ENHANCING THE VOCABULARY SKILLS THROUGH READING

AN ACTION RESEARCH

Chapter 1- INTRODUCTION

1. Background of the study

-----------

English as a medium of instruction from pre-school to post graduate level,also means that every

Filipino student learns English. In learning or mastering the language, the learners need to learn all

skills in English such as:listening, speaking, reading and writing. Allen (1983) states that to master

over a language,the learners must learn thousands of words. Vocabulary is one of the most important

language components in learning English (Nation, 2001). Learning vocabulary can help students in

studying English and support them in mastering the other language components.

Learning vocabulary is critical to learning a language – be it the first, second or even foreign. One

must be equipped with knowledge of words and their meanings to build confidence in

communication and cope with the increasing demands of education, business, science, technology

and other fields.

Recognizing enough vocabulary will make the students able to communicate and know English at

least in a simple way because vocabulary is the core of English. It is the basic thing to communicate

and also important for the acquisition process (Krashen, 1981: 12).

Vocabulary holds a crucial position in English learning. Without grammar very little can be

conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed (Wilkins in Thornbury, 2005:13) it is to

know the explicit and implicit (if any) meaning of a word.Therefore, acquiring an extensive

vocabulary skill in a target language poses a big challenge to students.

However, most students’ vocabulary skills are poor and limited. It can be seen from the students’

achievements and works. In writing and speaking, as observed, there are limited

vocabularies.Moreover, the junior high school’ students should acquire approximately 2000-3000

words per year, or about 6 to 8 new words perday (Anderson & Nagy, 1992). Thus, in order to

follow the demand of English skill, teachers must try to find a good technique in teaching

vocabulary.While it is imperative for the teachers to help students learn how to acquire vocabulary,

it is also encouraged that learners help themselves in acquiring vocabularies for their own. Learner

independence has long been recognized by a number of linguists in the process of vocabulary

acquisition (Hamzah et al, 2009).

Research cognitive in psychology has found that memory is affected by how deeply we process new

knowledge. If we teach vocabulary for students by forcing them to remember the word, they will be

confused. It is likely to store it in such a way that they have difficulty finding it when they want to

remember it. So with these, the researchers want to conduct a study to enhance the vocabulary skills

of the students through reading.Wherein reading is the magic key to the world of enlightenment and

enjoyment and it is the basic tool for learning in all the subject areas.
 As Virgil Howes states that reading can be one man’s deepest pleasures. It extends his experiences,

giving him a glimpse of the world’s excitement pleasures and wisdom. Reading is arguably one of

the best means of grasping new vocabulary. Reading increases exposure to new words and makes it

easier for words to stick.

2. The Statement of the problem

This study attempts to enhance the vocabulary skills of the students through reading. Specifically, the study

will answer the questions as to:

1. What are the demographic profile of the respondents as to:

a. Age?

b. Gender?

c. Ethnicity?

2. What is the level of vocabulary proficiency of Grade VII?

3. What factors contribute to vocabulary deficiency?

4. What reading strategies will help students improve their vocabulary skills?

3. The Objectives of the study

The objective of this study is to determine the enhancement of vocabulary skills of the Grade VII

students through reading; the level of vocabulary proficiency of Grade VII students; the factors

contribute to vocabulary deficiency; and the reading strategies that will help students improve their

vocabulary skills.

4. The Null Hypothesis

In the conduct of this study, the following hypothesis was tested:

 1. There is no enhancement of vocabulary skills through reading.

5. The Significance of the study

This study has significance to the following;

A. Students

This study helps the students’ to easily master their way of learning vocabulary. They will be aware
of their vocabulary performance and how they are going to develop and improve it. This will also
increase the interest of the students; to read and to learn English especially in vocabulary.

B. Teachers

This study helps the teacher to know the approaches to use in dealing with the students to improve
their understanding of vocabulary. They also help the students develop their effective learning styles.
They will be able to assess the vocabulary performance and identify the vocabulary skills of the students
in their respective school and their behavior through those learning styles.

C. Parents

This study helps the parents who have important roles in guiding their children and who are
concerned with their education particularly on their vocabulary, they will encourage them to allot more
time in reading and grasping new vocabulary.

D. Future Researchers

This study helps future researchers who will investigate the same subject, it will serve as their guide
and basis in any related research and for further study. Researchers can use this as a material
consideration. So, that ways, the researchers may expand the research.

6. The Scope and Delimitation

This research study focused on determining the Grade VII students learning, through their Vocabulary

performance. The respondents were drawn from Grade VII Faithfulness students of Nueva Vizcaya General

Comprehensive Highschool. Their profiles were constituted by the sub-variables age, sex, personal

background and others.

 The students’ interest in Vocabulary was based on the average rating of what they have written and

evaluated by the researcher in terms of content, organization and mechanics.

7. Theoretical and Conceptual Framework

1) Who and what influence you in conducting the study?

2) What theories do you anchor your study on?

8. The Conceptual Paradigm

In the light of the previous studies, the conceptual framework is established as shown in figure 1 below
where the demographic profile and vocabulary are treated as independent variable and dependent variable at
the same time, reading is the mediator.

The demographic profile of the respondents and the level of vocabulary proficiency are synchronized to
each other. Reading, as the mediator, can influence the level of vocabulary proficiency of the students. Also,
their demographic profile shows that it can impact the level of vocabulary and reading proficiency of the
respondents.

This conceptual paradigm of the study shows the relationship among variables.

Reading

Vocabulary
Demographic profile: (Level of Proficiency)
a. Age
b. Gender
c. Ethnicity

Figure 1, Conceptual Paradigm

9. Definition of Terms

1. Vocabulary
 2. Reading

3. Reading Comprehension

Chapter II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

Vocabulary as one of language components is a very important thing besides other language components.

Without vocabulary, people will not be able to say anything. People with large vocabulary are more proficient

in language skills than people with little vocabulary. Large vocabulary makes significant contribution to almost

all the aspects of language. “Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be

conveyed.” This is how the linguist David Wilkins (1972) as cited in Thornbury (2002:16) summed up the

importance of vocabulary learning. When people have large amount of vocabulary, they can express their idea

precisely, and of course, it is very helpful for them, whether in listening, speaking, reading, or writing skills.

While Harmer (1991:153) made an analogue, “If language structures make up the skeleton of language, then it

is vocabulary that provides the vital organs and flesh.” It shows that vocabulary is very important, even though

people have good ability in structures, but they do not have enough vocabulary to express their idea, the

structures are useless. Kridalaksana (1993:27) says “vocabulary is a component of language that maintains all

information about meaning and using words in a language.” In Webster’s Dictionary (1997), vocabulary is

defined as follow: a. A list of collection of words and phrases usually alphabetically arranged and explained or

defined. b. A sum or stock of words employed by a language group individual or work or in relation to a subject

scope of language. c. A list of foreign language textbook of the words and phrases taught or used. 9

Furthermore, Richards (2002:255) stated that: “Vocabulary is a core component of language proficiency and

provides much of the basis of how well learners speak, listen, read and write. Without an extensive vocabulary

and strategies for acquiring new vocabulary, learners often achieve less than their potential and may discourage

from making use of language opportunities around them.” Vocabulary, as people may know, is just a word but
 actually vocabulary not just build from a word but also from another word that convey one meaning. Penny

(1991:60) says: “Vocabulary can be defined, roughly, as the words we teach in the foreign language. However,

a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word: for example, post office and mother-in-law, which

are made up of two or three words but express a single idea. There are also multi-word idioms such as call it a

day, where the meaning of the phrase cannot be deduced from an analysis of the component words. A useful

convention is to cover all such cases by talking about vocabulary ‘items’ rather than ‘words’. Lado (1974:118)

said that vocabulary is a group of words on a certain language as a part of a foreign language teaching and

learning. Words mean the memory of the situation in which they have been observed and understood, brought

out by the context in which they are used. It means that to know a word is to be able to use it or to understand in

situation in which the person has not experienced it before. In foreign language learning and teaching,

vocabulary is the important aspect besides other language components such as grammar and pronunciation.

Allen and Valette (1977:149) state that vocabulary is an important factor in all language teaching. Students

must continually be learning words as they learn structures and as they practice the sound system.

Mastering vocabulary is important in learning language especially English, because the potential knowledge

that can be known about a word is rich and complex (Schmitt,2000:5). Due to the complexity of word, we have

to find out the best way to enrich students’ vocabulary. Without vocabulary mastery to express a wider range of

meanings, communication cannot happen in any meaningful way (Vossoughi and Zargar, 2009:80) Vocabulary

mastery can be constructed as an ability to combine skill or knowledge of words that used to express meaning,

in case of the physical object or idea, in form of symbol of group of letter in a single or more one word Coulson

et al (1987:1050). The process of vocabulary mastery is not simple because vocabulary has some components;

mastering one vocabulary item should mean mastering vocabulary components. Nation (1990:31) proposes the

following list of the different kinds of knowledge that a person must master in order to know a word. The

meaning of the 11 word, the written form of the word, the spoken form of the word, the grammatical behavior

of the word, the collocations of the word, the register of the word, the associations of the word, the frequency of

the word. The vocabulary mastery cannot be done spontaneously but step by step. Keraf(1989:65-66)defines the

steps in processing vocabulary mastery. First, children period, this term children are able to define concept
 vocabulary to say their concrete idea. Second, adolescent period, this term is the adolescent start to use the

language and make it more extensive directly in simple communication. Third, adult period, this term the

vocabulary are used more and more intensive because they make more communication each other. It can be

concluded that vocabulary is very important in learning language and mastering vocabulary. It will facilitate

someone in using language in communication. So, mastering vocabulary would be useful because it will be:

a. Easy to learn language. For example, when we read a story in English, to know about the story we must

understand the meaning of vocabulary in the story.

b. Easy to understand what the people are talking about. For example, when we listen the conversation in

English it is necessary for us to know what the people speaking about, and it only be done if we know the

vocabulary in the conversation. 12

c. Easy to make communication with different topic freely. For example, if we want to discuss about one topic,

such as entertainment, we must know the vocabularies that are concerned with the entertainment

The Role of Reading in Vocabulary Development

The prediction that reading skill could be associated with rate of vocabulary growth is based on the premise that
reading development could potentially have a significant effect on a child's exposure to novel words. In fact,
there is empirical evidence that, for older children and adults, much learning of new words occurs through
exposure to written texts (Nagy, Herman, & Anderson, 1985; Sternberg, 1987). Because print material generally
contains many more low frequency words than does spoken language (Cunningham, 2005), reading text can
provide key opportunities for advancement in vocabulary development. We predict that word learning through
reading will affect vocabulary as measured on both oral and written tasks because words learned through
reading text will be at least partially available to the individual for both written and oral language use (Nelson,
Michal, & Perfetti, 2005).
However, exposure to novel words in text does not occur uniformly throughout reading development. Prior to
formal literacy instruction, children are clearly acquiring novel vocabulary through exposure to oral language.
During early reading development, children rarely confront words in print that are not already present in their
vocabulary, so much of the lexical knowledge of words, especially phonological and semantic representations,
will be derived from oral language experience. As children become more proficient readers and advance to
more complex print material, they are more likely to confront words during reading that they have not been
exposed to via listening. This transition likely occurs around the third or fourth grade for many students (Chall,
1987). Biemiller (2005), for example, reported that, from the third grade onward, but not in earlier grades, 95%
of children could read more words than they could explain.

Chapter III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Design
*CAR (classroom action research)

This study was conducted using the mixed methods research which was utilized as a research tool to

test the level of vocabulary proficiency of the Grade VII students and the factors affecting vocabulary

deficiency.

- It is an approach to inquiry that combines or associates both qualitative and quantitative forms. It

involves philosophical assumptions, the use of qualitative and quantitative approaches, and the mixing

of both approaches in a study. Thus, it is more than simply collecting and analysing both kinds of data; it

also involves the use of both approaches in tandem so that the overall strength of a study is greater than

either qualitative or quantitative research (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2007).

and a language proficiency test to generate data that established the proficiency level and the Vocabulary skills

of the Grade VII Camia students of Nueva Vizcaya Institute, Aritao Nueva Vizcaya.

Best (1998) as cited by Mamaoag (1998) describes this type of educational research as one which

describes and interprets what is. The process of action research goes beyond gathering of data. It involves an

interpretation of meaning or significance of what is often combined with comparison and contrast involving

measurement and evaluation. It deals with relationships between variables, the testing of hypothesis, and the

development of generalizations.

The method that was applied was confined to the gathering of data. Subsidiary steps also

involved analysis and interpretation of the meaning or significance of what is being described. Thus, description

was combined with classification, comparison and contrast, analysis and interpretation. According to Siquijor-

Enriquez (2000), descriptive method is characterized as a survey or normative approach to the study of

conditions, essential guide to one’s thinking. It is concerned with conditions of relationships that exists;

practices that prevail beliefs; processes that are going on; effects that are being felt; or trends that are

developing.

Research Environment
Samples and Sampling Procedures

A stratified random sampling procedure was used for selecting the participants in the study. This

technique was employed to ensure a fairly equal representation of the variables for the study. The stratification

was based on the Grade VII- Faithfulness class of the Nueva Vizcaya General Comprehensive High School. To

determine the sample size, the Slovin’s Formula was used where:
𝑁
n = 1+𝑁𝑒 2

Therefore, out of 50 students of the class, there are only

Research Instruments

 PRE-TEST
This was used to test the level of vocabulary proficiency of the Grade 7 students.
 OPEN-ENDED QUESTION
This was used for the factors that contribute to the vocabulary deficiency of the s Grade 7 students
 POST TEST
This was used to determine if their level of vocabulary proficiency enhanced.

Data Gathering Procedure

 Administration of pre-test
The researchers administered a pre-test to the students to test their level of vocabulary proficiency of the
students.
 Administration of open-ended question
The researchers administerd an open-ended questions to the students to know the factors that contributed to
the vocabulay deficiency of the students
 Take home reading material
The researchers gave a take homeone week reading materials for the students to read.
 Administration of post test
The researcher administered a post test to the students to test whether the level of their vocabulary proficiency
enhanced.

Statistical Treatment of Data

Descriptive statistic such as mean, frequency, percentages and standard deviation were used to describe

the demographic profile of the respondents, level of vocabulary proficiency and factors affecting vocabulary

deficiency.
Chapter IV RESULTS AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

Chapter V SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Summary
Conclusions
Recommendations