semantics
TRANSCRIPT
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Semantics and Language Teaching
by : Aksendro Maximilian
A. The Notion of Semantic
In order for language fulfill its communicative function, utterances must
also convey a message or content; they must have content. We call this message or
content the utterance’s meaning.
Semantics is study of meaning in human language (O’Grady, et al,
1997:245). Semantic has been one of the most neglected areas in linguistics,
because many serious difficulties arise in discussing semantics. Shortly, Semantic is
study of meaning.
Consulting the dictionaries, Alwasilah (1987) gave the meaning of meaning
as: 1) Meaning is the thing that is conveyed especially by language, 2) Meaning is
the thing one intends to convey especially by language, significantly quality;
especially implication of a hidden or special significance, 3) Meaning is the logical
connotation of a word or phrase.
B. Semantic Areas
1. Semantic Relation among Words
a) Synonym
Synonyms are words or expressions that have the same meanings in
some or all contexts. For examples:
Automobile = Car
Big = Large
Purchase = Buy, and etc.
b) Antonym
Antonyms are words or phrases that are opposites with respect to some
components of their meaning. For example:
Dark >< Light
Boy >< Girl
Up >< Down, and etc.
c) Polysemy and Homophony
Polysemy occurs when a word has two or more related meanings. For
example:
Bright = shining, intelligent;
A deposit = minerals in the earth, money in the bank, etc.
Homophony exists where a single word form has two or more entirely
distinct meanings. It is assumed that there are two (or more) separate words
with the same pronunciation with different meanings. Some homophones in
English:
Bank = “ a financial institution”, ‘ a small cliff at the edge of the
river”
Club = “ a social organization”, “ a blunt weapon”, and etc.
d) Hyponymy
It is the inclusion I the domain of another word. The inclusion
relationship is paradigmatic. For example:
Dog is a hyponym of animal.
Red is a hyponym of color, and etc.
e) Idioms
Idioms are succession of words whose meaning must be learnt as a
whole. For example:
To put on = to wear ; To give up = to surrender, and etc.
f) Collocations
Collocations are related sets of group words which has equal usage used in
particular function of language. For example:
war, guarded, army, soldier, weapon;
seminar, professor, book, theme, conclusion;
study, data, analysis, theory, science, and etc.
2. Semantic Relation Involving Sentence
a) Paraphrase
Two sentences that can have the same meaning are said to be paraphrase
of each other. For example;
1) The teacher punished the students.
2) The students were punished by the teacher
Those 2 sentences has similar meaning: If it is true that
the teacher punished the students, it is also true that the students
were punished by the teacher, BUT;
There are subtle differences in emphasis between those 2
sentences. Sentence 1) merely talked about ‘what the teacher did’,
and sentence 2) is about ‘what happened to the students’.
b) Entailment
A relation in which the truth of one sentence necessarily implies the truth
of another is called entailment. Entailment can mean the truth of one
sentence implies the truth of another BUT the reverse does not follow. For
example:
1) The house is red.
2) The house is not white.
If it is true that the house is red, then it is also true that the house
is not white. However the reverse does not follow, even if we
know that the house is not white, we cannot conclude that the
house is red, it can be green, brown and etc.
c) Contradiction
Sometimes, it turns out that if one sentence is truth, then another
sentence must be false. When the truth of one sentence entails the falsity of
another, we say there is a contradiction. For example:
1) Vera is an only child
2) Olga is Vera’s sister
If it is true that Vera is an only child, then it cannot be true that
Vera has a sister.
C. The Application of Semantics in Language Teaching
1. Semantics in Teaching Vocabulary
Vocabulary is the component of language that should be taught and
mastered by the students. In teaching vocabulary, English teacher should be able
to develop students’ understanding in vocabulary, in order that they are able to
use and understand in creating sentence and interpreting things. According to
Richard and Renandya (2002: 256) “Learner need to be taught strategy for
interfering words from context as well as those which can help learner retain the
meaning of words they have encountered”. From this explanation, it can be
concluded that teaching vocabulary is emphasized on the meaning of word. It is
important for the leaner when they conduct communication whether spoken
language or written language, because the students have to understand the word
meaning in interpreting the message or information conveyed. Therefore, it is
important for the teacher to teach vocabulary and its meaning.
Realizing meaning of vocabulary is related to the semantics, because
semantics is the study of word meaning. This main idea is according to Kearns
(2000:1) “Semantics deal with the literal meaning of words and the meaning of
the way they are combined”. This explanation makes clear that teaching
vocabulary is related to the semantic, in order that the students understand well
the meaning of word or vocabulary itself lexically and grammatically. Therefore,
it will be better if the teacher uses the kinds of meaning in semantics theories for
teaching vocabulary, such as the lexical meaning, grammatical meaning,
connotations and synonym. Those will help students in understanding the
meaning of vocabulary.
In understanding the meaning of vocabulary, there is a traditional method
which can be used to teach vocabulary and its meaning. Richards and Rogers
(1999: 10) explain that Direct Method is the language teaching method in which
one of the goals is to emphasize on the target language vocabulary. Furthermore,
they also explain that teaching vocabulary can be taught through demonstration,
objects, and pictures; abstract vocabulary was taught by association of ideas. In
this case, it can be analyzed that by association of ideas is the base theory of
semantic in interpreting the meaning of vocabulary or word.
In interpreting and understanding between the meaning of vocabulary
and semantics theory, there is a theory called by Semantic Triangle (Richard and
Ogden, in Frawley 1992:7). It is an indirect view of word meaning in the
conceptual position. Showed by Richard and Ogden’s (in Frawley, 1992:7)
definition of meaning is presented by a semantic triangle. A relation between
symbols (word) and referent (an object) are mediated by concepts to understand
the word meaning.
Thought
Symbol referent
Figure.1 Ogden and Richard’s semiotic triangle
( in Frawley, 1992:7)
The semantic triangle above is illustrated with the example as follows:
“Plane” it is the concept in minds. “what is
plane”
Plane is such kinds of air transportation
Figure.2 Relation between symbol, mental process or thought and
referent.
Based on the example above, it can be analyzed that a direct link between
meaning and linguistic forms, when teachers teach new words “plane”, by using
objects or real thing, the students can describe them from the aspects of quality,
size, color, for the concept in the mind. Then, the students define into the
specific one as the referent “plane is such kinds of air transportation”.
In conclusion, semantic in teaching vocabulary has important role,
because semantics is deal with the literal meaning of words and the meaning of
the way they are combined. Furthermore, in applying semantics theory needs the
appropriate method in teaching vocabulary. Direct method is the language
teaching method emphasized on the vocabulary. This method uses the real
object, the symbol and picture to help students understanding the word meaning.
In this process of interpreting the word meaning is matched with the semantic
triangle theory in which this theory refers to the object which is conceptualized
in the mind and then defined into referent of object into the specific one in
focusing the meaning of vocabulary.
2. Semantics in Teaching Writing
Writing process has several steps including of planning, drafting, revising
and editing. Related to the writing process, the first step is planning. In planning
process, the writer makes the concept of the idea what the topic is, and the
selected vocabulary used. Certainly, the writer will deal with the vocabulary, in
order to write the coherent paragraph and cohesion for each sentence.
There are so many activities that can be done to help the students for
panning steps, especially about the vocabulary that the students write. One of the
activities is using semantic mapping. Richard (1994: 293) explains “Through
semantic mapping writer can easily overwhelmed by long string of ideas or
events…it is grouping the ideas in to meaningful cluster help learners provide
the some order to the chaos”. While Mathialagan (1990) “Semantic mapping is a
technique developed by Johnson & Pearson (1978). A semantic map is a graphic
arrangement of words and it shows how new words and ideas are related to each
other within a text. It is also an effective diagnostic tool”. From those
explanations, It means that semantic mapping is a technique which describes a
variety of word to show how key word or concept is related to one another
through graphic representations. The concept of mapping the word related to the
topic has the relationship with semantic triangle, in which the word concept in
semantic mapping is adopted from the semantic triangle. The concept refers to
the process in students’ mind for analyzing and identifying the word. For the
clear illustration, it is illustrated as follows:
Figure 3. An example of a semantic map by Fry 1987 (in Mathialagan,
1990:2)
When names of classes are grouped in semantics mapping by putting them in the
graphic brackets, the exact meaning depends on the context and the connective
between the names within the group. Relating with semantic triangle, example
above can be analyzed that “Transportation” is the linguistic symbol, and then
conceptually in the mind will appear several thinking which has broad
interpretation for many kinds of transformation. Transportation has more
specific group for each usage, such as land transportation, sea transportation, and
air transportation. Finally, the process of grouping the symbol of transportation
in the mind in to specific one is the reference process.
For further example, the word Person and Female (symbol), it means the
intersection of the Person class and the Female class (concept). In other words,
the set of all instances those are both of type Person and of type Female
(referent). Second example is "Bicycle” (symbol), it is a type of Vehicle, Sports
Equipment; the writer interpreted the statement as saying that Bicycle is a
subclass of Vehicle and Bicycle is a subclass of Sports Equipment (concept).
Therefore the statement is "Bicycle” is a type of Vehicle and Sports Equipment
(referent)
Applying the concept of semantic triangle in semantic mapping
technique can be used for teaching writing. Hogue (in Mathialagan, 1990)
explain steps of semantic mapping as below:
a. Write target topic on chalk board;
b. Have students brainstorm words related to topic;
c. Write/list the words by categories in the form of a map;
d. Have the students provide labels for each category (optional);
e. Discuss the words on the semantic map;
For the conclusion that semantic mapping in teaching writing emphasize
on the vocabulary knowledge in the brainstorming of paragraph. When the
students lacks of vocabulary, semantic mapping can help the students to decide
the discussion based on the topic from the word given in the brainstorming. By
using graphic arrangement of words, it shows how new words and ideas are
related to each other within a text. It is effective for improving note taking and
creative thinking skills in writing. During in mapping activities, the learners are
instructed to make main idea in a text that will be described and its’ supporting
details via word semantic mapping, coordinates, super-ordinates, and synonym.
3. Semantics in Teaching Reading
Reading is the people activity in understanding and getting the
information from the text and other media. There are many definitions of
reading. According to Elizabeth (2003: 1) “Reading is about understanding
written texts. It is a complex activity that involves both perception and thought”.
Furthermore Brown (2001: 299) explains “Readers understand that what they
read because they are able to take the stimulus beyond its graphic
representation”. From both statements, it can be summed up that reading is the
skill that has to be mastered by the students. In reading skill is the physical act in
using word and by using certain media. It can be the letter, graphic, picture
through reading skill it can be understood the meaning and the purpose of the
word in the text.
Dealing with reading, which emphasize on getting the information
related with the meaning of the word in the text. In getting word meaning, reader
sometimes does not understand with the unfamiliar word in the text. Therefore,
in teaching reading is important to use the semantic theory for word meaning.
One of the activities is using semantic mapping. Semantic mapping: mind
mapping, idea mapping, word webbing, etc. is a term which describes a variety
of strategies designed to show how key word or concept are related to one
another through graphic representations. The theory of semantic mapping is
appropriate with the definition of reading. Brown (2001: 299) explains “Readers
understand that what they read because they are able to take the stimulus beyond
its graphic representation”. Based on the definition above, it can be connected
with the semantic triangle theory, in which the graphic representation helps the
reader understand the meaning of word.
The application of semantic mapping in teaching reading based on
Aprilianto (http://karya-ilmiah.um.ac.id/index.php/ disertasi/article/view/4919)
as follows:
1. Explaining the students to the specific goals of learning and leading the
students to the topic by showing pictures
2. Asking the students to make a group and discuss unfamiliar vocabularies;
3. Asking the students to find information related with the topic by
questioning the pictures;
4. Asking the students to map the information or write the information down
in the form of phrases in the circles of mapping
5. Explaining and asking the students to find and discuss unfamiliar
vocabulary meanings contextually in a group;
6. Asking the students to find important detailed information of a text by
questioning and put the information in the form of phrases into the circles
of mapping;
7. Asking the students to find and discuss the center of idea or topic in a
paragraph by classifying and categorizing with lines then write it into a
sentence as a main idea of paragraph;
8. Guiding the students to find other vocabulary meanings contextually,
important detailed information and main idea in the next paragraphs
9. Asking the students to find a topic of a text by identifying the information
in the form of phrases or words which frequently appear in the mapping as
a topic of the text;
10. Asking to the students to answer the reading comprehension questions
individually then discuss or compare in a group
Bibliography
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Brown, H Douglas. 2001.Teaching by Principles, An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy, Second Edition. Edinburgh Gate, London: Longman.
Elizabeth et.al Teaching Reading. Accessed from http://www.curtin.edu.au/ curtin/dept/smec/iae.
Frawley, William.1992. Linguistics Semantics. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publisher.
Kearns, Kate. 2000, Semantics. England: Macmillan Press. LTD Mathialagan, Jana. 1990. Teaching Composition Writing through Semantic Mapping. The English Teacher Vol XIX July 1990. Institute Technology MARA. Accessed from
O’Grady William, Michael Dobrovolsky, Mark Aronoff. 1907. Contemporary Linguistics, an Introduction. New York: St. Martin’s Press
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