CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITEARATURE

Learning vocabulary as a foreign language seems easy but most students still feel fear
about that. Additionally, learning vocabulary is not an easy duty. English teacher should find out
the solution by creating an efficient and effective technique in teaching Vocabulary. Besides, the
teachers should establish condition which makes teaching vocabulary possible. This chapter are
consists and discuss some theories or research findings related to the topic under investigation.
Among of which contains Comics as media to learning, how vocabulary is learned, technique of
teaching vocabulary.

2.1 Comics as Media to Learning

Comic-based learning is the use of an alternative form of media in addition to traditional

teaching techniques. Comic based learning is an easy form of teaching for educators to use in the
classroom. It is an easy media to read, fun to use, and attractive for young learners.

The design of comic books can be done using special software on computers. It can be
design by authors to contain information that can be learn by the students. Comics are especially
useful for English language learners. By offering a style of reading with which students are
familiar.

One of criticism leveled at comics is that the reading level is too low. It is not true. Jim
Trelease (2001) stated that, to become proficient readers, people need to master a set of about
5000 ‘rare words’ that appear infrequently in conversation. In the average adult novel, these
words appear 52 times per 1000 words of text. In comic books, they appear 53 times per 1000
(Hayes & Athens, 1988). Consequently, comic books do not reduce the vocabulary demand on
young readers, but they do provide picture support, quick and appealing story lines, and less text.
2.2 How vocabulary is learned

While some vocabulary learning occurs in school, it is not just a school-based

phenomenon. Many children begin formal schooling “with rich vocabularies but no formal
vocabulary instruction” (Brabham & Villaume, 2002, p. 264), and while they are in school they
may continue to learn vocabulary without much direct and explicit help from teachers (Carey,
1978).

For the most part, vocabulary growth in school occurs informally and incidentally rather
than formally and intentionally (Nagy, Perman, & Anderson, 1985). Students learn vocabulary
best in classrooms in which teachers read to them and highlight important and interesting words.
In these classrooms, students regularly read independently and in groups and they discuss their
understandings in literature circles during and after reading.

Informal and incidental vocabulary learning is quite efficient and effective. 25% of
annual vocabulary growth can be attributed to incidental learning from meaningful context while
reading (Nagy et al., 1987). Leung (1992) found read-aloud seem to be a particularly powerful
instructional strategy for supporting incidental vocabulary growth in the elementary grades.
Stahl, Richek, and Vandevier (1991) explored indirect learning of vocabulary words with sixth
graders and found that students were able to learn a significant number of vocabulary words
from reading, enhances vocabulary growth. As Nagy (1988) asserted, “What is needed to
produce vocabulary growth is not more vocabulary instruction but more reading” (p. 3)
discussing their reading, and listening to orally presented passages. Collectively, these findings
indicate that vocabulary growth occurs when we “immerse students in words in a variety of ways
and get them personally and actively involved in constructing word meanings” (Duke & Bennett-
Armistead, 2003, p. 182).

According to Lado (1979), teachers should conduct a classroom activity that may
enjoyable for everyone (teacher and students). He also suggests that good classroom activity can
be reached if the teacher does this following statement:

1) The teacher should be creative in selecting and using the interesting and appropriate
technique to the students. So that it make the classroom activity more enthusiastic and
delightful.
 2) The teacher must know and understand what is common that is faced by students as she
or he could decide which technique will be used to solve that problem.

2.3 The techniques and activity in teaching vocabulary

There are many approaches, activities, and technique that can be use to help students
develop and increase their vocabulary. It is important that the teacher include and involve
vocabulary items which are part of the curriculum as well as provide students with opportunities
to work with items they find meaningful.

This section reports on research results aimed at investigating the techniques used by a
teacher of English in presenting the meaning and form of vocabulary. Commonly, there are
several techniques concerning the teaching of' vocabulary. However, there are a few things that
have to be remembered by most English teachers if they want to present a new vocabulary or
lexical items to their students. It means that the English teachers want students to remember new
vocabulary. Then, it needs to be learnt, practiced, and revised to prevent students from
forgetting. Techniques employed by teachers depend on some factors, such as the content, time
availability, and its value for the learners (Takač, 2008). This makes teachers have some reasons
in employing certain techniques in presenting vocabulary. In presenting one planned vocabulary
item, the teacher usually combined more than one technique, instead of employing one single
technique. Teachers, furthermore, are suggested to employ planned vocabulary presentation as
various as possible (Pinter, 2006). Here are some techniques and activity of teaching vocabulary
as stated by Linse and Nunan (2005).

2.3.1 Connecting vocabulary to young learner’s lives through personalization

The teacher asks the students questions that frequently will help them to relate new word
to their own lives. For example, “Which farm animal would you like to take home?” or “When
you are hungry, what do you want to eat?”. This technique may help them to remember and to
use the words in their own speech and writing. The question is used to prompt vocabulary
development have to carefully phrased to help students develop their cognitive skills.
 Also, this is a good technique for remembering new words. The questions should be help
students increase higher-order thinking skills by having them analyze information in order to
answer the question as well.

2.3.2 Word for the day

The teacher selects a specific word that will focus on each day. The teacher can pre-select
the word, or the students can have decided what word will be featured. For example, if the
students are studying jungle animals, they can learn a different species each day, or the teacher
ask them to bring a new word that relate to the jungle on their particular vocabulary day.
Afterward, when the teacher takes attendance, instead of having students say here they can say
the word of the day. In addition, when the students are waiting for the bell ring or the end of
school, teacher can ask one or two students to use the word of the day in a sentence.

2.3.3 Categories

In this technique, students have to create a set of picture cards or word cards with
different vocabulary items on them. Then, they put one vocabulary item on each card. Ask them
to work on their sets of cards, walk around and discuss the different words. The students who are
4-7 years old might be easily cope with 16-20 words, while elder students may cope with up to
40 words in this activity. The teacher can then ask their students to sort the words into 2-5
different categories of their own choosing. For younger or less advanced students, the teacher
may want to allow and other or miscellaneous category that students can put a few in.

2.3.4 Scavenger hunt

Scavenger hunt is technique teaching vocabulary that teacher give the students who are 6
years old or elder an English as Foreign Language or English as Second Language course book
that is appropriate for their age and language level. Give the students a word to find in the book,
such as banana. Particularly, young learners have to use cognitive skills to determine which unit
the word will be found in. this technique would help students to classify words according to
different categories. In addition, teacher can simply show them a picture of the target word,
especially for students who do not have literacy skills. For other students, the teacher can write
the target word on the board. Then, students have to tell the teacher the path that they took to
find the word, and the word should be listed on several different pages. At the end of the course,
the teacher or a student be a volunteer to write all of the page numbers on the board.

2.3.5 Picture

McCloud (1993: 51) says that pictures are received information; people do not need
formal education to get the message, the message is instantaneous. Writing is perceived
information; it takes time and specialized knowledge to interpret the abstract symbols of
language. When pictures are more abstracted from “reality”, they require greater levels of
perception, more like words. Moreover, when words are bolder and straight, they need lower
levels of perception, more like pictures. The need for a combined language of comic sends the
theory to the center where words and pictures are like two sides of one coin. However, comic
seems to lead the theory away from, when pictures and words are most separate. In spite of this,
they can still be accepted. In comics, pictures take up a great amount of space available on the
page. Pictures are a vital element of comics so that reading materials cannot be called as comics
as far as no picture is available to illustrate the story. In this study, the pictures used in the
comics are taken from three-dimensional animated cartoons. Pictures captured from such
cartoons will relatively look more eye-catching and livelier than pictures captured from two-
dimensional animated cartoons. Those two features may serve as a powerful tool to pull
students’ first attention to the reading texts presented.

2.3.6 Mystery words

The teacher read or says a sentence aloud and leaves out a word on front of the class. The
students have to guess the mystery word that has been omitted. For example, teacher might say, I
like to put ________ and sauce on my meatballs.

If students come up with a word other rather than what the teacher had in mind, the
teacher can tell them that it was a good guess but not what the teacher was thinking. For
example, if the teacher says, I wear a _______ on my head and students says cap, the teacher can
say that you were thinking of another word but that cap also rights. By using this technique,
students would give creative answers often leads to existed discussion and gathering. The
students might be given different mystery words and asked to come up with their own sentences
for their other students to guess.
2.3.7 Concentration

Teaching with Concentration technique with a new vocabulary words can be made using
picture or word cards. There are two sets of cards, one set, the words should be printed or
illustrated with pictures and the second one should be matching pictures, definitions, the word, or
the word used in a context-rich sentence. At least, there should have total of 16-24 cards in this
activity. This is a good strategy or game that can use when students learn for test their
vocabulary.

When use this activity, the cards are placed face down on a table. The first student turns
over two cards and pay attention them aloud. If they match, the student keeps the cards. In other
hands, if they do not match, the word must put it back on the table face down in the same place
from which they were taken. Then, the next student turn over two cards. The player take turns till
there are no more cards on the table.

2.3.8 Vocabulary basket

In this technique, teacher gives a word card. For students who lack of literacy skills, the
teacher will want to use picture cards. Meanwhile, for elder students, it is depend on upon the
vocabulary items that the teacher might want to include words and pictures or just words. The
students have to sit with their chairs in a circle, and should sit in a chair and hold their card so
that the end of the class can see it. The teacher stand in the middle of the circle holding a card,
call two word cards such as mango and apple. Afterward, two students hold the cards with
mango and apple on them race to change seats, although, one is left standing because the teacher
sit in one of the empty chairs. On one hand, the teacher sit in one of the chairs that has been
vacated, and students who without a chairs is left standing and calls must out the next two words.

2.4 Webtoon Comic and the successful of learning vocabulary

Based on the previous discussion, it is realized that teaching EFL or EFL in classroom
activity is not easy for the teacher. Teacher needs to provide, to facilitate and to make interesting
activity to conduct successful teaching and learning process.

One of interesting teaching activity that teacher can do in the classroom is by using
Webtoon as the alternative activity in learning English vocabulary. By implementing this
activity, students are able to master new English vocabulary easily and in a fun way. This is an
easy, fun, and very useful social skills game to help students to learn how to encourage others.
In other word, children who in this level mostly like to play and play than thinking. The object is
to remember vocabularies from what the stories was told by the researchers. This activity can be
used either in individual or group battle.

Also, using Webtooon is an interesting activity that makes every student enjoys learning
without any pressure. The students can learn something when they read the comic in the
classroom. This activity is appropriate with senior high schools students characteristic who like
to play, read, work in group and do something directly. The step in conducting this activity is
really easy to apply in classroom.

It is important for teacher to help students in learning English at particular grades.

Teacher should create an alternative activity to make successful teaching and learning
vocabulary process. Of course, the activities have to interesting to students. Actually there are
many interesting activity and technique that can be used by teacher to encourage the students to
learn English happily. One of them is by using Webtoon that can motivate students in learning
English vocabulary in the classroom.
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