17 is deliberate learning. This technique is learning a language by consciously paying
attention to the language features such as sounds, spelling, vocabulary, grammar or discourse. The third is learning from meaning-focused output. It involves
learning through speaking and writing. The last is fluency development. In this case, the learner has already known the word that they know all. The focus is on
being fluent in listening, speaking, reading and writing. Teaching vocabulary using songs is considered as a learning method from
meaning-focused input. It means that the learner has already known some words that they listen. There should be few difficult words occur in the listening material
so that the learner can guess the meaning from the context and it would be easier for the learner to understand and remember better the new words given. So the
text or the teaching material is determined by the level of the students’ difficulty.
b. Principles of Vocabulary Teaching
Vocabulary is considered as an important part of language learning and to overcome the difficulty in teaching vocabulary the teacher should apply the
guiding principles in vocabulary teaching. There are four principles in learning vocabulary based on I.S.P. Nation, Victoria University of Wellington 2001: 135-
141. They are: 1.
Focus on the most useful vocabulary first 2001: 135. Teaching useful vocabulary will give the learners the best result for their learning.
It is related to vocabulary selection. The teacher needs to rely on the most useful vocabulary in order to meet the needs of various goals and conditions. In teaching
18 vocabulary, the vocabulary or the material must be allocated to appropriate
lessons. 2.
Focus on the vocabulary in the most appropriate way 2001: 138. This relates to how the words are taught and learned by the students in an
appropriate way. The teacher should be able to see what the most suitable way is in teaching vocabulary from the high frequency words to the low frequency
words. 3.
Give attention to the high frequency words across the four strands of course 2001: 139-141.
“High frequency words need to appear in all four strands of course.” High frequency words should be given fully attention and become priority to be taught,
since they are mostly appear in listening, writing, speaking, reading also they are related to receptive and productive use.
4. Encourage learners to reflect on and take responsibility for learning 2001:
140-141. Learners should control the learning process. Learners should be able to take
responsibility for their learning. The teacher acts as a facilitator who must transfer the language skills. In order to take this responsibility, it requires: “1 knowledge
of what to learn and the range of learning vocabulary, 2 skill in choosing the best options, and 3 the ability to monitor and evaluate progress with those
options” 2001: 141. It can be concluded that, the students are the only one who are responsible to learn and carry on learning in teaching learning process.
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c. Vocabulary Mastery
In vocabulary mastery, the most basic question is not on how to test vocabulary but on what we want to assess. Vocabulary is always related to
dictionary’s domination. Teachers often think that it is a matter of words with their associated meanings. Vocabulary learning is considered as a matter of
memorizing long lists of second language words as the target language. From this point of view, vocabulary mastery is to understand the meanings of words.
However, when we look more closely at vocabulary, it is not only a matter of knowing the meaning of words. Learners need to know more about the words
and other lexical items that are acquired when they use the words in their own speech or writing.
Bachman and Palmer 1996: 17 proposed that in assessing vocabulary, teacher needs to know that language ability not only includes knowledge but also
performance. Since, vocabulary mastery is ability consists of knowledge and language performance. It is the ability to comprehend words; comprehension
includes the ability to know the meaning of the words, to memorize the words better, to pronounce the words correctly, and to use the words in context.
Therefore, it is the ability that more than just knowing the words but also being able to perform the words to meet the learners’ communication needs. Based on
Chapelle 1994:163 the definition of language ability includes “both knowledge of language and the ability to put language to use in context”. Thus, the
components of vocabulary mastery are as follows: 1.
The context of vocabulary use means to know the words in context of the
