Definitionof Vocabulary

Vocabulary is the basic that must be learnt first by learners. It will help the learner in
learning English language well. As Harmand and Stork (1976:250) stated that vocabulary is a
stock of words which are at the disposal of speaker or writer. As in Brainy Media.com that
vocabulary is a list or collection of words arranged in alphabetical order and explained ; a
dictionary or lexicon either of whole language, a single work or author, a branch of science or
wordbook. Besides, Hindmarsh R (1980) stated that vocabulary is a core component of language
proficiency and provides much of basis for how well learners speak, listen, read and write.
Vocabulary refers to the words we must understand to communicate effectively.
Educators often consider four types of vocabulary there are :
1. Reading vocabulary
A persons reading vocabulary is all the words he or she can recognize when reading.
This is the largest type of vocabulary simply because it includes the other there.
2. Listening vocabulary
A persons listening vocabulary is all the words he or she can recognize when listening to
speech. This vocabulary is aided in size by context and tone of voice.
3. Writing vocabulary
A persons writing vocabulary is all the words he or she can employ in writing. Contrary
to the previous two vocabulary types, the writing vocabulary is stimulated by its user.
4. Speaking vocabulary
A persons speaking vocabulary is all the words he or she can use in speech. Due to the
spontaneous nature of the speaking vocabulary, words are often misuse though slight and
unintentional, may be compensated by facial expressions, tone of voice, or hand gestures.
Vocabulary plays a fundamental role in the riding process, and contributes greatly to a
readers comprehension. A reader cannot understand a text whitout knowing what most of the
words mean. Students learn the meaning of most words indirectly, through everyday experiences
with oral and written language. Other words are learned through carefully designed instruction.
Vocabulary learning is the important aspect in learning a foreign language. Students will
improve much if they learn more words and expressions. As a linguist David Wilkins (in
Thornbury 2002:13) says that vocabulary learning is very important. Without grammar very
little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed. Thus, vocabularies are the

flesh of a language while grammar is the skeleton. In order to be able to use the language
productively, students must know certain amount of vocabularies, not only for communicating
orally, but also written. It is in line with the concept of communicative approach in which
learners have a big chance to use the language directly in classroom activities. This approach is
useful in improving students vocabularies. Through the approach students are forced to use the
language directly in either spoken or written communication.
The questions relate with vocabularies acquisition are what kinds of words one needs to
know and how many words he must know. The vocabularies that should a student know first are
the high frequency words. These are words that he uses most often in communication either in
classroom activities or outside classroom. The high frequency words are called the general
service vocabulary. Next, he also should know the academic or sub technical words which are
not in general service vocabulary but occur frequently over a range of academic texts.
How many words a student must know is varied. Kweldju (1997) found that the average
vocabulary sizes of students from fifteen English Departments ranged from 2041 to 3352 word
families. A study conducted to 1776 students in 21 state graduate schools in Indonesia showed
that the graduate students vocabulary size averaged 2861 words, while S2 students vocabulary
size 2671 words and S3 students was 3211 words.
Learning the vocabulary of a foreign language presents the learner with firstly making the
correct connections when understanding the language between the form and the meaning of
words including discriminating the meanings of closely related words. Secondly, when
producing the language, using the correct form of a word for the meaning intended.