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A STUDY ON 8 GRADE STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN

LEARNING VOCABULARY AT SMP NEGERI 2 NGLEGOK

BLITAR

THESIS

by

ANDI PRAYOGA PADUTTUNGI

201510100311073

ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG

2020

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A STUDY ON 8 GRADE STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN

LEARNING VOCABULARY AT SMP NEGERI 2

NGLEGOK BLITAR

THESIS

This thesis is submitted to meet one of the requirements to achieve

Sarjama Degree in English Language Education

by

ANDI PRAYOGA PADUTTUNGI

201510100311073

ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF MUHAMMADIYAH MALANG

2020

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This thesis was written by Andi Prayoga Paduttungi and was approved

on January 22th, 2020

By:

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This thesis was defended in front of the examiners of the Faculty of Teacher

Training and Education of University of Muhammadiyah Malang

and accepted as one of the requirements to achieve

Sarjana Degree in English Language Education

on February 23rd, 2020

Approved by:

Faculty of Teacher Training and Education

University of Muhammadiyah Malang

Dean,

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AUTHOR DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY

I hereby declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product

of my own work and has not been submitted to any other University or

Institution.

I certify that, to the best of my knowledge, my thesis does not infringe

upon anyone’s copyright nor violate any proprietary right and that any ideas,

techniques, quotations, or any other material from the work of other people

included in my thesis, published or otherwise, are fully acknowledged in

accordance with the standard referencing practices.

I also declare that this is a true copy of my thesis, as approved by my

thesis committee and English Language Education Department office.

Malang, February 23rd, 2020

Andi Prayoga Paduttungi

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MOTTO AND DEDICATION

“One equal temper of heroic hearts, made weak by time and fate,

but strong in will.

To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield”.

(Lord Alfred Tennyson)

I dedicated this thesis to:

My Beloved Parents

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A STUDY ON 8 GRADE STUDENTS’ DIFFICULTIES IN

LEARNING VOCABULARY

AT SMP NEGERI 2 NGLEGOK BLITAR

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this research was to know students’ difficulties in

learning vocabulary of the eighth grade students. This research was conducted

to inspect the students’ difficulties in learning vocabulary. The participants of

this research were eight graders at SMP N 2 Nglegok Blitar.

For conducting the data, the researcher used document analysis and

interview as the research instruments. This current research used qualitative

design to obtain information cohesive to students' difficulties in learning

vocabulary. In this research to collect data 3 students are interviewed as

resource participants and there are 30 students whose work results were taken

to analyze the location of students’ difficulties in learning vocabulary. After the

data collection process, the documents in the form of student assignments given

by the teacher was applied as the main instrument. The second instrument was

interview. All the data were analyzed descriptively.

The research results indicated that the students had many difficulties in

learning vocabulary in terms of pronunciation, spelling, length and complexity

and parts of speech. The possible causes of difficulties faced by eight graders at

SMP N 2 Nglegok are having low motivation in learning English and learning

English in the classroom only.

Key words: difficulties, vocabulary.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

All praises to Allah SWT, the ruler of the universe, who provides

protection, blessings, and affection so that the researcher can complete this thesis.

It is felt that no words can be described because of His grace this thesis entitled

"A Study on eighth Grade Students' Difficulties in Learning Vocabulary at State

Junior High School 2 Nglegok Blitar" researcher can complete.

Researcher would like to express his unlimited gratitude to the one and

only, the irreplaceable Drs. Jarum, M. Ed as his first advisor and Rafika Rabba

Farah, M. Ed as his second advisor for their invaluable guidance during the

consultation and comments and corrections during the completion of this thesis.

Finally, the highest peak of love is conveyed to his mother and father who

is always encouraging. The researcher also thanks everyone who provided

encouragement in the preparation of this thesis. The author hopes this thesis will

be a reference for the reader to research.

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TABLE OF CONTENT

TITLE PAGE. ............................................................................................... i

APPROVAL PAGE. ..................................................................................... ii

DEDICATION PAGE .................................................................................... iv

STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY... ......................................... v

ABSTRACT ................................................................................................... vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................ vii

TABLE OF CONTENT ................................................................................. viii

LIST OF APPENDIX ................................................................................... x

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ................................................................. 1

1.1 Research Background ................................................................ 1

1.2 Research Problem ...................................................................... 3

1.3 Research Objective .................................................................... 4

1.4 Scope and Limitation ................................................................. 4

1.5 Research Significance................................................................ 4

1.6 Definition of Key Term ............................................................. 5

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ......................... 6

2.1 Definition of Vocabulary ........................................................... 6

2.2 Types of Vocabulary ................................................................. 7

2.3 The Importance of Vocabulary ................................................. 8

2.4 Difficulties in Learning Vocabulary ......................................... 10

2.4.1 Pronunciation .................................................................. 11

2.4.2 Spelling ............................................................................ 11

2.4.3 Length and complexity .................................................... 12

2.4.4 Parts of Speech ................................................................ 12

2.5 Solving the Difficulties in Learning Vocabulary ..................... 12

2.5.1 Keep the teaching simple and clear ................................. 12

2.5.2 Brainstorming before new activity ................................. 13

2.5.3 Use both oral and written presentation ........................... 13

2.5.4 Give most attention to words that are already partly known .... 14

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2.5.5 Every single word is worth to learn ................................. 14

2.5.6 Teach student to open dictionaries .................................. 14

2.5.7 Deep processing of vocabulary items.............................. 15

CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHOD ..................................................... 16

3.1 Research Design. ....................................................................... 16

3.2 Research Subject........................................................................ 17

3.3 Research Instruments ................................................................. 18

3.3.1 Semi-structured Interview ............................................... 18

3.3.2 Document Analysis ......................................................... 18

3.4 Data Collection .......................................................................... 20

3.5 Data Analysis ............................................................................ 21

CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS ..................................... 22

4.1 Findings ..................................................................................... 22

4.1.1 The Difficulties in Learning Vocabulary ........................ 22

4.1.1.1 The Difficulties in Pronunciation ........................ 22

4.1.1.2 The Difficulties in Spelling ................................. 24

4.1.1.3 The Difficulties in Length and Complexity ....... 25

4.1.1.4 The Difficulties in Parts of Speech ..................... 26

4.1.2 The Possible Causes of Difficulties in Learning Vocabulary .. 29

4.2 Discussion .................................................................................. 30

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS ............................. 34

5.1 Conclusion ................................................................................. 34

5.2 Suggestions. ............................................................................... 34

REFERENCES ............................................................................................... 36

APPENDIX ..................................................................................................... 37

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LIST OF APPENDIX

APPENDIX 1: Research Permission Letter ..................................................... 38

APPENDIX 2: Students’ task .......................................................................... 41

APPENDIX 3: Interview Transcription ........................................................... 81

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