12
CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter aimed to discuss the theoretical truth of course book ’s
vocabulary coverage by corpora-based analysis. It consists of two major parts, namely theoretical review and theoretical framework. In the first part, the
researcher would like to present and clarify the review of related theories which include the nature of word and vocabulary knowledge, vocabulary coverage,
course books, word recycling and corpus. By the end of this chapter, the framework of the theories is presented to give theoretical answer for the research
problems.
A. THEORETICAL REVIEW
This section is aimed to clarify concepts and concept relations. It covers the discussion about the nature of word and vocabulary knowledge, vocabulary
coverage, word recycling, course books, and corpus.
1. The Nature of Word and Vocabulary Knowledge
In this part, the concept of word and vocabulary, word knowledge, vocabulary knowledge, vocabulary distribution, word recycling, word form, word
meaning, and word use are clarified. a.
The Concept of Word and Vocabulary Everyone should know the importance of knowing what a word is when we
are discussing vocabulary. However, many of us might confuse what vocabulary is exactly and how word and vocabulary differ.
There are three definitions of a word according to Carter. The first definition is an arthographic definition Carter, 1998: 4. The definition is based on its
system of spelling. A word is defined as any sequence of letters including a limited number of other characteristics such as hyphen and apostrophe, bounded
on other side by a space or punctuation mark. The second definition of a word which is stated by Carter is the minimum unit of language. According to Carter
1998: 5, a word is the minimum meaningful unit of language. Although this definition is more precise, it assumes an overt relation between individual words
and the concept of meaning. The third definition according to Carter is related to its pronunciation. The definition is that a word will not have more than one
stressed syllable Carter, 1998: 6. In the other side, Nunan 1999 stated that vocabulary is target language
words presented in a list. It means that vocabulary consists of a number of words. Therefore, it is clear how word and vocabulary differ. One word can stand alone
as a word, but vocabulary should consist of more than one word. Knowing a word, according to Carter 1998: 5, is “knowing the different
meanings carried by a single form”. Thus, he clarifies that it is more accurate to define a word as a minimum meaningful unit of language. In other words, words
can be in different form, but it does not mean that they are counted as different words.
The concept of lexeme may help us in understanding the concept of word more clearly. Carter defines lexeme as the abstract unit underlying variants e.g.
runs, ran, running, runner re lated to ‘word’. Thus, RUN is the lexeme of the
word forms ‘runs’, ‘ran’, ‘running’, and ‘runner’. Lexeme is ‘the basic,
contrasting units of vocabulary in a language’. If we search for a meaning in dictionary, we are looking for lexeme rather than words. Then we would find the
word-forms under the lexeme. The terms lexeme and word-forms are important theoretical concepts used when theoretical distinctions are needed. If not, we can
just use the terms lexical items, vocabulary items, or items to refer to words. The discussion above then leads to a concept of lexical words. It can also be
called “full words” or “content words”. It includes nouns chair, cup, adjectives lazy, happy, verbs buy, run, and adverbs heavily, quickly, bringing high
information content. Lexical words are syntactically structured by grammatical words. Grammatical words include pronouns
I, they
, articles a, the, auxiliary verbs can, may, prepositions in, at, and conjunctions but, and. According to
Carter, they are also called “functional word” or “empty words”. In the counting process of tokens, types, and word families in this research, content words and
function words are considered the same, for example do as a content word and do as a functional word. However, they are discussed and treated as having a
different category in the discussion part. b.
Word Knowledge In order to get clearer insight of a word, it is necessary to know the aspects
of word knowledge. Generally, the discussions of what is meant by knowing a word emphasize the knowledge of word forms, their meanings, and their
linguistics features, and the ability to use words in different modalities and varied linguistic settings Paribakht and Wesche, 1997: 310. Furthermore, word
knowledge has also been described as consisting of some components. Richards 1976: 83 suggests some features of assumptions of word knowledge. He states
that knowing a word entails: 1 knowing the degree of probability of encountering that word in speech or print and the sort of words most likely to be
found associated with the word. This assumption suggests that word knowledge covers the knowledge of the frequency of the word and its collocation, 2
knowing the limitations imposed on the use of the word according to variations of function and situation, 3 knowing a word means knowing the syntactic
behaviour associated with the word. This shows that knowledge of word comprises the understanding of relationships between specific grammatical
features and the word, 4 knowing a word entails knowledge of the underlying form of a word and the derivations that can be made from it. This feature implies
that knowledge of words involves the knowledge of word inflections and the use of affixes, 5 knowing a word entails knowledge of the network of associations
between that word and other words in the language. This indicates that lexical knowledge includes the understanding of the association between the word and
other words, 6 knowing a word means knowing the semantic value of a word, and 7 knowing a word means knowing many of the different meanings
associated with a word. This covers the understanding of various meaning based on the context in which the word is used. The seven aspects provide clear points
that must be considered in learning vocabulary. c.
Vocabulary Knowledge According to Jordan 1997, it is reasonable that vocabulary is related to all
language learning and learners usually want to increase their store of vocabulary, regarding it as a measure of their language improvement. The learners tend to
view vocabulary mastery as meaningful development in their learning. It indicates PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
that vocabulary knowledge is very important for them to evaluate their progress in learning second language.
Knowledge of vocabulary can be viewed from different perspectives. Among the various views, the notion of “breadth and depth of knowledge‟ and
“receptive and productive knowledge‟ is a comprehensive discussion of vocabulary knowledge. In order to get clearer description of vocabulary
knowledge, the following subsections present the discussion of various ideas given by different experts.
1 Breadth and Depth of Vocabulary Knowledge
A term “breadth of vocabulary knowledge‟ usually refers to the learners’
size of vocabulary. Vocabulary size refers to the number of words that a person knows Read, 2000: 31. Learners‟ vocabulary size is most likely related to their
ability in understanding both written and spoken texts. This implies that the greater vocabulary size the learners have, the more easily they understand the
texts they read or listen. This also means that vocabulary knowledge mainly deals with the range of different words and proper understanding of the words.
Nonetheless, it should not be supposed that if a learner has adequate vocabulary then all aspects in language learning become easy and it should not also be
thought that significant vocabulary knowledge is always a prerequisite to language skill performance Nation and Waring, 1997 in Schmitt and McCarthy,
1997: 6. To this extent, knowledge of words is operationalized as the ability to translate L2 vocabulary into L1, to define the word correctly, or to say the word
differently and therefore, vocabulary knowledge is defined as precise PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
comprehension Henriksen, 1999: 305. This stage of vocabulary knowledge falls into the “partial-precise knowledge‟ of vocabulary.
Various studies on vocabulary size, lexical growth, and the number of words gained overtime have been conducted by different researchers. The focus of such
studies is mainly on measuring the number of vocabulary, such as; counting the number of words r
ecognized by native speakers D’Anna, Zechmeister and Hall, 1991; Goulden, Nation and Read, 1999, the amount of words required by native
speakers Hazenberg and Hulsjin, 1996; Laufer, 1992, the number of words gained from incidental exposure while reading Huckin and Coady, 1999; Nagy,
Herman and Anderson, 1985, and the amount of words learned by applying different exercises, techniques and strategies Avila and Sadoski, 1996; Cohen
and Aphek, 1980. Such research, however, does not lead to sufficient understanding of vocabulary acquisition and does not explain how individual
words are acquired Schmitt, 1998: 282. This condition underlies the emerge depth of knowledge perspective which likely clarifies the issue.
The result of a study conducted by Goulden, Nation, and Read 1990 show that educated English native speakers knows around 2,000 word families. The
native speakers add 1,000 word families to their vocabulary per year. However, it is possible for learners of English as a second language non-native speakers.
According to Schmitt 2000, the first 2,000 most frequent types of English is referred as the level for the basic initial goal of second language learners.
However, only the first 1,000 most frequent types needs to be recognized by elementary level students and 2,000 most frequent types needs to be recognized
by intermediate level students Criado and Sánchez, 2009. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
Henriksen 1999 in his research stated that depth of knowledge, on the other hand, emphasizes more on the quality of the learners‟ vocabulary
knowledge covering the full understanding or rich meaning representation of a word. The full understanding or rich meaning of a word can be gained by looking
at its relations or associations with other words and its contexts. A depth knowledge continuum includes knowledge of the wo
rd’s syntagmatic and paradigmatic relations with other words Laufer and Paribakht, 1998: 367. The
focus of studies on depth of knowledge is different from that of breadth knowledge. It focuses on individual words rather than on the overall growth of
vocabulary Schmitt, 1998: 282. It means that the aspect of depth of knowledge stresses more on the learners’ knowledge of individual words including its
referential meanings and its relations to other words. In other words, it most likely deals with the range of meanings carried by individual words. It also describes
how well the learners understand the appropriate meaning of a word when it is used in different contexts. Understanding the context in which a word occurs in
particularly needed by advanced learners. It is important for advance learners to acquire more senses of polysemous words and learn more about possible
collocates, special uses, and so on Bogaards, 2000: 495. This indicates that they most likely deal with depth of knowledge vocabulary. By taking into account the
context in which a word occurs, the proper meaning can eventually be found and understood. For that reason, context constitutes an aspect that is apparently
inseparable from depth of knowledge of vocabulary. Several researchers Paribakht and Wesche, 1993, 1997; Read, 1993;
Schmitt, 1998; Wesche and Paribakht, 1996 developed tests to measure wider PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
and deeper aspects of lexical knowledge. Using such tests, they assess the aspects such as; basic understanding, full understanding, correct use, sensitivity to
collocation and word association. Nevertheless, different test models should be accommodated in order to cover various features of knowledge being tested.
Henriksen 1999: 306 argues the researchers must use the combination of tests formats tapping distinct aspects of knowledge to describe the
learner’s lexical competence related to the aspects of quality or depth of vocabulary knowledge. In
their research, Laufer and Paribakht 1998 classify word knowledge into three types, namely, passive, controlled active and free active knowledge. Passive
vocabulary knowledge is defined as understanding its most frequent meaning. Controlled active knowledge is described as a cue recall of the word. And free
active knowledge is referred to spontaneous use of a word in context. The three aspects show that what they investigate is fairly deeper than merely word
recognition which is the concern of breadth of vocabulary knowledge. 2
Receptive and Productive of Vocabulary Knowledge Knowledge of essentially needed to support language use. According to
Fromkin, Blair, and Collins 2007, knowledge of a language makes it possible to understand and produce new sentences. It is the notion of receptive and
productive use of language. It means the term receptive and productive knowledge of vocabulary become emergence in studying vocabulary.
Laufer and Paribakht 1998 made a clear definition about receptive and productive of vocabulary knowledge. They stated that receptive and productive of
vocabulary knowledge mainly deals with how well the learner can access and use a word.
Melka 1997 in his research argues that knowing a word is closely related to the concept of word familiarity or degrees of knowledge. The concept labels
productive knowledge as higher degrees of knowledge. It includes the knowing of various meanings of a polysemous word and the knowing of collocations or
idioms. The knowledge of phonology, morphology, syntax, lexis and appropriateness is regarded as very high degrees of familiarity and therefore the
production process needs a more complete set of information Melka, 1997: 86- 87. However, there are various stages of recognition and the boundary of word
recognition is at the stage when the word is stored incompletely or when word production is still impossible Melka, 1997: 88. Although in terms of lexicon it is
almost impossible to find a clear and adequate definition of what is meant by reception and production, Gass and Selinker 2001 made a final remark that
vocabulary knowledge can be best represented as a continuum with the initial stage being recognition and the final being production. Therefore, reception or
recognition cannot be separated from production but it should be viewed as an interrelated process.
The two dichotomy can be overtly contradictory to the fact that empirically the term is commonly used to refer to the passive and active use of language s
ince
vocabulary as the centre of the language, always plays its role in both passive and active use of language. Laufer and Paribakht 1998 urge to distinguish between
passivereceptive and activeproductive vocabulary. The passive use of language is mostly related to two skills, namely, listening
and reading. This can be seen in that the aim of listening activity is to understand the spoken language and that of reading is to comprehend the written text. The
process of understanding occurs in mind. The language users most likely use their knowledge of vocabulary to comprehend the meaning of the spokenwritten texts.
Researchers agree that word comprehension does not automatically determine the accuracy of word use and that passivereceptive knowledge generally precedes
activeproductive knowledge Laufer and Paribakht, 1998: 369. At passivereceptive level, therefore, the language users mostly do not produce any
spokenwritten language. That is why it is called the passive use of language. In contrary, speaking and writing are the other two language skills that is
inseparable from active use of language. In speaking, the speaker actively conveys messages to the listeners. In this case, spoken language is produced. In addition,
writing activity aims at communicating the researcher’s ideas to the reader.
Therefore, written language is produced as a mean of conveying the ideas. It seems clearer now that in listeningreading the listenerreader uses the language
passively, whereas in speaking and writing the language is used actively. Nation 1990 discussed comprehensively about the receptive and
productive knowledge of vocabulary. He argues that the receptive dimension of vocabulary knowledge entails 1 being able to recognize it when it is heard or
when it is seen, 2 having an expectation of what grammatical pattern the word will occur in, 3 having some expectation of the words which will collocate with
it, 4 knowing its frequency and appropriateness, 5 being able to recall its meaning, 6 being able to make different associations with other related words
Nation, 1990: 31-33. On the other hand, productive knowledge also covers some aspects of
vocabulary knowledge which expand the receptive knowledge. Productive PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
knowledge of vocabulary involves; a knowing how to pronounce the word, b how to write and spell it, c how to use it in correct grammatical patterns along
with the words usually collocate with, d how to avoid using low frequency word too often and use it in suitable situations, e how to use the word to stand for the
meaning it represents, and f how to be able to think of suitable replacement of the word if there are any.
2. Vocabulary Coverage
Kategori