Primary teachers’ perceptions of teaching vocabulary to young learners

The findings of the research hopefully not only creates interactive and dialogic discussions for reflective teaching but also provides information to bridge the missing gaps between university curricula and the young learning communities for quality enhancement, as well as to facilitate well–informed decisions regarding teacher training and language policies of Vietnam.

Chi n l
c ngo i ng xu th h i nh p Tháng 11/2014 BƯỚC ĐẦU TÌM HIỂU NHẬN THỨC CỦA GIÁO VIÊN TIỂU HỌC TRONG DẠY TỪ VỰNG CHO HỌC SINH Võ Th Thanh Di p Trường Đại học Quy Nhơn Tóm t t: Ngày tiếng Anh cho học sinh cấp successfully introduce a foreign language, mainly tiểu học ñã trở thành yêu cầu giáo English into primary curriculum This is a challenging dục ngày cao nước thuộc khối ASEAN nói task as the majority of in-service teachers of English at chung Việt nam nói riêng Kể từ năm 2008 ñến primary schools in Vietnam have not been officially nay, trọng ñiểm ñề án ngoại ngữ 2020 trained to teach English to young learners, as reported hướng đến phổ cập thành cơng chương trình tiếng by the MOET The missing link in language teacher Anh cấp tiểu học Đây trọng trách lớn education between universities with schools in Vietnam chương trình đào tạo giáo viên dạy tiếng Anh lies in the fact that teaching primary English has not cấp tiểu học chưa ñược phổ biến, phần lớn giáo viên been present in most university-degree curricula of phải sử dụng kiến thức kỹ sư phạm dành cho universities across Vietnam, so elementary teachers ñối tượng học sinh cấp trung học sở trung học have had to apply their own learning experience, the phổ thơng để giảng dạy cho đối tượng nhỏ tuổi Việc methodological knowledge and teaching practical skills tìm hiểu nhận thức giáo viên việc dạy for secondary or high school adolescents to teach từ vựng tiếng Anh cho học sinh tiểu học giúp hiểu rõ English to young classes Therefore, through this hơn, thu hẹp khoảng cách chương trình quantitative – qualitative research, an inquiry into how ñào tạo giáo viên cấp ñại học trường tiểu primary học ñồng thời nâng cao chất lượng dạy học vocabulary teaching and learning in their classroom tiếng Anh nói chung settings aims at shedding light on how in-service Abstract: Nowadays English to primary pupils has become one of the increasing educational demands in ASEAN nations Vietnam is no exception Since 2008, a large-scale project of the Vietnamese government, directed by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), has aimed at the teaching and learning of English in the national educational system, at all levels from primary to tertiary for the 2008-2020 period One of the prioritized goals of Project 2020 is to English teachers in Vietnam perceive English primary teachers should apply into young language learners The findings of the research hopefully not only creates interactive and dialogic discussions for reflective teaching but also provides information to bridge the missing gaps between university curricula and the young learning communities for quality enhancement, as well as to facilitate well–informed decisions regarding teacher training and language policies of Vietnam PRIMARY TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF TEACHING VOCABULARY TO YOUNG LEARNERS Introduction English has played a very vital role among nations as it is the bridge that connects the world together The fact that the scope of its users has been expanded to young learners has brought both opportunities and challenges for not only learners, teachers but teacher trainers, researchers and educational administrators as well There have been a great number of studies in primary English education worldwide (Gewehr, 1998; Mallett, 2008; Menyuk & Brisk, 2005; Moon, 2005; Moyles & Hargreaves, 2003; Rocca, 2007; Shintani, 2011; Slattery & Willis, 2014; Troen & 41 Ti u ban 1: Đào t o chuyên ng Boles, 2009), especially in Asia, where English is regarded as the common foreign language for world integration (Chan, Chin, & Suthiwan, 2011; Feng, 2011; Mallett, 2002; Qiang; Silver, Hu, & Iino, 2001; Wang, 2008); however, according to the 2013 databases of research theses in Hanoi, Hue, Danang and HoChiMinh City Universities, primary English learning and teaching in Vietnam seem to be open It is the recent official introduction of English as a foreign language into Vietnamese primary schools that has increased a crucial need for understanding how to support Vietnamese young children learning English effectively Children learning English 2.1 The characteristics of young English learners For an in-depth exploration into primary English teaching and learning, it is very important to study the characteristics of the primary English learner According to Broughton, Brumfit, Flavell, Hill, and Pincas (1980), McKay (2008), Willmott (2003), the nature of the young learner seems not to differ noticeably from nation to nation Brown (1987) made a very thorough comparison between young learners and adult learners with variables such as cognition, sensory input, attention span, abstract thinking ability (p 87-92) Instead, children often bring their personalities into their language classes varying individually across Howard Gardner’s eight types of intelligence – linguistic, musical, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal and naturalistic Furthermore, their differences in their socioeconomic, cultural and home background add another layer of complexity in their foreign language learning Meanwhile, Moon (2000) briefly portrayed the profile of the young language learner with the following seven features - using language creatively, going for meaning, using ‘chunks’ of language, having fun, joining in the action, talking their heads off and feeling at home (p 10) From another psycholinguistic lens, Gordon (2007) employed the Natural Approach to 42 trace back language instinct - an innate ability for L1 learning in order to psycho-linguistically explain children’s natural abilities with a second or foreign language because at the primary school age, young pupils are competent users of their mother tongue Simultaneously, Gordon pointed out from the light of the Communicative Approaches that children who are more incidentally exposed to close-to-life contexts can pick up everyday vocabulary better than those who not Scott and Ytreberg (1990), while grouping children into their two age groups, mostly shared the above common characteristics during their growth along with their own assumption that children are likely to understand situations more quickly than they understand the language used so they use language skills long before they are aware of them in their language development (p.10) (MacNaughton and Williams (2004)) showed that young language learners are motivated, imaginative and curious in learning, which means that they need assistance, encouragement and praise from primary teachers Similarly, Halliwell (1993) looked at child foreign language learning in terms of their ability to grasp meaning indirectly, creative use of limited language resources, instinct for play and fun, imagination and interaction and talk Turnbull and Dailey-O'Cain (2009) indicated the use of first language as a mediator for interaction is a must in young classes; however, the further their L2 learning progresses, the less L1 can be used 2.2 Children’s foreign language learning From such characteristics of the young language learner, several attempts have been made to provide a theory or model that can explain child foreign language For instance, Broughton et al (1980) searched for the answers to the questions about the optimal age and language content for learning English as a foreign language Helena Mitchell and Jenny Monk (Ashcroft & Palacio, 2003) focused upon teaching literacy in the primary curriculum Unlike Michell and Monk, Grugeon, Dawes, Smith, and Hubbard (2005) Chi n l
c ngo i ng xu th h i nh p stressed on developing children’s speaking and listening at Key Stages and In a more detailed analysis, Moon (2005) offered a guidebook to teach children learning English in which Moon took four elements into consideration – contexts for learning English, children’s typical features, teachers’ beliefs about children’s learning and ways of observing children’s language learning Tháng 11/2014 Nikolov (2009) explored into the processes of early learning of modern foreign languages in which young language learners’ cognitive, affective, socio-economic and classroom-related factors interact with one another In the light of applied linguistics, Cameron also suggested a model of the construct language for child foreign language learning as follows: Source: (Cameron, 2003) Child foreign language learning is divided into two processes – learning oral skills and learning literacy skills The former skills initially outdo the latter ones so listening and speaking usually come before writing and reading In oral skills, Cameron (2003) explained: Oral skills can best be thought of as ‘vocabulary’ and ‘discourse’, with both of these being constructs centered on use and meaning, to reflect children’s learning Vocabulary skills involve the understanding and productive use not just of single words but of phrases and ‘chunks’ of language Discourse is language as use, and often, but not always, occurs in stretches longer than the sentence In contrast to these extended stretches of talk, conversational skills involve understanding and using phrases and sentences in interaction with other children and with adults 2.3 Children’s foreign vocabulary learning One of the milestones of early foreign language development is the production of children’s first words which reflect their cognitive skills and understanding of a new language Stephanie and Villiers (1997) defined vocabulary as the most basic building blocks for learning English Words are also basic meaning carriers that young learners initially employ to express what is going on in their minds However, words only not meet communicative needs M Lewis (2008) emphasized on chunks of language or stretches of words in meaningful contexts that enable young learners to be naturally involved in conversations and lead them from words to sentences and then grammar Cameron (2003) and Pinter (2014) shared the belief that school-aged children pick up words before they are aware of grammatical rules as their limited capacity to generalize or analyze structures keeps them from grammatical explanations at the onset of child foreign language learning, which agrees with the dotted boundary between vocabulary and grammar in Cameron’s model of the construct language for child foreign language learning Actually, even to adults, learning a sufficient amount of vocabulary is one of the biggest challenges because grammar is a closed system but vocabulary is an open system The linguist David Wilkins summed up the importance of vocabulary learning (Thornbury, 2002, p 13): 43 Ti u ban 1: Đào t o chuyên ng “Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed.” 2.4 Children’s word learning mechanisms The status of vocabulary has become reconsidered in foreign language teaching, backed by increasing significant research (Bogaards & Laufer, 2004; Carter, 2002, 2012; McCarthy, 2010; Morgan & Rinvolucri, 2011; P Nation, 2005; N Schmitt, 2000; Takac, 2008) For effective communication in young language classes, Cameron (2003) reconfirmed that building up useful vocabulary at primary level is the principal focus of the learning of a foreign language (p.72) Then how children learn vocabulary? A lot of scientists have been interested in the area For example, Grauberg (1997) suggested when a word is introduced for the first time, its meaning, pronunciation and spelling are what primary pupils should be instructed As young learners’ experience of words and lexical knowledge widens and deepens, their lexical knowledge grows in various ways Gil Diesendruck (Hoff & Shatz, 2007) tried to seek for the answer with his suggested model of child word learning mechanisms in which children learn words through six mechanisms: input, lexical constraints, syntax, conceptual bias, pragmatics, attention and learning in the two dimensions of specificity-cognition and exogenous (external) endogenous (internal) source Position of the various word learning mechanisms in relation to the dimensions of specificity and source Source: (Hoff & Shatz, 2007, p 258) The chart shows that the mechanism of attention and learning lies between the external and internal source dimension, decided by both the learner and the teacher The other four mechanisms, lexical constraints, syntax, conceptual bias and pragmatics, process within the learner during their cognitive development from concrete to abstract The only external mechanism is input Native or bilingual children acquire vocabulary input from parents or family members and develop it naturally without formal instruction, but second or foreign language learners apparently need vocabulary instructions in the necessary knowledge and the skills required to use it mainly from their teachers 44 Teaching vocabulary to children Learning and teaching always go along together From the characteristics of young English learners, their language learning in general and vocabulary learning as well word learning mechanisms in particular, to bring vocabulary to life in young English classes, it is essential to review the following fundamental teaching principles Chi n l
c ngo i ng xu th h i nh p Tháng 11/2014 3.1 Principles of teaching vocabulary to children • Present multiple vocabulary items In tune with Gil Diesendruck’s lens on the mechanisms of word learning, taking the factors of the nature of vocabulary into account, Cameron (2001) analyzed children vocabulary learning in their conceptual development and suggested the principles for teaching vocabulary as follows (p 91): • Give opportunities for deep processing of vocabulary items - The types of words that children find possible to learn will shift from concrete to abstract In a more detailed perspective in connection with young learners’ ages, familiarity with vocabulary concepts, similarity between L1 and L2, Stephanie and Villiers (1997) addressed child vocabulary learning by seeking for answers to frequently asked questions such as word teaching load per session, word choice and word learning They also convincingly clarified the six stages of learning a word for the correspondent teaching implications (p 6): - Vocabulary development is not just learning more words but is also importantly about expanding and deepening word knowledge - Words and word knowledge are linked in networks of meaning - Basic level words are likely to be more appropriate for younger children while older learners can benefit from building up superordinate and subordinate vocabulary linked to basic level words they already know - Children change in how they can learn words Meanwhile, from another skill-based perspective, E H Hiebert and M L Kamil (2005) distinguished two sets of word concepts: print/oral vocabulary and receptive/productive vocabulary In the learner’s angle, I S P Nation (1990) recognized the learning burden pupils encounter when they learn vocabulary involves meaning, form and usage along with three challenges – the learner’s previous experience of English and their mother tongue, the way in which the word is learned or taught and the intrinsic difficulty of the word With the similar focus on the vocabulary principles but from the teacher’s views, Linse and Nunan (2005) suggested (p 123-127): • Emphasize both direct and indirect teaching • Teaching vocabulary words before a new activity • Teach how appropriately to use context clues exposures to new • Teach students to use dictionaries • Have students keep vocabulary notebooks 3.2 Vocabulary teaching stages 1) Recognition 2) Repetition 3) Controlled usage 4) Reading 5) Write and spell 6) Independent usage Grauberg (1997) suggested a four-stage teaching process for young learners including discrimination, understanding meaning, remembering and consolidation and extension of meaning (p 15) First, discrimination involves distinctions of sound, letters, sound clustering, oral vocabulary or print vocabulary Next comes understanding meaning Besides, word learning depends on learners’ preferences Instead of focusing on vocabulary principles or teaching stages, in order to find how children could find their ways to learn vocabulary, Takac (2008) employed a quantitative research in which 675 elementary learners of English as a FL aged between 11 and 14 with the implication that the position of the FL in the learning context does affect the selection and use of the vocabulary learning strategies He eventually reached a 45 Ti u ban 1: Đào t o chuyên ng conclusion that to beginning pupils, learning vocabulary is crucial so teaching vocabulary to young language learners effectively is of greater importance especially in FL learning environments where Nikolov (2002) considered teachers of young learners key players (p 5) It’s primary teachers’ deep insights of child learning that will lead to success in young language classes 3.3 The teacher’s vocabulary learning role in children’s Any decisions about classroom practice made by a language teacher originate from professional perceptions a language teacher have about the nature of a target language, language learners and the context in which the teacher works Fives and Gill (2015) highlighted teachers’ beliefs were “at the very heart of teaching” and explained some reasons why it is very important to understand how and what teachers view about learning and teaching (p 85): One reason may be that beliefs held by teachers influence how and why they may or may not change their practice to incorporate new curriculum, adopt new instructional strategies or take up new initiatives Understanding the beliefs that guide teachers’ decision making and actions in their classrooms could help educators at all levels adjust how they work with teachers to provide more targeted feedback to support teachers’ professional growth and development throughout their career In English language teacher education, Borg (2006), one of the leading researchers in teacher cognition in language education, recommended a wide range of research methods such as questionnaires, self-report instruments, interviews, classroom visits, scenario-rating tasks of preservice and in-service teachers because teachers are active, thinking decision-makers who play a central role in shaping classroom events with the convincing assumption that what teachers in the conduct of their professional activities is shaped, though not entirely determined, by what they believe and know Barnard and Burns (2012) 46 stressed (page 3): Although teachers may have strongly held beliefs, they not always put these into practice The reasons need to be understood by exploring the specific contexts in which they work, each of which is itself a complex and dynamic system in which physical, temporal, cognitive, social and cultural factors interact to provide affordances for, or constraints on, the practical application of beliefs about teaching and learning, which in turn influence what teachers believe and know Cohan and Honigsfeld (2011) stated that reactivating teachers’ classroom experience reflectively in connection with the well-grounded theoretical teaching foundation and the influential factors of their real teaching settings helps teachers break the teaching routine for changes and development Therefore, the deeper understanding a primary language teacher has in vocabulary teaching principles, teaching stages and teaching techniques, the more insightful he or she becomes into obstacles or challenges throughout teaching practice, the more likelihood the teacher can have to develop tactics and overcome the challenges, the more effective vocabulary learning and teaching gets To expand the research paths, apart from questionnaires, interviews, observation, other methods such as narrative frames, focus groups, think aloud, stimulated recall, oral reflective journals are the research instrumentations the leading researchers in teacher cognition such as Judy Nguyen, Nguyen Gia Viet, Andrew Gladman, Le Van Canh, Simon Humphries, Jinrui Li, Jonathon Ryan prolonged the method list Listening to primary teachers’ voices or classroom visits for observations and dialogic enquiries to know about their theoretical understanding they gain, challenges they encounter as well as the factors that may affect their teaching behaviors are to pursue children’s achievements, to facilitate teachers’ tasks and promote teaching competencies Chi n l
c ngo i ng xu th h i nh p The emergent studies on Asian children’s English learning From the theoretical backgrounds and research methods ignited by the experts in the area, a lot of studies about child English learning have been conducted For example, through a collaborative effort of an international comparative research of the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, Silver et al (2001) portrayed a picture of English language education in China, Singapore and Japan raising one of the hottest debated concerns that is elementary English education in China, Singapore and Japan Tılfarlıoğlu and Öztürk (2007), employing a descriptive research method, explored into the implementation issues of ELT curricula reflected by in-service primary teachers in Gaziantep, Turkey through a 45 item questionnaire, interviews and self-reports In Taiwan, Wang (2008) surveyed the concerns relating to teaching, teacher education, teaching materials perceived by teachers of English through a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews which ended with video recordings of classroom practices Fallon and Rublik (2012) carried out a qualitative study focusing on the policy implementation, teachers’ perceptions on students’ attitudes toward English and on the basic literacy skills through recorded interviews in which the research respondents were ESL primary teachers, resource teacher trainers and two school boardbased officials In Vietnam, two researchers – Pham and Nguyen, drew their attention to EFL at the primary level on the macro scale; however, their research paths were not the same Through a questionnaire and in-depth interviews, Pham (2013) quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed Hue primary English teachers’ responses for the influencing obstacles and factors in implementing - methodological innovations at schools while H.T.M.Nguyen (2011) conducted a comparative case study with the data collected from classroom observations and interviews with both teachers and school administrators at two primary schools, public and Tháng 11/2014 private, for the influential factors in the implementation of primary English education Unlike the above researchers whose interests were at a high administrative level in the primary English language education implementation, Le and Nation (2011) developed their methodological research in measuring the English vocabulary size of Vietnamese learners of English Through another analysis of the data collected from three groups of young beginning-level learners in the experiential approach, Shintani (2012) shifted to a more specific concern by comparing the linguistic effect of focus on form and focus on forms instruction on children’s acquisition of productive knowledge of L2 vocabulary Research The above research studies have opened a new direction for this research – primary teachers’ perceptions of vocabulary teaching and learning Before proceeding to the research scope, it is necessary to clarify some basic terms of the research focus First, in the Dictionary of Applied Linguistics, perception is defined as the recognition and understanding of events, objects, and stimuli through the use of senses (sight, hearing, etc.) while teachers’ beliefs are thought to be stable constructs derived from their experience, observations, training and other sources and serve as a source of reference in encountering new ideas Only when teachers are professionally well-trained and they can bring their teaching training into classrooms effectively are their teaching beliefs are built Contrarily, when teachers teach with experience after no or little formal training, perceptions, not beliefs, are built Teachers’ cognition develops from perceptions through self-reflections upon failure or success in classroom practices to beliefs for effective teaching In the book “Perceptions of teaching and learning”, Hughes (1994) defined perceptions are individual mental phenomena, yet the data can be drawn from linguistic images of these phenomena Also Davis (2003) clearly indicated that perception research investigates stimulus-driven 47 Ti u ban 1: Đào t o chuyên ng processes influencing behavior From the lights, in this research primary teachers’ perception is defined as primary teachers’ understanding or recognition of teaching and learning vocabulary in theory and practice Their perceptions can be observable through their linguistic images in the forms of verbal responses and teaching behaviors to vocabulary instruction Their perceptions may change overtime due to various sociocultural influencing factors as teaching English to young learners is not popular in English teacher education The next linguistic terms that need addressing are vocabulary and word According to several leading scientists in vocabulary research such as Carter (2012), Morgan and Rinvolucri (2011), Bogaards and Laufer (2004), N.Schmitt (2000), E.H.Hiebert and M.L.Kamil (2005) and P.Nation (2000), vocabulary learning and teaching has attracted sophisticated attention for its complexity Yet, when English is introduced to young learners, vocabulary is seen in simpler and child-friendly approaches According to Linse and Nunan (2005), vocabulary is the collection of words an individual conceptually develop and knows through formal and informal instruction Read (2000) referred the term word to a variety of lexical units ranging from single words to multiword items such as polywords, institutionalized expressions, phrasal constraints or sentence builders (p 16-24) Hirsh (2012) stated that, to young learners, vocabulary is the knowledge of meanings of words that come in at least two forms: oral and print Knowledge of words also comes in at least two forms, receptive—that which we can understand or recognize—and productive—the vocabulary we use when we write or speak 5.1 Research scope In Binhdinh, the fact that primary English teacher education has not been present in English language teacher education along with the officially introduced language policy in primary classes has created both new learning experience and pressure According to the statistics from the 48 Binhdinh Education and Training Department, there have been 319 primary teachers of English at 237 primary schools where the majority of the teachers graduated from universities and colleges In response to the increasing learning demands and decreasing learner-age range, MOET and DOET are very concerned about training quality Therefore, short-term training courses in primary English learning and teaching have been constantly organized in conjunction with British Council The training program includes 540 periods in total in which 360 periods is for English proficiency and 180 periods for teaching practical skills 5.2 Research methods and participants From the emergent research studies, the aforementioned rationale and the experience in teaching at some local primary schools, a survey of primary English teachers’ competence in Binhdinh was conducted to probe for teachers’ perceptions as well as difficulties in teaching vocabulary at primary schools through a vocabulary-based questionnaire and structured interviews The question items were oriented to three aspects: Perceptions of the importance of vocabulary in child foreign language learning Perceptions of the nature of vocabulary child foreign language learning Perceptions of vocabulary teaching methods Findings 6.1 Primary teachers’ perceptions of the importance of vocabulary in child foreign language learning Vocabulary is one of the first aspects of a foreign language for young learners to learn for communication Strongly Agree Agree Not Sure Disagree Strongly Disagree 45% 50% 5% 0% 0% 45% of the primary teachers strongly held the Chi n l
c ngo i ng xu th h i nh p Tháng 11/2014 perception that vocabulary is one of the first aspects of a foreign language for young learners to learn for communication 50% of them were in favour of the assumption whereas 5% doubted the key role of vocabulary As Stephanie and Villiers (1997) defined vocabulary the most basic building blocks for learning English and vocabulary cuts across listening, speaking, reading and writing Most of the respondents shared such high appreciation of vocabulary Unlike adult learners, building up early vocabulary offers young learners not only first new experience in foreign language learning, initial success in communication but also motivation to explore foreignness for curiosity and imagination, which is in line with Vivet’s assumption, pointing out how foreign languages can introduce children to a world of sounds, positive sensations, new discoveries and stimulating acquisitions (Ellis & McCartney, 2011) In response to the interview questions about what important roles vocabulary played in child foreign language learning, the teachers’ responses were not specific as to detail Teachers should teach all the words as they appear in the glossary list at the end of the textbook Strongly Agree Agree Not Sure Disagree Strongly Disagree 16% 48% 11% 25% 0% A good understanding of the implications of textbook structures leads both teachers and learners to an effective exploitation of the textbook In response to the pedagogic values of glossary, 64% of the respondents thought that the teacher should instruct the list of words while 25% of them disagreed and 11% were unsure Actually, to meet diverse learners of mixed abilities, any textbook contains a wide range of vocabulary which is generally either alphabetized or arranged in the order of units and frequently found in the back of a book Yet, no matter how much a teacher tries in class, she or he can not deal with all new words in a textbook Teaching does not mean learning though teaching and learning is closely attached to each other Then what should learners do? The term "glossary" originates with the Latin word "glossarium," which means "difficult word requiring explanation In this case, learners can refer to glossary when they want to know new words Glossary in L2 is for proficient learners and glossary in L1 is for less proficient learners According to N Schmitt (2010) and Nation (2010), glossing is one way of focusing explicit attention on lexical items during reading where otherwise only incidental learning would occur Glossing words sets out to offer immediate support to pupils with accurate information about unknown words while learners are reading By doing it, glossary offers minimal interruption to reading and keeps learners from making erroneous guesses about unknown words Pupils should learn every new word whenever they see Strongly Agree Agree Not Sure Disagree Strongly Disagree 0% 5% 11% 66% 18% 11% cast doubt on whether young learners should learn every new word whenever they see, 84% disagreed while 5% agreed During the interviews with the surveyed participants, the concepts – incidental and intentional vocabulary learning – seemed to be quite new Actually, incidental learning or ‘by-the-way’ learning occurs in natural exposure to vocabulary while intentional learning results from systematic and explicit vocabulary instruction that leads to the depth of word knowledge and enhances word learning, word memory, and word recall for later use If word learning is understood in the way Nation pointed out in terms of word learning burden comprising its meaning, form and use, it is not an easy task for young learners to take in every word whenever they see the words Only when words are learnt meaningfully, orally in fun ways with high frequency can words stay in pupils’ minds for natural use Richards and Renandya (2002) said (p.71): “Processing the meaning of words involves 49 Ti u ban 1: Đào t o chuyên ng explicit knowledge, whereas recognition and production of word forms take place through an unconscious process, using implicit knowledge.” Therefore, the data revealed that Binhdinh primary teachers may not have had to juggle intentional vocabulary learning with incidental vocabulary learning in primary classes as various forms of incidental vocabulary learning may not have been detected (i.e vocabulary-oriented websites for recommended homelinks, classroom vocabulary posters, photocopiables, projectors, flashcards, puppets, etc.) Chacón-Beltrán, AbelloContesse, and Torreblanca-López (2010) indicated that intentional learning enables faster learning and deeper engagement for vocabulary retention when young learners notice well or pay good attention to vocabulary learning burdens and active vocabulary should be taught before passive vocabulary (p 49) On the other hand, incidental vocabulary learning provides integration vocabulary in skill practice naturally or creates recycling for words to be incidentally learnt, for example, gloss or glossary, words with picture illustrations, storytelling, puzzles, word plays, songs, drama, picture description, etc The fact that textbooks are designed with glossary, accompanied imagery flashcards, songs or project – based activity books provide more vocabulary retention could learn is a good example of a combination of intentional and incidental vocabulary learning 6.2 Primary teachers’ perceptions of the nature of vocabulary in children’s foreign language learning Pupils benefit from the spoken production of vocabulary during vocabulary learning tasks Strongly Agree Agree Not Sure Disagree Strongly Disagree 9% 73% 18% 0% 0% 82% of the teachers believed that spoken production of vocabulary did help young learners 50 to enhance their lexical ability while 18% were undecided about children’s benefits from oral skills Four fifths of the teachers thought that spoken production of vocabulary could facilitate word learning burden Sylva, Malaguzzi (Reggio Emilia) and Whitehead (Dunn, 2011) explained that children acquire and find out about language ‘through doing’, experimenting and imitating because they are born natural language acquirers and users Their oral skills are always developed before literacy skills Halliwell (1993) employed their instinct for play and fun, imagination and interaction and talk to reconfirm the emphasis on teaching vocabulary through oral skills Moon (2000) pointed out one of the unique features of young learners is talking off their head and feeling at home The more orally they produce a word, the more they remember, the more they recognize it when exposed to it later The above features highlighted by the leading psycholinguistic and methodological experts strengthen the findings of the data that vocabulary learnt by young learners is more oral in nature, which is quite in line with what Cameron visualized in the model of child foreign language learning Yet, the interviews with several teachers revealed that the ability to write words was expected to accompany with oral skills, however, it painstakingly took young learners so much time out of a 45-minute class to get vocabulary copied right in their notebooks that some classes had vocabulary translated and computerized on cut-outs All what pupils did was reading along and sticking the cut-outs to their notebooks Phonetic transcriptions along with vocabulary was also the respondents’ concern Learning English is difficult and learning phonetics as metalanguage is more difficult so teaching phonics is a solution to their concerns instead of phonetic transcriptions To young learners, teaching vocabulary should go along with teaching grammar Strongly Agree Agree Not Sure Disagree Strongly Disagree 0% 23% 18% 39% 20% Chi n l
c ngo i ng xu th h i nh p Tháng 11/2014 With regard to the integration of vocabulary and grammar, no teachers strongly approved and 23% of the surveyed teachers supported this idea Yet, 18% were still confused and 59% thought that the integration between vocabulary and grammar was not appropriate According to Cameron (2003) and Pinter (2014), it is not easy for very young children to understand explicit grammatical rules Grammar is a closed system with a set of structures rules that enables language users to express their ideas precisely; however, young children, though eager and receptive to learn, are not cognitively ready for abstract concepts Acquiring grammatical structures is abstract while mastering vocabulary repertoire an open system - is a huge task Instead, they pick up the meaning of chunks in context very quickly before they are aware of grammatical rules Therefore, grammar should be learnt intuitively through context in which meaning and fun tasks such as drawing, songs, chants, games, TPR activities, teamwork etc can be inferred Grammar should be taught in a fun and purposeful way as G Lewis and Mol (2007) suggested we should focus on grammatical performance and awareness rather than knowledge of grammatical concepts or rules The language units that can the function from simple input to complex grammar are what M Lewis (2008) called chunks However, during the interviews with the surveyed teachers, most of them seemed to be not familiar with the concept of chunks 6.3 Primary teachers’ perceptions vocabulary teaching methods of Pupils learn vocabulary in the same way as adults Strongly Agree Agree Not Sure Disagree Strongly Disagree 0% 5% 11% 66% 18% The fact that 84% of the respondents did not see that pupils learn vocabulary in the same way as adults could be explained from their own learning experience they have had in classroom as learners and teachers, from the real difficulties the teachers encountered, and from the recent training in PELT they have received Yet, some structured interviews showed that they recognized that adult learning is different from child learning; yet, they may not know how different they are To clarify such differences, Brown (1987) made a very thorough comparison between young learners and adult learners with variables such as cognition, sensory input, attention span, abstract thinking ability (p 87-92) while Moon (2000) highlighted learning differences with seven features - using language creatively, going for meaning, using ‘chunks’ of language, having fun, joining in the action, talking their heads off and feeling at home (p 10) The more the teacher puts oneself in learners’ situation, the more aware the teacher gets of the differences, the more child-friendly his teaching gets Meanwhile, 11% of the teachers were not sure about the differences between child and adult language learning and 5% did not perceive the same, which may result from the fact that primary English teacher education is not present in the English teacher education in Binhdinh; therefore, primary teachers are likely to teach pupils in the way they were taught and taught to teach Vocabulary should be taught in integration with listening, speaking, reading and writing Strongly Agree Agree Not Sure Disagree Strongly Disagree 39% 57% 5% 0% 0% Concerning vocabulary in language performance, more than a third of the surveyed instructors held a strong approval of teaching vocabulary within four basic skills This integration was considered as a good idea by 57% teachers while only 5% of them were hesitant Actually, vocabulary cuts across language skills Whenever a learner listens, speaks, writes or reads, he must use vocabulary E H Hiebert and M L Kamil (2005) made very interesting distinctions between two sets of word concepts – oral or print vocabulary and receptive or productive 51 Ti u ban 1: Đào t o chuyên ng vocabulary as follows (p.3): Productive vocabulary is the set of words that an individual can use when writing or speaking They are words that are well-known, familiar, and used frequently Conversely, receptive, or recognition, vocabulary is that set of words for which an individual can assign meanings when listening or reading These are words that are often less well known to students and less frequent in use Oral vocabulary is the set of words for which we know the meanings when we speak or read orally Print vocabulary consists of those words for which the meaning is known when we write or read silently Obviously, these distinctions shed light on two different things First, when young pupils learn reading, beginning readers have to recognize print words and read aloud so they usually can not read silently – that is, the set of print words that they read is mainly oral representations The further their learning progresses in reading, the increasingly larger role their print vocabulary plays in literacy than oral vocabulary and they can develop silent reading later Secondly, young pupils learn reading differently from adults do, which is one of the above examples to illustrate the differences between adult and child vocabulary learning Vietnamese should not be used in English classes Strongly Agree Agree Not Sure Disagree Strongly Disagree 0% 23% 18% 39% 20% Regarding to L1 use in language classes, 59% of the participants disagreed whereas 23% had the opposite opinion while 18 % of them hesitated As Nation pointed that child vocabulary learning usually begins with meaning, then come forms ended with use Introducing the meanings of new words in Vietnamese is the most common way for teacher-learner interaction as very beginning learners come to class with no or little English Sieh (2008), backed by her experimental research on the L1 role in young learners’ processing and 52 storage of English vocabulary in the initial stages of L2 learning, discovered that to the beginning English Taiwanese young learners whose L1 use was overwhelmingly dominant, the connection between their FL lexical and conceptual representations was relatively weak in comparison to the connection between the two languages at the lexical level There have been many reasons to explain among which is their pre-existing vocabulary knowledge through L1 Such connections may make some L1 impacts upon child FL acquisition especially in pronunciation, culture-bound concepts In the conversations about their teaching practice with the surveyed teachers, not few pupils tended to attach Vietnamese for phonetic transcription with English vocabulary, i.e table /thấy bồ/, balloon /bờ lun/ Or sliding sound clusters in green /gri:n/, blue /blu:/ or dream /dri:m/ were often negatively transferred into clear-cut sound clusters respectively /gờ rin/, /bờ lu:/ or /ñờ rim/ etc The conversations with the surveyed teachers led to an in-depth analysis based on the typical characteristics of Vietnamese such as consistent sound clustering principles, one-to-one correspondences between sounds and spelling and monosyllabic vocabulary in Vietnamese Many of them did recognize the inappropriate oral forms in their pupils’ vocabulary learning tasks; however, large sized classes of mixed abilities and overloading lessons kept them from getting their children’s errors and mistakes corrected Conclusion In a nutshell, the research into Binhdinh primary teachers’ perceptions of teaching and learning vocabulary as part of my on-going thesis has shed light on some initial findings in primary teachers’ perceptions of the importance of vocabulary in foreign language learning, vocabulary in children’s foreign language learning and vocabulary teaching methods Regarding the status of teaching and learning vocabulary in child foreign language learning, most of the participants were aware of the importance of vocabulary learning, however, a deeper penetration into the specific essential roles vocabulary plays is beyond their perceptions through their ease in using Chi n l
c ngo i ng xu th h i nh p glossary for word selection or word choice Identifying the role vocabulary at the onset of learning enables teachers to develop his vocabulary teaching plans strategically As for the nature of vocabulary taught to young learners, the surveyed teacher seemingly had tendency to follow the textbooks and step on the paths textbook designers have paved in glossaries Apart from the concepts of productive and receptive vocabulary or passive and active vocabulary they have heard in their pre-service teacher education, the distinctions between oral vocabulary, print vocabulary, sight words or the vague boundary between vocabulary and grammar seemed to be dim in their perceptions, which may result in their different choices in teaching and learning techniques Therefore, the vocabulary-oriented reflective enquiries initially raise their vocabulary awareness, reactivate and complement childfriendly teaching knowledge and skills within the primary teachers for quality teaching and learning REFERENCE Ashcroft, K., & Palacio, D (2003) Implementing the primary curriculum UK, USA: Taylor & Francis Barnard, R., & Burns, A (2012) Researching language teacher - cognition and practice UK, USA: Multilingual Matters Bogaards, P., & Laufer, B (2004) Vocabulary in a second language Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company Borg, S (2006) Teacher cognition and language education: Research and practice USA: Continuum Broughton, G., Brumfit, C., Flavell, R., Hill, P., & Pincas, A (Eds.) (1980) Teaching English as a foreign language USA, Canada: Routledge Brown, H D (1987) Teaching by principles USA: Pearson Education Cameron, L (2001) Teaching Languages to Young Learners Cameron, L (2003) Challenges for ELT from the expansion in teaching children ELT Journal, 57(2), 105-112 Carter, R (2002) Vocabulary - Applied Linguistic Perspectives UK, USA: Routledge 10 Carter, R (2012) Vocabulary - Applied Linguistic Perspectives UK, USA: Routledge 11 Chacón-Beltrán, R., Abello-Contesse, C., & Torreblanca-López, M M (2010) Insights into nonnative vocabulary teaching and learning UK, USA: Multilingual Matters Tháng 11/2014 12 Chan, W M., Chin, K N., & Suthiwan, T (Eds.) (2011) Foreign language teaching in Asia and beyond Current perspectives and future directions Germany: Walter de Gruyter, Inc 13 Cohan, A., & Honigsfeld, A (2011) Breaking the mold of preservice and in-service teacher education UK: Rowman & Littlefield Education 14 Davis, S F (2003) Handbook of research methods in experimental psychology UK, USA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd 15 Dunn, O (2011) Introducing English to young children: Spoken language UK, USA: Collins 16 Ellis, S., & McCartney, E (2011) Applied Linguistics and Primary School Teaching UK: Cambridge University Press 17 Fallon, G., & Rublik, N (2012) ESL teachers’ perceptions of the effects of the policy of English as a compulsory subject at the early primary level Journal article 18 Feng, A (2011) English language education across greater China Canada, UK & USA: Multilingual Matters 19 Fives, H., & Gill, M G (Eds.) (2015) International Handbook of Research on Teachers’ Beliefs UK, USA: Routledge 20 Gewehr, W e a (1998) Aspects of modern language teaching in Europe UK, USA: Routledge 21 Gordon, T (2007) Teaching young children a second language UK: Praeger 22 Grauberg, W (1997) The elements of foreign language teaching, Vol - Languages in practice USA: Multilingual Matters 23 Grugeon, E., Dawes, L., Smith, C., & Hubbard, L (2005) Teaching speaking and listening in the primary school UK: David Fulton Publishers 24 Halliwell, S (1993) Teaching English in the Primary Classroom UK: Longman Group UK Limited 25 Hiebert, E H., & Kamil, M L (2005) Teaching and learning vocabulary - Bringing research to practice New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers 26 Hiebert, E H., & Kamil, M L (2005) Teaching and learning vocabulary - Bringing research to practice (Vol Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers): USA, UK 27 Hirsh, D (Ed.) (2012) Current perspectives in second language vocabulary research (Vol 155) Bern, Berlin, Bruxelles, Frankfurt am Main, New York, Oxford, Wien: Peter Lang 28 Hoff, E., & Shatz, M (2007) Blackwell handbook of language development UK, USA: Blackwell Publishing 29 Hughes, M (1994) Perceptions of teaching and 53 Ti u ban 1: Đào t o chuyên ng learning Australia, UK, USA: Multilingual Matter Ltd another language 30 Le, T C N., & Nation, P (2011) A bilingual vocabulary size test of English for Vietnamese learners RELC Journal 46 Nation, P (2005) Teaching Vocabulary Asian EFL Journal - The EFL Professional's Written Forum 31 Lewis, G., & Mol, H (2007) Grammar for young learners UK, USA: Oxford University Press 32 Lewis, M (2008) Implementing the lexical approach - Putting theory into practice UK: Heinle Cengage Learning 33 Linse, C T., & Nunan, D (2005) Practical English language teaching: Young learners USA: McGraw-Hill 34 MacNaughton, G., & Williams, G (2004) Teaching young children: choices in theory and practice UK: Open University Press 35 Mallett, M (2002) Young researchers Informational reading and writing in the early and primary years USA, Canada: Taylor & Francis Group 36 Mallett, M (Ed.) (2008) The primary English encyclopedia - the heart of the curriculum London, New York: Routledge 47 Nikolov, M (2002) Issues in English Language Education Germany: Die Deutsche Bibliothek – CIPEinheitsaufnahme 48 Nikolov, M (2009) Early learning of modern foreign languages: Processes and outcomes (second language acquisition) USA, Canada: Multilingual Matters 49 Pham, H N (2013) Obstacles to primary school teachers' implementation of methodological innovations to teach English to young learners Chuyên san khoa học Xã hội Nhân văn, 80(2) 50 Pinter, A (2014) Teaching young language learners UK, USA: Oxford University Press 51 Qiang Primary School English Teaching in China 52 Read, J (2000) Assessing vocabulary Australia, IK, USA: Cambridge University Press 37 McCarthy, M e a (2010) Vocabulary matrix Understanding, Learning, Teaching UK: Heinle Cengage Learning 53 Richards, J C., & Renandya, W A (2002) Methodology in language teaching - an anthology of current practice (Vol.) USA, UK, Singapore, Brazil: Cambridge University Press 38 McKay, P (2008) Assessing young language learners UK: Cambridge University Press 54 Rocca, S (2007) Child second language acquisition The Netherlands, USA: John Benjamins B.V 39 Menyuk, P., & Brisk, M E (2005) Language development and education - Children with varying language experiences USA: Palgrave 55 Schmitt, N (2000) Vocabulary in language teaching UK, USA: Cambridge Language Education 40 Moon, J (2000) Children learning English UK: MacMillan Heinemann ELT 41 Moon, J (2005) Children learning English - A guidebook for English language teacher UK: MacMillan Publishers Limited 42 Morgan, J., & Rinvolucri, M (2011) Vocabulary UK: Oxford University Press 43 Moyles, J., & Hargreaves, L (2003) The primary curriculum - Learning from international perspectives USA, Canada: Taylor & Francis 44 Nation, I S P (1990) Teaching and learning vocabulary USA: Heinle & Heinle Publishers 45 Nation, P (2000) Learning vocabulary in 54 56 Schmitt, N (2010) Researching vocabulary - A vocabulary research manual UK: Palgrave Macmillan i 57 Scott, W., & Ytreberg, L H (1990) Teaching English to children UK: Longman 58 Shintani, N (2011) A comparative study of the effects of input-based and production-based instruction on vocabulary acquisition by young EFL learners Language teaching research, 15(2) 59 Shintani, N (2012) The effect of focus on form and focus on forms instruction on the acquisition of productive knowledge of L2 vocabulary by young beginning - level l Learners TESOL Quarterly 60 Sieh, Y (2008) A Possible for the first language in young learners' processing and storage of foreign Chi n l
c ngo i ng xu th h i nh p language vocabulary ARECLS, 5(136-160) 61 Silver, R E., Hu, G., & Iino, M (2001) English language education in China, Japan and Singapore Singapore: National Institute of Education 62 Slattery, M., & Willis, J (2014) English for primary teachers - A handbook of activities and classroom language USA, UK: Oxford University Press 63 Stephanie, R., & Villiers, S (1997) Oxford primary teachers' academy UK, USA: Oxford University Press 64 Takac, V P (2008) Vocabulary Learning strategies and foreign language acquisition USA, Canada: Multilingual Matters Ltd 65 Thornbury, S (2002) How to teach vocabulary UK: Pearson Education Ltd Tháng 11/2014 analysis of ELT teachers’ perceptions of some problems concerning the implementation of English language teaching curricula in elementary schools Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 3(1) 67 Troen, V., & Boles, K C (2009) Who's teaching your children? UK, USA: Yale University 68 Turnbull, M., & Dailey-O'Cain, J (2009) First language use in second and foreign language learning UK, USA, Canada: Multilingual Matters 69 Wang, W P (2008) Teaching English to young learners in Taiwan: Issues relating to teaching, teacher education, teaching materials and teacher perspectives The University of Waikato, New Zealand 70 Willmott, R (2003) Education policy and realist social theory - primary teachers, child centred philosophy and the new managerialism: Routledge 66 Tılfarlıoğlu, F Y., & Öztürk, A R (2007) An 55 ... Perceptions of the nature of vocabulary child foreign language learning Perceptions of vocabulary teaching methods Findings 6.1 Primary teachers’ perceptions of the importance of vocabulary in... research into Binhdinh primary teachers’ perceptions of teaching and learning vocabulary as part of my on-going thesis has shed light on some initial findings in primary teachers’ perceptions of the... forms of verbal responses and teaching behaviors to vocabulary instruction Their perceptions may change overtime due to various sociocultural influencing factors as teaching English to young learners