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The importance of vocabulary acquisition and its impact on student’s performance in toeic reading test at industrial university of ho chi minh city

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Journal of Science and Technology, Vol.37, 2019 THE IMPORTANCE OF VOCABULARY ACQUISITION AND ITS IMPACT ON STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE IN TOEIC READING TEST AT INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY TRUONG TRAN MINH NHAT, NGUYEN XUAN HONG Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City; truongtranminhnhat@gmail.com, nguyenxuanhong@iuh.edu.vn Abstract Nowadays, English has become an international language which is taught at all universities in Vietnam More and more students spend time to practice English every day to improve their skills in order to take international tests such as IELTS, TOEFL, TOEIC for their career opportunities in the future One of the most important elements to make them be successful is enriching vocabulary, because vocabulary is “the most important part of learning a foreign language” Horwitz (1988) [1] and it is very necessary not only for improving other skills, such as reading, writing, listening and speaking, but also helping them gain the good grade when taking TOEIC test This research aims to investigate the importance of vocabulary in language studying and analyze the impact of vocabulary acquisition upon students’ performance in the TOEIC reading test at the Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh city Moreover, it also proposes some suggestions which should be applied to improve students based vocabulary to study better Keywords: English studying, Vocabulary acquisition, vocabulary learning, vocabulary learning strategies, TOEIC reading INTRODUCTION Nowadays, learning languages has no longer been a hobby, an interest or a normal subject for students at all universities in Vietnam In fact, being bilingual is a competitive advantage for all people, especially young people in the modern age because languages have become a useful tool to communicate in education, in business and in all fields of our life Therefore, learning and using English at all schools in Vietnam have been highlighted and paid attention necessarily In the past few years, English was supposed as a subject which was occupied with only some credits among all subjects in their yearbachelor program At present, most of Vietnam universities in general and Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City in specific (IUH) have been caring more and more in teaching and learning English by not only increasing the time for learning and teaching but also improving the quality of English studying Hence, learning English as a foreign language is encouraged, or even made compulsory at the school Besides that, improving students’ language outcome and requiring English International certificate are necessary steps and also a motivated power to encourage teaching and learning process to be better In parallel with this linguistic trend, since 2014, IUH officially changed the students’ learning outcome by applying TOEIC international examination system which is approved by ETS The change is a significant attempt to encourage English teaching and learning process at the university, and also a new high requirement for teachers of English to update teaching contents and improve their teaching methods so that they can help students get the good mark in the TOEIC test The new learning outcome for students is also a worrying challenge which students have to try to practice their English skill with the target of passing the TOEIC Test with 400 or 450 marks to be graduated from university In this assignment, we are going to analyze and discuss the importance of vocabulary when learning any languages including English From this, we will move on addressing the impact that mastering English vocabulary has on students’ performance when they take international tests, specifically the TOEIC reading test Results from survey on vocabulary building and improvement are analyzed and evaluated to find out the core problems and opportunities for development Last but not least, from such results, I would suggest possible solutions for students to better their vocabulary reservoir as well as ways to outperform themselves in international examinations © 2019 Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City THE IMPORTANCE OF VOCABULARY ACQUISITION AND ITS IMPACT ON STUDENTS’ 99 PERFORMANCE IN TOEIC READING TEST AT INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY LITERARTURE REVIEW 2.1 About the TOEIC exam TOEIC is an abbreviation for Test of English for International Communication And as its name suggests, it is designed to test and evaluate the level of understanding and usage of English as foreign language by English learners, and it is one of the most reputation English certification The test results reflect the proficiency degree of learners when communicating in various aspects such as business, commerce, tourism, etc The test results are valid for two years and are recognized by many countries around the globe, including Vietnam In the past seven years, TOEIC has emerged as a replacement for level A, B and C certificate and serves as a more common standard to assess English competencies of students and employees To get high mark on the TOEIC test, students have to learn and practice to improve their language knowledge and test-taking skill, because it is scientifically designed and absolutely guaranteed by The US testing institute Every year the number of people who take the TOEIC test has increased more and more, which made it the most popular English language test today The TOEIC test is of particular interest to corporate clients These businesses rely on the TOEIC score as a benchmark for recruiting staff and deciding to promote or nominate an employee Universities and language schools use the TOEIC test to measure the progress in learning English for their students, placement exams, and provide students with an internationally valued credit From that fact, many universities and colleges in Vietnam put TOEIC into the curriculum and chose the TOEIC test to monitor the progress in learning English for students in each semester, the school year or used as a standard English output for graduates Since 2014, the rector of IUH decided to apply the TOEIC test as a foreign language output standard for students in studying English at the university and before graduating For those reasons, learning TOEIC, TOEIC preparation, and taking the TOEIC test play an important role in preparing students for knowledge with many students at IUH 2.2 Previous researches about the relationship between vocabulary and TOEIC reading test Vocabulary, which is one of the most important knowledge, plays a great role for learners in acquiring a language (Cameron,2001) [2] Many language researchers have been focused on the importance of vocabulary in learning and improving all four skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing Nation (2011) [3], Qian (2002) [4] and Read (2000) [5] have emphasized that vocabulary knowledge is one of the best predictors of reading ability and the capability to understand new detail from reading texts Vocabulary is a key element in discerning the complication of a text Stahl (2003) [6] made sure that the relationship between vocabulary and reading comprehension is a “robust” one and learners’ vocabulary has continuously been “foremost predictor of a text’s difficulty” (p.241) Nowadays, TOEIC test is one of the most popular international tests in Vietnam and all over the world, which is taught and researched by many language teachers and linguists Brown (2006) [7] stated that TOEIC reading skill was a critical influence to TOEIC success, because in total, 75% of the test items are wholly based on reading, so it is very necessary for students to enrich their lexicons in preparing for their TOEIC test In a research with small sample of Japanese students in 2015, Taguchi [8] showed that students’ vocabulary size and TOEIC scores are correlated, and that the students’ perceived level of self-efficacy, one of the subscales of the vocabulary learning strategy From the data collected from students’ vocabulary size tests and TOEIC scores, Taguchi concluded that students who scored higher on TOEIC appear to have a larger vocabulary size, and/or those who have a larger vocabulary size earned a higher TOEIC score Kanzaki (2010)[9], Sieh (2016)[10], Gungor and Yayli (2016)[11] also found that performance on reading section of the TOEIC test was significantly correlated with students’ vocabulary size, and the relationship between reading comprehension and vocabulary size was closely linked Obviously, there is a close relationship between students' vocabulary and TOEIC reading test performance in many countries, such as Japan, Malaysia, and Singapore and so on In Vietnam, TOEIC test is adopted as an important test to assess students’ ability in English learning in most of the universities, but the number of research focusing on TOEIC test still limits According to Nhan T (2013) [12] the remarkable expansion of the TOEIC in Vietnam in general and in Da Nang City in particular “more or less elicits a deliberate push and support” in teaching and learning English among students at © 2019 Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City 100 THE IMPORTANCE OF VOCABULARY ACQUISITION AND ITS IMPACT ON STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE IN TOEIC READING TEST AT INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY universities in Vietnam Promotion of the TOEIC test in Vietnam is expected to be for the purpose of upgrading the country’s educational standards and producing an internationally competitive labor force (Thanh, 2005)[13] However, the limited qualified human resource together with the lack of necessary effective teaching ,learning materials and facilities and the time constraint curriculum allocated to the teaching and learning of English at universities make it unfeasible for students to achieve the required TOEIC score For that reason, the research may contribute thoughtful discussion in teaching and preparing for TOEIC test, especially TOEIC reading test in Vietnam and in IUH THE IMPORTANCE OF VOCABULARY ACQUISITION IN LEARNING LANGUAGES Vocabulary is one of the most important elements and the core of language learning, helping people to communicate effectively through speaking or documents in our social life Schmitt (2000) [14] also surely emphasized that “lexical knowledge is central to communicative competence and to the acquisition of a second language” (p 55) This is especially meaningful for learners who want to use the language in their studying, working and their real life in the future Many researchers such as Maximo (2000), Read (2000), Gu (2003), Coady and Huckin (1997) and Nation (2011) [15],[5],[16],[17],[3] and many others advised that if a learner wants to use English successfully they should pay attention to the vocabulary acquisition process because it plays an important role in the formation of complete spoken and written texts Nation (2011)[3]also expressed that while learning English as a foreign language (EFL) as in Vietnam, learning vocabulary items plays a vital role in all language skills ( such as listening, speaking, reading, and writing Rivers and Nunan (1991)[18], furthermore, argued that the acquisition of an adequate vocabulary is one of the most important process for successful second language use, which should be began as soon as English learners can, because without an extensive vocabulary, learners also will be unable to communicate comprehensibly although they are good at English structures and functions According to Barcroft, Sunderman & Schmitt, (2000)[14] English vocabulary is a collection of single words, or compound phrases with the main function is to convey a specific meaning So that, English vocabulary is an important element in learning the language, because there is not a certain number of vocabulary, students will be very difficult to understand the transmitted meaning of the other person, and hard to express what they want to say David Wilkins (1972) [19] wrote that “There is not much value in being able to produce grammatical sentences if one has not got the vocabulary that is needed to convey what one wishes to say … While without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed’’ p97) It is clear that vocabulary helps users express their idea, and the listeners can understand them although they may sometimes have some mistakes in grammar Without vocabulary people cannot say anything, and without vocabulary people cannot response what they are listening Whenever we have a meaning or a concept that we want to show, we usually think of the lexicon in our mind that we want to select to express this idea or concept instead of grammar points or structures Lewis (1993)[20] realized that “when students travel, they don’t carry grammar books, they carry dictionaries” Obviously, vocabulary helps students in studying English and in communication Having abundant vocabulary as a base helps students easily improve others skills like reading, writing, listening and speaking Besides that, these day students at IUH have approached with some specialized subjects which are applied new course books written in English language, so if students don’t have good vocabulary base, they will be very difficult in reading documents, collecting information and getting knowledge in learning process Carver (1994)[21], Nagy (1997)[22] and many researchers believe that vocabulary significantly affects students reading skill and acquiring knowledge, because vocabulary knowledge is a basic principle in studying In most of English teaching and learning book series, we easily comprehend that from the low level, linguists always compile vocabulary lessons for learners, and day by day from low level to higher level, learners study and practice reading skill, which promote to enrich their vocabulary through paragraphs, and reading texts No doubt anymore, English vocabulary is very important with students who want to improve and use English effectively in studying, working and modern life, because it includes all the words we must know to access our basic knowledge, express our ideas and communicate effectively, and learn new knowledge © 2019 Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City THE IMPORTANCE OF VOCABULARY ACQUISITION AND ITS IMPACT ON STUDENTS’ 101 PERFORMANCE IN TOEIC READING TEST AT INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY in our life, and vocabulary learning has received more and more attention amongst learners and has moved into a central position from the periphery during the past decades As no longer being neglected by the majority, vocabulary is more than just words It is the essence of learning any language process since it includes other aspects of the language such as pronunciation, intonation, orthography, conjugation and context There are many reasons why mastering vocabulary is a vital part of mastering the language itself 3.1 Improving vocabulary helps students’ pronunciation While studying English, teachers at IUH always encourage students enrich their lexicon, especially survival vocabulary Besides remembering meaning of a word and part of speech, students always instruct to practice pronunciation correctly which makes students be confident in using the language in studying and in communication, because listeners can easily understand the right meaning which students want to transfer Also, pronunciation is important in improving listening skill If they have problems in pronunciation, they cannot realize the words and understand speakers clearly Pronunciation is study about the sound of word or how to pronounce the word It is very important for students, so teachers of English should teach pronunciation clearly, and students by themselves should practice day by day However, according to Gilbert (2008) [23], many students tend to skip pronunciation learning, stressing of a word, and intonation, they just focus on meaning of word, that why students cannot understand while communicating, or confuse with the transferring information Therefore, both enriching students’ vocabulary and helping them practice pronunciation regularly bring students good opportunities to use English in communication and encourage them in studying more and more 3.2 Good lexicons can help students develop other skills Another reason is that when learners have a proper amount of vocabulary, learners will be able to develop other related skills One of the leading linguistic researchers, Paul Nation, has made it clear that a strong vocabulary reservoir will help listening, reading, writing and speaking skills better (Nation, 1994)[24] It has a positive and direct impact on people’s ability to establish language proficiency For instance, with the abundant vocabulary, students may be confident to communicate in English with their teachers and classmates inside their class, and also outside class about studying topics and daily conversations From that, students not only practice their communication skills, but also have good chance to use the vocabulary in their mind In other words, deeming vocabulary as an important skill while learning English is very necessary, because English vocabulary deeply affects to other skills development such as listening, speaking, reading and writing skill In contrast, all four skills also help students enrich their vocabulary, remember the words longer and using the words in the right context.(Nation, 2011)[3] ( see figure 1) Figure 1: The influence of vocabulary to students’ skills © 2019 Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City 102 THE IMPORTANCE OF VOCABULARY ACQUISITION AND ITS IMPACT ON STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE IN TOEIC READING TEST AT INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY 3.3 More vocabulary, more comprehension Getting along with the integration trend, many universities in Vietnam and IUH have been updating their advanced training program with many course books written from many famous universities in the world using English language, so being good at English and expanding their vocabulary to read documents and research are obligatory requirements with students Some researchers like Laufer and Nation (1990)[25], Maximo (2000)[15], Read (2000) [5], and Marion (2008)[17] affirmed that having good vocabulary is a golden key to improve reading skill and perceive more and more specialized knowledge which are useful for their working in the future In a research, Folse (2004)[26] indicated that students who have a good base vocabulary will be easy to learn more and more vocabulary in similar contexts in which the words appear Having more vocabulary is a trigger for students to learn more As illustrated in the diagram number 2, once students have a significant amount of vocabulary, they will learn new words from the contexts that they appear in Understanding and using students’ known words is a way to learn even more and remember them longer in mind Nonetheless, for learners with limited vocabulary, this process is quite challenging since vocabulary is acquired through conscious and focused study, or from contextual learning by listening and reading But not be intimidated by this, continuous vocabulary building will pay off and help boost students ability to learn even more Figure 2: The influence of vocabulary to students’ comprehensive knowledge Obviously, vocabulary plays an important role in learning English The main purpose of this study is to examine whether vocabulary affects students’ TOEIC reading test performance Another purpose is to understand useful enriching vocabulary activities affecting students’ TOEIC reading scores To accomplish the two main purposes of the study, students’ TOEIC reading scores before and after the experiment in two English-2 classes were analyzed using By investigating the importance of enriching vocabulary, the study will contribute to the review of TOEIC methods at the local university, which may provide local language teachers with insights to improve the quality of TOEIC classes and help their students better prepare for the TOEIC test This will ultimately contribute to students' successful language performance in their TOEIC reading test The study addressed the following questions: © 2019 Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City THE IMPORTANCE OF VOCABULARY ACQUISITION AND ITS IMPACT ON STUDENTS’ 103 PERFORMANCE IN TOEIC READING TEST AT INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY What are students’ perceptions on the importance of vocabulary with English studying and TOEIC reading test? How does vocabulary acquisition affect students’ TOEIC reading test performance? THE RESEARCH DESIGN 4.1 Research methods and participants: To implement for the research, two kinds of research methods are applied, a survey for 10 teachers and 100 students was used to figure out their idea about English skills, importance of vocabulary and vocabulary studying methods Besides that, an experiment was also conducted to compare the improvement of students in TOEIC reading test between two groups of students Group A: students have opportunity to enrich vocabulary before taking TOEIC reading test under instructions of their teacher Some interesting activities to learn vocabulary were organized inside class to help students improve their ability in taking TOEIC reading test While students in group B just read books, or review grammar points which meet their demand 4.2 Research analysis A survey was carried to better understand students’ view towards English vocabulary acquisition and the importance of English international examinations Likewise, most of them are the nd and 3rd year in the university and have diverse majors 65% of them rate their English at Average level, whereas only 35% rate theirs at Good and Fluent levels respectively All of the respondents agree that English is very important to their future career, only 11% technical students think English doesn’t affect their future job Though recognizing the importance of this international language, only a modest proportion of them (38%) have taken part in TOEIC classes outside school or by themselves study at home Concerning various aspects when studying English as a foreign language, a large proportion of the respondents claim to invest more efforts in grammar, vocabulary, writing and reading Skills On the other hand, 80% of them focus on Listening skill while 75% stress the importance of speaking skill Almost 86% of all the respondents agree that acquiring vocabulary plays a vital role in advancing one’s language skills, whilst the rest remain indifferent to this topic, so only 30% respondents usually acquire new words and 25% practice their pronunciation.(see diagram 3) 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Figure 3: Time Percentages for language acquisition © 2019 Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City 104 THE IMPORTANCE OF VOCABULARY ACQUISITION AND ITS IMPACT ON STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE IN TOEIC READING TEST AT INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY When asked about their English learning tips, over 60% of the respondents say that they use dictionaries to look up new words, very few enriches vocabulary by reading newspapers and magazines, watching movies and listening to English songs to build their vocabulary; the others read English poems, novels or short stories, write whatever they like in English and learn new words in class Approximately 80% of them think that having a good vocabulary will help them earn higher scores in English exams, and when being asked about which is more important between Vocabulary and Grammar, 57% of them choose the former, 28% the latter and 15% of the students remain uncertain They have suggested some methods to improve their vocabulary reservoir ranging from learning by heart, face-to-face communication with foreigners, learning with pictures, watching cartoons or movies in English to watching speeches with subtitles and searching new words in Cambridge dictionary Considering the reasons of why students should continuously improve their vocabulary mentioned above, having a large and diverse vocabulary will entitle students to a better performance on the TOEIC test To strongly affirm for the idea, 10 teachers who are teaching TOEIC classes at the school were surveyed , 100% teachers agree with the above idea Vocabulary not only plays an important role in TOEIC reading test but also greatly influences the results of the listening test 95 surveyed students (90 %) said that before each listening and reading activities, if their teachers spent time providing and explaining new words, then students are able to listen and understand the reading articles better than without providing new words In the 40 questions on the part of the TOEIC reading test, usually there will be between 10 and 15 questions which are used to assess students’ vocabulary (accounting for 37% of the TOEIC reading test) Moreover, the TOEIC reading test has 48 reading comprehension questions (accounting for 48 % of the test), which assesses students’ reading competency with many kinds of reading texts Students may have good reading skills and reading strategies, but without vocabulary they cannot understand the content well and the test on time Therefore, for students, in order to gain as high scores as possible, students are required to work hard on their vocabulary building through intelligent and effective methods Besides that, two groups of English 2- students are chosen among some groups of the same subject they are learning in the semester to pre-test and post-test ( the reading tests are selected from Part 7, Economy TOEIC reading) Only one group was suggested taking part in vocabulary activities before taking the post-test to assess their improvement in TOEIC reading test To ensure the objectivity of the study, the author chooses two groups with relatively equal reading capacity (with the average number of correct reading comprehension skill questions in the TOEIC reading pre-test respectively 23.5 and 24) Before doing the experimental reading test, group B is required to read any kind of interested English sources by themselves, group A is participated in some vocabulary enriching activities The activities are used to upgrade them with some key words which appear in some reading texts in the test, and also help students feel confident and comfortable before conducting the post reading test Once again, the result of the experiment helps the author strongly assert that improving vocabulary is a very important activity for students and vocabulary learning activities have a great influence on the process of studying and taking the TOEIC reading test of IUH students The vocabulary learning activities such as mind-map learning, brainstorming, playing game… help students improve their marks on reading test (from 23.5 /48 to 31.5 /48 in post - test 1, and 36/48 in post -test 3) and also have good comfortable psychology in doing the test (seetable 1) Most students in group A affirmed that more vocabulary helps them can read the TOEIC texts faster, understand the main idea and find out detail information effectively than before From the experiment, students are very interested in vocabulary learning activities which are applied to help students improve their lexicons related to the reading articles Most of the students in group A like to make vocabulary mind-map, play vocabulary games, and use flash cards to enrich their vocabulary (see appendix 1: students’ vocabulary mind maps) © 2019 Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City THE IMPORTANCE OF VOCABULARY ACQUISITION AND ITS IMPACT ON STUDENTS’ 105 PERFORMANCE IN TOEIC READING TEST AT INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY Table 1: The result of TOEIC reading test before and after experiment Group The average number Take part in The average of correct reading Vocabulary learning number of correct number of test questions (Pre- activities reading test correct reading questions (Post- test questions test 1) (Post-test 2) test) The average A 23.5 /48 YES 33.5 /48 36 / 48 B 24 /48 NO 26.5 /48 28/ 48 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS One prominent similarity of all the students is that they come from many parts of Vietnam with different idea about studying English, and they all have been learning English for a quite long time; nonetheless, a few of them have good English basic knowledge Many students haven’t spent time to well prepare for the TOEIC test, don’t practice in the right way or don’t pay attention to vocabulary learning for the TOEIC test As a result, many students face with difficulties in studying English language, communication and taking the test because of lacking of vocabulary, so we can conclude that English vocabulary plays a significantly important role in improving English skills and helps students to be successful with the TOEIC test, especially TOEIC reading test From the survey, we can easily realize that a rather high proportion of the respondents accept the importance of vocabulary in learning English, but there is still little emphasis on vocabulary building amongst them Indeed, they have not invested sufficient efforts into building and acquiring new words yet For that reason, it is expected that English language teachers to emphasize the importance of vocabulary for learning this language, and encourage students to practice and enrich their vocabulary regularly Gu (1996)[16] thought that just only a few useful strategies which are often applied and practice will gain good result for learners According to Drucker (2003)[27] vocabulary acquisition should be a “long process” in which the teachers are not only a guide but also a supervisor through attractive activities like reading short texts, playing games, using flash cards and so on Especially, to make learning activities inside class easier for students, English teachers should help students list or brainstorm the words which related to the topics they are going to study After class, it is necessary for students to review the words and practice them regularly to remember in their mind I believe that everybody has already more or less followed their own way of studying English; however, it is well-advised to figure out their learning style Some people are visual learners, which makes them learn better with pictures or videos Some are auditory learners, i.e they learn the best through listening to conversations or podcasts, so they can improve their new words by listening and making conversations with others And others are tactile learners in that they have to use the language in practical ways, for example speaking the new words in sentences or speaking them out loud Understanding one’s own learning style will help a lot in his/her learning process, not only learning English but other languages as well Some useful methods to remember vocabulary which have been recently developed and spread widely are using flashcards and making vocabulary mind map Research has shown that adding some context to newly-learnt words will help them stay longer in students’ memory (Geikhman, 2017)[28] Some students like making their own vocabulary lists or vocabulary mind-maps to learn as many words as they can about particular topics they like However, it is important to help students with good chance to practice and use new words in the right context For example, before taking a reading activity, English teachers may help students list some words which appear in the articles they are going to read The method helps students easily understand the meaning and context One of the reasons why learners usually forget vocabulary is because they cannot reuse the word on a regular basis, so re-reading the © 2019 Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City 106 THE IMPORTANCE OF VOCABULARY ACQUISITION AND ITS IMPACT ON STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE IN TOEIC READING TEST AT INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY word, writing it down or reusing them are effective ways to understand and remember longer Providing reading materials at a suitable level or just a little bit difficult with students' capacity is also a method of improving reading skills and at the same time enriching vocabulary effectively for students As mentioned above, students can gain a whole lot through reading texts by themselves because the effects of extensive reading are priceless For example, when they pick up an English book or simply a piece of newspaper, they will bump into new vocabulary along the way, understand how to use them in sentences, the collocations and contexts attached to the words Once learners reach a certain level, they will not need a dictionary to help them understand new words thanks to contextual clues If they want a funnier and more interesting piece for reading, pick up a comic book and students are ensured to experience enjoyable learning moments Whenever reading becomes one of their hobbies and daily activities, then their vocabulary for reading and learning will be better day by day because language achievement depended quite deeply on the individual learner’s endeavours (Schmitt, 1997)[29] Furthermore, there are a bunch of technological tools that students can take advantage of to improve language skill, for example: useful online vocabulary learning websites and programs on computer namely FluentU, Meet-Up, Tandom, etc These applications are designed to help students learn in a more practical way There is one that provides them with videos of their favorite celebrities giving speeches or interviews with subtitles; there is another that gives students a chance to interact with language learners around the world, exchange knowledge and advance their language skills in a more practical way Last but not least, if students have quite much time to invest in learning English, try keeping a facebook, a fan-page or a diary written in English They can write whatever they want in this language; thereby both improving their writing skill and enriching their vocabulary are very essential They may not be aware but this method will help they learn new words fastest and most effectively Whenever they cannot think of a word, they can simply look it up in a dictionary and continue writing As a result, students know how to use the word in an accurate context while remember the word longer, and next time if they encounter the same context, that word will automatically ring a bell In a nutshell, it is almost impossible to deny the vital importance of vocabulary acquisition in their language learning process (Geikhman, 2017)[30] Without proper grammatical structures, people can still understand what they want to communicate with some key words, but without sufficient and accurate vocabulary, people can hardly understand speakers That is why acquiring vocabulary will help students master a language faster, and English is no exception To achieve the highest scores possible in any English international exams or to acquire a good command of the language, building one’s vocabulary is indispensable There is no perfect way to extend English vocabulary, but everyone can always find the most suitable way for them to better their vocabulary reservoir REFERENCES [1] Horwitz, E K (1988) The Beliefs about Language Learning of Beginning University Foreign Language Students The Modern Language Journal, 72, 283-294 [2] Cameron, L (2001) Teaching languages to young learners Cambridge: Cambridge University Press [3] Nation, I.S.P (2011) Vocabulary research into practice Language Teaching, 44(4), 529-539 [4] Qian, D.D (2002) Assessing the roles of depth and breadth of vocabulary knowledge in reading comprehension Canadian Modern language review, 56(2),282-307 [5] Read, J (2000) Assessing vocabulary United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press [6] Stahl SA Vocabulary and readability: How knowing word meanings affects comprehension Topics in Language Disorders 2003; 23(3),241-247 [7] Brown, H (2006) Learner perceptions of TOEIC test results and language skill improvements: “I don’t want to study English, I want to study TOEIC” In K Bradford-Watts, C Ikeguchi, & M Swanson (Eds.) JALT2005 Conference Proceedings Tokyo: JALT © 2019 Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City THE IMPORTANCE OF VOCABULARY ACQUISITION AND ITS IMPACT ON STUDENTS’ 107 PERFORMANCE IN TOEIC READING TEST AT INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY [8] Taguchi, K (2015) An exploratory study on correlations among vocabulary size, vocabulary learning strategy use, TOEIC scores and self-efficacy Economic Review of Toyo University, 41(1), 55–67 [9] Kanzaki, M (2010) Vocabulary size, TOEIC scores, and testwiseness.In A M Stoke (ed.), JALT 2009 conference proceedings Tokyo: JALT, 64 [10] Sieh, Y (2016) Vocabulary size, phonological awareness, and reading comprehension.Studies in English Language Teaching, 4(3), 299–313 [11] Güngör, F., & Yaylı, D (2016) The interplay between text-based vocabulary size and reading comprehension of Turkish EFL learners Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice, 16(4), 1171–1188 [12] Nhan T (2013) The TOEIC® Test as an Exit Requirement in Universities and Colleges in Danang City, Vietnam: Challenges and Impacts International Journal of Innovative Interdisciplinary Research V I (June 2013) [13] Thanh, H (2005) Su dung TOEIC danh gia trinh tieng Anh cua sinh vien [Using TOEIC to assess university students' English proficiency] Retrieved June 2nd, 2018, from http://tuoitre.vn/Giaoduc/110223/Su-dungTOEIC-danh-gia-trinh-do-tieng-Anh-cua-SV.html [14] Schmitt N.(2000) Vocabulary in language teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press [15] Maximo, R (2000) Effects if rote,context, keyword, and context/ keyword method on retention of vocabulary in EFLclassroom, Language Learning, 50, 2, 385-412 [16] Gu.Y,Johnson,R.K (1996) Vocabulary learningstrategies and language learning outcomes.LanguageLearning, 46(4).643-679 [17] Coady,J & Huckin, T.(1997) Second language vocabulary acquisition Cambridge: Cambridge University Press [18] Nunan, D (1991) Language Teaching Methodology: A Textbook for Teacher Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall [19] Wilkins, David A (1972).Linguistics in language teaching Edward Arnold, London [20] Lewis, M (1993).The Lexical Approach.Language Teaching Publications [21] Carver,R.P (1994) Percentage of unknown vocabulary words in text as afunction of the relative difficulty of the text: Implications for instruction Journal of Reading Behavior, 26(4),413-437 [22] Nagy,W (1997) On the role of context in first –and-second language vocabulary learning In N.Schmitt & M.McCarthy (Eds): Vocabulary: Description, Acquisition and Pedagogy (p.64-83) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press [23] Gilbert, J B (2008) Teaching pronunciation: Using the prosody pyramid New York, NY: Cambridge University Press [24] Nation, Paul (1994) New Ways in Teaching Vocabulary.TESOL [25] Nation, Paul (1990) Teaching and Learning Vocabulary Newbury House, New York [26] Folse, Keith S (2004) Vocabulary Myths: Applying second language research to classroom teaching University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor [27] Drucker,M.J (2003) What reading teachers should know about ESL learners The reading Teachers, 57, 2229 [28] Geikhman, Y (2017) How Do You Learn Best? The 13 Best Ways to Learn English for Different Learning © 2019 Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City 108 THE IMPORTANCE OF VOCABULARY ACQUISITION AND ITS IMPACT ON STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE IN TOEIC READING TEST AT INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY Styles [Blog] English Language and Culture Blog Available at: https://www.fluentu com/blog/english/best-wayto-learn-englishvocabulary/ [Accessed Dec 2017] [29] Schmitt N.(1997) Vocabulary learning strategies In Nobert Schmitt and Micheal MacCarthy (eds) Vocabulary Description, Acquisition and Pedagogy.(p 199-227) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press [30] Geikhman, Y (2017) Sweeten Up Your Vocab: 10 Fun and Effective Ways to Learn English Vocabulary [Blog] English Language and Culture Blog Available at: https://www.fluentu.com/blog/English /learn-englishvocabulary/ [Accessed Dec 2017] Received on February 1st, 2019 Accepted on March 25th, 2019 © 2019 Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City THE IMPORTANCE OF VOCABULARY ACQUISITION AND ITS IMPACT ON STUDENTS’ 109 PERFORMANCE IN TOEIC READING TEST AT INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY APPENDIX 1: Students’ Vocabulary Mind-map © 2019 Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City 110 THE IMPORTANCE OF VOCABULARY ACQUISITION AND ITS IMPACT ON STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE IN TOEIC READING TEST AT INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY © 2019 Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City ... University of Ho Chi Minh City THE IMPORTANCE OF VOCABULARY ACQUISITION AND ITS IMPACT ON STUDENTS’ 101 PERFORMANCE IN TOEIC READING TEST AT INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY in our life, and vocabulary. .. 110 THE IMPORTANCE OF VOCABULARY ACQUISITION AND ITS IMPACT ON STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE IN TOEIC READING TEST AT INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY © 2019 Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh. .. Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City 102 THE IMPORTANCE OF VOCABULARY ACQUISITION AND ITS IMPACT ON STUDENTS’ PERFORMANCE IN TOEIC READING TEST AT INDUSTRIAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY 3.3

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