THE USAGE OF THESAURUS TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’
VOCABULARY MASTERY
A.
Introduction
Advances in technology today are so rapid that we all can use the demand for technologies that exist to support the work processes. Here I will discuss about the use of the usage of thesaurus to improve students’ vocabulary mastery.
Understanding the meaning of words and their synonyms will help to arrange tasks, reports, thesis, etc., and to improve services in information retrieval. One of these advantages is the thesaurus that can help readers, students, researchers, or other information seekers to get the information they need quickly vocabulary, precise, and accurate as expected.
B.
Definition of Thesaurus
Thesaurus is the tool control vocabulary and guiding the search using terms that can help to improve the quality of the data acquisition.
1. A term relationships with the other terms of the broader level of meaning expressed by BT (Broader Term),
2. Term relationship with a narrower one level of meaning expressed by
NT (narrower Term). Thesaurus derived from the Greek & quote;
Thesauros which means wealth, property or warehouse to store possessions or wealth and quot. Thesaurus is a dictionary of words and phrases which were collected according to similarity of meaning and its

synonyms. In the library world, document and information, a thesaurus can be interpreted according to its structure and function. American dictionary defines a thesaurus as a book that contains the word or information on a particular subject area or a group of concepts, such as synonym dictionaries. Thesaurus is a tool to control vocabulary
(vocabulary control). A thesaurus can be defined in two terms, namely by function and structure.
C.
Function of Thesaurus
Thesaurus functionality and usefulness lies in the structure that links the concepts to other concepts through various hierarchies and its meaning. World
Science Information System of UNESCO revealed that a thesaurus may be defined either in terms of its function or its structure. In term of function, a thesaurus is a terminological control device used in translating from the natural language of documents, indexes, or users into a more constrained “system language” (documentation language, information language). In terms of structure, a thesaurus is a controlled and dynamic vocabulary of semantically and generically related terms which covers a specific domain of knowledge.
Based on the above definition, thesaurus functions, namely:
1.
Describes the knowledge in a particular field by showing how the various concepts and ideas related to each other.

2.
Provide a standardized vocabulary for a specific field, such that the indexer (humans) can consistently define the terms that will be used as an index.
3.
Being a sort of referral system between terms, such that the indexer will choose only one term of the option some similar terms (synonyms) that exist.
4.
Being a guide for users of information systems when they choose to use the term in a search by subject (subject search).
5.
Find a location or position of a new concept in the scheme interrelationship between the various concepts that already exist, such that users of the system can understand the new concept.
6.
Provides a hierarchy or class hierarchy (classified hierarchies) so that a search process can be expanded or narrowed.
7.
A source for the terms that have been standardized in a particular field of knowledge.
It is apparent from the above description, thesaurus associated with indexing and classification. Here thesaurus actually function as metadata in the context of the data base, so that the natural language in the document and used to find the documents can be aligned with a word or term in the thesaurus. Can also be said that an information retrieval system containing a thesaurus, control activities to the vocabulary that will be processed, good for storage, indexing, and answering the request of the user.

D.
Applying Thesaurus
Thesaurus can be applied by using some media i.e. Ms. Word, thesaurus.com, collinsdictionary.com, thesaurus.babylon.com, etc.: a.
Ms. Word, for examples we want to know the synonym of “ stop ” has synonyms; discontinue, cease moving, end, prevent something, pause, interrupt, stay briefly, fill hole, block something, interdict check, press musical string, cover hole on instrument, put hand inside, knock something, be hit something, defeat (picture below).

b.
http://thesaurus.com/browse/stop?s=t c.
http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/englishthesaurus/stop?showCookiePolicy=true

d.
http://thesaurus.babylon.com/ e.
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stop

E.
Conclusion
There are many ways to support us to improve students’ vocabulary mastery through thesaurus. Some examples above are only parts of a few ways that I know. I believe there will be fun if we can make English learning to enjoyable by using some interesting media mentioned.

REFERENCES http://thesaurus.com/browse/stop?s=t http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/englishthesaurus/stop?showCookiePolicy=true http://thesaurus.babylon.com/ http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stop