Luận văn thạc sĩ VNU ULIS an investigationinto vobulary learning strategiesemployed by students at song cong high school, thai nguyen m a thesis linguistics 60 140 111

Rationale

Vocabulary is very important for people‟s communication and language learning, which plays an important role in the process of second language acquisition Wilkins (1972, p.111) stated that “without grammar little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” The saying sounds very familiar with many people However, the researcher still wants to repeat it once more to confirm the importance of vocabulary in any language “If a language could be considered as a house, then its grammar could be considered as cement and its vocabulary could be figuratively compared to bricks To build a complete house, no only cement but also bricks are needed Without bricks, no house can be built, even when plenty of high quality cement is available.” (Huyen, 2004, p.1)

This means that to be a competent English communicator, one must acquire a good knowledge of English grammar and have a rich amount of English vocabulary as well, which is considered as an essential element of language Whether in speaking or writing, learners need vocabulary to communicate and understand others In many cases, learners produce grammatically incorrect sentences, but they still get their message across if they use key words appropriately In other cases, learners may feel uncomfortable because they fail to employ certain words, or do not know the words to express themselves Vocabulary is not only indispensable for personal communication, but also for academic study In fact, many standardized tests require knowledge of vocabulary such as TOFFLE, IELTs, GMAT, etc For this reason, learners must give high priority to learning and developing their knowledge of vocabulary

In language teaching, more emphasis was put on grammatical knowledge rather than lexical knowledge for a considerable time, with the view that vocabulary was merely to provide context for the learning of structures However, as a result of the development of communicative approaches to language teaching recently, the status of vocabulary learning process has been considerably enhanced (Nunan, 1991) Applied linguists believe that the development of a rich vocabulary is an important element in the acquisition of a second language Therefore, it is necessary that both teachers and learners find out effective ways to enrich learners‟ vocabulary

Obviously, if students are taught the strategies to work out the answers for themselves, they are empowered to manage their own learning This point of view has been reflected in the literature of the field In the last decades, there has been a gradual but significant shift within the field of language learning and teaching resulting in greater emphasis on language learners and learning process rather than language teachers and teaching As a result of this shift on learners and the important role that they can play in the process of learning new languages, a significant amount of research on language learning strategies has been done in the last few decades Several studies that have been carried out by Oxford (1990), O‟Malley and Chamot (1990), Nunan (1991), Rubin and Thompson (1994), and Cohen (1998) have shown that one of the most important factors that distinguish successful learners from unsuccessful ones are their learning strategies

In Vietnam, language learning strategies in general, and vocabulary learning strategies in particular have received more and more attention Some studies into this field have been conducted so far However, research on vocabulary learning strategies employed by students at SCHS has not been done yet

From all the facts mentioned above, Researcher decided to carry out this study to find out how much awareness of students at SCHS had on their learning process, and what vocabulary learning strategies they were employing My goal is that the information that this study provides would enable English teachers in high schools in Vietnam to find out the best way to help students achieve or exceed the expectation.

Factors Influencing English Language Learning

There are number of factors which influence the success of English language learning Since 1970s, the research focusing on second language acquisition has shifted from teaching to learning, and increasing studies have been done from learners‟ perspective One has to admit that achieving the goals of language learning vocabulary instruction is no easy matter Learning vocabulary through formal instruction is a complex process influenced by a number of factors: the teacher‟s approach to vocabulary teaching, the teacher‟s understanding of the key notions in vocabulary‟s acquisition, the effort invested by learners in vocabulary learning as well as their readiness to take responsibility for their own learning However, various opinions meet at some points and below are four types of factors said to have great impact on language learners‟ English language learning

Firstly, it is the person-dependent factors including age, sex, language atitude, intelligence, prior knowledge, motivation, self-concept/image, personality, and cognitive and learning style These differ from person to person Needless to say, there are relatively stable and determine to a large extent how a learner approaches a task

Secondly, it is the learning task including the materials being learned (such as genre of a piece of reading) as well as the goal the learner is truing to achieve by using these materials (such as remembering, comprehending, or using language)

Different types of task materials, task purposes, and tasks at various difficulty levels demand different learner strategies For example, learning words in a word list is different from learning the same words in a passage As well, memorizing a word meaning is different from learning to use the same word in real life situations

Thirdly, it is necessary to refer to the learning context or the learning environment This means the social-cultural-political environment where learning takes place The learning context can include the teachers, the peers, the classroom climate or ethos, the family support, the social, cultural tradition of learning, the curriculum, and the availability of input and output opportunities All of such factors may constrain the ways learners approach learning tasks and acquire vocabulary knowledge

Finally, the last but not least important factor is strategy A learning strategy is a series of actions a learner takes to complete a learning task A strategy starts when the learner analyzes the task, the situation, and what is available in his/her own repertoire The learner then goes on to select, deploy, monitor, and evaluate the effectiveness of this action, and decides if he/she needs to revise the plan and action Cohen (1998) distinguishes between language learning strategies and language use strategies, the former being strategies for learning tasks such as remembering, and the latter being strategies for language use, such as communicating in second language

All in all, person, task, context, and strategy are interrelated and word together to make a configuration of the particular learning situation that will help to bring about the effectiveness of English Language learning To be successful in teaching vocabulary, it is no wonder that teachers should carefully consider all these factors before making a decision on how to teach and what to do for the best results

The major purposes of this study are:

- To find out the SCHS students‟ perceptions of English vocabulary learning

- To explore the SCHS students‟ strategies used in learning English vocabulary

- To find out the vocabulary learning strategies most and least commonly employed by the SCHS students in learning English vocabulary

- To examine the relationship between students‟ vocabulary learning strategies and their grades

- To provide implications for the teaching and learning of the English vocabulary

The study would be conducted to answer the following questions:

Question 1: What are SCHS students‟ perceptions of using strategies in their vocabulary learning processes?

Question 2: What strategies are most and least commonly employed by the SCHS students in English vocabulary learning?

Question 3: What is the relationship between students‟ reported vocabulary learning strategies use and their grades?

The study was designed to investigate vocabulary learning strategies which were employed by the students at SCHS The findings obtained from this study would hopefully be used to help improve the teaching and learning of the English vocabulary at SCHS in particular, and at other high schools in general

In order to achieve the objectives of the study mentioned above, the quantitative analysis is the main tool for analyzing the data, which was collected from the questionnaire The results from the survey questionnaire aim at providing the final recommendations

Based on the problems of English vocabulary learning strategies that English language learning meet, especially on English vocabulary learning, this study made an attempt to help both teachers and students enhance the development of learning and teaching English vocabulary in SCHS, and even in other high schools in Vietnam The effective English vocabulary learning strategies could enable the high school students to improve their English proficiency so that they could make greater progress in learning English further in college or /and university The specific learning strategies employed by the SCHS students would undoubtedly enable the teachers to explore different strategies in vocabulary teaching and training both in and out of the classroom Furthermore, the study could enable more researchers to focus their studies on students‟ vocabulary learning strategies so as to improve English teaching and learning in Vietnam

The thesis is divided into three parts:

Part A, Introduction, includes the rationale, factors influencing English language learning the objectives, the research questions, the scope, the methods, significance of the study, and the outline of the study

Chapter 1: Literature Review, deals with the basic concepts related to language learning strategies, vocabulary learning strategies, as well as research on vocabulary learning strategies In addition, learning strategy classifications are reviewed to set up the theoretical framework for the investigation in the next chapter, and a summary of a chapter

Chapter 2: Research Methodology, focuses the questionnaire study presented It includes research questions, the descriptions of the participants, the setting of the study, research instruments, and data collection, and a summary of a chapter

Chapter 3: Data Analysis, analyses and discusses the data collected from the questionnaire It also includes the summary and discussions of the main findings

Part C, Conclusion, presents the conclusions of the study, implications and limitations of the study as well as suggestions for further research

This chapter gave a brief introduction to the study It first described the rationale of the study, the study objectives, research questions, Scope of the study, methods of the study, significance of the study, the outline of the study, and a summary of this chapter An outline of this study was given in the final part of the chapter In the next chapter, a review of the related literature on learning strategies and vocabulary learning strategies in the present study will be presented

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, a brief review of language learning strategy research, vocabulary learning strategies are given; some basic concepts related to learning strategies and vocabulary learning are also presented In addition, the classifications of learning strategies in general and vocabulary learning strategies in particular are reviewed to set up the theoretical framework for the investigation in the next chapter

1 Language Learning Strategies 1.1 The Definitions of Learning, Strategies and Language Learning Strategies 1.1.1 Learning

There are a variety of definitions on learning According to Webster‟s Dictionary, learning is defined as “the act or experience of one that learns; knowledge of skill acquired by instruction or study; modification of a behavioral tendency by experience." Learning is often defined as a change in behavior (Birkenholz, 1999), which is demonstrated by people implementing knowledge, skills, or practices derived from education Brown (2001,p.7) defined learning as “learning is acquiring or getting of knowledge of a subject or a skill by study, experience, or instruction”

While in the opinion of Rubin (1987, p.29), learning is “the process by which information is obtained, stored, retrieved, and used”

Research Questions

The study would be conducted to answer the following questions:

Question 1: What are SCHS students‟ perceptions of using strategies in their vocabulary learning processes?

Question 2: What strategies are most and least commonly employed by the SCHS students in English vocabulary learning?

Question 3: What is the relationship between students‟ reported vocabulary learning strategies use and their grades?

Scope of the Study

The study was designed to investigate vocabulary learning strategies which were employed by the students at SCHS The findings obtained from this study would hopefully be used to help improve the teaching and learning of the English vocabulary at SCHS in particular, and at other high schools in general.

Methods of the Study

In order to achieve the objectives of the study mentioned above, the quantitative analysis is the main tool for analyzing the data, which was collected from the questionnaire The results from the survey questionnaire aim at providing the final recommendations.

Significance of the Study

Based on the problems of English vocabulary learning strategies that English language learning meet, especially on English vocabulary learning, this study made an attempt to help both teachers and students enhance the development of learning and teaching English vocabulary in SCHS, and even in other high schools in Vietnam The effective English vocabulary learning strategies could enable the high school students to improve their English proficiency so that they could make greater progress in learning English further in college or /and university The specific learning strategies employed by the SCHS students would undoubtedly enable the teachers to explore different strategies in vocabulary teaching and training both in and out of the classroom Furthermore, the study could enable more researchers to focus their studies on students‟ vocabulary learning strategies so as to improve English teaching and learning in Vietnam.

Outline of the Study

The thesis is divided into three parts:

Part A, Introduction, includes the rationale, factors influencing English language learning the objectives, the research questions, the scope, the methods, significance of the study, and the outline of the study

Chapter 1: Literature Review, deals with the basic concepts related to language learning strategies, vocabulary learning strategies, as well as research on vocabulary learning strategies In addition, learning strategy classifications are reviewed to set up the theoretical framework for the investigation in the next chapter, and a summary of a chapter

Chapter 2: Research Methodology, focuses the questionnaire study presented It includes research questions, the descriptions of the participants, the setting of the study, research instruments, and data collection, and a summary of a chapter

Chapter 3: Data Analysis, analyses and discusses the data collected from the questionnaire It also includes the summary and discussions of the main findings

Part C, Conclusion, presents the conclusions of the study, implications and limitations of the study as well as suggestions for further research.

Summary

This chapter gave a brief introduction to the study It first described the rationale of the study, the study objectives, research questions, Scope of the study, methods of the study, significance of the study, the outline of the study, and a summary of this chapter An outline of this study was given in the final part of the chapter In the next chapter, a review of the related literature on learning strategies and vocabulary learning strategies in the present study will be presented.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Language Learning Strategies

There are a variety of definitions on learning According to Webster‟s Dictionary, learning is defined as “the act or experience of one that learns; knowledge of skill acquired by instruction or study; modification of a behavioral tendency by experience." Learning is often defined as a change in behavior (Birkenholz, 1999), which is demonstrated by people implementing knowledge, skills, or practices derived from education Brown (2001,p.7) defined learning as “learning is acquiring or getting of knowledge of a subject or a skill by study, experience, or instruction”

While in the opinion of Rubin (1987, p.29), learning is “the process by which information is obtained, stored, retrieved, and used”

According to Brown (2001, p.114), “strategies are those specific „attacks‟ that we make on a given problem They are the moment-by-moment techniques that we employ to solve „problems‟ posed by second language input and output”, while Cohen

(2000, p.9) stated that the term strategies has, in fact, been used to refer both to general approaches and to specific actions or techniques used to learn a second language

The definition of learning strategies is not uniform, either In the past 25 years, there is no consensus on the definition of language learning strategies due to different interpretations of strategy and learning Different research studies have given different definitions of language learning strategies Some definitions of learning strategies produced by different researchers are as follows:

Many researchers may agree with Oxford‟s statement (1990, p.1) that

“strategies are especially important for language learning because they are tool for active, self-directed involvement, which is essential for communicative competence

Appropriate language learning strategies result in improved proficiency and greater self-confidence” However, to say what learning strategies exactly are is not simple

For decades, scholars have been trying to define them but there seems to be some variations in their definitions

Learning strategies, broadly defined by Rubin (1975, cited in Griffiths,

2004), are “the techniques or devices which a learner may use to acquire knowledge” Later, the definition of learning strategies was made clearer and more specific according to each scholar‟s perspectives For instance, O'Malley and Chamot , when considering language learning strategies as both physical and mental actions, defined the concept of language learning strategies as “special thoughts or behaviors that individuals use to comprehend, learn, or retain new information”

O'Malley and Chamot (1990, p.1) Meanwhile, Oxford (1990, p.8) expanded the definition by stating that language learning strategies include “specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective, and more transferable to new situations” By the definition, she implied that learners are generally aware of what techniques or approaches they have used to facilitate the process of language learning Besides, Cohen

(1990, p.5) described LLS as “learning processes which are consciously selected by learners”, and maintained that “language learning and language use strategies can be defined as those processes which are consciously selected by learners and which may result in action taken to enhance the learning or use of a second or foreign language, through the storage, retention, recall, and application of information about that language.” (Cohen, 1998, p.4)

Stern (1983) defined strategy as “ best reserved for general tendencies or overall characteristics of the approach employed by the language learner, leaving techniques as the term to refer to particular forms of observable learning behavior”

(as cited in Rod Ellis 1999, p.531) Weinstein and Mayer (1986) stated that learning strategies have learning facilitation as a goal and are intentional on the part of the learner The goal of strategy use is to “affect the learner‟s motivational or affective state, or the way in which the learner selects, acquires, organizes, or integrates new knowledge” (as cited in O‟Malley and Chamot 1990, p.43) Tarone (1983, p.67) defined learning strategy as “an attempt to develop linguistic and sociolinguistic competence in the target language—to incorporate these into one‟s interlanguage competence” Chamot (1987, p.71) asserted that “learning strategies are techniques, approaches or deliberate actions that students take in order to facilitate the learning, recall of both linguistic and content area information” Rubin (1987, p.22) affirmed that “learning strategies are strategies that contribute to the development of the language system that the learner constructs and affect learning directly” Oxford

(1992, p.18) defined learning strategies as “specific actions, behaviours, steps, or techniques that students (often intentionally) use to improve their progress in developing L2 skills These strategies can facilitate the internalization, storage, retrieval, or use of the new language Strategies are tools for the self-directed involvement necessary for developing communicative ability” Ellis (1997, p.76) stated that “learning strategies are the particular approaches or techniques that learners employ to try to learn an L2 They can be behavioural (for example, repeating new words aloud to help you remember them) or they can be mental (for example, using the linguistic or situational context to infer the meaning of a new word)” Cohen (1998) stated “that learning strategies are learning processes which are consciously selected by the learner The words “consciously selected” are important because they demonstrate the special character of strategy” (as cited in Ellis 1999, p.531) Wenden (1998, p.18) considered learning strategies as “mental steps or operations that learners use to learn a new language and to regulate their efforts to do so”

From the definitions above, we can see there are some differences in the following aspects The first one is that Oxford (1992) viewed language learning strategies as only behavioral, while in Weinstein and Mayer (1986) and Ellis‟

(1997) view, they are both behavioral and mental Second, Chamot (1987) stated that learning strategies are “deliberate actions”, and Cohen (1998) thought of learning strategies as conscious, but other researchers avoid addressing it The next one is that Stern (1983) believed that learning strategies can only refer to

“approach”, and “technique” is more concrete, however, other researchers use the term “strategies” to refer to the kind of behaviors that Stern (1983) called

“techniques” Finally, Rubin (1987) suggested that LLS have direct effect on language development, while other researchers look on it as more indirect

In summary, despite their differences, some common features can be inferred from the above definitions Strategies play an important role in language learning as they promote and facilitate language learning In fact, they are techniques consciously used by learners to cope with the complex process of learning Learning strategies are not always observable to the human eyes but can be trained to make learners aware of the existence of their own strategies and train them in practice

1.2 Overview of Language Learning Strategies

It is important that the discussion of language learning strategies (LLS) precedes that of vocabulary learning strategies because the former will allow us to better understand the theoretical and empirical background of vocabulary learning strategies The strong relation between the general LLS and the more specific vocabulary learning strategies lies in the fact that the majority of LLS are in fact vocabulary learning strategies or can be used to learn second language vocabulary

Research into LLS began in the 1960s Particularly, developments in cognitive psychology influenced much of the research done on LLS (Williams and Burden,

1997) 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, p.19) The behaviors good language learners engaged in (Naiman et al.,1978) became the focus of research in the hope of making some generalizations about how to increase the efficiency of L2 learning and teaching

The term LLS has been defined by many researchers Rubin (1987, p.23) defined learning strategies as “strategies that contribute to the development of the language system which the learners construct and (which) affect learning directly”

Vocabulary Learning Strategies

It should be noted that there have been many the definitions of LLS

Meanwhile, there is no official definition for vocabulary learning strategies (VLS)

Perhaps it‟s because that VLS are part of LLS and part of learning strategies as well The working definition of VLS in this research is adapted from Rubin (1987), Nation (2001), O‟Malley and Chamot‟s (1990), that learning strategies are defined as “the process by which information is obtained, stored, retrieved, and used” and

“therefore vocabulary learning strategies could be any which affect this broadly- defined process”

Researchers define VLS just according to the definition of learning strategies

According to Nation (2001, p 217), “VLS are a part of language learning strategies which in turn are a part of general learning strategies” Based on O‟Malley and Chamot‟s (1990) definition of learning strategies, Schmitt (1997,P 203) claimed that learning is “the process by which information is obtained, stored, retrieved and used

Therefore, VLS could be any which affect this broadly defined process” Nation

(2001), instead of providing a clear-cut definition of VLS, has opted for listing their characteristics Nation (2001,P 217) stated that “a strategy must involve choice (i.e there should be several strategies to choose from), be complex (i.e there should be several steps to learn), require knowledge and benefit from training, and increase the efficiency of vocabulary learning and vocabulary use”

2.2 The Classifications of Vocabulary Learning Strategies

The classification of VLS depends on such factors as aspects of knowing a word, the acquisition of the second language, and the vocabulary learning process

Taking all into consideration, researchers have attempted to classify vocabulary learning strategies into different groups According to Nation (2001, p 217), “there have been a number of attempts to develop taxonomy of vocabulary learning strategies, usually as part of a piece of research into learner‟s strategy use”, and he further proposed a classification for VLS including three classes corresponding to three aspects of second language vocabulary learning: (1) aspects of vocabulary knowledge, (2) sources of vocabulary knowledge, and (3) learning processes They are strategies for planning vocabulary learning, strategies for finding out information about words (sources), and strategies for establishing knowledge (processes)

Based on Oxford's (1990) taxonomy of language learning strategies, which grouped language learning strategies into social, memory, cognitive, and metacognitive categories, Schmitt (1997) proposed a list of 58 individual VLS

First, the list is divided into two major classes: (1) strategies that are useful for the initial discovery of a word‟s meaning, and (2) those useful for remembering that word once it has been introduced Schmitt (1997, p 18) explained the reason for this classification: “this reflects the different processes necessary for working out a new word‟s meaning and usage, and for consolidating it in memory for future use”

Second, the strategies are further classified into five following groups, four of which are the same with those from Oxford‟s classification

Determination strategies : Strategies learners use to discover the meaning of new words without recourse to another person‟s expertise This group of strategies includes guessing from one‟s structural knowledge of a language, guessing from the first language cognate, guessing from context, or using reference materials

Social strategies : Learners use interaction with other people to improve language learning Usually, learners ask teachers or classmates for information about a new word and they can give them the first language translation, definition, synonyms, antonyms, and so on These strategies can also be used for consolidating in such activities as group work or interaction with native speakers

Memory strategies (traditionally known as mnemonics), involve relating the word with some previously learned knowledge by using some form of imagery or grouping A new word can be integrated into many kinds of existing knowledge (e.g., previous experiences or known words) or images can be custom-made for retrieval (e.g., images of the word‟s form or meaning attributes) Grouping and the use of physical action are also useful for recalling

Cognitive strategies are somewhat similar to memory strategies but the difference is that they are not focused so specifically on manipulative mental processing

This group includes repetition and mechanical means of learning vocabulary such as word lists, flashcards, and vocabulary notebooks

Metacognitive strategies involving a conscious overview of the learning process and making decision about planning, monitoring or evaluating the best way to study The consciousness can be seen in learners‟ decision of learning method, self test of vocabulary knowledge, choice of word to learn, and improvement of access to input

O'Malley and Chamot (1990) divided vocabulary learning strategies into three categories: cognitive, metacognitive and social/affective Cognitive strategies are specified as learning steps that learners take to transform new material, for instance, inference, contextual guessing and relating new information to other concepts from memory Metacognitive strategies involve consciously directing one‟s own efforts into the learning task Social/affective strategies involve interaction with another person or taking control of ones‟ own feelings on language learning

Gu and Johnson (1996) divided VLS into two classes: cognitive and metacognitive strategies Cognitive strategies include memory strategies, classification strategies, guessing strategies, dictionary strategies, note-taking strategies and activation strategies Metacognitive strategies include plan-making strategies, self-evaluating strategies, self-checking strategies and selectively distributing attention strategies, whereas Nation (2001) divided VLS into three general classes: planning, sources and process 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 and make the available for use The particular strategies in this set are divided into three sub-categories related to three conditions of vocabulary learning, namely noticing, retrieving and generating The whole taxonomy is illustrated in the following table

Stoffer (1995) was the first one to investigate vocabulary learning strategies as a whole She developed a questionnaire which contained 53 items designed to measure specifically vocabulary learning strategies She administered this Vocabulary Learning Strategies Inventory(VOLSI) and the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning(SILL) to 60 students at SCHS Stoffer demonstrated that the

53 items on the VOLSI clustered into nine categories by factor analysis as follows:

+ Strategies involving authentic language use + Strategies used for self-motivation

+ Strategies used to organize words + Strategies used to create mental linkages + Memory strategies

+ Strategies involving creative activities + Strategies involving physical action + Strategies used to overcome anxiety + Visual/auditory strategies

Of all the classifications suggested, the one by O‟Malley and Chamot (1990) and Gu and Johnson‟s (1996) classification of VLS has been used the most as the source of reference in studies on VLS The reason lies in the fact it representatively reflects the strategies learners use in vocabulary learning Besides, these strategies help learners fulfill the requirements of knowing a word, and fit with processes of learning a word which are discovery and consolidation These strategies reflect learner‟s awareness of what and how they should learn In other words, they show learners‟ autonomy in learning the vocabulary Since vocabulary learning includes implicit and explicit learning, autonomy is an important factor to measure the efficiency of the vocabulary learning

As a result, VLS have been classified differently in various ways by different researchers Some offered vocabulary learning categories are distinctive, while some others are inter-connected in a list Although some of these categories have been named differently and seem overlapped, they seem to share some common strategies The most common or notable individual vocabulary learning strategies tend to fall largely in the Memory category This is followed by Metacognitive, Cognitive, Social/

Affective and Translation categories Most VLS can be applied to a wide range of vocabulary learning, and are useful at all levels or stages of vocabulary learning

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research questions

As mentioned above, the aim of the study is to seek answers to the following research questions:

Question 1: What are the Song Cong High school students‟ perceptions of using strategies in their vocabulary learning processes?

Question 2: What strategies are most and least commonly employed by the Song Cong High school students in learning English vocabulary?

Question 3: What is the relationship between students‟ reported vocabulary learning strategies use and their level of study?

Participants of the study

A total of 60 students at grades 10,11 and 12 from SCHS participated in the study SCHS is located in the countryside at a distance approximately 60 kilometers from Thai Nguyen city They are both male and female students aged from sixteen to eighteen and have learnt English at junior high school for 5 to 8 years They come from different places of Song Cong town Most of them come from the countryside Their proficiency in English is more than elementary because it is assumed that many of them did not pay attention to studying English at lower classes It seems that they do not know the best way to learn English, especially, vocabulary They find it difficult to learn and memorize vocabulary During vocabulary learning activities, it is the teachers who have to talk much and students have passive learning habits.

Setting of the Study

At SCHS, the curriculum for textbook “English 10, 11, 12”(Education Publishing House, 2012) is designed basing on MoET‟s program, which includes 16 units of different themes and 6 review lessons covering two semesters Each unit focuses on a specific topic and consists of five main sections namely: reading, speaking, listening, writing and language focus The texts and the tasks were chosen from different sources of materials This, to some extent, stimulated students‟ interests There are tests delivering after three units and two final tests at the end of each semester

As I have mentioned above, vocabulary learning strategies are strategies that plays an important role in deciding learners‟ language proficiency When saying about the importance of language, Pyles and Algeo(1997, p 96) said “When we first think about language, we first think about words It is words that we arrange together to make sentences, conversation and discourse of all kinds” Because of its‟ importance, vocabulary exists in five main sections of English 10,11,12 (reading, speaking, listening, writing and language focus) It is arranged with various themes, such as, (Unit 1), (Unit 2), or (Unit 9)…etc It can not be denied that vocabulary is central of each unit.

Research Instruments

In order to achieve the purpose of present study and to answer the research questions, a questionnaire was used to analyze the administened data for the study

The questionnaire in this study was used to elicit SCHS students‟ perceptions of using vocabulary learning, and help teacher understand what strategies are most and least commonly employed by the Song Cong High school students in English vocabulary learning In addition, it was used to obtain further understanding about Song Cong High school students of their own strategies in English vocabulary learning The designing of the questionnaire was based on O‟Malley and Chamot

(1990) and Gu and Johnson‟s (1996) classification of vocabulary learning strategies

The questionnaire included students‟ perception in vocabulary learning and the four categories of vocabulary learning strategies The questionnaire consisted of two parts: 1)10 items concerning students‟ perceptions in vocabulary learning (from item 1 to 10); and 2) 40 items concerning vocabulary learning strategies, which are divided into four categories: metacognitive strategies (10 items: from item 11 to

20), cognitive strategies (18 items: from item 21 to 39), social/affective strategies (7 items: from item 40-46) and translation strategies (3 items: from item 47-50)

Moreover, I am going to conduct a qualitative case study and thinking about using questionnaire to connect some background and descriptive data about students' attitude and reaction to wiki The advantages of this approach include richness or response, ability to clear up misconceptions, opportunity to follow up responses, and, by implication, better data in many situations Questionnaires provide a quantitative method of data gathering, the evidence, data or information you find, is expressed in numerical terms

An alternative to a self-completion questionnaire is a structured interview, where the questionnaire is administered in person or over the telephone The advantage of using a questionnaire rather than an interview is that you can reach large numbers of people more easily, as you can leave them to fill in the questionnaire and send it back to you

Questionnaires are more rigid than interviews Unless you leave a space for the interviewee to write their own answer (e.g 'If you have any more comments please write in the space provided'), the respondent can only choose from the range of answers you have given You therefore have to make sure that you have designed your questionnaire well

When preparing a questionnaire we also need to keep in mind the following points

- Make sure you introduce yourself and explain what the aim of the questionnaire is Also, make sure the respondent is aware of the ethical implications of the research

- Devise your questions so they help to answer your research question, that way, all the questions will be relevant

- Try and have a sequence to your questions or topics - group them in themes and make sure they follow on logically from each other

- Make sure your questions are clear and easy to understand - only use technical or academic language if you are sure the respondent will understand what you mean

- Do not ask leading questions Make sure people are free to give their own, honest answer

- Always run a pilot of your questionnaire You can ask colleagues, fellow students or family members to fill it in This helps you to test the technical aspect of the questionnaire, such as whether you have given the correct answer options or whether you have left anything out

As a result, questionaire is our main tool for collecting the data After piloting, that this questionaire will convey thoroughly the SCHS students‟perceptions and the srategies they use while learning vocabulary

Data Collection

The present study aimed to investigate how SCHS students learn English vocabulary Participants of the study were asked to assemble in a classroom The researcher told them how to complete the questionnaire and emphasized that they should chose the answers which really reflected their learning The questionnaire was translated ito Vietnamese (Appendix 2) to make sure that all participants understood and completed all the questions For the presentation of this thesis, the questionnaire has been translated into English and presented in Appendix 1 It took about 30-40 minutes for the students to complete the questionnaire

The questionnaires were sent to 60 students on Thurday 21 March, 2014 The questionnaires were returned within 30-40 minutes After the questionnaires were returned, the data were collected and stored in the data table and the usable data were selected by analyzing the questionnaire individually All the data in any question were used to analyze in its domain

After collecting the data( responses from students‟ questionnaire papers), the researcher analyzed the data by using SPSS 18.0 for Windows (Statistics Package for the Social Science) software.

Summary

In summary, this chapter discusses the research methodology employed in the present study A written questionnaire was conducted to investigate the SCHS students‟ perception on English vocabulary learning and general vocabulary learning strategies use The procedures of the data collection were described The data analyses for the questionnaire involves both quantitatively and qualitatively In the next chapter, the results of the data analyses for the main study will be presented.

DATA ANALYSIS

An Analysis of the Questionnaire on the Song Cong High School Students‟ Vocabulary Learning Strategies

As mentioned above, the questionnaire (see Appendix 1) in this study was used to elicit SCHS students‟ perception about vocabulary learning and their uses of vocabulary learning strategies

60 SCHS students were administered to answer the questionnaires on 21 March,

2014 The questionnaires were returned within 30-40 minutes in school After the questionnaires were returned, the data were collected 60 valid questionnaires were collected by analyzing the questionnaire individually All the data in any question were used to analyze in its domain The researcher analyzed the data by using SPSS 18.0 for Windows (Statistics Package for the Social Science) software The results of the data analysis are as follows:

3.1.1.The Song Cong High School Students’ Perceptions of English Vocabulary Learning

The mean scores and standard deviations of the SCHS students‟ perceptions on vocabulary learning are as follows: (see Table 1)

Table 1 Students’ Perceptions of Vocabulary Learning Students’ perceptions of Vocabulary Learning N Mean S.D

Remembering the meanings of a word is an end in itself

Guessing words in context is one of the best ways to learn vocabulary

A good memory is all you need to learn a foreign language well

Repetition is the best way to remember words 60 4.61 0.93 You can only acquire a large vocabulary by memory of individual words

When you come across a word several times in 60 3,63 0,9 different context, you will know what it means

One can expand his vocabulary simply through reading a lot

The best way to remember words is to memorize word lists or dictionaries

Once the English equivalents of all Vietnamese words have been remembered, English is learned

The meanings of a considerable amount of words can be picked up through reading

Notes: N= Number of Students , Mean = Mean Score , S.D = Standard Deviation Table 1 shows that the SCHS students‟ perceptions are different in terms of the three kinds of English vocabulary learning It was clear that “Words should be studied and put to use” and “Words should be acquired in context” are more acceptable by the SCHS students than “Words should be memorized” That is to say, most SCHS students believe that “repetition is the best way to remember words” (Mean=4.61) “Guessing words in context is one of the best ways to learn vocabulary” and “Remembering the meanings of a word is an end in itself”

(Mean=4.15) come in the second rank, whereas “A good memory is all you need to learn a foreign language well” ( Mean= 4.04) is at third place The least ones are

“Once the English equivalents of all Vietnamese words have been remembered, English is learned” and “The meanings of a considerable amount of words can be picked up through reading” (Mean = 3.04) It was found that majority of SCHS students held the perceptions that integrated models should be utilized in vocabulary learning instead of memorizing an isolated word Furthermore, repetition, guessing and remembering are the most stratrgies that SCHS use while learning vocabulary

Besides, it is supposed that the least vocabulary strategies used by SCHS students result from the fact that students do not remember words through extensive reading and Vietnamese language play an important role in learning English vocabulary

3.1.2 Reference of Vocabulary Learning Strategies used by 60 Song Cong High School Students

As mentioned above, of the questionnaire, the participants gave their opinions in terms of a five-point scale (Likert Scales), ranging from “not appropriate to my situations” which is valued as 1, “seldom appropriate to my situations” valued as 2,

“sometimes appropriate to my situations” valued as 3, “often appropriate to my situations” valued as 4, and “always appropriate to my situations” valued as 5

Therefore, the average value of frequency of strategy use can be valued from 1.00 to 5.00, with 3 being the mid-point of the minimum and maximum values The mean score of strategy use of any categories or items valued from 1.00 to 2.50 is considered as “low use”, from 2.50 to 3.50 is considered “medium use”, and from 3.50 to 5.00 “highly use”

3.1.3 Vocabulary Learning Strategies uses of the Song Cong High School Students

Overall, the result of the holistic mean score and standard deviation across the vocabulary learning strategy questionnaire responded by 60 SCHS students is presented as follows (As can be seen Table 2):

Table 2 Vocabulary Learning Strategies Uses of the SCHS Students

Students‟Reported Overall Strategy Use 60 2.82 1.16

N= Number of Students , Mean= Mean Score, S.D= Standard Deviation

Table 2 shows clearly that as a whole, SCHS students‟ reported employing vocabulary learning strategies at medium level” as the mean score is less than 3 (Mean =2.82) This indicated that the SCHS students did not tend to use a wide range of strategies in vocabulary learning The reason may be derived from the fact that SCHS students have never been taught vocabulary strategies , and they simply use vocabulary strategies for learning isolated words and intensive reading, not for the context and extensive reading

3.1.4 The SCHS Student’s Self-Reports to the Four Categories of Vocabulary Learning Strategies

The mean score and standard deviation of the four categories of vocabulary learning strategies are displayed as follows:

Table 3 The SCHS Student’s Self-Reports to the Four Categories of VLS

Table 3 presents descriptive statistics on the four categories of learning strategies

The higher the mean score is, the more often the strategy is employed From the table, we can see that the mean score of cognitive strategies are 3.02 and the mean scores of the rest of the three categories are above 2 Thus, it could be concluded that cognitive strategies (M=3.02) were the most frequently used, metacognitive strategies (M=2.80) came to the second place, social/affective strategies (M=2.73) ranked the third place, and translation strategies got the lowest rank (M=2.29) This indicated that the majority of the SCHS students tended to adopt cognitive strategies in their vocabulary learning compared with the other three strategies (metacognitive, social/affective and translation strategies) They seldom adopted translation strategies in vocabulary learning

On the basis of analyzing the frequencies of vocabulary learning strategies used by the SCHS students, it was found that most of the SCHS students used cognitive strategies and did not tend to use social/effective strategies in English vocabulary learning

Table 4 The Mean Score and Standard Deviation of Sub-Categories of VLS

Cognitive Strategies Note-Taking Strategies 60 2.59 1.17

Translation Strategies English- Vietnamese Strategies 60 3.02 1.05

Table 4 presents descriptive statistics on each sub-category of the 4 categories of learning strategies It shows that some sub-category of learning strategies rank comparatively high It can be seen that cognitive strategies (M=3.07), translation strategies (M=3.02) Social/Affective strategies (M=2.7), and metacognitive strategies (M=2.02), and Of the individual items under the sub-categories of the four strategie “Dictionary Strategies” was the most commonly used one, while

“translatiaon strategies” come the second rank since it accords to SCHS students‟ perceptions of learning vocabulary” Metacognitive strategies” was the least commonly used because SCHS students seem not to use Planning, Selective

3.1.5 Variation in Students’ Individual Language Learning Strategy Use According to Students’ Grades

An overall picture of significant variations in strategy use at an individual strategy level according to students‟ grades is shown in Table 5 below

Table 5 Variation in Students’ Individual Language Learning Strategy Use According to Language Proficiency Level

Individual Language Learning Strategy % of high use

(4 or 5) Observed χ2 p value Used more by Gr10>Gr11> Gr12 = 11 strategies Gr10 Gr11 Gr12

I can actively communicate with foreigners 50 30 20 χ 2 = 22.85 p .05

I can quieten myself down to memorize words 50 35 15 χ 2 = 4.45 p >.05

Used more by Gr11>Gr10> Gr12 = 4 strategies Gr11 Gr10 Gr12 Observed χ2 p value

When memorizing a new word, I often memorize its Vietnamese meaning first

I make use of the part of speech of a new word when guessing its meaning

I encourage myself when I make less progress on new words learning

I know when a new word or phrase is essential for adequate comprehension of a passage

Used more by Gr12>Gr11> Gr10 = 4 strategies Gr12 Gr11 Gr10 Observed χ2 p value

I act out a word in order to remember it better 50 40 10 χ 2 = 5.25 p >.05 Item I arrange a short-term goal 60 25 15 χ 2 = 2.92

2 and a long-term goal for memorizing new words p >.05

When I don‟t know the usage of a word I already have some knowledge of, I look it up

I make a note when I see a useful expression or phrase 45 30 25 χ 2 = 2.92 p >.05

Used more by Gr12>Gr10> Gr11 = 9 strategies Gr12 Gr10 Gr11 Observed χ2 p value

I try to use newly learned words in real situations 60 30 20 χ 2 = 22.80 p Gr12> Gr11 = 4 strategies Gr10 Gr12 Gr11 Observed χ2 p value

I try to use the newly learned words as much as possible in speech and writing

I memorize the spelling of a word letter by letter 50 30 20 χ 2 = 3.32 p >.05

I often make discussion on how to memorize new words with others

I know which words are important for me to learn 45 40 15 χ 2 = 96 p >.05

Used more by Gr10>Gr11= Gr12 = 3 strategies Gr10 Gr11 Gr12 Observed χ2 p value tem 2

When I want to confirm my guess about a word, I look it up 40 30 30 χ 2 = 1.42 p >.05

When speaking, I arrange the meanings what I will express in Vietnamese, and than translate them from Vietnamese to English

Used more by Gr12>Gr10=Gr11 = 3 strategies Gr12 Gr10 Gr11 Observed χ2 p value

I try to use the newly learned words in imaginary situations 60 20 20 χ 2 = 5.71 p >.05

I can arrange when and how mangy words I will memorize 40 30 30 χ 2 = 5.71 p >.05

When memorizing a new word, I often memorize its meaning by both Vietnamese and English for memory

Used more by Gr10=Gr12> Gr11 = 2 strategies Gr10 Gr12 Gr11 Observed χ2 p value

I often take part in English corner to make good use of learned words

I check my progress on word study regularly 40 40 20 χ 2 = 1.87 p >.05

The Chi-square (χ 2 ) tests were used to check and determine the significant variation patterns in frequency of students‟ reported strategy use at the individual item level in association with students‟ gender; major field of study; „perceived „ class size; attitude toward language learning; and level of language proficiency

These tests were used to compare the actual frequencies with which students gave different responses on the 5-point rating scale, a method of analysis closer to the raw data than comparisons based on average responses for each item For the present investigation, to determine if a relationship and variance contribution exists between 50 independent variables (vocabulary learning strategies) and total students, Chi-square test was used The analyzed results of Table 5 reveal that of the differences between the strategies used of Grade 10, Grade 11, and Grade 12 Only fourteen vocabulary learning strategies showed a correlation and statistically significant differences (p< 0.05) to the learners‟ vocabulary learning strategies In other words, only fourteen vocabulary learning strategies has correlation with students‟ grades There is no evidence that students who belong to a certain grade year show statisitically significant difference to their vocabulary learning strategies use in 34 reported vocabulary learninng strategies

More precisely, students of Grade 11, and 12 tend to use Cognitive strategies most (item 34, 21, 32; item 23, 25, 26), whereas students of grade 10 seem not use Cognitive strategies while learning vocabulary Instead, they use Translation strategies (item 44, 45, 50, 47) Similarly, students from Grade 11 use Translation strategies as much as students of Grade 10 (item 44, 45, 47) Students from Grade

Results

of using strategies in their vocabulary learning processes?

The SCHS students‟ perceptions were different in terms of the three categories of English vocabulary learning The majority of the SCHS students believed that

“Words should be studied and put to use” and “Words should be acquired in context” While they also held a belief that words should be memorized This indicated that most of the SCHS students realized that vocabulary learning was not just a mechanical task They held the belief that integrated models should be utilized in vocabulary learning instead of memorizing an isolated word

3.2.2 Answer to Research Question 2: What strategies are most and least commonly employed by the SCHS students in English vocabulary learning?

Of the four categories of strategies, cognitive strategies were most commonly used, while translation strategies were least commonly used The rank of the mean scores from the highest to the lowest under the four categories of strategies was listed as follow: cognitive strategies (M=3.07), translation strategies (M=3.02)

Social/Affective strategies (M=3.00), and metacognitive strategies (M=2.52), and

Of the individual items under the sub-categories of the four strategies““Dictionary Strategies” was the most commonly used one, whileWhile translatiaon strategies come the second rank since it accords to SCHS students‟ perceptions of learning vocabulary Metacognitive strategies was the least commonly used because SCHS students seem not to use Planning, Selective attention and Self-Initiation in learning vocabulary

3.2.3 Answer to Research Question 3: What is the relationship between students‟ reported vocabulary learning strategies use and their level of study?

The analyzed results reveal that of the differences between the strategies used of Grade 10, Grade 11, and Grade 12 Only fourteen vocabulary learning strategies showed a correlation and statistically significant differences (p< 0.05) to the learners‟ vocabulary learning strategies In other words, only fourteen vocabulary learning strategies has correlation with students‟ grades There is no evidence that students who belong to a certain grade year show statisitically significant difference to their vocabulary learning strategies use in 34 reported vocabulary learninng strategies

More precisely, students of Grade 11, and 12 tend to use Cognitive strategies most (item 34, 21, 32; item 23, 25, 26), whereas students of grade 10 seem not use Cognitive strategies while learning vocabulary Instead, they use Translation strategies (item 44, 45, 50, 47) Similarly, students from Grade 11 use Translation strategies as much as students of Grade 10 (item 44, 45, 47) Students from Grade

12 tend to use Translation strategies least due to the assumption that they have shaped their vocabulary learning style Students from Grade 10 and Grade 12 seem to use Metacognitive most (item 17, 20), and students of Grade 12 is supposed to use Social/Affective strategies more often than students of Grade 10 and 11.

Summary

This chapter provided the data analysis for the main study, which included the data analysis for the questionnaire involving both quantitative and qualitative analysis

This chapter draws a conclusion and gives a discussion to the results of the study

It consists of four sections The first section summarizes all the results of the present study in terms of the SCHS students‟ perceptions of English vocabulary learning and how English vocabulary learning strategies are employed by them, the second section discusses and proposes pedagogical implications in the EFL context, the third section reports the limitations of the study, and the last section suggests the recommendations for future studies.

Conclusion

This study was to investigate how the SCHS students in Thai Nguyen, Vietnam learn English vocabulary A questionnaire was used to collect the data in the study

In the study, vocabulary is regarded as an important language ingredient of language and vocabulary learning is an essential part of foreign language learning

Language learners need a wide variety of target language words to be able to tackle successfully both production and comprehension activities in the foreign language One way to help learners to enhance their knowledge of the second language vocabulary is through equipping them with a range of vocabulary learning strategies

With the objectives of finding out the perceptions of SCHS students had of their vocabulary learning, and what strategies they often employed in their learning The results of the study indicated that not many students were aware of their learning vocabulary and conscious of the strategies being used to achieve better results Although data from the questionnaire shows that most given strategies were used by students, the frequency was not really high Some strategies were reported to be applied frequently such as using English-Vietnamese dictionary, asking teachers or friends to translate into Vietnamese, remembering parts of speech, using new words in sentences, and repetition

The other strategies were used with low frequency or even rarely used It can be seen from the findings that the most frequently used strategies are basic and limited routines which did not improve the learning experience Therefore, it can be concluded that the ways of learning used by the participants were not effective and could not help them achieve high levels of proficiency.

Pedagogical Implications

The findings of the present study have some pedagogical implications for both students English teachers in Vietnam It helps teachers in accomplishing their challenging task of teaching English Teachers can help students use more vocabulary learning strategies to facilitate their vocabulary learning

Based on the findings of this study, some recommendations are proposed for English teachers in Vietnam It is a fact that what learners know about themselves and about their own learning process can affect their use of language learning

Learners‟ level of strategy perceptions also influences strategy use Therefore, in order to improve students‟ language learning, teachers need to understand what learning strategies students use and encourage lower proficiency students to use effective learning strategies in their learning process Moreover, teaching methods often influence how students learn Teachers should become more aware of their students‟ strategies in order to orient teaching methods more appropriately

Learners should be encouraged to “learn how to learn” and “learn how to use” a foreign language in a variety of instructional programmes around the world Therefore, teachers should offer strategy training to students as part of the curriculum according to Oxford and Leaver (1996) (cited in Cohen, 1998), as strategy training encourages students to find their own pathways to success, and thus it promotes learner autonomy and self direction It also helps learners consider the factors that affect their learning and discover the strategies that suit them best To do this, teachers need to know which vocabulary learning strategies exist and what form of knowledge and skills learners need to acquire in order to successfully use each of them Then teachers prepare an adequate amount of activities and tasks for learners to develop gradually into independent strategy users There are several patterns of strategic teaching at their disposal such as demonstrating the use of the strategy, asking students to use the strategy supporting each other, asking students to report the use of the strategy, and so on From the work of Oxford(1990) and Rubin(1987), Graham (1997) (cited in Pavicic, 2008) the following strategies could be used:

1 Writing words on word cards, with their meaning on the back;

2 Systematic grouping of words (e.g according to topic, function, etc.);

3 Saying words out loud while learning;

4 Recording words on tape and listening to it;

5 Connecting words with pictures or to similarly sounding words in the first language;

7 Connecting words with places (e.g its position in the notebook);

10 Learning related words (e.g according to their suffix)

Besides, all students investigated were used to using monolingual dictionary, which is not very useful for the learning, where as using bilingual dictionary facilitates comprehension and word retention (Luppescu & Day, 1995) It even doubles the amount of memorised vocabulary (Fraser, 1999) (cited in Pavicic,

2008) However, if they cannot use a dictionary appropriately, for example looking up (too) many words or not understanding some given definitions, learners can become frustrated This is why learners need to be trained in dictionary use, and need to be provided with opportunities to practise this strategy in the frame work of various language tasks

In conclusion, teachers play an important role in raising students‟ awareness of their vocabulary learning strategy use Teachers can train their students become autonomous and self-directed learners by understanding their learning situations and reflect it on their teaching curriculum and teaching methods.

Limitations of the Study

The strengths of this study are the use of both qualitative and quantitative methods yielding the process of in-depth data collection and analysis so that the findings of the study will be validated However, like other research studies so far in the field of language acquisition, the study brings in certain limitations which should be clarified to overcome doubts about the reliability and validity of the study The following limitations apply to the present study

Firstly, the population of this study was limited It might not be considered as representatives of the other Vietnamese regions

Secondly, the purposive sampling procedure of this study decreased the generalizability of findings even though random sampling was used as well The participants were chosen based on convenience and availability This study was not generalized to all cities in Vietnam since the aim for this study was to investigate in- depth how the SCHS students in senior high schools learn English vocabulary

Thirdly, in order to investigate how the SCHS students learn English vocabulary, on English vocabulary learning and general strategies of English vocabulary learning.

Recommendations for Further Studies

Based on the limitations discussed in part 3 above, the researcher offers some recommendations for further studies in L2 vocabulary learning Vietnam

Firstly, a large-scale survey study covering the regions in the future is required so as to make the findings of the study more generalizable

Secondly, more research methods/instruments such as classroom observation, diary studies, etc together with questionnaire are needed to use triangulatedly to collect data in the future studies so that the findings of the study could be more reliable

Finally, more research questions related to the SCHS students‟ vocabulary learning strategies could be conducted in future studies, such as the correlation between strategies use and English proficiency, differences strategies used between/among different grades, etc

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APPENDIX 1 The SCHS Students’ English VLS Questionnaire Part 1: The Student’s Background Information

Directions: Please provide the information about yourself by choosing the choices given (V ) or write the response where necessary

Part 2: The Student’s Perceptions of Vocabulary Learning Strategies Questionnaire

Directions: This questionnaire is designed to gather information about your opinions on vocabulary learning and vocabulary learning strategies Please read each statement carefully and click ( V ) the response which describes your opinions:

Student‟s Perceptions of Vocabulary learning

1 = strongly disagree Student‟s Vocabulary Learning Strategies Use

5 = always appropriate to my situations

4 = often appropriate to my situations

3 = sometimes appropriate to my situations

2 = seldom appropriate to my situations

1 = not appropriate to my situations

No Student’ Perceptions of using Vocabulary learning

1 Once the English equivalents of all Vietnamese words have been remembered, English is learned 1 2 3 4 5

2 The best way to remember words is to memorize word lists or dictionaries 1 2 3 4 5

3 Remembering the meanings of a word is an end in itself 1 2 3 4 5

4 A good memory is all you need to learn a foreign language well 1 2 3 4 5

5 Repetition is the best way to remember words 1 2 3 4 5

6 You can only acquire a large vocabulary by memory of individual words 1 2 3 4 5

7 The meanings of a considerable amount of words can be picked up through reading 1 2 3 4 5

8 One can expand his vocabulary simply through reading a lot 1 2 3 4 5

9 Guessing words in context is one of the best ways to learn vocabulary 1 2 3 4 5

10 When you come across a word several times in different context, you will know what it means 1 2 3 4 5

11 I can arrange when and how many words I will memorize 1 2 3 4 5

12 I arrange a short-term goal and a long-term goal for memorizing new words 1 2 3 4 5

13 I check my progress on word study regularly 1 2 3 4 5

14 I often do self-evaluation for my words study so as to improve memorizing methods/strategies 1 2 3 4 5

15 I know when a new word or phrase is essential for adequate comprehension of a passage 1 2 3 4 5

16 I know which words are important for me to learn 1 2 3 4 5

17 I know what cues I should use in guessing the meaning of a particular word 1 2 3 4 5

18 Besides textbooks, I look for other readings that fall under my interest 1 2 3 4 5

19 I wouldn‟t learn what my English teacher doesn‟t tell us to learn (Reversed value) 1 2 3 4 5

20 I wouldn‟t care much about vocabulary items that my teacher does not explain in class (Reversed value) 1 2 3 4 5

21 I make use of the logical development in the context (e.g., cause and effect) when guessing the meaning of a word 1 2 3 4 5

22 I make use of my knowledge of the topic when guessing the meaning of a word 1 2 3 4 5

23 I make use of the grammatical structure of a sentence when guessing the meaning of a new word 1 2 3 4 5

24 I look for any examples provided in the context when guessing the meaning of a new word 1 2 3 4 5

25 I make use of the part of speech of a new word when guessing its meaning 1 2 3 4 5

26 When I see an unfamiliar word again and again, I look it up 1 2 3 4 5

27 When I want to confirm my guess about a word, I look it up 1 2 3 4 5

28 When I don‟t know the usage of a word I already have some knowledge of, I look it up 1 2 3 4 5

I go through my vocabulary list several times until I am sure that I don‟t have any words on that list that I still don‟t understand

30 I memorize the spelling of a word letter by letter 1 2 3 4 5

31 I act out a word in order to remember it better 1 2 3 4 5

32 I remember the new word together with the context where the new word occurs 1 2 3 4 5

33 I try to use the newly learned words as much as possible in speech and writing 1 2 3 4 5

34 I try to use newly learned words in real situations 1 2 3 4 5

35 I try to use the newly learned words in imaginary situations in my mind 1 2 3 4 5

36 I make a note when I see a useful expression or phrase 1 2 3 4 5

37 I make / buy vocabulary cards and take them with me whenever I go 1 2 3 4 5

38 When I try to remember a word, I repeat it aloud to myself 1 2 3 4 5

39 When I try to remember a word, I repeat its pronunciation in my mind 1 2 3 4 5

40 I often make discussion on how to memorize new words with others 1 2 3 4 5

41 When encountering new words, I ask teachers or classmate for help 1 2 3 4 5

42 I can quieten myself down to memorize words 1 2 3 4 5

43 I encourage myself when I make less progress on new words learning 1 2 3 4 5

44 I can actively communicate with foreigners 1 2 3 4 5

45 I often take part in English corner to make good use of learned words 1 2 3 4 5

46 I feel frustrated when encountering complicated words 1 2 3 4 5

47 When memorizing a new word, I often memorize its

48 When memorizing a new word, I often memorize its meaning by both Vietnamese and English for memory 1 2 3 4 5

When speaking, I arrange the meanings what I will express in Vietnamese, and than translate them from Vietnamese to English

When writing a composition, I arrange the meanings what I will express in Vietnamese, and than translate them from Vietnamese to English

APPENDIX 2 Bảng câu hỏi về chiến lược học từ vựng của học sinh trường THPT Sông Công Phần I: Thông tin cơ bản của học sinh

Xin bạn vui lòng cho biết các thông tin cá nhân bằng cách trả lời các câu hỏi sau

Phần 2: Các câu hỏi về chiến lƣợc học từ vựng của học sinh

Phiếu điều tra này được dùng nhằm tìm hiểu về phương pháp bạn học từ vựng Vui lòng đánh dấu vào các ô tương ứng với lựa chọn của bạn Mong bạn hãy lựa chọn các phương pháp mà bạn đang thực sự sử dụng chứ không phải phương pháp mà bạn nghĩ người học ngoại ngữ nên dùng

Nhận thức của học sinh về việc học từ vựng

Sử dụng các chiến lược học từ vựng

5 = luôn luôn phù hợp với tình huống của tôi

4 = thường xuyên phù hợp với tình huống của tôi

3 = thỉnh thoảng phù hợp với tình huống của tôi

2 = hiếm khi phù hợp với tình huống của tôi

1 = không phù hợp với tình huống của tôi

1 Học sinh học từ vựng tiếng Anh thông qua nhớ nghĩa tiếng

2 Cách tốt nhất để nhớ từ là nhớ từ trong danh sách từ mới và trong từ điển 1 2 3 4 5

3 Nhớ nghĩa của một từ là mục đích cuối cùng 1 2 3 4 5

4 Để học tốt tiếng Anh, bạn cần có một trí nhớ tốt 1 2 3 4 5

5 Cách tốt nhất để nhớ từ là lặp đi lặp lại từ đó nhiều lần 1 2 3 4 5

6 Bạn chỉ có thể có được vốn từ vựng phong phú bằng cách nhớ nhiều từ riêng lẻ 1 2 3 4 5

7 Nghĩa của rất nhiều từ chỉ có thể được nhận ra khi trong quá trình đọc 1 2 3 4 5

8 Người ta có thể mở rộng vốn từ vựng của mình chỉ đơn giản là thông qua việc đọc rất nhiều 1 2 3 4 5

9 Đoán từ trong ngữ cảnh là một trong những cách tốt nhất để học từ vựng 1 2 3 4 5

Khi bạn gặp một từ nhiều lần trong các ngữ cảnh khác nhau, bạn sẽ biết ý nghĩa của nó 1 2 3 4 5

Tôi có thể sắp xếp thời gian và cách thức ghi nhớ từ

Tôi sắp xếp một mục tiêu ngắn hạn và mục tiêu dài hạn cho việc ghi nhớ từ mới 1 2 3 4 5

Tôi thường xuyên kiểm tra tiến độ về việc học từ

Tôi thường tự đánh giá việc học từ để trau dồi thêm phương pháp ghi nhớ 1 2 3 4 5

5 Để hiểu đoạn văn một cách thấu đáo thì cần hiểu nghĩa của các từ và cụm từ trong đoạn văn đó 1 2 3 4 5

Tôi biết từ nào là từ là từ quan trọng để học

Tôi biết sử dụng những gợi ý để đoán nghĩa một từ cụ thể

1 Ngoài sách giáo khoa, tôi còn thích tìm đọc nhiều sách khác 1 2 3 4 5

Tôi không học những gì giáo viên không yêu cầu (Giá trị đảo ngược) 1 2 3 4 5

Tôi sẽ không quan tâm nhiều về những từ mà giáo viên không giải thích trên lớp (Giá trị đảo ngược) 1 2 3 4 5

Tôi sử dụng sự phát triển hợp lý trong ngữ cảnh (ví dụ, nguyên nhân và kết quả) khi đoán nghĩa của một từ 1 2 3 4 5

Tôi sử dụng kiến thức của tôi về chủ đề khi đoán nghĩa của một từ 1 2 3 4 5

Tôi sử dụng các cấu trúc ngữ pháp của một câu khi đoán nghĩa của một từ mới 1 2 3 4 5

Tôi tìm ví dụ được cung cấp trong bối cảnh để đoán nghĩa của một từ mới 1 2 3 4 5

Tôi dựa vào từ loại của từ để đoán nghĩa của nó

Khi tôi nhìn thấy một từ không quen thuộc vài lần, tôi sẽ tra nghĩa của nó 1 2 3 4 5

Khi tôi muốn kiểm chứng từ mà tôi vừa đoán tôi sẽ tra từ đó trong từ điển 1 2 3 4 5

Khi tôi không biết cách sử dụng của một từ, tôi sẽ tra cách sử dụng của nó 1 2 3 4 5

Tôi học tất cả các từ trong danh sách từ mới cho tới khi tôi thuộc hết những từ đó 1 2 3 4 5

Tôi nhớ cách viết một từ bằng cách nhớ các chữ cái trong từ đó 1 2 3 4 5

1 Để nhớ một từ, tôi thực hành nó

Tôi nhớ g từ mới bằng cách nhớ ngữ cảnh mà nó được sử dụng 1 2 3 4 5

3 Tôi cố gắng sử dụng các từ mới thường xuyên khi nói và 1 2 3 4 5

Tôi cố gắng để sử dụng các từ mới học được trong những tình huống thực tế 1 2 3 4 5

Tôi cố gắng sử dụng các từ mới học được trong những tình huống tưởng tượng trong tâm trí của tôi 1 2 3 4 5

Khi tôi gặp những từ và cụm từ hay, tôi viết chúng lại

Tôi làm / mua thẻ từ vựng và mang chúng theo mình

Khi cố gắng nhớ một từ, tôi hay tự đọc nó to lên vài lần

Khi cố gắng nhớ một từ, tôi thầm phát âm nó vài lần

Tôi thường thảo luận cách nhớ từ mới với người khác

Khi gặp từ mới, tôi hỏi giáo viên hoặc bạn để được giúp đỡ 1 2 3 4 5

Tôi có thể ngồi một mình để nhớ từ mới

Tôi tự động viên mình khi tôi có ít tiến bộ trong việc học từ mới 1 2 3 4 5

Tôi có thể chủ động giao tiếp với người nước ngoài

Tôi thường tham gia vào góc tiếng Anh để thực hành các từ đã học 1 2 3 4 5

Tôi cảm thấy buồn bực khi gặp phải những từ phức tạp 1 2 3 4 5

Khi ghi nhớ một từ mới, tôi thường nhớ nghĩa tiếng Việt trước 1 2 3 4 5

4 Khi ghi nhớ một từ mới, tôi thường nhớ nghĩa của nó bằng 1 2 3 4 5