Chapter 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES This chapter presents foreign and local literature and studies to gain a clearer perspective of the topic under investigation. Related Literature The academic success of students relies on their own desire and strong determination to learn specifically on the target language. Learning motivation, vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension are the determinants on the key to students’ success in school. These three predictors of learning have its important role on the students’ performance in second language learning. Motivation is defined as the extent one strives to acquire the language because of the desire to do so and the satisfaction derived from it (Gardner, 1985). While learning motivation is an inner and psychological drive which pushes individual students to study and to learn, which guarantee the continuity of learning activities and which gives the goal to be achieved (Winkel, 2009). Thus, learning motivation has a significant role in language learning success. Along this line of thought, students’ motivation in language learning can influence their learning results. It is 13 worth knowing how students succeed or fail, especially in learning English because it might affect their motivation towards learning the language. On the other hand Zoltan Dornyei (2002) stated that the learner’s enthusiasm, commitment and persistence are the key determinants of success or failure. To help motivate the students according to Harmer (2005), he used the word ‘goal’ to categorize the motivation in second language learning in two types:short-term goal and long-term goal.The long-term goal, means when students will wish to succeed in doing something in the near future, for example, students who want to pass their examination or to get good grades or high scores. Long-term goal refers to a wish of students or learners who want to get a better job in the future or be able to communicate with people who use the language that they study or the target language. As cited by Krashen (2000), he mentioned the following factors which are related to motivation that will attempt to relate the second language ability to these two functions: Integrative motivation and Instrumental motivation. Integrative motivation is defined as the desire to be part of recognized or important members of the community or that society that speak the second language. It is based on interest in learning the second language because of their need to learn about, associate or socialize with the people who use it or because of purpose or intention to participate or integrate in the second language using the same language in that 14 community; but sometimes it involves emotion or affective factors a great deal (Saville-Troike, 2006). Instrumental motivation involves the concepts of purely practical value in learning the second language in order to increase learner’ careers or business opportunities, giving them more prestige and power, accessing scientific and technical information, or just passing a course of their study in school (Saville-Troike, 2006). Vocabulary knowledge is a complex task; students realized the important role of vocabulary acquisition portrays in all aspects of their language learning, but few have really thought about what it means to learn vocabulary item. (Courtright & Wesolck; 2001).To improve their second language proficiency, English language learners (ELL) need a solid knowledge of vocabulary. While a basic level of vocabulary will allow learners to communicate some ideas to certain degree, better communication, whether in speaking/ listening or writing / reading can be accomplished when learners have acquired more vocabulary (Folse, 2008). At times not knowing of specific words severely limits the communication. Second language learners would find that insufficient vocabulary words are one of their huge frustrations. In theory, on learning the English language, mastering vocabulary should not be so different from learning any other component of a language, such as grammar, spelling or pronunciation. However, vocabulary is a special problem 15 because there are multiple aspects of vocabulary knowledge that learners must master. Snow as cited by Anghay (2007), claims that it is rare for a high school or college student not to perceive vocabulary as an educational priority. While many students have enough basic vocabulary knowledge to find out what a word means, few possess an efficient and effective system for actually remembering the definitions. What they remember the next time they encounter the word is that they look this up once before, but they can no longer recollect the meaning. This statement implied that some students take a step in recording the words and their definitions, but they fail to use them in the context where they first encounter the words and therefore rarely attempt to use the words in the application. Zhilong (2009) deduces that teaching vocabulary is a very important task in teaching English. By using successful techniques to learn new vocabulary, students will find words easier to remember and will become more motivated in class. As Johari (2008) claims, they need to understand not just what individual words mean but also which combinations of these words in sentences or paragraphs convey a meaningful message to the reader; thus expanding a learners vocabulary by using context clues is way to reduce the need for consulting dictionaries (Zhilong 2009). Readers cannot understand what they are reading without knowing what most of the words mean. 16 According to Guthrie et al. (2004), reading comprehension is correlated with a range of cognitive and metacognitive strategies. This implies that knowledge of the words is essential in order to understand the text. One will fail to understand the meaning of any text unless he has sufficient background knowledge. Hence, the competence of students to read an English text depends on their skills and knowledge. Lightbrown and Spada (2000) stated that the quality and quantity of language input which learners hear from the environment can help them to form the habit and have an effect on their success in L2 acquisition. This implies that learning the aspect of second language results into the learner’s ears and a habit is formed through this. Once the habit is formed, the language is established in the learner’s mind and the learner can make the conditioned reflex to the language. Moreover, reading comprehension is defined as the process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written language. Reading helps students foster comprehension because, as students read longer passages, they unify what they have read over the course of the text. This ability requires students to synthesize information, decode and define words, and integrate what they are reading into what they already know. However, reading is affected by vocabulary alone (Laufer and Kuang Yu Chen, 2011). Insufficient amount of vocabulary knowledge hinders students to process information from text. 17 Rumptz (2003) stated that vocabulary plays an important role in reading. Understanding a text is impeded if the vocabulary of the text is not on the student’s schematic knowledge. Good reading comprehension comes only with practice. The basic aspects of reading, such as word recognition, phonetics and fluency, can be mastered in just a few years. However, throughout this process reading comprehension must be emphasized. Students may be able to eloquently repeat the words that they see on a page all day, but without reading comprehension skills, they're unable to fully understand the content, predict what will happen next, recognize characters, gain insight or understanding to build upon, or relate what they're reading to their own life's experience. Related Studies Numerous studies have been conducted to support the use of learning motivation; vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension that could help students attain success in academics. As cited in the study of Frida Nur, Joko Nurkamto, and Handoko Pudjobroto (2012), there is a correlation between learning motivation, vocabulary knowledge, and reading comprehension competence. It was found out that there is a significant correlation between learning motivation and reading of the second grade students of SMP 4 Surakarta in the academic year 2011-2012. It means that reading competence will 18 simultaneously follow the increase and decrease of learning motivation and vocabulary mastery. In a survey by Ratanawalee Wimolmas (2009), first year English language learners of Sirindhorn International Institute of Technology (SIIT) were found to be highly motivated to learn English. Moreover, Knoll (2000) researched on the relationship between motivation and reading comprehension and the result indicated a 0.73 correlation between motivation and reading comprehension indicating that there is indeed a strong relationship between the two variables. Vocabulary knowledge is often viewed as a critical tool for second language learners because a limited vocabulary in a second language impedes successful communication. Under scoring the importance of vocabulary acquisition, Schmitt (2000) emphasizes that “lexical knowledge is central to communicative competence and to the acquisition of a second language. In another study by Mofareh Alqahtani (2015), on the importance of vocabulary in language learning the findings suggest that giving awareness of vocabulary knowledge to the students along with making them conscious of their ability gives them a broader sense of the depth of reading comprehension texts and improves their reading ability. Gelderen et al. (2004) examined the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension among 397 Dutch 19 students from Grade 8 to Grade 10 in secondary education. There was a significant relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension with the correlation of .63. Guo (2008) investigated the relationship between vocabulary knowledge, syntactic awareness and reading comprehension of 155 English speaking undergraduate and graduate students. As a result, there was a positive correlation between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension. It was emphasized that vocabulary knowledge directly affects reading comprehension. In another study, Shiotsu and Weir (2007), examined the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension on L2 learners in Japan. Based on the results, there was a strong relationship between these two variables in predicting performance on a reading comprehension test. Peter Tze-Ming Chou (June, 2011). In his research on the effects of vocabulary knowledge and background knowledge on reading comprehension of 159 Taiwanese EFL students from a college in Southern Taiwan, showed that the participants who received a list of vocabulary to study performed significantly better on the reading comprehension test than the participants who relied on background knowledge. This led to the conclusion about the need for vocabulary building for college EFL students in Taiwan. 20 Finally Choi Hye-Yeon (2013) in his research on the effects of depth and breadth of vocabulary knowledge in English reading comprehension among Korean high school students, revealed that vocabulary depth and breadth each contributed significantly to the prediction of reading comprehension. Reading comprehension is a complex process in which many other skills are used (Cain et al, 2004). The fundamental caused of poor comprehension and weak verbal cognitive skills among students looked to mark the reading development of poor comprehension among the students. In the study of Ambalong (2011) on factors affecting reading comprehension level among first year high school students, one can say that students have poor reading comprehension, largely because they come from low income families, and with parents who are nonprofessionals, as a result, they lack parental academic support, have scarce supply of wide and varied reading materials at home, and a greater absence of exposure to different types of academic reading materials. Another study by Iqbal (2011) on the factors responsible for poor English reading comprehension at the secondary level, cited that factors like poor command of vocabulary, the habit of cramming, no interest to learn creatively in reading, plus the sole goal of just to pass 21 the examination were found responsible for poor reading comprehension. The aforementioned literature and studies were found to be very useful as bases for this study. Aside from the informational value they provided, the researcher got deeper insights in the present investigation. The literature and studies strengthened the concepts and served as sources of important data needed in the formulation of guidelines and parameters in the conduct of this study. The retrieved literature and studies have, in one way or the other, influenced and enriched the thoughts and views of the researcher concerning the relationship between learning motivation, vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension skills of the students in Macalibre Alto National High School.
