Cognitive Learning Strategy In Developing The Students’ Vocabulary Ability (INTRODUCTION)

Cognitive Learning Strategy In Developing The Students’ Vocabulary Ability (INTRODUCTION)

                            
                               Written by Ari Julianto



1.1 Background of the Study
With the emergence of the Information Age, the need for information and demand on education increased relatively in society. Technological developments in this age also were helpful to cope with the increased demand on education, and people’s expectation on being independent from time and place limitations. Especially in the 1990s, after the Internet began to be used widely at homes, the use of Internet for educational purposes became inevitable. To acquire the need for information and demand in English, learners that use English as a second language need learning strategy. Acquiring a second language, involves different areas such as motivation, learners’ needs, learning environment, learning strategies and language awareness. It is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore second language learning strategies.

Language is a means of communication and also a system for the expression of a meaning reflected in the structure of the language as an instrument to express meaning. Based on the definitions above, it seems that there is an emphasis on the components of language such as vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar. Thus, the language would be very useful if it is communicated with others to get the meaning of language itself. To understand the language we have to invent the meaning of words as many as possible. Therefore, it can be assumed that language is a systematic communication tool that may transfer one’s idea or feeling through meaningful body language, signs, sounds and gestures.

There are many different theories of how people learn. What follows is a variety of them, and it is useful to consider their application to how your students learn and also how we teach in educational programs. It is interesting to think about our own particular way of learning and to recognize that everyone does not learn the way we do. The language learning strategies are not newly created strategies, but have been in use by ancient storytellers thousands of years ago. Language development is very much influenced by the learners’ language learning strategies that are how learners accumulate new second language (Foreign Language) rules and how they automatize existing ones.

The writer chose learning strategy by considering as follows; first it is related to a person’s psychological and educational preferences. Second, it is a part of the individual’s personality. Third, it is considered as an important factor in education because of its influence on the student performance. This transfer was assisted by the new explorations in the teaching/learning psychology represented in research which concern on the internal cognitive processes such as attention, comprehension, memory, information reception and processing and the mental operations occurring within the student's mind.

Nunan (1991: 6) states that “Language learning is largely a form-focused activity. It focuses on the structures of the language in an explicit way. It focuses on accuracy.” The activity that Nunan means is the learners should not only know how the language is but also know the language as a knowledge and awareness. In the field of language education, many different approaches have been developed, based on various theories of language learning. For example, while some believe that language learning should focus on learning grammar, others espouse a communicative approach.

Moreover, some learners’ strategies will also depend on various factors and domains. Bloom (1956: 7) developed taxonomy domains that influenced second language acquisition. He mentioned complete taxonomy in three major parts, (1) cognitive, (2) affective, and (3) psychomotor domains. The cognitive domain deals with the recall or recognition of knowledge and the development of intellectual abilities and skills. This is the domain which is most central to the work of much current test development. It is the domain in which most of the work in curriculum development has taken place and where the clearest definitions of objectives are to be found phrased as descriptions of student behavior.

This thesis uses cognitive learning strategy by considering that this strategy views teaching as a complex cognitive activity and focuses on the nature of teachers’ beliefs and thinking and how these influence their teaching and learning. It emphasizes that “teachers are active, thinking decision-makers who make instructional choices by drawing on complex practically-oriented, personalized, and context-sensitive networks of knowledge, thoughts, and beliefs” as Borg (2003: 81) stated. In teacher education, it encourages teachers to explore their own beliefs and thinking processes and to examine how these influence their classroom practice. From a cognitive learning perspective, learning involves the transformation of information in the environment into knowledge that is stored in the mind.

Ellis (1994: 347) stated that cognitive component of procedural knowledge comprises the various mental process involved in internalizing and automatizing new Foreign Language knowledge in conjunction with other knowledge sources to communicate in the Foreign Language. The cognitive theory sees memory as functioning in two stages. The first is the working (or short-term) memory system characterized by limited capacity. This means that short-term memory requires conscious effort and control to retain only modest amounts of information. Short-term memory is believed to be serial in operation. The second stage of storing information is the long-term memory system which is large in capacity, operates in parallel fashion and is not susceptible to conscious control.

The other reason in choosing cognitive learning strategy as the main topic is that this strategy is vital to the understanding of basic concepts. Strategies exist to help a student use his mind to discover basic principles, such as mathematics and vocabulary. Teachers should spend time at the beginning of each school year reviewing basic concepts. This sets a baseline for further learning, making the introduction of new concepts a smoother process.

In Indonesia the term of cognitive domain has been introduced in new era. Cognitive domain is used in almost all government schools to obtain a better achievement in Indonesian education. Concern tended to be towards helping Indonesian students build their character physically, mentally, morally and affectively. Towards exploring what abilities and creative potential power students have got and attempt to demonstrate and develop.

Sudijono (1996: 48) stated that “ranah kognitif adalah ranah yang mencakup kegiatan mental atau otak (cognitive domain is a domain that covers the activity of mental or brain”. Moreover, Sudijono explains that in cognitive domains there are six steps in thinking process. The six steps in thinking process are (1) knowledge / memorizing / remembering, (2) comprehension, (3) application, (4) analysis, (5) synthesis, and (6) evaluation. Generally speaking, the cognitive theory of learning, which is largely based on the theory of human information processing, deals with mental processes involved in learning. This mainly refers to three fundamental cognitive aspects of learning: how knowledge is developed, how knowledge becomes automatic and how new knowledge is integrated into an existing cognitive system of the learner.

Along with cognitive learning strategy, one of the most important skills in learning English is vocabulary. A good knowledge of vocabulary is essential for communication. One of the issues that researchers of Foreign Language (vocabulary) learning strategies have faced is finding suitable and effective procedures, methods and instruments for identification and classification of strategies.

Vocabulary is chosen as the topic in this thesis since it is the obligation for teachers to teach students, how to acquire vocabulary. In fact, many students often have some difficulties to comprehend a text because they are lack of the English vocabulary mastery. In other words, they are lack of capability of comprehending the meaning of words in the text provided precisely. In a very real sense, the students cannot master the meaning of words in a sentence and neither can communicate in English appropriately because the teaching learning activity.

Considering the potential usefulness of cognitive learning strategy as a language teaching and learning tool, the writer would like to try to put this into some sort of perspective in students’ vocabulary ability. Thus the growth of vocabulary knowledge is one of the essential pre-requisites for language acquisition and this growth of vocabulary knowledge can only be possible when teachers employ effective vocabulary teaching and learning strategies which are the objectives of this research thesis. By performing this strategy, the students of senior high school will have a skill in elaborating their potency of mastering vocabulary. In line with this, the writer will perform the cognitive learning strategy that hopefully will develop the students’ vocabulary ability in the second year of SMA..................

1.2 Problem Identification
The problem of this study focuses on
1.  the students’ ability in vocabulary taught by using cognitive learning strategy,
2. the effectiveness of cognitive learning strategy in developing the students’ vocabulary ability.

1.3 Research Objective
The objectives of the study is aimed 
1.  to describe the students’ ability in vocabulary taught by using cognitive learning strategy.
2.  to find out the effectiveness of the cognitive learning strategy in developing the students’ vocabulary ability.

1.4 Hypothesis
The hypothesis is formulated as follows
Ha :     There is a significant effect of the cognitive learning strategy to the  students’ ability in vocabulary.
Ho:     There is no significant effect of the cognitive learning to the students’ ability in vocabulary.
X = Y = Ho,   X < Y = Ho , or X > Y = Ha
If to (X) is smaller than tt (Y), it means null hypothesis (Ho) that is the effect of using cognitive learning to the students’ ability in vocabulary is rejected. In other words, there is no a significant effect of using cognitive learning towards the students’ ability in vocabulary. And if to (X) is bigger than tt (Y), it means alternative hypothesis (Ha) is accepted. In other words, there is a significant effect of using cognitive learning towards the students’ ability in vocabulary.

1.5 Scope of the Study
Acquiring a second language involves different areas such as motivation, learners’ needs, learning environment, learning strategies and language awareness. Many learning strategies and methods can be conducted through teaching English vocabulary. But it is impossible to conduct them all. This study is limited on the students’ ability in vocabulary and provides evidence of cognitive learning strategy and the effectiveness of the strategy in developing the students’ vocabulary ability of the second year of SMA .............. academic year 2012 – 2013.

1.6 Significance
The significance of this study stems from the following factors:
1. It attempts to examine the cognitive learning strategy in developing the students’ vocabulary ability. In addition, the findings may lead to a change in the students’ attitudes towards English,
2. This study may provide teachers or lecturer with a specific language teaching strategy which they can use in their classroom to enhance their students’ achievement in English vocabulary,
3. The research results can be presented to teachers or lecturers, learners and decision-makers in order to enhance the students’ vocabulary in English as a foreign language.
4. With the large deficits in second -language vocabulary of ELLs, it is crucial that students in the English for academic purposes classroom to first have a semantic understanding of what academic vocabulary is before they even learn it.

 REFERENCE
Borg, S., 2003. Teacher cognition in language teaching: A review of research on what language teachers think, know, believe, and do. Language Teaching, 36, 81-109. London: University of Cambridge.

Bloom, Benjamin S. 1956. Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, the Classification of Educational Goals. Canada: David Mckay Company.

Ellis, Rod. 1994. The study of second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Nunan, David. 1991. Language Teaching Methodology, A Textbook for Teachers. Sydney: Prentice Hall.

Sudijono, Anas. 1996. Pengantar Evaluasi Pendidikan. Jakarta: Raja Grafindo Persada.