The Third Year Students’ Ability in Understanding Word Having Affixes of Word Formation at English Department of Bung Hatta University.

Abstrak

Vocabulary always concerns with word. Muslikh (2014: 6) states that vocabulary is defined as the word and its meaning are instructed as well as known by a person and it may be utilized to create the learning of foreign language or it is easy to be translated from one language to another language. Having rich vocabularies will make the learners become easier to understand in many aspects, like in comprehending text, speaking, or writing. Words with affixes have different meaning and function. In vocabulary, knowing word having affixes will also enrich students’ vocabulary. Relating to this, the researcher conducted this study on purpose of determining and describing the students’ ability in understanding word having affixes of word formation.

            The population of this research was the third year students of English Department of Bung Hatta University. The members of sample were 23 students selected by total sampling technique. The data of this research was vocabulary test in the form of multiple choice. To make the instrument reliable, the researcher gave try out test to the students out of the sample. The reliability index was 0.88 or very high correlation (see Appendix 5). It means the instrument was reliable.

            The result of this research shown that in general, the students’ ability in understanding word having affixes of word formation was good. In more specific, it was found that their ability in using affixes of word formation in noun formation was very good with percentage was 52.17%. Then their ability in using affixes of word formation in verb formation was bad with percentage was 34.78%. Their ability using affixes of word formation in verb formation was also bad with the percentage was 39.13%. Last their ability using affixes of word formation in verb formation was also bad with the percentage was 39.13%.

            In the line with the findings of this study as discussed above, it can be conclude that the students can maintain their memories about word having affixes in vocabulary subject by learning more about word with affixes. Dealing with conclusion, it is suggested to the lecturer to give more exercises about affixes to maintain their memories in vocabulary subject. It is also suggested to the next researcher to find out the difficulties of students in understanding word having affixes, and then find the way or alternative to solve the students’ problem in using affixes of word formation.

Key words: Vocabulary, affixes, word formation, ability