a. Reasons for Vocabulary Teaching and Learning
Before getting into the discussion on the reasons for vocabulary teaching and learning it is wise to be knowledgeable about what vocabulary is first.
Vocabulary is understood as all words in a language Read, 2000:16. However, people may have different interpretations on distinguishing what a word is from
another Nation, 1990:2 9. As it is elaborated by Carroll Carroll et al., 1971 cited in Nation, 1990, words are differentiated based on their form. In addition, the
presence of capital letter is considered as different word. Nonetheless, Carroll’s definition is slightly different from those defined by Read 2000. Read elaborates
that in the case of, for example, wait, waits, waited, waiting, and society, societies, society’s, societies’, those words are normally be regarded as the same word but
with different forms. Meanwhile, different from those two definitions, words in the dictionary are distinguished based on the meanings Nation, 1990: 30.
In the present research, it will not be debated whose definition is the most correct. Rather, the discussion given on it is simply directed to provide better
conception of what a word is. Furthermore, as it is stated by Dale and O’Rourke 1971: 9, mastering
vocabulary implies not only knowing and understanding the meaning of the vocabulary but also the use of it. Carter 1998: 239 proposes seven characteristics
of knowing a word of second or foreign language.
…, knowing a word in a second or foreign language might be said to have the following characteristics:
1. It means knowing how to use it productively and having the ability to recall it
for active use, although for some purpose only passive knowledge is necessary and some words for some users are only ever known passively.
2. It means knowing the likelihood of encountering the word in either spoken or
written contexts or in both. 3.
It means knowing the syntactic frames into which the word can be slotted and the underlying forms and derivations which can be made from it.
4. It means knowing the relations it contracts with other words in the language
and with related words in an L1 as well. 5.
It means perceiving the relative coreness of the word as well as its more marked pragmatic and discoursal functions and its style-levels.
6. It means knowing the different meanings associated with it and, often in a
connected way, the range of its collocational patterns. 7.
It means knowing words as part of or wholly as fixed expressions conveniently memorized to repeat – and adapt – as the occasion arises.
Carter, 1998: 239
As the result of the demands in mastering vocabulary, it is thought that teaching and learning vocabulary plays very important role in second or foreign
language learning. Nation 1990 asserts that there are at least two reasons for why teaching and learning vocabulary is important. First, everybody is aware of
the importance of vocabulary in language learning. Language learners feel that the biggest difficulty arises in both receptive and productive of language use is caused
by the lack of vocabulary mastery. In other words, the lack of vocabulary mastery causes language learners are unable to both produce and understand the language.
Second, “giving attention to vocabulary is unavoidable” Nation, 1990: 2. It means that in all approaches of language teaching and learning, either the most
formal or informal, the need to vocabulary will always arise. Thus, teaching and learning vocabulary becomes very important as well as the fact that vocabulary is
absolutely an important element in languages.
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