Defination vocabulary

VOCABULARY

Disusun oleh :

Kelompok 4

1.      Indah pratiwi (1502050152)

2.      Lydia suci antika (1502050153)

3.      Winda putri lestari (1502050154)

4.      Cahyani  wulandari (1502050155)

5.      Kiky lestari (1502050160)

6.      Mutiara ulfah (1502050161)

7.      Dinda sari utami (1502050163)

8.      Hijah monika sari (1502050164)

9.      Mudrika fitri (1502050168)

Kelas : II C Pagi

Prodi : Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris

Mata Kuliah : Vocabulary

Dosen : Rita Harisma S.Pd., M.Hum.

FAKULTAS KEGURUAN DAN ILMU PENDIDIKAN

UNIVERSITAS MUHAMMADIYAH SUMATERA UTARA

MEDAN

2015/2016

A.    Definition of vocabulary

Vocabulary is a basic component in communication. Vocabulary is also very important for the acquisition process. If acquires do not recognize the meaning of the key word use by those who addressed them, they will be unable to participate in conversation.Vocabulary is the collection of words that an individual knows (Linse,2005:121). There are some experts who give definitions of vocabulary. Hatch and Brown (1995:1) define that vocabulary as a list of words for a particular language or a list or set of word that individual speakers of language might use. Furthermore, in Webster Dictionary (1985:1073), vocabulary is define as a list or collection of words usually alphabetically arranged and explained or lexicon, stock of words use in language or by class, individual, etc. While according to Roget (1980:1036), vocabulary is:

a.       A list of words often defined or translated.

b.      All the words of Language.

c.       Specialized expression which are indigenous to a particular field, subject, trade or subculture.

Vocabulary is an important aspect in teaching language, as stated by Edward (1997:149), “Vocabulary is one of the important factors in all language teaching; students must continually learn words as they learn structure and as they practice sound system”. Sometimes, it’s difficult to determine the words that students related to vocabularies such as: meaning, spoken/written forms, collocations, connotatons, grammatical behavior, etc.(Linse,2005:121). According to Richards (2002:255), vocabulary is the core component of language proficiency and provides much of the basis for how well learners speak, listen, read, and write. Jackson and Amvela (2000:11) say that the terms of vocabulary, lexis, and lexicon are synonymous.Vocabulary is one of the language components that can affect macro skills. Some definition of vocabulary is proposed by some experts.  Nunan (1999: 101) states that vocabulary is a list of target language words.

Furthermore, Jackson and Amvela (2000: 11) say that the terms vocabulary, lexis, and lexicon are synonymous. In addition, Richards and Schmidt (2002:580) state that vocabulary is a set of lexeme, including single words, compound words, and idioms.Vocabulary is the total number of words in a language; all the words known to a person or used in a particular book, subject, etc; a list of words with their meaning, especially one that accompanies a textbook (Hornby,1995: 1331). Those definitions show that vocabulary is the first element that the English learners should learn in order to master English well besides the other English components and skills. Talking about vocabulary, Lehr, Osborn, and Hiebert (in Kamil and Hiebert, 2005: 2-3) define vocabulary as knowledge of words and words meaning in both oral and print language and in productive and receptive forms. More specifically, they use it to refer to “the kind of word that students must know to read increasingly demanding text with comprehension.” Harmer (1991: 158) summarizes that knowing a word (vocabulary) means knowing about meaning, word use, word formation, and word grammar.

B.     Types of vocabulary

There are some types of vocabulary as stated by Nation (1990), Aeborsold and Field (1997). They are active or productive vocabulary and passive or receptive vocabulary.

Active or productive vocabulary refers to language items which learner can use appropriately in speaking or writing (Aeborsold and Field,1977:139). It is line with Nation (2003:25) who states that productive vocabulary refers to the words that students can pronounce, spell and write. It involves how to use the words in grammatical pattern.

Examples of active or productive vocabulary:

·         Flowers

·         Sun

·         Wind

·         Heart

·         Soul

·         (times) advance, etc.

Passive or receptive vocabulary refers to language items that can be recognized and understood in the context of reading or listening (Aeborsold and Field, 1977). This receptive vocabulary, as stated by Nation (1990), refers to the words that students can be organized when they are heard and they are expected to be able to distinguish a word which has similar sound.

Examples of passive or receptive vocabulary:

·         Heart

·         Soul

·         Nautical, etc.

From the explanation above, it can be concluded that there are different types of vocabulary, this is relevant to the fact that people have different ways in understanding words in terms of visual, aural, oral and written words. Not all words suit that are neede by the learners, so vocabulary selection is important to be considered to teach learners and these criteria for vocabulary selection will be discussed below.

In addition to the two type of vocabulary there are four types of vocabulary.

There are 4 types of vocabulary:

Ø  Listening

Ø  Speaking

Ø  Reading

Ø  Writing

The first two constitute spoken vocabulary and the last two, written vocabulary.Children begin to acquire listening and speaking vocabularies many years before they start to build reading and writing vocabularies. Spoken language forms the basis for written language. Each type has a different purpose and, luckily, vocabulary development in one type facilitates growth in another.

 

Ø  Listening Vocabulary:

The words we hear and understand.  Starting in the womb, fetuses can detect sounds as early as 16 weeks.  Furthermore, babies are listening during all their waking hours – and we continue to learn new words this way all of our lives.  By the time we reach adulthood, most of us will recognize and understand close to 50,000 words.(Stahl,1999; Tompkins, 2005) Children who are completely deaf do not get exposed to a listening vocabulary.  Instead, if they have signing models at home or school, they will be exposed to a “visual” listening vocabulary.  The amount of words modeled is much less than a hearing child’s incidental listening vocabulary.

Ø  Speaking Vocabulary:

The words we use when we speak.  Our speaking vocabulary is relatively limited:  Most adults use a mere 5,000 to 10,000 words for all their conversations and instructions.This number is much less than our listening vocabulary most likely due to ease of use.

Ø  Reading Vocabulary:

The words we understand when we read text.  We can read and understand many words that we do not use in our speaking vocabulary. This is the 2nd largest vocabulary IF you are a reader.  If you are not a reader, you can not “grow” your vocabulary.

Ø  Writing Vocabulary:

The words we can retrieve when we write to express ourselves.  We generally find it easier to explain ourselves orally, using facial expression and intonation to help get our ideas across,then to find just the right words to communicate the same ideas in writing.  Our writing vocabulary is strongly influenced by the words we can spell. for example:

• if there are a number of synonyms, a writer will have his own preference as to which of them to use.
• he is unlikely to use technical vocabulary relating to a subject in which he has no knowledge or interest.

C.    How to expand vocabulary

1.      Read, read, and read.

The more you read especially novels and literary works, but also magazines and newspapers the more words you'll be exposed to. As you read and uncover new words, use a combination of attempting to derive meaning from the context of the sentence as well as from looking up the definition in a dictionary.

2.      Keep a dictionary and thesaurus handy.

Use whatever versions you prefer in print, software, or online. When you uncover a new word, look it up in the dictionary to get both its pronunciation and its meaning(s). Next, go to the thesaurus and find similar words and phrases -- and their opposites (synonyms and antonyms, respectively) and learn the nuances among the words.

3.      Use a journal.

It's a good idea to keep a running list of the new words you discover so that you can refer back to the list and slowly build them into your everyday vocabulary. Plus, keeping a journal of all your new words can provide positive reinforcement for learning even more words especially when you can see how many new words you've already learned.

4.      Learn a word a day.

Using a word a day calendar or Website or developing your own list of words to learn is a great technique many people use to learn new words. This approach may be too rigid for some, so even if you do use this method, don't feel you must learn a new word every day.(Find some word a day, websites at the end of this article.)

5.      Go back to your roots.

One of the most powerful tools for learning new words and for deciphering the meaning of other new words is studying Latin and Greek roots. Latin and Greek elements (prefixes, roots, and suffixes) are a significant part of the English language and a great tool for learning new words. (Follow these links for the sections of this site that provide English Vocabulary Derived from Latin and English Vocabulary Derived from Greek.)

6.      Play some games.

Word games that challenge you and help you discover new meanings and new words are a great and fun tool in your quest for expanding your vocabulary. Examples include crossword puzzles, anagrams, word jumble, Scrabble, and Boggle. (Find some word-game Websites at the end of this article.)

7.      Engage in conversations.

Simply talking with other people can help you learn discover new words. As with reading, once you hear a new word, remember to jot it down so that you can study it later  and then slowly add the new word to your vocabulary.

D.    How to teaching  vocabulary

v  Focus on vocabulary

Give vocabulary a high profile in the syllabus and the classroom so that students can see its importance and understand that learning a language isn’t just about learning grammar (O’Dell 1997). It may be worth teaching students an easier formulation of Wilkins’s (1972) view that “without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed.”

One of the first vocabulary learning strategies for any classroom is how to ask for words you don’t know in English, and how to ask the meaning of English words you don’t understand, so phrases like “What’s the word for in English?,” “How do you say ?,” and “What does  mean?” are useful to teach at the basic levels. As students progress, another useful strategy they can use is to paraphrase: “It’s a kind of,”  “It’s like a,” and “It’s for -ing X” etc. Focusing on these strategies puts vocabulary learning firmly on the classroom agenda.

An important vocabulary acquisition strategy which Nation (2001) calls “noticing” is seeing a word as something to be learned. In this view, knowing what to learn is a necessary prerequisite to learning. Teachers can help learners get into the habit of noticing by making clear in classroom instruction and homework assignments: which items should be learned, what each item is (a single word, a phrase, a collocation etc.) and for what purpose (active use or passive recognition). And materials can help teachers in this in the following ways:

ü  Providing clearly marked vocabulary lessons

ü  Making the target vocabulary set stand out, including focused practice and regular review

ü  Giving lists of vocabulary to be learned for the lesson

Structured vocabulary notebook exercises which are designed to make students focus on a particular vocabulary set or feature are a good way of developing this noticing strategy.

v  Offer variety

Tomlinson (1998) suggests a number of principles for developing successful materials. The first of these is that “Materials should achieve impact.” He suggests that this can be done with unusual and appealing content,attractive presentations, and variety. Teachers can use different ways to present vocabulary including pictures, sounds, and different text types with which students can identify: stories, conversations, web pages, questionnaires, news reports,etc. In each of these contexts, topics should be relevant to students’ interests.

Similarly, practice activities should vary and engage students at different levels. These should range from simple listen-and-repeat type of practice through controlled practice to opportunities to use the vocabulary in meaningful, personalized ways. Offering variety also means catering to different learning styles,and as Tomlinson notes, some students may use different learning styles for different types of language or in different learning situations. So this means offering activities that sometimes appeal to learners who are more “studial” and “analytic” (those who need to analyze the language and to be accurate in their use of it) as well as learners who are “experiential” and “global” (those who are less concerned with accuracy as with learning whole chunks of language) and catering to students who prefer to learn either by seeing, hearing, or doing something.

v  Repeat and recycle

Learning vocabulary is largely about remembering, and students generally need to see, say, and write newly learned words many times before they can be said to have learned them. Some researchers have suggested various numbers of encounters with a word for learning to take place, ranging from five to up to twenty [see, e.g., Nation (1990); Rott (1999); Ghadirian (2002)]. Some suggest that an impressive amount of learning can take place when students learn lists of paired items (English word and translation equivalents); others suggest that this method of learning does not aid deeper understanding of the words or help develop fluency.

However, most agree that repetition is an important aid to learning and that having to actively recall or “retrieve” a word is a more effective way of learning than simple exposure or just seeing a word over and over (Sökmen 1997). Researchers also agree that repeating words aloud helps students remember words better than repeating them silently. Another area of research is how long students can remember words after first learning them, and again researchers agree that forgetting mostly occurs immediately after we first learn something, and that the rate of forgetting slows down afterward [see Gu (2003)]. The implications for the vocabulary classroom are self-evident:

Review vocabulary as often as possible in activities that have students actively

recall words and produce them rather than merely see or hear them.

v  Provide opportunities to organize vocabulary

Organizing vocabulary in meaningful ways makes it easier to learn (Schmitt 1997; Sökmen 1997). Textbooks often present new vocabulary in thematic sets as an aid to memory, but there are other types of organization and these can be described under three broad headings: real-world groups, language-based groups, and personalized groups, examples of which are given below.

§  Real-world groups occur in the real world, such as the countries within each continent, parts of the body, the foods in each food type (carbohydrate, protein, fats, etc.), activities that take place for a celebration (e.g., at a wedding), expressions people typically use in everyday situations (e.g., when someone passes an examination, has bad luck, etc.). Students can draw on their general knowledge to group English vocabulary according to concepts with which they are already familiar.

§  Language-based groups draw on linguistic criteria as ways of grouping, for example, the different parts of speech of a word family; words that have the same prefix or suffix, or the same sound; verbs and dependent prepositions; collocations of different kinds (verb + noun; adjective + noun, etc.).

§  Personalized groups use students’ own preferences and experiences as the basis for the groups. It might include grouping vocabulary according to likes and dislikes, personal habits or personal history, for example, foods that you like and don’t like, or eat often, sometimes, rarely, or that you ate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner yesterday. Making vocabulary personal helps to make it more memorable.

There are many different ways of practicing newly presented vocabulary in class, from repeating the words, controlled practice, or reacting to the content in some way, to using the vocabulary to say true things about oneself. For example, in learning the vocabularyof countries, students can:

          i.          Listen to the names of countries and repeat them

        ii.          Identify the countries they know in English, and add new ones

      iii.          Say which languages people speak in different countries

      iv.          Say which countries are near their own, or which they have personal connections with (I’m from . . . ; My brother lives in . . . ,etc.), or which they would like to visit

At this point, a useful step is to take time to organize the new vocabulary in some way that allows students to “notice” and bring together the target words as the basis for a communicative activity or to have a clear record for review purposes, or both. Students often write translations above new words in their textbook and these can be spread around the page; an organizing activity like the one shown in Figure 8 helps systematize their note taking and provides further personalized practice.

v  Make vocabulary learning personal

Related to the point above, materials should provide opportunities for students to use the vocabulary meaningfully, to say and write true things about themselves and their lives. Students should be encouraged to add vocabulary they want to learn, too. And if the experience of learning is also enjoyable, so much the better! One note of caution is that personalization may be more appropriate for some students than others. In a large study of vocabulary learning strategies used by students at different ages, Schmitt (1997) reports that younger (junior high school) students found that personalization was less helpful to them than the older students in university and adult classes.

v  Don’t overdo it!

Another important point is not to overload students – there are limits to how much vocabulary anyone can absorb for productive use in one lesson and this will be affected by how “difficult” the words are and how much students are required to know about them [on the notion of difficulty, see Laufer (1997)]. If vocabulary sets ever seem too daunting for students, allow them to choose which items they want to prioritize.

v  Use strategic vocabulary in class

Since the classroom may be the main or only place that students hear or use English, it’s important to include in lessons the strategic vocabulary,as it makes up so much of spoken vocabulary. If the textbook doesn’t include this as part of the syllabus or contain presentation

and practice activities, it will be up to the teacher as the most experienced user of English to find ways to introduce this type of vocabulary in class. It might be useful here to look at the different types of talk that happen in classrooms, which Walsh (2006) divides into four “modes”: managerial, materials, skills and systems, and classroom context, each of which has different teaching aims and can include different functions.

-        Managerial mode refers to the way teachers organize the class and move between activities. In doing this, it’s possible to use a range of basic discourse markers for starting, concluding, and changing topics, such as All right/Okay, So, Let’s start, Let’s move on.

Although Walsh sees this type of talk primarily as the teacher’s, as the one who organizes and manages what happens in the classroom, there are aspects of managerial talk that students can usefully learn to help them organize pair and group work (OK,let’s change roles; That’s it, we’re finished), or to interact with the teacher in order to change the way the class proceeds (Could you explain that again, please?).

-        Materials mode refers to the talk that takes place when teachers and students are doing an activity in the materials. This includes eliciting answers from students, checking and explaining answers, and giving feedback on answers. In this type of talk, it would be useful for teachers to model different kinds of responses when evaluating students’ answers (That’s right; Excellent) and when seeking clarification (You mean . . . ?; He went where?).

-        Skills and systems mode is the largely teacher-directed talk that goes on when the teacher is trying to get students to use a particular language item or skill and will involve the teacher in giving feedback, explaining, and correcting. In this mode teachers can model phrases for reformulation (I mean . . .) and for organizing and staging information (Now, . . . First of all, . . .).

-        Classroom context mode refers to the type of language learners use when they are talking about their personal experience or feelings – sometimes called “freer practice activities.” Here the teacher’s role is to listen and support the interaction, which is the most like casual conversation that learners will engage in. Teachers can support these “conversations” by teaching all the types of strategic vocabulary, in order to help students manage their own talk, relate to other students respond, and manage the conversation as a whole.

See also McCarthy and Walsh (2003) for an overview of the four modes and the ways that teachers can teach and promote natural conversational language in class.