1 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES LÊ THỊ LÂN APPLYING METACOGNITIVE STRATEGIES IN LEARNING VOCABULARY FOR IN-SERVICE STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY: AN ACTION RESEARCH (Một nghiên cứu cải tiến việc áp dụng thủ thuật siêu nhận thức việc học từ vựng sinh viên Tại chức trường Đại học Ngoại Ngữ - Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội) M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Cohort: MA 16 HANOI, 2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES LÊ THỊ LÂN APPLYING METACOGNITIVE STRATEGIES IN LEARNING VOCABULARY FOR IN-SERVICE STUDENTS AT HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY: AN ACTION RESEARCH (Một nghiên cứu cải tiến việc áp dụng thủ thuật siêu nhận thức việc học từ vựng sinh viên Tại chức trường Đại học Ngoại Ngữ - Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội) M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Cohort: MA 16 Supervisor: Phan Thị Vân Quyên, MA HANOI, 2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS ………………………………… i ACKNOWLEDMENTS ……………………………………………………… ii ABSTRACT …………………………………………………………………… iii TABLE OF CONTENTS …………………………………………………… iv LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES ………………………………………… vii PART I: INTRODUCTION ………………………………………………… I.1 Background to the study………………………………………… ……… I.2 Aims of the study …………………………………………………….…… I.3 Scope of the study ……………………………………………………… I.4 Methods of the study …………………………………………………… I.5 Organization of the study ……………………………………………… PART II: DEVELOPMENT ………………………………………………… Chapter 1: Literature Review ………………………………………………… 1.1 Vocabulary learning……………………………………………………… 1.1.1 Definition of vocabulary ……………………………………………………… 1.1.2 Vocabulary classifications…………………………………… ……… ……… 1.1.2.1 Semantics……………………… ……… ……… ……… ……… ……… …… 1.1.2.2 Grammar…………………………………………………………… ……… … 1.1.2.3 Methodology…………………………………………………………… ……… 1.1.3 The role of vocabulary learning………………………………………… 1.1.4 Factors affecting vocabulary learning ……………………………………… 1.1.4.1 Intralexical factors…………………………………………………………… 1.1.4.2 Individual and social factors………………………………………………… 1.2 Vocabulary learning strategies (VLS) ……………………………… 10 1.2.1 Vocabulary knowledge………………………………………………………… 10 1.2.2 Vocabulary learning strategies ………………… …………………………… 10 1.2.2.1 Definition……………………………………………………………………… 10 1.2.2.2 Classification………………………………………………………………… 11 1.3 Metacognitive learning strategies………………………………………… 13 1.3.1 Definitions………………………………………………………………………… 13 1.3.2 Classifications…………………………………………………………………… 14 1.4 Application of Metacognitive learning strategies in learning 15 vocabulary …………………………………………………………………… 1.4.1 Typical benefits of Metacognitive learning strategies application …… 15 1.4.2 Metacognitive learning strategies in practice ………………………… 16 Chapter 2: Methodology ……………………………………………………… 18 2.1 Research questions ……………………………………………………… 18 2.2 Action research…………………………………………………………… 18 2.3 Subjects of the study ……………………………………………………… 20 2.4 VLS training procedure………………………………………………………… 20 2.5 Data collection instruments…………………………………………………… 21 2.5.1 Questionnaires…………………………………………………………… 22 2.5.2 Tests……………………………………………………………………… 22 2.6 Data collection procedure………………………………………………… 23 2.7 Data analysis 25 Chapter 3: Data analysis and discussion of major findings……………… 26 3.1 Questionnaire data analysis…………………………………………… 26 3.1.1 The pre-training questionnaire results ………………………………… 29 3.1.2 The post-training questionnaire results ………………………………… 29 3.1.3 Pre-training and post-training questionnaire results ………………… 30 3.1.4 Discussion of the pre-training and post-training questionnaire results 3.2 Pre- and Post- test data analysis………………………………………… 34 35 3.2.1 The pre-test and post-test results …………………………………………… 35 3.2.2 Discussion of the pre-test and post-test results …………………………… 37 PART III: CONCLUSION …………………………………………………… 38 III.1 Conclusions ……………………………………………………………… 38 III.2 Implications for English teachers ……… 39 III.3 Recommendations for further study …………………………………… 40 REFERENCES ………………………………………………………………… 42 APPENDIX 1: PRE-TRAINING QUESTIONNAIRE ……………………… I APPENDIX 2: PRE-TRAINING QUESTIONNAIRE …………………… IV APPENDIX 3: PRE-TEST VOCABULARY …………………………… VII APPENDIX 4: POST-TEST VOCABULARY ……………………… … XI APPENDIX 5: PRE-TEST VOCABULARY ANSWERS KEY…………… XV APPENDIX 6: POST-TEST VOCABULARY ANSWERS KEY………… XVI LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table Table 1.1 Intralexical factors that affect VL………………………………… Table 2.1 Organization of the questionnaires ………………………………… 22 Table 3.1 Pre-training and post-training questionnaire results……………… 27 Table 3.2 Frequency of use of planning, monitoring and evaluating 30 strategies 31 Table 3.3 The changes in some metacognitive strategies before and after VLS training 36 Table 3.4 The pre-test and post-test results…………………………………… Figure Figure 2.1 Five phases of an action research ………………………………… 19 10 PART I: INTRODUCTION This part helps to provide the background as well as the context for the study Background to the study, aims, scope, methods, and organization of the study will be discussed in details in this section I.1 Background to the study The wide use of English as an international language in different fields of life makes the teaching and learning of English gain great momentum However, educational achievements are still far from being satisfactory even though teaching approach has been improved significantly One main cause is that the teaching and learning are both so far from the learner-centered approach In order to meet the economic and social demands of modern society, English teachers need to pay attention to the development of learners‟ competence and focus on an effective learning method As a learner, setting up a schedule for learning something new every day in addition to class assignments is really necessary This is particularly true of vocabulary The quotation of Wilkins (1974) „Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed‟ emphasized that vocabulary plays an extremely important role in language and the important role of vocabulary learning in capturing a language as well The importance of vocabulary was also mentioned by Vermeer (1992, p.147) „Knowing words is the key to understanding and being understood The bulk of learning a new language consists of learning new words Grammatical knowledge does not make for great proficiency in a language‟ In short, the teaching and learning of vocabulary is obviously a very significant aspect in foreign language methodology and English methodology Moreover, most work in the area of vocabulary so far has been concerned not with lexical meaning as such, but with management of vocabulary learning: how to reduce the vocabulary load, how to handle specific difficulties or how to teach specific learners To be successful in language learning, a learner needs to control the way they learn by paying attention to procedure and strategies that work best for them in different language learning situations However, there still exist some problems in teaching and learning English in Vietnam educational settings It is the inadequate teaching of vocabulary Firstly, 11 grammatical knowledge is often firstly focused In other words, little attention has been given to vocabulary teaching so far In Vietnam, „handicapped‟ vocabulary is the term that should be used to describe current situation of learning Students are just provided with words‟ meanings rather than be explained the usage or be trained how to learn effectively It is a fact that in spite of the efforts in learning new vocabulary items such as using flash cards, notebook, referring to bilingual and monolingual dictionaries, giving some synonyms and antonyms to decipher the meaning of words, vocabulary is by far the most sizable and unmanageable component for language learners The answer to the problem of vocabulary is applying vocabulary learning strategies in their learning process to make them become independent and gain active positions in learning the vocabulary knowledge The purpose of this study is to shed light on the issue of vocabulary strategy learning by applying metacognitive strategies It aims at exploring what lies behind this phenomenon and examines the effectiveness of application I.2 Aims of the study The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of metacognitive strategies on by students‟ vocabulary acquisition, then help them to save the time and effort in their vocabulary learning process The study aims at finding answers to the two questions:  What are the most and least frequently used metacognitive vocabulary learning strategies by in-service English students?  How metacognitive strategies help students make progress in their vocabulary acquisition? I.3 Scope of the study To investigate the vocabulary learning strategies employed to learn new words, the study focuses on in-service English students who not have much time invested in learning and find out ways that could help improve their vocabulary learning This study aims at training metacognitive learning strategies in vocabulary learning for in-service English students at Hanoi University of Languages and International studies, Vietnam National University in Vinh Yen province All learners have finished three years studying at college with English as a major Currently, they are teachers-learners who are 12 working as teachers of English at different high schools in Vinh Yen and spending their weekend pursuing higher qualification The course book is NEW HEADWAY Intermediate level which is supposed to be completed after ten weeks The focuses are on Vocabulary, Grammar and other skills are mostly studied at home by students The concept of metacognitive assessment is relatively new and complicated to approach although in recent decades there have been efforts to develop suitable measuring instruments The repertoire of metacognitive skills has been shown to be among the factors explaining the differences between good and poor readers Metacognitive assessment is not an addition to teaching and learning, but it is integrated in the two, informing and guiding them Metacognitive knowledge is frequently refined into person, task, and strategy variables, or declarative, procedural, and conditional knowledge (Brown, 1980) However, metacognitive self-regulation which is the focus of this study is regarded as the implementation of planning, monitoring and evaluating I.4 Methods of the study An action research was applied to this current study with the teacher as a researcher With an aim to support the research with varied and valid data, the quantitative approach was used with two questionnaires and two written tests before and after doing the action research The first questionnaire was done before the training to identify the students‟ employment of metacognitive strategies in their vocabulary learning The second one was distributed immediately after the training to see how students changed their VLS application The effect of the metacognitive strategy instruction on students‟ language acquisition was accessed by the results of the pre- and post-vocabulary tests The tests were designed with the purpose of exploring the effects of metacognitive strategies on students‟ progress in vocabulary-learning after training Therefore, the data collected from the test results was computed, analyzed, and reported 13 I.5 Organization of the study The minor study will be divided into three parts namely Introduction, Development and Conclusion Part two includes chapters: Literature Review, Methodology, Data analysis and major findings In the first part, the reasons that trigger for the study together with the aims which could be taken into consideration regarding the significance of this study are presented To set the background to the study, in chapter 1, a review of the literature of vocabulary learning strategies is conducted and a subset of strategies is identified for the focus of the study Moreover, vocabulary and metacognitive strategies in vocabulary learning will be discussed in details that would help identify the problems and give inspirations for carrying out the research Chapter two is the main section which deals with the process of this action research on Metacognitive vocabulary learning strategies It presents the methodology for the study and the procedure to carry out the research In the next chapter, the results of the analysis are presented and discussed Part three takes a closer look at what the previous chapters discuss before and to my limited knowledge and experience, recommendations for some applications that in some way be useful for further future study or research on the same problem will be presented Two other supplementary parts are the appendices consisting of the first and second questionnaires, the pre- and post- tests in vocabulary and the table results of them ... ACTION RESEARCH (Một nghiên cứu cải tiến việc áp dụng thủ thuật siêu nhận thức việc h? ??c từ vựng sinh viên Tại chức trường Đại h? ??c Ngoại Ngữ - Đại h? ??c Quốc gia H? ? Nội) M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field:... college with English as a major Currently, they are teachers-learners who are 12 working as teachers of English at different high schools in Vinh Yen and spending their weekend pursuing higher qualification... of English, our teachers have to face with the same difficulty as their students that there are too many words to learn but they not have enough time to learn them in Thus, the teacher needs