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DECLARATION I hereby certify that the minor thesis entitled “An Action Research on Improving 10 th Grade Students’ Reading Comprehension through the Teaching of Lexical Inference Strate

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

-

NGUYỄN HÀ SÂM

READING COMPREHENSION THROUGH THE TEACHING OF

LEXICAL INFERENCE STRATEGY

AT HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIFTED STUDENTS, HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

(NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG VỀ VIỆC NÂNG CAO KHẢ NĂNG ĐỌC HIỂU CỦA HỌC SINH THÔNG QUA VIỆC GIẢNG DẠY

CHIẾN LƯỢC ĐOÁN NGHĨA CỦA TỪ VỰNG TẠI TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG CHUYÊN,

ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM HÀ NỘI)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 6014.0111

Hanoi, 2014

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

-

NGUYỄN HÀ SÂM

READING COMPREHENSION THROUGH THE TEACHING OF

LEXICAL INFERENCE STRATEGY

AT HIGH SCHOOL FOR GIFTED STUDENTS, HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

(NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG VỀ VIỆC NÂNG CAO KHẢ NĂNG ĐỌC HIỂU CỦA HỌC SINH THÔNG QUA VIỆC GIẢNG DẠY

CHIẾN LƯỢC ĐOÁN NGHĨA CỦA TỪ VỰNG TẠI TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG CHUYÊN,

ĐẠI HỌC SƯ PHẠM HÀ NỘI)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 6014.0111

Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Võ Đại Quang

Hanoi, 2014

DECLARATION

I hereby certify that the minor thesis entitled “An Action Research on

Improving 10 th Grade Students’ Reading Comprehension through the Teaching of Lexical Inference Strategy at High School for Gifted Students, Hanoi National University of Education” is the result of my own work in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English Teaching Methodology at Faculty of Post - Graduate Studies, Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University The research has not been submitted to any other

university or institution wholly and partially

Hanoi, 2014

Nguyen Ha Sam

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This thesis could not have been completed without the help and support from a number

of people

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Assoc Prof Dr

Vo Dai Quang, my supervisor, who has patiently and constantly supported me through the stages of the study, and whose stimulating ideas, expertise, and suggestions have inspired me greatly through my growth as an academic researcher

A special word of thanks goes to my students, without whom it would never have been possible for me to have this thesis accomplished

Last by not least, I am greatly indebted to my family for the sacrifice they have devoted

to the fulfillment of this academic work

ABSTRACT

This study was intended to investigate the impact of lexical inference strategy on

strived to (1) examine whether students‟ lexical knowledge had any correlation to their reading ability, (2) whether the teaching of lexical inferencing had a positive effect to enhance tenth grade students‟ reading comprehension, (3) investigate the students‟ attitudes towards the instruction, and (4) propose some recommendations for instructing this strategy to other teachers

To achieve those abovementioned aims, an action research was conducted with the participation of 46 tenth grade students from a class at High School for Gifted Students, Hanoi National University of Education The teaching program aimed at instructing the students with lexical inferencing to help them enhance their reading comprehension ability The study included: (1) pretest and a questionnaire (2) the instruction of lexical inferencing, (3) posttest and a questionnaire, (4) teacher‟s notes and students‟ learning logs Later, (5) interviews were included to support the findings

The main findings of the research were as follows: (1) Lexical competence served

as good prediction of reading ability in a foreign language The higher scores students got

in vocabulary tests, the higher scores they received in reading comprehension tests (2) Overall, the instruction of this vocabulary-learning strategy improved their reading comprehension (3) Most of the students held positive attitudes towards the instruction of lexical inferencing (4) The students had a habit of guessing words from context using local clues or information from around the target word

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, TABLES AND FIGURES

Figure 1: Action Research Model 18

Table 1: Classification of Reading Strategies 7

Table 2: Background Information of the Subjects 17

Table 3: Procedures of the Study 26

Table 4: Results of Question 1 in the Questionnaire After the Pretest 28

Table 5: Results of Question 2 in the Questionnaire After the Pretest 28

Table 6: Results of Question 3 in the Questionnaire After the Pretest 28

Table 7: Results of Question 4 in the Questionnaire After the Pretest 29

Table 8: Results of Question 5 in the Questionnaire After the Pretest 29

Table 9: Correlation between the Two Tests Before Lexical Inferencing Instruction 30

Table 10: Correlation between the Two Tests After Lexical Inferencing Instruction 30

Table 11: Percentage of the Students’ Correct Answers in the Pretest and Posttest 31

Table 12: Results of Question 1 in the Questionnaire After the Posttest 33

Table 13: Results of Question 2 in the Questionnaire After the Posttest 33

Table 14: Results of Question 3 in the Questionnaire After the Posttest 33

Table 15: Results of Question 4 in the Questionnaire After the Posttest 34

Table 16: Results of Question 5 in the Questionnaire After the Posttest 34

Abbreviations

T: Teacher

S1: Subject 1 in the interview

S2: Subject 2 in the interview

S3: Subject 3 in the interview

HNUE: Hanoi National University of Education

L2: second language

TABLE OF CONTENT

DECLARATION……… i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT……… ii

ABSTRACT……… iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, TABLES AND FIGURES………iv

TABLE OF CONTENT……… … V PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale for the Study 1

1.2 Aims of the Research 2

1.3 Objectives of the Research 2

1.4 Research Questions 3

1.5 Scope of the Research 3

1.6 Significance of the Research 3

1.7 Structural Organization of the Thesis 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 5

Chapter 1: Literature Review 5

1.1 Theoretical Background 5

1.1.1 Definition of Reading Comprehension 5

1.1.2 Reading Comprehension Strategies 6

1.1.2 Lexical Inference Strategy 9

1.1.2.1 Definition of Lexical Inference Strategy 9

1.1.2.2 Value of Lexical Inference Strategy 11

1.1.2.3 Factors that Affect Lexical Inferencing 11

1.2 Review of Previous Studies Related to the Research Area of the Thesis 12

1.3 Summary 15

Chapter 2: Research Methodology 16

2.1 Research Setting 16

2.2 Subjects 16

2.3 Research Types 17

2.4 Research Approaches 17

2.5 Data Collection Instruments 19

2.5.1 Pretest and Posttest 19

2.5.1.1 Vocabulary Multiple-Choice Tests 20

2.5.1.2 Reading Comprehension Tests 20

2.5.2 Questionnaires 20

2.5.3 Interviews 21

2.5.4 Teacher‟s Notes and Students‟ Learning Logs 22

2.6 Intervention: Instruction of Lexical Inferencing in Class 22

2.6.1 Reading Materials 22

2.6.2 Steps of the Instruction in Lexical Inferencing 23

2.7 Data Collection Procedures 25

2.8 Data Analysis 26

2.9 Summary 27

Chapter 3: Findings and Discussions 28

3.1 Preliminary Investigation 28

3.1.1 Findings 28

3.1.2 Discussion 29

3.2 Evaluation 30

3.2.1 Research Question 1 30

3.2.2 Research Question 2 31

3.2.2.1 Results from Pretest and Posttest 31

3.2.2.2 Discussion 31

3.2.3 Research Question 3 32

3.2.3.1 Results from Questionnaire After the Posttest 33

3.2.3.2 Discussion 34

3.2.3.3 Results of the Interview 35

3.2.3.4 Discussion 37

3.3 Summary 37

PART C: CONCLUSION 39

3.1 Recapitulation 39

3.2 Conclusions 39

3.3 Limitations of the Research 40

3.4 Suggestions for Future Research 41

REFERENCES 43 APPENDICES………I

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for the Study

In the last few decades, second/foreign language vocabulary acquisition has been an increasingly interesting topic of discussion for researches, teachers, curriculum designers, theorists and others involved in second language learning All consider vocabulary as being a very important element in language, especially in reading skills When mentioning the relationship between vocabulary and reading comprehension, Nation (1990) claimed that vocabulary knowledge is one of the best predictors of reading ability and the ability to acquire new information from the text As a result, it can be said that the threshold for reading comprehension is, to a large extent, lexical Lexical problems will, therefore, hinder successful comprehension

In fact, second/foreign language readers often cite lack of adequate vocabulary as one of the most common obstacles to text comprehension Kim‟s (1995) study also shows that learners‟ lack of vocabulary knowledge or their being unfamiliar with words

is a major problem affecting readers‟ reading comprehension Many readers have claimed that they would like to read more, but when they encounter unknown lexis they lose their interest From observations, the researcher also realize that Vietnamese learners of English, in general, and grade 10 students at High School for Gifted Students (HNUE), in particular, after several years of learning English, turn out to be word-by-word readers They tend to read very slowly to understand the meaning of every single word Students feel insecure when they read without the aids of glossing or dictionaries When they encounter a new word in the reading context, they simply do not show any effort to guess its meaning The reason is that they always rely on the glossing of Vietnamese translation of unfamiliar words in reading texts, or resort to using dictionaries immediately Yet, this habit was proved to be a bad habit and affect students‟ reading comprehension (Dechant, 1991) The results are limited vocabulary knowledge and inadequate reading ability

One possible explanation for the abovementioned problem can be found in Miller and Perkins‟ study (1989), in which the researchers indicated that in most reading classrooms, students have received inadequate instructions on reading skills and

strategies Teachers normally stress on the production of reading comprehension rather than the reading process Therefore, a better way of teaching and learning reading skills, as many researchers have suggested, is to equip students with the strategy of guessing word meaning from context and to help them become independent readers

They have acquired a range of vocabulary and grammar after five to seven years of learning English Now it is urged that they be taught learning strategies to become better and more efficient learners

With a view to gaining some insight into reading strategies and reading strategy instruction, I chose to study how to improve students‟ reading comprehension through the teaching of lexical inference strategy The rationale for my focus is that lexical inference strategy plays a critical role in successful reading (Sullivan, 1978) Although the importance of lexical inferencing has been highlighted in a number of empirical studies, much remains to be learned about it

1.2 Aims of the Research

High School for Gifted Students (HNUE) through lexical inference strategy instruction, and giving recommendations on how to teach students to use lexical inference strategies effectively to enhance their reading abilities

1.3 Objectives of the Research

The specific objectives of the research were as follows:

comprehension

to use lexical inference strategy effectively to improve their comprehension in reading classes

1.4 Research Questions

In this investigation, the following research questions were addressed:

1 Is there a correlation between students’ lexical knowledge and their reading comprehension ability?

2 To what extent does the teaching of lexical inference strategy have impact on the students’ reading comprehension?

3 What are the students’ attitudes towards the lexical inference strategy instruction?

1.5 Scope of the Research

This study only focused on the teaching of lexical inference strategy to grade 10 students at High School for Gifted Students, so the teaching of other reading strategies

or to other subjects would be beyond scope

1.6 Significance of the Research

This study focused on investigating the effect of the vocabulary learning strategy - lexical inferencing - on students at High School for Gifted Students, especially on tenth graders For students in the tenth grade, exposure to a large amount of reading and learning new words in reading can develop good habits in terms of English learning as they begin high school Thus, as mentioned above, if the instruction of lexical inferencing leads to good results, it can be put to use in wider scale In addition, this thesis study also investigated students‟ attitudes towards the instruction, so that teachers could have a better idea about how to help students learn English

1.7 Structural Organization of the Thesis

The thesis is organized as follows:

Part A - Introduction – provides an overview of the study

Part B - Development - consists of three chapters:

In Chapter One – Literature Review, a review of relevant literature on this issue is presented

In Chapter Two – Research Methodology, a description of research methods is discussed in detail, including a description of selection of the participants, data collection instruments and data collection procedures

In Chapter Three – Findings and Discussions, the results of the study are presented

In Part C - Conclusion, the researcher provides a summary on main points raised in the study, the major conclusion drawn from conducting this study, and a discussion of the study‟s limitations, and suggestions for further research

PART B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Literature Review 1.1 Theoretical Background

1.1.1 Definition of Reading Comprehension

Reading is an important subject in language learning no matter what language the learner is trying to learn Understanding what one reads is a very crucial skill for a learner to acquire If a person cannot comprehend what they read, they also cannot learn information on his or her own or enjoy reading Goodman (1982) regards reading as “a psycholinguistics process by which the reader, a language user, reconstructs, as best as

he can, a message encoded by a writer as a graphic display”

Grellet (1981) defined reading comprehension: “Understanding a written text means extracting the required information from it as efficiently as possible” In other words, finding information efficiently from the text can help the reader understand what the text is about Further, Grellet (1981) also explained two main reasons for reading: one

is for pleasure and the other is for acquiring information (in order to discover something

or in order to do something with the information obtained) As for how to sharpen learners‟ reading comprehension, inferencing is considered one of major reading techniques Grellet (1981) explained that “inferring means making use of syntactic, logical and cultural clues to discover the meaning of unknown elements” In other words, reading is a constant process of guessing

What Grellet (1981) mentions about reading does not aim at any particular reader background (i.e whether readers are first language learners or not) nor any specific level But, when speaking of second language learning through reading, Barnett (1989) stressed that the reading models mostly widely used for readers are bottom-up, top-down, and interactive Barnett (1989) explained that the bottom-up model is essentially text-driven In other words, it focuses on learners‟ decoding ability during reading It seems that the reader tries to reconstruct the writer‟s meaning by recognizing letters and words The top-down model is viewed as reader-driven It emphasizes both using learners‟ prior knowledge and constructing meaning from written text by predicting,

sampling, confirming, and correcting in reading comprehension It seems that learners with more or less reading proficiency have the ability to make predictions, and their general knowledge becomes more important for their reading comprehension As for the interactive model, it stresses reader ability to switch between the top-down and bottom-up models during reading comprehension The reading strategy of this model is more flexible and can be employed according to learner competence

When the three reading models are applied to second language reading, some problems still exist For example, foreign language readers are not usually fully proficient about the phonological system when reading Further, for foreign readers, the differences and distance in terms of culture, and the distance inherent in any target language text can also make reading comprehension more difficult Nevertheless, Barnett (1989) still claimed that the three reading models have their own advantages in terms of developing learners‟ reading ability In addition, the goal of each reading model is to make foreign language readers succeed in reading target texts Since reading is a “psychological guessing game” (Goodman, 1982), by guessing through reading, readers can “reduce their dependence on the print and phonics of the texts” (Barnett, 1989) However, what can readers do when they encounter unknown words? How can readers go through reading without any interruption? As mentioned previously, the most useful strategy for coping with vocabulary is guessing words from context or lexical inferencing (Nation, 1990; Nassaji, 2003) Therefore, there indeed exists a strong relationship between coping with vocabulary and fluent reading

1.1.2 Reading Comprehension Strategies

Researchers point out that effective readers spontaneously use reading strategies in the reading process, and the use of appropriate reading strategies may improve reading comprehension (Oxford, 1990)

Reading strategies can be understood as “the special thoughts or behaviours that individual use to help them to comprehend, learn and retain new information from the reading text” (O‟Malley & Chamot, 1990)

According to O‟Malley & Chamot (1990), there are three major categories of reading strategies, namely, cognitive, meta-cognitive and social/affective Cognitive strategies help readers to construct meaning from the text whereas meta-cognitive strategies are utilized to regulate or monitor cognitive strategies; and social/affective strategies represent a broad grouping that involves either interaction with another person Following is the possible classification of reading strategies:

Meta-cognitive Cognitive Social

Advance

organizers

monitoring

evaluation

Directed

attention

classification Functional

1.1.3 Lexical Development through Reading

Most new second/foreign word learning is thought to occur through reading (Paribakht &Wesche, 1999) At the same time, improvement in reading comprehension requires ongoing vocabulary development The way they deal with unknown words that learners are engaged in when they encounter an unknown word influences how they interpret the reading (Fraser, 1999) Paribakht and Wesche (1999) reported four lexical strategies in their research how learners dealt with unknown words in reading texts:

(1) Ignoring words: Learners reported ignoring unknown words when the words were not key words for the text

(2) Retrieving: Learners read the unknown word repeatedly with an attempt to retrieve

it from phonetic or graphic cues

(3) Appealing for assistance: This strategy involved directly asking the interviewer for assistance or verifying the meaning of the target word in a dictionary

(4) Inferencing: When learners actively tried to identify the meanings of unknown words, the strategy they used was inferencing, which accounted for almost 80% of the strategy used in Paribakht and Wesche‟s research (1999)

When an instructor aims at developing learners‟ vocabulary through reading, it is necessary to consider the possible ways of treating the unknown words in texts The teacher needs to decide the purpose of the lesson If the purpose of the lesson is to develop reading skills, then the teacher should not spend too much time on vocabulary instruction However, if the purpose of the lesson is to develop learners‟ vocabulary, then the teacher needs to spend some time on particular vocabulary and on vocabulary learning strategies The strategies of guessing from context, using word parts, and dictionary work require a lot of time, but once these strategies are mastered, they more than repay the time invested in them (Nation, 1990) Nation (1990) summarized the possibilities for the instructors to deal with unknown words while teaching reading

1 Ignoring unknown words: It is often recommended that learners should be encouraged not to look up every unknown word that they meet in a reading text Freebody and Anderson (1983) found that readers skipped unfamiliar words and even parts of sentences containing them if they did not seem to be necessary to follow the theme of the text or to do the task they were set Putting a time limit on such reading will also make ignoring some unknown words an advantage (British Council Teachers, 1980)

2 Giving the meaning quickly: In some situations, translation will be the most effective way Usually the teacher will give the meaning that works in the context If the word has useful parts, quick analysis of the word will not take much time and will have useful effects

3 Pre-teaching vocabulary: One way of stopping vocabulary work from interrupting reading is to pre-teach vocabulary in the text This can be a useful procedure but there are several difficulties associated with it (Nation & Coady, 1988) First, the research has not shown the gains in comprehension as a result of pre-teaching vocabulary Second, pre-teaching takes away the opportunity for learners to use their guessing skill

Third, vocabulary teaching will be more meaningful for learners after they have met it

in the text because then they have some experience to attach the teaching to

4 Glossing: One way of dealing unknown words in a text is to provide a short definition somewhere near the text Glossing helps reading by means of providing the meanings of words that are not easily guessed by using contextual clues Learners should be encouraged to use glosses as a way of confirming guessing from context They should not look up the meaning of a word without first having a guess at its meaning For this reason, glosses are best situated at the end of the text or in the back of the book

5 Referring to a dictionary: Dictionaries are used primarily to check meaning The next most frequent uses are to check spelling and pronunciation (Bejoint, 1981; MacFarquhar & Richard, 1983) In guessing words from context, reference to a dictionary is one of the steps used to check if a guess is correct Research on dictionary use and comprehension has shown that allowing learners to use dictionary while reading does not measurably increase their comprehension (Bensoussan, 1983) Moreover, there are considerable obstacles to overcome before learners at all levels are able to make efficient use of a dictionary (Nation, 1990)

6 Guessing from context: This is undoubtedly the most important vocabulary learning strategy Its aim is for learners to be able to make a well-formed guess at the meaning

of an unknown word in context without interrupting the reading too much The effect of guessing from the context is the main point of this study and is further described in detail in the next content

1.1.2 Lexical Inference Strategy

1.1.2.1 Definition of Lexical Inference Strategy

Inferencing is defined as the cognitive process a reader goes through to obtain the implicit meaning of a written text (Chikalanga, 1993) It is considered to be a compensation strategy essential for first language as well as second language reading comprehension (Bialystok, 1979) Furthermore, it is recognized as an essential component of the process of reading comprehension, which postulates that reading involves an interaction between textual information and prior knowledge of the reader

Lexical inferencing involves making informed guesses of word meanings in light of all available linguistic cues in combination with the learner‟s general knowledge of the world (Haastrupt, 1987) If used in an effective way, it can serve for purposes of immediate comprehension in a listening, interaction, or reading context, and under favorable conditions, it may lead to retention of the word form as well as semantic and other lexical information (Patribakht & Wesche, 1999)

Clarke and Nation (1980) proposed a strategy of guessing words from context and this strategy is considered very simple for learners to use when they encounter unknown words in context The strategy can be divided into five steps The five steps

do not need performing in order, and they are as follows

Step 1: Look at the unknown word and decide its part of speech For example, is

the word a noun, a verb, or adjective?

Step 2: Look at the clause or sentence containing the unknown word In this

step, learners can ask themselves some questions such as “Who does what to whom?”

or “What does what?” Learners can find clues in the immediate grammar In other words, learners use local clues to guess the meaning of unknown word For example,

“Typhoon Nari destroyed the city.” Here “destroyed” is an unknown word and learners

can guess that the typhoon did something to the city With the help of the surrounding clue, learners can guess that the word may have a negative meaning

Step 3: Look at the relationship between the clause and sentence containing the

unknown word and other sentences or paragraphs It means that l earners can use global clues to guess the word meaning Pay attention to transitional words such as “but”,

“because”, or “in other words” Therefore, it is important to find if sentence pattern belongs to the one such as cause and effect, condition, contrast, clarification, or exemplification

Step 4: Use the knowledge learners have gained from Steps 1-3 to guess the

meaning of the word It means that learners combine the knowledge they gained by following the first three steps and then make a guess of the word meaning

Step 5: Check the guess is correct

a Check the speech of the word learners guess and the unknown word

b Replace the unknown word with the guess

c Use prefixes and roots as a guide

d Consult the dictionary

The procedure proposed by Clarke and Nation (1980) is based on language clues and does not focus on background content knowledge (Nation, 2001) The reason for this is that linguistic clues can be found in every text, but background knowledge cannot Background knowledge is strongly related to both the textual aspects and the learners themselves (Nation, 2001) Further, by using this procedure to guess words from context, learners can pay more attention to vocabulary learning than focusing on background knowledge

1.1.2.2 Value of Lexical Inference Strategy

Clarke and Nation (1980) studied learners who used strategy of guessing the meanings of words from context and claimed that there are some advantages to this strategy Firstly, it allows the learners to learn vocabulary without the aid of the teacher and learners‟ vocabulary can be expanded through extensive reading Secondly, owing

to several encounters with one word in context, learners can increase their command of the word and its various uses Thirdly, with the strategy of lexical inferencing, learners can continue their reading without stopping to consult a dictionary, which allows them

to develop independent thinking regarding which unguessable words need to be looked

up in a dictionary Fourthly, learners are encouraged to summarize the information of the guessed word they get in context before consulting a dictionary Afterwards, they can have more impressions and a better understanding of the guessed word Finally, by using the strategy of lexical inferencing, learners can practice seeking information and making predictions of the word in context, which can in turn develop their reading skill 1.1.2.3 Factors that Affect Lexical Inferencing

Paribakht (2005) divided the factors affecting lexical inferencing into two broad categories: contextual factors and learner-related factors According to Paribakht (2005), contextual factors are referred to as “the number of occurrences of the unknown words, the importance of the unknown words to text comprehension, the density of

unknown words in the text, text length, comprehension tasks and word characteristics and the existence of clear contextual clues” It seems that the design of the text and the use of vocabulary both play a crucial role in the success of lexical inferencing On the other hand, learner-related factors include “learners‟ backgrounds; previous learning experience; size of receptive vocabulary knowledge; procedural knowledge; attention to details in context, including ability and inclination to use context effectively; preconceptions about the meaning of the word; and the usefulness of previously known information in cue utilization” From the description of these learner-related factors, it

is obvious that what affects the success of lexical inferencing is strongly connected to learners‟ knowledge of words and texts

As mentioned previously, lexical inferencing is a very important way of incidental vocabulary learning However, to achieve successful guessing, in addition to contextual and learner-related factors proposed by Paribakht (2005), some more detailed factors should also be discussed Schmitt (2000) proposed seven factors that affect inferencing success These factors are described as follows

1 The context must be rich enough to offer adequate clues to guess a word‟s meaning

2 Readers are better able to use local clues in proximity to an unknown word than more global clues that are located further away

3 Learners may mistake an unknown word for one they already know with a similar orthographic (written form) or phonological form (spoken form)

4 Cognates can help guessing from context if they are used prudently

5 Background knowledge about the topic and the culture being discussed aids inferencing

7 Learners need to be skilled in guessing

8 Guessing a word from context does not mean that it will be remembered

1.2 Review of Previous Studies Related to the Research Area of the Thesis

Nagy et al (1985) attempted to determine whether students could really acquire unfamiliar word knowledge while reading authentic texts In their study, eighth-grade students of average or above average reading ability read either an expository or a narrative text of about 1,000 words in length After reading, those students received two

vocabulary assessment tasks on 15 target words selected from each text An individual interview and multiple-choice test were also conducted After the experiment, the results showed that learning from context did take place and vocabulary gain was small but statistically reliable Further, the amount of learning from the narrative was the same as that from the exposition Thus, it seems that word learning from context is not confined to any specific genre This study shows that here is a close relationship between vocabulary learning and reading After the proof of the existence of vocabulary growth through learning from context, the efficiency of using lexical inferencing should be further investigated

Nassaji (2003) claimed that “lexical inferencing has been found to be the mostly widely used by L2 learners” Based on the perspective, Nassaji‟s (2003) study aimed at investigating the use of strategies and knowledge sources in L2 lexical inferencing Twenty-one ESL learners participated in the study The data were collected from introspective and retrospective think-aloud protocols of those participants The learners were asked to infer new word meanings from context In a total of 199 inferential responses, 51 (25.6%) were successfully inferred, 37 (18.6%) were partially successful, and 111 (55.8%) were unsuccessful Initially, it seems that lexical inferencing was not successful However, when Nassaji observed the processes behind those learners‟ lexical inferences, he found that one of the major problems leading to incorrect inferences was that the learners often mistook the target words for another one they are familiar with, and that they were easily confused by similar-looking words From Nassaji‟s study, it seems that although lexical inferencing is the strategy most widely used by L2 learners, most learners could not use the strategy successfully Despite the findings of Nassaji‟s (2003) study, he still did not deny the worth of the existence of lexical inferencing Instead, Nassaji put strong emphasis on the importance of learners being skillfully trained to use the strategy of lexical inferencing, in order to infer words successfully

Lo‟s study (2004) aimed at investigating the effect of lexical inferencing on junior high school students‟ vocabulary learning and reading comprehension, including the observation of the types of knowledge sources and contextual cues the students used

The participants were 68 junior high school student – 34 students respectively were in the experimental group and in the control one The study procedure included the pretest, the treatment – lexical inferencing instruction that lasted for four months, and the posttest The results showed that there was a significant correlation between students‟ vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension It meant that the increase

in vocabulary knowledge contributed to better reading comprehension Besides, the participants of the experimental group who were instructed in lexical inferencing performed better in vocabulary and reading comprehension tests than those of the control one That is, the instruction of the strategy – lexical inferencing had a positive effect Finally, the participants of the experimental group could make use of more types

of knowledge sources and contextual cues in the process of inferencing than those of the control one From the findings of Lo‟s study (2004), it is suggested that teachers should help students to practice the inference strategy

Hsu (2004) focused on an investigation of how to enhance incidental vocabulary acquisition through guessing words from context The participants in her study consisted of four classes with a combined total of 186 junior college students in Taiwan The aim of the study was to instruct the students in lexical inferencing to observe if the strategy could help them enhance incidental vocabulary acquisition through reading The participants were divided into two groups, an experimental group and a control group, and later each group was further divided into three different levels based on English proficiency Afterwards, the experimental group received the instruction in lexical inferencing as proposed by Clarke and Nation (1980), while the control group received none The results of the study are as follows First, the instruction of learning vocabulary strategies helped students to enhance their vocabulary acquisition through reading The incidental vocabulary gains increase in them experimental group was significantly superior to that in the control group This implies that the students in the experimental group made a lot of incidental improvement in vocabulary acquisition after they received the instruction Second, the researcher al so found those students' vocabulary gains did not absolutely correlate to their reading comprehension level Finally, based on the collected data of the

questionnaire, most of the students in the experimental group had a positive attitude toward the strategy of lexical inferencing Therefore, Hsu (2004) suggested that the strategy of lexical inferencing be implemented in students‟ daily class

From the above empirical studies supporting vocabulary gains using lexical inferencing, several conclusions can be reached First, although there are some factors that affect successfully guessing from context, the substantial positive effect cannot be denied Second, it seems that most learners tend to guess word meanings when they encounter unfamiliar words through reading As a result, instruction in efficiently using the strategy of lexical inferencing is strongly recommended

1.3 Summary

Real vocabulary learning comes through use, but teachers can also help the process

by drawing attention to particular words, and by teaching strategies for learning vocabulary Meeting the words in a variety of contexts and using them to express new ideas provide the most important opportunities for vocabulary learning There are strategies to cope with new vocabularies, like guessing the meaning, analyzing word parts, consulting the dictionary and mnemonic techniques All these strategies make learners independent of the teacher while reading and learning vocabulary In particular, the most important lexical strategy is guessing from context It is worth spending time on this strategy It is the most powerful way of dealing with unknown words (Nation, 1990) In recent years, researchers have paid a great deal of attention to vocabulary learning and have focused on lexical inferencing processes of learners They have investigated knowledge sources learners use to make inferences, factors that affect inferencing, and the effect of inferencing on reading and vocabulary learning Based on the literature reviewed in this chapter, this research integrated lexical inferencing instruction into students‟ English learning to see the effects of lexical inferencing on students‟ vocabulary learning and reading comprehension, and thus equip students with the ability to infer word meanings independently while reading

Chapter 2: Research Methodology 2.1 Research Setting

The study was conducted at High School for Gifted Students (HNUE) There are 33 classes with the total number of more than 1,000 students The classes are categorized into different majors: Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Informatics, Literature, English, and two other non-majored classes: A1 and A2 As the students come from different parts in Vietnam, many of them come from the countryside, so in general, the English proficiency of the students is not very high Reading is a difficult skill for them, mostly due to their lack of vocabulary In addition, they tend to be word-by-word readers, and frequently tried to translate the reading text into Vietnamese The teaching staff is composed of 12 teachers of English, all of whom graduated from University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi Their ages vary from 23 to 40 The researcher is also a teacher of English at this high school She is 25 years old and has about nearly 3 years of teaching experience

The textbooks used at this school are Tieng Anh 10, Tieng Anh 11, and Tieng Anh 12

– standard syllabus for non English majored classes, and advanced one for English specialized classes However, from the researcher‟s observations and from the students‟ reflection, the reading texts in this series of textbook are not rich enough in context to motivate students to practice reading strategies

2.2 Subjects

The subjects of this thesis study were composed of 46 students from class 10A1 at High School for Gifted Students (HNUE), which the researcher is in charge of According to the result of Oxford Placement Test given by the researcher at the very beginning of the school year, most of the students in this class are at pre-intermediate level The table below summarizes the background information of the participants including the gender, age, and their English reading proficiency assessed by the teacher

Total

number of

participants

intermediate

Low – intermediate

intermediate

Table 2: Background Information of the Subjects

There were three reasons behind the choice of these tenth grade students Firstly, this

is the only class of grade 10 that the teacher is in charge of Secondly, all the students had received formal English instruction for four years at secondary school and they were supposed to have a basic knowledge of English words and sentences - enough to read simple texts Lastly, the students were expected to learn more English by reading longer and more complicated texts to achieve a good academic performance in English after they entered high school As a result, in the main study, if the lexical inferencing instruction worked, other students could be trained to use the instruction as soon as they entered high school In this way, they could enhance their vocabulary and reading ability throughout their three years of high school

2.3 Research Types

The ultimate goal of this study is to explore the effects of lexical inference strategy instructions on students‟ reading comprehension ability To achieve the research goal, the study combined both quantitative and qualitative data Quantitative data were collected based on the results of the questionnaires, pretest and posttest Further, qualitative data were gathered using interviews, teacher‟s notes and students‟ learning logs In this way, the study could get more complete results

real world and a close examination of the effects of such intervention.” (Cohen & Manion, 1994)

The reason why the researcher chose this approach is that the aim of the study was

to improve the current situation of English reading comprehension Secondly, the study was formed with several uncertainties and suspicions, thus, it needed the alteration and improvement during the research process Taking everything into consideration, it was believed that action research was the most appropriate approach to this thesis

Susman (1983) put forward this action research model He distinguished five phases

to be conducted within each research cycle (Figure 1) Initially, a problem is identified and data is collected for a more detailed diagnosis This is followed by a collective postulation of several possible solutions, from which a single plan of action emerges and is implemented Data on the results of the intervention are collected and analyzed, and the findings are interpreted in light of how successful the action has been At this point, the problem is re-assessed and the process begins another cycle This process continues until the problem is resolved

Figure 1: Action Research Model (Susman, 1983)

In order to conduct an action research, Nunan (1992) suggested seven steps, namely

Dissemination, and Follow-up This study strictly followed the general steps of an

action research cycle suggested by Nunan

2.5 Data Collection Instruments

2.5.1 Pretest and Posttest

In this study, in order to figure out the effects of lexical inferencing on vocabulary acquisition and reading comprehension, the researcher adapted two reading articles used as

pretest and posttest in Hsin‟s study (2008): The Amazon Rainforest and Movie Stunts (See

Appendices 1 and 2) The reason for choosing the two reading articles for the tests is that only one article for the subjects to read and then be tested on may raise concerns regarding validity However, the researcher feared that more than two articles for the subjects to read and be tested on would bore them and take too much time Therefore, the researcher decided to base the thesis project on the two articles

The two articles were used in both the pretest and the posttest According to Carrell et al (1989), “the rationale for using exactly the same test for both pre-and post-testing was to assure exactly comparable tests, thus avoiding the problem of equating different forms of pre-and posttests” In other words, using the same test in both pre-and posttest can avoid uncertain variables raised by different forms of tests and then can make a considerable comparison One of the purposes of this thesis study was to compare the performance of the class before and after the instruction, so the pretest and posttest were the same In the pretest, two tests were conducted (i.e one was conducted first and then after one week the second one was conducted) The posttest was conducted

in the same way as the pretest The exam papers in the pretest were collected as soon as the subjects finished each test and the subjects were not provided with any correct answers after the pretest Further, the vocabulary items tested in the pretest did not appear in any

of the following six articles instructed, or in the subjects‟ English textbook for that semester, to ensure that the results of the posttest would not be interfered with

2.5.1.1 Vocabulary Multiple-Choice Tests

Two different styles of tests were designed for the pretest and posttest: one was a vocabulary multiple-choice test and the other was a reading comprehension test, which is discussed in the next section

In this thesis study, two vocabulary multiple-choice tests adapted from Hsin‟s study (2008) (See Appendices 3 and 4) were given to all of the subjects Five multiple-choice questions were designed based on five chosen words in the first and second article respectively In other words, ten target words were tested in total

The purpose of the vocabulary multiple-choice test was to discover whether subjects knew the target word meaning Therefore, the questions mainly focused on finding the appropriate meaning of the target word

As for the evaluation of the score of the vocabulary multiple-choice tests, if the subject got a correct answer, they received one point

2.5.1.2 Reading Comprehension Tests

Two reading comprehension tests adapted from Hsin (2008) were employed in this study (See Appendices 5 and 6) Each test was composed of five reading comprehension questions to test if the subjects understood the main ideas of the two articles Similar to the design of vocabulary multiple-choice test, questions in the reading comprehension test had four answer options for the subjects to choose from

The evaluation of the score of the reading comprehension tests was performed in the same way as that of the vocabulary multiple-choice tests If the subjects got a correct answer, they received one point

concerned subjects‟ opinions about their ordinary reading The first question concerned how the subjects usually deal with unknown words while reading According to Nassaji (2003), the strategies that learners use when they encounter new words include “ignoring unknown words, consulting a dictionary, writing them down for further consultation with

a teacher, or attempting to infer their meaning from context” Therefore, the four options for the subjects to choose from in the first question were based on the strategies listed above As for the second question, it concerned whether the subjects could learn new words in their ordinary reading In the third to the fifth questions, subjects were asked for their point of view towards the second article, which was tested in the pretest The reason behind the last three questions focusing on the second article instead of the first one was based on the fact that the subjects received the questionnaire as soon as they finished the second test, so their memory of the second article would be clearer than for the first article, which was read a week earlier

Questions in the questionnaire after the posttest focused on subjects‟ attitudes after they had received instruction in lexical inferencing Similar to the design of the questionnaire conducted after the pretest, five questions (See Appendix 8) were presented with either four or five options for the subjects to choose from The first and second questions concerned whether subjects had different opinions after they had received the instruction In the third to fifth questions, the subjects were asked for their opinions about the second article, so as to discover whether the instruction made any difference

2.5.3 Interviews

Besides the instruments mentioned above, semi-structured interviews were conducted

to elicit the subjects‟ opinions about their ordinary reading habit and the instruction of lexical inferencing to get more complete results

The questions were presented (See Appendix 9) for the subjects to answer The following were the questions: (1) What do you think this article is about? (2) How did you learn the meaning of the word “stunt”? (3) Do you think the article is difficult? (4) How do you deal with new words while reading? (5) Does the instruction of inferring words from context make any difference for you?

The interviews were tape recorded and notes were taken Five subjects volunteered to participate in the interviews The interview was conducted during the break time as soon

as all of the subjects had finished the posttest In order to avoid any misunderstandings between the researcher and the interviewees, the interviews were conducted in Vietnamese

2.5.4 Teacher’s Notes and Students’ Learning Logs

Data were also collected by means of the teacher‟s notes and the students‟ learning logs during the implementation of the project These provide some reflection on the part

of the teacher as the researcher and the students as the participants respectively Notes and learning logs were used with the expectation that the researcher would have deeper understanding and broader perspective of the information

2.6 Intervention: Instruction of Lexical Inferencing in Class

In this study, the strategy of guessing from context, proposed by Clarke and Nation (1980) was used in expectations of enhancing subjects‟ vocabulary and their reading ability Further, the instruction of the subjects in the class was carried out over six weeks: one article per week In this section, materials, the process and the design of asking the subjects to guess is described

2.6.1 Reading Materials

The textbook used as the official English materials for grade 10 students at the school

are Tieng Anh 10 – standard syllabus However, in this textbook, reading strategies

mostly focus on reading for specific information (8/48 activities) and detailed understanding (22/48 activities) Guessing meaning in context, though explicitly spelled out in the syllabus and the book, is not appropriately dealt with (1/48 activities) In fact, many activities are claimed to develop guessing skills but they hardly help to do so This is mostly because the activities are not properly designed In some activities, there are insufficient contextual clues for the guess work to be possible (Nguyen, T.T.M, 2007) That is the reason why the researcher decided to adopt supplementary materials

in this study

The reading texts selected for this study was a book entitled “Power Content Reading

1” The researcher chose this book on the grounds that the length, level of difficulty and

content of the articles in the book are suitable for pre – intermediate students, which corresponds to the condition of the subjects in this study In this study, six reading articles were used as reading materials for the students during the study

In the book “Power Content Reading 1”, 6 out of 20 articles were selected for all of the subjects to read in class The titles of the articles were: “Acid Rain”, “The White Nights”, “Chris Evert”, “The Flu”, “Something Old, Something New” and “The Olympic Games” Those articles involve different topics The subjects in the class were provided not only with the six reading articles including some bolded, unfamiliar words for guessing, but also the five steps of the strategy of lexical inferencing, proposed by Clarke and Nation (1980) Further, an exercise format adapted from Clarke and Nation (1980) was attached to the sheet of paper for the subjects to use when they practiced guessing the words in class (See Appendix 10) Finally, one reading comprehension test for each article, taken from the book, was provided for the subjects to answer In each article, five target words were selected for the subjects to guess Those target words were bolded in order to help the subjects find the words easily

2.6.2 Steps of the Instruction in Lexical Inferencing

The following outlines the steps of the instruction in lexical inferencing, proposed by Clarke and Nation (1980), used in this study

Step 1: Look at the unknown word and decide its part of speech

Step 2: Look at the clause or sentence containing the unknown word

Step 3: Look at the relationship between the clause or sentence containing the unknown word and other sentences or paragraphs

Step 4: Use the knowledge you have gained from Steps 1-3 to guess the meaning of the word

Step 5: Check that your guess is correct

In the first week, after asking the subjects to read the first article entitled “Acid Rain”

in class, the researcher first demonstrated the steps using the word “toxic”, which appeared

in the article In Step 1, the researcher asked the subjects to read the whole article once and

then look at the word “toxic” to find out what part of speech the word belongs to Because the word “toxic” was followed by a noun “water”, the subjects could know the word

“toxic” was an adjective

Then, in Step 2, the researcher asked the subjects to look at the clause and sentence involving the word “toxic”: “Although the rain is not acidic enough to burn skin, it coats tree leaves, buildings, and the ground with toxic water” From the words in the sentence that included the word “toxic”, the subjects knew that “toxic” has a negative meaning

In Step 3, the researcher asked the subjects to look at the relationship between the clause

or sentence containing the unknown word and other sentences or paragraphs: “These dark clouds rain harmful chemicals onto the Erath.” In the sentence, the subjects could notice that “toxic” is related to “harmful chemicals”

In Step 4, the researcher asked the subjects to use the knowledge they had gained from Steps 1-3 to guess the meaning of the word

In the final step, the researcher asked the subjects to replace the word “toxic” with their guess and then to see if the guess was correct Besides, the researcher also asked the subjects to look up the word „toxic” in a dictionary to see the meaning of the word

The reason why the researcher asked the subjects to consult a dictionary to confirm the meaning of the word “toxic” was that learners can be more successful in reading when they combine strategies of consulting and inferencing (Fraser, 1999) In other words, if the subjects consult a dictionary after finishing the five steps, they can enhance their memory of the guessed word

As for whether the subjects should guess in pairs or individually during the six weeks

of practicing the strategy, Nation (2001) claimed that when teaching students the strategy

of lexical inferencing, it is better for students to work together “with the teacher, in groups, in pairs and then individually” As a result, during the six weeks of training, the subjects were asked to practice the steps of word guessing in pairs during the first three weeks to become familiar with the five steps In the last three weeks, the same subjects were asked to work individually to learn independence

As mentioned above, in the six articles distributed during the six weeks (i.e one article per week), the handout of five steps and the exercise format (See Appendix 10)

designed by Clarke and Nation (1980) was included in each article sheet handout to ensure that the subjects could remember the steps correctly

2.7 Data Collection Procedures

The following was the procedure of the main study

The procedure was as follows The researcher distributed the first reading article to the subjects and asked the subjects to read the article for ten minutes Later, the researcher distributed the first vocabulary multiple-choice test, and the subjects were asked to do the vocabulary test for fifteen minutes After the subjects finished the vocabulary test, the subjects were asked to return the paper Next, the researcher distributed the first reading comprehension test to the subjects and allowed them fifteen minutes to finish it Finally, the subjects were asked to return the paper along with the first reading article

as for the first one The only difference was that after all the test papers were finished and collected, the subjects were asked to fill in the questionnaire

The 3rd to 5th week: Three articles were used (i.e one article per week) in class for the subjects They also received the lexical inferencing instruction Further, in order to make the familiar with the five steps, they were asked to do the lexical inferencing activities in pairs for the first three weeks

weeks, except that the subjects were asked to do the guessing individually, rather than in pairs

process of conducting the posttest was the same as that for the pretest

were finished and collected, the subjects were asked to fill in the questionnaire Finally, five volunteer subjects in the experimental class were recruited for the retrospective interview All the study procedures are shown in Table 3