The Definition of Vocabulary

b. Productive Vocabulary: Knowing a word involves being able to pronounce the word, how to write and to spell it, how to use it in grammatical pattern along with the word in usually collocates with it, it also involves not using the word too often if it is typically a low frequency word and using it in a suitable situation using the word to stand for the meaning it represents and being able to think of suitable substitutes for the word if there any ”. 5 Jo Ann Aeborsold and Mary Lee Field give another term for types of vocabulary: a. “Active Vocabulary refers to items the learner can use appropriately in speaking or writing and it is also called as productive vocabulary, although, in fact, it is more difficult to put into practice. It means that to use the productive vocabulary, the students are supposed to know how to pronounce it well, they must know and be able to use grammar of the language target, they are also hoped to familiar with collocation and understand the connotation meaning of the words. This type is often used in speaking and writing skill. b. Passive Vocabulary refers to a language items that can be recognized and understood in the context of reading or listening and also called as receptive ”. 6 Nation uses the term of receptive and productive in explaining the types of vocabulary, meanwhile, Jo Ann Aeborsold and Mary Lee Field use the term of active and passive. The writer can say that receptive or passive vocabulary is the word that someone knows when it is heard or seen, shehe can mention the meaning of the word, and recognizes it when it appears in reading. In contrast, productive or active vocabulary is the word that someone knows and shehe can apply it into sentence correctly, it is more difficult to put into practice than receptive or passive one. It means, using productive vocabulary, shehe must know to pronounce the word well, be able to use grammar, and be familiar with the collocation. From the explanation above, it is received that person with productive or active vocabulary have better language capability than person with receptive or passive vocabulary, because knowing vocabulary is not only knowing the 5 ISP Nation, Teaching and Learning Language New York: New Burry house,1990,p.29 6 Jo Ann Aeborsold and Mary lee Field, From Reader to Reading Teacher New York:Cambridge University Pres,1977,p.139 meaning, vocabulary does not stand alone, there are some aspects that make vocabulary more useful. Teacher should have been able to transfer learners‟ receptive into productive vocabulary, to make the vocabulary more useful and communicative as the standard competency of teaching-learning English language, it is students are able to communicate by using English. While, Keith S Folse devided vocabulary based on its items, those are: a. Single word “This is the word that people think of first, this group includes the bulk of vocabulary of any languages, this group includes not only more items, but also used items ” 7 : Animal: cat, dog, mouse, and so on Time periods: Monday, January, today, and so on. Countries: Indonesia, Mexico, Japan, and so on. Action: fly, stay, drink, and so on. Description: Happy, sad, amazing, and so on. Counters: Dozens, plenty, decade, and so on. b. Set Phrases Keith S Folse, in his book Vocabulary Myth Defined set phrases as follow: “It consists more than one word and do not usually change. For example, in the phrase of „ in other words‟ , people cannot say „ with other words‟ or „in other terms‟ with „ in other remarks, even though, „terms‟ and „remarks‟ might seem to be able to fit. Below some examples of set phrases: Raining cats and dogs not : raining kittens and puppies The bottom line not : the lowest line It‟s up to you not : it‟s above you Other set phrases must be arranged in a certain order, even though rearranging the ordering would not really affect the meaning. However, English conventions have locked these phrases into only one possible ordering: Raining cats and dogs not : raining dogs and cats Up and down not : down and up From head to toe not : from toe to head Back and forth not : forth and back 8 7 Keith S Folse. Vocabulary Myth Applying Second Language Research to Classroom Testing. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 2004,p. 2