1.
General Concept of Vocabulary
Vocabulary is about words – where they come from, how they
change, how they relate to each other and how we use them to view the world
(Bauer: 2001:34). Vocabulary is one of language components and no language
exists without words. Napa (1991: 10) states that words are signs or symbols
for ideas. They are the means by which people exchange their thought.
Vocabulary
contains of words which make up a language. It is clear then that vocabulary is
very important in foreign language acquisition. Hornby (2000: 1506) states that
vocabulary is the total number of words that make up a language, or words known
to a person, or used in a particular book or subject, or list of words with
their meaning, especially one which accompanies a textbook in a foreign
language.
Vocabulary
is the most important material in foreign language teaching for learners.
Therefore, the teaching of English vocabulary has a very essential role in
enabling Indonesian students to master English as their foreign language.
English vocabulary mastery, in fact, has become a big problem for most
Indonesian students. If one does not have sufficient number of vocabulary, he will
not be able to communicate with his surroundings.
Schmitt (1997: 40) states that vocabulary is a basis of a language. It is important to be mastered first. We cannot speak well and understand written materials if we do not master vocabulary.
Schmitt (1997:41) also states that no matter how successfully the sound of the foreign language is mastered without words to express the wider range of meanings, communication in a foreign language just cannot happen in any meaningful way.
The
followings are the classification of basic vocabulary as classified by Tarigan
(1991: 10-11):
a.
The family term : grandfather, grandmother, father, mother,
child, etc
b. Parts of body : head, eye, ear, nose,
hand, foot, etc.
c.
Number : cardinal numbers (one, two, three, and etc);
ordinal numbers (first, second, third, etc)
d. Verb :
go, sleep, read, write, drink, eat, walk,
etc.
e.
Noun : car, shirt, table, pencil, pilot, etc
f. Adjective : handsome,
beautiful, ugly, good, pretty, etc.
g. Universal things : land,
sky, moon, sun, water, etc.
1.
General Concept of Comic
The precise
definition of comics remains a subject of debate, with som scholars insisting
that their printed nature is crucial to the definition, or that they should be
defined by the interdependence of image and text. Others define the medium in terms
of its sequential art. McCloud (1993:42) states comics are juxtaposed pictorial
and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or to produce an
aesthetic response in the viewer.
Comics are
an art form using a series of static images in fixed sequence. Written text is
often incorporated. The two most common forms of comics are comic strips (as
appear in newspaper) and comic books (also popularly called “manga” when
referring to Japanese comic books). Comic strips are serial comics that are
published in a newspaper.
Collier’s
Encyclopedia (1990: 500) defines comic as “term applied to a series or sequence
of closely related highly stimulating drawing which differs from the ordinary
cartoon in that they are not necessarily, but some artists make some of them
serious, mysterious, and adventurous.” Generally, there are several categories
of comics such as adventurous, biography, animal cartoons, fun and humour, love
and retold classics.
Sudjana
(2002: 64) defines comics as a kind of cartoon form expressing character and
playing a story in sequences of closely related drawing and design to give fun
to the readers. It contains several continued stories. The stories are brief
and interesting, completed with action. Comics also appear in newspaper and
book.
Nashir
(2002: 22) says that comic, generally, is a pictorial story inmagazines,
newspaper, or books that is usually easy to understand and funny. From the
various definitions above, it can be concluded that comic is an art work which
has sequence of stories about characteristics, events in picture form which can
be humorous, mysterious, etc
Conceptual Framework
Teaching
vocabulary plays an important role in language acquisition. Vocabulary is one
element that links the four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing
all together. For this reason, teachers should pay more attention in teaching
and learning vocabulary to children as the learners. Teacher has to select the
suitable words to be taught in the first stage and they have to limit the
vocabulary to be taught. Vocabulary has been seen as a major resource for
language use.
Teaching
vocabulary using comic is one of the way which can be used by the teacher in
order to improve students’ mastery of vocabulary. Students surely will be respectfully
motivated because of the using of such interesting media during their
learning. The writer tries to conduct a
research about the study in order to prove the successfulness of the media used
in teaching-learning activity.