Theory of Vocabulary Learning

25 focused on some other feature, usually the message that is conveyed by a speaker or writer. Therefore, Nation 1990 adds three points to consider in vocabulary learning: vocabulary learners need to learn, how learners will learn the vocabulary and how the teachers test to see what the learners need to know and what they now know p. 4. In the first point, the teachers need to decide the words that their learners need or in the other words the goals of vocabulary learning. This is important because it will affect the way the words are selected. Next, there are several strategies that learners can use to cope with the new vocabulary namely guessing from context, paraphrasing, using words parts, dictionary use and mnemonic techniques Nation, 1990, p. 6. Nevertheless, the most important strategy is guessing from context. The last point is how to test what the learners need to know and what they now know. Nation 1990 explains that there are 6 reasons for testing, they are to find learners‟ total vocabulary size, to compare vocabulary knowledge before and after the course, to keep a continuing check on progress, to encourage learning by setting short-term goals, to see the effectiveness of your teaching and to investigate learning p. 8. Considering three points above, the researcher chooses direct vocabulary learning as the techniques of vocabulary learning in designing the materials. It includes word-building exercises, guessing words from context, learning words in lists, and vocabulary games. Part of speech becomes one of the main focuses in vocabulary learning to enrich the students‟ vocabulary list through reading texts given. This is also supported by Pabis and Hamer 2004 who suggest, “…it is 26 sometimes possible to guess the meaning of a word you don‟t know before you look up or ask its meaning. Decide first what part of speech the word is and then look for clues in i ts context or form” p. 3. Moreover, having rich vocabulary will help the students have better comprehension of the reading texts.

5. Writing

This part discuss the theories that relies on writing and consists of the nature of writing, purpose of writing, the writing process, types of writing, and writing competence.

a. The Nature of Writing

Nunan 2003 defines writing as the mental work of inventing ideas, thinking about how to express them, and organizing them into statements and paragraphs that will be clear to a reader p. 88. According to Brown 2004, “In the field of second language t eaching … writing was primarily a convention for recording speech and for reinforcing grammatical and lexical features of language” p. 218. Thus, to be a good writer, the students need to learn about grammar and enrich their vocabulary. It will be helpful for them in order to produce a good composition of writing. In addition, Tiedt 1989, p. 1 states that writing is a method of expressing ideas about any subject content; it appears in classroom everywhere and, therefore, must be the concern of every teacher. This view is also supported by Nunan 2003 who describes writing as a process and a product p. 88. These statements prove that writing is a productive skill which conveys the students to produce a composition of paragraphs using correct grammatical forms and vocabulary list they have learned during the lesson. 27

b. Purpose of Writing