THE STUDY ON STUDENTS VOCABULARY

MASTERY AND SPEAKING FLUENCY STUDENTS

Dede Gustian

PENERBIT CV. PENA PERSADA

i
 THE STUDY ON STUDENTS VOCABULARY
MASTERY AND SPEAKING FLUENCY STUDENTS

Penulis:
Dede Gustian

ISBN : 978-623-315-809-1

Editor:
Wiwit Kurniawan

Design Cover :

Layout :

Penerbit CV. Pena Persada

Redaksi :
Jl. Gerilya No. 292 Purwokerto Selatan, Kab. Banyumas
Jawa Tengah
Email : penerbit.penapersada@gmail.com
Website : penapersada.com Phone : (0281) 7771388
Anggota IKAPI

All right reserved

Cetakan pertama : 2021

Hak Cipta dilindungi oleh undang-undang. Dilarang

memperbanyak karya tulis ini dalam bentuk apapun tanpa
izin penerbit

ii
 INTRODUCTION
‫س ِم هللاِ ال َّر ْح َم ِن ال َّرحِ يْم‬
ْ ِ‫ب‬

Alhamdulillah Rabbil Alamin, I would like to express my

gratitude and greatest thanks to Allah SWT, for His mercy,
blessing and good opportunity so that I was able to finish writing
this book.
This book analyses the correlation between vocabulary
mastery and speaking fluency a case study of the third-grade
students of Madrasah Tsanawiyah Ulumul Our'an Langsa. The
objective of the study is to find out whether there is any correlation
between vocabulary mastery and speaking fluency for the third-
grade students of MTs. Ulumul Our'an Langsa.
The writer administered two kinds of tests, namely
vocabulary test and speaking test. vocabulary tests were in written
form and speaking test was interview. The result of this study
showed that there is a significant correlation between vocabulary
mastery and speaking fluency. In line with the result of the
research, it is essential that the teacher to know that one of the
factories effect the students” ability in speaking is the student's
mastery of Vocabulary. The writer also suggest that students
should improve their mastery of vocabulary because the mastery
of vocabulary can improve their ability in speaking fluency. Thus,
the better the students known that vocabulary mastery is so
important in speaking.
Finally, may the Almighty God Allah SWT bless and guide
us to the straight path. May all people who have contributed to
complete this book be blessed, amin.

iii
 CONTENT

INTRODUCTION ................................................................................ iii

CONTENT ............................................................................................ iv
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ............................................................. 1
A. Teaching English in Indonesia ..................................................... 1
B. The Important of Vocabulary Mastery ........................................ 2
C. The Problem of Speaking Competency among Students ......... 3
D. Terminology ................................................................................... 5
CHAPTER II THE CONCEPT VOCABULARY .................................. 8
A. Definition of Vocabulary .............................................................. 8
B. Kinds of Vocabulary .................................................................... 10
C. Teaching Vocabulary................................................................... 13
D. The Principle in Teaching Vocabulary ..................................... 14
E. The Aspect of Vocabulary Teaching .......................................... 16
F. The Mastery of Vocabulary ......................................................... 17
G. Testing of vocabulary.................................................................. 18
CHAPTER III THE CONCEPT OF SPEAKING ................................ 20
A. Definition of Speaking ................................................................ 20
B. Speaking Fluency ......................................................................... 24
C. Speaking Practice ......................................................................... 27
D. Type of Speaking ......................................................................... 28
E. Teaching Speaking ....................................................................... 28
F. Testing of Speaking ...................................................................... 29
G. The Description of Correlation .................................................. 30
H. Correlation between Vocabulary Mastery and Speaking
Fluency ............................................................................................... 32
CHAPTER IV THE CORRELATION BETWEEN VOCABULARY
MASTERY .............................................................................................. 33
AND SPEAKING FLUENCY .............................................................. 33
The Vocabulary Mastery Test Result ............................................. 33
The Speaking Fluency Test Result ................................................. 35
The Correlation of Vocabulary Mastery Result and Speaking
Fluency Result ................................................................................... 37
The Analysis of Vocabulary and Speaking Correlation .............. 39
CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS ............................................................ 41
BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................... 43

iv
 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

A. Teaching English in Indonesia

English as the first foreign language in Indonesia is
formally studied from primary school to university, but it
is introduced in elementary school as a local content.
Kasihani maintains that recently, learning English is not
something new for elementary school students in
Indonesia.1 More than ten years, there is a policy on the
possibility to include English in the curriculum as a local
content subject.
According to Singleton, there are some reasons for
teaching English at primary level, namely: 1) the need to
expose children from an early age to an understanding of
foreign cultures so that they grow up tolerant and
sympathetic to others; 2) the need to link communication
to understanding of new concept; 3) the need for
maximum learning time for important languages the
earlier you start the more time you get; 4) the advantages
of stating with early second language instruction so that
the language can be used as a medium of teaching.2
English is an international language. Almost all
countries have adapted English used as a compulsory
subject at schools. The national education has decided
that English as a foreign language taught in Indonesian
schools. It learned starting from primary schools up to
university. People realize that teaching English at this
level becomes very important and need much concern. As

1 . Kasihani. pembelajaran bahasa asing . 2005.p.125.

2 . Singleton. Teaching English at primary school.1989.p.242-245.
1
 an English teacher, he or she demands to explore effective
techniques, method, and approaches.
The students must master the four basic language
skills. They are listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
Beside such basic skill, the student must master some
vocabularies as well as possible.

B. The Important of Vocabulary Mastery

Vocabulary is one important aspect in learning a
foreign language. With a limited vocabulary anyone will
also has a limited understanding in terms of 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. Sometimes it is difficult to group the idea
transmitted to them. The acquirer of many vocabularies
can help students to read, speak, listen, and write. A good
vocabulary to use words correctly and effectively can help
the students make schoolwork easier and more
rewarding, and also many tests that they take in school
include vocabulary questions. The more vocabularies they
know the better their chance to communicate in English.
According to H. G. Tarigan, .Kualitas keterampilan
berbahasa seseorang jelas tergantung pada kuantitas dan
kualitas yang dimilikinya maka semakin besar kosakata
yang kita miliki maka semakin besar pula kemungkinan
kita terampil berbahasa.3 (The quality of language skill
depends on the quantity and quality of vocabulary. The
more vocabulary we have, the bigger possibility to have a
skill to use the language).

3 . Henry Guntur Tarigan, Pengajaran Kosakata (Bandung: Angkasa, 1986) p.2

2
 By having and mastering vocabulary, we will know
the meaning of vocabulary in the context. Measuring
vocabulary helps to avoid making mistakes in
understanding.

C. The Problem of Speaking Competency among Students

Speaking is an important skill that must be
mastered by the students. Speaking is always used in the
Madrasah Tsanawiyah Ulumul Qur-an Langsa. Speaking
is one of the main subjects which must be studied by the
students. This competency is strongly supported by the
goal of the school. The students are hoped to be able to
interact and express their opinion in the spoken form. To
reach this goal successfully the students must masterly
the language well by doing a lot and regular practice and
to memorize the vocabulary. The practice not only be
done in the classroom with the help of the instructor but
also be assigned outside the classroom in small groups
with the guide of the teacher or excellent students, or, on
any occasion the students may practice by themselves
freely.
Wiig describes that :
“Fluency in speaking is revealed variety in the
selection of vocabulary, phrases and sentences, it is
also revealed by how well the speakers can expand the
topic being talked and how well he can focus and
refocus a listener attention in sharing information”.4

Speaking skill does not stand alone. It is an

integrated skill. Before the students speak well and

4 . Wiig, Language Assestment and intervention for the learning disabled. 1985.
p.330

3
 fluently, they should already have good knowledge
about language aspect such as grammar, pronunciation,
and vocabulary. In order to speak fluently Susan, point
out that : “the learning of the language need to know
grammar, pronunciation, and vocabulary well or
speaking fluently”. Fluency is an important aspect in
speaking. With continual and regular practice, the
students can speak fluently is related to mastery
vocabulary.
For some reason, Madrasah Tsanawiyah Ulumul
Qur-an is one of boarding school in Langsa, that is located
on Jalan Medan-Banda Aceh, Alue Pineung, Langsa
Timur, Kota Langsa, Aceh. In this school make a close
study of assorted knowledge, and the most interested in
this school they administer two languages are Arabic and
English. So, the bilingual is very important at this school
and must study by student’s. English is subject from
bilingual that used introductory. English is the main
subject that they used to speak. Not only, in the classroom
they speak English. But also, they speak at dormitory and
another place.
They study about English from level one, which
they studied the vocabularies and speaking. Here, the
writer is either the teacher in this school and this is
making the writer easy to make the research at this
school. From explanation above the writer interested
wants to conduct a study on the correlation between
vocabulary mastery and speaking fluency.
The purpose of the study is to find out whether
there is any correlation between speaking fluency and
vocabulary mastery for the third-grade students of Mts.
Ulumul Qur’an Langsa. This research will also present the
description and correlation between the mastery of
4
 vocabulary and speaking fluency among the third-grade
students of MTs Ulumul Qur’an Langsa in the academic
year 2011/2012.
Good cater stated : “Hypothesis is a guiding ideas,
tentative explanation or statement of probabilities,
serving you initiate and guide observation and search for
relevant data other consideration and predict certain of
consequences”.5 In relation with the problem above, a
hypothesis be formulated as follow:
1. If ro > rt the alternative hypothesis (Ha) is accepted
and Null hypothesis (Ho) is rejected. It means there is
a positive correlation between vocabulary mastery and
speaking fluency.
2. If ro < rt the alternative hypothesis (Ha) is rejected and
Null hypothesis (Ho) is accepted. It means there is a
negative correlation between vocabulary mastery and
speaking fluency.

D. Terminology
Vocabulary, as one of the language aspects which is
very important in any language learning including
speaking. Therefore, to be able to communicate as clearly
as possible in target language, the student has to master a
lot of vocabulary. According to Al-kufaisi : “vocabulary is
a vehicle for thought, where man uses vocabulary to
express his thoughts or opinions”.6 Hornby defined :
“Vocabulary is a total number of words that make up the
language”.7

5 . Good carter,Dictionary of education,second edition. p.31

6 . Al-kufaisi, A vocabulary building program is a necessity not a
luxury.1988.p.42.
7 .hornby, the advance learners dictionary of current English. 1989. p.1425.

5
 Mastery is a complete control or the state of having
control over something superiority in competition, victory
eminent skill, or through knowledge8.
So, the vocabulary mastery that the writer means is
the students use vocabulary mastery to express their
thoughts or opinions and ideas.
Speaking is one of the four language skills that hold
and important role in human relationship. Students who
study English, certainly have to be active in speaking.
While like other languages, the fundamental goal for any
speaking activity is the ability to communicate fluently
and clearly to the point. Campbell mentions that :
“ Speaking is an activity on the part of one
individual to make oneself understood by another,
and an activity on the part of that in speaking the
person who becomes the speaker must use a tool of
communication in which it can be understood by
the other person as the listener.”9

Fluency is a quality of being able to speak smoothly

and readily when someone asked to speak with normal
speed like the native speaker or the one who own the
language. The one who own the language of course can
disposal the language well. According to Lambardo :
“fluency defines as overall smoothness, continuity and
naturalness of the student speech”.10
So, the speaking fluency that the writer means: the
students can speak by English very well and clearly in
their activity.

8 . Hornby,A S, Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current

English.1995.p.153
9 . Campbell, linguistic and social aspects of communicative competence. 1979.

p.90.
10 .Lambardo, oral testing, getting of real language. 1984. p.3.

6
 Correlation is something that related between one
to another. Whereas, from that relation we can make
similarities and dissimilarities of something that we talk.
According to Anas sudijono the correlation is the
relationship between two variables or more. Relationship
between two variables recognize is bivariate correlation
and relationship between more variables recognize is
multivariate correlation.11
Correlation means relationship, and study is similar
with research correlation considered in which the
relationship between two variables in this research, the
vocabulary mastery and speaking fluency.

11 .Prof. Drs.Anas Sudijono. Pengantar statistik pendidikan. (Jakarta, PT Raja

Grafindo persada, 2006).p.179

7
 CHAPTER II
THE CONCEPT VOCABULARY

A. Definition of Vocabulary
In this chapter the writer wants to explain definition
of vocabulary in order to understand a language the
learners have to understand the definition of vocabulary
first. It is difficult to make one definition of vocabulary.
So, the writer tries to take it from some references.
Vocabulary is the “Everest of language”12 For this
reason, a person who wants to be able to communicate in
a certain language has to master the vocabulary of that
language for the first time.
Vocabulary as one of the language aspects have to
be learned when people are learning a language. Good
mastery of vocabulary is important for anyone who learns
the language used in listening, speaking, writing, and
reading besides grammar. A learner of the foreign
language will speak fluently and accurately, write easily,
or understand what he or she reads or hears if he or she
has enough vocabulary and has a capability of using it
accurately. S. H. Burton said: “without a large vocabulary,
it is impossible to use English language precisely and
vividly”13According to Collier “When a student has
mastered the fundamental grammatical patterns of
language, his next task is to master its vocabulary, or at
least that of its vocabulary that he needs”14

12 . David Crystal, the Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language.

Australia: Cambridge University press , 1995, p.116

13 . S. H. Burton, Mastering English Language, London: The Macmillan Press

Ltd, 1982, p.98

14 . Collier . Macmillan International: A Division of the Macmillan

Company, The Key to

8
 It is obvious that vocabulary is very important in
learning a language, especially English, because the
English vocabulary is extremely large and varies as well.
Therefore, it is highly essential for English teachers to
help their students in mastering vocabulary.
Norbert Schmitt gave the definition of vocabulary
as follows. Vocabulary is a basis of a language: it is very
important to be mastered first. We cannot speak well and
understand written materials if we do not master it.
Norbert Schmitt stated that no matter how successfully
the sound of the foreign language is mastered, without
words to express the wider range of meanings,
communication in a foreign language just cannot happen
in any meaningful way.15
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
defines “vocabulary means all the words that someone
know, learn of uses, or the words that are typically used
when talking about particular subject or a list of words
with the explanations of their meanings in a book for
learning foreign language”16
Webster has three definitions of vocabulary as
follows:
1. A list or collection of words and phrases usually
alphabetically arranged and explained or define.
2. A list or collection of terms or codes available for use.
3. A sum or stock of word employed by a language
group, individual or work or in a field knowledge.17

English Vocabulary: English Services London: Collier Macmillan Limited,

1971, p.1
15 . Norbert Schmitt, op. cit, p.5
16 . Longman, Dictionary of Contemporary English, Second Edition (Harlow:

Longman Group, 1987) p. 1177

17 . MerriamWebster, Collegiate Dictionary (America: Merriam Web Inc.2003)

p.1400
9
 In some literature, we found the meaning of
vocabulary. There are some definitions of vocabulary.
A.S. Hornby in “Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary
of Current English. states that vocabulary is:
1. Total number of words which (with rules for
combining them) make up a language.
2. (Range of) words known to, or used by, a person, in a
trade, profession, etc.18

Another dictionary, Webster’s New World College

Dictionary, defined vocabulary as a list of words and,
often, phrases, abbreviations, inflectional form, etc.,
usually arranged in alphabetical order and defined or
otherwise identified, as in a dictionary or glossary.19
Vocabulary is considered as the most important
part in learning a language. It is impossible for the
students to read, write and speak a foreign language
without having enough knowledge of the vocabulary.
Learning the new vocabulary does not only mean
memorizing the form of the word but also understand its
meaning.

B. Kinds of Vocabulary
Vocabulary varies in the four skills of language,
listening, writing, reading, and speaking. Generally, a
student will absorb listening and speaking vocabulary
before coming to the reading and writing vocabulary. But
in real situation, the process may change, especially in
foreign language teaching. Reading vocabulary may

18 . A. S. Hornsby, Oxford Advanced Learner.s Dictionary of Current English,

Revised and updated, (Oxford University Press, 1987), p. 959

19 . Merriam Webster, Webster’s New World College Dictionary, 4th ed,

(Cleveland: Wiley
Publishing Inc, 2002), p. 1600
10
 become the first stage before processing the speaking and
listening vocabulary.
According to the basis of frequency, vocabulary can
be divided into two kinds; there are high frequency
vocabulary and low frequency vocabulary.20
1. High frequency vocabulary consists of words that are
used very often in normal language, use in all four
skills and across the full range of situation of use. High
frequency vocabulary consists of 2000-word families,
which are about 87% of the running words in formal
written text and more than 95% of the words in
informal spoken texts.
2. The low frequency vocabulary on the other hand,
covers only small proportion of the running words of a
continuous text, it means that low frequency
vocabulary is rarely, used in common activity of
English language. This group includes well over
100.000-word families.

Nation calls those vocabularies as motivated

vocabulary and unmotivated vocabulary. Motivated
(active) vocabulary consists of all the words we need to
use and feel no reluctance in using in our everyday life.
While the unmotivated (passive) vocabulary can be
divided into two groups:
1. Words which are only partly understood and are not
well known enough to use actively, and
2. Words which are not needed in daily communication.21

20 . Paul Nation, New Ways of Teaching Vocabulary (USA: Teacher of English

to Speaker of Another Language/TESOL Inc, 1994), p.3

21 . I.S.P Nation, Teaching and Learning Vocabulary, ( New York: Newbury

House Publishers, 1990), p.94

11
 From the explanation above, we can conclude that
active vocabulary is all the words used in daily activities,
partly while, passive vocabulary is all the words
recognized and understood, and not necessarily used.
Jo Ann Aebersold and Mary Lee Field classify into
active and passive.
1. Active vocabulary refers to put item which the learner
can use appropriately in speaking or writing, and it is
also called as productive vocabulary, although in fact it is
more difficult to put into practice, its means that to use
the productive vocabulary, the students must know
how to pronounce it well, they must be familiar with
collocation and understand the connotation meaning
of the word. This type is often used in speaking and
writing skill.
2. Passive vocabulary refers to language items that can be
recognized and understood in the context of reading or
listening and also called as receptive vocabulary.

Besides receptive and productive vocabulary, Jo

Ann Aebersold and Marry Lee Field also classified
vocabulary into topic-specific or content-specific
vocabulary. Topic-specific or content-specific vocabulary
is the words that appear frequently in a particular text
because they are related to the topic of the text.22 For
example, in a text on the topic of ice cream, the words
flavor, texture, cone, toppings and carton might appear
frequently. So, those words can we call as topic-specific or
content-specific vocabulary.
Meanwhile Djalinushah and Azimar Enong divided
vocabulary into two, namely general vocabulary and

22 . Jo Ann Amberoid and Mary Lee Field, From Reader to Reading Teacher,

(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversity Press, 1997), p. 139

12
 special vocabulary. General vocabulary is of the words
that are used in general. There is no limit of field and
user. Special vocabulary is that the words that are used in
the certain field and job, profession of special science and
technology.23
From the explanation above, we know that every
expert in every book is different in classifying the kind of
vocabulary, because every person has different way in
showing and telling their opinions and ideas. Some of
them who emphasize vocabulary to the items which the
learners can use appropriately in speaking or writing and
to the language items which the learners can use
appropriately in speaking or writing and to the language
items that can be recognized and understood in the
context of reading and listening and some of them classify
vocabulary that they have made are different, but the
point is the same, because their classification are based on
the different sides and aspects.

C. Teaching Vocabulary
Because of the importance of vocabulary, it needs a
serious attention in learning vocabulary from both
learners and teachers. It becomes a great challenging act
for the teacher to teach vocabulary, what kind of methods
they use, what kind of vocabulary that they give, or how
many vocabularies that they should teach. There are some
key principles of teaching vocabulary:24
1. Build a large sight of vocabulary.
2. Integrated new words with previous words.
3. Provide a number of encounters with a word.

23 . Djalinushah and Azimar Enong, Tata Bahasa Inggris Modern dalam Tanya

Jawab (Jakarta: CU. Miswar, 1980) p.81

24 . Norbert Schmitt, op. cit, p.146

13
 4. Promotes deep level of processing.
5. Facilitate imaging.
6. Make new word .real. by connecting them to the
student’s word in some way.
7. Use variety techniques.
8. Encourage independent learning strategies.

As it has already mentioned at the beginning that

there is no right or best way to teach English skill, it all
depends on the type of students, the school system and
curriculum, the word that are targeted and many other
factors. The choice of vocabulary to teach is also limited to
the learner’s need, experiences, and interest.

D. The Principle in Teaching Vocabulary

To master vocabulary, the teacher follows the
principles in teaching vocabulary. According to Michael J.
Wallace as follows:
1. Aims
“The aims have to be clear for the teacher: How
many of the things listed does the teacher expect the
learner to be able to achieve the vocabulary? What
kinds of words? “25
2. Quantity
“The teacher may have to decide on the number
of vocabulary items to be learned. How many new
words in a lesson can the learner learn? If there are too
many words, the learner may become confused and
discouraged.”26

25 . Wallace. Teaching Vocabulary. (London: Briddles. Ltd.).1982.p.27

26 .Ibid.p.28
14
3. Need
In any case, one would hope that the choice of
vocabulary will relate to the aims of a course and the
objectives of individual lesson. It is also possible for
the teacher, in a sense, to put the responsibility or
choosing the vocabulary to be taught on the students,
in other word, the students are put in a situation where
they have to communicate and acquire the words they
need, as they need them, using the teacher as an
informant.
4. Frequent Exposure and Repetition
“It is seldom, however, that we remember a new
word simply by hearing at the first time. There has to
be a certain amount of repetition until there is evidence
that students have learned the target word”.27
5. Meaningful Presentation
“The learner must have a clear and specific
understanding of what it denotes or refers to, i.e. It
means that although meaning involves many other
things as well”.28 The word is presented in such a way
that its denotation or reference is perfectly clear and
ambiguous.
6. Situation of Presentation
“The choice of words can be very varied
according to the situation in which we are speaking
and according to how well we know the person, to
whom we are speaking (from informal to formal)”.29 So
that a student should learn words in the situation in
which they are appropriate.

27 .Ibid.p.29
28 .Ibid
29 .Ibid.p.30

15