CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
A. Findings
1. The Vocabulary Complexities Faced by the Students in Learning Eng- lish of Eighth Grade at SMP Negeri 13 Makasar
1) Meaning
Most of the complexity here is meaning that students of the eighth grade do not master English vocabulary so it hinders students’ learning, especially assignments in English subjects. The students who were inter
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viewed said that the vocabulary complexity in English vocabulary was meaning. She stated that :
Extract 01 :
“the English vocabulary complexity that I faced in learning English is meaning. When I feel bored learning English in my class I play games” (NA)
Vocabulary complexity faced by the students of the meaning, namely limited English vocabulary, the students not understanding English language, not being able to determine the right equivalent based on the words, and the meaning of the words that have been written cannot be un- derstood. From this, it will definitely have a big influence on the process of learning English. If the student’s mindset has been embedded that English is complicated then enthusiasm in learning will be very less including the desire to master English vocabulary, from the interview she admitted that when she was bored learning English in class than he played games.
2) Pronunciation
Pronunciation is one of the main keys to speaking English. The clearer the pronunciation of English vocabulary, the easier it is for people or native speakers to understand what we are saying. And also when we have a good vocabulary and then we have to good pronunciation. In fact, the difference in pronunciation between English words and spelling makes it complex for foreign language students to pronounce words. When the researcher inter- viewed them about what vocabulary complexity they faced when learning English and some eighth-graders mentioned that the complexity of the vo- cabulary they faced was pronunciation. They stated that:
25 Extract 02 :
“I think the English vocabulary complexities is pronunciation because it is usually hard to pronounce” (NAA)
Extract 03:
“In learning english lessons I have complicated in pronouncing vocabulary” (ARA)
Some students have complexity in pronunciation. In addition to differ- ent languages, different pronunciations between words and spelling make it complex for them to have a good pronunciation of words, and also students do not master in the English language.
3) Spelling
Not many students know how to recognize letters or words. They said that they were not taught by the teacher how to spell words well, they only learned to read words by repetition. And that makes them complicated to spell. The students who were interviewed said that the complexity in Eng- lish vocabulary was spelling.
Extract 04:
“I think my problem in the complexity of English vocabulary is spelling and I was not taught by my teacher how to spell cor- rectly.” “MFR.”
Failing to spell words becomes a problem for them because basically, they don’t know how to spell words in English. This becomes their comp- plexity because the spelling of the Indonesian language and English is dif- ferent and makes them almost forget and find it complex.
26 4) Grammar
Grammar is the structure of words, phrases, clauses, sentences, and the total text. From the interview that was given the researcher asked about the complexity of their vocabulary in learning English. They stated that:
Extract 05:
“mmm…the vocabulary complexity that I faced is grammar be- cause I often make mistakes in tenses, my grammar is also messy. Sometimes I don’t know which one I should write first because English is written back and forth” (NZDE)
Extract 06:
“in my opinion, the most complex problem for me is keeping up with the grammar. There are 16 tenses in English. It’s very dif- ferent from Indonesian. Maybe because at the first they were immediately told how much it is. So I find it very complex to learn.” (A)
As for the vocabulary complexity faced by eighth-grade at SMP Negeri 13 Makassar in learning English, namely students do not know vocabulary in the form of present, past tense, and future tense so when students are going to make sentences, the students are confused in making sentences and do not know how to determine vocabulary. in past tense, present tense, and future tense.
Grammar will need to be taught if this is not clearly covered by the general grammar rules. An item may have an unexpected change of form in certain grammatical contexts it may have some idiosyncrasies with other words in the sentence; It is important to provide this information to the learner at the same time as the teacher is teaching form-based.
The teacher should provide vocabulary in the form of V1, V2, V3, if it is not regular (think, thought). Similarly, when teaching nouns, the teacher
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must present the plural, if it is irregular (mouse, mice), or draw students' at- tention to nouns that do not have a plural at all (advise, information).
5) Memorizing
Vocabulary is important in learning English because with the vo- cabulary we can speak and learn. Considering that in speaking there are suggestions that vocabulary, pronunciation and self-confidence are the keys to making it easier to speak English. Learning vocabulary is identical to rote words. When the researcher interviewed the students of the junior high school about the vocabulary complexity they faced in learning Eng- lish vocabulary, some of the eighth-grade students mentioned that the complexity of their vocabulary they faced was memorizing vocabulary.
They stated that:
Extract 07:
“the complexity of my own vocabulary is memorizing English vocabulary when I memorize vocabulary my head hurts to memorize it and I have a headache seeing so many vocabu- lary words that must be memorized.” (FNSR)
Extract 08:
“my vocabulary complexity is memorizing the vocabulary because e…there are too many words, mmm especially if vocabulary has to be combined into one word. Usually, I’m a bit confused whether it’s correct or something is still wrong.”
(SR.)
The student has vocabulary complexity in memorizing. In addition to being complicated to memorize vocabulary, students also cannot memorize a lot of English vocabulary because when memorizing vocabu- lary, he admits that his head is dizzy and hurts. And students are con- fused when vocabulary must be combined into one word.
28 6) Similarity
The complexity of a vocabulary item often depends on how similar the item is in form and meaning to the student's first language. Similar vocabulary in the first language and English may be misleading rather than helpful. When students know English vocabulary, related vocabu- lary, or the same vocabulary as the English vocabulary they know will be easier than the vocabulary they do not know. For example, if students al- ready know the word "friendly" they should also have guessed the mean- ing of "unfriendly".
Like the eighth grade students when they were interviewed about the complexity of the vocabulary they faced when learning English. They stated that:
Extract 09:
“When I study in the classroom, I feel that vocabulary complexity, namely similarity because I feel confused when there is a vocabulary that has almost the same meaning.”
(LTW)
Students who have been interviewed stated that the complexity of the vocabulary faced by students in learning English is similarity. Stu- dents are confused when there is the same vocabulary which makes it complex for them to determine the meaning used in the context.
7) Unfamiliar words
For example, in the exam students are not allowed to bring a dic- tionary. This condition makes it complex for them to find the meaning of foreign words in the reading text. Therefore, vocabulary mastery must be
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improved. Like the eighth grade students when interviewed about the complexity of vocabulary they face when learning English. They stated that:
Extract 10:
“my complexity of vocabulary is unfamiliar words, usually daily vocabulary that I only know.” (AASU)
Students who have been interviewed stated that the complexity of vocabulary faced by students in learning English is foreign words, name- ly students are confused when there is new vocabulary or vocabulary that is rarely spoken by someone because these students only know daily vo- cabulary. students know more about daily vocabulary than unfamiliar words because students learn daily vocabulary more often than unfamil- iar vocabulary so when students hear unfamiliar words they will be con- fused by the word.
2. Factors cause the Vocabulary Complexity Faced by the Students in Learning English of Eighth Grade at SMP Negeri 13 Makassar
After conducting interviews and seeking information from students about the English vocabulary complexities faced by the students in learning English, the researcher found several English vocabulary complexities of eighth grade at SMP Negeri 13 Makassar. The total of students who were in- terviewed was as many as 18 students consisting of six classes, namely class VIII.1-VIII.6. the students who were used as subjects were three students who had the lowest scores in English lessons in their class. From the result of the interviews, the researchers divided into seven factors, namely: Factor
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of meaning, factor of pronunciation, factor of spelling, factor of grammar, factor of memorizing, factor of similarity, and factor of unfamiliar words.
1) Meaning
The factor of vocabulary complexity faced by the students is the lack of student vocabulary in learning English so it hinders student learn- ing, especially the task of the English subjects, namely meaning. The first student interviewed, said that the cause of her vocabulary complexity fac- tor is not understanding every meaning of English vocabulary.
Extract 01:
“I find it English vocabulary complexities in meaning because it is hard to find the meaning and I don’t know English language and also I don’t know every meaning in English vocabulary.” (NA)
According to the student, the student did not master English, so she did not understand every meaning of the vocabulary. From this, it will definitely have an influence on students in the process of learning Eng- lish. If their mindset of the students has been embedded that learning English will be less and will make them increasingly bored of learning English. Therefore, students will not be confused about what the meaning of English is spoken by someone. If students cannot master English vo- cabulary, students will get a lot of obstacle in learning English, and stu- dents will get a lot of complexity in writing, listening, speaking, and reading. It can make the student feel complex to master English.
31 2) Pronunciation
Another vocabulary complexity faced by students is pronunciation.
Some of them mentioned that their complexity is pronunciation. The student who was interviewed said that the factor of his complexity in vocabulary was the difference between Indonesian and English.
Extract 02:
“English vocabulary is complex to pronounce because the pronunciation of Indonesian and English vocabulary is different and if I get bored of learning English, I talk to my friend behind me.” (NAA)
Extract 03:
“because the pronunciation must be pronounced correctly and clearly. When I speak English, I’m usually nervous because it’s hard to pronounce and usually when I’m bored then I try to pay attention to teacher when explain- ing and more focus to my teacher”(ARA)
According to students, the factor that causes them to pronounce is that they do not know how to pronounce English vocabulary. From this, it will have an impact on students in learning English. If students do not improve their English learning process, these students will be more complicated to understand when hearing someone speak Eng- lish.
Students must listen to English vocabulary more often or pro- nounce English vocabulary so that it will make them more fluent in speaking English vocabulary. Pronunciation of English vocabulary must be spoken well and clearly if it is not spoken well and clearly
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then people will not understand what we are saying and the pronuncia- tion of Indonesian and English vocabulary is very different. If students do not improve their learning, students will be confused to pronounce English vocabulary.
3) Spelling
The vocabulary complexity faced by students is spelling. One student mentioned that their vocabulary complexity is spelling. Stu- dents who were interviewed said that the factor of his complexity in vocabulary was that students did not master English.
Extract 04:
“I think spelling is complicated because I was not not taught by my teacher how to spell correclty so that I don’t know the English alphabet and I always forget the differ- ence between ei, ai, and i. and I don’t like to learning Eng- lish vocabulary.” (MFR)
With regard to the findings, it shows that students face vocabu- lary complexity in spelling. Their vocabulary complexity comes be- cause of the differences in the spelling of Indonesian and English and students are not taught by the teacher how to spell properly and cor- rectly so students are sometimes confused by the differences in ei, ai, and i. To master English writing, students must know the correct spelling in English writing.
4) Grammar
Another vocabulary complexity faced by students is grammar.
Some of them mentioned that their complexity is grammar. The stu- dent who was interviewed said that the factor causing his complexity
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in vocabulary was that the students' grammar was destroyed in Eng- lish.
Extract 05:
“Because I’m not used in English, meanwhile grammar has a lot of rules, especially when there’s such a thing as past tense, present tense, and future tense.” (NZDE) Extract 06 :
“the reason is that Indonesian is relatively easy to learn because of its simple grammar rules, especially with re- gard to verbs, such as using the same verbs as in past, present, and future situations, unlike English which has 16 different tenses. This is what makes me feel complicated in learning English vocabulary.” (A.)
According to the students, the factor that caused them in grammar was that they were confused in arranging sentences so that the rest had to master the tenses formula. Students are also confused in distinguishing past tenses, present tenses, and future tenses. From the causal factors mentioned by students, students should study grammar formulas more often so that students are able to remember grammati- cal rules, if students are lazy to learn grammatical formulas, students will have problems applying grammar in actual communication. Stu- dents face complexities when they have to apply grammatical rules to real communication using English.
Therefore, grammar is one of the complexities that make stu- dents still have vocabulary complexity in learning English because many students think that grammar is complicated to understand.
34 5) Memorizing
Another vocabulary complexity faced by students is memoriz- ing. Some of them mentioned that their vocabulary complexity was in memorizing English vocabulary. Interviewed students, students stated that:
Extract 07:
“at school, the teacher only provides an explanation of the learning material, and only interprets a few parts of the words in the material the, teacher sometimes asked the students to find the meaning of the vocabulary on their own so that on several occasions it is a little confusing to memorize vocabulary.” (FNSR.)
Extract 08 :
“because we have to memorize a lot of vocabulary and each vocabulary has different meanings, different mean- ings, as well as different writing and reading. That’s usu- ally what makes it complex for me to understand vocabu- lary.” (SR.)
According to students, the factor that causes vocabulary com- plexity in grammar is the complex of memorizing every English vo- cabulary. Students are also lazy to memorize English vocabulary. If students are lazy to memorize every English vocabulary, students will also be constrained in speaking English because of the lack of vocabu- lary that students know. And when they experience vocabulary com- plexity in memorizing words, they will face complexity in mastering English. Students face vocabulary complexity in memorizing words and it becomes a common problem that arises because many students are lazy to memorize English vocabulary.
35 6) Similarity
The vocabulary complexity faced by students is similarity. One of them that the cause of their complexity factor is the students are con- fused when there is the same meaning. The interviewed students stated that:
Extract 09:
“sometimes, the meaning is reversed with another English vocabulary, and I usually forget the meaning some of the English vocabulary. And many English vocabularies have almost the same meaning, so it’s hard to know it. And sometimes I get bored when I learn English, so when I study I talked to my friends or playing handphone.”
(LTW.)
According to students, the factor that causes them to have simi- larity is that there are many vocabularies that are almost the same in terms of meaning or pronunciation. Students also said that when he was bored of learning English he would play on his cellphone. If in the mindset of the students it has been embedded that learning English is complex, then their enthusiasm in learning English will be less and will make them increasingly bored of learning English. Therefore, students should focus more on learning English.
7) Unfamiliar words
Another vocabulary complexity faced by students is unfamiliar words. One of them mentioned that the cause of their complexity fac- tor is that students rarely listen to new vocabulary. The interviewed students stated that:
36 Extract 10:
“because the most frequently I used English vocabulary is only daily vocabulary, so if there is an unfamiliar words that I hear, sometimes I don’t understand it and also I sel- dom to reading a new vocabulary.” (AASU)
According to students, the factor that causes them to have unfa- miliar vocabulary is the lack of students listening to new vocabulary.
Learners hear everyday vocabulary more often than new vocabulary because usually the teacher only gives examples of sentences with everyday vocabulary. So that when students hear new students will be confused. Therefore, if students have to read more or memorize vo- cabulary so that they know more vocabulary and if students read a lot it will add a lot of knowledge for students.