Khóa luận tốt nghiệp vocabulary learing strategies of first year english majored students at vnua

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES BA THESIS VOCABULARY LEARNING STRATEGIES OF FIRST YEAR ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS AT VNUA NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ CÁC CHIẾN LƯỢC HỌC TỪ VỰNG CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM NHẤT NGÀNH NGÔN NGỮ ANH Student: DO THI MINH TIEN Student code: 621278 Major: ENGLISH Supervisor: PHAM HUONG LAN, M.A Hanoi – 2021 VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES BA THESIS VOCABULARY LEARNING STRATEGIES OF FIRST YEAR ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS AT VNUA NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ CÁC CHIẾN LƯỢC HỌC TỪ VỰNG CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM NHẤT NGÀNH NGÔN NGỮ ANH Student: DO THI MINH TIEN Student code: 621278 Major: ENGLISH Supervisor: PHAM HUONG LAN, M.A Hanoi – 2021 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled “Vocabulary learning strategies of first year English-majored students at VNUA” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor in English Language Except where the reference is indicated, no other person‟s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis Hanoi, 2021 Do Thi Minh Tien Approved by SUPERVISOR i TABLE OF CONTENTS PART I: INTRODUCTION 1.Rationale Aims and objectives of the study 2.1 Aims of the study 2.2 Objectives of the study Research questions Scope of the study ………………………………………………………………………3 Significance of the study ………………………………………………………………3 Design of the study …………………………………………………………………… PART 2: DEVELOPMENT …………………………………………………………… Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW………………………………………….… … 1.1 Review of previous studies……………………………………….………….…… 1.1.1 Review of the previous studies in the world…………………………….…… 1.1.2 Review of the previous studies in Vietnam……………….……………….… 1.1.3 Summary……………………………………………………………….….…………8 1.2 Review of theoretical background……………………………………….……… 1.2.1 Vocabulary……………………………………………………………….……….…8 1.2.2 Learning Strategies……………………………………………………….……… 1.2.3 Vocabulary Learning Strategies………………………………………….………9 1.2.4 Types of vocabulary learning strategies…………………………… ……… 10 1.2.5 The importance of vocabulary learning strategy…………………… ………12 Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY……………………………………………… ……… 14 2.1 Research governing orientation…………………………………………… …….14 2.2 Research methods………………………………………………………… …… 14 2.2.1 Research methodology………………………………………………………… 14 2.2.2 Research setting/ context…………………………………………………… 15 2.2.3 Data collecting instruments 15 ii 2.2.4 Data collecting procedures 16 2.2.5 Data analysis 16 2.3 Summary 17 Chapter 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 3.1 Finding 1: Vocabulary learning strategies frequently used by students 18 3.2 Finding 2: The most and the least frequently used strategies 19 3.2.1 Determination strategies 19 3.2.2 Social discovery strategies 20 3.2.3 Social consolidation strategies 21 3.2.4 Memory strategies 22 3.2.5 Cognitive strategies 23 3.2.6 Metacognitive strategies 24 3.3 Summary 25 PART 3: CONCLUSION 28 3.1 Recapitulation 28 3.2 Conclusions 28 3.3 Limitations of the current research 29 3.4 Recommendations 30 3.4.1 Further study 30 3.4.2 Recommendations for learning and teaching English at VNUA……… 30 REFERENCES 31 iii ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to find out a strategy often use and the most and least frequently used vocabulary learning strategies used by 70 first year English- majored students (K65) at Vietnam National University of Agriculture (VNUA) in the second year semester of the academic 2020-2021 The research method was survey research with descriptive statistics; the survey questionnaire was adapted from Natpassorn Riankamol‟s 25- item Questionnaire of Vocabulary Learning Strategies and was depended on Schmitt‟s Taxonomy The findings indicated that Memory strategies were at the first rank while social discovery strategies were preferred the least Through these findings, it showed that students concentrated on how to memorize during the process of increase the vocabulary to create motivation throughout their education In memory strategies, the most frequently used vocabulary strategy was “I write a new word in a sentence so I can remember it” And the least frequently used vocabulary strategy was “I ask the teacher to translate the words into English.” in social discovery strategies iv List of tables and figures Table 2.1 Items dividing into Schmitt‟s categories Table 2.2 The information of respondents Table 2.3 Usage averages of vocabulary learning strategies Table 2.4 Use of determination strategies Table 2.5 Use of Social discovery strategies Table 2.6 Use of Social consolidation strategies Table 2.7 Use of Memory strategies Table 2.8 Use of Cognitive strategies Table 2.9 Use of Metacognitive strategies Table 2.10 The most frequently used vocabulary learning strategies Table 2.11 The most frequently used vocabulary learning strategies v PART I: INTRODUCTION 1.Rationale Nowadays, English is one of the dominant languages in the world One of the main factors to acquire a language is vocabulary According to Harmer (1997), if grammar is regarded as a factor to create a frame of language, the vocabulary is a vital organ One of the sources that the learner cannot communicate fluently is because of their poor vocabulary, so the people who have a large vocabulary after graduating from high school or university have more advantage There are many strategies that the learners apply to improve their learning vocabulary and much research were carried out to investigate those Researchers such as Laufer and Nation (1999), Maximo (2000), Read (2000), Gu (2003), Marion (2008) and Nation (2011) and others have realised that the acquisition of vocabulary is essential Language learners should employ a range of vocabulary strategies if they wish to make their vocabulary learning effective Since the late 1970s, many researchers have paid much attention to vocabulary learning strategies and considered these as a vital issue among different strategies of language learning Once foreign language learners have effective vocabulary strategies, they will be more likely to become much more successful language learners Vocabulary learning strategies enable autonomy and responsibility of students in their English learning (Oxford, 1994) (Gu, Y ve Johnson, R, 1996) (Oxford R L., 1997) When learning vocabulary, learners may apply more than one approach For example, some people like learning by heart, others often divide into many topics (family, fruits, things in room, personalities, jobs, daily routine, etc.); some others apply to speak a full sentence, or they may make a combination of various strategies English is a relatively new major at Vietnam National University of Agriculture Students of this major not only learn about pronunciation, semantics but also many other subjects at the same time as the four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) All subjects require a number of vocabularies, so I myself experienced the difficulty in learning vocabulary when I was in my first year and I quickly forgot the vocabulary I had learned before This might be a common situation among lots of other freshmen at VNUA In addition, to be eligible to graduate, students have to achieve level C1 according to the European reference framework At level C1, students need to have 8000 vocabularies in their mind It is obvious that learning vocabulary and applying some strategies to acquire lexicon to learn better are very important to students Being aware that self-training about vocabulary strategies can give big help to students in the process of learning vocabulary in specific and in the process of learning English in general, I was greatly attracted by vocabulary learning strategies and decided to choose this as the topic for my graduation paper Hopefully the results of my research will help to make some useful suggestions in improving students‟ vocabulary learning Aims and objectives of the study 2.1 Aims of the study This study aimed to look into some learning vocabulary strategies that first year English-majored students adopted for building up their English vocabulary during their study at Vietnam National University of Agriculture It found out the most and the least frequently used vocabulary learning strategies Thereby some suggestions would be made to help students with effective vocabulary learning strategies 2.2 Objectives of the study This study had following objectives: - Identifying the types of vocabulary learning strategies used by students - Assessing how frequently vocabulary learning strategies are used - Making some suggestions for students about an effective use of vocabulary learning strategies Research questions This study aimed to find out the answers to the following questions: - Which strategies students often use to learn vocabulary? - What are the most and the least frequently used vocabulary learning strategies by first year English- majored students at VNUA? Scope of the study This study investigated some vocabulary learning strategies that used by 70 first year English- majored students (K65) at VNUA It was conducted between January 20th and June 30th, 2021 Natpassorn Riankamol‟s 25-items Questionnaire of Vocabulary Learning Strategies was employed to collect the data Significance of the study The results of the study reflected the use of vocabulary learning strategies among students at VNUA Based on this, some recommendations were made about the use of vocabulary learning strategies so as for students to reach better achievement in their learning Suggestions may also be given in training vocabulary strategies for students from teachers Design of the study This study was divided into three parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion Part 1, Introduction, provides brief information about the rationale, the aims & objectives, the research questions, the scope, the significance and the design of the study Part 2, Literature review, presents an overview about some previous studies and some theoretical background to the study that students want to talk to foreigners to expand their vocabulary and create their motivation 3.2.4 Memory strategies Table 2.7 Use of Memory strategies Items Std Rating of Deviation strategic level 2.93 1.012 Moderate 12 I study a spelling of new words 2.69 1.246 Moderate 13 I use physical actions when 2.37 1.299 Moderate 2.72 1.049 Moderate 2.67 1.151 Moderate 11 I write a new word in a Mean sentence so I can remember it learning words 14 I speak words out loud when studying Average From table 2.7 shows that the learners applied the above of vocabulary learning strategies moderately with the average mean score of 2.67 These items in the memory strategies were used by students to consolidate the knowledge of newly-learned vocabulary The item that is exerted frequently was “I write a new word in a sentence so I can remember it” (M= 2.93) This could be that it is possible that learning new words in sentences seems to make them remember clearly through specific situations In addition, writing lexis in a sentence helps to learn more about collocations For example: the word “Picture”- they can learn by writing a sentence “I will take a photo” and study about the phrase “take a photo” The least used item is “I use physical actions when learning words” (M= 2.37) 22 3.2.5 Cognitive strategies Table 2.8 Use of Cognitive strategies Items Mean Std Rating of Deviation strategic level 15 I repeatedly practice new words 2.51 1.072 Moderate 16 I write a new word on a flash card so I 2.39 1.054 Moderate 2.20 1.044 Low 2.71 0.950 Moderate 2.54 1.270 Moderate 2.29 1.156 Low 2.44 1.091 Moderate can remember it 17 I learn words by listening to vocabulary CDs 18 I record vocabulary from English soundtrack movies in my notebook 19 When I try to remember a word, I write or say it repeatedly 20 I make vocabulary cards and take them with me wherever I go Average The information in table 2.8 indicates that the overall moderate degree of learning strategies with a moderate average mean score of 2.44 In addition, there were items that was in the low degree of learning strategy (item 17 and item 20) The lowest mean score was “I learn words by listening to vocabulary CDs” with M= 2.20 The reason could be that this strategy might be easily tedious The most strategy was “I record vocabulary from English soundtrack movies in my notebook” with M= 2.71 It is a good method and feasible activity for the students that they not only can watch to blow off some steam but also improve their lexical resources and communication naturally 23 3.2.6 Metacognitive strategies Table 2.9 Use of Metacognitive strategies Items Mean Std Rating of Deviation strategic level 21 I listen to English songs and news 2.91 1.139 Moderate 22 I memorize word from English 2.49 1.244 Moderate 2.52 1.119 Moderate 2.23 1.066 Low 2.70 1.081 Moderate 2.57 1.129 Moderate magazines 23 I review my own English vocabulary cards for reviewing before the next lesson starts 24 I not worry very much about the difficult words found when reading or listening, I pass them 25 I use on-line exercise to test my vocabulary knowledge Average According to the metacognitive strategies were shown in table 2.9 with a moderate average mean score of 2.57 The most used item is “I listen to English songs and news” (M= 2.91) because most students apply some technology frequently for the purpose of learning English vocabulary through television, computers, smartphones and so on That is the reason why teachers nowadays give English songs or short videos during teaching periods to encourage their students to stay interested in studying The least used strategy as well as was considered as the low degree of strategy was “I am not worry very much about the difficult words found when reading or listening, I pass them” (M= 2.24) This item wasn't much used by English- major students Because during learning 24 progress, students have to learn any words that they don't know to improve their vocabulary and level 3.3 Summary Through the above discussion that analyzed specifically the vocabulary learning strategies and gave the most and the least frequently used strategies This part gave clearly the five most and the five least frequently used vocabulary learning strategies That was shown in table 2.10 and table 2.11 Table 2.10 The most frequently used vocabulary learning strategies Rank Items Category Mean Std Deviation I write a new word in a sentence so I Memory can remember it (item 11) 1.012 2.91 1.139 2.84 1.080 2.72 1.049 2.70 1.081 strategies I listen to English songs and news Metacogniti (item 21) 2.93 ve strategies I learn meaning of words by Determinati identifying its part of speech (item 3) on strategies I speak words out loud when Memory studying (item 14) strategies I use on-line exercise to test my Metacogniti vocabulary knowledge (item 25) ve strategies 25 Table 2.11 The least frequently used vocabulary learning strategies Rank Items Category Mean Std Deviation I ask the teacher to translate the Social discovery words into English (item 4) 1.162 2.20 1.044 2.23 1.066 2.29 1.156 2.37 1.299 strategies I learn words by listening to Cognitive vocabulary CDs (item 17) 2.13 strategies I not worry very much about Metacognitive the difficult words found when strategies reading or listening, I pass them (item 24) I make vocabulary cards and Cognitive take them with me wherever I strategies go (item 20) I use physical actions when Memory learning words (item 13) strategies From the survey results, the most frequently used was memory strategies (M= 2.93), while the social discovery strategies were determined as the least used strategies by English- majored students with a mean score of 2.13 The data in table 2.10 show that the highest mean was achieved by item 11 “I write a new word in a sentence so I can remember it” (item 11, M= 2.93, SD= 1.012) This shows that students want to link the word and the previously learned knowledge together related to form the sentence construction to stick into memory According to Schmitt (1997), in memory (mnemonics) strategies, instead of showing directly the definition of, or illustrating some pictures of the meaning are given to learners Using word‟s affixes, roots and word classes can 26 be useful in consolidating word meaning are other examples of memory strategies In table 2.11, “I ask the teacher to translate the words into English” (item 4, M= 2.13, SD= 1.162) was rarely employed In fact, the social discovery strategies are used by interacting with other people to improve vocabulary level However, this strategy was in the final position since probably they are at the beginner levels who are hesitating to ask their teachers On the other hand, there are other objects that can help them instead of inquiring about teachers such as looking up in a dictionary, asking their friends or native speakers This finding was similar to a research of Arjomand and Sharififar‟s (2011) The result from their study was that students applied to the social strategies least frequently They gave a reason that the problem was that learning vocabulary‟s an individual progress and there was a weakness which the Iran‟s education‟s the teacher- oriented that teachers just were in the class and supplied the new knowledge during the lesson, the students only listened and noted down, so there were no time for discussing or working in group 27 Part 3: CONCLUSION 3.1 Recapitulation In this study, it investigated the most and least used strategies of vocabulary learning strategies by 70 first year English- majored students (K65) at Vietnam National University of Agriculture The study consisted of a survey from Natpassorn Riankamol‟s 25- item Questionnaire that was based on Schmitt‟s Taxonomy The data were analyzed by Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 22.0 3.2 Conclusions According to the results of research, it was clear that classifications were all utilized by the students in learning vocabulary, in which the forefront respectively from high to low are memory strategies, determination strategies, metacognitive strategies, social consolidation strategies, cognitive strategies, and social discovery strategies The type of strategy that students used the most was memory strategies In those, there were activities like writing a new word in a sentence, studying a spelling of new words, speaking words out loud, using physical actions Within these strategies, the use of writing a new word in a sentence was at the first rank The reason for this is that there is a huge amount of knowledge which students have to employ in the semester, so the writing process is very effective as allowing them to have much more time to cultivate the lexical resources In two other studies of Coomber, Ramstad, and Sheets (1986) and Laufer (1997) emphasized that writing a word in a sentence was an effective method for facilitating memorization of words The study was done by some scholars: Dale, O‟Rourke & Bamman, (1971); Gipe, (1979), (cited in Pressley et al 1982, p 51) They gave a strategy was The Sentence Writing Method (also called as the Sentence Generate Method) and said it was a way of the acquisition of 28 vocabulary and relating to construct a sentence containing the target word to keep in mind The social discovery strategies were the least frequently used strategies To be specific, the item “I ask the teacher to translate the words into English” was ranked at the bottom This may be because they are the first year students that are in act timidly and often study independently, so they refuse to ask others‟ assistance for the meaning of a new word In addition, teachers only focus on giving new knowledge to students in class, so there is no time for asking The findings of this research showed that the most students are novices, so they are not familiar with all the learning strategies or don‟t utilize all those effectively In consequence, student should pay attention to the study to explore their preferences and find their appropriate learning strategies Each student has their own learning style and learning method, therefore, applying vocabulary learning strategies that are the most efficient production for students, but it does not mean that those will be effective for other students Therefore, it is necessary to provide more methods of learning vocabulary in concordance with individuals 3.3 Limitations of the current research The aim of the study is to identify which strategies that students often use to learn vocabulary are and find out the most and the least frequently used vocabulary learning strategies of 70 first year English- majored students at VNUA, so there are some limitations in the study: Firstly, this present research explored the views of people studying in first year Therefore, the results were only the current situation that might be changed in the future Thus, further study will be conducted to investigate large- scale subjects in various years (sophomores, juniors and seniors) 29 Secondly, the study was only employed a questionnaire as a data collecting instrument, so the data might not be reliable sufficiently as the students' answers were not completely correct Therefore, it's necessary to add further instruments such as interviewing, testing, etc Finally, this study only found out the vocabulary learning strategies, so it has yet combined those strategies with other factors, for example: motivation of learning English, the learning outcomes, test results, score of English subject, student's English level, etc Hopefully, in future studies, these limitations can be overcome 3.4 Recommendations 3.4.1 Further study - The future studies should be conducted with a larger research group that consists of students studying in different years - It's indispensable to apply many data collecting instruments to gain more credibility such as interviewing, testing, etc - The research about the vocabulary learning strategies should coordinate with other related topics to study every aspect of a question 3.4.2 Recommendations for learning and teaching English at VNUA - On the part of the student: Studying about different learning strategies as well as applying multiple strategies at the same time to find out their own right strategy - On the part of the teacher: Teacher should figure out the learning style of each student in class by guiding and instructing about learning strategies for them - On the part of the academy: Organizing seminars or competitions related to vocabulary learning in particular and learning the foreign language in general for students 30 REFERENCES Brown, C & Payne, M E (1994) Five essential steps of processes in vocabulary Learning Paper presented at the TESOL Convention, Baltimore, Md Coomber, J.E., Ramstad, D.A & Sheets, D.R (1986) „Elaboration in vocabulary learning: A comparison of three rehearsal methods.‟ Research in Teaching of English 20(3) Ellis, R (1985) The Study of Second Language Acquisition USA: Oxford University Press Gu, Y ve Johnson, R (1996) Vocabulary Learning Strategies and Language Learning Outcomes Language Learning Journal , s 643-679 Kafipour, R (2010) Vocabulary Learning Strategies, Vocabulary Knowledge and Reading Comprehension of EFL Undergraduate Students in Iran (Unpublished doctoral dissertation) University Putra Malaysia, Malaysia Kraemer, K L (1991) Introduction Paper presented at The Information Systems Research Challenge: Survey Research Methods Kudo, Y (1999) L2 Vocabulary Learning Strategies (nflrc network 14) [html document] Honolulu: University of Hawai‟i Naiman et al., (1978; Rubin, 1975) Learning Strategies in Second Language Acquisition Nation, Paul (2001) Learning Vocabulary in Another Language Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 10 Natpassorn Riankamol (2008) A survey study of vocabulary learning strategies of gifted English students at Triam Udomsuksa School in the first semester of academic year 2008 Bangkok, Thailand: Language Institute, Thammasat University, 2008 11 Nunnally, J C., & Bernstein, I H (1994) Psychometric theory (3rd ed.) New York: Mcgraw-Hill 31 12 Laufer, B (1997) „The lexical plight in second language reading: Words you don’t know, words you think you know, and words you can’t guess.‟ In J Coady, and T Huckin, (Eds.), Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition 20-34 Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 13 Oxford, R L (1997) Cooperative learning, collaborative learning, and interaction: Three communicative strands in the language classroom The Modern Language Journal, 81, 443456 14 O‟Malley, J M., & Chamot, A U (1990) Learning strategies in second language acquisition Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 15 Pinsonneault, A., & Kraemer, K L (1993) Survey research methodology in management information systems: An assessment Journal of Management Information Systems, 10, 75-105 16 Pham Huong Lan (2016) Nghiên cứu ảnh hưởng việc sử dụng sổ ghi chép từ vựng việc học từ Tiếng Anh sinh viên năm thứ lớp tiên tiến, chất lượng cao Học Viện Nông Nghiệp Việt Nam 17 Phạm Thị Thu Trang( 2019- Nghiên cứu việc sử dụng chiến lược học từ vựng sinh viên năm thứ hai không chuyên tiếng anh trường đại học Nông Lâm- đại học Thái Nguyên) 18 Pressley, M., Levin, J.R., & Miller, G.E (1982) The keyword method compared to alternative vocabulary learning strategies Contemporary Educational Psychology 7, 50-60 19 Rubin, J (1987) Study of cognitive processes in second language learning Applied Linguistics, 11, 117-131 20 S Baskin, A Iscan, B Karagoz, G Birol (2017) The use of vocabulary learning strategies in teaching Turkish as a second language 21 Schmitt, N (1997) Vocabulary learning strategies In N Schmitt & M McCarthy (Eds.), Vocabulary: Description, acquisition and pedagogy (pp 199227) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 32 22 Schmitt, N (1997) Vocabulary learning strategies Vocabulary: Description, acquisition and pedagogy, 199227 23 Schmitt, N (2000) Vocabulary in language teaching New York: Cambridge University Press 24 Sharififar‟s, A a (February 2011) The Most and Least Frequently Used Vocabulary Learning Strategies among Iranian EFL Freshman Students and its Relationship to the Gender The Iranian EFL Journal , p.91 25 Stern, h.h (1992) Issues and options in language teaching Oxford: oup 26 Tran Huynh Thu Huong (2012) An investigation into the vocabulary learning strategy of ESP students in college of foreign language 27 Vi Văn Hương(2018) Chiến lược cách thức tự học từ vựng tiếng anh hiệu cho sinh viên trường đại học Tây Bắc 28 Wilkins, D A (1978) Linguistics in Language Teaching Massachusetts: The MIT Press 33 APPENDIX VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES * * * * * A survey on vocabulary learning strategies of first-year English-major students at VNUA The following questionnaire collects data objectively and takes around five minutes to complete All group information is kept completely private and is only used for research purposes Hopefully, you won't leave any questions unanswered and will respond to them from your own point of view Part 1, The respondents’ general information Name:………………………………… Email:………………………………… Class:…………………… Gender: Female Male Month of learning English: Part 2, The frequency of using vocabulary learning strategies Put (x) in the box which most describes your opinion on the strategies you use to learn English vocabulary 0-never 1- seldom 2- sometimes Item 3- often 4- always I use a bilingual dictionary to help me translate English words into native language I use pictures illustrated in the textbook to find the word meanings I learn meaning of words by identifying its 34 part of speech I ask the teacher to translate the words into English I ask the teacher to put an unknown word into a sentence to help me understand the word meaning I ask my classmate for meaning I know some new words when working in group works I practice English in group work activities I ask native speakers for help 10 I learn words about the culture of Englishspeaking countries 11 I write a new word in a sentence so I can remember it 12 I study a spelling of new words 13 I use physical actions when learning words 14 I speak words out loud when studying 15 I repeatedly practice new words 16 I write a new word on a flash card so I can remember it 17 I learn words by listening to vocabulary CDs 18 I record vocabulary from English soundtrack movies in my notebook 19 When I try to remember a word, I write or say it repeatedly 35 20 I make vocabulary cards and take them with me wherever I go 21 I listen to English songs and news 22 I memorize word from English magazines 23 I review my own English vocabulary cards for reviewing before the next lesson starts 24 I not worry very much about the difficult words found when reading or listening, I pass them 25 I use on-line exercise to test my vocabulary knowledge 36