Luận văn applying metacognitive strategies in learning vocabulary for in service students at hanoi university of language and international studies vietnam national university an action research

The purpose of this study is to shed light on the issue of vocabulary strategy learning by applying metacognitive strategies.. Aims of the study The purpose of this study is to cxamine

VIETNAM NATIONAL URTVERSITY, HANOL

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

UNIVERSITY: AN ACTION RESEARCH

(Một nghiên cứu cải tiễn về việc áp dụng các thú thuật siêu

nhận thức trong việc học từ vựng của sinh viên Tại chức trường

Đại học Ngoại Ngữ - Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội)

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 60 14 10 Cohort: MA 16

HANOI, 2010

'VIETNAM NATIGNAIT UXTVERSITY, HANOL

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

UNIVERSITY: AN ACTION RESEARCH

(Một nghiên cứu cải tiễn về việc áp đụng các thủ thuật siêu

nhận thức trong việc học từ vựng của sinh viên Tại chức trường

Đại học Ngoại Ngữ - Đại học Quốc gia Hà Nội)

M.A Minor Programme Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methadology Code: 60 14 10

Cohort: MA 16

Supervisor: Phan Thi Van Quyén, MA

HANOI, 2010

L1 Background ta the study

L.2 Aims of the study

L3 Scope of the study

L4, Methods of the study

LS Organization of the study

1.13 The role of vocabulary learning

1.1.4 Factars gecine vocabilary learting

L141 intralexical facfors

1.4.4.2 Individual and social factors

1.2 Vocabulary learning strategies (VL)

3.1.1 The pre-training questionnaire results

3.13, The post-training questionnaire results

3.L3 Pre-training and post-training questionnaire results

3.1.4, Discussion of the pre-training and post-training questionnaire resus

3.2.4, The prectest and posttest TEHN cà cà nen nhe nen

3.2.2, Discussion of the pre-test and post-test restltS 0 we wene on

APPENDIX 1: PRE-TRAINING QUESTIONNAIRI

APPENDIX 2: PRE-TRAINING QUESTIONNAIRE

APPENDIX 3: PRE-TEST VOCABULARY

APPENDIX 5: PRE-TEST VOCABULARY ANSWERS KFY

APPENDIX 6: POST-TEST VOCABULARY ANSWERS KEY

Xv

XVI

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table

Table 1.1 Intralexical factors that affect VL

Table 2.1 Organization of the questionnaires

Pre-training and post-training questionnaire results

PART I: INTRODUCTION This part helps to provide the background as well as the context for the study, Background

to the study, aims, scope, methods, and organization of the study will be discussed in details in this section

L1 Background to the study

‘The wide use of English as an international language in different fields of life makes the leaching and tearning of Hinglish gain great momentum, Towever, educational achievements are still far from being satisfactory even though teaching approach has been improved significantly One main cause is that the teaching and learning are both so far

from the learner-cent

srod approach Tn order ta mesh the economic and social demands of modern society, English teachers need to pay attention to the development of learners` competence and focus on an effective learning method As a learner, setting up a schedule for learning something new every day in addition to class assignments is really necessary

This is particularly truc of vocabulary

The quotation of Wilkins (1974) ‘Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed’ emphasized that vocabulary plays an extremely important role in language and the important role of vocabulary learning in captring a Tenguage as well Tho importance of vocabulary was also mentioned by Vermeer (1992, p.147) ‘Knowing words is the key to understanding and being understood

‘The bulk of leaming a new language consists of learning new words, Grammatical Knowledge does nol make far great profi

grammatical knowledge is offen firstly focused In other words, little attention has been given to vocabulary tcaching so far In Vietnam, ‘handicapped? voeabulary is the torr that should be used to deseribe current situation of leaming, Students are just provided with words’ meanings rather than be explained the usage ot be trained how to lear effectively This a fact (hat in spile of the efforts in learning new vocabulary items such as using Nash cards, notebook, referring to bilingual and monolingual dictionaries, giving some synonyms and antonyms to decipher the meaning of wards, vocabulary is by far the most sivable and wonanageable component far language Tsarners,

The amswer to the problem of vocabulary is applying vocabulary learning stralggies

in their learning process to make them become independent and gain active positions in learning the vocabulary knowledge The purpose of this study is to shed light on the issue

of vocabulary strategy learning by applying metacognitive strategies Tt aims at exploring

what lics behind this phcnomenon and cxamines the effsctiveness of application,

2 Aims of the study

The purpose of this study is to cxamine the cfifvets of metacognitive strategies on

by students’ vocabulary acquisition, then help them to save the time and effort in ther vocatnlary leaning process The study aims at finding answers to the two questions

+ What arc the most and Icast ficquently used metacognitive vocabulary learning

strategies by in-service English students?

L3 Scope of the study

To investigale the vocabulary learning stratogics employed lo tear new words, the study focuses on in-service English students who do not have much time invested in learning and find out ways that could help improve their vocainlary learning

‘This study aims at training metacognitive learning strategies in vocabulary learning for in-service English students at Hanoi Universily of Languages aud International studies, Vietnam National University in Vinh Yen province All learners have finished three years studying at college with English as a major Currently, they are teachers-learners who are

working as teachers of Linglish at different high schools in Vinh Yen and spending their weekend pursuing hig!

qualification

The course book is NEW ITEADWAY Intermediate level which is supposed to be

completed aiter ten weeks, The focuses are on Vocabulary, Grammar and other skills are mostly studied at home by students

The concept of metacognitive assessment is relatively new and complicated to approach although in recent decades there have been efforts to develop suitable measuring instruments The repertoire of metacognitive skills has been shown to be among the factors explaining the differences between good and poor readers Metacognitive assessment is not

an ardition lo teaching and learning, bul il is inlegraled in the two, informing and guiding them Metacognitive knowledge is tiequently refined into person, task, and strategy variables, or declarative, procedural, and conditional knowledge (Brown, 1980), However,

mnekacoysr

lation which is tho focus of this study is togarded as the implementation of phaming, monitoring and evaluating,

L4 Meihads of the study

An action rescarch wes spplicd to this current study with the leacher as a researcher, With an aim to support the research with varied and valid data, the quanbitative approach was used with two questionnaires and two written tests before and after doing the

action rescarch

The first questionnaire was done before the traning te identify the students* employment of metacognitive strategies in their vocabulary learning, The second one was distributed immediately after the training to see how students changed their VLS

application The effect of the metacognilive stralegy instruction on studsnls’ language

acquisition was accessed by the results of the pre- and post-vocabulary tests, The tests were designed with the purpose of exploring the effects of metacognitive strategies on students’ progress in vocalnlary-learning after training Therefore, the data collected ftom the fesl-resulls was computed, analyzed, and reported

LS Organization of the study

‘The minor study will be divided into three parts namely Introduetion, Development and Conclusion, Parl two includes 3 chaplers: Tilerature Review, Methodology, Data analysis and major findings

In the first part, the reasons that tigger for the study together with the aims which

could be taken into consideration regarding the significance of this study are presented,

‘To set the background to the study, in chapter 1, a review of the literature of vocabulary learning strategies is conducied and a subsal of strategies is identified for the focus of the study Moreover, vocabulary and metacognitive strategies in vocabulary learning will be discussed in details that would help identity the problems and give inspirations for carrying out the research

Chapter two is the main section which deals with the process of this action research

on Metacognitive vocabulary Icarning, strategics It presents the methodology for the study and the procedure to carry out the research,

Inthe next chapter, the results of the analysis are presented and discussed,

Part three takes a closcr look at what the previous chapters discuss before and to

my limited knowledge and experience, recommendations for some applications that in some way be useful for further falure study or research on the same problem will be

presented

consisting of the first and sceond

Two ofher supplementary parls arc the appenuti

questionnaires, the pre- and post- tests in vocabulary and the table results of them

PART I: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Litcrature Review

‘As what has been mentioned in Introduction part, this chapter is to set the background to the study, and discuss in details the metacognitive strategies that would be a focus in Iearners* vocabulary learning,

meaning, which interlock to allow us to communicate with one another’

1.1.2, Classifications of vacobulury

Vocabulary can be classified in different ways:

1.121 Semantics In terms of meaning, vocabulary can be divided into:

* Notional words: Their meanings are lexical, form a great mass of the speake’s vocabulary ‘hose words name objects, actions, qualities and have meanings

themselves Tn terms of part of speech, they can be touns, verbs, adjectives

adverbs and so on

* Functional words: They are grammatical words, which only have their meanings in

relation to other words with which they are med ‘They can be particles, articles,

prepositions, cle,

1.1.2.2 Grammar: In terms of structure, vocabulary is divided into different parts of

speech such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, etc,

1.1.2.3 AMethodology: In terms of the way to obtain, vocabulary can be divided into:

© detive words: Active vocabulary includes all words which can be understood, pronounced correctly, aud can be used effectively in spezking and writing

* Passive words: Passive vocabulary includes all words which the leamers can revognive and understand when they over in a context, bul which learners cannol produce o use correctly themselves even when they attempt to

In addition, some other methodologists follow communicative Language Approach divide vocabulary into productive and receptive, The productive words can be used offectively to produce information in speaking and writing while the receptive ones are used to receive and understand information in listening and reading

These classifications should he known by the teachers and learners, then, Ihey would know what aspects of the words should be leant to widen their vocabulary knowledge

LL3 The role of vocabulary learning

Rivars (1981) emphasizes the important position of vocabulary in a language:

“Language is not dry bones It is a living growing entity, clothed in the flesh of words" (cited in Iloang, 1985 p.23) The extreme significance of vocalulary in a language is also stressed by Saville and Troikc (1976, p.87) by saying:

“Vocabulary is most important for understanding and knowing names for things, actions and concepts We can appeal to our common sense and experience in making this decision aboul priorities, Many of us have goticn along in

countrics, even shopping, gctting dircctions, ctc if we just knew the names of what

we wanted although we had no idea how to structure grammatical utterances’

From what have been discussed above, il can be concluded [hal with non-native speakers, vocabulary is needed as first in order to survive If a Jeamer has a wide vocabulary, he can get himself understood and understand others easily, on the contrary, if

it is limifed, he will surely have difficulty in doing so Therefore, vocabulary is a ‘must’ for all English learners lo acquire by all means

The importance of vocabulary raises question of how can learners increase their vocabulary knowledge Prator and Murcia (1979, p.3) pointed out that “Vocabulary is expanded as fast as possible, since the acquisition of vocabulary is considered more important than grammatical skill’, Consequently, it goes without saying that teaching and learning vocabulary is a very crucial aspect in foreign language methodology

It is always thought that learning vocabulary seems to be one of the easiest things

aboul learning @ language However; iL is also one of the lmrdest tings to do, especially when you have reached a certain level Vocabulary learning or acquisition (in this study, learning and acquisition could be interchanged) is significant in learning a language as ciled in Te, Pham TLIT 2003, p.4) “Zinnernmn [ ] points oul that meaning is the heart

of language and nothing is more fundamental to meaning than vocabulary.’ She continues

by mentioning learning vocabulary as a process requiring time and effort investment She states thal in vocabulary loaching, teachers are advised to organize various learning activities to create motivation for leamers To this point, learning process is synonymous with changing input into intake After provided with new information drawn from an input

such as words? meaning and cxamples, learners are probably requited to rewrile or r the whole message of the text When students can make sense of a new word that is the process of changing a nsw input becoming intake In other words, that is the process toward meaning and usages of that new word Learning vocabulary shonld focus on

remembering words and using them automatically in the right contexts (McCarthy, 1984)

Faerch, Hasstrup and Phillipson (1984) as cited in Waring (2002) also considers

vocabulary knowledge as a link belween being able to know mearing and usage of a word

and know how to use it in appropriate situations with suitable manners

However, forgetting vocabulary that has been ‘learned’ earlier is one of the biggest problems in vocabulary learning The problem here is the burden or the big number of new

words to remember that would make leamers easy to forget the old ones Nation (2005) recommends the term ‘learning burden of a word’ and then clarifies it by listing typical

questions pertaining to meaning, form and use of a word ‘That burden is different from word to word duc to ils commection wilh Icarmers’ existing languags knowledge Evaluating

the vocabulary learning is recommended to help learners to deal with this fact

As a learner of English, our teachers have to face with the same difficulty as their

students that there arc too many words to Icarn but they do not have cnough time to Icarn

them in ‘hus, the teacher needs to decide which words worth learning, and learn how to organize his or her vocabulary learning IL is very important for most learners lo have am idea of whether they arc making progress or nol Finding thal they are aclually making

progress can be a big help to their confidence

1.1.4 Kactors affecting vocabulary learning

‘There is a range of factors that affect choices in leaming strategies, including voeubulary lcarning stralogics According lo Fllis (1994, pp.540:545), here are two broad

> Sitvational and social factors leaming setting, type of task, and gender

It is extremely difficult to list all the significant factors and the ways in which they influence vooabulary learning because of the differs

s cxisl among different researches

Following are some factors considered by researchers having strong impact on vocabulary

learning process:

LL&L Intralexical factors

There are some features inherent in the word itself which migIn affect the ease or difficulty with which it is learned ‘These were: pronounceability, orthography, length, morphology, synformy, part of speech, abstractness and register restrictions, idiomaticity

and multiplicity of meaning Those factors will be shown in the below table:

Table 1.1 Intralexical factors that affect VL (Lauter, 1997, p.154 cited)

facilitating factors Difficulty-inducing factors actors with no clear effect

Familiar phonemes Presence of foreign

phonemes

Phonotactic regularity Phonolactic imegularily

Fixed sires, Vanable stress and vowel

change Consistency of sound-soript Incongruency in sound-script

Word length Inflexional regularily Inflexional complexily

Derivational regularity Derivational complexity

Morphological transparency Deceptive morphological

Register neutrality Register restrictions

Tdiomatieity

Gne form for one meaning One form with several

meanings 1.1.4.2, Individual and social factors

There are discussions about individual and social factors affecting students’ vocabulary

learning as following:

© The influence of first and other language:

‘The leamers tend to find the equivalent hypothesis in their own language ITowever, due to Swan (1997), this may fail and lead to crroncous conclusions because thers are not cxact or

no equivalents in two language at all

© The role of memory:

The role of memory is erucial an any kind of learning and vocabulary learning captures no exception Learning of lexical items is not linear process The learning and teaching of vocabulary necđs to be planned following principles if it is to be efficient

* The sowe of vocabulary (exposure to linguistic input)

Carter (1992) asserts that a significant amount of vocabulary can be successfully learnt through the often criticized rote learning An important source of vocabulary in second language (1.2) learning is a wide mange of comlcals

* Individual learner differences

Other factors such as motivation, attitudes towards vocabulary leaming, fear of failure, cte also account for individual learner differences should be paid attention in making

conscious efTorls to Totics new lexical ilems, seleclive attending, context-based inferencing:

and stonng into long-term memory

= Rolz of leacher and teaching stralegics

One has to admit that achicving the goals of L2 vocabulary instructions is no casy matter

‘There are some additional factors also discussed regarding the effects of learning strategies inchuling time Game for classroom learning, individual lexical needs whether they are professional or academic particularities, and modern technology applications such as the

form of the Internet cable and satellite ‘'V, film and television programs on digital video,

ole

In conclusion, it is argued that vocabulary is an important ingredient of language and vocabulary learning is an essential part of second or foreign language leaming Learning new vocabulary is a challange to foreign language students but they can overcome by having access to a variety of vocabulary learning strategies, One way to help learners to enhance their knowledge of L2 vocabulary is through equipping leamers with

varicty of vocabulary learning straleg

1.2 Vocabulary Icarning strategies (VL8)

Many researchers assert that knowing a word requires more than just being familiar with its meaning and form, Tn their book, Nation (1990) and Richards (1976) claimed thal

to know and master a word entirely, it is required that learners could grasp its orthographical and phonological form, meanings, grammatical behavior, associations, collocations, fsquency and register There is a distinclion belwesn language learning strategies and language use strategies, the formar being strategies for leaning tasks such as remembering, and the latter being strategies for language use, such as communicating in L2 In order to have good vocabulary knowledge and improve their vocabulary proficiency, vocalulary learning strategies (VLS) play a key role and should be employed

in students’ vocabulary learning process

12.2 Vocabulary learning strategies

1.2.2.1, Definition

Schriilt (1997, p.203) assorls thal Isarning is “the process by which informution is obtamed, stored, retrieved, and used’ Therefore, vocabulary learning strategies could be any which affect this broadly defined process According to Nation (2001, p.217}, VLS are defined by the following itnportant features:

(1) they involve choice, that is, there are several strategies to choose from

(2) Ihey are complex, i.c consisting of several steps,

(3) they require knowledge and benefit ftom training; and

(4) they increase the efficiency of vocabulary learning and use

Rivers (1981, p.163) has also commented:

“Vocabulary cannot be taught, It can be presented, explained, included in all kinds

of activities but it must be learned by the individual ‘I'he vocabulary we understand and the vocabulary we can use varies in nature and in quantity from one person Lo another even in our native language”

In short, VLS may include some such as guessing a word’s meaning ftom the contexl, idenlifying the grammatical category of a word, looking up wards or recognizing cognates, They am leps of learning vocabulary chi

In the area of VLS taxonomy development, the most notable efforts in terms of

classifying range of strategies considered are Stoffer (1995) and Schmitt (1997) Schmitt’s

goal was ta develop a comprehensive invertory of individual VIS, and classify therm along two dimensions The first classification dimension was adopted from Oxford (1990), who grouped learmng strategies into four categories (social (SOC), memory (MEM), cognttive (COG), and metacognitive (MET) In order to account for the case where meanings of new words arc discovered without recourse to other people’s expertise, Schmitt introduced a Bilth category, determination (DE'I) strategies These seem to be roughly equivalent to the

“guessing intelligently in listening and reading” part of Oxford’s compensation strategies The cont cl

sification dimension was proposed by Nation (1990) and reflects the distinction of initial discovery of word meanings (discovery strategies - DISCOV) and remembering (consolidation strategies - CONS)

To discuss the resulls of our study, the strategy syslem by Oxford (1990) which consists of both direct and indirect was adopted by the researcher:

Direct strategies require mental processing of the target language ‘There are three

b Coynitive strategies - These involve processing the target language so that meaning

becomes clear through processes such as reasoning and analyzing

¢ Compensation strategies - These enable learners to make up for gaps in their knowledge

and skills, by, for cxample, guessing meanings and using gestures

Indirect strategies, on the other hand, support and manage language learning often withont involving the target language directly There are lhres groups of indirect strategies

@ Metacognitive strategies - These enable learners to plan, coordinate, evaluate, and direct

their own learning as well as to monitor errors

b Affective strategies - These help learners gain contral over (heir emotions, altiturtes, and

motivation through anxiety reduction, self-encouragement, and self-reward

e Social strategies - These are ways of involving other people in enhancing leaming

through questions, cooperation and increased cultural awareness

Creating mental linkages, repetilion and memorization, and translating from first

language (L1) to L2 which are direct strategies in Oxtord’s book (1990) are unconsciously

or consciously used sometimes by students However, in comparison with the use of direct

strategies, indirect strategics are casily neglected for they are not directly involved in both

teaching and learning process ‘To build up the confidence and autonomy in learning a word, in teaching new vocabulary itenis, the teacher should make students aware of the imporlarec of using melacognitive stralegiss in comlamation wilh’ vocabulary learning

strategies For this reason, indirect strategies, which may change and strengthen learning

process, will be emphasized in this study,

1.3 Metacognitive learning strategies

to approach a given learning task, monitoring comprehension, and evaluating progress toward the completion ofa task are metacognitive in nature

So far, metacognilion has bson used lo refer to knowledge aboul cognition er the regulation of cognition Knowledge about cognition may include applying thoughts about the cognitive operations of oneself or others, while regulation of cognition inchides planning, monitoring, and evaluating a learning or problem-solving activity (Brown and Palincsar 1982; Brown ef af 1983) It sccms that metacognitive strategics, that allow students to plan, control, and evaluate their learning, have the most central role to play in this tespect, rather than those that merely maximnive inlsraetion and input -Thus, the abilily

to choose and evaluate one's strategies is of central importance, (Graham, 1997, pp 42:43)

Another definition was that metacognitive are higher order executive skills that may entail plausing for, monitoring, or evaluating the success of a learning activily (Brown ef al, 1983), For example, when learning vocabulary, you may notice that pronouncing words out loud helped you remember them better than reading them silently Determine which excises seem to help you most and for which kind of

s: translations,

mechanical drills, answering quostions, compositions, and so forth, Ask olher students how they got the right answers or how they successfully leamed something, and then see if their strategies will also work for you Sometimes, it is helpful to look at how others organize their notes, rules, and vocabulary lists as well

In short, metacognitive strategies are sequential processes that one uses to control

cognitive activities, and la ensure Ul a cognitive goal has b

classifications of metacognitive strategies

knowledge (knowledge aboul stratogies, Lc what learners works best and knowledge about general approaches to language learning (LL) that can guide their selection of strategies) Concerning importance of metacognitive knowledge, Oxford emphasizes that MS is to

attention, selective attention, sclf-managcment, advance preparation, sclfmonitoring,

delayed production, self-evaluation and self-reinforcement

Metacognitive strategies ave said to include: using English-language media (sơngs,

movies, newspapers, etc.); testing oneself with word tests; using spaced word practice,

skipping or passing new word: and contimming to study word over time Compared to other classificalion schemes, Oxford's Iaxơnorny is probably the most extensive, amd has the

advantage of being organized around an established scheme of language leaming

strategies

Oxford (1990) subdivided metacognitive strategies into eleven subcategories

inchuling: ‘overviewing and linking with already known material’, ‘paying attention’,

‘delay speech production to focus on listening’, ‘ finding out about language learning’, ‘

organizing’, ‘ setting goals and objectives’, ‘identifying the purpose of a language task’,

‘planning for a language task’, ‘seeking practice opportunities’, ‘self-monitoring’, ‘self

evaluating’ However, only eight out of eleven subcategories are chosen for consulting in the study and concluded in the detailed procedure of raining

Paying attention stralogy assists Ioarors in dociditys whal aspoets of the language

or situational details to be paid attention to and what to be ignored

using this information to help improve their own language learning

Organizing strategy: 1o understand and use conditions related to optimal learning

of the language, to organize one’s schedule, physical environment, and language —learning

Seeking practice opportunities: Leatners seek out or create opportunities to practice the new language, such as watching a foreign language firm, or joining a foreign language speaking club

Self-monitoring: the ability to identify crrors in understanding or producing the

new language, to determine which ones are serious, to point out the source of important error and Iry lo eliminate such errors

The last metacognitive component mentioned is self-evaluating skill This skill

allows learners to evaluate their own progress in the new language either general language progress,

The detailed procedure for metacognitive strategy trainmg would be illustrated, based on the three components of metacognitive strategies (planning, monitoring, evaluating)

1.4 Applicatian af Metacognitive learning strategies i

learning vocabulary

1.4.1, Typical benefits of Metacognitive learning strategies application

It has been shown that most forgetting occurs soon after the end of a learning session A learner can maximize the effectiveness of his or her practice time if it is scheduled and organized rather than random Metacognitive strategies involve both knowledge about Isarning (metacognitive knowledge) and control or regutalion over

learning (melacognitive slrategies) To make i shorl, Mclacognitive Strategies involve a

conscious overview of the learmmg process and making decisions about planning,

monitoring, or evaluating the best ways to study In other words, Metacognitive strategies

are to planning, monitoring, and evaluating the best way to study As a result, using

melacognilive strategies make a truc leaning proc

grasped, students will transfer use of these skills from their school lives to their personal lives and will continue to apply them as they mature The use of metacognitive strategies

In regards to metacognitive benefits, many researches show that an explicit focus

on melavognitive knowledge aboul Ikarning proces

s+ in other words, ‘Iearning how to Jeam’- is necessary if leamers are to be able to transfer use of the strategy in question in learning tasks ‘The more students are aware of their thinking processes as they learn, the more they can control such matlcrs øs goals, dispositions, and atlentiơn Selͬawarcncss promotes selfregulation

1.4.2, Metacognitive learning strategies in practice

Jurkovic (2006, p.27) states that there are two approaches toward language and vocabulary learning strategy training, Leamers are provided with benefits and Learning situations of strategy applied in direct approach, but are not supplied the same information inindirect approach

In practice, a mumber of significant research studies have investigated how leamers use vocabulary learning strategies Research on training second language learners to use learning strategies tms been limited almost exclusively to applications with vocabulary tasks Dramatic improvements in vocabulary learning tasks presented in one-on-one training have been reported in these studies, Teachers should realize this and help their students by teaching vocabulary strategies and set priorities about vocabulary learning

Strategy training hs inelnded such aspects us caching ways of learning vocabulary (e.g using mnemonics, keywords and word chains), teaching techniques for listing, teaching strategies for reading such as semantic mapping, and teaching a variety of

motacognitive stratcgics and self-awareness It also appears that attempts to characterize

good and poor language learners according to the strategies they use are oversimplistic A

number of studies indicate that nnsnccessful learners actually employ the same strategies

as those used by succcssfil leamers Vations model for teaching of language learning strategies has been proposed

Llowever, it is a fact that the teacher-centered approach still has a dominating position in many Visknar

just commit the new words into memory by rote though the past decade saw a host of

studies on vocabulary strategiss (Gu, 1996; Schmitt, 2002; Fan, 2003) To better the job, a

teacher needs the same training in vocabulary teaching, especially in terms of metacognitive strategies application Our in-service English students or high school English teachers would be trained in regard to metacognitive strategy application and then carrying them out in their own working wilh Ihe learners,

In addition, even if the impoitance of vocabulary in a language is realized, there still exist some problems in teaching and leaning English in Vietnam educational settings

It is the inadequale teaching of voeabulary, the focus is made on grammar, and Title attention has been given to vocabulary teaching so fiat The importance of vocabulary in language acquisition raised question of how to teach and learn vocabulary in the most effctive way The above discussion discussed the definitions, characteristics and subcategories of metacognitive stratceics, The training of them will help students and teachers to reach the high vocabulary proficiency

kè 3

Chapter 2: Methadology Action rescarch was cmployed as the rescarch design of this study In this chapter, the research design with its characteristics, a model of action research steps, research procedure and data collection and analysis instruments are offered with detailed descriptions

2.1 Research questions

‘To reach the aims of the study as mentioned in chapter 1, the study will offer the

answers lo the two ¥

arch questions following quantitative approach

© What are the most and least frequently used metacognitive vocabulary leaning strategies by in-service inglish students?

* How do metacognitive strategies help students inake progress in their vocabulary

acquisition?

‘The hypotheses coming from the second research question can be addressed as follows:

- Naf hypothesis: Vhere is no effect of metacognitive strategy instruction on

sturlerts? language acquisition,

- Alternative hypothesis: ‘Vhere is an effect of metacognitive strategy instruction on

students’ language acquisition

‘The study was carried out under the assumption that the null hypothesis is tme

2.2 Research method

Action research is the suilable research method for the stuily becanse the core purpose of the study is to “evaluate” the application of metacognitive strategies in vocabulary learning, Secondly, it is the way the teachers respond to the changing demands

of a teaching situation: in this case is the conslanl call for am effective vocabulary leaming

methodology Thirdly, it invalves “srall-scale intervention” when a spevific problem is identified, specific actions are implemented to bring about the changes and solutions te

solve the problems (Nunan, 2005) Specifically, in the current research, all the interesting

and problernatic area of vocabntary leaning strategies arc stored amd viewed in a structured way for “small group protzssional practice” (Wallace, M 1998, p 18) Finally, the context of the research can satisfy the mmulti-source requirement of doing an action

28

research when teachers and students can collaborate with each other to carry out research

instruments to evaluate the effective of metacognitive strategy training In brief, action

research approach is carefully chosen for and applied in the study with a hope to bring out

a picture of metacognitive strategy training in vocabulary learning activities

When using the action research approach, the current researches follow the five

phases proposed by Susman:

Con sid ering allernativa caurses|

action

Adapted from Susman 1983, cited in Wallace, 2001 Figure 2.1, Five phases of an action research

In this light, the study starts when the lack of the awareness of metacognitive

strategies application in vocabulary acquisition is identified and data is collected for a

more detailed diagnosis This is followed by designing a course with characteristics coming up to the expectations of the teaching staff After that, a single plan of action

emerges and is implemented when the course takes place Data on the results of the intervention are collected and analyzed, and the findings are interpreted in light of how successful the course has been.

2.3 Subjects of the study

‘The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of metacognitive strategies application in vocabulary acquisition Consequently, participants of the research must be the people involving and experiencing the metacognitive taining in vocabulary acquisition

The participants of the study were 41 in-service Enghsh students at Hanoi University of Languages and Intemational studies, Vietnam National University in Vinh Yon province Those students are teachers at different high schools and their major is English ‘The assumption was that they might be free from the anxiety of students and pressure of the examination so they would nol, be reinforced in term of scores, The students participating, in the study are fom 24 to 28 years old They are at intermediate level, which means that they have the basic structures of English, but have a relatively narrow vooahulary range The lexibok, teacher and conditions umder which tha studenis sludy English were the same The teacher is the rescarcher and is in clurge of leaching the course,

Presentation: The tcacher talked about the characteristics, uscfulncss, and applications of the metacognitive strategies explicitly and through examples and illustrated use through.a task in relation to unknown vocabularies, earners were explicitly taught about the variety

of stratzgics to usc when they do not know a word they cneounter in a text (guessing meaning ftom context) and they judge the word to be important to the overall meaning of the text (if the words are not important, ignore them to keep the flow of comprehension)

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But more importantly, students received explicit instruction on how to use these strategies

The preparation and planning, the sclaction of vocabulary learning strategies, monitoring

of strategy selection and use, orchestrated use of several strategies, and evaluation of effctivenass of metacognitive strategies for vocabulary leaming were illustrated through several examples

them understand the meaning of the wore

Evaluation: The main purpose of this phase was to provide students with opportunities to evaluate their own suecess in using learning strategies Activities used to develop students selftevalmtion insights included self questioning, debriefing discussions after strategies

practice

Expansion: In this final phase students were encouraged to: a) use the strategies that they

to new contexts, and ¢) devise their own

found most sffeetive, b) apply these strat

individual combinations and interpretations of metacognitie learning strategies They were asked to consider not only vocabulary learning but also other domains of language

learning

2,5 Data collection instruments

Data were collected through both questionnaire survey and pre- and post-tests The

survey questionnaires will give answer to research question 1 with 25 strategies of

melacognilive strategies synthesized and divided into three subcalsgories (plaming,

monitoring, evaluating) The real tests scores were computed into percentage for analysis

required to answer questions on their strategy use on a three-point Likert scale, consisting

of a.slalzsment, to which subjects would indicate one of Ihe three responses ranging from 1 (never or almost never ") to 3 (always or almost always")

‘The first questionnaire was administrated to the class pre-training with the purpose

of examining their current employment of melacognitive strategies In addition, it also has

the function of raising the students’ awarenass of metacognitive strategies Atter the metacognitive strategy training, the same questionnaire was distributed again to see if there was any improvement in applying those strategies The organization of the questionnaire

can be shownas in the table below:

Metacognitive sirategies Descriptive items Total items in the survey

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and post-tests were administered to all participants ‘I'he pre-test was done prior to the

cxperiment mainly to check if any af them have provious knowledge and how frequently

do students use metacognitive strategies in vocabulary learning The vocabulary post-test,

on the other hand, aimed to measure the learners’ word knowledge incidentally acquired during the training process The lesis measured learners’ receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge, mainly involving form-meaning connection

The tests are written ones with time allotted 30 uunutes, The pre-test comprises of

SO vocabulary items ‘lhe post-test is also a 50 item multiple-choice test of vocabulary and

it is used as the measurement of the Irainirg oulcome Tl was given immediately afler the metacognitive strategy training

2.6, Data collection procedure

AI first, Ihe rescarch participants were selected as following

Firsily, students’ characteristics arc roughly similar to one another (like their age, their English proticiency, or such)

Secondly, the students experience the course from the beginning to the end so they could have a good view of the training program Should there be any case that any of them is

absent from class, the total time of absence cannol exceed 10 pereent of the course lirne

Thirdly, the Weacher should let students know thal they are encouraged 1o express their true actions duting the training Factors that may prevent students fiom revealing what they truly think (like the score, the biased opinions or such) will be got rid of

Finally and most notably, students are all interested in Pedagogy, since they are trained to

be teachers of English It is expected that deriving from their interest; the students should have some knowledge about the phenomena of the English teaching and leaming aetivitics

‘This will certify their later judgment of the training instruction, 'he teacher group had frequent meetings to discuss and give lo keep the right Irack of what they were doing

‘The sample class with 41 students enrolled in an Lnglish course which lasted for 10 weeks (four hours a day, three days a week) The textbook used for this conrse was New Headway intermediate The authors have emphasized the role of lexical knowledge in learning the English language and have put some sections on vocabulary learning strategies

At first, the subject sample consisting of 41 students under the instruction of the

same teacher do the questiormairo Thon, afler analyzing the results, the Tovet of students” metacognitive awareness is identified

The course provides students with many chanecs to lean different metacognitive

strategies and sub skills are also weekly introduced to students, together with various

exercises (hal help them practice During the on-going process of Ihe course, students also have chances to revise the strategies and suib skills to be sure that they have thoroughly understood what they have studied before moving to the new ones, Moreover, the carcfully-planned assignments, including group assignment and the individual one, assure

on learning and also the time for evaluating their progress The planning also helps students to be more independent in their language Icarning

= Monitoring: ‘Teachers assist students in controlling their learning process Learners are

also taught how to find difficulties to tackle or find mistake and errors to eliminate

= Evahiating: The toachers guide loarmors in doing word tests and create chamecs to practice new words having been leamt

‘The second part of the training concerned with metacognitive strategy waining

During the treatment phase, students were familiarized with different stralogias and when

and how to use them in different learning tasks After 9 weeks’ time, the students were given a vocabulary learning post- test and the second questionnaire was administered ‘The

stim was Lo assess the impac of vocabulary stralegy (raining inserled in the Lextbook on the awarcness and the ficquency of strategy use and to cvaluate if there was any change in the use of vocabulary strategies before and after the intervention

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2.7 Data analysis

Quantitative dala analyses were applicd in this sludy The dala was colkceted

through questionnaires entered into Microsoft Excel to compute descriptive statistics Then, the percentile is computed for data analysis They are treated as statistics, ie the xumiber of studenls is counted, percentage for each kind of answer is identified, and from

that ranking and interpretation are made

To reach the answer tor the second question, the pre- and post- raw scores of the vocabulary pretest and posttest were caleulated into percentages for analyses ‘'o find out whether the students in the graup has made any progress as a result of the metacognitive strategics application instruction in vocabulary Icaming, the results wore also computed using the pre and posttest mean scores, Accordingly, they are read and interpreted thoughtfully

In this chapter, the problems were identificd, details of the participants, data

collection instruments, procedure of the experiment and analysis approach to Gnd out the

answers to two research questions were desoribed

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Chapter 3: Data analysis and discussion of major findings

In this chapier, the analysis of dala collected is presented The results of the study are reported on each purpose of the study: the students’ employment of metacognitive strategies in vocabulary leaning through two questionnaires and the improvement of

students’ proficieney of vocabulary verified through the pre-arid-post vocabulary tests

3.1 Questionnaire data analysis

The resuits of the Pre-training and post-training, questionnaires can be consulted in the below table 3.1 below: