The effects of extensive reading on students’ english vocabulary learning the case of xuan hung high school, dong nai province

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY - LÊ HỒNG HẢI THE EFFECTS OF EXTENSIVE READING ON STUDENTS’ ENGLISH VOCABULARY LEARNING: THE CASE OF XUAN HUNG HIGH SCHOOL, DONG NAI PROVINCE Major: English Language Course code: 1741900012 HO CHI MINH CITY, NOVEMBER 2019 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY - THE EFFECTS OF EXTENSIVE READING ON STUDENTS’ ENGLISH VOCABULARY LEARNING: THE CASE OF XUAN HUNG HIGH SCHOOL, DONG NAI PROVINCE Submitted to the Faculty of English Language in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in English Language Course code: 1741900012 By LE HONG HAI Supervised by LE THI THUY NHUNG, PhD HO CHI MINH CITY, NOVEMBER 2019 i CERTIFICATION OF THESIS DEFENSE The thesis entitled: THE EFFECTS OF EXTENSIVE READING ON STUDENTS’ ENGLISH VOCABULARY LEARNING: THE CASE OF XUAN HUNG HIGH SCHOOL, DONG NAI PROVINCE was successfully defended and approved on May 28th, 2020 at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HUTECH) Academic supervisor: Le Thi Thuy Nhung, Ph.D The Board of Examiners for the Master’s Thesis Defense No NAME FUNCTION Nguyen Tien Hung, Ph.D Chair Le Van Tuyen, Ph.D Reader Truong Cong Bang, Ph.D Reader Cao Thi Phuong Dung, Ph.D Member Nguyen Thi Nhu Ngoc, Ph.D Secretary Member On behalf of the Examination Committee Chair Nguyen Tien Hung, Ph.D ii HCM UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY POSTGRADUATE INSTITUTE HCMC, June 2020 MASTER’S THESIS REPORT Student name: LE HONG HAI Sex: Male Date of birth: April 21th, 1994 Place of birth: Dong Nai Major: English Language Student code: 1741900012 I- Thesis title: THE EFFECTS OF EXTENSIVE READING ON STUDENTS’ ENGLISH VOCABULARY LEARNING: THE CASE OF XUAN HUNG HIGH SCHOOL, DONG NAI PROVINCE II- Objectives and contents: Vocabulary is considered very important in language learning Using extensive reading, the objective of this study is to examine if students’ vocabulary knowledge has developed with extensive reading activities outside the class in Xuan Hung high school Through an experiment, the study also examined students’ attitudes towards extensive reading III- Starting date: October 28th, 2018 IV- Completing date: November 30th, 2019 V- Academic supervisor: Le Thi Thuy Nhung, Ph.D ACADEMIC SUPERVISOR Le Thi Thuy Nhung, Ph.D FACULTY DEAN Nguyen Thi Kieu Thu, Ph.D iii CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the Master’s Thesis submitted today entitled: The Effects of Extensive Reading on students’ English Vocabulary Learning: the case of Xuan Hung high school, Dong Nai province In terms of the statement of requirements for Theses in Master’s programs issued by the Higher Degree Committee of Faculty of English Language, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology Ho Chi Minh City, November 2019 LE HONG HAI iv RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS I hereby state that I, LE HONG HAI, being a candidate for the degree of Master of Arts (English Language) accepts the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my Master’s Thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Librarian for the care, loan, and reproduction for theses Ho Chi Minh City November 2019 Signature: LE HONG HAI v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The completion of this study could not have been possible without the help and support of so many people whose names may not all be listed I sincerely appreciated and gratefully acknowledged their contributions, especially HUTECH University and the teaching staff who enthusiastically help me during my progress of learning as well as completing this study Moreover, I would like to express my deep appreciation and indebtedness, particularly to Dr Le Thi Thuy Nhung for her endless assistance, guidance, motivation, kindness, and understanding spirit since the beginning of this uneasy and challenging journey Without her support and guidance, this thesis would never have been completed While working on this thesis, I sincerely express my gratitude to my dear students and parents for their encouragement and willingness to trust in me Without them, none of this would have been possible vi ABSTRACT Vocabulary plays an important role in learning English However, in rural areas, students have difficulties in acquiring new words because of the lack of learning English outside the class To improve students’ language learning, especially their vocabulary knowledge, this study examined how extensive reading could promote students’ vocabulary knowledge and their attitudes towards extensive reading An experiment was carried out among students in Xuan Hung high school, Dong Nai province, Vietnam Participants were 50 students in grade 11 divided into two groups, a control group, and an experimental group Besides conventional learning, the experimental group received months of extensive reading Pre-test and post-test were used to measure the gaining scores of the students in both groups Questionnaires were used to find out students’ attitudes about extensive reading The findings of this study reflect the improvement of students towards extensive reading Using the SPSS 19 to analyze data and T-test to examine the difference between two groups of students, the findings show that the students in the experimental group showed a significant improvement in their vocabulary knowledge after the experiment From the results of questionnaires, students had positive attitudes about the extensive reading course (197 words) Keywords: Extensive reading; vocabulary acquisition; vocabulary learning, vocabulary, word knowledge, students’ attitude vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Certification of thesis defense i Master thesis’s report ii Certificate of originality iii Retention and use of the thesis iv Acknowledgments… v Abstract vi Table of contents vii List of tables… xi List of figures xii List of abbreviations and symbols xiii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study 1.2 Statements of the problem 1.3 Aims of the study 1.4 Research questions 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Significance of the study 1.7 Definitions of key terms 1.8 Organization of the thesis CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Extensive reading 2.2.1 The role of reading in TEFL 2.2.2 Historical background of extensive reading 2.2.3 Extensive reading and its characteristics viii 2.2.4 Differences between extensive reading and intensive reading 13 2.2.5 Benefits of extensive reading 15 2.2.6 The materials for reading in the extensive reading program course 16 2.2.7 Graded readers 19 2.3 Vocabulary learning 19 2.3.1 The importance of vocabulary 19 2.3.2 The relationship between reading comprehension and vocabulary 20 2.3.3 Incidental and intentional vocabulary learning in extensive reading 21 2.4 Extensive reading and vocabulary acquisition 23 2.4.1 Extensive reading and the acquisition of vocabulary knowledge 23 2.4.2 Input hypothesis 25 2.4.3 Disadvantages of extensive reading towards vocabulary acquisition 26 2.5 Extensive Reading towards students’ reading attitudes 27 2.6 Review of previous studies 28 2.7 Conceptual framework 29 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 3.1 Introduction 31 3.2 Research design 31 3.3 Research site Sample and sampling procedure 34 3.4 Sample and sampling procedure 34 3.5 Research instruments and materials 37 3.6 Data collection procedure 43 3.7 Validity and reliability of the research 44 3.8 Data analysis procedures 44 3.9 Summary 45 3.10 Ethical consideration 45 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS STORY: FRANKENSTEIN KEY: CHAPTER 1: Yes Because Victor Frankenstein (who was on the second sledge) wanted to catch and kill the monster The ‘huge figure’ (the monster) has not gone far; he is waiting near Captain Walton’s ship, to see what happens to his creator Yes CHAPTERS TO F Mrs Frankenstein was not Elizabeth’s real mother T F Victor’s mother hoped that he would marry Elizabeth F Victor went to university alone T F He did not want anybody to know the secret of his machine F He was very frightened of the creature that he had made CHAPTERS AND 1+10 William was murdered while he and Ernest were playing in the countryside 2+14 At the time, William was wearing a gold chain, which Elizabeth had lent him 3+8 When Victor saw the monster at the scene of the crime, he knew at once who had killed William 4+13 Victor tried to catch the murderer, but the monster could run much faster than any man 5+11 The police thought Justine had killed William, so they arrested her and put her on trial 105 6+12 Because everyone hated him, the monster was the unhappiest creature in the world 7+9 Victor realized he had given the monster life, but he had not given him love CHAPTERS TO What ? They shouted, screamed, ran away, or threw stones at him How ? He cut firewood for them How ? He listened to Felix and his family talking, and also learned by listening to Felix teaching Sophie What ? He wanted him to understand that he was a kind creature and not a monster Who ? The father of the girl that the monster rescued from the river Who ? The monster What ? He put it into Justine’s pocket CHAPTERS 10 TO 12 Victor Frankenstein to the monster, who has caused the deaths of William and Justine, but who is now asking for a woman monster to share his life The monster to Victor Frankenstein, promising to be good if Victor makes a woman companion for him Victor’s father to Victor, asking him if he loves another woman, not Elizabeth The monster to Victor, after Victor had destroyed the woman monster Victor to the dead Henry Clerval, realizing that a third person was now dead because of the monster that he had created Elizabeth to Victor, explaining that Victor need not marry her if he didn’t want to CHAPTERS 13 TO 15 Because he was afraid the monster would go there and kill the rest of his family In order to find and destroy the monster To make Victor feel as much pain and misery as he, the monster, has felt 106 To chase the monster and kill him He planned to build a great fire, and lie down on it to die 107 APPENDIX J: Summary of four stories Story: Alice’s adventure in Wonderland The story is about a girl whose name is Alice When sitting on the river bank, she sees a rabbit The rabbit says that he is late and jumps down into a hole She follows the rabbit and the adventure begins Strange things begin to happen through the story such as Alice is shrank when she drank a potion and she became normal when eating a cake In the middle of the novel, Alice finds out the way wonderland works by drinking just enough potion or eating just enough cake to become normal while searching for the garden While in the garden, Alice saves the playing cards by hiding them in the safe place from the queen who is going to cut the head off In the last part, Alice is in a courtroom and Jack of Heart is being sentenced for stealing the Queen's tarts The trials are very chaotic Alice is bolder and says the truth about the trials The queen wants to cut off her head and she awakes The story comes to an end when Alice tells her sister about that dream, and her sister says that she will become an adult and keep her "heart of childhood” Story: Robinson Crusoe In Robinson Crusoe, he is isolated in an uninhabited island Having lived there for 28 years, he documents the lives of things for the journal Then he was rescued by a British ship In the mid 17th century, Robinson Crusoe works as a sailor, which his parents opposed to because they want him to study laws Crusoe manages to survive in the Caribbean and establish a camp for himself Much of the story follows the time when he tries to survive and to make his life more comfortable He documents his lives such as gardening, hunting 108 After a lot of years, he is saved by a prisoner from a group of cannibals who come to the island He gives the man a name: Friday and converts him to Christianity and enjoys his company Later, he is saved by a British ship He returns to England in a short time, however, he has not been inherited, because his father thought that he is dead After that, he begins another adventure Story: The Jungle Book The Jungle Book is a story about a young boy whose name is Mowgli, a member of a Wolf Pack and Shere Khan, who hates Mowgli and the wolf leader, Akela When Mowgli grows up, he must come back to the village After being attacked by Shere Khan, Mowgli saves father Wolf and he asks the leader of the wolves to accept Mowgli to join the wolves Then Mowgli comes back to the people world, but he realizes that Shere Khan has been plotting against Akela He defeats the tiger but knows that someday he will come back to the village Mowgli is taken down to the Cold Lairs by a python named Kaa, where he steals an ankus Because of fearing the ankus, he discards it Six people are dead After that, Mowgli is sad and gradually comes back to the people world Story: Frankenstein The story is about an explorer whose name is Robert Walton When finding a way through the Arctic, he meets a man adrift on an ice floe then he invites him on board The man calls himself Victor Frankenstein, he is a scientist searching for unbelievable creation When he was a student at university, Victor was obsessed to explore the secret of life Once in his experiment, he collects and combines body parts with an effort to create 109 a living creature When he succeeds in creating it, Victor flees with fear The Creature exists in the world and hides from humans because of his appearance Gaining the knowledge, he realizes that his existence is a horror and Victor was the cause The Creature starts to hunt down and kill Victor’s beloved people, his friend Henry and his wife, Elizabeth are also killed It chases Victor to the Arctic, where Victor was dead on Walton’s ship The Creature stays in the Arctic alone after Victor's death and finishes his life there 110 APPENDIX K: Representative pre tests and post tests of control group 111 112 113 114 APPENDIX L: Representative pre tests and post tests of experimental group 115 116 117 118 Appendix M: VIPER plagiarism checking report 119