Research questions
The research questions that the present study seeks to answer are:
1 What is the students‟ awareness of the importance of vocabulary learning?
2 What vocabulary learning strategies do the first year students at Hai Phong Community College commonly use?
Scope of the study
The study focused on the investigation of vocabulary learning strategies which are employed by the first year students at Hai Phong Community College during the second term of school year 2011-2012.
Significance of the study
Schmitt and McCarthy (1997) points out that vocabulary learning has been regarded as one of the most important parts in a second or foreign language acquisition On the basis of the idea above, this study helps raise the students' awareness of the importance of vocabulary learning and that there are many other vocabulary learning strategies and therefore the strategy training is necessary to be done by the teachers Further, it reveals the most and least frequently used vocabulary learning strategies adopted by the students, which can be implemented to support both teachers and students in teaching and learning vocabulary at Hai Phong Community College.
Methods of the study
In order to achieve the aims of the study mentioned above, the study was carried out on the basis of semi-structured interview and survey questionnaire The English teachers at Hai Phong Community College were interviewed about the strategies their students use in learning vocabulary to support information for the survey questionnaire Then, vocabulary learning strategies listed in the survey questionnaire were compiled from a review of the literature on vocabulary learning strategies and the interviews‟ data After the results were analyzed, the findings were reported and discussed then some suggestions were raised in the study.
Structure of the study
The study is divided into four chapters Each chapter deals with an important aspect of the study
Chapter 1 is the introduction of the study, which includes the rationale, aim, research questions, scope, significance the study as well as the methods and structure of the study
Chapter 2 presents the information about some basis concepts related to language learning strategies and vocabulary learning strategies In addition, the classifications of language learning strategies and vocabulary learning strategies are reviewed to set up the theoretical framework for the investigation in the next chapter
Chapter 3 covers the pilot study and main study They include the context of the study, research questions, participants, data collection instruments, procedures, data analysis and implications
Chapter 4 summarizes the main issues of the whole study and gives the future directions for further research and limitations of the study.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Language learning strategies
There has been a prominent shift within the field of language learning and teaching over the last twenty years with greater emphasis being put on learners and learning rather than on teachers and teaching In parallel to this new shift of interest, how learners process new information and what kinds of strategies they employ to understand, learn or remember the information has been the primary concern of the researchers dealing with the area of foreign language learning So, language learning strategies (LLS) for foreign language learning and the teacher's role in strategy training is very important
Research into LLS began in the 1960s Particularly, developments in cognitive psychology influenced much of the research done on LLS In most of the research on LLS, the primary concern has been on “identifying what good language learners report they do to learn a second or foreign language, or, in some cases, are observed doing while learning a second or foreign language” (Rubin and Wenden 1987:19) In 1966, Aaron Carton published his study entitled “The Method of Inference in Foreign Language Study”, which was the first attempt on learner strategies After Carton, in 1971, Rubin started doing research focusing on the strategies of successful learners and stated that, once identified, such strategies could be made available to less successful learners Rubin classified strategies in
Fillmore (1976), Tarone (1977), Naiman et al (1978), Cohen and Aphek (1981), Wenden (1982), Chamot and O'Malley (1987), Politzer and Mc Groarty (1985), Conti and Kolsody (1998), and many others studied strategies used by language learners during the process of foreign language learning
1.1.2 Definition of language learning strategies
It is clearly seen that research on learning strategies in general and language learning strategies in particular is becoming increasingly popular So far, there has been no consensus among the linguists regarding to the definitions of leaning strategies
According to Nunan (1991:168), “Learning strategies […] are the mental processes which learners employ to learn and use the target language” Nunan‟s definition restricts learning strategies only to “mental processes” Richard et al
(1992:209), offers a broader definition of learning strategies, that is, learning strategies are intentional behavior and thoughts that learners make use of during learning in order to better help them understand, learn and remember new information.” Similarly, Weinstein and Mayer (1986) (in O‟ Malley and Charmot 1990:43) have learning facilitation as a goal and are intentional on the part of the learner The goal of strategy use is to affect the leaner‟s motivational or affective state, or the way in which the learner selects, acquires, organizes, or integrates new knowledge.”
Oxford (1990:8) defines learning strategies as “specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self directed, more effective and more transferable to new situation.”
Ellis defines learning strategies as “the particular approaches or techniques that learner employs to try to learn an L2.” (1997:76) He further explains that learning strategies can be behavioral or mental and are typically problem - oriented
Rubin (in Wenden and Rubin 1987:19) is even more explicit when he defines learner to facilitate the obtaining, storage, retrieval and use of information, that is, what learner do to learn and do to regulate their learning.”
According to O‟Malley and Charmot (1990:1), learning strategies are special ways of processing information that enhance comprehension, learning, or retention of the information” or in their other words learning strategies are the “special thoughts or behaviors that individuals use to help them comprehend, learn, or retain new information.”
Obviously, learning strategies are defined in different words and from different perspectives such as cognitive, social or pragmatic Therefore, researchers worked out the taxonomy of learning strategies instead of defining them This can be seen in the following part
In the 1980s and early 90s, research mainly focused on categorizing the strategies found in the studies of the previous decade As a result, several taxonomies were proposed to classify them, including classifications of LLS in general and language sub-skills strategies in particular
One of the most famous to date that proposed by O'Malley and Chamot
(1990) Their hierarchical framework of strategies distinguishes three major strategy types:
O'Malley and Chamot's framework of strategies has considerable intuitive appeal and many practitioners have used this taxonomy in planning their teaching
However, O'Malley and Chamot have never examined the construct validity of their taxonomy As a result, it is unclear enough to teach students and to train them to use
According to Rubin, there are three types of strategies used by learners that contribute directly or indirectly to language learning These are:
Stern (1992:262-266) stated that, there are five main LLS These are as follows:
It seems that among numbers of classifications of learning strategies given by researchers, Oxford‟s scheme is the most comprehensive detailed system of six strategies, classified as direct and indirect Oxford's (1990:17) taxonomy of LLS is shown as following:
It can be seen that much of the recent work in this area has been underpinned by a broad concept of LLS that goes beyond cognitive processes to include social and communicative strategies
1.1.4 The importance of language learning strategies in language learning and teaching
Bridging the gap between students‟ learning styles and teachers‟ teaching styles will be a powerful means to guide students towards successful learning Thus, teaching students learning strategies should not be neglected Oxford (1990) describes learning strategies as “specific actions taken by the learners to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective, and more transferable to new situations” Learning strategies will compensate for the weakness of a learning style and maximize the strengths of a learning style powerfully
To emphasize the importance of LLS, Chamot et al (1999) stated,
“Differences between more effective learners and less effective learners were found in the number and range of strategies used, in how the strategies were applied to the task, and in whether they were appropriate for the task” Therefore, teaching learning strategies is especially useful for the latter learners If they can find effective strategies, they will be able to successfully, through effective strategy teaching, students will acquire not only vocabulary but also the way for studying
Vocabulary learning strategies
First of all, it should be noted that in the literature on language learning strategies, there is no official definition for vocabulary learning strategies Perhaps there is no need for such a definition because vocabulary learning strategies are part of language learning strategies, which, in turn, are art of learning strategies
With reference to the definitions of learning strategies mentioned above, in this research, following Oxford (1990:8), the working definition of vocabulary learning strategies is as follows:
Vocabulary learning strategies are specific behavioral or mental action taken by learners to make their vocabulary learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective and more transferable to new situation
1.2.2 Classification of vocabulary learning strategies
Word knowledge is an essential component of communicative competence (Seal, 1991), and it is important for both production and comprehension in a foreign Knowing a word involves knowing:
a great deal about its general frequency of use, syntactic and situational limitations on its use
its underlying form and the form that can be derived from it,
the network of its semantic features and,
the various meaning associated with the item
Knowing a word is also defined as knowing its spelling, pronunciation, collocations (i.e words it occurs with), and appropriateness (Nation, 1990)
Therefore, lexical competence is far more than the ability to define a given number of words and covers a wide range of knowledge which in turn requires a variety of strategies to gain the knowledge Foreign language learners may then use various strategies to acquire the target language word knowledge Taking this into consideration, language researchers have made various attempts to classify vocabulary learning strategies employed by foreign and second language learners
Instances of such classifications are the taxonomies proposed by Gu and Johnson
(1996), Schmitt (1997) and Nation (2001) which are briefly discussed below
1.2.2.1 Classification of Gu and Johnson (1996)
Gu and Johnson (1996) list second language (L2) vocabulary learning strategies into metacognitive, cognitive, memory and activation strategies
Metacognitive strategies consist of selective attention and self-initiation strategies Learners who employ selective attention strategies know which words are important for them to learn and essential for adequate comprehension of a passage Learners employing self initiation strategies use a variety of means to make the meaning of vocabulary items clear
Cognitive strategies in Gu and Johnson‟s taxonomy entail guessing strategies, skillful use of dictionaries and note-taking strategies Learners using guessing strategies draw upon their background knowledge and use linguistic clues like grammatical structures of a sentence to guess the meaning of a word
Memory strategies are classified into rehearsal and encoding categories
Word lists and repetition are instances of rehearsal strategies Encoding strategies encompass such strategies as association, imagery, visual, auditory, semantic, and contextual encoding as well as word-structure (i.e., analyzing a word in terms of prefixes, stems, and suffixes.)
Activation strategies include those strategies through which the learners actually use new words in different contexts For instance, learners may set sentences using the words they have just learned
All these suggested strategies can be summarized in a table as follows:
Metacognitive Selective attention: identifying essential words for comprehension
Self-initiation: using a variety of means to make the meaning of words clear
Cognitive Guessing: activating background knowledge, using linguistic items
Memory Rehearsal: word lists, repetition, etc
Encoding: association (imagery, visual, auditory, etc.)
Activation Using new words in different contexts
Table 1: Gu and Johnson’s (1996) taxonomy of vocabulary learning strategies
A comprehensive inventory of vocabulary learning strategies is developed by Norbert Schmitt (1997) He distinguishes the strategies into two groups: The ones to determine the meaning of new words when encountered for the first time, and the ones to consolidate meaning when encountered again The former contains determination and social strategies and the latter contains cognitive, metacognitive, memory and social strategies Schmitt includes social strategies in both categories since they can be used for both purposes This categorization is based, in part, on Oxford‟s (1990) classification scheme The details can be seen on the table below:
Strategies for the discovery of a new word’s meaning
Analyze parts of speech Analyze affixes and roots Check for L1 cognate Analyze any available pictures or gestures Guess the meaning from textual context Bilingual dictionary
Ask teacher for an L1 translation Ask teacher for paraphrase or synonym of a new word Ask teacher for a sentence including the new word
Ask classmates for meaning Discover new meaning through group work activities
Strategies for consolidating a word once it has been encountered
Study and practice meaning in a group Teacher checks students‟ flash cards or word lists for accuracy Interact with native speaker
Study word with a pictorial presentation of its meaning Image word‟s meaning
Connect word to a personal experience Associate the word with its coordinates Associate the word with its synonyms and antonyms Use semantic maps
Use „scales‟ for gradable adjectives Peg method
Loci method Group words together to study them Group words together spatially on a page Use new word in sentences
Group words together within a storyline Study the spelling of a word
Study the sound of a word Say new word aloud when studying Image word form
Underline initial letter of the word Configuration
Use keyword method Affixes and roots Parts of speech Paraphrase the word‟s meaning Use cognates in study
Learn the words of an idiom together Use physical action when learning a word Use semantic feature grids
Verbal repetition Written repetition Word lists
Flash cards Take note in class Use the vocabulary section in your textbook Listen to tape of word lists
Put English labels on physical objects Keep a vocabulary notebook
Use English-language media (songs, movies, newscasts, etc.) Testing oneself with word tests
Use spaced word practice Skip or pass new word Continue to study word over time
Table 2: Norbert Schmitt’s (1997) taxonomy of vocabulary learning strategies
In a more recent attempt, Nation (2001) proposes taxonomy of various vocabulary learning strategies The strategies in the taxonomy are divided into three general classes of „planning‟, „source‟ and „processes‟ Planning strategies involve deciding on what words and aspects of words to focus on, what strategies to use and how often to give attention to certain words Meanwhile, sources strategies concern ways to find out information about words This information may embrace all aspects of word knowledge and can be found in the word itself (word part analysis), the context (guessing from context), sources of reference (dictionaries) or L1 (via analogy) The final set of strategies (processes) includes ways to remember words three sub-categories related to three conditions of vocabulary learning, namely noticing, retrieving and generating The whole taxonomy is illustrated in the following table
General class of strategies Types of strategies
Planning: choosing what to focus on and when to focus on it
Choosing the aspects of word knowledge
Sources: finding information about words Analyzing the word
Consulting a reference source in L1 or L2
Table 3: Nation’s (2001) taxonomy of vocabulary learning strategies
In general, although the taxonomies cited above may slightly differ in terms of strategies they categorize, they all provide a list of widely applicable vocabulary learning strategies
The strongest point of Nation‟s taxonomy is probably its simplicity: only classes and types of strategies are mentioned and plain terms are used This is in sharp contrast with Schmitt‟s taxonomy in which up to 58 strategies are named and with Gu and Johnson‟s taxonomy in which psychological terms such as metacognitive, cognitive, activation self-initiation, etc are widely used However,
For its comprehensive treatment of individual vocabulary learning strategies, Schmitt‟s taxonomy is an effective research instrument for investigation into vocabulary learning strategies followed by a particular group or learners This remark has been confirmed in reality by Schmitt‟s research on Japanese learners of English (1993) It is due to the taxonomy‟s proven research value that it has been chosen as the basic for data analysis procedure of the study on vocabulary learning strategies of the first year students at Hai Phong Community College.
METHODOLOGY
The context of the study
At Hai Phong Community College, there is only General English course which is applied for students of all departments This English course is taught during the first and second year It means that there are four terms of studying English with the total 240 periods The textbook chosen for the first two terms is New Cutting Edge – Elementary (Students‟ Book) by Sarah Cunningham and Peter Moor, 2005 During the two terms later, the students are introduced New Cutting Edge – Pre-intermediate (Students‟ Book) by Sarah Cunningham and Peter Moor,
2005 These materials were chosen to teach because it combines the comprehensive syllabus and reliable teaching resources that have made the course so popular, with brand-new features, making it even fresher and easier to use
The textbook New Cutting Edge – Elementary (Students‟ Book) for the first year students comprises fifteen theme-based modules and three review modules
Each module is about one topic and consists of six parts: Language focus, Vocabulary, Reading/Listening, Task, Further skills and Study practice remember
The average time for each module is seven periods Three review modules are in form of “Consolidation module” to help students check their understanding and study‟s result by themselves
Each vocabulary part deals with a familiar issue such as people and places, everyday life, transportation, food and drink, films, clothes, weather etc which are considered the important points of each module Vocabulary input is closely related to topic and task in the modules so it provides a necessary foundation for practicing every other part of the modules
By the time of the survey, the first year students at Hai Phong Community College have finished one-half of the second term
In this term, they study vocabulary of seven modules (from module 9 to
- Going out and staying in; the weather
At the end of the term, the students have to take an online exam called
“Online multiple choice test on LAN network” which is designed with 35 multiple choice questions in total The students have 30 minutes to answer after signing in to accept the test Completed or not completed the test within 30 minutes the computer will send student‟s test mark 35 multiple choice questions including multiple choice format of phonetics, vocabulary, grammar, reading comprehension
Following is the form of a final examination
Number Test items Number of questions
Multiple choice questions & short answers
Multiple choice questions & short answers
Multiple choice questions & short answers
Table 4: Table of test specifications
As can be seen from table, the Vocabulary contains at least fifteen multiple- choice questions in a test, which holds 15 points in total 35 points Besides, in the
Pronunciation and Reading comprehension part, each of them also has five multiple-choice questions If the students really do not know or have any idea about the new and strangle words, they cannot give the correct answers in these parts
Therefore, the vocabulary often holds more than a half of the total mark of a test.
Research questions
As mentioned above, the study was conducted to answer the following questions:
1 What is the students‟ awareness of the importance of vocabulary learning?
2 What vocabulary learning strategies do the first year students at Hai Phong Community College commonly use?
Pilot study
Before conducting the present study, a pilot study was done with the same sample The aim was to test the reliability of the research instruments In addition, it was to test if the students knew all strategies mentioned in the survey questionnaire that is if the students were aware of the existence of so many vocabulary learning strategies There were four students and two teachers randomly chosen to participate in the pilot study
Firstly, the interview was conducted in English with the teachers who are chosen The interviewees were mainly asked open-ended questions according to interview guidelines (see Appendix 2) and were encouraged to express their thoughts freely It took place for fifteen minutes and was done at the office of Faculty of Foreign Language
Afterwards, based on the reported data and literature review, the survey questionnaire was compiled and delivered to the students It was the same version used for the main study (see Appendix 3) The participants were asked to answer some questions before rating how often they used the strategies to learn and remember new words by putting a tick in the column they chose from level of always, often, sometimes, seldom to never The procedure lasted for a half of day and it was done in one classroom at HPCC
Finally, the data were analyzed and some results were drawn from pilot study
Results for research question 1: What is the students‟ awareness of the importance of vocabulary learning?
All students asked to do the survey questionnaire have been learning English for more than seven years This means that most students have a rather long time getting familiar with English It is very essential for each student to recognize the role of vocabulary learning in learning English The survey questionnaire showed that all the students recognized the importance of vocabulary learning Three students, which meant 75% of the students, agreed that vocabulary learning played a very important role in learning English Other 25% find it important Therefore, it is not surprising to find that no one underrate the role of vocabulary learning in learning English
The issue of knowing vocabulary learning strategies could not reach the consensus among students who were asked There were 25% of them said that they had ever heard of vocabulary learning strategies while 75% said that they had never heard of anything like that All students asked agreed that vocabulary learning strategies should be taught in class When being questioned why they thought so, most of them answered that they did not want to depend totally on the vocabulary learning taken place in class
It can be concluded that the students were all aware of the importance of and the need to learn and to be taught vocabulary learning strategies
Results for research question 2: What vocabulary learning strategies do the first year students at Hai Phong Community College commonly use?
It seemed that the participants used many strategies but they did not know how to name them Table 5 shows three most used vocabulary learning strategies for discovery a new word‟s meaning
Always use Often use Sometimes use
5 Use an English – Vietnamese dictionary 4 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5.00
7 Ask the teacher for the meaning 3 75 1 25 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.75
4 Analyze any available pictures or gestures 2 50 1 25 1 25 0 0 0 0 4.25
Table 5: Vocabulary learning strategies for discovery a new word’s meaning used by the Pilot study participants
As can be seen from table 5, the first most used strategy Use an English - Vietnamese dictionary was used by 4 participants (100%) It seems that the students use a bilingual dictionary (English – Vietnamese) with a high frequency The second most used strategy Ask the teacher for the meaning was also used a lot with the mean of 4.75 This definitely shows that the students rely on a teacher too much
Another vocabulary learning strategy used with a relatively high frequency with the mean of 4.25 was Analyze any available pictures or gestures It is worth noting that the students seldom learn words through Analyze the part of speech, Analyze prefixes, suffixes and roots Actually, word features such as prefixes, suffixes and stems are useful clues for lexical inference
The following table shows three most used vocabulary learning strategies for consolidation a word in memory
Always use Often use Sometimes X use
Table 6: Vocabulary learning strategies for consolidation a word in memory
From table 6, we can see clearly that the participants preferred repetition (written repetition and verbal repetition) in learning words that they have encountered Their means in turn are 4.75 and 4.25 The results suggest that those students relied heavily on learning the meaning and form of a word by rote Another vocabulary learning strategy used with a high frequency was Take notes in class
There are a half of the participants always used it This finding is not surprising because the students‟ main perceived source of vocabulary studying in class or from the teacher
To conclude, the pilot study was useful because it was noticed that the students were willing to support the project and they enjoyed learning more about vocabulary learning strategies Definitely, the list of the strategies should remain the same for the main study but it will involve more participants and the results will be analyzed in more detail.
Main study
There are 276 students at Hai Phong Community College participating in this study The number of students is chosen in accordance with the formula which is the one used by Krejcie & Morgan (1970)
The sample size n = 276 is the result of this fomula with N = 972 which is the total freshman at HPCC in year 2012 (See Appendix 1)
The students are chosen randomly from the first year students enrolled at HPCC in school year 2011-2012 Of the 276 participants, 70 were male and 206 n = required sample size
X 2 = the table value of chi-square for 1 degree of freedom at the desired confidence level (3.841)
P = population proportion (assumed to be 0.5 since this would provide the maximum sample size)
ME = desired Margin of Error expressed as a proportion (0.05) were female, all at the age of 19 and 20 They are from different provinces, towns and cities in the North of the country such as Hai Phong, Hai Duong, Thai Binh, Quang Ninh, ect Most of them come from countryside Most of them have studied English since their tenth form at the high school None of them has learnt English in an English speaking country However, such variables as gender, place of living are not considered in this study
In order to have an in-depth study, nine English teachers were also invited to participate in the interview They are from 28 to 50 years old They are six females and two males Three of them are with Master of Arts and the rest are with Bachelor of Arts They have been teaching English at HPCC for five to more than fifteen years
The study was carried out in two phases The purpose of the first phase - interviews is to elicit information from the teachers about the strategies used by students in learning vocabulary Interviews are the appropriate instruments to develop the initial list of vocabulary learning strategies for the questionnaire because with these qualitative ones, the researcher can gain detailed description about each strategy and can have spontaneity and responsiveness to check understanding immediately (Patton, 2002, p.343) While the second phase – survey questionnaire aims to seek information about the students‟ awareness of the importance of vocabulary learning, which is to collect quantitative information
In the first phase, semi-structured interviews were conducted among the teachers in order to elicit data about the strategies their students use in learning vocabulary Based on the reported data and literature review, a list of vocabulary learning strategies was compiled for the survey questionnaire among the 276 participants in the second phase to collect data about the vocabulary learning strategies are commonly used by the students In addition, a part in the survey questionnaire called general information was designed with five questions to seek information about the students‟ awareness of the importance of vocabulary learning
The following is a chart for the design of the study
Figure 1: Chart of the design of the current study
An interview schedule was designed as the framework for semi-structured interviews A semi-structured interview gives the interviewer a degree of power and control the course of the interview It is conducted with an open framework which allows for focused, conversational, two-way communication The interviewer and interviewee can be used to both give and receive information Moreover, it allows the interviewer much more flexibility than a structured interview or questionnaire
In addition, the interviewer can use both individual and group interviews, which can optimize the strengths of both
This interview included both open-ended and broad questions serving as a reminder to keep the interview on track while still giving the interviewer and interviewee plenty of freedom for further discussion To be more specific, the
Compilation of survey questionnaire based on the interview data and literature review
Qualitative data for vocabulary learning strategies list
Quantitative data for students‟ awareness and vocabulary learning commonly used by their students in learning new words Interview data with the literature review was used to synthesize a list of vocabulary learning strategies
The survey questionnaire included two parts as follow:
Part I is General Information, which contains five questions to seek information about the students‟ awareness of the importance of vocabulary learning
Part II is Vocabulary Learning Strategies A list of vocabulary learning strategies for the survey questionnaire were compiled with reference to the teachers interview‟s data in this study and a review of the literature on taxonomy of Schmitt (1997: 207-208) The reasons the researcher chose Schmitt‟s taxonomy are currently it is the most extensive one available; his six categories are clearly defined and easy to work with; and is matched with the researcher‟s purpose of the study
However, due to limitations of time and the context of the study, modifications were made
The strategies in part II were divided into two subparts:
+ Strategies for discovery a new word‟s meaning (Consist of eleven specific strategies and one open-ended question which depends on different students)
+ Strategies for consolidation a word once it has been encountered (Consist of twenty-four specific strategies and one open-ended question which depends on different students)
Each strategy was accompanied with its Vietnamese version on the list The participants were asked to rate each strategy statement on a 5-point interval Likert scale in terms of their frequency of usage in ascending order ranging from 0 (“Never”) to 4 (“Always”) For more detail, a table of vocabulary learning strategies in survey questionnaire is provided below:
Part II: Vocabulary learning strategies
I Strategies for discovery a new word’s meaning
Group of strategies Strategies Number of strategies
II Strategies for consolidation a word once it has been encountered
Group of strategies Strategies Number of strategies
Table 7: Vocabulary learning strategies in survey questionnaire
In order to find out the students‟ perception of the importance of vocabulary learning and their use of those vocabulary learning strategies, the study was carried out as follows
First, semi-structured interview was conducted in English with nine teachers
The participants were mainly asked open-ended questions according to interview guidelines and they were encouraged to express their thoughts freely The procedure lasted for one day and it was done at the office of Faculty of Foreign Language at HPCC
Afterwards, transcript of the interview was analyzed Data from the interview not only made reference to design questionnaire but also would be used in comparison with the results of the survey questionnaire later Then the final version of the survey questionnaire was gathered on the basic of a review of literature on vocabulary learning strategies and the above data interview in order to discover logical groupings and links among categories that would shed light on the learners‟ strategy use in vocabulary learning
Finally, vocabulary learning strategies survey questionnaire was distributed to 276 students of the first year at HPCC The participants were asked to rate how often they used the strategies to learn and remember new words by putting a tick in the column they chose from level of always, often, sometimes, seldom to never The researcher made sure that she explained the instructions carefully The procedure lasted for one week and it was done in the classrooms at HPCC
The data gathered through the survey questionnaire were coded for statistical analysis to investigate students‟ awareness of vocabulary learning strategies; which vocabulary learning strategies are commonly used and how often each strategy is used by the first year students at HPCC
2.4.4.1 Student’s awareness of vocabulary learning strategies
Almost all students participated in the survey questionnaire have been learning English for more than seven years (83.7%) The rest of students (16.3%) have been learning English from five to seven years This means that they started learning English since they were in primary school Therefore, they have a rather long time getting familiar with English in general and English vocabulary in particular
It is very essential for each student to recognize the role of vocabulary learning in learning English Figure 2 below presents information for this issue
Implications
An Chinese proverb says that “Give a man a fish and he eats for a day Teach him how to fish and he eats for a life time.” This is true in case of learning a language in general and in learning English in particular The students need to learn how to learn and the teachers need to know how to facilitate that learning process
Firstly, most of the students apply all the vocabulary strategies introduced in the survey questionnaire though at different frequency However, many students still do not use these strategies Therefore, raising students‟ awareness of the significance of vocabulary learning strategies is necessary
Next, most of the students have not been formally taught vocabulary learning strategies The ways they get used to learning vocabulary mainly come from their own struggle to study vocabulary or from their friends So vocabulary learning strategies should be introduced or formally taught to them in class The students need to be provided with strategy training, which helps make language learning
Of course, no one knows everything about how to learn languages But as teachers of English, there is strong support for sharing with students what they do know through strategy training
First and foremost, students should be made aware of their own responsibility in vocabulary learning Recent research has demonstrated that learner initiative and independence are crucial factors to attain higher levels of achievement (Gu, 1997) Their willingness to put extra effort into the learning process and to practice the learned vocabulary outside the classroom is an important factor for them to get higher achievement With this in mind, teachers should discuss the reasons for different vocabulary activities and straining strategy so that students would be more motivated
From the study‟s results, bilingual dictionary (English – Vietnamese dictionary) was the most frequently used strategy Consulting the dictionary is an important strategy for accessing or confirming word meanings (Fraser, 1999) especially when students can confirm their guessing with it Most of the students were found to try to obtain the Vietnamese equivalents of the target words rather than negotiate the appropriate meaning for the word in context Moreover, students should learn to derive the information from the context in order to choose the appropriate meaning from the sub-entries Besides word meanings, the dictionary also provides grammatical vocabulary knowledge or word collocation, which is usually exemplified in sentences Students at least have to note the basic syntactic properties of the word such as the part of speech and its usage from example sentences Other useful resources include the phonemic transcription, which has certain effects on word pronunciation Recent development of technology has allowed students to listen to the „real sound‟ pronunciation of a word with the electronic or the on-line dictionary
2.5.4 Teaching and learning in context
Heavy reliance on L1 equivalents seems to be a common phenomenon among students regarding vocabulary learning This is reflected in their prominent preference for bilingual dictionaries However, sometimes it is also difficult to find a Vietnamese equivalent with the exact meaning for some English words Thus students may settle on words with similar meanings or relevant meanings This easily leads to the use of words in wrong contexts or wrong collocations as they usually ignore the context or the words that go with the vocabulary That is why the result showed that only 5.1% of the students asked always used the strategy of Guess meaning of words from textual context In order to help students transit from relying on L1 translation to other stages with the awareness of context and grammatical features, vocabulary should be taught in discourse rather than individual discrete items (Gu and Johnson, 1996) There should be more context- embedded lexical learning for example, the use of context sentences, conversations and stories The importance of the semantic meaning of vocabulary can be highlighted from varied contexts so that students can understand that word meanings are context sensitive
To consolidate a word in memory, written repetition and verbal repetition were the most frequently used strategies by the students In fact, inferencing skills and memory strategies work in complementary ways to ensure success in vocabulary acquisition A number of students, especially the low proficiency ones, relied heavily on learning the meaning and the form of a word by rote Thus, they found vocabulary learning difficult and boring with lots of repetition In order to improve their spelling and word retention, the phonemic transcription, the phonological processing of a word and semantic processing strategies should be introduced to them
Word features such as prefixes, suffixes and stems are useful clues for lexical inferencing Actually, teaching of word features helps both to discover a new word‟s meaning and to consolidate it in memory However, the result from this study showed that the least frequently used strategy to discover a new word‟s meaning was Analyze prefixes, suffixes and roots (76.4% never used) Similarity, the least frequently used strategy to consolidate a word in memory was Memorize the prefix, suffix and root of the word (73.2% never used) Of course, students should not pass, overuse or rely solely on morphological analysis to infer word meaning The morphemic and syntactic information of a word should be considered together to figure out what the unknown word might mean Students also need to discriminate that some suffixes, for example, „un-‟, carry a clear lexical meaning while others, for example, „-tion‟, clearly indicate a part of speech Students also have to learn that some words, for example, „superficial‟, cannot be divided into a stem and an affix
The research data clearly show that the students lack use and practice vocabulary They need the opportunity to practice their vocabulary or else they are likely to forget If students‟ lexical competence is to develop, they need numerous opportunities to interact in substantive, meaningful ways with others Hence, although there is not a natural, English-speaking environment for students to practice, there should be more group work or pair work activities with focus on applying the newly learned vocabulary to help students internalize the vocabulary as well as the language
With the hope to help improve teaching and learning English in general, and teaching and learning English vocabulary in particular at Hai Phong Community College, the study has concentrated on the following aims The first is finding out the students‟ awareness of the important of vocabulary learning The second one is studying what strategies are commonly used in learning vocabulary Then, proposing some suggestions on the enhancement of teaching and learning English at HPCC
Thanks to the effective data collection instruments, the students‟ awareness of the important of vocabulary learning and strategies commonly used in learning vocabulary were realized Most students asked highly evaluate role of vocabulary learning in learning English However, not many of them had ever heard of vocabulary learning strategies and all of them agreed that vocabulary learning strategies should be taught in class Besides, the survey also indicated that strategies which frequently used by the major students
Reasons for these problems can be comprehended basing on results of the study Firstly, although vocabulary learning is a crucial part in learning English, there are still some of the students underrating the role of it Besides, many students have no idea what vocabulary learning strategies are Secondly, bilingual dictionary (English – Vietnamese dictionary) was the most frequently used strategy to discover a new word‟s meaning However, most of the students were found to try to obtain the Vietnamese equivalents of the target words rather than negotiate the appropriate meaning for the word in context Thirdly, to consolidate a word in memory, written repetition and verbal repetition were the most frequently used strategies by the students In fact, a number of students, especially the low proficiency ones, relied heavily on learning the meaning and the form of a word by rote Next, word features such as prefixes, suffixes and stems are useful clues for lexical inferencing
However, analyzing prefixes, suffixes and roots and memorizing the prefix, suffix and root of the word were the least frequently used strategies in this study Then, the result clearly showed that the students lack of use and practice vocabulary They need the opportunity to practice their vocabulary or else they are likely to forget
Words in the passive vocabulary need to be used regularly in order for them to move naturally into the active vocabulary
Finally, the study has introduced some suggestions for improving vocabulary learning The first one is about raising students‟ awareness of the significance of vocabulary learning strategies and the need of vocabulary learning strategy training
The second one is learner responsibility They should be made aware of their own responsibility in vocabulary learning The third one is about dictionary strategies