CHAPTER
I
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background
of The Study
In Indonesia English is the first foreign language, which is learnt in
formal and non-formal schools. In formal
schools, it is taught from elementary until university level. Even now, it has
been taught since kindergarten or play group and becomes the main subject which
has to be achieved by them. However, most students often complain that English
is hard to understand and be a difficult subject for them to learn.
Therefore, as
teachers should find the most effective ways in teaching vocabulary. According
to Hubbard as cited in Syarifah (2001:1) teachers must make sure that students
have understood the new words which will be remembered better if introduced in
memorable way. It means that the teacher have to be more effective in teaching
learning process, such as finding the suitable method or use variety of
teaching techniques in order to help students to learn it well.
There are a lot
of methods, techniques or strategies which can be applied in teaching
vocabulary. However, they are not quite effective without teaching aid.
Teaching aid is one of the important things which can support and make teaching
process more interesting, and enable the students to improve their vocabulary
easily. Many kinds of teaching aids can be used in teaching vocabulary, and of
those teaching aids supporting the learning activity is dictionary. As nation
(1989) says “ as well as being source information, dictionaries can also be
aids to learning”. In other words,
dictionaries can help learners understanding and produce a word.
There are some
types of dictionary; one of them is picture dictionary. Picture dictionary can
be used in teaching vocabulary. It can help the students to understand a word
easier because every word is presented in an interesting and enjoyable way and
it also provides picture. Collin (1993) states that “ picture dictionary is a
book containing words of the language with the pictures”. It means that by
applying an appropriate technique to teach vocabulary can help the students to
understand the word. The using of picture dictionary can be an effective way or
an alternative way in teaching vocabulary.
CHAPTER
II
THEORETICAL
FRAME WORK
A. Vocabulary
1. The
Nature of Vocabulary
Vocabulary is one of the language components that plays important role in
learning a language. Without a
sufficient vocabulary, people cannot communicate and express their ideas effectively. As
Burton says in Nurudin (2002:13) “ vocabulary is needed by people to understand
the meaning of words and help them express the idea precisely”.
In addition Zhihong
(2000:18) has also argued “ words are the basic unit of language form.” It can
be implied that by using words, we can put forward our opinions and thoughts in
order to make the communication go on. Furthermore, Schmitt (2000:19) states
that”….one of the key elements in learning a foreign language is mastering the
L2’s vocabulary”. It is cleared that second pr foreign language learners should
know, learn and master the vocabulary, so by having and learning vocabulary, it
can help a learner understand the language easily.
Mastering
vocabulary is an important and should be developed by a learner, without having
enough vocabulary, it would be hard to convey the ideas or opinion. River says
in Nunan (1991:125) “ vocabulary is essential for successful second language
use because, without an extensive vocabulary, we will be unable to use
structure and functions, we may have learned for comprehensible communication.
In addition definition is stated by Richards (2002:255) “ vocabulary is a core
component of language proficiency and provides much of the basis for how well
learners speak, listen, read and write. Therefore develop learners’ progress in
understanding English, learners should keep on learning new vocabulary items
every day. It means that the development
of a rich vocabulary is an important element in the acquisition of a second
language.
Besides that, Schmitt (2000:151) argues that “vocabulary is
systematically recycled and added to as the reader works through the series”.
It means that learning vocabulary is a cyclical process of meeting new words
and initial learning, followed by meeting those words again, each time
extending knowledge of what the mean and how the tone used in the foreign
language. In this case, the learner has to know what a word sounds like (its
pronunciation) and what it looks like (it spelling). These are fairly obvious
characteristics, and one or the other will be perceived by the learner when
encountering the item for the first time. In teaching, we need to make sure
that both these aspects are accurately presented and learned.
2. Component of vocabulary
Learning vocabulary is
not as easy as we thought. However, it will be easily to learn if we know the
components of the vocabulary itself. As Read (2000:28) points out that there
are three components in vocabulary:
1.
The
context of vocabulary
The term context has referred to
the sentence or utterance in which the target word occurs. For instance, in a
multiple-choice vocabulary item. It is normally recommended that the stem
should consist of a sentences containing the word to be tested.
2.
Vocabulary
knowledge and fundamental process
The second
component in frame work of vocabulary is the one that has received the most
attention from applied linguist and second language teacher.
3.
Met
cognitive strategies for vocabulary use
The strategies are employed by all language user to manage the
ways that they used their vocabulary knowledge in communication.
3. Vocabulary
strategies
There are some strategies in
learning and comprehending vocabulary as follow:
1.
Contextualization
This
means putting new vocabulary words into sentences to help your remember them
and to tests if you are using them correctly. You can use these sentences when
talking to an English-speaker to see if they understand.
2.
Elaboration
This means relating new information to information
you already know. For example, if you know the meaning of ‘information’, it is
easy to remember that the verb is ‘to inform, and that ‘informative’ is an
adjective, and that ‘an informant’ is someone who gives information.
3.
Inferencing
To predict or guess the meanings, by using the
available information. For example, if you know that you are reading about
football, and you know that a field is often a large area covered in grass,
then you can guess that football field is a large, grassy area for playing
football.
4.
Translation
You can read a story in a newspaper in your own
language first, then read the same story in an English newspaper.
5. Personalization
You can
write down why the vocabulary item is
important to you, where you first saw it, and when you used it, for example,
you may heard the item in a movie you liked, and used the item when you talked
about the movie with your friends.
7. Keeping
your own dictionary
Writing entire for the dictionary will
help you to learn words, using your own dictionary can be faster than a normal
dictionary.
8. Grouping
You can
group words into different areas, such as words in different courses you study.
For example, business students could group vocabulary items into marketing
vocabulary, accounting vocabulary, and human resources vocabulary.
4. Teaching vocabulary to the children
Teaching vocabulary is
very important, especially for beginners because the children are easy to
memorize some words. As Harmer says (2001:37) “ some people say that
children learn languages faster than
adults do. They talk to children who appear to pick up new language
effortlessly. Perhaps this has something to do with the plasticity of young
brain.” It is clear that the teacher should introduce English as a foreign
language to the children since they are still young. They should know as many
vocabularies as possible, so they will not have problems when they speak,
listen, read or write.
The teacher should know
what words that are taught to the children. The words should often be used as
many as possible, so they will remember them easily. The words should also be
interesting. It means that the words
which are easy to remember, easy to say etc. As West says in Nunan (1991:118) “
teaching young learners the words are most likely to encounter frequently is
the most cost effective way of building a functional vocabulary.”
Therefore, before the
teachers teach the students, they have to know the steps or strategies of
vocabulary learning. According to Hatch and Brown in Cameron (1995:372)
describe five “ essential steps” in vocabulary learning:
1.
Having sources for encountering new
words;
2.
Getting a clear image, whether visual or
auditory or both, for the forms of the new words;
3.
Learning the meaning of the words;
4.
Making a strong memory connection
between the forms and meaning of the words;
5.
Using the words
It means, learning words is not like ticking off
items on a shopping list when they have been taught, but it likes a continual
process.
5. Kinds of way of teaching vocabulary
There
are a lot of ways of teaching and learning new words, that can be used by the
teacher to explain the words and Nation (1990:54) in Cameron listed basic
techniques. He divides the techniques in to two techniques.
a.
By demonstration or pictures
1.
Using an object
2.
Using a cut-out figure
3.
Using gesture
4.
Performing an action
5.
Photographs
6.
Drawings or diagrams on the board
7.
Pictures from books
b.
By verbal explanation
1.
Analytical definition
2.
Putting new word in a defining context
(e.g. an ambulance takes sick people to hospital)
3.
Translating into another language.
In
addition, Cross (1991:5), listed several ways in teaching English vocabulary:
1.
Using realia
The
students will be more interested in learning new words when they see real
thing. They also can touch the objects shown in the classroom. The teacher
shows the objects, says the words, and asks the students to repeat.
2.
Using pictures / pictures-photos
The
visual aids can be used as a media to transfer the meaning of unfamiliar words.
Sometimes, bringing the real objects into the class is impossible, such as an
elephant, a house, etc. The teacher can bring pictures into the classroom to
show the meaning of the objects. For presentation purposes, simple pictures are
better because the focus is clearer.
3.
Body movement
It
can be used to get the meaning of words. These are the techniques that can be
used:
§ Facial
expression, to show feeling (e.g. happy, smiling, hot, thirsty, angry, tired).
§ Gesture,
using hands and arms to show a range of meaning (e.g. fast, small, curving,
wide, rolling).
§ Mime
and action, to show many verbs and some adverbs (e.g. to stagger, to eat, to
slip, to wake up, slowly, angrily).
§ Synonyms:
giving synonymous word in context.
Example:
The volcano emits smokes and ashes. It sends them out to
the sky.
§ Antonym:
giving the opposite of the target word in a context.
Example:
The Borobudur temple is an ancient building, but Shangrila Hotel is a modern
one .
§ Translation.
This is the last technique that is used to teach new vocabulary. The students
may be bored because they don’t see, touch the objects and they don’t think to
guess the meaning. This is a quick and easy way to present the meaning of the
words.
§ Dictionaries
Good
dictionaries can give the students, especially who learn English as a foreign
language, more information than just the meaning of words. They can tell how
words are pronounced and how words are used in the sentences.
From the explanation above, the writer conclude that learning
or teaching vocabulary can be an easy or hard thing. The teachers should think
the techniques they used, how well they know the learners itself, and the
classroom where they learn. As Cameron (2001:93) listed the general principles
of helping children to learn:
·
Teacher can model how to use strategies
and draw children’s attention explicitly to aspects of strategy use.
·
Teacher can teach the sub-skills needed
to make use of strategies.
·
Classroom task can include structured
opportunities for using strategies.
·
Independent strategy use can be rehearsed
in classrooms.
·
Young learners can be helped to reflect
on the learning process through evaluating their achievements.
B. Teaching aids
In teaching learning process, the role of a teacher is
considered to be most influential in the classroom that can determine the
success of the teaching-learning process. Therefore, a teacher has to be able
to apply various techniques in teaching English especially in teaching
vocabulary.
In process of learning English, teaching aids has an important
role. It can help the students to understand the material given. One of the
teaching aids is dictionary. Moreover Landau (1998:1) says “ a dictionary is a
list of words with their definition, a list of characters with their glyph, or
a list of words with corresponding words in other languages”. In addition Bauer
(1998:62) states “ dictionaries are the ultimate word-book and often are
associated with some of the magic of words.” It is clear that dictionaries are
the essential vocabulary reference aid. Schmitt adds (2000:90) “Dictionaries
are the essential reference aid”. It means that dictionaries are generally used
when the students have already come across a word and then look it up to check
that they know how to use it.
1. Kinds
of dictionaries
According to Nation (2001:288) there are three major kinds of
learners’ dictionaries in terms of the languages they use: monolingual,
bilingual and bilingualised.
§ Monolingual
dictionaries are written all in one language, an English monolingual dictionary
has an English headword, an English definition, and all examples and other
information in English.
§ Bilingual
dictionaries use two languages. The headword and the examples are in one
language and the meaning is in another. Many bilingual dictionaries contain
little information about each word; they can be seen as a complement rather
than a competitor to monolingual dictionaries. Moreover, some bilingual
dictionaries provide substantial information about each word.
§ Bilingual
dictionaries contain the information that is in a monolingual dictionary plus a
translation of the headword.
2. Using
of the dictionary
A good dictionary is an essential tool for a writer. We use it
to check meanings, spelling, usage, pronunciation or syllabication of a word.
Dictionaries can be used for a wide range of purposes. As Scholfield says in
nation (2001:261) “ Dictionaries can be used for comprehension (listening and
reading) and it can be used for production (speaking and writing)” and Nation
(1989:281) has also argued “ as well as being sources of information,
dictionaries can also be aids to learning)”. It means that dictionaries can
help the learners to understand and produce a word.
The following list covers most purposes for dictionary use,
based on Nation (2001:281) they are:
1. Comprehension
There are three purposes for dictionary
use which are to be used for comprehension (listening and reading). First look
up unknown words met while listening, reading and translating. Second, confirm
the meanings of partly known words and the third, confirm guesses from context.
2. Production
Using a dictionary for productive use (speaking and writing)
is sometimes called using a dictionary for encoding that is, turning idea into
language. It involves finding words form to express messages which needed to speak,
write or translate. Besides, the learners are not only use a dictionary for
checking the spelling, pronunciation, meaning, etc. of known words but also it
can used for checking that a word exists.
3. Learning
The purposes for using dictionary in
language learning are learning unknown words and enriching knowledge of partly
known words.
Based on Johnson (1992:389) in “
improving college skill” there are four uses of dictionary. First, a dictionary
uses a variety of ways to explain word meanings. Then, a dictionary is the
place to go to find the correct spelling of a word. Next, a dictionary is also
the place to go to determine where to divide a word at the end of a line when
you are writing. The last is another frequent use of the dictionary involves
determining pronunciation.
From the explanation above, the
writer concludes that a dictionary can be used in teaching-learning process,
especially who learn English as a foreign language. It can give more
information than just meaning of words. By using dictionary the students are
able to pronounced the words and know how words are used in the sentences.
C. Picture dictionary
To enrich the children’s experience in
learning the meanings of the words, the teachers have to try to select
strategies that can be useful and beneficial. To the children. A great way to
show information is through a picture dictionary. It can help the students
understand a word easier because it also provides the picture in full colors.
Therefore, the children are able to identify the meaning of a word quickly by
seeing the pictures. Colin says in Watson (1993:1) “ picture dictionary is a
book containing words of language with the pictures”. By presenting the words
in an interesting and enjoyable way, children are encourage to look up meanings
and learn more words for themselves with easily and confidently.
Furthermore, Graves and Rein in Nunan
(1991:127) “ picture dictionary is one of effective ways to teach vocabulary
item because it takes exciting visual aids by laying out words and pictures.”
In addition, Simon (1995:5) states that “ picture dictionary merupakan bagian
penting dalam memperkaya kosa kata Bahasa Inggris dan merupakan bahan pendukung
untuk pengajaran pada tingkat pemula maupun anak-anak”. It is clear that
picture dictionary is useful as a first book to aid in vocabulary development,
spelling and alphabetizing skills, or as an enjoyable, practical language
reference source for beginning readers, it also makes language live.
D. The function of picture dictionary
According to Molinsky (1995;7), there are
five functions of picture dictionary, are as follow:
1. Picture
dictionary can help children learn a new language and help them remember new
words.
2. To
enrich vocabulary knowledge of partly unknown words.
3. To
look up meanings and learn more words for children easily and confidently.
4. To
provide the students information about the meanings of words with pictures.
5. To
help the teachers explain the words in teaching vocabulary.
E. The advantages and disadvantages of using picture
dictionary
There are several advantages and
disadvantages of using picture dictionary according to Simon and Schuster
(2004) :
a. The
advantages of using picture dictionary:
1. The
students will know the precisely the meaning of unfamiliar words since the
words are presenting in an interesting and enjoyable way.
2. The
students will know the meaning of a lot of unfamiliar words in a short time
since they are seeing the pictures.
3. The
students can create a picture to show their meaning.
4. The
students will be more active and creative in learning language.
b. The
disadvantages of using picture dictionary:
1. The
students feel restrained since they are given many new words to memorize
without having a chance to apply those words in the real context.
2. There
is a possibility of misunderstanding using the words in other moment since the
teacher does not give the example on how to use those particular words.
3. They
will disturb against each other since they pay much attention to the pictures.
CHAPTER
III
CONCLUSION
III. 1. Conclusion
Teaching English, especially vocabulary
is not an easy thing to do for the teachers. They need to be creative, active
and innovative in order to make the students enjoyable to learn English. As we
know, since English as one of the main subject in each level from play group or
kindergarten until university, as the teachers, we have to improve and
development our teaching technique. One of the teaching techniques is by using
aids. It can help the teachers convey their knowledge to the students easily
and understandable.
Therefore, from the explanation at the
previous chapter, the writer concludes that by using teaching aids, especially
picture dictionary. It can help the students to understand the new words
easily, and for the teachers, it can help them to explain the material
enjoyable and fun. Even, it has some advantages and disadvantages. It does not
give any important effect, because as the teachers we can improve, develop,
combine or change the techniques as long as the learners understand and
enjoyable.
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Jhonson, Ben E. 1992. Improving College Learning
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Landau, Sidney I., Simon and Schuster. 1998.
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Molinsky, J Steven.1995. Word by Word Basic Picture
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Nunan, David. 1991. Language Teaching Methodology.
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Read, Jhon. 2000. Assessing Vocabulary. Cambridge.
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