Improving students’ vocabulary retention through content based instructions m a thesis linguistics 60 140 111

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES  NGUYỄN THỊ THANH HUYỀN IMPROVING STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY RETENTION THROUGH CONTENT-BASED INSTRUCTIONS Cải thiện vốn từ vựng sinh viên thông qua hướng dẫn dựa nội dung M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.01.11 HANOI – 2014 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES  NGUYỄN THỊ THANH HUYỀN IMPROVING STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY RETENTION THROUGH CONTENT-BASED INSTRUCTIONS Cải thiện vốn từ vựng sinh viên thông qua hướng dẫn dựa nội dung M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.01.11 Supervisor: Dr Lâm Quang Đông HANOI - 2014 CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT ***** I hereby certify that this minor thesis entitled “Improving students’ vocabulary retention through content-based instructions” is completely the result of my own research for the Degree of Master at the University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, and that this thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other university or tertiary institution Signature: Date: NGUYỄN THỊ THANH HUYÊN i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am, first of all, particularly indebted to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Lâm Quang Đông for his invaluable assistance, instructions and correction, excellent suggestions and constant encouragement during the research period Without his guidance and help, this work would not have been accomplished Secondly, I am thankful to all the lecturers and staff of Faculty of Graduate and Postgraduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University for their scientific knowledge, guidance and enthusiasm during my course My special thanks also go to the leaders and my colleagues at Ha Long College of Arts, Culture and Tourism for their support and encouragement I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the students who have participated in this research I would like to send my sincere thanks to my friends and classmates for their enthusiasm and advice while the work was in progress Last but not least, I would like to convey my deepest gratitude to my dear family members, who are always besides me to support and encourage me to fulfill my study NGUYỄN THỊ THANH HUYÊN ii ABSTRACT This study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of the use of contentbased instructions on first year students‟ vocabulary retention at Ha Long College of Arts, Culture and Tourism It made a comparison between a traditional method of teaching vocabulary with translation, spelling, the phonemic transcription and a new method involving content-based instructions to find out how students could memorize the words they learnt more effectively The observation was carried out in 06 weeks of the second semester of the first year and was divided into 12 lessons The subjects were 45 students of a class of the Hotel and Restaurant Department NVDL K13 The class received the treatment involving content-based instructions and observed by the author, who entered every necessary information in her diary Vocabulary tests, including pre-test, progress test and post-test, were administered The data collected from the test scores were analyzed to measure the size of vocabulary that students could retain The result showed considerable improvement in word memorization of the students in the class The findings of the study also indicated that content-based instructions should be used for future vocabulary learning Some implications and recommendations for the future studies were also included iii TABLE OF CONTENT CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENT iv PART ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 RATIONALE OF THE STUDY .1 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM AIM OF THE STUDY 4 RESEARCH QUESTION .4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY .4 METHODS OF THE STUDY ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW .6 1.1 VOCABULARY RETENTION .6 1.1.1 What is vocabulary? .6 1.1.2 What is involved in knowing a word? .6 1.1.3 Traditional vocabulary teaching 1.1.4 Current vocabulary teaching 1.2 VOCABULARY MEMORIZATION IN LANGUAGE LEARNING .11 1.2.1 Short-term and long-term memory 11 1.2.2 Major factors affecting word memorization 12 1.3 CONTENT-BASED INSTRUCTIONS 13 1.3.1 What is Content-based instruction (CBI)? 13 1.3.2 Benefits of content-based instructions 15 1.3.3 Comparison with other approaches 15 1.3.4 What does a content-based instruction lesson look like? 16 iv 1.4 PREVIOUS STUDIES 17 1.5 SUMMARY 18 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 20 2.1 RESEARCH QUESTION RE-STATED 20 2.2 METHODOLOGY 20 2.2.1 An action research process 20 2.2.2 Participants 21 2.2.3 Treatment 21 2.2.4 The teaching context 22 2.3 SUMMARY 28 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS 29 3.1 STATISTICS AND ANALYSIS OF DATA 29 3.1.1 Information from the observation 29 3.1.2 Result of the continuous monitoring 30 3.1.3 The results of the pre-test, progress-test and post-test 31 3.2 MAJOR FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 33 3.4 SUMMARY 37 PART THREE: CONCLUSION 38 CONCLUSION 38 LIMITATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 38 REFERENCES 41 APPENDIX I v PART ONE: INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study Among influential factors to learning English, vocabulary is an essential component, central to language, and is of great significance to language learners It provides us with materials to feed into the grammatical structures in order to produce complete utterances It is one element that links the four skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing all together Without vocabulary, speakers cannot convey meaning and communicate with each other in a particular language Vocabulary as the major part of language learning has been the subject of numerous studies which have made significant contributions to the field The prominent theorists and researchers in the field have long recognized the role of vocabulary knowledge in second or foreign language learning Accordingly, new approaches, techniques, exercises and practice have been introduced into the field to teach vocabulary (Hatch & Brown, 1995) It has been suggested that teaching vocabulary should not only consist of teaching specific words but also aim at equipping learners with strategies necessary to expand their vocabulary knowledge (Hulstjin, 1997) At Ha Long College of Arts, Culture and Tourism (HCACT), which is known as a good education provider to students of Arts, Culture and Tourism, English has been considered a compulsory subject and has attracted considerable attention from the Management Board Teaching and learning English in general and vocabulary in particular is the concern of both the teaching staff and the students The most frequently-used method of teaching vocabulary in a class of English is giving the explanations and Vietnamese equivalents of words, and then having students written practice exercises Several teachers have also tried to apply one or two new ways of teaching vocabulary in their classes; however, the effect has not been significant enough Students just sit in silence, and then copy the corrected PART THREE: CONCLUSION This part provides the readers with the conclusion, the limitations of the study, recommendations for further Conclusion The present study attempts to examine the effect of the using of content-based instructions to increase students‟ vocabulary memorization for the first year students at Ha Long College of Art, Culture and Tourism With an action research design, the results of the study show that the performance of students is better and the level of word memorization increases The hope on a better vocabulary memorization brought by the using of contentbased instructions gives a good sight Comparing the results of the vocabulary tests, the results of data analysis confirm the positive effect of this technique The results from this study also indicate a significant difference in vocabulary memorization size of the class that the author applied the method The technique helps students establish the relationship between related words and increase word mastery as students have chances to work with words in deeper process The students in the class remember vocabulary effectively after the treatment Basing on outcomes of the research, there are suggestions that the using of contentbased instructions should be utilized for vocabulary instruction The role of the teacher, the selection of content instructions and related words should also be considered It is expected that this study will bring some beneficial effects on vocabulary learning and language learning as well in her institution despite some limitations Limitations and recommendations Naturally, this study, like many others, cannot be free from limitations, which require further studies to address 38 First of all, the number of participants is not large enough to ensure that the results of this study can be generalized for a larger target group Instead, the author can only state that the results are true for the current pedagogical situation Thus, a replication study with a greater number of subjects is needed to obtain reliable results It is recommended that this study should be replicated with a larger number of subjects so as to be able to run analyses on the connection between changes in reported frequency of using this technique for students‟ achievements The second limitation is the length of the observation The study was conducted in six weeks with 12 lessons in 60 periods, which could be regarded as rather short Because of this, the author could only measure the short-term effects of the strategy employed in the instruction course It cannot come to a general conclusion that this technique contributes to the students‟ general achievements in learning English Furthermore, the author does not collect the data of how long the students retain the new words It is also difficult for her to reinforce the technique using in the textbook For the further study, author should lengthen the period for such a course to confirm its long-term effects Another limitation is that the author focused only on the observation and the tests to access students‟ memorization These tests may help the author get more accurate assessment of what students have been taught Furthermore, questionnaires, interviews or think-aloud protocols are good tools to gain insights into the effects of such a training course However, they have not been used in this study It is advisable that other researchers could use the mentioned methods to gather data or to get students‟ responses from the experimental research as interviewing students, giving students questionnaires to find how they feel about the new treatment Last but not least, due to the content of vocabulary presented in the textbook, the shortage of materials and teaching aids, this study mostly dealt with nouns used in the hotel and restaurant field This study limited itself from investigating other parts of speech such as verbs, prepositions, adjectives and adverbs It is recommended 39 that the use of content-based instructions should be implemented with other kind of words and other fields such as Civil Construction, Information Technology, Financial and Banking Economics, etc… who often contact with concrete concepts In the future, it will be a great effort if modern technologies are applied in vocabulary lessons 40 REFERENCES Alexander, P.A., Kulikowich, J.M., & Jetton, T.L (1994) The role of subject- matter knowledge and interest in the processing of linear and nonlinear texts, Review of Educational Research, 64, 201-252 Akbari, O (2008) Teaching Vocabulary Items through Contextualization and Pictures to Elementary Iranian EFL Students Retrieved September 2008 from http://www.asian-efl-journal.com/September_08_oa.php Beck I L & McKeown M G (1991), “ Conditions of Vocabulary Acquisition”, In R Barr, M Kamit, P Mosenthal, P &D Pearson, Handbook of Reading Research, Vol 2,p 789-814 New York: Longman Brinton, D.M., Snow, M.A and Wesche, M.B (1989) Content-based Second language Instruction, Boston: Heinle and Heinle Publishers Brinton, D M., The content-based classroom: Perspectives on integrating language and content White Plains, NY: Longman Christopher St Y (1997) May I Help You Youth publisher, Vietnam Crandall, J A & Tucker, G R (1990) Content-based language instruction in second and foreign languages, p187 In Anivan, S (ed.) Language teaching methodology for the nineties, (pp.83-96) Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre ED 366 187 Curtain, H A, & Pesola, C A (1994) Languages and children: Making the match (2 nd ed.) NY: Longman Đào Thị Thanh Mai (2004) Vocabulary Revision through Word Games for non major English Students at the Navy Academy: A Quasi-Experimental Study Unpublished M.A Thesis, Hanoi University 10 Decarrio, J ( 2001) Vocabulary Learning and Teaching In M Celle-Murcia (Ed) Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language: Heinle & Heinle 41 11 Đỗ Thị Thu Hà (2007) Using Language Games to Improve Students’ Retention of ESP Vocabulary at Nam Dinh College of Construction Unpublished M.A Thesis, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University 12 Gairns ,R & S Redman (1986) Working With Words: A Guide to Teaching and Learning Vocabulary Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 13 Grabe, W, & Stoller, FL (1997) Content-Based Instruction: Research foundations 14 Harmer, J (1991) The Practice of English Language Teaching New York: Longman 15 Herman, F (2003) Differential Effects of Reading and Memorization of Paired Associations on Vocabulary Acquisition in Adult Learners of English as a Second Language TESL- EJ7: Retrieved September 2008 from http:// writing – berkerley.edu/ TESL- EJ el 25/al.htlm 16 Hatch, E & Brown, C (1995) Vocabulary, Semantics, and Language Education Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 17 Hulstijin, J H (1997) Mnemonic Methods in Foreign Language Vocabulary Learning Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 18 Hutchinson, T (1997) Lifelines Elementary (Student’s book) Oxford University Press 19 Hutchinson, T (1997) Lifelines Elementary (Teacher’s book) Oxford University Press 20 Jahangard, A (2007) Which Word Types (Technical or General) are more Difficult to Retain by the Iranian High School Learners? 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Educational Psychologist, 32(1), 1-19 27 Miller G A & Gidea P M (1987) How Children Learn Words Scientific American 257, pp 94-99 28 Miller, Christine A “Action Research: Making Sense of Data.” On-line article recovered 11/05/2007, www.coe.fau.edu/sfcel/sensdata.htm 29 Moras, S (2001) Teaching Vocabulary to Advanced Students: A lexical Approach Karen‟s Linguistic Issues, July 2001 Retrieved November, 2008, from:http://www3.telus.net/linguisticissue /teaching vocabulary.html 30 Nagy W E & Scott J A (2000), “ Vocabulary processes”, In M L L Kamil, P Mosenthal, P D P & R Barr, Handbook of Reading Research Vol 3,pp 269-284 Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum 31 Nation, P (2001) Learning Vocabulary in Another Language Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 32 Nguyễn Thị Linh Lam (2004) Strategies for Learning English by Students at Center Early Childhood Education College NO2 Unpublished MA thesis, Hanoi University of Foreign Studies 43 33 Nunan, D (1999) Second Language Teaching and Learning Heinle and Heinle Publishers, U.S.A 34 Parsons, Rich D., and Kimberlee S Brown Teacher as Reflective and Practitioner and Action Reseacher Belmont, Calif: Wadsworth/ Thomson Learning 2002 35 Pyles, T & Algeo, J (1970) English- An Introduction to Language New York: Harcourt, Brace and World 36.Sharifian, F (2000) Memory Enhancement in Language Pedagogy: Implications from Cognitive Research TESL- EJ Vol 6.2 Retrieved from: http:// wwwwriting berkeley.edu/ TESL- EJ/ ejtitle.html 37 Sokmen, A J (1997) Current trend in teaching second language vocabulary In N Schmitt and M McCarthy Vocabulary: Description, Acquisition and Pedagogy Cambridge University Press 38 Tạ Quang Hưng & Nguyễn Văn Độ (1994) Methodology Handbook for Vietnam Hanoi University of Foreign Studies 39 Tracy, P (1996) Investigating Vocabulary Learning by First Year Students at Rouen Graduate school of Management Retrieved July, 2008 from: http;//www.aston.ac.uk/lss/English/02_msc/02_diss/tplowman.jsp 40 Ur, P (1996) A Course in Language Teaching Cambridge University Press 44 APPENDIX TEST PAPERS Ha Long College of Art, Culture and Tourism Mark VOCABULARY PRE-TEST Time: 30 minutes Name: ……………………… Class: ………………….…… Section 1: Match the pictures with the words from the box Write your answers in the numbered blanks below the pictures: (20ps) car coach lorry helicopter 1: ……… 6: ………… 2: ………… 7: ………… 10 3: ………… 4: ………… 5: …………… 8: ………… 9: ……… 10: ………… I Section 2: Circle the odd one out (20ps) doctor wet angry black shoes wealthy America Monday kitchen 10 next to Section 3: Write one name for each of the following groups (30ps) ………………… Vietnam, China, Italy, France ………………… tall, handsome, beautiful, long blue, white, green, grey …………………… in, on, at, behind …………………… …………………… March, April, June, December …………………… slip, grab, hold, jump London, Hanoi, Tokyo, Washington DC …………………… dress, shirt, jacket, coat …………………… cats, dogs, tigers, lions …………………… 10 beer, wine, water, tonic …………………… Section 4: Complete the words (30ps) Example: When you travel, you put your clothes in a s u…i …t …c …a …s …e You need a p … … … … … … to travel to another country I don‟t like traveling by plane or h … … … … … … … … … When it‟s cold you wear g … … … … … on your hands You have five t … … … on each of your feet Your head is on top of your n … … … Men usually wear s … … … … on their feet inside their shoes The US Masters is a golf t … … … … … … … … … If you win a competition, you b … … the other players II An i… … … … … has sea all round it 10 A mountain is higher than a h … … … ANSWER KEYS FOR TEST I/ Match the pictures with the words from the box bus helicopter II/Circle the odd one out daughter price III/ Write one name for each of the following groups countries verbs IV/ Complete the words passport socks III Ha Long College of Art, Culture and Tourism Mark VOCABULARY PROGRESS-TEST Time: 30 minutes Name: ……………………………… Class: ………………….…… Section 1: Match the pictures with the words from the box Write your answers in the numbered blanks below pictures (20ps) spinach cabbage squash lettuce 1………… 6………… Section 2: Circle the odd one out (20ps) chef drinks knife Whisky delicious grapefruit omelets breakfast check in 10 wine IV Section 3: Write one name for each of the following groups (30ps) head waiter, maid, barman, porter beer, whisky, orange juice, Coca Cola broccoli, leek, onions, celery chicken, beef, lamb, pork salmon, goby, whale, catfish knives, forks, chopsticks, spoon bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, living room fry, boil, grill, stir peppers, salt, sugar, chilies 10 oranges, peach, water melon, grapes Section 4: Complete the words (30ps) Example When you travel, you put your clothes in a s Ginger, chilli, mustard, garlic are called s… … … … … Before ordering food or drinks, customers usually look at the m… … … … She prepares the bills She is a c … … … … … … Mushrooms, chicken, tomatoes are main i… … … … … … … … … … to make the Chicken Chasseur You usually make a r … … … … … … … … … … in a hotel before you come He servers the meal in a hotel or a restaurant He is a w … … … … … Leek, tomatoes, beans, spinach are v … … … … … … … … Knives and f … … … … are usually used when eating beefsteak When you finish your meals, you p … … for bills 10 Bananas, strawberries, apples belong to f … … … … … V ANSWER KEYS I/ Match the pictures with the words from the box carrots spinach II/Circle the odd one out architect beer III/ Write one name for each of the following groups jobs utensils IV/ Complete the words spices waiter Ha Long College of Art, Culture and Tourism VOCABULARY POST-TEST Name: ……………………………… Section 1: Match the pictures with the words from the box Write your answers in the numbered blanks below pictures (20ps) whisk rolling pin VI ladle wok 1………… 6………… Section 2: Circle the odd one out (20ps) salty kettle knife Whisky boiling star-fruits chambermaid mushroom check in 10 mangosteen Section 3: Write one name for each of the following groups (30ps) commis, assistant chef, pastry cook, head chef herbal tea, whisky, orange juice, lemonnade barbequing, poaching, mixing, steaming chicken, beef, lamb, pork salmon, goby, whale, catfish knives, forks, chopsticks, spoon champagne, gin and tonic, vodka, wine frying, boiling, grilling, stirring peppers, salt, sugar, chilies 10 pine apple, peach, water melon, mango Section 4: Complete the words (30ps) Example When you travel, you put your clothes in a s u… …i …t …c …a …s …e Food is preserved in a … … … … … … A chef who specializes in pastry is a … … … … … … … … … … To make something salty we add … … … … VII This is used to roll out dough; … … … … … … … … … … An … … … … … … … … … … installs or prepairs electrical or telephone lines Garlic, anise, ginger and chili belong to … … … … … Grouper, lobster, squid and scads are … … … … … … … Knives and … … … … are usually used when eating beefsteak A pot in which you boil water is a … … … … … … 10 A … … … … … … mixes and serves alcoholic drinks at a bar ANSWER KEYS I/ Match the pictures with the words from the box rollingpin herbs II/Circle the odd one out chopsticks fish-sauce III/ Write one name for each of the following groups chicken jobs table utensils IV/ Complete the words 1.fridge 6.spice pastry sea foo VIII ... of vocabulary memorization The second part 18 discusses vocabulary memorization in language learning such as short-term and long-term memory, major factors affecting word memorization This chapter... complete an academic task, second language (L2) learners have to master both English as a language form (grammar, vocabulary, etc.) and how English is used in core content classes, they 15 started... speaking, listening, reading and writing all together Without vocabulary, speakers cannot convey meaning and communicate with each other in a particular language Vocabulary as the major part