Luận văn thạc sĩ VNU ULIS techniques of presenting vocabulary to increase motivation for grade 11 students with the english textbook (basic stream) at dong do high school in hanoi

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES --- *** --- PHAM THI HANG TECHNIQUES OF PRESENTING VOCABULARY T

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

- *** -

PHAM THI HANG

TECHNIQUES OF PRESENTING VOCABULARY TO INCREASE MOTIVATION FOR GRADE 11 STUDENTS WITH THE ENGLISH TEXTBOOK (BASIC STREAM) AT DONG DO

HIGH SCHOOL IN HANOI (Các thủ thuật giới thiệu từ vựng nhằm gây hứng thú cho học sinh lớp 11 bằng giáo trình tiếng Anh cơ bản tại trường cấp 3 Đông Đô,

Hà nội)

M A MINOR THESIS Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 601410

HA NOI-2010

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGE AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

- *** -

PHAM THI HANG

TECHNIQUES OF PRESENTING VOCABULARY TO INCREASE MOTIVATION FOR GRADE 11 STUDENTS WITH THE ENGLISH TEXTBOOK (BASIC STREAM) AT DONG DO

HIGH SCHOOL IN HANOI (Các thủ thuật giới thiệu từ vựng nhằm gây hứng thú cho học sinh lớp 11 bằng giáo trình tiếng Anh cơ bản tại trường cấp 3 Đông Đô,

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part 1: Introduction 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aims of the study 2

1.3.Research questions 3

1.4.Methods of the study 3

1.5 Scope of the study 3

1.6 Design of the study 4

Part2:Development 5

Chapter 1: Literature Review 5

1.Concepts of vocabulary 5

Definition of Vocabulary 5

Classification of Vocabulary 5

What need to be taught in English vocabulary? 7

2 The role of vocabulary in language teaching and learning 8

3 Motivation and its role in language teaching and learning 9

4 Techniques in presenting vocabulary and their benefits 10

Chapter 2: Present situation of teaching and learning vocabulary at Dong Do High School 13

1 Learners’ language background and vocabulary learning methods 13

2 Teachers’ current methods of teaching vocabulary 14

3 Material and material assessment 15

Chapter 3 : Data collection, findings and discussion and some suggestions 16

1 Data collection 16

1.1 The participants 16

1.2 Instruments for collecting data 16

1.2.2 Classroom observation and discussion 17

2.1 Findings and discussion about students 18 2.2.1 Students’ attitude towards vocabulary learning 18 2.1.2 Students’ difficulties in vocabulary learning 19 2.1.3 Students’ common ways in vocabulary learning 20 2.1.4 Students’ comments on teachers’ methods in teaching vocabulary 21 2.2 Findings and discussion about teachers 24 2.2.1 Teachers’ attitudes about vocabulary teaching and their difficulties in teaching vocabulary to 11 th students at D.D high school 24 2.2.2 Teachers’ current methods in teaching vocabulary 26 2.2.3 Techniques of presenting vocabulary to increase students’ motivation 28 2.3 Findings from the class observation 31

2.3.2 Data analysis of the class observation 31 2.3.2.1 The first lesson- Unit 8- Reading 31 2.3.2.2 The second lesson- Unit 11- Reading 32 2.3.3 Post- activity questionnaire: Students’ response to two samples of presenting

2 Some feasible recommendations for teaching and learning vocabulary more effectively

3 Limitation and suggestions for further study 37

APPENDICES

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1.Rationale of the study

With the open-door policy as well as the developments in the economy and society, English has become the most popular foreign language in Vietnam The number of people learning and using English for different purposes has been unceasingly increased day by day This has resulted in changing the outlook of the Ministry of Education and Training for teaching and learning English at upper secondary school It has become a compulsory subject in the state examination and it is one of three subjects for some universities‟ entrance exam However, both

of teaching learning of English are still far from being satisfaction Both teachers and learners have faced many difficulties in English teaching and learning, especially in teaching and learning of vocabulary

It is known to most second language learners that the acquisition of vocabulary is a fundamental and important component in the course of their learning A good mastery of vocabulary is essential for ESL / EFL learners, especially for those who learn for specific purposes or expect

to operate at an advanced level in English It is undeniable that vocabulary plays a significant role in second language acquisition Wilkins (1972, p.11) emphasizes the importance of vocabulary “without grammar, very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed” Furthermore, Pyles and Algeo (1970) state that “when we first think about language, we think about words It is words that we arrange together to make sentences, conversation and discourse of all kinds” In fact, vocabulary is the decisive element that links the four skills of speaking, reading, listening and writing all together In order to communicate well in a foreign language, we should acquire an adequate number of words and should know how to use them accurately

In Vietnam in general, vocabulary teaching has not paid much attention as it deserves Most of teachers have been teaching vocabulary within lessons of reading, listening and writing For them, the common way to communicate word meaning is translation through word list and many learners use rote strategies as their major way of vocabulary learning, which is really a problem

in teaching and learning a foreign language Therefore, educationists should take this into consideration

At Dong Do High School, the problem of vocabulary teaching and learning is rather difficult

The main reason is that the class size with 45-50 students and learners‟ proficiency of English is rather low Another reason is the course book with a large number of new words Therefore, learners are often confused and find difficult to remember all of them Furthermore, students at Dong Do High School, like other Vietnamese learners in general, usually learn vocabulary passively through their teachers‟ explanation They only write new words on paper with equivalence in Vietnamese and attempt to learn new words by heart Besides, during the lessons, students only ask their teachers for help when they encounter new words Sometimes, teachers require them to look up words in the dictionaries Consequently, the students feel bored with vocabulary lessons and they soon forget new words they have learned easily

I have been working as a teacher of English for 7 years and my students have asked me many times about the ways of vocabulary learning Facing these problems, I and some teachers at Dong Do High School want to do something to change methodology of teaching and learning vocabulary Therefore, I have conducted a research to find the feasible solutions to help the teachers to apply more suitable methods in teaching vocabulary effectively, especially some techniques of presenting new words to raise students‟ motivation in learning vocabulary I wish

to help the learners improve their lexical knowledge and feel more interested in vocabulary lessons As a result, this study will investigate techniques in presenting vocabulary to increase motivation for grade 11 students with the English textbook (basic stream) at Dong Do High School in Hanoi

1.2 Aims of the study

The aims of the study are:

 To give a brief overview about the role of vocabulary and its relevance in teaching and learning methodology

 To conduct a survey about present situation of vocabulary teaching and learning at Dong Do High School

 To explore the possible problems faced by the teachers in teaching vocabulary

 To explore the possible problems faced by the students in learning vocabulary

 To investigate some techniques of presenting vocabulary used at Dong Do High School

1.3 Research questions

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

1 What are difficulties in teaching and learning vocabulary at D.D High school?

2 What are students‟ reactions to the present vocabulary teaching at D.D high school?

3 What are the techniques of presenting vocabulary that motivate students at D.D high school?

1.4 Methods of the study

To achieve the aims mentioned above, a survey research with quantitative and qualitative method is used and the following tasks are involved in my study.As a result, the reliability of the research is highly appreciated

The instruments used for data collection include survey questionnaires for students and teachers at Dong Do High School

 Collecting data for the analysis from 100 students at Dong Do High School in

2009

 Collecting data from 10 teachers teaching English at Dong Do High School

 Observing some experienced teachers‟ classes teaching grade 11 and interviewing some teachers as well as students

 Assessing what difficulties are dominant in vocabulary teaching and learning

 Applying some techniques in presenting vocabulary in some classes

 Conducting a post-class survey

1.5 Scope of the study

The study is narrowed down to the area of teaching and learning vocabulary for grade 11 students at Dong Do High School with the textbook English 11 Specifically, this thesis deals with the present situation in teaching and learning vocabulary, the techniques used in presenting vocabulary to motivate students to find out which methods or strategies are favored most so that inferences would be introduced

1.6.Design of the study

The study is divided into three parts:

 The first part “Introduction”.with the rationale, the aim, the methods and the scope

of the study are presented

 The second part “ Development” consists of 3 chapters:

Chapter 1 provides a brief literature review on concepts relevant to the study i.e definition of vocabulary, concepts of words, the role of vocabulary in teaching and learning languages,

motivation and the overview of some techniques in presenting vocabulary and their benefits in

teaching vocabulary

Chapter 2 deals with the investigation into teaching and learning situation at Dong Do High School In this chapter the information about students, their vocabulary learning methods and strategies as well as teachers‟ techniques in presenting vocabulary are discussed comprehensively

Chapter 3 “Data collection, findings and discussion, some suggestions” focuses on analysis of effective application of vocabulary teaching and learning methods so that students do not feel uncomfortable and bored in the vocabulary lessons

The last part of the study “Conclusion” includes review, limitations and implication of the study

PART 2-THE DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 1 : Literature Review

In this part, the author addresses some theoretical angles from which she views her ideas

Firstly, the author presents some concepts of vocabulary Secondly, she discusses the role of vocabulary teaching in EFL classrooms Next, the researcher presents some basic issues of motivation in foreign language teaching and learning, and particularly motivation in correlation with vocabulary teaching Finally, the concepts of techniques in presenting vocabulary and their benefits

1.Concepts of vocabulary

1.1.Definition of vocabulary

Broadly defined, vocabulary is knowledge of words and word meanings However, vocabulary

is more complex than this definition suggests Folse (2004) states that “learning a language entails learning numerous aspects about language, including its pronunciation, writing system, syntax, pragmatics…, but the most important aspect is vocabulary” It is true that when you learn a language, the utmost is vocabulary

In general, there have been different definitions of vocabulary Each linguist gives his own definition of vocabulary depending on the criteria that he considers the most important in terms

of linguistics, semantics, lexicology, etc According to Ur (1996:60) “ a new item vocabulary may be more than a single word, a compound of two or three words or mult-word idioms” Pyles and Algeo (1970, p.96) also give their opinion about vocabulary “ when most of us think about language we first think about words It is true that the vocabulary is the focus of language It is

in words that we arrange together to make sentences, conversation and discourse of all kinds”

These statements indicate that vocabulary is the total number of words of a language and it is an essential part of a language, as Nation (2001) emphasizes “ knowing a word means knowing at least its form, its meaning and its basic usage”

1.2.Classification of vocabulary

In teaching and learning vocabulary, it is essential to distinguish between different types of vocabulary because different types of vocabulary need different focus and treatment or some

types of vocabulary will be given priorities and emphases and teaching according to learners‟different aims of learning.As Nu, D (2004) states “ vocabulary can be classified differently according to different criteria such as morpheme, meaning, function, frequency of use, etc”

1.2.1.Vocabulary classified in term of morpheme Words can be divided into three kinds : simple word, deprived word and compound word

Simple words consist of a root morpheme such as boy, tall

Derived words are those that consist of a root and one or more derivational morphemes such as

teacher, misunderstand,…

Compound words are those that consist of at least two roots with or without derivational

morphemes such as bathroom, swimming pool, rainbow…

1.2.2.Vocabulary classified in term of meaning

On the whole, a word possesses two kinds of meaning: lexical meaning and grammatical meaning Hence, vocabulary can be divided into notional and functional words

Notional words have clear lexical meaning They address actions, qualities, objects and it form a

great number of a speaker‟s vocabulary

Functional words have grammatical meaning and they only have meaning in relation with other

words with which they are combined They are particles, prepositions, articles, auxiliaries, conjunctions, etc

1.2.3.Vocabulary classified in term of functions

According to this criterion, vocabulary can include different parts of speech such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions and pronouns Each part has to comply with grammatical rules and relates to one another Learners, therefore, should be aware of different

functions of vocabulary items during the course

1.2.4.Vocabulary classified in term of Frequency of use

Nation and Waring (2004) state 2 types of vocabulary: high frequency words and low frequency ones Nation and Waring also indicate the number of about 3,000 frequency words that learners need to know From this Nation argues that teachers should develop strategies to help learners to comprehend and know how to use low frequency words after mastering high frequency words

1.2.5.Other Classifications of Vocabulary

According to Nu, D (2004), vocabulary can be classified basing on context, conditions, communicative purposes, content or aims of lessons In teaching a language, words can be divided into active (positive) words or passive (negative) words and active words tend to be paid more attention

1.3 What need to be taught in English vocabulary?

According to Penny Ur (1996), when the teacher teaches a new English words, he should, by all means, provide his learners with its pronunciation and spelling, word form, grammar, collocation, aspects of meaning, word-formation As regards to this issue, Nu, D (2004) also states that knowing a word means knowing its meaning, word form (spelling, pronunciation, grammar), and its use in appropriate contexts

“paid”; when a noun such as “a foot” is taught, it should be given its plural form as “feet”

 Collocation Collocation is the way in which words are used together regularly in a specific language It refers to the restriction on how words can be used together in right contexts Thus, this is another piece of information about a new item, which may be worth teaching When introducing words like “to make” and “to do”, for example, the teacher may note that both words mean, “to perform” but can be distinguished by the words they collocate with We often say, “to do the shopping” but never say, “to make the shopping”

Aspect of meaning consists of denotation, connotation, appropriateness and meaning relationship

The meaning of a word is primarily what it refers to in the real word, its denotation This

meaning is found in a dictionary For example, dog denotes a kind of animal, more specifically,

a common, domestic carnivorous mammal

A less obvious component of the meaning of a word is its connotation in different contexts or its connotative meaning This is the associations or positive or negative feelings it evokes The connotative meaning of a word is varied from context to another

Appropriateness is more subtle aspect of meaning that indicates whether a particular item is appropriate one to use in a certain context or not Thus, it is useful for a learner to know whether

a certain word is very common, or relatively

2 The role of vocabulary in language teaching and learning

Vocabulary teaching and learning is a complicated and laborious process For every language learner it is essential to acquire the language components of a language before developing the language skills Therefore, it can not be denied the role of vocabulary in language teaching and learning is extremely significant Troike (1976:87) emphasizes “vocabulary is the most important for understanding and knowing names for things, actions and concepts” This does not mean that other aspects of language such as phonology or grammar can be neglected, but the fact shows that language learners need vocabulary first to communicate In fact, words are the tools people use to think, to express ideas and emotions and learn about the world Thus, improving students‟ vocabulary knowledge has become an educational priority

However, this aspect has not been paid much attention because many may perceive it as a simple task According to Meara (1982: 100), “vocabulary acquisition has received short shift from applied linguistics This neglect is all the more striking in that learners themselves readily admit that they experience considerable difficulty with vocabulary”

Since “vocabulary can be defined, roughly, as the words we teach in the foreign language” (Ur,

1990, p.60), it is useful to pay attention to words when mentioning vocabulary With a certain amount of words students will be able to communicate at a certain level Then, when they master a good knowledge of vocabulary, they can develop all language skills including

speaking, listening, reading and writing Needless to say, teaching and learning vocabulary is a crucial aspect in foreign language methodology, especially at present, when communicative approach is widely used and highly appreciated in Vietnam Language learner‟s aim is to understand and to be understood in their communication when using the target language In order to reach this goal, students need to master the vocabulary of that language

Therefore, the teacher‟s task is to instruct students how to learn vocabulary successfully and in this case motivation is an important factor that decides the success of learning, which means the teachers have to search for and apply effective ways to motivate their students to learn vocabulary

3 Motivation and its role in language teaching and learning

Fostering pupils‟ motivation towards learning is an essential feature of the teaching skills involved in establishing a positive classroom climate Simply wanting to learn new words is no guarantee that words will be remembered The only difference a strong motivation is that learner

is likely to spend more time on rehearsal and practice, which is in the end will pay off in term of memory But even unmotivated learners remember words if they have been set tasks that require them to make decisions about them

Motivation has been defined as “the learner‟s orientation with regard to the goal of learning a second language Learners with positive attitudes toward the subject and high and high motivation are likely to be successful in second language learning” (Gardner, 1985) Also, Ellis (1997) stresses that motivation involves that attitudes and effective states that influence the degree of effort that learners make to learn a second language

In brief, there are many different definitions of motivation but I totally agree with Harmer (1994) when he defines motivation as “some kind of internal drive that encourages students to pursue a course of action”

Also, Harmer (2001:51) separates motivation into 2 main types: Extrinsic and Intrinsic

motivation Extrinsic Motivation “is caused by any number of outside factors such as: the need

to pass an exam, the hope of financial reward or the possibility of future travel” It is concerned with the factors beyond the classroom On the other hand, intrinsic motivation is concerned with what takes place inside the classroom and it is affected by some factors such as conditions,

methods, teachers and success To understand two types of motivation, we can take the definition of Moore (1992:173) He emphasizes that “Intrinsic motivation is what learners bring

to the learning environment, that is, their internal attributes, values, needs, and personality factors In contrast, extrinsic motivation originates outside the individual and it is concerned with external environmental factors that help shape students‟ behavior”

It is true that without motivation, we will certainly fail to make necessary effort as Brown (1990:161) claims that “a learner will be successful with proper motivation”

In Vietnam, both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are necessary for language learners who are often driven by social and institutional factors such as having a good and well-paid job as well

as exam pressure from which scores are main factors in granting scholarship

As motivation plays an important role in second language learning, teachers should know how

to motivate students by applying suitable and effective methods in teaching languages

In conclusion, motivation plays a significant part in deciding whether or not a student gains real success in learning Thus, a language teacher must know how to motivate students to learn

Also, teachers should pay attention to both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation because these kinds

of motivation will be of great help to the them in applying suitable methods to increase motivation for students

4.Techniques in presenting vocabulary

In language learning, it is essential learners know a number of vocabulary to perform language skills including speaking, listening, reading and writing As a result, vocabulary teaching needs

to precede other teaching skills However, according to Nu ( 2004), language teachers can teach new words at any time during a lesson

In general, there are lots of ways of getting across the meaning of a lexical item The objective

of presenting vocabulary is how to help students know the meaning of a word or a phrase

Moreover, the teachers can draw the students‟ attention to other aspects of a word such as its spelling, pronunciation and its use in different contexts I am quite interested in the following ideas of vocabulary presentation by famous linguists Ur (1996) suggests ten ways of vocabulary presentation for the meaning of new items: “ concise definition, detailed description, examples, illustration ( such as by pictures and objects), demonstration (acting, mime), context, synonyms,

antonyms, translation and associated ideas or collocations” Also, Allen (1983) suggests other ways in presenting vocabulary These techniques are applied for different levels of learners from beginners to advanced learners According to Allen, using visual aids, real objects and dictionaries can be of great help for vocabulary teaching Nu ( 2004) really supports this ideas

by Allen by giving 8 ways of presenting a new word such as by using visual aids, realia, actions

or gestures, situations or explanations, synonyms/ antonyms, examples, translations and combining a variety of techniques along with suggested questions I am quite in favor of some techniques used in the presentation of new vocabulary items by Gairns and Redman (1986)

They are the following techniques

 Visual techniques include :

Visual: These techniques include flash cards, photographs, blackboard drawings, wall charts;

realia (i.e object themselves); gestures and mime They are extensively used for conveying meaning and are particularly useful for teaching concrete items of vocabulary such as food or furniture and certain areas such as places, professions, description of people, actions and activities (such as sports and verbs of movement) They often lend themselves easily to practice activities involving student‟s interaction, for example, a set of picture illustrating sporting activities would be used as a means of presenting items such as skiing, swimming, and climbing, etc

Mime gesture: These are often used to supplement other ways of conveying meaning When

teaching an item such as „to kneel‟ a teacher might build a situation to illustrate it, making use of

the blackboard and gesture to reinforce the concept

 Verbal techniques This is commonly used to help students understand, especially the abstract words It includes the use of illustrative situations (oral or written), synonyms/antonyms, gradable items and example

of the types For instance, we can use the examples of the types to illustrate the meaning of

superordinates such as ‘ furniture’, „vegetable’, ‘meat’ and ‘transport’ is a 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

 Translation

The problem of whether translation should be used or how often it is used in vocabulary teaching has undergone much controversy Many methodologists nowadays view it as a very effective way in conveying meaning to the learners

Traditionally, translation has been the most widely used means in monolingual classes, and especially suitable for dealing with incidental vocabulary that may crop up in a lesson

Translation can save valuable time that might otherwise be spent on a largely unsuccessful explanation in English and in can be a very quick way to dispose of low frequency items that may worry the students Moreover, it can help the learners avoid their misunderstandings of the meanings of the words However, translation is considered a complicated process So it might be used with care and consideration, especially when precise equivalents in Vietnamese are difficult to establish

On the whole, in order to make vocabulary lessons more enjoyable to students, all the language teachers should pay attention to the combination of different techniques to show the meaning of

a word For example, if the teacher presents the word “smile”, he or she can draw a picture on the board first illustrating a person who is smiling Using picture is interesting and students can easily remember the word Besides this, the teacher can show by facial expression, which gives meaning of a word clearly Moreover, the teacher can raise the question what the word means and then the students give translation Translation is an effective way in teaching to make sure all the students an understand a word After that, the teacher gives the example to show how the word “ smile” is used as a verb Teachers should remember to use each techniques quickly and then all the techniques reinforces each other

Chapter 2: Present situation of teaching and learning vocabulary

at Dong Do High School

Teacher‟s role, learner‟s background, their needs, motivation, learning environment and material play an important role in learner‟s success or failure in learning a foreign language In this chapter, I present an overview of learners‟ background, their methods of learning vocabulary, and teachers‟ current methods of teaching vocabulary Furthermore, the materials and facilities for language teaching are also assessed

1.Learners’ language background and vocabulary learning methods

Dong Do high school is a private one in Hanoi It has been founded for 17 years and enroll students not only from Hanoi but also from other provinces in Vietnam Almost of students in Hanoi have been learning English since they were in 6th form However, some students coming from other provinces like Hai duong, Nam Ha, Thai binh, Lang Son, etc only have accessed to this subject for 2 or 3 years and they have learned French or Russian instead Moreover, some of the students in Hanoi benefit from more favorable language learning and conditions than those who live in countryside or remote areas In addition, , students‟ language proficiency ranges greatly Some are at pre-intermediate level, other are at elementary level and the rest are only starters

English is a compulsory subject and because of Dong Do high school‟s educational policy, it is also an essential subject besides Math, Literature There are 4 or 6 periods of English a week , which depends on students‟ language proficiency It is quite different from other public schools

in Hanoi with 2 or 3 periods of English weekly At the end of each month, there is an examination to test the students‟ ability and swap students from one class with another Because

of this kind of exam , the teachers only pay attention to teach grammar and reading texts, which are appropriate to the exam Consequently, the students do not acquire much knowledge of English

Their knowledge of grammar is acceptable but their vocabulary is extremely limited From my survey and my talk to teachers and students, it is surprising that many students are only at beginning level of English Most of the students at DD high school who want to be good at all four skills, have difficulty in learning these skills They cannot express their viewpoints, their understanding in speaking and writing lessons Also, it is rather difficult for them to get the gist

of information from the conversations or texts in reading and listening lessons And the main reasons for this problems only are that they lack a great deal of vocabulary and the main teaching method that the teachers apply are “grammar focus” and the expectation of the outcomes is just only the students‟ scores in their English written tests As a result, the students are rarely given chances to communicate in English in class They seldom work in pairs, groups

or participate in such activities as discussions or games

As a result of educational aims and teaching methods at Dong Do high school, students‟

vocabulary learning methods and strategies are quite traditional They use a wordlist or write a word many times to remember it All of them have no training on independent learning strategies so they are unable to guess the unknown words from the texts and use the dictionary effectively

2.Teacher’s current vocabulary teaching methods and strategies

In fact, of 10 teachers at DD high school, 20% have master degrees, 80% have been trained at College of Foreign languages They have been teaching English for at least 5 years These teachers have good experience of language teaching However, their vocabulary teaching methods and strategies are quite different There are some teachers who tend to adopt communicative-oriented and student-centered approach They are willing to explore new methodology and flexible in using different vocabulary teaching strategies to different groups of students with different language levels Whereas, some teachers prefer traditional teaching methods When they teach vocabulary, they write the new words on the board, then translate them into Vietnamese and make sentences with them They make an attempt to get the whole

class repeat the words in chorus (sometimes), ask some students to read the words aloud (rarely) and sometimes show some pictures on the projectors to illustrate new words As a result, the vocabulary learning activities are neither interesting nor motivating Then, the students‟

vocabulary competence is not developed and vocabulary teaching and learning are not as effective as expected

3.Material and material assessment

Crucial roles that teaching materials play in language teaching are indicated by different authors

in the literature Richards and Rodgers (cited in Nunan, 1991) view instructional materials as detailed specifications of content, and guidance to teachers on both the intensity of coverage and the amount of attention demanded by particular content or pedagogical tasks The materials provide basic for the content of the lesson, the balance of skills taught, and the kind of language practice students take part in In addition, good teaching materials are of great help to inexperienced teachers or poorly trained teachers They can serve as a form teacher training and teachers can get ideas on how to plan and teach the lesson from the materials

After the two new English textbooks: English 10 – the piloted textbook 1 and English 10 – the piloted textbook 2 were piloted in 46 secondary schools nationwide in 2003 – 2004 academic school year, New English textbooks (basic and advanced stream) have been in use officially at all high schools nationwide since 2006-2007 academic year These textbooks continue the purposes as well as the objectives of the two new English piloted textbooks: that is, an innovation in Vietnam‟s education At Dong Do high school, New English 11 textbooks (basic and advanced stream) have been in use since 2006 The English course is divided into 2 semesters for 17 weeks in each semester Each week, teachers of English have 3 periods of 45 minutes Each lesson consists of reading, listening, writing and language focus The vocabulary belongs to the glossary at the end of the book The aims and objectives of the senior high school‟s English curriculum is to help students consolidate, widen and enrich their English competence including both language knowledge and skills which they have gained at junior high school From my own experience and other teachers‟ ideas and through my interviews with a lot

of students at my school, the suitability of the textbook including Language points covered

(structures and vocabulary areas) and language competences covered (macro skills and their proportion) is quite sufficient and highly appreciated However, subject matter required (in terms of topics) are rather difficult for students They find it hard to understand the texts, express their understanding in speaking lessons because they lack a great number of vocabulary about the topics Therefore, they have little interest in learning English and the effectiveness of teaching English at my school is not satisfactory This is obviously manifested in teaching methods of almost teachers in my school even communicative approach is encouraged in this new material

Chapter 3 : Data collection, findings and discussion and some suggestions

1.Data collection

1.1.The participants

The participants of the survey questionnaires are placed into two groups.The first group involves

is 10 teachers of English ranging from 28 to 40 years old All of these teachers have been teaching English for at least 5 years at DD high school Of these teachers, two are masters of art

in English Teaching Methodology and the other 8 teachers are trained at College of Foreign

languages, Vietnam National University

The other group includes 100 students at 11th grade aged 17 and randomly chosen at Dong Do high school They are both male and female students and have been learning English at least

four or five years at junior secondary schools

1.2 Instruments for collecting data

In order to have a good understanding of the issue it is necessary to refer to an important source

of data collection together with the literature review I hope that by cross checking with the information obtained from the questionnaire, from observation and discussion with teaching staff, some useful suggestions can be made to increase students‟ motivation in learning

vocabulary by improving effective techniques in presenting new words at Dong Do high school

1.2.1 Questionnaires

To gain the data for the research, 2 questionnaires were administered to the respondents One was designed for the teachers and the other for the students This method is chosen because it is easy to construct, extremely versatile and uniquely capable of gathering a huge amount of

information in a short time (Dornyei, 2003)

The questionnaires were delivered to 10 teachers and 100 students After carefully examining the available instruments and basing on certain knowledge about learners, I design these

questionnaires to get information as follows

Students :

 Students‟ attitude towards vocabulary learning

 Some of the students‟ difficulties in vocabulary learning

 Students‟ common ways in learning vocabulary

 Students‟ comments on their teachers‟ techniques in presenting vocabulary and their expectation

Teachers:

 Teachers‟ attitude towards the role of vocabulary in language teaching and their difficulties in teaching vocabulary at Dong Do high school

 Teachers‟ current techniques in presenting vocabulary

 Techniques used by teachers to increase students‟ motivation in learning vocabulary

1.2.2 Classroom observation and discussion

Nunan, D (1992:91) pointed out that “because language classrooms are specifically constituted to bring about learning, it is not unreasonable to collect data about what goes on there”

In this research, besides the survey questionnaires, classroom observation is also applied in order to clarify and test the validity of the information about teaching and learning vocabulary

at 11th form The observations were made in 2 classes once a week in each class within 2 weeks Also, formal and informal discussions, small talks with both teachers and students to collect more data for this study were carried out at the same time

2 Findings and discussion

2.1 Findings and discussion about students 2.1.1 Students’ attitude towards vocabulary learning

Options Questions

c not very important

d not important at all

2 What do you think about learning vocabulary

in your English lessons?

3 Do you find it difficult to learn other skills (reading, speaking, writing and listening) due to your lack of vocabulary?

It can be seen from the table 1 that there is a high level of agreement about the significant role

of vocabulary in teaching and learning English Most of the students (96%) consider vocabulary a very important element in language learning, only 4% of them think vocabulary

is rather important and none of them has a different answer This means that the students are quite well aware of the importance of vocabulary in learning English It is expected that this clear awareness is supposed to increase the students‟ motivation to overcome difficulties they encounter in learning However, it is very amazing that only few of them are interested in

vocabulary lessons (5%) while more than half of them feel bored (56%) and only a few feel

rather interested (8%) When being asked why they have little interest in vocabulary learning, the students said they often copied new words provided by the teachers on board, repeat in chorus and sometimes look them up in the dictionary They underlined new words in the texts and asked the teachers for help and can forget new words soon Consequently, a great number

of them have difficulty in learning other language skills (83%) because they lack vocabulary, (11%) sometimes feel difficult and none of them chose the answer “never” From these statistics, we can know that the students have a passive way of learning vocabulary They only listen to the teachers for explanation of new words, spelling and grammatical functions, which

is rather boring Hence, the teachers should find more effective methods in teaching the students to learn vocabulary actively and effectively so that students do not have difficulty in learning vocabulary and then they lose motivation in vocabulary lessons

2.1.2 Students’ difficulties in vocabulary learning

It can be seen from the table 2, the students face many problems in learning vocabulary (48%) revealed that they find it hard to remember a word They can easily forget it after a short time

if they do not use it often In the lessons, the teachers sometimes help them with word use and pronunciation They only imitate the teachers In addition, the teachers do not give the rules for pronouncing because there is no time for teaching phonetics Therefore, they are very confused about these word aspects with (22%) having difficulty in pronunciation and( 11%) in spelling (19%) faced considerable difficulty in word use in correct contexts since they do not know the use of words in exact situations

Options Questions

a Too many new words in a lesson

b Not enough time in a lesson

c Lack of regular teacher‟s check

d Not enough motivation

Table 2: Students’ difficulties in vocabulary learning

2.1.3 Students’ common ways in vocabulary learning

As can be seen from the table 3, most of the students are influenced by traditional ways in their vocabulary learning habits such as using a wordlist, writing a word many times in an

attempt to remember it ( 61%), (19%) pay attention to word pronunciation and spelling

However, there are (9%) of the students choosing to learn new words by going word games, making sentences and ( 7%) practice vocabulary exercises 4% have their own ways of learning vocabulary in term of word forms, thematic word-groups, synonyms and antonyms and word context No matter which ways the students select, it can be effective if it is suitable for students‟ learning styles and preferred by the students

(60%) of the students when being asked the question 7 say that they often use the dictionary

(25%) of them often ask teachers or friends because they think it is the quickest way (5%) try

to guess the meaning based on the context with the synonyms and antonyms when they feel interested in the lesson and the topic but they think it is rather complicated and takes time

(8%) ignore new words Only 2% discuss with their partners and the teachers about new words

However, the researches show that learners who use a dictionary learn more vocabulary than those who rely on guessing from the contexts Thus, language teachers should encourage students to make use of dictionary as much as possible and guide students to use dictionary effectively

Options Questions

6 Which of the following ways do you often use to learn vocabulary?

a reading a word many times

b writing a word many times

c doing word games and making sentences

d practicing vocabulary exercises

e your own ways ( Please specify)

7 What do you often do when you