Kindergarten Curriculum Theoretical Description
both with the people who use the language and the objects of what they hear, and providing
a rich
enough context
to the
words taught
give meaningfulcomprehensible input. The use of repetition and committing a deep
processing of the words such as by guessing the meaning will help the learners to store the words taught in the brain and transfer them into the long term memory.
When the comprehensible input is stored in the brain, it will be recalled and used in appropriate situation.
The Natural Method proposed to teach English vocabulary to kindergarten students in this research has the three aspects that influence vocabulary
acquisition. Natural Method sees learning language as a natural process. The Natural Method provides a situation where the students receive much input
through teacher talk. Teacher talk does not recourse to the students’ first language. Here, the students interact with the teacher using the target language. By talking in
the target language to interact with the students, the teacher provides enough contexts for the words taught.
The process of learning begins with students comprehending the input uttered by the teacher and producing the words only when they are ready. To help
the students comprehend the meaning, gestures, miming, and visual aids are used. By providing gesture and visual aid, the teacher leads the students to interact with
the objects. Teacher talk as the comprehensible input is given to be slightly
beyond their current level. Hence, the teacher begins from one simple discourse and then move to the more complex one. For example, the teacher begins with
“pencil”, “blue pencil”, etc. In this case, the teacher uses repetition and provides context to associate the words with the meaning.
Students’ utterances
In summary, vocabulary mastery which is influenced by some factors can be seen from the figure below.
Interaction people and object
context
Repetition Deep processing
Figure 2.1. Factors Influencing Vocabulary Acquisition
The following figure shows the process of acquiring vocabulary in the Natural Method.
Interaction teacher talk, context
realia, demonstration 1+1 level
Repetition Deep processing guess the meaning
Figure 2.2. Factors Influencing Vocabulary Acquisition in Natural Method
From the two figures above, it can be seen that the principles in the Natural Method are similar to the principles in acquiring vocabulary. It is
usage
input
memorization
input
memorization usage
hypothesized that if the principles of the Natural Method are the same as of the principles to acquire vocabulary, the Natural Method can improve vocabulary
mastery. The study of this research is intended to find evidence to support the hypothesis. The next part states some hypotheses of this research.