VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES - - PHẠM THỊ KIM THANH ACTIVITIES TO INCREASE ADULT LEARNERS’ RETENTION OF VOCABULARY AT YEN BAI CENTRE OF CONTINUING EDUCATION (Các hoạt động nhằm nâng cao khả lưu nhớ từ vựng cho học viên lớn tuổi Trung tâm Giáo dục thường xuyên tỉnh Yên Bái) M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 HA NOI – 2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES - - PHẠM THỊ KIM THANH ACTIVITIES TO INCREASE ADULT LEARNERS’ RETENTION OF VOCABULARY AT YEN BAI CENTRE OF CONTINUING EDUCATION (Các hoạt động nhằm nâng cao khả lưu nhớ từ vựng cho học viên lớn tuổi Trung tâm Giáo dục thường xuyên tỉnh Yên Bái) M.A Minor Programme Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Supervisor: Trần Thanh Nhàn, MA HA NOI – 2010 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration i Acknowledgements ii Abstracts iii Table of contents iv List of abbreviations viii List of tables ix PART I INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Aims of the Study Research Hypotheses and Questions Scope of the Study Methods of the Study Design of the study PART II DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Vocabulary in Foreign Language Acquisition 1.1.1 Definition of vocabulary 1.1.2 Vocabulary: What needs to be taught? 1.1.2.1 Form: Pronunciation and Spelling v 1.1.2.2 Aspects of meaning 1.1.2.3 Grammar 1.1.2.4 Word formation 1.1.2.5 Collocation 1.1.3 The roles of vocabulary in Foreign Language Acquisition 1.2 Factors affecting the retention of vocabulary 1.2.1 Memory 1.2.2 Learning strategies 10 1.2.3 Learning context 11 1.2.4 Word-related factors 12 1.3 Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition Process 13 1.3.1 Noticing 14 1.3.2 Retrieval 14 1.3.3 Generation 15 1.4 Repetition and vocabulary retention 15 1.4.1 Types of repetition 15 1.4.2 Spacing of repetition 17 1.4.3 Number of repetition 17 CHAPTER METHODOLOGY 19 2.1 The rationale for using action research 19 vi 2.2 Procedures 19 2.3 Participants 20 2.4 The course book 20 2.5 Data collecting instruments 21 2.6 The Intervention 22 2.6.1 The intervention procedures 22 2.6.2 The intervention activities 23 CHAPTER FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 27 3.1 Results of the pretest and discussion 27 3.2 Results of the posttests and discussion 29 3.3 Comparison of scores of pretest and two posttests 32 PART III CONCLUSION 35 Conclusions 35 Limitations of the study 36 Suggestions for further study 36 REFERENCES 38 APPENDIX A PRETEST I APPENDIX B POSTTEST II APPENDIX C POSTTEST III APPENDIX D KEYS FOR THE TESTS IV vii APPENDIX E ASKING AND ANSWERING ABOUT TIME V APPENDIX F A DAY IN MY LIFE VI APPENDIX G INTERVIEWING VII APPENDIX H DESCRIBING THINGS IN A HOUSE VIII APPENDIX I READING-BASED VOCABULARY ACTIVITY IX APPENDIX J FINDING THE LOCATION OF THINGS IN THE HOUSE X ...VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES - - PHẠM THỊ KIM THANH ACTIVITIES TO INCREASE ADULT LEARNERS RETENTION. .. 1.1 Vocabulary in Foreign Language Acquisition 1.1.1 Definition of vocabulary 1.1.2 Vocabulary: What needs to be taught? 1.1.2.1 Form: Pronunciation and Spelling... RETENTION OF VOCABULARY AT YEN BAI CENTRE OF CONTINUING EDUCATION (Các hoạt động nhằm nâng cao khả lưu nhớ từ vựng cho học viên lớn tuổi Trung tâm Giáo dục thường xuyên tỉnh Yên Bái) M .A Minor Programme