The effects of the guided extensive reading on efl learners vocabulary learning an action reasearch at military political academy

ỂmvmỊKỊMỴs mmmimxm' vềqmmmmmĩ- MINISTRY F EDU CATION AND TRAINING HANOI UNIVERSITY NGUYEN THI LAM ANH THE EFFECTS OF GUIDED EXTENSIVE READING ON EFL LEARNERS’ VOCABƯLARY LEARNING: AN ACTION RESEARCH AT MILITARY POLITICAL ACADEMY SUBMITED IN PARTIAL FƯLFILLMENT OF THE REQƯIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL SUPERVISOR: NGƯYEN D c HOAT, Ph.D Hanoi October - 2008 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I owe so many people the success o f the study presented in this paper that I cannot justice to everyone^s contribution First and íbremost, I would like to express my deepest thanks to Dr Nguyen Duc Hoat, my supervisor, for the vvholehearted guidance he gave me while I was doing this study I am truly grateful to his valuable comments and instructions, his considerate assistance and criticism and his kind encouragement and constant support from the beginning when the study was only on a vague idea I also would like to send my special thanks to Mrs Nguyen Thai Ha (MA) from the Department of Post Graduate Studies o f Hanoi University for her interesting and informative lecturers prior the formation o f the idea for this study as well as her later valuable guidance, encouragement and advice during the implementation o f the study My sincere thanks go to Dr.Vu Van Dai - the Dean o f Post Graduate Studies o f Hanoi ưniversity, all the enthusiastic lecturers and whole the staff at Hanoi University for all their efforts within their authority to help me during my M.A course Purthermore, ĩ am very thankfi.ll to the leamers o f class GV7 at MPA for thcir willingncss to participate in the study Without their help, this prọịect could not have been so successful I am also in debt to my ítíends, my classmates as well as colleagues for their usìil comments and criticism Last, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my beloved people, my parents, my husband and sons, who have constantly inspired and encouraged me to complete this study ABSTRACT Vocabulary has becn regarded as a íundamental element o f leaming English However for most o f Vietnamese students in general and the leamers at MPA in particular, vocabulary seems to be the most difficult problem in language leaming They complain about their lack of good vocabulary knowledge which greatly may hinder their language skills Therefore, the researcher decided to carry out an action plan with 30 leamers o f class GV7 at MPA aiming at íĩnding out the solution to the problem above Before the experiment, a questionnaire and test were used to collect information to identiíy the problem and the causes of the problem The collected data were analyzed to coníirm the assumptions that the lack o f vocabulary really existed, and the cause o f this problem may be that leamers leam vocabulary ineffectively due to the lack o f exposure to the language Based on the initial results and motivated by the continued growth o f research on extensive reading as well as the positive results from variety o f studies, the researcher created a plan o f action in vvhich extensive reading was used The action plan was implemented for six weeks Then data were collected from multiple sources, including questionnaires, reading joum als and tests and analyzed The íìndings from the study revealed that leamers gained some progress in vocabulary leaming Furthermore, the evaluation o f action research also indicated thai learners' positỉve attitude tovvarđs reading in English was signiíĩcantly improved when the action plan was in use The results o f this study support the conclusion that an extensive reading program has positive eíĩect on leamers’ vocabulary acquisition given the speciíĩc context o f teaching at MPA Based on the íindings o f the study, some discussion and limitations were made along with recommended suggestions for further study Despite the limitations it is hoped that the study will be able to serve as a reference as well as provide useíul information for other teachers o f English at Military Political Academy TABLE OF CONTENTS A C K NO W LED GEM EN TS I A B ST R A C T II TABLE OF C O N T EN TS .III LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES V LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS VI CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 S t a t e m e n t of t h e p r o b l e m 1.2 T h e a im s of th is s t u d y 1.3 SlGNIFICANCE AND SCOPE OF THE STUDY 1.4 OUTLINE OF THE THESIS CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 VOCABULARY LEARNING 2.1.1 The importance o f vocabulary learnỉng 2.1.2 Vocabulary pedagogy 2.2 E x t e n s iv e READING 2.2.1 The defmition o f extensive reading 2.2.2 Characteristics o/extensive reading 2.2.3 The benefits o f extensive reading in /oreign language learning 10 2.2.4 Materials usedfor extern ive reading 14 2.2.5 Instruments used to monitor students ’ reading in an extensive reading program 15 2.4.6 Ten top principles for an externive reading program 16 2.2.7 Modifìcation o f Externive Reading at MPA - Guided Externive Reading Program 19 2.3 PREVIOUS s t u d ie s on e x t e n s iv e r e a d ín g in E F L 21 2.4 SUMMARY 23 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 24 3.1 R e se a r c h q u e s t io n s 24 3.2 DlíSCRIPTIONS OF th e PARTIC1PANTS 24 3.3 SKTTING 24 3.4 R e s e a r c h d e s ig n 25 3.4.1 Definiíion o f action research 25 3.4.2 Process ofaction research 26 3.4.3 Data collection Instruments 29 3.5 SUMMARY 33 CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 34 4.1 INITIAL DATA .34 4.1.1 Results J'rom learners’pre- questionnaừe .34 4.1.2 Analysis o f resulls o f the pre-test 39 4.1.3 Findings from the initiaỉ đata 40 4.2 ACT10N PLAN .40 4.2.1 The aim o f the action plan 40 4.2.2 The acíion plan procedures 40 4.2.3 Data collected in action stage 42 4.3 POST DATA 45 4.3.1 The comparisons in the pre-test andpost-test results 45 4.3.2 Data collectedfrom the attitude questionnaires 47 4.4 E v a l u a t io n of th e a c t io n p l a n .50 4.4.1 Positive effects o f extensive reading on learners ’ vocabulary acquisìíion 50 4.4.2 Learners ’ attitude towards extensive reading activities 50 4.4.3 Discussion on the reasons for the achievements in the study 51 SUMMARY 52 CHAPTER 5: RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION 53 5.1 KliCOMMiiNDAllUNS 53 5.2 CONCLUSION 55 REFERENCES 57 APPENDICES 61 \PPENDIX 1: READING JOURNAL 61 A p p en d ix 2.1: Q u e s t i o n n a ir e ( E n g lis h ver sio n ) 62 Appendix 2.2: PHIẾU ĐIỀU TRA 64 \PPENDIX 3: THE a t t it u d e q u e s t io n n a ir e 66 \PPBNDIX 4: A SAMPLE OF EXTENSIVE READING 67 A ppe n d ix 5: THE pre a n d p o st - t e s t 72 \p p i:n d ix 6: P r e -a n d post test r e s u l t s 78 IV LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table 4.1: Leamers’ length ofleam ing English before entering MPA Table 4.2: The leam ers’ self-assessment o f their vocabulary knoxvledge Table 4.3: Learners* attitudes towards different aspects of language leaming Table 4.4: The leam ers’ vocabulary leaming methods Table 4.5: The cause of the leamers’ lack of reading habits Table 4.6: Reading topics chosen by the students Table 4.7: The leam ers’ assessing reading materials in English Table 4.8: Results o f the pre test o f 30 subjects Table 4.9: Action plan procedures Table 4.10: The leam ers’ opinions on reading materials Table 4.11: Pre-and post test results Table 4.12: Comparison o f the mean scores for the pre and post tests Table 4.13: An overview o f descriptive statistics obtained from the questionnaire responses Figure 1: Action Research Cycle Figure 2: The leam ers’ self assessment to level o f diffículty o f the reading materials Figure 3: The leam ers’ attitude toward extensive reading materials LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AR: Action Research GER: Guided Extensive Reading EFL: English as Foreign Language ELT: English Language Teaching ER: Extensive Reading ERP: Extensive Reading Program ESP: English for Special Purpose L l: The First Language L2: The Second Language MPA: Military Political Academy SLA: Second Language Acquisition VI CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION This chaptcr dcscribes the statement o f the problem, states the aims o f the study, its signiíìcance and scope, and presents the outline of the thesis 1.1 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM In leaming a íoreign language, vocabularv plays an important role Words o f a language are just like bricks o f a high building Despite quite small pieces, they are vital to a great structure Vocabulary is one element that links the four skills o f speaking, listening, reading and writing all together Vocabulary knowledge is generally considered an important factor in the comprehension of language and the number o f words acquired is strongly related to competence language use In other words, in order to enhance overall English proficiency, ESL students need to attain a certain level o f vocabulary knowledge Thombury (2002), in the introduction to his book, How to teach and learn vocabuỉary, said “All languages have words Language emerges íirst as words, both historically, and in terms o f the way each o f us leamed our first and any subsequent languages The coining o f new words never stops Neither does the acquisition o f words Even in our fưst language we are continually leaming new words, and learning new meanings o f old words” Despite the importance o f vocabulary, much literature has pointed out that vocabulary teaching and leaming seems to be neglected in language leaming process Even if vocabulary is taught in L2 classes, it is often taught poorly or unsystematically, for example, by giving word lists for memorization Many English language teachers in Vietnam only supply students with the Vietnamese translation o f unfamiliar words vvhich students come across in the textbooks and some just leave vocabulary leaming to students on their own As a result, many students lack vocabulary leaming strategies and they resort to rote-leaming o f the literal Vietnamese translation o f English vocabulary Military Political Academy (MPA), in which this study was set, is not an exception At MPA íbreign language is One o f the compulsory subjects During the university course, thc leamers have to leam 300 periods, o f which 240 hours is for General English (GE) and 60 hours is for English for Speciíic Purpose (ESP) New Headway series (Soars & Soars, 2004) have been chosen as the course books for GE and Command English - for ESP Afìer the course leamers might have to read different materials written in English such as academic texts from their specialist subjects, nevvspapcrs, etc., ữom a number of different sources In order to read in English better, they need to possess a certain level o f vocabulary However, vocabulary leaming seems to be the most difficult problem for leamers at MPA They oíten find vocabulary very difficult to acquire and remember or they not know how to use it to communicate They also complain that their language skills are not very good due to their lack o f vocabulary From my observation and discussion with other colleagues as vvell as leamers, most o f the leamers at MPA usually have a habit o f acquiring new vocabulary from short passages in textbooks or when given by teachers during classroom lessons However, these resources provide leamers only a small amount o f vocabulary, which is not enough for them to read well in English Moreover, learaers only think o f vocabulary leaming as knovving the primary meaning o f new words and they ignore all other íunctions of the vvords Therefore, a large number o f students at MPA only rote-leam the Vietnamese translation o f unfamiliar English lexical items in isolation by vvriting words on paper, trying to leam by heart They not have a habit o f leaming vocabulary in contexts which help them to know how to use vocabulary appropriately The real situation leads to the assumption that the leam ers’ vocabulary knowledge is weak because they may leam vocabulary ineíĩectively This seems to lead to their poor vocabulary knovvledge which greatly hinders their comprehension ability in reading and using English to communicate as well Teachers have an important role to play in helping them leam vocabulary more effectively The question raised here is “How to help leamers to leam vocabulary more successíully?” Accidentally came to the teacher researcher the notion “extensive reading” from the article by Pigada & Schmitt (2006) which really intrigued me at the first moment A quick search o f the literature would easily end up numerous studies that have been published on this issue The authors of those studies (Thombury, 2002; Coady, 1997; Nation & Coady, 1988) have agreed upon the benìts o f extensive reading programs in improving leam ers’ language skills as well as increasing their vocabulary in English because extensive reading provides the leamers extensive and multiple exposures to words for theme to be fully acquired Nutall (1982) suggests that “an extensive reading program is the single most effective way o f improving both vocabulary and reading skill in general" The idea that leamers can APPENDIX 2.2: PHIÊU DIỀU TRA (Vietnamese version) Phiếu điều tra nhằm tìm hiểu phưong pháp học từ vựng tiếng Anh cùa bạn Nó khơng phai đổ đánh giá hay xếp loại bạn mà để giúp tìm hiểu việc học từ bạn, đồng thời giúp cho giáo viên tìm giải pháp giúp bạn học hiệu Tính xác thực cùa câu trả lời quan trọng kết nghiên cứu Vì thể mong bạn trả lời trung thực với thân Bạn đánh dấu V vào ó trá lời (có câu đánh dấu rthiểu phurm g án) Bạn học tiếng Anh trước vào học Học viện CTQS? □ Dưới 1năm □ □ ] -3 năm năm Bạn đánh vốn từ vựng tiếng Anh bạn việc đọc tài liệu, sách, báo tiếng Anh ? □ □ Rất tốt □ tốt bình thường □ □ Theo bạn khía cạnh ngơn ngữ sau có vai trị quan trọng việc học tiếng Anh bạn? Rất quan trọng bình thirờng Khơng quan trọng Ngữ pháp □ □ □ □ □ Từ vựng □ □ □ □ □ Ngữ âm Ị— Ị Ị—1 □ □ □ Khi gặp từ bạn thường làm gì? (bạn đánh dấu vào nhiều phương án) □ □ □ □ □ - Đoán nghĩa từ dựa vào ngữ cảnh □ □ - Tra từ điển Anh - Anh □ □ □ □ □ □ □ □ - Tra từ điển Anh - Việt Việt - Anh (Chú ý: = luôn', = thường xuyên', = thinh thoang; = khi; 64 5 - Khỏng bao giờ) Bạn có thường học thuộc lịng từ vựng cu n im cu cu ũ ũ D ũ ũ tiếng Anh đơn lẻ? Bạn có thường tập trung học từ vựng sách giáo khoa? Bạn có học từ vựng cách nghe I I I I I Ị [ I I I Ị I I ] Ị I I I đài, băng Bạn có thói quen đọc thêm tài liệu, sách báo I ] băng tiếng Anh ngồi sách giáo khoa hay khơng? (Chú ý: = luôn ; = thường xuyên; = thinh thoảng; = khi; = Không, bao giờ) (Neu có) Bạn thường quan tâm đọc chủ đề nào? - Chính trị ^ - Giáo dục - Quân 1-1' I— - Thể* thao - Kinh tế CH - Văn hoá - Khoa học □ - Xã hội n □ - Chú đề tự □ 10 Bạn dự định tìm tài liệu tiếng Anh để đọc đâu? - Trong giáo trình, SGK -Trên báo - Trên Internet |—Ị - Trong thư viện - Những nguôn k h ác: I (Nếu khơng) Vì sao? - Khơng có đủ thời gian 1—1 - Không biết cách đọc cu - Khơng có tài liệu 1—1 - Những ngun nhân khác Cảm