Challenges In English Vocabulary Learning Of Ethnic Minority Grade 10 Students.pdf

Output file VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ BÍCH HẠNH CHALLENGES IN ENGLISH VOCABULARY LEARNING OF ETHN[.]

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ BÍCH HẠNH CHALLENGES IN ENGLISH VOCABULARY LEARNING OF ETHNIC MINORITY GRADE 10 STUDENTS AT MUONG BI HIGH SCHOOL (NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN TRONG VIỆC HỌC TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH CỦA HỌC SINH DÂN TỘC THIỂU SỐ LỚP 10 TRƯỜNG THPT MƯỜNG BI) M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE : 601410 HANOI - 2011 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ BÍCH HẠNH CHALLENGES IN ENGLISH VOCABULARY LEARNING OF ETHNIC MINORITY GRADE 10 STUDENTS AT MUONG BI HIGH SCHOOL (NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN TRONG VIỆC HỌC TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH CỦA HỌC SINH DÂN TỘC THIỂU SỐ LỚP 10 TRƯỜNG THPT MƯỜNG BI) M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD : ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE : 601410 SUPERVISOR : Dr DƯƠNG THỊ NỤ HANOI - 2011 iv Table of contents Page Declaration Abstract Acknowledgement Part 1: introduction Rationale of the study Aims of the study Significance of the study Scope of the study Method of research Organization of the study Part development Chapter 1: literature review 1.1 The importance of vocabulary in language teaching and learning 1.2 Principles of vocabulary teaching 1.2.1 Criteria for selecting vocabulary 1.2.2 Vocabulary teaching 1.2.2.1 Forms of a word 1.2.2.2 Meaning 1.2.2.3 Use of a word 1.3 Vocabulary learning 1.3.1 Factors affecting vocabulary learning 1.4 Methods in teaching vocabulary 1.4.1 Repetition and attention 1.4.2 Relationship with other words 1.4.3 Exceptions 1.5 Proficiency in the native language and the second language and the acquisition of a third language 1.5.1 Definition 1.5.2 Influence of proficiency in the native language and the second language on the acquisition of a third language v Chapter 2: methodology 2.1 Research setting 12 2.1.1 An overview of research setting 12 2.1.2 The materials of teaching and learning 12 2.2 Research questions 13 2.3 Participants 13 2.3.1 Description of the teachers of English 13 2.3.2 The students 13 2.4 Data Collection Instruments and procedures 14 2.4.1 The questionnaire 14 2.4.2 Classroom observations 14 2.4.3 Data Collection Procedure 14 2.5 Data Analysis Procedure 15 Chapter 3: FINDINGS and discussion 3.1 Results and discussions from the questionnaires for students 16 3.2 Results and discussions from the observation 20 3.3 Findings and discussions from the questionnaire 22 3.4 Recommendations 24 3.4.1 Motivating students to learn 24 3.4.2 Adapting the textbook 25 3.4.3 Selection of the vocabulary teaching 27 3.4.4 Practising the vocabulary 28 3.4.5 Improving learning and teaching conditions 31 3.4.6 Having local teachers to teach English for students in their communities 31 Part 3: Conclusion Conclusions 32 Limitations of the study 32 Suggestions for further study 32 References 34 Appendices I PART ONE: INTRODUCTION Rationale for the study These days, there is no doubt about the fact that the English language is becoming something of a forerunner in global communication It is the first and second language in most countries of the world Almost 70% of the Internet is in English A huge volume of the information used on the Internet is also in English Thus, English is playing a very significant role in bringing the world together Therefore, teaching and learning English have become the necessity all over the world In Vietnam, English is a compulsory subject from primary schools to universities However, the quality of learning and teaching English is different from one school to another, especially from schools in cities, towns and those from remote and mountainous areas In Hoa Binh mountainous province, English is a compulsory subject in the curriculum and it is considered as one of the major subjects for the high school final examination English is taught with the purpose to give students some basic knowledge of English in order to communicate and use it as a key to science and technology However, there still exist many difficulties facing teachers in teaching English to students, especially those from ethnic minorities It can be observed that ethnic minority students‟ scores are very low in English Less than per cent earn good marks, even in the national graduation exams (Hoa Binh Department of Education and Training, 2008; 2009) In some remote areas, lower level students understand less than 20 per cent of what teachers say in Vietnamese (“Minority Students Needs”, 2008) Ethnic minority students mainly use their mother tongues – Muong, Thai, Hmong, Tay and other languages - to communicate inside their families and small communities From first grade onward, at school and in public places, ethnic minority students have to struggle with Vietnamese to study and communicate with other people This is why not many can understand lectures, even at high school, because they not thoroughly comprehend Vietnamese - and very few teachers can explain things to them in their native languages (“Ethnic Schools Lack”, 2007) Thus, studying English language in addition to Vietnamese language might be very challenging for ethnic minority students In addition, I find out that my pupils are not successful learners, only because they lack vocabulary In fact they are provided with almost every word necessary for their communication inside and outside the classroom, but many of my pupils complain they forget most of learned words only a few day later This proves that problems in learning vocabulary are undeniable For better vocabulary teaching and learning, I have chosen Challenges in English vocabulary learning of ethnic minority grade 10 students at Muong Bi high school as the the topic of the study Aims of the study The study aims at investigating the areas of challenges in learning English vocabulary of ethnic minority grade 10 students in Muong Bi high school, Hoa Binh mountainous province Also, it is expected that some solutions to overcome challenges encountered will be suggested To be more specific, in realizing this study, the objectives are:  To investigate the areas of challenges that ethnic minority grade 10 students have encountered when learning English vocabulary  To offer some solutions with the hope of helping English language teachers in Muong Bi high school overcome difficulties in teaching vocabulary, improve the quality of their teaching, which helps improve ethnic minority students‟ language learning quality Significance of the study The study is hoped to be beneficial to both teachers and ethnic minority students in mountainous high schools First, the findings of the study, the challenges in learning English vocabulary of ethnic minority grade 10 students in Muong Bi high school could be shared among teachers of English to improve the quality of teaching and learning in the coming years Next, it might highlight the rationale for professional development programs for high school teachers of English in mountainous areas in Vietnam Finally, the findings could be used as a data base for further study Scope of the study The study only concentrates on problems in learning vocabulary from the textbook “Tiếng Anh 10” (by Hoang Van Van et al) of ethnic minority grade 10 students in Muong Bi high school in Hoa Binh province and some possible solutions for teaching vocabulary Methods of research The study combined qualitative and quantitive approaches Data were collected via questionnaires and classroom observations: - A Survey questionnaire for 100 grade 10 students was used to clarify the difficulties of ethnic minority grade 10 students in learning English vocabulary - Classroom observations were also carried out to get information about both teachers‟ ways of teaching and students‟ ways of learning in class Organization of the study This study consists of three parts:  Part One: Introduction presents the rationale, aims, significance, scope, method of study, and organization of the study  Part Two: Development consists of three chapters: - Chapter One - Literature Review provides a theoretical basis for the study - Chapter Two – Methodology includes an overview of the approach used in conducting the study It also provides a thorough description of the data collection procedure as well as the analytical procedure - Chapter Three – Findings and Discussion reports the findings of the study and discusses the prominent aspects  Part Three: Conclusion presents the conclusions of major findings, recommendations, limitations for the study, and suggestions for further studies PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: Literature review Research in English teaching and learning in ethnic regions In the past 30 years, many scholars (Naimen, et al., 1978; WEN, 1996, 2003,2004; CHENG & ZHENG,2002; CHEN,2005; ZHOU,2007) made research studies on learning strategies and/or vocabulary learning strategies, and most of them made great success However, most of them took undergraduates as subjects, and few scholars focus on the English vocabulary learning difficulties of ethnic students Very few of research studies focus on the ethnic minority students in senior high school in Vietnam 1.1 The importance of vocabulary in language teaching and learning Vocabulary is commonly accepted to be the most important language elements among pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar Wilkins (1972) emphasized this with his saying, "without grammar, very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed" (p.1l) Pyles and Algeo also supported this idea with "when we first think about language, we think first words It is words that we arrange together to make sentences, conversations and discourse " These statements are enough to conclude that vocabulary is the decisive element in language communication This is all true in learning a foreign language If a learner has a wide range of vocabulary, he can to make himself understood and understand others easily On the contrary, if his vocabulary is limited he will surely have difficulty in doing so and in English learning Therefore, vocabulary is a "must" for all language learners by all means 1.2 Principles of vocabulary teaching 1.2.1 Criteria for selecting vocabulary It cannot be denied that vocabulary is an essential element in learning a foreign language Therefore, it is important to concern first the criteria for selecting vocabulary to help the teacher make valid decisions on the right vocabulary items to teach at the learner's different level Gairns and Redman (1986) proposed some main criteria as frequency; student's needs and level; cultural factor and expediency In teaching, the teacher needs to select the most frequently used words to teach first The vocabulary should be appropriate to students' level and their needs, the priority given to vocabulary for English as a subject in the curriculum might be different from that of English for specific purposes The Culture factor has great influenced on teaching, which means that the learners' background is to be considered, since people from different countries may need different words to express their ideas in the second language Expediency is one of the important criteria that needs to be concerned since the classroom is a world by itself and requires specific types of vocabulary such as grammatical terminology and activity instructions Harnler (1991) also adds more criteria for selection of vocabulary as concretion vs abstraction (concrete words should be taught at lower levels whereas abstract terms should be taught at higher lever); coverage (general words should be taught in more specific terms) and rapport (the student's involvement with the words is a major motivator for vocabulary learning) 1.2.2 Vocabulary teaching In general, when the teacher teaches a new English word, he should, by all means, provide his learners with its meaning, forms and use at the same time Among these three areas, the use of a word is the most important, but it cannot be achieved if the forms and meaning of the word are not firmly understood and grasped by the learners 1.2.2.1 Forms of a word  Pronunciation and spelling : Each English word has its spelling and pronunciation Learners have to know all the spelling, pronunciation and irregularities of the word they are learning In teaching, we need to make sure that these aspects are accurately presented and learned  Grammar The grammar of a new word should also be taught to the learners They need to know the grammatical function, the unpredictable change of form in certain grammatical contexts, the regularity and irregularity, the singular and plural forms of the new word so that they can use it correctly For example, when teaching the verb think, we might give its irregularity in past form thought 1.2.2.2 Meaning  Denotative and connotative meaning The meaning of a word is primarily what it refers to in the real world, meaning is found in a dictionary For example, dog denotes a kind of animal, common, domestic carnivorous mammal A less obvious component of the meaning of a word is its connotation in different contexts or its connotative meaning This is the associations or positive or negative feelings it evokes This meaning may or may not be indicated in a dictionary For instance the word , as understood by most British people, has positive connotations of friendship and loyalty: whereas the equivalent in Arabic' as understood by most of the Arab countries has negative associations of dirty and inferiority The connotative meaning of a word is varied from one context to another  Meaning relationship How the meaning, especially denotative meaning, of one word relates can also be useful in teaching It is noted that the teacher has to make a careful choice of and decision on which meaning of a word to teach and how many words to teach in the given class time or else learners will be impeded by the pressure to absorb too many meanings and words This often results in confusion or forgetting 1.2.2.3 Use of a word The most important thing for learners to learn a new word is to know how to use it appropriately and effectively in different oral and written contexts or else it may become a dead or forgettable word To use a new word well, they need to know how to collocate it with other words correctly Therefore, the teacher should put words into collocation For example, when introducing words like "to make” and "to do", the teacher may note that both words mean "to perform" but can be distinguished by the words they collocate with We often say "to the homework" but never say "to make the homework" In short, students should be taught the form, the meaning, and the use of words in vocabulary lessons The teacher should ensure that vocabulary is regularly recycled/revised because if students not get the chance to put it into use they will easily forget it Unknown vocabulary is low in such messages, considerable vocabulary learning can occur even though students' attention is not directed to vocabulary learning Rubin and Thompson (1994: 82) suggest strategies for dealing with this approach of vocabulary learning These strategies include receding a series of texts on a related topic, guessing the meaning of new words from context, and breaking up a word into components Similarly, Decanico (in Celce-Murcia 2000: 255-299) says that implicit vocabulary learning or incidents vocabulary learning is learning that occurs when the mind is focused elsewhere, such as on understanding a text or using language for communicative purposes English vocabulary learning curriculum, and the availability of input and output opportunities These factors have a certain effect on the ways learners approach learning task and acquire vocabulary knowledge In short, the factors discussed above (person, task and context, ) exist together and make a configuration of a particular learning situation that will help to bring about the effectiveness of vocabulary 1.4 Methods in vocabulary teaching Markey (1978:138) states, “The method used has been said to be the cause of success or failure in language learning, for it is ultimately the method that determines what and the how of language instruction” This statement shows us the importance of method It is method that determines success or failure in language teaching That is the reason why teacher have to understand well about different methods so that they can choose the best ones for their learners Below is a brief discussion on some methods in vocabulary teaching in history and their role in vocabulary teaching and learning 1.4.1 Repetition and attention Some psychologists, according to Nation (1990: 43), believe that repetition is not as effective as the type of attention given to a new word Oral repetition of a word form is not as effective as recalling the form of the word However, the occuring frequency of a word affects the learning burden: the more frequently it is met, the easier it is to learn Seeing the word form and a definition of its meaning is not as effective as having to make an effort to recall its meaning before being shown the defnition as feedback 1.4.2 Relationship with other words Similarities between words can make learning easier If the student has already known the word meaning he may learn the meaning more easily However, similarities between words can also make learning more difficult: a list of words that are strongly associated with each other (e.g opposites, free associates) is more difficult to learn than a list of unrelated words 1.4.3 Exceptions The effect of learning an exception is to make the learning of a rule more difficult For example, the word school and town are most often used as countable nouns, so when used as singular nouns, they are often preceded by an article, a demonstrative adjective, or a possessive adjective However, in to go to school and to go to town, they neither are nor proceeded by any of these words As a result, school and town are often used productively incorrectly 1.5 Proficiency in the native language and the second language and the acquisition of a third language 1.5.1 Definitions Language acquisition is one of the most impressive and fascinating aspects of human development In website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/languageacquisition on June 20, 2011, language acquisition is defined as “the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive, produce and use words to understand and communicate This capacity involves the picking up of diverse capacities including syntax, phonetics, and an extensive vocabulary This language might be vocal as with speech or manual as in sign” Language acquisition usually refers to first language acquisition, which studies infants' acquisition of their native language, rather than second language acquisition that deals with acquisition (in both children and adults) of additional languages With regard to second language acquisition, it is portrayed as the process by which people learn languages in addition to their native language The term "second language", "target language", or "L2" are used to refer to any language learned after the native language, which is also called "mother tongue", "first language", "L1", or "source language" Second language acquisition also includes third language acquisition (L3) 1.5.2 Influence of proficiency in the native language and the second language on the acquisition of a third language Although English is taught in Vietnamese high schools as a foreign language, for ethnic minority students, learning English is similar to learning a third language This is because these ethnic minority students have to learn Vietnamese in addition to their indigenous or native language This study was conducted in the Ethnic Minority Boarding High School and two high schools in remote districts of the mountainous province, where the majority of the students belong to ethnic minority groups Thus, what follows is a brief review of the literature on the influence of learners‟ first and second languages on the acquisition of a third language The influence of proficiency in L1 and L2 on the acquisition of a third language has interested researchers for a few decades, but knowledge about those influences remains limited Cummings (2000) stated that according to „interdependence hypothesis‟, there is a 10 positive and significant relationship between students‟ first language development, specially their development of literacy skills, and their second language development A similar relationship might be expected to hold good in the case of multilingual acquisition, so that different degrees of proficiency in the first and second languages would affect the acquisition of the third language In addition, recent psycholinguistic research on third language acquisition has made clear that the acquisition of an L3 shares many characteristics with the acquisition of an L2 but it also presents differences Accordingly, the educational aspects of teaching English as an L3 differ from those of teaching English as an L2 Third language acquisition is more complex phenomenon than second language acquisition because, apart from all individual and social factors that affect the latter, the process and product of acquiring a second language can themselves potentially influence the acquisition of a third language The educational aspects of the acquisition of English as a third language differ those of English as a second language, and have more implications regarding the optimal age for introduction of the different languages and the desired level of proficiency in each However, several studies on L3 acquisition have convincingly shown a qualitative difference between the acquisition of a true L2 and the subsequent acquisition of an L3 Some studies even indicate that L2 takes on a stronger role than L1 in the initial state of L3 syntax (e.g Bardel & Falk, 2007; Rothman & Cabrelli Amaro, forthcoming) An explanation put forward by Williams & Hammarberg (1998) and Bardel & Falk (2007) as to why the L2 takes on a stronger role than the L1 is that of the L2 status factor According to Falk & Bardel, the L2 status factor is an outcome of the higher degree of similarity between L2 and L3 than between L1 and L3, regarding age of onset, outcome, learning situation, metalinguistic knowledge, learning strategies and degree of awareness in the language learning process Also, the acquisitional setting may vary from predominantly informal acquisition, as is the case for instance in bilingual environments, to more formal settings, such as foreign language learning in the classroom On the one hand, it can be assumed that L3 learners, especially those who have learnt the L2 in a formal setting, are aware of the language learning process, and have acquired metalinguistic experiences and learning strategies to facilitate foreign language learning 11 Therefore, for students from ethnic minority groups, studying one more language, English – the third language, via Vietnamese – the second language might be very challenging This is because of the fact that when learning English, they comprehend English lessons by listening, switching into their native languages - and then translating or changing into Vietnamese and then English again Limited literacy or Vietnamese language skills can limit the acquisition of the third language As a result, it is observed that a large number of these students are almost illiterate in English despite many years‟ learning the language 12 CHAPTER : RESEARCH METHODOLOGY This chapter includes a justification for the approach the author used in conducting the research It also provides a thorough description of how the author collected the necessary data as well as the analytical procedure to draw conclusions based on the collected information In the first section the author gives detailed description of the research setting where the study was conducted In the next sections, the author puts forward an explanation of the author‟s understanding of the methods used in this research and their advantages 2.1 Research setting 2.1.1 An overview of research setting Muong Bi high school is located in Hoa Binh, a mountainous province in the northwest of Vietnam, where over 80 % of the population belongs to ethnic minority groups, and where there have been many difficulties in life as well as in educational development, especially in the development of teaching a foreign language like English Not much attention is paid to English learning though it is among the compulsory subjects in the national final examinations 2.1.2 The materials of teaching and learning In terms of the materials of teaching and learning, the textbook currently used to teach English are Tieng Anh 10, published by Ministry of Education and Training The teaching content of English textbooks follows the theme-based approach and is developed on six broad themes The six themes are subdivided into 16 topics corresponding with 16 units and a “Test yourself” after every units All units have the same structure, starting with the theme of the unit, following four lessons focused on language skills and ending with language focus Language skills are developed in parallel with the development of such language knowledge as grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation With strengths, the textbooks are expected to contribute better quality of English learning in Vietnam high schools In terms of curriculum development, the introduction of the new textbook can be new fresh air blowing into the teaching and learning situation at secondary schools in Vietnam However, to a large number of ethnic minority students, the English textbooks are very difficult Very often the amount of new vocabulary in one unit 13 was too much for students In addition, many topics in their English textbooks were strange to their daily lives and background 2.2 Research questions Questionnaries and classroom observations in this study were intended to address the following research question: What are the challenges in learning English vocabulary of ethnic minority grade 10 students in Muong Bi high school? 2.3 Participants 2.3.1 Description of the teachers of English The five participants who are currently teaching English to ethnic minority students at grade 10 level graduated from Hanoi Universities of Foreign Languages or have taken an English in-service training course; All of the teachers are female and from 28 to 32 years old Their teaching experience at high schools varies from to 10 years The variety in the participants‟ age, sex, qualification, and teaching experience is expected to provide reliability and validity for the study 2.3.2 The students Teaching English for ethnic minority students in the remote mountainous area has long been a controversial issue Many ethnic minority students‟ English level is low and Vietnamese language skills are limited Besides, there is lack of proper teaching and learning materials at primary and secondary schools For them, English is simply an obligatory subject; they learn it mainly for marks, the only goal is to pass the tests The time, the input and exposure to the language are limited to the classroom Therefore, they seem to be passive in learning Students listen to their teachers and repeat passively and give a mechanical response They are likely to become demotivated to English learning, depending much on the textbook and teachers‟ method of delivery Language activities like role plays, problem-solving tasks, or information gap activities, therefore, seem strange to their culture of learning Even, when they fail to understand something, they are not daring enough to ask for clarification in public Therefore, “the English learning environment is described as a cultural island where the teacher is expected to be the sole provider of experience in the target language" (Canh, 1999, p.74) 14 2.4 Data Collection Instruments and procedures In order to get information, the main data collection instruments for this study were questionnaires and classroom observations 2.4.1 The questionnaire At the beginning of March 2011, the author did a survey on this topic to develop an appropriate survey instrument for this study The final questionnaire was administered to 100 ethnic students In order to make sure that, all the students fully understand the questions, the questionnaires were written in Vietnamese All of the distributed questionnaires were returned with answers The questionnaire focuses on three main factors that the author considers the causes of the students‟ difficulties in learning English vocacbulary such as: the learners‟ background, the material and the teaching methods The purpose of the questionnaire was to examine how important the ethnic minority students think of their learning English and what difficulties they often meet when learning vocabulary 2.4.2 Classroom observations In this study, from classroom observations, the researcher wanted to see how English classes were really going on by the teachers of English in a mountainous area such as how they organized classroom activities; how teachers conducted their teaching; what challenges students face in their classroom learning The observations were conducted in 10 English lessons at 10th grade of all selected teachers on language skills and language knowledge 2.4.3 Data Collection Procedure According to Selinger and Shohamy (1989) once the researcher has selected a specific design for the study which is consistent with the objectives of the research, the next step is to collect the research data In collecting the data it is important to use procedures which elicit high quality data, since the quality of any research study depends largely on the quality of the data collected and the data collection procedure As stated above, the study was carried out in Muong Bi high school The reason for the choice was that 100% students at these schools were ethnic minorities; that might be useful to give rich information for the data collection of the study Among the teachers of three schools, five were selected for interviews on voluntary basis and all of them were observed while teaching 15 The observations were conducted in five selected teachers at the beginning of the school year 2.5 Data Analysis Procedure The strengths of qualitative data rest very centrally on the competence with which their analysis is carried out According to Hatch (2002), interpretation, as interpretation of interview data, is a defining element that permeates all qualitative research through making inferences, developing insights, attaching importance, refining understandings, drawing conclusions, and extrapolating lessons Since researchers carry out interpretations in the research process, they make sense of the phenomenon under investigation This interpretive analysis was intended to link interpretation to the data in order to result in meaningful data The analysis of the observation data in this study involved careful readings of the researcher‟s field notes of sample lessons Following the observation guide, the researcher conducted the analysis as follows In the first stage, the researcher examined the field notes of all the lessons of the five observed teachers In the second stage, the researcher reviewed the detailed field notes coupled with questionnaire In the third stage, through analysis of field notes of the sample lessons, the researcher demonstrated how the teachers of English organized classroom activities in English lessons and how they dealt with the challenges in teaching to ethnic minority students This chapter has examined the approach used in the study to illuminate its research questions about the challenges in learning English vocabulary of grade 10 ethnic minority students It also described the data collection as well as the analytical procedure which leads to the results of the research as presented in the next chapter – Results and discussion 16 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION Data analysis is not a simple description of the data collected but a process by which the researcher can bring interpretation to the data (Powney & Watts,1987) In the following parts, the researcher interprets the results from the feedback of the questionnaires and observations The study mentions the ethnic students‟ constraints in learning English vocabulary 3.1 Results and discussions from the questionnaires for students In order to get information about the students‟ attitudes toward English vocabulary learning and the factors affecting their acquisition of the language the author poses here 10 questions for the students Following is the findings Question In your opinion, what is the role of vocabulary in learning English? Items Percentage(% of students) A Very important 76 B Quite important 21 C Not very important D Not important at all Although they know clearly that English is very important almost of them choose the answer “very important”, they still not spend enough time on learning English, because of many factors that hinder them from doing so Firstly, they not have time to learn, secondly, some of them think they can learn it later when they have opportunity Question In Tieng Anh 10 there are … new words in one unit Items Percentage (%) A too many 95 B not too many The results of in question show that the greatest percentage (95%) of the learners say that they are overwhelmed by the amount of vocabulary in one unit, so after periods a week they had to learn a great number of the new words in the text book and the words provided by teacher Only 5% of the students asked say there are not many vocabulary in one unit to learn Question The topics in the textbook are… 17 Most of the students (85%) state that many topics in their English textbooks are unfamiliar to their daily lives and background, that is the reason why the students usually face difficulties when they learn vocabulary The rest (15%) say that sometimes they find the contents of the lessons unfamiliar to them Question Number the following items from the least to the most difficult for you when you learn English vocabulary: Items Percentage (%) A Word form (pronunciation and spelling) 70 B Grammar rules of the word 30 C Collocation 40 D Aspects of meaning 20 E Word formation 50 As shown in the table, what students find the most difficult is the word form which is caused by the great differences between their mother tongue and English In addition they not know how to learn and remember their spelling They listen to the teacher many times and repeat what the teacher say but they still state that their pronunciation is not better Also, half of the students write in the questionnaire that they have difficulty with word formation That there are quite a lot of suffixes and prefixes in English may make students confused when they learn As a result, 30% of them find grammar rules the most difficult, 20% choose aspects of meaning as the difficulty Question Do you find it is difficult to pronounce English words? When being asked if students find that in English pronunciation is difficult, most of them say yes (82%) It is the fact that, minority ethnic learners always face many problems in learning vocabulary, they always confuse /d/ with /t/, /v/ with /b/ As seen in question that 70% of the learners revealed that pronunciation is the most difficult item when learning English vocabulary They are totally dependent on imitating the teachers so after the lesson they cannot remember or read the words correctly by themselves 18 Question How does your teacher present the meaning of new words? Items Percentage (%) A Translate them into Vietnamese 90 B Use visual aids 27 C Explain the meaning in English D Use synonyms and antonyms 15 E Others (please specify) 15 It can be seen from the table that most of the time translation is used to teach vocabulary There may be the reason why the students often find it boring to learn vocabulary lessons There is a small number of the teachers who used visual aids to teach vocabulary (27%) Some students (15%) noted that their teachers organised them into pairs and groups and help them different vocabulary activities It is the fact that none of the teachers explain the meaning of the new words in English because it may cause more difficulty for students Question How does your teacher introduce the use of new words? Items Percentage (%) A Explain in Vietnamese 40 B Give examples and students draw out the rules 54 C Others (please specify) More than half of the students under the survey express that their teachers introduce the use of new words through examples This may be the easiest and the most economical way to teach word uses Besides, it can enhance the students‟ ability to draw out rules from examples 40% of the students say that their teachers introduce word uses by explaining it in Vietnamese This way can be easy for students to follow but it does not help them really understand in English and therefore cannot use the words later Only 6% say that they are not taught word uses 19 Question How you practice new words in the class? Items Percentage (%) A Make sentences with the words 20 B Do gap filling exercises 20 C Do multiple choice exercises 90 D Do matching exercises 30 E 15 Play words game It is clear that almost all the students under the survey practice word by doing multiple choice exercises This technique is not difficult and many of them like it However, sometimes it causes the lessons boring In fact only 15% of the teachers using word games to teach vocabulary May be doing gap filling exercises and write sentences are challenging tasks for the students so they are not used regularly Question Does your teacher give you chance to learn vocabulary in pairs/ groups? Tải FULL (51 trang): https://bit.ly/3SEhxxg Dự phòng: fb.com/TaiHo123doc.net Items Percentages (%) A never 80 B sometimes 15 C often D always 90% of the students say that they learn vocabulary individually This may be the result of the fact that they not have much time in class For example, the teachers keep delivering the new language items orally or by writing on the board while students look at the board and take notes Then they practice before going to other tasks in the lesson Pair work and group work are rarely used The interaction among teachers and students is one-way and only happens when the teacher asks and students answers The teachers simply follow the instruction of the text book and teach what is required in the syllabus Hence, the teaching strategies used by the teachers in certain circumstances are not relevant and effective 20 Question 10 How much time you usually spend learning new words at home? Items Percentage (%) A About one hour a day 20 B No time at all 57 C More than one hour a day D Sometimes when I am required to 18 homework by the teacher Although the students highly appreciate the role of learning vocabulary, only a small number of them spend enough time learning it Just 20% of the students spend in total one hour daily learning; only 5% spend more than two hours and over half students 57% spend no time at all in learning new words At school, students have to learn many subjects and they not pay much attention to learning English They only concentrate on some subjects, which they believe to be useful for their future, such as, maths, literature, physics, chemistry or biology Tải FULL (51 trang): https://bit.ly/3SEhxxg Dự phòng: fb.com/TaiHo123doc.net 3.2 Results and discussions from the observation The researcher observed four teachers‟ ten English lessons on language skills and language knowledge at grade 10 with their permission The analysis of the observation data indicated that difficulties emerged in the actual classrooms such as lack of various types of classroom activities associated with CLT, too many new words and structures were given in each lesson, students‟ preference of using their native languages or Vietnamese language, a large amount of teachers‟ using Vietnamese in class, and students‟ passiveness in learning In general, all the teachers‟ lessons the researcher observed followed the basic steps of the lesson: warm-up activities, presentation, practice and consolidation and homework The lessons on language skills included three stages namely pre-, while-, and post-stage In the pre-stage, teachers introduced the new language inputs to their students, often new words or phrases, students learned both spelling and sounds in class, in chorus or individually However, what follows is a discussion of some prominent challenges First, there was lack of various types of classroom activities associated with CLT in English classes, the teachers commonly organized only two types of activities such as 21 group and pair work in their vocabulary teaching, and left other activities out of account Some teachers often let students take part in mechanical practice such as repetition drills and substitution drills in class This monotonous ways of teaching might be one of the reasons to make English lessons tedious to ethnic minority students and reduce their interest in participating in classroom activities Jacobs and Ball (1996) noted that “more emphasis should be given to active modes of learning such as pair or group work in problem-solving tasks, nevertheless, classroom group or pair work should not be considered an essential feature used all the time, and may well be inappropriate in some contexts” Besides, some teachers were not creative in carrying out groups or pair works, especially in arranging pairs or groups Sometimes, many students were reluctant to join in activities when being put into the same groups or pairs in class The next challenge was that too many new words and structures were given in each lesson Teachers spent too much time in presenting new words, especially in reading and listening lessons Two of the lessons the researcher attended were reading lessons, after the lessons, the researcher even could not know what was going on, what objectives of the lessons were, because the teachers presented too many new words and structures, students had to write down and learn the words, whereas the reading passage was so long that both teachers and students had to “race” to finish the lessons on time Another challenge was that a large amount of Vietnamese language used by the teachers in teaching in English classes The classroom observations revealed that most of teachers hardly used English in teaching language skills and language knowledge lessons They used Vietnamese when introducing the topic of the lesson, analyzing grammatical structures, checking multiple answers in students‟ book, explaining students‟ assignments, and translating some difficult sentences, etc Although English was encouraged to be maximally exposed to language learners (MOET, 2006), the English language environment in classes was limited in the observed lessons Thus, in such a poor learning environment like that, it was difficult for students to acquire a foreign language effectively Besides, students‟ preference of using their native languages or Vietnamese language during group work or pair work caused challenges for teachers in their teaching When students were asked to have a discussion or joined in communicative activities, some students often discussed in Vietnamese or their native languages instead of English, they only shifted to English when the teachers approached them Limited English 22 vocabulary and sentence structures, even limited Vietnamese language skills prevented ethnic minority students from communicating with each other efficiently They felt too it hard to express themselves in English However, in some English classes, the teachers did not offer any solutions to the case of students‟ using native or Vietnamese languages during group or pair works, others even did not realize this existing problem One more problem which was also concerned with the students was the habit of studying of students in remote mountainous areas, especially those from ethnic minorities About half of the students in the class were passive They depended on the teachers and their partners in learning and practicing the language they were learning Some students even did not know how to the work given by teachers or looked for help from partners Some completed the tasks quickly; however, when teachers checked their understanding, they kept silent; This wasted the time of the English lessons and that was one of the reasons why the lessons could not be finished as planned 3.3 Findings and discussions from the questionnaire Based on findings from the questionnaire, the researcher described the challenges of ethnic minority students in learning English such as students' low level of background knowledge, low level of English proficiency, the textbook, teachers‟ failure in applying communicative approach and classroom activities Below is a discussion of details of these challenges The first challenging problem was the students‟ level of English It‟s the fact that many ethnic minority students possessed nothing after four years of learning English at lower secondary schools while the textbooks were developed on the basis of English syllabuses for 6, 7, 8, grades The reasons were varied, both subjective and objective However, as they said, their students were ethnic minorities with limited literacy or Vietnamese language skills and low level of background knowledge; in fact, the students entered the Muong Bi high school and other schools in remote districts with much lower grades than those entering schools in the central parts of the province In addition, students‟ motivation in English learning was very low; their students saw little benefit in learning English while they were still struggling with their Vietnamese, and they saw no future outside their home villages and thus, no need to communicate with English speaking people Most of them learnt English just to get marks because it was an compulsory subject at school They spent no time learning English except for some lessons at school As a 6813446 ... the challenges in learning English vocabulary of ethnic minority grade 10 students in Muong Bi high school could be shared among teachers of English to improve the quality of teaching and learning. .. of challenges in learning English vocabulary of ethnic minority grade 10 students in Muong Bi high school, Hoa Binh mountainous province Also, it is expected that some solutions to overcome challenges. .. chosen Challenges in English vocabulary learning of ethnic minority grade 10 students at Muong Bi high school as the the topic of the study Aims of the study The study aims at investigating the