Factors affecting students' learning of ESP vocabulary at state commercial No5 school = Những yếu tố ảnh hưởng tới việc học từ vựng tiếng Anh chuyên ngành của s

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONSESP: English for Specific Purposes EGP: English for General Purposes EFL: English as a Foreign Language L1: First Language L2: Second Language SLA: Second Language A

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

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LÊ THỊ NGA

FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENTS’ LEARNING OF ESP VOCABULARY AT STATE COMMERCIAL No5 SCHOOL

NHỮNG YẾU TỐ ẢNH HƯỞNG TỚI VIỆC HỌC TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH

CHUYÊN NGÀNH CỦA SINH VIÊN TRƯỜNG TRUNG CẤP

THƯƠNG MẠI TRUNG ƯƠNG 5

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410

Hanoi- 2011

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LÊ THỊ NGA

FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENTS’ LEARNING OF ESP VOCABULARY AT STATE COMMERCIAL No5 SCHOOL

NHỮNG YẾU TỐ ẢNH HƯỞNG TỚI VIỆC HỌC TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH

CHUYÊN NGÀNH CỦA SINH VIÊN TRƯỜNG TRUNG CẤP

THƯƠNG MẠI TRUNG ƯƠNG 5

M.A MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410

Supervisor: Dr LÊ VĂN CANH

Hanoi- 2011

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Candidate’s statement……… i

Acknowledgements……… ii

Abstract……… iii

Table of contents……….iv

List of abbreviations……… vi

List of tables and charts……….vii

PART 1: INTRODUCTION……….1

1 Rationale……… 1

2 Aims of the study……….2

3 Research questions……… 2

4 Scope of the study………2

5 Method of the study……….2

6 Design of the study……… …… …2

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT……… 4

Chapter 1: Literature Review……… ……….…… ….4

1.1 Vocabulary in foreign language teaching and learning………… ……….…4

1.1.1 Definition of vocabulary……… … …4

1.1.2 The importance of vocabulary in language teaching and learning………4

1.2 Vocabulary learning in ESP……… ……5

1.2.1 What is involved in knowing a word? 5

1.2.1.1 Form of a word……….….5

1.2.1.2 Meaning……… ….………… ….6

1.2.1.3 Use of a word……… ………7

1.2.2 Terminology……… ……… ……… ……… 7

1.2.2.1 Definition of terminology……… ……….……….7

1.2.2.2 Characteristics of accounting terminology………… ……… …7

1.2.2.3 Classification of terminology……….….… 8

1.2.3 Explicit vocabulary learning and Implicit vocabulary learning…… … … 9

1.2.3.1 Explicit vocabulary learning……… …….9

1.2.3.2 Implicit vocabulary learning……… … … 9

1.3 Factors affecting vocabulary learning ………….…… 10

1.3.1 Person-related factors……….………… 10

1.3.2 Intralexical factors ……….……….…… 12

1.3.3 Vocabulary learning task ……….……… …… 16

1.3.4 Vocabulary learning strategies ……….……… 17

1.3.5 Learning context ……….……….…… 18

Chapter 2: The context of teaching and learning ESP at State Commercial No5 School.20 2.1 The teachers and their methods of teaching……….… …20

2.2 The students and their background……… …….….…20

2.3 The teaching materials and facilities……… 21

Chapter 3: The study……… ……….………… ….22

3.1 Subjects of the study……….……… 22

3.2 Data collection instrument……… 22

3.3 Data analysis……… … 23

3.4 Conclusion and discussion……… …… … … 30

Chapter 4: Some suggested solutions……… … ……… ….32

4.1 Training students to become self-studiers……….……… … 32

4.2 Providing students with different vocabulary learning strategies……….…….….32

4.3 Improving teachers’ techniques in teaching vocabulary…….……… …….34

4.4 Improving teachers’ professional knowledge……….….… …… 36

PART 3: CONCLUSION………38

1 Summary of the study……… ……… ….38

2 Limitations and suggestions for further study……….……… ………… 39

REFERENCES ……… 40

APPENDIX……… I

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ESP: English for Specific Purposes

EGP: English for General Purposes

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

L1: First Language

L2: Second Language

SLA: Second Language Acquisition

SCS: State Commercial No5 School

LIST OF TABLES & CHARTS

Table 1: Students’ strategies in learning ESP vocabulary

Table 2: Teachers’ techniques to present new words

Table 3: Useful ways of new words presentation to students

Table 4: Students’ most interested way of vocabulary practice

Table 5: Students’ suggestions for better effects on learning accounting vocabulary Chart 1: Students’ attitudes towards the importance of vocabulary learning

Chart 2: Students’ attitudes towards learning of English vocabulary

Chart 3: Students’ difficulties in learning a new word

Chart 4: Students’ difficulties in learning vocabulary of accounting

Chart 5: Students’ interest towards teachers’ activities in vocabulary lesson

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

The rapid growth of English as an international language of communication has stimulated its worldwide popularity in language teaching and learning for decades In Vietnam, English has been considered to be the most popular foreign language since the economic open-door policy Especially after becoming a member of the World Trade Organization, English has become a great demand for schooling and job opportunities English, particularly English for specific purposes (ESP) has recently become popular in numerous educational, vocational and academic institutions which are mandated to train

qualified workforce for the society

In learning English for General Purposes (EGP) in general and English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in particular, vocabulary plays an important role Because meaning is chiefly conveyed through words, vocabulary is the foundation of communication, without which communication would be very limited In order to become independent users of English, students should acquire an adequate number of words and should know how to use them accurately However, vocabulary acquisition, especially the acquisition of technical words in ESP, is really challenging to every student, especially students with limited proficiency in English

In the context of State Commercial No5 School in Thanh Hoa, English is a compulsory subject to the students They have to learn ESP at the beginning of the first year when they have not learnt any major subjects With limited knowledge of vocabulary and English grammar, it is difficult for the students to study ESP, especially ESP vocabulary The students often complain that they do not know how to learn and how to memorize words effectively The situation is worse when they have to learn technical words of their own specialism because technical words are difficult to pronounce and use This problem has been a concern

of many ESP teachers

As an ESP teacher, I received many questions from our students about the difficulties in learning ESP vocabulary such as: “ Why is it very difficult to remember new words?” or

“How do I learn English vocabulary effectively?”, etc However, up to now there have not

been any research on students‟ difficulties in ESP vocabulary learning at our English teaching setting Therefore, I conducted a study to find out the causes of their difficulties Then, the factors that most affect their learning of ESP vocabulary can be identified The solutions to these factors will be suggested to improve the learning and teaching of ESP vocabulary at State Commercial No5 School

2 Aims of the study

The study is aimed at finding out the factors affecting students‟ learning of ESP vocabulary at State Commercial No5 School Once these factors have been identified,

solutions to help students study ESP vocabulary more effectively will be suggested

4 Scope of the study

The study is confined to the identification of factors that affect vocabulary acquisition, especially the acquisition of accounting-related vocabulary by the students of Accounting at State Commercial No5 School The solutions are also provided to improve the students‟ ESP vocabulary learning at State Commercial No5 School

5 Method of the study

In order to achieve the aims mentioned above, the major method used in the study is the quantitative one That is all comments, conclusion, suggestion given in the thesis are based

on the analysis of the data from survey questionnaires responded by the students

6 Design of the study

This study is organized into 3 main parts:

PART 1: Introduction

In this part the rationale, the aims, the research questions, the scope, the method, and the design of the study are presented

PART 2: Development: It consists of four chapters

Chapter 1 deals with the theoretical background of the research, which is related to the issues relevant to the topic of the research

Chapter 2 describes the context of teaching and learning ESP at State Commercial No5 School

Chapter 3 presents subjects of the study, data collection instrument, the analysis of data, conclusion and discussion

Chapter 4 offers some suggested solutions to improve the students‟ learning of ESP vocabulary at State Commercial No School

PART 3: Conclusion: This part presents a summary of the study, limitations and suggestions for further study

PART 2: DEVELOPMENTCHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Vocabulary in foreign language teaching and learning

1.1.1 Definitions of vocabulary

There have been a wide variety of definitions of vocabulary Each linguist or scholar,

in their specialized field, with their own set of criteria, defines vocabulary from their own specialized perspective According to Peny Ur (1996: 60), vocabulary as “the words we teach

in the foreign language However, a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word:

a compound of two or three words or multi-word idioms” Pyles and Algeo (1970: 96) also note that: “It is in words that sounds and meanings inter-lock to allow us to communicate with one another, and it is words that we arrange together to make sentences, conversations and discourses of all kinds”

In this thesis, vocabulary is defined as the total number of all the words that a language possesses, including a single word, two or three word items expressing a single idea and multi-word idioms of which meaning cannot be deduced from the analysis of the component words

but only understood in the sentences, or in contexts

1.1.2 Importance of vocabulary in language teaching and learning

In the context of learning English as a foreign language, the vital role of vocabulary is inevitable Vocabulary is commonly accepted to be the most important language elements among pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar McCarthy (1990: viii) states that “ the biggest component of any language course is vocabulary No matter how well the student learns grammar, no matter how successfully the sounds of L2 are mastered, without words to express

a wide range of meanings, communication in an L2 just cannot happen in any meaning way” Wilkins (1972: 11) emphasizes this with his saying, “without grammar, very little can be

conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed”

This is true in learning a foreign language If a learner has a wide range of vocabulary,

he can help himself understood and understand others easily On the contrary, if his vocabulary is limited he will surely have difficulty in doing so and in English learning Therefore, nobody can learn a language without learning vocabulary, and nobody can be a

good language user without a reasonably rich vocabulary

1.2 Vocabulary learning in ESP

Vocabulary acquisition is an essential achievement that one needs to fulfill his/her study of a second language A good repertoir of vocabulary is essential for EFL learners, especially for those who learn English for specific purposes Nation (2001: 187) states that: “It

is wise to direct vocabulary learning to more specialized areas when learners have mastered the 2000- 3000 words of general usefulness in English” In order to have easy access to the specialized uses of vocabulary, learners need to learn and be taught judgment about vocabulary and its use such as vocabulary aspects, which words are worth focusing on and at what time, during class or independent study time, etc

1.2.1 What is involved in knowing a word?

Miller & Gildea (1987) points out that “knowing a word does not simply mean being able to recognize what it looks and sounds like or being able to give the word‟s dictionary definition Knowing a word by sight and sound and knowing its dictionary definition are not the same as knowing how to use the word correctly and understanding it when it is heard or seen in various contexts” Penny Ur (1996) notes that when vocabulary is introduced to learners, what need to be taught are form: written and spoken forms, grammar, collocation, aspects of meaning: denotation, connotation, appropriateness, meaning relationships, and word form

According to Nation (1990: 30-33) and Taylor (1990: 1-4), knowing a word involves not knowing its spelling, morphology, pronunciation, meaning, or the equivalent of the word

in the learner‟s mother tongue but also knowing its collocations, register, polysemy, and even its homonym Beck & McKeown (1991), and Nagy & Scott (2000) argue that there is also the issue of precision with which we use a word, how quickly we understand a word, and how well we understand and use words in different modes, receptive or productive, and for different purposes

These aspects of words will be examined in detail as followed:

1.2.1.1 Form of a word

* Pronunciation and spelling

Each English word has its spelling and pronunciation Learners have to know all the spelling, pronunciation and irregularities of the word To many students, the complex relationship between sound and spelling in English seems to make the language inexplicable

It is easy to understand when we consider a large number of homophones in English such as

weight/ wait, buy/ by, and the number of similar forms which differs widely in their

pronunciation like educate/ economic

* Grammar

Regarding Ruth Gairns and Stuart Redman‟s view (1986), foreign language learners need some guidance on how to use vocabulary accurately They need to know the grammatical function, the unpredictable change of form in certain contexts or some idiosyncratic ways of connecting with other words in sentences, the regularity and irregularity, the singular and

plural forms of the new words For example: when a verb such as buy is learnt, it should be

noticed that its irregular past form is bought

1.2.1.2 Meaning

There are various kinds of meaning, which include denotational meaning, connotational meaning, pragmatic meaning or appropriateness, and meaning relationship

The meaning of a word is primarily what it refers to in the real world, its denotation

This is often the sort of definition given in dictionaries For example, the word “dog” denotes

a kind of animal, more specifically, a common, domestic carnivorous mammal

A less obvious component of the meaning of a word is its connotation in different contexts or its connotative meaning This is the associations, or positive or negative feelings it evokes, which may or may not be indicated in a dictionary definition Connotation includes stylistic, affective, evaluative, and intensifying value, the pragmatic communicative value, the words acquires by virtue of where, when, how, and by whom, for what purpose and in what

context it is or may be used For example, the word dog, as understood by most British people,

has positive connotations of friendship and loyalty, whereas the equivalent in Arabic, as understood by most of the Arab countries has negative associations of dirty and inferiority

Appropriateness is a more subtle aspect of meaning that indicates whether a particular item is socially and culturally appropriate one to use in a certain context or not Thus it is

useful for a learner to know that a certain word is very common, or relatively rare, or taboo in polite conversation, or tends to be used in writing but not in speech, or is more suitable for

formal than informal discourse, or belongs to certain dialect For example, the word “depart”

is virtually synonymous in denotation with “leave”, but it is more formal and tends to be used

in writing more than in speech, or business conversation

Meaning relationships can also be useful in vocabulary teaching and learning They show how the meaning of one item relates to the meaning of others There are various such relationships like synonyms, antonyms, hyponyms, co-hyponyms or co-ordinates, super-

ordinates, and translation For example, the words: “chap, lap, and fellow” may serve as synonyms of “man” or “cheap” is an antonym of “expensive”

In learning ESP vocabulary, the students have to learn only one kind of meaning, i.e denotational meaning This is because technical words do not have connotational or pragmatic meaning However, they have to learn all kinds of meanings when learning semi-technical words, which are abundant in technical texts

1.2.1.3 Use of a word

The most important for students to learn a new word is to know how to use it appropriately and effectively in different oral and written contexts or else it may become a dead or forgetable word In order to use a word well, they need to know how to collocate it with other words correctly Therefore, they should put words into collocation For example,

when learning words like “to make” and “to do”, the student may note that both words mean

“to perform” but can be distinguished by the words they collocate with We often say to do the homework but we cannot say to make the homework

1.2.2 Terminology

1.2.2.1 Definition of terminology

There are a number of definitions of terminology In Longman dictionary of Applied

linguistics (1985: 308) defines terminology as “the special lexical which occur in a particular discipline” Nguyen Thien Giap‟s definition (1985: 308): “Terminology, which is understood

as a special linguistic unit of a language consists of word and fixed phrase that provide definitions of objectives that belong to a particular scientific area”

In any language, there exist “special words in specialized fields or branches of human knowledge”, so terminology is defined in this thesis as technical words of a particular specialism, e.g accounting

1.2.2.2 Characteristics of accounting terminology

Many linguists including Do Huu Chau (1981), Nguyen Thien Giap (1985) and Luu Van Lang (1998) share the idea that terminology has at least three important features: accurate, systematic, and international Accounting terminology in English shares the same characteristics

1.2.2.2.1 Accurate

A terminology should express a scientific concept or definition concretely and precisely in order to avoid misunderstanding one concept for another Terminologies exist without connotational, amotional meanings and avoid polysemy, synonymy and antonymy In other words, one terminology expresses a particular meaning, in turn, with a meaning only a specific terminology expresses In the accounting area, this feature is particularly evident For

example, “net profit” (lãi thực), and “discount rate” (mức chiết khấu) and so on, respectively, refer to “net profit”, and “discount rate”, there will be no other understanding

1.2.2.2.2 Systematic

Systematism is considered to be one of the most important features of terminology because every field of science has its own limited system of concept which are denoted by certain terminologies and the value of each terminology is determined by its relationship with other terminology in the same system As a result, terminology loses its value when it is isolated from its system Generally, a terminology has to be a dependent member of its system

For example: retail and wholesale / retail and net weight / gross weight NW

1.2.2.2.3 International

Due to the global integration, scientific and technological exchange, a number of new

ideas, new concepts, new products continue to emerge For example, E-commerce (electronic commerce), cyber-trade (online transactions), etc

1.2.2.3 Classification of terminology

Terminology can be classified into 2 main groups according to their structural patterns:

single and compound terminologies

Single terminologies are made up one word, usually a noun or a verb For example:

receipt (biên lai), loan (tiền vay), account (tài khoản), etc

The compound terminologies are the ones which consist of two or more than two words These words, which are of different parts of speech, combine together and create

terminologies that have the form of nominal groups For example: deposit account (tài khoản tiền gửi có hạn), net profit (lãi thực), account book (sổ kế toán)

However, terminologies exist in various forms, they may be written in full such as

“Standing Order” (lệnh chi trả trực tiếp), “Balance Sheet” (bảng cân đối kế toán) or using acronyms (initial letters of words that form a group of words) such as B/S (Balance Sheet), S/O (Standing Order)

1.2.3 Explicit and implicit vocabulary learning

Schmitt (2000) declares, “ for second language learners, at least, both explicit and incidental learning are necessary, and should be seen as complementary”

1.2.3.1 Explicit (or Direct) vocabulary learning

Hulstijn (2001: 271) defines explicit vocabulary learning as “any activity geared at committing lexical information to memory” “In direct vocabulary learning, learners do exercises and activities that focus their attention on vocabulary.” (Nation 1990: 2) For example, when students are doing word-building exercises, learning words from a list, or playing vocabulary games in class with a lot of help and instruction from teachers This means that they are learning vocabulary explicitly

Explicit learning is very important at the beginning level To make successful instruction for explicit vocabulary learning, teachers should consider the following to teach high-frequency words, to maximize vocabulary learning by teaching word families instead of individual words, and to consider meaning associations attached to the word Due to such careful explanations and guidance of teachers, students at low and intermediate levels may acquire vocabulary explicitly before they begin implicit learning mainly by themselves

1.2.3.2 Implicit/ (or Incidental) vocabulary learning

According to Hunt and Bedlar (2001), implicit vocabulary learning (or incidental

vocabulary learning) is learning vocabulary as a by-product of doing other things such as reading or listening A major source of incidental learning is extensive reading which they recommend as a regular out – of – class activity Woodinsly and Nation (1988) state that the implicit learning of vocabulary through extensive reading can benefit language curricular and learners at all levels With the similar idea Chan and Plass (1996) and Day Omora (1991) emphasize that extensive listening can also increase vocabulary learning

In incidental learning of vocabulary, teachers should provide opportunities for extensive reading and listening that make learners be able to learn vocabulary through extensive reading, through communicative interactions, through exposure to natural input such

as movies, TV So, implicit vocabulary learning has many advantages First, it is contextualized, giving the learner a richer sense of a word‟s use and meaning than can be provided in traditional paired-associate exercises Second, it is pedagogically efficient at two activities – vocabulary acquisition and reading/ listening – that occur at the same time Third,

it is more individualized and learner-based because the vocabulary being acquired is dependent on the learner‟s own selection of reading materials Lastly, presentation, consolidation and lexical/semantic development occur at the same time

Explicit and implicit vocabulary learning play an important role in vocabulary acquisition Decarrico (2001) recommends that implicit vocabulary learning should not be used without explicit vocabulary learning at the low and intermediate levels Zimmerman (1994) finds that three hours a week of explicit instruction plus some self-selected reading are more effective than reading alone Paribakht and Wesche (1997) also state that reading plus

explicit instruction lead to superior gains over a period of three months

1.3 Factors Affecting Vocabulary Learning

1.3.1 Person- related factors

According to Lightbown and Spada (1999: 49-68), “those factors that affect the learner

in language learning also have an effect in his vocabulary learning These factors include age

of acquisition, aptitude, intelligence, personality, motivation and attitudes” Rubin and Thompson (1994: 3-8) suggest a similar list of factors affecting vocabulary learning: age, aptitude (emotion), personality (extroversion, inhibition, tolerance of ambiguity), learning

style (learning by rules or by risks, through eyes or ears), and past experiences

+ Age

Age has been regarded as an important factor in acquiring second languages successfully Collier (1988), expresses that successful language acquisition depends on the learner‟s age Some studies have revealed that the learner‟s age affects their abilities to acquire both pronunciation and grammar Ellis‟ study on the effect of age shows that learners who start as children achieve a more native-like accent than those who start as adolescents or adults The younger is better in the case of phonology but not in the acquisition of grammar

(1994)

+ Aptitude

Research has shown that if a student lacked some minimum capacity for second language learning, this process could not possibly happen In other words, all human beings exhibit a range of aptitude for learning a second language, either though formal instruction or informal immersion (Lightbown and Spada, 1993) Aptitute is seen as responsible for influencing the rate of acquisition, “particularly where formal classroom learning is concerned” (Ellis, Rod 1985: 113) Therefore, a person who has been born with a high level of aptitude can learn at a faster and easier rate than a person with a low language aptitude (Schmidt 1985: 285) According to Caroll (1965), four factors in language aptitude include phonemic coding ability, rote learning ability, inductive language learning ability and grammatical sensitivity; of which the first three are hypothesized to be involved in vocabulary learning

Thus, teacher can select appropriate teaching approach and activities based on learners‟ aptitude profile to accommodate their differences in aptitude

+ Motivation and attitudes

Changya Li in his reearch paper on Second Language Acquisition and College English

Teaching claimes that learning motivation and attitudes are emotional factors influencing the

result of foreign language acquisition He also emphasizes that the stronger learning motivation is, the more passion learners have for learning, the more lasting the learning activity will be, the more difficulties can be overcome (2009)

According to Ellis (1994: 508-525), motivation is viewed as integrative motivation, instrumental motivation; resultative motivation and intrinsic interest Intergrative motivation involves an interest in learning an L2 because of a sincere and personal interest in the people and culture represented by the other language group In contrast, instrumental motivation concerns the practical value and advantages of learning a new language Learners with either integrative or instrumental motivation, or a mixture of both, will manifest greater effort and perseverance in learning Resultative motivation is an interactive effect between motivation and achievement A high level of motivation stimulates learning and success in L2 learning can help to maintain existing motivation Conversely, low motivation leads to low achievement, then lower motivation can develop Motivation can also take the form of intrinsic interest in specific learning activities and may be more easily influenced by teachers

than goal-directed motivation

Obviously, motivation is a key factor influencing the rate and success of L2 learning Therefore, it is very difficult to teach a second language in a learning environment if the learner does not have learning motivation It is very important to make the learner active and

desirable in learning process and the task of the teacher is to maximize the motivation

+ Personality

Personality is one of the factors that affect SLA in general and vocabulary acquisition

in particular According Reza (cited in Bitchener, Young & Cameron, 2005), personality is one of the individual differences which is broadly established to have an outcome on learning generally and second language acquisition especially

+ Learning styles

According to Smith (cited in Merriam and Caffarella, 1991: 176), “Learning style is an individual‟s characteristic way of processing information feeling, and behaving in learning situations” Davis (1993: 185) defines learning style as “an individual‟s preferred way of gathering, interpreting, organizing, and thinking about information”

Ellis (1994: 507-522) analyses a number of learning styles such as concrete learning style, analytical learning style, communicative learning style and authority-orientated learning style (based on Willing, 1987) He eventually concludes that “Learners manifest different

learning styles but it is not yet clear whether some styles result in faster and more learning

than others”

1.3.2 Intralexical factors

According to Laufer (1997: 7), intralexical factors which affect the difficulty of vocabulary learning include phonological factors, grammatical characteristics of the word and semantic features of the word

words like durable, divisible, portable, and recognizable Some may find it difficult to pronounce final consonant clusters such as expenses, managers, earnings, etc

Familiarity with phonological features and a word‟s phonotactic regularity (its familiar combinations of features) were shown to affect accuracy in perceiving, saying and remembering the word Some studies have shown that foreign words which were difficult to

pronounce were not learned as well as the more pronounceable ones such as liability, mortgage, indebtedness, etc

Stress could be another variable influencing pronounceability (Chang, 2002) Correct pronunciation of a word requires stress on the right syllable Learners of English may have difficulty because the place of the stress is variable and has to be learned as part of the word‟s spoken form Moreover, the weakening of unstressed vowels introduces yet another factor of difficulty, particularly for Vietnamese learners who are unfamiliar with this phenomenon in their L1

+ Length

Word length could be viewed as one of the indexex of learning load (Bernhardt, 1984,

Nation & Coady, 1989) Coles (1982) discovers that in recognition tasks, the longer the words, the more errors a learner could make In sum, longer words tend to be less frequently encountered and might cause processing problems on account of too many syllables for learners (Alderson & Urquhart, 1984)

In summary, word length is usually measured in the number of syllables The longer the new word is the more difficult it is to remember Learners of English might memorize more easily one-syllable words than two-syllable words, two-syllable words more easily than three-syllable words, especially for Vietnamese learners as the Vietnamese language is a monosyllabic language

1.3.1.2 Grammatical characteristics of the word

+ Categories of the words

It is sometimes argued that certain grammatical categories of the words are more difficult to learn than others Nouns seem to be the easiest; adverbs, the most difficult; verbs and adjectives are somewhere in between Phillips (1981) also finds that nouns are better learnt than verbs or adjectives, but the effect of part of speech decreases with the increase in the learners‟ proficiency Even though learners acquire the semantic content of some words, they confuse their part of speech Sometimes nouns are replaced by verbs, sometimes

adjectives by nouns, or adverbs by adjectives

Features of inflexional complexity such as the irregularity of plurals, gender of inanimate nouns, noun cases make an item more difficult to learn than an item no such complexity, since the learning load caused by the multiplicity of forms is greater (Laufer, 1991: 9)

+ Morphology

Laufer (1997) indicates another feature that can be a source of difficulty- morphology Nuttal (2000) also notes that the morphology or internal structure of a word might offer

valuable clues to its meaning Morphology of a word can often serve as a facilitating factor in the recognition of a new word and its subsequent production

The inflexional and derivational forms of words cause some difficulties to learners of

English such as cases of nouns, irregularity of plural, and gender of inanimate nouns

Deceptive morphological transparency is a special case of morphological difficulty Deceptively transparent words are words that look as if they are combined of meaningful

morphemes For example, the word “ outline” It seems that “outline” is composed of two parts: „out‟ and “line” but “out” does not mean “out of” Thus, this word does not have the surface meaning “outline” at all

1.3.1.3 Semantic features of the word

Leech (1974: 96) defines semantic features as “theoretical constructs which can characterize the vocabulary of a language” According to Laufer (1997: 149), semantic properties that are sometimes claimed to affect word learnabilitiy are abstractness, specificity

and register restriction, idiomaticity, and multiple meaning

+ Abstractness

Abstract words are assumed to be more difficult to learn than concrete words

“Concrete words are the easiest to learn Neither young nor older students have trouble in learning numbers, days of the week, colours, names of objects, and the like.” (Allan &

Wallette, 1972: 144) Most of accounting terminologies are abstract words such as credit, loan, tax

+ Specificity and register restriction

Specificity in meaning has proved to be a feature of difficulty The learner often uses a

general item rather than a specific one For example: the word put is used instead of impose

runs a smaller risk of making an error, since the general item covers a larger area of meaning than the specific one, and could therefore fit in a large number of contexts Blum and Levenston (1978: 152) conclude that “learners will prefer words which can be generalized to use in a large number of contexts In fact they will over-generalize such words, ignoring register restrictions and collocational restrains, falsifying relationship of hyponymy, synomyny and antonymy”

The register restriction of some words is a related problem to specificity (Laufer, 1991: 10) He states that general and neutral words, which can be used a variety of contexts and registers are less problematic than words restricted to a specific register, or area of use

+ Idiomaticity

Marton (1997) and Bensoussan and Laufer (1984) show that the problem of idioms is one obstacle to fluent comprehension in learners Idiomatic expressions are much more difficult to understand and learn to use than their non-idiomatic meaning equivalents For

example: the word decide would be easier than make up one’s mind Idioms are difficult to

comprehend since each word provides little clue or no clue whatsoever as to the meaning of

the idiom For example: learners often translate literally the idioms such as balance the books (to check that all the money in a business is counted for), close the books (to end a bookkeeping period), throw money at something (to try to solve a problem by spending money

on it), as they are not aware of the fact that a group of seemingly simple words constitutes one unit of meaning

+ Multiple meaning

Lyons (1968: 405) claims that “ the ideal language one might say would be one in which each form had only one meaning and each meaning was associated with only one form” In practice, however, one form can have several meanings and one meaning can be represented by different forms One form which presents several meanings can be either a polysemy or a homonym

Polysemy is a property of single lexemes, a polysemy is a lexical item with several

meanings related to each other For example, neck can be a part of the body, or a part of a

shirt, or a part of a bottle, etc Homonyms are separate lexical items with distinct meanings

unrelated to each other For example, the word bank means a financial institution or bank of a river; the word capital in the capital of Hanoi or the wealth that can be used to produce more

wealth

Lyon (1981: 148) states that “the problems of distinguish between polysemy and homonymy is, in principle, insoluble” Bensoussan and Laufer (1984) point out that polysemes induce the largest number of the errors in comprehension of words This is one of the most

difficulties for learners to understand ESP texts, especially those at low level (elementary or pre-intermediate)

In summary, intralexical factors that increase word difficulty are pronounceability, spelling, morphological complexity, existence of similar forms, grammar, semantic factors such as specificity and register restriction; idiomaticity and multiple meaning: homonymy and polysemy In addition, interlexical factors which are related to the relationship between the word and familiar words in the target language and other languages, especially the mother tongue are also the factors affect the difficulty of vocabulary learning (Laufer, 1991: 13)

The mother tongue can influence the way second-language vocabulary is learnt, the way it

is recalled for use, and the way learners compensate for lack of knowledge by attempting to construct complex lexical items The more aware learners are of the similarities and differences between their mother tongue and the target language, the easier they will find it to

adopt effective learning and production strategies (Schmitt and McCarthy, 1997: 179)

1.3.3 Vocabulary learning task

Flavell (1979), Wenden (1987), and Williams and Burden (1997) state that the learning task includes the materials being learned (such as the genre of a piece of reading) as well as the goal the learner is trying to achieve by using these materials (such as remembering,

comprehending, or using language)

According to Fluente (2006), the goal of L2 vocabulary tasks should be acquisition of words and expansion of word‟s knowledge, not only the meanings but also the forms She concludes that “task-based lessons seemed to be more effective than the Presentation, Practice and Production lesson” The analysis also suggests that a task-based lesson with an explicit focus-on-forms component was more effective than a task-based lesson that did not incorporate this component in promoting acquisition of word morphological aspects The results also indicate that the explicit focus on forms component may be more effective when placed at the end of the lesson, when meaning has been acquired

Different types of task materials, task purposes, and tasks at various difficulty levels have various effects on the learners‟ vocabulary acquisition For example, learning words in a

word list is different from learning the same words in a passage As well, remembering a word meaning is different from learning to use the same word in real life situations

1.3.4 Vocabulary learning strategies

Learning strategies are the decisive factor for fruitful vocabulary learning Many scholars have striven to introduce different vocabulary learning strategies in order to help learners of English improve their vocabulary learning such as Nation (1982, 1990, and 2001), Rubin and Thompson (1994), and Taylor (1990)

Schmitt (1997: 203) defines learning strategies as “the process by which information is obtained, stored, retrieved, and use” and “therefore vocabulary learning strategies could be any which affect this broadly-defined process” The most comprehensive and detailed definition of language learning strategies is provided by Oxford (1990) According to her, language learning strategies are: “operations employed by the learner to aid the acquisition, storage, retrieval, and use of information ; specific actions taken by the learners to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective, and more transferable to new situations”

Vocabulary learning strategies are one part of language learning strategies which in turn are part of general learning strategies (Nation, 2001) Language learning strategies encourage greater overall self-direction for learners Self-directed learners are independent learners who are capable of assuming responsibility for their own learning and gradually gaining confidence, involvement and proficiency (Oxford, 1990) So is the case with vocabulary learning strategies Thus, students need training in vocabulary learning strategies they need most Research has shown that many learners do use more strategies to learn vocabulary especially when compared

to such integrated tasks such as listening and speaking But they are mostly inclined to use basic vocabulary learning strategies (Schmitt, 1997) This in turn makes strategy instruction an essential part of any foreign or second language program

1 3.5 Learning context

Learning context refers to the learning environment It is the socio-culturo-political environment where learning takes place The learning context can include the teachers, the

peers, the classroom climate or ethos, the family support, the social, cultural tradition of learning, the curriculum, and the availability of input and output opportunities (Gu, 2003)

Related to classroom interaction and second language acquisition, Ellis (1994: 60) recommends three conditions for second language acquisition First, “Opportunities to negotiate meaning may help the acquisition of L2 vocabulary” (Tanaka, 1991, Zamazaki, 1991), Second, “Teacher-controlled pedagogic discourse may contribute to the acquisition of formal language skills, while learner-controlled natural discourse may help the development of oral language skills” (McDonald, Stone, and Yate 1977) Third, “ Learners need access to well-formed input that is tailored to their own level of understanding This can be achieved in teacher-directed lessons with a clearly-defined structure and by well-adjusted teachers talk"

(Wong- Fillmore, 1982,1985) All of these give support to the hypothesis that successful L2 learning may be possible in a favorable classroom environment

Concerning the relevance of the teacher and the teaching method, Littlewood (1981: 51) states that a language teacher is expected “to perform in a variety of roles, seperately or simultaneously” According to Wright (1987), these roles include: an instructor, a manager, a counselor, a facilitator (or course/ syllabus designer), a material writer and even a friend An ESP teacher, as a language one, is to fulfill these mentioned roles Peter Strevens( cited in Oxford, 1990: 193) states that: " It takes better teachers to focus on the learner", and "We cannot teach another directly; we can only facilitate his learning (Carl Rogers, cited in Oxford, 1990: 193) This means that helping learners to be independent during their learning process is

a task of every teacher To gain this aim, one of the suggestions is that learners should be equipped various strategies so that they control their own learning process confidently and independently Therefore, teachers should apply a lot of strategies and activities According to Hatch and Brown (2000: 401), teaching strategies refer to everything teacher do and should do

in order to help their learners learn Which teaching strategy a teacher will employ depends on the time available, the content, as well as on its value for the learner (i.e the learning strategy

he or she can learn or apply) With the similar idea, Le Van Canh (2004: 95) emphasizes that

“There is no single method or approach that can work for all teachers or for all learners or under all conditions because teaching is socially constructed activity”