Teaching vocabulary explictly to first year students at yen bai medical college

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST–GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** BÙI THỊ KIM CÚC TEACHING VOCABULARY EXPLICITLY TO FIRSTYEAR STUDENTS AT YEN BAI MEDICAL COLLEGE (Dạy từ vựng cho sinh viên năm thứ cách cho nghĩa trực tiếp trường Cao đẳng Y tế Yên Bái) M.A Minor Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Hanoi, 2012 VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST–GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** BÙI THỊ KIM CÚC TEACHING VOCABULARY EXPLICITLY TO FIRSTYEAR STUDENTS AT YEN BAI MEDICAL COLLEGE (Dạy từ vựng cho sinh viên năm thứ cách cho nghĩa trực tiếp trường Cao đẳng Y tế Yên Bái) M.A Minor Thesis Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Supervisor: Vũ Mai Trang, M.A Hanoi, 2012 ABLE OF CONTENTS CANDIDATE'S DECLARATION………………………………………… ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………… ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………… TRANSCRIPT CONVENTION…………………………………………… LISTS OF ABBREVIATIONS AND TABLES…………………………… TABLE OF CONTENTS…………………………………………………… PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study…………………………………………………… Aims and objectives of the study……………………………………… Research questions ……………………………………………………… Scope of the study ………………………………………………………… Method of the study ……………………………………………………… Design of the study ……………………………………………………… PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW ………………………………… 1.1 An overview of vocabulary …………………………………………… 1.1.1 Definition of vocabulary……………………………………… 1.1.2 The role of vocabulary in language teaching and learning…… 1.2 Principles in teaching and learning vocabulary …………………… 1.2.1 Selection of vocabulary items for students…………………… 1.2.2 Aspects of word knowledge included in vocabulary teaching … iv 1.2.3 Current approaches to L2 vocabulary teaching and learning… 1.2.4 Explicit and implicit approaches to vocabulary teaching……… 1.2.4.1 Explicit approach ……………………………………… 10 1.2.4.2 Implicit approach ……………………………………… 11 1.3 Principles for explicit approach to vocabulary teaching …………… 13 1.4 Challenges in vocabulary teaching …………………………………… 14 1.5 Summary……………………………………………………………… 16 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY………………………………………… 17 2.1 The current situation of English teaching and learning at YBMC… 18 2.2 Participants …………………………………………………………… 18 2.3 Data collection instruments…………………………………………… 20 2.3.1 The interview…………………………………………………… 21 2.3.2 Class observation and Lesson analysis ………………………… 21 Data collection and data analysis procedures……………………… 2.4.1 Data collection procedures……………………………………… 2.4.2 Data analysis procedures……………………………………… CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS………………………… 21 22 22 23 24 3.1 Research question 1: Teachers' perceptions of explicit vocabulary teaching at YBMC 24 3.2 Research question 2: Teachers' selection of vocabulary to teach and aspects of word knowledge to be taught…………………………………… 26 3.3 Research question 3: The explicit vocabulary teaching techniques most frequently used in the classroom and their relevance……………… 29 v Vocabulary presentation techniques ……………………………… Vocabulary consolidation activities ………………………………… PART C: CONCLUSION Summary of the study …………………………………………………… 38 Pedagogical implications ………………………………………………….39 Limitations of the study ………………………………………………… 40 Suggestions for further studies …………………………………………….41 REFERENCES …………………………………………………………… APPENDICES 42 vi TRANSCRIPT CONVENTION T: teacher S: student Ss students Italics translation of original speech in vernacular vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL English as a foreign language L1 First language L2 Second language YBMC Yen Bai Medical College LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1: Vocabulary designed in the textbook Lifelines - Elementary Table 2.2: Background of participants viii PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study We all know that vocabulary plays a prominent role in foreign language learning It is an element that links the four skills of language like listening, speaking, reading and writing all together As Wilkin (1972) emphasized that, “Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” (cited in Thornbury, 2002: 47) Without vocabulary, it's not easy for learners to express their ideas, emotion, as well as fulfillment of communication targets Therefore, one of the greatest concerns of all language teachers is to look for an effective vocabulary teaching approach which is suitable with their own teaching contexts Vocabulary teaching task is neither easy nor simple as it is thought Each language teacher is responsible for making their students know word spelling, word meaning and realize how to use it accurately and properly in real situations In the context of Yen Bai Medical College (YBMC), English is being taught as one of the compulsory subjects along with other vocational ones The level of students at YBMC is quite low in general Some of them have learnt English for several years in secondary schools and some others have not learnt English for a few years Moreover, there has been little attention paid to vocabulary teaching and learning At many schools or colleges in general and at YBMC in particular, for most teachers of English, their common way of teaching vocabulary is to give explanations, definitions or translation of the word-list Then learners usually learn vocabulary passively through their teachers’ explanation Writing new words on the notebooks with equivalence in Vietnamese and trying to learn new words by heart are their major ways of vocabulary learning Consequently, they hardly remember the meaning of the words and use them oral activities In other words, by the time the new words are presented in the new lesson most of the words taught in the previous lesson will have gone out of their mind As a teacher of English for nearly 12 years, I have realized that the reason why learners have failed in using English is their lack of vocabulary Therefore, it is essential for every teacher in any language classes in Viet Nam educational system to help his/her own students to widen their vocabulary size Explicit vocabulary teaching is particularly useful for beginning learners who have a limited reading vocabulary and little exposure to incidental vocabulary learning through extensive reading and listening like students at YBMC This encourages the researcher to conduct a study on explicit vocabulary teaching in an attempt to better vocabulary teaching and learning at YBMC, a newly re-founded college in Yen Bai province Aims and Objectives of the study The aim of this study is to investigate the perceptions of explicit vocabulary teaching held by the teachers working at YBMC and how they teach vocabulary explicitly The objectives of the study are: - To understand teachers' ideas of explicit vocabulary teaching at YBMC - To examine how teachers choose vocabulary items to teach and what aspects of vocabulary they focus on in teaching vocabulary use To find out the explicit vocabulary teaching techniques teachers frequently - To draw some conclusions on issues related to teaching vocabulary explicitly at this college Research questions In order to achieve the above-mentioned aims and objectives, the research was carried out to seek answers to the following research questions: What are teachers' perceptions of explicit vocabulary teaching at YBMC? How they choose vocabulary items to teach at YBMC and what aspects of word knowledge they focus on in teaching the selected words? What are the explicit vocabulary teaching techniques most frequently used in the classroom and their relevance? XIII Practice C Consolidation D Homework Researcher's comment: In this lecture, students were equipped with names of clothes In order to teach these words explicitly, the teacher used the pictures given in the textbook to present the words meaning Students were more interested and involved in the task; the class atmosphere seemed to be more exciting The teacher also designed an activity for vocabulary consolidation, which helped students revise the words taught in this lecture However, to make this lecture more effective, the teacher should use power point, projector to present these words of clothes Then, it is likely that students will be impressed by the colorful pictures of clothes Lesson plan 4: Unit 11: Fashion – Reading and writing Syllabus: Life Lines Elementary th Date: Saturday, April 28 , 2012 * Aims: By the end of the lesson, Ss will be able to - understand the text XIV - answer the comprehension questions * Teaching aids: text book (Lifelines elementary), lesson plan, board, chalks * Teaching procedures: Steps A Warm up B lesson: Reading and writing reading (task 1) + + + + + + different (a): khác contract (n): hợp đồng competition (n): thi to offer : đề xuất, education (n): giáo dục prize (n): phần thưởng + GCSE exam: (General Certificate of Secondary Education exam) Kì thi tốt nghiệp THPT -Read these words and asks Ss to repeat in chorus and individually -Listens and correct Ss' wrong pronunciation While- XV reading (task and 3) Post- reading (task 4) C Consolidation D Homework Researcher's comment: In this lecture, the teacher integrated vocabulary teaching with reading-writing skill Before asking students to reading comprehension tasks, the teacher chose and introduced some new words included in the reading text To teach these words explicitly, she also wrote these words on the board, read them aloud and used L1 translation to give their meaning Then students found it easy to understand the text and complete the tasks in this part However, the teacher should add some other forms of the taught words Lesson plan 5: Unit 12: Health - Grammar Syllabus: Life Lines Elementary nd Date: Monday, May , 2012 * Aims: By the end of the lesson, Ss will be able to - understand the rules for forming and using comparatives and superlatives XVI - practice about comparatives and superlatives * Teaching aids: text book (Lifelines elementary), lesson plan, board, chalks * Teaching procedures: Steps A Warm up B lesson: Grammar New XVII Rules Practice C Consolidation XVIII D Homework Researcher's comment: In this lecture, the teacher integrated vocabulary teaching with grammar Before providing students with the rules for forming and using comparatives and superlatives, the teacher pre-taught some new words To teach these words explicitly, she used synonyms/antonyms and L1 translation to present their meanings Students listened, took notes what the teacher said and practice the taught adjectives in some exercises In addition, the teacher designed a gap-filling exercise for vocabulary consolidation This lecture were rather successful, students had chance to practice both the grammar point and new words Lesson plan 6: Unit 12: Health – Listening and speaking Syllabus: Life Lines Elementary th Date: Friday, May , 2012 * Aims: By the end of the lesson, Ss will be able to - Ask and answer about the problems XIX - Give advice to each problem * Teaching aids: text book (Lifelines elementary), lesson plan, board, chalks * Teaching procedures: Steps A Warm up B lesson: Listening and speaking Task Task New Task C Consolidation D Homework Researcher's comment: In this lecture, vocabulary teaching was integrated with listening and speaking skill Before showing students how to state the problem and give some advice, the teacher provided students with some new words To teach these words explicitly, the teacher wrote these words on the board, read them aloud and used gestures, L1 translation to present their meanings Although the time of the lesson is near the lunch time, the class atmosphere was very exciting and interesting Students were attractd and got involved in the tasks This lecture was the most successful APPENDIX E: Pictures of clothes recommended for Unit 11- Fashion XXI Shirt Coat Boots Trousers Suit Top Jumper Socks Baseball cap Skirt Dress Bag Trainers Jeans Tie Jacket Shorts Gloves XXII Shoes Tights Sweatshirt Hat T-shirt Tracksuit ... focuses on teaching vocabulary explicitly to first- year students at YBMC It is confined to the investigation of the teachers' ideas of explicit vocabulary teaching, their choice of vocabulary to teach,... classroom observations were carried out in different classes of first- year students to compare what the teachers said to what they did concerning to explicit vocabulary teaching In order to realize... teaching at YBMC - To examine how teachers choose vocabulary items to teach and what aspects of vocabulary they focus on in teaching vocabulary use To find out the explicit vocabulary teaching