Luận văn i the study on the role of using vietnamese in teaching english vocabulary to th

NGUYEN THI MAI LIEN A STUDY ON TIIE ROLE OF USING VIETNAMESE IN TEACHING ENGIASH VOCABULARY TO THE 10 FORM ETHNIC MINORITY STUDENTS AT VUNG CAO VIET BAC HIGH SCHOOL Nghiên cứu về vai

NGUYEN THI MAI LIEN

A STUDY ON TIIE ROLE OF USING VIETNAMESE IN TEACIIING

ENGIASH VOCABULARY TO THE 10 FORM ETHNIC MINORITY

STUDENTS AT VUNG CAO VIET BAC HIGH SCHOOL

Nghiên cứu về vai trò của việc sử dụng tiếng Việt trong dạy từ vựng

tiếng Anh cho học sinh dân tộc thiểu số lớp 10 tại trường

PT Vũng Cao Việt Bắc

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISIT TEACTIING METIIODOLOGY CODE: 60140111

Tlanoi, 2014

NGUYEN THI MAI LIEN

A STUDY ON TIIE ROLE OF USING VIETNAMESE IN TEACHING

ENGIASH VOCABULARY TO THE 10 FORM ETHNIC MINORITY

STUDENTS AT VUNG CAO VIET BAC HIGH SCHOOL

Nghiên cứu về vai trò của việc sử dụng tiếng Việt trong dạy từ vựng

tiếng Anh cho học sinh dân tộc thiểu số lớp 10 tại trường

PT Vũng Cao Việt Bắc

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISIT TEACTIING METITODOLOGY CODE: 60140111

SUPERVISOR: DUONG ĐỨC MINH, PhD

Hanoi, 2014

DECLARATION

I, Nguyén Thi Mai Lién, certify that the work presented in this study "A

study on the role of using Vietnamese in teaching English vocabulary to the 10” form ethnic minority stedents at Vung Cao Viet Bac High Schoo!" is the result of

my own research and the maleral has nol been submitted either in whole or in part

for any degree to any other university or institution

Hanoi, August, 2014 Student's signature

Nguyễn Thị Mai Liên

In my capacity as supervisor of the candidate's thesis, 1 certify that the above statements are true to the best of my knowledge

Supervisor

Duong Duc Minh, Ph.D.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

On the completion of this thesis, I greatfully express my deepest gratitude to

my supervisor Dr Duong Due Minh who gave me his precious comments, expert advice and most of his kind encouragement during my doing research

Also, I would like to acknowledge my gratitude to all of the lecturers and the stall’ of the Department of Post-Graduate Studies al University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Ianoi for their valuable

lectures and supports

1 am greatly indebted to my colleagues and students at Vung Cao Viet Bac high school for their enthusiasm, helpfulness, care and patience towards my

interviews which grant great contributions for my thesis

Finally, I would like to express my spevial thanks to my parents, my husband and other members in my family for their love, care, support and encouragement so that

T could accomplish my study

ABSTRACT

The use of the first language in foreign language teaching and learning has

long been a controversial issue However, as a common phenomenon in English

language learning, the influence of the first language can not be ignored especially

wilh low proficiency learners This paper aims al providing the evidence lo the role

of using the first language (Vietnamese) in vocabulary teaching and learning

process l'or these purposes, nearly 200 students of four classes of grade 10" and 6 teachers of English Department al Vung Cao Viel Bac high school were parlicipants

of the research Three research tools were used to gather the data: questiomnaire,

interview and observation The findings of the research were totally true to the

research hypotheses First, Vietnamese is still widely used to teach and leam

vocabulary by teachers and students of Vung Cao Viet Bac high school Frequent using of Vietnamese for words’ explanation, habit of using bilingual dictionary to

look up mew words and doing translation exercises Lo practice new words are the

evidences for the findings Most of participants found using Vietnamese cffeetive to their teaching and learning vocalulary, therefore they often apply it to improve vooabulary acquisition

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION à nọ ren d ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS - - - - ii ABSTRACT - - - iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS, w LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES non neo TABLE OF CONTENTS tớ nriirrreirorore VỀ PART A: INTRODUCTION - - - - 1

1 Rationale of the Study - - - - 1

2 The Aims of the Study 2

3 Research Questions 2

4, The Scope of the Study a 2

5, The Methods of the Study ssccscssnensnsnentstsieensenssaesnstnsimsineenenen

6 Design of the Study 3

7 The Summary 3 PART B: DEVELOPMENT 4 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW ees sesssssssisensesssnesistnsimnintenteneed 1.1 Voeabulary 4

1.1.2 The roles of Vocabulary in Second I

1.1.3 Approaches to Vocabulary Teaching,

1.1.4 Explicit and Incidental Vocabulary Learning

1.2L] and Translation in Second Vocabulary Language ‘leaching

1.2.3 The Use of ‘lranslation to lacilitate Vocabulary Teaching

1.2.4 Empirical Studies of Translation Method in Vocabulary Teaching and

3.1.1 Findings and Diseussion of Survey Questionnaires

3.1.1.1 Analysis of ‘feacher Questionnaires’ Results:

2 Limitations of the Sindy

3 Suggestions for lurther Study

REFERENCES

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the Study

Vocabulary forms the biggest part of the meaning of any language, and it is the biggest problem for most leamers, as described by Mo Carthy (“Tnterview", 2001:2,

cited in Fan, 2003

) Me Carthy firmly believes thal language is lexis-driven, and therefore, vocabulary learning is the real key to second language leaming He claims that leamers will be more successful if they can develop their own techniques and disciplines for vocabulary leaming Therefore, an effective approach to vocabulary is always one of the great concerns of every language teacher

A recent study by Ramachandran and Rahim (2004) investigaled the oflectiveness of using the L1 translation in recallmg the meaning aud retention of ihe

words with clementary level ESL Their results indicated that the translation method

through using the first language was more effective than the non-translation method in enhancing ESL leamers’ vocabulary leaming ability, and it could improve elementary EST leamer’s abihty Lo recall the meamng of the word learn Aucr Bach (1993) claims thal the use of the leamer’s 1.1 im the 1.2 classroom will have a positive effect on leamors’ sccond language leamung, especially in the area of vocabulary Personally, the researcher is interested in the findings of many researchers including Nation (2001) and Kroll and Curley (1988) that new second language words are stored more effectively in

the bram when they are Inked to their first language equivalents

AL Vung cao Viel Bac High school, with more than 2,000 ellie minority studenis coming from different minority groups, cach cilhmic group has ils own language, but Vietnamese is nominated the national language As far as 1 can observe, these learners are much in favour of using Vietnamese when leaming

English vocabulary This has motivated me lo carry out this study, which aims al

finding the answer lor the question about [he real situation of using Vielnamese and its role in vocabulary teaching and learning

Llopefully, findings will reaffirm the use of LI as a strategic teaching method within the field of vocabulary acquisition

Furthermore, it is to partially help English foreign language leachers have a reflection

on their leaching practice

2 The Aims of the Study

The research is aimed to investigate the role of using Vietnamese in teaching

vocabulary to the 10" form students at Vung cao Viet Bac Iligh School

The objectives of the study are:

- fo investigale how frequently Vietnamese is used in vocabulary teaching and learning of teachers and students

- to explore the teachers and students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of using Vietnamese in teaching and learning vocabulary

4 The Scope of the Study

The study Iunils ilself to (he role of using Vietnamese in teaching English Vocabulary The effectiveness of this technique would be explered from the perception of the students and teachers The study was carried out only with tenth form students and the teachers who are in charge of Inglish teaching to those students at Vimg cao Viet Bac Iligh school in Thai Nguyen

5 The Methods of the Study

Both qualitative and quaniilalive rescareh methods are used in his study, including Questionnaire, classroom observations and interviews

Questionnaires

Both open-ended and close-ended questions were administered to 200

students and 6 English leachers lo find oul the perceived effectiveness of

Vietnamese use on vocabulary Leaching and Isarning,

Classroom Observations

Vive periods (of about 45 minutes in length) taught by different teachers were observed to find out how was Vietnamese used to teach vocabulary in the

class

Taterviews

Teacher interviews were conducted to obtain a better understanding of the teachers’ perceptions towards the effectiveness of using Vietnamese in teaching English vocabulary The interviews were transcribed fully and analyzed qualitatively

6 Design uf the Study

The author chose survey research to do this study because of many reasons First of all, the author could gather a great number of opinions from participants As the aim of this study was to investigate the application of using Vietnamese in leaching English vocabulary, the researcher needed a big number of participants to get the most reliable resull The aullor could save a lot of Lime by gelling the answers from delivering questionnaires in class and then interviewing some patticipants in person The research adopted a mixed methodology — both qualitative and quantitative approaches in data collection and data analysis

The study consisied of 5 chapters which covered the introduction of the research, the

Tilerature review, the methodology, findings and discussion and the conclusion chapter

There are three instruments which were used in this study, namely questionnaire, interview and observation Therefore the author could have very

reliable findings at the end The questiormaires were delivered toall participants with

both close questions and open questions so thal they ean speeily their opinions The researcher did (he ebservation on her own with the checklist al class The interviews consisted of semi-structured interviews and free interviews The researcher interviewed three teachers who had just taught the observed periods

7 Summary

To this the first part, the author mitroduved Lhe thesis with the aims that inspired

her to conduct the sluly as well as the research questions The aulhor also presented the scope of the study that the thesis’s focus was the role of Vietnamese use in vocabulary teaching and learning so she did not pay attention equally to all lessons of

the participarits.

PART B: DEVELOPMENT Part B consists of three chapters: literature review; methodology and findings

and discussion

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter focuses on providing an overview of the theoretical knowledge relevant to the study meluding vocabulary and its roles in second language acquisition, recent research about teaching and learning second language vocabulary, L1 and translation in second vocabulary language teaclnng and the suanmaries of previous researches on closely —relaied topics

1.1 Vocabulary

41.1 What is Vacabuiary?

Vocabulary is a matter which many lmguists and language teachers have beon concemed for a long time Vocabulary is defined differently by different scholars Below some definitions of vocabulary that are relevant to the present study are introduced

Ta The American Heritage Dictionary, “vocabulary” is defined as:

1 Allwerds of a language

2 The sum of words used by, understood by, or at the command of a particular

person or a group

3 A list of words and ofler phrases, usually arranged alphabetically and defined

or translated, a lexicon or glossary

IVs apparent thal above definition show [he relationship between vocabulary

and words In other words vocabulary 1s defined as words Llowever, it seems

important to see clear definitions, a concise explanation as sited as follow:

"Vocabulary can be defined, roughly, as the words we leach in the foreign

language However, a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word: for example, post office, and mother-in- law, which are made up of two or three words but express a single idea A useful conversation is to cover all such cases

by talking about vocabulary “items” rather than “word” which is made up of bye or three words but express a single idea.” (Ur, 1996:60)

4

According to Ur, vocabulary should be recognized as words we teach in a foreign language Ur argues a vocabulary item can be either a single word or a multi-word phrase

In conclusion, there are many different definitions about vocabulary, but the

idea thal vocabulary is the tolal number of words existing im a language, includmg

single words as well as multi-word items of which meaning cannot be deduced from

the analysis of the component words but only understood in the sentences; or in

contexts, is more favorable

1.1.2 The Roles of Vocabulary in Second Language Acquisison

Tt is known thal, in learning a foreign language in general, and Fnglish in particular, ihe knowledge and mastery of vocabulary play an extremely important

role Me Carthy (1990) stated that:

“No matter how well the students learn grammar, no matter how successfully the sounds of L2 are mastered, without words to express a wider range of meanings, communication in an 1.2 just cannot happen in any meaningful

way” (fe Carthy, 1990:viti)

Pyles and Algco (1970:96) noted that: "When we first think about the

language, we think about words It is words that we amange together to make

sentences, conversations and discourse of all kind" In fact, vocabulary is the element that Tinks the four skills of listening, speaking, reading ard writing all together In

order lo communicate well in a foreign language, siudenls should acquire an

adequate number of words and should know how to use them accurately Wilkins

emphasized the importance of vocabulary learning,

"Without grammar very little can be conveyed: without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed." (Wilkins, 1972:711)

Cook’s (1991) conclusion is also consistent with Wilkms in (hat “Grammar provides the overall pallerns, vocabulary the matenat lo put ilo (hose pailerns” Or some authors, led by Lewis (1993) argue that vocabulary should be at the centre of language teaching, because ‘language consists of grammaticalised lexis, not

lexicalised granunar" According 10 Meara (1995) central 1o lsarrnng lo commuriicate

in the targel language are vocabulary and lexical units No amount of grammatical or

other type of linguistics knowledge can be employed in communicatien or discourse without the mediation of vocabulary Folse (2004:3 ) claims that:

“The lack of grammar knowledge can limit conversation; lack of vocabulary knowledge can stop conversation” (Folse, 2004:3)

Leamers can express themselves with poor grammar However, iL is always a challenge to gct the message across in a foreign language (Wallace, 1982), and because of this communication in foreign language is constrained considerably to those with limited vocabulary

Thus, the importance of vocabulary in language learning cannot be denied Vocabulary learning is obviously an essential part of language learning Learning words cant considered to be the most important aspect of second lang uage acquisition (Knight, 1994) Candlin (1988) stated that “The study of vocabulary is at the heart of language teaching in terms of organization of syllabuses, the evaluation of learner performances, and the provision of leaming resources.”

1.1.3 Approaches to Vocabulary Teaching

Thore are many different methods, approaches, lechriques as well as siralogies

to vocabulary teaching In the carly decades of the 20” century, vocabulary teaching became the focus of interest of many applied linguistic researchers and language teachers In order to fully understand this development it is certamly worth giving a brief discussion of some major approaches in Leaching vocabulary TL can be casily secu thal several hundred years ago, bilingual teaching was favoured, with students leaning through translation Howall (1984) tells us that the idea of using L1 in the L2 classroom was a respected view during the era of ‘The Grammar ‘[ranslation

Method, The Grammar Translation Method had dominated late 19" and early 20"

century leaching The aim of The Grammar Translation Method was to provide the

students will a delailed lilerary vocabulary which is learned Unough long lisls of translated lems and a bilingual dictionary and practiced through translation excercises with little opportunity to try out pronunciation (Rivers, 1981: 28-30)

The second major foreign language teaching approach is the Direct Method

The Direct Method stressed the abilily to use rather than analye a language as the

goal of language instuction or in other words, the main goal was to train students to communicate in the target language and to have an acceptable pronunciation

The Reading approach attracted more importance than grammatical skill The vocabulary used in the reading passages is controlled at beginning levels and is chosen according to their frequency and usefulness The acquisition of vocabulary is considered to be more important than grammatical skills and is expanded as fast as possible through intensive and extensive reading The translation of vocabulary items

and sentences are permitted (Murcia and Prator, 1979-3)

The Audio-lingual Approach which was dominant in the United States during ihe 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s is known to be a major paradigm shill in foreign language leaching (Larsen-Freeman, 2000) In this method, the amount of vocabulary presented was kept low (Thombury, 2002:14) and was chosen for its simplicity (Schmitt, 2000:13) It was assumed that when grammatical fluency was present, exposure to the foreign language itself lead to vocabulary development (Coady,

1993:4)

The Commmneative Tanguage Teaching Appronch is a renowned British Approach to language teaching the emergence of which dates back to the mid-1960s

Concepts like context, use, effective communication, communicative function,

comprehensible pronunciation, etc were given importance in this approach Senel

(2002: 243) emphasized thal new werds wore nol presented in isolation, but in the context, of a complete sentence, and in a meanimg/ul situation This way, lhe words

acquired meaning when they appeared in a particular definilion in a detormined

context Moreover, Thornbury (2002:14) stated that course books began to

incorporate communicative activities specifically targeting vocabulary since the

meaning-giving role of lexis was recoguized in this approach

1.1.4 Explicit and Incidental Vocabulary Learning

Fxplicit vocabulary learning focuses on twaching vocabulary directly to learners in order to enhance the chance of new vocabulary acquisition Liven though that explicit teaching strategy is time consuming, it is worth the time to teach second

learners the most frequent words in a language and lechnical vocabulary thal learners

will need in order to succeed in their education field.

On the other hand, incidental vocabulary learning can occur when learners focused on comprehending meaning rather than focusing on leaming new vocabulary (Gass and Selinker, 2001) Incidental learning can occur from reading or from having conversations with others who speak the language Words that not explicitly taught gan be learned ineidcnlally (rom exposure TL is necessary to increase the amount of” exposure in order to enhanec the incidental vocabulary learning because the lack of exposure is one of the problems facing the incidental approach (Schmitt, 2000) A learner can start learning vocabulary incidentally from conversation from the beginning, but when it comes to reading, a certain amount of explicit instruction is

necessary

Written language usually uses more low frequency vocabulary than spoken language; thus, teaching these infrequent words explicitly for second language learners is necessary especially for leamers at elementary levels Thus, explicit teaching is necessary for low proficiency learners until they reach a vocabulary size threshold thal allows them to learn words incidentally from reading (Schmitt, 2000) Sokinen (1997) states thal “the pendulum has swung from direct teaching of vocabulary (the grammar translation method) to incidental (the communicative approach) and now, (laudably, back to the middle: implicit and explicit leaming” (as

cited in Schmitt (2000: 120) These studies suggest that both explicit and incidental learning are necessary, and they should complement each other

In conclusion, both incidental and explicit leaning are necessary and they should be used together Lo bring the highest effectiveness

1.2 Li and Translation in Second Vocabulary Language Teaching

1.2.1 Translation Method in Language Teaching

Grammar Translation Method was the predominant teachig methodology

from the begmning of the nineteenth century Tt was developed based on a procedure for teaching [atin and evolved ont of the need to standardrre (orergn language

teaching for children (llowatt, 1984, as cited in Schmitt, 2000) Students were given

extensive grammatical explanation in their first language, lists of bilingual

vocabulary, and some practice exercises to translate [rom the first language into the

second language or vice versa Tn this method, the content, focused mere on reading

and writing skills Vocabulary was only used as a way of illustrating grammar rules

(Zimmerman, 1997, as cited in Schmitt, 2000) Students were expected to leam new

vocabulary themselves by using bilingual word lists; thus, the bilingual dictionaries became an important reference tool Steinberg and Sciarini (2006: 114) stated that the Grammar- Translation Method “has enjoyed and continues Lo enjoy acceplance in many countries around the world,” especially in countries where language teachers are not fluent and the classes are very large

Although it has advantages, there are many problems associated with the

Grammar-Translation Method One of the main problems with Grammar-Translation

Method was that it focused on language analysis instead of tanguage use TL also focused on reading and writing skills which did not help lo develop the ability lo communicate orally in the target language (Schmitt, 2000) Therefore, this method aims at providing students with a detailed literary vocabulary which is leamed throngh long lists of translated items and a bilingual dictionary and practiced through sentence Iranslation with Hllks oppertunily to try oul pronunciation (Rivers, 1981:28- 30) Muraia and Pralor (1979-3) listed major charactenslies of Translation Method

® Classes are taught in the mother tongue, with little active use of target language

« Much vocabulary is taught in the form of lists of isolated words

« Long elaborate explanations of the intricacies of grammar are given

* Grammar provides the rules for putting the words together and instruction often

focuses on the form and miflections of words

* Reading of difficult classical texts is begun early

Little attention is paid to the content of texts, which are treated as exercises in

grammatical analysis

© Often the only drills are exercises im Wanslating disconmected sentences from the

target language into the mother tongue,

© Lillle or no allention 1s given to promeialion,

1.2.2 The Roles of First Language in the Second Language

Many researchers have found out that the learners’ first language has great influence on the learning and the use of second languages Second language learners

use their 1.1 in learmmg the targel language in many ways Many Vielnamese students

have ever said “What is the Victnamese word for ?”, if they do not get the answer, immediately they will look up the bilingual dictionaries to find unknown vocabulary Even though when this does not happen, an immediate association with a mother — tongue word is likely to be set as soon as possible There are complaints about the influence of the frst language on second language vocabulary tearing becanse iil takes time for students and teachers to think in the first language before they have the right word in second language [lowever it even takes more time to explain a word without translating because the teacher has to spend several minutes to find other simple words or materials to make students understand According to Schmitt (Schmiti, 1997) many sccond language learners believe that banslating helps hem in Icarning second language skulls such as reading, writing, vocabulay

Atkinson (1987) not only acknowledges the positive role of the mother tongue in the classroom, but also identifies the following uses of it: eliciting language, checking comprehension, giving instructions, enhancing co-operation among, leaner, promoting discussions of classroom methodology, improving presentation and reinforcement of language, checking [or sense lesting, and development of useful lcaming strategies The following are several reasons why the first languages should

be used as a tool in the language classroom:

Il is more naturat lo use the first language with others who have the sane lirst language

TLis easier and more communicatively effective to use the first language

® Using the secand language can be a source of embarrassment particularly for shy leamers and those who feel they are not very proficient in the second language

‘the first language can help to move the task along by establishing a joint understanding of the text and to manage the task

‘The first language allows learners to focus attention on vocabulary and grammatical items or providing information and explanation about grammatical

rules and conventions

The first language may facilitate classroom activities, particularly for low proficiency students and complex tasks

10

* The first language can provide a foundation for leamers on which to build the second language sbruclures, espocially during collective activities in the classroonr, and the first language provides a sense of security and validates the learners’ live experiences, allowing them to express themselves

© The first language can make learners [bel more confident of usmg the second language, especially when their level is low

* Using the first language 1o explain, Leachers can save a lol of Lime

On the contary, using the first language causes some interference errors in Rnglish because there is nol always equivalence between the two languages Some languages like Swedish and Linglish share some characteristics which led learners to

think that a word or structure what works in Swedish will work in linglish Sokmen

(1997) states that vocabulary teaching was based on a top — down, naturalistic, and

communicalive approach which emphasized implicit and incidental learning of

vocabulary Inferring from the context and guossing are considered to be implicit teaching ‘he implicit approach is commonly used in foreign language teaching classrooms ‘I'sachers often encourage students to guess the meaning of the word by

looking at the context where the words are located They rarely use the first language

in the classroom because they are concerned that students may just rely on (heir first

language Using the first language may lead students to the conelusion that learning &

foreign language is just by translating it or foreign language is the first language in

another form

In short, the first language may support learners to learn the second language,

once they understand their first language they can apply it into their second language

learning Sometimes il may not help, and it even causes difficulties for learners

because of the two language differences

1.2.3 The Use of Translation to Facilitate Vacabulary Teaching

As it was discussed in the previous section, leamers’ first language has a great impact in the learning of the second language Thus, we come to the question: should translation be used in teaching and testing second language vocabulary? There may

be a belief that first language translation should not be used in the teaching of vovabulary However, translation is one of number of ways of conveying meaning

and it is not better or worse than other ways, such as the use of pictures, real objects, definitions, the second language synonyms and so on Actually, the use of learners” first language to test ar convey vocabulary is quite sufficient (Nation, 2001)

One of the greatest advantages of using leamers’ first language in vocabulary leaching is thal it provides an casicr way to explain Ihe meaning of scoond language vocabulary The use of the learners’ first language meaning is like using a simple synonym, while a second language definition usually involves a definition that

includes a relative clause or reduced relative clause, and reading such sentences

require greater grammatical skills

The use of first language translation provides a useful mean of (esting vovabulary, beth recoplively and productively, and in recall and recogmuon of meaning, The diificultics that caused by no oxact corresponding between meanings in both languages are less than the difficulties that caused by the lack of connection between the second language definitions and the meaning they are trying to convey

As a resull, using learners’ first langusge translahon to establish the anilial form - meaning of the new second language words’ form with the corresponding the [irst language words which alrcady oxist in the memory is very useful (Barcroft, 2002) Moreover, new second language wards are stored more effectively in the brain when they are linked to their first language equivalents (Kroll and Curely, 1988 , as cited in

Barerofi, 2002) Thus, using first language translation 1s a good method to teach

second language words as any olher methods

124 Empirical Studies of Translation Method in Vocabulary Teaching and

A year laler, Shamash (1990) stated that the learmers starled by wriling about

their lives in their first language or a mixture of their first language and English.

Then they translated the text into English with the help of bilingual tutors or learners

By this way, leamers overcome the problems of vocabulary and language confidence

‘The use of native language may attract those students who are at low level of

Rnglish Such findings are in accordance with current theories of second language

acquisition All of them emphasize that the use of the first language reduces anxiety and consequently makes effective environment appropriate for learnina

Tn another study, Knight (1994) imvestigaled the effects of using dictionary on

the retention of unknown words during a reading activity In this experiment students who used computerized dictionary demonstrated more vooabulary knowledge than

those without access to a dictionary

Vurthermore, Saggara and Alba (2006) also conducted a research to

investigate effectiveness of translation with clementary studenls and came to a

conehision that using key word method and direct first language translation of the second language words would lead to better second language vocabulary leaming at the early stages of acquisition

Another study is by Majid and Hayati (2009) conducted a research to make

comparison between task-based mstruction and translation method im the

effectiveness of leaming vocabulary and found out that higher range of vocabulary had been learnt in the translation group Learning happened in the task group but not

as much as in the translation one Doing translation the learners had time to focus on

every single word, Added to that, when looking up words in bilingual dictionaries,

learners paid allerition Lo the meaning and the form of the words then considered

semantic relation of each word with its surrounding words

According to Ellis and Beaton (1993:604) knowing a lexical item involves

knowing various components such as ils spelling, phonological representation, word

class, syntactic features and delivered meaning Current trends in language education mostly consider ne role of the mother tongue in language Icarning but many

researches including study of Majid suggest that translation method is effective in

improving leamers’ ability to recall meanings of words which are unknown to them

Pal Hellai (1988) did a research on condilions in which oral tanslahen can be an

exercise to build vocabulary and he came to a conclusion that translation is best used as a

supplementary exercise to practice and build vocabulary at advanced level under some

conditions In countries where English is a forcign language, opportunities for naturalistic

acquisition are few, students have less chances to practice real English, therefore some

activities like translation can be beneficial for leamers to reach motivation to learn new

words He also stated that translation might, indircelly, through contributing to the learning

of vocabulary: help improve leamers’ commumicative fluency

Another study is by Ramachandran and Abdul Rahim (2004) to investigate

the effectiveness of the translation method in teaching vocabulary 1o elementary level

English as second language (ISL) leamers The authors sought answers to the following questions: Do Malaysian elementary level ESL learners whe learn words

through translation method recall the meaning of the words leamt more effectively

and is the translation method effective for lasting word meaning recall’ ‘he results

of the study show two characienshes of the wanslation method that may have

contributed to the outperformance in word meaning recall by the participants receiving it, First, given that participants’ second language lexical knowledge is limited, instruction in their first language may have made their learning of second language lexical items more effective Second, the subjects found leaming the new

lexical items using ther frst language less tedious than tryny Lo understand different

explanations in English The findings of the study show that elementary level ESL learners recall the meanmg of the words learnt effectively by using the translation

method The study also reveals that the effects of the translation methed is more

lasting for word meaning than recall among elementary level USL leamers At the

end, translation method seems to have positive impact on FST elementary learners’

recall and retention of meaning of vocabulary learning

1.3 Chapter Summary

The current chapter summarizes the previous studies on Translation Method

towards second language learning and vocabulary leaching and learning m particular

It also covers the influence of the first language to the second language acquisition There are different, controversial ideas on that, however; many researchers found out

thai the first using translation method and the first language bring benefils Lo

students, especially to lower level ones The term “word” and all issues surrounding such as what should be taught in vocabulary, the role of vocabulary in a language,

incidental and explicit vocabulary teaching are all included

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY This chapter consists of the design of the study; the participants; the three instruments, namely questionnaire, interview: observation and finally the data

collection

2.1 Participants and Setting of the Study

The participants of the rescarch were 200 students from grade 10A5, 10A6,

10A7, 10A8 at Vung cao Viet Bac high school, Thai Nguyen The researcher is also

an Lnglish teacher of this school My school is a boarding school with more than

2,000 ethnic minority students Most of the students in the school come from farmer

families in the retmole mountainous villages m the nerlhorn provinces They are pure ellmie students, they have their own first language; they often use it to communicate

with their parents and other friends of their commmunitics They use Vietnamese at

schools or at public places You are sure to imagine all sorts of difficulties those ethnic students have to overcome when they leam English Most of the participants are al the age of 16 and all these sludents are clhmie minorites, they belong Lo

dillerent cthnie minorities namely: Tay, Thai, Muéng, Dao, Hmong, Nimg, San Diu,

La Hồ, La Chi, Cao Lan, Hoa, Pu Péo, Giay They have been learning English for four years in junior schools but their knowledge of English vocabulary is at a low

level

Tn ters of 6 veluntcer teachers participaling im the study, three of them were

quile young with no more than 5 year (caching expericnce; Lwe of thom had less than

10 year expericnce There was only 1 wacher who bad been waching lor 14 years in this school ‘'hey were Linglish teachers of those 4 classes | chose [hey were helpful

to assist the author to deliver students the questionnaire and get their answers

some advantages such as low cosl im time and money, easy Lo gel information from a

lol of people, respondents can complete the questionmare when i suils them, analysis of

answors to closed questions is straightforward: less pressure for an immediate response, respondents’ anonymity; lack of interviewer bias, standardization of questions (but true

of structured interviews); can provide suggestive data for testing an hypothesis The

questionnaires were designed in both close and open-ended questions

There are 6 different questions im questionnarre thal the author delivered to six

teachers and about 200 students in their break time The questionnaire for studonts was in Vietnamese so they could clearly understand each question and respond to them without any language barrier All the questions designed were to seek answers for the following research questions

1 How is Vietnamese used im vocabulary tea

Viel Bac High School?

2 How effeetive do teachers and students find Vietnamese to their vocabulary teaching and learning?

Same questions are closed questions, and the participants responded by

ing and learning al Varig Cao

circling their choices, so they could save much time Some of the questions sought answers for frequency of actions which were lypical characteristics of Translation Method such as using Victnamese to explain the meaning and usage of the new words or using translation exercises to help students drill new words or using dictionary to look up new words, eto Other questions explored participants’ opinions

about the effectiveness of 1.1 1e their new vocabulary learning and teaching and the reasons [or their choices The researcher also spent 1 first questions to investigate the

personal information of students and loachers such as their language proficioncy, their teaching experience so that the author could see differences in their viewpoints about the use of Vietnamese if they had any

The last question was an open ended question which allowed participants 10

spevily their ideas about the effectiveness of using translation exercises This

question was also the key queshon thal may lacililale the researcher to directly

interview some teachers for more ideas (See appendix 3).

2.2.1.2 Class Observations

Besides using questionnaires and interviews to get deeper ideas from teachers

the researcher came to some classes and observed by herself The author always

asked the teachers m advanced then attended the classes randomly, so the lessons

could go on as planned The author used an observation checklist with typical characteristics of Translation Method such as using Viemamese to explain the

meaning and the usage of the new words; asking sludonis to use bilingual dictionary

and giving translation tasks (See appendix 4) Besides the checklists, she did not forget to take note other things which happened in class The researcher believed that these notes could lead her to other issues The author observed the classes in all listening, speaking, reading, writing and language focus lessons

22.13 Interviews

Interviews are a research tool in which a researcher asks questions of participants; interviews are often audio or video-taped for later transcription and analysis The interviews may take one of several forms: open-ended, focused, structured or unstructured In an open-ended interview, the researcher could ask for

the informant’s opirnon on events or facts Tn a focused interview, the respondent is

interviewed for only a short time, and the questions asked could have come from the case study protocol, The structured interview is particularly useful in studies of

neighborhoods where a formal survey is required The unstructured interview was

preferred because it is thought that it gives a wider freedom to the interviewees to

s (Shohamy and Schiger 1989; Wallace 1998) For this

advantage the researcher chose unstructured interview as an instrument to get data for her study

Unstructured interview queslions were sel to solicit pertinent data from the 3

express their views and buli

different teachers whose classes were observed and noted These teachers have had a rather long time in teaching English and they also have good teaching methods, the researcher interviewed them in English and they were helpul to give the answers The purpose of the interview was to obtain a better understanding of the teachers’ perceptions about the benefits of using Vietnamese in teaching new vooabulary The interviews were conducted after the lessons around 1 Sminutes They were based on the following key questions.

1 Do you use Viotnamese to teach new vocabulary to your students? Why?

Ww What effects does Vietnamese use have on your vocabulary teaching?

3 Llow motivated do you think your class is when you use Vietmamese to teach vouabulary to them?

A Do you think that the exclusive use of Vietnamese in teaching English vooabulary has problem(s)? If yes, what are they?

2.2.2 Data Collection Procedures

The required data were collected im the second tern of 201 4-2015 school year Tirst, the questionnaires were given to students and teachers Next, 5 periods of five teachers were observed Finally, three teachers were interviewed right after they had

taught around 15 minutes

2.23 Data Analysis Procedure

The procedures of collecting data took me nearly two months and about one

month to analyze the data Data collected from the above different scurces were calegorived inlo: Findings and discussion of survey questionnaires, Findings and discussion of class observations and findings and discussion of interviews

The dala was calogorized this way simply lor socking answers lo resvarel: questions

raised for this study The quantitative data from questionnaire and classroom observation were collected, analyzed and classified to synthesize in the table sialiallos The Tcsulls were shown m the figures The qualilalive data from the

interview were presented by quoting relevant responses from the respondents

2.3 Chapter Summary

This chapter includes the design, description of participants, research

instrumenls and the data collection of the study This study was a survey research

which used the mixture of methodology: qualitative and quantitative approaches 200 students and 6 teachers of Vung Cao Vict Bac high school were the participants

They not only answered the questionnaires but were interviewed to express their

ideas about the use of L1 in vocabulary teaching and learning ‘I'he author also observed their classes with checkhst and written notes to gel more reliable data for

the study.

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter looks at the data analysis, the discussion and the major findings

of the study

3.1 Findings

3.1.1 Findings and Discussion of Survey Questionnaires

3.1.1.1 Analysis of Teacher Questionnuires' Results:

As it was stated before, the first questions were used to ask for teachers’

background information Only 1 out of 6 teachers had more than 10 years teaching in this school, the rest of them are quite young with from 3 to less than 10 year

experience

Question 2: Which technique do you use the mosl often to explain the meaning of the new words?

Below is the table which shows the teacher respondents’ answers:

Fable 1: Teachers’ responses to the most frequently used techniques to explain the meaning of new vocabulary

2 Explaining the words in English 1 17

3 Giving exanples to 1ÏÏustrate tnearingr 0 0

4 Guessing the meaning of wards from contexts 0 9

Table 1 indicates that 5 out of 6 teachers often use Vietnamese to explain the

meaning of new words The number 83% is much grealer than thal of leachers who

apply other techniques to help students understand the meaning besides using

Vietnamese Ihe researcher found that the mamber of teachers who often used

Vietnamese to present new vooabulary in these cases still outmumbers This method

is heplful for the students to recognize the new words in form of pronunciation and

spelling, Therefore, it ean be concluded that using Victnamose to explain new words’ meaning is still preferred by almost teachers

Question 3: Do you ask your students to use bilingual dictionaries to look up new words?

This question gives respondents two choices, cilher Yes or No, and it is surprising that 100% of the teachers ask their students to use bilingual dictionaries to look up new words’ meaning, Therefore, it is clear that bilingual dictionaries play an extremely important role in vocabulary teaching by teachers in Ving, Cao Viet Bac High School Bilingual dictionaries are considered precious sources which can provide students word mearung quickly and conveniently

The below table which illuswates the percentage of teachers who ask their students to use bilingual dictionaries to look up new words

Table 2: Percentage of teachers asking students to use bilingual dictionary to look up

new words

Responses (%) Question

Do you ask your students to use bilingual

Teachers have 4 choices to select, and the table below is the result:

20

Table 3 Aspects of vocabulary teachers pay the most attention to

According to the collected dala from thư lable, ä considerable runnber o[

teachers (66,6%) paid the most attention to teach the meaning of the words to their

students, it means that they suppose the meaning of the word is the most important aspect and the very first thing students need to know when they leam new words

16,7% of the leachers gave the first priority Lo the grammar and usage of the words

On the other hands, no teacher paid the mosl allenlion to word — form Tn shorl, from

teachers’ viewpomls about the

spect of werd Lhey paid Lhe mos altention to, Lhe

author can conclude that they are using L1 through translation method in their vocabulary teaching

Question 3: How do you think translation exercises help you teach new words io your

students?

The two lasl questions in the questiormaire were used lo investigate the

teachers’ ideas about the effectiveness of translation exercises to their vocabulary

teaching

The figure below is the description of the result for question 5

21