Nghiên cứu về những chiến lược từ vựng tiếng anh chuyên ngành của sinh viên ngành kinh tế tại trường đại học đà nẵng phân hiệu tại kon tum

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES THACH THI HAI HUYEN A STUDY ON STRATEGIES TO LEARN ENGLISH SPECIALIZED VOCABULARY BY STUDENTS OF ECONOMICS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF DANANG – CAMPUS IN KON TUM PROVINCE THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Hue University of Foreign Languages HUE, 2017 i MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES THACH THI HAI HUYEN A STUDY ON STRATEGIES TO LEARN ENGLISH SPECIALIZED VOCABULARY BY STUDENTS OF ECONOMICS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF DANANG – CAMPUS IN KON TUM PROVINCE MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60.14.01.11 SUPERVISOR: ASSOC PROF DR LE PHAM HOAI HUONG HUE, 2017 ii BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ THẠC THỊ HẢI HUYỀN NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ NHỮNG CHIẾN LƯỢC HỌC TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN NGÀNH CỦA SINH VIÊN NGÀNH KINH TẾ TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC ĐÀ NẴNG PHÂN HIỆU TẠI KON TUM LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 60.14.01.11 NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: PGS.TS LÊ PHẠM HOÀI HƯƠNG HUE, 2017 iii STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY This work has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any university To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself Date: 22/12/ 2017 Signature Thach Thi Hai Huyen iv ABSTRACT The present study primarily aimed at investigating which vocabulary learning strategies (VLSs) used by students at Danang University - Campus in Kontum (UD-CK) and their difficulties in learning specialized vocabulary The participants were 100 students studying at UD-CK Data were collected by means of questionnaire, interview and diary The data from questionnaires, diary and interview indicated that the students learning reported to use most of the VLSs: Determination Strategies, Social Strategies, Memory Strategies, Cognitive Strategies, Metacognitive Strategies to discover and retrieve English specialized vocabulary In addition, the students reported to face some problems in learning specialized vocabulary These problems included forgetting easily specialized words, not knowing how to pronounce words correctly, not knowing how to use specialized words or lack of learning facilities Based on the research findings, recommendations were put forward for teachers and students in teaching and learning English specialized vocabulary v A C K N O W L E D G E M E N TS The current MA thesis would not have been completed without valuable support of many people Therefore, I would love to express my deepest gratitude to all of them First and foremost, my sincere gratitude goes to my supervisor Assoc Prof Dr Le Pham Hoai Huong, who sent me the encouraging and inspiring words She has provided me professional knowledge and deep experience in research in vocabulary learning She patiently guided me to find out my area of interest She carefully reviewed my thesis drafts She offered critical feedback and comments through my entire research papers Without her knowledge and assistance, this study would not have been completed Secondly, I would like to thank all lecturers, staff, and students at Danang University- Campus in Kontum Without their participation, I would not be able to finish this study Thirdly, I would also like to thank all lecturers and staff of English Department at Hue University of Foreign Languages for all valuable and great knowledge, and support Furthermore, I am very grateful to all my friends in the MA class and my close friends for their support and encouragement whenever I had trouble Finally, I would like to thank my family for their special care and support during the challenging time working on the thesis vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL : English as a Foreign Language ESL : English as a Second Language ESP : English for Specific Purpose UD-CK : Danang University Campus in Kontum L1 : First Language L2 : Second Language VNUH : Vietnam National University, Hanoi VLSs : Vocabulary learning strategies DET : Determination Strategies SOC : Social Strategies MEM : Memory Strategies COG : Cognitive Strategies MET : Metacognitive Strategies vii TABLES OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii TABLES OF CONTENTS TABLES OF CHARTS CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Research objectives 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Research significance 1.6 Structure of the study CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Theoretical background 2.2.1 Vocabulary and Word 2.2.2 General vocabulary and specialized vocabulary 12 2.2.3 Methodology in vocabulary teaching and learning 14 2.2.4 Vocabulary learning strategies 16 2.2.5 Teaching and learning ESP vocabulary 21 2.3 Previous studies 23 2.4 Summary 25 CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY 26 3.1 Introduction 26 3.2 Participants 26 3.3 Instruments 27 3.3.1 Vocabulary Learning Strategies Questionnaire 27 3.3.2 Interview 28 3.3.3 Diary 29 3.4 Procedure 29 3.5 Data Analysis 30 3.6 Summary 30 CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 32 4.1 Introduction 32 4.2 Vocabulary strategies used by students in learning specialized vocabulary 32 4.2.1 Discovery Strategies 33 4.2.2 Consolidation Strategies 36 4.3 Difficulties faced by students in learning English specialized vocabulary 44 4.4 Summary 48 CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, LIMITATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH 49 5.1 Summary of the key findings 49 5.2 Implications 50 5.2.1 For students 50 5.2.2 For teachers 51 5.2.3 For administrators 52 5.3 Limitations of the study 52 5.4 Suggestions for further study 53 5.5 Conclusions 53 REFERENCES 54 APPENDIX 59 TABLES OF CHARTS Table Descriptions of the categories of Vocabulary learning Strategies 28 Chart 4.2 Students' Reported Use of Social strategy in Consolidating English Specialized Vocabulary 37 Table 4.2.2 Students' Reported Use of Memory Strategy 38 Chart 4.2 Students' Reported Use of Cognitive Strategy 41 Chart 4.2 Students' Reported Use of Metacognitive Strategy 42 Chart 4.3 Students' difficulties in learning English specialized vocabulary 44 dictionary is that learners may not be experienced in using dictionaries, or else might be demotivated by the complexities of the larger desk-dictionaries To solve this problem, it is the role of the teacher who should give instructions to his students to use dictionaries Self-access materials Some materials are designed for self-access with an aim to diversifying outof-class activities, for example, cassette courses are useful for businesspeople on driving time, or computer-assisted language learning is good for home training Such self-access materials help increase motivation and awareness of learners, and enable learners to access authentic materials besides class times (Ellis and Johnson, 1996) Therefore, students at UD-CK should be advised to listen to tapes accompanied with the textbook and others more frequently to better their pronunciation and word memory as well Besides, computers are seen to be an invaluable teaching aid for teachers of English In modern society, mostly everyone is required to be computer literate The use of computers helps students to learn at their own pace, lever their motivation and enable self-check (Ur, 1996) Currently, a variety of websites are offering learners different sorts of materials Authentic reading materials about topics students have learned are really necessary as through which learners can acquire vocabulary, grammatical structure and rhetoric Therefore, students should be more active to ask from their friends or teachers to get addresses of these websites to visit and practice subject to their need 5.2.2 For teachers It is also hoped that the present study could be used as a reference for ESP teachers to help the learners who find difficulties in comprehending the meaning of vocabulary in ESP context The teachers could suggest or teach the students to use the strategies from the present study Moreover, the teachers can also direct the students to be independent learners by introducing and teaching the students to apply the vocabulary learning strategies in learning technical words 51 Actually, it seems that not many students are familiar with these strategies Therefore, the present study suggests that it is vitally important for students to be trained in vocabulary learning strategies Nation (2001) maintains that there is enough evidence that explicit instruction of strategies can improve learners' strategic knowledge Furthermore, strategy training leads to learner autonomy It helps them to become aware of their own preferences and habits and feel responsible for own learning What the researcher has mentioned is meant to call for more awareness from the teachers of the importance of students’ specialized vocabulary learning strategies at the university Their contribution can be made in the kind of encouraging and guiding their students how to approach effective strategies of learning English vocabulary, and designing vocabulary presentation, consolidation through diversified teaching techniques in order to lessen their students’ to the minimum 5.2.3 For administrators It is apparent that learning conditions play a vital role in learning process and affect completely the results Therefore, the challenges would be overcome if the leaders in this context should equip classroom with visual aids, pronunciation charts, reference materials, dictionaries, radio, TVs, computers, video, projectors, etc Last but not least, the learners at UD-CK have no chance to talk to native speakers and English teachers at this context are not experts in economic content In order to deal with this situation, the administrators should invite some economic experts from foreign countries to help students have more chance to practice speaking English and explain deeper economic words 5.3 Limitations of the study The study has been conducted in a short time and the data have been attained from a small number of particular students at UD-CK, so the findings may hold true for the teaching and learning English specialized vocabulary in the selected context Accordingly, the findings may not be applied to a larger number of informants More participants from other groups and other contexts would better indicate a higher degree of generalization for wide teaching and learning context 52 5.4 Suggestions for further study Firstly, further study can examine the effectiveness of the vocabulary learning strategies found in this study Close and open-ended questionnaire, a test, and in-depth interview can be conducted to find how effective the strategies chosen for discovering, remembering, and producing economic words in ESP Including an open-ended and indepth interview can give students more space to deliver more detailed information that might help future researchers to enrich the data for the finding Secondly, specialized vocabulary learning in English for Business Studies is a complex process which depends upon a lot of other factors Future researcher can further investigate problems and causes on vocabulary learning by looking at learners’ internal factors (Lightbown and Spada, 1999) like learner’ intelligence, aptitude, personality, motivation and attitudes, preferences, belief, age acquisition, or external factors like learner’ FL environment, or learner’ cultural background Thirdly, future researcher may pursue for a study on business students’ vocabulary learning on the whole compared with students of general English to find out what similarities and differences, and causes are there in this process, what should be done to treat the would-be found problem 5.5 Conclusions In summary, this study contributes some main findings to the previous studies on the use of VLSs in learning specialized vocabulary It is found that Social and Memory Strategies were reported to be most used and Cognitive and Metacognitive Strategies were least used by the participants in learning English specialized vocabulary It also found some difficulties faced by students at UD-CK With a lot of difficulties in learning conditions, prior knowledge in English and economic of students and teachers at UD-CK, the findings of this study will shed a light in teaching and learning English specialized vocabulary in this context particularly and in high land generally Based on the findings, it is important that language teachers, students, and administrators at UD-CK recognize the value of VLSs, and how VLSs can contribute to language teaching and learning ESP courses 53 REFERENCES Akbari, Z & Tahririan, M.H.(2009) Vocabulary learning strategies in an ESP context: The case of paramedical English in Iran Asian ESP Journal, 11 (1), 39-61 Akbari, Z (2011) Vocabulary comprehension and learning in an ESP context: Strategy use and knowledge sources Asian ESP 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First, please answer the Background Information Section, and then complete the Vocabulary Learning Strategies Section Your personal information will be kept confidential and will only be used for the purpose of this study Age: Sex: (please tick )  Male  Female Years of learning English: years The following is a list of vocabulary learning strategies In this study, vocabulary learning strategies refer to conscious and semi-conscious thoughts and actions that language learners use to help them to enhance vocabulary learning and use (For examples using flashcard, dictionary, pictures, etc.) I would like you to indicate how often you have used certain strategies when you learn English vocabulary, regardless of the skills (i.e listening, reading, speaking, and writing) and of the place of learning (i.e at school, or home) If you not use a strategy at all, please tick  the word No If you use a strategy, please tick  the words Yes Which strategies you use in learning English specialized vocabulary? No Vocabulary Learning Strategies Section Statement Determination Strategy I analyze part of speech of a new word to discover its meaning I analyze affix and roots to discover its meaning I guess the meaning of a new word from the context when I read I use English-Vietnamese dictionary I use English-English dictionary 59 Yes No I use flash cards to help me study new words Social Strategy I ask teacher for help I ask classmates to explain the meaning of new word I work in groups to discover meaning of a new word 10 I study and practice meaning of a new word in group 11 My teacher will check my flash cards or word lists for accuracy 12 I interact with native speakers Memory Strategy 13 I study words with a pictorial representation of its meaning 14 I connect a new word to my personal experience to remember a new word 15 I associate the word with its coordinates 16 I group words to their synonyms and antonyms 17 I use semantic maps to remember new English words 18 I put the words in groups to study them together 19 I group words spatially on a page in order to study them 20 I use new words in sentences and in conversations so I can remember them 21 I put new words into a story so I can remember them 22 I study the spelling of a word 23 I remember the sound of a word 24 I pronounce the new word aloud when I study 25 I image the word form when I study 26 I underline initial letter of the word when I study 27 I use key word method when I study new words 28 I remember the affixes and roots of a new word 29 I remember part of the speech of a new word 30 I paraphrase the meaning of a word 31 I learn the words with an idiom together 32 I use physical action when learning to remember new words Cognitive Strategy 33 I see a new English word several times 34 I write a new English word several times 35 I use word lists to study and remember words 36 I use flash cars to study and remember words 37 I write vocabulary notes in class 60 38 I write vocabulary sections in my textbook 39 I listen to tapes of word lists 40 I put English labels on physical objects 42 Metacognitive Strategy I listen to English radio, watch TV programs, or read books, magazines or fictions 43 I test myself with word test 44 I use spaced word practice 45 I skip or pass new words 46 I continue to study words over time What are your difficulties in learning English specialized words? (You can tick  more than one answer) No Vocabulary Learning Strategies Section Statement 47 I cannot remember English specialized words 48 I find it is easy to forget English specialized words 49 I forget some English specialized words after class 50 I remember English specialized words but cannot pronounce the English specialized words correctly 5.1 I not know how to use English specialized words 52 I try to look for their equivalents in Vietnamese but I can't 53 There is lack of learning facilities (dictionary, picture, cassette, video, etc.) and reference materials to learn English specialized words 54 The specialized English vocabularies in the course book are not suitable (too difficult/ too easy) for us 55 I don't know which strategy is suitable in learning specialized English vocabulary Yes No Others: (please specify) ……………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………… Thank you for your cooperation! 61 APPENDIX INTERVIEW QUESTIONS How you plan your English specialized vocabulary learning? What you when you meet a new English specialized word? How often you learn English specialized vocabulary in class? How often you learn English specialized vocabulary at home? Do you have any difficulties in learning English specialized vocabulary? - If yes, what are they? Can you give me some examples? - If no, why not? Please explain 62 APPENDIX RESEARCH DIARY Student's name: ………………………… How to use this diary This diary is a record of your strategies in learning English specialized vocabulary - You may take this diary into the classroom when you learn vocabulary - You can take notes on any English specialized words that you have learnt in this diary Your notes may include such as aspects of English specialized words: + Grammar (datum - data,… ) + Collocation (booked up = full, busy), + Aspects of meaning (Cash Turnover = Net Sales / Cash) + Word formation (subsidiary) + Pronunciation and spelling (tax /tæks/) Please give back the filled diary to me after each week Date Example: 15/01/2017 The English specialized word you have learned (Please write them clearly) account How did you learn these English specialized words? Your difficulties in learning these words I asked my friends - I did not pronoun for the meaning of the word correctly the word - I not know how to use this word in other exercises 63 64 65