Vocabulary is a key part of any language-teaching program. Nation (2001)
proposed four general goals that are important in a language classroom. These learning
goals concern: Language, which includes vocabulary; Ideas, which covers content and
subject matter as well as cultural knowledge; Skills; and finally Text or discourse (Nation
2001, p.1). Moreover, in learning a language, specifically for vocabulary goals, there are
three aspects to be looked at: the number of words in the language, the number of words
known by the native speakers, and the number of words needed by a learner to use the
language productively. The number of words in English and number known by English
native speakers are not the interest of the current study, which instead focuses on the third
aspect: the words needed to use English productively, specifically for EFL learners in
Indonesia.
The research literature in vocabulary learning in a second language (L2) has
revealed the importance of knowing a sufficient number of words to be able to function
in the language (Duin and Graves, 1987; Walker, Greenwood, Hart and Carta, 1994;
Nation, 2001; Read, 2004; Tschirner, 2004; Zimmerman, 2005). The development of
adequate vocabulary size is vitally important, and researchers have examined the use of
learning strategies as one means to foster the development of L2 vocabulary knowledge.
Strategies that have been proposed to help develop vocabulary learning include Memory
Strategies (MEM), Social Strategies (SOC), Cognitive Strategies (COG), Metacognitive
Strategies (MET) and Determination Strategies (DET) (Schmitt, 1997). Morin, 2003;
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Chang, Wagner, Muse, Chow, and Shu; 2005; and Schiff and Calif, 2007) have also
suggested that use of morphological cues for inferring meaning can help L2 learning.
Although only a handful of studies have examined the role of morphological
awareness in L2 vocabulary development, the findings suggest that various aspects of
morphological awareness may be particularly useful for vocabulary building.
Morphological awareness is defined as the "awareness of and access to the meaning and
structure of morphemes in relation to word" (Chang et al., 2005, p. 417). For example,
Wysocki and Jenkins (1987) found that students were able to learn new words by
generalizing from those sharing a root morpheme. Pica (1988, as cited in Morin, 2003)
also states the importance of the study of interlanguage morphology and the belief that
"morpheme analysis can provide important insights into the sequences, processes, and
input relevant to second language acquisition" (Morin, 2003, p. 107).
This paper builds on this body of research by examining the relationship between
the English vocabulary size of EFL senior high school students in Indonesia and their
morphological awareness. The study presented here attempts to evaluate and possibly
extend findings from previous studies to the context of EFL learners in Indonesia. The
obstacle that lack of vocabulary knowledge presents for Indonesian EFL learners has
been noted (Nur, 2004). An ultimate aim of the study is to assess the potential value of
incorporating instruction in morphological awareness as part of EFL vocabulary
instruction in Indonesian settings, similar to the one examined here. There are three
research questions to be tackled in the current study:
1. What is the vocabulary size of the Indonesian senior high school students in the
study, and does this differ by area of study, Social Science and Natural Science?
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2. What level of English morphological awareness do these learners possess?
3. Can measures of morphological awareness be systematically related to the
measure of English vocabulary size?
Following the introduction, the review of previous studies in vocabulary learning
and morphological awareness are discussed in Chapter 2. At the end of the discussion,
the three research questions are presented. The methodology used in the study is
described in Chapter 3, and the report on the results obtained is presented in Chapter 4.
Those results then are analysed in Chapter 5 and compared to findings from previous
studies. Finally, in Chapter 6, a brief conclusion of the current study, the pedagogical
implication, limitations, and suggestions for the further study are provided.
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