An investigation into the studying of english vocabulary for first year english major students at hung yen university of technology and education

Trang 1 HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES --- GRADUATION PAPER FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICSAN INVESTIGATION INTO THE STUDYING OF ENGLISH VOCABULA

HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES - GRADUATION PAPER FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE STUDYING OF ENGLISH VOCABULARY FOR FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENS AT HUNG YEN UNVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION (NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC HỌC TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT CHUYÊN NGÀNH NGÔN NGỮ ANH TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM KỸ THUẬT HƯNG YÊN) Supervisor: Nguyen Nang Tuan, MA Student: Vu Thi Nhan Student number: 11317100 Hung Yen – 2021 HUNG YEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES - GRADUATION PAPER FIELD: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE STUDYING OF ENGLISH VOCABULARY FOR FIRST-YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENS AT HUNG YEN UNVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY AND EDUCATION (NGHIÊN CỨU VIỆC HỌC TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT CHUYÊN NGÀNH NGÔN NGỮ ANH TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM KỸ THUẬT HƯNG YÊN) Student: Vu Thi Nhan Student number: 11317100 Supervisor: Nguyen Nang Tuan, MA (ký tên) Hung Yen – 2021 i DECLARATION I certify that the thesis "An investigation into the studying of English vocabulary for first-year English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education" is the result of my own research and the substance of the thesis has not been submitted for a degree to any other universities or situations Hai Duong, Jun, 2021 Signature ii ACKNOWLEDMENT I am grateful to many people for giving their sincere help to me in doing this graduation paper First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest thanks to my supervisor, Mr Nguyen Nang Tuan, who guide me to the right way to complete this thesis Without her help I can not finish this work perfectly Secondly, I would like to give my special thanks to all the teachers and students of English of FFL for their help and cooperation during data collection process Finally, I would like to thank my family, my dear friends who gave me support and encouragement during the time the study was carried out iii ABSTRACT This is a study that aims to investigate the strategies used by the students of English major in dealing with their difficulties during learning vocabulary Having good amount of vocabulary is one of the competences that the learners have to master since the Faculty of Foreign Language often use skills as mean off assessment Vocabulary is considered as an important task which is beneficial for the student's English skills for instance: listening, speaking, reading, writing Many of EFL students are having a lot of problems when learning vocabulary Therefore, it is important to discover the strategies used by students that have effective ways in learning vocabulary The participants of this study are 70 students of English major The researcher uses quantitative and qualitative method through interview and survey questions The thesis will study the ways of learning vocabulary encountered by first-year English majors at UTEHY Then, find out the difficulties that first-year students majoring in English at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education face in learning vocabulary The results of the study will show the difficulties that students face when learning vocabulary More importantly, the research helped me find the cause of those difficulties which in turn provided some implications for improving the vocabulary of the first year students In the hope of improving the vocabulary learning ability of the first year students students, I have tried my best to carry out this thesis with my own experience and knowledge of English teaching methods iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDMENT ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES vii LIST OF ABBREVIATION .viii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCES 1.1 Rationale of the study 1.2 Aims of the study 1.3 Researcher question 1.4 Scope of study 1.5 Methods of the study 1.6 The main content of the topic 2.1 Definition of vocabulary 2.2 Classifications of vocabulary 2.2.1 Perceptive and productive vocabulary 2.2.2 High-frequency, low-frequency, technical and academic vocabulary 2.3 The conditions for vocabulary learning 2.3.2 Thoughtful processing 2.4 The role of vocabulary 2.5 Vocabulary learning methods: 2.5.1 Decontextualizing Techniques 2.5.1.1 Word list 2.5.1.2 Flashcards 2.5.2.1 Word Grouping v 2.5.2.2 Word or Concept Association 2.5.2.3 Visual Imagery 10 2.5.2.4 Aural Imagery 11 2.5.2.5.Keyword 12 2.5.2.6 Physical Sensation 13 2.6 Difficulties in learning vocabulary 14 a Pronunciation 14 b Spelling 14 c Length and complexity 14 d Grammar 14 e Meaning 14 f Range, connotation and idiomaticity 15 a Similarity to L1 15 b Similarity to English words already known 15 c Connotation 15 d Spelling and pronunciation 15 e Multi-word items 16 f Appropriate use 16 CHAPTER 3:THE STUDY 17 3.1 Methodology 17 3.2 The participants 17 3.3 Data collection instruments 17 3.4 Survey questionnaires 17 3.5 Interview 18 3.6 Procedure of the data collection 18 3.7 Data analysis 18 vi Questionnaires 19 4.4 Interview 28 4.5 Discussion of the findings 30 4.6 Recommendations 31 CHAPTER IV: CONCLUSION 33 5.1 Summary of the study 33 5.2 Limitation of the study 33 5.3 Suggestions for the further study 33 5.4 Conclusions 34 REFERENCES 35 APPENDIX: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE STUDENTS ix APPENDIX 2: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS xiv APPENDIX 3: THE TAPE SCRIPT xv vii LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES LIST OF CHARTS Chart 3.1: Students' perception toward learning vocabulary 19 Chart 3.2: The frequency of having vocabulary lesson in class 20 Chart 3.3: How you learn vocabulary 21 Chart 3.4: Students’ interest in leaning vocabulary 22 Chart 3.5: The frequency of students forgetting vocabulary 24 Chart 3.6: Have you learned a lot of vocabulary but can not use it when communicating? 25 Chart 3.7:Activities help students better their vocabulary 27 Chart 3.8: Solutions to improve vocabulary for students 28 LIST OF TABLE Table 3.1: The difficulties that students face in learning vocabulary 23 Table 3.2: Students’ assessment about activities they like in learning vocabulary 26 viii LIST OF ABBREVIATION FFL : Faculty of Foreign Language UTEHY : Hung Yen University of Technology and Education K18 : the name of first-year English major students at Faculty of Foreign Language at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education TPR : Total Physical Response 30 (and many ouner skills) directly from native speakers It provides real English videos like movie trailers, music videos, inspiring talks and more that have been transformed into personalized English lessons” (student 3) In general, that these solutions were very good and suitable for each student because they know their weak as well as their 4.5 Discussion of the findings The part discusses the finding of the study in order to answer three research questions in the introduction 4.5.1 The current situations of learning vocabulary among the first-year English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education By analyzing the questionnaire and interview of students, most of students propose that they learn vocabulary through skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing However, students also have their own ways to learn vocabulary themselves such as: word list, flashcard or key words 4.5.2 The difficulties the first-year English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education face in learning vocabulary There are lots of difficulties which affect the students in learning vocabulary Basing on the statistic questionnaire and interview of students, we can find out seven difficulties such as : vocabulary's uses, forms, meaning, pronunciations, spellings, not appropriate techniques and so on Each difficulty impacts on students' learning vocabulary However, students give out hindrances on their difficulties for learning vocabulary to find out the solutions to improve 4.5.3 The effective ways of learning vocabulary According to the result from the survey questionnaire and interview, most of students approve that students' vocabulary will be more effective when taking part in English clubs/contests, using social media: TV, Internet That make their vocabulary can be improved very much Especially, teachers should give them more chances to practice Besides, word list, key word and dictionary use also help students improve vocabulary very much 31 In short, after collecting data, researcher identifies students' perceptions in learning vocabulary and difficulties of students' learning vocabulary The author hope to find out some suggestion to students' learning vocabulary at FFL, UTEHY 4.6 Recommendations According to the results of the questionnaires and interviews, there are some obstacles to students' learning vocabulary such as grouping words, visual images, word lists Students who want to learn better vocabulary must themselves try their best to change bad study habits and improve their background knowledge When studying, learners should summarize what they have learned and take notes Today there are many ways to learn English, to improve vocabulary learning, you should spend time every day to learn and remember vocabulary To be able to learn vocabulary in the best way, choose a group of words to learn; use images; sounds to help you remember more Then use a small notebook to jot down words and phrases, learn related vocabulary and review new words on a regular basis The more vocabulary you use, the richer your vocabulary will be Learn vocabulary through word grouping Word grouping techniques involve dividing longer word lists into new, shorter lists by classifying or reclassifying target language terms according to one or more important attributes In this way, some level of context is created Word groups establish new groups or groups of words that are tied together because of some common theme or feature, unlike the usual unorganized, unwritten word lists Learn vocabulary through visual images Visualization is a very useful semi-context aid for learning L2 vocabulary Using visuals to learn vocabulary is based on making associations between an image and a word The theory on which this technique is founded is that most learners has the ability to associate new Esc information with concepts in memory with meaningful visualizations, and those visualizations make learning more effective Visualization is known to help learners encapsulate information more effectively than they would if using single words alone (Bower, 1970; Higbee, 1979; Nyikos, 1987; Shephard, 1967) Furthermore, pictographic association involves more parts of the brain, thus providing greater cognitive power 32 Learn vocabulary through flashcards Each flashcard will have an English word written on the front and a translation or definition of that word on the back Flashcards help you memorize vocabulary words both quickly and efficiently They can also be customized and reused Both paper and digital cards are available and you can create your own Either buy pre-made card sets or download card sets online They are easy to randomize Incorporate the order in which you learn the necessary learning to ensure that you fully understand the meaning of the words you are learning Learn vocabulary through word list A traditional vocabulary learning method is to make a list of all the English words you want to learn Unlike flashcards, the words you want to learn will be in the same place If you have trouble using flashcards, vocabulary lists are a reasonable alternative The biggest benefit is that the list is easy to expand when you want to add new vocabulary You just need to take the list out and write more vocabulary at the end You can use your list as the basis for other mnemonic methods From there identify specific words to put on flashcards or use in vocabulary quizzes FluentU is an incredible tool to learn English pronunciation (and many ouner skills) directly from native speakers It provides real English videos like movie trailers, music videos, inspiring talks and more that have been transformed into personalized English lessons 33 CHAPTER IV: CONCLUSION 5.1 Summary of the study The study indicates that researched subjects only confines to restricted strategies in their vocabulary learning including verbal and written repetitions, taking notes, asking teacher for L1 translation, and using bilingual dictionary These most frequently-used strategies belong to determination strategies and cognitive strategies There is a strong influence of homework vocabulary assignments, vocabulary assessment and vocabulary teaching method, which follows the Grammar Translation Method, and past learning experiences on learners’ choice of vocabulary learning strategies The study shows that learners realize the benefits of those strategies on retaining sound, spelling and equivalent meanings and help them concentrate on lessons after having experienced those strategies in classroom activities and homework assignments 5.2 Limitation of the study Although the study has certain strong points such as collection methods, namely survey questionnaires for students, due to limited time, lack of sources, the researcher’s ability and other unexpected factors, it is obvious that the study has got a number of short-comings First of all, due to the limited of time, experience to some extent, the researcher could not conduct other methods such as classroom observation which can make the obtained results more reliable Secondly, due to the limitation of scope of the study, the researcher only focus on the first-year students in Faculty of Foreign Language which account for a small number of students at FFL, UTEHY Therefore, the result of the study can’t be generalized Besides, the researcher could not cover all the aspects of difficulties In addition, the techniques suggested in this research are selected from different reliable but limited sources 5.3 Suggestions for the further study Because of the limitation, this study could not cover all of aspects of the study Besides, the study only focuses on difficulties for only first-year students at FFL in order to help them 34 improve their learning vocabulary skill Moreover, for the further studies, to get better results, the researcher should invite more participants and the data collection method Together with using survey questionnaires and interviews, observation is also necessary to get more persuasive conclusions All in all, despite the study can avoid to the limitation, the research has been completed under the guiding of the supervisor and self-effort Any comments and criticism will be highly appreciated for better further study 5.4 Conclusions In this study, I have investigated the most commonly-used vocabulary learning strategies of the first-year English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education, reasons for their preferences and the effectiveness of those strategies on their vocabulary learning which is self-evaluated by the students The study points out that learners’ understanding of what involves in knowing a word is insufficient, which includes phonological and orthographical form and equivalent meaning In particular, these strategies only help learners touch upon surface features of a word such as sound, spelling and equivalent meaning Students’ commonly-used vocabulary learning strategies not provide learners with needed knowledge of vocabulary knowledge and skills to succeed in language learning In reality, the study shows that learners not have many opportunities of experiencing many other strategies in classroom activities which are supposed to be good for a language learner Therefore, vocabulary language teaching should be a colourful picture which consists of many kinds of vocabulary learning strategies that help learners to fully develop learners’ word knowledge of a language 35 REFERENCES Baddeley, A (1990) Human memory: Theory and practice Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon Bower, C H (1970) Analysis of a mnemonic device American Scientist, 58, 496-510 Carrell, P L (1984 a) Evidence of formal schemata in second language comprehension Language Learning, 34, 2.CrossRef Carter (1987) Ideological Stylistics and Fictional Discourse Cohen, A D., & E Aphek (1980) Retention of Second Language Vocabulary Over Time: Investigating the Role of Mnemonic Associations System 8:221-235 Coleman, D (Aug 12, 1986) Mental images: New research helps clarify their role The New York Times, pp CI, C6 Craik, E I M., & Lockhart, R S (1972) Levels of processing: A framework for memory research Journal of Learning Behavior; I, 671-684 Crookall, D (1990) Sources and resources Language learning through simulation/gaming Ed D Crookall & R Oxford Crow, J T., & Quigley, J R (1985) A semantic field approach to passive vocabulary acquisition for reading comprehension TESOL Quarterly, 19 497-513 10 Dunn, R S & K J Dunn (1972) Learning styles/teaching styles: Should they can they be matched? Educational Leadership, 36, 238-244 11 Gower, Roger, Diane Phillips, and Steve Walters 1995 Teaching Practice Handbook Oxford: Macmillan Heinemann 12 Gruneberg, M (1987) The Link Word Language System: Spanish London: Corgi 13 Gu, P.Y (2003) Vocabulary Learning in a Second Language: Person, Task, Context and Strategies Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language TESL-EJ 14 Higbee, K L (1979) Recent research on visual mnemonics: Historical roots and educational fruits Review of Educational Research, 49 (4), 611-629 36 15 Hornby 1995 Advance Learner's Dictionary New York: Oxford University Press16, 33- 51 16 Hudson, T (1982) The Effects of Induced Schemata on the "Short Circuit" in L2 Reading: Non-Decoding Factors in L2 Reading Performance Language Learning, 32, 1-33 17 Hudson, T (1988 [1982]) The effects of induced schemata on the 'short circuit' in L2 reading In P Carrell, J Devine, & D.E Eskey (Eds.), Interactive approaches to second language reading (pp 183-205) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 18 Krashen, S (1989) Modern Language Journal, 73(4), 440-463 19 Laufer, B., & Hulstijn, J (2001) Incidental vocabulary acquisition in a second language: The construct of task-induced involvement Applied Linguistics, 22, 1-26 20 Maximo, R (2000) Effects if rote, context, keyword, and context/ keyword method onretention of vocabulary in EFL classroom, Language Learning, 50, 2, 385-412 21 Nation, I S P (2001).Learning vocabulary in another language Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 22 Nation, I.S.P (2011) Second language speaking Eli Hinkel (ed) Handbook of Research in Second Language Teaching and Learning Volume 2, Chapter 27, pages 444-454 New York: Routledge 55 23 Nation, I.S.P , & Wang, K (1999) Graded readers and vocabulary Reading in a Foreign Language, 12, 355-380 24 Nunan, D (1991) Language Teaching Methodology: A Textbook for Teacher 25 Nyikos, M (1987) The use of color and imagery as associative strategies for the retention of lexical items in German 26 Ong, W J (1982) Orality and literacy: The technologizing of the word London: Methuen 27 Oxford, R., R Lavine, & D Crookall (1989) Language learning strategies, the communicative approach, and their classroom implications Foreign Language Annals, 22 (1), 29-39 37 28 Richards, JC & Renandya, W A Methodology in Language Teaching: an anthology of current practice New York: Cambridge, 2002 29 Schmidt, R (1990) The Role of Consciousness in Second Language 30 Shephard, R (1967) Recognition memory for words, sentences, and pictures Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 6, 156-163 induced involvement Applied 31 Steiglitz, E (1983) A practical approach to vocabulary reinforcement English, Language Teaching Journal, 37 (1),71-76 32 Stuart, W., (2008): Receptive and productive vocabulary size of L2 learners, Studies in Second Language Acquisition/ Volume 30 / Issue 01 / March, pp 79-95 33 Swaffar, J.K (1988) Readers, texts, and second languages: The interactive processes The Modern Language Journal, 72, 123-149 34 Thorburry, S (2004).How to teach vocabulary England:Pearson Education Limited Ur, P., (1998) A course in language teaching Cabridge University Press 35 Van Buren,P (1975) Semantics and language teaching Papers in applied linguism.s Ed J P B Allen & S P Corder London: Oxford University Press 36 Wilkins, D.A (1972) Linguistics and language teaching London: Edward Arnold 37 Wright, Tony 1987 Roles of Teacher and Learners Oxford: Oxford University Press Arnold ix APPENDIX: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE STUDENTS This survey questionnaire is designed for my research into "An investigation into the studying of English vocabulary for first-year English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education" Your assistance in completing this survey is highly appreciated All the information provided by you only serve the study purpose and you can be confident that you identification will not be revealed in any discussion of the data Please complete the following questions by circling your chosen options, write your answer in the provided blanks Gender: A: Male B: Female How old are you? How long have you been teaching English? Thank you very much for your cooperation! PART I: The current situations of learning vocabulary among the first- year English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education How you find learning vocabulary? A Interesting and understandable B Interesting but not understandable C Boring and understandable D Neutral Do you have learn vocabulary on the class? Yes (Explain No your choice if possible:) ……………………………………………………………………………………………… x ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………… How you learn vocabulary? (You can choose more than one answer) A Word list B Flashcards C Dictionary use D Word grouping E Word or Concept Association F Visual imagery G Aural imagery H Key word Do you like learning vocabulary? Why? Yes No Explanations: (please write here) ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………… PART II: The difficulties that the first-year English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education face in learning vocabulary xi What are the difficulties that face you when you learn vocabulary? Strongly No Difficulties disagree Their uses Their forms Their meanings Their pronunciations Spellings Not appropriate Strongly Disagree Agree agree techniques Not enough supports from teachers Not enough time to learn Lack of books/references course books for learning Do you often forget vocabulary? Yes No Explanations: (please write here) ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………… Have you learned a lot of vocabulary but can not use it when communicating? Yes Explanations: (please write here) No xii ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………… PART III: Solutions to improve vocabulary of the first-year English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education How much you like the following activities in learning vocabulary? No Activities Very much Word guessing game Activities using pictures Information-gap activities Vocabulary Much Normal Not much self-study activities Pair work or group work Learning via listening Learning via speaking Learning via reading Learning via writing Which of the following activities may help you better your vocabulary (you can choose more than one) Using social media: Internet, TV, Improving knowledge on a variety of fields: culture, country, economy, sports, Taking part in English clubs/contests Communicating with native speakers xiii Others:……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………… 10 What should your teacher to help you improve your vocabulary ( You can chose more than one) Give students more practice Give students clearer instructions before any learning vocabulary activity Organize games Use technologies like videos, power-point, Update new teaching methods Give students chances to discuss in the class Give students appropriate and immediate feedback on their vocabulary Give students more suggestions Others:……………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………… xiv APPENDIX 2: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FOR STUDENTS This survey questionnaire is designed for my research into "An investigation into the studying of English vocabulary for first-year English major students at Hung Yen University of Technology and Education" Your assistance in completing this survey is highly appreciated All the information provided by you only serve the study purpose and you can be confident that you identification will not be revealed in any discussion of the data What are students' attitudes towards vocabulary learning? What are their main difficulties in learning vocabulary? How you improve your vocabulary? Thank you very much for your cooperation! xv APPENDIX 3: THE TAPE SCRIPT