(Luận văn Đại học Thương mại) A STUDY ON DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING ENGLISH VOCABULARY FACED BY FIRST – YEAR STUDENTS OF FACULTY OF ENGLISH AT THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS

The difficulties in learning English vocabulary of first year student in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University, in particular, are considered to be significant and beneficial to do

THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY ENGLISH FACULTY

Supervisor : Dr Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen

Student : Nguyen Thanh Tam

Student code : 18D170035

Hanoi – 2022

In English, vocabulary plays an important role in all areas of communication including listening, speaking, reading and writing In Language Teaching Australia:

Edward Arnold (1972) the linguist Wilkins said that “ without grammar little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” The more vocabulary you know, the more effectively you can communicate and express your ideas Hence, it is obviously something that we should constantly focus on improving day by day

However, learning English vocabulary is one of the most comprehensive and difficult aspects of English for learners to master thoroughly There are many English learners who admit that they have troubles in mastering vocabulary and the first year students at Thuongmai University are no exception The difficulties in learning English vocabulary of first year student in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University, in particular, are considered to be significant and beneficial to do research as they not only can find the ways to help students overcome these difficulties but also be used to identify the pedagogical problems so as to prepare effective teaching methods and activities that take into account students’ needs and problems

This study, therefore, aims to discover the difficulties in learning English vocabulary faced by first year students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University

The objective of the study is to investigate the common difficulties and their causes in order to give some recommendations and suggestions that can help students, teachers

as well as managers at Thuongmai University to overcome these difficulties and find out effective methods in learning and teaching English vocabulary After studying, the common difficulties in learning vocabulary are faced by first year students in Faculty

of English at Thuongmai University including learning word pronunciation, learning

word spelling, learning long and complex word, learning grammar associated with the words, learning connotative words and words with overlap in meaning, learning idiomatic words and choosing the the appropriate meaning of the words The factors causìng these kinds of difficulties are mainly related to pronunciation and spelling of words, length of words, grammar, semantic features, learning motivation and teaching method The study also gives some recommendations for students, teachers as well as managers in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University to solve this problem

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Having received a lot of support and help from my teachers and friends, it is with deep gratitude that I express my appreciation to all those who gave me the possibility, support and helpful advice to complete this graduation paper

First, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, Dr Nguyen Thi Thanh Huyen, for her valuable guidance, corrections and suggestions throughout

my process for this research paper I am also grateful to all teachers from the Faculty of English at Thuongmai University who had useful lectures and valuable knowledge in this field of study

Next, I would also like to take this opportunity to give my special attitude to my classmates who have always encouraged and supported me during my study

Last but not least, I am extremely thankful to all the participants who provided me

in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University for their marvelous contributing ideas and help during the time I collected data and information for my research in order to complete the survey questionnaire

Finally, I hope that this small study can be given comments, corrections and feedback from teachers and other interested people that it could be useful to first year students in the Faculty of English at Thuongmai University

Hanoi, April 15th 2022

Nguyen Thanh Tam

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ASTRACT i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS v

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Previous studies 2

1.3 Aims of the study 4

1.4 Research Subjects 4

1.5 Scope of the study 4

1.6 Research methodology 5

1.7 Organization of the study 6

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 7

2.1 Definition of vocabulary 7

2.2 The importance of vocabulary 8

2.3 Aspects of knowing a word 8

2.4 Factors affecting vocabulary learning 10

2.5 Difficulties in vocabulary learning 12

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS 13

3.1 Current situation of learning English vocabulary of the first year students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University 13

3.2 The common difficulties in learning vocabulary faced by the first year students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University 16

3.3 The factors of difficulties in learning vocabulary faced by the first year students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University 23

3.3.1 Pronunciation and spelling of words 24

3.3.2 Length of words 25

3.3.3 Grammar 25

3.3.4 Semantic features of words 26

3.3.5 Learning motivation 27

3.3.6 Other causes 28

3.4 Suggested solutions 29

3.4.1 For students 29

3.4.2 For teachers 30

3.4.3 For managers 31

CHAPTER4: RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY 32

4.1 Limitations of the study 32

4.2 Suggestions for further study 32

CONCLUSIONS 34

REFERENCES 35

APPENDIX 37

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

No Abbreviations English meaning Vietnamese meaning

Institute for Islamic Studies

Viện nghiên cứu Syekh Nurjati cho nghiên cứu hồi giáo

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

Chart 3.1: The students’ opinion about the importance of learning English vocabulary

13

Chart 3.2: The amount of time which students spend learning English vocabulary every day 14

Chart 3.3: The percentage of students faced difficulties in learning word pronunciation

16

Chart 3.4: The percentage of students faced difficulties in learning word spelling 17

Chart 3.5: The percentage of students faced difficulties in learning long and complex words 17

Chart 3.6: The percentage of students faced difficulties about grammar associated with the words 19

Chart 3.7: The percentage of students faced difficulties in learning connotative words

20

Chart 3.8: The percentage of students faced difficulties in learning words with several meaning 21

Chart 3 9: The percentage of students faced difficulties in learning idiomatic words

21

Chart 3.10: The influence of pronunciation and spelling of word 23

Chart 3.11: The influence of grammar 25

Chart 3.12: The influence of semantic features of the word 26

Chart 3.13: The influence of learning motivation 27

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY

1.1 Rationale

Due to being the language of trade, communication, science and major international media, English which is the language of choice throughout the world today has become an international language It is the most widely used language in the world It is estimated that 75% of the world’s communication is written in English and it is also spoken in more than 100 countries Apart from that, research from all over the world shows that cross-border business communication is most often conducted in English and many international companies expect employees to be fluent in English Therefore, the importance of teaching and learning English can not

be understated Nowadays, English has become a compulsory subject which is taught for students in many schools, colleges, universities, and Thuongmai University is no exception For students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University, they are taught four skills including listening, writing, reading and speaking right from the first year And when it comes to learning a foreign language like English, vocabulary

is the most necessary skill for teaching and learning English It is the foundation for the development of all other skills in learning a new language as well as English

Vocabulary is considered as the centre of learning and teaching English because without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed Thus, working on vocabulary plays an important role for learners However, there are many people as well as a lot of first year students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University who have many difficulties in mastering the four skills in learning English at school because of the lack of vocabulary They faced many problems relating to understanding the meaning

of the words, correctly use of words in suitable context, pronouncing, spelling, etc because of several reasons Moreover, it is a challenge not only for students but also for the teacher to make students learn vocabulary effectively Therefore, it is necessary to highlight difficulties in learning vocabulary faced by students and give them some effective methods to master English vocabulary which can help them enhance other English skills

I hope that this study can investigate vocabulary learning problems faced by many English learners, especially first year students in Faculty of English at Thuong Mai University so that it can help them to overcome difficulties and find effective ways to succeed in mastering English vocabulary Moreover, from this study, I think that it also will help teachers and managers a lot to transmit knowledge to students and lead them to the lessons in professional ways

1.2 Previous studies

Learning vocabulary is always a challenge for language learners and teachers all over the world Therefore, several studies have been conducted to investigate these problems in particular to find out effective solutions

● In the world:

First, in the study “A Study on Vocabulary-Learning Problems Encountered by

BA English Majors at the University Level of Education”, Arab World English

Journal (2019) investigated the problems faced by PSAU English majors students at

the university level and suggested strategies to overcome the potential problems The

result of this study showed some common difficulties including “ Learning Meaning

of New Vocabulary” ( 59.6 % agree) , “ Using New Vocabulary in Speaking or Writing” ( 57.8 % agree) , “ Pronouncing New Vocabulary” ( 55.4% agree), “Spelling New Vocabulary” ( 69.8% agree), “Memorizing New Vocabulary” ( 68.9 % agree),

“Recognizing New Words” ( 57.6 % agree), “Learning Meaning of Technical Terms”

( 64.7% agree), “Learning Cultural-Specific Vocabulary” ( 63.9% agree),

“Understanding Compound-word Meaning” ( 53.3% agree), “Learning Homophones” ( 55.2% agree), “Multiple-meaning Words” ( 54.3% agree) Based on the results, the study has discussed some of the strategies to minimize the problems and enhance the students’ vocabulary knowledge

In the same line, in the case study “Case Study on Students’ Difficulties in Vocabulary Mastery at SMPN 1 Kebonsari Madiun in Academic Year 2017/2018.”,

Karimatul Aristya (2019) collected data from the students of the first semester of the English Education Department at IAIN who took vocabulary class by questionnaire and interview The findings showed that the students faced several problems in vocabulary learning Almost all of the students find difficulties in pronouncing the

words, writing and spelling, the different grammatical forms of a word known, choosing the appropriate meaning, using the word based on the context, using idiomatic words Moreover, he also found some possible causes relating to these difficulties which are the difference between the written form and the spoken form

in English, the large number of words, the limitations of sources of information about words,the complexity of word knowledge, lacking of understanding of grammar of the words, the incorrect pronunciation

Also, to know the difficulties of the students in vocabulary mastery, the study “

A Study on Students’ Difficulties In Vocabulary Mastery at First Grade Students of SMPN 1 Baula” was conducted Based on the results of research, namely spelling the word, word meaning, and word pronunciation are common difficulties which students faced

In general, most studies conducted in the field of learning vocabulary difficulties investigate among students revealed that approximately the most common types of problems are pronunciation, spelling, meaning, using, so on

to look at the problems faced by English major students Therefore, there is a need for further research to examine some common vocabulary learning problems that could be faced by English major students With this purpose, the present study was conducted to investigate common difficulties faced by the first year students in the Faculty of English at Thuongmai University Besides, it is hoped to give some

suggested solutions to help students and teachers study and teach English vocabulary effectively

1.3 Aims of the study

The aim of this study is to help the first year students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University as well as other learners overcome difficulties in learning English vocabulary and find out methods to master English vocabulary effectively

Therefore, the objectives of this paper are to make an attempt:

● To investigate the learning- vocabulary difficulties faced by the first year students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University

● To look for possible causes of these problems

● To recommend some possible strategies and some effective solutions that can minimize these difficulties for learners as well as teachers and managers at Thuongmai University

1.4 Research Subjects

The focus of this study is to investigate and analyze the most common difficulties in learning English vocabulary faced by the first- year students who study English at the Faculty of English at Thuongmai University

Regarding methodology and instrumentation, the study was based on an interview, questionnaire survey of the first year students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University I hope that the study will become useful to help not only students at Thuongmai University but also teachers and managers to develop effective methods and strategies to teach and learn English vocabulary effectively

1.5 Scope of the study

Because of limited time, knowledge and the restricted scope of the study of a minor thesis, this study concentrates on identifying difficulties in learning English vocabulary faced by the first year students in the Faculty of English at Thuongmai University during their learning English process Moreover, it is hoped that through this study we can find effective solutions to overcome these difficulties successfully

And it is belived that this thesis is valuable not only for first year student in the Faculty

of English at Thuongmai University but also for all English learners who want to master English vocabulary

● A questionnaire survey (appendix 1) was also given to the first year students

in the Faculty of English at Thuongmai University to discover their learning English vocabulary difficulties and major causes Questionnaires are written instruments that show participants a list of questions and statements They will react either by writing out their answer of selecting from among given answer

● Interview

An interview is another technique that is used in this research There are 5 first year students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University who are chosen to collect data by asking them questions and the answers are noted and recorded This technique is considered as a supporting instrument questionnaire to know what problems they have, the possible causes and their recommendations to overcome their difficulties According to the aims of the study, the questions are designed openly

The data collection from interview question (appendix 2) supplies the information about the fact of learning English vocabulary of the first year students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University:

− The feeling of first year students about learning English vocabulary

− The difficulties students face in learning English vocabulary

− Possible causes make students feel difficult in learning vocabulary

− Some suggested solutions to help students overcome difficulties in learning vocabulary

− Some recommendations for teachers and managers to help students and give more effective lessons in learning vocabulary

After conducting questionnaire survey and interview, the data which is collected will

be analyzed to draw conclusion

1.7 Organization of the study

My graduation paper has four chapters as following:

Chapter 1: Overview of the study

Overview of the study is the introduction of my study including rationale, previous studies, aims of the study, research subjects, scope of the study, research methodology and organization of the study

Chapter 2: Literature review

Literature review includes 5 parts: Vocabulary, Aspect of knowing a word, Factors affecting vocabulary learning, Difficulties in vocabulary learning, How to learn English vocabulary effectively

Chapter 3: Research findings

Research findings consists of three parts: current situation of learning English vocabulary of the first year students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai UniversityUniversity, the data description and suggested solutions

Chapter 4: Recommendations and suggestions for further study

In this chapter, there are 2 main parts which are Limitations of the study and suggestions are for further study And the conclusion is a summary of the study

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Definition of vocabulary

Learning vocabulary is very important for any language learner Therefore, it

is necessary to understand deeply about what vocabulary is Depending on one’s point

of view, there are various ways to define the meaning of vocabulary

In the book “ The Making of Smart Towel to Learn English Vocabulary for Elementary School Students” ( Vol 2, 2017), it is defined that “ Vocabulary is the stock of words used by people or particular user or person, or list of collection of the word of a language, book, author and branch of science in alphabetical order and defined”

According Linse ( 2005: 121), “ Vocabulary is the collection of words that an individual knows”

While in the book Vocabulary, Semantics and Language Education, Hatch and Brown ( 1995: 1) say that “ Vocabulary refers to a list or set of words that individual speakers of language might use” If the learners do not know the word's meaning ,

they will have problems in understanding what they read and hear in their learning process

The other definition of vocabulary states from Richards and Renandya ( 2002:

255), they say “ Vocabulary is a core component of language proficiency and provides much of the basis for how learners speak, listen and write Without an extensive vocabulary and strategies for acquiring new vocabulary, learners often achieve their potential and may be discouraged from making use of language learning opportunities around them such as listening to the radio, listening to the native speaker, using language in different contexts, reading or watching television.”

The term vocabulary has a range of meanings However, based on those statements, It is reasonable to suppose that vocabulary is a collection of words as a fundamental component of language skill that has a form or expression and encompasses several features, including meaning, word use, and form

2.2 The importance of vocabulary

In the learning language process, vocabulary is always considered as one of the most important parts of learning foreign language All of your efforts to enhance your English will be in vain unless you acquire new terms and expand your vocabulary

There are many researchers and experts who have emphasized the roles of vocabulary For instance, in the book “Teaching Languages to Young Learners”,

(Cambridge University Press, New York: 2001), David Wilkins states that “ Without grammar, very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed

Building up a useful vocabulary is central to the learning of a foreign language at primary level.” Also, according to Heubener (1965: 88) “ Learning of vocabulary

is based on the formation of specific habits Since this involves the association of symbols and their meaning, it is clear that an enrichment of the meaning of the word

is as important as its frequent repetition” Moreover, others have realized that

vocabulary acquisition is critical for effective second language use and plays a critical role in the construction of entire spoken and written communication

In summary, no matter what level your English is, the more words you know, the easier it will be to express your thoughts and ideas

2.3 Aspects of knowing a word

There are various ways to define the concept of words However, knowing a word is quite a complex cognitive process Thus, to teach and learn English vocabulary effectively, it is essential to be aware that knowing a word involves understanding many aspects of word knowledge According to Nation which is one

of the world’s leading authorities on vocabulary acquisition, knowing a word involves knowing its form, meaning and use

Nation (2001) points out that knowing one word form includes spoken form,

written form and word parts Learners' understanding of phonics, word

rearrangement, and spelling offers a foundation for decoding word meaning and using the word effectively in many contexts Knowing the spoken form entails being able

to comprehend the spoken form while hearing the term and pronounce the word clearly as well as communicate with others Knowing the written form means being able to recognize the written form when reading and accurately spell the written form

in writing About word parts, it includes understanding the prefix, suffix and stem of

a word as well as the word family.When you know the prefix, suffix, or stem of a word, you may decode the meaning of that word

Nation ( 2001) states that knowing the meaning of a word includes connecting

form and meaning, concept and referents, and word associations Meaning

encompasses the way that form and meaning work together so learners have to learn both of them Besides, each word has a fundamental concept in terms of concepts and referents, but other meanings differ It suggests that a word can have a variety of interpretations depending on the circumstances Furthermore, according to Richards

(1976:81), "words do not exist in isolation." Knowing a word entails knowing how

to associate it with other words In people's minds, word associations are the connections that connect words A student is given one word; other words that are similar or opposite come to mind quickly, as do related ones

● Word use According to Nation ( 2001), knowing how to use a word involves knowing the word's grammatical functions, collocations and being aware of constraints on use

Word classes and the grammatical patterns that one word can fit into are referred to

as grammatical function Other forms of word constraints on use include register and frequency When it comes to word frequency, high frequency words are heard, seen, and used more frequently than low frequency words, making them easier to recognize and recall As a result, anyone who knows how to use a term should be aware of its limitations

2.4 Factors affecting vocabulary learning

During the vocabulary learning process, how easy or difficult it is can depend

on a number of factors which a number of research works have pointed out However, according to Schmitt and MacCarthy (1997:143-153), these factors include :

- Pronounce ability

A lot of studies demonstrate that students could be affected by the learning vocabulary process in various ways It could be to blame for their incapacity to distinguish between sounds in a foreign language Individual phonemes or phoneme clusters, as well as suprasegmental elements of the language, may cause difficulty for students In general, if the target language's phonemic system is similar to the students' phonemic system, the students will have less difficulty learning the language

- Orthography The learnability of a word may also be influenced by the connection between pronunciation and spelling This is especially true in the case of English, where the script of a word may not provide any cues as to how it should be spoken In addition

to learning the pronunciation and meaning of a new word, learners will need to learn

an alphabet that they may not be familiar with

- Length The longer the word is , the more difficult it is to remember According to a research by Gerganov and Taseva (1982), English learners memorize one-syllable words more quickly than larger words Unavailability or incomprehensible are two

examples of big words that contain numerous recognizable morphemes As a result, word acquisition is also influenced by the length factor

- Morphology Due to the complexity and additional load that must be learned by the learner, having multiple variants of a word might pose a learning issue This covers traits such

as plural irregularity, tense irregularity, and gender of inanimate nouns Students will find it much easier to compose and decompose words if they are familiar with English affixes However, knowing affixes does not always imply that you will understand a word correctly Because the term is made up of meaningful morphemes, the learner may conclude that the word's meaning is equal to the sum of its parts' meanings

- Grammar According to many studies, some grammatical categories are more challenging than others The easiest elements of speech to learn are nouns, followed by verbs and adjectives, with adverbs being the most difficult Foreign learners may find them the easiest to master because English is not an inflectional language and English nouns

do not take on any affixes except for plural or opposite forms in select situations

Class conversion is a common occurrence in languages like English, and it can cause problems with word understanding and learnability, particularly with verbs

- Semantic feature of the word The following semantic features have been recognized as potentially interfering with the learning process and making it more difficult:

+ Abstractness Due to the more complicated structure of abstract nouns, it is commonly considered that they are more difficult to master than concrete nouns

+ Specificity and register restriction Foreign learners have a tendency to employ broad phrases that can be applied

to a variety of situations, sometimes even overgeneralizing and neglecting register and collocational constraints

+ Idiomaticity Idiomatic expressions are particularly peculiar to a language, and their meaning cannot be deduced just by looking at its parts

+ Multiple meanings

The most comprehension problems were caused by words with multiple meanings Learners may struggle to distinguish between several meanings of the same term and may not be able to use all of them

Moreover, Robert Lado (1955) also said that the forms , meaning distribution and classification of word differences could be effects which contribute to vocabulary learning and teaching problems

Furthermore, learning motivation plays an important role in learning English vocabulary The motivation of the learners impacts how much attention they will pay, how they will complete a learning assignment, and how much sense of achievement they will have

2.5 Difficulties in vocabulary learning

For learners, one of the most comprehensive and challenging components of English to grasp is vocabulary However, efficient vocabulary learning is intertwined with a teacher's grasp of and a student's perception of word difficulties There is a lot

of research that has pointed out a lot of common difficulties in vocabulary learning

According to Scott Thornbury (2007), some common difficulties in vocabulary learning include pronunciation , spelling , length and complexity, grammar and meaning

- Pronunciation Words that are difficult to pronounce are more difficult to learn, according to research

- Spelling The differences between pronunciation and spelling are common causes of errors in pronunciation and spelling, and they can add to the difficulty of a term

While most English spelling is very consistent, there are a few notable exceptions

Words with silent characters are particularly difficult to spell such as island, hour, honest,etc

- Length and complexity Longer words are generally harder to learn and remember simply because long words can have several morphemes Furthermore, words which are complex like

compound nouns or phrasal verbs are also notoriously difficult for learners of English

- Grammar Also problematic is the grammar associated with the word Remembering whether a verb like want, love, arrange is followed by an infinitive (to go) or an -ing form (going) or past form of verbs like speak, take can also add to its difficulty

- Meaning The connotations of new words were barely grasped by the students They claimed that unfamiliar terms made it difficult to translate and comprehend what they were saying Moreover, when words overlap in meaning , learners are to confuse them ( Thornbury 2004 )

- Range, connotation and idiomaticity Words that may be employed in a variety of situations are seen as being easier than synonyms with a narrower range of applications And a lexical item collocate can also cause difficulty Moreover, words or expressions that are idiomatic (butterflies in my stomach, one in a blue moon ) will generally be more difficult than words whose meaning is transparent (nervous, rarely)

Besides these similar difficulties, Gower, Philips and Walter also point out another problem faced by students in the learning vocabulary process which is appropriate use of words It's also difficult to know when to use words appropriately

Some words and expressions can only be used in certain situations And it's also crucial for learners to understand whether a word or phrase has a distinct style–

informal or formal

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH FINDINGS

3.1 Current situation of learning English vocabulary of the first year students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University

Vocabulary is an important aspect in learning English Therefore, at any level

of English learners , they have to learn English vocabulary first to master other skills

At Thuongmai University, first year students are from different backgrounds of English level The research was conducted among 110 participants who are first year students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University They are almost similar in age, ranging from 19 to 20 years old Basing on the question, “How long have you learned English?”, the collected result shows that most of participants have learned English for 9-12 years ( 61.8%), 23.6% students have learned English more than 12 years and just a few percentage of students have learned English from 3-6 years which means first year students at Thuongmai University have studied English at very young age

Chart 3.1: The students’ opinion about the importance of learning English

vocabulary

The first pie chart indicates first year students’ opinion about the importance of vocabulary in the English learning process It is clear that overall almost all students are fully aware of the role of acquiring vocabulary 49 % of students totally agree and 36% of students agree that learning English vocabulary is important While the number of students who disagree is just only 3% and none of them totally thinks that learning vocabulary is totally unimportant

Chart 3.2: The amount of time which students spend learning English

vocabulary every day

With regard to first year students’ time in learning vocabulary every day, the second pie chart shows that the proportion of students who spend 30 minutes to 1 hour learning vocabulary is highest with 39 % There are 25 % of the total amount

of students spending 1 hour to 2 hours, while 21% students spend less than 30 minutes studying The rest of the students spend more than 2 hours per day It is supposed that, having awareness of the importance of vocabulary in studying a foreign language, first year students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University quietly focus on learning English vocabulary

Also, according to the survey and interview, most of the students are interested

in learning English vocabulary with 76% of students who did the survey and just 1 person does not really like learning English vocabulary Moreover, the percentage of students who are satisfied with their vocabulary is also high More than 66% first year students admitted that they are confident with their vocabulary However, there are still more than 33 % of students who are not really satisfied with their vocabulary

Besides, in learning English vocabulary process, first year students at Faculty of English at Thuongmai University use various methods to acquire new words Some

21%

39%

25%

15%

How much time do you spend studying

vocabulary every day?

66%), listening to music, podcast ( 63%), using flashcards ( 58%), writing words repeatedly ( 60%) , reading words repeatedly ( 40%) , using vocabulary apps on smartphone ( 51%), practicing using new words in conversation ( 51%) and making

a new word list ( 41%), etc

In sum, first year students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University have

a good academic background when nearly all students have leanred English for many years Also, being aware of the importance of learning English vocabulary and having interest in acquiring it, students have spent quite a long time learning English vocabulary every day However, the more they study, the more problems they have

in their learning process Therefore, the next part of this research will discover some potential difficulties faced by them

3.2 The common difficulties in learning English vocabulary faced by the first year students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University

The primary objective of this study was to examine the first year students’

difficulties in learning English in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University and suggest methods to overcome the potential problems From the result of interview and questionnaire, it was found that almost first year students in Faculty of English

at Thuongmai University faced problems in learning word pronunciation, word spelling, long and complex words, grammar associated with the word, connotative words, words with overlap meaning, idiomatic words and choosing the appropriate meaning of the words The detailed findings and the results of the research will almost

be shown in this chapter and be presented in tabular form

- Difficulty in word pronunciation Because pronunciation is one of the sub-skills of speaking, it was impossible to separate it from speaking skills As a result, one of the most important sub-skills to master was pronunciation However, it is also still a challenge for many English learners and first year students in Faculty of English at Thuongmai University as well

Chart 3.3: The percentage of students faced difficulties in learning word

pronunciation