2.3.2. Vocabulary Mastery
Vocabulary mastery is always be an essential part of English. Lewis and Hill 1990: 12 say that vocabulary is important for the students. It is more than
grammar for communication purpose, particularly in the early stage when students are motivated to learn the basic words. Without having proportional English
vocabulary, students will get some difficulties in using English. In other words, it can be said that if students have sufficient vocabulary then all else is easy. From
these definitions, it comes to a conclusion that mastery means the competency to understand and apply something learned, in this term the stock of words.
Based on the discussion above, vocabulary has an important role in language skills. By mastering vocabulary, students get the easiness to increase their
ability to master all the language skills.
2.3.3. Types of Vocabulary
Some experts have given different types of vocabulary. According to Hatch and Brown 1995: 370 there are two kinds of vocabulary namely receptive and
productive vocabulary. Productive refers to active vocabulary and receptive refers to passive vocabulary. Active or productive vocabulary is words which the students
understand, can pronounce correctly and use constructively in speaking and writing, while passive or receptive vocabulary is words that students recognize and
understand when they occur in a context, but cannot produce correctly themselves. According to Harmer 1998: 159 active vocabulary refers to vocabulary
that students have been taught or learn and which the students will recognize when they meet them but which they will probably not be able to produce. It means that
active vocabulary is productive learning referring to speaking and writing, while passive vocabulary is receptive learning referring to reading and listening.
2.3.4.
Teaching vocabulary
According to Wallace 1982:29, there are some principles in teaching vocabulary. The first is aims. The teacher should understand clearly what the aims
of teaching vocabulary are, heshe expects the learners to master some difficult words of vocabulary that are needed in hisher lesson; the second is quantity, the
teacher may have to decide on the number of vocabulary items to be learnt, the third is need. It is also possible for the teacher to put the responsibility of choosing the
vocabulary to be taught to the students according to the students needs, the next principle is frequent exploration and repetition, it is impossible for us to remember
a new word by only hearing it for once or twice. In learning vocabulary there has to be a certain amount of practice and repetition until there is evidence that students
have already mastered the vocabulary of the target language. Meaningful presentation is also important principle, it means that learners must have a clear
understanding of the new words that are taught i.e the meaning of the words that are being taught. The last one is situation presentation. In teaching vocabulary,
teacher should focus on a topic. Words about things around us are given in one topic, words about animals in another etc.
2.3.5. Vocabulary Teaching Techniques
Giving more attention in the techniques used in teaching vocabulary is extremely important. Teachers should select the technique carefully in order to be
successful in achieving the goals of the instruction. According to Harmer
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