Page 200 - Jurnal Kurikulum BPK 2020

Vocabulary Breadth And Depth As Predictor Variables Of
Reading Comprehension

Yenny Chee Fong Yeun
Kolej Matrikulasi Selangor
cheeyenny@gmail.com

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between vocabulary breadth (hereafter VB) and
vocabulary depth (hereafter VD) and the MUET reading comprehension. Poor reading
performance might be ascribed to low vocabulary knowledge (i.e. VB and VD). Specifically,
the study explores whether VB or VD could significantly contribute to predict MUET
reading scores of Malaysian ESL pre-university students. Subsequently, a further analysis of
VB to explore the vocabulary threshold for students to perform greater than or equal to average
level (or ≥ 56) in the MUET reading comprehension is also attempted. A random sample of 221
matriculation students who had taken the MUET sat for the Word Associates Test (WAT)
Version 4.0 (Read, 1993, 1998) and Vocabulary Size Test (VST) (Nation & Beglar, 2007) which
assess VB and VD respectively. These tests were administered in a counter-balanced test order
within a single session. The findings revealed that VB is highly correlated with the students’
MUET reading comprehension scores compared to VD and with that L2 learners should have
acquired 7000 word families in VB for them to obtain average scores in the MUET reading
comprehension component. Such findings have implications for vocabulary teaching and
learning in the Malaysian pre-university ESL classroom.

Keywords: vocabulary breadth (VB); vocabulary depth (VD); reading comprehension; MUET

INTRODUCTION

Vocabulary knowledge is just as important as the four skills: reading, writing, listening
and speaking (Folse, 2010). Somehow, vocabulary knowledge is an important factor related to
reading comprehension (Mehrpour, Razmjoo, & Kian, 2011; Sidek & Rahim, 2015). In
comprehending written receptive texts, it is always reported that VB, VD and reading
comprehension are positively correlated (e.g. Choi, 2013; Elmasry, 2012; Li & Kirby, 2014;
Mehrpour, Razmjoo, & Kian, 2011; Mohammadi & Shakouri, 2014; Moinzadeh &
Moslehpour, 2012; Qian, 1999, 2002; Schmitt, Jiang, & Grabe, 2011; Wang, 2014; Yusun,
Hey, & Jieun, 2012).
Notwithstanding the importance of vocabulary knowledge, students in Malaysia are not
directly taught the ways to enhance their vocabulary (Varatharajoo, 2017). This could be one
of the reasons why vocabulary is still lacking among Malaysian learners. Currently, various
researchers have proven that majority of Malaysian university students have insufficient
vocabulary knowledge (e.g. Ahmad Azman Mokhtar et al., 2010; Kamariah Yunus, Mahani
Mohamed, & Bordin Waelateh, 2016; Nor Ashikin Ab Manan, Noraziah Azizan, & Nur Fatima
Wahida Mohd Nasir, 2016; Nor Hazwani Munirah Lateh, Sarimah Shamsudin, & Abdul Halim
Abdul Raof, 2018; Nur Ainil Sulaiman, Salehuddin, & Rozainee Khairuddin, 2018). Since
vocabulary knowledge is correlated with reading comprehension, the impetus of the present
study is desired to provide an insight of the correlations between VB, VD and reading
comprehension among pre-university ESL learners in Malaysian matriculation college.

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