Luận văn using a vocabulary website to increase the vocabulary size of it workers in hanoi

Oxford 1990a subdivided memory strategies into following four types creating mental linkages; applying images and sounds; reviewing; and, employing actions ‘However, as a teacher, the re

(Việc sử dụng trang web từ vựng để gia tăng vốn từ của nhân viên IT tại Hà Nội)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

Hanoi, May 2019

USING A VOCABULARY WEBSITE TO INCREASE

THE VOCABULARY SIZE OF IT WORKERS LN HANOL

(Vige sit dung trang web tir vung dé gia tang vén tir cia nhan vién IT tai Ha Néi)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

Supervisor: Trần Thi Thu Hién, PhD

Hanoi, May 2019

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research has been accomplished with the support and encouragement of many people Hence, I hereby would like to express my appreciation to all of them

Firstly, T would like to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor, Tran Thi

Thu Hién, PhD for her grcat assistance and guidance throughout my research

Secondly, I also like to show my profound gratitude to the Faculty of Post- Graduate Studies for the valuable lectures and precious support without which I would

‘be unable to overcome difficulties during the time my research was carried out

Besides, T would like to give my whole-hoarted thanks lo wy students in my twer class for (heir cuthusiaslic participation im my research Without their help, I would not have been able to complete this paper

Last but not Jeast, I owe a great debt of gratitude to my beloved family whose support and encouragement have always been a great deal of motivation that

has helped me to overcome all problems to complatc my thesis

Thi Luong

English as forcign language

Information communication technology Information quality

First language Second language Uniform Resource Locator Website for education

ii

1.1 Rationale of the study

1.2 Aims and cbjeutives of the study

1.3, Research questions

1.4, Scope of the study

1.5 Significance of the study

1.6 Methods of the study

1.7 Organivation of the thesis

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1.3 Diffivulties in leaming voesbulary 10 2.1.4, Approaches to leaching and learning voeabulary "

2.2.2, Role of TCT ỉn eduoation cán cọ Hee 16 2.2.3 Potential use of TCT in vocabulary learning 7

2.3.2, valuation criteria for vocabulary websifes DB 2.4, Previous studies SH HH HH H0 are — -.-

3.2.2 Rationale of ung AR

3.3 Participants of the Sitdy 021 seeree

3.4, Data collection instruments and procedure

3.4.1 The pre-test ancl post-Lest

3.4.2 The questionnaie 2S 2220200221022

3.5 The research stages

3.5.1 Identifying the problem

3.5.2 Intervention

3.5.3 Post-interventian stage

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS ANĐ DISCUSSION

4.1 The progress in increasing students’ vocabulary by using the vocabulary websites

4.1.1 Resukt oỀ the pre-t@SE, c2 c2 tt tre

4.1.2 Result of the post-test

3, Result of the questionnaire

APPENDIX B: POST TEST

AAPPENDIX C QUESTIONNAIRE 0 es cscs cesses snes

APPLNDLX D: Word List

LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1 The vocabulary pre-test

Table 4.2 The voeabulary post — test-resull

Table 4.3 The results of students’ questionnaixe answais

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 3.1 Types of research methodology

Figure 3.2 Emest Stringer’s AR model (in Mills, G 2003, p.t8)

Figure 3.3 Detailed AR model

Chart 4.1 The overall mean score in pre-test and post-test

ABSTRACT

This sludy investigated the polential effect of’ using a vocabulary websile on

increasing vocabulary size The research aimed to figure out whether the use of vocabulary instruction website could help widen IT students’ vocabulary and to

identify students’ allilude towards using the website instead of their traditional way

In order to accomplish these purposes, 15 students who are I'T workers in one of my tutor classes in Ilanoi were selected to participate in the study All the students

learned to take TORIC exam to meet their company requirement which is 700

‘TOLIC and they came from the same linguistic background To achieve this target

in a short period of time, the students focus mainly on increasing the passive

vorabulary Three dala collection imstruments were omployed, namely pre-lest/post-

tests and questionnaire After one month, the post-test and a questionnaire were

administered The analysis of the data collected revealed that the students made

encouraging progress in boosting vocabulary size by using the vocabulary website;

besides, according to the result of the questionnaire these IT workers were more

motivated (o lear vocabulary than they usually do

Key words; vocabulay leaming, vocabulary mercase, ufonnation

communication technology (IC)

vi

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1, Rationale of the study

Undoubtedly, English has become the global language which is used widely

all over the world, at school and for entertainment and tourism and especially at

work Among many olher clemenls to master belore one cam have communicative

competence at English, vocabulary plays one of the most significant roles “One thing that students, teachers, materials writers, and researchers can all agree upon is

thal learning vocabulary is an esserjal pad of) mastering a second

language Llowever, the best means of achieving good vocabulary leaming is still unclear, partly because it depends on a wide variety of factors” (Schmitt, 2008)

Wikins argued (1972) that “Withoul grammar very lille ean be conveyed, without

vocabulary nothing can be conveyed.” Oxford (1990a) pointed out that language

learners typically have significant difficulty remembering large vocabularies Over

the past recenl yours, numerous studies have examined English learning, and most

emphasized the importance of vocabulary leaming to English leaming (DeCartio,

2001) An excelled vocabulary is beneficial 10 inferring meaning from Bnglish

sentences (Harmon, 1998, 2002; Rupley, Logan & Nichols, 1999), Nonetheless,

countless leamers who leam Jinglish as a second language have always found

learning vooabulary [requenily as a challenging and boring task to do because they

are too busy with their work, social relationships and fanily, not to mention that most of them cannot memorize words as well as young leamers, especially with

long or infrequently used words In addition, leaming vocabulary is supposed to do

by themselves at home, and then it requires lots of autonomy and self-motivation Last but not least, forgetting leamed vocabulary is another serious problem during

learning English vocabulary Forgetting is the loss of information over Lime People

typically recall information better just after learning than after a long delay Ebbinghaus (1985), based on experimental result, proposed the forgetting curve Howover, momory slrategies help learners te overcome forgetting Memory

strategics enable leamers to store and retrieve information when needed Oxford

(1990a) subdivided memory strategies into following four types creating mental

linkages; applying images and sounds; reviewing; and, employing actions

‘However, as a teacher, the researcher often sees the lack of strategies students in

leaming vocabulary

While English has become the most important second language in nen

English speaking countries, developmg modern assistive learning forms or tools that support effective English leaming has been a crucial issue in language English

education field Besides work books and other wrilten resources, technology

integrated language teaching provides a lot of materials for language leamers as well, Websites might be regarded as online teaching tools which can be very

effective resources bolh for learners and teachers While teachers carmot spend a

sufficient amount of time to teach vocabulary regularly at class, making use of some

vocabulary website equipped with lots of organized learning tools can be a wise

choice Using same parliculer vocabulary sites to learn new words, Leachers can

xecommend students with appropriate range of words and can keep track of

student’s vocabulary sive as well as be able design some more relevanl activities or

tasks at class In other words, these websites can work as an efficiont teaching and

leaming tool Besides, we are living in a time of high technology that almost every

adull owns al leasL one smart mobile phone or tablet which is casily accessible Lo

the Intemet, students feel free to learn at their convenience, which is perfect for

‘busy workers such as IT employees

The students that the researcher teaches are IT workers who are learning

English for ‘TOHIC exam In a regular ‘OIC test, there are two skills being tested,

namely listening and reading; besides, this is a multiple-choice test then students

who learn for the test rather than for a direcl communicalive purposes

Last but not least, the website chosen for the research on is https//:

quizlet.com Its reputation has been stated with aver fifty million users active every month, Tl is orcatively designed for a varicly of levels and subjects The website

quizdet.com lot the students lam the words they choose by inputting them into the site and it will create activities, tests and games with those words Whereas, traditionally, sludents often find if uninteresting Lo learn vocabulary with (Tashcards

or repeat the word in writing or speaking, but with these websites they can learn, do test and play games Words are presented with picture and spoken by native speaker The websilc also marks the students on cach words they lear and give them more tasks for the words they tend to miss With such varied qualities, students are more likely to find it interesting to learn vocabulary

For such these reason, Ihe researcher has chosen this matter Lo conduct the stucly

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study

This research aims at using a vocabulary website to encourage adult students

who work [or an TT company in order to increase their vocabulary size Tn order to

achieve the aim, the researcher points out some main objectives as below:

- Investigating to what extent using the vocabulary website suggested by the

roscarcher increases the students’ vocabulary size

- Identifying the students’ attitude towards the use of vocabulary websites for

improving theit vocabulary size

1.3 Research questions

Jn a nutshell, the researcher is going to answer two following questions:

1 To what extent does using a vocaiulary website improve the IT workers’ vocabulary sise?

2 What is the attitude of the IT workers towards the use of vocabulary websites

(for improving vocabulary size?

1.4 Scope of the study

There are many aspects of learning vocabulary to be investigated: however,

this sludy is uarrowed down to identify the effect of using a vocabulary website to

increase the number of words and mainly focus on vocabulary retention in short-

term memory in order that adult students of a small-scale class can make use of it

for a speeific largel (he TORIC test im this cass) Therelore, the use and

improvement of the vocabulary size for other purposes like communication would not be discussed in this study

1S Significance of the study

Needless to say how important the rote that vocabulary leaming and teaching plays is to language leamers, teachers and linguistics; this study might make be

taken advantage m the following aspects

Jn term of theory, the shidy would make some certain contribution to the field of vocabulary teaching and learning as well as information technology

application into language learning The whole study based on a greal number of

theories of knowledge related to vocabulary leaning and teaching from renowned

linguistics all over the world and several studies closely related to the field that this

vescarch investigates

Yor practical use, the study, if proved effective, will be a good reference to

English leamers and teachers m the similar context Leaming vocabulary af a

language has always been considered as one of the hardest parts in learning a new

language, as it is rather boring but time-consuming Learners are supposed to

memorize a massive tumber of words lo masler the language Therefore, if this

website proves to be an cffcetive way of learning vocabulary, language leamers can

make extensive use of Moreover, although the study is conducted in a small scale

class, onee being completed, it may ling advantages to mancrous teachers

Optimistically, the teachers will take this research as a helpful consultant for teaching Lnglish vocabulary to leamers

1.6 Methods of the study

in order to achieve the aims and objectives afore mentioned, the study employs a mix-method approach In this research, both qualitative and quantitative

methods are employed

Mirstly, the quantitative method is used to analyze the data collected from the pre-tests and posttests Then, conclusions are drawn from the resuks using

infereriial statistics In the next step of the research, the qualitative method hes been

applied so that the data collected from the survey questionnaire can show out the learners’ attitudes towards the use of the vocabulary website in their vocabulary

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents the theoretical backgrounds and previous research related

to the topic of the study

‘This chapter involves the information about the setting of the study, the

parliciparts, instruments for collecting dala and data collection and analysis procedures

CHAPTER 4, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

The findings of the tests, questionnaire and observations are prescnted int (his

chapter Issues related to the topic are then discussed to help hightlight the research findings

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION

‘This part summarizes major findings, provides recommendations, shows

limitations of the study and suggests topic for further studies

CUAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Vocabulary in Foreign Language Acquisition

2.1.1 Definition of vocabulary

There are several definilions of vocabulary im the literature review The

central idea of these definitions may be summed up by Lewis (1993) who identified

vocabulary as “individual words, or full sentences — institutionalized utterances —

that convey fixed social or pragmatic meaning within a given community” So from

single words like “play” to multiple word items such as greenhouse and father in- law can be identified as vocabulary as long, as it expresses a single idea Another defirrition sharing this idea 1s “a sot of lexomes, including single words, compound words and idioms” (Richard, Platt &, 1992) or as defined by Ur (1996 :60)

“vocabulary can be defined, roughly, as the words we teach in the foreign language

However, a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word” Likewise, McCarthy (1990) argues that multi-word units including idioms and phrasal verbs

should clearly be ueated as single lexical items since their meaning are parlly

identified by their frsedness The second idea would be the definition of vocabulary

as its importance in a language Pyles and Algeo (1970) stated when most it of us think about language we think first aboul words 1 is (me that the vocabulary is the focus of language It is in words that sounds and meanings interlock to allow us to communicate with one another, and it is words that we arrange together to make

sentences, conversation and discourse of all kinds As another researcher supporting

this idea, Wilkins (1972) also emphasized this “without grammar, very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing conveyed” Therefore, vocabulary teaching

and learning has long been an area of concern to linguisls To what extent a words is

considered known to learners is ancther question Nation (2001) once stated

imowing a word means knowing at least it forms, its meaning and its basic usage Besides, thore are many factors affecting the leaming dilTicully of werds

Overviews are given by Nation (1990, ch.3), Lauter (1997), and Rodgers (1969)

Nowadays, no one might deny the significant role of vocabulary in language teaching and learning

Last but not least, what is meant to see the overall task of vocabulary

leaning is through the distinction between knowing a word and using a word Tn

other words, the purpose of vocabulary learning should include both remembering,

words and the ability to use them automatically in a wide range of language contexts when the need arises (McCarthy, 1984) In fact, evidence suggests that the knowledge aspeel (both breadth and depth) requires more conscious and explicit

learning mechanisms whereas the skill aspect involves mostly implicil learning and

memory (Ellis, 1994) Vocabulary learning strategies, therefore, should include strategies for “using” as well as “knowing” a word, Another way to view vocabulary learning is to see it as a process of related sub-tasks When learners first encounter a new word, they mighl guess ils meaning and usage from available clues Some learners might proceed to look it up in the dictionary Others might take down notes along the margins, between the lines, or on separate vocabulary notebooks Some learners will repeat the new word a number of times until they are comlortable with it, Others will go beyond simple role repelilion to commit the

word to memory Some would even iry Lo use the word actively Each of these Lask

stages demands metacognitive judgment, choice, and deployment of cognitive strategies for vocabulary learning And each strategy a learner uses will determine

toa large exter how and bow well a new word is leaned

2.1.2 Principtes of vacabulary learning

However, many theories about vocabulary learning process were written, it still remains the matter of memory Thus, there are several general principles for

suecessful teaching, which are valid [or any method According 10 Wallace (1988),

the prinviples are

© Aim - what is to be taught, which words, how many

® Need - target vocabulary should respond student’s real needs and

interests

©_ Frequent exposure and repetilien

® Meaningful presentation | clear and unambiguous denotation or

Reference should be assured

Estimates of vocabulary size based on an individual’s knowledge of words

sampled from a dictionary or frequency accounts of words found in the running text

have continued Lo be the mai source of information about vocabulary size (Lorge

and Chall, 1963)

Unlike the learning of grammar, which is essentially a rule based system;

vocabulary is mainly a question of accumulating individual item The general rule

seems to be the question of memory during the process of leaming and teaching vocabulary Thomburry (2002) distinguished memory into three systems namely

shorl-term memory, long-lerm memory aud working memory Short-term store is

the brain capacity to hold a limited number of item of information for a short period

of time It is kind of memory that is involved in repeating a word that you have just

heard your Leacher modeling Bul suc

ssful vocabulary learning involves more than holding words for such short period of time Io integrate words into long-term

memory they need to be subjected to different kinds of operations on them It means

the mformation 1s marnpulated via the senses from extemal sources and! or

downloaded from the long-term memory Material remains in the working memory

for about twenty second The existence of articulator loop enables this new material

working It works a bit like audiotape going round around again It reassures the short-term store to be refreshed ‘the ability to hold a word in working memory is a good predictor of language leaming aptitude The better ability to hold words in working memory the smoother process of leaming foreign languages is Long-term memory can be seen as permanent content, this kind of memory has an enormous

capacity and its contents are durable over time However, to ensure moving new

aaterials into permanent long-term memory requires number of principles to be

followed, described by Thombury (2002)

» Repetition-repetition of encounters with a word is very important, useful

and cffeotive If the word is met several times over space interval during reading actwities, students have a very good chance to remember it for a

long lime

» Retrieval: another kind of repetition Activities, which require retrieval,

such as using the new items in written tasks, help students to be able to recall

it again in the future

» Spacing it is useful to split memory work over a period of time rather than

to mass it together ina single block

» Pacing-to respect different learning styles ane pace, students should be

ideally given the opportunity to do memory work individually

» Use-putting words to use, prefer ably in an interesting way, is the best way

of onsurinyg they are added to long-lerm memory This is so called “Use il or

lose it” principle

» Cognitive depth-the more decisions students make about the word and the

more cognilively demanding these decisions arc, the betler the word is

remembered

» Personal-organiving personalization significantly increased the probability

that students will remember new items It is aclucved mauily through

conversation and role playing activities

» Tnaging-casily visualized words are betler memorable thar those thal do

not evoke with any pictwes Even abstract words can be associated with some mental image

» Mnemonics — tricks to help retrieve items or niles that are stored in

memory The best kinds of mnemonics are visuals and keyword techniques

* Motivation strong motivation itself does not ensure that words will be

remembered Even unmotivated students remember words if they have 1o

face appropriate tasks

» Altention it is not possible to improve vocabulary without a certain degree

of conscious allention,

More importantly, it should be noted that 5-16 exposures are needed in order

to leam a word from context (Nation: 1990), Meara (1997) suggested a 0.01

hypothesis (1 uptake every 100 exposures) for 1.2 learners,

arguing, that these

leamers are normally unable to be exposed to large quantities of text A more recent study (lors, Cobb, & Meara, 1998), which featured low intermediate TFL leamers

reading a 109- page book over a ten-day period, obtained a 2 % pick-up ratc They also observed than words that were repeated less, Results so far seem to vary

considerably Ilowever, researchers do seem to have come to the conclusion that the

number of exposures needed for the mastery of anew word hinges on many other

factors such as the salience of the word in context (I3rown, 1993), the richness of

contextual clues, the learner’s interest and the size and quality of his/her existing

ropertoire of vouabulary (Tauler & Hadar, 1997; Nalion & Hwang, 1995)

Encouraging findings on this issue can be found in the literature Crothers

and Suppes (1967) discovered that almost all of their participants remembered all

10% Russian — English word parrs alter 7 repelitions, and aboul 80% of 216 word

pairs were learned by most pasticipants after 6 repetitions Similarly, Lado, Baldwin

and Tobo (1976) presented their intermediate level college students of Spanish with

a list of 100 words, and found that only one exposure sutficed for an average of

95% recognition and 65% recall In general, results on this issue show that, if romombering word pairs is the aim, a surprising amounl can be eared within a

relatively short time (Thorndike, 1908, Webb, 1962), and not many repetitions are

needed before the L2-Li word pairs can be remembered

2.1.2, Difficulties in learning vocabulary

Word forms may differ in difficulty for coding and storing depending on the leamer's prior phonotactic knowledge When a L2 leamer embarks on the

learning of an entirely new language, manphonologically and phonetically unrelated

to any language already known to him or her, he or she may experience great

difficulties in storing isolated as well as clustered sounds or letters Learning the

first 15 content words of a new 1.2 language may take the beginning lamer soverat

10

hours However, three months of daily study later, he or she may easily add another hundred new words to his or her medium-sized vocabulary m one hour simply

because, by that time, letters and sounds are no longer encoded as single unils bul in

now familiar chunks of phonemes, morphemes, syllables and prosodic pattems The leamer now implicitly knows which sequences and combination of elements are

legal and which ones are nol (Ellis & Beaton, 1993) Several studies have shown

that repetition of L2 word forms in the form of avert or silent articulation, briefly held in workang memory (Baddeley, 1997) promotes their long-term retention

Thus, the evidence of alt these sluies suggests that the codabilily and hence the

memorability of the forms of new words is contingent upon the leamer’s prior familiarity with various aspects of the linguistic system

The sccond subjective, knowledge-dependent factor affecting: a word's

memorability is the arbitrariness of the form-meaning link, ie., arbitrariness in

terms of existing lexical knowledge If a new word appears to the leamer as having

a form unrelated fo its meaning it will need more alicntion and mental claburation

than if it has a transparent appearance For example, suppose someone was trying to

cơim anew word in the English language referring to a door made of opaque glass

Suppose, furthermore, this person considered three altcmatrves: “fogdoor”, “rog”

and “dorricor”, then clearly for people already familiar with the words “fog”,

“door” and “corridor”, “fogdoor”, being a nor-arbitrary and lransparent word form,

would be easy to lean, while “rog” and “dorricor™ would be more difficult to leam,

“tog” being a fully arbitrary word form, and “dorricor” likely to be confused with

“corridor”: being what Laufer (1988,1991) has called a “synform™, when lexical

forms similar in their phonological, graphic and/or morphological features, prone to causing lexical confusion in leamers of English

2.1.4, Approaches to teaching and learning vocabulary

2441, Incidental and intentional vocabulary learning

Incidental learning is not planned by either the instructor or the student but ovcurs as a ‘by-producl’ of another activity, inlontional learning is regarded as

11

Deing deliberately intended by the teacher or the students (Nation, 1990) In terms

of learning vocabulary, incidental learning requires learners to acquire vocabulary

through reading, and, although some tasks or exercises might be imposed on them,

the tasks or the exercises may not be directly related to leaming vocabulary In contrast, intentional learning requires learners to memorize the meaning of the

largel words via varinus conscious vacabulary-learning strategies

Much research (Krashen, 1993, Laufer, 2009, Nagy, Herman, & Anderson, 1985)

has shown that the successful achievement of incidental vocabulary leaming could tnanifest through extensive reading However, some researchers (Nation, 2001, Van

Zeeland & Schmitt, 2012, Waring & Nation, 2004) have questioned the

effectiveness of extensive reading on incidental vocabulary learning For instance,

Waring and Nation (2004) argued that extensive reading could nol provide enough

opportunities to lean vocabulary proficiently within a restricted time Instead, they

proposed that explicit vocabulary learning, wherein attention is paid to linguistic

forms, is more ¢fTeelive in Isarng vocabulary Other researchers (Nation, 2001,

Van Zeeland & Schmitt, 2012) have also poimed out that successful guessing in

conlexL requires knowmg 95% of the words In some research, although incidental vocabulary leaming did occur, the effects were very small and cumulative, For

example, Saragi, Nation and Meister (1978) argued that, for the words to be better

engraved im learners’ imind, al least ten instances of exposure to largel words were

necessary Waring and ‘lakaki (2003) proposed that almost one half of the vocabulary learned incidentally through reading was lost after three months, and the

learners needed at least eight instances to achieve a 50% chance of recognizing a

word after three mouths, Moreover, Teng (201 4a) also proposed that ten instances were needed for EFL learners in China to master the form and meaning of target

words incidentally Hence, the extant, research questions the effectiveness of

extensive reading on incidental learning for L2 or LI'L leamers Llowever, this xesearch shares a common point in that leamers could deepen the understanding, of previously eneounlered words, thus making il casior to master the words when they

have more exposure to the words through extensive reading Therefore, according to the mentioned research, Jeaming from extensive reading ‘Therefore, according to the mertioned res

ch, leaming from extensive reading is worthwhile Indeed, as stated in Nation (2008), extensive reading is, by far, one of the most essential vocabulary learning strategies and an indispensable part of any vocabulary learning program Tn addition to this, the research on incidental learning sheds hghL on understanding the process of acquiring words

Ilowever, focusing solely on incidental vocabulary learning is not sufficient

(Nation, 2001) Consequently some researchers (Pellicer-Sanchex & Schimilt, 2010;

Pigada & Schmitt,2006} have recommended a leaming method that combines intentional and incidental leaning arguing that, although extensive reading does orminbule lo the incidental learning of vocabulary, a supplemonlary rogime with explicit vocabulary-enhancing exercises yields more vocabulary gains The current

study, with an aim to measure the growth of vocabulary knowledge for EFL

learners through extensive reading, employs iwo different groups: a control group (CG) seceiving instruction in extensive reading only, and an experimental group

(BG) using a combined method of incidental learning and intentional leaming; eg,

they received extensive reading plus pushed-output acuvities of lcarnmg

vocabulary

2142 Grammar-translation methad

Grammar-translation method of foreign language teaching is one of the

most traditional methods, dating back to the late nineteenth and early twentieth

century It was originally used ta each “dead” languages (and literatures) such as

Latin and Greek (‘fhuleen, 1996) However, conscious learning of grammar is no

longer the leading strategy in language educating area The principle characteristic

of the grammar-translation method is a focus on learning the grammar rules and

their application in translating from one language to the other Most of the teaching

is provided in students’ first language Vocabulary is presented mainly through

dircel translation from the native language and memorization, using bilingual

13,

wordlist:

e.g accountant ké todn

aiport — san bay

‘The basic unit of teaching process is a sentence Students spend most of the lesson time completing grammar exercises where the main emphasis is laid on

the accuracy and following given structure The grammar is presenlcd

systemativally in students’ native language and practiced through translation from one language to the other, e.g,

The woman is sitting by the window — Người phụ nữ đụng ngôi gần cita sb

Bạn có thê đua tôi ra sân bay được không Can you take me to the airport?

In regard to language skills, reading and writing are distinctively

preferred to speaking and listening Liltle ine is spent on oral practice and students

do not have enough opportunities to produce their own sentences

Krashen (1987) analyzed linguistic output of students from grammar translation

class He noticed the facl thal many students make errors in rules (hal are casy 4a

describe, which means that this technique cannot lead to acquisition He also

emphasizes ihe tnportance im balance between grammatical accuracy and communication, Though utilizing grammar niles raise student’s correctness, when

speaking they incline to have a hesitant style that is often difficult to listen to They

plan their ullerance while their conversational partner is talking Their oulpul maybe

accurate, but they all too often do not pay enough attention to what the other person

is saying Students often have difficulties “relating” to the language, because the

classroom experience keeps them from personalizing in or developing their own

style Grammar translation method should be tempered with other approaches to

create a more flexible and conducive methodology Thuleen, in his website article

criticizes the hartaful effect on students’ interest: “The worst effect of this method is

on students” motivation Because (s)he cannot succeed leads to frustration and lack

of confidence in language usage On the other hand, for students who respond well

to rules, structure and correction, (he grammar translation method can provide a

14

challenging and even appealing classroom environment” stated Thuleen (1996) The list of linguistic attitudes to grammar translation method could be finished by Barthouse (1981): “In English leaching dominated by the grammar translation method accuracy is emphasized more than fluency Students in such classroom are extremely particular about linguistic details They never feed satisfied with their language productions until the correct answers are provided They are keenly interested in the exact words, have a low tolerance of ambiguity, and tend to focus

on diserete grammar points and specific syntactic constructions”

The role of translation is entphasized through this method as Harmer

(1993) “Translation seems to be a useful tool if used sparingly, but t should be used

with caution” If teachers rely on the use of translation to excess, students are losing

some of the essenlial spiril of being im a language learnirys classroom This oflen

causes listening skills decline Furthermore, IJarmer points to the difficulties of

translation, which requires an efficient speaker of both languages to translate well

Additionally, according to Harmer, somotimes it is worth giving the nother longue equivalent rather than to spending valuable time trying to define or show the

meaning,

Considering the aun of this method we must admut a great deal of

grammar translation method for generations of people educated in such way, particularly in the siudy The students in the research Team to take TORIC test which focus on listening and readmg multiple choice questions Ln addition to this, the students use English at work mainly reading some instructions in English To

conclude, it would not be fair to condemn it for being old fashioned and worthless On

the other side, it would be of great value to the students with such particular purpose in leaming as shown in the experiment later, especially for influencing their motivation

and their linguistic compelence im tenn of increasing their vocabulary sive.

2.2 ICT application in vocabulary acquisitian

222 Definition f1CT

Tafornmation and commurncalion technology (ICT) is referred to as the

varied collection of technological gear and resources which are made use of to communicate They are also made use of to generate, distribute, collect and

administer information ICT has incredibly changed many aspeels of the life we

live ICT consists of software, hardware, network and media for collecting,

processing, storage, transmission and presentation of the information (voice, text,

data and images) as well as relaled services ICT can be divided into two

components, information and communication infrastructure which refer to physical telecommunication system and networks (cellular, broadcast, cable, satellite, postal)

and the services thal, ulilize those (mlemnel, voice, mail, tadio, and the Lelevision);

and information technology that refers to the hardware and software of information

collection, storage, processing, and presentation

2.2.2 Role of ICT in education

Introducing ICT as a tool to support the education sector has initiated

substantial discussions since the late 1990s Over two decades ago the emphasis was

on technical and vocational education and training and trauming teachers During

recent years, an increasing number of international development agencies have

abraced the potenial of TCT { support education sector

Integrating ICT in teaching and learning is high on educational reform agenda Often ICT is seen as indispensable tool to fully participate in the knowledge

society ICT needs to be seen as “an essential aspect of teaching’s cultural toolkit in

the twenty-first century, affording new and transformative models of development that extend the nature and reach of teaching and leaming wherever it takes place” (Leach, 2005) For developing countries tke Vietnam, ICT can moreover be seen as

a way to merge into a globalizing world, {t is assumed that ICI brings revolutionary change in teaching methodologies The innovation lies not per se in the introduction

and use of ICT bul in ils roles as a contnbutor towards » student-centered form of

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teaching and learning

2.23 Potential use of ICT in vocabulary learning

Chamell (1998) argued for the need of teaching approucties for

vocabulary learning as a separate learning activity since the lexicon that organizes the mental vocabulary in a speaker's mind appears to be an independent entity in

processing A similar view as expressed by Carler (1992) that “ihe need for much

sore vocabulary t be taught and learned as a separate activity rather than, say, part

of a grammar or reading lesson” Iowever Carter did not suggest separating

vocabulary learning from communication and pointed to the need of both a static

approach “i.e word semantics) and a dynamic approach (ie word usage) in vocabulary teaching and learning The importance of leaming, word meanings as

well as words ir context has also been slressed (Allert, 1983; DeCarrieo, 2001)

As Taylor (1990) pointed out, receptive and productive skills are both

within the domain of vocabulary leaning, However, a learner may be overloaded f

she or he is asked to lea both word meaning and form simultancously Thus

leamers may start off with learning word meaning by stressing receptive skills Aller gaining a firm grasp of the word meaning, the leamers may then try other

ancans, such as choral repetition, to help with understand the word forms, This will

assist them in using the leamt words correctly in new contexts One of the most

tremendous advanlages from educational websites is them visual slimulation

Appropriate use of sensual stimuli is believed to be beneficial to learning, not only for ordinary learners but also for leamers with learning difficulties (Schmidt, 2005)

Allen (1983) believed that the more coherent sensual stimuli a learner is exposed to

in a learning process, the higher the chance that she or he will learn successfully

Taylor (1990) added that “a combination of stimuli is desirable, with written

consolidation for adults, in order to facililate transfer from short-term to long-term

memory” Lleidemann (1995) expressed a similar view in relation to three main concem guiding the design of visual materials on learning web pages, namely

learner-oriented principles “e.g mainlaining learner molivalion) pielure figures (0g,

presenting vocabulary items in semantically related groups) and picture functions (eg pictures are remembered betier than words and can therefore act as mediators

of new knowledge) The rescarch communily generally agrees that visual clements

like pictures help learners remember and recall the words that have seen

2.3 Vocabulary websites

2.3.1 Definition of vocabulary websites

According Collins dictionary, a website is a set of data and information

about a particular subject which is available on the internet In addition to this idea,

Cambridge dictionary defined a websile as a set of related web pages containing

information of a particular subject, published by a single person or an organization

A website is hosted on at least one web server, assessable via a network such as the

interne or a private local area nelwork (hrough av interme address also called URT

Recent developments in computer have triggered a whole line of interest

in electronic dictionaries, online dictionaries or vocabulary glosses intergrated into

language learning soflware or web pages (Hulstijn, 1993, Laufer & Hill, 2000;

Lomika, 1998)

To conclude, vocabulary websites can be defined as a collection of

related web pages consisting of images, video, lessons, conversations, cxcrciscs,

quizzes, tests, games, etc in order to help students memorize a number of new

vocabulary itt a language

23.2 Evaluation criteria for vocabulary websites

There are thousands of websites for leaming and teaching English

available on the internet With such many choices, learners definitely feel confused

to pick up one so that it matches their needs the best, There are two valuation

models, namely CARE (Yuen & So, 1999) and WSE (Kim et al 2001) used to

evaluate websiles for education

CARL is an acronym for the information quality (IQ) categories in contents, accessibility, representation and education Each IQ category is associated witha number of TQ dimensions, such as completeness, uniqueness, motivation and

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creativity, to name just a few Other dimensions which may be relevant are not discussed in this paper Note that most of the 1Q dimensions in the accessibility and

yopresentation categories are of tschnical nalure and are not detailed here

Kim et al (2001) further described in thei websites for education (WSK) model

that “a website for education should present explanation about how to utilize it in

adueation and about the web page regarding educational courses.” The authenticity

of the information source is stressed A specific dimension that WSE addresses which is not covered by CARE is whether an education website can facilitate the

formation of a leaming community

‘The CARL model offers several important guiding principles on the technical aspect of education website development, First, navigation should be user

friendly and 1 should always ol¥er clear, quick and direct links Lo the main content

It is preferable that materials can be easily accessed within a few clicks The

language used should be clear, simple and correct to facilitate navigation

Sceond, with a stress on the quality of expresston, the look and feel of the

web site should be consistent ‘he layout and location of different frames should be

the same whichever level the learners go to This gives uniformity and consistency

to the web site, Any plug-in software, if required, should be made clear to users,

either when users visit the home page of the web site or when the concemed

soflware application is excentad

‘Third, it is important to ensure that the use of multimedia is an enhancement,

not a distraction Last, but not least, web site interactivity can be achieved not only

by the presence of games, but also timely feedback A means of communication

between the users and the web master would be a desirable bridge for giving and collecting, opinions as to how the web site can be enhanced

As another view on this matler, five guidelines were described by Wood

(2001) to help design effective vocabulary Jeaming soft- ware from an educational perspective:

« relating the new to the known,

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ø promoting netive, in-depth processing;

© providing multiple exposures to new words;

e lcaching students Lo be strategic readers;

* promoting additional reading

In addition, with regard to the desirable technical features of a vocabulary web sile, Wood (2001) suggested the following:

animations,

« sound components;

* hints or clues related to word meaning,

¢ multimodal presentation of information;

+ online definitions, glossaries or thesauruses

We believe that the above (calures are also applicable to the design of educational games Cowan (1974) listed some other evaluative criteria for assessing

vocabulary games

* Relevance The lasks to be achicved in a game should be ‘readily related by the student to the tasks required in the study couse’ (Cowan, 1974, p 57)

* Teer interaction The games should be accommodated with sufficient

interaction between various players to increase the group dynamic and promote peer

leaming

> Conlinuous motivation The games should ensure continuous motivation for

leamers, his can be achieved by providing a sufficient challenge and the seope to

smnature to players

« Minimum equipment Although the use of some “games-lke’ equipment,

such as joysticks and steering wheels, may increase the excitement of the games, too much may distract the leamers’ attention from the leaming goals

The chosen website was considered in the criteria suggested above and it

shows that the site meet many of them especially the desirable technical features enlisted by Wood (2001); namely, animations, sound components, hints or clues related to word meaning, mulimodal presentation of formation

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Besides, the site fulfills other evaluative criteria suggested by Cowan (1974)

such as continuous motivation and minimum equipment

However, the website still has not met some other criteria, namely peer interactions

(Cowan, 1974) or more importantly, it misses a few significant points of the five

guidelines given by Wood (2001) such as promoting additional reading and

promoting active in-dept processing

activities, games so that language leamers can memorize them after completing

those activities The illustrations look simple but professional, appalling and more

importantly customized Especially the instructions are easy enough for even

students at low to follow efficiently The point is that the students can learn the

words they find from different materials off the website Not many website allow

students to learn the new words that way The users can also browse for the picture

illustrating the new words or update their own pictures In term of functionality, it

is a customized site well-accessed with steady and speedy connection so there

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2.4 Previous studies

241 Oversea studies

Regarding the application of technology in vocabulary leaming, several studies have been conducted, as the Intemet getting used so widely One of them

was conducted by Sim Monica from Utiiversily of Oradea, Romamia (2013) to

identify the impact of social media: in this case, Facebook, on vocabulary learning Social media language leaming is an innovative approach in teaching languages

interactively, inking social channels to language learning When social media has

been expanded so massively that there are billions of users, it would be so beneficial

if people can make use of it in learning Ianguage The research does emphasize the

cmvemience of Faccbouk — the curren most popular social network To specify, iL is

a valuable way for the students to communicate, to get news and other kinds of

information In this research, 127 college students, after taking a pre-test, were

divided inlo two groups, experimental group and control group Then they would

xeceive either Facebook instructional program or traditional lecture program After

ong semester, the two groups look a post-test The resull of dhe study did not support the assumption that the experimental group outperform the control group as

there were no significant different bebween the groups’ test result Nevertheless, the

overall differences were slighily in favor of the Facebook instructional strategy

‘This meant using Facebook in teaching vocabulary proved a little bit more effective

than the traditional method, even if not necessarily crucial Another study was

carried out by Florence and Kwan from Hong Kong University of Science and

‘Technology (2006) fhe two researchers tried to find out whether online vocabulary games could be used as a tool for teaching and leaming English vocabulary To

specify, the research was conducted in order Lo identify the effects of using games

and tasks on some educational websites in Llong Kong on leaming vocabulary This

study showed lots of valuable theories related to the field To specify, the article

aialcd what characlcristies Uhose are important, to learning languages according to

different linguists In the study, visual stimulation is stated as ađvantagcous toward leaming, In addition, an appropriate use of sensual stimuli is believed to be

denelicial to learning, nol only for ordinary learners but also for learners with

learning difficulties (Schmidt, 2005), Heidemann (1995) expressed a similar view in relation to three main concems guiding the design of the visual materials on

learning, web pages, namely leamer-criented principles (e.g maintaining learner

motivation), picture features (e.g, presenting vocabulary items in semantically related groups) and picture functions (e.g pictures are remembered better than

words and can therefore act as mediators of new knowledge) The research also

used certain evaluative criteria for educational websites which they use for leaming

vocabulary Two evaluation models namely CARE (Yuen & So, 1999) and WSE

were combined and adopted in this study for the evaluation of cducaboral websiles

The CARE model offers several important guiding principles ơn the technical

aspect of education web site development

The research resulis show, both quantitatively and qualitatively, (hal learners

playing online vocabulary games tend to learn better and could retain the learnt

vocabulary for a longer period and retrieve more words than those who simply

attended face-to-face lessons without accessing the vocabulary games Although

Kiili (2005) expressed serious doubt about the effectiveness of drill and practice

games to leaming, our rescarch indicales thal vocabulary learning can be

significantly improved by their use Students expressed a preference for online lessons One possible explanation for this finding is that students welcome a higher

degree of autonomy in their learning and they tend to be in control of their own

leaming when learning from vocabulary web sites with games ‘This research has shed light on various aspects of the use of online games for tertiary English

vocabulary learning and leaching The key findings are as follows

face-to-face learning lessons,

œ To retain students’ interest and ensure learning effecliveness, more

motivating games that give students a sense of achievement and scope for development are needed;

‘Teachers think their role as researcher and facilitator has grown more prominent

ag a result of the usc of information communication technology tools

in summary, there is no apparent research on the website the researcher

would like to conduct one on-http//:quiztet.com Ilowever, the research conducted

by Florence and Kwan fram Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

(2006) is useful to refer since it mentioned umportant points of influences of two aducational media on vocabulary and especially some certain information of

evaluating websites for education While the two studies concentrales on studying

the online games or social media on learning vocabulary of students at college, the

current research studies one website which focus mare on learning activities for

adult workers, Besides, the purpos

sof learning vocabulary in the learners in Ihe

three studies are different too All in all, despite some similarities of the topic for

research, the subject and participants among three studies are different, which make findings disparate

242 Vietnamese studies

Regarding the topic of leaning vocabulary, there are quiie a number of Vietnamese studics mentioning the topic of learning vocabulary The two studies that have the most similar topic are as below

The first is an action stady on the effect of strategy training program on leaming vocabulary independently at « medical school in Hai Phong This study adapted Cohen (1998)s strategy training to help students achieve leamer autonomy and

linguistic autonomy Besides, by choosing their own strategies without continued

prompting from the language teacher, leamers should be able to monitor and evaluate the relative effectiveness of their strategy use, and more fully develop their

problem-solving skills Tn this way, leamers are encouraged lo become more

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autonomus, to diagnose some of their own learning strengths and weaknesses, and

to self-direct the process of language development What is the most important in the r

arch literature review is 1o build up the Ieamer aulonomy in learning through

three phases; namely, raising awareness, attitude-changing and roletransfening What the research did is applying three sets of vocabulary strategies suggested by

Schmit, (1997) including divtionary-rclated strategies (use bilingual dictionary,

study the spelling of a word, study the sound of a word, remember part of speech), recording vocabulary (keep a vocabulary notebook, take notes in class, group words

together Lo study them) and sludying affixes (analyze affixes and rools, remember

affixes and roots) ‘The research also found out the most frequent problems that his

learn encountered in independent vocabulary leaming, namely, not enough time, not

cnongh malerial, noi interested, nol know whal to learn, tol know how to learn As

aresult of adopting the leaming strategies, the students showed relative impressive

performance in learning vocabulary However, only two third of the students used

the stralegies as much as (he researcher expected Besides, the students considered

the dictionary related strategies as the most useful and most frequently used amoug

the three sets of stralegies

Te second research investigated the use of games in learning and teaching

vocabulary ‘Ihe research was carried out with 16 teachers and 160 students at the

age between 13 and 45 The rescarch was based on the approach of Fracrikel and

Wallen (1996) for randomly selecting four classes for investigation Apart from investigating the using of game in learning and teaching of vocabulary, the research

explored the way that students currently use for leaning vocabulary As expected,

they leat words separately, or in written form, learned by highlighting words in

‘oaks: which is not effective or interesting to them That explained why most of the

students suggested changing the current method of teaching vocabulary On the

other hand, the teachers who were surveyed stated that they found the most

difficulties to make good use of materials in teaching vocabulary especially they

found it hard to choose what words to teach and what not Mosl of Lhe (cachers

agreed that many of the vocabulary topics in cwrent materials were not useful for their students’ practical use In term of using game, the students and teachers reflected positively on ils effet on their classes” almosphere and the success of lessons, Apparently, the students wanted to use more games in other stages of lessons

2.5 Chapter summary

In summary, the literature on vocabulary acquisition, ICT and some previous studies reviewed above provides evidence of the likelihood of some positive impact

of ICT on learners’ language acquisition, particularly the beneficial effects of using

it on increasing students ‘vocabulary size ‘Therefore, applying ICY can be advantageous to help students improve their English in general and particularly

curich their vocabulary

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CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

3.1 Context of the study

The chosen students were taken from a tutor corporate class They are all IT

programmers working for an IT company The classes are organized with 10-15

students at the same intermediate level The class target is to get TOEIC 750 after 6

months of learning (not to communicate) Apparently, they are motivated under

pressure to urge to learn English in such short time Even though vocabulary plays a significant role in their learning English; in class, however, there are no official

lessons teaching vocabulary to students Besides, they learn vocabulary slowly by themselves There are needs of specific strategies in learning vocabulary for these

particular learners To specify, all the students are undoubtedly familiar with

working with computers or websites because they are IT workers Moreover, they

are equipped with computers and smart phones well- assessed to the internet both at

home and at work Therefore, it is more likely for them to enjoy learning via website than with printed books A favorable website that can help them leam vocabulary would be a reasonable choice So after considering a few theories on

criteria of evaluating an education website discussed in the literature review, the website quizlet.com was chosen to be applied in this study

Action research (AR) in the past decades has become a valued research

methodology, an innovative approach to encourage active intervention of people in

the issues being researched The ways thal researchers defined tt can be various

Action research is a wide, polyvalent and a controversial concept (Drummond and

Themessl-TIuber 2007; Rolfsen and Knutstad 2007) This research, as commonly

defined, combines action and reflection wilh intent lo change practice and theory

(Carr and Kemmis 1986) Action research is a unique research strategy (Grant

2007) “It involves people working to improve their skills, techniques, and

strategies” (Ferrance 2000: 3) i is simply learning by doing’ what Wadsworth

(1997) has described as ‘do-it-yourself social science’- a group of people identify a

problem, do something to resolve it, see how successful their efforts were, and if not

satisfied, fy again Action rescarch has been described ‘as a way of generating

imowledge about a social system whole, at the same time, trying to change it”

(Elden and Chisholm 1993: 121) It is also known as participatory research,

collaborative inquiry, emancipalory-research, achon Iearning and research, bul all

are variations on a theme While this is the essence of the approach, there are other

key altributes of action research that differentiate it from common problem-solving activities that we all engage in every day According to Reason & Bradbury (2001),

AR seeks to bring together actions and reflections, theory and practice, academic

and local knowledge, and participation Tt is a rigorous qualitative research process

which aims at modifying the current situation being researched, based on a straightaway implementation of research findings and relying on the participation of the various local actors (Greenwood & Levin, 1998)

AR is canied out by a team of ARers and members of an organisation or a community They together formulate the problems to be examined and then generate

new knowledge about these problems and take concrete actions to create a belter

situation in which members have an increased capacity to influence their destiny

Reason & Bradbury (00H) define AR as follows: “a participatory, demovratic process conecmed with developing practical knowledge in the pursuil of

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worthwhile human purposes I† seeks to bring together action and roflcction, theory and practice, in participation with others, in the pursuit of practical solutions

to issues of pressing coneem to people, and more generally the flourishing of individual persons and their communities”

Reason & Bradbury (2001) define AR as follows: “a participatory, demucratic process concerned with developing practical knowledge in the pursuit of worthwhile human purposes {t seeks to bring together action and reflection, theory and practice, in participation with others, in the pursuit of practical solutions

to issues of pressing concem to people, and more generally the flourishing of individual persons and their communities”

igure 3.2 Krnest Stringer’s AR model (in Mills, G 2003, p.18)

AR has been one of the most major types of research conducted in applied linguistics Tn 1988, Keramis and Taggart defined that “an AR is teacher initiated classroom research which seeks to increase the teacher understanding of classroom teaching and leaming, and therefore, brings about improvement in classroom practices” Wallace (1998) also defined AR as the work donc by systematically collecting data on teachers’ everyday practice and analyzing them in order to come

to some decision about what teacher's future practice should be or the process of systematic collection and analysis of data in order to make change and improvement

or solve problems, Lewin described AR ‘as a way of generating knowledge about a

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