RESEARCH QUESTIONS RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
Harber: 1993. Being in line with Harber 1993, Schmitt 2000:5 claims that learning vocabulary is not only a matter of learning its meaning but also learning
all properties called ―word knowledge‖ which include its register, association, collocation, grammatical behavior, written form, spoken form, and frequency.
Accordingly, a word may have different meanings in different contexts in that it deals with the register.
a. Definition of a Word In order to learn vocabulary well, learners should know the meaning of
words. The most well known definition of a word is stated by Bloomfield. Bloomfield defines a word as a minimum free form Poole, 1999:10. It means
that a word is the smallest unit of a language which has its own meaning or can stand by itself.
Furthermore, Carter 1998:6-7 mentions that it is difficult to define a word. Carter lists some problems encountered in defining a word. The first
problem is orthographic, which free-form or stressed based definition is meaningful, but there are many words which do not match the categories. The
next problem deals with defining a word as units of meaning produces various exceptions and seems unclear and asymmetrical. The third problem is connected
with different forms of words which are not necessarily regarded as different words. The fourth problem deals with the same form of words which can have
distinct and discrete meanings. The last problem is the existing idioms which disturb the effort of defining words. Thus, paying attention in the context of
vocabulary is necessary to identify what is involved in knowing a word rather than knowing what a word means.
b. Categories of Word Knowledge Paribakht and Wesche 1997:180 describe five stages of vocabulary
knowledge as reflected in their Vocabulary Knowledge Scale VKS. The VKS is originally used to elicit self-perceived and demonstrated knowledge of specific
words in written text Paribakht Wesche, 1997:179. The five stages in VKS illustrate the steps of learners‘ vocabulary development. The first two stages rely
on honest reporting by learners or test-takers Read, 2000:132. Stage I of vocabulary development indicates that the word is totally unknown meaning
unable to recognize neither the word nor the meaning. At Stage II of vocabulary development, the word is identified, but the meaning is not recognized. The next
two stages, Stage III and IV, indicate that the learners know both the word and its meaning. The difference between those stages is on the degree of learners‘
conviction about the meaning of the word. Le arners‘ confidence of the knowing
the word meaning is higher at Stage IV than that of at Stage III, in that the learners mention the meaning of the word confidently. At Stage V, learners are
able to use the word in a sentence meaning moving to productive knowledge of vocabulary. The five stages of categories are shown in the table below: