A study on English vocabulary learning strategies used by the first year students at Hai Phong Community College = Nghiên cứu về các chiến lược học từ vựng Tiến

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES ĐỖ THỊ KIM OANH A STUDY ON ENGLISH VOCABULARY LEARNING STRATEGI

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

ĐỖ THỊ KIM OANH

A STUDY ON ENGLISH VOCABULARY LEARNING STRATEGIES USED BY THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS

AT HAI PHONG COMMUNITY COLLEGE

NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ CÁC CHIẾN LƯỢC HỌC TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT

TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG CỘNG ĐỒNG HẢI PHÒNG

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TABLE OF CONTENT

TABLE OF CONTENT iv

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES vii

ABBREVIATIONS viii

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Nationale 1

2 Aim of the study 2

3 Research questions 2

4 Scope of the study 3

5 Significance of the study 3

6 Methods of the study 3

7 Structure of the study 4

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 1

Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 Language learning strategies 5

1.1.1 Background of language learning strategies 5

1.1.2 Definition of language learning strategies 6

1.1.3 Classification of learning strategies 7

1.1.4 The importance of language learning strategies in language learning and teaching 9

1.2 Vocabulary learning strategies 10

1.2.1 Definition of vocabulary learning strategies 10

1.2.2 Classification of vocabulary learning strategies 11

1.2.2.1 Classification of Gu and Johnson (1996) 12

1.2.2.2 Classification of Schmitt (1997) 13

1.2.2.3 Classification of Nation (2001) 15

1.2.3 Summary 16

Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY 18

2.1 The context of the study 18

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2.2 Research questions 20

2.3 Pilot study 20

2.4 Main study 23

2.4.1 Participants 23

2.4.2 Data collection instruments 24

2.4.2.1 Semi-structured interview 25

2.4.2.1 Survey questionnaire 26

2.4.3 Procedures 27

2.4.4 Data analysis 28

2.4.4.1 Student‟s awareness of vocabulary learning strategies 28 2.4.4.2 Strategies used for discovery a new word‟s meaning 30

(1) Determination strategies 30

(2) Social strategies 31

2.4.4.3 Strategies used for consolidation a word in memory 33

(1) Social strategies 33

(2) Memory strategies 33

(3) Cognitive strategies 35

(4) Metacognitive strategies 36

2.4.4.4 Overall strategies use of the six categories of strategies 37

2.5 Implications 39

2.5.1 The need of vocabulary learning strategy training 39

2.5.2 Learner responsibility 40

2.5.3 Dictionary strategies 40

2.5.4 Teaching and learning in context 41

2.5.5 Memory strategies 41

2.5.6 Analysis of word features 42

2.5.7 Use of vocabulary 42

PART C: CONCLUSION 43

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1 Recapitulation 43

2 Limitations and suggestions for further study 44

REFERENCES 45 APPENDIXES I

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES List of tables:

meaning used by the Pilot study participants 22

Table 6: Vocabulary learning strategies for consolidation a word in

memory used by the Pilot study participants 23

Table 7: Vocabulary learning strategies in survey questionnaire 27 Table 8: Descriptive statistics of students‟ use of Determination

Figure 1: Chart of the design of the study 25 Figure 2: Student's awareness of the importance of vocabulary

learning 29

ABBREVIATIONS

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PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale for the study

Vocabulary is very important for people‟s communication and language learning, which plays an important role in the process of second language acquisition Wilkins (Wilkins, 1972: 111) stated that “without grammar little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” Hence, we cannot deny that skills of language learning including listening, speaking, reading and writing cannot be successfully achieved without vocabulary So the study of vocabulary learning strategies is as an important step in second language acquisition

During the 1950s and 1960s, the study on vocabulary learning received little attention Fortunately, vocabulary learning has been studied more widely since the 1980s It has attracted more and more interest from researchers, educationalists as well as teachers Many of them, both at home and abroad, have pointed out their view on the vocabulary learning‟s significance As Decarrico (2001: 285) stated that

“Although vocabulary has not always been recognized as a priority in language teaching, interest in its role in second language learning has grown rapidly in recent years and specialists now emphasize the need for a systematic and principled approach to vocabulary by both the teacher and the learner” Or Nguyen Huyen (2004: 1) compared “If a language could be considered as a house, then its grammar could be considered as cement and its vocabulary could be figuratively compared to bricks To build a complete house, not only cement but also bricks are needed Without bricks, no house can be built, even when plenty of high quality cement is available.” This means that to be a competent English communicator, one must acquire a good knowledge of English grammar and have a rich amount of English vocabulary as well

In Vietnam in general and in my college, Hai Phong Community College in particular, English is the compulsory course for students However, there is a large gap between the students‟ English ability and requirements settled in the syllabus

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As vocabulary becomes a big obstacle in English learning and their speed of vocabulary improvement is quite slow Besides that, many English teachers think that their students can achieve vocabulary themselves Every new word can be looked up in English – Vietnamese dictionary which is marked with phonetic symbol and its Vietnamese meaning, so it is unnecessary to make great effort to teaching vocabulary In addition, there are some teachers still adopt the traditional teaching methods which are proved to be inefficient by many researchers On the other hand, as a teacher of English, I have dealt with many questions relating to vocabulary learning which are raised by my students Even some of them have worked hard on learning new words but the result is so disappointing Personally, I found it necessary to provide with them successful learning strategies to learn English words

Those reasons above encourage me to conduct a study on English vocabulary learning strategies used by the first year students at Hai Phong Community College

2 Aims of the study

The ultimate goal of the study is to help improve teaching and learning English in general, and teaching and learning English vocabulary in particular at Hai Phong Community College Therefore, the specific aims of this study are to find out the students‟ awareness of the important of vocabulary learning and what strategies are commonly used in learning vocabulary

3 Research questions

The research questions that the present study seeks to answer are:

1 What is the students‟ awareness of the importance of vocabulary learning?

2 What vocabulary learning strategies do the first year students at Hai Phong Community College commonly use?

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4 Scope of the study

The study focused on the investigation of vocabulary learning strategies which are employed by the first year students at Hai Phong Community College during the second term of school year 2011-2012

5 Significance of the study

Schmitt and McCarthy (1997) points out that vocabulary learning has been regarded as one of the most important parts in a second or foreign language acquisition On the basis of the idea above, this study helps raise the students' awareness of the importance of vocabulary learning and that there are many other vocabulary learning strategies and therefore the strategy training is necessary to be done by the teachers Further, it reveals the most and least frequently used vocabulary learning strategies adopted by the students, which can be implemented

to support both teachers and students in teaching and learning vocabulary at Hai Phong Community College

6 Methods of the study

In order to achieve the aims of the study mentioned above, the study was carried out on the basis of semi-structured interview and survey questionnaire The English teachers at Hai Phong Community College were interviewed about the strategies their students use in learning vocabulary to support information for the survey questionnaire Then, vocabulary learning strategies listed in the survey questionnaire were compiled from a review of the literature on vocabulary learning strategies and the interviews‟ data After the results were analyzed, the findings were reported and discussed then some suggestions were raised in the study

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7 Structure of the study

The study is divided into four chapters Each chapter deals with an important aspect of the study

Chapter 1 is the introduction of the study, which includes the rationale, aim,

research questions, scope, significance the study as well as the methods and structure of the study

Chapter 2 presents the information about some basis concepts related to

language learning strategies and vocabulary learning strategies In addition, the classifications of language learning strategies and vocabulary learning strategies are reviewed to set up the theoretical framework for the investigation in the next chapter

Chapter 3 covers the pilot study and main study They include the context of

the study, research questions, participants, data collection instruments, procedures, data analysis and implications

Chapter 4 summarizes the main issues of the whole study and gives the

future directions for further research and limitations of the study

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

In this chapter, a brief review of vocabulary learning strategies is given; some basic concepts related to language learning and vocabulary learning strategies are also presented In addition, the classification of language learning strategies in general and vocabulary learning strategies in particular are reviewed to set up the theoretical framework for the investigation in the next chapter

1.1 Language learning strategies

1.1.1 Background of language learning strategies

There has been a prominent shift within the field of language learning and teaching over the last twenty years with greater emphasis being put on learners and learning rather than on teachers and teaching In parallel to this new shift of interest, how learners process new information and what kinds of strategies they employ to understand, learn or remember the information has been the primary concern of the researchers dealing with the area of foreign language learning So, language learning strategies (LLS) for foreign language learning and the teacher's role in strategy training is very important

Research into LLS began in the 1960s Particularly, developments in cognitive psychology influenced much of the research done on LLS In most of the

research on LLS, the primary concern has been on “identifying what good language

learners report they do to learn a second or foreign language, or, in some cases, are observed doing while learning a second or foreign language” (Rubin and

Wenden 1987:19) In 1966, Aaron Carton published his study entitled “The Method

of Inference in Foreign Language Study”, which was the first attempt on learner strategies After Carton, in 1971, Rubin started doing research focusing on the strategies of successful learners and stated that, once identified, such strategies could be made available to less successful learners Rubin classified strategies in terms of processes contributing directly or indirectly to language learning Wong-

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Fillmore (1976), Tarone (1977), Naiman et al (1978), Cohen and Aphek (1981), Wenden (1982), Chamot and O'Malley (1987), Politzer and Mc Groarty (1985), Conti and Kolsody (1998), and many others studied strategies used by language learners during the process of foreign language learning

1.1.2 Definition of language learning strategies

It is clearly seen that research on learning strategies in general and language learning strategies in particular is becoming increasingly popular So far, there has been no consensus among the linguists regarding to the definitions of leaning strategies

According to Nunan (1991:168), “Learning strategies […] are the mental processes which learners employ to learn and use the target language” Nunan‟s definition restricts learning strategies only to “mental processes” Richard et al (1992:209), offers a broader definition of learning strategies, that is, learning strategies are intentional behavior and thoughts that learners make use of during learning in order to better help them understand, learn and remember new information.” Similarly, Weinstein and Mayer (1986) (in O‟ Malley and Charmot 1990:43) have learning facilitation as a goal and are intentional on the part of the learner The goal of strategy use is to affect the leaner‟s motivational or affective state, or the way in which the learner selects, acquires, organizes, or integrates new knowledge.”

Oxford (1990:8) defines learning strategies as “specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self directed, more effective and more transferable to new situation.”

Ellis defines learning strategies as “the particular approaches or techniques that learner employs to try to learn an L2.” (1997:76) He further explains that learning strategies can be behavioral or mental and are typically problem - oriented

Rubin (in Wenden and Rubin 1987:19) is even more explicit when he defines learning strategies as “any set of operations, steps, plans, routines used by the

Obviously, learning strategies are defined in different words and from different perspectives such as cognitive, social or pragmatic Therefore, researchers worked out the taxonomy of learning strategies instead of defining them This can

be seen in the following part

1.1.3 Classification of learning strategies

In the 1980s and early 90s, research mainly focused on categorizing the strategies found in the studies of the previous decade As a result, several taxonomies were proposed to classify them, including classifications of LLS in general and language sub-skills strategies in particular

One of the most famous to date that proposed by O'Malley and Chamot (1990) Their hierarchical framework of strategies distinguishes three major strategy types:

It can be seen that much of the recent work in this area has been underpinned

by a broad concept of LLS that goes beyond cognitive processes to include social and communicative strategies

describes learning strategies as “specific actions taken by the learners to make

learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective, and more transferable to new situations” Learning strategies will compensate for the

weakness of a learning style and maximize the strengths of a learning style powerfully

To emphasize the importance of LLS, Chamot et al (1999) stated,

“Differences between more effective learners and less effective learners were found

in the number and range of strategies used, in how the strategies were applied to the task, and in whether they were appropriate for the task” Therefore, teaching

learning strategies is especially useful for the latter learners If they can find effective strategies, they will be able to successfully, through effective strategy teaching, students will acquire not only vocabulary but also the way for studying

The language learner capable of using a wide variety of LLS appropriately can improve his language skills in a better way According to Oxford (1990),

memory strategies “help students store and retrieve new information”, cognitive strategies “enable learners to understand and produce new language by many

different means”, compensation strategies “allow learners to use the language despite their often large gaps in knowledge”, metacognitive strategies “allow learners to control their own cognition - that is, to coordinate the learning process

by using functions such as centering, arranging, planning, and evaluating”,

affective strategies “help to regulate emotions, motivations, and attitudes” and

social “help students learn through interaction with other” Developing skills in

three areas, such as metacognitive, cognitive, and socio-affective can help the

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language learner build up learner independence and autonomy whereby he can take control of his own learning Lessard-Clouston (1997:3) states that LLS contribute to the development of the communicative competence of the students Being a broad concept, LLS are used to refer to all strategies foreign language learners use in learning the target language and communication strategies are one type of LLS As

Oxford (1990:1) stated, LLS “ are especially important for language learning

because they are tools for active, self-directed movement, which is essential for developing communicative competence” Besides developing the communicative

competence of the students, teachers who train students to use LLS can help them become better language learners Helping students understand good LLS and training them to develop and use such good LLS can be considered to be the appreciated characteristics of a good language teacher Research into the good LLS revealed a number of positive strategies so that such strategies could also be used by bad language learners trying to become more successful in language learning However, there is always the possibility that bad language learners can also use the same good LLS while becoming unsuccessful owing to some other reasons At this point, it should be strongly stressed that using the same good LLS does not guarantee that bad learners will also become successful in language learning since other factors may also play role in success

1.2 Vocabulary learning strategies

1.2.1 Definition of vocabulary learning strategies

First of all, it should be noted that in the literature on language learning strategies, there is no official definition for vocabulary learning strategies Perhaps there is no need for such a definition because vocabulary learning strategies are part

of language learning strategies, which, in turn, are art of learning strategies

With reference to the definitions of learning strategies mentioned above, in this research, following Oxford (1990:8), the working definition of vocabulary learning strategies is as follows:

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Vocabulary learning strategies are specific behavioral or mental action taken

by learners to make their vocabulary learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective and more transferable to new situation

1.2.2 Classification of vocabulary learning strategies

Word knowledge is an essential component of communicative competence (Seal, 1991), and it is important for both production and comprehension in a foreign Knowing a word involves knowing:

 a great deal about its general frequency of use, syntactic and situational limitations on its use

 its underlying form and the form that can be derived from it,

 the network of its semantic features and,

 the various meaning associated with the item

(Richards, 1997:6) Knowing a word is also defined as knowing its spelling, pronunciation, collocations (i.e words it occurs with), and appropriateness (Nation, 1990) Therefore, lexical competence is far more than the ability to define a given number

of words and covers a wide range of knowledge which in turn requires a variety of strategies to gain the knowledge Foreign language learners may then use various strategies to acquire the target language word knowledge Taking this into consideration, language researchers have made various attempts to classify vocabulary learning strategies employed by foreign and second language learners Instances of such classifications are the taxonomies proposed by Gu and Johnson (1996), Schmitt (1997) and Nation (2001) which are briefly discussed below

1.2.2.1 Classification of Gu and Johnson (1996)

Gu and Johnson (1996) list second language (L2) vocabulary learning

strategies into metacognitive, cognitive, memory and activation strategies

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Metacognitive strategies consist of selective attention and self-initiation

strategies Learners who employ selective attention strategies know which words are important for them to learn and essential for adequate comprehension of a passage Learners employing self initiation strategies use a variety of means to make the meaning of vocabulary items clear

Cognitive strategies in Gu and Johnson‟s taxonomy entail guessing

strategies, skillful use of dictionaries and note-taking strategies Learners using guessing strategies draw upon their background knowledge and use linguistic clues like grammatical structures of a sentence to guess the meaning of a word

Memory strategies are classified into rehearsal and encoding categories

Word lists and repetition are instances of rehearsal strategies Encoding strategies encompass such strategies as association, imagery, visual, auditory, semantic, and contextual encoding as well as word-structure (i.e., analyzing a word in terms of prefixes, stems, and suffixes.)

Activation strategies include those strategies through which the learners

actually use new words in different contexts For instance, learners may set sentences using the words they have just learned

All these suggested strategies can be summarized in a table as follows:

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 Note-taking

Memory  Rehearsal: word lists, repetition, etc

 Encoding: association (imagery, visual, auditory, etc.)

Activation  Using new words in different contexts

Table 1: Gu and Johnson’s (1996) taxonomy of vocabulary learning strategies

1.2.2.2 Classification of Schmitt (1997)

A comprehensive inventory of vocabulary learning strategies is developed by

Norbert Schmitt (1997) He distinguishes the strategies into two groups: The onesto

determine the meaning of new words when encountered for the first time, and the

ones to consolidate meaning when encountered again The former contains

determination and social strategies and the latter contains cognitive, metacognitive,

memory and social strategies Schmitt includes social strategies in both categories

since they can be used for both purposes This categorization is based, in part, on

Oxford‟s (1990) classification scheme The details can be seen on the table below:

Strategies for the discovery of a new word’s meaning

DET

Analyze parts of speech Analyze affixes and roots Check for L1 cognate Analyze any available pictures or gestures Guess the meaning from textual context Bilingual dictionary

Word lists Flash cards

SOC

Ask teacher for an L1 translation Ask teacher for paraphrase or synonym of a new word Ask teacher for a sentence including the new word

Use „scales‟ for gradable adjectives Peg method

Loci method Group words together to study them Group words together spatially on a page Use new word in sentences

Group words together within a storyline Study the spelling of a word

Study the sound of a word Say new word aloud when studying Image word form

Underline initial letter of the word Configuration

Use keyword method Affixes and roots Parts of speech Paraphrase the word‟s meaning Use cognates in study

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Learn the words of an idiom together Use physical action when learning a word Use semantic feature grids

COG

Verbal repetition Written repetition Word lists

Flash cards Take note in class Use the vocabulary section in your textbook Listen to tape of word lists

Put English labels on physical objects Keep a vocabulary notebook

Table 2: Norbert Schmitt’s (1997) taxonomy of vocabulary learning strategies

1.2.2.3 Classification of Nation (2001)

In a more recent attempt, Nation (2001) proposes taxonomy of various vocabulary learning strategies The strategies in the taxonomy are divided into three general classes of „planning‟, „source‟ and „processes‟ Planning strategies involve deciding on what words and aspects of words to focus on, what strategies to use and how often to give attention to certain words Meanwhile, sources strategies concern ways to find out information about words This information may embrace all aspects of word knowledge and can be found in the word itself (word part analysis), the context (guessing from context), sources of reference (dictionaries) or L1 (via analogy) The final set of strategies (processes) includes ways to remember words and make the available for use The particular strategies in this set are divided into

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three sub-categories related to three conditions of vocabulary learning, namely noticing, retrieving and generating The whole taxonomy is illustrated in the following table

General class of strategies Types of strategies

Planning: choosing what to focus on and

 Using parallels in L1 and L2

Table 3: Nation’s (2001) taxonomy of vocabulary learning strategies

1.2.3 Summary

In general, although the taxonomies cited above may slightly differ in terms

of strategies they categorize, they all provide a list of widely applicable vocabulary learning strategies

The strongest point of Nation‟s taxonomy is probably its simplicity: only classes and types of strategies are mentioned and plain terms are used This is in sharp contrast with Schmitt‟s taxonomy in which up to 58 strategies are named and with Gu and Johnson‟s taxonomy in which psychological terms such as metacognitive, cognitive, activation self-initiation, etc are widely used However,

the other two have their own advantages over nation‟s categorization

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For its comprehensive treatment of individual vocabulary learning strategies, Schmitt‟s taxonomy is an effective research instrument for investigation into vocabulary learning strategies followed by a particular group or learners This remark has been confirmed in reality by Schmitt‟s research on Japanese learners of English (1993) It is due to the taxonomy‟s proven research value that it has been chosen as the basic for data analysis procedure of the study on vocabulary learning

strategies of the first year students at Hai Phong Community College

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CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 2.1 The context of the study

At Hai Phong Community College, there is only General English course which is applied for students of all departments This English course is taught during the first and second year It means that there are four terms of studying English with the total 240 periods The textbook chosen for the first two terms is New Cutting Edge – Elementary (Students‟ Book) by Sarah Cunningham and Peter Moor, 2005 During the two terms later, the students are introduced New Cutting Edge – Pre-intermediate (Students‟ Book) by Sarah Cunningham and Peter Moor,

2005 These materials were chosen to teach because it combines the comprehensive syllabus and reliable teaching resources that have made the course so popular, with brand-new features, making it even fresher and easier to use

The textbook New Cutting Edge – Elementary (Students‟ Book) for the first year students comprises fifteen theme-based modules and three review modules Each module is about one topic and consists of six parts: Language focus, Vocabulary, Reading/Listening, Task, Further skills and Study practice remember The average time for each module is seven periods Three review modules are in form of “Consolidation module” to help students check their understanding and study‟s result by themselves

Each vocabulary part deals with a familiar issue such as people and places, everyday life, transportation, food and drink, films, clothes, weather etc which are considered the important points of each module Vocabulary input is closely related

to topic and task in the modules so it provides a necessary foundation for practicing every other part of the modules

By the time of the survey, the first year students at Hai Phong Community College have finished one-half of the second term

In this term, they study vocabulary of seven modules (from module 9 to module 15), which contains following vocabulary issues:

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- Shops and shopping

- Clothes and describing people

- Animals and natural features

- Going out and staying in; the weather

- Education and careers

- Ways of communicating

- Things in a town

At the end of the term, the students have to take an online exam called

“Online multiple choice test on LAN network” which is designed with 35 multiple choice questions in total The students have 30 minutes to answer after signing in to accept the test Completed or not completed the test within 30 minutes the computer will send student‟s test mark 35 multiple choice questions including multiple choice format of phonetics, vocabulary, grammar, reading comprehension Following is the form of a final examination

Number Test items Number of

questions

Level of difficulty

Test form Score

Medium

Multiple choice questions

5 points

II Vocabulary 15 Easy &

Medium

Multiple choice questions & short answers

15 points

Medium

Multiple choice questions & short answers

10 points

5 points

Table 4: Table of test specifications

As can be seen from table, the Vocabulary contains at least fifteen choice questions in a test, which holds 15 points in total 35 points Besides, in the

multiple-20

Pronunciation and Reading comprehension part, each of them also has five multiple-choice questions If the students really do not know or have any idea about the new and strangle words, they cannot give the correct answers in these parts Therefore, the vocabulary often holds more than a half of the total mark of a test

2.2 Research questions

As mentioned above, the study was conducted to answer the following

questions:

1 What is the students‟ awareness of the importance of vocabulary learning?

2 What vocabulary learning strategies do the first year students at Hai Phong Community College commonly use?

2.3 Pilot study

Before conducting the present study, a pilot study was done with the same sample The aim was to test the reliability of the research instruments In addition, it was to test if the students knew all strategies mentioned in the survey questionnaire that is if the students were aware of the existence of so many vocabulary learning strategies There were four students and two teachers randomly chosen to participate in the pilot study

Firstly, the interview was conducted in English with the teachers who are chosen The interviewees were mainly asked open-ended questions according to interview guidelines (see Appendix 2) and were encouraged to express their thoughts freely It took place for fifteen minutes and was done at the office of Faculty of Foreign Language

Afterwards, based on the reported data and literature review, the survey questionnaire was compiled and delivered to the students It was the same version used for the main study (see Appendix 3) The participants were asked to answer some questions before rating how often they used the strategies to learn and remember new words by putting a tick in the column they chose from level of

Results for research question 1: What is the students‟ awareness of the

importance of vocabulary learning?

All students asked to do the survey questionnaire have been learning English for more than seven years This means that most students have a rather long time getting familiar with English It is very essential for each student to recognize the role of vocabulary learning in learning English The survey questionnaire showed that all the students recognized the importance of vocabulary learning Three students, which meant 75% of the students, agreed that vocabulary learning played

a very important role in learning English Other 25% find it important Therefore, it

is not surprising to find that no one underrate the role of vocabulary learning in learning English

The issue of knowing vocabulary learning strategies could not reach the consensus among students who were asked There were 25% of them said that they had ever heard of vocabulary learning strategies while 75% said that they had never heard of anything like that All students asked agreed that vocabulary learning strategies should be taught in class When being questioned why they thought so, most of them answered that they did not want to depend totally on the vocabulary learning taken place in class

It can be concluded that the students were all aware of the importance of and the need to learn and to be taught vocabulary learning strategies

Results for research question 2: What vocabulary learning strategies do the first

year students at Hai Phong Community College commonly use?

It seemed that the participants used many strategies but they did not know

Sometimes use

Seldom use Never use

Table 5: Vocabulary learning strategies for discovery a new word’s meaning used

by the Pilot study participants

As can be seen from table 5, the first most used strategy Use an English - Vietnamese dictionary was used by 4 participants (100%) It seems that the students use a bilingual dictionary (English – Vietnamese) with a high frequency The second most used strategy Ask the teacher for the meaning was also used a lot with the mean of 4.75 This definitely shows that the students rely on a teacher too much Another vocabulary learning strategy used with a relatively high frequency with the mean of 4.25 was Analyze any available pictures or gestures It is worth noting that the students seldom learn words through Analyze the part of speech, Analyze prefixes, suffixes and roots Actually, word features such as prefixes, suffixes and stems are useful clues for lexical inference

The following table shows three most used vocabulary learning strategies for consolidation a word in memory

Never use

16 Written repetition 3 75 1 25 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.75

20 Take notes in class 2 50 2 50 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.50

15 Verbal repetition 2 50 1 25 1 25 0 0 0 0 4.25

Table 6: Vocabulary learning strategies for consolidation a word in memory

used by the Pilot study participants

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From table 6, we can see clearly that the participants preferred repetition (written repetition and verbal repetition) in learning words that they have encountered Their means in turn are 4.75 and 4.25 The results suggest that those students relied heavily on learning the meaning and form of a word by rote Another vocabulary learning strategy used with a high frequency was Take notes in class There are a half of the participants always used it This finding is not surprising because the students‟ main perceived source of vocabulary studying in class or from the teacher

To conclude, the pilot study was useful because it was noticed that the students were willing to support the project and they enjoyed learning more about vocabulary learning strategies Definitely, the list of the strategies should remain the same for the main study but it will involve more participants and the results will be analyzed in more detail

2.4 Main study

2.4.1 Participants

There are 276 students at Hai Phong Community College participating in this study The number of students is chosen in accordance with the formula which is the one used by Krejcie & Morgan (1970)

The sample size n = 276 is the result of this fomula with N = 972 which is the total freshman at HPCC in year 2012 (See Appendix 1)

The students are chosen randomly from the first year students enrolled at HPCC in school year 2011-2012 Of the 276 participants, 70 were male and 206

n = required sample size

X2 = the table value of chi-square for 1 degree of freedom at the desired confidence level (3.841)

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were female, all at the age of 19 and 20 They are from different provinces, towns and cities in the North of the country such as Hai Phong, Hai Duong, Thai Binh, Quang Ninh, ect Most of them come from countryside Most of them have studied English since their tenth form at the high school None of them has learnt English in

an English speaking country However, such variables as gender, place of living are not considered in this study

In order to have an in-depth study, nine English teachers were also invited to participate in the interview They are from 28 to 50 years old They are six females and two males Three of them are with Master of Arts and the rest are with Bachelor

of Arts They have been teaching English at HPCC for five to more than fifteen years

2.4.2 Data collection instruments

The study was carried out in two phases The purpose of the first phase - interviews is to elicit information from the teachers about the strategies used by students in learning vocabulary Interviews are the appropriate instruments to develop the initial list of vocabulary learning strategies for the questionnaire because with these qualitative ones, the researcher can gain detailed description about each strategy and can have spontaneity and responsiveness to check

understanding immediately (Patton, 2002, p.343) While the second phase – survey

questionnaire aims to seek information about the students‟ awareness of the

importance of vocabulary learning, which is to collect quantitative information

In the first phase, semi-structured interviews were conducted among the teachers in order to elicit data about the strategies their students use in learning vocabulary Based on the reported data and literature review, a list of vocabulary learning strategies was compiled for the survey questionnaire among the 276 participants in the second phase to collect data about the vocabulary learning strategies are commonly used by the students In addition, a part in the survey questionnaire called general information was designed with five questions to seek