Using semantic mapping to teach ESP vocabulary to final-year students of finance and accounting at Hanoi tourism college Sử dụng sơ đồ ngữ nghĩa để dạy từ vựng tiếng Anh chuyên ngành cho sinh viên năm cuối, chuyên ngành tài chính và kế toán, trường Cao đẳng Du lịch Hà Nội Phạm Thị Hạnh University of Languages and International Studies M.A. Thesis. English Teaching Methodology; Mã số: 60 14 10 Supervisor : Dr. Lê Văn Canh Năm bảo vệ: 2012 Abstract. Vocabulary learning is a great challenge to English language students. This challenge seems to be greater to students learning ESP vocabulary. There have been several solutions suggested in the literature to the challenges of vocabulary learning. One of those suggestions is the use of semantic mapping. Although this technique has been promoted and researched by many researchers, little has been done about using this technique to teach ESP vocabulary learning. The action research reported in this thesis is an attempt to explore this issue. The study is aimed at exploring the possibility of teaching ESP vocabulary through semantic mapping with reference to the students’ attitudes to, and opinions of, this instructional strategy as well as their retention of ESP vocabulary. It was conducted with 38 final-year students of finance and accounting at Hanoi Tourism College. Although the results from students’ test scores and students’ responses to questionnaire revealed that semantic mapping fosters vocabulary retention to some extent and students seemed to value this teaching technique. However, it is necessary to note that the findings of this study, which is an action research study, has many limitations regarding the research design, the methods of data collection and the duration of the treatment, can by no means by generalized. Despite those limitations, the significance of the study is that it encourages the researcher-teacher of this study to further implement semantic mapping to teach ESP vocabulary as this question has been little researched by other researchers. Keywords. Tiếng Anh; Từ vựng; Sơ đồ ngữ nghĩa; Phương pháp giảng dạy Content. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Declaration i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii Table of contents iv List of abbreviations vii List of tables vii PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study 1 2. Aims and objectives of the study 2 3. Scope of the study 2 4. Research questions 3 5. Significance of the study 3 6. The method of the study 4 7. Design of the study 4 PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 What is vocabulary? 6 1.2. The role of vocabulary in second language learning 6 1.3. What is involved in teaching L2 vocabulary 8 1.4. Challenges of L2 vocabulary learning 8 1.5. The nature of ESP vocabulary 9 1.6. Challenges of ESP vocabulary learning 11 1.7. What should be taught in ESP vocabulary teaching 12 1.7.1. Word form 12 1.7.2. Word formation 12 1.7.3. Word relations 13 1.7.4. Collocation 14 1.8. Characteristics of financial & accounting English vocabulary 14 1.8.1. The morphological characteristics 14 1.8.2. The semantic characteristics 15 1.9. Vocabulary retention 16 1.10. Semantic mapping as a vocabulary instruction strategy 16 1.10.1. Definitions of semantic mapping 16 1.10.2. Procedures to construct a semantic map 17 1.10.3. Previous studies of the impact of semantic mapping on students’ vocabulary learning 19 Benefits of semantic mapping 19 Limitations of semantic mapping 23 CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY 2.1. The context of the study 25 2.1.1. Research setting 25 2.1.2. Teaching materials 26 2.2. Research participants 26 2.3. Data collection instruments 27 2.3.1. Tests 27 2.3.2. Questionnaire 28 2.4. Treatment procedures 29 2.5. Procedures of data collection 31 2.6. Data analysis 31 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 3.1. Findings 32 3.1.1. The effectiveness of semantic mapping on students’ word retention 32 3.1.2. Students perceptions of the benefits of semantic mapping to their word retention. 34 3.2. Discussion. 36 PART C: CONCLUSION 1. Summary of the study 38 2. Limitation of the study and suggestions for further study 40 REFERENCES APPENDICES References. 1. Antonacci, P. A. (1991). Students search for meaning in the text through semantic mapping, Social Education, International Reading Association. 55, pp. 174-5 2. Al-Kufaishi, Adil. (1988), A Vocabulary Building Program is a Necessity not a Luxury. English teaching Forum, 26(2): 42-44. 3. Abdollahzadeh and Amiri (2009), “The effect of semantic mapping as a vocabulary instruction technique EFL learners with different perceptual learning styles”, The journal of Applied Linguistics ,Vol.2, Issue 1. 4. Brikena Xhaferi (2010), Teaching and learning ESP vocabulary, BIBLID, pp.229-255 5. 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(1997), “The negative effects of learning words in semantic sets” , ELSIVIER, 25(2), 261-274. 42. Wilkins, D.A. (1972), Linguistics in Language Teaching London, Oxford University Press, Oxford. . Using semantic mapping to teach ESP vocabulary to final-year students of finance and accounting at Hanoi tourism college Sử dụng sơ đồ ngữ nghĩa để dạy. 38 final-year students of finance and accounting at Hanoi Tourism College. Although the results from students test scores and students responses to questionnaire revealed that semantic mapping. of teaching ESP vocabulary through semantic mapping with reference to the students attitudes to, and opinions of, this instructional strategy as well as their retention of ESP vocabulary.