An investigation into the effectiveness of vietnamese translation in teaching english vocabulary to the 10th form students at vung cao viet bac high school

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES HOÀNG VIỆT HƯƠNG AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE EFFECTIVENESS OF VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION IN TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY TO THE 10TH FORM STUDENTS AT VUNG CAO VIET BAC HIGH SCHOOL (NGHIÊN CỨU TÍNH HIỆU QUẢ CỦA VIỆC DỊCH NGHĨA TỪ SANG TIẾNG VIỆT TRONG VIỆC DẠY TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 10 TRƯỜNG PHỔ THÔNG VÙNG CAO VIỆT BẮC) M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 601410 Hanoi – 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration Acknowledgements Abstract Table of contents List of abbreviations List of tables and figures i ii iii iv vi vii PART A: INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………… 1 Rationale for the study…………………………………… …….….…… Objectives of the study…………………… …………………………… ….2 Research Questions……………………………………………………… …2 Scope of the study…… ………………………………………………… …2 Methods of the study……………………………………………………… Design of the study……………….……………………………………… …3 PART B: DEVELOPMENT………… ……………………………………… …5 CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND…… ………………… 1.1 Introduction…….……………………………………………………… …5 1.2 Vocabulary and Its Roles in Second Language Acquisition……… … …5 1.2.1 What is vocabulary? 1.2.2 Roles of Vocabulary in Second Language Acquisition…… …6 1.3 Approaches to Vocabulary Teaching…………………………………… 1.4 Recent Research about Teaching and Learning Second Language Vocabulary………………………………………………………………… ….9 1.4.1 Incidental learning………………………………………… …9 1.4.2 Explicit instruction……….…………………………………….9 1.4.3 Independent strategy….…………………………………… 10 1.5 Techniques in Presenting New Vocabulary…………………………… 11 1.6 L1 and Translation in Vocabulary Teaching and Learning…………….…12 1.7 Previous studies on L1 Translation in Teaching L2 Vocabulary….…… 13 1.8 The Role of L1 Translation in Vocabulary Acquisition… ………… ….14 1.9 Advantages and Disadvantages of Using L1 Translation in Teaching Vocabulary…………………………… ………………………………… …15 iv 1.10 Summary…………………………………………………………… ….17 CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY…………………………………………… … 18 2.1 A quantitative and qualitative study………………………………… ….18 2.2 Participants………………………………………………………… ……18 2.3 Data collection instruments……….………………………………… … 19 2.3.1 The students questionnaire………….…………………………… ……19 2.3.2 Class observation………… ……………………………………… …20 2.3.3 Interviews…………… …………………………………………… …20 2.4 Data collection procedure…………………………………………… ….21 2.5 Data analysis procedure……………………………………………… …21 CHAPTER 3: ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ………………… … …22 3.1 Findings…………… ……………………………………………… … 22 3.1.1 The frequency of using Vietnamese translation in teaching English vocabulary to 10th form students……………………………………… …….22 3.1.2 Common classroom vocabulary activities………… ……………….…25 3.1.3 The effectiveness of Vietnamese translation for learning vocabulary as perceived by students……………….…………………………… ………… 28 3.1.4 Teachers‟s perceptions of the effectiveness of using Vietnamese translation for presenting new vocabulary………….………………… … …31 3.2 Discussion……………………………………………………… …….…35 PART C: CONCLUSIONS………………….…….…………………… ………37 Conclusions……………………………… ………………………… ……37 Implications……………………………………………………… … ……38 Limitations……………………………………………………………… …39 Suggestions for further research…………… ………………………… …39 REFERENCES APPENDICES Appendix Appendix Appendix Appendix I V VI VII Appendix IX v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL: English as Foreign Language ESL: English as Second Language L1: The first language L2: The second language vi LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES TABLES Page Table 1: The Frequently used techniques to present new the meaning of new 22 vocabulary Table 2: The frequently used activities to help students consolidate words 26 Table 3: Students‟ preference for Vietnamese translation use in vocabulary 28 lessons FIGURES Page Figure 1: Students‟ perceptions of the frequency of their teachers‟ using 25 Vietnamese translation in presenting the meaning of new vocabulary Figure 2: Students‟ perceptions of the effectiveness of Vietnamese 29 translation on their vocabulary learning Figure 3: Students‟ perceptions of the roles of Vietnamese translation in 29 helping them to learn vocabulary Figure 4: Effect of using Vietnamese translation on the class atmosphere 30 Figure 5: Problems faced by students in learning vocabulary through 31 Vietnamese translation vii .PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale for the study McCarthy (2001: 2, cited in Fan, 2003: 222) explained that “Vocabulary forms the biggest part of the meaning of any language, and it is the biggest problem for most learners” McCarthy firmly believes that language is lexis-driven, and therefore, vocabulary learning is the real key to second language learning He claims that learners will be more successful if they can develop their own techniques and disciplines for vocabulary learning Therefore, an effective approach to vocabulary is always one of the great concerns of every language teacher The reason is that learning vocabulary is really challenging requiring many cognitive processes, and teachers have to make sure that students understand the word: the form of the word (pronunciation, spelling, derivations) and its meaning as well as how to use the word accurately and appropriately There are many ways of presenting the meaning of a new word These include a definition in the second language, a demonstration, a picture or a diagram, a real object, L2 context clues, or an L1 translation (Nation, 2003) However, studies comparing the effectiveness of various methods for learning always come up with the result that an L1 translation is the most effective (Lado, Baldwin, Lobo and Mishima 1967; Laufer and Shmueli, 1997) This is probably because L1 translations are usually clear, short and familiar, qualities which are very important in effective definitions (Mc Keown, 1993) At Vung cao Viet Bac High school, with more than 2,000 ethnic minority students come from different minority groups, each ethnic group has its own language, but Vietnamese is nominated the national language Thus, to students coming from the minority groups, English is their second foreign language As far as I can observe, these learners are much in favour of Vietnamese translation when learning English vocabulary This has motivated me to carry out this study, which aims at finding the effectiveness of using Vietnamese translation in teaching vocabulary Hopefully, findings will reaffirm the use of mother tongue and translation as a strategic teaching method within the field of vocabulary acquisition Furthermore, it is to partially help English foreign language teachers have a reflection on their teaching practice Objectives of the study The research is aimed to investigate the effectiveness of using Vietnamese translation in teaching vocabulary to the 10th form students at Vung cao Viet Bac High School The objectives of the study are: a) to investigate how frequently Vietnamese translation is used as well as what activities are used to help their students consolidate words after using Vietnamese translation in teching English vocabulary b) to explore the teachers and students‟ perceptions of the effectiveness of using Vietnamese translation in teaching and learning English vocabulary Research Questions To achieve the aims and objectives of the thesis, the following research questions were proposed: What is the frequency of using Vietnamese translation in teaching English vocabulary to 10th form students? What are the common vocabulary activities the teachers use to help their students consolidate words after using Vietnamese translation? What is the effectiveness of Vietnamese translation for learning vocabulary as perceived by the students? What is the teachers‟ perceived effectiveness of Vietnamese translation used for presenting new vocabulary? Scope of the study The study limits itself to the effectiveness of using Vietnamese translation in teaching English Vocabulary The effectiveness of this technique would be explored from the perception of the students and teachers The study was carried out only with tenth form students and the teachers who are in charge of English teaching to those students at Vung cao Viet Bac High school in Thai Nguyen One more noteworthy point about the scope of this study is that it focuses on the effectiveness of using Vietnamese translation technique for presenting the meaning of new vocabulary rather than the form Methods of the study Both qualitative and quantitative research methods are used in this study, including questionnaire, classroom observations and interviews Questionnaire Both open-ended and close-ended questions were administered to 152 students to find out the students‟ perceived effectiveness of Vietnamese translation technique on vocabulary learning Classroom observations Six classes (of about 45 minutes in length) taught by three different teachers were observed to find out how frequently Vietnamese translation is used and what activities are used to help their students consolidate words after using Vietnamese translation Interviews Teacher interviews were conducted to obtain a better understanding of the teachers‟ perceptions towards the effectiveness of using Vietnamese translation in teaching English vocabulary The interviews were transcribed fully and analyzed qualitatively Design of the study The research includes three parts namely Part A, Part B, Part C Part A is the introduction, which presents the rationale, the aims, the research questions, the scope, the methods, and the design of the study Part B is the development which consists of three chapters Chapter is the literature review which reviews theoretical issues related to the definitions of vocabulary, and its roles in second language acquisition, approaches to vocabulary teaching, recent research about teaching and learning second language vocabulary, techniques in presenting new vocabulary, L1 and translation in vocabulary teaching and learning, previous studies on L1 translation in teaching L2 vocabulary, the role of L1 translation in vocabulary acquisition as well as advantages and disadvantages of using L1 translation in teaching vocabulary Chapter is the study, presents the quantitative and qualitative study, the participants, the data collection instruments, and research procedures of the study Chapter is the analysis and discussion of the findings through an analysis of the data collected by means of questionnaire, classroom observations and interviews Part C is the conclusion of the study In this part, major findings of the study will be summarized to answer the research questions Some implications on use of Vietnamese translation in teaching English vocabulary, the limitation of the study and suggestion for further research are presented PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 Introduction This chapter focuses on providing an overview of the theoretical knowledge relevant to the study including vocabulary and its roles in second language acquisition, approaches to vocabulary teaching, recent research about teaching and learning second language vocabulary, techniques in presenting new vocabulary, L1 and translation in vocabulary teaching and learning, previous studies on L1 translation in teaching L2 vocabulary, the role of L1 translation in vocabulary acquisition, advantages and disadvantages of using L1 translation in teaching vocabulary 1.2 Vocabulary and Its Roles in Second Language Acquisition 1.2.1 What is Vocabulary? Vocabulary is a matter which many linguists and language teachers have been concerned for a long time Vocabulary is defined differently by different scholars Below some definitions of vocabulary that are relevant to the present study are introduced In The American Heritage Dictionary, “vocabulary” is defined as: All words of a language The sum of words used by, understood by, or at the command of a particular person or a group A list of words and often phrases, usually arranged alphabetically and defined or translated; a lexicon or glossary It‟s apparent that above definition show the relationship between vocabulary and words In other words vocabulary is defined as words However, it seems important to see clear definitions, a concise explanation as sited as follow: "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 APPENDIX 3: TEACHERS’ INTERVIEWS QUESTIONS Do you use Vietnamese translation technique to present new vocabulary to your students ? Why ? What activities you often use to help your students to consolidate and remember the taught words after using Vietnamese translation? What effects does Vietnamese translation have on your vocabulary teaching? How motivated you think your class is when you use Vietnamese translation to teach vocabulary to them? 10 Do you think that the exclusive use of Vietnamese translation in teaching English vocabulary has problem(s)? If yes, what are they? VI APPENDIX 4: SAMPLE OF INTERVIEW ‘S TRANSCRIPT PERSONAL INFORMATION Interviewee: Nguyen Thi Thuy (Teacher 1) Age: 34 Sex: female Training Program: B.A Total years of teaching: 14 years Date of interview: 20 2012 Time of interview: 9:35- 9:50 Interviewer: Do you often use Vietnamese translation technique to present new vocabulary to your students ? Interviewee: Yes, I Interviewer : Why? Interviewee: I often use Vietnamese translation on vocabulary teaching because class time is limited and using this technique saves time and it is really useful for low English proficiency level students If we use only English to explain new words, it is very easy to make the students feel confused or misunderstand When you spend quite some time or use several English sentences to explain the meaning of one new word, and the students still look confused, using a Vietnamese equivalent might solve the problem My students are also asked to VietnameseEnglish-Vietnamese translation exercises and tests because I think this can improve the students‟ translation skills that they will need for their future jobs Interviewer: How about common classroom vocabulary activities, Which activities you use to help your students to consolidate the words presented to them? Interviewee: Of course, I often study the spelling and pronunciation of a word with students again and again, I also use vocabulary in work books and textbooks to help students consolidate words VII Interviewer: Yes, I think so As I have been observing, using Vietnamese translation for presenting the meaning of new vocabulary has effects What effects does Vietnamese translation have on your vocabulary teaching? Interviewee: Firstly, I think using Vietnamese helps students to memorize words better and longer Secondly, using Vietnamese translation to explain words to my students are simple, direct and easy to be understood Interviewer: Yeah, I agree that Vietnamese translation is very useful, when students are given Vietnamese equivalents, they feel at ease and they are more motivated to learn How motivated you think your class is when you use Vietnamese translation to teach vocabulary to them? Interviewee: As you know my students are low proficiency learners, they are ethnic minority students, Vietnamese is their second language So I often use Vietnamese translation to teach vocabulary This will create a less-stressed learning environment and so help them learn better Interviewer: Well, this is the last question for you Do you think that the exclusive use of Vietnamese translation in teaching English vocabulary has problem(s)? If yes, what are they? Interviewee: I think that the use of Vietnamese translation may effect both the teachers and the students If a teacher frequently use translation , he/she can be accustomed to the situation and may use Vietnamese when English can be better serve the purpose And this can affect the teacher‟s fluency in English A similar thing may happen to the students Interviewer: Well, that‟s a great idea Thank you so much for your cooperation VIII APPENDIX 5: SAMPLE OF LESSON OBSERVATION Date: 18 2012 Time: 7: 55- 8:40 Teacher 3: Nguyen Thi Yen Class: 10A3 Number of students: 51 UNIT 14: THE WORLD CUP A READING T/Ss Activities T: (after having students find the new words themselves) Who can tell me the new words in the reading text about the World Cup? T: ( points at the boy) Sáy, can you? Sáy: ( read aloud the new words with some pronunciation mistakes) tournament globe jointly elimination games witness trophy host nation honoured title T: ( writes the new words on the board while Say is speaking) Ss: ( take notes) T: ( explaining the meaning of new words in English and Vietnamese ) Ok “ tournament (n)” means : a competition in which players complete against each other in a serious of games until there is a winner T: What does “tournament” means in Vietnamese? Ss: ( in silence) T: “ tournament ” means: vòng ( giải )thi đấu T: Now, repeat, tournament Ss: repeat in chorus T: Ok “ globe” means: the world What does the globe means in Vietnamese? Ss: ( In chorus) địa cầu T: Great! Now, repeat, globe T: Now, look at the picture at page 142 Look at the man What is he holding? IX Ss: ( In chorus) cúp T: In English Ss: ( in silence) T: It is trophy T: Now, repeat! trophy T: Point the word jointly T: „jointly‟ means: involving two people or groups Ss: in silent T: What you say „jointly‟ means in Vietnamese Ss: in silent T: „jointly‟ means : liên kết T: Now, repeat, jointly Ss: repeat in chorus T: Ok! Other word to witness(v) means: to see, what does this word means? Ss: (In chorus) chứng kiến T: witness ( n) means: nhân chứng What about these words: elimination games (n.p): trận đấu vòng loại honoured title (n.p): danh hiệu cao quý Ss: ( take notes) T: (read all the new word and asks Ss to repeat in chorus and individually) At the end of lesson Teacher gives a vocabulary exercise: Complete each blank in the following passage with a suitable word/phase in the given box host nation representative every four years elimination rounds tournament competition World Cup is the most important competition in international football, and the world‟s most (1) team sport event was organised by FIFA, the sport‟s governing body, the World Cup is contested by men‟s national football teams which are FIFA members The World Cup is held (2) ( except in times of war), but X the (3) of the (4) _(which narrows the field of as many as 197 teams down to the final 32 teams) take place over a three-year period, using regional elimination tournaments The final (5) phase( often called the “Finals”) involves 32 teams competing over a four-week period in a previously nominated (6) Only seven nations has won the World Cup Finals XI ... using Vietnamese translation in teching English vocabulary b) to explore the teachers and students? ?? perceptions of the effectiveness of using Vietnamese translation in teaching and learning English. .. on their teaching practice Objectives of the study The research is aimed to investigate the effectiveness of using Vietnamese translation in teaching vocabulary to the 10th form students at Vung. .. techniques in teaching vocabulary, a summary of previous studies on L1 and translation in vocabulary teaching and learning, L1 translation in teaching L2 vocabulary, the use of L1 translation in vocabulary