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Nation in Cameron 2001: 85 suggests two basic techniques in order to teach new words in the classroom. They are by demonstration or pictures, and by
verbal explanation. In the implementation of demonstration or pictures, the teachers can use gesture, cut-out figure, object, photograph, drawing, pictures
from books, flashcard, etc. While in verbal explanation, they can put the new word in a certain context, or translate it into another language that the learners
understand. In teaching vocabulary, the teacher needs to be careful when selecting the
words. He needs to choose the suitable words for the learners to be taught in the class. The learners’ age, level, or ability can be the teacher’s consideration when
choosing the vocabulary. The media used in the class also need to be suited with the learners.
f. Methods in Teaching Vocabulary
There are many approaches or methods that can be implemented in teaching vocabulary. Hunt and Beglar in Richards and Renandya 2002: 256 recommend
three aproaches to teach vocabulary, they are incidental learning, direct instruction, and independent strategy training as the combination for vocabulary
building. Incidental learning is arised when the learners are learning vocabulary as the result of reading or listening to English texts. While the direct instruction
depends on the vocabulary-acquisition for the learners, the independent strategy training is the strategy needed to be taught for the students to help them inferring
words in a context as well as support the learners to master the vocabulary.
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Another opinion in teaching vocabulary methods comes from Campillo 1995: 45 who says that there are two different techniques which are common in
teaching vocabulary. They are traditional methods or teacher-centred approaches and techniques, and students-centred learning. She explains about both techniques
as follows. 1 The teacher-centred approaches
These approaches are divided into three types, which are verbal techniques, visual techniques, and translation.
a Verbal techniques The teacher can give an example of the vocabulary by showing the students the
definition, the synonymantonym, by using scale or gradable items, by giving them ilustrated situations, etc.
b Visual techniques In teaching vocabulary especially for the young learners, the visual techniques
can be used to attract students’ attention. Some gestures, face expressions, pictures and flashcards can be implemented in the teaching and learning
process. c Translation
The teacher can use translation from the target language to the mother tongue language if the students cannot understand the target language. But, the use of
translation techniques should not be used too much in the class. Instead, the teacher can make a simple explanation in the target language.
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2 Student-Centred Learning This technique allows the students to be independent learners. They can ask
the other students and also look into dictionaries to find out the meaning of the words that they do not understand. The use of dictionaries has a positive impact in
the students’ understanding of the difficult words. Nevertheless, it also has negative impact towards the students attitude towards learning new words. For
instance, they might have the tendency to look into the meaning of the word by word, not by its whole meaning. In addition, Wallace in Campillo 1995: 47
claims that over-frequent use of dictionary in reading a passage can make the text more difficult to understand because the concentration is distracted.
Since there are various type of methods in teaching vocabulary, teacher can select as well as combine the methods. However, the method needs to be fun for
the learners especially in vocabulary learning. It is because the learners are still foreign with the English words. So, by creating an enjoyable environment for the
students to learn is necessary.
2. Reviews of Flashcards
