LEXICAL DENSITY AND READABILITY IN READING TEXT ON 10TH GRADE STUDENTS ENGLISH TEXTBOOK “BAHASA INGGRIS”

This research aimed to describe lexical density of reading texts on English textbook
for 10th grade of high school level entitled “Bahasa Inggris” and to measure the
levels of readability in reading texts on the English textbook entitled “Bahasa
Inggris”. This research employed a qualitative descriptive research design. The
subject of this research was reading text on English textbook for 10th grade students
entitled “Bahasa Inggris” published by the Ministry of Education and Culture of
Indonesia revision edition that out on 2017. In this study, the documentation
technique was used to collect data about related needs in analysis of lexical density
and readability, such as curriculum, textbook, and reading text on English textbook.
Then, the data were analyzed by applying formula based on Halliday (1985) and
Flesch (1948). As a result, this study found two findings. First, reading texts on the
English textbook had high and low lexical density. In the textbook, the text entitled
Taj Mahal had the highest lexical density with percentage of 63.77%, and the lowest
one entitled Meeting My Idol with percentage of 48.36%. Second, the readability
level in the reading texts on the English textbook was standard because the average
of readability in reading texts was 65.1. In conclusion, most of the reading texts had
high lexical density and the textbook was largely accepted as a good text.
Keywords: Lexical Density, Readability, Reading Text, English Textbook