ENGLISH VOCABULARY AND GRAMMAR PROFICIENCIES OF SMPN 17 STUDENTS IN BENGKULU CITY

The objectives of this research were to find out “how the student‟s English
vocabulary and grammar proficiencies were” . The population was all students of
SMP N 17 Bengkulu City. The samples were approximately 57 students, with
detail were 4 classes of 7th grade. The design of the research was descriptive
quantitative. The instrument was English grammar and vocabulary test to measure
students‟ skill. The results of the research showed that the total average score
from grade 7th, their total average score was 33, their average vocabulary score
was 20 and then their average grammar score was 44. Based on the results, it can
be concluded that the 7th grade students‟ vocabulary and grammar skills of SMPN
17 Bengkulu City were still low, also the difference between their average
grammar and vocabularyscores of grade 7 was very far, but both‟s scores were
still under the minimum score (75). This phenomenon could have been prevented
if junior high school students had received English background knowledge when
they were still in elementary school.This phenomenon is what the researchers are
trying to show that this is the effect of not getting background knowledge of
English when they were in elementary school. Of course this will cause problems
for these students in the future, because the level of difficulty in terms of English
study they will encounter in the future will be more difficult.
Keywords : Junior High School Student, English Vocabulary Proficiency,
English Grammar Proficiency.