Vocabulary is one of
the important parts in learning language skills. Without vocabulary, it is
impossible to make sentences in communication. Concerning with statement above,
Malay (in Hidayati: 2007) states that through vocabulary we can communicate
ideas, emotions, and desires. It would be impossible in learning language
without vocabulary, without words. Words are best in learning English subject.
Young learners need to start using the words in the lesson and trying to
understand the teacher when teacher uses the new words. The most important goal
for the teacher is to develop students’ independence in learning word and
meaning in the context. It will enable to take more active in their vocabulary development.
The students get vocabulary from the environment. The environment extends in
time including books, radio, television, and internet. “Acting out the meaning
of words and seeing pictures help the children learn new word in a fun way”
(Gerlach 1980 : 247).
In
this time, the writer will discuss about definition of vocabulary.
Definition
of Vocabulary
There are definitions of the
vocabulary given by the expert. Hatch and brown define vocabulary as a list or
set of words that individual speakers of language might use (Hatch and Brown: 1995).
Vocabulary is a list of words, which make up the language. As stated in Oxford
Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (page 461) that vocabulary is the total number of
words in language. Penny Ur defined that vocabulary is one of the important
aspects in teaching a language, beside grammar and pronunciation. As a stock of
words used by a person, vocabulary can be defined roughly as the word we teach
in foreign language. (Penny Ur: 1996). Vocabulary is commonly defined as "all the words known
and used by a particular person". (Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia).
While Harimurti Kridalaksana says that vocabulary
is a component of a language that maintains all informations about meaning and
using words in a language (Harimurti Kridalaksana : 1993).Besides mastering
grammar, the English learner must have the save of many vocabularies because
the amount of vocabularies had by the learner influences the ability to produce
in English sentence than poor of vocabulary. Words are the basic unit of
language form. Without a sufficient
vocabulary, one cannot communicate effectively or express idea. Having a
limited vocabulary is also a barrier that prevents students from learning a
foreign language. If learners do not know how to expand their vocabulary, they
gradually lose interest their learning (Yang Zhihong: 1990). And Robert Lado
defined vocabulary as means the memory of situation in which they have been
observed and understood. (Robert Lado : 1974). It means that to know a word is
to use it or to understand in situation in which the person has not experienced
it before.
Words regarded as most important part in
learning language. Related to that matter McCharty, quoted from Vermeer stated
Knowing word is the key to understanding and being understood. The bulk of
learning a new language consists of learning words. Grammatical knowledge does
not make a great proficiency in a language. (McCarty ,Vermeer : 1997).
According to Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (1983) vocabulary is:
a) A
list of words or phrases, abbreviation inflectional form etc. Usually arranged
in alphabetical order defined or otherwise identified as in dictionary or
glossary.
b) An
interested group of non-verbal symbols, signs, gestures,etc. Used for communication
or expression in a particular art, skill etc.
Broadly
defined, vocabulary is knowledge of words and word meanings. However,
vocabulary is more complex than this definition suggest. First, words come in
two forms: oral and print. Oral vocabulary includes those words that we
recognize and use in listening and speaking. Print vocabulary includes those
words that we recognize and use in reading and writing. Second, word knowledge
also comes in two forms, receptive and productive. Receptive vocabulary
includes words that we recognized when we hear or see them. Productive
vocabulary includes words that we use when we speak or write. Receptive
vocabulary is typically large than productive vocabulary, and may include many
words to which we assign some meaning, even if we don’t know their full
definition and connotations – or ever use them ourselves as we speak and write.
In this research, vocabulary achievement is a score which gotten from post –
test in a vocabulary test. The test covers the things in the kitchen. Each test
consists of twenty five questions of vocabulary which are given by the
researcher.