Luận văn thạc sĩ exploitings supplementary reading materials to consolidate and develop vocabulary for grade 11 english major students at bien hoa specialized high school, hanam

1 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ ANH THOA EXPLOITING SUPPLEMENTARY READING MATERIALS TO CONSOLIDATE AN[.]

1 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ ANH THOA EXPLOITING SUPPLEMENTARY READING MATERIALS TO CONSOLIDATE AND DEVELOP VOCABULARY FOR GRADE 11 ENGLISH-MAJOR STUDENTS AT BIEN HOA SPECIALIZED HIGH SCHOOL, HA NAM (Nghiên cứu việc khai thác tài liệu đọc hiểu bổ trợ để củng cố phát triển từ vựng cho học sinh lớp 11 chuyên tiếng Anh trường THPT chuyên Biên Hòa, Hà Nam) M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 601410 Hanoi – 2012 z VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ ANH THOA EXPLOITING SUPPLEMENTARY READING MATERIALS TO CONSOLIDATE AND DEVELOP VOCABULARY FOR GRADE 11 ENGLISH-MAJOR STUDENTS AT BIEN HOA SPECIALIZED HIGH SCHOOL, HA NAM (Nghiên cứu việc khai thác tài liệu đọc hiểu bổ trợ để củng cố phát triển từ vựng cho học sinh lớp 11 chuyên tiếng Anh trường THPT chuyên Biên Hòa, Hà Nam) M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field : English Teaching Methodology Code : 601410 Supervisor: Đào Thị Thu Trang, M.A Hanoi – 2012 z LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS BHSHS : Bien Hoa Specialized High School MOET : Ministry of Education and Training ELT : English Language Teaching L2 : Second Language LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: The number of hours spent on learning new words every day 26 Figure 2: Students’ preference in joining the supplementary reading programme 29 Figure 3: Students’ feelings while taking part in the supplementary reading programme 30 Figure 4: Students’ attitudes towards consolidating and developing vocabulary through the supplementary reading texts 31 Figure 5: Students’ assessment of their vocabulary knowledge gained through the supplementary reading programme 35 Figure 6: Students’ explicit evaluation of the effectiveness of consolidating and developing vocabulary through the supplementary reading texts plus vocabulary enhancement exercises 36 Figure 7: Students’ expectation after joining the supplementary reading programme 36 z LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Students’ awareness of the role of vocabulary in their English learning 25 Table 2: The sources from which the students learn new words 26 Table 3: Students’ actual ways of learning and consolidating new words 27 Table 4: Students’ difficulties in learning new words 28 Table 5: Students’ awareness of consolidating and developing vocabulary through supplementary reading texts 28 Table 6: Students’ assessment of the selected supplementary reading texts and the design of the vocabulary enhancement exercises 31 Table 7: Students’ assessment of the most effective types of the vocabulary enhancement exercises 32 Table 8: Students’ assessment of the benefits gained from reading the supplementary reading texts 33 Table 9: Students’ assessment of the benefits gained from doing the enhancement exercises after the supplementary reading texts 34 Table 10: Results of the pre-test 37 Table 11: Results of the post-test 38 Table 12: Results of the pre-test and post-test 39 Table 13: Results of the pre-test and post-tests 39 z TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration Acknowledgements Abstract List of Abbreviations List of Figures List of Tables i ii iii iv iv v PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale for the Study Aims and Research Questions of the Study Scope of the Study Significance of the Study Research Methodology Design of the Study 1 2 2 4 4 5 5 6 PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Vocabulary in Foreign Language Teaching and Learning 1.1.1 Definitions of Vocabulary 1.1.2 Classification of Vocabulary 1.1.2.1 According to the Concept of Morpheme 1.1.2.2 According to the Meaning 1.1.2.3 According to the Function of Vocabulary Items in a Sentence 1.1.2.4 According to the Sequence of Use 1.1.3 What Needs to Be Taught? 1.1.3.1 Form: Pronunciation and Spelling 1.1.3.2 Grammar 1.1.3.3 Collocation 1.1.3.4 Aspects of Meaning 1.1.3.5 Word Formation 1.1.4 Ways to Develop and Consolidate Vocabulary…… 1.1.4.1 Ways to Develop Vocabulary 1.1.4.2 Ways to Consolidate Vocabulary 1.1.5 The Role of Vocabulary in Foreign Language Teaching and Learning… 11 1.2 Supplementary Reading Materials and Vocabulary Acquisition 12 1.2.1 Definitions of Supplementary Reading Materials 12 z 1.2.2 Roles of Supplementary Reading Materials in Foreign Language Teaching and Learning 1.2.3 Relationship Between Reading and Vocabulary Growth 1.2.4 Studies on L2 Vocabulary Acquisition through Reading and Reading plus Other Activities 1.3 Summary CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 2.1 Research Context 2.2 Research Approach 2.3 Participants 2.4 Data Collection Instruments 2.4.1 Questionnaires 2.4.2 Pre-Test and Post-Tests 2.5 Intervention: The Supplementary Reading Programme 2.5.1 The Supplementary Reading Materials 2.5.2 The Types of Vocabulary Exercises Exploited in the Supplementary 13 13 14 16 17 17 18 18 19 19 19 20 20 Reading Texts 2.5.3 The Schedule for the Supplementary Reading Programme 2.6 Data Collection Procedures 2.7 Data Analysis Procedures 2.7.1 Questionnaires 2.7.2 Pre-test and post-tests 2.8 Summary 20 21 23 24 24 24 24 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 25 3.1 Preliminary Investigation 25 3.1.1 Students’ awareness of the role of vocabulary in their English learning 25 3.1.2 Students’ actual ways of learning and consolidating new words 25 3.1.3 Students’ difficulties in learning new words 28 3.1.4 Students’ awareness of consolidating and developing vocabulary through supplementary reading texts and their preference in joining the supplementary reading programme 28 3.2 Evaluation 30 3.2.1 Results and discussion from the post-task questionnaire 30 3.2.2 Results and discussion from the pre-test and post-tests 37 3.3 Summary 40 z 10 42 42 43 43 44 REFERENCES 45 APPENDICES I PART C: CONCLUSION Summary of Major Findings Pedagogical Implications of the Study Limitations of the Study Suggestions for Further Studies z 11 PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale for the Study Nowadays, in the time of co-operation and globalization, English is used as a means of international communication Therefore, more and more people all over the world are trying to master this language In Viet Nam, to meet the demands for development and integration of the country into the world, over the last decades, more emphasis has been put on the teaching and learning of English language At present, English is a compulsory subject in most schools of all levels, especially at high schools It is undeniable that vocabulary plays an important role in teaching and learning English Concerning the significance of vocabulary, Wilkin (1972, p 110) stated “without grammar, very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed” Also, vocabulary is an important language element that links four language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing together Thus, vocabulary deficiency will lead to deficiency in other language skills However, the reality of teaching and studying English in general, English vocabulary in particular at high schools in Viet Nam is still far from satisfaction So far, English vocabulary has not been received considerable attention from many Vietnamese learners and teachers As a matter of fact, in English lessons, words are introduced and taught quickly and most of the time is spent on grammar practice and fulfillment of the tasks As a result, most students have difficulty in learning English vocabulary especially in using words in appropriate situations As a teacher of English at a specialized high school, I am fully aware of the importance of English vocabulary Moreover, I am now in charge of teaching English for grade 11 English-major students These students have to take part in many examinations especially ones for gifted students Thus, they have to acquire a large amount of English vocabulary to tests on reading, listening skills and they need good vocabulary knowledge to express their ideas in writing and speaking However, my students’ vocabulary is still limited All these reasons have motivated me to conduct a study on “Exploiting supplementary reading materials to consolidate and develop vocabulary for grade 11 English-major students at Bien Hoa Specialized High School, Ha Nam.” Aims and Research Questions of the Study z 12 The study aims at implementing and evaluating the effectiveness of consolidating and developing English vocabulary for grade 11 English-major students through supplementary reading materials plus vocabulary enhancement exercises and exploring their attitudes towards the supplementary reading programme after the trial period In order to achieve the mentioned aims, the following questions have been proposed:  Is it effective to consolidate and develop vocabulary for grade 11 English-major students through supplementary reading materials plus vocabulary enhancement exercises?  What are the students’ attitudes towards the supplementary reading programme after the trial period? Scope of the Study This research only focuses on consolidating and developing vocabulary through supplementary reading materials for 32 grade 11 English-major students at Bien Hoa Specialized High School (BHSHS) Due to the time constraint, the researcher could only carry out the research during 10 weeks Five themes in the textbook “Tieng Anh 11 Nang Cao” were chosen and ten supplementary reading texts accompanied by some types of vocabulary enhancement exercises were exploited to help the students to consolidate and develop vocabulary Fifty vocabulary items were supposed to be mastered at the post-tests Significance of the Study This research was implemented with the hope that it would help the teaching and learning English vocabulary for grade 11 English-major students at BHSHS more effective If this way of teaching and learning vocabulary actually helps to develop the students’ vocabulary knowledge, it should be applied to the teaching and learning of English at other grades Research Methodology This is an action research conducted at the researcher’s own class at BHSHS During the process of implementing this study, the data were collected from a pre-task questionnaire, a post-task questionnaire, a pre-test, two post-tests and then analysed by means of descriptive statistic devives It is hoped that with the combination of these data collection instruments, reliable findings would be yielded from the research Design of the Study z 13 This study includes three main parts, which are presented as follows: Part A is the introduction which includes the rationale for the research topic, aims and research questions, research methodology, scope, significance and design of the study Part B is the development which consists of three following chapters: Chapter reviews some theoretical background relevant to the study It includes general knowledge of English vocabulary in foreign language teaching and learning and an overview of supplementary reading materials and vocabulary acquisition Chapter presents the research methodology This chapter introduces the research context, research approach, participants, intervention, data collection instruments, data collection procedures and data analysis procedures Chapter goes into details of the data analysis, results and discussion Part C is the conclusion which includes the summary, implications, limitations of the study and suggestions for further studies PART B: DEVELOPMENT z ... focuses on consolidating and developing vocabulary through supplementary reading materials for 32 grade 11 English- major students at Bien Hoa Specialized High School (BHSHS) Due to the time constraint,... consolidating and developing English vocabulary for grade 11 English- major students through supplementary reading materials plus vocabulary enhancement exercises and exploring their attitudes towards... vocabulary for grade 11 English- major students through supplementary reading materials plus vocabulary enhancement exercises?  What are the students? ?? attitudes towards the supplementary reading