Evaluating English Student Association Vocabulary Level on Paul Nation's Scale

NAINA, HIBATASYA AULINA (2025) Evaluating English Student Association Vocabulary Level on Paul Nation's Scale. Diploma thesis, UIN RADEN INTAN LAMPUNG.

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Abstract

ABSTRACT This study, entitled “Evaluating English Students Association Vocabulary Level on Paul Nation’s Scale,” aimed to investigate the vocabulary proficiency of English Students Association (ESA) members using Paul Nation’s Vocabulary Levels Test (VLT). Employing a mixed-methods design, the research integrated quantitative and qualitative approaches to provide a comprehensive analysis of participants’ vocabulary mastery across different frequency levels. In the quantitative phase, the VLT assessed vocabulary knowledge across five word-frequency levels: 1,000, 2,000, 3,000, 4,000, and 5,000. Analysis of the test scores revealed that students achieved the highest mean score at the 1,000-word level (646 points), indicating strong mastery of high-frequency vocabulary commonly used in daily communication and general reading. Performance declined progressively at higher levels, particularly in the 3,000–5,000-word range, reflecting limited exposure to less frequent and academic vocabulary. These findings indicate a lexical gap between students’ basic and advanced vocabulary knowledge, which may impede comprehension of academic texts and complex reading materials. The qualitative phase involved semi-structured interviews to explore students’ experiences, perceptions, and challenges while completing the VLT. Results revealed that participants found the 1,000-word level familiar and manageable due to repeated exposure in everyday conversations, classroom activities, and media. Conversely, vocabulary at the 3,000–5,000 levels was perceived as difficult, as these words were rarely encountered and required extensive reading and deliberate learning strategies for effective internalization. The qualitative findings complemented the quantitative results, emphasizing that insufficient reading habits, limited strategy use, and restricted exposure to academic vocabulary contributed to students’ difficulties in mastering mid- and low-frequency words. By integrating quantitative and qualitative findings, this study provides a holistic understanding of the ESA members’ vocabularyiii profile. The results underscore the importance of curriculum development that emphasizes vocabulary expansion beyond highfrequency words through contextualized instruction, reading-based activities, and deliberate vocabulary teaching strategies.

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