Name : Siti Maharani

NIM : 11200140000080
Class : 5C

Improving Students’ Vocabulary Skills

through the Things Their Love
▪ The Concept of Vocabulary and Its Function
Lexis, the Greek term for word, is used in recent vocabulary studies since it
“refers to all the words in a language, the entire vocabulary of a language,” in English
(Barcroft, Sunderman, & Schmitt, 2011, p. 571). Vocabulary is the words of a language
which can consist of a single word or a combination of several words that have meaning
in each delivery of the word itself. Thus, vocabulary can be defined as the words used
in a language, including single words, phrases, or groups of words that convey a
particular meaning in the same manner as individual words do. Vocabulary contains
lexical phrases or chunks in addition to single lexical items, or words with a particular
meaning or meanings.
The teaching of vocabulary is essential to the learning of the English language
because without it, students cannot communicate their own thoughts or those of others.
According to Wilkins (1972), "although very little can be conveyed without grammar,
nothing can be conveyed without vocabulary”. It is important for students to build their
own unique vocabulary acquisition strategies and to acquire more useful vocabulary
information, especially as they become more fluent and expressive in English. Thus,
vocabulary has an important role for all of us because with sufficient vocabulary
knowledge, we can build communication and can speak more fluently.

▪ Aspects of Vocabulary Knowledge

There are many ways to define the idea of a word, but the three significant
aspects that teachers should be aware of and concentrate on are form, meaning, and use.
The form of a word, according to Nation (2001), includes the pronunciation (spoken
form), spelling (written form), and any word elements that make up this specific item
(such as a prefix, root, and suffix). The term uncommunicative serves as an illustration
of word parts. The prefix un- denotes the negative or opposite, the root word
communicate, and the suffix -ive indicates that the person or thing in question is capable
of doing the action.
According to Nation (2001), meaning includes the interaction between form and
meaning, or, in other words, the concept and the objects to which it refers, as well as
the connections that people have when they think about a particular phrase or
expression. According to Nation, use includes the word or phrase's grammatical
functions, common collocations, and any limitations on its use in terms of frequency,
level, and other factors.
▪ Teaching English Vocabulary Using Content-Focus Method and
Cooperative Learning Strategy
Content-focused method is a learning method that involves students to focus on
a given content. Students can interact with content through reading, viewing, or
listening to a live or recorded lecture, interacting with written or visual texts, using
multimedia, or doing a combination of these activities. Content-focused Peer Coaching
(CPC) (Kreis & Staub 2017) aims to enhance learning opportunities for all students of
the associated teachers. Briefly stated, the strategy is based on six key tenets:
o The main objective is to increase students' knowledge of and comprehension of
a certain sort of subject.
o A coaching cycle consists of a specific lesson, a pre-lesson dialogue, and a post-
lesson dialogue that is reflective.
o Teachers support one another as they work toward personal development
objectives. This is addressed and decided upon both before to and throughout
the coaching cycle.
o There are two roles in every coaching cycle: one colleague serves as the coach,
and the other is the one being coached (coachee). Throughout successive
coaching cycles, roles are switched.
o The coach wants to encourage a dialog where both parties contribute their own
views and questions. Together, they go into further detail on the lesson's
planning and reflection, respectively.
o References to a set of fundamental concerns on lesson planning, reflection, and
other cutting-edge ideas for effective teaching are made in the coaching
dialogues to enhance them.
The term "cooperative learning strategy" refers broadly to a variety of
instructional techniques intended to promote student interaction and group cooperation.
Teachers' use of cooperative learning strategies in class helps to create an interactive,
lively, cooperative, and democratic learning environment. TPS (Think-Pair-Share) is
one of these cooperative learning strategies that enables students to engage, process
knowledge, build communication skills, sharpen their thinking, and also encourage
them to participate effectively in the teaching-learning process in the classroom through
discussion. In this approach, the teacher divides the class into heterogeneous groups
and asks the students a question. The students then begin to think critically about the
question before sharing their responses with the entire class.
For applying this method in the class, I will start by classifying them into a few
groups based on their interests, such as reading, listening to music, or watching movies.
The next step is for me to give each group's study material so they may identify different
word categories that are unfamiliar or weird to them. After that, I will conduct a
question-and-answer session where I will explain things and give examples so they may
grasp them better and I also let them to show their own understanding about it. This
aids learners in drawing logical conclusions about concepts, words, and things.
 ▪ Advantages and Disadvantages
According to Lyman (1981) and other experts, the TPS three stage technique
offers various benefits (Rowe, 1987; Ahmed, 2006; Carroll, 2007; Kagan, 2009; Lom,
2012; Emmanuel, 2016; Raba, 2017). These are what they are:
o The Think-Pair-Share method is rapid and requires little setup time.
o The Think-Pair-Share method encourages students to consider their ideas before
sharing them with the class, which makes class discussions more fruitful.
o Students have the chance to learn more advanced observational,
communicative, and higher-order thinking techniques from their peers and
develop self-assurance while presenting ideas to the class as a whole.
o The "pair" step makes sure that no student is excluded from the conversation.
o All students have the chance to speak, and they can practice their responses both
orally and cognitively.
o There are more opportunities for both students and teachers to ponder and
participate in group discussions.
o The Think-Pair-Share method can be used in classes of any size and at any grade
level.
o After a class in which students have had the chance to talk and reflect on the
issue, it stimulates students' energies and more critical thinking is retained.
Disadvantages there are:
o It takes a lot of time to try to establish group awareness.
o The evaluation is based on the outcomes of the group project.
o It's challenging to develop both the capacity for cooperation and self-confidence
at the same time.
o Classmates who are perceived as having lower ability will feel constrained by
students who have advantages.

REFERENCES
Tesol.org. Teaching Vocabulary: Vocabulary and Its Importance in Language Learning.
https://www.tesol.org/docs/books/bk_ELTD_Vocabulary_974 (Accessed 12/09/2022).
University of Tasmania. 2022. Examples of Learning Activities. https://www.teaching-
learning.utas.edu.au/learning-activities-and-delivery-modes/planning-learning-
activities/examples-of-learning-activities (Accessed 12/09/2022).
Janik, Tomas, dkk. 2019. Supporting Teachers: Improving Instruction. Waxmann: New York.
Sharma, Hemant Lata & Saarsar, Priyamvada. 2018. TPS (Think-Pair–Share): An Effective
Cooperative Learning Strategy for Unleashing Discussion in Classroom Interaction.
International Journal of Research in Social Sciences. 8(5(1)): 91-100.
Admin. 2022. 7 Strategi Pembelajaran dengan Kelebihan dan Kekurangannya.
https://www.blogpendidikan.net/2021/07/7-strategi-pembelajaran-dengan.html (Accessed
12/09/2022).