Using Synectic Strategy to Improve Students’ Vocabulary Mastery of The First Semester of English Education Department of Tarbiyah and Teaching Science Faculty of Alauddin State Islamic University Academic Year 2011-2012 - Repositori UIN Alauddin Makassar
USING SYNECTIC STRATEGY TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’
VOCABULARY MASTERY IN THE FIRST SEMESTER OF
ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT STUDENT OF
TARBIYAH AND TEACHING SCIENCE FACULTY OF
ALAUDDIN STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY
A Thesis
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan in English Education Department of
Tarbiyah and Teaching Science Faculty of
UIN Alauddin Makassar
BY
ABDI RAHMAT SYAM
Reg. Number: 20401107005
ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
TARBIYAH AND TEACHING SCIENCE FACULTY
ALAUDDIN STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MAKASSAR
2012
USING SYNECTIC STRATEGY TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY
MASTERY IN THE FIRST SEMESTER OF ENGLISH EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF TARBIYAH AND TEACHING SCIENCE
FACULTY OF ALAUDDIN STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY
A Thesis
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan in English Education Department of
Tarbiyah and Teaching Science Faculty of
Alauddin State Islamic University
BY
ABDI RAHMAT SYAM
Reg. Number: 20401107005
ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
TARBIYAH AND TEACHING SCIENCE FACULTY
ALAUDDIN STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MAKASSAR
2012
DECLARATION OF THESIS AUTHENTICITY
The one who sign below declares that this thesis is truly the writer’s own work and if there is evidence found in the future indicating that all part of this thesis are plagiarized work. The thesis and the title earned from it will be abolished.
Samata-Gowa, March , 2012 Writer
ABDI RAHMAT SYAM NIM. 20401107005
CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE APPROVAL
After going through precise examination and careful rectification, the consultative committee of the thesis under the title “Using Synectic Strategy to Improve Students’ Vocabulary Mastery in The First Semester of English Education Department of Tarbiyah and Teaching Science Faculty of Alauddin State Islamic University Academic Year of 2011-2012” arranged by Abdi Rahmat Syam, Student Reg. No. 20401107005, a student of English Education Department of Tarbiyah and Teaching Science Faculty of Alauddin State Islamic University confirm that the thesis mentioned above has met the scientific standard and it is approved to advance to the “Munaqasah” examination.
Thus, this declaration is made to be exerted for further process.
Consultant I Consultant II
Dra. Hj. Djuwairiah Ahmad, M. Pd, M. TESOL H.Erwin Hafid, Lc., M.Th.I., M.Ed.
NIP. 19700619 199403 2 001 NIP. 19740912 200003 1 002
THESIS APPROVAL
The thesis under the title “Using Synectic Strategy to Improve Students’ Vocabulary Mastery in The First Semester of English Education Department of Tarbiyah and Teaching Science Faculty of Alauddin State Islamic University Academic Year 2011-2012” arranged by Abdi Rahmat Syam , Reg. No.
20401107005, a student of English Education Department of Tarbiyah and Teaching Science Faculty of Alauddin State Islamic University had been examined and defended with some rectifications in the Munaqasah examination which was conducted on (Thursday, 08 March 2012 AD) or (15 Rabiul Awal 1433 H). Thus, the thesis is approved as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Pendidikan (S.Pd.) in English Education Department of Tarbiyah and Teaching Science Faculty.
Samata, March 2012 AD Rabiul Akhir 1435 H
Bachelor Thesis Committee (Decree by Dean No. Year 2012)
Committee Chair : Drs. Hading, M.Ag. (…………..…)
Committee Secretary : Rappe, S. Ag., M. Pd. I. (…………..…)
Munaqisy I : Dr. Muh. Yaumi, M. Hum., M.A. (…………..…)
Munaqisy II : Drs. H. Abd. Muis Said, M. Ed. (…………..…)
Consultative Committee I : Dra. Hj. Djuwairiah Ahmad, M.Pd., M.TESOL (…………..…)
Consultative Committee I : H.Erwin Hafid, Lc., M.Th.I., M.Ed. (…………..…)
Approved by: The Dean of Tarbiah and Teaching Science Faculty of Alauddin State Islamic University
Dr. H. Salehuddin, M.Ag. NIP. 19541212 198503 1 00 1
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
م ر ا ن ر ا م
Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alamin, all praises be to the almighty Allah SWT
for His blessing and mercy so that this thesis could be completed. Salawat and Salam are addressed to the beloved and the chosen messenger, Muhammad SAW who had guided the human being to a better life.
I recognize and thank the following people for their help in the creation of this thesis: Prof. Dr. H. A. Qadir Gassing HT, M.S as the Rector of UIN Alauddin Makassar; Drs. H. Salehuddin, M.Ag as the Dean of Tarbiyah and Teaching Science Faculty; Djuwairiah Ahmad and Erwin Hafid, my consultative committee, for providing support, focus, guidance, and helped me through this entire process.
Thank you for reading numerous drafts, Thank you for all you have taught me; Muh. Yaumi and Abd. Muis Said, my ‘munaqisy’ member for providing critical and excellent feedback; Anci Bte Syarifuddin for getting me off to a great start in my literature review and statistical analysis; My beloved friends Asriadi, Andi Asmawati, Andi Eka Febrianti, Ridwan, Rasfati Rahmat, Inayah Daniati, and all friends in English education department period of 2007 for encouraging me and support everything I have done; Finally I would like to thank to my parents and family for all their support, love, and patience through this journey make it all worth it.
PERNYATAAN KEASLIAN SKRIPSI
Dengan senantiasa mengharapkan ridha Allah SWT., yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini menyatakan bahwa skripsi ini adalah benar hasil karya penyusun sendiri. Jika dikemudian hari terbukti bahwa skripsi ini merupakan duplikat, tiruan atau dibuat oleh orang lain secara keseluruhan, maka skripsi dan gelar yang diperoleh karenanya batal demi hukum.
Samata-Gowa, Maret 2012 Penulis
ABDI RAHMAT SYAM NIM. 20401107005
PERSETUJUAN PEMBIMBING
Pembimbing penulisan skripsi saudara Abdi Rahmat Syam Nim.
20401107005, mahasiswa jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris pada Fakultas
Tarbiyah dan Keguruan UIN Alauddin Makassar, setelah dengan seksama meneliti dan mengoreksi skripsi yang bersangkutan dengan judul” Using Synectic
Strategy to Improve Students’ Vocabulary Mastery in The First Semester of
English Education Department of Tarbiyah and Teaching Science Faculty of
Alauddin State Islamic University Academic Year 2011-2012”, memandang
bahwa skripsi tersebut telah memenuhi syarat-syarat ilmiah dan dapat disetujui untuk diajukan ke sidang munaqasyah.
Demikian persetujuan ini diberikan untuk dipergunakan dan diperoses selanjutnya.
Makassar, Maret 2012
Pembimbing I Pembimbing II
Dra. Hj. Djuwairiah Ahmad, M. Pd, M. TESOL H.Erwin Hafid, Lc., M.Th.I., M.Ed.
NIP. 19700619 199403 2 001 NIP. 19740912 200003 1 002
PENGESAHAN SKRIPSI
Skripsi yang berjudul ”Using Synectic Strategy to Improve Students’ Vocabulary Mastery in The First Semester of English Education Department of Tarbiyah and Teaching Science Faculty of Alauddin State Islamic University Academic Year 2011-2012” yang disusun oleh saudara Abdi Rahmat Syam, Nim: 20401107005, Mahasiswa Jurusan Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris pada Fakultas Tarbiyah dan Keguruan UIN Alauddin Makassar, telah diuji dan dipertahankan dalam sidang munaqasyah yang diselenggarakan pada hari (Kamis, 08 Maret 2012 M) bertepatan dengan (15 RabiulAkhir 1433 H), dinyatakan telah dapat diterima sebagai salah satu syarat untuk mendapatkan gelar Sarjana Pendidikan (S.Pd.) pada Fakultas Tarbiyah dan Keguruan Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris dengan beberapa perbaikan.
Makassar, Maret________2012M Rabiul Akhir 1433 H
DEWAN PENGUJI
(SK. Dekan No. Tahun 2012)
Ketua : Drs. Hading, M.Ag. (…………..…) Sekretaris : Rappe, S. Ag., M. Pd. I. (…………..…) Munaqisy I : Dr. Muh. Yaumi, M. Hum., M.A. (…………..…) Munaqisy II : Drs. H. Abd. Muis Said, M. Ed. (…………..…) Pembimbing I : Dra. Hj. Djuwairiah Ahmad, M.Pd., M.TESOL (…………..…) Pembimbing II : H.Erwin Hafid, Lc., M.Th.I., M.Ed. (…………..…)
Disahkan oleh: Dekan Fakultas Tarbiyah dan Keguruan UIN Alaudddin Makassar
TABLE OF CONTENTS Page
TITLE PAGE ...................................................................................................... i PERNYATAAN KEASLIAN SKRIPSI ............................................................. ii PERSETUJUAN PEMBIMBING ...................................................................... iii PENGESAHAN SKRIPSI………………….. ................................................... iv ACKNOWLEGMENT ........................................................................................ v TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................. vii LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................. ix LIST OF APPENDIXES .................................................................................... x ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................... xii
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background ........................................................................ 1 B. Problems Idntification ......................................................... 7 B. Problem Statement ............................................................. 7 C. Objective of the Research ................................................... 8 D. Significance of the Research .............................................. 8 E. The Scope of the Research ................................................. 8 F. Reflective Framework ......................................................... 8 CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE A. Some Previous Related Research Findings ..................... 10 B. Some Pertinent Ideas ....................................................... 12
1. Vocabulary ................................................................. 12
a. The Nature of Vocabulary .................................... 12
b. Types of Vocabulary ............................................ 15
c. The Significance of Knowing a Word .................. 16
d. Some difficulties in teaching and learning vocabulary .............................................. 18 e. Technique in Teaching Vocabulary ..................... 21
f. The Principles of Teaching and Learning Vocabulary ........................................................... 22
2. Synectic Strategy......................................................... 25
a. Concept of The Synectic Strategy ......................... 25
b. The Steps in Teaching by Using Synectic
c. The Children’s Role in Synectic Strategy ............ 28
d. The Teachers Role in Synectic Strategy .............. 29
C. Resume ........................................................................... 29
D. Theoretical Framework ................................................. 29
E. Hypothesis ...................................................................... 30
CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHOD A. Research Design ............................................................. 31 B. Research Variable ........................................................... 31 C. Population and Sample .................................................... 32 D. Research Instrument ....................................................... 33 E. Procedure of Collecting Data ........................................... 33 F. Technique of Data Analysis ........................................... 35 CHAPTER IV FINDING AND DISCUSSION A. Findings ......................................................................... 38 B. Discussion ...................................................................... 45 CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION A. Conclusion ..................................................................... 48 B. Recommendation ........................................................... 49 BIBLIOGHRAPHY …………………………………………………………50 APPENDIXES
LIST OF FIGURES & TABLE
PageFigure 1. The rate percentage score of the experimental class in pretest and posttest
41 Figure 2. The rate percentage score of controlled class in pretest and posttest
42 Figure 3. The mean score and standard deviation of experimental and controlledclass in posttest
44 Table 1. Distribution of the value of the t-test and t-table in the posttest
45
LIST OF APPENDIXES
Page6. Standard Deviation of Experimental Class and Controlled Class
10. Research Instrument
67
9. Lesson Plans
66
8. Distribution of t-table
64
7. The Significance Different
62
61
1. Meaning Relationships between Word Pairs
5. The Mean Scores of Experimental Class and Controlled Class
59
4. The Raw Scores of Controlled Class
57
3. The Raw Scores of Experimental Class
54
2. Synectic models
53
85
ABSTRACT
Name : Abdi Rahmat Syam Reg. Number : 20401107005Major/Faculty : English Education/Tarbiyah and Teaching Science
Title : “Using Synectic Strategy to Improve Students’
Vocabulary Mastery of The First Semester of English Education Department of Tarbiyah and Teaching Science Faculty of Alauddin State Islamic University Academic Year 2011-2012” Consultative Committees: 1. Dra. Djuwairiah Ahmad, M.Pd., M.TESOL.
2. H. Erwin Hafid, Lc., M.Th.I., M.Ed.
This research was focused on providing information about the imposing of vocabulary teaching strategy particularly by using synectic strategy in order to improve students’ vocabulary mastery. The objective of this research was to find out the vocabulary teaching process by using synectic strategy and whether or not the use of Synectics Strategy effective to improve the students’ vocabulary mastery at the first year of English Education Department of Tarbiyah and Teaching Science Faculty of Alauddin State Islamic University.
This research employed the quasi experimental design―nonequivalent control group design, with experimental and controlled class. This research consists of two variables including the Students’ Vocabulary mastery as dependent variable and the use of Synectic Strategy as independent variable.
The population of this research was the first semester of English education department student of Alauddin State Islamic University which consisted of 124 students. The sample of the research consisted of 72 students which were taken by using purposive sampling, 36 students were taken as experimental class and 36 students were taken as controlled class.
The instrument of this research was a written vocabulary test used in pre- test and post-test. The result of the data indicated that there was a significant difference between students’ post-test in experimental class and controlled class. The mean score of post-test (76.9) in experimental class was higher than the mean score of post-test (72.2) in controlled class. From t-test, the researcher found that the value of the t-test (2.266) was higher than t-table (2.000) at the level of significance 0.05 with degree of freedom (df) = 70.
Based on the finding and discussion of the research, the researcher concluded that the use of synectic strategy can improve the students` vocabulary of the first semester of English Education Department of Alauddin State Islamic University academic year of 2011-2012.
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION A. Background Vocabulary is one of the elements which approved to be very important in
foreign or second language learning. Folse (2004) argued that in order to progress in a foreign language, learners need to be able to understand what they hear and read, but if learners do not understand a sizable portion of the vocabulary in the language that they read or hear, then this language is not comprehensible and therefore cannot be useful for acquisition.
According to Alexander (2011), there are three reasons why vocabulary is critical to language learning and reading success in particular. First, comprehension improves when the words meaning was known. Second, words are the currency of communication. A robust vocabulary improves all areas of communication— listening, speaking, reading and writing. Third, if children and adolescents improve their vocabulary, their academic and social confidence and competence will improve too.
Besides, lacking of the vocabulary knowledge will affect the students’ performance in the school. According to Blachowicz and Fisher (2005), Limited knowledge of English vocabulary may affect the school performance of English language learner in at least in four ways: the development and maintenance of social relationships with other student, participation in academic routines, comprehension as a part of reading instruction, and comprehension as part of content area instruction.
From above information, it cannot be denied that vocabulary plays the most important part for the students to succeed in their language study both in comprehension or production. In daily communication, even though one has mastered the grammar or sentence structure, she or he also needs sufficient vocabulary to fill the slot in the sentence structures, otherwise the exchange information between speaker and hearer might not be fully succeeded.
Budianto in Jamal (2010) added that vocabulary seems to be more important than grammar in communication activities. It is logical enough without grammar little could be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing could be conveyed. The students cannot express or comprehend any ideas both in oral or written form with limited vocabulary.
Understanding its importance, it is necessary to put the vocabulary in the first priority in English language teaching. Research has shown that vocabulary knowledge plays a critical role in students’ literacy development. However, many teachers devote little class time to vocabulary instruction (Scott, Jamieson-Noel, & Asselin in Bressel & Furtado, 2008). Therefore, it is encouraged for the teacher to give more attention in building students’ vocabulary.
Extending from that idea, the next pursuing question is about how the vocabulary should be taught or learnt by the students. There are two basic concepts where this research lied in. First is that learning new word is important for the foreign or second language learners particularly for those who are new in language learning.
Furthermore, it is suggested that learning new word should be integrated with the already known word in order to make the connection between them so that the word learnt could be comprehensively meaningful and long last.
Blachowicz and Fisher (2005:4) mentioned at least three things in referring to how difficult it is to learn the meaning of a word: (1) characteristic of the word learner, (2) characteristic of the word itself, and (3) level of the word learning desire. They also argue that though words vary in their inherent difficulty, all word learning requires a metacognitive approach in which student attend to the word and recognize it as unknown, desire to know the word and actively engage in the learning process, and integrate both definitional information and contextual information, as well as new information and known information. To gain understanding of a word, student would need to know what the word means, how the word is typically used or in what context it typically comes up and how it relates to what she or he knows.
Furthermore, Hiebert and Kamil (2005) note that if the print vocabulary is more complex than the learners’ oral vocabulary, comprehension will not occur … if it is not in the learner’s vocabulary, it is simply an unusual collection of speech sounds. In sum, comprehension is a function of oral language and word recognition.
In this matter, Oral vocabulary is the set of words for which we know the meaning when we speak or read orally. While, print vocabulary consists of those word for which the meaning is known when we write and read silently.
Second is that learning words should be in the meaningful way where the students get their words through cognitive process instead of just repeating words as strings of sounds. Vocabulary learning is long lasting when the student use words in meaningful ways. Since the goal is to have students gain control of vocabulary to use for their own expression, students need many experiences that allow them to encounter and use words in meaningful way. (Blachowicz and Fisher, 2005:24)
Moreover, Cook (1991) stated that people remember something well depends on how deeply they process it. Repeating words as strings of sounds is low-level processing and badly remembered; working out how words fit in the grammatical structure of the sentence is deeper and leads to better memory; using the meaning of words together with the whole meaning of the sentence is deepest level of processing and ensures the best memory.
In relation to the condition of vocabulary teaching in Indonesia particularly in Alauddin State Islamic University, there are some false assumptions existing among the Indonesian students and teacher about how they should learn vocabulary. Ahmad (2001) mentioned at least 3 false assumptions among the students about how they should learn vocabulary. First of all, Students mostly learn English with the assumption that they can master the language by simply memorizing as many words in the dictionary as possible. These students believe that every time they encounter new words they need to know the exact meaning of the word in their first language. This makes them waste more time in the dictionary.
Secondly, Some Indonesian learners and teachers believe that English vocabulary have equivalent words in Indonesian. In fact, words in one language do not usually mean exactly the same as words in another language. This kind of assumption leads them to use the direct translation method by looking up the dictionary without considering the context in the sentence where the word is used.
Thirdly, there is an assumption of one single word meaning. English learners and teachers who hold this assumption often think that every English word has only one exact meaning in Indonesian. Most of English words, in fact, have several equivalent meanings in Indonesian words. For example, the word chicken could mean the name of an animal and it could also mean ‘coward’ based on the context.
In addition to the vocabulary teaching process, Most of the teaching processes including the vocabulary teaching process in the class employ teacher explanation and memorizing method in often time. Ahmad (2011) stated that even though students realize the importance of vocabulary when learning English, most of them learn vocabulary passively due to several factors. One of those is that they consider the teacher's explanation for meaning or definition, pronunciation, spelling and grammatical functions boring. In this case, language learners have nothing to do in a vocabulary learning section but to listen to their teacher. This kind of condition shows that the vocabulary learning is so teacher centered where the student do not have so much space to improve their creativity in learning vocabulary.
Natawidjaja in Warnandi (2002) added that sometimes school teachers tend to force their students to use only one way in order to solve a problem. The teachers limit the students in solving the problem by using a single way that they think is best and easiest. This might be useful to solve the problem instantly but it limits the students’ to learn creatively.
There have been several techniques for vocabulary instruction developed by educational experts and teachers so far. One of them is synectic strategy. The researcher chose synectic strategy because this strategy is considered new and useful to improve the students’ creativity in learning. Theoretically, the synectic strategy is an individual based working strategy that should help to achieve both connectivity in learning new word and the already known word with deeper process of word learning through analogy and metaphor.
With this strategy, the student will go through learning new word by finding connections weather through analogy, metaphor, similarities, or any ways they could correlate with their already known words. Doing so, the students should be in deep process of thought to find any connection of seemingly unrelated words which is very interesting and challenging.
Therefore in this research, the writer brings forwards the way of developing students’ vocabulary by using Synectic Strategy. The researcher will conduct a research on “Using Synectic Strategy to Improve Students’ Vocabulary Mastery at The First Semester of English Education Department of Tarbiyah and Teaching Science Faculty of Alauddin State Islamic University Academic Year of 2011-2012”.
Although synectic employs a group based strategy, the operational principles of this strategy is individual based work and the student are not limited with any standard so they can come up with their idea with no hesitant. Therefore, this strategy should be able to reach and engage the student attention and participation.
B. Problems Identification
The competency standards in the curriculum for English subject have no or little attention to vocabulary learning particularly in secondary level. The competency standards of the English subject in senior high school curriculum are limited to some skills including reading, speaking, writing, and listening.
There are false assumption as mentioned before in vocabulary teaching and learning that trap the students and teacher in traditional method in learning vocabulary through memorizing and classroom explanation. Moreover, learning culture in Indonesia haunts the students’ anxiety as they cannot afford to make any mistake.
Therefore, there is a need in allocating more attention in vocabulary in language teaching. Thus, new vocabulary teaching method which is able to engage students’ creativity and lower the anxiety in learning vocabulary is important in order to improve students’ vocabulary mastery.
C. Problem Statement
Based on the previous background and problem identification above, the researcher formulated the problem of the research as follow: Is the use of Synectic Strategy effective to improve the students’ vocabulary mastery at the first year of English Education Department of Tarbiyah and Teaching Science Faculty of Alauddin State Islamic University academic year of 2011-2012?”
D. Objectives Of Research
In relating to the problem statement, the researcher decides the objective of the research as follow: To find out whether the use of Synectics Strategy effective to improve the students’ vocabulary mastery at the first year of English Education Department of Tarbiyah and Teaching Science Faculty of Alauddin State University Academic Year of 2011-2012.
E. Significance of the Research
The result of the research is expected to be useful information for English teachers about the use of Synectic Strategy in teaching vocabulary and for those who are interested to do the further research about teaching strategy in language classroom.
F. Scope of the Research
The scope of this research focused on the effectiveness of using Synectic Strategy to teach vocabulary at the first semester of English Education Department students of Alauddin State Islamic University Academic Year 2011-2012.
CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE A. Previous Related Research Findings The importance of vocabulary has made many language teachers and
researchers explore and expose language teaching process by implementation of various strategies, techniques and methods. Some of researches related to the topic described in this research:
1. A research conducted by Higa in Nation (2000) involved seven kinds of meaning relationships between pairs of word that were compared with the pairs of words that were not related to each other (see appendix A). The list in the sidebar on the right ranks the pairs from those that were most difficult to learn to the pairs whose meaning relationships helped learning.
2. More recently Tinkham and Waring in Nation (2000:2) compared words organized into lexical sets of six fruit items (apple, pear, nectarine, peach,
apricot, plum) and three clothing items (shirt, jacket, sweater) with sets of
unrelated words (mountain, shoe, flower, mouse, sky, television). They found there was a clear advantage to learning words that were unrelated, as compared to learning words presented in lexical sets, which took longer. Learner also felt that the sets were more difficult to learn.
3. S.P. Malhotra in Thirumalai et al (2011) conducted a study on―Effects of Synectics method of teaching on the development of language creativity in Hindi.
The findings of the study were: Students who were exposed to the synectics method of teaching showed significant improvement on all the four factors viz. fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration as well as on the total scores of the plot building aspects of language creativity with the levels of intelligent in all the four factors i.e. fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration as well as their summated scores. The creativity affected improvement in all the four factors as well as their total scores in their descriptive style.
4. Sucheta Kumari in Thirumalai et al (2011:524) conducted a study on―Instructional and nurturing effects of synectics model of teaching on the creative abilities in languages. The findings of the study were: 1) Grade levels affected the improvement in language creativity (Hindi, English and general). In all the three spheres, the students of IX were found most creative and class VIII was found more creative than IX concerning fluency and flexibility. 2) The synectics model of teaching affected the improvement in all the five aspect of language creativity. The intelligent student was found more creative in fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration. 3) Improvement was notices in all the form of components e.g. Unity, coherence, originality and fallacies of essay/paragraph writing in increasing manner. The research findings above suggest that learning vocabulary based on the similarity of meaning or synonym proved to be more difficult compared to the one using the unrelated words. In addition, the use of unrelated word in vocabulary teaching is one of the synectic basic principle because Synectic Strategy involves unrelated words in which the student have to find the connection between words in creative way through metaphor and analogy. Moreover, the researches by S.P Maholtra and Sucheta Kumari above proved that the use of synectic was effective to enhance students’ language creativity.
B. Some Pertinent Ideas
1. Vocabulary
a. The Nature of Vocabulary
Some experts put the basic definition of vocabulary as the amount of words of language that someone recognize or understand in which he/she can pronounce in speaking, reading, writing or listening. For example, Good in Syarifuddin (2010) defines vocabulary as content and function word of language which is learned so thoroughly so that become part of child’s understanding, speaking, and later reading and writing vocabulary. It also means words having been heard or seen even though not produced by individual himself to communicate with others.
According to American Heritage Dictionary of English Language (2006), Vocabulary came from the Old French vocabularie, from Medieval Latin
vocabularium, from neuter of vocabularies, of words from Latin vocabulum which
have several meanings as follow: 1) All the words of a language, 2) the sum of word used by, understood by, or at the command of a particular person of a group, 3) A list of word and often phrase, usually arranged alphabetically and defined or translated; lexicon or glossary.
Vocabulary seems to be associated with the number of words more often than not, and someone’s vocabulary is often identified as much as number of word that he or she knows. In fact, vocabulary knowledge is not as simple as just knowing a word and the word itself has its own complexity. Read (2000) argued that word is not an easy concept to define, either in theoretical term or for various applied purposes. He implied that there are some basic points that have to be spelt out in defining word particularly in vocabulary assessment.
One of the points that Read pronounced is the distinction between tokens and types, which applies to any count of the words in a text. The number of tokens is the same as the total number of word forms, which means that individual words occurring more than once in the text are counted each time they are used. On the other hand, the number of types is the total number of different word forms, so that a word which is repeated many time counted only once.
The second is the function and content words in which the function words are seen as belonging more to the grammar of the language than to its vocabulary. Unlike content words, the function words have little if any meaning in isolation and serve more to provide links within the sentences, modify the meaning of content words, and so on. Moreover, even when the attention is restricted to the content word the problem is still there. The point is that these words -the content words- come in a variety of form whether from inflectional or derivational. For example, the words such as speak, speaks, spoke, and spoken are different forms of the same word.
Similarly, the derivational forms such as believe, believer, believable, or unbelievable seem to share a common meaning known as word family.
Furthermore, the complication in defining words is the existence of words which have more than one meaning. Two types of process are responsible for producing words with multiple senses. The first type is known as homonym which is easily illustrated when looking at the word bank. In current usage, this word has two senses; it can denote either the side of the river or a financial institution. The historical provenance may be the explanation of the two separated words found their way into English from different source of language. The first was bank, of a river, from a probable Scandinavian origin; the second bank, in the financial sense, from old French. (Simpson, 2005)
The second type is known as polysemy where the semantic scope of a single word is extended. Unlike homonym, the meaning of the individual word radiates outwards from the single sources, with its sense undergoing a kind of metaphorical extension. As the example of this process, the word sole has two principle senses, where one designates the bottom of a shoe and the other a species of fish. The word stems of sole comes from the Latin sources word solea meaning a sandal or slat shoe and has been extended metaphorically beyond its original application of footwear because the anatomical structure of the fish looks rather like a sole. (Simpson, 2005:69-70)
Thus, the concept of vocabulary does not simply refer to the number of word that someone could write or say but it also could be the tricky part when it comes to the derivational or inflectional process of word because it could lead to the misconception of vocabulary knowledge and grammatical knowledge. In fact, there is no clear conclusion in defining what vocabulary is, it depends on the particular terms used for the particular purpose. However, it applies more than most to the content words instead of the function words in terms of vocabulary assessment in particular.
b. Types of Vocabulary
The linguists classified vocabulary into some types. Chall in Blachowicz & Fisher (2005: 2) made clear distinction between the two types of vocabulary needed for reading: word-recognition vocabulary and meaning vocabulary. Word-recognition vocabulary consists of the words that a student can pronounce when seen in print, whether by sight or by use of word attack skills. Meaning vocabulary consists of words that student can attach appropriate meaning to, or define. Recognition vocabulary is print-bound, whereas meaning vocabulary is not; students have many words in their speaking vocabulary that they have never seen or attempted to read in print.
Hiebert and Kamil (2005: 3) added that words come in at least two forms: oral and print. Knowledge of words also comes in at least two forms, receptive―that which we can understand or recognize―and productive―the vocabulary we use when we write or speak.
Oral vocabulary is the set of words for which we know the meanings when we speak or read orally. Print vocabulary consists of those words for which the meaning is known when we write or read silently. These are important distinctions because the set of words that beginning readers know are mainly oral representations. As they learn to read, print vocabulary comes to play an increasingly larger role in literacy than does the oral vocabulary. Productive vocabulary is the set of words that an individual can use when writing or speaking. They are words that are well-known, familiar, and used frequently. Conversely, receptive, or recognition, vocabulary is that set of words for which an individual can assign meanings when listening or reading. These are words that are often less well known to students and less frequent in use. (Hiebert & Kamil, 2005:3)
Schall in Syarifuddin (2010: 10) classified vocabulary into three types, namely: 1. Active vocabulary, the words are customarily used in speaking.
2. Reserve vocabulary, the words we know but we are rarely used them in ordinary speech. We use them in writing letter and searching for synonym.
3. Passive vocabulary, the words are recognize vaguely but we are sure of the meaning never use them is either speech or writing, we just know them because we see them before.
c. The significance of knowing a word
There are some levels of what does it mean to know a word or in one level known as word knowledge that linguist had categorized into. It is important to address in order to further recognize in which level a strategy could help the student to achieve vocabulary knowledge.
Many researchers agree on the following levels of word knowledge: (1) unknown (“I have never heard that word before”), (2) knowledge that the word exists (“I have heard that word before”), (3) partial knowledge (“I have a vague or general understanding of the word”), and (4) complete knowledge “I am comfortable enough with the word’s meaning that I can use the word in my own speaking and writing, in many different ways”) (Dale, 1965; Chall, 1983; Stahl, 1999 in Blachowicz & Fisher, 2005: 3)
In addition, Richards in Read (2000:25) referred to seven assumption cover various aspects of what is meant by knowing a word:
1. Knowing a word means knowing the degree of probability of encountering that word in speech or print. For many words we also know the sort of words most likely to be found associated with the word.
2. Knowing a word implies knowing the limitation on the use of word according to variations of function and situation.
3. Knowing a word mean knowing the syntactic behavior associated with the word.
4. Knowing a word entails knowledge of underlying form of a word and the derivations that can be made from it.
5. Knowing a word entails knowledge of the network of associations between that word and other words in the language.
6. Knowing a word means knowing the semantic value of a word.
7. Knowing a word means knowing many of the different meanings associated with a word.
This set of assumption highlights the complex nature of vocabulary learning, which involve a great deal more than just memorizing the meaning of a word and it has been frequently taken as a general framework of vocabulary knowledge. (Read, 2000:25)
Overall, these sets of levels of word or vocabulary knowledge once again highlight the different between the receptive and productive vocabulary as Kamil and Hiebert mentioned in the previous part. There are differences between the word that someone understands when seen in print or spoken by somebody else compared to the number of words he/she actually uses in conversation or writing.
d. Some difficulties in teaching and learning vocabulary
According to Fisher and Blachowicz (2005:4), how difficult it is to learn the meaning of word depends on at least three things: 1) characteristic of the learners, 2) characteristic of the word itself, and 3) level of word learning desired. In addition, recognition or receptive vocabulary is larger than production vocabulary and oral vocabulary far outstrips print vocabulary. In that case, if the print vocabulary is more complex than the child’s oral vocabulary, comprehensions will not occur. If it’s not in the child’s vocabulary, the word is simply an unusual collection of the speech sounds (Hiebert & Kamil, 2005:3). Therefore, students’ prior knowledge of words plays important part in acquiring new word they first encounter.