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understand about new vocabulary. To solve this problem, the teacher should find and use the appropriate ways or techniques while the teacher teaches new
vocabulary to the learners. Based on Lewis and Hill 1992:102, there are nine ways or techniques in presenting new vocabulary. There are:
a. Demonstrate
.If the teacher does give a verbal explanation, it should at least be accompanied by a physical demonstration. The demonstration both helps to make
the meaning clearer and helps to fix the word in the students’ minds. It is not usual for students to be able to tell people where they learned a
new word, what the weather was like on the day, etc. The more the students can be involved as a person in what is going on in the language classroom, the more
likely the new language is to be retained effectively in the memory. If every word is “explained” in the same way either by translation or verbal explanation, they
merge into a set of language in which is difficult to distinguish individual items. Demonstration highlights particular words and helps associate it in the students’
minds with both visual and aural memories.
b. Use the real thing
Teacher become so pre-occupied with teaching that sometimes they explain, or even draw on the blackboard things which are immediately available in
the room. The teacher will show real objects or pictures of real objects to the learners.
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c. Draw or sketch
Teacher do not need to be artists to make simple sketches which illustrate meaning, particularly if they bear in mind the advice given above about teaching
contrast rather than meaning itself. The meaning of bush was explained by two very simple sketches.
d. Use the blackboard to show scales or grades
Words like cool, orange color, or probably may be explained by presenting them with groups of related words:
Hot red
certainlydefinitely Warm
orange probablypossibly
Cool yellow
Cold
e. Antonyms
Antonyms indicate oppositions in meaning between terms A is the opposite of B; e.g. cold is the opposite of warm. There are two kinds of
antonyms. BINARY ANTONYMS
GRADABLE ANTONYMS Binary antonyms are predicates
which come in pairs and between them exhaust all the relevant
possibilities. For example: good and bad.
Gradable antonyms
are two
predicates which have relation with scale of values.
For example: Rich
and Poor,
between rich and poor is a
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continuous scale of values, which may be given names such as middle
class.
Sometimes it is usually much easier to offer explanations about the meaning of word in antonyms. For example the kind of rude means not polite.
It is worth mentioning that the explanations given here are not exact definitions of the word. The level of the explanation must be suitable to the
students’ level of English at the time so that dictionary-like accuracy can often be counter being productive.
f. Synonyms
