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2. The Nature of Vocabulary Teaching
Vocabulary is an important part of language learning. Teaching vocabulary requires the students’ ability to understand the words and to use the
words appropriately. Based on the observation, the teachers sometimes think that teaching vocabulary is simple. The teacher just gives some new words, exercises,
asks the students to remember the words and then gives them a test. Wallace 1982:144 says that “learning vocabulary is a complex process which requires the
ability to recognize the words, remember them, and to pronounce, spell and use them correctly”. So it is not only memorizing lists of words and knowing it
without understanding it. To know the words is very different from to understand the words. For
example, a student knows how to pronounce the word ‘apple’ and knows its meaning, but he cannot write the word and use the word correctly. In this case, the
student only knows the pronunciation and the meaning, but he does not know the spelling and how to use the word. If a student understands a new word, he
understands also the pronunciation, the meaning, the spelling, and the application of the word in a real context. There is a process of learning vocabulary, from
knowing a new word until understanding it. Teaching vocabulary involves some steps, Lado 1964:121 states that
there are three steps in teaching vocabulary. First, the students hear the new word for several periods of time. In this case, the teacher becomes the model of a good
pronunciation. The teacher pronounces the word several times then the students will observe and imitate the teacher. Repetition has an important role of a good
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Second, the students should be given the opportunity to pronounce the new word. After the teacher gives the correct pronunciation of a word, the teacher then
should let the students to repeat pronouncing the word that has been said by the teacher. This step will help the students remember the word in a longer period of
time. When the students make a mistake in pronouncing the word, the teacher should correct it by pronouncing it again.
The last step is the students should predict the meaning of the unfamiliar word. It is the most important step in learning vocabulary. The teacher may give
the definition to describe the word, but indirectly. So the teacher should define the word by using an indirect description of the word. Through using an indirect
description of the word, the students will be encouraged to remember the word better and it helps them to notice its part of speech.
Those three steps are important in learning vocabulary and have to be considered in the learning process. Learning process involves hearing the words,
pronouncing them, and understanding the meaning. The teacher should be aware of those processes. In order to be able to master and understand vocabularies, the
students should experience those three teaching vocabulary steps.
a. Background of Vocabulary Teaching
There are four backgrounds of teaching vocabulary based on I.S.P. Nation, Victoria University of Wellington New Zealand. The first is learning from
meaning-focused input. It involves learning from listening and reading. Secondly
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