CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1                     Background of The Study

Learning vocabulary is the esential component in english skill. It seems to be one of the easiest things about learning a language but it can be burden for some learners and also become one of the hardest things to do. The cause of it is there are many vocabularies which must be known in students’ mind. But major of students have problem in it.

The way to introduce vocabulary must make students understand what the vocabulary is. unfortunately in our educational world, the way in teaching it is by doing a simple way. The teacher explains about the material orally, he or she explains in how to write and say it. Teaching in that way does not give big influence in building students vocabulary.

Introducing vocabulary through reading descriptive text is the one that may give influence to build up their vocabulary. This method makes the simple of teaching learning proccess which should not use any difficult media to perform in the class. Their activity can include from reading the text and guess what does it mean.

Rose (viii:1998) a students vocabulary flourishes best when new words are introduced in a context that interest them. To understand a word, they must have experience either direct or vicarious, with an idea or concept behind the word. In this case, they can build vocabulary by reading descriptive text. Students can know the meaning of new vocabulary by compounding the meaning in around the word.

“Vocabulary is no longer a primary classroom focus, something to be tought and tested; but rather than something to be acquired incidentally by the student while reading,” said Susan (1994). She tried to explore that to introduce vocabulary can be acquired in the incidental condition. Here, the incidental proccess can be done through reading descriptive text.

1.2                     The Aim of Research

The aim of this research is to know the effectiveness of introducing vocabulary through description text in the seventh class of junior high school as a strategy in teaching vocabulary.

1.3                      The Reseach Question

1.         How effective teaching vocabulary through reading descriptive text in students’ memory?

CHAPTER II

THEORETICAL FOUNDATION

This chapter will discuss about the definition of vocabulary and reading descriptive text.

2.1       Definition of Vocabulary

Teaching vocabulary is an important factor in language teaching, the words play in expressing our feelings, emotions, and ideas to others during the act of communication. Vocabulary is knowledge of words meaning that can more complex to be definition. Voccabulary rapid in the preschool years. Syafrizal (2008:14) said that young students acquire about five new words each day between the age of one half to six years. The vocabulary could add up based on the age in their growth. Vocabulary building is generally consider to be an important part  learning a language and improving their skills in a language. Traditional technique of teaching vocabulary often give struggling to the students, so make themcannot increase their skill. Many of them feel frustrated with their English vocabulary learning.

According to Fran (2000) vocabulary 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.

Beside that, Fran (2000) said that a word knowledge also comes in two forms, receptive and productive. Receptive vocabulary includes words that we recognize when we hear or see them. Productive vocabulary includes words that we use when we speak or write.

2.2       Definition of Descriptive Text

Descriptive text tends to specify the described object while report text will describe the object in general. The goal of the descriptive text is transferring the experience of the writers. The experience can be what they see, read, or feel. Descriptive text commonly tries to reveal the image of certain person, place, animal, or thing.

The function of descriptive is to describe and reveal a particular person, place, or thing. In the other hand, descriptive text will convey more focus, for example “my bicycle” on its specific characters; colour, lengh, wheel style, etc.
In short decription, report text describes the way of certain things and frequently refers to a phenomenon of nature, animal and scientific object.

Kresna (2007) a descriptive text is a text which say what a person of a thing is like, it describe the phenomenon in parts, qualities or in characters. In the text, topic that perform is usually discuss about the attributes of a thing. It makes the thing can known by the reader who read it without they must search it in the dictionary, by a note that the meaning is derived from the experience and background knowledge of the reader.

According to Fran (2000), most word learning occurs incidentally through experiences with a wide reading that is called incidental. People often learn the word by reflected in reading a descriptive text.

2.2.1    The Generic Structure of Descriptive Text
Dudie (2009) explains the structure od descriptive text as:

-        Identification

In this kind, the structure identifying the phenomenon that to be described.

-        Description

Describe the phenomenon in parts, qualities and characteristics.

2.2.2   The language features of descriptive text

Dino (2010) explains the features that is usually find in in descriptive text, like:

-        Attributive and identifying process.

-        Adjective and classifiers in nominal group.

-        Simple present tense

2.3       The Advantages in Building Vocabulary Through Reading Descriptive Text

                        According to Patricia (2010) the advantages of reading descriptive text is to know the definition of a word that difficult to understand. She explains that to make the difficult word become easily, the reader can describe it in its around (around the word).