CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION
A. Previous Study
2. Vocabulary
a. Definition of Vocabulary
Vocabulary is one of the main components of language that must be known by everyone, especially students.
Gardner stated that vocabulary is not only about collections of words, but also how they relate words to one another and how people use those words to form a meaningful sentence. Therefore, with vocabulary people do not only know the meaning of the words separately, but people have to understand the meaning of the word if it already exists in a sentence or a wider context. People can apply these words in sentences correctly both orally and in writing.20
According to Suyanto state that vocabulary is a collection of words that are owned by a language and give meaning when we use that language. This means that vocabulary is part of a language where each language has a different vocabulary. A collection of several words can make a sentence to be able to communicate properly, people must understand the meaning of each word in that language.21 In addition, Suyanto also argues that in general, the language component consist of three namely grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation.22
Learning vocabulary in English is similar to learning other skills. Students should consistently and seriously practice and do
20 Gardner,(2010), A New Academic Vocabulary List. American Association for Applied Linguistics: British Association for Applied Linguistics, Oxford University Press, p. 23
21 Kasihani K.E. Suyanto, English for Young Learner, (Jakarta: Bumi Aksaram, 2010), h. 43
exercise. Students should be stimulated when learning vocabulary by employing an interesting technique. Students can not attracted study in English vocabulary if they have lost interest in learning it. As a result, the teacher must be knowledgeable about English vocabulary and wise in selecting appropriate methods and media to help students learn English vocabulary. In learning English vocabulary, media is used to bridge students understanding so that vocabulary learning activities become more interesting and students become more active in classroom activities, Susanto states that the use of appropriate learning media is intended to improve the student’s understanding and experience on language learning, including in learning English vocabulary.23
From some definitions above, concluded that vocabulary is some of the words that are taught or learned in a foreign language for communication. Therefore, vocabulary is very important in language learning, because without vocabulary they can not dispense their idea.
b. Types of Vocabulary
There are many classifications by the expert about the types of vocabulary.
Some experts divide into two types of vocabulary, namely productive vocabulary and receptive vocabulary:24
23 Alpino Susanto. The Teaching of Vocabulary: A Prespective, Jurnal KATA, Vol. I, No. 2, 2017
24 Tibar, S. The Students’ Vocabulary Mastery of Computer Terms of the Second Grade at SMK Komputer Muhammadiyah Palopo. Department of English Education FKIP-UNCP. 2018
1) Productive Vocabulary
This vocabulary refers to words that students understand, can pronounce correctly, and can apply constructively in speaking and writing. The characteristics of a productive vocabulary are vocabulary that is often or familiar. Productive vocabulary is also usually easy to understand the meaning. To use English well, we must learn productive vocabulary. Understanding productive vocabulary will be easier because it is often used in everyday life.
2) Receptive Vocabulary
This vocabulary is rarely used in making sentences or conversations in English. This Vocabulary is sometimes difficult to understand because this vocabulary is rarely used in everyday life.
Therefore, we have to learn more about this vocabulary so that it is not difficult to apply it in everyday life.
Besides productive and receptive vocabulary, Harmer also classified vocabulary into active and passive vocabulary:25
1) Active Vocabulary
Active vocabulary is all of the words that students produce during any lesson or event in later lessons. This term is used in speaking or writing appropriately it is called productive vocabulary, although more difficult to put into practice. It means that to use productive vocabulary the students must know and be able to use
25 Mofareh, Alqahnati. The Importance of Vocabulary in Language Learning and How to Be Taught, International Journal of Teaching and Education, Vol. , No. 3, 2015
the grammar of the target language, they also must be familiar with and understand the connotation meaning of the words. And this type is often used in speaking and writing skills.
2) Passive vocabulary
Passive vocabulary is all of the words a student hears or reads. It refers to language items that can be recognized and understood in the context of reading and are also called receptive vocabulary.
In addition, Suardi and Sakti classify vocabulary into four categories26, which are as follows:
a) Oral Vocabulary
This consists of the active use of words in speech: words that are close to the conversation. The more people say a word, the easier it is for it to come out of people’s mouths.
b) Listening Vocabulary
A collection of words to which people responds with meaning and understanding when hearing others speak.
c) Vocabulary Reading
A collection of words that people recognizes when people see them in painting or written work.
26 Suardi, S., & Sakti, J. E. Teacher Difficulties in Teaching Vocabulary. IDEAS: Journal on English Language Teaching and Learning, Linguistics and Literature, 7(2), 2019
d) Vocabulary Writing
For words that get into one’s finger vocabulary: stock words that are responded to in other writing with meaning and understanding.
Furthermore, six kinds of vocabulary play different roles in a text27, there are:
a) Word Classes
Called part of speech that consists of eight elements that play different roles in tex28:
(1) Noun
A noun is a word that is used to indicate places, names of people, ideas, things, or qualities. There are two kinds of a noun, that is common nouns and proper nouns. A common noun refers to things that were not specific, such as doll, eraser,and so on. The proper noun refers to a specific name of things, such as November, Asus, Fazzio, and so on.
Nouns are also divided into two categories:
(a) Countable Noun
Countable noun refers to a noun that can be counted easily and also countable nouns have two types namely singular and plural. Singular used to indicate one thing, usually signed by the addition of article “a”/ “an” likes:
27 Thornbury, S. How to Teach Vocabulary, Pearson Educational Limited, 2002
28 Aart, Bas. English Word Classes and Phrases, Journal of Research Gate, 2018
a doll, an apple, a man. The plural used to indicate a thing consisting of two or more, usually, it is signed by the addition of some suffixes in it is words like cats, chairs, and clothes.
(b) Uncountable Noun
Uncountable noun refers to a noun that can not be counted, like love, wind, and sand.
(2) Pronoun
Pronoun is a class of words that replaces a noun that has already been mentioned before. The pronoun has six categories, such as:
(a) Personal Pronoun
I, you, they, we, she, he, it, me, us, them, him, her.
(b) Possessive Pronoun
My, your, our, their, his, its, mine, yours, his, hers, ours, their.
(c) Reflexive Pronoun
My self, yourself, themselves, ourselves, himself, herself, itself.
(d) Reciprocal Pronoun Each other, one another.
(e) Relative Pronoun
Who, whom, whose, which, that.
(f) Demonstrative Pronoun This, these, that, those.
(3) Verb
Verb is a class of words that conveys the action or state of the subject. There are eight kinds of verb, such as:
(a) Transitive verb (b) Intransitive verb (c) Regular verb (d) Irregular verb (e) Action verb (f) Stative verb (g) Linking verb (h) Causative verb (4) Adverb
Adverb is a class of words that modifies verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. There are seven kinds of adverbs, such as:
(a) Adverb of time (b) Adverb of manner (c) Adverb of degree (d) Adverb of modality (e) Adverb of frequency (f) Adverb of place (g) Adverb of focus
(5) Adjective
Adjective is a class of words that are used to give additional information or describe or modify nouns and pronouns. It places after linking verbs or before a noun, for example yellow car, new cat, and bad boy.
(6) Preposition
Preposition is a class of words that link noun or pronoun to other words for building a preposition phrase in a sentence, and there are six kinds of preposition:
(a) Preposition of time (b) Preposition of place (c) Preposition of movement (d) Preposition of manner (e) Preposition of purpose (f) Preposition of measure (7) Conjunction
Conjunction is a class of words that links words, phrases or clauses to show any relationship between them. There are three kinds of conjunction, such as:
(a) Coordinate conjunction For, and, but, or, nor, yet, so.
(b) Subordinate conjunction
Because, although, whether, while.
(c) Correlative conjunction
Neither..nor, not only..but also, either..nor.
(8) Determiner
Determiner is a class or word that places before noun for the limitation of the noun. There are three kinds of determiners, such as:
(a) Definite article: the
(b) Indifinite article: a, an, any, other (c) Quantifiers: few, all, many, some b) Word Families
Consist of base words and affixation either prefixes or suffixes.
It can give a new meaning which is called derivative but also keep the meaning as the base verb, which is called inflection.
Inflexion signed a grammatical rule of tenses used in sentences, for instance, played-past, plays-present, and playing- continuous. Those words still have the same meaning but in different conditions. Whereas, derivative gives a different meaning than the base verb, for instance, player-replay-playful.
c) Word Formation
There are three types of word formation namely:
(1) Compounding
Process of combining two or more independent words, such as classroom, teapot, typewriter, and hairdryer.
(2) Blend
Process of blending two words to one form a new word, such as brunch = breakfast+lunch.
(3) Clipping
Process of shortening the long words, such as flu from influenza, email from electronic mail, and dorm from dormitory.
d) Multi-word Units
Multi-word units consist of some words joined as a group and have their meaning, like: more less, look for, and a lot of.
e) Collection
Collection consists of some words in generally built common phrases, like: depend on, keep secret, and spend time.
f) Words Meaning (1) Synonyms
Words that have a similar meaning, for example: big, larger, giant, vast, huge, great, gigantic.
(2) Antonyms
Words that have an opposite meaning, for example: big- small, sweet-bitter, tall-short.
(3) Homonyms
Words that have same form of alphabet but have unrelated meanings, for example: I like to look at your smiling, and your smiling looks like sweet.
c. Vocabulary Mastery
Vocabulary is a collection of words. Vocabulary is an element in a language. According to Bahri, Vocabulary is essential for the learner to master in order to understand the language.29 Therefore, vocabulary is an important part of learning a language, to be proficient in communicating in English, people must learn English vocabulary well. Weak vocabulary mastery can be an obstacle to understanding a sentence context in a given language.
Vocabulary must be continuously multiplied and expanded, firstly following the demands of increasingly mature age who want to know all things and the progress of society which always creates new words. To easily communicate with other community members, people need to expand their vocabulary, need to know as many words in their language as possible. Mastery of students’ English vocabulary must continue to increase according to their age level. The more English vocabulary that is known, the more the student’s ability to learn the language.
29 Bahri, D. S. The Correlation Between Students’ Vocabulary Mastery and Their Reading Comprehension at The Seventh-Grade Students’ of MTS Darul Ihsan, 2019
Vocabulary mastery is very necessary because the more vocabulary a people have, the easier to convey and receive information, even vocabulary can be used as a measure of one’s intelligence. Vocabulary mastery is the capital of accelerating and deepening information in a people.30 This means that vocabulary is a language element that must be mastered by foreign language learners to be able to gain proficiency in communicating with that language and by mastering vocabulary, more knowledge a people will acquire.
Expanding people’s vocabulary between others can be done through the learning process, through dictionaries, media, and by analyzing words.31 The meaning of this understanding is that vocabulary mastery is formed through the learning process, therefore people must have a sufficient vocabulary. Without adequate vocabulary mastery, it is difficult for the language learning process to occur as it should. So to master a language the main thing that needs to be done is to enrich vocabulary mastery.
The extent to which a people can master English also depends on the surrounding social environment. Suyanto said that family or social background factors could also support or hinder a child’s success in learning English.32 In this way, support from parents will influence the student’s English Learning process.
30 Martinis Yamin, Kiat Membelajarkan Siswa, (Jakarta: Gaung Persada Press Jakarta, 2007), p.
137-138
31 Groy Keraf, Diksi dan Gaya Bahasa, (Jakarta: PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama, 2005), p. 67
32 Suyanto, op.cit, p. 22
According to Faiz & Siahaan, the specificity of people’s vocabulary knowledge is determined by the individual, motivation, desires, and need for the words. Vocabulary mastery refers to a high level of proficiency in processing words in a language because it is a personal achievement and possession, the individual bears greater responsibility for expanding his or her knowledge.33 To be successful in broadening their vocabulary mastery, they must be motivated and interested in the words of a language.
Based on the definitions mentioned above, it can be concluded that vocabulary mastery is the understanding of the meaning of words that are owned by people as a means of communicating in the language, both orally and in writing. The more vocabulary, the more skilled a people is in language.
d. Teaching Vocabulary
Teaching vocabulary plays an important role in language acquisition because the mastery of vocabulary will help students to master all the language skills.34 There is some step in teaching vocabulary for foreign language learner, such as:
1) Presenting new vocabulary
Presenting new vocabulary becomes the first step in teaching vocabulary. In this step, teachers can use some kinds of
33 Faiz, A., & Siahan, L. H. The Effect of Using Game on Students’ Motivations in Learning Vocabulary, Tarbiatuna: Journal of Islamic Education Studies, 2022
34 Nurhaebah. Survey of Students’ Difficulties in Mastering English Vocabulary at the Seventh Grade of SMP Negeri 1 Noling. Departement of English Education FKIP-UNCP, 2018
techniques in delivering new vocabulary. The use of the technique was not far from the use of media in teaching. Media are tools that are used by the teacher in running activities in the classroom. There are some categories of techniques with each example of media in teaching vocabulary35, such as:
a) Aural techniques
Listening to some media such as songs, audio from films or, videos.
b) Visual techniques
Illustration through some media such as posters, photos, maps, scrabble, and magazines.
c) Verbal techniques
Contextual form or activity such as role-play, games, or riddles.
d) Kinaesthetic, olfactory, and gustatory techniques Detailed description such as tasting, and smelling.
2) Remembering vocabulary
In this step of remembering vocabulary, teacher can support them by grouping the vocabulary into some categories for making the students easier to memorize the vocabulary.
3) Ideas for vocabulary work in the classroom
Teacher can make some activities in the classroom to motivate the learner to use their new vocabulary. An idea that can
35 AkAR, N. Teaching Vocabulary, Ozwl Egitim Hizmetleri Yayincilik ve Danismanlik Tic. Ltd.
Sti. 2010
be used is brainstorming. Teachers can give a word as a theme, then students mention the least words with the theme.
4) Testing vocabulary
There are many kinds of tests, like matching, dictation, multiple-choice, and so on.