Vocabulary learning strategies a SURVEY WITH STUDENTS ATHIGH SCHOOL

Ministry of Education and Training Hanoi University Vocabulary learning strategies: A SURVEY WITH STUDENTS AT HIGH SCHOOL Submitted in partial fulfillment of the Requirement of the degree of master of art in tesol Hanoi August 2015 Ministry of Education and Training Hanoi University VocabulARY learning strategies: A SURVEY WITH STUDENTS AT HIGH SCHOOL Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement of the degree of master of art in tesol supervisor: Hanoi August 2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ABSTRACT LIST OF ABBREVIATION LIST OF TABLES CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1. Back ground to the study 1.2. Aim of the study 1.3. Scope of the study 1.4. Significance of the study 1.5. Outline of the thesis CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1. Definition of vocabulary learning strategies 1.2. Studies on vocabulary learning strategies abroad 1.3. Studies on vocabulary learning strategies in Vietnam CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 3.1. Research questions 3.2. Data collection instruments 3.3. Subjects 3.4. Data collection procedures 3.5. Data analysis 3.6. Summary CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION CHAPTER 5 2 IMPLICATION AND CONCLUSION REFERENCES APPENDIX A APPENDIX B APPENDIX C 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my most sincere appreciation to my supervisor, Nguyen Thai Ha, MEd. for her encouragement and guidance throughout the research. Without her well-designed plan and meticulous review of the draft, this study would have been impossible. I also wish to thank all the staff members of Post-graduate Department of Hanoi University for giving me the best environment to fulfill my thesis. I would like to acknowledge and express my appreciation to my colleagues from Cao Ba Quat Gia Lam (CBQGL) high school for their enthusiastic supports and constructive suggestions in completing this research. My special thanks also go to the students at CBQGL high school who have helped me to collect data for this study. Finally, my gratitude is extended to my family for their endless love, constant support and encouragement. i ABSTRACT ii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CBQGL: Cao Ba Quat Gia Lam COG: Cognitive strategies DET: Determination strategies LSs: Learning strategies MEM: Memory strategies MET: Metacognitive strategies SEEU : South East European University SILL: Strategy Inventory for Language Learning SOC: Social strategies VLSs: VocabularyLSs iii LIST OF TABLES iv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1. Background to the study At CBQGL high school - a public school located in Gia Lam district, Hanoi city, English is one of the compulsory subjects and students have to study four English skills: reading, speaking, listening, writing and language focus that deal with pronunciation and grammar. The time spent learning English at CBQGL high school is only 3 periods a week for basic classes and 4 periods a week for advanced classes. However, they all have learned English for over seven years before entering this high school. Despite the large amount of English learning time, their vocabulary is still poor. Many students complain that they spend most of their time to learn vocabulary but the results are disappointing. It is their lack of good vocabulary that has consequently badly affected their writing, reading, listening and speaking proficiency. The real situation leads to an assumption that the students may have problems in their VLSs. To solve to problem of poor lexicon, the students should possess appropriate vocabulary learning strategies (VLSs). For a long time many books on LSs have been introduced by such experts as Oxford , O’Malley & Charmot , Nation and Nunan . Some books on VLSs have been written by such scholars as Nation , Rubin & Thompson and Taylor . Moreover, a number of recent foreign studies have been specifically carried out to investigate VLSs used by students at university or high school. They were carried out by Hamzah, Kafipour & Abdullah (2009), Xhaferi (2008) at unversity context and Kudo (1999), Marttinen (2008) at high school context. Besides, in Vietnam, there has so far been some research on VLSs such as Trinh Tuyet Mai (2006) and Dinh Thuy Hang (2008). Trinh Tuyet Mai (2006) carried out a research on VLSs used by students at Lang Son College of Education, but Dinh Thuy Hang (2008) investigated students’ VLSs at Hung Vuong gifted high school. However, research on VLSs employed by students at CBQGL high school has not been done yet. Based on the findings of previous studies relating to VLSs and the needs mentioned above the present research should be carried out with the aim to investigate VLSs used by students at CBQGL high school. 1 1.2. Aims of the study The purpose of the research is to investigate vocabulary-learning strategies used by students at CBQGL high school. To achieve this aim, the study provides the answers to the following question: What VLSs are commonly used by the students of CBQGL high school? 1.3. Scope of the study The study was designed to investigate VLSs which are employed by the students of CBQGL high school. It also finds out the differences in the use of VLSs among students at grade 10, 11 and 12. The findings obtained from this study was to help improve teaching and learning English in general and teaching and learning English vocabulary in particular at CBQGL high school. 1.4. Significance of the study The study is significant for several reasons. First, the findings of the study will provide us plenty of useful information. It is necessary to determine VLSs commonly used by the students of CBQGL high school. Therefore, it is hoped that the study will contribute to improve the learning English for students. Moreover, the information obtained from the students’ viewpoints on VLSs will also establish a practical basis for English teachers at CBQGL high school to adjust their ways of teaching vocabulary and training appropriate strategies as well. 1.5. Outline of the thesis The thesis is divided into five chapters below: Chapter 1: Introduction, presents the background to the study, states the aims of the study, scope of the study and significance of the study. The outline of the study is also discussed. Chapter 2: Literature review, deals with the brief review of the previous studies relating to vocabulary learning strategies including the researchers’ findings on the issues. The first section provides definition of VLSs. The second section dicusses studies on VLSs abroad. The third section concerns studies on VLSs in Vietnam. The chapter includes with a review of previous studies on VLSs. Chapter 3: Methodology focuses on the research method used to gather and anaylyze data. First, research questions are addressed. Then instruments for data 2 collection, subjects and procedures are described. The chapter ends with data analysis and summary. Chapter 4: Results and discusssion, reports the results of the use of VLSs by students at CBQGL high school, differences among three grades on their strategy use. The major findings are considered as basic for some suggestions for future pedagogical implications. Chapter 5: Implications and Conclusion, provides several implications and conclusion for CBQGL high school training for students, mentions some limitations of the present research and suggestions on further studies. 3 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter deals with the brief review of the previous studies relating to vocabulary learning strategies including the researchers’ findings on the issues. The first section provides definition of VLSs. The second section dicusses studies on VLSs abroad. The third section concerns studies on VLSs in Vietnam. The chapter includes with a review of previous studies on VLSs. 2.1. Definition of vocabulary learning strategies VLSs are “specific strategies for learning vocabulary” as Ellis put it. VLSs can be considered as a subset of general LSs in second language acquisition. Schmitt echoes this very broad definition in defining vocabulary-learning strategies. Citing Rubin , Schmitt claims learning is “the process by which information is obtained, stored, retrieved and used... Therefore, VLSs could be any which affect this broadly defined process” (Rubin 1987, cited in Schmitt 1997, p.203). Nation (2001), instead of providing a clear-cut definition of VLSs, has opted for listing their characteristics. According to Nation (2001), a strategy must: • involve choice, i.e. there should be several strategies to choose from; • be complex, i.e. there should be several steps to learn; • require knowledge and benefit from training; • increase the efficiency of vocabulary learning and vocabulary use; Accordingly, we admit that vocabulary-learning strategies are one aspect of the overall LSs. Then what are learning strategies (LSs)? LSs are attempts to develop linguistic and sociolinguistic competence in the target language. Strategy is best reserved for general tendencies or overall characteristics of the approach employed by the language learner, learning techniques as the term to refer to particular forms of observable learning learner’s encoding process LSs are techniques, approach or deliberate actions that students take in order to facilitate the learning, recall of both linguistic and content area information Language LSs are behaviors or actions which learners use to make language learning more successful, self-directed and enjoyable 4 O’Malley & Chamot (1990) are interested in LSs and characteristics of good language learner defined LSs as “the special thoughts or behaviors that individuals use to help them comprehend, learn or retain new information” (O’Malley & Chamot , 1990, p.1) A strategy consists of mental or behavior activity related to some specific stage in the overall process of language acquisition or language use (Ellis, 1994) It can be observed that it seems difficult or even impossible to set a criterion to judge which definition is perfect or comprehensive. Ellis (1994), therefore, suggested that the following characteristics should be recognized. 1(1) Strategies refer to both general approaches and specific actions or techniques used to learn a language. 2(2) Strategies are problem-oriented, and the learner employs a strategy to overcome some particular learning problem. 3(3) Learners are generally aware of the strategies they use and can identify what they consist of and they are asked to pay attention to what they are doing and thinking. 4(4) Strategies involve linguistic behavior (such as, pointing at an object so as to tell its name) 5(5) Linguistic strategies can be performed in language learning. 6(6) Some strategies are behavioral while others are mental. Thus some strategies are directly observable while others not. 7(7) In the whole, strategies contribute indirectly to learning by providing learners with data about the second or foreign language they can process. However, some strategies may also contribute directly (e.g. memorization strategies directed at specific lexical items or grammatical rules). 8(8) Strategies use varies considerably because of both the kind of task the learner is engaged in the individual learner preferences. Taking all the characteristics into account, Ellis (1994) suggested that strategies could be defined as “production sets that exist as declarative knowledge and are used to solve some learning problem”. 5 2.2. Studies on vocabulary learning strategies abroad A majority of recent studies have been specifically carried out to investigate VLSs used by students at university. In a university context, the most recent study was carried out by Hamzah, Kafipour & Abdullah . This study mainly aims to explore the most and least frequently used VLSs by Iranian undergraduate students, the overall frequency of strategy used by Iranian EFL undergraduate learners and the contribution of Iranian EFL undergraduate learners’ VLSs to their vocabulary size. They used Schmitt's vocabulary learning strategy questionnaire with 41-items classified under 5 different groups of strategies as determination, memory, social, cognitive, and metacognitive. One hundred twenty five Iranian second year undergraduate students randomly selected among 30 provinces around Iran participated in the study. The other instrument utilized for this piece of research is Nation's standardized vocabulary size test which includes 140 items and determines the learners' vocabulary size. After the analysis of data, they found that Iranian undergraduate EFL learners are medium strategy users. They revealed more interest in discovering the meaning of new words-determination strategy-rather than other categories. Among the strategies used to retain the meaning of new words, they used memory strategies more frequently while social strategies were used less frequently. Moreover, VLSs contribute to vocabulary size of the learners. Only nine out of 41 VLSs showed a contribution and significant relation to vocabulary size. However, this study has some suggestions that future studies should take into consideration qualitative data collection to triangulate the data. It may show if what the learners reported in questionnaire is consistent with what they actually do. To achieve this purpose, journal writing as a qualitative data collection is beneficial. Furthermore, other relevant variables can be investigated to find if vocabulary learning contribute to them or not. One of these variables which is expected to be affected by VLSs is reading comprehension. Furthermore, in a univesity context, Xhaferi carried out a research to investigate VLSs used by students at South East European University (SEEU) in terms of gender and teachers’ attitudes toward teaching vocabulary. In this study, he aims to find out what types of VLSs are used by female and male students at SEEU in learning high-frequency and low-frequency words. The total sample of students involved in the study is 100 and were chosen randomly. In addition, twenty English language teachers 6 expressed their attitudes that they hold about teaching vocabulary and what techniques they use to teach vocabulary. This study used three research instruments. The first instrument is a ten-item background questionnaire in order to get some background information about students' English learning experiences. The second instrument is a student survey which includes 30 VLSs. It was modified based on the Oxford's Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) (1990). The participants should include four more strategies that they use but are not included in the list. The third instrument is a ten-item teacher questionnaire and the aim was to find more information about the teacher's attitudes toward teaching vocabulary and what teaching techniques they used. The findings of Xhaferi (2008) indicated that both females and males employ different strategies to discover the meaning of unknown words and to remember the meaning. It presents the techniques that students use to learn high frequency and low frequency words in English. It was demonstrated that learning new words is a complex process and the students need to use many strategies in order to remember the meaning of the words. They use the results obtained from teachers’ responses, different approaches. The most-used teaching approaches are developing guessing strategy, using flashcards, using pictures and illustrations, doing word games and puzzles, and using different texts to enrich students' vocabulary. However, the study by Xhaferi (2008) remains some limitation and has its own suggestions. This empirical study only included a small number of participants and a small number of teachers teaching English as a foreign language. A larger sample from different institutions would definitely yield more findings that are generalizable. As other studies, the data were collected by using only three instruments, which do not reflect a reality because students could have not read the questions carefully but only circled them. This study definitely will not be the only one in this field and does not offer any conclusive findings about vocabulary learning and teaching at SEEU. This will lead to more thorough investigations in the field and both students and teacher will benefit from these findings. In a high school context, Kudo carried out a research on 325 Japanese high school students to serve his specific aim at investigation and systematically categorization of VLSs. In a first study, the data were collected from Japanese senior high school students (N=325) in a questionnaire in which participants answered the frequency of 56 strategies. Descriptive statistics indicated that many strategies were infrequently used. In the second study, again, Japanese senior high school students 7 participated (N=504). Descriptive statistics indicated that the means of each category declined compared to Study 1 probably because the items with high means had been eliminated. The questionnaire was used to measure the frequency of the VLSs. These strategies were operationalised as measured by the questionnaire developed by the researcher, based on the study done by Schmitt (1997). In this research, Kudo (1999) also carried out a main study with its aim to describe what strategies Japanese senior high school students use to learn vocabulary, and to gain insights into what teachers and students can and should do in teaching and learning vocabulary. As a result, many findings of the questionnaires turned out to be quite congruent with those of Schmitt’s (1997) descriptive studies and Oxford’s (1990) classification schemes. As far as classification is concerned, the main study seems to support Oxford’s (1990) classification schemes as a whole. In addition, although some researchers argue that strategies may be culture-specific (O’Malley & Chamot, 1990; Cohen, 1996), this research empirically provided evidence that this argument may not hold true. While Oxford (1990) based her scheme on her research in Alabama, this study was conducted in Japan, very different culture. Therefore, the results of this study suggest that learners may commonly employ LSs at least in Japan and in Alabama, rather than culture-specific. This study suggests that students should be exposed to many strategies. Some students wrote that they did not know that there are so many different strategies to learn vocabulary. Furthermore, they said that they planned to try some that they found in the questionnaire and that looked interesting, but that they had never though of before. If students can find strategies suitable to them and actually use them, this might increase their vocabulary size. While it was found that Japanese senior high school students used many different strategies to learn vocabulary, it was also found that there were some that they did not use such as the Keyword Method and semantic mapping. It is possible that these “unknown” strategies will help them learn vocabulary. In addition, as Schmitt (1997) argued, such cognitively demanding strategies lead to higher retention in memory than do the cognitively shallow activities such as verbal repetition. Therefore, English teachers might want to introduce such potentially effective techniques to their students and encourage them to try these strategies out. To accomplish this goal, teacher educators and teachers must be knowledgeable about as many strategies as possible and introduce them to their students whenever students need help. If teachers are not very 8 knowledgeable about strategies, they need to make the effort to investigate strategies by themselves or consult with specialists. There are some limitations in a large-scale study like this. First, since the questionnaire is self-report and the single source of information in this part of the study, it is not clear whether the participants actually used the strategies, they indicated in learning vocabulary. Their responses may be just their beliefs or thoughts that they have about their use of strategies. There must have been differences in the awareness of strategy use among individuals, and some may have inadvertently responded incorrectly. In order to investigate students’ actual use of strategies, researchers must observe classes where vocabulary learning is taking place, use think-aloud procedures (introspection), and interview the students to find out what they do to learn vocabulary and so forth. Second, there may also have been some unclear points in the questionnaire itself. “Never” to “always” may have been fuzzy because they interpretations of these scales can change according to context . For example, the participants many have though of different contexts when they are asked how frequently they use a bilingual dictionary. They might have thought of home context or school context. Their answer may have been “It depends.” Therefore, it would have been better if the context had been specified. In addition, as one teacher pointed out, the definitions of some words may not have been clear. Along with Kudo (1999), Marttinen also investigated VLSs used by students two upper secondary schools in Western Finland. The purpose of his thesis was to find out more about theLSs L1 Finnish students of upper secondary school use when studying English as their first foreign language. Especially interesting was finding out what kind of different strategies upper secondary school students use in their study of English vocabulary and where they have gotten their information about these different strategies. In addition, he wanted to study the possible gender differences, which may have an impact on strategy use. Furthermore, he was interested in the relationship of second language learning motivation and VLSs. A questionnaire which was completed by 50 upper secondary school students of two different schools in Western Finland (31 males, 19 females). Thirty participants used the paper version of the questionnaire and 20 completed the questionnaire in the Web environment. In addition, the strategies were classified by the vocabulary learning strategy taxonomy by Schmitt (1997). After the analysis of data, Marttinen (2008) found out upper secondary school students acknowledge the meaning of vocabulary in language proficiency even though 9 they may not take the initiative to enhance their vocabulary learning abilities by using different VLSs or even actively take issues regarding vocabulary learning into consideration. The distinction between vocabulary learning and vocabulary acquisition is hard to make and the participants of the present study seemed to be somewhat confused whether vocabulary acquisition outside the classroom is vocabulary learning. When planning further study in the field of vocabulary learning strategy use it would be useful to take some suggestions into account. A large number of participants and equal number of females and males could offer more accurate data and results. In addition, interviews or observations could serve as useful tools for data acquisition instead of or together with a questionnaire used in the study. 2.3. Studies on vocabulary learning strategies in Vietnam Together with foreign studies on VLSs, this field of research has been attracting the attention of researchers in Vietnam. There are two of all VLS studies are one by Trinh Tuyet Mai and another study conducted by Dinh Thuy Hang . As shown in the studies, both of them investigated VLSs. However, they have some differences. Trinh Tuyet Mai (2006) carried out an investigation of the first year English major students’ VLSs in Lang Son College of Education, whereas Dinh Thuy Hang (2008) studied VLSs employed by students at Hung Vuong gifted high school. The study done by Trinh Tuyet Mai aims to provide answers to the following questions: What VLSs are most frequently used by the first year English major students at Lang Son College of Education and How does their choice of VLSs relate to their personality, motivation and language learning backgrounds. There were questionaires and one vocabulary test supporting questionaire one given to 31 students comprising 1 male and 30 female. These students come from different districts of Lang Son province and their age from 18 to 24. After the analysis of data, she found out that there were a wide range of VLS use. The study’s subjects prefer cognitive and metacognitive ones. Moreover, VLS were used at a quite low level of frequency and use more simple and shallow strategies of different categories neglecting those ones requiring much manupulation of information. The purpose of Dinh Thuy Hang’s study was to identify what VLSs are commonly used by the students at Hung Vuong Gifted High School and to look at the differences in vocabulary learning strategy by gender and major in relation to strategy 10 use. A vocabulary-learning strategy questionnaire was given to 67 students from Hung Vuong Gifted High School participated in the study. Thirty-five students of English (n=35) and thirty-two students of math (n=32). Forty-seven students were female and twenty were male. The participants have been studying English for 5 to 8 years. Statistical analysis revealed that most of the strategies given in the questionnaire were not used with high frequency. Only one of five groups of strategies had the frequency above 50% (Determination strategies). The rest had the frequency below 50%. This may lead to difficulties in long-term retention and use of vocabulary. Significant differences existed in strategy use by field of study. The results showed that means of vocabulary learning strategy use between the male and female were not so much different. Most of the female had greater means than the male. 2.4. Summary As shown in the studies reviewed above, VLSs have been taken into consideration and attempted to study in a vast number of foreign researchers and several Vietnamese ones. All of the studies mentioned above used Schmitt's vocabularylearning strategy questionnaire to gather data from the students on theirs vocabularylearning strategies. This proves that the questionnaire is very reliable. However, all above-mentioned studies indicated that the data were collected by using questionnaires, which do not reflect the reality of students’ VLSs because students could have not read the questions carefully but only circled them or there may also have been some unclear points in the questionnaire itself. Besides, “Never” to “always” may have been fuzzy because they interpretations of these scales can change according to context. Therefore, it is suggested that researchers should have a qualitative data collection, which is more beneficial such as journal writing, think-aloud procedures (introspection), or interview the students in order to investigate students’ actual use of strategies. Second, based on the fact at CBQGL high school, students all have learned English for over seven years before entering this high school. In spite of having large amount of English learning time their vocabulary is still poor. Many students complain that they spend most of their time to learn vocabulary but the results are at low level. It is their lack of good vocabulary that has consequently badly affected their writing, reading, listening and speaking proficiency. The real situation leads to an assumption that the students may have problems in their VLSs. 11 For some reasons mentioned above, the present research is implemented to investigate vocabulary-learning strategies used by students at CBQGL High School. The details will be presented in the methodology section. CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY The review of literature relating to the present study in the previous chapter has provided a theoretical basis for developing its methodology. This chapter aiming at depicting the methodology addresses the following issues: The research questions; the data collection instruments; the subjects of the study; the research procedure description and data analysis. 3.1. Research questions As stated in chapter 1, the purpose of the research is to investigate VLSs used by students at CBQGL high school. To achieve this aim, the study provides the answers to the following question: What VLSs are commonly used by the students of CBQGL high school? 3.2. Data collection instruments A questionnaire was chosen to identify what VLSs are commonly used. The questionnaire was designed to gather data from the students on their VLSs. It contained fifty-eight closed-ended questions and one open-ended question classified under five different groups of strategies as determination, memory, social, cognitive, and metacognitive. Questions from 1 to 9 belong to determination strategies, from 10 to 17 belong to social strategies, from 18 to 44 belong to memory strategies, from 45 to 53 belong to cognitive strategies and from 54 to 58 belong to metacognitive strategies. The questionnaire was translated into Vietnamese so that students could understand and respond to the items easily (see the Appendix). The items were adapted from Schmitt (1997) because they were reliable and used in most of above-mentioned studies. Examples or explanations were added in most of the questions in the questionnaire to help students understand clearly about VLSs. For example, in question 1, 2, 3, there were some changes. Question 1: I analyze part of 12 speech (noun, verb, or adjective...) of a new word to discover its meaning. Question 2: I analyze affixes (prefixes e.g. happy - unhappy and suffixes e.g. understand - understandable) and roots to its meaning. Question 3: I check for L1 cognate (having the same origin as another word or language) E.g. ‘Haus’ in German is cognate with ‘house’ in English (see Appendix A and B) After analyzing the data of the questionnaire, the researcher conducted interviews with some students to triangulate the data collected through questionnaire. It showed if what the learners had reported in the questionnaire was consistent with what they actually did. Some students selected were based on the highlights of the questionnaire results. They were among the learners who use the most or least frequent strategies. During the interview, the learners were encouraged to answer three questions as follows: (1) Why do they use these strategies most or least frequently? (2) Can you describe one learning task you use these strategies? (3) What VLSs should be used to complete the following task? (Given task: In part A – Reading of Unit 8 – The story of my village – Textbook 10, there are some new words found in the reading text such as mud, brick, result in, export, water shortage, make ends meet). For example, students answered this question as follows: I use pictures to discover the meaning of new words mud, brick (determination strategies). I ask teachers for synonym of the new word result in ~ bring about (social strategies). I guess the word export from the textual context (determination strategies), analyze part of speech short (adj)- shortage (n) (determination strategies) and I use group work activity in task 1 (textbook 10) to discover the meaning of the new words make ends meet.(social strategies) 3.3. Subjects A total of 200 students chosen randomly from about two thousand students studying at CBQGL high school participated in the study. They were selected randomly every five students in grade 10 (N=70), 11(N=70) and 12(N= 60). The age of the students is probably 16, 17 and 18. 3.4. Data collection procedures The first instrument required about 45 minutes to complete and was administered in the students’ English class. Before filling out the questionnaire, students 13 were told that their participation was voluntary and their responses remained confidential; they were asked to give their opinions as honestly as possible, which was crucial to the success of this investigation. I also confirmed to them that the research was carried out with the aim at improving their own English learning in general and their English vocabulary learning in particular. The questionnaire was written in Vietnamese so that all the informants could understand and complete all questions. After the survey questionnaire, the second instrument was interviews that took one student from 5 to 10 minutes to complete. 3.5. Data analysis The data gathered through the questionnaire were coded for statistical analysis to investigate which vocabulary learning strategy are commonly used and how often each strategy is used by students at CBQGL high school. The terms high frequency and low frequency were used in the data analysis procedure. The former term refers to always and frequently and the later one refers to sometimes and rarely. The questions in the questionnaire were analyzed one by one in their vocabulary learning strategy groups by counting its percentage. Mean values of vocabulary learning strategy use were calculated to determine whether there are differences in strategy use. The qualitative data from the interviews were recorded, translated, and analyzed. 3.6. Summary CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION This chapter reports the results of the use of VLSs by students at CBQGL high school, differences among three grades on their strategy use. The major findings are considered as basic for some suggestions for future pedagogical implications. 14 CHAPTER 5: IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSION 5.1. Implications 5.2. Further research and limitations 5.3. Conclusion REFERENCES 15 APPENDIX A THE TAXONOMY OF VOCABULARY LEARNING STRATEGIES (Schmitt, 1997) Strategies for the discovery of a new word’s meaning. DET Analyze part of speech DET Analyze affixes and roots DET Check for L1 cognate DET Analyze any available pictures or gestures DET Guess from textual context DET Bilingual dictionary DET Monolingual dictionary DET Word lists DET Flash cards SOC Ask teacher for L1 translation SOC Ask teacher for paraphrase or synonym of new words SOC Ask teacher for sentence including the new word SOC Ask classmates for meaning SOC Discover new meaning through group work activity 16 Strategies for consolidating a word once it has been encountered SOC Study and practice meaning in a group SOC Teacher checks students’ flash cards or word lists for accuracy SOC Interact with native speakers ________________________________________________________________ MEM Study words with a pictorial representation of its meaning MEM Imagine word’s meaning MEM Connect word to a personal experience MEM Associate the word with its coordinates MEM Connect the word to its synonym and antonyms MEM Use semantic maps MEM Use scales for gradable adjectives MEM Peg method MEM Loci method MEM Group words together to study them MEM Group words together spatially on a page MEM Use new word in sentences MEM Use new words together within a storyline MEM Study the spelling of a word MEM Study the sound of the word 17 MEM Say new word aloud when studying MEM Imagine word form MEM Underline initial letter of the word MEM Configuration MEM Use keyword method MEM Affixes and roots (remembering) MEM Part of speech (remembering) MEM Paraphrase the word meaning MEM Use cognates in study MEM Learn the words of an idiom together MEM Use physical action when learning a word MEM Use semantic grids ________________________________________________________________ COG Verbal repetition COG Written repetition COG Word lists COG Flash cards COG Take notes in class COG Use the vocabulary section in your textbook COG Listen to tape of word lists COG Put English labels on physical objects 18 COG Keep a vocabulary notebook ________________________________________________________________ MET Use English – language media (songs, movies, newscasts, etc.) MET Testing oneself with word tests MET Use spaced word practice MET Skip or pass new word MET Continue to study word over time ________________________________________________________________ Note: COG: Cognitive strategies DET: Determination strategies MEM: Memory strategies MET: Metacognitive strategies SOC: Social strategies 19 APPENDIX B Dear students! This questionnaire is designed for a study purpose. Each statement has five options to choose from. There are ‘never’ ‘rarely’ ‘frequently’ and ‘almost always’. These are provided in the columns right in form of the statement and are represented by number ranging form 1-5 as follows: 1. ‘I Never do it’ 2. ‘I do it rarely’ 3. I do it only “sometimes” 4. I ‘use it “frequently”’ 5. ‘I use it “almost always” Before answering the questions below, give some information about yourself by circling the information or answer the following questions. 1. Sex: Male/Female 2. You are studying at grade: 10 - 11- 12 3. Age:_______ 4. How long have you been learning English?__________ Please read each statement very carefully and then put a tick  against each statement to indicate how often you do the strategies described by the statement. There is no right or wrong answer, and you are not evaluated based on your responses. No Statements 1 1 2 3 4 5 I analyze part of speech 20 (noun, verb, or adjective...) of a new word to discover its meaning. 2 I analyze affixes (prefixes e.g. happy - unhappy and suffixes e.g. understand understandable) and roots to its meaning 3 I check for L1 cognate (having the same origin as another word or language) E.g.‘Haus’ in German is cognate with ‘house’ in English. 4 I analyze any available pictures or gestures (a movement that you make with your hands, your head or your face to show a particular meaning) 5 I guess the meaning of a new word from the textual context when I read. 6 I use English-English dictionary. 7 I use English-Vietnamese dictionary. 8 I discover a new word’s meaning in the word lists 9 I use flashcards (a card with 21 a word or picture on it) to study and remember the meaning of a new word. 10 I ask teachers to translate into Vietnamese. 11 I ask teachers for paraphrase or synonym (happy – glad) of a new word. 12 I ask teachers for a sentence including the new word. 13 I ask classmates (friends) to explain the meaning of new words 14 I work in groups to discover meaning of words 15 I study and practice meaning in a group. 16 I ask teachers for checking my flashcards or word lists for accuracy. 17 I interact with native speakers. 18 I study word with a pictorial (connected with pictures) representation of its meaning. 19 I imagine word’s meaning 20 I connect a word to my personal experience ( I have ever gone on a picnic in Tay 22 Thien) to remember a word 21 I associate new words with objects so I can easily remember them. 22 I group words to their synonyms (happy-glad) and antonyms (happy-sad) 23 I use semantic maps to remember new English words (e.g. Fruits-bananas, mangoes, apples etc). 24 I use scales for gradable adjectives.(e.g. hot – warm – cool – cold) 25 I connect unrelated word with rhyme so I can remember them (e.g. one is bun, two is a shoe etc). 26 I remember a new word by remembering its location on a page, on a board or a street sign where I first saw or heard it. 27 I group words together into a topic to study them. 28 I group words together spatially on a page (relating to space and the position, size, shape: square, triangular, etc. of things in 23 it) 29 I use new words in sentences 30 I group words together within a storyline 31 I study the spellings of the word 32 I study the sound of the word 33 I say a new English word aloud when studying. 34 I imagine the word form from its pronunciation. 35 I underline initial letter of the word. (e.g. Shy ) 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 I use configuration (the form or shape) of the word I use keyword method I use affixes and roots for remembering I use part of speech for remembering I paraphrase the word meaning (using different words) I use cognates in study (having the same origin as another word or language) I learn the words of an idiom together. (e.g. it’s raining 24 cats and dogs) 43 44 I use physical action when learning a word. I use semantic grids (straight lines) to remember words. 45 46 47 48 49 I practice saying the words many times I practice writing the words many times I use word lists to remember the words I use flashcards to remember the words I take notes in class I use the vocabulary section 50 51 52 53 54 in my textbook I listen to the tape of word lists I put English labels on physical objects I keep a vocabulary notebook I use English – language media (songs, movies, newscasts, etc.) to develop my English vocabulary knowledge 55 I test myself with word tests 56 I use spaced word practice 57 58 I skip or pass a new word I continue to study words over time 25 59. If you use any technique or strategies of learning words, write it here: ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________ Thank you for your participation! APPENDIX C CÁC PHƯƠNG PHÁP HỌC TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH Hãy đọc những phương pháp học từ vựng tiếng Anh sau đây rồi khoanh tròn vào 1, 2, 3, 4 hoặc 5 để cho biết bạn có sử dụng phương pháp đó không và nếu có thì ở mức độ nào: 1. Tôi không bao giơ dùng phương pháp này. 2. Tôi hiếm khi dùng phương pháp này. 3. Tôi thỉnh thoảng dùng phương pháp này. 4. Tôi thương xuyên dùng phương pháp này 5. Tôi luôn luôn dùng phương pháp này 26 Trước khi trả lơi các câu hỏi dưới đây, hãy điền vào bảng thông tin cá nhân sau: 1. Giới tính: Nam/ Nữ 2. Bạn đang học lớp nào: 10 - 11- 12 3. Tuổi:_______ 4. Bạn học tiếng Anh được bao lâu rồi?__________ STT Chiến lược học từ vựng 1 Tôi phân tích từ loại của nó. (là danh từ, động từ hay tính từ,...) 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 2 Tôi phân tích từ gốc và các phụ tố đi kèm 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 3 Tôi tìm những từ trong tiếng Việt (hoặc trong một ngoại ngữ khác) có hình thức hay cách phát âm giống từ mới đó, từ đó suy ra nghĩa của nó. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 4 Tôi xem xét những hình ảnh (trong bài đọc) hay những điệu bộ, cử chỉ của ngươi nói (trong giao tiếp) để đoán nghĩa. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 5 Tôi dựa vào ngữ cảnh hoặc tình huống giao tiếp để suy diễn nghĩa. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 6 Tôi tra nghĩa trong từ điển song ngữ (Anh - Việt). 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 7 Tôi tra nghĩa trong từ điển đơn ngữ (Anh - Anh). 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn 27 luôn 8 Tôi xem nghĩa trong bảng từ vựng. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 9 Tôi dùng “flashcard” – “a card with a word or picture on it” 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 10 Tôi nhơ giáo viên dịch nghĩa. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi luôn 11 Tôi nhơ giáo viên diễn giải hay cho biết từ đồng nghĩa với nó. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 12 Tôi nhơ giáo viên đặt 1 câu ví dụ với từ đó. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 13 Tôi tham gia vào hoạt động nhóm để tìm nghĩa từ mới. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 14 Tôi nhơ các bạn cùng lớp giải nghĩa của từ. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 15 Tôi luyện tập từ theo nhóm. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi luôn 16 Tôi nhơ giáo viên kiểm tra tính chính xác của những ghi chép từ của mình. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 17 Tôi tìm cơ hội tiếp xúc với ngươi nước ngoài. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 28 18 Tôi liên tưởng đến hình ảnh thật của từ thay vì học nghĩa của nó. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 19 Tôi liên tưởng đến hình ảnh ảo để học nghĩa của từ. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 20 Tôi liên hệ từ đó với 1 kinh nghiệm của bản thân. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 21 Tôi liên hệ từ đó với những từ có cùng quan hệ ngữ nghĩa. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 22 Tôi liên hệ từ đó với những từ đồng nghĩa và trái nghĩa. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 23 Tôi dùng sơ đồ để biểu thị mối quan hệ ngữ nghĩa giữa các từ. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 24 Tôi dùng hệ thống cấp bậc với những từ chỉ mức độ. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 25 Tôi sử dụng những từ có cùng vần điệu mà mình đã thuộc lòng để liên kết những từ không cùng quan hệ nghĩa. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 26 Tôi gắn từ với những vị trí mà nó thương xuất hiện. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 27 Tôi nhóm các từ cùng chủ đề, chức năng theo từng nhóm. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 29 28 Tôi sắp xếp các từ theo các kiểu hình khác nhau (tam giác, vuông, chữ nhật...) hoặc viết thành nhiều cột từ thay vì liệt kê chúng vào một cột. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 29 Tôi đặt câu với các từ đó. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi luôn 30 Tôi liên kết các từ với nhau thành một câu chuyện. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 31 Tôi luyện chính tả của từ. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi luôn 32 Tôi luyện phát âm của từ. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi luôn 33 Tôi đọc to từ lên. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi luôn 34 Tôi hình dung ra cách viết của từ phát âm của nó. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 35 Tôi gạch dưới chữ cái đầu tiên của từ. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 36 Tôi phác thảo đương nét của từ. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi luôn 37 Tôi tìm một từ đã học (Việt hoặc Anh) có hình thức hay cách phát âm tương tự với từ mới đó rồi tạo ra một hình ảnh liên kết quan hệ giữa 2 từ đó. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn 30 luôn 38 Tôi ghi nhớ từ gốc và các phụ tố đi kèm. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 39 Tôi ghi nhớ từ loại của nó. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi luôn 40 Tôi diễn giải nghĩa của từ. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi luôn 41 Tôi sử dụng các từ trong tiếng Việt (hay trong một ngoại ngữ khác) có hình thức hoặc cách phát âm giống từ đó. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 42 Tôi học từ theo cụm từ thành ngữ. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 43 Tôi dùng hành động khi học từ. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi luôn 44 Tôi dùng biểu bảng để thể hiện những điểm khác biệt giữa những từ có nghĩa hơi giống nhau hoặc cùng nhóm. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 45 Tôi tập đọc từ nhiều lần. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi luôn 46 Tôi tập viết từ nhiều lần. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi luôn 47 Tôi học các bảng từ. 31 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 48 Tôi viết các từ vào những mẩu giấy nhỏ và mang theo mình để học. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 49 Tôi chú ý ghi chép trong lớp. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi luôn 50 Tôi xem các phần giới thiệu từ trong sách giáo khoa. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 51 Tôi tập nghe âm ghi âm các từ. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi luôn 52 Tôi đính những mẩu giấy ghi từ vào những đồ vật thương dùng. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 53 Tôi có sổ ghi chép từ vựng riêng. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi luôn 54 Tôi đọc sách báo, xem truyện phim, video hay nghe bài hát tiếng Anh. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 55 Tôi làm các bài kiểm tra từ vựng để theo dõi kết quả học từ của mình. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 56 Tôi luyện từ mới nhiều lần, tăng dần khoảng cách thơi gian giữa 2 lần học. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 57 Tôi bỏ qua những từ ít thông dụng. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn 32 luôn 58 Tôi luyện tập từ thương xuyên. 1. Không bao giờ 2. Hiếm khi 3.Thỉnh thoảng 4. Thường xuyên 5. Luôn luôn 59 Ngoài những phương pháp trên, bạn có sử dụng phương pháo nào khác không? Có :  Không:  Nếu có, hãy mô tả phương pháp đó: _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Cảm ơn sự cộng tác của các bạn! 33 [...]... operationalised as measured by the questionnaire developed by the researcher, based on the study done by Schmitt (1997) In this research, Kudo (1999) also carried out a main study with its aim to describe what strategies Japanese senior high school students use to learn vocabulary, and to gain insights into what teachers and students can and should do in teaching and learning vocabulary As a result, many... strategies were classified by the vocabulary learning strategy taxonomy by Schmitt (1997) After the analysis of data, Marttinen (2008) found out upper secondary school students acknowledge the meaning of vocabulary in language proficiency even though 9 they may not take the initiative to enhance their vocabulary learning abilities by using different VLSs or even actively take issues regarding vocabulary. .. should be several strategies to choose from; • be complex, i.e there should be several steps to learn; • require knowledge and benefit from training; • increase the efficiency of vocabulary learning and vocabulary use; Accordingly, we admit that vocabulary- learning strategies are one aspect of the overall LSs Then what are learning strategies (LSs)? LSs are attempts to develop linguistic and sociolinguistic... approaches and specific actions or techniques used to learn a language 2(2) Strategies are problem-oriented, and the learner employs a strategy to overcome some particular learning problem 3(3) Learners are generally aware of the strategies they use and can identify what they consist of and they are asked to pay attention to what they are doing and thinking 4(4) Strategies involve linguistic behavior... vocabulary learning into consideration The distinction between vocabulary learning and vocabulary acquisition is hard to make and the participants of the present study seemed to be somewhat confused whether vocabulary acquisition outside the classroom is vocabulary learning When planning further study in the field of vocabulary learning strategy use it would be useful to take some suggestions into account A. .. target language Strategy is best reserved for general tendencies or overall characteristics of the approach employed by the language learner, learning techniques as the term to refer to particular forms of observable learning learner’s encoding process LSs are techniques, approach or deliberate actions that students take in order to facilitate the learning, recall of both linguistic and content area... reviewed above, VLSs have been taken into consideration and attempted to study in a vast number of foreign researchers and several Vietnamese ones All of the studies mentioned above used Schmitt's vocabularylearning strategy questionnaire to gather data from the students on theirs vocabularylearning strategies This proves that the questionnaire is very reliable However, all above-mentioned studies indicated... used VLSs by Iranian undergraduate students, the overall frequency of strategy used by Iranian EFL undergraduate learners and the contribution of Iranian EFL undergraduate learners’ VLSs to their vocabulary size They used Schmitt's vocabulary learning strategy questionnaire with 41-items classified under 5 different groups of strategies as determination, memory, social, cognitive, and metacognitive One... twenty five Iranian second year undergraduate students randomly selected among 30 provinces around Iran participated in the study The other instrument utilized for this piece of research is Nation's standardized vocabulary size test which includes 140 items and determines the learners' vocabulary size After the analysis of data, they found that Iranian undergraduate EFL learners are medium strategy users... understand understandable) and roots to its meaning 3 I check for L1 cognate (having the same origin as another word or language) E.g.‘Haus’ in German is cognate with ‘house’ in English 4 I analyze any available pictures or gestures (a movement that you make with your hands, your head or your face to show a particular meaning) 5 I guess the meaning of a new word from the textual context when I read 6 ... several steps to learn; • require knowledge and benefit from training; • increase the efficiency of vocabulary learning and vocabulary use; Accordingly, we admit that vocabulary- learning strategies. .. even actively take issues regarding vocabulary learning into consideration The distinction between vocabulary learning and vocabulary acquisition is hard to make and the participants of the present... researchers and several Vietnamese ones All of the studies mentioned above used Schmitt's vocabularylearning strategy questionnaire to gather data from the students on theirs vocabularylearning strategies