Expanding grade 11 students’ vocabulary through extensive reading an action research project

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ********* NGÔ MẠNH HÙNG EXPANDING GRADE 11 STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY THROUGH EXTENSIVE READING: AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT (PHÁT TRIỂN TỪ VỰNG CỦA HỌC SINH KHỐI 11 BẰNG PHƯƠNG PHÁP ĐỌC MỞ RỘNG: MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 HANOI – 202019 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ********* NGÔ MẠNH HÙNG EXPANDING GRADE 11 STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY THROUGH EXTENSIVE READING: AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT (PHÁT TRIỂN TỪ VỰNG CỦA HỌC SINH KHỐI 11 BẰNG PHƯƠNG PHÁP ĐỌC MỞ RỘNG: MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Lê Văn Canh HANOI – 202019 DECLARATION I certify that the thesis entitled “Expanding grade 11 students’ vocabulary through extensive reading: An action research project.” is my own research requirement for the Degree of Master of English Language Teaching Methodology at the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi Signature Ngo Manh Hung i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Assoc Prof Dr.Le Van Canh, my supervisor for his encouragement and inspirational review during this process of writing the thesis Without his precious support and invaluable guidance, this thesis would never have been completed Besides, I would like to thank the authority of Dong Thanh High School for allowing me to carry out this study and thank my colleagues and all the students in class 11A3 for their participation in the study process Finally, an honorable mention goes to my families and friends for their assistance and support for me in completing this thesis ii ABSTRACT The study aimed at determining how extensive reading influenced vocabulary development of high school students, what students‟ attitudes towards extensive reading stories in enriching their vocabulary knowledgeprogram were and what can be learned from this action research project about extensive reading that can be applied in Vietnamese high schoolsbenefits other than learning vocabulary of extensive reading program from this action research project were The participants were 38 students from a grade 11 class at a high school in Quang Ninh province They were asked to read 10 short stories within a twelve – week EFL extensive reading program The vocabulary pretest and posttests were administered to measure learners‟ incidental vocabulary learning through the program The results indicated that there were significant vocabulary improvements gained by the participants after the EFL extensive reading program, suggesting that the extensive reading program had created a beneficial effect on the incidental word learning gained by the participants iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS .iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xvii LIST OF TABLES xiviii LIST OF FIGURES xiviii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study Aims of the study and the research questions The scope and significance of the study Method of the study Design of the thesis .3 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Vocabulary 2.1.1 The definition of vocabulary 2.1.2 The importance of vocabulary in foreign language teaching and learning 2.1.3 Approaches to Vocabulary Acquisition Incidental vocabulary acquisition and intentional vocabulary learning 2.2 Extensive reading .9 2.2.1 Definition of extensive reading .9 2.2.2 The benefits of extensive reading 10 2.2.3 The basic principles of extensive reading 13 2.3 Graded readers 15 iv CHAPER III: METHODOLOGY .17 3.1 Research questions 17 3.2 Description of participants .17 3.3 Materials 17 3.4 Action research .18 3.5 Data collection instruments 23 3.5.1 Vocabulary tests 23 3.5.2 Vocabulary Knowledge Scale(The Post-test 2) 24 3.5.3 Questionnaire 25 3.6 Data presentation and data analysis .25 3.6.1 The pre-test and post-test 25 3.6.2 Minimum Mastery Criterion 27 3.6.3 Vocabulary knowledge scale .27 3.6.4 Questionnaire 28 In this research, the researcher asked participants to write answers to five open ended questions after they had finished each short story .28 CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 30 4.1 The results of the tests 3130 4.1.1 The result of pre-test 3130 4.1.2 The result of the post-test 3433 4.1.3 Data collected from the Vocabulary Knowledge Scale 3837 4.2 The results of questionnaire .3938 In this research, the researcher asked participants to write answers to five open ended questions after they had finished each short story 3938 4.2.1 Participants‟ attitudes towards the extensive reading stories in enriching their vocabulary knowledge 4745 4.2.2 The benefits other than learning vocabulary of extensive reading v program from this action research project 5048 4.3 Discussion of research questions 5451 4.3.1 Positive effects of extensive reading stories on participants‟ vocabulary development 5451 4.3.2 Students‟ attitudes towards the extensive reading program in enriching their vocabulary knowledge 5552 4.3.3 Applicability of extensive reading program to other contexts 5552 REFERENCES 6157 APPENDICES I APPENDIX 1: VOCABULARY PRE- TEST I APPENDIX 2: VOCABULARY POST- TEST III APPENDIX 3: THE POST-TEST (second measure) V APPENDIX 4: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (ENGLISH VERSION) VI APPENDIX 5: PHIẾU KHẢO SÁT (PHIÊN BẢN TIẾNG VIỆT) VII APPENDIX 6: A SAMPLE OF A LESSON PLAN VIII DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii LIST OF TABLES viii LIST OF FIGURES viii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study Aims of the study and the research questions The scope and significance of the study Method of the study Design of the thesis CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW vi REFERENCES Ahmad, J (2011) Incidental vs Intentional vocabulary learning Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, 3(5), 67-75 Bamford, J (1984) Extensive Reading by Means of Graded Readers Reading in a foreign language, 2(2), 218-260 Bamford, J., & Day, R R (2004) Extensive reading activities for language teaching New York Bromley, K (2004) Rethinking Vocabulary Instruction Language and Literacy Spectrum, 14, 3-12 Burns, A (2009) Doing action research in English language teaching: A guide for practitioners: Routledge Cameron, L (2001) Teaching languages to young learners: Ernst Klett Sprachen Coghlan, D (2019) Doing action research in your own organization: SAGE Publications Limited Davis, C (1995) an expensive extravagance? ELT Journal, 49, Day, R R., & Bamford, J (1998) Extensive Reading in the Second Language Classroom: Cambridge University Press 10 Diamond, L., & Gutlohn, L (2006) Teaching vocabulary Retrieved from the Reading Rockets website: http://www readingrockets org/article/teaching-vocabulary 11 Fraenkel, J R., Wallen, N E., & Hyun, H H (2011) How to design and evaluate research in education: New York: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages 12 Grabe, W (1991) Current developments in second language reading research TESOL quarterly, 25(3), 375-406 61 13 Hill, L A., & Mallet, D (1965) Elementary stories for reproduction: Oxford University Press 14 Horst, M (2005) Learning L2 vocabulary through extensive reading: A measurement study Canadian Modern Language Review, 61(3), 355382 15 Kelly, L G (1969) 25 Centuries of Language Teaching 16 Knapp, T R (1971) Statistics for educational measurement: Intext Educational Publishers 17 Krashen, S D (2004) The power of reading: Insights from the research: Insights from the research: ABC-CLIO 18 Lehr, F., Osborn, J., & Hiebert, E H (2004) A focus on vocabulary Honolulu, HI: Pacific Regional Educational Laboratory Retrieved July, 7, 2009 19 Lewin, K (1946) Action research and minority problems Journal of social issues, 2(4), 34-46 20 McNiff, J (2010) Action research for professional development: Concise advice for new action researchers: September books Dorset 21 Meltzer, D E (2002) The relationship between mathematics preparation and conceptual learning gains in physics: A possible “hidden variable” in diagnostic pretest scores American journal of physics, 70(12), 1259-1268 22 Mertler, C A (2009) Action research: Teachers as researchers in the classroom: Sage 23 Morgan, J., & Rinvolucri, M (2004) Vocabulary: Oxford University Press 24 Nation, I., & Nation, P (2001) Learning Vocabulary in Another Language: Cambridge University Press 62 25 Nation, P., & Ming-Tzu, K W (1999) Graded readers and vocabulary Reading in a foreign language, 12(2), 355-380 26 Nuttall, C (1996) Teaching reading skills in a foreign language: ERIC 27 Reason, P., & Bradbury, H (2001) Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice: Sage 28 Richards, J C (2002) Longman Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics: Pearson Education 29 Richards, J C., & Schmidt, R W (2013) Longman dictionary of language teaching and applied linguistics: Routledge 30 Shokouhi, H., & Maniati, M (2009) Learners' incidental vocabulary acquisition: A case on narrative and expository texts English Language Teaching, 2(1), 13-23 31 Thornbury, S (2002) How to teach vocabulary England: PearsonLongman 32 Wesche, M., & Paribakht, T S (1996) Assessing second language vocabulary knowledge: Depth versus breadth Canadian Modern Language Review, 53(1), 13-40 63 APPENDICES APPENDIX 1: VOCABULARY PRE- TEST Student‟s name: ………………………………… Class ……… Time allowance: 30 minutes Adapted from Horst (2005) Instruction: Look at the list of 70 words below and tick one of the three options:(Y= I know this word; NS= I’m not sure about this word, N= I don’t know this word) No 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 WORD sailor (n) parrot (n) ugly (adj) little (adj) worse (adj) wheelbarrow (n) stupid (adj) neighbor (n) careless (adj) lend (v) sleeve (n) collar (n) hole (n) cupboard (n) shirt (n) dishwasher (n) furniture (n) carpet (n) kitchen (n) dry (adj) swallow (v) horse (n) injection (n) stomach (n) I 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 nurse (n) ancient (adj) puzzle (n) soldier (n) brave (adj) strong (adj) nasty (adj) bad (adj) sad (adj) drum (n) cry (v) stand (v) club (n) potato (n) hurt (v) bean (n) diet (n) weigh (v) thin (adj) heavy (adj) bread (n) examination (n) typist (n) manager (n) difficult (adj) pay (v) II APPENDIX 2: VOCABULARY POST- TEST Student‟s name: ………………………………… Class ……… Time allowance: 30 minutes Adapted from Horst (2005) Instruction: Look at the list of 70 words below and tick one of the three options: (Y= I know this word; NS= I’m not sure about this word, N= I don’t know this word) No 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 WORD puzzle (n) parrot (n) deer (n) manager (n) marry (v) wheelbarrow (n) band (n) office (n) meat (n) opposite (adj) alcohol (n) collar (n) pray (v) God (n) stupid (adj) drum (n) neighbor (n) tie (n) hard (adv) sad (adj) almost (adv) rude (adj) speed (n) limit (v) slowly (adj) wrong (adj) carelessly (adj) III 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 safe (adj) big (adj) barman (n) trouble (adj) asleep (adj) midnight (n) camping (n) lazy (adj) cook (v) bread (n) dirty (adj) Frying-pan (n) cross (v) narrow (adj) fisherman (n) hook (n) surprise (v) water (n) examination (n) television (n) clever (adj) laugh (v) hear (v) IV APPENDIX 3: THE POST-TEST (second measure) Student’s name: …………………… Class : …………………… Time allowance: 45 minutes Instruction: Look at the words in bold; choose one of the following options and fill in the blank puzzle (n) I don‟t remember having seen this word before I have seen this word before but I don‟t know what it means I have seen this word before and I think it means………… (Give the meaning in English or Vietnamese.) I know this word; it means … I can use this word in a sentence, e.g……………………… (write a sentence) The researcher reused 50 words in vocabulary post-test V APPENDIX 4: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (ENGLISH VERSION) This questionnaire is designed to collect data to the study into how students deal with ER Five open-ended questions was delivered to the participants after they had finish each short story Question 1: What you like about this reading? Why? ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… Question 2: What don‟t you like about this reading? Why? ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… Question 3: What you learn about English language after this reading? ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… Question 4: What can you learn about English reading skill? ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… Question 5: Do you have any changes in Englishreading skill? Give specific example ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… VI APPENDIX 5: PHIẾU KHẢO SÁT (PHIÊN BẢN TIẾNG VIỆT) Sau hoàn thành xong học, giáo viên phát phiếu khảo sát sau yêu cầu học sinh viết câu trả lời cho câu hỏi khảo sát thu Bạn trả lời câu hỏi sau Em thích đọc này? Vì sao? ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… Em khơng thích đọc này? Vì sao? ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… Em học liên quan đến tiếng anh sau đọc này? ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… Em học kỹ đọc tiếng anh ? ………………………………………………………………………………… cụ Em có thay đổi kỹ đọc tiếng anh khơng? Nếu có cho ví dụ thể ? ………………………………………………………………………………… VII APPENDIX 6: A SAMPLE OF A LESSON PLAN Date: 3/ 2/ 2019 Subject: English Class: 11a3 Period 1: Reading Time: 45‟ Objectives: Gain more extensive reading experience from other students in term of dealing with the meaning of new words in context - Using the information they have read to exercise in reading material II.Materials: Photo of one story III Procedure: Time S minutes W C T o th 35 minutes gives e comple group c period Practic T divid to Task compre Why - Because he was a young sailor Where did Gloria live? She lived near his mother‟s house Why did Jack think about Gloria all the time? - Because he loved her very much Where did Jack send Gloria the parrot from? - From Freetown in Africa Where did Jack get Gloria‟s letter about the parrot? - From Australia What did Gloria to the parrot? - She cooked it Task 2: Read the story again and find which words in the story mean the opposite of: Task 3: Ask Ss to part C in handout Keys port sailor parrot said neighbor present reached chicken 10 tasted very good minutes Wrapping –up: T summarizes the main point of the lesson T asks students to retell story Hand out: IX Jack was a young sailor He lived in England, but he was often away with hisship One summer he came back from a long voyage and found new neighbors near his mother‟s house They had a pretty daughter, and Jack soon loved her very much He said to her, „My next voyage will begin in a few days‟ time, Gloria I love you, and I‟ll marry you when I come back I‟ll think about you all the time, and I‟ll write to you and send you a present from every port.‟ Jack‟s first port was Freetown in Africa, and he sent Gloria a parrot from there It spoke five languages When Jack‟s ship reached Australia, there was a letter from Gloria It said, „Thank you for the parrot, Jack It tasted much better than a chicken.‟ Words outside the 1000: parrot, sailor A Answer these questions Why did Jack make long voyages? …………………………………………………………………………… X Where did Gloria live? …………………………………………………………………………… Why did Jack think about Gloria all the time? …………………………………………………………………………… Where did Jack send Gloria the parrot from? …………………………………………………………………………… Where did Jack get Gloria‟s letter about the parrot? ……………………………………………………………………………… What did Gloria to the parrot? ……………………………………………………………………………… B Which words in the story mean the opposite of: 1.Short…… 2.Last……… 3.Ugly……… C Write this story Put one word in each empty place You will find all the correct words in the above story Freetown is a (1) …………… in West Africa Jack and another (2) …………… From his ship went into a shop there and saw a beautiful bird It was a red and grey (3) ……… and it (4) …………… „Hullo‟ to them Jack said to his friend, „I am going (5) ………… it to Gloria She‟s the daughter of my mother‟s (6) ………… It will be a nice (7) ……………… for her‟ Then Jack and his friend (8) ……………… a restaurant and ate (9) ………… and fried potatoes there They (10) ………… very good XI ... Dr Lê Văn Canh HANOI – 202019 DECLARATION I certify that the thesis entitled ? ?Expanding grade 11 students’ vocabulary through extensive reading: An action research project. ” is my own research. .. students‟ vocabulary It led the researcher to this study entitled ? ?Expanding grade 11 students’ vocabulary through extensive reading: An action research project? ?? The researcher expected to help his... HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ********* NGÔ MẠNH HÙNG EXPANDING GRADE 11 STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY THROUGH EXTENSIVE READING: AN ACTION RESEARCH