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CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

In this chapter there are some points are discussed by the researcher they are

vocabulary, word wall, and previous study.

A. Vocabulary

1. Definition of Vocabulary

In some literature, the researcher found the meaning of vocabulary. There are

some definitions of vocabulary. According to Davies according to Longman Dictionary

(1998: 1764) Vocabulary is a word, term, used. It means that vocabulary is important to

know, learn and used. Without having enough vocabulary they can not make meaningful

sentences in communication.

Vocabulary is important to be mastered by language learners, especially English

learners because English vocabulary is large. It is a must for the teachers to help their

students to master vocabulary successfully. By mastering vocabulary, students can learn

and use language well. It is proved by Laufer (1997) who states that vocabulary learning

is at the heart of language learning and language use.

Good (1973: 143) defines that vocabulary as the words having meaning when

heard and seen even though not produced by the individual himself to communicate with

others and the words are considered essential for minimal use a language.

According to Hornby (1989:1447), that vocabulary is 1). All the words that a

person knows are uses. 2). All the words in a particular language. 3) All the words that

people use when they are talking. 4). A list of words with her meaning especially in a

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book for learning foreign vocabulary is a list of words and sometimes phrase usually

arranged in alphabetical order define a dictionary glossary or lexicon.

Vocabulary is a very important aspect of our life. It is because people need

vocabulary in expressing their ideas both of in mother tongue and foreign language.

Vocabulary always becomes an essential part of English as a foreign language. Every

person who learns a language must learn the vocabulary of the language in order to make

the learning process easier. In language learning, vocabulary plays an important role.

Hedge (1993: 27) states that knowing a lot of words in a foreign language are very

important.

2. Aspect of Vocabulary

According to Ur (1996: 60-62), there are some aspects of vocabulary that should be

mastered by students as follows:

a. Pronunciation and Spelling

The students have to know what a word sounds like (its pronunciation) and what it looks

like (it's spelling).

b. Grammar

The grammatical rules should be understood by students when they learn a set of new

words.

c. Meaning

The meaning of words is primarily what it refers to in the real world, its denotation. A

less obvious component of the meaning of an item it is connotation: the association, or

positive or negative feeling it evokes, which may not be indicated in a dictionary

definition. A more subtle aspect of meaning that often needs to be taught is whether a

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 particular item is the appropriate one to use in a certain context or not.

Hacth (1995:373-390) states that there are five essential steps in vocabulary learning.

a. Encountering new words

The first essential step for vocabulary learning is encountering new word form various

sources. Encountering words are more effective when the students work with interactive

and interesting material. The number of times that a word is encountered also affect

whether it learned.

b. Getting the word form

The importance of getting the word form appears when students are asked to give

definitions for words. Beginning students are likely to make mistakes that are related to

confusions of the form of other words.

c. Getting the word meaning

The specificity of the meaning that students need seems to vary. The level of distinction

that must be made in word definition seems commit vary both with the requirement of

the task or situation and also with the level of students. One varies popular way in

incidental learning for students to get the meaning of words is through context.

d. Consolidating word form and meaning in memory

Interesting vocabulary learning can strengthen the form-meaning connection. There are

four strategies: (1) creating mental linkages, (2) applying images and sound, (3)

reviewing well, (4) employing actions.

e. Using the word

The final step in learning word is using the words. Usages provides a mild guarantee that

word and meanings will not fade from memory once they are learned.

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 That the researcher gave the student solution as follow; make the meaning of the word,

and translating the word.

3. Classification of Vocabulary

Vocabulary can be classified into some categories or kinds. Sheperd (1980: 1)

divides vocabulary into two kinds, namely receptive vocabulary and expressive vocabulary

(productive vocabulary). He defines receptive vocabulary as “ the word known when the

learner listens or reads”. Receptive vocabulary is also considered as passive process since the

learner only receives thought from others. In language application, the receptive vocabulary

is regarded as the basic vocabulary. Later, expressive vocabulary is defined as “the word

used when the learner speaks and writes”. Therefore, expressive vocabulary can be addressed

as an active process because the learner produces or expresses thought to others. Generally,

receptive vocabulary is much larger than expressive vocabulary because there are many

words recognized when the learner hears or reads but do not use when he speaks or writes.

4. Type of Vocabulary

Harmer (1991:159) distinguishes two types of vocabulary, active and passive. The

former refers to vocabulary which students have been taught and learn and which they are

expected to be able to use.

Meanwhile, the letter refers to words which students will recognize when they meet

them but which they will probably not to be able to produce. In line with Harmer, Haycraft

(1997:44) also differentiates vocabulary into two kinds, active and passive. Active

vocabulary is words which students can understand, pronounce correctly, and use

constructively in speaking and writing. Meanwhile, passive vocabulary is words that students

recognize and understand when they occur in a context, but which they cannot produce

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correctly by themselves.

Based on how often (its frequency) and how widely (its range) vocabulary occurs in

language, Nation (2008: 7-11) distinguishes vocabulary into four levels as follows:

a. High-frequency words

High-frequency words of the language are the most important group of words. These

words occur very frequently in all kinds of uses of the language. They are needed

formal and informal use of the language, in speech and in writing and in novels,

conversation, newspapers, and academic texts. Most of the words are quite short and

included as function words.

b. Academic words

These words are frequent and widely used within a specialized area. For example, the

vocabulary of newspaper, children‟s books or very informal conversation. The most

well researched special purposes area for vocabulary in academic writing. Academic

writing includes academic textbooks like economics or geography text, academic

articles such as articles from journals, and laboratory manuals. Academic words do not

occur so often in other kinds of language use. The words in the academics word list are

very important for learners who will use English for academic study either in Senior

High School or universities or technical institute.

c. Technical words

Most technical words occur only in one specialized area, but some technical words can

occur in other areas, some with the same meaning and some with different meanings.

For example, by-pass and neck occur very frequently in medicine and technical words

in that area. They also occur outside that area. Technical words are clearly very

important in anyone who specializes in a particular area.

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d. Low-frequency words

They include (1) word that are not quite frequent or wide range enough to be high

frequency words (abort, absorb, accelerate, accent, accusation, acid, acre), (2) technical

words from other areas (one person‟s technical vocabulary in another person low-

frequency vocabulary), and (3) words that just occur rarely. Based on the statement

above, it can be concluded that vocabulary distinguishes into four levels. The level

vocabulary used for junior high school in the academic words, which used in academic

textbooks as a handbook for students to learn.

5. Techniques in Teaching Vocabulary

From what is mentioned by Lewis and Hill (1992: 102- 103); the researcher summarizes

some vocabulary teaching techniques as follows:

a. Contrast (Opposite/Antonyms)

Teachers can present the meaning of “empty‟ by contrasting it with “full‟, “cold‟ by

contrasting it with “hot‟, “big‟ by contrasing it with “small‟, students will learn two

words instead of one.

b. Synonyms

Sometimes it is helpful, particularly with a relatively unimportant word of passive

vocabulary, to provide a quick synonym explanation. It is helpful if teachers say “it is

similar in meaning to...” to build up in the students mind the idea that language consists

of choice, that words do not mean the same as each other.

c. Enumeration

It d ea ls with general a n d s p ec i f i c words. Teachers can say “clothes‟ and explain

this by enumerating or listing various items.

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d. Explanation

This technique can be better used with intermediate students. Explaining the meaning of

a word must include explaining any fact of word use which is relevant. If teachers

explain the meaning of “mate‟ (=friend), they have to point out that it is a colloquial

word used in informal contexts and that it is more often used for males for females.

e. The Dictionary

Teachers can ask students to look up the word in the dictionary, this way provides

practice in important learning skills, dictionary use.

f. Translation

It is a quick and easy way to present the meaning of words, but it is not without a

problem. It is not always easy to translate words. Besides, it may make it a bit too easy

for students by discouraging them from interacting with the words. Furthermore,

teachers may find it difficult to use this way with a class of different nationalities since

it is not easy to translate into all the necessary languages. However, there are always

some words that need to be translated and this technique can save a lot of time. If

teachers do translate vocabulary, they need to exemplify the word in context so that

students will not forget is easily.

g. In context

If the word occurs in a text or passage, the meaning can often be deduced when the

other words in the sentence are already known. This deductive process applies

particularly to the use of reading passage or stories, whether taped, read, or told.

h. Create a context

the only way to teach the meaning of many abstract words is by creating a context or

situation from which the students can then deduce the meaning.

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i. Eliciting

Once a context is established, teachers can ask the student what words they would

expect to find or what they would expect someone to say or do in a particular situation.

j. Descriptions or definition

Teachers can describe and define objects: “You steer a ship with a rudder‟, You put

luggage into the boot of a car, “Alawn is an area of grass in a garden‟.

k. Word games

There is a large variety of these and they are useful for practicing and revising

vocabulary after it has been introduced. For example, crossword puzzle and scrabble.

From those various techniques. There are several ways in teaching vocabulary like

contrast (opposites/Antonyms), synonyms, the dictionary, translation. Those techniques can

be developed by Word Wall, one of the techniques that can cover those ways in teaching

vocabulary.

By considering all of the definitions above, it can be concluded that vocabulary

mastery is a great comprehensive skill or knowledge about or understanding of a total

number of words with their meaning which make up a language used by person, class, or

profession. It also can be concluded that vocabulary mastery is the ability of a person to have

knowledge of words and word meaning to use it in conducting communication in each aspect

of language fluently and properly. It is the complete mastering of some aspect of vocabulary

such as:

1. Pronunciation

The students have to be able to pronounce the words correctly. They have to know how

to speak and them well. It is very important because the mistakes in pronouncing a word

can make it's meaning different.

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2. Spelling

The students have to be able to spell each letter of a word both in written and spoken

way. They have to be able to spell a word so that they can catch the meaning of that

word.

3. Understanding the meaning

Besides knowing the pronunciation and the spelling, the students also have to be able to

understand the meaning of a word. The meaning of a word can be more than one

according to the context.

4. Using words in a sentence

After knowing how to pronounce, to spell, and to understand the meaning of a word, the

students be able to use in a sentence. They have to remember a word and then use in a

sentence correctly.

Vocabulary mastery in the context of my research is the try to develop the ability of the

students to have knowledge of words and word meaning to use it in a conducting

communication in each aspect of language fluently and properly. The researcher takes the

school environment as the material to develop the ability of the students’ vocabulary. The

ability that will be developed by the researcher in vocabulary is about meaning,

pronunciation, spelling, and using in a context.

6. Factors Influencing Students Vocabulary Mastery

A good vocabulary is essential to effective listening, speaking, writing and

reading. The learners absolutely wish to achieve the components by mastering strong

vocabulary. An expanded vocabulary will provide the students with accurate and precise

words in which this can only promote the understanding that is critical to effective

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communication. Mastering vocabulary is inseparable with the success of language

learning. Many factors appear to play a role in vocabulary development, Hedge in

teaching and learning in the language classroom, (2003: 118) states that there are three

factors that influence vocabulary development.

a. Frequency

The frequency has been accorded a high level of significance in English teaching

and learning for many years as a result of the use of word frequency counting as a

procedure informing syllabus and material design. The rationale for this is quite simply

that the most frequently occurring words in the English language will be those most

useful to learners. Repetition of words in materials can the process of lexical inference

and has been used as a principle for constructing grade reading material for many years.

b. Pronunciation

Pronunciation of a word was what we hear when someone says the word. Most

words had only one pronunciation, but sometimes a word had two or more pronunciations.

English pronunciation was difficult to learn because it was not related to the spelling of

words.

Many other students want to be able to speak English well with understandable

pronunciation so that they could communicate without hindrance because good pronunciation

makes the receiver easier to understand. Pronouncing the word enables the students to

remember it longer and identify it more readily when they hear or see it.

c. Contextualization

Schouten van parreren, (1989: 76) argues that text, present a linguistic and

psychological reality and that presenting words in the context of a text will provide

support and reduce inference. It is her contention that if learners have to perform certain

activities on unfamiliar words in texts, there is a good chance of retaining the words. The

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activities comprise guessing the meaning from context and from word form, verifying

meaning by checking in a dictionary, and analysis of the word from to recognize

relationships between the new word and others already known.

B. Word Wall

1. The Definition of Word Wall

The definition of the word wall is a systematically organized collection of words

displayed in large letters on a wall or other large display place in the classroom. It is a

tool designed to promote group learning. Regarding the definition above, the word wall

is a systematical collection of words in a large letter and placed in the classroom wall. It

is a tool to use, not just display.

Word wall media is a great way to make the teaching and learning process

becomes more interesting and enjoyable. A word wall is a group of words that are

displayed on a wall, bulletin board, checkboard, or whiteboard in a classroom

(Cronsberry: 2004: 3). The words are printed in a large font so that they are easily visible

from all students seating area. These words are referred to continually throughout a unit

or term by the teacher and the students during varieties of activity.

It is relevant to Green (1993: 1) argued that a word wall is an organized collection

of large print words on the classroom wall. A word wall helps to create a print-rich

environment for students and can be a wonderful tool that is designed to promote group

learning.

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2. Word Wall as Media of Teaching Vocabulary

Word Wall is a group of words that are displayed on a wall, bulletin board,

checkboard, or whiteboard in a classroom. The words are printed in a large font so that

they are easy visible from all student seating area. These words are referred to

continually throughout a unit or item by the teacher and the student during a variety of

activities. (Cronsberry: 2004:3).

It is relevant to Green (1993:1) argued that a word wall is an organized collection

of large print words wall on the classroom. A word wall helps create a print-rich

environment for students and can be a wonderful tool that is designed to promote group

learning.

In teaching vocabulary by using Word Wall Media (Jerry 2010: 5) consists of

some activities:

a. Make words accessible by putting them where every student can see them.

They should be written in large black letters using a variety of background colors to

distinguish easily confused words.

b. Teachers should be selective about the words that go on the word wall. Try to include

words that children use most commonly in their writing. Words should be added

gradually a guideline is five words per week.

c. Use the word wall daily to practice words incorporating a variety of activities such as

chanting, snapping, cheering, clapping, tracing, word guessing games as well as

writing them.

d. Provide enough practice so that words are read and spelled automatically, make sure

that word walls are always spelled.

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3. How to Create a Word Wall?

There are several ways to make word wall efficient, practical and easy to

remember. Word wall is interactive media in the classroom to support the learning of

listening, speaking, reading and writing. The steps to make a word wall:

a. Use the favorite words that most appropriate on a particular theme, so they are easy

to remember.

b. Create these words in a variety of forms that will be more interesting for students.

c. Make it useful by often using these words in a variety of activities such as, listening,

speaking, reading or writing.

d. Make it easy to see, to write a script which is large and placed on a wall in the

classroom.

In creating this media, the researcher determines the keywords related to the

theme and write a script in the large letter on a paper as much as, so it possible can be

seen clearly by all students in the class. The keywords can be adjectives, nouns, verb, or

adverb which is customized with themes that will be studied. For the next stage, teacher

can collaborate with students in making the word wall.

The students asked to create a collection of vocabulary words on a piece of

cardboard that relate to the theme of learning. After that, collected and selected the words

are most appropriate with the theme that will be taught. All of the student work then

collected as the student portfolio and assessed.

There are many things that the teacher can use a word wall for:

a. Chunking: Using words to help children spell words that rhyme with other words. For

example, using common word families (i.e. "-like in like).

b. Spelling: Displaying the spelling words of the week on the wall. Keep the spelling

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 words throughout the year on the wall to help the students memorize the words.

c. Word Recognition: The students see the words on the wall and are able to identify

them when the teacher asks to point out a particular word.

d. Displaying categories: The teacher can separate words into categories and display

them on his/her wall. For example, display the names of the students, names of

animals, or maybe the months of the year.

e. Alphabetical order: Teach the children a sense of alphabetical order by having the

alphabet on a wall (letters enlarged) and have words that begin with those letters

underneath the letter they correspond with.

4. How to Implement Word Wall

According to Lori (2004: 1) the technique to implementation word wall in learning

as follow:

a. Establish a purpose for using the word wall.

use the word walls aim to improve students’ vocabulary in the use of word wall

in the learning process in the classroom. Word walls may be used to help students learn

high-frequency words, or they may be used to develop a vocabulary around a theme. For

example, themes for word walls may include the hospital, book, library, teacher or

anything you want to teach.

b. Select the words that are targeted for instruction.

Select a few words for teaching and post them on the wall. Teachers choose words

that correspond to students' ability who are able to students remember and learn. Words

on the wall need to be spelled correctly and written legibly, as students will be

encouraged to use the word wall as a resource for their reading and writing.

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c. Before reading, teach the words.

Before teaching word wall students should practice vocabulary, in other words,

to make students more creative in teaching vocabulary using word walls. Engage students

in a lively discussion of the words. Teachers may decide to write a brief meaning of the

word which is able to be mastered by students .

d. After reading, students may post words to the word wall.

Of the teaching of the word, the students begin to understand the meaning of a

word, so that students are able to learn vocabulary by using the word wall well. Because

word walls are effective when they are interactive, teachers guide the discussion of the

readings to include new and interesting words that student discovered in their readings.

These words, along with their meanings, may be posted on the word wall.

e. Initiate activity around the word wall.

The activities conducted by placing the words on the wall or on the blackboard

and students are required to mention such words or preferably by using pictures and then

look it was written on that board. For the word wall to be effective, members of the

learning community must use them. The teacher plays an important role in initiating

activity that leads to interactive word walls. For example, using word walls as references

in finding interesting words for writing and playing word games will encourage students

to make the word walls their own.

There are some ways to support our interactive word walls (Patricia Antonacci &

Catherine M. O’Collaghan, 2012: 105)

1. Incorporate the Interactive Word Wall strategy as part of the word study instructional

routine. It means whenever you teach English, promote the students to always use

this strategy when they have any difficulties in words.

2. Select the display wall carefully; making sure that it is at eye level and large enough

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 to post the words. Teachers must create the word wall bigger so students can see

clearly.

3. Decide on how you wish to display the words, such as alphabetically or organized by

themes or content areas. There are many kinds of word wall example, there are

alphabetically and themes, you can see, that is the example of an alphabetical word

wall, and that one is the theme word wall.

4. Write the words legibly on oak tag or paper, demonstrating appropriate handwriting.

The teachers or students write the words in an oak tag or paper in good handwriting,

so other students can understand the handwriting.

5. Advantage and Disadvantage of Using Word Wall Method

a. Advantages of using the word wall

1) To support the teaching of important general principals about words and how.

2) To develop a growing core of words that become part of reading and writing.

3) To make the students practice English for communication and to create using

language.

4) To create a variety of word wall game using the teacher’s own word.

5) The teachers can choose the vocabulary topic or grammar item form a large database

of exercise. All exercise is interactive and simple in learning English, such as

matching word, word association and missing letter.

b. The disadvantage of using the word wall

Learning use the word wall method will require a long time and needs a lot of

equipment and colors. Imagination and creativity are needed to produce good word wall.

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C. Previous Studies

In this part, the researcher describes some previous studies that are relevant to

this thesis:

1. The first previous research was conducted by Nanang Suhardi (2008) researched

about The Effectiveness of Using Modified Word Search Games to Increase

Vocabulary Mastery of The Second Year Students of SMPN 1 Buru Karimun

Regency Riau. He concluded that a modified word search game was one of the games

that could increase students’ vocabulary mastery.

2. The second previous study was conducted by Nur Aeni Kasim (2010) about

Increasing the Students’ Vocabulary Mastery By Using Word Wall Media at The

Second Year Students of SMPN 26 Makasar. The finding showed that the student

progress during teaching vocabulary by using the word wall was good.

From the study above, it can be concluded that the word wall media has an effect

on improving the students’ vocabulary mastery. So, the researcher believes that the word

wall media can be regarded as an effective way to improve students’ vocabulary mastery.

In this study, the researcher tries to do other research related to this topic. The difference

from the previous study is in the research design and the point of the variables. The

researcher uses different subject than previous studies that is tenth-grade students at

SMAN 4 Penajam Paser Utara in academic year 2019/2020. The researcher wants to find

out the significance of different scores of the students before and after being taught by

using the word wall media.

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