A study on vocabulary learning strategies of talented students in english language selection at thanh liem c high school, ha nam province

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES ********************** NHIẾP THỊ VÂN ANH A STUDY ON VOCABULARY LEARNING STRATEGIES OF TALENTED STUDENTS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE SELECTION AT THANH LIEM C HIGH SCHOOL, HA NAM PROVINCE (NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ CHIẾN LƯỢC HỌC TỪ VỰNG CỦA HỌC SINH ĐỘI TUYỂN HỌC SINH GIỎI MÔN TIẾNG ANH TRƯỜNG THPT C THANH LIÊM, HÀ NAM) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HA NOI - 2016 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES NHIẾP THỊ VÂN ANH A STUDY ON VOCABULARY LEARNING STRATEGIES OF TALENTED STUDENTS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE SELECTION AT THANH LIEM C HIGH SCHOOL, HA NAM PROVINCE (NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ CHIẾN LƯỢC HỌC TỪ VỰNG CỦA HỌC SINH ĐỘI TUYỂN HỌC SINH GIỎI MÔN TIẾNG ANH TRƯỜNG THPT C THANH LIÊM, HÀ NAM) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Dr Trần Thị Thu Hiền HA NOI - 2016 DECLARATION I hereby declare that this dissertation represents my own work and that it has not been previously submitted to this University or any other institute in application for admission to a degree, diploma or other qualifications Hanoi, 2016 Nhi p Th V n Anh i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my appreciation, first and foremost, to my supervisor Dr Tran Thi Thu Hien, who has patiently and constantly guided and supported me to develop my study into a practicable frame in the very beginning and offered valuable suggestions while the work was in progress My thanks also go to all the teachers that have instructed me at the National University for their inspirational lectures in class, by which I have been motivated to explore some interesting issues concerning English language teaching and learning A special word of thanks goes to my students, without whom it would never been possible for me to have this thesis accomplished Last but not least, I would like to give my immense gratitude to my family, without whose support my dream of pursuing further study would not have been possible Nhiep Thi Van Anh ii ABSTRACT Although vocabulary forms the biggest part of the meaning of any language, it is also the biggest problem for most learners A study of vocabulary learning strategies was carried out with talented students in English language selection at Thanh Liem C high school, Ha Nam province to find the strategies they use most and least popularly This is only the initial research (search strategies) to prepare for a long-term study, in which the useful strategies are applied for other students to improve the quality of English learning throughout the school The research involved 25 talented students in English language selection at Thanh Liem C high school, Ha Nam province Data was collected from a vocabulary learning strategies questionnaire Results of the study showed that the students favoured strategies focusing on guessing meaning from context, when they encountered new words Besides, bilingual and monolingual dictionaries is also a useful tool to help students find the meaning of words Moreover, many students are interested in studying words through English language media such as television programs, Internet, English songs,… However, students had difficulty implementing a number of social and metacognitive strategies, such as interacting with native speakers and testing oneself with word tests To conclude, strategy training especially on guessing, dictionary strategies and deep processing strategies is essential It would be good if teachers could provide different opportunities for students to retrieve the vocabulary learned in different contexts The results suggested that teachers should make learners aware of their own responsibility in vocabulary learning and expose them to different approaches and strategies in enhancing vocabulary acquisition iii iv LIST OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………….iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv LIST OF CONTENTS .v LIST OF TABLES vii CHAPTER ONE : INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for choosing the topic 1.2 Research question 1.3 Aim and objectives of the study 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Significance of the study .4 1.6 Structures of the study CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Learning Strategies .6 2.2 Vocabulary learning strategies 2.2.1 Definitions of vocabulary learning strategies 2.2.2 Classifications of vocabulary learning strategies 2.3 Previous studies on Vocabulary Learning Strategies 13 2.4 Summary .16 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY 17 3.1 Research Setting 17 3.2 Participants 17 3.3 Data collection instrument 18 3.4 Method in Language Learning Strategy Research .20 3.5 Data collection procedure 21 CHAPTER FOUR : FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 23 v 4.1 Findings 23 4.1.1 Discovery strategies .23 4.1.2 Consolidation strategies 27 Discussion 32 CHAPTER FIVE : CONCLUSION 37 5.1 Concluding remarks .37 5.2 Implications 38 Limitations 39 5.4 Recommendations for further research .40 REFERENCES 41 APPENDIX I PART 1: The Student‟s Personal Background I PART 2: Vocabulary Learning Strategies Questionnaire II vi LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 Information of the participants 18 Table 4.1 Determination Strategies used by the talented students .24 Table 4.2 Social strategies used by the talented students .25 Table 4.3 Memory strategies used by the talented students 27 Table 4.4 Cognitive strategies used by the talented students 29 Table 4.5 Metacognitive strategies used by the talented students 31 vii However, the students of the study tend to avoid some social and metacognitive strategies , for instance, interacting with native speakers, analysing part of speech (e.g noun, verb or adjective),writing vocabulary in context, adding new words with a definition, synonym or collocation and testing oneself with word tests when the figures of these strategies were very low, thus, these strategies were ranked the least popularly When we look at the pattern of the strategy use, we could see that good students tend to learn under their interest The students seem to enjoy learning English from real experiences, by listening to English songs, watching English movies etc, more than inside the classroom So the students can make sustainable progress in English with pleasure and without any pressure Besides, the strategies such as asking teacher for a first language translation of new word and putting the new word down with its pronunciation become less important as students get better knowledge The finding suggests that students would need to engage more strategies to enhance their learning and memory of the vocabulary Although the subjects in this study were discovered strategies, yet important to involve having become enhanced when we make use of that knowledge 5.2 Implications As for the pedagogical implications, the finding from the survey indicates that it will be necessary and beneficial for the students if various vocabulary learning strategies are employed More vocabulary learning strategies should be introduced to students and can be used as methods of vocabulary learning For instance, teachers 38 k continue to encourage use of a dictionary and other learning media Teachers can also assign more interesting vocabulary tasks in order to engage and inspire students to vocabulary tasks From the results of this study, the group teachers of English has agreed to apply the vocabulary learning strategies on training gifted students and the writer will conduct an action research to find out vocabulary learning strategies of mass students Since the language learning tools for to support information suitable vocabulary Besides, teachers should help these talented students become better language learners by training them in using the right strategies or appropriate strategies that suit their level so that they can get good marks in the exam of excellent students Both are well trained in strategies used Strategies “writing vocabulary in context, adding new words with a definition, synonym or collocation” should be used help them get used to students in English language selection have more chances to get better score when they have good writing skill Limitations This is an exploratory study of students‟vocabulary learning strategies.The questionaires is a singgle instrument of data collection.The data from the questionnaire were self-reported by the participants.Therefore,there are some limitations 39 First, the data were collected by using only one instrumentquestionnaire which not reflect a reality because students could have not read the questions carefully but only put a tick when choosing them Second, the research was conducted with 25 excellent students at Thanh Liem C high school, its population was small and this is a preliminary study, so the contents and the methods are limited Third, this research was only studied in a small scale, it is only focused on vocabulary learning strategies without other skills, such as reading, speaking writing, etc 5.4 Recommendations for further research The results can be deliberately applied to support students‟ English learning especially at Thanh Liem C high school The method of collecting data should include open-ended questions into the questionnaires to give students more space to report their valuable information that might help the researcher understand their strategies of vocabulary learning Other studies of the skills such as reading, speaking, listening, etc… will be conducted so that the teachers of English at the researcher‟school have an overall view of teaching and learning English of students In the future, the researcher is going to work on vocabulary learning strategies of mass students to find out the differences, from which she and her colleagues adjust teaching methods to be suitable for students 40 REFERENCES Ahmed, M.O (1988): Vocabulary learning strategies: A case study of Sudanese learners of English.Unpublished doctoral dissertation.University College of North Wales, Bangor, UK Cohen, A.D (1998) Strategies in learning and using a second language New York, NY: Longman Brown, T S., and Perry, F L Jr (1991) A comparison of three learning strategies for ESL vocabulary acquisition TESOL Quarterly Carrell, P L.(1989) Metacognitive awareness and second language reading Modern Language Journal Carter, R., and McCarthy, M (1988) Vocabulary and language teaching London: Longman Chamot, A U (2004) Issues in language learning strategy research and teaching Electronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching Cheung, C-Y (2004) The effectiveness of vocabulary learning strategies of Chinese low achievers Master‟s thesis, Hong Kong: The University of Hong Kong Cohen, A D (1998) Strategies in learning and using a second language London: Longman Dörnyei, Z (2003) Questionnaires in second language research: Construction, administration, and processing Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum 10 Ellis, R (1997) Second language acquisition Oxford: Oxford University Press 11 Fan, M Y (2003) Frequency of use, perceived usefulness, and actual usefulness of second language vocabulary strategise: A study of Hong Kong learners The Modern Language Journal 41 12 Gu, Y., and Johnson, R.K (1996) Vocabulary learning strategies and language learning outcomes Language Learning 13 Gu, Y (2003) Vocabulary learning in a second language: person, task, context and strategies TESL-EJ, 7(2), A-4 Available at: http://www writing.berkeley.edu/TESL-EJ/ej26/a4.html (10 Dec 2003) 14 Gu, Y (2005) Vocabulary learning strategies in the Chinese EFL context Marshal Cavendish Academic, Singapore 15 Intaraprasert, C (2004) EST students and vocabulary learning strategies: A preliminary research, Suranaree University investigation Unpublished of Technology, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand 16 Kudo, Y (2000) Second language vocabulary learning strategies Abstract http://www.lll.hawaii.edu/nflrc/NetWorks/NW14/\ 17 Kung, W J., and Chen, S E (n.d.) An exploratory on vocabulary learning strategies by Taiwanese EFL elementary school students Available: http://english.nccu.tw/new/wenshan2005/session6/%E9%BE%94abstract.doc 18 Lau, W.H (2002) Instruction on vocabulary learning strategies: A stepping stone to independent learning? Unpublished master‟s thesis, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 19 Law, B.Y (2003) Vocabulary learning strategies: A case study of Form Four students in a Chinese-medium secondary school Unpublished master‟s thesis, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 20 Lo, O.K (2007) An investigation into the perceptions and effectiveness of various vocabulary learning strategies of Hong Kong ESL learners with low English proficiency Unpublished master‟s thesis, The Universi ty of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 21 Nation, I.S.P (1990) Teaching and learning vocabulary New York: Newbury House 42 22 O‟Mally, J M., & Chamot, A (1990) Learning strategies in second language acquisition (The Cambridge Applied Linguistics Series) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 23 Schmitt, N (1997) Vocabulary learning strategies In N Schmitt & M McCarthy Description, (Eds.), Vocabulary: Acquisition and Pedagogy Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 24 Takač, V P (2008) Vocabulary learning strategies and second language acquisition Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters 43 APPENDIX -PART 1: The Student’s Personal Background Please provide the information about given or write the response where necessary: Age: Gender (circle the answer): Male You are studying in Grade : 10 Year of study at your school: Number of years studying English: Do you think English is : (You can choose more than one) easydifficult interesting boring useful useless others (please specify) ………………………………….… Your English ability is: poor/weak moderate good/very good Number of years taking part in English language selection: I PART 2: Vocabulary Learning Strategies Questionnaire A Survey of Vocabulary Learning Strategies Directions The Vocabulary Learning Strategy Questionnaire (VLSQ) is designed to gather information about how you use English vocabulary learning strategies.This of vocabulary learning strategies is designed for students who learn English as a foreign language In the statement below, you will find statements related to various English vocabulary learning strategies Please read each statement carefully then put (√ ) in the box (5,4,3,2 or ) which most describes your opinion on the strategies you use to learn English vocabulary Degree of frequency of Your Own Vocabulary Learning Strategy Use “Always” : you always or almost always use the strategy described in the statement “Often” : you use the strategy described more than half the time “Sometimes”: you use the strategy described in the statement half of the time “Seldom” : you use the strategy described in the statement less than half of the time “Never” : you never use the strategy described in the statement II I Discovery Strategies Number 10 11 12 13 14 15 III II Consolidation Strategies Number 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 IV Number 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 V ... responses to vocabulary learning strategies Since vocabulary learning is a part of language learning, the main research method for language learning strategies can be adapted to vocabulary learning. .. learning strategies are a subcategory of language learning strategies which in turn are a subcategory of learning strategies in general If language learning strategies can be defined as “specific... involved 25 talented students in English language selection at Thanh Liem C high school, Ha Nam province Data was collected from a vocabulary learning strategies questionnaire Results of the study