(Luận văn thạc sĩ) teaching text based vocabulary to the first year non english major students at hoa binh university current teaching situation and pedagogical implications

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES VŨ THỊ TUYẾT TEACHING TEXT-BASED VOCABULARY TO THE FIRST YEAR NON- ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HOA BINH UNIVERSITY: CURRENT TEACHING SITUATION AND PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS DẠY TỪ VỰNG DỰA TRÊN VĂN BẢN CHO SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH NĂM THỨ NHẤT TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÒA BÌNH: THỰC TRẠNG VÀ ỨNG DỤNG TRONG GIẢNG DẠY MA MINOR THESIS Major: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10 HANOI, 2011 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES VŨ THỊ TUYẾT TEACHING TEXT-BASED VOCABULARY TO THE FIRST YEAR NON- ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HOA BINH UNIVERSITY: CURRENT TEACHING SITUATION AND PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS DẠY TỪ VỰNG DỰA TRÊN VĂN BẢN CHO SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH NĂM THỨ NHẤT TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÒA BÌNH: THỰC TRẠNG VÀ ỨNG DỤNG TRONG GIẢNG DẠY MA MINOR THESIS Major: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10 Supervisor: Vũ Thúy Quỳnh, M.A HANOI, 2011 v TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration p i Acknowledgements ii Abstract iii List of charts and tables iv Table of contents v Part A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Aims of the study Significance of the study Scope of the study Research questions Methods of the study Design of the thesis Part B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Vocabulary 1.1.1 Definitions of vocabulary 1.1.2 The roles of vocabulary in language teaching and learning 1.1.3 Classification of vocabulary 1.1.4 Criteria for selection of vocabulary to teach 1.2 Teaching vocabulary through texts 1.2.1 Definitions of texts 1.2.2 Roles of texts in enriching students’ vocabulary 1.2.3 Techniques to teach vocabulary through texts 1.2.3.1 Pre-stage 1.2.3.2 While-stage 11 1.2.3.3 Post-stage 13 1.3 Summary 14 Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY 15 2.1 The participants 15 vi 2.2 The instruments 16 2.2.1 The teachers’ survey questionnaires 16 2.2.2 The students’ survey questionnaires 17 2.2.3 Class observation 17 2.3 Procedure of data collection 17 2.4 Procedure of data analysis 18 2.4.1 Data analysis methods 18 2.4.2 Data analysis procedures 18 2.5 Summary 18 Chapter 3: DATA PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION 20 3.1 Data presentation 20 3.1.1 The current situation of teaching text-based vocabulary to first year non-English major students at Hoa Binh university 20 3.1.2 The effectiveness of using texts to teach vocabulary to first year non-English major students at Hoa Binh university 30 3.2 Discussion and findings 33 3.3 Pedagogical implications 34 3.4 Summary 39 Part C: CONCLUSION 41 Conclusions 41 Limitations of the study 41 Suggestions for further study 41 REFERENCES 42 APPENDICES iv LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES Chart 1: The frequency of teachers’ using texts to teach vocabulary (p.21) Chart 2: Kinds of vocabulary chosen to teach by teachers (p.22) Chart 3: Text-based vocabulary techniques used by teachers in the pre-stage (p.23) Chart 4: Text-based vocabulary techniques used by teachers in the while-stage (p.24) Chart 5: Text-based vocabulary techniques used by teachers in the post-stage (p.26) Chart 6: Difficulties that teachers and students have in teaching and learning vocabulary through texts (p.30) Chart 7: Necessity of using texts to teach vocabulary (p.31) Chart 8: Teachers’ idea about the benefit of texts (p.31) Chart 9: Ideas from students about the effects of texts in vocabulary teaching (p.32) Chart 10: Ideas from teachers about the effects of texts in vocabulary teaching (p.32) Table 1: Text-based vocabulary techniques preferred by students with reasons (p.27) Table 2: Teachers’ help for students’ difficulties (p.30) Part A: INTRODUCTION Rationale The recent years have witnessed a shift in focus in foreign language learning and teaching in general and in English in particular from the linguistic competence to the communicative one This trend has clearly led to the increasingly important role of teaching and learning vocabulary Generally, vocabulary is considered to be one of the main tasks in acquiring a foreign language as one cannot make himself/ herself well-understood with his/ her poor vocabulary Wilkins (1972) emphasized the importance of vocabulary when saying: “without grammar very little can be conveyed; without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” (p.111) However, in Vietnam in general and at Hoa Binh university in particular, vocabulary teaching has not been paid due attention as it deserves Traditionally, vocabulary has not been a particular subject for students to learn but has been taught within the lessons of listening, speaking, reading and writing For most teachers, the common way of teaching vocabulary is to give explanations and definitions of the word-list Then many learners use rote strategies like writing words on papers, trying to learn by heart as their major ways of vocabulary learning As a result, they rarely remember the meanings of vocabulary items and not know how to use these words appropriately in the context Whereas, texts are considered to be a rich source of vocabulary and they provide contexts in which new items are used Therefore, the study on how vocabulary is taught through texts to first year nonEnglish major students at Hoa Binh university and how effective this method is is carried out Aims of the study The aims of the study are: - To investigate the current situation of teaching vocabulary through texts to first year non-English major students at Hoa Binh university - To investigate the effectiveness of using texts to teach vocabulary to first year nonEnglish major students at Hoa Binh university - To suggest some pedagogical implications to English teachers at Hoa Binh university Significance of the study The study was carried out with the hope that it can be a good source of reference to teachers, learners and those who concern about vocabulary teaching and learning It is also hoped to provide an insight into the current teaching situation of using texts to teach vocabulary to first year students at Hoa Binh university Therefore, it is believed that this study will raise the teachers’ awareness of the situation and then they can have proper adjustment to their teaching methods in order to help their students to learn English, especially its vocabulary effectively Students are also exposed to a new way of learning vocabulary through this study Scope of the study The study is limited to the area of teaching English vocabulary at Hoa Binh university Specifically, this minor thesis deals with the current situation of using texts to teach vocabulary to first-year non-English major students at Hoa Binh university and suggests some pedagogical implications to teachers Research questions The research aims at answering the following questions: What is the current situation of teaching text-based vocabulary to first year nonEnglish major students at Hoa Binh university? How effective is the teaching text-based vocabulary to first year non-English major students at Hoa Binh university? Methods of the study The study uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative research approaches, which include observation and survey questionnaires The quantitative data were collected from two questionnaires and were analyzed statistically, while the qualitative data were obtained from the class observation Survey questionnaires were used to collect information and evidence for the study with the hope that the research would be reliable and the processing of data would be manageable within the limited time budget Class observation was carried out to supplement the survey questionnaires It is hoped that the combination of the two methods would make the data more valid and reliable Design of the thesis The thesis was presented in three main parts as follows: Part A: Introduction provides a general introduction of the study with the specific reference to the rationale, the aims, the significance, the scope, the methods and the design of the thesis Part B: Development consists of three chapters: Chapter 1: “Literature Review” gives a brief view on the theoretical background of English vocabulary, texts and the benefits of using texts in teaching vocabulary Chapter 2: “Methodology”, shows an insight into the research methods to find out the answers to the research questions This chapter also gives a brief view on the subjects, the procedures and the instruments to collect data employed to reach the aims of the research Chapter 3: “Data presentation and discussion” presents the data collected from the survey questionnaires and class observation and the discussion of these data Part C: Pedagogical Implications and Conclusions suggests implications for teaching and learning vocabulary through texts and concludes the report of the study with the suggestions for further research Part B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter deals with some of the important issues in the theories of vocabulary and the use of texts in vocabulary teaching It consists of the definitions of vocabulary, the roles of vocabulary in language teaching and learning, classification of vocabulary, criteria for selection of vocabulary to teach, definitions of texts, roles of texts in enriching students’ vocabulary and techniques to teach vocabulary through texts 1.1 Vocabulary 1.1.1 Definitions of vocabulary Vocabulary is considered to be one of the three most crucial components of language (vocabulary, grammar and phonology) It has been paid great attention by researchers, linguists, teachers and learners However, it is difficult to give an exact definition about vocabulary According to Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary Third Edition (2008), vocabulary is defined as “all the words which exist in a particular language or subject” (p.1624) This definition covers vocabulary’s meaning on the whole Nevertheless, it does not show vocabulary in a deep understanding because vocabulary is more complex than this definition suggests Ur (1996) gives clearer explanation of vocabulary as follows: “Vocabulary can be defined, roughly, as the words we teach in the foreign language However, a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word: for example, post office and mother-in-law, which are made up of two or three words but express a single idea There are also multi-word idioms such as call it a day, where the meaning of the phrase cannot be deduced from an analysis of the component words A useful convention is to cover all such cases by talking “items” rather than “words””(Ur, 1996, p 60) In this sense, the definition by Ur is favorably satisfying because his definition indicates that vocabulary is bigger than just the meaning of words It covers a huge aspect of language and is the medium to express ideas In conclusion, there are different ways to define the concept “vocabulary” However, the idea that vocabulary is the total number of words existing in a language, including single words as well as multi-word items is the most favorable 1.1.2 The role of vocabulary in language teaching and learning Vocabulary plays a significant role in language teaching and learning as Shafaei and Nejati (2009) said “vocabulary is one of the most important objectives in teaching of foreign languages” (p 32) Wilkins (1972) also stated that “vocabulary is one of the three dimensions of a language (phonetics, grammar, vocabulary)” (p.111) By saying that, he emphasizes the special importance of vocabulary in teaching and learning a language Gower (2005) came to the point that “vocabulary is important to students – it is more important than grammar for communication purposes, particularly in the early stages when students are motivated to learn the basic words they need to get by in the language” (p.142) This reflects the truth that even when students have already “done” all the rules in grammar, the lexical system is still “open” for them to gain more vocabulary Furthermore, this conclusion emphasized the communicative purpose in learning vocabulary as an ultimate goal for learning a new language Similarly, Laufer (1997) asserts that learners “tend to regard words as main landmarks of meaning” (p 21) She adds that no comprehension would be possible without understanding the vocabulary in the text According to Nation (1990), many language learners believe that the lack of an adequate vocabulary is a serious obstacle directly related to their language learning frustration Nagy (1997) also points out that for many students, their insufficient vocabulary knowledge is a serious barrier in learning a language In summary, it is clear that without adequate vocabulary, learning can be difficult and frustrating, and very little can be learned Therefore, helping learners to acquire adequate vocabulary should be a central issue in language teaching The importance of learning vocabulary is furthered stressed on two course books which are commonly used in Vietnam such as Cutting Edge Intermediate (Cunningham & Moor, 2002) or New Headway English Course (Soars, 2006) On the back cover of these textbooks, readers can be briefly provided with information about focused points of the book, which includes: “Strong emphasis on vocabulary, with a particular focus on high frequency, useful words and phrases” (Cunningham & Moor, 2002) Or “Well-defined vocabulary syllabus plus dictionary training and pronunciation practice, including the use of phonetics” (Soars, 2006) Furthermore, vocabulary plays a role in all four language skills: listening, speaking, 40 In conclusion, from the data analysis, I realize that using texts to teach vocabulary to first year non-English major students brings about some considerable effects in spite of some difficulties However, in order to make use of texts, teachers should combine text using with other techniques in teaching vocabulary so that their students can learn vocabulary more effectively 41 Part C: CONCLUSION Conclusion In summary, the data analysis shows that teachers’ techniques have great impact on students’ motivation and students should be helped to develop lexical knowledge when texts are used It is because although both teachers and students are fully aware of importance of texts in teaching/learning vocabulary, the differences between teachers and students’ preferences for applied activities are still great and teachers’ techniques not result in strong motivation in students At the same time, I recognize from my findings that teachers need to select more suitable texts in terms of topic, length and difficulty so that they become more appealing to students and motivate them in learning vocabulary taken from these texts In addition, there are various kinds of activities that the author collected should be added into the process of teaching text-based vocabulary so that teachers can make use of these techniques appropriately and flexibly with an aim to help students to acquire lexical knowledge It seems that students will be more motivated and involved in the texts because these techniques and activities not only help students improve their vocabulary but also improve their ability of using language in writing and speaking However, there are still many techniques and activities should be added, depending on the teaching situations and teachers’ choice Limitations of the study The emphasis of the study is mainly on investigating the current situation of teaching vocabulary through texts at Hoa Binh university and suggesting some pedogogical implications It is not aim of the research to point out on the right or correct way to use texts to teach vocabulary This is due to different teaching situations, different texts and different theories of how to teach vocabulary through texts Suggestions for further study In this study, the author not only focus on how vocabulary is taught when texts are put into use but also raises another desire of having chance to explore texts to develop students’ skills or expend students’ knowledge of culture These further researches are wished to be done in the nearest time 42 REFERENCES Brown, G., & Yule, G (1983) Discourse analysis Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press (2008) Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Carter, R (1987) Vocabulary, cloze and discourse: an applied linguistic view In R Carter & M McCarthy (Eds.), Vocabulary and language teaching (3ed.) (pp 161-180) New York: Longman Cook, G (1989) Discourse Oxford: Oxford University Press Cranmer, D (1986) Teaching the vocabulary of a text The Newsletter, Vol VII No.2 Crystal, D (1992) An encyclopedic dictionary of language and languages Cambridge: MA Blackwell Cunningham, S., & Moor, P (2002) Cutting Edge Intermediate England: Pearson Education Limited Doff, A (1988) Teaching English Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Dornyei, Z (2003) Questionnaires in Second Language Research New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc 10 Gairns, R., & Redman, S (1986) Working with words: A guide to teaching and learning vocabulary Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 11 Gower, R., Phillips, D., & Walters, S (2005) Teaching Practice: A handbook for teachers in training Macmillan Books for Teachers Oxford: Macmillan Publisher Limited 12 Halliday, M.A.K & Hasan, R (1976) Cohesion in English Longman: London 13 Laufer, B (1986) Possible changes in attitude towards vocabulary acquisition research IRAL, 24 (1), 69-75 14 Laufer, B (1997) What’s in a word that makes it hard or easy: Some intralexical factors that affect the learning of words In N Schmitt & M McCarthy (Eds.), Vocabulary: Description, acquisition, and pedagogy (pp 140-155) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 15 Mayher, J.S., & Brause, R.S (1986) Learning through teaching: Is testing crippling 43 integrated language education? Language Arts, 63 (4), 390-396 16 McCarthy, M (1990) Vocabulary Oxford: Oxford University Press 17 Nagy, W.E (1997) On the role of context in first- and second-language vocabulary learning In N Schmitt & M McCarthy (Eds.), Vocabulary: Description, acquisition, and pedagogy (pp 64-83) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 18 Nation, P (1990) Teaching and learning vocabulary Boston: Heinle & Heinle 19 Nation, P (2001) Learning vocabulary in another language Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 20 Nation, P & Newton, J (1997) Teaching vocabulary In J Coady & T Huckin (Eds.), Second language vocabulary acquisition (pp 238-254) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 21 Nation, P & Waring, R (1997) Vocabulary size, text coverage and word lists In N Schmitt & M McCarthy (Eds.), Vocabulary: Description, acquisition, and pedagogy (pp 6-19) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 22 Nunan, D (1993) Introducing Discourse Analysis London: Penguin Books 23 Richards, J.C (2001) Curriculum development in language teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 24 Shafaei, A & Nejati, M (2009) Annals of Language Learning Universal Publishers Boca Raton, Florida 25 Soars, L & J (2006) New Headway, 3rd edition Oxford: Oxford University Press 26 Ur, P (1996) A Course in Language Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 27 Wallace, M (1982) Teaching vocabulary London: Heinemann 28 White, R (1988) The ELT curriculum Oxford: Basil Blackwell 29 Wilkins, D.A (1972) Linguistics in Language Teaching London: Edward Arnold I APPENDICES APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS ANH/CHỊ NGHĨ THẾ NÀO VỀ VIỆC SỬ DỤNG BÀI KHÓA ĐỂ PHÁT TRIỂN TỪ VỰNG Bảng câu hỏi nhằm thu thập thông tin, số liệu cho đề tài nghiên cứu “ Dạy từ vựng thơng qua khóa ( đọc, nghe) cho sinh viên không chuyên năm thứ trường Đại học Hồ Bình” Các thơng tin câu trả lời anh/chị đảm bảo danh tính sử dụng cho nghiên cứu Chân thành cám ơn hợp tác anh/chị! Hướng dẫn: Hãy khoanh tròn lựa chọn anh/chị điền thông tin cần thiết Trong số câu, anh/chị chọn NHIỀU HƠN MỘT lựa chọn - Giới tính: Nam Nữ - Tuổi: - Anh/chị học tiếng Anh trong……… năm Khi bắt đầu năm thứ đại học, anh/chị đánh giá vốn từ vựng là: a Ít 100 từ b Từ 100 đến 500 từ c.Từ 500 đến 1000 từ d Từ 1000 đến 1500 từ e Từ 1500 đến 2000 từ f Từ 2000 từ trở lên Thầy/cơ anh/chị có thường xun sử dụng khóa để dạy từ vựng khơng? a Luôn b Thường xuyên d Hiếm e Chưa c Thỉnh thoảng Thầy/cô anh/chị thường lựa chọn loại từ để dạy? a Những từ hay sử dụng để giao tiếp hàng ngày b Những từ liên quan đến chủ đề khố c Những từ sử dụng đến d Từ thầy/cô dạy II Giai đoạn trước làm việc với khố, thầy/cơ anh/chị thường sử dụng thủ thuật để giới thiệu từ vựng? a Giáo viên cung cấp cho sinh viên danh mục từ với nghĩa tiếng Việt tương ứng b Giáo viên cung cấp cho sinh viên danh mục từ giải thích từ tiếng Anh tiếng Việt c Giáo viên cung cấp cho sinh viên danh mục từ giải thích nghĩa từ thơng qua giáo cụ trực quan d Giáo viên cung cấp cho sinh viên danh mục từ giải thích nghĩa từ thơng qua ví dụ minh hoạ e Giáo viên cung cấp cho sinh viên danh mục từ giải thích thơng qua từ đồng nghĩa, trái nghĩa biết f Giáo viên cung cấp cho sinh viên danh mục từ yêu cầu sinh viên tự tra từ Giai đoạn làm việc với khố, thầy/cơ anh/chị sử dụng hoạt động để dạy từ vựng? a Giáo viên yêu cầu sinh viên đoán nghĩa từ qua văn cảnh b Giáo viên yêu cầu sinh viên tra tự tra từ sau đọc/nghe c Giáo viên dịch nghĩa từ sang tiếng Việt d Giáo viên yêu cầu sinh viên trả lời câu hỏi dựa vào nội dung khóa sử dụng từ vừa dạy e Giáo viên yêu cầu sinh viên làm tập Matching: ghép từ với định nghĩa từ f Giáo viên yêu cầu sinh viên làm tập Multiple Choice để kiểm tra mức độ hiểu sinh viên nghĩa từ g Giáo viên yêu cầu sinh viên làm tập True/False để kiểm tra mức độ hiểu sinh viên nghĩa từ h Giáo viên yều cầu sinh viên làm tập điền thông tin, sử dụng từ đọc/nghe Giai đoạn sau làm việc với khố, thầy/cơ anh/chị sử dụng thủ thuật để củng cố từ vựng? a Giáo viên khuyến khích sinh viên thể ý kiến cá nhân sử dụng từ vừa dạy b Giáo viên yêu cầu sinh viên tóm tắt lại nội dung đọc/nghe sử dụng từ vừa dạy c Giáo viên yêu cầu học sinh thảo luận đọc/nghe sử dụng từ vừa dạy III d Giáo viên yêu cầu học sinh kể lại nội dung đọc/nghe sử dụng từ vừa dạy Trong số hoạt động thầy/cô dùng để dạy từ vựng thơng qua khóa, anh/chị thích hoạt động nào? ………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… Tại anh/chị thích hoạt động đó? ………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… Anh/chị có gặp khó khăn thầy sử dụng khóa để dạy từ vựng? a Bài khóa dài b Bài khóa có q nhiều từ c Chủ đề khóa khơng phù hợp sở thích d Văn cảnh khóa khơng đủ rõ để đốn nghĩa từ e Khó khăn khác: 10 Thầy/cô anh/chị làm để giúp anh/chị vượt qua khó khăn đó? …………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………… 11 Anh/chị thấy việc học từ thơng qua khóa có cần thiết khơng? a Rất cần thiết b Cần thiết c Ít cần thiết d Không cần thiết 12 Theo anh/chị, học từ vựng thơng qua khóa mang lại lợi ích gì? a Khơng khí học tập lớp sơi thú vị b Giúp nhớ từ dễ dàng nhanh c Giúp nhớ từ thời gian dài d Khơng mang lại lợi ích e Ý kiến khác: CẢM ƠN SỰ HỢP TÁC CỦA ANH/CHỊ! IV APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS This survey questionnaire is designed on the purpose of getting necessary data for the study entitled “ Teaching text-based vocabulary to the 1st year non-major students at Hoa Binh university” Your assistance in fulfilling the following items is greatly appreciated You can be confident that you will not be identified in any discussion of data Thank you very much for your kind cooperation! Please tick your answer (√) or fill in the blank where appropriate In some cases, you can choose MORE THAN one option - You are: Male Female - Your age:……………………… - You have taught English for ……years - Your qualification: a Bachelor in teaching English as a foreign language b Master of art in teaching English as a foreign language c Doctor of philosophy in teaching English as a foreign language d Others:……………………………………………………………… How often you teach vocabulary through texts? a always b usually c sometimes d rarely e never What kind of vocabulary you often teach? a high-frequency words b words relating to the topic of the text c low-frequency words d any new words in the text What kind of techniques you often use to present vocabulary in the pre-stage? a Teachers provide students with the word list with Vietnamese equivalents b Teachers provide students with the word list and explain new words in English or Vietnamese c Teachers provide students with the word list and explain its meanings through visual aids V d Teachers provide students with the word list and illustrate its meanings through examples e Teachers provide students with the word list and explain new words through synonyms and antonyms f Teachers provide students with the word list and ask students to look up in the dictionary In the while-stage, which techniques you often use to teach vocabulary? a Ask students to guess the word meaning based on the context b Ask students to look up new words in the dictionary c Translate new words into Vietnamese d Ask students to answer questions based on the text using new words they have learnt e Ask students to Matching exercises: match words with its definition f Ask students to Multiple Choice exercises to check word meaning g Ask students to True/False statement exercises to check word meaning h Ask students to Gap-filling exercises using new words in the text In the post-stage, which techniques you often use to consolidate vocabulary? a Elicit personal response from students using newly taught words b Ask students to summarize the text using newly taught words c Ask students to discuss about the content of the text using newly taught words d Ask students to retell the story using newly taught words In your opinion, what are the difficulties when you use texts to teach vocabulary? a texts are too long b there are too many new words in texts c topic of texts is not interesting to students d context of texts is not clear enough for students to guess word meaning e others: …………………………………………………………………………………… What did you to overcome these difficulties? ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… Do you think texts can help students to develop their vocabulary? a yes b no What effects texts have on your vocabulary teaching? VI a You can introduce the words easily b Your lessons are more interesting and motivating c Your students can catch the meaning of the word faster and more easily d Your students’ vocabulary improves a lot e Your students can be distracted from the lesson f You waste a lot of time g Others:…………………………………………………………………………………… 10 What suggestions can you give on using texts more effectively to teach vocabulary to first year non-major students? ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………… THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR CO- OPERATION! VII APPENDIX CLASSROOM OBSERVATION PROTOCOLS Observational Protocol 1: Unit 5: Where you live? Syllabus: New Headway Elementary Third Edition Class: PR1-K510 Room: 104 Date: Tuesday, December 14th, 2010 Teaching point: Using the text Living in a bubble to teach vocabulary relating to houses Time limited: 30 minutes Teacher’s activities Students’ activities Pre-stage At 3.15 pm, teacher comes in the class, Students greet the teachers greets students and asks about their lunch and health - Ask students to open the textbook, - Open the text book - Explain the word “bubble” based on page 40-41 - Introduce the topic and ask students what “bubble” mean? the pictures and teacher’ suggestion - Ask students to name rooms in a - house and pronounce them - Get students to Matching Name rooms in a house and read aloud in chorus - Do Matching exercise in the book - Clarify rooms of the bubble house exercise given in the textbook: match names of the rooms with what people often in each room - Ask students to look at the pictures and clarify rooms in a house While-stage in the book VIII - Read aloud the text and ask - Listen and underline new words - Take notes into their notebooks - Read aloud new words in chorus - Answer the questions students underline new words - Write down new words in the board (pay attention to parts of speech, give antonyms of new words) - Ask students to read aloud new words - Explain their meanings in Vietnamese and give examples - Call students to answer the questions in the book to check their understanding - Ask students to T/F exercise - Do T/F exercise - Have students to translate the text - Translate the text Read aloud some words throughout - Repeat after the teacher, read the the text, then ask students to repeat text into Vietnamese - and read the text and correct their pronunciation Post-stage - Ask students to describe their house - Describing their house (100 words) The observer’s remark: This lecture seems to be quite exciting because the teacher made use of the text and pictures inside to motivate students to think and learn about new words relating to houses In addition, teacher’s explanation, examples and provision of antonyms made her lecture more interesting and understandable to students Finally, students had a chance to use what they have learnt when they were assigned to a writing composition Observational Protocol 2: Unit 8: A date to remember Syllabus: New Headway Elementary Third Edition IX Class: Applied Photographics Room: 103 Date: Tuesday, January the 4th, 2011 Time: 1.35 pm Teaching point: Using three texts The photograph, The windscreen wiper and The bicycle relating to three inventions to teach vocabulary Time limited: 25 minutes Teacher’s activities Students’ activities Pre-stage - Ask students to open the textbook - Open the book at page 62 - Take note - Talk about three inventions in at page 62 - Translate the word “invention” into Vietnamese - Ask students to look at the texts, ask about three inventions then Vietnamese and listen to teacher’s translate them translation While-stage - Introduce Exercise in the book: - Listen to teacher’s explanation - Say aloud dates given in the texts - Listen to the texts and correct the listen to the texts and correct the wrong dates (teacher translate the requirements into Vietnamese) - Ask about dates in each text and play the tape for students to listen - Play the second time with pause for students to check the date - Explain Exercise in Vietnamese wrong dates - and ask students to it - Call students to write down the answers on board, check and Listen to teacher’s instruction and Exercise - Write down their answers on board X feedback in Vietnamese - - Play the tape for students to listen, - Listen to the tape, check their check once again and practice the answers and practice stress and stress and intonation intonation in chorus Check some new words and write - down on board with their Take note new words into their notebooks Vietnamese equivalents - Ask students to read aloud new - Read aloud new words - Work in groups, make more words on board Post-stage - Ask students to work freely in groups, make more incorrect sentences about incorrect sentences about three texts the texts and give to their friends to and correct correct The observer’s remark: In this lecture, the process went on the same as what the textbook requires However, the class atmosphere was boring because students had no chance to understand the use of new words as well as practise using them because teacher just provided the meanings of new words in Vietnamese with no explanations or examples Thank you for evaluating AnyBizSoft PDF Merger! To remove this page, please register your program! Go to Purchase Now>> AnyBizSoft PDF Merger  Merge multiple PDF files into one  Select page range of PDF to merge  Select specific page(s) to merge  Extract page(s) from different PDF files and merge into one ... through texts to first year non- English major students at Hoa Binh university - To investigate the effectiveness of using texts to teach vocabulary to first year nonEnglish major students at Hoa Binh. .. situation of teaching text- based vocabulary to first year nonEnglish major students at Hoa Binh university? How effective is the teaching text- based vocabulary to first year non- English major students. .. of teaching text- based vocabulary to first year non- English major students at Hoa Binh university 20 3.1.2 The effectiveness of using texts to teach vocabulary to first year non- English major students