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a. Definition of Vocabulary
Before going further to know the reasons why vocabulary is very essential in English teaching and learning process, it is better to have a concept of what
vocabulary is about. According to Nunan 2003: 130, words are clearly vocabulary. Nonetheless, the interpretation of a word’s meaning is many and
various. Read 2000 conveyed that “word is not an easy concept to define, either in theoretical terms or for various applied purposes.” From his argument, it can be
said that there will be more than one explanation to define the meaning of word. In order to define a word, Carroll 1971 as cited by Nation 1990 stated
that words are distinguished based on their forms. Moreover, Nation 1990 explained, “even the presence of a capital letter is sufficient for a form to be
counted as a different word.” The reason for this is that Carroll’s count was digitally done by a computer, which is set to be consistent with irregular suffixes
and spelling changes. Thus, according to Nation, the word, socieies, Societis, society, Society, and society’s are counted as five different words.
Carroll 1971 as cited by Nation 1990 also explained that words can be defined with reference to learners’ mother tongue. He gave an example of the
meaning of the word “fork” in Indonesian and English point of view. In Indonesian point of view, “fork” refers to some words, such as garpu the fork we
eat with, pertigaan or simpang jalan the fork in the road, and cabang the fork in a tree. On the contrary, from English point of view, the word “fork” is one
word. Carroll 1971 in Nation 1990 said, “it is possible to describe the meaning of fork so that this meaning includes most uses of the word.” It can also be
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
10 concluded that in Indonesian, the learners need to learn three words represented
by the form “fork”, but in English, the learners just require to learn the underlying concept of fork. It describes that the learners have only one item to learn.
b. Reasons for Vocabulary Learning
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