A CORRELATIONAL STUDY OF THE THIRD YEAR STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY MASTERY AND SPEAKING ABILITY AT ENGLISH DEPARTMENT BUNG HATTA UNIVERSITY

Abstrak

Abstract

            The background of the problem in this research was aimed at finding out the correlation between vocabulary mastery and speaking ability of the third year students of English Department, Bung Hatta University. The population of this research was the third year students of Bung Hatta University. The members of population were 112 students. The researcher took a class of 30 students as the class sample by using Cluster Random Sampling. The hypothesis in this research was there is a significant correlation between vocabulary mastery and speaking ability of third year students of Bung Hatta University.  In gathering the data, the researcher used the multiple choice test to measure vocabulary mastery and oral test to measure speaking ability. In analyzing the data, the researcher used the Pearson Product Moment formula. After analyzing the data, it was found that r calculated was .84 with level significance .05, and the degree of freedom (df= n-2) was 28. It means that r- counted was higher than r-table (.84>.31). So, the relationship between two variables above was significant. Therefore, the alternative hypothesis, that said “There is significant correlation between vocabulary mastery and speaking ability of third year students of English Department of Bung Hatta University” was accepted. Based on the finding of this research, it could be concluded that there is correlation between vocabulary mastery and speaking ability of the third year students of English Deparment of Bung Hatta University. It means that the students’ vocabulary mastery will support students’ speaking ability.

Key Word: Correlational Study, Vocabulary Mastery and Speaking Ability.