reads or hears if heshe has enough vocabulary and has a capability of using it correctly. Without good mastering in vocabularies, communication will end up in
unpleasant situation and learner feels reluctant to continue the communication.
2. Types of Vocabulary
In language learning, vocabulary is an essential component that links the four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing all together. There are many
explanations made by the experts in language area about the types of vocabulary. Gairns and Redman define vocabulary to receptive and productive
vocabulary.
8
a Receptive vocabulary is the language items which can be
recognized and comprehended in the context of reading and listening material.
b Productive vocabulary is language items which the learner
can recall and use appropriately in speech and writing. In addition to the kinds of vocabulary mentioned by Gairns and Redman
above, Kamil and Hiebert state that the productive vocabulary is the words that are familiar or easy to recognize and often used by an individual, particularly in
writing and speaking. The receptive vocabulary is the words that are less familiar to students and the students may not use it spontaneously for they may recognize
the words’ meaning as they are reading and listening.
9
Moreover, Kamil and Hiebert also mention other kinds of vocabulary beside productive and receptive vocabulary, i.e. oral and print vocabularies. In this
case, the oral vocabulary refers to the words that their meanings are known in speaking or reading orally, whereas the print vocabulary is considered as the
words of which their meanings may be known in writing or reading silently.
10
On the other hand, based on Richard and Rodgers, there are two types of vocabulary. They are abstract and concrete vocabulary. According to them,
8
Ruth Gairns and Stuart Redman. Working with Words. A guide to teaching and learning vocabulary, Cambridge University Press, p. 64.
9
Elfrieda H. Hiebert and Michael L. Kamil Eds., Teaching and Learning Vocabulary: Bringing Research to Practice, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers,
2005, p. 3.
10
Kamil, Hibert, Ibid
“concrete vocabulary was taught through demonstration objects and pictures. Abstract voca
bulary was taught by association of ideas”.
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Richards and Schmidt also said that “two levels of vocabulary knowledge are usually distinguished in the field of vocabulary acquisition, receptive and
productive levels of mastery of words. Receptive vocabulary also called recognition vocabulary or passive vocabulary is referred to as ―the total number
of words a person understands, either in reading or listening. However, productive or active vocabulary refers to the number of words a person can actively produce
in their speech or writing”.
12
From the explanations above, every experts in every book is different in classifying the kind of vocabulary, because every person has different ways in
showing and telling their opinions and ideas. In productive vocabulary, students learn a new word and they are able to use it in communication. The students can
express their idea using the words but in receptive vocabulary, the students only learn and know a lot of new words but cannot use the words in communication.
3. Teaching Vocabulary
The purpose of teaching vocabulary is to help the students to find the meaning of the words based on the context. To reach the goal on the teaching vocabulary, the
teacher must teach the students any things which related with the words. According to Wallace on Jurnal of English Language Teaching by Nurul
Saofa Aulia, in order to make vocabulary learning process better at junior high school, the teacher also has to follow particular principles in teaching vocabulary
they are as follows:
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a Aims
“The aims have to be clear for the teacher: how many of the things listed does the teacher expect the learner to be able to achieve the vocabulary? What
11
Jack, C Richard and Theodore, S Rodgers, Approach and Methods in Language Teaching: A Description and Analysis, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press: 1995 , p.10.
12
Nowbakht, Moinzadeh, Dabaghi, Op Cit, p.249.
13
Nurul Saofa Aulia, The Use of Manual Super Text Twist Game to Improve Students’
English Vocabulary Mastery, Semarang, Journal of English Language Teaching, 2013, p.2
kinds of words?” The aim is to help the teacher to formulate the material which will be taught to the student. Without formulates the aim, the learning
process will run out from the planning and the result or target will not be reached maximal.
b Quantity
“The teacher may have to decide on the number of vocabulary items to be learned”. The teacher has to select the number of vocabulary items which
easy to be understood by the students. The teacher cannot give the students a lot of new words in the same time because it makes the students confuse.
c Needs
“The students are put in a situation where they have to communicate and get the words they need, as they need them, using the teacher a
s an informant”. The teacher needs to know what the vocabulary really needed by the students.
It will help the teacher to choose the appropriate vocabulary for the student.
d Frequent exposure and repetition
“It is seldom, however, that we remember a new word simply by hearing at the first time. There has to be certain amount of repetition until there is
evidence that students have learned the target word”. The teacher should give
opportunity to the students to repeat and practice the words had been taught by the teacher and use it in oral and written text so that the students can
master the words well
e Meaningful presentation
“The learner must have a clear and specific understanding of what it denotes or refers to. The word is presented in such a way that its denotation or
reference is perfectly clear and ambigu ous”. The teacher should present the
vocabulary in real thing. It will make the students easer to memorize the words. In this case the teacher can teach new words by showing the real thing
