Khóa luận tốt nghiệp vocabulary learing strategies of first year english majored students at vnua

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES BA THESIS VOCABULARY LEARNING STRATEGIES OF FIRST YEAR ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS AT VNUA NGHIÊN CỨ

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE

FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES

BA THESIS

VOCABULARY LEARNING STRATEGIES OF FIRST YEAR ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS AT VNUA NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ CÁC CHIẾN LƯỢC HỌC TỪ VỰNG CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM NHẤT NGÀNH NGÔN NGỮ ANH

Student: DO THI MINH TIEN Student code: 621278

Major: ENGLISH Supervisor: PHAM HUONG LAN, M.A

Hanoi – 2021

VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE

FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES

BA THESIS

VOCABULARY LEARNING STRATEGIES OF FIRST YEAR ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS AT VNUA NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ CÁC CHIẾN LƯỢC HỌC TỪ VỰNG CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM NHẤT NGÀNH NGÔN NGỮ ANH

Student: DO THI MINH TIEN Student code: 621278

Major: ENGLISH Supervisor: PHAM HUONG LAN, M.A

Hanoi – 2021

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report

entitled “Vocabulary learning strategies of first year English-majored

students at VNUA” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the

degree of Bachelor in English Language Except where the reference is indicated, no other person‟s work has been used without due acknowledgement

in the text of the thesis

Hanoi, 2021

Do Thi Minh Tien

Approved by SUPERVISOR

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1

1.Rationale 1

2 Aims and objectives of the study 2

2.1 Aims of the study 2

2.2 Objectives of the study 2

3 Research questions 3

4 Scope of the study ………3

5 Significance of the study ………3

6 Design of the study ……… 3

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT ………..5

Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW……….… … 5

1.1 Review of previous studies……….………….…… 5

1.1.1 Review of the previous studies in the world……….…… 5

1.1.2 Review of the previous studies in Vietnam……….……….… 6

1.1.3 Summary……….….…………8

1.2 Review of theoretical background……….……… 8

1.2.1 Vocabulary……….……….…8

1.2.2 Learning Strategies……….……… 9

1.2.3 Vocabulary Learning Strategies……….………9

1.2.4 Types of vocabulary learning strategies……… ……… 10

1.2.5 The importance of vocabulary learning strategy……… ………12

Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY……… ……… 14

2.1 Research governing orientation……… …….14

2.2 Research methods……… …… 14

2.2.1 Research methodology……… 14

2.2.2 Research setting/ context……… 15

2.2.3 Data collecting instruments 15

2.2.4 Data collecting procedures 16

2.2.5 Data analysis 16

2.3 Summary 17

Chapter 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 3.1 Finding 1: Vocabulary learning strategies frequently used by students 18

3.2 Finding 2: The most and the least frequently used strategies 19

3.2.1 Determination strategies 19

3.2.2 Social discovery strategies 20

3.2.3 Social consolidation strategies 21

3.2.4 Memory strategies 22

3.2.5 Cognitive strategies 23

3.2.6 Metacognitive strategies 24

3.3 Summary 25

PART 3: CONCLUSION 28

3.1 Recapitulation 28

3.2 Conclusions 28

3.3 Limitations of the current research 29

3.4 Recommendations 30

3.4.1 Further study 30

3.4.2 Recommendations for learning and teaching English at VNUA……… 30

REFERENCES 31

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to find out a strategy often use and the most and least frequently used vocabulary learning strategies used by 70 first year English- majored students (K65) at Vietnam National University of Agriculture (VNUA) in the second year semester of the academic 2020-2021 The research method was survey research with descriptive statistics; the survey questionnaire was adapted from Natpassorn Riankamol‟s 25- item Questionnaire

of Vocabulary Learning Strategies and was depended on Schmitt‟s Taxonomy The findings indicated that Memory strategies were at the first rank while social discovery strategies were preferred the least Through these findings, it showed that students concentrated on how to memorize during the process of increase the vocabulary to create motivation throughout their education In memory strategies, the most frequently used vocabulary strategy was “I write a new word

in a sentence so I can remember it” And the least frequently used vocabulary strategy was “I ask the teacher to translate the words into English.” in social discovery strategies

List of tables and figures

Table 2.1 Items dividing into Schmitt‟s categories

Table 2.2 The information of respondents

Table 2.3 Usage averages of vocabulary learning strategies

Table 2.4 Use of determination strategies

Table 2.5 Use of Social discovery strategies

Table 2.6 Use of Social consolidation strategies

Table 2.7 Use of Memory strategies

Table 2.8 Use of Cognitive strategies

Table 2.9 Use of Metacognitive strategies

Table 2.10 The most frequently used vocabulary learning strategies

Table 2.11 The most frequently used vocabulary learning strategies

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1.Rationale

Nowadays, English is one of the dominant languages in the world One of the main factors to acquire a language is vocabulary According to Harmer (1997), if grammar is regarded as a factor to create a frame of language, the vocabulary is a vital organ One of the sources that the learner cannot communicate fluently is because of their poor vocabulary, so the people who have a large vocabulary after graduating from high school or university have more advantage There are many strategies that the learners apply to improve their learning vocabulary and much research were carried out to investigate those

Researchers such as Laufer and Nation (1999), Maximo (2000), Read (2000), Gu (2003), Marion (2008) and Nation (2011) and others have realised that the acquisition of vocabulary is essential Language learners should employ

a range of vocabulary strategies if they wish to make their vocabulary learning effective

Since the late 1970s, many researchers have paid much attention to vocabulary learning strategies and considered these as a vital issue among different strategies of language learning Once foreign language learners have effective vocabulary strategies, they will be more likely to become much more successful language learners Vocabulary learning strategies enable autonomy and responsibility of students in their English learning (Oxford, 1994) (Gu, Y

ve Johnson, R, 1996) (Oxford R L., 1997)

When learning vocabulary, learners may apply more than one approach For example, some people like learning by heart, others often divide into many topics (family, fruits, things in room, personalities, jobs, daily routine, etc.); some others apply to speak a full sentence, or they may make a combination of various strategies

English is a relatively new major at Vietnam National University of Agriculture Students of this major not only learn about pronunciation, semantics but also many other subjects at the same time as the four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) All subjects require a number of vocabularies, so I myself experienced the difficulty in learning vocabulary when

I was in my first year and I quickly forgot the vocabulary I had learned before This might be a common situation among lots of other freshmen at VNUA In addition, to be eligible to graduate, students have to achieve level C1 according

to the European reference framework At level C1, students need to have 8000 vocabularies in their mind It is obvious that learning vocabulary and applying some strategies to acquire lexicon to learn better are very important to students

Being aware that self-training about vocabulary strategies can give big help to students in the process of learning vocabulary in specific and in the process of learning English in general, I was greatly attracted by vocabulary learning strategies and decided to choose this as the topic for my graduation paper Hopefully the results of my research will help to make some useful suggestions in improving students‟ vocabulary learning

2 Aims and objectives of the study

2.1 Aims of the study

This study aimed to look into some learning vocabulary strategies that first year English-majored students adopted for building up their English vocabulary during their study at Vietnam National University of Agriculture It found out the most and the least frequently used vocabulary learning strategies Thereby some suggestions would be made to help students with effective vocabulary learning strategies

2.2 Objectives of the study

This study had following objectives:

- Identifying the types of vocabulary learning strategies used by students

- Assessing how frequently vocabulary learning strategies are used

- Making some suggestions for students about an effective use of vocabulary learning strategies

3 Research questions

This study aimed to find out the answers to the following questions:

- Which strategies do students often use to learn vocabulary?

- What are the most and the least frequently used vocabulary learning

strategies by first year English- majored students at VNUA?

4 Scope of the study

This study investigated some vocabulary learning strategies that used by

70 first year English- majored students (K65) at VNUA It was conducted between January 20th and June 30th, 2021 Natpassorn Riankamol‟s 25-items Questionnaire of Vocabulary Learning Strategies was employed to collect the

data

5 Significance of the study

The results of the study reflected the use of vocabulary learning strategies among students at VNUA Based on this, some recommendations were made about the use of vocabulary learning strategies so as for students to reach better achievement in their learning Suggestions may also be given in training

vocabulary strategies for students from teachers

6 Design of the study

This study was divided into three parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion

Part 1, Introduction, provides brief information about the rationale, the aims & objectives, the research questions, the scope, the significance and the design of the study

Part 2, Literature review, presents an overview about some previous studies and some theoretical background to the study

Part 3, Methodology, includes the governing research orientation (the major method & the research questions) and the detailed methodology of the study (participants, data collecting instruments, data collecting procedures, data analysis)

Part 4, Findings and Discussion, demonstrates the major findings of the study as well as discussion around these findings

Part 5, Conclusion, Limitations and Recommendations, claims the main points of the study, some limitations of the study and recommendations for further study as well as some suggestions to improve learning strategies among English-majored students at VNUA

Part 2: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Review of previous studies

1.1.1 Review of some previous studies in the world

Realizing the importance of lexical acquisition through learning vocabulary strategies, foreign researchers have conducted many studies on this issue

A research from Oxford (1997) pointed out that learning vocabulary

strategies can be influenced by many factors like motivation, attitude, gender, learning styles and etc

In another research by Nagy and Scott (2000), he indicated that students use contextual analysis to find out the meaning of a word by looking closely at surrounding text Because when students read, they can meet with an enormous number of words as they read, some researchers believe that even a small improvement in the ability to use context clues has the potential to produce substantial, long-term vocabulary growth

A study was done by Gu and Johnson (1996) with the investigation of which strategies the learners at Chinese university used to learn vocabulary by comparing the results with vocabulary size and language proficiency The authors concluded that students who are successful often choose the metacognitive strategies

In the study was done with some researchers: S Baskin, A Iscan, B Karagoz, G Birol (2017) which applied Natpassorn Riankamol‟s 25- item Questionnaire of Vocabulary Learning Strategies Their research was operated

in Gaziosmanpasa University TOMER in the 2016- 2017 academic year with 22 students at level A1 The items were both in Turkish and English and it was divided into 5 groups according to Schmitt (1997, 2000) The subject is novices

in learning English, so the result showed that determination strategies were

utilized the most and the type of strategy that students used the least was cognitive strategies

In Schmitt (2000), the absorption of a second language depends on the lexical resource Learning vocabulary is a sub-discipline of second language acquisition, both of which have focused their attention on the needs of a large number of learners to utilize their vocabulary knowledge This can be done by the help of vocabulary learning strategies

In the study of Brown and Payne (1994), they found that all vocabulary learning strategies are linked to the five steps: the first step is encountering new words, the second step is getting an obvious image, the next is learning the meaning of the words, the fourth is making a strong memory connection between the forms and the meanings of the words, and the last step is using the words frequently

Natpassorn Riankamol's study (2008) was to investigate which English learning vocabulary strategy students apply to find out most and the least at Triam Udomsuksa School in the first semester of the academic 2008 In his instrument, he used a 25-item questionnaire adapted from Schimitt's taxonomy,

so a 25-item questionnaire was divided into some groups to measure the frequency of usage: determination strategies, social discovery strategies, social consolidation strategies, memory strategies, cognitive strategies, metacognitive strategies In his research, he used frequency, percentages and means to analyze the data The mean score showed that the use of metacognitive strategies were most frequently The least frequently strategy was cognitive strategies

1.1.2 Review of some previous studies in Vietnam

Currently, many scholars in Vietnam also have conducted numerous studies about learning vocabulary strategies in a specific group of subjects For

instance, in a research by Vi Van Huong (2018) called “Chiến lược và cách thức

tự học từ vựng tiếng anh hiệu quả cho sinh viên trường đại học Tây Bắc” The

results of this study showed some effective strategies of students: firstly, building motivation to self- study English vocabulary because it directly impacts

to the result, so the learners try to improve themselves by different ways; secondly, recognizing important and popular vocabulary in self-study English words by highlighting or noting this vocabulary that the native speakers often use in communication daily Thirdly, guessing the meaning- in the process of reading or listening, the learners are difficult to fully understand but they can guess the meaning based on the situation or content Some other strategies were found to be used such as using the dictionary, noting vocabulary, watching movies and reviewing the vocabulary

Pham Thi Thu Trang (2019) conducted a study namely “An investigation

into vocabulary learning strategies employed by the second-year non-English major students at Thai Nguyen university of agriculture and forestry” Her

study used some strategies (determination, social, memory, cognitive and metacognitive) with 100 students in two English classes through the vocabulary learning strategy questionnaire The result indicated that determination strategies were used the most which revealed that students favored guessing the meaning

of the word in textual context, using a bilingual or monolingual dictionary, making word lists, using vocabulary cards while metacognitive strategies (monitoring, decision- making, )were preferred the least

A scientific research was conducted by a student at the University of

Danang named Tran Huynh Thu Huong (2012) about “An investigation into the

vocabulary learning strategy of ESP students in college of foreign language”

She pointed out that there were three issues in learning vocabulary of 100 research' subjects These issues are: (1) using low-minded vocabulary learning strategies (learning by heart, repeat a word many times, etc.); (2) students are very lazy because they just look up the right meaning for the context that they are using in the dictionary; (3) this is out of touch with reality In her study, she

raised some profound solutions such as teachers should find out some benefits, motivation, the learning styles, the self-awareness about the role of using vocabulary strategies of students in each class

Another study was done by a teacher, Pham Huong Lan (2016) at VNUA

namely “Nghiên cứu ảnh hưởng của việc sử dụng sổ ghi chép từ vựng đối với

việc học từ Tiếng Anh của sinh viên năm thứ nhất lớp tiên tiến, chất lượng cao tại Học Viện Nông Nghiệp Việt Nam” This strategy is quite user- friendly

because it not also helps you learn vocabulary according to each topic or take a scientific note The author divided into 2 groups, the first group used this method and other one didn't apply The result indicated that the group using the vocabulary notebook showed better results than the other group on the test

1.1.3 Summary

The above information can be seen that some previous studies in the world have similarities with some studies in Vietnam It has shown the importance of vocabulary in learning a second language and researched as well

as gave some suggestions about vocabulary learning strategies for students

I found that these above studies were done with an effective outcome at universities I wondered if they were suitable for my study environment at VNUA, so my research confirmed the results that were made in previous research However, the research context in my study was the first year English- majored students (K65) at VNUA

1.2 Review of theoretical background

1.2.1 Vocabulary

According to many scholars, words are considered the basic elements allowing ideas to develop There have been different definitions of words in literature Özbay & Melanlıoğlu (2008) ,cited in the study by S Baskin, A Iscan,

B Karagoz, G Birol (2017), defined the word as “the shape of the thoughts and attitudes that we want to express” Kantemir (1997) and Ediskun (1999) agreed

that the word involves a set of sounds carrying meaning when being grammatically put into a sentence According to Schmitt (2000:23), word meaning consists of the connection of the word and its referent, and the letter means the person, thing, action and situation Word is a language unit serving as

a tool that one uses to express his certain thoughts, feelings (Swan & Walter, 1984)

1.2.2 Learning Strategies

According to the second language learning, strategy has been applied to the conscious moves made by second language learners intended to be useful in either learning or using the second language

Oxford (1994) defines strategies as “actions, behaviors, steps, or techniques students use, often unconsciously, to improve their progress in apprehending, internalizing, and using the second language” (p.1)

Ellis (1985) considered learning strategies as how learners lay up new second language rules This process can be pre conscious or subconscious He said that it is the mental processes of acquiring and using a second language O‟Malley and Chamot (1990, p.1) defined learning strategies as “the special thoughts or behaviors that individuals use to help them comprehend, learn or retain new information”

1.2.3 Vocabulary Learning Strategies

The first development in language learning strategies area began in the 1970s with research to recognize the characteristics of good language learners (Naiman et al., 1978; Rubin, 1975)

Vocabulary learning strategy, according to Oxford (1994), are special activities that learners perform to make learning vocabulary the easiest, fastest, more fun, active and easy to apply them in communication and use of language

Schmitt says learning is “the process by which information is obtained, stored, retrieved and used… Therefore, vocabulary learning strategies could be any which affect this broadly defined process” (1997, p.203)

Nation (2001) considers vocabulary learning as a deliberate process which possesses intentional character He established his description on the properties and qualities of a strategy which fulfills teacher‟s aims

1.2.4 Types of vocabulary learning strategies

As it is made clearly by many different researchers, there are a wide range

of different vocabulary learning strategies

According to Stern ( 1992: 262-266), there are 5 main groups of strategies:

- Management and Planning Strategies

According to Schmitt (1997) & Schmitt (2000), there are five strategies (determination, social, memory, cognitive, and metacognitive) as followed:

- Determination strategies (DET) help learners to determine the meaning

by using dictionaries, guessing the meaning from the context and identifying the parts of speech and constituent elements In other words, determination

strategies are individual learning strategies that help learners to identify the meaning of new words without the other‟s help

- Social strategies (SOC) can be used to determine the word definitions by asking teachers, classmates and native speakers

- Memory strategies ( MEM) are a large number of strategies that learners apply to recall vocabulary In other words, Memory strategies help learners to acquire the new words via mental processing by connecting their background knowledge to the new words

- Cognitive strategies ( COG) deal with mechanical aspects of learning vocabulary and are not related to mental processing such as taking notes and highlighting new words, making lists of new words, using flashcards to record new words, putting English labels on physical objects, keeping a vocabulary notebooks, and writing the words many times

- Metacognitive Strategies (MET) include monitoring, decision-making, and assessment of one‟s advance They can also aid learners to specify suitable vocabulary learning strategies for learning new words

Schmitt‟s taxonomy (1997) was a comprehensive inventory of vocabulary learning strategies He divided the strategies into two groups: the ones to determine the meaning of new words when learners encounter them the first time, and the ones to consolidate meaning when learners encounter words again The former group contains determination and social strategies and the latter contains cognitive, metacognitive, memory and social strategies Schmitt includes social strategies in both categories since they can be used for both purposes

In Nation‟s study in 2001, he presented a general classification of three types of vocabulary learning strategies The first one is planning vocabulary learning - the learners should set up the goals and a clearly strategy to study vocabulary The second vocabulary learning strategy is sources In order to solve

problems with new vocabulary , learners have to be able to get information about the words (knowing the stems and affixes or the meaning of words by checking guesses from context, strengthening form, consulting reference sources properly) The third vocabulary learning strategy is processes, which involves ways of remembering vocabulary and making it available for use

In my study, I chose Schmitt‟s Taxonomy (1997) as my theoretical framework

1.2.5 The importance of vocabulary learning strategies

Vocabulary learning strategies are of great importance in language learning They are the key to the successful vocabulary acquisition which ultimately highly contributes to the success of a language learner

In a view of Nation (2001), learners can achieve a number of vocabulary thank to the help of vocabulary learning strategies and that these strategies are truly useful for students of different language levels

According to Gani Hamzah et al (2009), the students have different kinds

of vocabulary learning strategies They can be confident and learn more vocabulary by using them in suitable situations, it also might considerably make the learning process of new vocabulary simpler for students, for example, when the student selects which words to study himself/ herself they can remember the words better than when the words are chosen by someone else (Ranalli, 2003, p 9)

Chamot at al (1999) also stated that “differences between more effective learners and less effective learners were found in the number and range of strategies used, in how the strategies were applied to the task and whether they were appropriate for the task” (p 166)

Wilkins- a famous linguist- considered that “without grammar, little can

be expressed; without vocabulary, nothing can be expressed” (1978, p.111) He comments, “no matter how good one‟s grammar is and how beautiful one‟s

pronunciation is, but if one has not enough vocabulary to convey one‟s own feelings or to understand others‟ opinions, one still cannot communicate with others in the language”

Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY

2.1 Research governing principles

2.1.1 Research questions

This study aimed to find out the answers to the following questions:

- Which strategies do students often use to learn vocabulary?

- What are the most and the least frequently used vocabulary learning

strategies by first year English-majored students at VNUA?

2.1.2 Major methods

The main methodology of this study is the survey research with the use of questionnaires aiming to investigate students‟ use The results were analyzed using SPSS program version 22.0

2.2 Research methods

2.2.1 Research methodology

This study was a survey research about vocabulary learning strategies of first year English- majored students at VNUA According to Pinsonneault and Kraemer (1993), they gave a definition of survey as a “means for gathering information about the characteristics, actions, or opinions of a large group of people” (p 77)

A research of Kraemer (1991) indicated some characteristics of survey research He said that survey research was employed to describe quantitatively aspects of a certain population by examining the relationships with variables In addition, because the data was collected from people, so it was entirely subjective Finally, survey used the group of people that was chosen before to give some findings which represented to the population

Therefore, I had chosen survey research as a method in my research The survey results were analyzed through using SPSS program version 22.0 according to calculating descriptive statistics