The Relation between
Language Aptitude
and English Achievement
Ledda Rista
Department of English Education
Faculty of Education and Teacher
Training
State Islamic University of
Sultan Syarif Kasim Riau
Syafaruddin*
Abstract
The main purpose of this study
was to investigate the relationship between students’ language aptitude and
English learning. This study was a correlational research which was carried out
at State Senior High School 3 Pekanbaru. The participant of this research
consisted of 307 eleventh grade students and 68 samples were chosen randomly.
The standardized test, Modern Language Aptitude Test (MLAT), was used to
collect data of students’ language aptitude and while English learning achievement
data was obtained from the documentation of student score report. The findings
showed that students’ achievement in learning English which was categorized good
and their language aptitude was categorized average. It was interpreted that there
was a significantly positive correlation between students’ language aptitude
and their achievement in learning English. Therefore, the better the students’ language
aptitude is, the higher achievement in learning English they have, in contrast,
the lower the students’ language aptitude is, the lower achievement in learning
English they have.
Keywords: language aptitude,
English learning achievement
1. Introduction
Being
in a formal education will make students involve in the enforcement of
achieving high learning achievement which includes “stress performance or
ability above deep cognitive processing and comprehension” (Brown-Wright et al., 2012, 315).
This idea is generally applied on all of subjects learnt in the school
including English as foreign language. The achievement in
learning English determines the success of students in acquiring English
language and its four skills in the formal learning setting and the success of
the learning process itself. This
leads to the concept that if the students’ achievement in learning English is
high; it means that the learning process runs well, whereas if the students’
achievement is low; it means that the learning process is failed. Therefore,
students should realize about the importance of achieving high achievement in
learning English, otherwise, they will be very poor in all four skills (Choosri
and Intharaksa, 2011, 2).
According
to Phye (1997:4), achievement is considered as accomplishment or proficiency of
performance in given skill or body of knowledge. This is in line with the
expectation that by learning English in the formal setting acquires students to
achieve the curriculum expectation that is the mastery of language skills
(listening, reading, speaking, and writing) or simply language learning goal.
Learning
goal in reading is reading comprehension. Nunan (2005, 71) defines reading
comprehension as reading for meaning, understanding and entertainment which
involves high-order thinking. While, learning goal in listening is
comprehension mastery of individual linguistics units. In line with the
receptive skill (reading and listening), learning productive skill that is
speaking aims to achieve communicative efficiency (Bahrani, 2012, 1) and
learning writing has goal that is ability to plan and rethink the communication
process through written language. All of it will combine as the excellent
achievement in learning language.
However,
learning all the language skills in one time is not an easy task to accomplish,
therefore, teacher assists students by applying some learning strategies,
techniques, and methods so that students can achieve the high achievement in
learning English. Yet, students are still unable to achieve the expected
result. They get low score and unable to express or use the language whether in
active or passive performance. It shows that many factors involve in English
learning such as learning strategy and individual differences. Language
aptitude as one of the individual differences is regarded as factor which
affects students’ language learning and acquisition. Betty (2005, 56) stated
that language aptitude consists of relatively stable factors within an
individual that promotes successful language learning. Kocić (2010, 234) has
proven that language aptitude represents one of the decisive factors in the
process of mastering a foreign language. This indicates that by knowing
students’ language aptitude may lead to the successful language learning
process and high English achievement.
Students’
language aptitude information may be obtained by providing some tests. There
are two best-known tests used for measuring linguistics aptitude that are
Modern Language Aptitude Test (MLAT), developed by Carrol and Sapon in 1957 and
the Pimsleur-Language Aptitude Battery (PLAB), developed by Pimsleur in 1966. However,
MLAT is one of the most influential tests in the field of foreign language
learning, because of its reliability and high degree of successful prediction
(Kocić, 2010, 237). In addition, Hinton (2014, 127-128) revealed that numerous
studies of the effect of aptitude scores on learning use the MLAT as their
measurement tool and it generally seems to be to accept that aptitude refers to
Carroll’s concept and the MLAT is a reasonably good test.
An
investigation of how language aptitude affect English learning achievement has become crucial since the students face
difficulty in developing English practical competencies although the inductive
language ability is good, have problem in understanding the English material,
are not able to expand grammatical sensitivity, and do not have good auditory
ability to support listening skill mastery. As a result of these, students will
obtain low English learning achievement. As the response of these phenomena,
this study aims to find out information about students’ language aptitude and
their achievement in learning English and to figure out the relationship
between language aptitude and English learning achievement. Hopefully, the
findings will be able to assist teacher in designing more effective and
efficient language learning classroom, to guide students to maximize their
talent and ability in learning language, and finally to provide more
information for further studies.
2. Research
Method
In
this study, quantitative research was applied to investigate the relationship
between language aptitude and achievement in learning English. Moreover,
language aptitude tested through standardized test (MLAT test) needed to be
described in a more quantitative approach. The main variables which were
investigated were (a) achievement in learning English (as dependent variable)
and (b) language aptitude (as the independent variable of the study).
Research Design
This
study used quantitative approach and applied correlational design which
investigated and measured the degree of relationship or association between two
or more variables.
Time
and Location
This
study was carried out on April 2014 and conducted at State Senior High School 3
Pekanbaru, located in Pekanbaru.
Participants
In
this study, the population was the eleventh grade students consisted of 307
students. The participants involved in the study were two classes with total
number 68 students which randomly selected.
Table.
1 Participants of the Study
No
|
The Number of Students
|
Sample
|
|||
Class
|
Male
|
Female
|
Total
|
||
1
|
XI Science 1
|
10
|
24
|
34
|
34
|
2
|
XI Science 4
|
12
|
22
|
34
|
34
|
Total
|
68
|
68
|
|||
Procedure
In
investigating the relationship between language aptitude and achievement in
learning English, MLAT test was distributed to all participants. In this test,
participants were given instruction what to do. The researcher translated and explained
the instruction in the test. When the data on language aptitude were collected,
researcher continued to ask the students’ English achievement score from the
English teacher documentation.
Data,
Instrument, and Data Collection
The
researcher used a set of
standardized test called Modern Language Aptitude Test (MLAT) in
order to know the students’ language aptitude. The test consisted of 25 items. This test was adapted from
test that was expanded by Carol and Sapon, in which the test was not fully
copied but had
been modified by considering it with the need, culture and background knowledge
of Indonesian students’.
Table
2. Matrix of Students’ Language Aptitude
VARIABLE
|
INDICATORS
|
ITEMS
|
Students' Language Aptitude (x)
|
1. Number Learning
|
1, 2, 3 ,4, 5
|
2. Phonetic Script
|
6, 7, 8, 9, 10
|
|
3. Spelling Clues
|
11, 12, 13, 14, 15
|
|
4. Words in Sentences
|
16, 17, 18, 19, 20
|
|
5. Paired Associates
|
21, 22, 23, 24, 25
|
While
the data of achievement in learning English was obtained from the documentation
that was the achievement score obtained through examination conducted by
school.
Technique
of Analyzing Data
In order to find out whether there was a
significant positive correlation between students’
language aptitude and their achievement in learning English, the data were analyzed statistically. In
analyzing the data, the researcher used the Pearson Product Moment
Correlation Coefficient (r) by using SPSS 16.0 program. By considering the
degree of freedom (df) = N-nr; (N=Number of sample, nr= Number of variable).
3. Findings
and Discussion
Chart
and diagram are used here to show the students’ achievement in learning
English, students’ language aptitude and the relationship of both variables.
Chart
1. The Category of Students’ Language Aptitude
The
picture in Chart 1 shows that most of the students obtained good score in MLAT
test. Meanwhile, the rest of the students obtained very well category or
excellent, average and poor score. It indicated that the students had good
ability or talent in learning foreign language.
Chart
2. The Category of Students’ English Achievement
The
picture in Chart 2 shows that most of the students obtained good achievement in
learning English. Some of the students obtained excellent and only few students
who had low achievement. It indicated that the students had good English
achievement.
Chart
3. The Correlation between Students’ Language Aptitude and Their English
Achievement
Based
on the chart above, it can be identified that students who had low language
aptitude also had low achievement in learning English. Meanwhile, students with
good and excellent language aptitude obtained good and excellent English
achievement. This indicates that there was linear relationship between language
aptitude, whereas, low aptitude makes low achievement and good or high aptitude
makes good or high English achievement.
4. Conclusion
and Suggestion
Based
on the result obtained from the analysis, it shows that there is a
significantly positive correlation between language aptitude and achievement in
learning English of the eleventh
grade
at State Senior High School 3 Pekanbaru. In the other words, the better the
students’ language aptitude is, the higher achievement in learning English they
have, in contrast, the lower the students’ language aptitude is, the lower
achievement in learning English they have.
Based
on the conclusion above, the researcher proposes some suggestion as follows:
1. The
students have to learn to recognize and sharpen their talent in learning
English language by taking courses and practicing the language skills
continuously in everywhere they are.
2. The
teacher should establish and expand joyful,
fun and comfortable classroom in order to make the students more interested in
English class which can encourage their language aptitude and help them to
achieve higher achievement.
3. The
students should get opportunities to use language unlimitedly in the language
class by applying many of interesting learning strategies, techniques or games, so that the students can maximize their
talent in learning English.
4. Finally,
these research findings are also expected to inspire the next researchers to
investigate about language aptitude correlated with the other individual factors on
students, and
to give meaningful input for both practical and theoretical development of TEFL
and TESOL in general.
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