A CORRELATIVE STUDY BETWEEN STUDENTS’ LEXICAL

KNOWLEDGE OF COLLOCATIONS TOWARD THEIR

READING COMPREHENSION

A GRADUATING PAPER

Submitted to the Board of Examiners as a partial fulfillment of

the requirements for the degree of SarjanaPendidikan Islam

(S.Pd.I)

English Education Department of Teacher Training and

Education Faculty

State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN) Salatiga

By:

NUR CAHYO

113 10 096

ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION FACULTY

STATE INSTITUTE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES (IAIN)

SALATIGA

2015

MOTTO

“Power isn‟t determined by the size of your fist, but the size of your

heart and dreams.”

~ Monkey D. Luffy ~

(One Piece Anime Character)

DEDICATION

This graduating paper is dedicated to:

My God, Allah SWT who always besides me, listens

to me, takes care of me, and gives me the best thing

ever.

My beloved parents, my mother (Gunarti) and my

father (Suryanto) who always pray, guide, motivate

me to become better person.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim,

In the name of Allah, the most gracious and merciful, the kings of

universe and space. Thanks to Allah because the writer could complete

this thesis as one of requirement to finished study in English Department

faculty of States for Institute Islamic Studies.

This thesis would not have been completed without support,

guidance and help from individual and institution. Therefore, I would

like to express special thanks to:

1. Mr. Dr. Rahmat Hariyadi, M.Pd as the Rector of IAIN Salatiga.

2. Suwardi, M.PD., as the Dean of Teacher Training and Education

Faculty.

3. Noor Malihah, Ph.D as the Head of English Education Department.

4. Mr. Faizal Risdianto, M.Hum as counselor who has given the writer

advice, suggestion and recomendation for this graduating paper from

beginning until the end. Thanks for your patience and care.

5. All lecturers in English Education Department of IAIN Salatiga. Thanks

for all guidance, knowledge, support, and etc.

6. My beloved mother and father. Thanks for everythings (support and

praying) no one better than you.

7. My beloved brother (Susilo Utomo), my best cousin (Wulan, Leha,

Fian) and my big family who fill my life with love and affection.

8. Special thanks for my beloved Novita Pangestuti who always standing

beside me and takes the big part in support until finishing this thesis..

9. All of my friends TBI ‟10 especially D class, thanks for the cheerfull

and your togetherness.

10. Everybody who has helped me in finishing this thesis. Thanks for all

supports, advice, suggestion and other helps that you all gives. The

writer hopes that this thesis will useful for everyone.

ABSTRACT

Cahyo, Nur. 2015. “A CORRELATIVE STUDY BETWEEN STUDENTS‟

LEXICAL KNOWLEDGE OF COLLOCATIONS TOWARD THEIR

READING COMPREHENSION” (Conseulor: Faizal Risdianto, M.Hum

Keywords: correlation, lexical collocation; reading comprehension;

The research is aimed to find out the correlation between

students‟ lexical knowledge of collocation and their reading

comprehension on the sixth semester of English Department

Students‟ of STAIN Salatiga 2014/2015. This research will answer

these main question 1) What is the profile of the students‟ lexical

knowledge of collocation in Sixth semester of STAIN Salatiga in

the academic year of 2014/2015, 2) What is the extent of the

students‟ reading comprehension in Sixth semester of STAIN

Salatiga in the academic year of 2014/2015, 3) What is the influence

of the students‟ lexical knowledge of collocation in their reading

comprehension in Sixth semester of STAIN Salatiga in the

academic year of 2014/2015. The population of the research was the

Sixth Semester of English Department Students of STAIN Salatiga

in the academic year of 2014/2015. The methodology in this

research was mixed forms of research design specifically the

exploratory-quantitative-statistical research design. The result of

calculating the correlation between students‟ mastery on collocation

and their reading comprehension is 0.6989. From the interpretation

of r value, 0.6989 is between 0,600 - 0,800. It indicates that the

correlation between students‟ lexical knowledge of collocation and

their reading comprehension in Sixth semester of STAIN Salatiga in

the academic year of 2014/2015 is high.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE i

DECLARATION ii

ATTENTIVE COUNSELOR NOTES iii

PAGE OF CERTIFICATION............................................................... iv

MOTTO v

DEDICATION vi

ACKNOWLEDGMENT vii

ABSTRACT ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS x

LIST OF TABLES……………………………...................................... xii

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Research 1

B. Problem of the Research 5

C. Purpose of the Research 5

D. Benefits of the Research 6

E. Limitation of the Research 7

F. Research Method 7

G. Definition of Key Term 12

H. Paper Outline 13

CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

A. Reading 14

1. Definition of Reading 14

2. Purpose of Reading 15

3. Reading Comprehension 18

B. Collocation 20

1. Definition of Collocation 20

2. Strong, Fixed and Weak Collocation 22

3. Types of Collocation 27

CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

A. Research Method 33

B. Population and Sample 33

C. Data Collection Procedures 35

1. Preparing the Instrument 35

2. Testing the Subjects 39

3. Analyzing the Data 39

CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

A. Findings 44

B. Discussion 58

CHAPTER V: CLOSURE

A. Conclusion 60

B. Suggestion 61

REFERENCES

CURRICULUM VITAE

APPENDIXES

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 Strong Collocation 19

Table 2 Fixed Collocation 20

Table 3 Weak Collocation 22

Table 4 Formulation of Pearson Product-moment 41

Table 5 Formulation of Spearman-Brown 42

Table 6 Coverage of Reading Comprehension Test 43

Table 7 Coverage of Collocation Test 44

Table 8 Formulation of Average 45

Table 9 Classification of the Range of Score 46

Table 10 Score of collocation and reading comprehension 51

Table 11 Interpretation of r value 63

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Research

For many years students from many places around the world learn

English. Since it is considered as international language, learning English has

becomes a necessity for everyone who wants to engage in international

interaction. Mastering this language is not simple thing to do. There are some

skills to study and practice. Such as listening, speaking, reading and writing.

They are the basic language skills especially in teaching English as a foreign

language at schools, or other educational places. But reading is considered the

most important foreign language skill. This is line with Harry Maddox (1989)

said that “Reading is the most important single skill in study”.

Reading is an important skill because one of the keys to get knowledge

is reading. students use too much of their processing to read individual words,

which annoy their ability to understand what‟s they read. Particularly in cases

where students need to read English material for their own special subject.

Being able to read in English is very important. All the subject of

elementary school such as mathematics, science, language and other depend on

the ability to read. In high school and college, reading ability becomes more

important because students are more active to gain written information that‟s

why reading comprehension is an asset to be successful in university.

Nowadays, the ability to comprehend English is necessary for millions

of people. By understanding English, people are able to communicate in

English and also able to read many kinds of English texts. Reading occurs

when someone looks into a written text and starts to absorb the information

from the written linguistic message. One of important things to do is to

combine the word into a good sentence so that it is easy and natural to read.

In addition, combining the words is called collocation. A collocation is

a pair or group of words that are often used together (McCarthy and O‟Dell,

2006:6). Collocation will help to write English in a more accurate and natural

way. We will probably understand the utterance there was very hard rain this

morning (McCarthy and O‟Dell, 2008:4) but that sounds feel unnatural. When

you talk about there was very heavy rain in this morning. It is very different

about hard rain and heavy rains since hard is not collocated by rain and heavy

is collocated by rain thus it is natural.

Recently, the relationship between collocation and the Language

Proficiency (Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing) has been conducted

by some researchers. For example, Zhang (Hsu and Chiu, 2008) was exploring

the possible correlation between knowledge and use of English collocation and

the quality of college freshmen‟s writing. After Zhang, Al-zahrani (Hsu and

Chiu, 2008) further investigated the knowledge of English collocation and the

participant‟s general language proficiency. Besides that, Sung (Hsu and Chiu,

2008) examined the knowledge and use of English lexical collocation in

relation to speaking proficiency. To this point, the results of these study all

showed positive correlations between learners‟ collocation knowledge and their

language proficiency.

In addition, the study of knowledge of collocation has also been related

to the effect of explicit collocation instruction on language skills. Some of

them are which were conducted by Liu (Hsu and Chiu, 2008) who investigated

the effect of collocation instruction on students‟ writing performance. After

Liu, a teacher in a private Taiwanese University, Hsu (Hsu and Chiu, 2008)

also conducted an intensive business English workshop to investigate whether

collocation instruction would strengthen students‟ development of the

knowledge and use of collocations, as well as promote language proficiency.

Moreover, L. Hsu (Hsu and Chiu, 2008) studied the effects of explicit

collocation instruction on EFL learners‟ listening comprehension.

Further, Lien (Hsu and Chiu, 2008) investigated the effects of

collocation instruction especially on Reading Comprehension of 85 Taiwanese

University students. Among these studies, the results generally showed that

direct collocation instruction was positively correlated with and possibly

improved EFL language learners‟ language performance as well as positively

displayed learners‟ attitude toward collocation instruction. The investigated

study is about the correlation between the knowledge of collocation and

reading comprehension. Since there has been the investigation that concerns

with the effects of collocation instruction on reading comprehension in the

Taiwanese setting (L. Hsu, 2003), it is worth noting that the present study,

therefore, examines whether or not Indonesian EFL learners‟ knowledge of

lexical collocations is related to their reading comprehension without any

instruction given to them. The reason is that it is worth to say that the

participants in this study are not given the instruction beforehand in order to

estimate their knowledge of collocation since they have experienced three

years formal academic learning.

Based the writer‟s interest in analyzing the influence between

collocation knowledge and their language proficiency, the researcher selects

the students in the Sixth Semester of English Department as the subject of the

research to support the study entitles “A CORRELATIVE STUDY BETWEEN

STUDENTS‟ LEXICAL KNOWLEDGE OF COLLOCATIONS TOWARD

THEIR READING COMPREHENSION” (Correlation Research in the Sixth

Semester of English Department Students of STAIN Salatiga in Academic year

of 2014/2015)

B. Problem of the Research

The problems to be discussed in this paper will be summarized in the

following research questions:

1. What is the profile of the students‟ lexical knowledge of

collocation in Sixth semester of STAIN Salatiga in the

academic year of 2014/2015?

2. What is the extent of the students‟ reading comprehension in

Sixth semester of STAIN Salatiga in the academic year of

2014/2015?

3. What is the influence of the students‟ lexical knowledge of

collocation in their reading comprehension in Sixth semester of

STAIN Salatiga in the academic year of 2014/2015?

C. Purpose of the Research

Given the research questions, the research paper is aimed at the

following matters:

1. To investigate the students‟ level of lexical knowledge of

collocation.

2. To investigate the students‟ level of reading comprehension

achievement.

3. To find out the correlation between students‟ lexical

knowledge of collocation and their reading comprehension.

D. Benefit of the Research

The writer expects that the result of the study gives benefit in case of:

1. Theoretical Benefit

The results of the study will shed light in this regard, and

will show if collocations are a worth-teaching aspect of language.

The result of the research is expected to be able to encourage the

next researcher to conduct further research.

2. Practical Benefit

a. The English Teacher

This study might be useful for a material or

additional information in teaching collocation in their

reading comprehension. The teachers can improve their

capability through many ways to develop the new method

of language learning to enhance the knowledge about

collocation and reading comprehension. It can also guide

material designers to consider collocations while preparing

EFL/ESL books.

b. The English Students

This study is hoped to increase the students‟

mastery and knowledge of collocation and can help

students have a better performance in their reading.

c. The Writer

From this study, the writer can get many

experiences in the future as an English teacher and get

guide to conduct the next researches.

E. Limitation of the Research

The study specifically concerns on discovering the lexical

knowledge of collocation and reading comprehension on the sixth

semester of English Department Students‟ of STAIN Salatiga

2014/2015.

Besides, the study wants to find out whether or not there is a

significant correlation between reading comprehension and lexical

knowledge of collocation.

1. Data Collection Procedures

The procedures to be used in this research are as follows:

a. Preparing the instrument

The first procedure is to prepare the instrument in

collecting the data. Arikunto (2002) suggested that the

instruments have two categories: test, and non-test. This study

will use the test as the instrument. Since the study is about the

correlation between collocational knowledge and reading

comprehension, the test will comprise into two tests:

collocation test and reading comprehension test. Collocation

test will examine the mastery of students‟ knowledge of

collocation and reading comprehension test assesses students‟

comprehension of reading as one of language skills. For both

testing, there are some criteria in the following passage.

b. Testing the Participants

The test will be done in two sessions: the test of collocation

and reading comprehension test, both of them are held in one

go. The reason for this is to make the data valid and reliable, so

that there will be no bother with the time that will affect the

originality of the subjects‟ ability. It is in line with Arikunto

(2002) who stated that the condition of the subjects being tested

will be different because of the time.

d. Analyzing the data.

After applying the test, then the data is immediately

collected and then analyzed.

The next passage will explore some steps in analyzing the data.

a. Data Analysis

a. The tests, including reading comprehension test and

collocation test, are handed in to the students and then

scored.

b. The process is continued to find out the normality of the

two tests. In terms of simplicity, the computation uses

SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) with the

equations of Kolmogorov-Smirnov andShapiro-Wilk. The

results will be in two conditions: If the data is normally

distributed the calculation for the correlation uses

parametric statistic (by using Pearson-product moment).

However, if the data is not normally distributed, the

computation of the correlation must use non-parametric

statistic (by using Spearman Correlation for Ranked Data).

c. The process is continued by locating the level of the

participants‟ mastery of reading comprehension and

collocation knowledge. It is done by calculating the mean

of each test, and the average score of each test will be

found. In that case, the students‟ mastery of each test will

be known.

Here are some formulas for computing the mean of each test:

∑

= Mean x (collocation knowledge)

= Mean y (reading comprehension)

∑

∑x = The sum of x scores

∑y = The sum of y scores

N = The number of participants

d. After the values of mean of each variable have been found,

the process goes on finding out the correlation between the

two subjects. As stated before, the data will be computed

based on kinds of normality of the data. If it is normally

distributed, the computation employs Pearson Product-

Moment. The formula is as follows:

(∑ ) (∑ )(∑ )

√[ ∑ (∑ ) [ ∑ (∑ )

r = Correlation coefficient X and Y variables (variable

X and variable Y

N = The numbers of pairs of

measurements.

∑= Sum

Nevertheless, if the data are not normally distributed,

the computation is supposed to use Spearman Correlation for

Ranked Data. The formula will look like this.

∑

( )

D = The difference between each pair of ranks

= The square of those differences

n = The number of pairs of rankings

e. Then the analysis is carried out determining whether there

is a correlation between the two tests or not. Although there

is a correlation, it must be investigated further as to whether

it is significant or not. The decision of whether it is

significant or not is made by comparing the value r

(correlation coefficient) or sr with the level of correlation

in Pearson Correlation (for the data that is normally

distributed) or in Spearman Correlation (for the data that is

not normally distributed). The level for the correlation will

be.05. The value is common for use in social science

f. The last, the process goes on at interpreting and

discussing the findings and obtains the conclusion

followed by the likely recommended suggestions.

F. Definition of Key Term

1. Reading Comprehension

Reading Comprehension is the process of making meaning

from the text. The goal is to gain an overall understanding of what

is described in the text rather than to obtain meaning from isolated

words or sentences. In understand the reading text information

children develop the mental models, or representations of meaning

of the text ideas during the reading process. There are two classes

of mental models: a text-based model, which is a mental

representation of the proposition of the text and a situation model

consisting of what the text perceived to be about (Kintsch 1998;

van Dijk and Kintsch 1983).

2. Collocation

Taken From (McCarthy and O‟Dell, 2008:4) Collocation

means a natural combination of words; it refers to the way English

words are closely associated with each other. For Example, if

someone says I did a few mistakes they will be understood, but a

fluent or native speaker of English would probably say I made a

few mistakes. A pair of words may not be absolutely wrong, and

people will understand what is meant, but it may not be the natural.

G. Paper Outline

This research is divided into five chapters. Each chapter

explains different matters in line with the topic that is discussed.

Chapter I is introduction, consists of the background of the research,

problems of the research, purpose of the research, benefit of the

research, research methods, definition of key terms, and paper outline.

Chapter II is theoretical framework. Chapter III presents the research

methodology. It consist of place and the time of research, research

design, population and samples, technique of data collection and data

analysis. Chapter IV is findings and discussion. It is the analysis to

answer the problem of study. Chapter V is conclusion. It is the

conclusion of the research and suggestion that the writer makes from

the findings that the writer has.

CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

A. Reading

1. Definition of Reading

Many experts have differently defined the word reading.

According to Grellet (1985) reading is assigning meaning and

extracting information from written texts. It means reading

requires some abilities to extract information from a text and to

construct new understanding. Guy (1993) states that reading is the

recognition of printed or written symbol that serve as stimuli to

recall meanings. It shows that reading requires the ability to

recognize symbol or printed words and to construct a meaning

from a text.

However, according to Klingner, Vaughn and Boardman

(2007) reading is a process of constructing meaning that can be

achieved through dynamic instruction among the following

aspects:

- The reader‟s prior knowledge

- The information suggested by the text, and

- The context of the reading situation.

It is also supported by McEntire (2003) who defines

reading as a constructive process which the prior knowledge and

experience affects the reader‟s comprehension of the text. It

seems that the prior knowledge and experience are important to

get proper understanding of the information in a text. Appropriate

comprehension is possible to obtain as the content of the text is

close to the reader‟s prior knowledge. For example, a doctor

who reads a medical article would find it better in comprehending

the text than the farmer.

Furthermore, Grabe & Stoller (2002) state that the idea of

reading is also to do with purposes experiences, strategies, skills,

and even attitude towards reading. It means that reading facilitates

a writer to share knowledge, ideas and feelings with reader,

where both of them have their own language patterns and

experiences. It indicates that reading is not only getting messages

from a text, but also utilizing the reading purposes and strategies

to do with.

2. Purposes of Reading

Students have their own purposes of reading. Some of

them consider reading as a facility to get information. Some

others have goal to get entertainment and pleasure. Whatever their

purposes of reading, students always need information,

knowledge to put in their mind.

There are some experts proposing the purposes of reading.

Some of them are Grabe and Stoller, Harmer. Their ideas are

similar to each other. In the first place Grabe and Stoller suggests

some purposes of reading, reading to search for simple

information and reading to skim, reading to learn from texts,

reading to integrate information, write, and critique text, and

reading for general comprehension. In the same ideas, Harmer

(2001) proposes six reading purposes:

(1) Reading to identify the topic,

(2) Reading to predict and guess,

(3) Reading for general understanding,

(4) Reading for specific information,

(5) Reading for detailed information, and

(6) Reading to interpret the text.

From the three experts, the purposes of reading can be developed

into ten sub purposes of reading:

(1) Reading for general purposes,

(2) Reading to scan and skim,

(3) Reading to integrate information, write and critic the text,

(4) Reading for sequence or organization,

(5) Reading to predict and guess,

(6) Reading to interpret the text,

(7) Reading for inference,

(8) Reading to classify,

(9) Reading to evaluate and,

(10) Reading to compare or contrast.

Based on definitions above it can be stated that the

purpose of reading for understanding more what is read by

people. Studying involves reading to comprehend concepts and

details. Besides that, reading for pleasure gives people the

opportunity to enlarge the knowledge and allow us to express our

imagination.

Furthermore Nuttal (1985) states that there are five kinds

reading skills that should be mastered by the reader to

comprehend the text deeply, which is as follow:

1. Determining main idea

Main idea is the most important piece of information the

author wants you to know about the concept of that paragraph.

Determining idea is a skill to grasp and find the main point of the

passage by summarizing the passage and look for repetition of

ideas / words (Kelly, 2004)

2. Finding the specific information or part of text

Finding the specific information or part of the text

means looking for the information that relevant to the goal in

mind and ignores the irrelevant.

3. Finding reference

Reference is the intentional use of one thing to

indicate something else in which one provides the information

necessary to interpret the other. Finding reference means

interpreting and determining one linguistic expression to another.

There are two types of reference; cataphoric and anaphoric

reference.

4. Finding inference

Inference is a good guess or conclusion drawn based on

logic of passage. Finding inference means the reader imply the

sentence/passage understand and conclude it logically.

5. Understanding vocabulary

Understanding vocabulary means comprehend what the

words mean. When vocabulary mastery improves, people know

deeper about comprehension. Since comprehension is the ultimate

goal of reading, the reader cannot overestimate the importance of

vocabulary development.

3. Reading Comprehension

Grabe & Stoller (2002) define comprehension as

processing words, forming a representation of general main ideas

and integrating it into a new understanding. It suggests that

comprehension is achieved when a reader successfully extracts

the useful knowledge from a text and constructs it into a new

understanding of their own. Furthermore Day and Park (2005)

also propose several types of comprehension, as follows.

a. Literal comprehension is to have a straightforward

understanding meaning of a text, such as vocabularies

and facts, which is not explicated in that text.

b. Inferential comprehension is to conclude information

from a text and build new information which is not

explicitly stated in text.

c. Reorganization is rearranging information from various

parts of a text in order to get new information.

d. Predictive comprehension is integrating reader‟s

understanding of a text and their own knowledge about

that text in order to determine what might happen next

or after it is finished.

e. Evaluative comprehension is like inferential

comprehension. The difference is that evaluative

comprehension requires readers‟ comprehensive

judgment about some aspects in a text and ability

to redevelop an understanding by using related issues.

f. Appreciative or personal comprehension is reading in

order to gain an emotional or other value response from

a text, and it demands reader to respond a text also with

their feelings.

From the definitions above, reading comprehension refers

to the understanding of what has been read. Comprehension is

a thinking process that depends not only on the comprehension

skills but also on the readers‟ experience and background

knowledge.

B. Collocation

1. Definition of Collocation

Linguists and scholars have defined the term

“collocations” in different ways. According to Martynska (2004:

2) the term "collocation" was first introduced by Firth to define a

"combination of words associated with each other". Taylor (1997:

38) defines collocations from Saussure‟s view as "a well-known

dichotomy between syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations of

lexical items". In this case the syntagmatic axis refers to a word‟s

ability to combine with other words in the same string.

Taken From (McCarthy and O‟Dell, 2008:4) Collocation

means a natural combination of words; it refers to the way

English words are closely associated with each other. For

Example, if someone says I did a few mistakes they will be

understood, but a fluent or native speaker of English would

probably say I made a few mistakes. A pair of words may not be

absolutely wrong, and people will understand what is meant, but

it may not be the natural.

According to Ruince (2002) "collocation is the way words

combine in a language to produce natural-sounding speech and

writing. For example, in English you say "strong wind" and

"heavy rain". It wouldn't be normal to say heavy wind or strong

rain. All four of these words would be recognized by a learner at

pre-intermediate or even elementary level, but it requires a greater

degree of competence with English language to combine them

correctly in language productions".

For Yarmohammadi (1996: 45) "collocation is habitual co-

occurrence of individual vocabulary items", and Woolard (2005)

holds that collocation is the grammar of words – how words go

together with other words. Collocation tells us which words can

come before or after other words. Tajalli (2007: 30), however,

defines collocations from another perspective, in which he defines

it "…as fixed non-idiomatic constructions the meaning of which

reflects the meanings of their components. Collocations are,

therefore, different from idioms whose meanings are not the

combination of the meanings of the individual words in them".

In addition to that, the following is an explanation by

Bahn 1986 (in Humaniora, 2002:54):

In English, as in other languages, there are

many fixed, identifiable, non-idiomatic phrases and

constructions. Such groups of words are called

recurrent combinations, or collocations. Collocation

fall into two major groups: grammatical

collocations and lexical collocations.

2. Strong, fixed and weak of collocation

a. Strong collocation

Based on McCarthy and O‟Dell (2008:8) A strong

collocation is one in which the words are very closely

associated with each other. For example, the adjective

mitigating almost always collocates with circumstance or

factors; it rarely collocates with any other word. Although she

was found guilty, the jury felt there were mitigating

circumstances. (factors or circumstances that lessen the

blame).

Table. 1. Strong Collocation

Collocation Comment

Inclement weather was

expected

(very formal) = unpleasant

weather

Inclement collocates almost

exclusively with weather

She has auburn hair Auburn only collocates with

word connected with hair (e.g.

curls, tresses, locks)

I felt deliriously happy = extremely happy

Strongly associated with happy.

Not used with glad, sad, etc

The chairperson adjourned

the meeting

= have a pause or rest during a

meeting/trial

Adjourn is very strongly

associated with meeting and trial

b. Fixed collocation

Based on McCarthy and O‟Dell (2008:8) fixed

collocations are collocations so strong that they cannot be

changed in anyway. For example, you can say I was walking

to and fro (meaning I was walking in one direction and then

in the opposite direction, a repeated number of times). No

other words can replace to and fro or and in this collocation.

It is completely fixed. The meaning of some fixed

collocation cannot be guessed from the individual words.

Table. 2. Fixed collocation.

No. Fixed collocation

1. Hell for leather

2. Get cold feet

3. As old as the hills

4. Mind your own business

5. Takes one to know one

6. To and fro

7. Abide by a decision

8. Flurry of activity

9. Burst into tears

10. Levy a tax

11. Change takes place

12. Snippet of information

13. Run smoothly

14. Shut down a computer

15. Congested road

16. Speak properly

17. Wear and tear

18. Spate of thefts

19. Picturesque town

20. Toy with an idea

21. Respond well to treatment

22. Dream comes true

23. Unpaid overtime

24. Warm smile

25. Put the cat among the pigeon

26. Count your chicken

27. Raining cats and dogs

c. Weak collocation

Based on McCarthy and O‟Dell (2008:8) weak

collocations are made up of words that collocate with a wide

range of other words. You can say you are in broad

agreement with someone (generally in agreement with

them). However, broad can also be used in a number of

other words – a broad avenue, a broad smile, broad

shoulders, a broad accent (a strong accent), a broad hint

(a strong hint) and so on. These are weak collocation, in the

sense that broad collocates with a broad range of different

nouns.

Table. 3. Weak collocation.

Word Collocation

Do a crossword

the ironing

the laundry

the washing

your work

homework

housework

your job

anything

everything

nothing

Make a decision

a difference

an effort

an enquiry

food

a journey

a mistake

money

a move

a noise

Keep

afloat

your balance

to the left

a promise

Good

behavior

computer skills

level of education

knowledge

3. Types of Collocations

a. Grammatical Collocations

According to Bahn 1986 (in Humaniora, 2002: 54)

grammatical collocation falls into the following

combinations:

- Noun + preposition

example: Apathy against, blockade against.

Not all noun + preposition combinations can be

considered as collocation due the highly predictable

meaning of some preposition, such as on and by. So,

noun + of / by combinations are considered free

combinations.

- Noun + to – infinitive

There are five syntactic pattern in which noun + to +

infinitive construction is most frequently encountered:

a. It was a pleasure (a problem, a struggle) to do it.

b. They had a foresight (instructions, a obligations, a

permission) to do it.

c. They felt a compulsion (an impulse, a need) to do it.

d. They made an attempt (an effort, a promise, a vow)

to do it.

e. He was a fool (a genius, an idiot) to do it.

- Noun + that clause

The noun + that-clause combination that are considered

collocational are those using subject pronouns. For

example:

We reach an agreement that she would represent us

in court

He took an oath that he would do his duty

However, when the ‟that-clause‟ can be replaced by

„which-clause‟ as that in relative clauses, such a noun +

that-clause construction is not considered as

collocational. For example: we reach an agreement

that/which would go into effect in a month.

- Preposition + noun combination

Any combinations of preposition and noun can fall into

this category, however the choice of preposition with

certain noun is not at random. For example: by accident,

in advance, in agony, etc

- Adjectives + preposition combinations

Some adjectives are followed by a prepositional phrase.

The adjectives + preposition combination that is

considered collocational is the one that occurs in the

predicate. However past participial adjective followed by

preposition by is not considered collocational because

this construction is regular and predictable.

For example: They are angry at the children,

They are hungry for news

The ship was abandoned (by its crew) is not considered

collocational.

- Predicate adjectives + to + infinitive

These adjectives occur in two basic constructions with

infinitives.

a. Adjectives with dummy subject “it” such as It was

necessary to work; also possible It was necessary for

him to work (the insertion of prepositional phrase)

b. Adjectives with real and animate subject, such as She

is ready to go; or with inanimate subject, such as: It

(the bomb) is designed to explode at certain

temperatures; or with either animate or inanimate

subject: She was bound to find out or it (the

accident) was bound to happen.

- Adjective + that-clause

Some adjectives can be followed by that-clause. For

example:

She was afraid that she would fail the examination

Several adjectives followed by present subjunctive in

formal English are collocational, such as: it was

imperative that we be there.

b. Lexical Collocation

In contrast to grammatical collocations, lexical

collocations do not contain grammatical elements.

According to McCarthy and O‟Dell (2005:12) the types

consist of:

a. Adjectives and nouns

Notice adjectives that are typically used with particular

nouns.

- Jean always wears blue or yellow or some other bright

color.

- We had a brief chat about the exams but didn‟t have

time to discuss them properly.

b. Nouns and verbs

Word combinations in these types are nouns and verbs.

For example:

- The economy boomed in the 1990s. (the economy was

very strong)

- The company has grown and now employs 50 more

people than last year.

- An opportunity arose for her to school in America, so

she went and spent a year there.

c. Noun and noun

There are a lot of collocations with the pattern a…of…

- As Sam read the lies about him, he felt a surge of

anger.

- Every parent fells a sense of pride when their child

does well or win something

d. Verbs and expressions with prepositions

For example:

- When she split juice on her new skirt the little girl

burst into tears.

- I was filled with horror when I read the newspaper

report to the explosions.

e. Verbs and adverbs

- Jason placed the beautiful vase gently on the window

ledge.

- She does not like to travel with her brother because he

drives recklessly.

- She smiled proudly as she locked at the photos of

her new grandson.

6. Adverbs and adjectives

- They are happily married

- Rio‟s sister was a stunningly attractive woman.

- Harry was blissfully unaware than she was in danger

- I am fully aware that there are serious problems.

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

A. Research Method

The study used mixed forms of research design (Nunan, 1993: 6);

specifically the exploratory-quantitative-statistical research design. It

means that the study is non-experimental in nature, while the type of data

yielded by investigation is a quantitative one. In addition, the study was

analyzed using a statistical analysis. In this case, the researcher will make

claims about the population based on the data obtained from the sample of

that population (Nunan, 1993: 28). The participants of this study involved

only the subjects in Sixth Semester of English Department Students of

STAIN Salatiga. For a better understanding, the following section is about

population and sample followed by the data collection procedures.

B. Population and Sample

According to Kranzler and Moursund (1999: 77) population

can be defined as “a large… group about which some information is

desired”. Besides that, in Encyclopedia of educational evaluation,

population is “a set (or collection) of all elements possessing one or more

attributes of interest”. In this respect, the population is the features of sixth

of Sixth Semester of English Department Students of STAIN Salatiga in

the mastery of reading comprehension and their collocational knowledge.

The total numbers of the students are 156.

In another case, sample is defined as a part or a representative of

the population that is investigated (Arikunto, 2002: 109). Accordingly, the

subjects taken here are 30 students of Sixth Semester of English

Department Students of STAIN Salatiga. From these sample, hopefully,

could give some data or information that supports the study.

Further, the sampling technique taken up uses random sampling.

Based on Arikunto (2006:134-142) Random sampling is the sample that

mix the subject into the population.

Secondly, with at least 6 semesters formal English studying in the

university, the students must have learned a certain number of collocations

and would have had many opportunities to practice them. Moreover, this

sampling takes a random sampling by the reason that there is no

differentiation of the participants engaged in this study as to gender, level

of intelligent, etc. Therefore, all participants have the same privileges,

although by the fact that there are the subjects who are not all smart, not

all medium, and not all poor.

After highlighting the kind of method and the technique used, the

following passage will then explain the steps or the procedures of

collecting the data.

C. Data Collection Procedures

This passage will concern more about the ways or steps the data

are collected beginning from the preparation to analyzing the data.

1. Preparing the Instrument

In preparing the instrument, the researcher use test as a tool of

instrument, specifically the objective test that includes multiple

choices. The reason is that by this type of test, it is intended at getting

scoring quickly and without any judgment and subjectivity (Maskar,

2008). The test cover the reading comprehension test and the test that

measures the knowledge of collocation. For the collocation

knowledge, this study use the McCarthy and O‟Dell (2005, 12)

collocation categories. The example below is the collocation model

that will be used for this study.

a. Adjectives and nouns

Notice adjectives that are typically used with particular

nouns.

- Jean always wears blue or yellow or some other bright

color.

- We had a brief chat about the exams but didn‟t have time to

discuss them properly.

b. Nouns and verbs

Word combinations in these types are nouns and verbs.

For example:

- The economy boomed in the 1990s. (the economy was

very strong)

- The company has grown and now employs 50 more

people than last year.

- An opportunity arose for her to school in America, so

she went and spent a year there.

c. Noun and noun

There are a lot of collocations with the pattern a…of…

- As Sam read the lies about him, he felt a surge of

anger.

- Every parent fells a sense of pride when their child

does well or win something

d. Verbs and expressions with prepositions

For example:

- When she split juice on her new skirt the little girl

burst into tears.

- I was filled with horror when I read the newspaper

report to the explo

e. Verbs and adverbs

- Jason placed the beautiful vase gently on the window

ledge.

- She does not like to travel with her brother because he

drives recklessly.

- She smiled proudly as she locked at the photos of

her new grandson.

f. Adverbs and adjectives

- They are happily married

- Rio‟s sister was a stunningly attractive woman.

- Harry was blissfully unaware than she was in danger

- I am fully aware that there are serious problems.

In addition, the tests (the items) that measure subjects‟ mastery of

reading comprehension will be taken from TOEFL (Barron‟s (11th

edition,

2004). The tests will include the questions such as main ideas, scanning for

detail, referential, inferential, vocabulary and exception.

Both the test were given to Sixth Semester of English Department

Students of STAIN Salatiga at the same time. The test was held on

February 24, 2015. Based on the result, therefore, items of collocation tests

that will be used are 20 items. Meanwhile, items of reading comprehension

test that will be used are 20 items. The coverage of the tests will be shown

as follow.

Table. 6. Coverage of Reading Comprehension Test

No Coverage Frequency Percentage Scores

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Main Ideas

Scanning for Detail

Referential

Inferential

Vocabulary

Exception

1

4

4

1

8

2

5%

20%

20%

5%

40%

10%

0,5

2

2

0,5

4

1

Total 20 100% 10

Table. 7. Coverage of Collocation Test

No Coverage Frequency Percentage Scores

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8..

Verb + Noun

Adjectives + Noun

Verb + Adverb

Verb + Preposition + Noun

Verb + Adjectives + Noun

Noun + Verb

Noun + Noun

Adverb + Adjectives

8

3

1

1

2

3

1

1

40%

15%

5%

5%

10%

15%

5%

5%

4

1,5

0,5

0,5

1

1,5

0,5

0,5

Total 20 100% 10

2. Testing the Subjects

The subjects are 30 students of the Sixth Semester of English

Department Students of STAIN Salatiga. The testing process covers

two tests: collocation test and reading comprehension test. Both tests

spend the time for 90 minutes. The testing process will be in the same

day, so that it will be easier to manage the subjects.

3. Analyzing the Data

The data that have been collected were then processed. The

data were processed in several steps. The first step, the scores and the

averages were calculated. In the second step, the process revealed the

normality of the distribution of both the data. And then the last step

was finding out the correlation between the two variables, measuring it

and then interpreting it as to significant or not. To begin with, the first

step was calculating the scores that each student had.

As has been stated, the scoring of the tests was used to find out

the average of the tests. The result of the average will then be used to

measure the subjects‟ mastery of both tests: reading comprehension

and the knowledge of collocation. To calculate the average will use the

formula following:

Table. 8. The Formulation of Average

∑

= Mean x (collocation knowledge)

= Mean y (reading comprehension)

∑

∑x = The sum of x scores

∑y = The sum of y scores

N = The number of participants

By finding out the average, it interpreted to what extent is the

mastery of reading comprehension and the knowledge of collocation

the students have. To determine the mastery and the knowledge level

of the students, the result is based on the criteria made by Harris

(1969: 134) who classifies the range of scores with its probable

class performance. The classification is as follow:

Table. 9. Classification of the Range of Score

Test Scores Probable Class Performance

8 – 10

6 - 7,9

5 - 5,9

0- 4,9

Excellent

Good

Average

Poor

The next process to be completed with after having known the

levels of students‟ mastery of reading comprehension and the level

knowledge of collocation, is computing the correlation.

The computation employed will use Pearson product-moment.

The formula will look like this:

(∑ ) (∑ )(∑ )

√[ ∑ (∑ ) [ ∑ (∑ )

r = Correlation coefficient X and Y variables (variable

X and variable Y

N = The numbers of pairs of

measurements.

∑= Sum

Meanwhile, for the data that is not normally distributed, the

computation must use Spearman Correlation for Ranked Data. The

formula will look like this.

∑

( )

D = The difference between each pair of ranks

= The square of those differences

n = The number of pairs of rankings

Both formulations are different in nature, so are the

computation. By using Pearson product-moment, after it has been

found that the data are normally distributed, the data can be inserted to

the formulation of correlation. Meanwhile, by using Spearman

formula, the data that has been found not normally distributed must be

ranked firstly before inserting to the formula. It is done by converting

them to the rank data by using Microsoft Excel program 2007.

After the result has been obtained, the next step is to determine

whether or not there is a correlation of the two variables. Knowing if

there is a correlation or not is by consulting the result to the level of

significance. Both formulations (Pearson and Spearman correlation)

have each level of significance.

For the formulation using Pearson will be determined by level

of significance of Pearson. On the other hand, if using Spearman

correlation, the interpretation of (correlation coefficient) will be

based on the table of critical values of Spearman‟s ranked correlation

coefficient ( ). However, both of them will fall on the point at the

level of significance .05 since this value is commonly used in social

science. The difference is on the choice when entering and locating the

table of significance that related directly to the numbers of the target

subjects being involved (N).

In Spearman, locating the level of significance will be the

same with the total numbers of the subjects being studied. So, if the

numbers of subjects (N) is 30, the level of significance will be in that

row.

In contrast, with Pearson correlation, N must be subtracted

firstly by 2 to find out df (df= N– 2), which stands for degrees of

freedom. For example, if the subjects being involved (N) are 30

people, finding out the level of significance must be in the table of

significance at item number 28 (since 30-2 is 28). Still at the same

row, the value of significance, especially in this study, is exactly at the

intersection with the level of .05 at the above column.

After locating the value, it will come into mind whether there

is a correlation or not. If the value of r is equal or higher than the

value of significance, it means that the two variables can be said

significantly correlated and vice versa.

After finding out whether there was a significant correlation or

not, the next step was interpreting and discussing the findings which

are elaborated in the next chapter. The findings will be interpreted in

the light of reading theories that have been previously discussed.

CHAPTER IV

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

A. Findings

In this chapter the writer presents the way to calculate the score of

students‟ mastery on collocation and the score of their reading

comprehension achievement.

There are two variables that will be analyzed in this graduating

paper namely:

1. Independent variable (X) is the students‟ lexical knowledge

of collocation in Sixth semester of STAIN Salatiga in the academic

year of 2014/2015

2. Dependent variable (Y) is the students‟ reading

comprehension in Sixth semester of STAIN Salatiga in the academic

year of 2014/2015

The analysis of data is the answer of the problem of the research.

As mentioned in Chapter I, the problems are:

1. What is the profile of the students‟ lexical knowledge of

collocation in Sixth semester of STAIN Salatiga in the

academic year of 2014/2015?

2. What is the extent of the students‟ reading comprehension in

Sixth semester of STAIN Salatiga in the academic year of

2014/2015?

3. What is the influence of the students‟ lexical knowledge of

collocation in their reading comprehension in Sixth semester of

STAIN Salatiga in the academic year of 2014/2015?

Table. 10. The score of collocation and reading comprehension

No. Name Score of Collocation ( X)

1. Aang Hunaify 6

2. Aditya Wahyu P. 5

3. Ahmad Chudori 8,5

4. Aisyah Ambalika 6

5. Amalia Ismayanti 7

6. Anwar 5

7. Artanti Isnaeni F. 8

8. Asifah Aulia Lutfiyah 6

9. Atina Vina Muna 6

10. Ayu Wintari 5,5

11. Badariyah 6

12. Deni Angga Saputri 8

13. Diana 6

14. Dona M.S 6

15. Faisal A.Y 8

16. Ifticha S.S 7,5

17. Imam 5

18. Latifah L. 7

19. Lisna Oktavia 7,5

20. M. Anas Sofyan 6,5

21. M. Faisal A. 7

22. Mukminatul Afifah 6,5

23. Nofi Z.N 6

24. Nurul Fajri 7

25. Ratih 6

26. Rif‟an N.R 8

27. Sekar 6

28. Wahyu F.S 6

29. Willy R.P 7,5

30. Zaenal Arifin 6

Total 196,5

No. Name Score of Reading Comprehension (

Y)

1. Aang Hunaify 8,5

2. Aditya Wahyu P. 6,5

3. Ahmad Chudori 9,5

4. Aisyah Ambalika 7

5. Amalia Ismayanti 7

6. Anwar 7

7. Artanti Isnaeni F. 9

8. Asifah Aulia Lutfiyah 6

9. Atina Vina Muna 8

10. Ayu Wintari 6,5

11. Badariyah 7,5

12. Deni Angga Saputri 9

13. Diana 7

14. Dona M.S 8

15. Faisal A.Y 9

16. Ifticha S.S 8

17. Imam 8,5

18. Latifah L. 8,5

19. Lisna Oktavia 8

20. M. Anas Sofyan 7

21. M. Faisal A. 7,5

22. Mukminatul Afifah 8

23. Nofi Z.N 8

24. Nurul Fajri 8

25. Ratih 7,5

26. Rif‟an N.R 9,5

27. Sekar 7,5

28. Wahyu F.S 7

29. Willy R.P 8,5

30. Zaenal Arifin 6,5

Total 233,5

1. Finding out the Average of Collocation Score and Reading

Comprehension Score

To calculate the average will use the formula following:

∑

= Mean x (collocation knowledge)

= Mean y (reading comprehension)

∑

∑x = The sum of x scores

∑y = The sum of y scores

N = The number of participants

∑

∑

7.78

By finding out the average, it will be interpreted to what extent

is the mastery of reading comprehension and the knowledge of

collocation the students have. To determine the mastery and the

knowledge level of the students, the result will be based on the criteria

made by Harris (1969: 134) who classifies the range of scores

with its probable class performance.

The classification is as follow:

Test Scores Probable Class Performance

8 – 10

6 - 7,9

5 - 5,9

0- 4,9

Excellent

Good

Average

Poor

This result shows that the students of Sixth semester of STAIN

Salatiga in the academic year of 2014/2015 have a good level in

mastering the collocation with grade 6.55 and the level of reading

comprehension is good with grade 7.78.

2. Finding out the Correlation between students’ knowledge of

collocation and their mastery of reading comprehension

In this research, the researcher uses the correlation product

moment to get the correlation between students‟ knowledge of

collocation and their mastery of reading comprehension.

A squared and multiple of X and Y table is used the writer to

facilitate in the process calculation.

No. Name Score of

Collocation ( X)

X2

1. Aang Hunaify 6 36

2. Aditya Wahyu P. 5 25

3. Ahmad Chudori 8,5 72,25

4. Aisyah Ambalika 6 36

5. Amalia Ismayanti 7 49

6. Anwar 5 25

7. Artanti Isnaeni F. 8 64

8. Asifah Aulia Lutfiyah 6 36

9. Atina Vina Muna 6 36

10. Ayu Wintari 5,5 30,25

11. Badariyah 6 36

12. Deni Angga Saputri 8 64

13. Diana 6 36

14. Dona M.S 6 36

15. Faisal A.Y 8 64

16. Ifticha S.S 7,5 56,25

17. Imam 5 25

18. Latifah L. 7 49

19. Lisna Oktavia 7,5 56,25

20. M. Anas Sofyan 6,5 42,25

21. M. Faisal A. 7 49

22. Mukminatul Afifah 6,5 42,25

23. Nofi Z.N 6 36

24. Nurul Fajri 7 49

25. Ratih 6 36

26. Rif‟an N.R 8 64

27. Sekar 6 36

28. Wahyu F.S 6 36

29. Willy R.P 7,5 56,25

30. Zaenal Arifin 6 36

Total 196,5 1314,75

No. Name Score of Reading

Comprehension ( Y)

Y2

1. Aang Hunaify 8,5 72,25

2. Aditya Wahyu P. 6,5 42,25

3. Ahmad Chudori 9,5 90,25

4. Aisyah Ambalika 7 49

5. Amalia Ismayanti 7 49

6. Anwar 7 49

7. Artanti Isnaeni F. 9 81

8. Asifah Aulia Lutfiyah 6 36

9. Atina Vina Muna 8 64

10. Ayu Wintari 6,5 42,25

11. Badariyah 7,5 56,25

12. Deni Angga Saputri 9 81

13. Diana 7 49

14. Dona M.S 8 64

15. Faisal A.Y 9 81

16. Ifticha S.S 8 64

17. Imam 8,5 72,25

18. Latifah L. 8,5 72,25

19. Lisna Oktavia 8 64

20. M. Anas Sofyan 7 49

21. M. Faisal A. 7,5 56,25

22. Mukminatul Afifah 8 64

23. Nofi Z.N 8 64

24. Nurul Fajri 8 64

25. Ratih 7,5 56,25

26. Rif‟an N.R 9,5 90,25

27. Sekar 7,5 56,25

28. Wahyu F.S 7 49

29. Willy R.P 8,5 72,25

30. Zaenal Arifin 6,5 42,25

Total 233,5 1842,25

No. Name Score of

Collocation

( X)

Score of Reading

Comprehension (

Y)

XY

1. Aang Hunaify 6 8,5 51

2. Aditya Wahyu P. 5 6,5 32,5

3. Ahmad Chudori 8,5 9,5 80,75

4. Aisyah Ambalika 6 7 42

5. Amalia Ismayanti 7 7 49

6. Anwar 5 7 35

7. Artanti Isnaeni F. 8 9 72

8. Asifah Aulia

Lutfiyah

6 6 36

9. Atina Vina Muna 6 8 48

10. Ayu Wintari 5,5 6,5 35,75

11. Badariyah 6 7,5 45

12. Deni Angga

Saputri

8 9 72

13. Diana 6 7 42

14. Dona M.S 6 8 48

15. Faisal A.Y 8 9 72

16. Ifticha S.S 7,5 8 60

17. Imam 5 8,5 42,5

18. Latifah L. 7 8,5 59,5

19. Lisna Oktavia 7,5 8 60

20. M. Anas Sofyan 6,5 7 45,5

21. M. Faisal A. 7 7,5 52,5

22. Mukminatul Afifah 6,5 8 52

23. Nofi Z.N 6 8 48

24. Nurul Fajri 7 8 56

25. Ratih 6 7,5 45

26. Rif‟an N.R 8 9,5 76

27. Sekar 6 7,5 45

28. Wahyu F.S 6 7 42

29. Willy R.P 7,5 8,5 63,75

30. Zaenal Arifin 6 6,5 39

To calculate the correlation will use the formula following:

(∑ ) (∑ )(∑ )

√[ ∑ (∑ ) [ ∑ (∑ )

r = Correlation coefficient X and Y variables (variable

X and variable Y

N = The numbers of pairs of

measurements.

∑= Sum

N = 30

∑X = 196,5 (∑X)2= 38612,25

∑Y= 233,5 (∑Y)2 = 54522,25

∑X2= 1314,75 ∑Y

2= 1842,25

(∑XY) = 1547,75

(∑ ) (∑ )(∑ )

√[ ∑ (∑ ) [ ∑ (∑ )

= ( ) ( )( )

√[ [

=

√[ [

=

√[ [

=

√[

=

[

= 0,6989

The result of calculating the correlation between students‟

mastery on collocation and their reading comprehension is 0.6989.

From the interpretation of r value, 0.6989 is between 0,600 -

0,800. It indicates that the correlation between students‟ lexical

knowledge of collocation and their reading comprehension in Sixth

semester of STAIN Salatiga in the academic year of 2014/2015 is high.

Table. 11. Interpretation of r value

The r value Interpretation

0,800 – 1.00 Very High

0,600 – 0,800 High

0,400 – 0,600 Fair

0,200 – 0,400 Low

0,000 – 0,200 Very low

(Arikunto, 2002:245)

B. Discussion

The first discussion in this graduating paper is the profile of the

students‟ lexical knowledge of collocation in Sixth semester of STAIN

Salatiga in the academic year of 2014/2015. The data gained by the

multiple choices testing that consist of 20 items. The highest score is 8.5

and the lowest score is 5 of the interval 1-10. The researcher concludes the

students of Sixth semester of STAIN Salatiga in the academic year of

2014/2015 have a good level in mastering the collocation with grade 6.55.

The second discussion is the extent of students‟ reading

comprehension of Sixth semester of STAIN Salatiga in the academic year

of 2014/2015. The data gained by the multiple choices testing that consist

of 20 items. The highest score is 9.5 and the lowest score is 6 of the

interval 1-10. Finally the researcher concludes that the students‟ reading

comprehension of Sixth semester of STAIN Salatiga in the academic year

of 2014/2015 good with grade 7.78.

The last discussion is the correlation between reading

comprehension and the knowledge of collocation using Pearson product-

moment, the result of calculating the correlation between students‟ mastery

on collocation and their reading comprehension is 0.6989. From the

interpretation of r value, 0.6989 is between 0,600 - 0,800.

It indicates that the correlation between students‟ lexical

knowledge of collocation and their reading comprehension in Sixth

semester of STAIN Salatiga in the academic year of 2014/2015 is high. It

can be concluded that there is a significant positive correlation between

knowledge of collocation and reading comprehension in sixth semester of

STAIN Salatiga in the academic year of 2014/2015. The significant

correlation is shown by the correlation coefficient r = 0,6989.

CHAPTER V

CLOSURE

A. Conclusion

Projecting the result of the study, can be summarized the students

of Sixth semester of STAIN Salatiga in the academic year of 2014/2015

have a good level in mastering the collocation with grade 6.55 and the

level of reading comprehension is good with grade 7.78 according to

Harris‟ classification of the range of score. Therefore, the average of

students‟ reading comprehension is higher than the average of

mastering collocation (7.78 > 6.55).

After computing the correlation between reading comprehension

and the knowledge of collocation using Pearson product-moment, it can be

concluded that there is a significant positive correlation between

knowledge of collocation and reading comprehension in sixth semester of

STAIN Salatiga in the academic year of 2014/2015. The significant

correlation is shown by the correlation coefficient r = 0,6989. The

significant correlation is, in fact, in line with many theories of the

relationship between collocation and reading comprehension.

Some of the theories highlighted here maintain that the place of

collocation in reading is in lower or basic components of reading abilities.

It‟s role in reading is as an important aspect at interpreting the discourse of

connected text through cohesive bonds among words. This cohesion will

further lead to a better coherence of the text that is making sense the

message being delivered. In addition to cohesion and coherence,

collocation is also as a central aspect of learning vocabularies and will

certainly increase the effectiveness and comprehensiveness of language

skills.

B. Suggestion

Collocation has given considerable contribution to the language

learning. As the current study investigated the subjects‟ knowledge of

collocation and reading comprehension, several recommendations are

proposed. First, a strong relationship was found between the knowledge of

lexical collocation and reading comprehension among the Indonesian

university EFL students. In the current study, the research taken is

nonexperimental in nature and used only a simple type of tests to elicit the

subjects‟ knowledge of collocation. Besides, the type of collocation in the

study makes use the lexical collocation. Future study may investigate the

collocation (grammatically and lexically) in a more well-systematic design

in eliciting the subjects‟ data experimentally.

In addition, future studies can also find out the study between the

collocation and any language skills: writing, speaking, and listening. In

this case, it can provide a better understanding of the connection between

Indonesian EFL students‟ collocational knowledge and their general

English proficiency.

Further, as has been suggested by Hsu and Chiu (2008), the role of

collocation in second language acquisition and teaching is not yet been

fully understood. Therefore, it still needs to be done collectively on the

possibility of the relationship between the acquisition of lexical

collocation (also grammatical collocation), and EFL learners‟ language

skills, both in the level of school students and university.

Lastly, collocation is one of the important roles in creating

cohesion in a discourse (spoken and written), and will further lead to

coherences of the message delivered. In addition, collocation is a

determinant factor of the meaning of the words and will certainly increase

the effectiveness and comprehensiveness of language skills. Therefore, it

is highly recommended that teachers introduce the vocabulary to the

students in combinations, not as individual word. This is for the reason

that the meaning of a word meaning will be different in different contexts,

and collocation is probably the one that decides the meaning of that word.

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