Vocabulary is a Significant Element in Learning English as a Foreign Language

2.1.2 Understanding of Academic Words

Vocabulary is knowledge of words and word meanings. Vocabulary can be divided into two forms, they are: receptive and productive vocabulary. According to Lehr, 2001, productive vocabulary is the words used when someone is speaking or writing, while receptive vocabulary is the words used when someone is listening or reading. Vocabulary can also be said as the kind of words that have to be mastered by the people who learn English as a foreign language. Academic words refer to the words learned and operated in academic environments in English also need to be familiar with a special type of formal vocabulary that is common in academic discourse. Academic words are the words in the next level below the specialist words or it can be called as sub-technical words which occur in a number of disciplines Jordan, 1997. There are three parts of academic vocabulary which are appropriate for teaching learning with research graduates. They are: a. the research process: the vocabulary is verbs and nouns, b. the vocabulary of analysis: high-frequency and two-word verbs, c. the vocabulary of evaluation: adjectives and adverbs that occur in reviews, critiques, and some reports. Coxhead says that academic words can be supportive elements in the process of teaching and learning English as a foreign language as in Schmitt and Schmitt, 2005. These words can be provided in texts which the students learn and they can support the productive skills of the students, such as: speaking and writing. If the students have good mastery on academic vocabulary, the students can have better result in their productive skills. For example, Coxhead compiled a corpus of three and a half million words written in academic discourse to help the students improve their mastery of academic vocabulary through 414 academic written texts Schmitt and Schmitt, 2005. There are 570 academic words that occur frequently across a range of academic subjects. If the students learn these words in addition to a 2,000-word basic vocabulary, they will be able to understand more than 86 percent of words they encounter in academic reading Schmitt and Schmitt, 2005. In academic vocabulary learning, there is specialist vocabulary or technical words above the level of academic words. According to Nation, specialized word list can be used as a guide and focus for teachers in different activities and as a checklist and aim for students Jordan, 1997. Specialist vocabulary or technical words may be of low frequency. Nation presents a decision chart for low-frequency words to assist students in deciding which words to learn Jordan, 1997: 152. low-frequency words technical learn it as part of your subject non technical containing known parts learn it, the known parts will help you not containing known remember it parts repeated learn it, it’s useful and the repetition will make not repeated it easy for you to remember it maybe ignored Figure 2.1 Chart for Low-frequency Words Jordan,1997