Scrabble Definition of Terms
meaning that can be derived from grammatical relationship within the language or from the word order.
Therefore, learning a language, including English cannot be separated from its vocabulary. It is important to introduce some English words first to the senior high
school students as a basic step to learn English vocabulary. Lado 1964 states that there are three steps in teaching vocabulary. First, the students hear the new word for
several periods of time. It means that the teacher becomes the model of a good pronunciation. Second, the students should be given the opportunity to pronounce the
new word. This step will help students to remember the word in a longer period of time. When the students are wrong when pronouncing the words, the teacher should
correct it at the time by pronouncing again. The last step is that students should predict the meaning of the unfamiliar word.
The teacher may give the definition to describe the word indirectly. By using an indirect description of the word, the students will be encouraged to remember the
word better. Those three steps are important in learning vocabulary and have to be considered in the learning process. In order to be able to master and understand
vocabularies, the students should experience those three teaching vocabulary steps. According to Yang 2002 English for Second Language ESL junior high
students have to learn 1.000 words, while senior high school students have to learn 2.800 words, almost three times more than words to be learned in junior high school
as cited in Wang, 2005, p. 4. However, not all words have equal importance in language instruction. Therefore, teacher have to know which words they need to
teach. A word‟s frequency of use, complexity, and meaning determines into which level it will fall. Those with mature vocabularies and age-appropriate literacy skills
understand and use words from all levels. First level called Basic Vocabulary
consists of the most basic words. These words rarely require direct instruction and typically do not have multiple meanings. Sight words, nouns, verbs, adjectives, and
early reading words occur at this level. Examples of level one words are: book, girl, sad, run, dog, and orange. There about 8,000 word families in English included in
level one.
The second level is called High FrequencyMultiple Meaning Vocabulary
consists of high frequency words that occur across a variety of domains. These words occur often in mature language situations such as adult conversations and literature,
and therefore strongly influence speaking and reading. Level two words are the most important words for direct instruction because they are good indicators of a student‟s
progress through school. Examples of level two words are: masterpiece, fortunate, industrious, measure, and benevolent. There are about 7,000 word families in English
or 700 per year in tier two.
The third level is called Low FrequencyContext-Specific Vocabulary,
consists of low-frequency words that occur in specific domains. Domains include subjects in school, hobbies, occupations, geographic regions, technology, weather,
etc. Students usually learn these words when a specific need arises, such as learning amino acid during a chemistry lesson. Examples of level three words are: economics,
isotope, asphalt, Revolutionary War, and, crepe. The remaining 400,000 words in