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CHAPTER II THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
A. Vocabulary
1. Definition of Vocabulary
Vocabulary as one of the language aspects is supposed to be learnt when people are learning a language. Good mastery of vocabulary is important for
anyone who learns a language. A learner of foreign language will speak fluently and accurately, write easily, or understand what he reads or hears if he has enough
vocabulary and has a capability of using it accurately. It is abvious that vocabulary is very important for learning a language,
especially English, because the English vocabulary is extremely large and various. Therefore, it is highly essential for English teachers to help their students to
understanding vocabulary. There are definitions of vocabulary given by experts. Penny Ur defines that vocabulary is the words that teach in the foreign language.
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Hatch and Brown define vocabulary as a list or set of words for a particular language or set of words that individual speakers of language might use.
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In Oxford Dictionary, vocabulary is defined as follows
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: a. All the words that a person knows or uses.
b. All the words in a particular language. c. The words that people use when they are talking about a particular subject.
d. A list of words with their meanings, especially in a book for learning a foreign language.
From the definition above, it shows that vocabulary is a component of language and number of words used by a person, class, profession, etc. In the
communication and every aspect such as in trade, education, business, etc.
1
Penny Ur, A Course in Language Teaching Practice and Theory New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996, p. 60.
2
Evelyn hatch and Cerryl Brown, Vocabulary, Semantics, and Language Education Cambridge: Cambridge university press, 1995, p. 1.
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A. S. Hornby, Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2000, p.1506.
2. The Kind of Vocabulary
There are two kinds of vocabulary used by the people for the communication, namely: general and specific vocabulary. General vocabulary is
all of the words that are used in general; there is no limit of fields or users, general in meaning and use. And specific vocabulary is used in certain field, job,
profession or special science. For example: politicians, Jurnalisticts, and lawyers. All these have specialized vocabulary arising from particular circumstances of
their lives or work. Jo Ann Aebersold and Mary Lee Field classify vocabulary into active and
passive vocabulary.
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The meaning of active and passive vocabulary is: a.
“Active vocabulary; is also called as produtive vocabulary.students must know how to pronounce it well, they must know and be able to use grammar of the
target language, and they also must be familiar with collocation and understand the connotation meaning of the words. This type is often used in speaking and
writing skills”.
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Meanwhile, Finocchiaro says that “vocabulary is divided into
two namely: function and content words ”.
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The function words are a closed class, we cannot add the preposition or auxiliaries or modals or any structure
words of the language. The content words can be added to any times as new scientific advances make new words.
The content words can be divided into three general classes: a
Words naming thing, ideas, entitles, that we might call them nouns. b
Words action called verbs. c
Words used to describe the qualities of those things or actions called adjective and adverbs.
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4
Jo Ann Aebersold and Marry Lee Field, From Reader to Reading Teacher New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997, p. 139.
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Jo Ann Aebersold and Marry Lee Field, From Reader to Reading Teacher.......p. 139.
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Finochiari Marry and Bonomo Michael, The Foreign Language Learner: A Guide for Teacher New York: Regent Publishing company inc, 1973, p. 86.
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Charles C. Fries, Teaching Learning English as a Foreign Language Canada: The University of Michigan, 1945, p. 42.
b. Passive vocabulary; refers to language items which can not only be recognized
and understood in the context of reading or listening, but also called as receptive vocabulary.
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Passive vocabulary or comprehension consist of words comprehended by people, when they read or listen.
3. Vocabulary Usage
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