The First Year Students’ Ability in Guessing Word Meaning by Using Context Clues at English Department of Bung Hatta University

Abstrak

Reading is one of the language skills that should be mastered by students. There are some difficulties that students may encounter in reading, such as using background knowledge appropriately; decoding and word recognition; vocabulary knowledge; fluency; strategy use and metacognitive skills; and differentiating between common text structures. It is supported by McWhorter that reading is a complex process; it involves much more than adding word meaning together. Reading involves not only understanding ideas, but also recognizing the relationships and structures among ideas.

The method used in this study was descriptive method. The purpose of this research was to describe the ability of first year students in guessing word meaning by using context clues at English Department of Bung Hatta University. The population of this study was the first year students of English Department at Bung Hatta University. The total sample member was 26 students, and they were chosen by using total sampling technique. In collecting data, the researcher used reading test in form of short answer with reliability was 0.95.

The results of data analysis showed that students’ ability in guessing word meaning by using context clues was high. It was proved by the fact that 7 students (26.92%) had very high ability, and 19 students (73.08%) had high ability. Specifically, the students’ ability in using definition clues and example clues were high. It was proved by the fact that 19.23% of students had very high ability, 76.92% of students had high ability, and 3.85% of students had moderate ability. Students’ ability in using contrast clues was high. It was proved by the fact that 23.08% of students had very high ability, 65.38% of students had high ability, and 11.54% of students had moderate ability. Students’ ability in using inference clues was high. It was proved by the fact that 34.62% of students had very high ability, 53.85% of students had high ability, 3.85% of students had moderate ability, and 7.69% of students had low ability.

In conclusion, the result of the study showed that the ability of the first year students at English Department of Bung Hatta University in guessing word meaning by using context clues was high. Therefore, this study suggested to the next researcher to conduct the study related to this topic at senior high level in order to see the comparison.

Keywords: reading, context clues