Vocabulary

Definition of Vocabulary

Many definitions can be find about vocabulary from some experts, because, the word of vocabulary itself have many meanings. Besides that, vocabulary is also a part of lexicon needed by people to add their ability in speaking, reading, listening, and writing. But, the researchers only focus on several of them which are important to be discussed. One of the language aspects that is supposed to be learn when someone or people are learning a language is vocabulary. According to Kamil & Hiebert (2001), Vocabulary is knowledge of words and words meaning. Although, vocabulary is more complex than this definition suggests.

Pikulski & Templeton (2007) separated vocabulary into expressive and receptive vocabulary. The expressive vocabulary is used when people speak and write. This is kind of vocabulary that expresses the feeling and thinking. The receptive vocabulary is used when people are listening and reading. According to Ghazal (2007), words are perceived as the building blocks upon which knowledge of the second language can be built. It means that if the students do not know about the meaning of words, they will find difficulties in understanding what they see, read, and also they learn. From some references above, it can be said that the vocabulary is a stock of words in language that can support students to the skill of the language. It means that, the students should have enough vocabulary supplies in order to make them able to learn about four skills in English, as the most important language element in learning a language.

The Difficulties in Learning Vocabulary

Learning vocabulary is a very important part of learning a language. The more words you know, the more you will be able to understand what you hear and read, and the better you will be able to say what you want to when speaking or writing. But, it is not easy, usually the first things you learn about a new English word are what it means and its translation in your own language. But there are other things you need to find out before you can say that you know a word like a native speaker does. For example, you have to learn: how it is spelled, how it is pronounced, how it is inflected (i.e. how it changes if it is a verb, noun or adjective), other grammar information about it, how it collocates (i.e.what other words are often used with it). Learning vocabulary seems to be one of the easiest things about learning a language, but it's also one of the hardest things to do, especially when you have reached acertain level. According to Thornbury (2002), there are some factors that make vocabulary learning difficult, they are:

1. Pronounciation
   Research shows that words that are difficult to pronounce are more difficult to learn. Potentially difficult words will typically be those that contain sounds that are unfamiliar to some groups of learners – such as regular and lorry for Japanese speakers. Many learners find that words with clusters of consonants, such as strength or breakfast are also problematic.
2. Spelling
   Sound- spelling mismatches are likely to be the cause of errors, either of pronunciation or of spelling, and can contribute to a word’s difficulty. While most English spelling is fairly law – abiding, there are also some glaring irregularities. Words that contain silent letters are particularly problematic : foreign, listen, bored, honest, muscle.
3. Grammar
   Also problematic is the grammar associated with the word, especially if this differs from that of its L1 equivalent. Spanish learners of English, for example, tend to assume that explain follows the same pattern as both Spanish explicar and English tell, and say he explained me the lesson. Remembering whether a verb like enjoy, love, or hope is followed by an infinitive ( to swim ) or an – ing from ( swimming ) can add to its difficulty. And the grammar of phrasal verb is particularly troublesome : some phrasal verbs are separable ( she looked the word up ) but others are not ( she looked after the children ).
4. Meaning
   When two words are overlap in meaning, learners are likely to confuse them. Make and do are a case in point: you make breakfast and make an appointment, but you do the housework and do a questionnaire. Words with multiple meanings, such as since and still, can also be troublesome for learners. Having learned one meaning of the word, they may be reluctant to accept a second, totally different meaning. Unfamiliar concepts may make a word difficult to learn. Thus, culture specific items such as words and expressions associated with the game criket (a sticky wicket, a good innings ) will seem fairly opaque to most learners and are unlikely to be easily learned.

Student’s Mistakes in Learning Vocabulary

In learning vocabulary, it is not surprising that learners make mistakes with words. According to Thornbury (2002), categorises errors in learning vocabulary into two mayor types: form – related and meaning – related. Form – related errors include mis – selections misformations, and spelling and pronunciation errors. A mis – selection is when an existing word form is selected that is similar in sound or spelling to the correct form – the equivalent to a native speaker’s malapropism. For example: my girlfriend was very hungry with me ( for angry ). Or “He persuaded me to have a noise operation (for nose)”. Misformations often result from misapplying word formation rules. Producing non – existent words, as in a peopleless island, or his hopeness of peace. Sometimes these misformations will show a clear influence from the learner’s mother tounge, as in the people looked emocionated – from the Spanish emocionado (excited). Whole words may be combined wrongly in to form non – existent combinations: Most of time I just watch shop’s window ( for go window – shopping).

Spelling mistakes result from the wrong choice of letter (sheell for shall), the omission of letters ( studing for studying ), or the wrong order of letters ( littel for little ). Pronunciation errors may result from the wrong choice of sound (leave for live ), addition of sounds ( eschool for school ), ommision of sounds (poduk for product) or misplaced word stress (comFORTable for comfortable). Meaning – related errors typically occur when words that have similar or related meanings are confused and the wrong choice is made. Thus : I like watching flowers and inhaling thir lovely smell. While watching belongs to the set of verbs related to seeing, it is inappropriate for relatively static objects like flowers. Similarly, inhaling tends to be used for smoke or gas, and not smell. That is to say, inhaling does not collocate with smell.

Types of Vocabulary

Aeborsold & Lee (1997) stated that in language area, there are numerous kinds of vocabulary. First, dealing the characteristic of the words, vocabulary is divided into two kinds. Firstly is active vocabulary. Active vocabulary refers to language items which the learners can use appropriately in speaking and writing. Secondly is passive vocabulary. Passive vocabulary refers to language items that can be recognized and understood in the context of reading and listening. In Strategies For Developing Emergent Literacy, Miller (2000), states there are four types of vocabularies. Listening vocabulary, speaking vocabulary, reading vocabulary, and writing vocabulary.

1. Listening vocabulary
   The listening vocabulary is the first type of vocabulary that a young child must acquire. It is primarily learned in the home by hearing family members and others with whom the young child comes in contact speak. It is obvious that if a very young child attends any type of early chilhood facility, the adults there also are very important in the acquisition of the listening vocabulary.
2. Speaking vocabulary
   Young child learns the speaking vocabulary from the imitation and modelling of family members and other adults with whom he or she comes in contact. That is why it is important for the young child’s speech models to use correct grammar and interesting precise vocabulary.
3. Reading vocabulary
   The reading vocabulary is primarily developed in school unless the child is an early reader, in which case it can be learnt in the home or in some kind of child-case facility. By the time the child is in the intermediate grades, his or her reading vocabulary usually much exceeds the speaking vocabulary unless the child is a disabled reader.
4. Writing vocabulary
   The fourth type of vocabulary is the writing vocabulary, which also primarily is learned in the school, although a start can be made before school entrance especially if the child is encouraged to use invented spelling. Normally the writing vocabulary is the smallest, because a person often does not use a number of words in his or her writing that are used in speaking or met while reading.
5. Potential or marginal vocabulary
   This type of meaning vocabulary is composed of all the words that the child may be able to determine the meaning of by using semantic (contextual) clues: by examining prefixes, suffixes, or word roots, or by understanding derivates of words. It is usually impossible to determine the size of a child’s potential vocabulary, since the context in which a word is located may determine whether or not the child will know its meaning. It is important for each child in the primary grades to have a good understanding of context and know the meaning of many words so that he or she will have a large and useful potential vocabulary. However, the potential vocabulary is of fairly limited importance in the primary grades in comparison to its importance in the middle-upper grades.

We can know the classification of vocabulary based on the references above depend on the condition when it is used. Furthermore, words are a part of people’s way of living or tool to communicate in language which is use by the persons for showing and telling their opinion and ideas in their brain based on their need.

Vocabulary Learning Strategies

Vocabulary is not included as the skill in English. However, it has important role to support mastery of their English skill. According to Siriwan (2007), if the students have rich of vocabularies, the students will be able to comprehend other skill of English. For example, they will be able to understand what they hear, be able to write in appropriate words and use various words, be able to reading text, and be able to speak fluently. According to Read (2000), vocabulary knowledge is a multidimensional and complex construct. It will demand the language students’ understand about the meaning of words and also how to use the words. According to Marttinen (2008), someone is unable to communicate without words. From the statement, it can support the function of vocabulary as the main point that should be learnt by the students.

According to Gu & Johnson (1996), research on vocabulary learning strategies should focused on various method of vocabulary presentation, and their effects on retention. Hacth & Brown (1995), however, discover that vocabulary is central to language and is of great significance to language learners. Words are the building blocks of language since they label objects, action, ideas without which people cannot convey the intended meaning. The prominent role of vocabulary knowledge in second or foreign language learning have been recently recognizing by the theory and research in the field. Accordingly, numerous types of approach, technique, exercise and practice have introduced into the field to teach vocabulary.

Moreover, Nation (2001) make clear that vocabulary learning strategies are one of part of language learning strategies which in turn are part of general learning strategies. Oxford (1990) observed that language learning strategies encourage greater overall self-direction for learners. Self-direction learners are independent learners who are able to assume responsibility for their own learning and gradually gaining confidence, involvement and proficiency. Thus, students need training in the vocabulary learning strategies they need most. The researchers show that many learners do use more strategies to learn vocabulary.

Schmitt’s (1997) Vocabulary Learning Strategies(VLS) Taxonomy

First researcher to investigate vocabulary learning strategies is Schmitt (1997). He developed his own vocabulary learning strategies taxonomy, which is based mainly on Oxford’s (1990) Strategy Inventory of Language Learning (SILL) as follow:

Table 2.1 Schmitt’s (1997) Vocabulary Learning Strategy Taxonomy

1. Metacognitive Strategies

According to Oxford (1990), metacognitive strategies are the techniques learners use to organize, plan, focus and evaluate their learning, such as associating new information with already know one, looking for opportunities to practice, and self-monitoring. Some examples of metacognitive strategies that could help learners increase their vocabulary are listening to the radio/tapes of word lists, watching a video/movie/TV program, reading newspapers, learning words from commercials, writing meanings of new words, skipping difficult words, and others.

2. Social Strategies

According to Oxford (1990), social strategies are technique learners use to facilitate interaction, especially by asking question, developing cultural understanding and cooperating with others in the learning process. Some examples of social strategies to increase vocabulary are learning by pair/group work in class, asking teachers, asking classmates, friend and family members for clarification of meaning, paraphrase, synonym or translation, and practicing with others new words they have learned.

3. Determination Strategies

According to Schmitt (1997), determination strategies are technique learners used when faced with discovering a new word’s meaning without recourse to another person’s expertise and these strategies facilitate gaining knowledge of a new word. Some examples of determination strategies are using a thesaurus, using dictionary (picture, bilingual, monolingual, etc.), using word lists made by the language teacher, and guessing from textual context in reading.

4. Memory Strategies

According to Oxford (1996), memory strategies (also known as mnemonics) are technique learners use to enter new information into memory storage, to be retrieved when required for communication. They involve relating the stored word with previously learned knowledge, using imagery, or grouping. Some examples of memory strategies are associating a word with its coordinates, using a new word in sentences, connecting the word to already know words/personal experience, studying or practicing the meaning in a group, learning and memorizing idioms from stories, memorizing the meaning of affix and roots, memorizing parts of speech, imaging word’s meaning, using rhymes/semantic maps/ keyword method, studying the spelling/sound of the word, and saying a new word aloud when studying.

5. Cognitive Strategies

Cognitive strategies are technique learner’s use to link new information with existing schemata, as well as to analyzed and classify it (Oxford, 1990). Learner use cognitive strategies to get the ideas quickly and transfer information. Cognitive strategies focus more on repetition and mechanical means that on manipulative processing to study vocabulary (Kalahaji, 2012). Some examples of cognitive strategies are putting English labels on physical objects, using the vocabulary section in textbook, keeping a vocabulary notebook, verbal/written repetition, notetaking, writing a wordlist of new words learnt and paraphrasing the word’s meaning without help from others.

6. Metacognitive Regulation Strategies

According to Gu & Johnson (1996), defined that metacognitive regulation strategies are the goal-setting and vocabulary-selection strategies, and self-initiation strategies to evaluate and monitor personal vocabulary learning progress. Learners who use the most self-initiation strategies are observed to be more successful in vocabulary learning and are more proficient in the language than other participants in study. However, despite the important roles of metacognitive regulation strategies in vocabulary learning, these strategies are not included in VLS taxonomy or others’ taxonomies.

7. Translation Strategies

According to Chamot (1987), translation is the strategy defined as the use of the first language as a base to understanding and/or produces the second language.