CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

A. Theoretical Framework

1. Nature of Vocabulary

Vocabulary means words which are significant to be known by the

learners of language. It can be found in dictionary or other sources which are

relevant. However, to enrich the vocabulary we should precisely know about

the context of the language in spoken or written. When we use language, we

use words all the time, thousands of them. If we know a language well, we

know how to write the words and how to say the words.

There are many definitions of vocabulary proposed by some experts. It

is very important for one to know what vocabulary is before discussing

vocabulary mastery. Mastering a large number of vocabularies is very

important for foreign language learners. Without mastering it, of course,

foreign language learners will get some difficulties in developing four

language skills.

According to Ur (1996:60), vocabulary can be defined, roughly, as the

words we teach in the foreign language. Vocabulary is the basic for

communication and language learning vocabulary is very important because

all language skills are concerned with words, in speaking we speak words, in

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listening we hear, in reading we face words, and in writing we use word.

Therefore, Nunan (1991:118) stated that vocabulary is an important element

in the acquisition of a second language.

Vocabulary is the basis for the development of language. It is very

simple, without knowing the vocabulary of a language, higher level language

use (grammar, syntax, expository writing) is difficult, if not impossible as

stated by Debra L. Cook (2010: 45).

River (1983) in Nunan (1991:117) said that the acquisition of an

adequate vocabulary is essential for successful foreign language use, because

without an extensive vocabulary student will be unable to use the structure

and function we may have learnt for comprehension communication.

According to Snow (1998) in Karen (2003:52), we all have four

different vocabularies: the listening vocabulary, the speaking vocabulary, the

reading vocabulary, and the writing vocabulary.

a. Listening vocabulary

Listening vocabulary is the words we hear and understand,

commonly referred to as words we know. This is the largest of our

vocabularies and the one upon which the others are built.

b. Speaking vocabulary

Speaking vocabulary is the words we use in conversation. Our

listening vocabulary is larger than our speaking vocabulary because

our understanding of some words is incomplete or contextual (we

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understand a word in the context of a sentence or situation, but not

necessarily by itself ). Thus, adding both depth and dimension to our

word knowledge enables us to express our thoughts more efficiently

and effectively.

c. Reading vocabulary

Reading vocabulary is the words that we are able to read. Most

students enter school with very few words in their reading vocabulary.

To this, they add approximately three thousand new words a year. As

stated earlier in this book, learning to read is much easier if students

are reading words in their listening and speaking vocabularies. Thus,

increasing the number of words in students’ listening vocabularies

makes learning to read easier.

d. Writing vocabulary

Writing vocabulary is the words we use to express ourselves in

written form. This is usually the smallest of the four vocabularies. We

write using only those words we can read and understand. Just like

listening and speaking vocabularies, our reading vocabulary is larger

than our writing vocabulary.

In conclusion, communication will not take place well if the

communication does not use the appropriate vocabulary or words. Therefore,

before learning language skills, such as reading, speaking, writing, and

listening people should learn vocabulary first.

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2. Types of Vocabulary

Some experts have classified types of vocabulary. Elfrieda (2005:15)

classified vocabulary into two kinds: a receptive vocabulary and expressive

vocabulary (productive vocabulary). Further, he defines the receptive

vocabulary as the words known when the learner listens and reads. The

receptive vocabulary is also called a passive process because the learner only

receives thought from others. In language application, the receptive

vocabulary is considered as the basic vocabulary. Later, expressive

vocabulary is defined as the words used when the learner speaks and writes.

Harmer (1998: 159) added that active vocabulary refers to vocabulary that

students have taught or learnt in which the students will recognize when they

meet then they will probably not be able to produce. Vocabulary is divided

into two kinds, namely receptive and productive vocabulary.

a. Receptive Vocabulary

Receptive vocabulary is words that the learners recognize and

understand when they occur in context, but cannot produce correctly. It

is vocabulary that the learners recognize when they see it in reading

context but do not use it in speaking and writing. The receptive

vocabulary is also called a passive process because the learner only

receives thought form others. In language application, the receptive

vocabulary is considered the basic vocabulary. It is much larger than

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productive vocabulary because there are many words recognized when

the learner hears or reads but does not use when he speaks or writes.

b. Productive Vocabulary

Productive Vocabulary is the words in which the learners

understand, can pronounce correctly, and use constructively in speaking

and writing. It involves what is needed for receptive vocabulary plus the

ability to speak or write the appropriate time. Therefore, productive

vocabulary can be addressed as an active process, because the learners

can produce the words to express their thought to others. So, we can

conclude that vocabulary is very important in receptive or productive

vocabulary because we need to receive and produce the language.

3. Teaching and Learning Vocabulary

Vocabulary is the list of word in a language with meaning and

definition and it is very important to develop student’s ability in learning

speaking, listening, reading and writing as the fundamental in learning

language and to apply in their life meaningfully. Teaching vocabulary should

be integrated into four language skills.According to Ur (1991: 60), there are

six aspects that must be taught namely form, grammar, collocation, aspect of

meaning, meaning relation, and a word formation;

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a. Form

The learner has to know what a word sounds like (its

pronunciation) and what it looks like (its spelling). This is

unquestionably important especially related to English, in which

spelling varies often different from the pronunciation in teaching, we

need to make sure that both these aspect are accurately presented and

learned.

b. Grammar

The grammar of a new item will need to be taught if this is not

obviously covered by general grammatical rules. An item may have an

unpredictable change of form in certain grammatical contexts or may

have some idiosyncratic way of connecting with other words in

sentences; it is important to provide learners with this information at

the same time as we teach the base form.

c. Collocation

Knowing how to form collocation is another aspect of knowing a

word. Collocation is words, which often occur, together in specific

order. Knowledge of collocations, therefore, enables learners to

anticipate the words, which surround a specific word.

d. Aspect of meaning: denotation, connotation, appropriateness

There are aspects of meaning that are important for the students to

know namely denotation, connotation and appropriateness. Denotation

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is the kind of meaning which is written in a dictionary. This type of

meaning is also called dictionary meaning or lexical meaning of word.

Denotative meaning is therefore, obvious a less obvious component of

meaning of an item is its connotation meaning. This is the meaning

which added or associated to an item either negative or positive one,

which may not be indicated in a dictionary definition.

e. Aspect of meaning: meaning relationships

How the meaning of one item relates to the meaning of others can

also be useful in teaching. There are various such relationship some of

them are synonyms, hyponyms, homonyms, super ordinates etc.

besides those mentioned above, it may also helpful to think of meaning

relationship in term of cluster of semantic feature such as for example

stagger, stroll, prance, and limp. These words share semantic feature

namely the action of alternating feet or walking, but they also have

different features. This different feature contributes to what is often

called shade of meaning.

f. Word formation

Vocabulary items, whether one-word or multi-words, can often be

broken down into their components are put together is another piece of

useful information perhaps mainly for more advanced learners. Some

of these word formation processed are coinage, borrowing,

compounding, blending, clipping, back-formation, conversion,

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acronyms, prefixes and multi processes. Learning vocabulary is a very

important part of learning a language. The more words you know, the

more you will be able to understand what you hear and read and the

better you will be able to say what you want to when speaking or

writing.

The National Reading Panel (2000), in Heibert and Kamil (2005: 2)

identified the components of reading as phonemic awareness, phonics,

fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Vocabulary holds a special place

among these components. Vocabulary is not a developmental skill or one

that can ever be seen as fully mastered. The expansion and elaboration of

vocabularies is something that extends across a lifetime. A first

consideration in delineating the construct of "vocabulary" in research and

practice is that individuals have various types of vocabulary that they use for

different purposes.

4. Assessing of Vocabulary

Vocabulary knowledge is difficult to assess because there are various

levels of vocabulary knowledge. There are words we have never heard, there

are words we have heard but do not know the meaning of, and there are

words we know but have a limited understanding of, and so on. In other

words, as teachers, we need to evaluate not only what words the students
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know, but also how well they understand those words. So, it naturally needs

to be assessed in some way.

Coombe (2013: 117) stated that there are various types of tests that

could be used to measure the vocabulary mastery, as follows:

a. Synonym recognition (word in isolation or with context)

The teacher was furious when she heard the students talking

during the test.

a. Angry
b. Calm
c. Happy
d. Delighted
b. Definition recognition

If something is vague. It means it is …

a. Unclear
b. Abnormal
c. Precise
d. Specific
c. Meaning in context (sentence and paragraph level)

New Year is a time for making …. . Everyone thinks carefully

about the lifestyle changes they want to make in the coming year.

a. Indications
b. Resolutions
c. Summaries
d. Obligations
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Normally most kids love summer vacations. However, for me,

the end of the school year is not a time to celebrate. I dread the dull,

humdrum existence of sitting at home and doing the same things day

after day. There is only so much television one can watch. I am

counting the days toll school begins in September.

The word humdrum in line two probably means…

a. Interesting
b. Exciting
c. Boring
d. Motivating
d. Matching formats

Match useful expressions with context of use. Write the letter

in the space provided.

…. 1. When you are introduced to someone new.

…. 2. To apologize to someone.

…. 3. You don’t know the answer to a question.

…. 4. When you are joking with someone.

a. I’m sorry
b. Stop it
c. Nice to meet you
d. I’m just kidding
e. I give up
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e. Gap fill items: sentence (definition and meaning in context).

A…… is a person who defends people in court.

Correct answer: lawyer

To measure the vocabulary size, we can use the following formula:

𝑁𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑥 𝑁𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑟𝑦

= 𝑣𝑜𝑐𝑎𝑏𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑖𝑧𝑒
𝑁𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡

The formula above means that the vocabulary size

depends on the result of correct answer times with the total

words in a dictionary and then divided with all items in a

test.

5. The 2013 Curriculum

Curriculum is all the subjects taught at educational institution (Kamus

Bahasa Indonesia, 2008). The term curriculum is used to refer to the overall

plan or design for a course and how the content for a course is transformed

into a blueprint for teaching and learning which enables the desired learning

outcomes to be achieved (Richards, J.C., 2013).

State Junior High School 23 is one of the formal education institutions

in Pekanbaru applying the 2013 Curriculum (known as K’13) as its guidance

in teaching and learning process. The material in K ‘13 is regarded as being

arranged in balance covering the student’s attitude, knowledge, and skills

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competencies stressing on language skills as a means of communication to

convey ideas and knowledge.

The material in the core competencies (KIs) and the basic

competencies (KDs) which support each other and consecutively for the

assessment will greatly assist teachers in planning, implementing, and

evaluating learning. Competencies in K ’13 are set forth in KI 1 (Spiritual

Competencies), KI 2 (Social Competencies), KI 3 (Knowledge

Competencies), and KI 4 (Skills Competencies). Language skill

competencies cover the skill competencies to listen, speak, read, and write.

Competencies 1 and 2 are applied to all subjects at the same level of

education, while competencies3 and 4 are different for each subject and each

level. In language learning, KI 3 covers grammar and vocabulary, while KI 4

includes skill competencies, such as listening, speaking, reading, and

writing.

6. Concept Of List-Group-Label Strategy

List-Group-Label strategy is designed to encourage students to

improve their vocabulary and categorize skills, organize their verbal

concepts and, aid them in remembering and reinforcing new words them.

List-Group-Label attempts to improve upon the way in which students learn

and remember new words. The rationale for using this strategy is based on
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the idea that categorizing words will help students organize new words and

concepts in relation to already known words/concepts. List-Group-Label was

originally used to aid students in remembering technical vocabulary in social

studies and science.

According to Allen (2007: 69), List-Group-Label is a brainstorming

and categorizing activity that provide students with the opportunity to think

about, discuss, categorize, and label words related to a central concept.

Words that students generate in the process of this activity can serve as an

excellent assessment tool for teachers in determining the degree of

background knowledge students bring to the study. Accelerating literacy

learning states that List-Group-Label is a powerful practice designed to build

academic vocabulary by activating knowledge about words and reflecting on

concepts that are related to each other. Spending time of categorizing and

organizing what they know helps students process information more deeply

and remember it more effectively.

According to Taba (1967), List-Group-Label strategy develops

students’ academic vocabulary by categorizing words into groups that relate

to similar concepts. Through this process, students are required to activate

their prior knowledge and engage in thinking about word in different ways.

They connect their prior knowledge with new knowledge about word, by

developing conceptual understanding useful for comprehending text. Taba

adds the purpose of the List, Group is to assist students in learning new
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vocabulary by emphasizing word relationships. In addition to helping

students understand and remember vocabulary words and phrases, it also

supports the activation of background knowledge.

Scott (2006) in Accelerating Literacy Learning stated that Vocabulary

instruction is more effective when students are active in their learning and

teachers organize learning in ways that emphasize their connectedness or

semantic relations. List-Group-Label asks students to actively categories

words along with other more familiar words. This helps connect the words

by concept. In addition, instructional approaches that help students connect

their prior knowledge with new words allow students to commit new words

to their long-term memories more effectively and assist them in

remembering the words later. In List-Group-Label, students focus on using

the new words and talking about related concepts. This activates prior

knowledge as new knowledge connected, linked, classified and filed away.

7. Procedures of List, Group, Label Strategy

The list, group, label strategy has several steps, According to Brunner

(2011: 14) steps include the following:

a. The teacher introduces the selected topic to students.

b. The teacher asks students to brainstorm words related to the topic.

c. The teacher records the words in a manner that can be displayed to

everyone.
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d. The teacher asks students to individually determine ways the words can

be grouped together and explains that they will be asked to share their

reasons for the grouping with classmates.

e. The teacher places students in groups of two to four, and asks them to

review the words. They should reach consensus as to how best to place

the words into groupings.

f. The teacher instructs students to label each listing of words, and indicate

how the words are related.

g. After categories and labels have been assigned, the teacher facilitates a

class discussion of the terms and words.

h. The teacher directs students to read the assignment.

8. Advantages of List, Group, Label Strategy

List-Group-Label makes words come alive for students through their

conversations and reflections on the "meaning connections" between

words. It actively engages students in learning new vocabulary and content

by activating their critical thinking skills. According to Brunner (2011: 15),

the advantages of List-Group-Label strategy include the following:

a. Provides opportunity for individual work and small group work.

b. Provides a purpose for reading.

c. Takes little teacher preparation.

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d. Straight forward and easy to explain and understand.

e. Provides a ready- made study guide

f. Good activity for a substitute teacher.

g. Facilitates deeper understanding of the text.

h. Encourages collaboration.

i. Facilitates deeper understanding of the vocabulary word.

B. Relevant Research

According to Syafi’i (2013:94) relevant research is required to

observe some previous researches conducted by other researchers in which

they are relevant to the research they are conducting. In this case, there are

two researches:

1. This present research is relevant to the research by that was conducted

Junaid (2012) entitled: Students’ Vocabulary Achievement by Using

List Group Label at SMP Nasional Makassar. The subject of the

research was the the first year students of SMP Nasional Makassar.

And the object of this research was to analyze the use of List Group

Label on students’ vocabulary achievement. He used a classroom

action research method with cycle I and cycle II design, in which each

cycle consisted of four meetings. It employed vocabulary test

instrument. The findings indicated that the use of List Group Label

(LGL) in presenting the vocabulary mastery material at the first year

students of SMP Nasional Makassar improved the students’

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vocabulary achievement significantly. The finding indicated that the

mean score of students’ vocabulary in nouns and verbs in cycle II was

higherthan the mean score of test in cycle I (74.20% > 57.79%).

2. The other research was conducted by Rina Ardiyanti (2015) entitled:

The Use of List Group Label (LGL) Strategy in Developing Students’

Academic Vocabulary Mastery at Eleventh Grade of SMA Negeri 1

Pati. The aim of her study was to find out the effectiveness of

List-Group-Label (LGL) strategy which contributed to the

students’academic vocabulary mastery. She conducted this study by

using a quasi experimental research. The results showed that there was

a significant difference in the students’ achievement between the

experimental and the control groups. The significant (2-tailed)

coefficient was 4% and it was lower than the significant coefficient

5%, so the working hypothesis was accepted. Besides, the percentage

of students’ learning improvement after they got the treatment was

42%. These results indicated that the use of List-Group-Label (LGL)

strategy in developing students’ academic vocabulary mastery was

effective and it could be used as an alternative strategy which

facilitates students’ academic vocabulary development.

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C. Operational Concept

In carrying this research, it is necessary to clarify the variable used in

analyzing the data. There are two variables, variable X and Y. Variable X is the

effect of using List-Group-Label strategy, and Variable Y is the students’

vocabulary mastery.

1. The indicators of variable X (List-Group-Label strategy) According to

Brunner (2011: 14) can be seen as follows:

a. The teacher introduces the selected topic to students.

b. The teacher asks students to brainstorm words related to the topic.

c. The teacher records the words in a manner that can be displayed to

everyone.

d. The teacher asks students to individually determine ways the words that

can be grouped together rand explains that they will be asked to share

their reasons for the grouping with classmates.

e. The teacher places students in groups of two to four, and asks them to

review the words. They should reach consensus as to how best to place

the words into groupings.

f. The teacher instructs students to label each listing of words, and indicate

how the words are related.

g. After categories and labels have been assigned, the teacher facilitates a

class discussion of the terms and words.

h. The teacher directs students to read the assignment.

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2. The indicators of variable Y (Students’ vocabulary mastery) According to Ur

(1991: 60), it can be seen as follows:

a. The students’ ability to know the meaning of word.

b. The students’ ability to spell the spelling of word correctly in English.

c. The students’ ability to determine the synonym or antonym of the word.

d. The students’ ability to use good words grammatically.

e. The students’ ability to know about the word formation of word (noun,

verb, adverb, adjective).

D. Assumption and Hypothesis

1. The Assumption

In this research, the researcher assumes that the students who are

taught by using List-Group-Label strategy will have better vocabulary

mastery, and the better implementation of List-Group-Label strategy in

vocabulary subject, the better students’ vocabulary mastery will be.

2. The Hypothesis

Based on the assumption above, the hypotheses of this research can be

formulated as follows:

Ho1: There is no significant difference on students’ vocabulary mastery pre-

test mean score between an experimental class and a control class.

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Ha1: There is significant difference on students’ vocabulary mastery pre-test

mean score between an experimental class and a control class.

Ho2: There is no significant difference on students’ vocabulary mastery post-

test mean score between an experimental class and a control class.

Ha2: There is significant difference on students’ vocabulary mastery post-test

mean score between an experimental class and a control class.

Ho3: There is no significant difference on students’ vocabulary mastery

between pre-test and post-test mean score by using List-Group-Label

strategy in the experimental group at State Junior High School 23

Pekanbaru.

Ha3: There is significant difference on students’ vocabulary mastery between

pre-test and post-test mean score by using List, group, label strategy in

the experimental group at State Junior High School 23 Pekanbaru