An investigation into 10th graders difficulties in learning english vocabulary and some pegagogical recommendations

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY BUI THI TO HOA Title of the thesis: Vinh, 2011 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING 1 VINH UNIVERSITY BUI THI TO HOA Title of the thesis: (Nghiên cứu về khó khăn việc học từ vựng Tiếng Anh của học sinh lớp 10 và một số gợi ý sư phạm) Field: Theory and Methodology of English Language Teaching Code: 60.14.10 Supervisor: Assoc. Prof .Dr. NGO DINH PHUONG Vinh, 2011 DECLARATION 2 The thesis is study of my own research and the substance of the thesis has wholly or in part submitted for a degree to any other universities or institutions. Vinh, 2011 Bùi Thị Tố Hoa 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my supervisor Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ngo Đinh Phuong - vice – president of Vinh University, who has not only encouraged me to do this study but also given me invaluable ideals and enormously helpful guidance. I wish to acknowledge my debt to other teachers and lecturers of Foreign Languages department at Vinh University who have kindly given me valuable encouragement and support. I should be thankful to all of my friends and colleges who helped me collect data for completing this study and who gave me a great deal of helpful and valuable support. I also wish to thank all the teachers and students at Cua Lo II high school who provided me with valuable materials and encouraged me throughout the study. Last but not least, my heart - felt gratitude goes to my family and my husband who have been helping me in so many ways to fulfill this thesis, and my daughter who is my greatest source of encouragement. 4 ABSTRACT The important role of English vocabulary is apparent for any student in general and for high school students in particular because vocabulary is the basis of their learning of English. However, both teachers and students at high schools meet a lot of difficulties in teaching and learning English vocabulary. This research is concerned with examining difficulties in learning English vocabulary experienced by 10th form students at Cua Lo II high school. The results of this study show that the students have specific problems and they also suggest the teachers should be aware of students’ problems, adapt their materials and activities to gain effective lessons. TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents Page Declaration Acknowledgements Abstract CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 5 5 1. Rationale of the study 5 2. Aims of the study 6 3. Methods of the study 7 4. Scope of the study 7 5. Design of the study 8 CHAPTER 2: REVIEW OF LITERATURE 9 2.1. General knowledge of English vocabulary 9 2.1.1. Definition of vocabulary . 9 2.1.2. Classification of vocabulary 10 2.1.2.1. In terms of the concept of morpheme 10 2.1.2.2. In terms of the meaning 11 2.1.2.3. In terms of the function of vocabulary items in a sentence 11 2.1.2 4. In term of the sequence of use 11 2.1.2.5. In term of the use of word: Active and passive vocabulary 12 2.2. The role of vocabulary in language teaching and learning 12 2.3. What needs to be taught? 13 2.3.1. Word form 13 2.3.2. Grammar 13 2.3.3. Collocation 14 2.3.4. Aspects of meaning 14 2.3.5. Word- formation 16 2.4. Factorss affecting vocabulary acquisition 18 2.5. Methods in vocabulary teaching 19 2.5.1. The Grammar – Translation Method 19 6 1.5.2. The Direct Method 20 2.5.3. The Audio – lingual Method 21 2.5.4 .The Communicative Approach 22 2.5.5.The Silent Way 23 2.5.6. Suggestopedia 24 2.5.7. Total Physical Response (TPR) 25 2.5.8. The Communicative Approach (Communicative Language Teaching) 25 2.6. Teaching and learning vocabulary through communicative activities 26 2.6.1. Characteristics of communication activities 26 2.6.2. Characteristics of vocabulary communicative activities 27 2.6.3.Vocabulary teaching techniques in combination with communicative activities 28 2.6.3.1.Visual techniques 28 2.6.3.2.Verbal techniques 28 2.6.3.3. Using games 29 2.6.3.4. Role – play 33 2.6.3.5. Memory 34 2.6.3.6. Motivation 35 2.6.3.7. Attitude 37 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLODY 38 3.1. Research methods 38 3.2. Date collection 38 3.3. Description of samples 39 3.4. Data analysis 39 3.5. Research procedures 42 CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS, RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 44 4.1. Results and discussion from the questionnarire 44 4.1.1 Questionnaire for students 44 7 4.1.2. Questionnaire for teachers 52 4.1.3. Results and discussion from the evaluation sheets and teacher’s observation 60 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 67 5.1.Summary of the study 67 5.2. Conclusion 68 5.3. Implications 69 5.3.1. Emphasizing word collocation 69 5.3.2. Using communicative activities in teaching vocabulary 70 5.3.3. Improving pronunciation among teacherscbefore teaching students 71 5.3.4.Providing students with a variety of vocabulary exercises 72 5.3.5 Guiding students’ hme revision . Limitation of the study 73 5.4. Limitation of the study 73 5.5.Suggestions for further research 74 References 75 Appendix 8 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study Vocabulary is the knowledge of words and word meanings. As Steven Stahl (2005) puts it, "The knowledge of a word not only implies a definition, but also implies how that word fits into the world." Vocabulary knowledge is not something that can ever be fully mastered; it is something that expands and deepens over the course of a lifetime. It cannot be denied that vocabulary is one of the vital parts in a language learning. Wilkins (1972:111) emphasized that, “Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed”. Wilkins said that “Grammar provides the overall patterns, vocabulary the material to put into those patterns”. Or some authors, led by Lewis (1993) argue that vocabulary should be at the centre of language teaching, because ‘language consists of grammaticalised lexis, not lexicalised grammar’. It is clear to all of us that one cannot read, speak, listen, write, or understand a foreign language without knowing a certain number of words. How can one appreciate the depth of meaning implied in discourse or become fluent conversationalists if lexis is not involved? Vocabulary learning is obviously an essential part of language learning. Learning words can considered to be the most important aspect of second language acquisition (Knight, 1994). Candlin (1988) stated that "… the study of vocabulary is at the heart of language teaching in terms of organization of syllabuses, the evaluation of learner performance, and the provision of learning resources …." Maiguashca (1993) said that vocabulary is "perhaps the fastest growing area of second language education in terms of research output and publication." Thus, the importance of vocabulary in language learning cannot be denied. Yet, although the issue of vocabulary teaching and learning is currently receiving attention of teachers and students in most of high schools in Vietnam and in my school as well, it is still far from clear how vocabulary items can be best taught and learned. From my own experience and observation, vocabulary is often taught by the grammar-translation approach, that is at the time for vocabulary, a vast amount of 9 teaching time is consumed by explanation and definition, classroom blackboards are often littered with masses of new lexical items, and students compile page upon page of word-lists that they have few opportunities to practice. This results in students’ short-term memory of new vocabulary items. They will very quickly forget the new words’ meaning and use. This also makes students get bored with learning vocabulary. In the past, high school students only learned English as a subject for examination like many other subjects in their curriculum. They tried to memorize as many things as possible just to do their tests and exams to the best. Traditional methods of teaching and learning were the best. Nowadays, in the time of globalization, English plays an essential role in communication nationally and internationally. As a result, English as a subject at high school is getting more and more consideration. Teaching and learning methods are being changed to suit new aims. Students learn English not only to pass exams but to keep themselves up to date also. In order to achieve the aims, their English must be “alive”, not the “dead” one in the tests and exams. However, many students have not been successful yet. As a teacher of English at Cua Lo II high school, I find out that one of the main reasons why my students are not successful speakers, as well as readers and listeners of English is that they lack quite a lot of vocabularies. In fact they are provided with almost every word necessary for their learning and their communication outside the classroom, but for some certain reasons, these words are not effectively used. Many of my students complain to me that they learn a lot of new words, but only a few days after that they forget most of the words. There may be problems in their ways of revising vocabulary, but problems in teaching vocabulary are undeniable. For better vocabulary teaching and learning, I decided to carry out this research to find out difficulties students encounter when learning vocabulary and to experiment some communicative techniques in teaching vocabulary as solutions to the difficulties. 2. Aims of the study First of all the research was carried out in order to: find out difficulties students meet when they learn English vocabulary and get the students to express their preferences of techniques in the process of learning vocabulary. 10