two instruments were used to gather the appropriate data. Due to this study is descriptive quantitative design, the writer decides to make use of questionnaire and test. The first instrument was reading strategies questionnaire. The following categories of reading strategies served as the basis for constructing the questionnaire. Those are the using of monolingual dictionary, bi-lingual dictionary, and context clue. Due to these strategies related to the effectiveness of it, thus the writer preferred to combine between the questionnaire and the test, considering both of them were deeply connected. Here, there were 30 items of questionnaire which must be answered by the students, as many as the number of the test. Furthermore, the test also used as an instrument to measure the students‟ ability after used some vocabulary strategies. The test containing some reading passages and 30 number of unfamiliar target words. In completing this test, students applied all vocabulary strategies they had already known, those are by using monolingual dictionary, bi-lingual dictionary, and context clue. 3.3.1 Validity Validity is a judgment of the appropriateness of a measure for the specific inferences or decisions that result from the score generated by the measure (McMillan,

: 100). In

doing this study, the writer did a content validity process (content validity of an instrument measured by how far that instrument represent all aspect of basic concept) those are the students‟ strategies and the effectiveness of those strategies used by the students. The writer did consult to the authorized supervisor about the test. Even there were 3 unfamiliar words could not found in the bilingual dictionary, but it was appear in monolingual and context clue. From the cross check of the text and the prompt in the test, it was approved that the content of the test was appropriate in order to get the expected data. 3.3.2 Reliability Every test which was made must reliable for it can show the reader that it is stable in terms of the results given out. Reliability is the extent to which measures are free from error (McMillan,

: 104). If a measure has high reliability, it has relatively little error, and if it

has low reliability, there is a great amount of error. The writer in this case used test re-test form, which is an instruments given to a group twice, and those two score measure by correlation coefficient. If the result shown ≥ 0,80 thus that instrument was reliable to measure X and Y variable.

23 Below is the process of counting the sources achieved by the students from the test in Pearson‟s model: rxy

=

∑xy √ (∑x²) (∑y²)

=

9088 √ (9279) (9567)

=

9088 √ 88772193

=

9088 9421,9

= 0,96

From the extrapolation above it can be seen that the test of reading strategies given to the students was reliable with the correlation point 0,96. Notice that (X) was the first score and (Y) was the second score of the students. This extract was taken into account from the first and the second score respectively. The number of the students who were given the test was representing by (n). 3.4 Data Collection Technique A researcher can collect the data without participate where the research activity is occurred. It is usually define as non-participant observation (Ahmadi, 2005: 106). This study conducted by observing a regular class when the teaching of reading strategy happened in class X.1 of SMA Asyafi‟iyah Jakarta on September3rd, 2015. It means that this research did during teaching and learning process naturally, without any control or treatment.

24 Here, the data collected in two meetings. Several steps will present below: 1. Questionnaire Questionnaire is use to get students‟ viewpoints and experience in using some vocabulary strategies. In this study, the writer prefers to set a combination between the vocabulary strategy questionnaire and the test. The writer provided 30 items of questions as many as the number of the test. These items of questionnaire placed under the question of the test in each item. Thus, it was very possible for the students answered the questionnaire monotonously or variously among those 30 items. 2. Test The students did the test once. In that test, they must read a text given and then answer the questions in the form of determining the meaning of 30 unfamiliar words by using some vocabulary strategies. Students‟ score, as a result of the test will collect to answer the second research question. It will obtain the data which showed the number of students who are succeeded used some vocabulary strategies as mention in the previous chapter. 3.5 Data Analysis Technique Looking back to the questions before, the writer try to give as clear elaborate as possible to answer it using quantitative design. All the data will gain through questionnaire and using test. Some steps to analyze the data will present below: 1. The result of Vocabulary Strategies Questionnaire The result of the questionnaire functioned as an answer of the first research question which measure the extent the students use vocabulary strategies – monolingual dictionary, bilingual dictionary and context clues- in determining the meaning of unfamiliar words. The result of the questionnaire will analyze using percentage. The technique of percentage is formulated as follow: The number of the students who answer the option Result =

X 100%

The total number of the students

The result of the Test Univariat analysis was used to analyze the result of the test (Prasetyo, 2006: 184). It was usually used to analyze a single variable, which is students‟ score. It was include frequency distribution (indicates how often each score is obtained) and central tendency. Central tendency provided statistics that indicates the average or typical

25 score in the distribution. There are three measures of central tendency: mode, median, mean (McMillan,

:92). The mode is simply the score into distribution that occurs

most frequently. The median is the middle score of the distribution, the point that divides a rank-orders distribution into halves containing an equal number of scores. The mean is the arithmetic average of all the scores in the distribution. It is calculated by summing all the scores in the distribution and then dividing this sum by the number of scores.

26 CHAPTER IV RESULT AND DISCUSSION

This chapter mainly consists of two parts; result and discussion. The first presents the data gained from the questionnaire, and test. The explanation covers the answers to each research questions proposed in chapter I, namely the students‟ strategy in determining the meaning of unfamiliar words and the effectiveness of those strategies used by the students. Following the first section is a discussion on the data to investigate whether the research finding is relevant to the theories of vocabulary strategies. 4.1 The Results The results of the analysis indicate that all of the vocabulary strategies were used by the students. As a note here, in the previous chapter the writer mentioned only three vocabulary strategies, but in fact there was one additional vocabulary strategies used by the students, that is ignore or skip the unfamiliar words. Each participant has their own way in using those strategies, the exactly similar pattern of it also found in this present study. 4.1.1 Strategies used by the students in determining the meaning of unfamiliar words Monolingual Dictionary Among thirty-three student, only one who mainly relied on a monolingual (EnglishEnglish) dictionary to attack the unfamiliar words. Although a bilingual (English-Indonesia) is available, she preferred the monolingual one. She consulted monolingual dictionary to answer 13 of 30 the unfamiliar words. For the rest of the target words, she combined between the using of bilingual dictionary and context clue in adequate. She also ignores one word in this present study. The shorten model of that description is presented in table 1. Table 1 Subject using monolingual dictionary as the major vocabulary strategy

Subject no

MD

BD

CC

SK

31

13

8

8

1

Note: MD = monolingual dictionary; BD = bilingual dictionary; CC = context clue; SK = skipping She also mentioned her reason in using this strategy. She said that the using of monolingual dictionary made her more challenge in answering the questions. She also mentioned that monolingual dictionary more complete than bilingual one. She gave the

27 examples that three of the target words –number 23, 26, and 30- were not exist in the bilingual dictionary, but they were appeared in the monolingual dictionary, thus she preferred use this strategy. Bilingual Dictionary Most of students in this study preferred using bilingual dictionary than other vocabulary strategies. There were 25 of 33 students who used this strategy. Six of them were exactly similar in combining these three strategies. All of them encounter 28 unfamiliar words by bilingual dictionary, while monolingual dictionary and context clue were used to answer the rest. These similarities indicate that inclination to the bilingual dictionary was available. Beside, another 19 students who were used bilingual dictionary as the major vocabulary strategy, none of them were similar. Each of them was unique in combining the other strategies. The complete profile of each student is presented in table 2. Table 2 Subject using bilingual dictionary as the major vocabulary strategy

Subject no

BD

MD

CC

SK

1

28

1

1

0

2

19

3

8

0

3

27

1

1

1

4

28

2

0

0

5

21

7

0

2

6

29

1

0

0

7

17

9

4

0

8

17

3

10

0

9

16

3

11

0

10

24

1

5

0

12

12

6

12

0

13

22

4

3

1

14

29

1

0

0

15

15

6

8

1

17

28

1

1

0

18

19

0

1

10

19

28

1

1

0

20

28

1

1

0

22

12

8

10

0

24

17

5

8

0

25

14

7

9

0

26

16

3

11

0

28 27

13

6

10

1

28

15

1

14

0

29

28

1

1

0

30

12

7

10

1

32

28

1

1

1

From the amount of students who used bilingual dictionaries as a vocabulary strategy, it was indicate that bilingual dictionary was the most favorable strategy. One of student said that bilingual dictionary was the easiest way to attack all of the unfamiliar words in the text, because by using bilingual dictionary the meaning of the target words would be more understandable. He himself consulted bilingual dictionary to answer 29 questions, the rest one he compulsory used monolingual dictionary because the meaning of the target word he was looking for were not exist in the bilingual dictionary. He also stated that if the word he was looking for was existed in the bilingual dictionary, he would very pleased looking for on it. Context Clue Context Clues were also used as a strategy to attack unfamiliar words by five students. They performed intelligent guessing in taking an advantage the clues surrounding the unknown words. They also employed strategies to figure out the meaning of the target words. Interestingly, two of them perform the same pattern in combining these two strategies –context clues and monolingual dictionary- between these two, none of them consulted bilingual dictionary to determine the meaning of any single unfamiliar words. Beside, another three students still combine all of those three strategies, but none of them skipped it. Table 3 is presented for detail. Table 3 Subject using context clues as the major vocabulary strategy

Subject no

CC

MD

BD

11

25

4

1

16

25

5

0

21

19

6

5

23

25

5

0

33

17

3

10

There was a distinction among those three strategies. The explanation of this distinction is reported from the student number 23. She almost used context clues to

29 determine the meaning of unfamiliar words. She thought that it was the most efficient way because she did not need to consulted any dictionaries, thus she could kept the time on hers. She also mentioned, “If we opened a dictionary, we will waste the time while looking for the location of the target words, however, the words meaning we were looking for have already mentioned surrounding the context of the text.” Skipping Actually, this one was unexpected strategy which would be appeared in this study, but in fact some students were used this strategy when they encounter some unknown words. Among those eight students who practice this strategy, only one of them who used it often. He almost skipped one-third part of the total questions, or 10 items. When the writer tried to find out his reason, he only mentioned that he skipped those words because he forgot to answer the questions, he lost the time, thus he kept his paper in the blank condition.. Composition of all strategies Almost all strategies mentioned in this study were used by the students, but it was shown differences in the composition of each strategies. Based on the number of the students, it was reported that the using of bilingual dictionary was the most favorable strategy used by the students, followed by context clue in the second position, next was combination strategy, and the last was monolingual dictionary. To definite the explanation above, table 4 presented those description in the form of percentage. Table 4 Composition of strategies based on the number of the students

Strategy

Number of students

Percentage

BD

27

81.81%

CC

5

15.15%

MD

1

3.03%

It was clearly seen that among those strategies has their own value. Each of them have their own place in the students‟ mind, none of them were useless. For more complete understanding about the composition, a clear picture of it was described in Chart 1.

30 Chart 1 Composition of strategies based on the number of the students

BD CC MD

Table 4 and chart 1 had already described about the composition of all strategies based on the number of the students. If there were 33 students and 30 items each, it was mean that there were 990 items and strategies used by the whole students to attack of all the unfamiliar words. However, each student was unique while using each strategy. Based on the item of the questions, the composition of all strategies drew in table 5. Table 5 Composition of strategy based on students’ answer

Strategy

Number of items

Percentage

BD

586

59.20%

CC

260

26.26%

MD

126

12.72%

SK

18

1.82%

The result between number of students and number of items were not quite different, bilingual dictionary still in the first position, followed by context clue in the second position, next was monolingual dictionary and the last was skipping. The number of percentage among those three strategies shown an intention, the example was: bilingual dictionary was twice of

31 context clue, and context clue was twice of monolingual dictionary. The clearer description is presented in Chart 2. Chart 2 Composition of strategy based on the item of the questions

BD CC MD SK

Every student were varieties in using strategies to answer each items, but the writer found the some preferences in some items, those are presented in table 6. Table 6 Preference strategy of certain items

Strategy

Item no

Number of students

MD

7

14

BD

19

27

CC

26

25

The table means: -

Monolingual dictionary often used to answer the item number 7 by 14 students

-

Bilingual dictionary often used to answer the item number 19 by 27 students

-

Context clue often used to answer the item number 26 by 25 students

32 It was a unique phenomenon, most of students were used the same strategy to answer the question in the same number. After analyzing the questions, and also the answer, the writer tried to elaborate the students‟ reason in this phenomenon: -

Monolingual dictionary often used to answer the item number 7 because monolingual dictionary presented more alternative answer choices (2 meanings) than bilingual dictionary (1 meaning).

-

Bilingual dictionary often used to answer the item number 19 because the explanation was more understandable than monolingual one

-

Context clue often used to answer the item number 26 because the target word was un-exist both in the monolingual and bilingual dictionaries. Beside strategy, students could be different in the way of answered. There were some

varieties of it, such as by synonym of the first language (Indonesia), synonym of the target language, by definition of the first language, definition of the target language or by mentioned the antonym. In this case, the first language synonym was very approval, most of the items answered by this way. About the detail, Table 7 was ready to present the result. Table 7 The way of answer

The way of answered

Number of items

Percentage

English synonym

52

8.41%

Indonesian synonym

525

84.95%

English definition

24

3.88%

Indonesian definition

11

1.78%

Antonym

6

0.97%

Although the students have already mention their strategies when they answered each item, but sometimes their strategy were not similar with the way of answered, it means inconsistent. The example is: Student no 2 He answered the question no 4 (infallible = perfect) by monolingual dictionary, but he wrote his answer in the form of Indonesian definition „tidak pernah salah‟. Student no 26 She answered the question no 11 (anxious = nervous) by bilingual dictionary, but she wrote her answer in the form of English definition „feeling anxiety‟.

33 These two examples were not being a big problem even though it contained unsimilarities between the strategy and the answer. As long as the answers were correct, the writer is received whatever their strategy is. 4.1.2 The effectiveness of strategies used by the students An effectiveness, in this study related to the students‟ correct answers while doing the test. It was means that a strategy becomes effective if by using that strategy the students‟ could find the suitable meaning of it. The easiest way to decide all of those strategies were effective or not can be seen from the value of mean (M) and standard deviation (SD). If the mean’s value shown more than 50% from the total items, it means that those strategies were effective, but if the result shown less than 50% of the total items, it means the opposite. After the students‟ scores were calculated, the result shown M=18.73 and SD=2.58. It means that those strategies were effective due to the mean’s value was more than 50% (n=33). From the result of SD, it can be inferred that spread of scores are in the range of -1SD (16.15) to +1SD (21.31) or most of students‟ score were in the range of 16 to 21. That explanation clearly defined in Chart 3. Chart 3 Students' Score Dispersion

Students' Score

25 20 Series1 15

Series2

10

Series3 Series4

5 0 0

10

20

30

40

Number of Students

Further description related to the effectiveness of each strategy is presented as follow. Table 8 The effectiveness of monolingual dictionary

Passage no

Item

3

4

6

8

9

17

Word Infallible

penitentiary

picturesque

Meaning

Student no

Perfect

15

never wrong

21

Prison

6

Jail

11

Artistic

16

34

12

28

emporium

attractive to look

27

toko besar

13

pusat perbelanjaan

30

Table 9 The effectiveness of bilingual dictionary

Passage no

Item

4

5

6

10

Word

Meaning

gregarious

11

anxious

22

capricious

Student no

suka berteman

1

hidup dalam anggota

21

Khawatir

4

Cemas

10

berubah-ubah

6

tidak terdugga

10

Table 10 The effectiveness of context clues

Passage no

Item

2

2

8

15

Word

Meaning

annihilated

favorable

Student no

Destroyed

16

Menghancurkan

31

Diminati

16

Favorit

21

Disukai

33

Table 5 had already mentioned the composition of strategy used by the students. In this point, the conclusion of the effectiveness of those strategies in presented in Table11. Table 11 Correct answers based on the item of the questions

Strategy

Number of items

Number of correct answers

Percentage

MD

126

86

68.25%

BD

586

408

69.62%

CC

260

124

47.69%

From the data presented above, it was shown that monolingual dictionary and bilingual dictionary were the effective strategies used by the students to attack unfamiliar words from the text, due to the amount of percentage was more than 50%, however, the third strategy that was context clue indicate the opposite. Beside, the in-effectiveness of those three strategies also appeared in the certain items which used by the students often. Those certain items were questions number 7, 19 and 26. The following are the examples of the un-effectiveness strategies used by the students.

35 Table 12 The in-effectiveness of monolingual dictionary

Passage no

Item

5

7

Word

Meaning

mundane

Student no

Exiting

22

Kesenangan

23

Table 13 The in-effectiveness of bilingual dictionary

Student Passage no

Item

9

19

Word

Meaning

Introverted

no

memusatkan perhatian

1

Egois

2

mementingkan diri sendiri

12

Table 14 The in-effectiveness of context clues

Passage no

Item

11

26

Word

Meaning

Chaise

Student no

Kayu

2

Villa

5

Sleep

7

Beristirahat

11

tempat tidur

12

Kasur

27

Refers to Table 6 almost a half of the whole students used monolingual dictionary to answer the question number 7, but only 7 students who gave the correct answer. While almost all students answered the item number 19 by bilingual dictionary, but only two students who provided an accurate answer. Tragically, none of the students displayed intelligent guessing in answering the question number 26, although 25 students tried to figure out its meaning. The percentage of that part is presented in Table 15. Table 15 The in-effectiveness of each item

Strategy

Number of students

Number of students

Item

who used this

who performed the

no

strategy

correct answer

Percentage

36 MD

7

14

7

50%

BD

19

27

2

7.40%

CC

26

25

0

0%

The strategies used by the students in this part shown that students could not take an advantage of some instruments they have already had while doing the test. Actually, they have a chance to consulted both monolingual and bilingual dictionaries, they also permitted to used context clue, but in fact their answers were incorrect. The other example is displayed in the following. Question number 7: mundane Sentence: Many young people have traveled to Jakarta to escape their mundane, ordinary lives in their village. The suitable meaning of mundane in this case was ordinary live or not interesting. Bilingual dictionary performed „keduniaan‟ as the meaning of it, and they were many students who consulted bilingual dictionary while encounter this word. Although bilingual dictionary stated that meaning, but in this sentence that meaning was un-suitable to substitute the target word. From the description above, it was shown that the students were not understood the context of the text. Thus, even though they had already consulted monolingual or bilingual dictionary they still could not give an accurate answer. it is believed that the prominent motive of the in-effectiveness of those strategies appeared due to the students‟ misunderstanding about the context of the text. 4.2 The Discussion This section provides the explanation of some theories relating to the description of the results that has been presented before. In this part, the result of the study is to be explained again by relating them to any theories underlying the findings. The discussion is elaborated as follows. 4.2.1 The Strategies Used by the Students to Determine the Meaning of Unfamiliar Words through Reading Comprehension In determining the meaning of unfamiliar words, the students not only used some strategies which already presented in the previous chapter (Monolingual Dictionary, Bilingual Dictionary and Context Clues), they also combined those two strategies and some of them skip it.

37 Related to those differences, each of them has their own reason why s/he used that strategy to encounter the unfamiliar words. One student who preferred using monolingual dictionary stated that Monolingual Dictionary is more challenging and more complete than Bilingual Dictionary. She also mentioned that there were three of target words which were un-exist in the bilingual dictionary but they were appeared in the monolingual one. In other side, students who relied on bilingual dictionary explained that bilingual dictionary was more understandable than monolingual dictionary. By using bilingual dictionary, they did not need trying to understand the meaning again, due to the meaning had already mentioned in their native language. A large number of students who chose this strategy indicate that bilingual dictionary was the most favorable strategy to determine the meaning of unknown words. Besides, five students performed intelligent guessing by using context clues. One of them stated that context clue was more effective and efficient because she did not need to open any dictionaries. By doing this, she still has enough time to understand the whole text to enrich her comprehension. Combination strategy was mentioned here because the writer could not classify it in to another place. It was called combination due to the students combined those two strategies in the same proportion, none of them were dominant. But in fact, they were un-aware that they were used it in balance, thus they could not give any reason of it. Small numbers of students were skipping the unknown words. They did not give brief explanation abut the reason. Some reasons proposed by Pressley and Afflerbach (1995), they thought that the participants skipped certain unknown words because these words were deemed having very little contribution to the meaning of the whole texts. Second, they may have not considered the unknown words important and therefore not paid more attention to these words; however, they read on to the next sentences and later forgot about the words. Third, they had attempt to guess the meaning of the words from the context, but after generating the candidate meaning(s) they did not think the meaning(s) as acceptable and decided to skip the unknown words. Kusumarasdyati (2006) gave an additional reason for skipping the words was misreading them. The example of it in this study, a student read „altruistic‟ as „artistic‟, he did not pay attention to the word „altruistic‟ because he thought he had known the meaning of the word „artistic‟. 4.2.2 The Effectiveness of Strategies Used by the Students to Determine the Meaning of Unfamiliar Words through Reading Comprehension

38 The effectiveness of those strategies used by the students can be seen from the number of correct answers in each strategy. Bilingual dictionary was the most effective way, followed by monolingual dictionary in the second position and the last was context clue. From the description in the previous part, it can be seen that most of the students relied on bilingual dictionary to attack the target words. By using this strategy, the writer found some advantages and disadvantages of it. The first advantages was about the students‟ independence, as Christison said that by utilizing a variety of instruction strategies, teacher provide model for independent use (Nunan, 2003: 269). Here, the students were not depends on their social such as their friends and their teacher, because they had already have bilingual dictionary to solve their problem when they faced unfamiliar words while reading. The second advantages was provided students an easier way to figure out in understanding the meaning of the target words. By using bilingual dictionary the students were not need to think twice, because the meanings of the unknown words were already presented in their native language, thus the time taken to refer to them only minimally interrupts reading. More importantly, it is also useful for production skills both speaking and writing. In other side, utilization of bilingual dictionary provided some disadvantages for learners. First, for the some words various translations can appear. This can also be a cause of confusion, as demands of space result in drastic simplification. It is quite common for even large bilingual dictionaries to give a list of possible translations for verbs with little information about which meaning applies in which context. Or perhaps suggest a single translation, which can be more misleading. Scholfield (2003: 5) mention that sometimes there is no guidance about the pronunciation of the word, or the grammatical patterns it operates in, an idiomatic expression may not feature at all. Furthermore, if learners are allowed or encourage relying on simple bilingual dictionaries, they will not get the practice they need in understanding explanations of words and expressions in English. Beside, utilization of monolingual dictionary also showed the effectiveness as a vocabulary strategy due to the words is explained using simpler and common words. In addition, the daily life example which are mentioned in the monolingual dictionary makes this dictionary become a valuable resource for both teacher and students, thus they can use those words in the suitable condition. Further, by using monolingual dictionary, the students improved the habit of thinking in the target language (Scholfield, 2003: 6). If they use it regularly, they will become accustomed to understanding explanation in English and therefore, prepared to understand explanation when given by native speakers. It is also reasonable to suppose that learners who are used to using monolingual dictionary will be

39 better prepared to explain they mean in English when they are stuck for words. In opposite, if the learners do not have a good level of English, they will find great difficulties while using this dictionary. Thus, this dictionary suitable only for learners who have higher level of English proficiency. Further, although the learners in this level should be able to apply context clues as a vocabulary strategy, but in fact only a few numbers of students who applied it effectively. The writer thought that the in-effectiveness of this strategy due to the students‟ basic problem, that is lack of vocabularies. If their vocabulary was too minimal, it was impossible for them to predict meanings by using context cues, because they themselves did not understand the whole meaning of vocabularies in the text.

Wilkins (2002: 13) strengthens

this result of the study by his popular statement that „without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed‟.

40 CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

Based on the findings and discussion on the previous chapter, the writer draws some conclusions related to the students‟ strategies in determining the meaning of unknown words. Meanwhile, the last section proposes some suggestions for practitioners engaged in this topic. The conclusion and suggestions are presented in order as follow. 5.1 Conclusions The conclusion below refers to the measurement and discussion of each research question proposed in Chapter I and is classified into two different explanations. 1. Based on the measurement and the discussion dealing with the students‟ strategies in determining the meaning of unfamiliar words trough reading comprehension, utilization of bilingual dictionary stayed in the first place, followed by utilization of monolingual dictionary, then utilization of context clues, combination between two of them, and the last was skip the target words if the students could not found the suitable meaning of it. Students preferred using bilingual dictionary than other strategies due to the efficiencies of it. They did not need think twice to understand the unfamiliar words on the text, and they became an independent learner since they did not depend on their friends or their teacher. In the opposite, as the most favorable strategy, utilization of bilingual dictionary inhibit learners to be an efficient comprehenders and users of English, due to they always operate an extra step of translating into their first language. 2. Based on the measurement and the discussion dealing with the effectiveness of some strategies used by the students to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words, utilization of bilingual and monolingual dictionaries shown the positive result, but utilization of context cues shown the opposite. Due to most of the students relied on bilingual dictionary, it can be concluded that their English proficiency are in the elementary level, eventhough they are senior high students, because higher level learners will preferred to use monolingual dictionary or context clues to bilingual dictionary.

41 5.2. Suggestions The suggestions presented here are addresses to those who have further interest in this study. For the teachers, they should consider bilingual dictionary as vocabulary strategy to attack unfamiliar words through reading comprehension due to this strategy is the most favorable and also the most effective strategies used by the students. Further, to reduce the disadvantages of using bilingual dictionary, teachers should provide some skills related to the use of dictionary successfully. In addition, to enlarge students‟ vocabulary, teachers should provide a lot of extensive reading materials which are interested and appropriate with the students‟ background knowledge, thus the students will enjoy their reading and their vocabulary will increase gradually. For further researcher, it will be considerably useful to conduct an action research to discover the best way in utilizing bilingual dictionary as a vocabulary strategy in reading for senior high students, thus some disadvantages of it can be minimized.

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