A study on using the spaced repetition technique on smartphone application to improve english vocabulary for the first year english majors at hong duc university

DECLARATION I hereby declare that I, Vu Thi Dieu Linh, a student of the Faculty of Foreign languages at Hong Duc University, confirm my authorship in the research titled “A study on using the spaced repetition technique on smartphone application to improve English vocabulary for the first-year English majors at Hong Duc University.” The thesis is the result of my own research and the substance of the thesis has been submitted neither as a whole nor in part for a degree to any other universities or institutions Thanh Hoa, May 2022 Vu Thi Dieu Linh ACKNOWLEDGEMENT On completing this graduation thesis, first and foremost, I would like to express my profound gratitude to Ms Trinh Thi Hang, my respectful supervisor, who has always given me precious advice and suggestions Without her instructive remarks as well as corrections, the study could not have been accomplished I am also immensely thankful for the enthusiastic support, unique ideas, and valuable suggestions of my beloved lecturers, my friends, and especially my classmates in class K21A of the Faculty of Foreign Languages of Hong Duc University They are those who have always comforted and encouraged me to overcome obstacles while I was carrying out my study I could not finish this paper if there was no assistance from freshmen in class K24B of the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Hong Duc university They are those who have directly participated in my own research I would like to send my big thanks to all of these students Last but not least, I owe a debt of gratitude to my family, my parents, and my elder sister for all their infinite spiritual support during the implementation of the study Without them, I could hardly have had enough bravery to deal with difficulties and keep going on with my research ABSTRACT The purpose of the study was to find out the efficiency of applying spaced repetition technique in learning vocabulary for freshmen specializing in English language teaching at Hong Duc University Participants in the study included 60 first-year English majored students in class K24B of the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Hong Duc University They were chosen to become the subjects of survey questionnaires about attitudes as well as techniques to learn vocabulary Furthermore, 60 students were divided into groups (a control group and an experimental group) to be subjects who took part in the experimental research Both groups answered the pre-test and post-test questions about vocabulary However, the experimental group used spaced repetition technique while the control one used traditional methods of learning vocabulary At the end of the study, the students of the experimental group who applied spaced repetition technique showed more positive results in memorizing vocabulary than the control one Therefore, the effectiveness of SRT in improving vocabulary had been proven In addition, some recommendations were given for further study in the future LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EU European Union SRT Spaced repetition technique FFL Faculty of foreign languages No Number IELTS International English Language Testing System TOEIC Test of English for International Communication LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure 3.2.1 The number of years that students have learnt English 30 Figure 3.2.2 Students' level of interest in English 31 Figure 3.2.3 Students’ opinions on learning vocabulary 32 Figure 3.2.4 Students’ frequency of learning vocabulary 33 Figure 3.2.5 Students’ time of learning vocabulary per day .33 Figure 3.2.6 The way that students use to learn vocabulary the most often 34 Figure 3.2.7 The problem students often face most when learning words 34 Figure 3.2.8 The number of students who tried using this technique before.35 Table 3.2.1 Students’ attitude to learning vocabulary by using SRT 36 Table 3.2.2 Students’ vocabulary memory ability after using SRT .36 Table 3.2.3 Students’ other skills after using SRT .37 Figure 3.3.1 The number of correct answers and the equivalent percentage in the pre-test 38 Figure 3.3.2 The number of correct answers and the equivalent percentage in the post-test .39 TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION .i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES .v TABLE OF CONTENTS .vi PART I INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale .1 Aims of the study Scope of the study .3 Methods of the study Design of the study PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Vocabulary .4 1.1.1 Definitions of vocabulary 1.1.2 Types of vocabulary 1.1.3 The importance of vocabulary 1.1.4 Strategies for learning vocabulary 1.2 Spaced repetition technique 10 1.2.1 Definition of the spaced repetition technique .10 1.2.2 The operation process of SRT .11 1.2.3 Smartphone applications using SRT 13 1.2.4 Advantages of SRT for learning vocabulary .17 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 18 2.1 Settings 18 2.2 Participants .18 2.3 Data collection instruments 19 2.3.1 Teacher interview 19 2.3.2 Survey questionnaires for students 19 2.3.3 Tests 20 2.3.3.1 Pre-test 20 2.3.3.2 Post-test 20 2.4 Procedures 20 2.5 Programs 22 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 30 3.1 Results of interview 30 3.2 Results of questionnaire 30 3.3 Results of pre-test 38 3.4 Results of post-test 39 PART 3: CONCLUSION 40 3.1 Summaries and conclusions 40 3.2 Limitations of the study 40 3.3 Suggestions and implicatures 41 REFERENCES viii APPENDICES x APPENDIX 1: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS x APPENDIX 2: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS xi APPENDIX 3: PRE-TEST xiii APPENDIX 4: POST-TEST xvi APPENDIX 5: QUESTIONNAIRE AFTER THE EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM xxiii PART I INTRODUCTION Rationale It is unquestionable that English is considered a global language It is the official language of more than 53 countries and territories, the official language of the EU, and the third most widely used language in the world (only after Chinese and Spanish due to the advantage of the population number of these countries) In Vietnam, since starting the opendoor process to the world in many aspects such as getting involved in globalization, international economic integration, and trade liberalization, English, the international tongue, has achieved dominance Indeed, it is manifested by the Ministry of Education chose it to be the first foreign language taught at schools in Vietnam Therefore, the higher demand for learning English in our country than ever English positively facilitates job promotions, foreign cooperation, etc The high need of society for learning English entails changes as well as reforms in teaching this language In the past, it used to be taught in a dull and uninspiring way At that time, students just passively absorbed the knowledge from their teachers Furthermore, the education system placed great emphasis on grammar knowledge As a result, it caused invisible pressure on students and made learning English boring However, today, along with educational improvements in teaching and learning methods, the learners gradually become the centered subject while the role of the teacher should be just the instructor instead of the controller Nowadays, students are learning evenly between grammar and skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills) When taking up a language, the fundamental matter is to learn vocabulary It is obvious to see that a lack of words will interfere with the learning of grammar or other skills For example, lack of vocabulary, students cannot the reading tasks in the reading section, or when practicing speaking, students also not have enough vocabulary to present their ideas The beginning of a new foreign language is always a greeting English is hi, French is Bonjour, German is Hallo If you want to go further in conversations, some basic words are not enough That is the reason why we all have to learn as much vocabulary as possible As far as learning vocabulary, there is another worrying condition among students, especially freshmen, which is the problem of memory Young first-year students often find themselves stuck with the state of " going in one ear and out the other" In other words, it is called vocabulary forgetfulness If they couldn't remember words, how can they use them proficiently? In reality, through basic research, besides many gifted students in learning vocabulary, a majority of first-year students at the Department of Foreign Languages at Hong Duc University have difficulty in learning vocabulary They are often fed up with cramming a lot of words Moreover, after learning vocabulary for a while, they encounter the state of forgetting words quickly In addition, according to some lecturers, although the first year in university is the prerequisite year of building vocabulary for language learning, a lot of students are not diligent or interested in learning words Therefore, the vocabulary of the first-year students is not large Due to the above-mentioned reasons, I conducted the thesis "A study on using the spaced repetition technique on smartphone application to improve English vocabulary for the first-year English majors at Hong Duc University." In my thesis, I would like to help students in improving their vocabulary learning, avoiding the issues of forgetting words, and building a rich vocabulary as a platform for them to study and enhance other skills such as grammar, reading, writing, and so forth 2 Aims of the study The main objectives of the study are as follows -This study aims to find out the effectiveness of applying Spaced repetition technique in learning vocabulary for freshmen specializing in English at Hong Duc University -The research provides suggestions and implications for teaching and learning vocabulary efficiently for the first-year students at Hong Duc University Scope of the study There are plenty of techniques that are likely to apply to study vocabulary It is immensely difficult to cover all techniques In addition, due to time limitations as well as the researcher’s ability and working conditions, the study mainly focuses on using spaced repetition technique in studying English vocabulary for the first-year English majors at Hong Duc University Methods of the study A combination of various methods has been used in this study The following are methods exploited: -Carrying out interviews for teachers to collect data -Conducting survey questionnaires to find out students’ views on English vocabulary learning - Using pre-test to assess student’s vocabulary level before using SRT and post-test to re-evaluate the effectiveness of vocabulary memory capability after applying SRT Design of the study The study consists of three parts: Part 1: Introduction addresses with Rationale, Aims of the study, Scope of the study, Methods of the Study, and Design of the study