(LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ) Teachers'' attitudes towards applying CLT in teaching vocabulary for grade - 10 students at Thai Van Cu High school

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES POST GRADUATE DEPARTMENT NGUYễN THị THANH HằNG TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS APPLYING CLT IN TEACHING

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

POST GRADUATE DEPARTMENT

NGUYễN THị THANH HằNG

TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS APPLYING CLT IN

TEACHING VOCABULARY FOR GRADE-10 STUDENTS

AT NGUYEN VAN CU HIGH SCHOOL ( Nghiên cứu thái độ của giáo viên đối với việc dạy từ vựng theo đ-ờng h-ớng giao

tiếp cho học sinh lớp 10 tại Tr-ờng THPT Nguyễn Văn Cừ)

M.A MINOR THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE:

SUPERVISOR: Dr Đỗ TUấN MINH

6 Methods of the study 2

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

1.1 Vocabulary and its status in language teaching and learning 4

1.1.2 The status of vocabulary in language teaching and learning 4 1.2 An overview on language teaching methods in teaching vocabulary 4

1.3.2 Characteristics of vocabulary communicative activities 6 1.3.3 Vocabulary teaching techniques in combination with communicative activities 6

1.4.2 Factors affecting teachers’ attitudes 8

1.5 Summary 10

CHAPTER 2: THE INVESTIGATION 11

2.1 Current situation of the teaching and learning of English at Nguyen Van Cu High School 2.1.1 School factors 11

2.1.2 Teachers’ factors 11

2.1.3 Learners’ factors 12

2.1.4 The teaching materials 12

2.2 Methodology 13

2.2.1 Subjects of the study 13

2.2.2 Data collection instrument 13

2.2.3 Data analysis and result 15

2.2.3.1 Results and discussions from the questionnaires 15

2.2.3.2 Results and discussions from the observation 26

2.2.3.3 Results and discussion from the interviews 28

CHAPTER 3: FINDING AND SOME POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS 29

3.1 Finding 29

3.1.1 Teachers’ attitudes towards applying CLT in teaching vocabulary for grade-10 students at NVCHS 29

3.1.2 The reason causing teachers’ attitudes in teaching vocabulary communicatively and their own solutions 29

3.2 Suggestions 30

3.2.1 Suggestions for overcoming the problems in teaching vocabulary communicatively 3.2.1.1 Training and retraining teachers in CLT 30

3.2.1.2 Redefining students’ role and teacher’s role 31

3.2.1.3 Changing students’ attitudes towards learning English 31

3.2.1.4 Improving students’ motivation in learning vocabulary 31

3.2.2 Suggestions on vocabulary learning communicative activities for grade-10 students at NVCHS 33

PART C: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY 38

REFERENCES

APPENDIXES

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Vocabulary is an essential element of language Whether in speaking or writing, learners need vocabulary to communicate and understand others Unlike native speakers, second language learners are unable to absorb new vocabulary from a natural, English-speaking environment They acquire language mostly by learning at school However, in Vietnam for most of teachers, the most common way to communicate meaning of words is by translating through wordlist and many learners use rote strategies as their major way of vocabulary learning

Together with innovation in English teaching and learning methods everywhere in Vietnam, the new series of English textbook for grade 10 was introduced nationwide in academic year 2006-2007 The new textbooks are designed to apply the communicative approach with learner-centered learning This has leaded teachers and learners to face some difficulties in English teaching and learning especially in teaching and learning vocabulary The reason is that it is the first time for them to adapt the new method of teaching and learning instead of the old one, the grammar translation approach, which has existed in our education for along time As a teacher of English at Nguyen Van Cu High School ( NVCHS), I found that thanks to the movement of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) many language teachers are now aware of the need to take vocabulary seriously, but their students are unable to use English effectively There maybe problems in their students’ ways of using vocabulary, but problems in teaching vocabulary are undeniable In order to better vocabulary teaching and learning, I have conducted a research to find out teachers’ attitudes towards applying CLT in teaching vocabulary for grade 10, pointing out the main problems in teaching vocabulary communicatively, then offering some solutions to these problems

2 Aims of the study

The aims of the study as follows:

- To give brief overview about the role of vocabulary, its relevance in teaching and learning methodology, and factors affecting teachers’ attitudes

- To find out teachers’ attitudes towards applying CLT in teaching vocabulary for grade-10 students at NVCHS, and the reasons causing their attitudes

- To make some suggestions on overcoming the teachers’ problems in the application of CLT in teaching vocabulary

3 Significance of the study

This study plays an important role in improving vocabulary teaching methods to grade-10 students at NVCHS Its implicated suggestions will make the application of CLT at my school successful and effective

4 Scope of the study

As it has been stated above, the study aims to investigate the teachers’ attitudes towards vocabulary teaching through communicative approach for grade-10 students Then, based

on the teachers’ reasons leading different attitudes, some feasible solutions will be introduced

5 Research questions

To achieve the aims of the study, the following research questions were proposed:

1 In what ways do teachers at Nguyen Van Cu High School teach vocabulary to students?

2 Are teachers aware of the need to teach vocabulary communicatively?

3 What have teachers done to teach vocabulary communicatively?

4 What should teachers do to teach vocabulary communicatively?

6 Methods of the study

The research is done by both quantitative and qualitative methods; it is carried out on the basic of situation analysis, material collection, survey questionnaires, class observations and follow-up interviews

In the first place, for the theoretical basis, a lot of reference material on vocabulary, its relevance in teaching and learning methodology, and factors affecting teachers’ attitudes have been gathered, analyzed and synthesized thoroughly Secondly, situation analysis has

a look at the background to the study including the description of the current context at Nguyen Van Cu High School

Eventually, for the practical basis, questionnaires, classroom observation, follow-up interviews were carried out with the teachers to gather the most reliable data for analysis to find answer to the research questions mentioned above

7 Design of the study

This thesis consists of three parts:

Part A is the introduction, which present the rationale, aims, significance, scope, research

questions methods and design of the study

Part B consist of three chapters

Chapter1 deals with a literature review It starts with vocabulary and its status in language

teaching and learning, then an overview on language teaching methods in teaching vocabulary The next is about CLT on teaching vocabulary which includes the definition of CLT, characteristics of vocabulary communicative activities, vocabulary teaching techniques in combination with communicative activities The final is some factors affecting teachers’ attitudes

Chapter2 presents the survey First, there is a description about the present situation of

English teaching and learning at NVCHS Second, the methodology is performed in the study It provides participants, instruments and data analysis

Chapter 3 presents the findings and suggestions Firstly, the findings of the study are

analyzed and discussed Secondly, some suggestions for overcoming the problems in teaching vocabulary communicatively for 10-grade students at NVCHS are proposed Some communicative activities for a vocabulary lesson are also recommended

Part C is about the conclusion, and suggestions for a further study

References and Appendixes come in the end of the study

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Vocabulary and its status in language teaching and learning

1.1.1 Definition of vocabulary

There have been various ways of definition vocabulary The most general one is that

vocabulary is “a set of lexemes, including single words, compound words and idoms”

from Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics ( quoted in Richards:1997:400)) Similarly, Penny Ur (1996:60) also gave idea about vocabulary as “

the words we teach in the foreign language However a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word, a compound of two or three words or multi-word idoms” The above quotation indicates that vocabulary is “ the total number of words in a language” ( Hornby, 1995:1331) In short, vocabulary deals not only with a single word but also two

or three word items expressing a single idea and multi-word idioms whose meaning cannot

be deduced from the analysis of the component words A useful convention is to cover all such cases by talking about vocabulary “item” than “words”

1.1.2 The status of vocabulary in language teaching and learning

The status of vocabulary in language teaching and learning has changed dramatically in the

last two decades “Since the mid-1980s, there has been a renewed interest in the role of vocabulary in second language learning” ( Coady & Huckin,1997:IX)

According to Mc Carthy (1990:VIII), vocabulary is the biggest component of any language

course and “ No matter how well the student learn grammar, no matter how successfully the sounds of L2 are mastered, without words to express a wide range of meaning, communication in an L2 just cannot happen in any meaningful way”

In fact, vocabulary is an essential component of language A good knowledge of vocabulary will help learners develop the four skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing Nowadays, vocabulary is considered an important aspect of teaching and learning

a foreign language Thus, second language vocabulary acquisition has been paid the attention of researchers, teachers, and learners of concern

1.2 An overview on language teaching methods in teaching vocabulary

There are many influential method widely used by language teachers in the world in

general and in Vietnam in particular, but the following is a brief discussion of some major foreign language teaching approaches and their role in teaching vocabulary

1.2.1 The Grammar- Translation Method

It is one of the oldest method foreign language teaching According to Rivers (1981:29), it

“aims at inculcating an understanding of the grammar of the language and training the students to write the new language accurately by regular practice in translating from the native language…” Using this method, teachers teach vocabulary in the form of bilingual

lists and the intricacies of grammar are provides by long elaborate explanations to give the rule for putting words together Respecting the teaching of vocabulary, this approach may

be easy, cheap and useful but its relevance is restricted because it concentrates on form and not meaning ( Krashen, 1984, p.128)

1.2.2 The Direct Method

It is useful for teaching vocabulary In the classroom, only the target language is used, the words used are very common, active and concerning everyday activities This method focuses on speaking and listening which enables teachers to drill students more on vocabulary With this method, teachers can introduce concrete vocabulary through demonstration, objects, and pictures, while abstract vocabulary is taught by association of ideas

1.2.3 The Audio-lingual Method

It is very successful in improving students’ comprehension and fluency in speaking the target language In this method, the vocabulary content of pupils is strictly limited and only learnt in context, new teaching material is presented in dialogues Thus, students only have chance to focus on taking firm control of words and structures When the dialogue has been learnt its adaptation with a more personal application to the students’ own situation, provide more consolidation of learning and provide chances for more flexible use of the material

1.3 CLT on teaching vocabulary

1.3.1 Definition of CLT

There is a variety of definitions about CLT The most general one is that CLT views language as a system for the expression of meaning Activities involve oral communication, carrying out meaning task and using language, which is meaningful to the learners Objectives reflect the needs of the learners, they include integrator The teacher’s role is as facilitator of the communication process Materials promote communicative language use; they are task-based and authentic ( Nunan (1989:194))

1.3.2 Characteristics of vocabulary communicative activities

According to Nation , P and Newton, J (2000:224) communicative activities that encourage vocabulary learning have the following features:

- help speakers to set their speech to a suitable level for the particular listeners and to adjust it when listeners indicate a lack of understanding;

- provide meaningful context or an illustrated setting within which to encounter new vocabulary;

- learners will be exposed to repeat use of the new items during the course of the activities;

- learners are likely to be required to use new items productively in the activity These features include the choice of vocabulary and its placement within the textual input for the activities, the teachers’ and learners’ strategies for arriving at the meaning of unfamiliar items, and the processing demands of the activity By being aware of these features and the way they affect learners’ responses to unfamiliar vocabulary, teachers can improve the quality of vocabulary learning that is likely to occur during performance of communicative activities In addition, communicative activities encouraging vocabulary learning are not limited to oral productive language A communicative activity can be a written format such as vocabulary exercises including word-building, matching word with various types of definitions, studying vocabulary in context, semantic mapping, and split information activities focusing on vocabulary Thus, choosing a relevant communicative activity for teaching require thought and planning on the part of the teacher

1.3.3 Vocabulary teaching techniques in combination with communicative activities

Based on communicative activities, students can acquire vocabulary through more effective techniques such as visual techniques, verbal techniques, games or role -play

1.3.3.1 Visual techniques

According to Zebrowska ( cited in Grain and Redman (1986)), visual techniques pertain

visual memory It is clear that learners can remember better the material that has been presented by many means of visual aids Therefore, communicative using visual aids such

as flashcards, photographs, blackboard drawing, wall charts and relia can stimulate students to speak the language Regarding visual aids, students can benefit from

communicative activities since they “ help to provide the situation which light up the meaning of the utterances used” ( Lee, W.R and Coppen, H,1970:1) In addition, mine

and gesture are often used to supplement other ways of conveying meaning Teachers can

make use of the blackboard and gesture to reinforce the concept

1.3.3.2 Verbal techniques

Vocabulary teaching and learning communicative activities can be carried out by means of verbal techniques as follow:

i) use of illustrative situations ( oral or written): To ensure that students

understand, teachers often make use of more than one situational context to check that learners have grasped the concept

ii) use of synonyms and definitions: Teachers often use synonym where they have

to compromise and restrict the length and complexity of their explanations Besides, definition alone is often inadequate as a means of convey meaning, and clearly contextualized example are generally required to clarify the limits

of the item iii) contrast and opposites: This technique often asks “ What is the opposite of….” iv) example of the type: To illustrate the meaning of super-ordinates such as “

furniture”, “ vegetable”, “meat”, and “transport”, it is common procedure to exemplify them e.g table, chair, bed and sofa are all furniture Some of these can of course also be dealt with through visual aids

1.3.3.3 Using games

Games have been proved to be very effective in vocabulary teaching and learning as they can encourage, entertain, teach and promote fluency There are a lot of useful games for practicing and revising vocabulary after it has been introduced, such as puzzles, word squares, crosswords, jigsaw, picture-describing, etc More clearly, games provide a situation in which they provide a setting in which communication is essential and therefore will become stimulating and interesting way to help students acquire the target language without realizing it

In the role, students are experimenting with their knowledge of the real world and developing their ability to interact with other people” Moreover, activities of this kind let

students develop and practice vocabulary in combination with other language skills such as grammar and speaking, and create the motivation and involvement necessary for learning

to occur Teacher can prepare a lot of situations such as preparing a meal, going camping, interviewing for a job With such situation, students should work in pairs, improvise a suitable dialogue for each situation As a result, students will have less pressure and will be more willing to participate in the role-play

In conclusion, there are various communicative activities for teachers to choose They must know how to adapt each type of activities so as to make it suitable for their students

1.4 Factors affecting teachers’ attitudes

1.4.1 Definitions of teachers’ attitudes

Despite different definitions of “ attitudes” , the following one is the most comprehensive

definition “Attitudes and beliefs are a subset of a group of constructs that name define, and describe the structure and content of mental sates that are thought to drive a person’s actions” ( Richardson;1996:102) It can be seen that, attitudes are defined within the

framework of social psychology as a subjective or mental preparation for action Attitudes are outward and visible posture Attitudes determine what each person will see, hear, think and do Attitudes can be positive and negative

It is known that attitudes have a profound impact on teacher practices and behaviors Teachers’ attitudes mean teachers’ view and behavior in school These attitudes are implicit and unconscious, teachers’ personal pedagogical knowledge These attitudes also include cognitive and affective components, create links between practice, experience and decisions which have to be made These attitudes greatly impact their teaching in class

1.4.2 Factors affecting teachers’ attitudes

1.4.2.2 Teacher competence

Teachers are considered as a significant source of instrinsic motivation It is also commonly known that teachers’ skill, knowledge, personality and proficiency in the target language play important role in the class

One generalization about a good teacher is teaching method and ability If learners find teachers’ method boring, they will probably become demotivated, whereas if they have confidence in the method, they will find it motivating

1.4.2.3 Student element

* Students’ attitudes: Their attitudes might influence how they approach their learning as

well as the way their teachers teach

* Students’ anxiety and confidence: Many studies have showed problems often attributed

to students’ low English proficiency are actually caused by students anxiety Thus it can be said that language anxiety has a negative relationship with learning success and vice versa, self-confidence has a positive relationship One of the factors that may cause anxiety or bring back in confidence is learners’ learning experience

1.4.2.4 Classroom conditions

Classroom conditions can have a great effect on learning and can alter a learners’ motivation either positive or negative However, teacher should bear in mind problems associated with “large” classes They include noise, too many people and fixed objects in a restricted space, not enough materials for everyone, not being able to respond to different needs the difficulties of maintaining the class etc

1.4.2.5 Language environment

In EFL environment, English is rarely heard outside school, thus practicing English outside

is very rare Without the reinforcement of an English-environment, motivation becomes a product of teachers’ initiative on the one hand and the learners’ will to succeed or fear of failure- on the other EFL is often a part of the school training program and therefore subject to not only contextual factors such as support from local community, government policies, etc but also to teachers’ language proficiency, resources, materials, and the ability to evaluate learners as well

1.4.2.6 Syllabuses and text books

In the designing of a language of a language course or syllabus, one of the factors that should be taken into account is time In a communicative class, learners need to have

enough time to update knowledge and to practice what they have learnt Thus time plays an important role in teaching and learning a language

Texts books are of great importance in any language program because in most cases, textbooks include goals and objectives Administrators and teachers then should collaborate to answer the question of whether the textbook being used is appropriate to learners’ needs to the social and institutional setting

1.4.2.7 Test and evaluation

Teaching and testing are interwoven and interdependent; therefore it is difficult to separate them Tests can serve positive and negative even give them a lot of anxiety For the reason,

it is certain that teachers need make tests positive experiences for learners by creating tests with care and effort Tests should relate with high degree to course content and program objectives Moreover, the evaluation of learners should be both based on test results and derived from classroom observation and teachers/ learners feedback In brief, testing is a vital component of curriculum development and evaluation and cannot be separated from teaching and learning

1.5 Summary

In this chapter, some brief information about vocabulary and its position in language- teaching are reviewed Different vocabulary teaching methods such as the Grammar Translation Method, the Direct Method, the Audio-lingual Method have been also revised Furthermore, the writer has a brief overview on CLT, its characteristics and vocabulary teaching techniques in combination with communicative activities Finally, factors affecting teachers’ attitudes to apply CLT are mentioned In the next chapter, the situation

of English learning and teaching at NVCHS will be analyzed, and the survey with a questionnaire for 8 teachers and another one for 180 students, an observation and an interview with 4 teachers will be done After that, the findings of the survey will be analyzed and discussed

CHAPTER 2: THE INVESTIGATION 2.1 Current situation of the teaching and learning of English at Nguyen Van Cu High School

2.1.1 School factors

Nguyen Van Cu High School was founded in 1977 in Da Ton village in Gia Lam district English, as a foreign language, is one of the compulsory subjects in high school In NVCHS, instructions, learning and teaching activities are mostly carried out in the classroom Most of the lessons are developed in such a fixed condition that the teachers find it difficult to make a change in applying new ideas in language teaching

- The class size: There are about 45 students in each class Thus, it is difficult to implement a communicative task in a mixed ability and large class The focus on creating a communicative environment also means that there is a lot of unavoidable noise in the classroom; it influences the learning of next-door class

- The school has just installed one language lab, but it hasn’t been used The reason

is that it is designed for only 30 students , while there are about 45 students in each class and 34 classes in school The school has 1 overhead projector for 34 classes, 2 multi-function study rooms for nearly 80 teachers of 12 different subjects, but teachers hardly use them as teaching aids because these teaching aids are not enough if many classes are in need

- Materials: Materials for reference and self-study are not available There is also a library in NVCHS but there are few English references

- All of the classroom are designed for lecture lessons It means that the seating is arranged orderly in front of the teacher and classroom equipment is just a chalkboard

2.1.2 Teachers’ factors

Teachers are the most important factors in the process of teaching In order to carry out this process properly The school has 8 English teachers including 7 females and 1 male, and age from 25 to 50 They are energetic and are willing to devote their time and energy to teaching Of the 8 English teachers who got B.A degree, 2 ones are following M.A course

of University of Language & International Studies -VNUH The youngest has nearly three teaching experience The oldest has over 25 years teaching experience, however, she had been teaching Russian for 18 years before starting her English teaching career

In term of language teaching method, the teachers at NVCHS are familiar with traditional teaching method as they are used to teaching the old syllabuses When following the new syllabuses, they feel difficult to initiate activities and manage the class However, the teachers are always aware of the new trend in teaching methods and aware of the importance of the communicative approach when teaching English to their students in general and vocabulary in particular

2.1.3 Learners’ factors

Students are important elements in the process of teaching and learning It is essential to collect as much information as possible before the syllabus is designed, lessons are planned and method of teaching is chosen Every year, the school receive about 550 students from 12 villages in the district The age of the grade-10 students at NVCHS is about 16 years They come from different areas of the district In general, students from Trau Qui townlet, Long Bien district or nearby have better knowledge of the English language than those who come from father areas But at school, these two different groups

of students are set in the same classes, so that there is big gaps among the students In class activities, betters students of English proficiency are always dominant while students of low proficiency keep silent or get bored

The traditional methods of teaching have much affect to the students’ awareness of their needs in term of communication in real life situation Moreover, when entering grade 10, they are divided into two streams: Natural Science and Basic Stream Most of them are often not good at English, or they spend only a little time learning it For them, English is simple an obligatory subject They learnt it mainly for marks, just to pass the tests Thus, they seem to be likely passive in learning They are likely to become motivated or de-motivated learning depending much on the textbook and teachers’ method of delivery However, the grade-10 students at NVCHS are rather highly motivated by some practical reasons If they don not learn English carefully, they will fail the exams and cannot go up

to the higher class

2.1.4 The teaching materials

The main material used for this study is the textbook Tieng Anh 10 (2006: Educational Press), which is theme-based designed with 16 units, equivalent to 16 topics divided into 6 themes: Personal Information, Education, Community, Health, Recreation, The World around us Every unit provides students with many vocabulary through practice of

listening, reading, speaking, and writing Reading is selected as the first section in every unit on purpose Via the reading text and tasks which focus on developing different reading skills, it is useful to stimulate and familiarize students with the theme and relevant information and language items Teaching procedure of reading, speaking, listening, and writing sections is divided into three stages to achieve different language skills or knowledge on purpose This refers to the domination of communicative approach and characterized features of the new textbook Self-study activities are drawn attention to after every 3 units by Test yourself in which listening, reading, grammar and writing are presented respectively The book is ended with glossary as well as pronunciation and phonetic symbols that has been introduced in the textbook This is to help both teacher and learner easily

2.2 Methodology

2.2.1 Subjects of the study

The sample was drawn from two sources: 180 students in class 10A2, 10A6, 10A10, 10A12, and 8 teachers in English teaching staff

The first group who I took at random includes non-English majors at different classes They are also at different levels of English proficiency All of those have experience in English for 4 years at lower-secondary schools The textbook in use is the new “Tieng Anh 10” Also, the subject is completely taught by Vietnamese teachers of English

The other group involves all 8 teachers of English aged from 25 to 50 years old All of them have more or fewer opportunities to learner new teaching techniques in English Teacher Training Project methodology course

2.2.2 Data collection instruments

In order to collect data for the study, three kinds of instruments are used: questionnaire, classroom observation and interview

2.2.2.1 Questionnaire

The survey questionnaire is one of the instruments which are often used to collect data in social sciences Many significant advantages of using questionnaires are indicated by many researchers, such as less pressure on informants, not under pressure of interview bias and analysis of answers is straightforward

The questionnaires were delivered to 8 teachers and 180 students

2.2.2.1.1 Questionnaire for the students

The second questionnaire consists of two types of questions including 9 closed and opened-ended one (see Appendix A) To ensure the students’ accurate misunderstandings before answering the question, all of them were written in Vietnamese Their answers were also written in Vietnamese, which enable them to express their ideas fully and with ease It took 4 weeks to deliver the questionnaire and collect 180 copies of the questionnaires The questions focus on the following categories:

- The students’ attitudes and motivations towards learning English in general and learning in particular (question 1, 2, 3, 7)

- The students’ evaluation of their English vocabulary lesson(question 4, 8, 9)

- The students’ difficulties in learning vocabulary (question 5, 6)

2.2.2.1.2 Questionnaire for the teachers

The questionnaire was designed for 8 teachers of English at NVCHS (see Appendix B) It contains 10 closed and opened-ended questions in English The questionnaire was delivered to the teachers and collected within 4 weeks

The questionnaire emphasizes on:

- The teachers’ age and their teaching experience (question 1)

- The teachers’ opinions on CLT (question 2, 3, 4)

- The teachers’ attitudes towards teaching vocabulary (question 5)

- The teachers’ aims in teaching vocabulary (question 6)

- The teachers’ time to teach vocabulary (question 7)

- The teachers’ ways to teach vocabulary (question 8)

- The teachers’ problems when applying CLT in teaching vocabulary to grade-10 students (question 9)

- The teachers’ recommendations for the problems they met (question 10)

2.2.2.2 Classroom observation

Observations are most effective when approached as collaboration meant to benefit all involved For the one being observed, an observation can provide useful feedback that might not be revealed by other assessment methods In addition, the one observing can learn from seeing a fellow teacher in action

Classroom observation was also applied in order to clarify and test the validity of

information about teaching and learning English vocabulary at 10-grade It was carried out

in four different classes once a week in each class within 5 weeks All of these observation

were for gathering information needed for the study Classroom observation is important given to the purpose of this study because it helps to show the researcher how English vocabulary is being taught and also to test what challenges facing teachers when they apply

CLT in teaching vocabulary for grade-10 students

2.2.2.3 Interviews with teachers

According to Sagor.R (1993) when using interviews to collect data, it is helpful to produce relevance information and insights Although a interview usually requires considerable time commitments from both interviewer and interviewee, it is excellent way co collect data In other words, interview is an extremely useful and valuable way to get in-depth and comprehensive information They involve one person interviewing another person for personal or detailed information

In this study, parallel with the survey questionnaire and classroom observation, interviews with teachers for more in depth data were also carried out Each of the interviewees was asked 3 questions (see Appendix C)

2.2.3 Data analysis and result

2.2.3.1 Results and discussions from the questionnaires

2.2.3.1.1 Questionnaire for the students

a The students’ attitudes and motivations towards learning English in general and

learning in particular (question 1, 2, 3, 7)

Question 1,2, 3 dealt with the students’ attitudes and motivations towards learning English

in general and learning in particular

Question 1 relates to students’ attitudes towards learning English at school The results are

Neither like nor dislike, just learn it because it is a

must

Table 1: Students’ attitudes towards learning English at school

The findings shown in the table indicated the students’ attitudes towards learning English

at school The result from the table showed that 25% of them showed their positive attitudes in learning English 60% thought English is a must Only 15% of those responded

negatively did not find English interesting at all

Question 2 focuses on students’ reasons for learning English

Reasons for learning English Number (No) Percentage (%)

Table 2: Students’ reasons for learning English

According to the statistics of table 2, the grade students at NVCHS were aware of the importance and benefits of learning English 36.7% of the students said that they learned English for their future jobs 2.2% learned English for their interest, 23.3% learning English for communicating Especially, 37.8% said that it was a compulsory subject This revealed that a great number of students in this school were not really motivated in learning English

Question 3 aims at exploring the students’ attitudes towards vocabulary learning

Students’ attitudes towards vocabulary learning Number (No) Percentage

(%)

Table 3: Students’ attitudes towards vocabulary learning

As shown in the table 3, most of the students consider vocabulary a very important element

in language learning This number presents 59.4%, only 35.6% of them think vocabulary is important and 5% not very important This means that most of these students are well aware of the importance of vocabulary in their English learning This awareness lead to motivation in their learning process

Question 7 discovers students’ interests towards types of vocabulary teaching techniques

used in communicative activities

Students’ interests towards types of vocabulary teaching

techniques used in communicative activities

As clearly stated from table 4, 35 % of the participants are interested in “ Games”, while

“Oral/ Written vocabulary exercises” ( Verbal) hold 30% However, 25% of the total like

“Visual”, and only 10 % of students being asked have the motivation for “ Role-play”

b The students’ evaluation of their teacher’s way of teaching vocabulary (question4, 8, 9))

Question 4 helps to find out the students’ evaluation of their teacher’s way of teaching

vocabulary 80% of the students state that their teachers always teach vocabulary by translating all new words into Vietnamese and vice-versa and saying the word clearly, and writing them on the board And they also add that these techniques do not make them fully satisfied because they find them not efficient much The survey and the observation showed that the teachers often wrote all the new words with their Vietnamese equivalents

on the board and asked students to copy down all the new words in their notebooks Then, they asked the students to repeat in chorus and individually

Most of the students said that their teachers rarely carry out the three techniques ( use synonyms and antonyms, use mimes, gestures and facial expressions and use English to define the new word) Only 12% of the students say that their teachers sometimes use synonyms and antonyms and 17% confirm that their teachers use target language to define the new word, and 15% state that their teachers use mimes, gestures and facial expressions Moreover, 20% of the students also reveal that teachers sometimes use the technique of using visual aids For their teachers’ way of teaching vocabulary, 31% of the participants say that they like their teachers using visual aids to show them the meaning of words 30% state that they are interested in their teachers using mimes, gestures and facial expressions in introducing the meaning of words Furthermore, 15% of the respondent

confirm that they like their teachers to use the target language to define the new words According to them, these techniques are efficient

Question 4 also aims at exploring the students’ evaluation of their teacher’s way of

consolidating vocabulary In order to consolidate students’ vocabulary, 20% of the students say that their teachers often ask them to do exercise of reordering words, doing multiple choice items, and matching words With their teachers’ way of consolidating vocabulary, 39% of the respondents confirm that they like matching words 35% state that they enjoy doing multiple choice items And 30% of the participants say that they are interested in reordering words As a result, they state that these techniques are efficient

Most of the students said that their teachers sometimes ask students to complete sentences, fill in the gaps, make sentence with given words, discuss in pairs or in groups, ask and answer questions 31% of the students say they are asked to do completing sentences 25% state that they have to do the exercises in the form of filling in the gaps and making sentence with given words And 20% confirm that their teachers ask them to discuss in pairs or in groups, ask and answer questions In addition, most of students also reveal that their teachers rarely let them play games Only 20% of the asked students state that their teacher sometimes use this way Of the ways, 40% of students are interested in playing games 25% dislike completing sentences, filling in the gaps, making sentence with given words And 15% of the students like discussing in pairs or in groups They find these ways not efficient much

Question 8 focuses on the effectiveness of learning vocabulary communicatively

Effectiveness of learning vocabulary communicatively (No) (%)

Help Ss to retain vocabulary and to be interested in the lesson 108 60% Motivate but do not help Ss remembering new and learn items 45 25%

Table 5: Effectiveness of learning vocabulary communicatively

It can be seen from table 5, 60% of the participants suppose that learning vocabulary communicatively can help them to retain vocabulary and to be interested in the lesson However, 25% suppose that activities of this type are motivated but do not help Ss remembering new and learn items And up to 15% feel bored and ineffective during the communicative tasks given by the teachers