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associated with the word. A word does not only have a single meaning. Richard 1976 stated that being able to understand various meaning of a word when it is
used in different contexts covers the last aspect of vocabulary knowledge. Meanwhile, Nation 2001 divides vocabulary knowledge into three
aspects namely form, meaning, and use. Knowledge of form covers the spoken form, the written form and also the word parts such as prefix, suffix, and the root
of the words. In the spoken form, learners deal with the pronunciation or the sound of the words. Pronouncing words correctly is a crucial thing in learning a
language since mispronunciation can lead to misunderstanding in communication. In the written form, learners deal with the spelling and furthermore in word parts,
learners deal with word formation. Knowledge of meaning covers form and meaning, concept and referents, as well as associations. Form and meaning refer
to the way of words convey meaning from the word form. Concept and referents mean the items in which words can relate certain concept to its reference.
Meanwhile, association is the process of how people’s mind associate the form and the meaning when they hear a specific word or expression. Knowledge of use
deals with the grammatical functions, collocations and any constraints on its use related to frequency, level and so forth. In grammatical functions, learners should
be able to decide the appropriate grammar patterns in using the words. In collocations, learners deal with a word or phrase which is usually used with
another word or phrase. In constraints on use, learners deal with where, when and how often they use or meet the words.
Further, grading the vocabulary by the importance will help learners to improve their vocabulary knowledge since some vocabularies appear more
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frequently than others. Therefore, Nation 1990 categories words into four types using words frequency and range as the main criteria. They are high frequency
words, academic vocabulary, technical vocabulary, and low frequency words. High frequency words occur in all kinds of texts the most frequently. It takes
about 87 percent of the words used in the text. The number of high frequency words is 2000. Therefore, it is suggested that learners spend a lot of time to learn
the high frequency words to support their basic understanding and knowledge of English. Academic vocabulary occurs quite frequently in most kinds of academic
text. It takes about 8 percent of the words used in academic texts. The number of academic vocabulary is 800 words. Only if learners are in upper secondary school
or in tertiary education, then special time to learn academic vocabulary is needed. Technical vocabulary only occurs less frequently in specialized texts since it takes
only about 3 percent of the words. The number of technical vocabulary for each subject is about 1000 to 2000 words. These words are taught by the subject
teachers. Yet, English teachers can only help with the learning strategies. Low frequency words occur the least frequently among other types of words. It only
takes 2 percent or more of the words in any text. The number of the words is only about 123.000 words. Teachers do not need to spend the time to teach these words
in class. In case some students need them, teachers can teach strategies for dealing with these words. Based on the research on frequency counts as stated in Nation
1990, university students need around 2000 high frequency words with additional of 1000 further high frequency words to support their study. The
students also need to know the strategies to deal with the low frequency words they might find in the texts.
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Vocabulary knowledge is not only important to help learners understand texts but also help them support their communicative competence. Meara 1996
declares that lexical competence is the core of communicative competence. It is shown by learners who have a big size of vocabulary knowledge. They could
perform language skills more proficiently than those who acquire small size of vocabulary knowledge. Further, Wallace 1982 also states that learners who do
not have enough knowledge of the language structures can still perform certain level of communicative competence as long as they have sufficient vocabulary
knowledge. Communicative competence here is defined as the internalized knowledge of the situational appropriateness of language Hymes, 1972 as cited
in Coady and Huckin 1997: 12. The importance of communicative competence shifted the focus of teaching language from structure mastery to communicative
proficiency. In brief, it promotes fluency over accuracy which requires teachers to pay more attention to words since they help learners to convey meaning in
communication. Therefore, it can be concluded that vocabulary knowledge still holds a big role in language learning and vocabulary should be acquired first
before learners learn other aspects of language such as grammatical structures.
b. Teaching and Learning Vocabulary
Teaching vocabulary is not an easy task to do since teachers have to select the materials and the activities in order to improve students’ vocabulary
knowledge. According to Brown 2007: 7 teaching cannot be defined apart from learning. Teaching is guiding and facilitating learning, enabling the learner to
learn, setting the conditions for learning. Your understanding on how the learner PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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learns will determine your philosophy of education, your teaching style, your approach, methods, and classroom techniques. It also happens in vocabulary
teaching. The success of vocabulary teaching depends on how teachers prepare the vocabulary class with the appropriate approach, methods, and also techniques
for the students to achieve the vocabulary learning goals. Davis 2007: 72 identified several key messages to prove the significant role of teaching
vocabulary in school: 1 Vocabulary knowledge is a critical aspect of reading comprehension.
2 Students’ prior understanding and background knowledge are important contributors to vocabulary acquisition and use. 3 The context
in which students encounters words and the frequency of those encounters influence the quality of students’ vocabulary knowledge and
use. 4 Students learn many new words indirectly; however, they also need strategies to help them when they encounter unfamiliar vocabulary.
Systematic approaches to vocabulary instruction provide experiences that actively engage students in their own learning. 5 Teachers need to
know what words to teach and various ways in which to teach them. Because the task of learning vocabulary is huge, all teachers have a
responsibility for developing their students’ vocabulary.
Those five roles show that teaching vocabulary is still an important thing to do to support learners acquiring a language while considering some factors which can
influence the learning process. Furthermore, teachers as the facilitators should also be aware of students’ prior understanding and background knowledge as well
as learning strategies to help students to improve their vocabulary knowledge and maintain their learning progress.
Meanwhile, Nation 1990 proposes four ways to fit vocabulary learning into a language learning course. First, detail preparation is needed before giving
the materials to students. The examples of the preparation are simplifying the PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
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materials and carefully grading the vocabulary on the first English lesson. Second, unfamiliar words are discussed when they appear in the texts. However, teacher
needs to consider the importance of the words to decide the time in discussing them. Third, vocabulary is taught in connection with other language activities
such as inserting vocabulary exercises in reading or listening texts. This activity also helps learners to have more exposures in learning the vocabulary while
comprehending it more contextually in other skills. Fourth, learning time is spent either formally in class or casually outside the lesson hours. Learning time in class
can be used for direct learning activities such as dictionary work, exploring the word parts or guessing words. Casual learning outside the class can be used for
indirect learning activities such as doing word puzzle, matching games, and so forth. Casual learning can also function as a review of the direct learning in class
so that students can maintain their knowledge and ready to improve it further. Learning vocabulary covers many aspects which can be done in many
ways. Therefore, teachers and learners need to consider what kind of learning is needed and suitable. Nation 2001: 395 states that in learning vocabulary,
“learners should know what vocabulary to learn, what to learn about it, how to learn it, how to put in use and to observe how well it has been learned and used”.
It means that learners should also have high awareness in their learning process and progress. Learning vocabulary involved receptive learning and productive
learning Nation, 1990. In receptive learning, knowing a word means being able to recognize the sound of the word and also to recognize the appearance of the
word. Receptive learning not only requires learners to be able to value whether the word form sounds right or at least looks right but also to differentiate the word
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with other similar forms. Productive learning covers receptive learning and its extension. Nation 1990: 32 explains that productive learning involves, 1
knowing how to pronounce the words, 2 knowing how to write and spell it, 3 knowing how to use it in correct grammatical patterns along with the words it
usually collocates with, 4 knowing when to use it, 5 knowing how to use the word to stand for the meaning it represents and being able to think of suitable
substitutes for the word if there is any. The process of learning vocabulary also needs to consider implicit and
explicit knowledge of the learners. Acco rding to Ellis 2005, “implicit knowledge
is procedural, it is held unconsciously and can only be verbalized if it is made explicit”. Implicit knowledge can be applied in rapid and fluent communication
since it can be accessed rapidly and easily. Meanwhil e, explicit knowledge is “the
declarative and often anomalous knowledge of the phonological, lexical, grammatical, pragmatic and socio-critical features of an L2 together with the
metalanguage for labeling this knowledge” Ellis, 2004. Furthermore, Ellis 2005 stated that “explicit knowledge is held consciously, is learnable and
verbalize and is typically accessed through controlled processing when learners experience some kind of linguistic difficult in the use of the L2”. Meanwhile,
Schmitt 2012 assumes that vocabulary knowledge is declarative in nature and can never be implicit. Similarly, Ulman 2001 and Hulstjin 2007 as cited in
Schmitt 2012 also claim that vocabulary knowledge is symbolic and explicit; therefore, it is declarative while grammatical knowledge is procedural. Further,
Schmitt 2012: 125 states that Nation’s vocabulary aspects such as components related to form of word, meaning and the various semantic relations between
