VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ MINH HIẾU STUDENTS’ BELIEFS ABOUT VOCABULARY LEARNING A MIXED METHO[.]
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ MINH HIẾU STUDENTS’ BELIEFS ABOUT VOCABULARY LEARNING: A MIXED METHODS STUDY ( Sử dụng phương pháp hỗn hợp nghiên cứu niềm tin học sinh việc học từ vựng) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HANOI, 2014 z VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ MINH HIẾU STUDENTS’ BELIEFS ABOUT VOCABULARY LEARNING: A MIXED METHODS STUDY ( Sử dụng phương pháp hỗn hợp nghiên cứu niềm tin học sinh việc học từ vựng) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Superisor: Dr Lê Văn Canh HANOI, 2014 z DECLARATION I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work and effort and that has not been submitted anywhere for any award Where other sources of information have been used, they have been acknowledged I cede copyright of the thesis in favor of PostGraduate Department- Vietnam National University Ha noi, 2014 Nguyễn Thi ̣Minh Hiế u i z ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I wish to send my sincere thanks to my supervisor, Dr Lê Văn Canh for his expert guidance, helpful suggestions and critical feedback throughout the study Secondly, I would like to acknowledge my gratitude to all the lectures in the Faculty of Post-graduate Studies of Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies for their useful lessons from which I have benefited a lot for the accomplishment of this study And I am also indebted to my students from class 11A1, 11A4, 11A7 and my colleagues at Ha Long high school for their participation and assistance without which this study could not have been successful Last but not least, I would like to express my special thanks to my family, my beloved parents, my younger brother and my dear younger for their love, encouragement, immeasurable support and concrete help for me to complete this research Many thanks also go to all of you, to anyone I have forgotten to mention here ii z ABSTRACT The construct of learner beliefs is a topic that has gained much attention in education in recent years Nearly two decades of research has revealed that beliefs about second/foreign language learning are strong influential factors on learning achievements This study explores the beliefs about vocabulary learning held by the secondary school students specializing in English, their employed vocabulary learning strategies as well as the extent to which their beliefs influenced their use of vocabulary learning strategies The participants were 95 secondary school students of the Englishspecialization stream in one specialized secondary school in Quang Ninh province The study used a mixed-methods design with questionnaires and interviews being the instruments of data collection The questionnaire was administered to identify the students‟ beliefs about vocabulary learning and their employed vocabulary learning strategies A small number of the questionnaire respondents were chosen for the follow-up interviews The interview questions were developed on the basis of the initial results of the analysis of the questionnaire responses The purpose of the interview was two-fold First, it was to elicit more information that the questionnaire responses failed to provide Second, it was to cross-check the responses the students gave to the questionnaire The obtained results revealed that the students in general had positive beliefs about vocabulary learning They attached great importance to the role of vocabulary and lexical knowledge to their learning English at the school However, they had conflicting beliefs about how words should be learned In addition, there is consistence between their reported beliefs about vocabulary learning and their reported vocabulary learning strategies The findings of the study also indicated that most of the strategies the students reported that they employed were cognitive trategies Even in the interview, none of them mentioned any metacognitive or motivational strategies iii z LIST OF ABBRIVIATIONS VLB: Vocabulary Learning Beliefs VLS: Vocabulary Learning Strategies EFL: English as a Foreign Language BALLI: Beliefs about Language Learning Inventory TOEFL: Test of English as a Foreign Language US: The United States of America L1: First Language L2: Second Language iv z LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 Beliefs about the importance of vocabulary 20 Table 2.2 Beliefs about vocabulary learning 22 Table 2.3 Students‟ self-report of the vocabulary learning strategies they used 23 Table 2.4 Strategies preferences reported by the students in the interviews 26 v z TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration ……………………………………………………………………………i Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………ii Abstract……………………………………………………………………………… iii List of abbriviations……………………………………………………………………iv List of tables……………………………………………………………………………v Table of contents……………………………………………………………………….vi PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Statement of Problem Aims of the Study Research Questions Methods of the Study Significance of the Study PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Definition of Learner Beliefs Why Study Learner Beliefs Research on Learner Beliefs Beliefs and Learning Successes Vocabulary Learning 11 What involves in knowing a word 12 1.7 Vocabulary Strategies 14 1.8 Beliefs and Strategy Use 15 1.9 Chapter Summary 16 CHAPTER II: THE STUDY 17 Research Methodology 17 vi z 2.2 The questionnaire 18 2.3 Participants 20 Findings 20 2.4 Quantitative Data 20 2.4.2 Qualitative Data 24 2.5 Discussion 28 PART C: CONCLUSION 30 Summary of key findings 30 Implications for teaching 30 Suggestions for future research 31 REFENRENCES 33 APPENDICES I APPENDIX I APPENDIX VI vii z PART A: INTRODUCTION LEARNERS’ BELIEFS ABOUT VOCABULARY LEARNING Statement of Problem In recent decades, researchers in the field of second language acquisition have shown great interest in learners‟ individual characteristics that can affect the learners‟ success in language learning The results of studies on second language learners‟ beliefs have revealed that beliefs about second/foreign language learning are strong influential factors on learning achievements, leading to a new wave of attention to beliefs about language learning (Heidari, Izadi, & Ahmadian, 2011) Researchers have found that second language learners come to the language class with some preconceived ideas or beliefs about language and language learning and that these beliefs can indicate what expectations the learners have and what actions in their language learning they will take (Abraham & Vann, 1987; Holec, 1987, Hortwitz, 1985; Wenden, 1987) Therefore, researchers have been investigating the beliefs that second language learners possess and the factors that affect learners‟ beliefs in order to find ways to help learners adjust their beliefs to facilitate their language learning Vocabulary learning has been identified as their greatest problem in English learning (Si, 2005) Vocabulary learning beliefs, another learner variable that influences vocabulary learning (Moir & Nation, 2002; Gu, 2005), is an underresearched area Although the importance of learners‟ beliefs is now generally recognized in the field of English language education, few studies have been reported about learners‟ beliefs about vocabulary learning It is widely perceived that vocabulary learning is important and that vocabulary learning outcomes are not satisfactory for most learners As beliefs are factors influencing vocabulary learning strategies, it is necessary to investigate learners‟ beliefs about vocabulary learning so as z ... ideas or beliefs about language and language learning and that these beliefs can indicate what expectations the learners have and what actions in their language learning they will take (Abraham... between learners‟ beliefs about language learning and factors that can affect language learning success such as motivation, autonomy, language learning strategies, and anxiety Also some beliefs about. .. English language education, few studies have been reported about learners‟ beliefs about vocabulary learning It is widely perceived that vocabulary learning is important and that vocabulary learning