VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** LÊ THỊ MINH DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING ENGLISH VOCABULARY FACED BY THE 10TH FORM STUDENTS AT ĐƠNG SƠN I UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL (Những khó khăn việc học từ vựng Tiếng Anh học sinh lớp 10 trường THPT Đông Sơn I) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 HANOI – 2013 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** LÊ THỊ MINH DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING ENGLISH VOCABULARY FACED BY THE 10TH FORM STUDENTS AT ĐÔNG SƠN I UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL (Những khó khăn việc học từ vựng Tiếng Anh học sinh lớp 10 trường THPT Đông Sơn I) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Supervisor: Lâm Thị Phúc Hân, M.A HANOI – 2013 ABBREVIATIONS L1: mother tongue L2: second language DSUSS: Dong Son I upper secondary school Q: questionnaire item I: question in interview iv LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES Charts: Chart 1: Students’ level of English vocabulary Chart 2: Students’ attitudes towards vocabulary learning in English acquisition Chart 3: Students’ attitudes towards learning new words Chart 4: Students’ difficulties in learning new words Chart 5: Students’ evaluation of their ways of learning new words Chart 6: Students’ attitudes towards teacher’s role in their English vocabulary acquisition Chart 7: Teachers’ ways to present new words Chart 8: Effective ways of new words presentation to students Chart 9: Students’ evaluation towards teachers’ teaching method Tables: Table 1: Students’ time for learning new words Table 2: Students’ ways of learning new words Table 3: Students’ expectation to ways of learning new words Table 4: Students’ preference towards teachers’ activities in vocabulary lesson Table 5: Students’ expectation towards teachers’ activities in vocabulary lesson v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DECLARATION …………………………………….… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS …………………………………………… ii ABSTRACT …………………………………………………………… iii ABBREVIATIONS ………………………… ………………………… iv LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES …………………………………… v PART A: INTRODUCTION ………………….………….………… 1 Rationale for the study ……………………………………….……… Aims of the study …………………………………………………… Research questions …………………………………………………… Scope of the study ………………………………………………….… Methods of the study ………………………………………………… Organization of the study …………………………………………… PART B: DEVELOPMENT ………………………………………… CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW ……………………………… 1.1 Introduction…………………………………………………….… 1.2 An overview of vocabulary….……………………………………… 1.2.1 Definitions of vocabulary ………………… ……………… 1.2.2 The notion of word …………………………………………… 1.2.3 Vocabulary item ……………………………………………… 1.2.4 Roles of vocabulary in foreign language learning …………… 1.3 Vocabulary learning ……………………………………………… 1.3.1 Aspects of knowing a word ………………………………… 1.3.2 Explicit and implicit vocabulary learning …………………… 1.3.3 Difficulties in vocabulary learning ……………….…… 10 1.4 Summary…………………………………………………………… 12 CHAPTER II: THE STUDY …………………………………………… 13 2.1 Introduction ……………………………………………………… 13 2.2 The context of teaching and learning English at DSUSS ……… 13 vi 2.3 Research methodology …………………………………………… 15 2.3.1 Restating the research question ……….……………………… 15 2.3.2 Participants …………………………………………………… 15 2.3.3 Data collection ………………………………………………… 15 2.3.3.1 Data collection instruments …………………………… 15 2.3.3.2 Data collection procedure ……………………………… 16 2.4 Data analysis and discussion ……………………………………… 17 2.4.1 Students’ level of English vocabulary ………………………… 17 2.4.2 Students’ attitudes towards learning English vocabulary …… 18 2.4.3 Students’ difficulties in learning a new word ………………… 19 2.4.4 Students’ preference and attitudes towards ways of learning English vocabulary …………………………… 20 2.4.5 Students’ preference, attitudes and expectation towards English vocabulary teaching method …………………… 23 2.5 Summary …………………………………………………………… 26 CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS ………………… 27 3.1 Introduction ………………………………………………………… 27 3.2 Students’ difficulties in learning English vocabulary …………… 27 3.2.1 Difficulties related to students themselves …………………… 27 3.2.1.1 Ineffective ways of learning vocabulary ……………… 27 3.2.1.2 Lack of motivation ………………………………… 27 3.2.2 Difficulties related to vocabulary itself …………………… 28 3.2.3 Difficulties related to teachers ………………………………… 30 3.2.3.1 Teachers’ attitude to students ………………………… 30 3.2.3.2 Teacher’s teaching method ……………………………… 30 3.2.4 Others ……………………………………… 31 3.2.4.1 The poor application of teaching aids and reference 31 materials vii 3.2.4.2 The challenging curriculum …………………………… 31 3.3 Suggestions ……………………………………………………… 31 3.3.1 For the teachers ……………………………………………… 31 3.3.1.1 Improving awareness of teachers’ roles ………………… 31 3.3.1.2 Improving vocabulary teaching method ………………… 32 3.3.1.3 Improving students’ self-study ……………………… 33 3.2.2 For the students ….………………………………………… 38 3.2.3 For the administrators at DSUSS ……………………… 39 3.4 Summary ………………………………………………… ……… 39 PART C CONCLUSION …………………………………………… 40 Recapitulation …………………………………………………… 40 Concluding remarks ………………………………………………… 41 Limitations of the study ……………………………………………… 41 Suggestions for further research ……………………………………… 42 REFERENCES ……………………………………………………… 43 APPENDICES ………………………………………………………………….I APPENDIX 1: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE APPENDIX 2: SURVEY INTERVIEW viii PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale for the study As far as we know, English is a common language in international communication In Vietnam, with the reformation of the economy and society, as well as the implementation of the open - door policy, English has been used more and more widely English also becomes a compulsory subject in education curriculum It is known that, in learning a foreign language in general, and English in particular, the knowledge and mastery of vocabulary play an extremely important role McCarthy (1990) states that “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 meaningful way.” By having rich vocabulary, students can improve their listening, speaking, reading and writing abilities; not only in the way they comprehend but also in the way they produce language In reality, in Viet Nam, vocabulary lessons are not paid enough attention in order to help students learn new words more interestedly and effectively As a result, most of them have formed a habit of only learning new words found in their text books or through teacher’s sources They normally learn vocabulary by such methods as listing new words on a notebook and learning them by heart, writing new words repeatedly down on papers, reading new words out loud several times, and so forth These above seem not to be very effective and interesting ways for vocabulary acquisition Moreover, students only think of vocabulary learning as knowing the primary meaning of new words, they ignore all other functions of the words Many of them may also recognize a word in a written or spoken form and think that they already "know the word", but they may not be able to use that word properly in different contexts or pronounce it correctly Many students, after learning English for many years, they can only read and understand short and simple texts and hardly communicate in English As a teacher of English, I have dealt with many questions relating to vocabulary learning which are raised by my students or among my colleagues For example, what are the effective ways of learning vocabulary? How to retain a new word in the mind? Therefore, I conducted a study to find out the main difficulties in learning vocabulary faced by the 10th form students at Dong Son I upper secondary school (DSUSS) Then I would like to give some suggestions to help students learn English vocabulary more effectively Aims of the study The study aims to find out the difficulties faced by the 10th form students at DSUSS when they learn English vocabulary Then some suggestions will be given to help students learn English vocabulary more effectively Research questions This research was carried out to find out the answers to the following research questions: - What are the difficulties in learning English vocabulary faced by the 10th form students at DSUSS? - What are the suggestions that help the students learn English vocabulary better? Scope of the study The study was designed to find out the difficulties in learning English vocabulary faced by the 10th form students at DSUSS In the context of teaching and learning English at DSUSS, English vocabulary mentioned here mean the new words in the English textbook Tieng Anh 10 that students are taught or learn by themselves The target population is the 10th form students They have experienced from to years of learning English, but their English knowledge is not very good The findings of the study would be much beneficial to both teachers who are considering whether to improve their students’ vocabulary and students who wants to overcome the difficulties and boredom in learning vocabulary Methods of the study In order to achieve the purpose of the study, both qualitative and quantitative methods were used A survey questionnaire and an informal interview were implemented with 120 10th form students who were chosen randomly The questionnaire consists of 18 questions grouped into main parts, that is background information which helps to seek for information concerning students’ background and the reality of learning English vocabulary which serves for gathering information of students’ attitudes to vocabulary learning, the ways the students learn English vocabulary, some difficulties they face when learning English vocabulary, the ways they are taught English vocabulary and their expectation towards English vocabulary teaching method The informal interview with 30 students was conducted basing on the students’ answers in the survey questionnaire Organization of the study The thesis is composed of three main parts: Part A - Introduction In this part the rationale, the aims, the research questions, the scope, the method, and the organization of the study are presented Part B - Development This part is divided into three chapters Chapter 1: Literature Review This chapter presents the theoretical background for the study It focuses on some concepts in the second language vocabulary learning and some difficulties in second language vocabulary learning Chapter 2: The study This is the main part of the study It describes the context of the study, the participants, the data collection methods and data analysis procedure For example, the meaning of a word can be guessed due to the word/phrase around it In the sentence: Doctors, scientists and public health experts often study the causes of a long healthy life, the meaning of expert can be guessed due to words doctors, scientists and study 6) Make a word list When reading, students may meet some new words and they should:  Record new words in a notebook  For each new word, write its definitions, synonyms, antonyms and make their own sentences with the word  Review the word list every day or several times a week The following is an example of part of a word list: New Word Definition Collocation Arrangements Make Synonym an Engagement, They holds an for a meeting, appointment assignation Appointment the position in academic appointment a profession Appreciation Sentence at the university Highly Thanks, In appreciation appreciated recognition of your work, hard the department will hold a party next Sunday 37 7) Use Mind - map Mind-map helps students save time and remember the words easily They can learn many words at a time When making a mind-map, students should pay attention to colour, drawings and connection among lines The following is an example of mind-map with the topic hotel 3.3.2 For the students Although it is not easy to learn English vocabulary, students can follow the suggestions below to overcome the difficulties in their learning process With help from teachers, students should have a positive attitude and a clear goal in learning English as well as learning English vocabulary It is the foundation that helps them overcome the hesitation and laziness It is also useful for students to learn from each other Once they have found out the ways to learn vocabulary effectively, they will feel more motivated and make more progress 38 3.3.3 For the administrators at DSUSS It is necessary for teachers to exploit teaching facilities such as over-head projectors, computers, cassette players The modern facilities will make the lecture more effective as the teacher can explain the subject matter lively and efficiently and save a lot of time The administrators at DSUSS should assign a staff who are in charge of checking the condition of teaching facilities and monitoring the use of them The administrators at DSUSS should also hold up discussions about the effectivenesss of technology application in teaching and encourage teachers to have power point lessons The use of such teaching facilities and power point lessons should be an evaluation criteria to the teaching Moreover, the library which is useful not only for students but also for the teachers, needs equipping with more reference books in English and dictionaries and should be open frequently Hopefully, with such facilities, teaching and learning English vocabulary will be more effective 3.4 Summary Chapter has been devoted to the discussion of some important findings from the study and some main suggestions to answers the two research questions The findings have showed the reality and difficulties faced by the 10th form students in learning English vocabulary at DSUSS, which needs considerable changes To be more concrete, the reality should be improved by both teachers and students 39 PART C: CONCLUSION Recapitulation This study is aimed at finding difficulties in learning English vocabulary faced by the 10th form students at DSUSS then offering some suggestions to overcome those difficulties The study was carried out in terms of both theory and practice The study starts with some concepts of vocabulary and vocabulary learning It then presents some important features about the context of learning and teaching English vocabulary at DSUSS including teaching staff and teaching methods, students and their background and available resources In order to find out the problems, survey instruments were employed to collect the data, namely questionnaire and informal interview The goal of these instruments was to find out the difficulties that the 10th – form students are coping with learning English vocabulary The statistics from the students’ questionnaires, together with the information from the informal interview indicates that a considerable number of the 10th – form students have difficulties related to ways of learning, motivation, teachers’ attitudes and teaching method, vocabulary itself, application of teaching aids and reference materials and curriculum Based on the findings of the study, some suggestions were offered to overcome those difficulties including improving teachers’ role, teaching method, encouraging students to develop their self - study and equipping teaching facilities It is hoped that what has been discussed in the study might be beneficial to both teachers of English and students, helps them learn about their strength and weaknesses, identify room for future improvement and development of teaching and learning vocabulary It is also hoped that the study will prove worthwhile to those who want to conduct in this area and who are concerned about the problem 40 Concluding remarks 2.1 The difficulties in learning English vocabulary faced by the 10th form students at DSUSS are unavoidable and caused by both subjective and objective factors In terms of subjective factors, it is the students’ traditional way of learning, that is writing new words repeatedly, students’ lack of motivation and the teachers’ traditional teaching method, that is speaking new words aloud and translating directly that mainly hinder students from English vocabulary acquisition The objective factors include English vocabulary itself, the challenging curriculum and lack of teaching facilities and reference materials In reasearcher’s opinion, the main difficulties faced by the students originate from subjective factors The subjective factors can be changed while the objective factors can hardly be changed by the students and teachers themselves Therefore, the difficulties should be overcome foremost by the students and teachers themselves 2.2 To help students learn English vocabulary better, both teachers and students must improve their awareness of their role in teaching and learning process and the role of English in their further study and future work, which help to create a motivation for students’ learning Moreover, teachers should varify their teaching techniques and help students find out their learning strategies that suit their abilities in learning vocabulary This will make students more motivated to learn and have a higher sense of confidence in their own learning ability Limitations of the study As a matter of fact, nothing is perfect and limitations are inevitable The study presented in this thesis is of no exception Firstly, because of time limitation, knowledge and limited size of a minor thesis, the research was conducted only on a small size of population This number is not enough for the researcher to have a full understanding of difficulties in 41 learning English vocabulary faced by those students Moreover, since the questionaire is self-report, the participants may have inadvertenly responded incorrectly Secondly, the author’s practical experience in teaching vocabulary is limited, the suggestions to overcome difficulties are likely to be subjective and incomplete, leaving the issue open for debate Thirdly, due to time limitation and the scope of the study, the study cannot investigate the effectiveness of some vocabulary learning strategies and vocabulary teaching techniques Suggestions for further research The study opens some directions for further research : Firstly, English vocabulary learning is a complex process which depends upon a lot of factors and these may cause difficulties for students Further study can investigate problems in vocabulary learning by looking at students’ internal factors like their intelligence, aptitude, personality, motivation and attitudes, preferences, belief, age acquisition, or external factors like students’ language environment or learning context Secondly, the effectiveness of some vocabulary learning strategies and vocabulary teaching techniques should be investigated so that both teachers and students can find out the most effective and suitable methods of teaching and learning for them 42 REFERENCES Anderson, N J (2002), The role of metacognition in second language teaching and learning Retrieved from http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/0110anderson.html on April 15th, 2013 Bogaards, P and B Laufer (2004), Vocabulary in a Second Language Bogaards & Laufer ( eds ), John Benjamins Publishing Company, Amsterdam Carter, R., & McCarthy, M (1988), Vocabulary and Language Teaching London and New York: Longman Group UK Limited Cook, V ( 2001), Second Language Learning and Language Teaching Third edition Oxford: Oxford University Press Inc Decarrico Jeanetes (2001), English as a second language London: Thomson Gairns, R & Redman, S (1986), Working with words: A Guide to Teaching and Learning Vocabulary Cambridge University Press Gardner, R C (1985), Social psychology and second language learning: The role of attitudes and motivation London: Edward Arnold Publishers Gu, Y (2003), Fine brush and freehand: The vocabulary learning art of two successful Chinese EFL learners TESOL Quarterly, 37, 73-104 Hornby, A.S (1995), Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary of Current English London: Oxford University Press 10 Huckin ，T．＆J．Coady．(1999), Incidental vocabulary acquisition in a second language． Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 21 (2), 181－193． 11 Kamil, M., & Hiebert, E (2005), Teaching and learning vocabulary: Perspectives and persistent issues In E H 12 Krashen, S (1981), Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition New York: Prentice Hall 43 13 Laufer，B．(1997), The lexical plightin second language reading．In J．Coady ＆ T．Huckin (Eds)．Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition ：A Rationalefor Pedagogy Cambridge：CUP． 14 Meare, P (1980), Vocabulary acquisition: A neglected aspect of language learning Language Teaching and Linguistics: Abstracts: 221-246 15 McCarthy M (1990), Vocabulary Description, Acquisition and Pedagogy Cambridge University Press 16 Michael Mc Carthy & Felicity O’Dell (2010), English collocation in Use Cambridge University Press 17 Nation, I.S.P (1990), Teaching and learning vocabulary Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle 18 Nation, P (1994), New Ways in Teaching Vocabulary TESOL 19 Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen & Khuat Thi Thu Nga (2003), “The Effectiveness of Learning Vocabulary Through Games”, Asian EFL Journal: English Language Teaching and Research Articles from www.asian- ejournal.com/EFL_sites_search.php 20 Penny Ur (1996:60), A course in language teaching Practice and theory Cambridge University Press 21 Pyles, T.& Algeo, J.(1970), English- An Introduction to Language New York: Harcourt, Brace 22 Richard, J.C., Platt, J., and Platt, H (1992), Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistic Hallow: Longman 23 Schmitt N & McCarthy M (1997), Vocabulary: Description, Acquisition and Pedagogy Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom 24 Scholfield, P (1996), Strategies for pocket bilingual dictionary use when writing: facing up to reality Essex Research Reports in Linguistics, 11 University of Essex: Department of Language and Linguistics 44 25 Taylor, L (1990), Teaching and Learning Vocabulary New York: Prentice Hall 26 Thornbury, S (2002), How to Teach Vocabulary Essex: Pearson Education Limited 27 West, M (1930), A General Service List of English Words London: Longman, Green and Co 28 Ying, Y S (2001), Acquiring vocabulary through a context-based approach English teaching Forum, 39 (1), pp 18-21, 34 29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inflection (Retrieved on April 15th, 2013) 30 http://grammar.about.com/od/words/a/comsuffixes.htm (Retrieved on April 23rd, 2013) 31 http://www.uefap.com/vocab/build/building.htm (Retrieved on April 23rd, 2013) 45 APPRENDICES APPRENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE The following questionnaire is designed with the purpose of collecting necessary information for the research titled “Difficulties in learning English vocabulary faced by the 10th form students at Dong Son I upper secondary school” Your assistance in answering the questions will be highly appreciated For each question, please put a tick (۷) beside the option that is the most appropriate for you You only choose option for each question I Background information: Your gender? a Male b Female How long have you been learning English? a - years b - years c More than years II The reality of learning English vocabulary How is your English vocabulary level? a Good b Rather good c Neutral d Bad To master English, what you think of learning new words? a Very important b Important c Not important What you think of learning new words? a Very difficult b Difficult I c Not difficult How much time you spend on learning new words at home? a – 15 minutes every day b – 15 minutes for one time and three times a week c – 15 minutes for one time and two times a week d – 15 minutes for one time and one time a week e When you feel like to learn According to you, what usually discourages you from learning a new word? a The word is so long b You not know how to pronounce the word correctly c The word has so many meanings d The use of the word is so complicated for you e You are confused with its similar lexical word(s) How you usually learn new words? a Do written repetition b Do verbal repetition c Learn through textual context d Make a wordlist e Study with its synonyms and antonyms f Other ways ( use pictures, internet, software, TV, radio program …) Do you find that way of learning new words effective to you? a Yes b No If no, what is your reason? (Please specify) ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… II Do you ever use reference books or dictionary to learn new words? a Yes b No If no, what is your reason? (Please specify) ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… Do you ever ask your teacher or classmates about new words (pronunciation, meaning, collocation,…) or how to learn new word effectively? a Yes b No If no, what is your reason? (Please specify) ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… 10 What you think you should to improve your English vocabulary? a Spend more time learning new words by yourself b Spend more time learning new words with your friends c Pay more attention in class d Read and listen to English more often e Other ways 11 How you think of your teacher’s role in helping you learn new words? a Very important b Important c Not important 12 How does your teacher usually present new words? III a Use visual aids such as pictures, diagrams, realia, … b Use target language to define new words c Use mime, gestures and facial expressions d Speak the words clearly and writing on board e Elicit new words from context f Other ways (use internet, software, TV, radio program, …) 13 Which way of presenting new words you find the most effective for you? a Using visual aids such as pictures, diagrams, realia, … b Using target language to define new words c Using mime, gestures and facial expressions d Speaking the words clearly and writing on board e Eliciting new words from context f Other ways ( using internet, software, TV, radio program …) 14 Which of the following activities you find the most attractive/the least attractive? Names of activities The most The attractive Matching definition with new words Asking and andswering questions about new words Filling the gaps Finding synonyms and antonyms Matching words Playing games 15 What would you like your teacher to in vocabulary lesson ? a Review vocabulary more regularly IV least attractive b Provide many examples of word meaning and word usage c Use more visual aids d Encourage and give clues so that students can make sentences with new words e Instruct clearly how to pronounce new words f Other ways 16 Are you satisfied with your teacher’ vocabulary teaching method? a Yes b No If no, what is your reason? (Please specify) ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… THANKS FOR YOUR COOPERATION! V APPRENDIX SURVEY INTERVIEW Why you not know how to pronounce the words correctly? Why you not understand the words’usage very well? Why you find playing games the most attractive? How often does your teacher organize vocabulary games? Why you find asking and answering questions about new words the least attractive? According to you, why does your teacher not let students review vocabulary regularly? What would you like your teacher to in vocabulary lessons (except for the activities listed in the questionnaire) Why? To improve your English vocabulary, why you think you should spend more time learning new words with your friends? To improve your English vocabulary, why you think you should read and listen to English more often? To improve your English vocabulary, what you think you should (except for the activities listed in the questionnaire)? Why? VI ... research questions The aims of the study, as stated in part A, are to find out: - What are the difficulties in learning English vocabulary faced by the 10 th form students at DSUSS ? - What are the. .. attitudes to vocabulary learning, the ways the students learn English vocabulary, some difficulties they face when learning English vocabulary, the ways they are taught English vocabulary and their... collect the information about the reality of the participants’ learning English vocabulary: their attitude towards learning English vocabulary, how they learn, how they are taught, and the difficulties