VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** LÊ THỊ NGA FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENTS’ LEARNING OF ESP VOCABULARY AT STATE COMMERCIAL No5 SCHOOL NHỮNG YẾU TỐ ẢNH HƯỞNG TỚI VIỆC HỌC TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN NGÀNH CỦA SINH VIÊN TRƯỜNG TRUNG CẤP THƯƠNG MẠI TRUNG ƯƠNG M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410 Hanoi- 2011 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** LÊ THỊ NGA FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENTS’ LEARNING OF ESP VOCABULARY AT STATE COMMERCIAL No5 SCHOOL NHỮNG YẾU TỐ ẢNH HƯỞNG TỚI VIỆC HỌC TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN NGÀNH CỦA SINH VIÊN TRƯỜNG TRUNG CẤP THƯƠNG MẠI TRUNG ƯƠNG M.A MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410 Supervisor: Dr LÊ VĂN CANH Hanoi- 2011 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Candidate’s statement………………………………………………………………………… i Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………… ii Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………… iii Table of contents……………………………………………………………………………….iv List of abbreviations………………………………………………………………………… vi List of tables and charts……………………………………………………………………….vii PART 1: INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………….1 Rationale…………………………………………………………………………… Aims of the study…………………………………………………………………….2 Research questions………………………………………………………………… Scope of the study……………………………………………………………………2 Method of the study………………………………………………………………….2 Design of the study……………………………………………………… …… …2 PART 2: DEVELOPMENT………………………………………………………………… Chapter 1: Literature Review……………………………………… …………….…… ….4 1.1 Vocabulary in foreign language teaching and learning………… …………….…4 1.1.1 Definition of vocabulary………………………………………… .… …4 1.1.2 The importance of vocabulary in language teaching and learning……………4 1.2 Vocabulary learning in ESP………………………………………………… ……5 1.2.1 What is involved in knowing a word? .5 1.2.1.1 Form of a word……………………………………………………….….5 1.2.1.2 Meaning…………………………………………… ….………… ….6 1.2.1.3 Use of a word………………………………………… ………………7 1.2.2 Terminology…………… ………………………… …………… ……… 1.2.2.1 Definition of terminology…………………………… ……….……….7 1.2.2.2 Characteristics of accounting terminology………… …………… …7 1.2.2.3 Classification of terminology…………………………………….….… 1.2.3 Explicit vocabulary learning and Implicit vocabulary learning…… … … v 1.2.3.1 Explicit vocabulary learning………………………………………… …….9 1.2.3.2 Implicit vocabulary learning……………………………………… … … 1.3 Factors affecting vocabulary learning ………….…… 10 1.3.1 Person-related factors…………………………………………….………… 10 1.3.2 Intralexical factors ………………………………………….……….…… 12 1.3.3 Vocabulary learning task ……………………………….…………… …… 16 1.3.4 Vocabulary learning strategies ……………………….…………………… 17 1.3.5 Learning context …………………………………….……………….…… 18 Chapter 2: The context of teaching and learning ESP at State Commercial No5 School.20 2.1 The teachers and their methods of teaching…………………….… …20 2.2 The students and their background………………………………… …….….…20 2.3 The teaching materials and facilities…………………………………………… 21 Chapter 3: The study……………………………………………… ……….………… ….22 3.1 Subjects of the study…………………………………………………….……… 22 3.2 Data collection instrument…………………………………………………… 22 3.3 Data analysis……………………………………………………………… … 23 3.4 Conclusion and discussion……………………………………… …… … … 30 Chapter 4: Some suggested solutions………………… … ………………………… ….32 4.1 Training students to become self-studiers…………………….…………… … 32 4.2 Providing students with different vocabulary learning strategies……….…….….32 4.3 Improving teachers’ techniques in teaching vocabulary…….…………… …….34 4.4 Improving teachers’ professional knowledge…………………….….… …… 36 PART 3: CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………38 Summary of the study……………………………………………… ……… ….38 Limitations and suggestions for further study……………….……… ………… 39 REFERENCES …………………………………………………………………………… 40 APPENDIX…………………………………………………………………………………… I vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ESP: English for Specific Purposes EGP: English for General Purposes EFL: English as a Foreign Language L1: First Language L2: Second Language SLA: Second Language Acquisition SCS: State Commercial No5 School vii LIST OF TABLES & CHARTS Table 1: Students’ strategies in learning ESP vocabulary Table 2: Teachers’ techniques to present new words Table 3: Useful ways of new words presentation to students Table 4: Students’ most interested way of vocabulary practice Table 5: Students’ suggestions for better effects on learning accounting vocabulary Chart 1: Students’ attitudes towards the importance of vocabulary learning Chart 2: Students’ attitudes towards learning of English vocabulary Chart 3: Students’ difficulties in learning a new word Chart 4: Students’ difficulties in learning vocabulary of accounting Chart 5: Students’ interest towards teachers’ activities in vocabulary lesson PART 1: INTRODUCTION Rationale The rapid growth of English as an international language of communication has stimulated its worldwide popularity in language teaching and learning for decades In Vietnam, English has been considered to be the most popular foreign language since the economic open-door policy Especially after becoming a member of the World Trade Organization, English has become a great demand for schooling and job opportunities English, particularly English for specific purposes (ESP) has recently become popular in numerous educational, vocational and academic institutions which are mandated to train qualified workforce for the society In learning English for General Purposes (EGP) in general and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in particular, vocabulary plays an important role Because meaning is chiefly conveyed through words, vocabulary is the foundation of communication, without which communication would be very limited In order to become independent users of English, students should acquire an adequate number of words and should know how to use them accurately However, vocabulary acquisition, especially the acquisition of technical words in ESP, is really challenging to every student, especially students with limited proficiency in English In the context of State Commercial No5 School in Thanh Hoa, English is a compulsory subject to the students They have to learn ESP at the beginning of the first year when they have not learnt any major subjects With limited knowledge of vocabulary and English grammar, it is difficult for the students to study ESP, especially ESP vocabulary The students often complain that they not know how to learn and how to memorize words effectively The situation is worse when they have to learn technical words of their own specialism because technical words are difficult to pronounce and use This problem has been a concern of many ESP teachers As an ESP teacher, I received many questions from our students about the difficulties in learning ESP vocabulary such as: “ Why is it very difficult to remember new words?” or “How I learn English vocabulary effectively?”, etc However, up to now there have not been any research on students‟ difficulties in ESP vocabulary learning at our English teaching setting Therefore, I conducted a study to find out the causes of their difficulties Then, the factors that most affect their learning of ESP vocabulary can be identified The solutions to these factors will be suggested to improve the learning and teaching of ESP vocabulary at State Commercial No5 School Aims of the study The study is aimed at finding out the factors affecting students‟ learning of ESP vocabulary at State Commercial No5 School Once these factors have been identified, solutions to help students study ESP vocabulary more effectively will be suggested Research questions The research is carried out with an attempt to find out answers to the following research questions: 1, What are the factors affecting students‟ learning of ESP vocabulary at State Commercial No5 School? 2, What solutions should be suggested to help the students learn ESP vocabulary effectively? Scope of the study The study is confined to the identification of factors that affect vocabulary acquisition, especially the acquisition of accounting-related vocabulary by the students of Accounting at State Commercial No5 School The solutions are also provided to improve the students‟ ESP vocabulary learning at State Commercial No5 School Method of the study In order to achieve the aims mentioned above, the major method used in the study is the quantitative one That is all comments, conclusion, suggestion given in the thesis are based on the analysis of the data from survey questionnaires responded by the students Design of the study This study is organized into main parts: PART 1: Introduction In this part the rationale, the aims, the research questions, the scope, the method, and the design of the study are presented PART 2: Development: It consists of four chapters Chapter deals with the theoretical background of the research, which is related to the issues relevant to the topic of the research Chapter describes the context of teaching and learning ESP at State Commercial No5 School Chapter presents subjects of the study, data collection instrument, the analysis of data, conclusion and discussion Chapter offers some suggested solutions to improve the students‟ learning of ESP vocabulary at State Commercial No School PART 3: Conclusion: This part presents a summary of the study, limitations and suggestions for further study PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Vocabulary in foreign language teaching and learning 1.1.1 Definitions of vocabulary There have been a wide variety of definitions of vocabulary Each linguist or scholar, in their specialized field, with their own set of criteria, defines vocabulary from their own specialized perspective According to Peny Ur (1996: 60), vocabulary as “the words we teach in the foreign language However, a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word: a compound of two or three words or multi-word idioms” Pyles and Algeo (1970: 96) also note that: “It is in words that sounds and meanings inter-lock to allow us to communicate with one another, and it is words that we arrange together to make sentences, conversations and discourses of all kinds” In this thesis, vocabulary is defined as the total number of all the words that a language possesses, including a single word, two or three word items expressing a single idea and multiword idioms of which meaning cannot be deduced from the analysis of the component words but only understood in the sentences, or in contexts 1.1.2 Importance of vocabulary in language teaching and learning In the context of learning English as a foreign language, the vital role of vocabulary is inevitable Vocabulary is commonly accepted to be the most important language elements among pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar McCarthy (1990: viii) states that “ the biggest component of any language course is vocabulary No matter how well the student learns grammar, no matter how successfully the sounds of L2 are mastered, without words to express a wide range of meanings, communication in an L2 just cannot happen in any meaning way” Wilkins (1972: 11) emphasizes this with his saying, “without grammar, very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” This is true in learning a foreign language If a learner has a wide range of vocabulary, he can help himself understood and understand others easily On the contrary, if his vocabulary is limited he will surely have difficulty in doing so and in English learning Therefore, nobody can learn a language without learning vocabulary, and nobody can be a ... the factors affecting students‟ learning of ESP vocabulary at State Commercial No5 School? 2, What solutions should be suggested to help the students learn ESP vocabulary effectively? Scope of. .. conclusion and discussion Chapter offers some suggested solutions to improve the students‟ learning of ESP vocabulary at State Commercial No School PART 3: Conclusion: This part presents a summary... the study The study is aimed at finding out the factors affecting students‟ learning of ESP vocabulary at State Commercial No5 School Once these factors have been identified, solutions to help students