Kinds of Vocabulary Vocabulary

content-area terms have been taught in a specific way, it raises the learners comprehension ability to the 83 rd percentile. 3 Independent strategy development Promote the learners to guess meaning from context and use dictionary is important features of independent strategy development. This strategy provides the learners knowledge to be autonomous learners. Teaching method is another thing that should be considered in developing vocabulary learning material. National Reading Panel 2000 identifies five methods of teaching vocabulary which are: 1 Explicit Instruction Learners are given with specific algorithms or external cues to connect the words with meaning. A common example of this technique is the pre-teaching of vocabulary prior to reading a selection. 2 Indirect Instruction In this method learners are exposed to words by doing a great deal of reading. It is assumed that students will infer any definitions they do not have. This implicit method simply suggests that students should be encouraged to do wide reading to increase vocabulary. 3 Capacity method Reducing the cognitive capacity is the aim of this method. It focuses on making reading activity automatic. These methods allow the student to concentrate on meaning of words rather than their oral representations. 4 Association Methods Learners are encouraged to draw connections between their background knowledge and the unfamiliar words. These associations can be semantic, contextual or even based on students’ imagery in learning the words. 5 Multimedia Methods Vocabulary is taught by going beyond text to include other media such as graphic representations, hypertext, and semantic mapping. Related to instruction in building reading comprehension, National Reading Panel 2000 identifies eight specific findings concluded from many researches to be put into concern of vocabulary instruction. Here are the findings. a There is a need for direct instruction of vocabulary items required for a specific text. b Repetition and multiple exposures to vocabulary items are important. Students should be given items that will be likely to appear in many contexts. c Learning in rich contexts is valuable for vocabulary learning. Vocabulary words should be those that the learner will find useful in many contexts. When vocabulary items are derived from content learning materials, the learner will be better equipped to deal with specific reading matter in content areas. d Vocabulary tasks should be restructured as necessary. It is important to be certain that students fully understand what is asked of them in the context of reading, rather than focusing only on the words to be learned. Restructuring seems to be most effective for low-achieving or at-risk students. e Vocabulary learning is effective when it entails active engagement in learning tasks. f Computer technology can be used effectively to help teach vocabulary. g Vocabulary can be acquired through incidental learning. Much of a student’s vocabulary will have to be learned in the course of doing things other than explicit vocabulary learning. Repetition, richness of context, and motivation may also add to the efficacy of incidental learning of vocabulary. h Dependence on a single vocabulary instruction method will not result in optimal learning. A variety of methods was used effectively with emphasis on multimedia aspects of learning, richness of context in which words are to be learned, and the number of exposures to words that learners receive. In relation to academic reading, Grabe and Stiller in Celce-Murcia ed, 2001 recommend some phases to be conducted in vocabulary teching and learning process which are: 1 focusing the key words Key words are important in determining the target words and its learning activities. The learning activities should be built around those key words. 2 keeping the words active Exercises and activities are needed to emphasize the target vocabulary. Explicit instruction can be used to save time. The words should be recycled in another task to ensure the learners get enough exposure and can retain the words in their long-term memory. Those tasks should be explored as part of discussion about the text and the meaning of the text. In other words the goal of the task is to help the learners in knowing the words to be used in comprehending the text. 3 incorporating them into a larger learning project To make the leaners fully understand the words, they need to use it in a larger learning project. The larger learning project can be in the form of finding specific information about the text, summarizing, making an essay about the text or other learning project based on the learners’ needs and target situation. Moreover, Marzano 2004 also develops six steps of explicit vocabulary instruction that can be conducted in all across learners’ proficiency. The steps are presented below. 1 A description, explanation, or examples of the new term are provided for the students. Although it gives the words’ definition, looking up words in dictionaries is not an effective activity since the text may have different context with the dictionaries. So context that provided by the materials is important to help the leaners in understanding the words along with teacher’s explanation in everyday language. The teacher may give example that connects the words to the real world. A mental imagery of the words may be used to describe the words. The important thing that must be noted that elements which make the learners understand the words should be provided including the words’ pronunciation. 2 Students restate the explanation of the new term in their own words. To make the target words stored in the students’ long term memory, they should state their own description, representation, and the new insight of the target words. They have to use their own words in restating what the teacher has presented before. The students may discuss it in groups and record the result on their vocabulary notebook. 3 Students create a nonlinguistic representation of the term. The nonlinguistic representation can be in the form of graphic organizer, picture or pictographs. The picture should be simple and can be in the form of symbol. It does not have to be overdrawn. A simple sketch is enough to represent the words. The picture may not directly represent the words but it can a picture related to the word. The teacher may give the example first to help the leaners.