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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 do Matching exercises: match words with its definition
f. Ask students to do Multiple Choice exercises to check word meaning g. Ask students to do True/False statement exercises to check word meaning h. Ask students to do Gap-filling exercises using new words in the text
The data from the students’ questionnaire shown in Chart 4 are quite inconsistent with what collected from the questionnaire for the teachers. Accordingly, techniques of guessing word meaning based on the context and doing matching exercises are often used by teachers (87.5%) but according to students, their percentages are only 34% and 21% irrespectively. In stead, according to students, translation and gap-filling exercises are more commonly used in the while-stage (54% and 53% respectively). The biggest difference is presented in using multiple choice exercises. While 75% of the teachers claims that they use this technique in teaching text-based vocabulary in the while-stage to check their students’ word meaning comprehension, 9% of the students feedback about the use of multiple choice exercises.
Furthermore, none of the teachers mention about dictionary use whereas 15% of the students say that teachers ask them to look up new words in the dictionary. All of these differences may be due to students’ expectation about some techniques is not met or teachers use some techniques but students are not aware of them.
Techniques used by teachers to teach vocabulary through texts in the Post-stage (question 6 from students’ questionnaire and question 5 from teachers’
questionnaire)
35% 33% 44%
21%
87.5%
37.5%
62.5%
25%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Ideas from students
Ideas from teachers
a b c d
Chart 5: Text-based vocabulary techniques used by teachers in the post-stage
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
Chart 5 shows that eliciting personal response from students is mostly used by teachers (87.5%) and 35% of the students agree about that (claim for the second position from students’ questionnaire). In addition, discussion about the content of the text using new words is a common technique in the post-stage (44% and 62.5% from students and teachers’
questionnaire respectively).
To get an insight, the data from classroom observations show that teachers use different techniques in each stage to present new vocabulary items. Sometimes, they activate students’ prior knowledge, use matching exercise in the pre-stage (first lecture). Sometimes they use translation to make it easy for their students. In the while-stage, the most polular way of presenting new words is writing them down on board with Vietnamese equivalents, followed by examples or atonym provision. Then, various activities are used such as answering questions, doing T/F exercise, or listening to the tape and correct the information.
However, teachers do not pay attention to activities in the post-stage because data from
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classroom observation showed that teachers spent little time in this stage and most of the activities lack teachers’ control. Especially, both teachers did not make use context of the text to teach vocabulary and therefore, could not develop their students’ skill of guessing word meaning based on the context.
Techniques preferred by students ( Q7, Q8)
Techniques used by teachers to teach vocabulary through texts
No. of informants
out of 100
Reasons
Provide students with the word list with
Vietnamese equivalents 0
Provide students with the word list and
explain new words in English or Vietnamese 6 - easy to understand and remember
Provide students with the word list and
explain its meanings through visual aids 5
- easy to remember new words - remember words for a long time
Provide students with the word list and
illustrate its meanings through examples 13 - easy to understand Provide students with the word list and
explain new words through synonyms and antonyms
2 - know more words
Ask students to guess the word meaning
based on the context 18
- interesting
- motivate students to think, concentrate, guess and help to remember for a long time Ask students to look up new words in the
dictionary 4 - develop students’ self-study
Translate new words/ texts into Vietnamese 18 - easy to understand
Ask students to answer questions based on
the text using new words they have learnt 10
- Easy for students to understand
- Help students to revise and remember new words
Ask students to do Matching exercises:
match words with its definition 10
- interesting
- develop students’ guessing skill
Ask students to do Multiple Choice exercises
to check word meaning 0
Ask students to do True/False statement
exercises to check word meaning 2
- help students to revise
- develop their skill of thinking and guessing
Ask students to do Gap-filling exercises
using new words in the text 4 - help students to consolidate Elicit personal response from students using
newly taught words 2 - have chance to use what they
have learnt Ask students to summarize the text using
newly taught words 0
Ask students to discuss about the content of
the text using newly taught words 28
- easy, interesting, exciting - improve students’
communication, motivate students’ autonomy
Ask students to retell the story using newly
taught words 0
Table 1: Text-based vocabulary techniques preferred by students with reasons As mentioned above, teachers at Hoa Binh university have applied different techniques of teaching vocabulary through texts. In order to help students learn effectively, the techniques of teaching should meet their demand. Hence, students’ assessment on these techniques and their preference techniques should be considered. According to Table 1, word
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list providing with Vietnamese equivalents, multiple choice exercises, summarizing and retelling the text using newly taught words are presented by the smallest number of students (0% or in other words, none of them like these techniques). Whereas, the largest proportion (28 out of 100 students) agrees that discussing about the content of the text using newly taught words interest them most. The reasons are that it is interesting and exciting to do discussions in class because students have chances to exchange their ideas, improve their communication, motivate their autonomy as well as are offered chances to practise what they have been taught. Besides, techniques of guessing new words based on the context and translation ranks the second position in terms of students’ preferable teaching techniques.
They give out the reason that guessing word meanings from context is interesting. It motivates them to think critically, concentrate and develops guessing skill. As a result, they have great impression on these words and they, therefore, can remember new words for a long time.
According to what the researcher observed in the two classes, students seemed to be excited with discussion work because they had a chance to express themselves and exchange their ideas freely. However, this activity receives little control from teachers so it cannot be proved to be effective or not.
3.1.1.4 Difficulties that teachers and students have in teaching and learning vocabulary through texts (question 9 from the questionnaire for students and question 6 from the questionnaire for teachers)
25% 37.5%37.5%37.5%
0%
26% 48%
7.5%
16%19%
0% 20% 40% 60%
Ideas from students
Ideas from teachers
Others
unclear contexts uninteresting topics
too many new words in the text long texts