studies are helpful for the researcher to design a CAVL mod el to enhance students’
vocabulary retention. In the next section, the review of theoretical literature on vocabulary learning and memory retention is highly necessary to provide deeper
understanding on how a word is acquired and storage in the memory. In addition, the following explanation gives foundation information before designing
vocabulary learning mediated computer to improve learner’s lexical retention.
B. Theoretical Review
In this section, some related theories from different literatures are discussed. This part presents the theories of English for specific purposes ESP vocabulary,
English for nursing, vocabulary acquisition and retention, vocabulary learning materials, computer-assisted vocabulary learning, an overview of iSpring suite
application, and instructional system design models.
1. ESP Vocabulary
Specialised vocabulary in ESP has important role. It shows what kind of ESP the learners are focused on. According to Coxhead in Patridge and Starfield,
2013, there are some reasons why vocabulary need to be specific in ESP course. Firstly, selected words in learning materials which is directly related to learners’
language needs will make their classroom time more valuable. Secondly, when learners understand and try to use this special purposes vocabulary indicates that
these learners belong to a particular group. In other words, it will be helpful for ESP learners if they are exposed with useful vocabulary related to their field. The
other reason is the size of specialised vocabulary is not fully established. It means that ESP learners probably face so many learning tasks to develop their
understanding and use of specialised vocabulary in their subject area at university or in a professional context. In the literature, ESP vocabulary has different terms
from one study to another. The terms include special purposes, specialized, technical, sub-technical, and semi-technical vocabulary Coxhead, 2013. Although
specialized vocabulary is claimed to belong to a particular subject area at university or to a professional discipline, it does not always that technical or highly technical
words are not used in everyday language. In contrast, ordinary words that usually can be found in daily language possibly have very specific meanings in particular
contexts. For example, treatment and care are words that can be found in everyday language but are also used in nursing studies. Hence, ESP vocabulary covers
various word levels. Nation divides vocabulary into four levels. They are a general service
vocabulary, academic vocabulary, technical vocabulary, and low frequent vocabulary Nation, 2001. According to Chung and Nation 2003, words
classified into a general service vocabulary or high frequency words are the most frequent 2,000 words of English. Around 80 of this vocabulary can be found in
academic texts and newspapers, and around 90 of them typically are in conversations and novels. Nation 2001 states that a general service vocabulary
includes all of the function words of English and content words such as between, early, the, is, by, and many more. The second vocabulary level is academic
vocabulary which is the extension of the general service vocabulary. It consists of words that can be found in any disciplines with the same form, but the meaning is
quite different. It covers average 8.5 of academic texts, average 3.9 of newspapers, and 1.7 of fictions Nation, 2001: 304. It is in between high
