Luận văn teachers’ beliefs and practices regarding vocabulary teaching

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOT UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES me TRẤN THỊ KIM OANH TEACHERS’ BELIEFS AND PRACTICES REGARDIN

TRAN THI KIM OANH

TEACTIERS’ BELIEFS AND PRACTICES REGARDING

VOCABULARY TEACTIING: A QUALITATIVE STUDY AT

NGUYEN THT MTNIT KHAT HIGTHI SCHOOT,

(Niêm tin của giảo viên trong việc dạy từ vựng và thực tiến

áp dụng trong lớp học : Nghiên cửu định tinh tại lrường trung

học phổ thông Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai)

M.A Minor programme thesis

Ficld: English Tcaching Methodology

Code: 601410

Hanoi - 2012

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOT

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

me

TRẤN THỊ KIM OANH

TEACHERS’ BELIEFS AND PRACTICES REGARDING

VOCABULARY TEACHING: A QUALITATIVE STUDY AT

NGUYEN THI MINH KHAI HIGH SCHOOL

(Niém tin của giáo viên trong việc đạy từ vựng va thực tiễn

áp dụng trong lớp học : Nghiên cứu định tính tại trường trung

học phổ thông Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai)

M.A Minor propramme thesis

Ficld: English Tcaching Methodology Code: 601410

Supervisor: Dr LE VAN CANH

Hanoi - 2012

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART L: LNTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale for the study sesesntnee sesesntnee sesesntnee seo

1.4 Sienificanee of the studi, HHu re HHu re HHu re 3

PART H: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.2 Approaches to vocabulary sesesntnee sesesntnee sesesntnee ees

1.4 Teachers’ beliefs about second language teaching MW 1.5 Convergence and divergence sesesntnee sesesntnee sesesntnee ve 3

2.3 Data collection procedures TH se TH se TH se ¬-

2.4 Technique of data analysis ¬— ¬— ¬— nee.)

CHAPTER Ill: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

3.1 Preliminary results

3.1.1 Teachers’ beliefS about the bnportance oŸ vooabulary ¬ 3.1.2 Teachers’ belicf about approaches to vocabulary presentation, 23

3.1.3.1 Time given for vocabulary teaching

3.1.3.2 Approaches to vocabulary teaching

3 1.4 Convergences and divergences between beliefs and practices 34

3 Limitations of the shady TH se TH se TH se cece 41

4, Recomnnendations for further research 4

REFERENCES

APPENDICES,

English Language Teaching

English as a Second Language

English as a Foreign Langnage

Teacher

Students

Amount of time devoted to vocabulary with reference to

language skills and grammar (% of total class time) Practical approaches of teaching vocabulary (teacher A) Practical approaches of teaching vocabubay (teacher B) Practical approaches of teaching vocabulary (leacher C) Practical approaches of teaching vocabulary (teacher D) Practical approaches of teaching vocabulary (teacher b) Practical approaches of teaching vocabulary (leacher F) Practical approaches of teaching vacabulary (teacher G) Practical approaches of teaching vocabulary (teacher H)

Vi

Appendix Appendix Appendix Appendix Appendix Appendix Appendix

Appendix

PART I: INTRODUCTION

This part introduces the study, which starts with the reasons for carrying out the research This is followed by the aims, the research questions, the significance of

the study and, finally, the structure of the thesis

1.1 Rationale tor the study

Since the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) was adopted at Nguyen Thi Minh Khai High School, Knglish teaching practice has also changed gradually Tlowever, students’ ability to use English for communication was quite limited There are many reasons for this problem, bul teachers believe that one of the reasons is students’ vocabulary deficiency Although there have been some studies

on vocabulary techniques, very little has been researched about teachers” beliefs and practices regarding vocabulary TÍ teaching is shaped by teachers’ belie(s (Rorg, 2003) it is necessary to research their beliefs and the relationship between their beliefs and practices Therefore, this study is aimed to explore this issue in one high

school in Vielnam

1.2 Aims of the study

The study is aimed at investigating the beliefs and practices of a group of high school Ienehors in second language vocabulary and vocabulary leacking This aim is

specified by the following objectives

1 a explore teachers’ beliefs ubout the role of vocabulary in learning English as a

foreign language;

2 to examine their practices concerning vocabulary teaching; and

3 to identify the rekitionship between their beliefs and practices regarding vocabulary teaching.

1.3 Research questions

In order to achieve the above stated aim and objectives, the study is designed to find answers lo the Collowiry, research questions

1 What are teachers’ beliefs about vocabulary?

2 To what extent are those beliefs translated into their vocabulary teaching?

1.4, Significance of the study

The study will mainly focus on analyzing cight Frglish teachor’s beliefs, examining whether or not these beliefs are aligned with teachers” actual instructional practices and identifying the factors that influence teachers’ beliefs and practices The Wwachers’ belies concerned regard 10 vocabulary teaching only and the actual instructional practices refer to principles, techniques and time given for teaching vovabulary, which were conveyed through class observations and the answers for

the interviews of cight English teachors of Nguycn Thi Minh Khai high school

1.5 Organization of the thesis

This thesis is divided into three parts as follows:

Part I, ‘Introduction’ presents the reasons for carrying out this study and states the aims of the study The research questions, the significance and the outline of the study are also discussed in this part

Part IL, ‘Development’ includes the following chapters

Chapter 1, ‘Literature review? surmnaries the view of related literature —

including the role of vocabulary in second language teaching, approaches to vocabulary, teachers" beliefs and those relating to vocabulary teaching

Chapter 2, ‘Mcthodology’ doseribes the methodology applied to this study and the procedures for carrying out the research such as instruments for data collection, subjects, procedures, and methods of data analysis

Chapter 3, ‘Results and discussion’ conveys survey results and discussion

on the possible reasons for the divergences between teachers’ beliefs and

aclual classroom practice

Part III, ‘Conclusion’ states a brief summary of major findings, proposes some recommendations arising from the study findings, reveals the limitation of the study and offers some suggestions for further researches

PART I: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapler reviews the Tilerature on second language vocabulary as well as teachers’ beliefs and practices regarding vocabulary teaching ‘the chapter begins with a brief review of the role of vocabulary in second language leaming Then approaches lo vocabulary will be reviewed This is followed by a review of studies

on teachers

teaching,

beliefs and practices, particularly with reference to vocabulary

1.1 Role of vocabulary in second language teaching

Conventionally, cducatiomists have undervalued the role of vocabulary in sccond language teaching and leaming for quite a long time ‘his was the reason why in linguistic course, curiculum and programs, litle allenuori was paid to vocabulary teaching (Richards & Renandya, 2002, p.255) Fortunately, things have been changed since the mid-1980s Second language vocabulary acquisition has grown into an increasingly interesting tapic of discussion for many researchers and educationists working in the field of second language teaching (Coady & Huckin,

1997, pix)

From then on, the role of vocabulary in sccond language teaching has been reconsidered According to Richards and Renandya (2002), the first step to learn low lo communicate in the second Ianguage was leaming lexical pluases and routines, hey explained vocabulary as the foundation of students’ language proficiency Leamers, who did not neither have a wide range of vocabulary nor know how lo learn new words, failed to utilize all leaning opportunities offered Lo them For instance, they could not listen to the radio, listen to native speakers, and watch television in the language they leamt That led to the results that they were discouraged and could not Ica as much as possible (p.255) In addition, Nation (1990) confirmed that there were restrictions of “incidental learning” of second language learners due to their limited vocabulary Thus, a second language program

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should involve vocabulary teaching (cited in Richards & Renandya, 2002, p.256)

In conclusion, developing vocabulary not only encourages but also facilitates second language leamers to achieve as much as their potential allows Therefore, it

is recommended that teachers should consider the important role of vocabulary for effective teaching as well as learning

1.2 Approaches to vocabulary

Royle and Scanlon (2009) claimed that “there is no single method for teaching vocabulary; instead, teachers should combine methods and techniques” (p.142) Below are some principles belonging to inferring from context, implicit teaching

and explicit teaching, the three methods that, were

emcomed by many rescarchers such as Nagy (1988), Graves (2006), Meunier and Granger (2008), Baumann and Kameenui (2004), Ma (2009), Sokmen (1997), Schmitt (2000), and so on

Inferring from context

Belonging to the idea of Context Alone, “Inferring, from Context”, also named as context method, or contextual approaches is the method of using context to clarify

the meanings of the words that students need to leam For instance, when students

are asked Lo guess the meaning of the words Uhrough one or some given sentences, they are learning vooabulary by inferring the meaning of words from the context (Nagy, 1988, p.7) Graves (2006:35) suggested several principles of teaching

vocabulary in context method: Students should leam the words in meaningful

contexts; Students should see words in variety of contexts, Depth of meaning

should be fostered, Learners should be able to aceess the texis’ meaning m the

target language and learning a word involves promuncication, spelling, morphology

and syntax.

Implicit teaching

In implicit teaching, students are given appotunities to do a great deal of reading

Meunier and Granger (2008:226) claimed that implicit teaching was an indirect method of teaching vocabulary For example, implicit learning happens when

students read some texts and encounters a new word, they stop and ask for its

meaning themselves Thus, this approach can be called extensive reading Same to its name, the most important principle of this approach is having students read

extensively (Baumann & Kamecnui, 2004, p.108) TL was explained that, the more

students read, the more vocabulary terms they acquire Additionally, Ma stated that

through implicit teaching, new vocabulary can be acquired incidentally by letting

the sludenis encounter with the word several times in different contexts (2009,

p-108) On the other words, teachers dealing with implicit teaching always ty to minimize the use of the students’ mother tongue by asking the studems not to define every word with their first language The students can infer the meaning of words through their reading and from the contextual clues Consequently, some signals that prove teachers applying implicit teaching can be the use of various contexts or monolmgual dictionaries

Explicit teaching

Explicit teaching is considered as the traditional approach to vocabulary teaching (Schmill, 2000, p.146) Sokmen (1997) discovered some principles which teachers teaching vocabulary in explicit approach had to follow as such: “Build a large sight vocabulary; Integrate new words with old; Provide a number of encounters with a word; Promote a deep level of processing; Facilitate imaging; Make new words

“real” by connecting them to the student’s world in some way; Use a variety of techniques; Encourage independent learning strategies” (cited in Schmitt, 2000, p147) However, in addition to these principles, other points are worth noting Firstly, the second principle, integrating new words with the nown ones, required teaching some groups of similar words Teacher should be careful on doing so

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because it might be more difficult for learners to remember two or more similar words together Secondly, because of polysemy in language, there was another principle that demanded teachers to teach the underlying meaning of a word (Schmitt, 2000, p.147) On doing so, teachers could maximize effectiveness of the teaching when they enabled their students to understand the word in a much wider range of contexts Moreover, teachers could also maximize vocabulary leaming support by teaching word families instead of individual word forms Explicit teaching and activities includes translation, definitions, putting words in context,

picture/drawings, real objects and actions/estures,

1.3 The teachers’ belief

‘The definitions

Belief

There were many authors studying different subjects such as philosophers, sociologists, psychologists, and so on tried to define the tem “belief” In order to clarify what “belief” is, there might be a need to refer to some Weaver and Farrell (1997), for example, explored belief as “what people think is true, what is their

reality”

Edition, 2000, Raths, and McAninch (2003), belief is defined as the “mental

(p12) More specifically, based on American Heritage Dictionary, Fourth

acceplance and conviction im the truth, acluality or validity of something, or

something believed or accepted as truc, especially a particular tonet or a body of tenets accepted by a group of persons” Summarily, a belief is what people accept to

be true, which defines people as the person they are and likewise, their attitude

Belief system

Pajares (1992:325) stated that understanding belief foundations must involve their connections to each other and to other beliefs in system (cited in Loughran, 2006, p15) That means when examining peaple’s belief, researchers have lo examine

their bolicf system According to Thompson (1992130), belief system is “a metaphor for examining and describing how an individual’s beliefs are organized” (cited in Lester, 2007, p.260) Teachers’ belief systems were believed ta influence teachers’ classroom practice (Cameron, 2001, p.41)

Teachers’ belief

In the field of education in general and second language teaching in particular, beliets are ideas thai teachers avcepl to be true, which define leachers’ altitude As a result, all that teachers believe and understand will be brought into their teaching and influence their teaching practice Pajares (1992) believed that teachers’ beliefs affovted their judgment and classroom practice (cited in Smith, Skarbek & Hurst,

2005, p.214) In addition, Grant (2003) also contributed another point that beliefs could regard to any aspect of teachers’ professional development In accordance with Borg (2003) cxplanations, “teachers are active, thinking decision-makers who make instructional choices by drawing on complex practically-oriented, personalized, and context-sensitive networks of knowledge, thoughts, and beliefs” (p 81) Studying about impacts of teachers” beliefs and interaction, Robs (2007) claimed three forms of beliefs in terms of pedagogical beliefs, expectancy beliefs and teaching efficacy beliefs He explained teachers teaching in different levels

could have different belicls thal formed pedagogical beliefs Teachers who held

expectancy beliefs considered more about the importance of students’ habits then made different decisions on learning environment Teaching efficacy beliefs were

the beliefs found in case teachers could affect students’ behaviors (p.23)

The source of teachers’ beliefs

Richards and Lockhart (1996) pointed out teachers’ belief systems were formed

litle by Tle through the time and derived from various sources (p.30) These

sources could be: (1) “teachers own experience as language leamers”; (2)

“experience of what works best” (3) “established practice”, for example, different

teaching style belonging to different school, (4) personality factors, (5) educationally based or research-based principles; (6) principles derived from an approach or method

Why study teacher's belief

The interest in belicf about sccond language teaching has emerged in mid 1980s Thus, like other fields such as sociology, psychology, education, ete beliefs about second language leaching have become a topic of rescarch bul increased lulely (Kalaja, 2003, p.7) Researchers and educationists worked in this field for many reasons, As formerly mentioned, beliefs may involve any aspect of teachers” prolessional development Beliefs may guids teachers’ docision about subject matter, teaching method, learning environment, students’ behavior, ete Consequently, understanding, the belief structures of teachers could help to improve their professional development and teaching practice (Ashton, 1990, cited in Gonzalez, 2006, p.58), Moreover, Grant (2003) assumed that “as a lens on teachers’ thinking and practice, beliefs represent a powerful influence” Similarly, Loughran (2006) found Out, “beliefs play a critical role in defining behavior and organizing knowledge and information” (p.115) Obviously, studying teachers’ beliefs that investigates the way beliefs are shaped and formed may help researchers to clarify the way teachers think, whal goes on in teachers’ minds 10 propose changes Lo improve their teaching In addition, Pajares (1992: 329) showed that there were a

need of focusing on teachers’ behefs in education research

“When [belief] are clearly conceptualized, when their key assumptions are examined, when precise meanings are consistently understood and adhered to, and when specific

belief constructs are properly assessed and investigated, belief can be the single most important construct in edneational research” (cited in Smith, Skarbek & Ilurst,

2005, p.214)

In conclusion, beliefs were considered as the most important conception in educational research However, beliefs carmot be observed or measured TL can only

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be imfered from what tcachors say intend and do Thus, there is a nocd to understand how teachers’ beliefs are constructed and how their beliefs affect their decision making Consequently, studying and discovering teachers’ beliefs and attitudes are necessary for educators to design subsequent professional development and experiences to address the issue in language teaching (Kaptain, 2008, p.22)

Understanding teachers’ beliefs will give insights into their classroom behaviors

1.4 Teachers’ belicfs about second language tcaching

Teachers’ beliefs about second language teaching

As having been discussed, there are three forms of Leachers’ behels in terms of

pedagogical beliefs, expectancy beliefs and teaching efficacy beliefs Nonetheless,

in the fields of second language teaching, only two main forms of beliefs were concerned by language leachers

First, in second language leaming and teaching, researchers did not focus too much

on examining teachers’ beliefs However, some studies were conducted and led to the result that teachers” actual practices were formed from their own experiences as learners (Sheorey 2006, p.52) Somehow it can be said that teachers’ beliefs about language leaning guide the way they teach Likewise, Gass and Selinker (1994) proved that when training and developing language teaching methods, teachers had

lo have a steady foundation for their methods in language learning Gass and Sclinker gave an cxample in which some language teaching methods were based on mule memorization and translation exercises On doing many studies and recognizing communication needs of students when learning a language, language teachers and educators were aware of new conceptualization and made changes to teaching methods that emphasized communication in language teaching rather than just rule memorization Consequently, the process of learning has resulted in teaching methods and influences teachers’ pedagogical beliefs as well as teachers’ pedagogical decision-making (p.3)

Second, another main form of belicf was expectancy belicis Teachers who held

expectancy beliefs considered more about the importance of students’ habits then

made different decisions about learning environment Gass and Selinker claimed

some situations in which teachers’ expectations could be impacted For example, after leaming process, regardless to the proper applicability of students, teachers

might not be satisfied In this case, teachers’ expectations belong to how they

a cd the success or failure of thei teaching (p.3) Gass and Selinker also

demonstrated that when people communicated in a second language, they had

cerlain expectations (p.4) Similarly, Sheorey (2006) realized some sludies proving

that students and teachers belonging to different cultures had different expectations about learning a second language (p.54) In addition, it was undeniable that oxpeclancy beliefs could alloct studeris’ learning Batnburg (1994) represented 3 types of teachers’ expectations that might lead to different learning results of their students: (1) Teachers’ attitude towards teaching process was affected by their first impression about students Then bright students might reccive more positive attitude than slow students (2) When teaching the students who are expected to be

bright, they used more difficult materials than those for the ones considered as slow

As a result, gradually, toachers' cxpactations about studems would become actual students’ achievement (3) Normally, teachers having this type of expectations used

a test which they believed to be suitable to assess students’ ability That resulted in

over or under-sslimating of cachers for their studerds* level (p.1) Thus, examining

expectancy beliefs is essential in the field of second language teaching,

Tn addition, Richards and Radgers (2001) claimed some noteworlhy summuarics

about teachers” belief about second language teaching as follow:

schooling os young students while observing teachers who taught them Subsequent teacher education appears not to disturb these eaily beliefs, not least, perhaps, it rarely addresses them.

- If teachers actually try out a particular innovation that does not initially conform to theit prior

delicfs or principles and the innovation proves helpful or successful then accommodation of altemative belief or principle is more plausible than n other circumstance

+ For the novice teacher, classroom experience and day-to-day interaction with colleagnes has (he potential to influence particular relationsiip among, beliefs and principles, and, over tite, consolidate the individual’s permutation of them Nevertheless, it seems that greater experieace does not lead to preater adaptability in our beliefs, and thereby, the abandonment of strongly held pedagogical principles Quite the conlzary, im facl The more experience we have, the more reliant on own core principles we have become and the less conscious we are of doing so

- Professional development that engages teachers in a direct explanation of their beliefs and Principles may provide the opportnnities tor the greater self-awareness throngh ratlection and ciilical questioning as starting points of later adaplation

= The teacher's conceptualizations of, for examnple, language learning, and teaching are situated within that person's wider belief system concerning such issues az human nature, culture,

soviely, education and sv on” (p.252)

1.5 Convergence and divergence

When studying teachers’ beliefs, the researcher intended to examine what are their

beliefs regarding to vocabulary in language teaching and the extent to which

teachers’ beliefs were translated into actual practice ‘Therefore, the analysis of the

convergence and divergence of teachers’ beliefs and actual practices is presented

and discussed Unforlunalely, il was witnessed that leachers’ behefs did nol always

converge with their practices and that many divergences, also called as “tensions”

were identified (Phipps & Borg, 2009, p.380) Hence, they recommended “that it is

uol snough for language teacher cogmiion research to identify differences, or

tensions, between teachers’ beliefs and practices; rather attempts need to be made to

explore, acknowledge and understand the underlying reasons behind such tensions”

(Phipps & Borg, 2009, p.388)

There are two main reasons that led to the divergences including research instruments and contextual factors For xample, the first reason lies in the methods used to explore teachers’ beliefs Jarnard (2011) claimed that research instruments

43

such as collecting data by moans of survey or interview procedures were self report procedures that “need to be augmented by other data collection instruments in order

to ascertain nat only what the teachers believe about specific aspects of teaching and leaming, but the extent to which their actual teaching practices converge or diverge from those beliefs” [lence, he suggested that a multiple method approach

to study teachers’ beliefs should be adopted In other words, divergences could be found in studying because of individual report research instruments Secondly, the divergences are influenced by contextual factors such as curriculum, leamers

language proficiency, ine constraints, and examinations (Burg, 2003, p.81)

1.6 Teachers’ belief about yocabulary

“If an English teacher believes that the best way to improve one’s proficiency in English is by increasing one’s vocabulary, he is likely to emphasize the study of words as an important! par of his teaching” (Shcorey, 2006, p.51) Otherwise, as mentioned above, teachers’ knowledge of leaming has some impacts on their belief then influences their ways of teaching Similarly, 1.2 leachers’ understanding of how to learn vocabulary also affects their ways of teaching vocabulary Thus, when concentrating on vocabulary teaching, it is essential to study teachers’ beliefs about vocabulary Examining teachers’ belief about vocabulary by conducting questionnaire, Ma (2009) got several important results that revealed some teachers’ beliefs about vocabulary They can be summarized as follows: students acquire vocabulary mostly through extensive reading: a large amount of teachers believed that vocabulary should be taught explicitly in class; doing exercises can help to learn vocabulary; vocabulary should be leam through communicative activities:

vovabulary should be introduced in different, contexts (1.279).

1.7 Previous stuuies

Tn the recent years, teaching has been considered as a cognitive activity and

teachers’ belicls can have many important offects on teacher's instructional decisions (Borg, 2003, p81) Thus, the studies on the connections between

teachers’ behefs and their actual practices have altracled more and more aflenlions

in the academic circles Many researches have been carried out on the relationship

between teachers’ beliefs and their actual classroom practices because of its

importance and prominence in teachers’ professional development Therefore, ø loi

of great works came into being during the study of teachers’ beliefs and their practices, which Jays a foundation for further research The following are several

in class, teachers” beliefs about word meaning guessing and word self-study were not observed All in all, Niu and Andrews concluded that “teachers” beliefs guide their practices with the mediation of small cultures, resulting in both consistencies and inconsistencies between their beliefs and practices; on the other hand, teachers practices, under the influence of small cultures, contribute to the formulation of both shared and discrepant beliefs” (p.150)

15

Furthermore, it is a lack uct to mention the study namely “Investigating Connections between Teacher Beliefs and Instructional Practices with Struggling Readers” of Powers, Zippay and Butler (2006) which including different summaries about the relationship between teachers’ beliefs and their actual practices The first statement was that teachers’ beliefs and practices were influenced by many different factors inchiding “practical realities of the classroom’,

‘areas? educational policies and the variely in tachers’ views about their role and teaching methods Some factors might lead to the divergences between teachers belie’ and practices in lerms of teacher training originated from the behaviorist tradition, the limitations imposed by cducational policics, lack of professional development and administrative support, issues of classroom control and limited resources Moreover, a teacher might give instructions in the way Owl [iL with her beliefs More time might be spent on instructional practices and classroom activities that teachers believed were more important or more valid (p.122)

Farrell and Lim (2005) come up with the study: “Conceptions of Grammar Teaching: A case study of Teachers’ Beliefs and Classroom Practices” in which the

authors investigated and compared the beliefs and actual classroom practices of two

experienced English language teachers in Singapore In this study, Farrell and Lim pointed out Singapore teachers shared the similar situation in which there were

convergences and divergences between teachers’ beliefs and practices The existing

divergences were said to be resulted from the “time factors” and imthuences of the

traditional approach

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

This chapter consists of four main sections Section 2.1 presents the data collection

instruments used to collect information for the study Section 2.2 describes the

subjects taking part in the study The procedures are presenled in the next, section,

2.3 ‘The way of analyzing the data is presented in the last one, 2.4

2.1 Data collection instruments

Using different methods of data collection in study can “provide a more holistic and

improved understanding of phenomenon” (StreuberL & Carpenicr, 2011, p.356)

Thus, the researcher decided to use both interview and class observation as the

imstruments Lo collect dala in this survey All of those works aim to explore the

teachers’ belicfs about vocabulary teaching as well as to investigate whether those

beliefs were taken into their practice or not

2.1.1The interview

Using in-person interview is helpful in gaining the data In Sohutt’s words, “in-

person interviews have several advantages over olher types of survey: hey allow

longer and more complex interview schedules, monitoring the conditions when the questions are answered, probing for the respondent’s understanding of the question, and high response rate” Schutt also point out one-to-one interviews is the strongest survey design (2006, p.281) Moreover, another advantage of using interview is that the researcher can explain directly for the respondents about the information they do

not understand (Wood & Kerr, 2011, p.183) From these points of view, the

interview data helped to gain deeper insights regarding the teachers’ beliefs about vocabulary teaching at Neuyen Thi Minh Khai high school Furthermore, the

Tmerview dala complemented and expanded ou the observation data as 1L enabled

the researcher to gct follow-up information in the case of analyzing the gaps

between teachers” beliefs and their practice

47

2.1.2 The observation

As being claimed im a book named “Classroom Observation: The Basic’

“Classroom observation is a quantitative method of measuring classroom behaviors

of both teachers and students” (IToldaway, Henderson & Cameron 2009, p.1) Also, whon dog interview, the object may nol answer as truly as they thought (Karunaratne, 2009, p.88) Llence, a class observation would provide more valid and reliable information about what teachers and students actually do in their English

class The ebservation was conducted 1a investigale Iwo main aspects They are:

* Time given to vocabulary

© Techrriques of teaching vocabulary that the teachers used

All of the eight teachers joined the observations Tach of the teachers was observed

in two consecutive lessons with their own class Fach class has about 50 students

A lesson observation sheet (Appendix) was developed and used during the class

observalion With the aims of the observation mentioned above, the observational

notes were mainly about principles and techniques of teaching vocabulary used in observed class As the results, these class observations were to reveal the practical

vocabulary teaching of the observed teachers

2.2 Participants of the Study

‘The participants for this study were eight teachers of inglish at Nguyen ‘hi Minh Khai high school (0 males and 8 females) They are at the age of 28 — $2 Out of 8 teachers, 7 teachers have BA degrees in English, 1 teacher has Master degree All of them have from 5 to 24 years of experience in teaching English for Vietnamese

students in different contexts These eight teachers were asked to participate in an

interview, which is described in details in the above section ‘Then, they were chosen as the subjects for a classroom observation This table below would clarify

the participants of this survey

Table 1; Participants profiles

2.3 Data collection procedures

Firstly, the eight survey participants were chosen randomly for the interviews The

imlerviews were audios orded As Powncy and Watls (1987) pointed out,

interviews could supply accurate information for the study (p.vii) ‘hus the result

from this interview was used to combine with the observation for a reliable data

Secondly, the class observations were carried out in eight classes, named 10A2, 10A3, 10A4, LIAL, 11A3, LLA7, 123 and 1244 for four weeks, lasting from March 3" 2012 to March 314, 2012 The rescarcher allended cach largel class twice

as per its timetable During the class time the researcher: made field notes on classroom layout, class profile, teachers and students’ actions and reactions; audio- recorded the lesson and activities of particular groups within the classroom, collected samples of materials used during the lesson, photographed classrooms The purpose of classroom observation has been presented earlier in 2.1.2 The result from thesc observations was used to compare with the result of interviows and presented in the section of Results and Discussion

Finally, the data collected were analyzed thoroughly so that problems can be clearly identified and recommendations can be developed on a steady basis

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2.4, Techniques of data analysis

Aller cach round of data collection, Wie rescarcher re-read the fulfilled observation notes and notes made while listening to audio-recordings of interviews in the light

of prior objectives The analylical procedures were done by the following sleps, with the data reviewed many times

Firstly, in analyzing the qualitative interview data, the researcher identified patterns

of the different categories of beliefs that the interview participants reported in terms

of beliefs about role of vocabulary, how to teach vocabulary and why teachers think

they teach vocabulary that way Aller having calegorized and sorted the data, all

key points and important findings discovered were interpreted Other information from the interviews suich as quotes of teachers’ responses were used as supporting

evidence and analyved m combination with the observation Themes were also:

worked out regarding the possibilities, means and degrees to overcome the reported

shortcomings

Finally, information from classroom observation was analyzed ‘he researcher used both quantitative and qualitative methods to analyze the data collected from the classroom observations then interpreted it by attaching significance to the observed themes and patterns In addition, for specific analysis of vocabulary teaching methods, Likert-type scale was adopted In a Likert scale, some statements were designed lo assess Inachers’ teaching mcthods The observer responded to these statements in terms of five degrees of application For example, when observing one

teacher teaching vocabulary and the observer could see that new vocabulary was

presenled in meaningful context, the observer could tick on any one of the following way: strongly not applied (1), not applied (2), undecided (3), applied (4),

strongly apphed (5) According to Likert-lype, each point of scale carries a score

(Kothari, 1985, p.85) Response indicates the least applicable degree was given the least score (1) and the most applicable was given the highest score (5) As a result, the researchers could compare the applicable degree of the observed teachers for ihe

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principles and techniques of teaching vocabulary presented in the part of

“approaches to vocabulary” in the observation sheet which comprised statements of teaching principles and techniques The results showed how many and which of systematic principles and techniques were implemented by the observed teachers and whether it was applied strictly or not,

To sum up, the whole study was based on the analysis of observations and documents from interviews The cycle of the research process moved from gaining

an initial picture through this material to exploring themes and wriling up Borg

(2006) stated that studying teachers’ belief by different instruments could bring

about different results (cited in Phipps & Borg, 2009, p 381) For more explanation, they pointed out

“For example, beliefs elicited trough questionnaires may reflec! teachers’ theoretical or

idealistic beliefs — behets about what should be — and may be informed by technical or

propasitional knowledge Tn contrast, beliefs slicited through the discnssion of actual

classroom practices may be more rooted in realily — beliefs aboul whal is — and reflect teachers’ practical or experiential knowledge We believe that a more realisic

understanding of the relationship between teachers’ beliefs and practices can emerge when

the analysis of whal teachers do is the basis of eliciling and understanding (heir beliefs.” (p.382),

Following that idea, the individual interviews designed focused on the topics of teachers’ beliefs about vocabulary teaching, ‘he observation, on the other hand, revealed the actual practices of the teachers As the results, when comparing and

contrasting the resulls reecived {rom both instruments, researchers could lind oul

the practical situation of teaching vocabulary in Nguyen Thi Minh Khai high school, whether teachers’ beliefs were translated into their practice or not and to

whal extend teachers’ behels converged wilh and diverged from their actual classroom practices

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CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Initially, this chapter deals with the information that the interviewees supplied, as well as lays out the data received from the observation After concerning with survey’s resulls, there ix 4 section, namely, findings and discussions which exposes the problems arisen in the survey

3.1Prcliminary results

3.1.1Teachers’ beliefs about the importance af vocabulary

Teachers’ beliefs about the importance of vocabulary in leaming English as a

foreign language were elicited through face-to-face inlerviews

According to the interview data, most of the teachers acknowledged the impoitance

of vocabulary However, they all believed that vocabulary was as important as language lessons such as listening, speaking, reading, writing and grammars

“Learning vocabulary helps our students to understand the lesson If they

know most of the new words m the unit, they will imleract more offen im

class Learning vocabulary is so important but my lesson do not usually have enough time to involve much vocabulary teaching, so, students should learn vocabulary as much

$s possible al home” (Teacher A and H)

“It would be easier for students to know vocabulary while studying language skills such as listening, speaking, reading or writing For me, I know the importance of teaching voeabulary so, T teach vocabulary ina separate part.” (Teacher B)

“A large vocabulary is the necessary tool for second language leamers to succeed in acquiring the target language TL needs a separate twaching.”

“Tt is important to teach vocabulary in parallel with othor language skills For example, when listening to the tape, students could not finish the exercises if they did not know the key words in the sentences they had just heard The same situation happened as with speaking, reading and writing.”

This belief was also shared by other teachers in the school For teacher E

“vocabulary is an indispensable part of language teaching.” She continued Lo stale

that she “integrated vocabulary” in other lessons such as listening, speaking,

reading, writing and grammar

For teacher D, vocabulary is even more important than grammar:

“Vocabulary is the most important part in English leaming because if you are good al grammar bul don’L have much vocabulary, you carmol communicate with anyone However if you have a good vocabulary but some problems with grammar, you can still express your idea and be understood.”

This teacher believed that unless students had a good vocabulary, they would be unable to get the meaning across even if their knowledge of grammar was

salislactory

3.1.2 Teachers’ beliefs about approaches to vocabulary presentation

Most of the (cachors iu this study adopted an explicil approach to vocabulary First

of all, they try to teach a certain number of words to the students For example, while teacher A reported that she had her students leam 20-25 words each week, beth teacher B and C said that they asked their students to leam around thirty words

a week, ‘Teacher 1 who encouraged her students to use computer to learn

vocabulary confirmed thal:

“By doing vivid vocabulary quiz, exercises or games, my students learned vocabulary actively and they could remember more than thirly words per

week.”

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To add more, teacher E said:

‘My students leam five to ten more words after each class I can see students’ knowledge of vocabulary improving every week showed m their writings and reading comprehension”

Secondly, most of the teachers tried to make new words real by connecting them to

the student’s world in some ways As an example, teacher A reported thal she had her students read texts from newspapers, TV-shows or movies Teacher B told that

she let her sludenls play words game every week Teacher I3 thought that

communucative activitics which consist of activities from real world could be

helpful in teaching vocabulary

“1 want my students lo perceive the nocd of leamiing vocabulary As a resuli,

in the separate part of vocabulary teaching, I tried to organize communicative activities which contained new vocabulary introduced once

before and let all the students stand up and take part in.”

Teacher H believed computer is an effective tool to connect new words to the

students’ world

Thirdly, the teachers supposed to use quite various techniques The common techniques the teachers used included waking a word list, presenting new words in sentence cxamples, asking the students to make up their own sentences with the newly presented words For instance, in teacher A's words

“Leaming vocabulary needs a varicty of techniques so that the new words actually become students’ vocabulary If 1 tell the meaning of the new words directly to the sluderts, they will understand immediately but forget as soon

as they finish the class Then 1 et my students encounter with the words using actions, picture and verbal contexts."

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Teacher B said:

‘My techniques to vocabulary include using word series, putting new vocabulary into sentences or trying to understand them in context.”

Other teachers also mnplemented different Lechniquies to leach vocabulary

‘I believe using word lists is really effective in vocabulary teaching.” (Teacher C)

“When teaching vocabulary, | use several techniques such as actions, verbal

context and illustrative sentences.” (Teacher D)

“J usually ask my students to write the new words in the notebooks and make

some sentences or write a paragraph using these words.” (‘Teacher 1!)

“Communicative activities not only help students to leam new words together but also give them a meaningful context in which they can learn many words ‘hen, | usually present new words all related to a particular

topic together” (Teacher G)

On the other hand, there are some teachers having different beliefs about an effective approach to vocabulary Teacher B, unlike other teachers, offen gave

sludenis a mini vocabulary test by the end of the lesson She said thal (his was lo

create competition among students

Teacher C emphasized the need for students to use dictionary to learn words She gave the students a table or a grid and the students had to use the dictionary to complete the table/grid by filling in the synonyms/autanyms or other parts of speech

(noun, adjective, els.) of the newly presented words

In addition, regarding teachers” beliefs, the approach of vocabulary teaching was mostly explicit teaching, five, out of the eight teachers also hold the belief that vocabulary instruction should combine with communicative language teaching Kor example, teacher B said that

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