Furthermore, Schimtt concluded vocabulary into two parts. “Being able to
understand a word is known as receptive knowledge and is normally connected with listening and reading. If we are able to produce a word of our own accord
when speaking or writing, then that are considered productive knowledge passive and active are alternative term.”
9
As well as the others, Jo Ann Aebersold and Mary Lee field said “Vocabulary that readers recognize when they see it but do not use when they
speak or write is known as receptive vocabulary. Readers have general sense of a word’s meaning but are not sure of its many meaning or nuances of meaning.
Productive vocabulary
is the vocabulary that people actually use to speak or write.”
10
From the definitions above we can say that vocabulary is divided generally into two categories, receptive and productive vocabulary. Knowing a word
includes being able to recall its meaning and see which shade of meaning is most suitable for the context that occur in.
4. How to Teach Vocabulary
In this part, the writer will divide it into two. First, she will discuss what students need to know about vocabulary and how to teach vocabulary.
A. What students need to know about vocabulary Before we discuss how to teach vocabulary, first we are supposed to
understand about the concept of vocabulary known as word knowledge and what students need to know about lexical system of English.
We know that teaching vocabulary is teaching words. It means teaching about the form and how the words are used in the correct formation and syntax
which is used in spoken and written language. 1.
Word Knowledge “We can now develop the comments that we made about vocabulary and
look at words in more detail.”
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The detail of vocabulary can be concluded as “knowing words” that contains:
9
Nobert Schmitt and Michael Mc Carthey, ibid, p. 4
10
Jo Ann Aebersold and Mary Lee Field, From Reader to English Teacher Cambrigde: Cambrigde University Press, 1997, p.139
11
Jeremy Harmer, ibid, p. 156
a Meaning The first thing to realize about vocabulary items is that they frequently
have more than one meaning. The word ‘book’, for example, sometimes means the kinds of thing we read but it can mean a number of other things.
And the other fact, sometimes words have meanings in relation. Thus students need to know the meaning of ‘vegetable’ as a word to describe any one
of other things- e.g. carrots, cabbages, potatoes, etc. ‘Vegetable’ has a general meaning whereas ‘carrots’ is more specific.
b Word Use What a word means can be changed, stretched or limited by how it is used
and this is something students need to know about: -
word meaning is frequently stretched through the use of metaphor and idiom.
- word meaning is also governed by collocation – that is which words go
with each other. -
We often use words only in certain social and topical context. What we say is governed by the style and register we are in.
c Word Formation Word formation, then, it means knowing how words are written and
spoken and knowing how they can change their form. d Word Grammar
Just as words change according to their grammatical meaning, the use of certain words can trigger the use of certain grammatical pattern. For example, we
make a distinction between countable and uncountable nouns.
We can summarize ‘Knowing a word’ as following way: Meaning in context
Sense relation Metaphor and idiom
Collocation Style and register
Parts of speech Prefixes and suffixes
Spelling and
pronunciation
Noun: countable and uncountable, etc.
Verb complement Adjectives and adverb
Figure 2.1: Knowing a word adapted from The Practice of Language Teaching by Jeremy Harmer
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Schmitt also said “In addition, there is the practical matter of mastering either the spoken or the written form of the word before it can be used in
communication. A person who has not thought about the matter may believe that vocabulary knowledge consists of just these two facets- meaning and word form.
But the potential knowledge that can be known about a word is rich and complex. Nation proposes the following list of the different kinds of knowledge that
a person must master in order to know a word:
12
Jeremy Harmer, ibid, p. 158
WORD MEANING
WORD USE
WORD FORMATION
WORD GRAMMAR
The meanings of the word The written form of the word
The spoken form of the word The grammatical behavior of the word
The collocation of the word The register of the word
The associations of the word The frequency of the word
These are known as word knowledge, and most of them are necessary to be able to use a word in the wide variety of language situations one comes
across.”
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So, we have to give an understanding that knows words not only know the form and the meaning but also many other factors that affect it.
2. What students need to know about lexical system of English a Denotative and connotative meaning
Denotative and connotative meanings are the first aspect of meaning that concerns about the link between meaning and the world to which words refer. If a
word has reference to an object, action, or event in the physical world this can describe as its referential or denotative meaning. As well as denotative meaning,
learners have to deal with the complexities of connotative meaning. This term relates to the attitudes and emotions of a language user in choosing a word and the
influence of these on the listener or reader’s interpretation of the word. Connotative meanings derive from a mix cultural, political, and historical source
and learners will be aware of this phenomenon in their own language. Notice, for example, the effect of choosing the word ‘smashed’, similar in meaning to the
more neutral ‘destroyed’ but with associations of shocking personal violence.
14
13
Nobert Schmitt and Michael Mc Carthey, Vocabulary in Language Teaching New York: Cambrigde University Press,1997, p. 5
14
Tricia Hedge, Teaching and Learning in the Classroom Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000, p. 112-113 paraphrased by the writer
b Meaning relations among words The second aspects of the meaning involve the sense relations that exist
among words. It is divided into two parts, they are: b.1. Syntagmatic relation
Syntagmatic relations are relations between words as they occur in sequence for example ‘the dog barked’ not ‘roared’ or the sun shone not
‘glowed’. These are collocation. b. 2. Paradigmatic relations
Words not only have sequential relationship, but exits in complex relationship with other words in the language in a network of meaning. The most
common are synonymy, antonymy, and hyponymy. Synonymy
A simple way of defining synonymy is to say that, in a given context, one linguist item can be exchanged for another without changing the meaning of the sentence
or utterance. For example:
Depressed , …what does this mean?...yes he’s unhappy, he’s sad, look at
the picture…he’s…yes…miserable, he’s depressed.
Antonymy The term antonymy covers a number of relationships often thought of as
opposites for example, ‘male’ and ‘female’, ‘parent’ and child, and ‘dead’ and ‘alive’.
Hyponymy Hyponymy is relationship whereby one word includes others within a
hierarchy, so that we have superordinate words and subordinates words for example ‘flower’ is superordinate word and ‘carnation’ and ‘rose’ being
subordinates hyponyms of ‘flower’ and co-hyponyms of each other.
15
15
Tricia Hedge, ibid, p. 113-116 paraphrased by the writer
Another example, we can say that ‘house’ is superordinate word and ‘kitchen’, ‘garage’, ‘dining room’ are subordinates hyponyms of house and ‘living
room’ and ‘bed room’ are co-hyponyms of each other. 2. How to teach vocabulary
There are many ways of teaching vocabulary and presenting the meaning of the new items, such as follow:
- concise definition as in dictionary; often superordinate with
qualifications, for example, a cat is an animal which…. -
detailed description of appearance, qualities,… -
examples hyponyms -
illustration picture, object -
demonstration acting, mime -
context story of sentences in which item occurs -
synonyms -
opposites antonyms -
translation -
associated ideas, collocation
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Meanwhile, Harmer said that “There are many occasions when some forms or presentations andor explanation are the best way to bring new words
into the classroom. We will look some examples: a Realia
One way of presenting words is to bring the things they represent into the classroom- by bringing ‘realia’ such as ‘ruler’, ‘pen’, ‘ball’, etc.
b Pictures Bringing a pen into the classroom is not a problem. Bring a car in,
however, is. One solution is the use of pictures. Pictures can be drawings, wall pictures and charts, flashcards and any other non-technical visual representation.
c Mime, action and gesture It is often impossible to explain the meaning of words and grammar either
through the use of realia or in pictures. Actions, in particular, are probably better explained by mime for example ‘running’ or ‘smoking’.
d Contrast We can present the meaning of ‘empty’ by contrasting with ‘full’, ‘cold’
contrasting it with ‘hot’, ‘big’ by ‘small’. d Enumeration
16
Penny Ur, A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996, p. 63
Another sense relation was that of general and specific words. We can use this to present meaning. We can say ‘clothes’ and explain this by enumerating or
listing various items. The same is true of ‘vegetable’ or ‘furniture’, for example. e Translation
Translation is a quick and easy way to present the meaning of words but it is not without problem. In the first place it is not always easy to translate words,
and in the second place, even where translation is possible, it may make it a bit too easy for students by discouraging them from interacting with the words.
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As it has been mentioned above, many ways have been used to teach vocabulary or new item of words. Furthermore, we will discuss about the
principles in vocabulary teaching. Sokmen in Schimtt said that there are several key principles in teaching vocabulary, they are:
build a large sight vocabulary integrate new words with old
provide a number of encounters with a word promote a deep level of processing
facilitate imaging make new words “real” by connecting them to the student’s new world in
some way use a variety technique
encourage independent learning strategies.
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Wallace also gave several principles to manage and to learn the target vocabulary, such as:
Aims First, the teacher has to be clear about his or her aims: how many of the
things listed does the teacher expect the learner to be able to do and with which words are used.
Quantity The teacher may have to decide on the quantity of the vocabulary to be
learnt. How many new words in a lesson can the learner learn? Need
Control of the amount of vocabulary inevitably means choice as to specific items to be taught.
Frequent exposure and repetition
17
Jeremy Harmer, ibid, p.161
18
Nobert Schmitt and Michael Mc Carthey, Vocabulary in Language Teaching New York: Cambrigde University Press,1997, pp. 146-147
There has to be amount of repetition until there is evidence that the student has learned the target word.
Meaningful presentation As well as the form of the word, the learners have a clear and specific
understanding of what it denotes or refers to. Situation presentation
We saw that the choice of words can vary according to the situation in which we are speaking, and according to how well we know the person to
whom we are speaking. Presentation in context
Words very seldom occur in isolation. So from very beginning the word must appear in its natural environment as it were, among the words it
normally collocates with. Learning vocabulary in the mother tongue and in target language
We should pause and see how the principles which we have established so far relate to the learning of vocabulary in the L1 or mother tongue and
L2 target language. Inferencing guessing procedures in vocabulary learning.
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We know that there are many ways and principles for us to teach new items of vocabulary. But, Schimtt argued that “There is no “right” or “best” way
to teach vocabulary. The best practice in any situation will depend on the type of student, the words are targeted, the school system and curriculum, and many
others factor.”
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So, we should selective on choosing the best technique to present new vocabulary that suitable with condition of our students and the curriculum.
B. Hyponymy 1. Definition of Hyponymy
