Statement of the Problems and Rationale of the Study
Vocabulary has a significant position in the process of mastering a language Linguists and researchers quotes Wilkin, D (1972:10):
“Without grammar, very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed” as the affirmation of the role of vocabulary
Within the current English teaching context in Vietnamese schools in the recent years, teachers and students are getting more complete awareness of the important role of vocabulary Therefore, they started to pay greater attention to vocabulary development
Teachers have applied many teaching approaches, methods and techniques to improve the students‟ vocabulary acquisition The efforts from both teachers and students have made certain progress
As a high school English teacher, I am especially interested in developing students‟ vocabulary Having had several years of experience in teaching English to the students gifted in science at Hanoi – Amsterdam high school, I am concerned a lot about the needs to improve their vocabulary on science and technology In my points of view, the number of reasons that makes it necessary to improve the students‟ vocabulary on science and technology can be divided into external and internal ones
- There is no specific English textbook for the science gifted students at high school level all over the country
- At Hanoi-Amsterdam high school, the textbook “Tiếng Anh 10” issued by the MOET is used to teach all students including science gifted students This is a compulsory course
-2- book of general English for all students in the country, so not much knowledge and English vocabulary for specific purposes such as science and technology can be found in it
- Almost all students at Hanoi-Amsterdam high school have equipped themselves with good basic practical general English knowledge Many of them started learning English from the primary school or even earlier In order to be able to enroll to this school, they had to gain high marks at the entrance examinations including their majoring subjects, Maths, Vietnamese and English That is why for them, the “Tiếng Anh 10” is rather simple Beside the textbook and workbook, students are regularly given supplementary and intensive exercises compiled by their classroom teachers
- However, from my observations, the vocabulary, especially the vocabulary on science and technology had been undervalued in comparison with grammar in the previous years of their basic high school Many students have difficulties in expressing their own ideas because of the vocabulary deficiency Most students are unfamiliar to the vocabulary on science and technology, as well as English scientific literature
- In results, when students want to extract useful information related to their field in English, or have chance to attend the international examinations, camps or workshops on science and technology, the students often face with the lexical gaps and this significantly affects their progress and active participation
- In fact, many students have realized the vital role of English vocabulary on science and technology for their future study as well as carrier They devote a great deal of time to building up this kind of vocabulary
In the process of trying different vocabulary teaching strategies and techniques, I found that reading is a suitable way for students to enhance their vocabulary on science and technology The advantage of learning and developing vocabulary through reading is that
-3- supplementary readings as a means of improving their students‟ vocabulary came to my mind It became an impulse for me to do a study on the impact of supplementary reading on the development of English vocabulary on science and technology in grade 10 classes for the science gifted students In terms of students‟ benefits, this program will provide opportunities for students to develop their vocabulary and get ready for further reading in their future specialty.
Aims and Objectives of the Study
This study is firstly aimed at investigating the students‟ needs to develop English vocabulary on science and technology Secondly, it is aimed to experiment the impacts of supplementary reading program on the development of grade 10 students‟ vocabulary on science and technology
The main objectives in this study are as follows:
- To identify students‟ perceptions of the need to develop their English vocabulary on science and technology and their willingness to spend time on supplementary reading program
- To introduce the supplementary reading program and examine its effects on grade 10 students‟ English vocabulary acquisition
- To share the findings with teachers and students who are interested in this field of English vocabulary teaching
- To make some recommendations for further study.
Research Questions
In order to achieve the above-mentioned aims and objectives, the answers to the following research questions are needed to be found
1 What are the students’ perceptions of the need to develop their English vocabulary on science and technology?
2 To what extent are the students willing to take part in the supplementary readings?
3 Is there a relationship between supplementary reading and the development of English vocabulary on science and technology?
Scope of the Study
Given the time constrain, the study was conducted on the grade 10 students in two classes gifted in science only Taking into account that the participants are only beginners of science and technology aspects, the vocabulary given through reading passages is mainly English for General Science.
Method of the Study
To find out the answers to the above research questions, a quasi-experiment design has been adopted
- The pre-experiment questionnaire was applied as an instrument to investigate what students think of the need to develop their English vocabulary on science and technology and how they are willing to take up the additional readings
- The pretest and posttest were conducted with 60 students divided into two randomly selected groups to measure the differences in students‟ vocabulary acquisition.
Design of the Study
The study is divided into three parts as follows:
Part one presents an overview of the study in which the rationale for the research, the aims and objectives, the research questions, the scope of the study, the research method as well as the design of the study were briefly mentioned
Part two consists of three chapters
Chapter one reviews the literature relevant to the study including the definition of vocabulary, its aspects to be taught, the approaches to vocabulary acquisition and some methods of vocabulary teaching Reading comprehension and the relationship between vocabulary and reading comprehension is also referred to Finally, some points on supplementary materials were mentioned in order to bring out the clarification of supplementary readings in this study
Chapter two is a detailed discussion of the method used in the study with the research approach, the participants, the design of questionnaire, pretest and posttest and the procedures that the study follows
Chapter three presents significant findings of the study and discussion on the research questions
Part three includes some pedagogical implications This chapter also points out some limitations of the study that serve as the basis for the researcher‟s suggestions for further study.
Literature Review
Vocabulary
Linguists define vocabulary differently based on different criteria The most general one is from “Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics”
Vocabulary is defined as “a set of LEXEMES, including single words, compound words and idioms”
According to Ur, P (1996:60), vocabulary can be defined as
“the words we teach in foreign language However, a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word: a compound of two or three words or multiword idioms”
“It is words that sounds and meanings interlock to allow us communicate with one another, and it is word that we arrange together to make sentences, conversation and discourse of all kinds”
Lewis (1993:89) states more detailed definition of vocabulary
“… may be individual words or full sentences – institutionalized utterances – that convey fixed social or pragmatic meaning within a given community”
These concepts of vocabulary to some extent have given us an answer to the question what vocabulary is In general, vocabulary can be understood as the total number of all the words that a language possesses, including a single word, two or three word items
Undeniably, sustained communication requires students to have a wide range of vocabulary at their disposal (Cunningsworth, 1995) Some students assume that the vocabularies of the English language are separate entities in themselves However, English words are more than individual items and assume their meaning in a related network and their use are realized in a discourse environment, i.e in an environment of context (Schmitt, 2000) In communication, there are many cases in which the lexical meaning cannot be deduced from analysis of the individual components of that word Therefore, it is helpful to instruct learners to gain vocabulary from authentic contexts
Given vocabulary quite a „large‟ concept, its clarification is diversified In the relation with the research topic, in this paper, only the active and passive vocabulary is studied
In terms of the use of words, Doff A (1988:19) divides vocabulary into active and passive vocabulary He calls active vocabulary the words which students will need to understand and also use themselves while passive vocabulary are words which we want students to understand (eg when reading a text), but which they will not need to use themselves In teaching active vocabulary, it is usually worth spending time giving examples and asking questions, so that students can really see how the word is used Meanwhile, the passive vocabulary is often presented quickly or left for students to guess from the context
Students should understand far more words than they can produce so we should not try to treat all new words as active vocabulary
Sharing the same point of view, Gairns R & Stuart R (1986:64) refers to Receptive and Productive Vocabulary Knowledge They suggest „receptive‟ vocabulary (or passive vocabulary) to mean “language items which can only be recognized and comprehended in the context of reading and listening materials” and „productive‟ vocabulary (or active vocabulary) to be “language items which the leaner can recall and use appropriately in speech and writing”
However, it is very often that the transition from a student‟s receptive vocabulary item to productive one occurs after repeatedly hearing or reading the item over a period of time or by continual practice Reading is considered one of the common ways to impulse this transition process
1.1.3 What Need to Be Taught in Vocabulary
According to Ur, P (1996), when vocabulary is introduced to learners, pronunciation and spelling, word form, grammar, collocation, aspects of meaning, word formation need to be taught
Nation, I S P (1990:13) explains in a chart what knowing a word means He indicates that what means “knowing” a word depends on whether the word is learnt for receptive skills or for productive skills
Spoken form What does the word sound like?
How is the word pronounced?
Written form What does the word look like?
How the word written and spelled?
Grammatical patterns In which patterns does the word occur?
In which patterns must we use the word?
Collocation What words or types of words can be expected before or after the word?
What words or types of words must we use with this word?
Frequency How common is the word?
How often should the word be used?
Appropriateness Where would we expect to meet this word?
Where can this word be used?
Concepts What does the word mean?
What word should be used to express this meaning?
Associations What other words does this word make us think of?
What other words could we use instead of this one?
Table 1: Questions to be answered when knowing a word
Taylor, L (1990) also shared the same point of view Their argument is that knowing a word involves not only knowing its spelling, morphology, pronunciation and meaning or the equivalent of the word in the learner‟s mother tongue Besides these aspects, the learner must know its collocation, register, polysemy (a single word with many meanings) and its homonym (different words with the same spelling and pronunciation)
Gairns R & Stuart R (1986) also claims that it is very important that the teachers (and in many cases, the learners) must decide whether a vocabulary item is worth acquiring productively or receptively
In this paper, English used in science and technology is mentioned It is not another kind of language, it does not possess separate, special grammar, special pronunciation, special spelling or orthography of words However, scientific English has some characteristic that distinguish it from the English language used in other fields
Strevens (1980:465-466) points out seven characteristics of scientific English as follows:
- Greek and Latin roots and affixes
- Precise and frequent use of logical-grammatical connectors
- The grammar and lexis needed for the rhetoric of science
1.1.4 Criteria for Selecting the Vocabulary to Teach
The vocabulary should be selected in a suitable teaching setting That is, every situation is different and so core items in one context may be useless in another
Teaching can effectively deal with only a small amount of information about vocabulary items at a time Thus, teachers should take into consideration the following factors
Frequency 1 Average number of occurrences of a word in a language Range 2 A measure of the different types of texts in which a word occurs Language needs 3 The words that are regarded as „require‟ by the learner in order to communicate Availability and familiarity
4 The word the learner is mostly in contact with and somehow „know‟
Coverage 5 The capacity of a word to take the place of other words Regularity 6 How is the use of a word „spread‟ over the language Learn ability 7 Are some words easier to learn than other?
Table 2: Criteria for vocabulary selection
(Source: http://art-humanities.cant.ac.uk/language-studies)
Approaches to Vocabulary Acquisition
In L2 vocabulary teaching and learning, “there is a difference between a „vocabulary lesson‟ (where, for example, the main objective is for the students to learn and use a number of vocabulary items) and a lesson in which vocabulary comes up as part of another activity (where, for example, the teacher helps students deal with vocabulary they may meet in an authentic listening or reading text)” (Gower, R:145) The former kind of lessons requires students to learn vocabulary while the latter one instructs them to acquire vocabulary It is worth distinguishing between „learning vocabulary‟ and „acquiring vocabulary‟
According to Nguyen Bang (Et.al) 2003, it is impossible to teach all English vocabulary in the school curriculum:
“If the teacher tries to teach all the new words thoroughly, there will be no time to do anything in the lesson”
It is compelled for teachers to choose to teach about 2,500 high frequency words (which comprise 90% of all conversation) and develop strategies for helping students to understand and remember other 40,000-60,000 low frequency words (use of dictionaries, helping students deduce words in contexts, etc.)
1.2.2 Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition and Intentional Vocabulary Learning
In L2 lexical teaching and learning, there are two main approaches to vocabulary acquisition: incidental learning and intentional learning
Incidental learning is defined as the type of learning that is byproduct of doing or learning something else In terms of vocabulary learning, incidental learning always means the approach of learning vocabulary through texts, working on tasks or doing other activities that are not directly related to vocabulary Vocabulary forms, collocations, parts of speech are mainly the results of incidental learning
Intentional learning is defined as being designed, planned for, or intended by teachers or students The intentional learning always focuses on vocabulary itself, and combines with all kinds of conscious vocabulary learning strategies and means of memorizing words The sense of a word, meaning symbolizing and innuendo between words need intentional learning (Nation, 1990)
Undoubtedly, vocabulary can be learnt intentionally with the learners‟ intention and desire
Enormous numbers of vocabulary teaching and learning strategies and techniques are presented and practiced by teachers and learners all over the world Many others are being discussed and experimented with the goal to improve the vocabulary learning process
However, many scholars agree that second language vocabulary learning is a very complex phenomenon involving several different learning processes Besides the intentional vocabulary learning, many researchers argue that vocabulary can be acquired incidentally
According to Huckin, T & Coady, J (1999:181-193), except for the first few thousand most common words, vocabulary in second language can be obtained without learners‟ intention
In this study, both receptive and productive use of vocabulary is tended to be involved The teacher may select some key words from each supplementary reading given to students to present before their reading While reading, students are free to make decision which words they want to learn thoroughly, which ones they just need to know or guess the meaning for the comprehension purpose
1.2.3 Implicit Learning and Explicit Learning Process
The incidental vocabulary acquisition as a process involves implicit and/or explicit learning The most common distinction between involving implicit and explicit learning is that implicit or incidental learning is often defined as “accidental learning of information without the intention of remembering that information” and explicit learning, on the other hand, refers to the application of vocabulary learning strategies on the part of learner
(Hulstijn, J., Hollander, M & Greidanus, T., 1996:327) Krashen (1989:440-464) presented that implicit learning holds that meanings of new words are acquired subconsciously as a result of repeated exposures in a range of contexts, where the conscious focus is not on form, but on the message Explicit learning holds that the employment of a range of vocabulary learning strategies can greatly facilitate and enhance vocabulary acquisition On this view, learners are seen as active processors of information
Ellis, N (1995: 12-16) also claimed that the implicit vocabulary learning holds true for simple pattern recognition of surface forms of input and output Explicit learning, on the other hand, is necessary for the mapping of those surface input and output forms to their corresponding semantic or conceptual representation
Ellis, N (1997) claims that both implicit and explicit learning mechanisms are involved in incidental vocabulary acquisition: while the acquisition of a word‟s form, collocation and grammatical class information is said to involve implicit processes, acquiring a word‟s semantic properties and mapping word form to meaning are the result from explicit learning process
In incidental learning, the teacher‟s focus is on general understanding of a text or on the meaning of a word, ignoring or paying less attention to the form of a word However, recognizing the word meaning in the context is only one aspect of word knowledge
Knowing a word also involves many other aspects, such as grammatical patterns and collocation It also includes how to use it in suitable situations and using the word to stand for the meaning it represents and being able to think of suitable situations for the word (Nation, 1990) In order to deepen the knowledge of these words, students sometimes need the guidance from the teacher Without the teacher‟s help, despite the great effort students spend on the learning, it is not likely for students to acquire the knowledge, nor do they have large amount of time to read extensively to learn it subconsciously.
Methodology in Vocabulary Teaching
“the method used has often been said to be the cause of success or failure in language learning”
In recent years, foreign language teaching has undergone many dramatic changes In order to understand the scope of the subject, language teachers should have a clear perspective on the development of language teaching approaches as well as their inter-relationship among developed ones Based on the concrete teaching situation, teachers should make decision what an appropriate approach or method is to apply Following is a brief presentation of some major foreign language teaching methods and their application in the vocabulary language teaching
The Grammar-translation method is one of the oldest method foreign language teachings
In general language teaching, the classes are taught mainly in L1, with little active use of target language With regard to teaching vocabulary, much of it is taught in the form of lists of isolated words Then students are expected to study and memorize that list of vocabulary together with their mother tongue equivalents And the students are also given the grammatical rules and paradigm to put words together Besides, the method aims at
-14- providing the rules with wide literary vocabulary in written exercises Teachers also find it an easy and quick way to explain the meaning of words
In this method, the teachers‟ main task is to give the students grammatical rules, paradigm and the list of vocabulary by writing down the new words and its meaning in L1 to help students to do the written exercise in grammatical analysis and translation, not the exercises in the context of text This method is easy to apply and simple to test and to control
According to this method, the second language learning should be treated as the first language learning It associates directly foreign utterances with object and actions without the use of the native language During the process of teaching and learning, only the target language is used, no mother tongue is allowed This method requires no translation between L1 and target language, little or no analysis of grammatical rules Besides, it lays an emphasis on correct pronunciation and grammar from beginning
This method is very useful for teaching vocabulary, the teaching introduces through objects, pictures, etc The words used are very common, active and concerning daily activities By this method, concrete vocabulary is taught by demonstration while the meanings of abstract words are made clear by association of ideas
The communicative approach which teaches students how to use the language is considered to be at least as important as learning the language itself In this approach, vocabulary is learnt through for “real-life” communication in classroom, through interaction in the target language and through enhancement of the learner‟s own experiences as important contributing elements to classroom learning and through an attempt to link classroom language learning with language activation outside the classroom
This approach of teaching makes students more confident when communicating with one another Being motivating, they also become more active in class That is the reason why CLT is considered a good teaching approach by a lot of researchers and teachers.
Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension
A range of definitions of reading comprehension has been developed by researchers
“a psycholinguistic process by which the reader, a language user, reconstruct, as best as he can, a message which has been decoded by a writer as a graphic display”
According to Grellet, F (1981:3), “reading comprehension or understanding a written text means extracting the required information from it as effectively as possible” In this sense, reading comprehension simply means reading and understanding It should be noted that reading comprehension is not merely decoding-translating written symbols into corresponding sound, but comprehension is a process of negotiating understanding between the reader and the writer The reader, as s/he reads, receives information from the author via the words, sentences, paragraphs, and so forth, and tries to understand the inner feelings of the writer
Sharing the same opinion, Carrel (1997:21) indicates:
“Reading comprehension is reconstruction, interpretation and evaluation of what author of written content means by using knowledge gained from life experience”
One more definition put forth by Nuttal, C (1996:92):
“reading comprehension is best described as an understanding between the author and the reader”
In this case, reading comprehension is not just to get the information but also to respond to what is written so as to understand the hidden messages sent by the writer
From the definitions above, one can see that reading comprehension is a complex process involving an active search for information and interaction with the text; it requires the constant constructive involvement of the reader in what s/he is doing; and it demands the use of higher mental abilities The mental activities used to construct meaning from the text are generally referred to as reading strategies or reading skills
Reading is classified in many different ways In terms of the scope and objects of this study, only intensive and extensive types of reading are focus on
According to Dawson, C (1984:43) students reading intensively look at every word, take notice of punctuation, sentences and paragraphs, understand the grammar Intensive reading is often used as an exercise to teach the students new vocabulary as well as present and/or practice the rules of the English language Beginners and low intermediate groups tend to read intensively Most textbook reading has, until recently, been intensive
Through intensive reading, vocabulary can be taught carefully However, the vocabulary of a language in general and English vocabulary in particular is always innumerable Laufer,
B (1989) states that reading fluency requires that a reader knows 95% or more of the words encountered in a text for minimal comprehension; and these words need to be recognized automatically with minimal conscious effort That sort of vocabulary knowledge requires knowledge of 12,000-20,000 different words (Laufer, 1989; Nation,
1990) There is, undeniably, a need of another type to develop students‟ vocabulary than intensive reading
The aim of extensive reading is to get on the story, to read for gist, and to read much more quickly (Dawson C., 1984) In L2 reading context, it is now recognized that the best way to develop such a large vocabulary is to read extensively Many researchers agree that students have opportunities to develop such a large automatically recognized vocabulary from consistent, extensive reading
The kinds of intensive practice are not always sufficient in themselves to ensure the development of successful readers Intensive reading can activate the transfer of reading
-17- use of the dictionary if it is needed, and increase the students‟ general understanding of language and their ability to understand socio-cultural meaning But of equal importance is the kind of practice that comes from extensive reading, lots of practice in reading different types of material Only then are students given the opportunity to operate strategies like prediction or guessing word meaning and to develop their ability to follow lines of argument In the context of teaching English vocabulary for high schools‟ students in Vietnam, intensive reading practice in class needs to be complemented by extensive reading in or out of class
In this study, a kind of extensive readings was applied, but with the guide from teacher before reading in order to ensure the best progress of students
1.4.3 The Relationship between Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension
Virtually all second language reading researchers agree that vocabulary development is a critical component of reading comprehension Barnett, M (1986) and Strother, J and Ulijn, J (1987) have demonstrated that vocabulary is an important predictor of reading ability
It is important to recognize that the core vocabulary argument, that the 2,000 most frequent vocabulary items account for 80% of all words in texts, may be useful for basic reading instruction (e.g., Nation, 1990); however, it falls far short of the need to know many of the less frequent words (Carter, 1987)
Hedge, F (1985:23) also agrees that every student needs to master a progressively expanding vocabulary, both active and passive The teacher can introduce new words carefully through the context of lessons or course materials, but the main way for a student to gain control of an adequate vocabulary is through reading
It is through extensive reading that a student can best come to understand which words are appropriate in which contexts This is a point Winkins, D (1972:132) makes when he writes:
“Through reading the learner … is exposed to the lexical items embedded in natural linguistic contexts, and as a result they begin slowly to have the same meaningfulness for him that they have for the native speaker”
As a student sees words in different textual contexts, he gradually develops a more comprehension of their meaning and possible uses… However, graded readers undoubtedly offer wider exposure to English than the more limited material of a general course book and therefore a „step on the way‟ to mastery of vocabulary
The particular relationship between vocabulary knowledge and language skills is undoubtedly Especially, vocabulary has a close relationship with reading skills which in turn have an interconnection with reading comprehension This relationship seems logical because of the fact that students get meaning from what they read, they also need both many words in their vocabulary repertoire and ability to use various strategies to establish the meanings of new words when they encounter them It is the case that most of the weak students who don‟t have enough vocabulary or effective word-meaning strategies often struggle to achieve comprehension in reading Also, as they don‟t have sufficient word knowledge to understand what they read, they often avoid reading As a result, the students who don‟t read much don‟t have the opportunity to see and learn many new words in various contexts, but the students who read more can become better readers and gain more words Their reading comprehension skills, in consequences, are gradually improved.
Supplementary Materials for Reading
“Supplementary materials” is one of the basic terms in a glossary proposed by Tomlinson,
B (1998) in Materials Development in Language Teaching In his opinion, supplementary materials are defined as
“…materials designed to be used in addition to the core materials of a course
They are usually related to the development of skills of reading, writing, listening or speaking rather that to the learning of language items” (Tomlinson, 1998:xiii)
Actually, most language-teaching course books probably need supplementing to some extent, if only in order to tailor them to the needs of a particular class or to offer richer options According to Ur, P (1991), there are “packages” of supplementary materials such as computers, simplified readers, overhead projectors, posters, pictures or games Each
-19- type, obviously, has certain contribution in language teaching and its own good points as well as drawbacks
It is undeniable that supplementary materials lend itself very well to the goals of ESL instruction However, it is important to consider carefully the selection criteria of extra materials According to Nuttall, C (1996:170), three main guidelines should be taken into consideration when choosing a text: suitability of content, exploitability and readability
In his opinion, suitability of content is concerned with the text‟s ability to address students‟ needs and interests A text with interesting content makes the learners‟ task far more rewarding and the classroom more effective William, E (1984) confirms that students‟ motivation for reading increases when they read what they are interested in and that this results in improved reading By doing so, it serves as a motivating factor, which produces in the readers a desire to read more into the particular text
Exploitability means facilitation of learning When you exploit a text, you make use of it to develop the students‟ competence as readers Reading texts should not only interest the readers, but also develop their language competence Therefore, different kinds of exercises and activities should be designed to best exploit the text so that the course‟s objectives could be obtained
Readability refers to the combination of structural and lexical difficulty That means the text must be suitable with students‟ English proficiency levels in terms of vocabulary, syntax, and style The teachers must know what their students‟ language proficiencies are to find out what vocabulary and structures the students are familiar with in order to choose text at the right level and balance different levels of proficiencies
1.6 Supplementary Readings in the Study
In this study, supplementary readings are materials for language learning activities which are given to students in order to get additional linguistic input for vocabulary acquisition
The main characteristics of the reading texts are:
- Chosen by teacher with English level of proficiency equal to Intermediate
- The main topics are various issues relating to science and technology
- Given to students regularly together with worksheet assignment
- Suitable to students‟ level of proficiency
- Students read at home, but present their assignment in front of the class
- Common mistake corrections / feedback presented in the classroom after each reading
This chapter presents a brief review of the relevant literature including the definition of vocabulary and its aspects, vocabulary acquisition approaches and teaching methods In the chapter, intensive and extensive reading practices and the relationship between reading and vocabulary development are also discussed; the definition of supplementary materials and main characteristics of supplementary reading texts are mentioned as well The following chapter will be devoted to the discussion of methodology of the study.
The Study
Research Questions
The study seeks the answers to the following questions:
1 What are the students’ perceptions of the need to develop their English vocabulary on science and technology?
2 To what extent are the students willing to take part in the supplementary readings?
3 Is there a relationship between supplementary reading and the development of English vocabulary on science and technology?
Research Approach
The research approach of this study is a quasi-experiment with questionnaire, pretest and post-test as the methods of data collection
The study was conducted in class 10T (specialized in Mathematics) and class 10L (specialized in Physics) of Hanoi-Amsterdam high school for the gifted This is one of the four specialized schools of Hanoi City Each year the school enrolls students for 17 form
10 classes majoring in most school subjects Among them, there are about 350 students majored in science and technology subjects, like Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Computer Science All these students have passed the entrance examination with English as one of the subjects.
Descriptions of Participants
The researcher of the study is also the teacher of English in these classes, which can bring some advantages to help the experimental process happen smoothly First, the teacher understands deeply the English proficiency as well as the character of each learner because she has been teaching them for 5 months since they started their high school studies
Second, the teacher can be proactive in planning, implementing and evaluating the study
Last, the teacher is able to encourage students‟ motivation by giving them good marks during the process
The subjects of the study were 60 students from classes 10T and 10L of H-AS The students were randomly selected All of them were born in 1995 As the characteristic feature of the classes specialized in science, there is a significant difference in the gender of the subjects The number of male and female participants is 42 and 18 respectively
They are talented students, fond of study and have proved their learning ability All students have learnt English as a compulsory school subject for four years However, most of them began to learn English very early, from primary school or even from the kindergarten Although they are majored in science, many students and their parents considered English one of the “important” subjects together with other science subjects
These students have good command of general English Especially, they have equipped themselves with very good basic practical grammar knowledge and skills before they entered grade 10 At the time the study occurred, it was able to assume that their English proficiency level was roughly attributed to Intermediate
60 participants were randomly selected among 82 students in the two above mentioned classes regardless their over-all mark of English subject
The participants were divided into two groups: experimental and control groups equally in gender, average mark of English subject This selection enables to assume that there is an equal division of students‟ level of English proficiency in the two groups With the method of cluster sampling, the researcher ensures the variety of students‟ English proficiency
-23- level and ability This also enables for a wider range of application to other gifted classes in science, which, to some extent, shorten the limitation of action research
The only factor that was considered in selecting experimental group was the students‟ willingness to take part in the supplementary reading program The purposes of the program with all its activities that would be carried out as well as the benefits that they would get from were clearly announced It was assumed that any student who was not voluntary to involve in would be ignored Fortunately, all students have agreed to participate
The main teaching material is the textbook “Tiếng Anh 10” (2006: Educational Press)
This is a theme-based compilation including 16 units and 6 review lessons Each unit focuses on a specific topic and consists of five main sections namely: reading, speaking, listening, writing and language focus Each section is taught in one period In reality, as the level of proficiency of the students is quite high, teachers often spend just a small amount of time on reviewing the knowledge in the textbook The other part of a period is usually used for the students to do additional tasks or exercises to strengthen their four skills and develop their vocabulary That means that teachers consequently have to collect, compile more exercises from other resources besides the textbook and workbook
As the purpose of the supplementary reading program was to give students opportunities to gain more vocabulary on English for General Science and get familiar with English scientific literature, supplementary reading materials for this program were carefully selected from some websites about science for kids or some reading books on science and technology like Oxford English for Information Technology, English for Science, etc The tasks for vocabulary developing and questions for reading comprehension were designed by the teachers in account to the students‟ proficiency.
Instruments to Collect Data
“… the questionnaires is found to be a relatively popular means of collecting data
It enables the researcher to collect data in field settings, and the data are more amenable to quantification than discursive data such as free-form field note, participant observers’ journals, and the transcripts of oral language.”
(Nunan, 1992) (Nunan, 1992) Despite some challenges, questionnaire is one of the common methods of data collection because it helps to get lots of information from people in a nonthreatening way
A simple questionnaire has been administered to students in experimental group to investigate their purposes of studying English, their perceptions of the needs to develop their English vocabulary on Science and Technology and their willingness to participate in the supplementary reading program The questionnaire consisted of 7 close-ended questions with multiple choice items and students were asked to tick to the statements suitable to their opinion The last question has also been used to exclude the students without the will The questionnaire was written in Vietnamese to prevent any language barrier
The tests were designed with 50 lexical items each and divided into 5 parts The tests contained the selection of lexical items chosen from Test Your English Vocabulary in Use,
English for Science, Longman Preparation Course for the TOEFL Test A great numbers of vocabulary tested have appeared in the reading articles or passages given to experimental group during the supplementary reading program In order to measure the amount of vocabulary the students achieved in the experiment period, the pretest and posttest mainly tested the same lexical items, but changes in order and types of exercises
This requires that students not only know the meaning of a word, but also use it correctly in other context The tests were designed and administered to the students by the researcher together with another teacher to ensure the content double checked and cheating off among students avoided The seating plan was set up for both groups according to
Procedures
The allotted time for each test was 30 minutes Each correct answer received one point, so the maximum score would be 50, the average mark is 25
The posttest was administered with the same manner and order as the pretest
The study was conducted over a period of 7 months, beginning from January 2011 and finishing by August 2011 The procedures consist of the following main steps:
- Study the literature review and related materials
- Analyze the survey results to find out the students‟ need and attitudes to supplementary readings
- Design and administer the pretest
- Apply the supplementary readings: give students 8 reading materials (one text per week) and guide students to accomplish assignments
- Design and administer the posttest
- Analyze the pretest and posttest scores
- Discuss the findings and draw out conclusions and suggestions for further study
This chapter focuses on the methodology of the study, description of the participants It also mentions questionnaire and pretest, posttest as the main data collection tools and the procedures of the study The next chapter will present the main findings of the study as well as discussion of the research questions.
Data Analysis and Discussion
Data Analysis
The data from questionnaire have been analyzed from two aspects The first is about the students‟ opinions on the needs of English vocabulary on Science and Technology The other one is on their attitudes to the supplementary readings
(i) “What are the students’ perceptions of the needs to develop their English vocabulary on science and technology?”
This part can be divided into three portions: the first one is students‟ purposes of English learning; the second portion is students‟ satisfactory of their currently possessed English vocabulary on science and technology; the last one is students‟ perceptions of the needs to develop their English vocabulary on science and technology All these are illustrated in tables below
1 To what purposes do you study English at High School?
- To pass the High School Final examinations 30 100%
- To be admitted into an English-majored university or college 0 0%
- To gain scholarship to study abroad 16 53.3%
- To read English documents, articles, etc on science and technology 22 73.3%
- To actively participate in regional and international science camps or workshops
2 What is your plan after your high school graduation?
- Keep on studying and working in science-related fields 30 100%
- Do jobs without relation to science or technology 0 0%
3 To what aspects do you intend to use English in your future job?
- To read English documents, articles, etc on science and technology 30 100%
- To work in international fields of science and technology 26 86.7%
- For the daily communication irrelative to science or technology 0 0%
- Do not use English at all 0 0%
Table 3: Students’ purposes of English learning
Table 3 is composed of three questions The first question tried to find out what the students‟ short-term purposes of English learning in the high school It was understandable that 100% of the students had the aim to pass the national final examinations as the graduation degree is prerequisite to their further studying and profession However, it was not the only aim of English learning at high school Haft of the students (53.3%) had an intention to gain EILTS, TOEFL, etc certificates in order to study abroad Approximately three fourths of students (73.3%) already thought about reading science and technology texts in English Some of them (26.7%) would prepare for the opportunities to take part in international or regional science camps or workshops for students, which are held annually
The second and the third questions concerned with students‟ further, long-term purposes of English learning From the data of second question one could see that 100% of the students wished to engage themselves in the science and technology fields The third question affirmed the result from the second one with more details: 100% of the students had an intention to use English to read documents in English and 86.7% of them found English useful to their future profession in an international environment
The purposes of students‟ English learning quite varied This required that the teacher should maintain the balance of knowledge, balance of time for teaching and practicing of general English and English for Science Purposes
4 What do you think about the vocabulary topics in your textbooks (up to grade 9)?
- Have no relation to science or technology fields 2 6.7%
- Have very little relation to science or technology fields 28 93.3%
- Have many topics on science and technology 0 0%
5 How do you rank your English vocabulary on science and technology?
- Poor, unable to read English documents 26 86.3%
- Quite poor, able to read simple English documents, but with constant use of dictionary
- Fair, able to read basic English documents 0 0%
- Sufficient, able to read basic English documents without any difficulties
Table 4: Students’ satisfaction of their English vocabulary on science and technology
The data from table 4 illustrated students‟ self-assessment of their English vocabulary size on science and technology as far as they finished grade 9 86.3% of the students was unsatisfied with their English vocabulary size and declared that they were unable to read English documents on science and technology; only 13.3% of the students thought that they could read simple documents, but with the constant use of dictionary No one believed they have enough vocabulary size to read documents freely and easily Apparently, this result reflected the students‟ assessment of the topics relating to science and technology in their text book from grade 6 to grade 9 Most of them (93.3%) claimed that there was very little relation between the topics in their text books and the science and technology vocabulary Obviously, there was lack of opportunities for the students to familiarize themselves with English vocabulary size on science and technology as well as English science style
6 Do you think it is necessary to develop your English vocabulary on science and technology henceforth?
- Strongly agree, because it is helpful for my future profession 27 90%
- Agree, but I want to start later after the graduation 2 6.7%
Table 5: Students’ perception of the need to develop their English vocabulary on science and technology
This table demonstrated students‟ viewpoint of the needs to enlarge their English vocabulary on science and technology 96.7% of the students agreed that their English vocabulary on science and technology needed developing, while one student (3.3%) had no idea Majority of students (90%) wanted to take chances to build up their vocabulary from now and only 6.7% wanted to start it after the high school graduation
From the tables above, it could be clearly believed that most students admit the importance of the development of English vocabulary on science and technology for their future
-29- profession and they are ready to enlarge this kind of vocabulary since they are in high school
(ii) “To what extent are the students willing to do the supplementary readings?”
7 Are you willing to do supplementary readings at home to improve your vocabulary on science and technology?
- Strongly agree I am willing to actively participate in 27 90%
- Agree I will participate if I have free time 2 6.7%
- Disagree I think it is a waste of time 0 0%
Table 6: Students willingness to do supplementary readings
96.7% of the students supported the supplementary readings as a means to improve their vocabulary on science and technology Among them, 86.7% of the students were willing to actively participate in this program One student (3.3%) did not express his own opinion
The data from this table showed that the supplementary readings program was possible to experiment with high percentage of agreement from students This was a prerequisite condition for the experiment to be successful
All the collected data were statistically analyzed through SPSS 11.5 software and p-value was calculated
Items Control group Experimental group χ2 p
1 Tests below the average mark(%):
Table 7: Comparison of pretest results between two groups before intervention
From table 7 one can see that there was not much difference between the tests below and above average mark in both groups Number of tests below the average mark in control group was 18 (60%) in comparison to 19 in experimental group (63.3%) Tests above average mark were ranked as “Fair”, “Good” and “Excellent” levels Tests ranked “Fair”
(>%-35) were quite similar in control and experimental groups (40.0% and 36.7%) respectively Tests ranked “Good” in control group and experimental group were the same (16.6%) There was no test ranked “Excellent” in both groups In addition, the most important statistics that would indicate there was no significant difference between both groups was p>0.05 Therefore, it can be said that the students in both groups were of the same vocabulary size before the intervention
1 Tests below the average mark(%):
Table 8: Comparison of pretest and posttest results in experimental group
Table 8 showed the improvement in the experimental group before and after supplementary reading Tests below the average mark reduced significantly from 63.3% to 13.3% (p0.05) Similar results were obtained at each ranking level
Items Control group Experimental group χ2 p
1 Tests below the average mark(%):
Table 10: Comparison of results after intervention between control and experimental groups
Table 10 showed the differences in the improvement of the two groups after supplementary reading While there was not much difference between the pretest and posttest results in control group; in experimental group, the difference was quite significant The improvement was demonstrated in most ranges of comparison: tests below the average mark (p