Luận văn using semantic mapping to improve esp vocabulary retention of students at thái nguyên university of technology

The study aimed at evaluating the improvement of students’ vocabulary retention with the help of semantic mapping and collecting students’ attitudes towards this technique, and their ow

NGUYEN TH] XUAN THU

USING SEMANTIC MAPPING TO IMPROVE ESP VOCABULARY RETENTION OF STUDENTS

AT TITAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY OF TECIINOLOGY

Sử dụng sơ đồ ngữ nghĩa để cải thiện khả năng ghi nhở

tử vựng tiếng Anh chuyên ngành của sinh viên trường

Đại học Kĩ thuật Công nghiệp Thái Nguyên

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111

Hanoi, 2014

NGUYEN TH] XUAN THU

USING SEMANTIC MAPPING TO IMPROVE ESP VOCABULARY RETENTION OF STUDENTS

AT TITAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY OF TECIINOLOGY

Sử dụng sơ đồ ngữ nghĩa để cải thiện khả năng ghi nhở

tử vựng tiếng Anh chuyên ngành của sinh viên trường

Đại học Kĩ thuật Công nghiệp Thái Nguyên

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY

CODE: 60140111

SUPERVISOR: NGO LOU HOANG, Phi

Hanoi, 2014

DECLARATION

1, Nguyễn Thị Xuân hu, hereby certify that this minor thesis entitled

USING SEMANTIC MAPPING TO IMPROVE ESP VOCABULARY RETENTION OF STUDENTS

AT THAL NGUYEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

is completely the result of my own word for the Degree of Master at University of

Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi and that this thesis has not been submitted for any degree at any other university or

instilaition

Signature

Nguyễn Thị Xuân Thụ

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis could nol have been accomplished without dhe help, encouragement and support of many people who all deserve my sincerest gratitude and appreciation

First and foremost, T would like to express my deepest gralilude to my supervisor, Dr Ngé Httu Hoang, for his priceless support, wholehearted guidance and encouragement during the time I conducted this research

T would like to send my thariks to my colleagues who help me a Tol in with their experiences during my thesis

My special thanks also go to the students from class K4IM at Thainguyen University of Teuhnology for their willingness to join my treatment, king part in the tests and answering my questionnaire Without their help, this study could not

be finished

Finally, T owe a greal debi of gratitude to my beloved family — my mother,

ay husband, my children, whose support and encouragement helped me a lot to overcome all problems lo complete this thesis

Nguyễn Thị Xuân Thu

ii

ABSTRACT

This sludy was conducted as an aclion research in which semantic mapping

was applied as a technique in learning English for specific purposes (HSP) vocabulary The study aimed at evaluating the improvement of students’ vocabulary

retention with the help of semantic mapping and collecting students’ attitudes

towards this technique, and their own suggestions for a better future teaching and leaming program For the accomplishments of these purposes, 22 students in one

class al Thai Nguyén University of Technology in Vielnam were involved in the

study ‘Ihe data instruments included a semi-structured group interview, Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (VS) tests considered as two progress tests and a final test, and a

questionaire Through the semi-structured group interview, the rosulls revealed

that among many obstacles students encountered in their vocabulary leaming, lack

of remembering techniques was the biggest problem Realizing the specific

problem, the researcher made a plan in the intervention phasc Semantic mapping

was applied in the whole course whenever necessary After four weeks of treatment,

the checking and evaluation were conducled through a VKS test The first progress test did not show a good result as mean score was only 2.74 However, the result

from the second progress test was much better ‘Lhe final test also revealed a good

yesult The dala awalysis and evaluation helped to prove the ¢ffeotiveness of using

semantic mapping in both short-term and long-term vocabulary retention, A questionnaire was also used to investigate students’ attitudes and suggestions Their

positive attitudes towards semantic mapping and their suggestions showed that

semantic mapping could be applied in a bigger scale, On this basis, the stady gave

some recommendation and future research.

Eipure 2: The data collection procedure se set re 15

Figure 3: Individuals’ result from progress test 1 20

Figure 4: Percentage of the whole class’s scores in the progress test 1 21

Figure 5: ‘the whole class’s performance in progress test ] and progress test 2 22 Figure 6: Percentage of each score in progress test 1, 2 and final test 27

Figure 7: The whole chass”s performance in the progress test 1, 2, ad đnaÏ tesi 27

1 igure 8: importance of semaniic mapping -ccccosseiccec 30

c5 SA

Table 1: Result from group interview 18

Table 2: Moan score gained by the whole class in the progress lest 1 20

‘Table 3 Result of the whole class in the progress test 1 and progress test 2 27

Table 4 Mean scores gained by mmdividuals in progress lest 1 and progress lest 2.24 Table 5 Result from progress test 1 and 2

‘Table 6: Result from progress test 2 and final tesi 25

Table 7: The whole class’s resulls (rom ihe two progress tests and the final lest 26

‘Table 8: Mean scores gained by individuals in progress test 1, 2 and final test 28 Table 9: Students” suggestions about vocabulary leaming 30

'Table oŸ Conterlfs cà cách or oY

2 Objectives and research questions of the study 2

5 Methods of the stady o.cccscccsosssussessessesvsssivasensusssnsaseenestsasveee 3

6 Design of the study 3

Chapter 1: Literalture review 5

1.1 The importance of vocabulary in second language learning 5

1.3 Semantic mapping as a strategy to improve vocabulary retention 6

1.3.2 Proceđures †o construc† a semantfio map -7

1.3.3 Advanfages of semaniic mapping in teaching vocabulary 8

1.4 Previous related studies about semantic mapping in teaching vocabulary 8

2.1.2 Participants " 10

2.2 Implementation of the action rcscarchh - sec 11

2.3 Data collection ImstrUIeHfs co sec coveevzccee ¬— -

3.3.2 Vocabulary Knowledge Soale tesfs sec 13 3.3.3 Questionnaire TH 02221212111 102tr ¬

2.5 Data analysis method .ccscccccssssssessssassiussssseeessassseeseesusesssee 17

3.2 Results from the tests 00 cece cee seeeteccsniesseseesseessasessaneessveessseee 18

3.2.1 Results from the first progress test - 18

3.2.3 Result from the final test ác reHerreieerrve 25

3.3.2 Sudents” suegestiOHS tennis

1,Conelusion remarks

2.Limitations oŸ the siuđy ìncvv0 ch te 35

APPENDICHS TH HH 1011.0111111 0.1101 `

PART A: INTRODUCTION:

1 Rationale for the study

During the recent years English [or specific purposes (FSP) has become an

important subject in most vocational institutes At Thai Nguyén University of

Technology (TNUT), ESP courses are also delivered to students to fulfill their

needs of studying English materials relevant to their majors including mechanical,

electrical, electronic, civil and environmental engineering

Inglish language involves four skills: listening, speaking, reading and

writing In order lo master those skills, vocabulary plays the vital role No one can

deny the important part of vocabulary in language acquisition, especially in iinglish, either for general purposes or for specific purposes Its significance is emphasized

by Wilkins (1972) “without grammar, very little can be conveyed: without

vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed” Vocabulary is also considered the key element of ESP according to Robinson (1991) Therefore, one of the most concems

about ESP teaching al our universily is how to help students lean vocabulary botler

and improve their vocabulary intention However, being a teacher of English, the

researcher has recognized some problems afler students fïmish their FSP course

The most commen problem is that they usually forget what they have learnt,

especially vocabulary ‘hat means their vocabulary retention is not good enough

and moat students still waste a lol of time Tooking up the icaning of terminologies

even though they were delivered during the course Lacks of vocabulary leads to many difficulties in dealing with their majors because students are required to read

many English materials to look for further knowledge The motivation for me to

cary out this study is helping students address their problem in vocabulary retention, Semantic mapping is chosen as a new method in teaching DSP

vocabulary How 1L improves iny students’ learning and vocabulary retention ts

what | want to find out after the study is finished All the above-mentioned reasons

inspired me to conduct an action research titled “Using semantic mapping to

improve ESP vocabulary retention of students at Thai Nguyén University of Technology”

2 Objectives and research questions of the study

The objectives of the study are to explore the impact of semantic mapping in improving siudorts’ ESP vocabulary retention; and to Gud oul the attitude of students towards semantic mapping as a vocabulary learning technique ‘To achieve those abjectives, the study needs to answer two research questions

1 Does semantic mapping help sluderts improve their ESP vocabulary

retention?

fe) What are the students’ attitudes towards semantic mapping and their suggestions of semantic mapping as a vocabulary teaming technique?

3 Scope of the study

‘The study firstly aims at finding out the influences of semantic mapping on improving students’ LSP vocabulary learning as well as their vocabulary retention

Students’ perception of semantic mapping is measured by questionnaire responses and progress tests are used to clarify its impact on their vocabulary retention

Secondly, this study is an action research project in a small scale since its first and

foremost purpose is to inmprove the rescarchor’s teaching The study is conducled

with 22 third year students majored in mechanical engineering who are students in

the researcher's class Finally, the material used in this study is Oxford English for

Electrical and Mechanical engineering cowse book compiled by Fric H.Glendinning and Norman Glendinning

4 Significance of the study

Although semantic mapping is not a new approach in Unglish teaching and learning, little has been researched on ESP vocabulary learning The findings of this study may shed more light on the possibility of employing semantic mapping in

teaching ESP at TNUT That was drawn fiom the students’ perceived benefits from this vocabulary learning technique and their improvement in vocabulary retention Whal the researcher finds oul, has greal impacl on her teaching and it is oxpectod

5 Methods of the study

‘This study is actually an action research project Its data collection instrument

includes a semi-structured interview, two progress tests and a final test in the format

of Vocabulary knowledge scale tests Additionally, a questiormaire for the studorils

is employed The interview helps the researcher identify the problem of her students

The progress tests and final test are regarding to the first question about effects of the

trealment on sludents’ ESP vocabulary retention and the questionnaire is regarding

to the second question about students’ attitudes and suggestions in learning ESP vocabulary through semantic mapping

6 Design of the study

The thesis is composed of three parts

- Part A Introduction covers the rationale, the aims and objectives, the

scope, the research question, the significance, the methods, the design of the

study

Part 8 Development consists of three chapters Chapter | provides the literature

review for the study Chapler 2 covers the imformation about the context in which

the study is conducted, the participants, the rescarch methods, the rescarch procedures including the treatment, methods of data collection and analysis And the last chapter deals with the study's findings and discussions

- Part C— Conclusion — summarizes the major findings with reference to the rescarch questions mentioned in Part A This part includes the limitations of the study and provides some recommendations and suggestions for further study

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 The importance of vocabulary in second language learning

Jt can be seen that the acquisition of vocabulary is a fundamental and important component for most second language (L2) learners in their leaming as Mc

Carthy (1990) stated:

“IL is the experience of most language teachers (hal lhe single, biggest component

of any language course is vocabulary No matler how well the student Tearns

gramniar, no matter how successfully the sounds of L2 are mastered, without words

to express a wide range of meanings, communication in an L2 just eannot happen

in any mearringful way.”

Schmitt (2010) shared the same opiion: “Language vocabulary is essential

part of mastering a socond language”

A good mastery of vocabulary is essential for leamners, especially for those

who learn English for specific purposes (FSP) “Ti is to direct vocabulary learning

to more specialized areas when leamers have mastered the 2000-3000 words of

general usefulness in English” (Nation, 2001: 87), The mastery of vocabulary can

support (hem when they read technical documents or bamslate into their mother

tongue

All the above quotations highly appreciate the important role of vocabulary

in language learning, especially in second language learning

1.2 ESP vocabulary

English [or specific purposes (FSP) has been defined by inany wrilers and

researchers Mackay and Mountford (1978) indicated that the term ESP is

generally used to refer to the teaching of Linglish for a clear utilitarian purpose +

Minyawi (1984) pinpointed that ESP courses are based solidly upon the need ta

express the facts and ideas of some special subjects after which the student should

be able to read the specialized subjects confidently and speak about them fluently

Hutchinson and Waters (1987) defined it as an approach to language teaching in

which all decisions as to content and method are based on the learncr”s rcason for

leaming, they added also that the term LSP implies that, it is Linglish which is

somehow peculiar to the range of pnneiples and procedures which define thal

particular profession

Itis necessary to distinguish two types of ESP vocabulary:

+ Technieal vocabulary means lexis which is only used in lhe specialism

- Sub-technical vocabulary means general lexis that has a higher frequency in the specialism, sometimes with a specific or changed meaning

Dudley-Fvans and St John (1998) also suggested two broad areas

- Vocabulary that is used in general language but has a higher frequency of occurrence in a specific and technical description and discussion

- Voeabulary [hal has spovialived and restricted meanings in certain disciplines

and which may vary in meaning across disciplines

It can be seen clearly that the first area would be referred to semi-technical

and the second would be regarded as technical vocabulary For such

characteristics, ESP vocabulary is not easy for leamers to remember and recall

Vocahulary can cause many difficulties for students in understanding of

technical texts As English words often have more than one meaning, students

would feel confused if they find some general words in a technical text but they do

nol understand their meanings “Examples of such words are cycle (el! its use in the

carbon cycle ox a cycle of electricity), conductor (in electricity), and resistance (in

an electrical circuit)”, according to Kennedy and Bolitho (198458)

1.3 Semantic mapping as a strategy (v improve vocabulary retention

1.3.1 Definition

According lo Baleghivadeh and Naeim (2011), “semantic mapping [alls under the general category of graphic organizers and is used in different subjects areas in order to help leamers understand the relationships and form concepts about troader Lopics”, The basis of semanlic mapping is (he relationship among ils

elements (here, the words) Ouoc this relationship is established, the learners will remember them more easily

Scmantic mapping is an approach al can be used to extibit the associations between ideas In vocabulary explicitly teaching, it can be used as a tool for students to discover the relationships between vocabulary words As semantic mapping builds on prior knowledge, and is an active form of learning, il can be a very effective teaching tool Semantic mapping strategy has been considered a highly reparded form of elaborative leaming (Novak 2005; Nesbitt and Adescope 2006) which encourages a deeper learning process [or belter memory formation:

1.3.2 Procedures to construct a semantic map

Somantic mapping involves a graphic display, or in olher words, it refers 1o

making an arrangement of words into pictures, which has a key concept linked with

related words by means of lines or arrows First, students are presented with a

concept that is central to understanding a selection or a subject Thor they

brainstorm or freely associate words that are related to that concept As students

‘brainstorm, the leacher wriles their suggestions on the board, adding words they eed to Ieam,

The framework of semantic mapping includes: the concept word and

gatogory examples This is a very interactive process and should be modeled by the

teacher first ‘Ihe steps involyed in semantic mapping (cited in Pham, 2012) are introduction of the topic, brainstorming activities, presentation of target words,

categorization, personalization, review of target words Following is an example of

a semantic map:

Sunustene| | shale | |Limwesene| [ Masse L su

‘Sand ùn Salls Very hard [ery hard

Figure 1: A sample somantic map (Duly)

1.3.3 Advantages of semantic mapping in teaching vocabulary

Duly (2009) stated thal semmaritic mapping is one way lo cxplain how to categorize word meanings It remains essential to identify key attributes

distinguishing one word from another Bul semantic maps provide the additional

benclit of helping students visualize how word meanings can be categorized

‘Lhe major purpose of the semantic map is to allow students to organize their

prior knowledge into these formal relations and thus to provide themselves a basis

for understanding what they are about to read and study, Comprehension can be thought of as the elaboration and refinement of prior knowledge What the semantic

map provides is a graphic structure of that knowledge to be used as the basis for

organizing new ideas as they are understood

Semantic mapping is a good vehicle for students to share their work with the

class, thus becoming the teachers themselves Teaching a concept to others will

increase student retention of information greatly By discussing them as well as writing them down, teachers are catering to different learning styles, and ensuring that all students arc increasing their knowledge of vocabulary

1.4 Previous related studies about semantic mapping in teaching vocabulary

Semamtic mapping bas appeared im many studies, which means Lhat it receives

tauch attention for its advantages Some of recent studies are summarized as

follows:

Baleghizadch and Nacim conducted a study entitled Enhancing Vocabulary

Retention through Semantic mapping in 2011 in their paper, semantic mapping is

introduced as a voeabulary presentation technique, which is believed to help

leamers remember words better as they study, using semantic mapping Its results confirm that semantic mapping fosters vocabulary retention

The findings of the study cntilled The effect of leaching vocabulary through

semantic mapping on KEL learners’ awareness of vocabulary knowledge at AL

Imam Mohammed Ibin Saud Islamic University by Abdelrahman in 2013 revealed

thal sermanlie mapping cau be used as an efficient methodology [or Leaching

vocabulary, a technique which is effective for LIL leamers

A similar conchision is drawn from the study The use of semantic mapping to

improve students’ vocabulary of Sianturi, Suhariono and Punau from University

Potianak, Being conducted in the school year of 2012-2013, it showed that semantic

mapping is used effectively in teaching vocabulary and helps students in improving

their vocabulary

Jn Vietnam, there is a minor thesis entitled “Usiug semantic mapping to

teach ESP wecabulary to final-year siudents of Finance and Accounting ai Hanoi Tourism College” by Pham Thi Hanh The study aimed at exploring the teaching

LSP vocabulary through semantic mapping with reference to attitudes to, and

opinions of, this instructional strategy as well as vouabulary relonlion Tt was

conducted with 38 final-year students of finance and accounting at Hanoi tourism college Major findings of this study revealed that semantic mapping fosters

vocabulary retention to some extent and students seemed to value this technique.

10

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 2.1, The background of the study

2.1.1 The study setting

The study was conducted at ‘Thai Neuyén Universtity of Technology (NUT)

in Thai Nguyén City, Vietnam The English courses at TNUT includes General Fnglish (GR) for the fist and sceond year students ond English for specific purposes (HSP) for third year students who are majored in specific technical fields Students are obligatory to finish GE courses before attending ESP course

English for mechanical engineering is one of ESP courses at TNUT Th is designed for mechanical students ‘his course provides some basic knowledge about mechanical engineering through technical texts and focuses mainly on reading and wriling skills Thus vocabulary plays art important role in helping the

students fulfill the demand of the course

2

Participants

‘The subjects of this study were twenty-two students aging from twenty to

twenty three, wenty boys and bwo girls They all finish GE courses and most of them are third year students,

‘The researcher in this study was also the teacher of this class, who has been

working as an English lecturer al, TNUT for six years so far Tn this action research,

she was the practitioner and the researcher at the same time She was responsible for the design and implementation of the semantic mapping in teaching DSP

vocabulary, and later collecting and analyzing the data

2.13 Materials

All the vocabulary being taught in this course was taken from the book tilled:

“Oxford Lnglish for Mlectrical and Mechanical Lngineering” by Uric LL Glendinning and Norman Glendinning (Oxford University Press) Each unit in the book usually includes Turing —in, Reading, Language Study, Writing, Technical

2.1.4, Features of mechanical engineering English (IEE)

MHE, a branch of ESP, of course, has its own features which differ from GH

In this study, the researcher only mentions about English vocabulary used for

mechanical engineering According to Chen Chao and Fang Ti, MEE vocabulary

has two distinguished characteristics: there is “continual appearance of professional

or technical vocabulary” which are pure in meaning, narrow in application and

usually limiled to a spceilic condition sush as “tnechanotron” or *tribology”; snd

“wide use of semi-technical words” Semi-technical words refer to those used both

in GE and MEE, which contribute to obstacles that students encounter when

learning ESP vocabulary since Ihair meanings depend on the context

“a shaped block of melal or olher hard material used to cul or form melal in adrop f

orge, press, or similar devices a tool of metal, silicon carbide, or other hard material

with a conical holethrough which wires, rods, or tubes are drawn to reduce their dia

xrơlerAlogl for cutting oxlernal threads/ a casting mould giving accurate dimnsions

and a good surface to the object cast” in MME ‘lo find the suitable meaning of such words is not always easy for students, especially when they do not have a good

memory retention

2.2 Implementation of the Action Research

There are some reasons for the implementation of this acHom research

project

Firstly, action research is situational, which means specific solutions can be

given to specific problems in cach context, Tn this study, the Tescarcher (also the

12

teacher) recognizes that hor studonts have troubles in remembering ESP vocabulary

so she decides to find the solution to improve the situation ‘Ihe advantages here

include lime, students’ natural performance, direvl lreatment and observation

Secondly, it is a good chance for researcher to evaluate the treatment to find out the rising problem and give timely decision for changing In this study, the

treatment, is carried oul twice, as the resulis from the first progress test is Wot very

good as expected ‘Ihe researcher after analyzing the data decides to do the

treaiment in another phase to collect data, which leads to better results

Tespile Ihe advantages, the study still had some lnilaiions The treatment

may work well in one class but may not be applied to other classes in different contexts If the same study is carried out in another class, the results obtained may

nol be as effeelir as expecled Briefly, action re ch lacks generalization

2.3 Data collection instruments

This study used an mterview, tlirce tests i the formal of VKS tests which

served as two progress tests, a final test, and a questionnaire to collect data

2.3.1 Interview

Semi-structured interviews are indepth interviews A scmi-structured

interview will involve many open-ended questions, although they may also contain

some closed questions A semi-structured interview was also chosen because i was

considered a feasible way to identify the problem in conducting an action research

like this

The semi-structured interview was carried out within the group As Michael J

Wallace stated in his book “Action Research for Language ‘leacher” (1998) that

“most interviews are one- to- one, but it is also possible to have an “interview” with a group, which could take the fonn of a kind of structured discussion” Tn this

research, semi-structured interview is chosen as it appears as a small free-talk

between teacher and students in a comfortable and friendly environment.

13

The interview at the first week of the course included two sets of questions closed and open-ended questions, ‘The open-ended one was “Llow often do you learn vocabulary al home”, “How do you learn vocabulary lo remember them?” and the closed one was “Do you often have difficulties in leaming “SP vocabulary? If yes, what are they?” Apart from these questions, a series of other small questions were included according lo (he content, of students’ answers to

collect the exact information

2.3.2 Vecabulary Knowledge Scale tests

During the recent years, the Vocabulary Knowledge Seale (VKS) of Wesche

& Paribakht (1996) has gained significant papularity in second language vocabulary

asscasment and is being uscd in a variety of sluches (Warmg, 2002, cited from

Nemalt, 2009) This VES aims at checking students’ understanding of vocabulary

that they learned It is a 5-point self-report scale that allows students self-report the

knowledge of a word like this:

1 don’t remember having seen this word before

2 T have seen this word before but I don’t know what tt means

3

4 Lknow this word; it means non

L have seen this word before and I think it means

5 Toun use this word in a sentence, e.g

in this thesis, VKS was used as the form of the two progress tests and the final test These tests were employed to measure the effectiveness of applying

semantic mapping in leaming vocabulary

Progress test 1 and 2 were used to measure the short-term improvement of

the students Immediately after finishing four weeks of treatment, progress test 1

was administered The test was im the format of a VKS Lest which aimed at

measuring how well students know the word ‘his VKS test included 50 words

taken intentionally from the topics which students already learned Progress test 2

Questionnaire was also another instrument for collecting data in this sbudy

In the words of Brown (2000, cited in Démyei (2003)), questionnaires are “any

wnilen matnanenls thal present respondents with a series of questions or stalestenis

to which they are to react either by writing out their answers of selecting from

among existing answers”

The questionnaire in lis sludy was used in order to imvesligale students’

altitudes towards the application of semantic mapping in learning ESP vocabulary

Tl was delivered to the students immediately afler they finish the final Les There were two mami parts in the questionnaire, namely: (1) the students’ attitudes towards

semantic mapping in vocabulary leaming, and (2) the students’ suggestions about

the application of semantic mapping i the future

In the first part, students were expected to complete three questions to express

their attitudes in terms of the importance, the effectiveness and the pleasure of the

treatment These questions were designed under the format of a Likert-scale (see

Appendix 5) In second part, the suggestions were given under the form of four statements; the students would share their ideas by ticking in the suitable categories

There are five levels of agreements: strongly agree, agree, nol sure, disagree and

strongly disagree

Based on the information and results collected from the questionnaire, the

teacher- researcher had a reliable basis to decide whether to go on applying

semantic mapping in the future or not

2.4 Data collection procedure

Here are the basic steps in doing an action search project according to Nunan

However, to make it easy for the researcher, those 7 steps are simplified into 4

steps: problem identification —intervention — evaluation — reflection, which are described in 4 phases Figure 2 below illustrates the procedures of collecting data

for the study:

Figure 5: Data collection procedure

Figure 2: The data collection procedures

Phase 1: This phase is the problem identification step The very first task in

this phase was to investigate the problems that students often encounter when they

16

deal with vocabulary To fulfill this task, a scmi- structured group interview was

carried out

Tn order to creale a comfortable atmosphere in the classroom, the group

interview was delivered at the beginning of the second session in week 1 Together with the two main questions to keep students on the right track, follow- up

questions and same prompls wore provided in order to orientale the inlerviewees

and prevent them from presenting irrelevant information Students had a chance to

discuss and share their own problems, and teacher took time to ask detailed

questions and take notes Tl took about 30 minutes for ihe group inlerview Lo be

completed

Phase 2: After the results from this iterview were analyzed, the study came

to phase 2 — intervention From weck 2 lo woek 6, the researcher planned and

conducted the treatment in which the students were introduced and explained about

semantic mapping during their lessons Before learning a new topic, students were

asked lo brainstorin about wards relevant lo {he topic The teacher then summarized

and constructed a sample semantic map for the topic After the lesson, students

would have to revise all the new words given in the lessor in their own ways by

using scmantic mapping In the review session, the teacher then called some of her

students to stand up and describe how they had leamt the required word, This kind

of checking was also used as one good way to help asserting the result of the

xesearch Sample semantic maps used in the treatment could be seen in Appendix 1 After four weeks, the first progress test was delivered to check student’s short-term

memory This test included 50 words from unit 1 to unit 5 in the course book

(Appendix 2)

Phase 3: After collecting data from progress test 1, the teacher brought the

study to phase 3 From week 7 10 week 12, the procedure was the same with phase

2 The progress test 2 was administered at the final week of the course ‘Ihe test consisted of 50 words from unit to unit 11 in the course book (Appendix 3) This

test also aimed at checking short-term retention of the students after the same

amount of treatment time with phase 2

Phase 4: The final test was delivered two weeks afler the course ended The

teacher arranged a class gathering before the examination due date and delivered the

final test The final test was the combination of 25 words from progress test | and

25 other words from progress icst 2 (Appendix 4) The questionnaire on students? attitudes and suggestions for future usage of semantic mapping was distributed right after they finished the final test (Appendix 5) At this meeting the teacher also

answered all the questions of the students about lhe preparation for the exanuination

‘The evaluation step of the project is conducted after the collected data are analyzed After that, the reflection step is shown in the results of the project

2.5 Data analysis methods

Regarding to the first research question, in the VKS progress and final tests,

the studeriis would mark the given word [rom seore 1 {0 score § (Appendix 2, 3, 4}

‘Mean scores in each test were then calculated Both the performances of the total

class and individuals were then indicated by comparing mean scores between the

two progress tests and the final test By thiy way, the improvement of students’

vocabulary retention in short term and long term could be revealed

For the sccond rescarch question, ihe data from questionnaire was independently analyzed according to two different parts The first pat included three smaller questions addressing three aspects of attitudes towards semantic

mapping namely the importance, the effectiveness and the pleasure For each

question, the researcher then used percentage to illustrate the data and presented

them in three different pie-charts In the second part, data was counted, illustrated

by percentages and displayed in a lable so that the researcher could make a

conclusion of ideas and opinions perceived by the students.

18

CHAPTER 3: THESTUDV 3.1 Result from the interview

The x reher during her (caching has realized thal studenls usually have

troubles in learning ESP vocabulary ‘[o investigate more clearly, a semi-structured interview was conducted at the first week of the course The interview was in Vicinamese 10 make sludents easily share their thoughts Tn this study, all students’ sayings were translated in English

During the interview, students gave out a lot of difficulties they encountered,

The researcher noled ther ideas, summarized and hsted four main problems as

Table 1; Result from group inferview

From the table it can be seen clearly that the biggest problem is the lack of

techniques for remembering the words (90.9%) The second considerable cbstacle is

the lack of knowledge about a word (68.18%) They do noi know cxaclly what they have to leam when learning vocaluilary They wonder what else they need to know

apart from tmeauing and pronunciation The third difficully comes with diclionary

utilization (45.45%) 10/22 students showed thei confusions when using

dictionaries as they do not know how to choose a suitable dictionary or how to find the exact meaning of a word in a specilic context as there exisis many words with different meanings ‘he last problem deals with insufficient output (36.36%) It is obvious that output is the smallest problem that students encounter because at TNUT students have to read many specialized English books relevant Lo their major ‘They are encouraged to translate English books into Vietnamese or do

of the course, iL is a good idea lo develop a plan for learning new words every day Some said that they were very interested in learning vocabulary but sadly, they did not know how learn They just write the word again and again as many times as

they can but afler a period of time, they forget i Due to the lack of time, the

researcher decided to help them with this biggest problem by introducmg semantic mapping, as a new technique in learning EST vocabulary with a view to improving their vocabulary retention Seramlic mapping is chosen because the researcher has seen many advantages through the works of many researchers The researcher hopes

it can be of great help to her students

3.2 Results from the tests

To this part, lo assess the improvement of students’ vocabulary reterition, the researcher would present the result of cach test, compare the results between the

first progress test and the second one, then compare the final test (the delayed post-

test), and finally compare the three tests wiih cach other In each group of

comparison, the total group’s results were analyzed first and then some individual’s

performance would be described

3.2.1 Result from the first progress test

AAs stated in the previous chapter, all the tests in this study were under the format of VKS test The first progress test (see Appendix 2) was conducted after

four weeks of treatment Fifiy words included in this first progress test were Laken

from their course book They belonged to the lessons that students learned during

the first four week of the course How well students know the words was described

in 5 responses ranging (rom score 1 to score 5, The teacher then counted the number

20

of each mark for each student The figure was expressed as a percentage and

illustrated in the chart below:

Figure 4: Percentage of the whole class’ scores in the progress test 1

From the chart and the table above, it can be seen that most students chose

Score 2, 3, 4 in their tests The greatest number was 283 vocabulary items that got

Score 2 (I have seen this word before but I don’t know what it means) Next come

to Score 3 with 270 items (I have seen this word before and I think it means )

Score 4 (I know this word, it means ) received a rather good number of items that

is 256 however it was still smaller in comparison with Score 2 Score 5 got the smallest number of items, only 80 After four weeks of treatment, students seemed

to be still weak at retaining the words they leamed They saw the words similar but

they could not give out the meaning or they could only gave the meaning

uncertainly,

3.2.2 Results from the second progress test

3.2.2.1 The whole class’s performance

‘The difference between the two progress tests are in the following table: