An investigation into students perception of using affixes for vocabulary learning at the faculty of english university of foreign languages and international studies hue university

HUE UNIVERSITY HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH --- –&– --- GRADUATION THESIS AN INVESTIGATION INTO STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF USING AFFIX

HUE UNIVERSITY HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH

- –&– -

GRADUATION THESIS

AN INVESTIGATION INTO STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF USING AFFIXES FOR VOCABULARY LEARNING AT THE FACULTY OF ENGLISH, UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND

INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, HUE UNIVERSITY

Student’s name: NGUYỄN HỮU NHẬT TÂN Supervisor’s name: DR NGÔ LÊ HOÀNG PHƯƠNG

Hue, 4/2023

ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ

KHOA TIẾNG ANH - –&– -

KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP

NGHIÊN CỨU NHẬN THỨC CỦA SINH VIÊN KHOA TIẾNG ANH, TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ, ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ VỀ VIỆC SỬ DỤNG PHỤ TỐ TIẾNG ANH TRONG HOẠT ĐỘNG HỌC TỪ VỰNG

Sinh viên thực hiện: NGUYỄN HỮU NHẬT TÂN Giảng viên hướng dẫn: TS NGÔ LÊ HOÀNG PHƯƠNG

Huế, 4/2023

STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP

The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted for a

degree in any university I certify that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, my

thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except

where due reference is made in the thesis itself

Signed:

Date: / /

TÓM TẮT KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP

Nghiên cứu được thực hiện với mục đích khảo sát thái độ của sinh viên khoa Tiếng Anh tại Đại học Ngoại ngữ, Đại học Huế đối với hoạt động sử dụng phụ tố tiếng Anh trong việc học từ vựng Ngoài ra, thông qua nghiên cứu, nghiên cứu còn tìm ra được những lợi ích của việc sử dụng phụ tố tiếng Anh đối với quá trình học

từ vựng của sinh viên; cùng với đó là những khó khăn mà sinh viên có thể gặp phải trong quá trình áp dụng phụ tố tiếng Anh vào quá trình học từ vựng Nghiên cứu được thực hiện với sự tham gia của 203 sinh viên khoa tiếng Anh, trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ, Đại học Huế, trong đó bao gồm cả sinh viên năm Nhất, năm Hai, năm

Ba và năm Tư Để đạt được mục tiêu của nghiên cứu, tác giả đã thu thập và phân tích dữ liệu dựa vào phương pháp định lượng và định tính Tất cả các khách thể được yêu cầu hoàn thành một bảng khảo sát trực tuyến về việc sử dụng phụ tố tiếng Anh trong quá trình học từ vựng, trong đó làm rõ những thuận lợi, khó khăn của sinh viên Tất cả dữ liệu thu được được xử lý và phân tích với sự hỗ trợ của phần mềm SPSS phiên bản 26.0 Đồng thời, 12 sinh viên của các năm khác nhau cũng được mời tham gia phỏng vấn dựa trên một số tiêu chí nhất định Các dữ liệu này được ghi chép lai và sắp xếp theo chủ đề, chủ điểm để làm rõ hơn kết quả thu thập được từ bảng hỏi

Kết quả nghiên cứu cho thấy phần lớn sinh viên khoa tiếng Anh tại Đại học Ngoại ngữ, Đại học Huế đều biết phụ tố tiếng Anh là gì Ngoài ra, sinh viên còn cảm thấy phụ tố tiếng anh khá dễ hiểu và cũng rất thú vị Hơn nữa, nghiên cứu còn cho thấy rằng việc sử dụng phụ tố tiếng Anh không những giúp sinh viên cải thiện vốn từ vựng, mà điều này còn mang đến nhiều cải thiện liên quan đến các kỹ năng ngôn ngữ khác (như nghe, nói, đọc, viết) Cuối cùng, kết quả nghiên cứu cho thấy rằng sinh viên có gặp phải một số khó khăn trong quá trình sử dụng phụ tố tiếng Anh để học từ vựng Tuy vậy, sinh viên đã sử dụng một số phương pháp để vượt qua những trở ngại mà các bạn gặp phải

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to investigate students’ perception of using affixes for vocabulary learning at the Faculty of English, University of Foreign Languages and International Studies, Hue University (HUFLIS) Through the study,

it explores students experience related to English affixes, the possible benefits that English affixes could bring about to the process of acquiring vocabulary, as well as the possible difficulties that students might face during their use of English affixes

in the vocabulary learning process The research has been conducted on the total of

203 participants majoring in English language at the Faculty of English, University

of Foreign Languages and International Studies, Hue University (HUFLIS), including all academic year’s students who are freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors The research used a mix-method of quantitative and qualitative methods in order to collect data For the quantitative data collection, 203 participants have been made to complete an online questionnaire related to the use of English affixes into their vocabulary learning process, from which shed the light to students’ benefits as well as difficulties of applying the method Afterwards, all data collected from the questionnaire will be calculated using SPSS version 26.0 and analyzed In the meantime, 12 students from different academic years will be randomly picked out based on some certain criteria in order to participate in the interviews Data gathered from the interviews will be transcribed and sorted by themes so as to clarify the data calculated from the questionnaire

The results from this study show that the majority of HUFLIS majored students know what affixes are, and they also find affixes interesting and easy to understand Furthermore, it has been shown that not only the vocabulary learning is beneficial from using affixes but language skills also gain improvement from using affixes Lastly, the findings show that students did encounter some challenges during their use of affixes in studying vocabulary Despite these difficulties, some strategies have been used by students in order to overcome the difficulties they encounter

English-ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor – Dr Ngo Le Hoang Phuong, for her invaluable guidance at the beginning of the doing of this paper, on which I was still confused about the direction of my topic Thanks to her guidance, I was greatly motivated and kept on doing this thesis Moreover, I am truly deeply grateful for her unwavering support

as well as incredibly insightful feedback throughout the entire process of writing this thesis I was feeling unsure the at some point doing this paper as this is my first time writing an academic paper, and it was thanked to her feedbacks that I have gained an abundant of valuable experience from the mistakes I had made throughout the process Without her expertise and encouragement, the accomplishment this thesis paper would not have been successfully completed on time

Furthermore, I am also incredibly grateful to all of the participants who took part in the questionnaire for their willingness to share their experiences and insights Moreover, I would also want to show my appreciation towards the interviewees for spending their valuable time so as to take part in the interviews despite their busy schedules Their contributions have been instrumental in shaping this study with absolutely valuable data and statistics, and I am incredibly grateful to their participation

Additionally, I would like to extend my heartfelt appreciation to my friends especially Dat and Mushy who provided me with endless encouragement, motivation, by sending memes, and support during the incredibly challenging and stressful times of writing this thesis Their unwavering belief in me kept me going and I will always be grateful for their friendship

Furthermore, I would like to express my profound appreciation to my family, especially my mom, who did the house chores for me whenever I was caught up with writing the thesis; and my sister, who would get me night snacks on the nights that I stayed up late writing this paper Their unconditional love, support, and understanding not only during the time of me doing this thesis paper but also throughout my academic journey have been the encouragement and driving force behind my success and I cannot thank them enough

Lastly, but certainly not least, I wish to extend my sincere thanks to the Faculty of English at HUFLIS for giving me the opportunity to carry out this graduation thesis I hope that the outcomes of my research will be a useful referral source for future studies in education training fields, as well as help students with their process of studying vocabulary

List of Tables

Table 2.1 A summary of Vocabulary Learning Strategies (Schmitt, 1997) 9

Table 3.1 Description of the Questionnaire’s Clusters 22

Table 3.2 Description of Reliability Statistics of the Pilot Questionnaire 25

Table 3.3 Description of Reliability Statistics of the Questionnaire 26

Table 3.4 Information of the participants for the Questionnaire 27

Table 3.5 Information of participants in the Interviews 28

Table 4.1 Descriptive statistics of group of statements about HUFLIS students’ general perceptions on using affixes for vocabulary learning 31

Table 4.2 Satisfaction level of students towards their knowledge of affixes by their academic years (Statement 6) 34

Table 4.3 Students’ level of understanding towards their knowledge of the meaning and usage of English affixes by their academic years (Statement 2) 35

Table 4.4 Descriptive statistics of group of statements about HUFLIS students’ previous studies of English affixes 36

Table 4.5 Descriptive statistics of statements about students’ perceptions towards the possible benefits that affixes could bring about to the vocabulary learning process 39

Table 4.6 Descriptive statistics of statements about students’ utilization of affixes as a vocabulary learning strategy 41

Table 4.7 Descriptive statistics of statements about benefits with the process of learning the English language from utilizing English affixes 46

Table 4.8 Descriptive statistics of group of statements about students’ possible difficulties when utilizing affixes into the process of learning vocabulary 52

Table 4.9 Descriptive statistics of group of statements about HUFLIS students’ strategies when encountering possible difficulties 61

List of Figures

Figure 4.1 Students' perception of their English affixes knowledge by their

academic years (Statement 1) 33

Figure 4.2 Students’ opinions on their previous studies of English affixes 37

Figure 4.3 Students’ opinions on “English affixes is difficult to understand”

(Statement 30) 53

Figure 4.4 Students’ opinions on “English affixes are easy to understand”

(Statement 2) 54

List of Abbreviations

HUFLIS Hue University of Foreign Languages and International

Studies Syntax/Grammar The course “An introduction to English grammar

morphology and syntax”

VLSs Vocabulary learning strategies

EFL English as a Foreign Language

ESL English as a Second Language

TOEFL Test of English as a Foreign Language

GRE Graduate Record Examinations

CEFR Common European Framework of Reference

SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Sciences

ANOVA Analysis of Variance

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF ORIGINAL AUTHORSHIP i

TÓM TẮT KHÓA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP iii

ABSTRACT iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v

List of Tables vii

List of Figures viii

List of Abbreviations ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS x

Chapter I Introduction 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aims of the study 2

1.3 Research questions 2

1.4 Scope of the study 3

1.5 Significance of the study 3

1.6 Structure of this thesis 4

Chapter II Literature Review 5

2.1 Vocabulary learning 5

2.1.1 Definition and the importance of vocabulary learning 5

2.1.2 Vocabulary Learning Strategies (VLSs) 6

a Definition of Vocabulary Learning Strategies 6

b The importance of vocabulary learning strategies 7

c Classification of Vocabulary Learning Strategies 8

Discovery strategies 8

Consolidation strategies 9

2.1.3 Previous studies on vocabulary learning strategies 12

2.2 The use of English affixes as a vocabulary learning strategy 14

2.2.1 Definition of English affixes 14

2.2.2 Classification 15

a Derivational prefixes 15

b Derivational suffixes 15

2.2.3 The use of affixes for vocabulary learning in ESL/ EFL contexts 16

a In the world 16

b In Vietnam 19

2.3 The gap 19

Chapter III Methodology 20

3.1 Research design 20

3.2 Data collection instruments 21

3.2.1 Questionnaire 21

3.2.2 Interview 23

3.3 Reliability of the research 25

3.4 Research participants 26

3.4.1 Participants for the questionnaire 26

3.4.2 Participants for the interview 27

3.5 Data collection procedure 28

3.6 Data Analysis 29

3.6.1 Quantitative Data 29

3.6.2 Qualitative Data 30

Chapter IV Findings and Discussion 31

4.1 Students’ perception towards the use of affixes in their vocabulary learning 31 4.1.1 A general attitude of the students towards English affixes 31

4.1.2 Students' learning experience of affixes in high school and university 36

4.2 Students’ opinions on the possible benefits of using affixes for vocabulary

learning 39

4.2.1 Students’ perceptions towards the possible benefits from using affixes for vocabulary learning 39

4.2.2 Specific benefits of using affixes for vocabulary learning 41

4.3 Benefits of using affixes for the process of learning the English language 45

4.3.1 The improvement of literacy skills from using affixes for vocabulary learning 48

4.3.2 The improvement of oracy skills from using affixes for vocabulary learning 50

4.4 Students’ possible difficulties when using affixes for vocabulary learning 51

4.4.1 Possible difficulties students might encounter when using affixes for vocabulary learning 51

4.4.2 Students’ strategies when encountering possible difficulties during their using affixes for vocabulary learning 60

Chapter V Conclusion and Implication 65

5.1 Key findings 65

5.1.1 What are the perceptions of students at HUFLIS regarding the use of affixes in learning vocabulary? 65

5.1.2 What are the benefits of using affixes in learning vocabulary reported by the student participants? 66

5.1.3 What are the challenges of using affixes in learning vocabulary reported by the student participants? 67

5.2 Implication 68

5.2.1 Learners 68

5.2.2 Lecturers 69

5.3 Limitations of the study 69

5.4 Recommendation for further research 70

REFERENCE 71

APPENDICES 76

Appendix A 76

Appendix B 83

Appendix C 90

Appendix D 91

Chapter I Introduction 1.1 Rationale

With the current rise of globalization, English is undoubtedly a means to bridge the gaps between regions and nations as language is the barrier and the solution to the problem itself According to Rao (2019), not only can English be used as a convenient tool in communication, but the importance of English is also emphasized in how this language covers all the fields from technology, economy to entertainment and, of course, education As a result, the demand for studying English language is highlighted in the modern era as it could get learners to succeed

in their fields

While to be adept at skills such as speaking or listening is crucial, the very first step in studying English, or any language, is to acquire an abundant number of new words and build their own vocabulary Alqahtani (2015, p.31) concluded that

“lexical knowledge is central to communicative competence and to the acquisition

of a second/foreign language”, and the lack of vocabulary could create more obstacles for learners in the process of learning the language The roles of vocabulary were also confirmed by Schmitt (2002), who pointed out that lexical knowledge plays an important role in developing communicative proficiency and learning a second language As a result of its significance, it is considered to be essential to be equipped with an appropriate strategy for learning vocabulary

Previous studies have reported different vocabulary learning strategies employed by English learners all over the world For example, learners can choose

to acquire new words actively by using strategies such as intensive reading Doan (2021) pointed out that there is an enhancement in students’ studying performance

as well as a boost of motivation by using interactive fiction in intensive reading Learners can even adopt the old-fashioned way, repeating the words several times (Sanaoui, 1995) They can also learn vocabulary by consulting monolingual dictionaries (Chin, 2001)

As a student majoring in English language myself, together with the mentioned methods, I made use of several other vocabulary learning strategies, among which using affixes is extremely helpful for me when determining word meaning However, as I have observed, most of my friends usually overlook this strategy because they perceive that affixes are too sophisticating When it comes to anything relating to syntax, most of my friend’s reactions are “beating around the bushes and refusing to talk about that topic”, and affixes are no exceptions

Taking all mentioned-above things into consideration, I would like to conduct this current study to see how students perceive the use of affixes for vocabulary learning at the Faculty of English, University of Foreign Languages and International Studies (HUFLIS), Hue University

1.2 Aims of the study

This study aims to investigate the perceptions of English-majored students at the HUFLIS towards the use of affixes as their vocabulary learning strategy Moreover, the aims of this study are also to determine whether using affixes is an effective vocabulary learning strategy for language learners Lastly, I would want to look into the possible obstacles that students might have when facing sophisticated words

1.3 Research questions

In exploring the perception of junior students at HUFLIS regarding the use of affixes in studying new vocabulary and determining word meaning, the study was conducted to seek answers to the following questions:

1 What are the perceptions of students at HUFLIS regarding the use of affixes

1.4 Scope of the study

The study was conducted at the Faculty of English, HUFLIS with the participants of 203 students whose academic years are freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors All of these students have learned English for at least 7 years

1.5 Significance of the study

It is hoped that the results of this study will contribute significantly to the following aspects of English language learning and teaching:

• By looking at how English-majored students using affixes to learn vocabulary, it is expected that the current study will add voices to the discussion on language learning strategies, particularly vocabulary learning strategies This, accordingly, may help those English language learners who are trying to find a suitable method to study vocabulary In this regard, not only the students from HUFLIS can benefit from this strategy but also for all learners of the English language

• A good number of studies investigating the idea of using affixes in studying vocabulary have been conducted in foreign regions and countries Yet in the context of Vietnam, especially at HUFLIS, the number is still limited This study can partially address that gap in the literature

• For teachers, this study is relevant for them since it orientates them for teaching and assisting students From the findings of this study, teachers may

be able to help their students with expanding their vocabulary knowledge by using affixes as a means to expose students how to form a word Therefore, this study can support the professional growth of teachers and the improvement of their pedagogical practices

1.6 Structure of this thesis

This thesis includes five chapters which can be listed as follows:

• Chapter 1, “Introduction”, contains the rationale as well as the objects of this study Moreover, research questions, scope and the significance of this study

is also discussed

• Chapter 2, “Literature Review, represents the theoretical background of this study which consists of the definition and the significance of vocabulary learning, as well as vocabulary learning strategies and their classification Moreover, the chapter also discusses about the use of English affixes as a vocabulary learning strategy

• Chapter 3, “Methodology”, focuses on the methodology implemented for this research, as well as its procedure This chapter also includes research participants, methods used for data collection and the data analysis methods

• Chapter 4, “Findings and Discussion”, focuses on presenting and analyzing the data collected in order to examine students’ perceptions towards the use

of affixes in their process of learning vocabulary Furthermore, key findings will also be discussed

• Chapter 5, “Conclusion and Implication”, presents a summary of the findings

of this research, and implication will be discussed based on the mentioned conclusion Furthermore, limitations of the study will also be mentioned, as well as the recommendation for further research

Chapter II Literature Review

The chapter is composed of three parts First, it explores vocabulary acquisition in general, including its definition and significance, as well as vocabulary learning strategies (VLSs) The second part looks at the definition and categorization of English affixes, their role in vocabulary learning, and their application in EFL settings Finally, the chapter discusses gaps in the current literature, based on which this study is conducted Overall, the purpose of this chapter is to offer a thorough review of the usage of English affixes for vocabulary acquisition in EFL contexts

2.1 Vocabulary learning

2.1.1 Definition and the importance of vocabulary learning

In every language, lexical knowledge can be considered to be the foundation

of language acquisition A definition proposed by Milner (1991) describes vocabulary as a set of words that serve as the foundation upon which sentences are constructed and understood In terms of the significance of studying vocabulary in the language learning process, the importance of having an appropriate number of words to utilize successfully in the target language has been highlighted in several studies (Nation, 2001; Read, 2004; Tschirner, 2004; Zimmerman, 2005) Furthermore, it would be impossible for the production and comprehension of language to happen without the knowledge of vocabulary Therefore, the development of lexicon is considered to be one of the essential prerequisites for acquiring languages (Anglin, Miller & Wakefield, 1993) Moreover, there is a direct connection between lexical knowledge and the prospect of the student’s success in their academy (Blachowicz & Fisher, 2002) A research conducted in 2003 by Baumann, Kameenui, and Ash consolidates this conclusion as they also found a deep relationship between lexical awareness, reading ability and academic success The results from the research by Miller (1988) and Stanovich (1986) also come to the same conclusion that support the idea of emphasizing the importance of vocabulary acquisition for success in school Furthermore, Turner and Williams

(2007) found that the most significant factor deciding a student’s success on course exams was lexical knowledge This is considered to be essential for students because most of the texts that they have to “deal” with contain sophisticated academic vocabulary which demands the students’ technical skills to solve them Furthermore, what makes having an abundant amount of vocabulary important for reading is that it helps learners identify words and enhance their comprehension in reading

On the other hand, according to Wallace (2008), a lack of lexical knowledge could possibly result in an incapacity to only understand reading, and the function

of words in grammar Moreover, the difficulty in writing at grade level is also the consequence of the lack of vocabulary knowledge Explaining these inabilities, a research conducted by Liu & Nation (1985) found out that a student needs to know 95% of the words around a vocabulary that they do not know in order to figure out what it means What is more, a research by Tighe & Binder (2013) claims that the production and comprehension of language would be impossible without knowledge of the lexicon As a result, it is believed that the development of lexical knowledge can be considered to be one of the essential prerequisites for language acquisition

Taking the significance of learning vocabulary into account, it can be seen that the role of strategies used in order to acquire vocabulary is essential When it comes to vocabulary learning strategies, there are various studies on this topic, and

it will be clarified in the next part

2.1.2 Vocabulary Learning Strategies (VLSs)

a Definition of Vocabulary Learning Strategies

Researchers have proposed various definitions of vocabulary learning strategies (VLS) According to Cameron (2001, p 91), VLSs are defined as “the actions that learners take to help themselves understand and remember vocabulary items”, while Catalan (2003, p 56) describes VLS as:

Knowledge about the mechanisms (processes and strategies) used in order to learn vocabulary as well as steps or actions taken by students

to (a) find out the meaning of unknown words, (b) to retain them in long-term memory, (c) to recall them at will, and (d) to use them in oral or written mode

Meanwhile, Intaraprasert (2004) sees VLS as any collection of approaches or learning behaviors used by language learners in order to find the meaning of a new word, retain the knowledge of newly-learned terms, and grow their own lexical knowledge Similarly, Tok and Yıgın (2013) define VLS as the learner's attempt to acquire a new lexicon or to make the ones they already know permanent Hamzah et

al (2009) see VLS under three different aspects: firstly, it might be any behaviors that learners conduct to enhance the learning of new lexical items; secondly, these behaviors must be capable of increasing the effectiveness of vocabulary learning; and thirdly, VLSs are deliberate acts made by the learner so as to study new vocabulary

Taking the above descriptions into account, the term ‘vocabulary learning strategies’ that will be utilized in this research can be defined as the intentional activities, actions, or mental processes that learners adopt, more or less consciously,

so as to enhance their vocabulary learning Employing these strategies help learners improve vocabulary abilities in the target language

b The importance of vocabulary learning strategies

The importance of using strategies in acquiring vocabulary has been studied

by many researchers According to Altan (2003), there is a significant relation between VLS and the success in learning languages Therefore, the more VLS language learners use, the more successful they will probably become Moreover, the adoption of strategies not only enhances students’ accomplishment but also their problem-solving skills (Gök & Sılay, 2008) The important role of vocabulary learning strategies in enhancing the process of acquiring vocabulary has also been signified by the result from a research by Hismanoglu (2000) Fedderholdt (1997, p

1) suggests that “the language learner capable of using a wide variety of language learning strategies appropriately can improve his language skills in a better way” In

a research by Hunt and Beglar (2004), they emphasize the major role of vocabulary strategies, which can be particularly listed as extensive reading and listening, contextual guessing or using dictionaries, in the development of learners’ lexical knowledge

According to Ghanal (2007), in the process of learning vocabulary, it is necessary to develop learner autonomy since independent learners are self-directed and able to take responsibility for their own learning while also increasing their confidence, participation, and competency (Oxford, 1990, as cited in Ghanal, 2007) Because of this, the role of VLS in this self-studying process should be emphasized

c Classification of Vocabulary Learning Strategies

There are several ways of classifying VLS However, Schmitt’s taxonomy (1997) is one of the most popularly used in the current literature (i.e.: Asyiah 2017; Liu, 2021; Thu, 2011) According to Schmitt, VLS can be categorized into two main groups, namingly discovery strategies (strategies for finding out the meaning

of new lexicons) and consolidation strategies (strategies for consolidating a lexicon after encountering it)

Discovery strategies

Discovery strategies help learners to find out the meaning of new lexicons This group of strategies contain two sub-strategies namely determination and social strategies According to Schmitt (1997):

• Determination strategies are the methods when learners, without using the experience of other people, find the meaning of the lexical items by themselves In this strategy, learners will utilize context, structural knowledge and reference materials in order to guess and determine the definition of new vocabulary

• Social strategies are the methods in which learners will acquire new vocabulary through interaction with others It is also suggested by Nation

(1997, p 24) that practicing and finding out new word’s meaning can also be done by working in groups

Consolidation strategies

Consolidation strategies, as their name suggests, help learners consolidate a lexicon after encountering it This group is suggested by Schmitt (1997) to have three sub-strategies, containing memory, cognitive and metacognitive strategies respectively

• Memory strategies involve linking the word with previously learnt information through the use of an image or grouping structure These kinds

of strategies highlight that employing visual elements is far more valuable and effective compared to verbal ones This claim is consistent with Underwood (1989, p 19) in which he states that connecting words with visuals is a more powerful memory system, and as the result comes to a

conclusion indicating that visuals are better recalled than words

• Cognitive strategies involve the use of repetition and mechanical methods which can be listed as word lists, flash cards, and word books They are comparable to memory strategies, but the mental processing is not as focused

while repetition is considered to be the basic rule

• Metacognitive strategies involving monitoring, decision-making, and progress evaluation In these methods, learners will decide which words are necessary to learn, intentionally organize a plan, and determine the most effective learning strategy In general, according to Schmitt (1997, p 216), metacognitive strategies “are used by students to control and evaluate their

own learning, by having an overview of the learning process in general” Table 2.1

A summary of Vocabulary Learning Strategies (Schmitt, 1997)

Discovery Determination Learners find the - using bilingual

Strategies Strategies meaning of the

lexical items by themselves

or monolingual dictionaries;

morphological knowledge

Social Strategies Learners will

acquire new vocabulary

through interaction with others

classmates for a word’s meaning;

- working in a group to discover the words’ meanings;

- asking teachers for paraphrases or synonyms of new words;

- interacting with native speakers to learn the meaning

of the words Consolidation

strategies

Memory Strategies

Learners acquire new words by linking them with previously learnt ones

- learning the

paraphrasing the words’ meaning;

- using physical action (such as reading the word out loud or writing

it down);

- making a list of vocabulary in alphabetical order for reviewing Cognitive

Strategies

Learners learn the

repeating them based on basic rules

- writing down a word several times

in the notebook and learning it by rereading over again

- utilizing word lists, flash cards, and word books in order to acquire the vocabulary;

- adopting verbal repetition

Metacognitive Strategies

Learners organize plans in order to learn new vocabulary

- making a plan on how many words needed to be learned in a day;

- writing down the progress in a journal to keep up with the work;

- reflecting on one's self by doing vocabulary tests

after studying a number of vocabularies to see what needed

to improve

2.1.3 Previous studies on vocabulary learning strategies

Various studies have been conducted to identify the use of VLS among language learners The first popular topic of study related to VLS is students’ attitudes towards the use of VLS In his study with Chinese college students, Wei (2007) found out that those with favorable attitudes toward vocabulary acquisition used VLSs more frequently than those with negative attitudes in four areas, namely dictionary, activation, guessing, and management The findings were similar with Zhi- liang's study (2010), which found that Chinese students with positive attitudes used a wide range of VLSs so as to understand the meaning of new words or to reinforce their usage of the lexical items Students' motivation also appears to be favorably related to their VLSs A study by Fu (2003) discovered that inherent interest motivation was favorably associated with student VLS use Similarly, Marttinen (2008) in his research further supports the correlation between motivation and VLS use, revealing that Finnish ESL students with high motivation used a broader range of VLSs than those with low motivation

Other factors such as language proficiency, experience, or disciplines can all have an impact on the use of VLS For example, Loucky's (2003) found that Japanese college students with high language competence used VLSs more than those with poor proficiency The findings agreed with those of Kung and Chen (2004), Nemati (2008), Tsai and Chang (2009), and Celik and Toptas (2010), as they discovered that students' VLS use was positively connected with their language proficiency Gidey's (2008) found that high performers used VLS more than poor achievers In another study by Suppasetseree and Saitakham's (2008), the findings

demonstrated a gap between high and low performers among EFL Thai university students majoring in English

Besides, more experienced students often appear to use VLS more than less experienced students (Doczi, 2011; Mongkol, 2008; Siriwan, 2007) In terms of disciplinary areas, Gu (2002) found a difference in strategy utilization between scientific and arts students, in which science students employ methods such as relying on visual coding more regularly compared with arts students The result from Gu (2002) was reinforced with Mingsakoon's (2002) findings The utilization

of VLS by students from various fields was also explored in the study of Bernardo and Gonzales (2009), who discovered that the usage of determination and social VLSs differed considerably across five fields among Filipino students: Liberal Arts and Education, Computer Science and Engineering, Business Education, Hospitality Management, and Allied Medical Science

Along with those factors above, gender appears to garner the most attention from researchers Catalán (2003) discovered that the number of vocabulary acquisition techniques employed by Spanish male and female learners differed significantly when learning English Spanish female and male students adopt considerably different strategies Moreover, in terms of the number of VLSs, both sexes share the same eight out of ten vocabulary learning strategies A similar study conducted by Arjomand and Sharififar (2011) explored the correlation between gender and the usage of vocabulary learning strategies It showed that both male and female students used low-level social strategies In detail, female students used cognitive, determination, memory, and metacognitive methods, whereas male students employed metacognitive, cognitive, determination, and memory strategies These results were also consistent with those of Jones’s (2006), Siriwan’s (2007) Marttinen’s (2008) and Seddigh’s (2012)

Previous studies have also looked at the frequencies of different VLS In a study by Suppasetseree and Saitakham (2008), the outcome shows that both English and non-English major Thai students used a wide range of vocabulary learning strategies, from guessing, utilizing dictionaries, note-taking to memory or encoding

strategies Moreover, guessing strategies (guessing from contextual clues, for example) are utilized frequently by more successful students, whereas students with lower academic results preferred dictionary strategies for their learning English vocabulary A similar study by Anugkakul (2011) showed that compensatory and meta-cognitive strategies were the most frequently employed strategies among the participants, whereas memory methods were the least frequently used

The results from a study by O’Malley and Chamot (1995) suggest that metacognitive and cognitive strategies are among the most often utilized vocabulary learning strategies, while social strategies are rarely employed These outcomes are aligned with a study by Kafipour and Naveh (2011) as the results also show that meta-cognitive and cognitive strategies were used more frequently compared with social strategies On the contrary, a research by Asyiah (2017) points out that students tend to use determination strategies and metacognitive approach in order to study vocabulary, while social strategy as the least common lexicon learning strategy Furthermore, Asgari & Mustapha (2011) shows that memory, determination, metacognitive strategies are widely adopted by learners Meanwhile, results from the research by Baskin, Iscan, Karagoz, & Birol (2017) and Määttä, Keskitalo, & Uusiautti (2013) have the same outcomes as determination strategies are the most popular strategies for studying vocabulary, while social strategies were the least used by learners All in all, it can be summarized from the above-mentioned studies that metacognitive, cognitive and determination strategies are the most used methods for acquiring vocabulary, while social strategies are the least common methods of doing so

2.2 The use of English affixes as a vocabulary learning strategy

2.2.1 Definition of English affixes

According to Liu (2021, p 2), affixes are “forms attached to words or word elements to modify meaning or function” When taking the functions of affixes into consideration, they can be categorized into inflectional affixes and derivational affixes While inflectional affixes are attached to the end of the words in order to

show the grammatical relation among words, derivational affixes are added to other morphemes so as to form a new word This study will primarily focus on derivational affixes

In terms of the placement of the derivational affixes in a word, according to

Li (2003), derivational affixes can be classified into two smaller units: derivational prefixes and derivational suffixes

b Derivational suffixes

In contrast to prefixes, suffixes come at the end of the word While prefixes and bases are stable in meanings, suffixes could rather be flexible in terms of meaning Rasinski et al (2008) explain that when it comes to function, suffixes play

as an indicator in order to describe the grammatical role of a word Onish (2010) states that acquiring suffixes early on in the study of English language plays a crucial part in enhancing the learners’ reading comprehension at any levels of proficiency What is more, the understanding of suffixes (and prefixes as well) is just as important as learning root words for expanding learners’ vocabulary and helping them have a better understanding in reading can enable learners to recognize and make use of context and etymological clues, which in turn enables them to form informed estimates about the meaning of unknown words (Callella,

2007) Moreover, learning fundamental suffixes at an early stage helps learners to build a solid foundation of speech parts, which will be very useful later on when they take entrance exams for graduate and professional schools This is especially true given that knowledge of suffixes is required in all English exams, ranging from elementary to TOEFL and GRE Due to the fact that many suffixes are derived from Greek and Latin origins, it is beneficial for ESL students and instructors to take a multi-lingual approach to the meanings of suffixes (Callella, 2007)

2.2.3 The use of affixes for vocabulary learning in ESL/ EFL contexts

a In the world

The use of affixes for vocabulary learning is often known as word formation strategy, listed as a determination VLS (Schmitt, 1997) According to Nagy et al (1993), the awareness of affixes is one of the factors deciding how effectively a student understands new words Yurtbaşı (2015) cited that the combination of a set

of 82 roots and affixes (including 27 roots, 32 prefixes and 23 suffixes) and an understanding of the method to apply these items will result in the meaning of over 100,000 words in English According to Stockwell and Donka (2001), well over 80 percent of the total vocabulary of English is borrowed and most of its words can be used with affixation Furthermore, the idea of using affix knowledge in developing and acquiring vocabulary is one of the most used methods approved by many researchers (Nation, 1990; Bauer & Nation, 1993)

Studies have been conducted to investigate students’ perception of the use of affixes for vocabulary learning For example, in the research carried out by Schmitt (1997) on Japanese EFL students, 69% of them found it beneficial to acquire new words by evaluating affixes and roots However, only 15% of students were said to have really used this technique (Schmitt, 1997) In this regard, it shows that despite the fact that students have a good impression on this method, not many of them use this method in their own learning Sobate (2019) highlighted that learners face challenges in using and practicing affixes as they tend to misunderstand how to use them correctly He revealed that participants commonly mistake between bound

morphemes (suffixes) and derivational suffixes as a new word This result is also consistent with those of Angrayni (2019) as the participants found it difficult to use appropriate affixes Another challenge proposed by Sobate (2019) is that learners find it hard differentiating morphological elements involved Ali (2013) and Kussuma and Saleh (2017) also found the same results when their participants commonly misplaced the suffixes and mixed up between various types of prefixes This finding is aligned with a study by Kusuma & Saleh (2017) in which students encountered challenges when using inflectional and derivational affixes because they were confused on finding the proper words for the formation of inflection and derivation Another difficulty is that learners usually mistake the spelling of words containing affixes (Sobate, 2019; Wibowo & Rismawati, (2022)

Another research topic related to the use of affixes for vocabulary learning is about the effectiveness of this strategy Nakayama’s study (2008), it was shown that the teaching of affixes increased the vocabulary of Japanese students learning English Also, from the outcome of this research, the method of using affixes in learning vocabulary was proved to be effective with not only advanced students but also with lower-level English learners, despite the study by Nation (1990) indicating that only advanced learners should use this method of studying vocabulary The effectiveness of using affixation in acquiring lexicon has once again been highlighted in the study of Hasani et al (2014) conducted on 18 Iranian EFL students in Qazvin universities Participants were closely chosen under various requirements such as their GPA for related subjects In this research, the researcher implemented descriptive qualitative method in which data were collected using tests and interviews For the test, participants were asked to translated a predesigned text and students’ translations must include the use of affixation Data collected from these tests were analyzed by the mistakes found related to affixation only From students’ translations, those who made several inappropriate affixations were chosen to be interviewed and asked questions related to their affixes knowledge From the results of this study, it was found that those who were less knowledgeable about affixes performed poorer in the test, hence reinforcing the role of using

affixes in enlarging lexical knowledge This result is consistent with the finding of Sukying (2017) on Thai EFL learners as it found out a positive relationship between affixes knowledge and a productive vocabulary size The outcome of a research by Yurtbasi (2015) shows that learners are beneficial from learning affixes so as to explore or even build their own meaning of unknown words by using morphological knowledge and decoding skills This result is aligned with those from the study by Jenpattarakul (2015) as it shows that the knowledge of affixes can be of use for learners when it comes to determining the meaning of words that they have never before seen, or unfamiliar vocabulary by relating these with their known words or known affixes By this way, it is said that learners can store their known words in their memory longer Furthermore, this research also points out that morphological knowledge can further improve the vocabulary development of learners as affixes play as a tool for them to decode words This also means that learners can study by themselves utilizing this method of learning vocabulary, which has been proved from a study by Kim (2013) as the outcome shows that “learners can independently learn new vocabulary” and “take charge of their own vocabulary development” by applying affixes into their studying

Previous studies have also compared the use of affixes with other strategy (particularly is the using of context clues) In the study of Baumann and his colleagues (2002), two groups of participants were given the instructions in prefixes and context clues, while the third group was given a combining of both prefix clues and context clues At the end of the treatment, they all took the same vocabulary test The students given instruction in prefix clues had outperformed the other two groups in terms of vocabulary knowledge Then, in their follow-up study with 5th grade students, Baumann et al (2003) reported the same findings In this research, one group of students (group A) was taught the vocabulary which came directly from the textbook, and the other group (group B) was instructed with meanings of common morphemes The result turned out that group A had higher scores on tests containing the taught words, while participants from group B were able to

b In Vietnam

The number of existing studies that investigate the topic of affixes in vocabulary learning is still limited Thư (2011, p 39) conducted a questionnaire with first year students majoring in English teaching at Vietnam National University The result shows that the strategy of “guessing the meaning by analyzing the structure of words (prefixes, roots, and suffixes) is one of the most used VLS” In another research by Nhan (2022) investigating the perception of third-year English majors at Can Tho University, using prefixes and suffixes were widely known to not only help the students know the meaning of the words but also the relation between them, hence enrich the lexical knowledge of the students This

is also one of the few studies focusing exclusively on affix knowledge

2.3 The gap

This chapter has discussed the main points related to the use of affixes as a VLS When it comes to vocabulary learning, there are various methods and strategies for learners to adopt for their studying, and using affixes is one of those strategies As a matter of fact, there are several studies investigating the use of affixes in vocabulary learning, which can be listed as Nation (1990), Schmitt (1997)

or Nakayama (2008) They investigated the enhancement in vocabulary knowledge that affixes might bring about, or a study by Baumann and his colleagues (2002) on the efficiency of using affixes in boosting lexical knowledge compared with other methods

However, when we look at the context of Vietnam as well as HUFLIS, few studies have focused specifically on the use of affixes for vocabulary learning In the Faculty of English, HUFLIS, where courses such as Syntax are introduced, to the best of the researcher’s knowledge, no study has been conducted on this topic Accordingly, the current study is hoped to bridge that existing gap

Chapter III Methodology

This chapter outlines the methodology used in the study and the implementation procedure of the research, including research design, data collection instruments, research participants, data collection procedure, the reliability of the research, and data analysis

to analyze structured data acquired through questionnaires, tests, or other types of quantitative data obtaining For this research, the data gathered using this approach can disclose vital information such as the frequency with which participants employ English affixes On the other hand, the qualitative elements of the research include gathering and analyzing non-numerical data such as interviews, observations, and open-ended survey responses (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2018) In this research, this sort of information can give valuable insights into students' experiences, attitudes, and views of using English affixes in their vocabulary acquisition process

3.2 Data collection instruments

3.2.1 Questionnaire

There are some advantages regarding the use of questionnaires For instance, information and answers from a large number of participants can be collected within a short period of time; data is pretty easy to gather, measure and analyze; limited human resources are needed; anonymity is preserved and some interviewer biases can be avoided (e.g., Canales et al., 1994; Díaz, 2012; Hernández-Sampieri et al., 2008)

The questionnaire of this research includes two main sections

• The first section was to collect demographic information from participants such as age, gender, years studying at the university and years of studying English, etc

• The second section contains questions and statements addressing the research questions This section is divided into 3 specific clusters The first cluster consists of 19 statements, which have been adopted from the framework of Wibowo & Rismawati (2022) This aims to explore the students’ general perceptions toward the use of affixes in their process of learning vocabulary The second cluster contains 12 statements adopted from the framework Lin (2019) and 1 open-ended question, with the purpose to find out students’ attitudes towards the possible benefits of applying affixes into the process of learning vocabulary Lastly, the final cluster with 8 statements adopted from the framework of research by Sukying (2020) and Nhan (2022) adding with

1 open-ended question in hope of probing students’ possible difficulties when utilizing affixes into the process of learning vocabulary Furthermore, while all of the statements adopted from previous studies are in English, those that were put into use for the questionnaire in this research were all translated into Vietnamese for the fullest possible understanding of given statements for participants

The level of participants’ agreement is indicated on a five-point scale which

is valued as 1,2,3,4 and 5: 1 equivalent to “Strongly disagree”; 2 equivalents to

“Disagree”; 3 equivalents to “Neutral”; 4 equivalents to “Agree” and 5 equivalents

to “Strongly agree”

The questionnaire includes 39 items which is categorized into three clusters

as follows:

Table 3.1

Description of the Questionnaire’s Clusters

Cluster 1 Students’ perceptions of applying

affixes into the process of learning

vocabulary

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11;

Cluster 2 Students’ attitudes towards the

possible benefits of applying affixes

into the process of learning

vocabulary

12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19 20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28;

Cluster 3 Students’ possible difficulties when

utilizing affixes into the process of

According to Longhurst (2003), the interview method can be classified into three types including structured, semi-structured, and unstructured interview Each kind has its own pros and cons However, semi-structured interviews were selected for the purpose of this study Semi-structured interviews allow researchers elaborate

on interviewees' responses thanks to open-ended questions and follow up questions and as a result provide researchers a more in-depth information about the interviewees’ responses Moreover, this method of interviews helps researchers collect not only qualitative but also quantitative data based on the number of interviewees taking part in (Longhurst, 2003)

For this research, the interview consisted of 17 questions adopted from the framework proposed by Angrayni (2019) The interview questions are divided into two main parts as follows:

• Part 1: Students’ overall perceptions towards English affixes, which includes

8 questions relating to participants’ knowledge and understanding of English affixes and their previous studies of English affixes (interviewees who are juniors and seniors will be asked an extra question along with the 8 predetermined questions)

• Part 2: Possible difficulties that students might encounter during their utilization of English affixes in the process of learning vocabulary, which includes 6 questions relating to the challenges based on participants’ experience with affixes

In terms of the implementation, the interviews were conducted as the following procedure:

• Meet all of the interviewees at the scheduled time Interviewees were told in advance about the procedure of the upcoming interview

• Each interviewee was respectively interviewed based on the scheduled timeline Participants were asked questions that are predetermined as well as follow-up questions based on the circumstances Throughout the interviews, the conversations were recorded with the permission granted from the interviewees

• Collected data gathered from the interviews shed light on the deeper understanding about students’ perceptions on utilizing affixes into the process of learning vocabulary

For the convenience of both interviewer and interviewees, all interviews were carried out online using video-communication service - Google Meets The duration of the interviews varies approximately from 10 to 15 minutes depending on the answers from the participants All the interviews were conducted in Vietnamese Conversations during the interviews were recorded by phone for the analysis afterwards with the permission granted from the participants The set of predetermined questions can be seen in Appendix C (for Vietnamese version) and Appendix D (for English version)

3.3 Reliability of the research

For the assurance of reliability, the questionnaire had gone through a process

of piloting on a group of 8 participants who have the same attributes of the targeted objects of this study The results of the pilot have been analyzed so as to measure the consistency of the reliability coefficient The results in Table 3.2 below shows that the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the pilot questionnaire is 0.868 (number of cases = 8, number of items = 35), meaning that the pilot questionnaire’s items can

be considered to have greater internal consistency as according to Gliem & Gliem (2003), internal consistency of a scale is higher when the Cronbach's alpha coefficient is closer to 1.0 Furthermore, according to George & Mallery

(2003:231), it was provided with the scale as “_ > 9 – Excellent, _ > 8 – Good, _

> 7 – Acceptable, _ > 6 – Questionable, _ > 5 – Poor, and _ < 5 – Unacceptable”

Table 3.2

Description of Reliability Statistics of the Pilot Questionnaire

Cronbach’s alpha Number of items

As altering and editing the final version of the questionnaire, feedbacks related to duplicate statements or confusing items from participants while answering the pilot questionnaire were also taken into consideration So as to ensure the reliability of the final questionnaire used for the analysis of this research, another Cronbach’s Alpha test was conducted As can be seen in Table 3.3 below, the Cronbach’s Alpha score of the final questionnaire is 897 This result, according to Bland and Altman (1997) Gliem & Gliem (2003) and George & Mallery (2003:231), reflects a good result in terms of the reliability as the score is higher than 8

Table 3.3

Description of Reliability Statistics of the Questionnaire

Cronbach’s alpha Number of items

Moreover, as the results shown in Table 3.2 and Table 3.3, the alpha coefficients for the pilot questionnaire and for the questionnaire are not much different from each other with the values of 868 and 897 respectively From these results, according to the rating system proposed by Bland & Altman (1997), it can

be concluded that the aforesaid results confirmed that the questionnaire utilized in this study was dependable and hence a good instrument for accomplishing the study's objectives

3.4 Research participants

3.4.1 Participants for the questionnaire

The research was carried out with the involvement of 203 students each majoring in English language at the Hue University of Foreign Languages and International Studies The participants consist of 46 freshmen, 49 sophomores, 40 juniors and 68 seniors Although the students' English proficiency has not been formally tested, they have all completed the exams for each module of their university degree and can be assumed to be at least at the third level (B1) following the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR)

Moreover, for third-year and fourth-year students, they had all completed the required course "An introduction to English grammar morphology and syntax," which had given them at least a basic understanding of English grammar, morphology and syntax in general and affixes in particular

Detailed information of the questionnaire’s participants can be seen in Table 3.4 below: