A STUDY ON DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING ENGLISH VOCABULARY FACED BY FIRST – YEAR STUDENTS OF FACULTY OF ENGLISH AT THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS

THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH FACULTY GRADUATION PAPER Topic: A STUDY ON DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING ENGLISH VOCABULARY FACED BY FIRST – YEAR STUDENTS OF FACULTY OF ENGLISH AT THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS Supervisor : Dr Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen Student : Nguyen Thanh Tam Class : K54N1 Student code : 18D170035 Hanoi – 2022 ABSTRACT In today’s world, multilingualism is becoming more and more important Being spoken by billion speakers around the world and taught in over 118 countries, English is considered as one of the most essential languages in the world Knowledge of foreign languages like English is not just peasant excess, but an urgent need Therefore, in many countries as well as Vietnam, it is a compulsory subject at all levels and forms of education In English, vocabulary plays an important role in all areas of communication including listening, speaking, reading and writing In Language Teaching Australia: Edward Arnold (1972) the linguist Wilkins said that “ without grammar little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” The more vocabulary you know, the more effectively you can communicate and express your ideas Hence, it is obviously something that we should constantly focus on improving day by day However, learning English vocabulary is one of the most comprehensive and difficult aspects of English for learners to master thoroughly There are many English learners who admit that they have troubles in mastering vocabulary and the first year students at Thuongmai University are no exception The difficulties in learning English vocabulary of first year student in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University, in particular, are considered to be significant and beneficial to research as they not only can find the ways to help students overcome these difficulties but also be used to identify the pedagogical problems so as to prepare effective teaching methods and activities that take into account students’ needs and problems This study, therefore, aims to discover the difficulties in learning English vocabulary faced by first year students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University The objective of the study is to investigate the common difficulties and their causes in order to give some recommendations and suggestions that can help students, teachers as well as managers at Thuongmai University to overcome these difficulties and find out effective methods in learning and teaching English vocabulary After studying, the common difficulties in learning vocabulary are faced by first year students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University including learning word pronunciation, learning word spelling, learning long and complex word, learning grammar associated with the words, learning connotative words and words with overlap in meaning, learning idiomatic words and choosing the the appropriate meaning of the words The factors causìng these kinds of difficulties are mainly related to pronunciation and spelling of words, length of words, grammar, semantic features, learning motivation and teaching method The study also gives some recommendations for students, teachers as well as managers in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University to solve this problem ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Having received a lot of support and help from my teachers and friends, it is with deep gratitude that I express my appreciation to all those who gave me the possibility, support and helpful advice to complete this graduation paper First, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen, for her valuable guidance, corrections and suggestions throughout my process for this research paper I am also grateful to all teachers from the Faculty of English at Thuongmai University who had useful lectures and valuable knowledge in this field of study Next, I would also like to take this opportunity to give my special attitude to my classmates who have always encouraged and supported me during my study Last but not least, I am extremely thankful to all the participants who provided me in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University for their marvelous contributing ideas and help during the time I collected data and information for my research in order to complete the survey questionnaire Finally, I hope that this small study can be given comments, corrections and feedback from teachers and other interested people that it could be useful to first year students in the Faculty of English at Thuongmai University Hanoi, April 15th 2022 Nguyen Thanh Tam TABLE OF CONTENTS ASTRACT i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii TABLE OF CONTENTS iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS v CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Previous studies 1.3 Aims of the study 1.4 Research Subjects 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Research methodology 1.7 Organization of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Definition of vocabulary 2.2 The importance of vocabulary 2.3 Aspects of knowing a word 2.4 Factors affecting vocabulary learning 10 2.5 Difficulties in vocabulary learning 12 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS 13 3.1 Current situation of learning English vocabulary of the first year students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University 13 3.2 The common difficulties in learning vocabulary faced by the first year students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University 16 3.3 The factors of difficulties in learning vocabulary faced by the first year students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University 23 3.3.1 Pronunciation and spelling of words 24 3.3.2 Length of words 25 3.3.3 Grammar 25 3.3.4 Semantic features of words 26 3.3.5 Learning motivation 27 3.3.6 Other causes 28 3.4 Suggested solutions 29 3.4.1 For students 29 3.4.2 For teachers 30 3.4.3 For managers 31 CHAPTER4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY 32 4.1 Limitations of the study 32 4.2 Suggestions for further study 32 CONCLUSIONS 34 REFERENCES 35 APPENDIX 37 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS No Abbreviations English meaning Vietnamese meaning PSAU Pampanga State Agricultural University Học viện nông nghiệp Bachelor of Arts Cử nhân khoa học xã B.A Pamapanga hội IAIN Syekh Institute Studies Nurjati State Viện nghiên cứu for Islamic Syekh Nurjati cho nghiên cứu hồi giáo LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS Chart 3.1: The students’ opinion about the importance of learning English vocabulary 13 Chart 3.2: The amount of time which students spend learning English vocabulary every day 14 Chart 3.3: The percentage of students faced difficulties in learning word pronunciation 16 Chart 3.4: The percentage of students faced difficulties in learning word spelling 17 Chart 3.5: The percentage of students faced difficulties in learning long and complex words 17 Chart 3.6: The percentage of students faced difficulties about grammar associated with the words 19 Chart 3.7: The percentage of students faced difficulties in learning connotative words 20 Chart 3.8: The percentage of students faced difficulties in learning words with several meaning 21 Chart 9: The percentage of students faced difficulties in learning idiomatic words 21 Chart 3.10: The influence of pronunciation and spelling of word 23 Chart 3.11: The influence of grammar 25 Chart 3.12: The influence of semantic features of the word 26 Chart 3.13: The influence of learning motivation 27 CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1.1 Rationale Due to being the language of trade, communication, science and major international media, English which is the language of choice throughout the world today has become an international language It is the most widely used language in the world It is estimated that 75% of the world’s communication is written in English and it is also spoken in more than 100 countries Apart from that, research from all over the world shows that cross-border business communication is most often conducted in English and many international companies expect employees to be fluent in English Therefore, the importance of teaching and learning English can not be understated Nowadays, English has become a compulsory subject which is taught for students in many schools, colleges, universities, and Thuongmai University is no exception For students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University, they are taught four skills including listening, writing, reading and speaking right from the first year And when it comes to learning a foreign language like English, vocabulary is the most necessary skill for teaching and learning English It is the foundation for the development of all other skills in learning a new language as well as English Vocabulary is considered as the centre of learning and teaching English because without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed Thus, working on vocabulary plays an important role for learners However, there are many people as well as a lot of first year students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University who have many difficulties in mastering the four skills in learning English at school because of the lack of vocabulary They faced many problems relating to understanding the meaning of the words, correctly use of words in suitable context, pronouncing, spelling, etc because of several reasons Moreover, it is a challenge not only for students but also for the teacher to make students learn vocabulary effectively Therefore, it is necessary to highlight difficulties in learning vocabulary faced by students and give them some effective methods to master English vocabulary which can help them enhance other English skills I hope that this study can investigate vocabulary learning problems faced by many English learners, especially first year students in Faculty of English at Thuong Mai University so that it can help them to overcome difficulties and find effective ways to succeed in mastering English vocabulary Moreover, from this study, I think that it also will help teachers and managers a lot to transmit knowledge to students and lead them to the lessons in professional ways 1.2 Previous studies Learning vocabulary is always a challenge for language learners and teachers all over the world Therefore, several studies have been conducted to investigate these problems in particular to find out effective solutions ● In the world: First, in the study “A Study on Vocabulary-Learning Problems Encountered by BA English Majors at the University Level of Education”, Arab World English Journal (2019) investigated the problems faced by PSAU English majors students at the university level and suggested strategies to overcome the potential problems The result of this study showed some common difficulties including “ Learning Meaning of New Vocabulary” ( 59.6 % agree) , “ Using New Vocabulary in Speaking or Writing” ( 57.8 % agree) , “ Pronouncing New Vocabulary” ( 55.4% agree), “Spelling New Vocabulary” ( 69.8% agree), “Memorizing New Vocabulary” ( 68.9 % agree), “Recognizing New Words” ( 57.6 % agree), “Learning Meaning of Technical Terms” ( 64.7% agree), “Learning Cultural-Specific Vocabulary” ( 63.9% agree), “Understanding Compound-word Meaning” ( 53.3% agree), “Learning Homophones” ( 55.2% agree), “Multiple-meaning Words” ( 54.3% agree) Based on the results, the study has discussed some of the strategies to minimize the problems and enhance the students’ vocabulary knowledge In the same line, in the case study “Case Study on Students’ Difficulties in Vocabulary Mastery at SMPN Kebonsari Madiun in Academic Year 2017/2018.”, Karimatul Aristya (2019) collected data from the students of the first semester of the English Education Department at IAIN who took vocabulary class by questionnaire and interview The findings showed that the students faced several problems in vocabulary learning Almost all of the students find difficulties in pronouncing the Grammar plays an essential role in learning English Therefore, first year student at Thuongmai University almost have awareness of how this factor affects their learning English vocabulary process Based on the collected information from questionnaire and interview, 64% of participants agree that grammar is important 33% of them are neutral while only 3% stated that it is not really important in learning English vocabulary One of the causes of students' challenges in learning vocabulary was inflections, which are distinct grammatical forms of a word Affixation is one of the ways new words are generated from old words, and it includes prefix and suffix For example past simple form of go is went Hence, it is challenging for students to understand the meaning of words because adding prefixes and suffixes to a word might change the word class 3.3.4 Semantic features of words Semantic features of words include abstractness, specificity and register restriction, idiomaticity, multiple meanings For first year students in English Faculty of Thuongmai University, they are considered as one of the most important factors in learning English vocabulary It is clearly shown in chart 3.12 Chart 3.12: The influence of semantic features of the word 24 The above chart point out that, a majority of students responded positively about the influence of semantic features of the words with 87% of the students agree that semantics features are important 11% of the students are neutral while 2% think they are slightly important for their learning vocabulary Because of large range of meaning, using, these semantic features lead to difficulty in understanding the words, choosing suitable meaning of the words, using word in right context and so on 3.3.5 Learning motivation Chart 3.13: The influence of learning motivation In learning English in general and English vocabulary in particular, learning motivation is always very important It is demonstrated in the response of first year students in English faculty at Thuongmai University about the influence of motivation in learning English vocabulary Almost all students ( 84%) agree that learning motivation agree that it is necessary to have learning motivation,13% of students are neutral and just only 1% disagrees that it really influence on their learning vocabulary Students admitted that if they don’t have any motivation in learning English vocabulary, they will feel bored and become lazier in learning and reviewing new words frequently Therefore, this factor also lead to difficulties in learning English vocabulary 25 3.3.6 Other causes Besides five causes which have been mentioned above, according to information from interviewing students, there is also a potential cause which leads to difficulties in learning English vocabulary, which is a teaching method A student said that some teachers gave them an excessive number of new vocabulary and structures, which they had to write down and remember, while the reading passage was so long that both teachers and they had to "race" to finish the lessons on time Also because of the time limitation, some teachers also just quickly explained the meaning of words so they not really deeply understand the meaning of the words Furthermore, another student said that there are not many activities hosted by teachers in the lesson to practice vocabulary and they just many exercises on their books so they lose their interest in learning English in the class Therefore, it turns out that what they have learned is completely theoretical 3.4 Suggested solutions After researching and collecting information, to solve the difficulties in learning English vocabulary of the first year students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University, there are some suggested solutions for students, teachers and managers They are forwarded: 3.4.1 For students According to the survey, there are methods in learning English vocabulary which first year students in Faculty of English of Thuongmai University believe that 26 they are the most effective including using flashcard, rote memorization, learning words through listening and reading, learning words in sentences and context, studying the synonym, antonym of the words Besides the following methods above, there are also some other solutions students can apply to learn English vocabulary more effectively Firstly, to master English vocabulary students should memorize and review words continuously by using several methods above They have to not only depend on lessons and knowledge the teachers gave them at school but they should be selfaware to realize that learning vocabulary is very important for them to master other skills in English Then they will have more motivation and interest in learning English vocabulary which can help students not only enrich their knowledge in English but also build up their vocabulary Secondly, it is necessary for students to set goals in learning English vocabulary and choose words which are suitable with their English level and related to their favorite topics Besides, they also need to find out the most useful tools that work for them to study like flashcards, apps, etc By this way, they can raise their interest so that they will learn vocabulary more effectively Thirdly, students should keep practicing continuously in some ways like studying and writing more about all things around their lives or communicating with others to practice new words The more they use the words, the more they can remember and know how to use it correctly Lastly, students should create a learning environment by creating an inspiring and study-friendly environment, reading and listening to English as much as possible, etc 3.4.2 For teachers Teachers also have a great impact in students’ learning vocabulary process Therefore, this study also brings some suggestions for other English teachers concerning the teaching of vocabulary First, the teacher should provide chalks to kids to make it easier and more enjoyable for them to grasp and to allow them to spend more time improving their vocabulary Furthermore, teachers need to put themself in the students' shoes and then 27 based on students’ difficulties and needs, teachers should select and apply appropriate teaching techniques and methods so that they can help students build up English vocabulary The second suggestion is that English teachers of Thuongmai University should encourage students to build up English vocabulary frequently by correcting the students’ mistakes gently, asking them about their difficulties they face and giving them more advice in exact time Next, to help students get more engaged in vocabulary development in the class, teachers should create more quality and interesting vocabulary practice activities like sorting, word races, mind mapping, etc.Besides, when teaching vocabulary, the teachers should demonstrate word meaning by making it visual, asking students to take example with the word in sentences and right context Moreover, it is necessary for teachers to create brief review activities which were built into novel unit lesson plans to help students practice and review words By this way, students can remember the words more effectively Lastly, English teachers should be trained to have adequate knowledge of how to identify students’ difficulties and what teaching strategies they should apply to achieve effective teaching 3.4.3 For managers To help the first year students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University to study vocabulary more effectively, there are some suggested solutions for managers as follows: First, to learn effectively, one of the most important aspects for teaching and learning process is facilities Therefore, in the school's library, the manager should support the library to buy more books related to learning English vocabulary or English documents for the students to read and learn English so that they can improve their skills as well as vocabulary day by day Moreover, it is necessary to install more media for listening including earphones and loudspeakers to help students hear the words and more things from native speaker’s directly 28 Second, almost all students use their smartphone as a convenient device to study So the internet should be put around the school and class for students to learn anywhere they want for example for searching new words, using online app, etc Next, on a monthly or semester basis, the manager should organize additional English tournaments to measure students' ability Students will study harder and have higher English understanding if more competitions are arranged Finally, the manager should focus on training teachers in Faculty of English to put more emphasis on helping the students to overcome difficulties in learning English vocabulary and give teachers strategies to make classes more efficient Moreover, managers also can carry out more surveys and testing to control the quality of all classes CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY The research undertaken for this thesis yielded several important data and conclusions on the challenges first-year students at Thuongmai University have in learning English vocabulary, but it also revealed a number of areas that require more investigation The goal of this chapter is to identify and discuss the need for more study in the areas of vocabulary learning issues in English 4.1 Limitations of the study Regardless of how wonderful the findings are, the empirical results reported herein should be considered in the light of some limitations In this study, there are some major limitations that could be addressed in future research First, the study just focused on the participation of the first year students at Thuongmai University respondents for the batch 2021-2022, about their difficulties in learning English vocabulary The sample size is insufficient to generalize the findings It may not reflect the various settings in which individual students' opinions and preferences are expressed across various contexts Second, the sample size of the participants is too small And any small-scale study has its own set of constraints Therefore, there is no way to investigate every 29 facet of language in a single study Although this study looked into a few key linguistic topics, there are still a few more that need to be examined empirically Third, in the aspect of gathering data, due to the Covid-19 pandemic in which close physical contact is still strictly prohibited and is needed to maintain the social distancing policy With that, the gathering information will only be conducted through the use of online surveys and interviews Last but not least, the questionnaire has some faults in terms of design Although I made an effort to distinguish between "opinions" and "facts," and to display all of the numbers using percentages Moreover, in the interview and survey with the students, the results indicated only mechanical 4.2 Suggestions for further study It is suggested for those who are interested in discovering problems in mastering English vocabulary to the same study in a cross – sectional way The kind of difficulties are various from different language levels or from different language backgrounds As aforementioned, one of the limitations of this study is the small sample size so my recommendation for future researchers is using a larger sample size to dig out more information which is more representative of the population and increases credibility Moreover, this study was limited to first year students of Faculty of English at Thuongmai University Therefore, to formulate effective intervention for difficulties in learning English vocabulary, it is necessary that future research should address other groups of students and the teachers also Putting the students’ difficulties and asking teachers to analyze the difficulties and give some suggested solutions would make this study more qualified one Lastly, for the next researchers, they are suggested to make the next research with different approaches or methods so as to analyze the difficulties or find out the effective methods in more specific aspects 30 CONCLUSIONS The current study comes to its conclusions based on the hypotheses, results, and analysis This study revealed that problems or difficulties faced by the first year students at Thuongmai University in vocabulary learning were various According to research results, almost all of the students have problems in learning pronouncing and spelling the words, long and complex words In addition, the students found difficulties in grammar associated with the words, learning connotative words and words with several meanings Besides, idiomatic words are also one of the difficulties for students mastering vocabulary The research has pointed out some factors that caused students difficulties in learning vocabulary including pronunciation and spelling, length of words, grammar, semantic features of words, learning motivation and teaching method The study will contribute to improving teaching and learning of English vocabulary since teachers can realize the difficulties in learning English vocabulary faced by students and then appropriate remedial lessons and materials can be planned It is believed that there are some shortcomings and mistakes in this study I wish to receive any comments and contributing ideas from others I also hope that my graduation paper will be useful for first year students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University as well as other English learners 31 REFERENCES Nation, I S P (2001) Learning vocabulary in another language Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Oxford, R L (1990) Language Learning Strategies What Every Teacher should know Boston Schmitt, N (1997) Vocabulary learning strategies In Schmitt, N and McCarthy, M (eds.) Vocabulary: Descriptive, Acquisition and Pedagogy Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Schmitt, N (2000) Vocabulary in language teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Thornbury, Scott 2002 How to Teach Vocabulary London: Longman The Making of Smart Towel to Learn English Vocabulary for Elementary School Students” ( Vol 2, 2017) Vocabulary, Semantics and Language Education, Hatch and Brown (1995) Teaching Languages to Young Learners”, (Cambridge University Press, New York: 2001), David Wilkins “Case Study on Students’ Difficulties in Vocabulary Mastery at SMPN Kebonsari Madiun in Academic Year 2017/2018.” 10 Difficulties in teaching and learning specific English vocabulary of nursing profession majors at Thai Nguyen Medical College and some suggested solutions” Hoang Thi Thu Hoai ( 2018) 11 A Course in Language Teaching, Practice and Theory Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Ur, Penny 1996 12 Methodology in Language Teaching New York : Cambridge University Press Renandya, W.A.,& Richards, J.C (2002) 13 How to Teach Vocabulary Thornbury, S (2002) United Kingdom: Person 14 Wilkins ,D.A.(1972) Linguistics in Language Teaching Australia: Edward Arnold 32 APPENDIX STUDENT SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE My survey is conducted to discover difficulties in learning English vocabulary of the first year students of Faculty of English at Thuongmai University All information collected from respondents is kept confidential Thank you for taking the time to complete the survey Question 1: How long have you been learning English? A 3-6 years B 6- years C - 12 years D more than 12 years Question 2: Do you think learning English Vocabulary is important? A Totally disagree B Disagree C, Neutral D Agree E Totally agree Question 3: How much time you spend studying vocabulary every day? A less than 30 minutes B 30 minutes - hour 33 C hour - hours D More than hours Question 4: What extent you like learning English vocabulary? Completely dislike Dislike Neutral Like Really like Question 5: What extent are you satisfied with your vocabulary? Completely unsatisfied Unsatisfied Neutral Satisfied Completely satisfied Question 6: Which method you use to learn English vocabulary? ( Multiple choice) A Learning from textbooks B Watching films C Listening to music, podcast D Using flashcards 34 E Reading words repeatedly F Using vocabulary app on smartphone G Practicing using new words in conversation H Make a new word list - Others:……………………………………… Question 7: Please rate the influence of the items below in learning English vocabulary according to your level of necessity Level of importance: - Unimportant 2- Slightly important - Neutral 4- Important Very important · Factors affecting your learning English vocabulary Pronunciation and spelling of words Length of words Grammar 35 Semantic features of the word ( Abstractness, Specificity and register restriction, Idiomaticity, Multiple meanings.) Learning motivation Question 8: Please rate your level of agreement with the following statements Level of agreement: - Totally disagree 2- Disagree - Neutral 4- Agree Totally agree I feel difficult in word pronunciation I feel difficult in word spelling I feel difficult in learning long words I feel difficult with grammar associated with the word 36 I feel difficult in learning connotative words I feel difficult in learning word with several meanings I feel difficult in learning idiomatic words Question 9: In your opinion, what are effective methods for you to learn English vocabulary? (Multiple choice) A Using bilingual dictionary B Using flashcards C Studying the spelling D Learning words through listening and reading E Collecting lists of words F Learning words in sentences G Learning words in context H Rote memorization I Studying the synonym, autonyms of the word J Classifying words K Others 37 INTERVIEW There are students who are interviewed They are Nguyễn Thị Hoàn Hảo ( K57N2), Thang Thị Tuyển ( K57N2), Nguyễn Thị Kiều Oanh ( K57N4) , Lê Thị Hồng Nhung ( K57N4), Phạm Phương Lê ( K57 N2 ) Question 1: Can you brief some information about yourself ? (What is your name ?, Which class are you in? , How long have you been learning English? What is your English level?) Question 2: How much time you spend studying English vocabulary every day? Question 4: What method you use to study vocabulary? Question 5: What are the difficulties which you usually face in learning vocabulary? Question 6: What reasons make you feel difficult when learning vocabulary? Question 6: What methods you feel are most effective to learn English vocabulary? Question 7: Do you have any recommendations for other learners and teachers in learning and teaching vocabulary? THANK YOU SO MUCH! 38 ... common difficulties in learning vocabulary are faced by first year students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University including learning word pronunciation, learning word spelling, learning. .. situation of learning English vocabulary of the first year students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University Vocabulary is an important aspect in learning English Therefore, at any level of. .. common difficulties in learning vocabulary faced by the first year students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University 16 3.3 The factors of difficulties in learning vocabulary faced by the first