Teaching and Learning Vocabulary

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B. Teaching and Learning Vocabulary

Vocabulary teaching and learning were often given little priority, but recently there has been a renewed interest in the nature of vocabulary and its role in teaching and learning. 27 In the past teaching vocabulary just take place in incidental learning where there was no exact curriculum or language program which included vocabulary as an important single thing that have to stand alone especially. Therefore, teaching and learning vocabulary have changed from their classical way. As Jeannete S. Decarrico said that current practice in teaching vocabulary, however it is not simply rebirths of the same methods of half century ago. 28 Rather than viewing vocabulary items as a long and boring list of words to be defined and memorized, lexical forms are seen in their central role in contextualized, meaningful language. Learners are guided in specific ways to internalize these important building blocks of language. It has been suggested that teaching vocabulary not only consists of teaching specific words but also is aimed at equipping learners with strategies necessary to expand their vocabulary knowledge. 29 Thus, the teacher is hoped to set the vocabulary learning class which can fulfill the requirements of vocabulary development and fit with the students’ need. The teacher has the job of managing the learning that the learner can do some or all of these things with target vocabulary that is to be learnt in order to get what the student need in learning vocabulary for their language skill for further. Below are some principles of teaching and learning vocabulary: 30 1. Aims The teacher has to be clear about his or her aims in teaching vocabulary. They should decide how many words that the teacher expected the learner to be able to do and with which words. 27 Richards, Jack C and Renandya, Willy A, Methodology in Language Teaching: An Anthology of Current Practice Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p.255. 28 Douglas H. Brown, Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy New York: Pearson Education, 2001, p. 377. 29 Lotfi Gazal, Learning Vocabulary in EFL Contexts through Vocabulary Learning Strategies, Novitas-ROYAL, Vol.: 12, 2002 p.84. 30 Michael J Wallace, Teaching Vocabulary Oxford: Heinemann Educational Books, 1989, pp. 27-35. paraphrased by the writer 13 2. Quantity The teacher may have to decide on the quantity of vocabulary to be learnt. 3. Need Control of the amount of vocabulary inevitably means choice as to the specific items to be taught. Choice will be made for the teacher by the course-book or syllabus he is using. It is possible for the teacher, in a sense, to put the responsibility of choosing the vocabulary to be taught on to the students. In other words, the student is put in a situation where he has to communicate and gets the words he needs, as he needs them, using the teacher as an informant. 4. Frequent Exposure and Repetition The simplest way of checking that this learning has been done is by seeing whether the student can recognize the target word and identify its meaning. If the word has to be part of the learner’s productive vocabulary, he must be given the opportunity to use it, as often as is necessary for him to recall it at will, with the correct stress and pronunciation. 5. Meaningful Presentation „Meaning’ involves many other things as well. This requires that the word is presented in such a way that its denotation or reference is perfectly clear and unambiguous. 6. Situation Presentation The students should learn words in the situation in which they are appropriate. 7. Presentation in Context The learner has to know the usual collocation that the words occur in. 8. Learning Vocabulary in the mother tongue and in the target language 9. Inferencing Guessing Procedures Students can guess the meaning of words by hearing them used in a certain situation, or sometimes by reading them in a certain context and guessing their meaning from the context. 14 Other principles in teaching vocabulary that have to be paid attention by teacher are: 1 The teaching of vocabulary is based on the students’ ability 2 The teaching of vocabulary is suitable with students’ capability 3 The words are taught from simple words to complex words the easiest to the most difficult. 31 In line with the explanations above about vocabulary teaching, we know if how a vocabulary teaching could not be an easy thing to held in a class. A teacher is hoped to follow some principles to know how the better way to teach vocabulary in order to get t he best result from especially for the students’ mastery vocabulary. Learning vocabulary could be in a pleasant way, so that the students can put the new words into their mind easily and maintain the known-words easily too. So, the supplement lesson is needed to support vocabulary learning, such as: 32 1 Drawing or Picture Exercises Student work with labeled picture, color specific parts of pictures, or draw their own labeled diagrams or pictures related to science concepts. 2 Matching Exercises Students match names with picturesobjectactions, identify words with meaning, combine sentence parts that contain key vocabulary. 3 Classifying and Ordering Exercises Students classify word into specific categories, fill in charts, or both of them called semantic mapping; unscramble the letters of new vocabulary words, or order sentences in correct sequences 4 Short-Answer Exercises Students complete sentences, write the correct vocabulary words when given a definition or description, answer question using key vocabulary. 5 Creative Exercises Students use key vocabulary to answer howwhywhat questions, summarize information from readingobservation, draw conclusion, or state opinions. The students, of course, have unfamiliar vocabulary, when teaching it the teacher has to consider some appropriate strategy. Hunt and Beglar in in Richards 31 Jack C Richards and Theodore S. Rodgers, Approaches and Methods in Language TeachingCambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986, p.7 32 Carolyn Kessler, Cooperative language Learning : A Teacher’s Resources Book New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1992, p. 79. 15 and Renandya’s book Methodology in Language Teaching give some step in teaching unfamiliar vocabulary: 33 a. Learners need to do more than just see the form. They need to hear the pronunciation and practice saying the word aloud as well. The syllable structure and stress pattern of the words are stored in memory. b. Start by learning semantically unrelated words. Also avoid with similar form and closely related meanings at the same times. c. It is more effective to study words regularly over several short sessions than to study them for one or two longer session. d. Study five to seven words at a time, dividing larger numbers of words into smaller groups. e. Use activities such as the keyword technique to promote deeper mental processing and better retention. Associating a visual image with a word helps learners remember the word. Vocabulary practice with these types of exercise can be done cooperatively or by individuals. Students of different proficiency levels within group can be given different kinds of exercises, ranging from drawing for the lowest levels to creative expression for the more advanced levels. The specificity of any individual’s knowledge about a word depends on her motivation, desires and needs for the word. 34 Thus, the teacher hopes to use the appropriate strategy which can hold these criteria of the students’ condition. Vocabulary learning is central to language acquisition, whether the language is first, second, or foreign. 35 Vocabulary learning strategies are one part of language learning strategies which in turn are part of general learning strategies Nation, 2001 cited in Gazal. 36 Language learning strategies encourage greater overall self-direction for learners. Self-directed learners are independent learners who are capable of assuming responsibility for their own learning and gradually gaining confidence, involvement and proficiency Oxford, 1990 cited in Gazal. 37 33 Jack C. Richards and Willy A Renandya, Methodology in Language Teaching: An Anthology of Current Practice Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 263. 34 Evelyn Hatch and Cherryl Brown, Vocabulary,Semantic,and language Education Cambridge : Cambridge University, 1995, p. 370. 35 Marianne Celce Murcia, Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language Teaching USA: Heinle Heinle Thomson Learning, 2001, p.285. 36 Lotfi Gazal, Learning Vocabulary in EFL Contexts through Vocabulary Learning Strategies,...p.84. 37 Lotfi Gazal, Learning Vocabulary in EFL Contexts through Vocabulary Learning Strategies,... p.84. 16 So it is the case with vocabulary learning strategies. Thus, students need training in vocabulary learning strategies they need most. There are five essential steps in vocabulary learning: they are 1 having sources for encountering new words, 2 getting a clear image, either visual or auditory or both, for the forms of the new words, 3 learning the meaning of words, 4 making a strong memory connection between the forms and meaning of the words, and 5 using the words. 38 Research has shown that many learners do use more strategies to learn vocabulary especially when compared to such integrated tasks such as listening and speaking. But they are mostly inclined to use basic vocabulary learning strategies Schmitt, 1997 cited in Gazal. 39 This in turn makes strategy instruction an essential part of any foreign or second language program. Nation in Douglas book’s Teaching by Principles said that vocabulary instruction should be integrated into the listening, speaking, reading and writing components of a language program vocabulary. So, Vocabulary should be a part of design of communicative task and below are some guidelines for the communicative treatment of vocabulary instruction: 40 1. Allocate specific class time to vocabulary teaching 2. Help students to learn vocabulary in context 3. Play down the role of bilingual dictionaries 4. Encourage students to develop strategies for determining the meaning of words 5. Engage in “unplanned” vocabulary teaching. In conclusion, teaching vocabulary could be integrated in all four skills to make the word itself more living which implied the development and the expansion of the students’ vocabulary that can get all at once within the teaching of another skill. Besides, the teacher must recognize that no one method of 38 Evelyn Hatch and Cherryl Brown, Vocabulary,Semantic,and language Education Cambridge : Cambridge University, 1995, p. 373. 39 Lotfi Gazal, Learning Vocabulary in EFL Contexts through Vocabulary Learning Strategies,... p.84. 40 Douglas H. Brown, Teaching by Principles: an Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy New York: Pearson Education Company, 2001, p. 377. 17 teaching vocabulary is the best, so the effective teacher has need of different methods for different occasion and for individual students.

C. Semantic Mapping