VOCABULARY LEVEL AND READING ACHIEVEMENT OF THE STUDENTS OF SMAN 1 BINUANG

Abstract

This study is about the vocabulary level and reading achievement of the students of SMA N 1 Binuang. English National Examination of senior high school in Indonesia only consists of reading and listening tests, and reading takes up 70% of the question items. Mustafa (2019) found that the reading test in the National Examination of senior high school in Indonesia consists of 3000-word level vocabulary. Therefore, this study aimed to find out the students’ vocabulary level and reading achievement and whether their results passed the threshold for reading and National Examination. The research used a descriptive design and quantitative approach. The subjects of this research were the eighth grade students of senior high school in SMA N 1 Binuang. To collect the data, the instruments used were vocabulary level test and reading test. The findings were (1) that the students’ vocabulary level was still far below the threshold to both reading skill by Nation or the threshold used in National Examination with the highest vocabulary level was 733-estimated word level; (2) the majority of the students’ reading achievement was more than 60 score, with the lowest reading score was 45 and the highest reading score was 80. Based on the findings, the students’ vocabulary level and reading achievement were related, students with low vocabulary level tend to achieve low score in reading achievement. To conclude, the result of this study shows that students’ vocabulary level were far below threshold to be considered mastering the vocabulary level and their reading achievement score were in average score. Generally, the students’ vocabulary level were below 1000-estimated word level and their reading achievement only fell into average. It is suggested to teachers using an effective teaching strategy and material according to students’ needs and their English levels. In this case focusing on the materials of 2000 word-level is necessary to increase students’ knowledge on vocabulary and more reading materials about finding references and implicit information. For other researchers, it is suggested to use a preliminary study to conduct further researches related to vocabulary level and other language skills.