How to Teach Vocab

Background

The learning of vocabulary is an important part in foreign language learning. The meanings
of new words are very frequently emphasized, whether in books or in verbal communication.
Vocabulary is considered as central in language teaching and is of paramount importance to a
language learner. Vocabulary is a basic of one learns a foreign language. Few research indicate
that teaching vocabulary can be considered as problematic, as some teachers are not really sure
about the best practice in the teaching and sometimes not really aware how to start forming an
instructional emphasis on the vocabulary learning (Berne & Blachowicz, 2008).

Language is a means of communication that is made up of sentence that convey meaning.

At school, learning language means learning its vocabulary. It means that vocabulary takes an
important part in language in which the vocabulary will make a language meaningful.
Moreover, Setiyadi (2006) stated that structure and vocabulary seem to be the heart or foreign
language learning. Vocabulary is a very essential part in learning language, because to be able
to master a language we automatically have to master its vocabulary. Kriedler (1983) stated
that in modern of language teaching, vocabulary learning no longer consists of memorizing list
of words in isolation, lasted, words are usually in a meaningful context and practice in
appropriate patterns.

According to Aitchitson (2001), vocabulary is a set of words known to a person or other

entity, or that are part of a specific language. It would be impossible to learn a language without
words or vocabularies support it (Rivers, 1981). It showed that people can do nothing in
communication if they do not know the word or vocabulary. Longman (1987) explained that
vocabulary is a list of words, usually in alphabetical order and with explanation of their
meanings, less complete than dictionary. It means that we should understand the meaning.

Vocabulary skill is often considered as a critical aspect of foreign language learners as

limited vocabulary in a second language, impedes successful communication. Considering the
importance of vocabulary acquisition, Schmitt (2000) emphasizes that lexical knowledge is
central to communicative competence and to the acquisition of a second language. Nation
(2001) then describes the correlation between vocabulary knowledge and language practice as
complementary: The skill of vocabulary enables language use and conversely. Language use
leads to an increase in vocabulary knowledge.

Improving vocabulary skill among English language learners (ELLs) is a challenge faced
by many universities. Several problems and limitations have been associated with the factors
contribute to the level. This area has been a loop for some time. Some researchers for example,
do not have good information of students’ success on vocabulary learning and other language
skill where vocabulary is needed. Some even do not have information about the student’s
individual language strengths and weaknesses (Sothan, 2015).

Vocabulary acquisition plays an important role in mastering a language. A learner with

insufficient vocabulary size will not perform well in every aspect of language itself. Yang
(1997) pointed out that many college students still encountered difficulties in reading their
English textbooks. The main reason for those college students who cannot read
comprehensively is their limited vocabulary size. In order to facilitate the learning process for
learners, a deep understanding of vocabulary teaching is rudimentary. In addition, some issues
pertinent to the improvement in learners’ vocabulary size are also mentioned. Issues such as
what to teach, and how to teach, is also submitted and discussed

Approach

Theory of Language

The genre-based approach emphasize the importance of using simple vocabularies that
can be easily understood by the students (Department of Education, 1994).The students will
learn many kinds of vocabulary such as verb, noun, adjective and adverb. Verb is a word or
group of words that expresses an action, an event, or a state, for example, eat, happen and exist.

Theory of Learning

The purpose of learning vocabulary is to make the students understand the meaning of the
words. Finnochiaro (1973) suggested that teaching and learning vocabulary is an activity where
the teacher and the students reintroduce some vocabulary items with all the structure and in the
entire situation in which they can logically be used. Learning vocabulary means process of
gaining knowledge of vocabulary. In the first step, the learner will get invocation about
vocabulary. Such as: how to spell, to pronounce, to use it in appropriate sentences as well as
the meaning. The second is how the learners obtained and pronounced the words.

Pronunciation refers to the way a word or a language is usually spoken, at the manner in
which someone utters word. If someone said to have “correct pronunciation,” then it refers to
both within a particular dialect Finnochiaro (1973). The pronunciation is good if it is
understandable and pleasant. A word can be spoken in different ways bay various individuals
or groups, depending on many factors, such as:

 The area in which they grew up.

 The area in which they now live.
 If they have a speech or voice disorder.
 Their ethnic group.
 Their social class.
 Their education.

Nation (1990) explained that when someone want to teach a word, he/she has to teach
three things (1) the shape or form of the word, (2) the meaning of the word, (3) the form and
the meaning of the word together. In teaching the meaning, the teacher gives the synonym in
Indonesia language. Students have difficulty to understand the meaning of the words. So, it is
done to make them easier to memorize the meaning of the words.The vocabularies that should
be reached by the students of Elementary School are 600 words. For the fourth grade they have
to reach 100 words, fifth grade they have to reach 200 words and six.

Design

Objectives

This lesson is designed to help students comprehend and use vocabulary words in order
to understand their context in a unit. Before starting a new unit, students should obtain a list of
vocabulary words and be able to demonstrate their understanding of each meaning. These
vocabulary strategies enable the student to read more fluently, understand the author's word
choice, and gain deeper insight into the meaning of a text.

The objective is for students to acquire, remember, and meaningfully use newl learnt
words. Not only that, but also the students know the meaning of knowing word, grasp ways of
presenting vocabulary, grasp way of consolidating vocabulary, know how to develop
vocabulary strategies.

By learning vocabulary students know more vocab and the use of it in every context.
Students are able to differ between verb, adjective, noun, adverb, and many others. So by the
end of the session, students will be able to use newly learnt vocabulary by identifying the
misplaced words or phrases in a text and putting them in the right places.

Learner Roles

In the classroom student should follow the rules of learning. One of them is follow the
instruction from teacher. Such as repetition of vocabulary. It has been designed a number of
techniques meant to help learners efficiently memorize words and to help teachers make the
process of learning easier for their students. Repetition is an important technique in learning
vocabulary. In order for the words to be kept as long as possible in the memory, it is necessary
that they be repeated at frequent periods of time. However, repetition alone will not be effective.
It must be accompanied by the understanding of the meaning of those particular words and by
correlation with other similar already learnt words.

Then students should practice the vocabulary. Practising vocabulary is strongly connected
to applying vocabulary to students’ real life events. Learners will acquire vocabulary easily if
they practise it by associating words with events from their daily life. Considering that students
are presented a new word list related to the topic entitled “travelling.” Learners will
successfully memorize the word list by creating a real life event, for instance “going to Italy”
and then performing a situation in which all the words can be included. This can be done in
classroom as well as at home and will certainly entertain students and have positive results.

Student memorize the vocab by giving a picture, so that they can imagine it as a real life.
Students will easily learn new words if they are taught to associate them with their picture. If, for
example, students associate “travel agency” with the image of the particular building where we go to
ask information about travelling, they are likely to keep that word in their mind for longer time. Thus,
it is extremely important for the students to visualize the words they must learn. This will help the
learning process and will keep the words in the long-term memory.

Teacher Roles

Teacher facilities the communication process between all participants in the class and
between all activities in the classroom. The teachers’ role is also valuable. In the classroom,
teachers should insist on pracising the news vocabulary by encouraging students to speak as
much as possible and by designing vocabulary-centered activities and games. At home,
students need to be motivated to individually keep on using the new words until they are stored
in the long-term memory.

The teacher guide the student how to pronounce every single vocab, so that the students
are able to practice it in the correct pronounciation. Teacher disscuss about the different
vocabulary such as verb, adjective, noun to the students so that they are able to take it into
account based on the context.

Procedur

1. Explain—Provide a description, explanation, or example of the new term.

First, a teacher should provide students with information about the new term.
There are a number of different ways that teachers can help students build their initial
understanding of the term. Teachers can :
 tell a story using the term
 use video or computer images as a source of information.
 use current events to connect the term to something familiar.
 describe their own mental pictures of the term.
 find or create pictures that exemplify the term.
Notice that some of these suggestions include providing images. Using both
linguistic and nonlinguistic explanations of a new term will help students develop an
initial understanding of the term, as well as help prepare them to create their own
pictures or graphic representations in Step 3 of the process.
2. Restate—Ask students to restate the description, explanation, or example in their own
words.
During the second step, the teacher asks students to restate the meaning of the term
in their own words. It is critical that instead of simply copying what the teacher has said,
the students “own” the new terms by constructing their own descriptions, explanations,
or examples. Their constructions need not be comprehensive, but efforts should be
made to ensure they do not contain major errors.
It is very useful to have students record their descriptions, explanations, and
examples in a vocabulary notebook. For each term, the notebooks should provide a
space for students’ descriptions (Step 2), students’ picture or representation of the term
 (Step 3), and room for additional information students might add as a result of Steps 4,
5, and 6.
3. Show—Ask students to construct a picture, symbol, or graphic representation of the
term.
In Step 3, students are asked to construct a picture, symbol, or graphic
representation of a term; this forces them to think of the term in a totally different way.
Written or oral descriptions require students to process information in linguistic ways.
Pictures, symbols, and graphic representations require students to process information
in nonlinguistic ways.
If students are not accustomed to creating pictures and graphics for ideas, they
might initially need significant guidance and modeling. Even if they have experience
with nonlinguistic representations, it is likely that they will still need help with terms
that are difficult, new to them, or abstract.

4. Discuss—Engage students in discussion activities that help them add to their

knowledge of the terms in their vocabulary notebooks.
During the fourth step, students are engaged in activities designed to help them
discuss and review the terms in their vocabulary notebooks. These activities include
having students compare and contrast terms, classify terms, identify antonyms and
synonyms, and create analogies and metaphors using the terms. During this time,
students should be provided with opportunities to add to or revise the entries in their
vocabulary notebooks.
5. Refine and reflect—Ask students to return to their notebooks to discuss and refine
entries.
Both research and common sense suggest that interacting with other people about
what we are learning deepens the understanding of everyone involved—particularly
when we are learning new terms. During Step 5, students examine the entries in their
vocabulary notebooks to make changes, deletions, and additions. The teacher might ask
students to do this in pairs or small groups. Students might:
 compare their descriptions of the term.
 describe their pictures to each other.
 explain to each other any new information they have learned or new thoughts
they have had since the last time they reviewed the terms.
  identify areas of disagreement or confusion and seek clarification.

6. Apply in Learning Games—Involve students in games that allow them to play with
terms.
Games might be one of the most underused instructional tools in education. Many
types of games can help teachers keep new terms in the forefront of students’ thinking
and allow students to reexamine their understanding of terms. It is important to set aside
blocks of time each week to play games in order to energize students and guide them
in the review and use of important terms.Direct instruction in vocabulary is a critical
aspect of literacy development. Synthesizing research and theory on direct vocabulary
instruction into an innovative six-step instructional process enables classroom teachers
to teach and reinforce selected vocabulary terms with success.

Conclusion

According to Aitchitson (2001), vocabulary is a set of words known to a person or other

entity, or that are part of a specific language. It would be impossible to learn a language without
words or vocabularies support it (Rivers, 1981). It showed that people can do nothing in
communication if they do not know the word or vocabulary. Longman (1987) explained that
vocabulary is a list of words, usually in alphabetical order and with explanation of their
meanings, less complete than dictionary. It means that we should understand the meaning.

Vocabulary skill is often considered as a critical aspect of foreign language learners as

limited vocabulary in a second language, impedes successful communication. Considering the
importance of vocabulary acquisition, Schmitt (2000) emphasizes that lexical knowledge is
central to communicative competence and to the acquisition of a second language. Nation
(2001) then describes the correlation between vocabulary knowledge and language practice as
complementary: The skill of vocabulary enables language use and conversely. Language use
leads to an increase in vocabulary knowledge.