Luận văn a study on english vocabulary learning strategies used by the first year students at hai phong community college

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, ILANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES DO THT KIM OANTT A STUDY ON ENGLISH VOCABULARY LEARNING STRATE

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, ILANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

DO THT KIM OANTT

A STUDY ON ENGLISH VOCABULARY LEARNING STRATEGIES USED BY THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS

AT TIAI PHONG COMMUNITY COLLEGE

NGHIÊN CỨU VE CAC CHIẾN LƯỢC HỌC TỪ VỰNG

TIENG ANI CỦA SINII VIÊN NĂM THỨ NIẮT TRUONG CAO BANG CONG DONG HAI PHONG

TABLE OF CONTENT 'FAILU OI' CON TNT ke ke sees iv

5 Significance of the study ¬— ¬— ¬— 3

1.1.1 Background of language leaming strategies ¬— 5

1.1.2 Delinton öŸ langtrage Ïearring siralepies 6

1.1.3 Classtfieation of learning stratogios ¬— 7

1.1.4 The importance of language learnung strategies in language learning,

1.2 Vocabulary leaning strategies sesesntnee sesesntnee 10

1.2.1 Definition of vocabulary leaming strategies sesesntnee 10 1.2.3 Classification of vocabulary teaming strategies "1

1.2.2.1 Classification of Gu and Johnson (1996) 12 1.2.2.2 Classification of Schmitt (1997) 3 1.2.2.3 Classification of Nation (2001) 15 1.2.3 Sumniayy, HHu re HHu re HHu re 16

As vocabulary becomes a big obstacle in English learning and their specd of vocabulary improvement is quite slow Jesides that, many Linglish teachers think that their students can achieve vocabulary themselves Fvery new word can be looked up in English Vietnamese dictionary which is marked with phonetic symbol and its Vietnamese meaning, so it is unnecessary to make great effort to

teaching vocabulary In addition, there are some teachers still adopt the traditional

teaching methods which are proved to be inefficient by many researchers On the other hand, as a teacher of English, I have dealt with many questions relating to

vocabulary leaning which are raised by my sludents Ever some of them have

worked hard on learning new words but the result is so disappointing Personally, 1 found it necessary to provide with them successful learning, strategies to lea

English words

Those reasons above encourage me to conduct a study on English vocabulary Icamning strategies uscd by the [inst year students at Hai Phong Commuraty College

2 Aims of the study

‘The ultimate goal of the study is to help improve teaching and leaming English in general, and teaching and learning English vocabulary in particular at Hai Phong Community College Therefore, the specific aims of this study are to find oul the students’ awareness of the important of vocabulary learning and whal strategies are commonly used in learning vocabulary

3 Research questions

The research questions that the present study socks to answer arc:

1 What is the students’ awareness of the importance of vocabulary leaning?

2 What vocabulary leaning strategies do the first year students at Hai Phong Community College commonly use?

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale for the study

Vocabulary is very important for people’s communication and language

learning, which plays an important role in the process of scuond language acquisition Wilkins (Wilkins, 1972: 111) stated that “without grammar little can be conveyed, wilhout vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” Hence, we cannot deny that skills of language learning inckiding listening, speaking, reading and writing cannot be successfully achieved without vocabulary So the study of vocabulary

learning slralegies is as an important slop i sccord language acquisition

During the 1950s and 1960s, the study on vocabulary learning received little attention Kortunately, vocabulary learning has been studied more widely since the

1980s Tt has atiracted more and more imicrest from rescarchers, educationalisis as well as teachers Many of them, both at home and abroad, have pointed out their

view on the vocabulary learning’s significance As Decarrico (2001: 285) stated that

“Although vocabulary has uol always been recoguized as a priority in language teaching, interest in its role in second language learning has grown rapidly in recent years and specialists now emphasize the need for a systematic and principled

approach lo vocabulary by both the teacher and the leamer” Or Nguyen Huyen

(2004: 1) compared “If a language could be considered as a house, then its grammar

could be considered as cement and its vocabulary could be figuratively compared to

bricks To build a complete house, not only coment but also bricks are needed

Without bricks, no house can be built, even when plenty of high quality cement is

available.” This means that to be a competent English communicator, one must

avquire a good knowledge of English grammar and have a rich amounl of English

vocabulary as well

In Vietnam in general and in my college, Hai Phong Community College in particular, English is the compulsory course for students However, there is a large gap between the students’ English ability and requirements settled in the syllabus.

7 Structure of the study

The study is divided into four chapters Each chapter deals with an important

aspect of the study

Chapter 1 is the introduction of the study, which inchades the rationale, aim, research questions, scope, significance the study as well as the methods and

structure of the study:

Chapter 2 presents the information about some basis concepts related Lo

language loarning stratogics and vocabulary caring strategies In addition, the classifications of language learning strategies and vocabulary learning strategies are

data analysis and implications

Chapter 4 summarizes the main issues of the whole stady and gives the

fulure directions for further rescarch and lunitalions of lhe study.

As vocabulary becomes a big obstacle in English learning and their specd of vocabulary improvement is quite slow Jesides that, many Linglish teachers think that their students can achieve vocabulary themselves Fvery new word can be looked up in English Vietnamese dictionary which is marked with phonetic symbol and its Vietnamese meaning, so it is unnecessary to make great effort to

teaching vocabulary In addition, there are some teachers still adopt the traditional

teaching methods which are proved to be inefficient by many researchers On the other hand, as a teacher of English, I have dealt with many questions relating to

vocabulary leaning which are raised by my sludents Ever some of them have

worked hard on learning new words but the result is so disappointing Personally, 1 found it necessary to provide with them successful learning, strategies to lea

English words

Those reasons above encourage me to conduct a study on English vocabulary Icamning strategies uscd by the [inst year students at Hai Phong Commuraty College

2 Aims of the study

‘The ultimate goal of the study is to help improve teaching and leaming English in general, and teaching and learning English vocabulary in particular at Hai Phong Community College Therefore, the specific aims of this study are to find oul the students’ awareness of the important of vocabulary learning and whal strategies are commonly used in learning vocabulary

3 Research questions

The research questions that the present study socks to answer arc:

1 What is the students’ awareness of the importance of vocabulary leaning?

2 What vocabulary leaning strategies do the first year students at Hai Phong Community College commonly use?

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale for the study

Vocabulary is very important for people’s communication and language

learning, which plays an important role in the process of scuond language acquisition Wilkins (Wilkins, 1972: 111) stated that “without grammar little can be conveyed, wilhout vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” Hence, we cannot deny that skills of language learning inckiding listening, speaking, reading and writing cannot be successfully achieved without vocabulary So the study of vocabulary

learning slralegies is as an important slop i sccord language acquisition

During the 1950s and 1960s, the study on vocabulary learning received little attention Kortunately, vocabulary learning has been studied more widely since the

1980s Tt has atiracted more and more imicrest from rescarchers, educationalisis as well as teachers Many of them, both at home and abroad, have pointed out their

view on the vocabulary learning’s significance As Decarrico (2001: 285) stated that

“Although vocabulary has uol always been recoguized as a priority in language teaching, interest in its role in second language learning has grown rapidly in recent years and specialists now emphasize the need for a systematic and principled

approach lo vocabulary by both the teacher and the leamer” Or Nguyen Huyen

(2004: 1) compared “If a language could be considered as a house, then its grammar

could be considered as cement and its vocabulary could be figuratively compared to

bricks To build a complete house, not only coment but also bricks are needed

Without bricks, no house can be built, even when plenty of high quality cement is

available.” This means that to be a competent English communicator, one must

avquire a good knowledge of English grammar and have a rich amounl of English

vocabulary as well

In Vietnam in general and in my college, Hai Phong Community College in particular, English is the compulsory course for students However, there is a large gap between the students’ English ability and requirements settled in the syllabus.

Table 1: Gu and Johnson's (1996) taxonomy of vocabulary leaming

SỈAIEBi©S co — —

Table 2: Norbert Schmmilt’s (1997) laxonomy of vocabulary learning

SÍTBEEBl8 nniiioooicee — —

Table 3: Nation's (2001) taxonomy of vocabulary learning stratepies

Table 4: Table of test specifications

Table 5: Vocabulary learning strategies for discovery a new word's

meaning used by the Pilot study participants

Table 6: Vocabulary learning strategies for consolidalion a word in

memory used by the Pilot study participants

Table 7: Vocabulary learning, strategies in survey questionnaire

Table 8: Descnplive statistics of students’ use of Delermination

SÍTBEEBl8 noiiioooicee — —

Table 9: Descriptive statistics of students’ use of Social strategies

Table 10: Descriplive statistics of students’ use of Social strategies

(CensolidaHon) — —

Table 11: Descriptive slalistics of students’ use of Memory strategies

Table 12: Descriptive statistics of students’ use of Cognitive

SỈAIEBi©S co — —

Table 13: Descriptive statistics of students’ use of Metacognitive

SiateBle8 co — —

Table 14: Strategies use according to descending order of mean

Table 15: Mean of six categories

As vocabulary becomes a big obstacle in English learning and their specd of vocabulary improvement is quite slow Jesides that, many Linglish teachers think that their students can achieve vocabulary themselves Fvery new word can be looked up in English Vietnamese dictionary which is marked with phonetic symbol and its Vietnamese meaning, so it is unnecessary to make great effort to

teaching vocabulary In addition, there are some teachers still adopt the traditional

teaching methods which are proved to be inefficient by many researchers On the other hand, as a teacher of English, I have dealt with many questions relating to

vocabulary leaning which are raised by my sludents Ever some of them have

worked hard on learning new words but the result is so disappointing Personally, 1 found it necessary to provide with them successful learning, strategies to lea

English words

Those reasons above encourage me to conduct a study on English vocabulary Icamning strategies uscd by the [inst year students at Hai Phong Commuraty College

2 Aims of the study

‘The ultimate goal of the study is to help improve teaching and leaming English in general, and teaching and learning English vocabulary in particular at Hai Phong Community College Therefore, the specific aims of this study are to find oul the students’ awareness of the important of vocabulary learning and whal strategies are commonly used in learning vocabulary

3 Research questions

The research questions that the present study socks to answer arc:

1 What is the students’ awareness of the importance of vocabulary leaning?

2 What vocabulary leaning strategies do the first year students at Hai Phong Community College commonly use?

4 Scope of the sLudy

The study focused on the investigation of vocabulary leaming strategics which are employed by the first year students at Lai Phong Community College during the second term of school year 2011-2012

5 Significance of the study

Schmitt and McCarthy (1997) points out that vacabulary leaming has been

regarded as one of ihe most important parts in a sccond or foreign language acquisition On the basis of the idea above, this study helps raise the students’

awareness of the imporlance of vocabulary learmmg and thal there are many other

vocabulary leamg strategies and therefore the strategy training is necessary to be done by the teachers Vurther, it reveals the most and least frequently used vocabulary learning stralogics adopicd by the students, which can be implemented

to support both teachers and students in teaching and learning vocabulary at Hai Phong Community College

6 Mcthods of the study

In order to achieve the aims of the study mentioned above, the study was

carried out on the basis of semi-structured interview and survey questionnaire The

Rnglish tcachors al Hai Phong Community College wero interviewed about the strategies their students use in leaning, vocabulary to support information for the

survey questionnaire Then, vocabulary learning strategies listed im the survey

questionnaire were compiled from a review of the literature on vocabulary learning strategies and the interviews’ data After the results were analyzed, the findings

were reporled and discussed then some suggestions wore raised in the sinndy

Melacognilive strategy Number of students

Second Language Acquisition

Social strategy

Vocabulary Learmng Stralegies

Mean of frequency of use

1 Recapitulation sec HHu re HHu re

2 Limitations and suggestions for further study

REFERENCES

APPENDIXES HH HH HH

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

List of tables:

7 Structure of the study

The study is divided into four chapters Each chapter deals with an important

aspect of the study

Chapter 1 is the introduction of the study, which inchades the rationale, aim, research questions, scope, significance the study as well as the methods and

structure of the study:

Chapter 2 presents the information about some basis concepts related Lo

language loarning stratogics and vocabulary caring strategies In addition, the classifications of language learning strategies and vocabulary learning strategies are

data analysis and implications

Chapter 4 summarizes the main issues of the whole stady and gives the

fulure directions for further rescarch and lunitalions of lhe study.

1 Recapitulation sec HHu re HHu re

2 Limitations and suggestions for further study

REFERENCES

APPENDIXES HH HH HH

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

List of tables:

Table 1: Gu and Johnson's (1996) taxonomy of vocabulary leaming

SỈAIEBi©S co — —

Table 2: Norbert Schmmilt’s (1997) laxonomy of vocabulary learning

SÍTBEEBl8 nniiioooicee — —

Table 3: Nation's (2001) taxonomy of vocabulary learning stratepies

Table 4: Table of test specifications

Table 5: Vocabulary learning strategies for discovery a new word's

meaning used by the Pilot study participants

Table 6: Vocabulary learning strategies for consolidalion a word in

memory used by the Pilot study participants

Table 7: Vocabulary learning, strategies in survey questionnaire

Table 8: Descnplive statistics of students’ use of Delermination

SÍTBEEBl8 noiiioooicee — —

Table 9: Descriptive statistics of students’ use of Social strategies

Table 10: Descriplive statistics of students’ use of Social strategies

(CensolidaHon) — —

Table 11: Descriptive slalistics of students’ use of Memory strategies

Table 12: Descriptive statistics of students’ use of Cognitive

SỈAIEBi©S co — —

Table 13: Descriptive statistics of students’ use of Metacognitive

SiateBle8 co — —

Table 14: Strategies use according to descending order of mean

Table 15: Mean of six categories

Melacognilive strategy Number of students

Second Language Acquisition

Social strategy

Vocabulary Learmng Stralegies

Mean of frequency of use

Table 1: Gu and Johnson's (1996) taxonomy of vocabulary leaming

SỈAIEBi©S co — —

Table 2: Norbert Schmmilt’s (1997) laxonomy of vocabulary learning

SÍTBEEBl8 nniiioooicee — —

Table 3: Nation's (2001) taxonomy of vocabulary learning stratepies

Table 4: Table of test specifications

Table 5: Vocabulary learning strategies for discovery a new word's

meaning used by the Pilot study participants

Table 6: Vocabulary learning strategies for consolidalion a word in

memory used by the Pilot study participants

Table 7: Vocabulary learning, strategies in survey questionnaire

Table 8: Descnplive statistics of students’ use of Delermination

SÍTBEEBl8 noiiioooicee — —

Table 9: Descriptive statistics of students’ use of Social strategies

Table 10: Descriplive statistics of students’ use of Social strategies

(CensolidaHon) — —

Table 11: Descriptive slalistics of students’ use of Memory strategies

Table 12: Descriptive statistics of students’ use of Cognitive

SỈAIEBi©S co — —

Table 13: Descriptive statistics of students’ use of Metacognitive

SiateBle8 co — —

Table 14: Strategies use according to descending order of mean

Table 15: Mean of six categories

1 Recapitulation sec HHu re HHu re

2 Limitations and suggestions for further study

REFERENCES

APPENDIXES HH HH HH

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

List of tables:

7 Structure of the study

The study is divided into four chapters Each chapter deals with an important

aspect of the study

Chapter 1 is the introduction of the study, which inchades the rationale, aim, research questions, scope, significance the study as well as the methods and

structure of the study:

Chapter 2 presents the information about some basis concepts related Lo

language loarning stratogics and vocabulary caring strategies In addition, the classifications of language learning strategies and vocabulary learning strategies are

data analysis and implications

Chapter 4 summarizes the main issues of the whole stady and gives the

fulure directions for further rescarch and lunitalions of lhe study.

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale for the study

Vocabulary is very important for people’s communication and language

learning, which plays an important role in the process of scuond language acquisition Wilkins (Wilkins, 1972: 111) stated that “without grammar little can be conveyed, wilhout vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” Hence, we cannot deny that skills of language learning inckiding listening, speaking, reading and writing cannot be successfully achieved without vocabulary So the study of vocabulary

learning slralegies is as an important slop i sccord language acquisition

During the 1950s and 1960s, the study on vocabulary learning received little attention Kortunately, vocabulary learning has been studied more widely since the

1980s Tt has atiracted more and more imicrest from rescarchers, educationalisis as well as teachers Many of them, both at home and abroad, have pointed out their

view on the vocabulary learning’s significance As Decarrico (2001: 285) stated that

“Although vocabulary has uol always been recoguized as a priority in language teaching, interest in its role in second language learning has grown rapidly in recent years and specialists now emphasize the need for a systematic and principled

approach lo vocabulary by both the teacher and the leamer” Or Nguyen Huyen

(2004: 1) compared “If a language could be considered as a house, then its grammar

could be considered as cement and its vocabulary could be figuratively compared to

bricks To build a complete house, not only coment but also bricks are needed

Without bricks, no house can be built, even when plenty of high quality cement is

available.” This means that to be a competent English communicator, one must

avquire a good knowledge of English grammar and have a rich amounl of English

vocabulary as well

In Vietnam in general and in my college, Hai Phong Community College in particular, English is the compulsory course for students However, there is a large gap between the students’ English ability and requirements settled in the syllabus.

4 Scope of the sLudy

The study focused on the investigation of vocabulary leaming strategics which are employed by the first year students at Lai Phong Community College during the second term of school year 2011-2012

5 Significance of the study

Schmitt and McCarthy (1997) points out that vacabulary leaming has been

regarded as one of ihe most important parts in a sccond or foreign language acquisition On the basis of the idea above, this study helps raise the students’

awareness of the imporlance of vocabulary learmmg and thal there are many other

vocabulary leamg strategies and therefore the strategy training is necessary to be done by the teachers Vurther, it reveals the most and least frequently used vocabulary learning stralogics adopicd by the students, which can be implemented

to support both teachers and students in teaching and learning vocabulary at Hai Phong Community College

6 Mcthods of the study

In order to achieve the aims of the study mentioned above, the study was

carried out on the basis of semi-structured interview and survey questionnaire The

Rnglish tcachors al Hai Phong Community College wero interviewed about the strategies their students use in leaning, vocabulary to support information for the

survey questionnaire Then, vocabulary learning strategies listed im the survey

questionnaire were compiled from a review of the literature on vocabulary learning strategies and the interviews’ data After the results were analyzed, the findings

were reporled and discussed then some suggestions wore raised in the sinndy

7 Structure of the study

The study is divided into four chapters Each chapter deals with an important

aspect of the study

Chapter 1 is the introduction of the study, which inchades the rationale, aim, research questions, scope, significance the study as well as the methods and

structure of the study:

Chapter 2 presents the information about some basis concepts related Lo

language loarning stratogics and vocabulary caring strategies In addition, the classifications of language learning strategies and vocabulary learning strategies are

data analysis and implications

Chapter 4 summarizes the main issues of the whole stady and gives the

fulure directions for further rescarch and lunitalions of lhe study.

4 Scope of the sLudy

The study focused on the investigation of vocabulary leaming strategics which are employed by the first year students at Lai Phong Community College during the second term of school year 2011-2012

5 Significance of the study

Schmitt and McCarthy (1997) points out that vacabulary leaming has been

regarded as one of ihe most important parts in a sccond or foreign language acquisition On the basis of the idea above, this study helps raise the students’

awareness of the imporlance of vocabulary learmmg and thal there are many other

vocabulary leamg strategies and therefore the strategy training is necessary to be done by the teachers Vurther, it reveals the most and least frequently used vocabulary learning stralogics adopicd by the students, which can be implemented

to support both teachers and students in teaching and learning vocabulary at Hai Phong Community College

6 Mcthods of the study

In order to achieve the aims of the study mentioned above, the study was

carried out on the basis of semi-structured interview and survey questionnaire The

Rnglish tcachors al Hai Phong Community College wero interviewed about the strategies their students use in leaning, vocabulary to support information for the

survey questionnaire Then, vocabulary learning strategies listed im the survey

questionnaire were compiled from a review of the literature on vocabulary learning strategies and the interviews’ data After the results were analyzed, the findings

were reporled and discussed then some suggestions wore raised in the sinndy

As vocabulary becomes a big obstacle in English learning and their specd of vocabulary improvement is quite slow Jesides that, many Linglish teachers think that their students can achieve vocabulary themselves Fvery new word can be looked up in English Vietnamese dictionary which is marked with phonetic symbol and its Vietnamese meaning, so it is unnecessary to make great effort to

teaching vocabulary In addition, there are some teachers still adopt the traditional

teaching methods which are proved to be inefficient by many researchers On the other hand, as a teacher of English, I have dealt with many questions relating to

vocabulary leaning which are raised by my sludents Ever some of them have

worked hard on learning new words but the result is so disappointing Personally, 1 found it necessary to provide with them successful learning, strategies to lea

English words

Those reasons above encourage me to conduct a study on English vocabulary Icamning strategies uscd by the [inst year students at Hai Phong Commuraty College

2 Aims of the study

‘The ultimate goal of the study is to help improve teaching and leaming English in general, and teaching and learning English vocabulary in particular at Hai Phong Community College Therefore, the specific aims of this study are to find oul the students’ awareness of the important of vocabulary learning and whal strategies are commonly used in learning vocabulary

3 Research questions

The research questions that the present study socks to answer arc:

1 What is the students’ awareness of the importance of vocabulary leaning?

2 What vocabulary leaning strategies do the first year students at Hai Phong Community College commonly use?

Melacognilive strategy Number of students

Second Language Acquisition

Social strategy

Vocabulary Learmng Stralegies

Mean of frequency of use

Melacognilive strategy Number of students

Second Language Acquisition

Social strategy

Vocabulary Learmng Stralegies

Mean of frequency of use

Table 1: Gu and Johnson's (1996) taxonomy of vocabulary leaming

SỈAIEBi©S co — —

Table 2: Norbert Schmmilt’s (1997) laxonomy of vocabulary learning

SÍTBEEBl8 nniiioooicee — —

Table 3: Nation's (2001) taxonomy of vocabulary learning stratepies

Table 4: Table of test specifications

Table 5: Vocabulary learning strategies for discovery a new word's

meaning used by the Pilot study participants

Table 6: Vocabulary learning strategies for consolidalion a word in

memory used by the Pilot study participants

Table 7: Vocabulary learning, strategies in survey questionnaire

Table 8: Descnplive statistics of students’ use of Delermination

SÍTBEEBl8 noiiioooicee — —

Table 9: Descriptive statistics of students’ use of Social strategies

Table 10: Descriplive statistics of students’ use of Social strategies

(CensolidaHon) — —

Table 11: Descriptive slalistics of students’ use of Memory strategies

Table 12: Descriptive statistics of students’ use of Cognitive

SỈAIEBi©S co — —

Table 13: Descriptive statistics of students’ use of Metacognitive

SiateBle8 co — —

Table 14: Strategies use according to descending order of mean

Table 15: Mean of six categories

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale for the study

Vocabulary is very important for people’s communication and language

learning, which plays an important role in the process of scuond language acquisition Wilkins (Wilkins, 1972: 111) stated that “without grammar little can be conveyed, wilhout vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” Hence, we cannot deny that skills of language learning inckiding listening, speaking, reading and writing cannot be successfully achieved without vocabulary So the study of vocabulary

learning slralegies is as an important slop i sccord language acquisition

During the 1950s and 1960s, the study on vocabulary learning received little attention Kortunately, vocabulary learning has been studied more widely since the

1980s Tt has atiracted more and more imicrest from rescarchers, educationalisis as well as teachers Many of them, both at home and abroad, have pointed out their

view on the vocabulary learning’s significance As Decarrico (2001: 285) stated that

“Although vocabulary has uol always been recoguized as a priority in language teaching, interest in its role in second language learning has grown rapidly in recent years and specialists now emphasize the need for a systematic and principled

approach lo vocabulary by both the teacher and the leamer” Or Nguyen Huyen

(2004: 1) compared “If a language could be considered as a house, then its grammar

could be considered as cement and its vocabulary could be figuratively compared to

bricks To build a complete house, not only coment but also bricks are needed

Without bricks, no house can be built, even when plenty of high quality cement is

available.” This means that to be a competent English communicator, one must

avquire a good knowledge of English grammar and have a rich amounl of English

vocabulary as well

In Vietnam in general and in my college, Hai Phong Community College in particular, English is the compulsory course for students However, there is a large gap between the students’ English ability and requirements settled in the syllabus.

Table 1: Gu and Johnson's (1996) taxonomy of vocabulary leaming

SỈAIEBi©S co — —

Table 2: Norbert Schmmilt’s (1997) laxonomy of vocabulary learning

SÍTBEEBl8 nniiioooicee — —

Table 3: Nation's (2001) taxonomy of vocabulary learning stratepies

Table 4: Table of test specifications

Table 5: Vocabulary learning strategies for discovery a new word's

meaning used by the Pilot study participants

Table 6: Vocabulary learning strategies for consolidalion a word in

memory used by the Pilot study participants

Table 7: Vocabulary learning, strategies in survey questionnaire

Table 8: Descnplive statistics of students’ use of Delermination

SÍTBEEBl8 noiiioooicee — —

Table 9: Descriptive statistics of students’ use of Social strategies

Table 10: Descriplive statistics of students’ use of Social strategies

(CensolidaHon) — —

Table 11: Descriptive slalistics of students’ use of Memory strategies

Table 12: Descriptive statistics of students’ use of Cognitive

SỈAIEBi©S co — —

Table 13: Descriptive statistics of students’ use of Metacognitive

SiateBle8 co — —

Table 14: Strategies use according to descending order of mean

Table 15: Mean of six categories

7 Structure of the study

The study is divided into four chapters Each chapter deals with an important

aspect of the study

Chapter 1 is the introduction of the study, which inchades the rationale, aim, research questions, scope, significance the study as well as the methods and

structure of the study:

Chapter 2 presents the information about some basis concepts related Lo

language loarning stratogics and vocabulary caring strategies In addition, the classifications of language learning strategies and vocabulary learning strategies are

data analysis and implications

Chapter 4 summarizes the main issues of the whole stady and gives the

fulure directions for further rescarch and lunitalions of lhe study.

4 Scope of the sLudy

The study focused on the investigation of vocabulary leaming strategics which are employed by the first year students at Lai Phong Community College during the second term of school year 2011-2012

5 Significance of the study

Schmitt and McCarthy (1997) points out that vacabulary leaming has been

regarded as one of ihe most important parts in a sccond or foreign language acquisition On the basis of the idea above, this study helps raise the students’

awareness of the imporlance of vocabulary learmmg and thal there are many other

vocabulary leamg strategies and therefore the strategy training is necessary to be done by the teachers Vurther, it reveals the most and least frequently used vocabulary learning stralogics adopicd by the students, which can be implemented

to support both teachers and students in teaching and learning vocabulary at Hai Phong Community College

6 Mcthods of the study

In order to achieve the aims of the study mentioned above, the study was

carried out on the basis of semi-structured interview and survey questionnaire The

Rnglish tcachors al Hai Phong Community College wero interviewed about the strategies their students use in leaning, vocabulary to support information for the

survey questionnaire Then, vocabulary learning strategies listed im the survey

questionnaire were compiled from a review of the literature on vocabulary learning strategies and the interviews’ data After the results were analyzed, the findings

were reporled and discussed then some suggestions wore raised in the sinndy

1 Recapitulation sec HHu re HHu re

2 Limitations and suggestions for further study

REFERENCES

APPENDIXES HH HH HH

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

List of tables:

4 Scope of the sLudy

The study focused on the investigation of vocabulary leaming strategics which are employed by the first year students at Lai Phong Community College during the second term of school year 2011-2012

5 Significance of the study

Schmitt and McCarthy (1997) points out that vacabulary leaming has been

regarded as one of ihe most important parts in a sccond or foreign language acquisition On the basis of the idea above, this study helps raise the students’

awareness of the imporlance of vocabulary learmmg and thal there are many other

vocabulary leamg strategies and therefore the strategy training is necessary to be done by the teachers Vurther, it reveals the most and least frequently used vocabulary learning stralogics adopicd by the students, which can be implemented

to support both teachers and students in teaching and learning vocabulary at Hai Phong Community College

6 Mcthods of the study

In order to achieve the aims of the study mentioned above, the study was

carried out on the basis of semi-structured interview and survey questionnaire The

Rnglish tcachors al Hai Phong Community College wero interviewed about the strategies their students use in leaning, vocabulary to support information for the

survey questionnaire Then, vocabulary learning strategies listed im the survey

questionnaire were compiled from a review of the literature on vocabulary learning strategies and the interviews’ data After the results were analyzed, the findings

were reporled and discussed then some suggestions wore raised in the sinndy

Table 1: Gu and Johnson's (1996) taxonomy of vocabulary leaming

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Table 2: Norbert Schmmilt’s (1997) laxonomy of vocabulary learning

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Table 3: Nation's (2001) taxonomy of vocabulary learning stratepies

Table 4: Table of test specifications

Table 5: Vocabulary learning strategies for discovery a new word's

meaning used by the Pilot study participants

Table 6: Vocabulary learning strategies for consolidalion a word in

memory used by the Pilot study participants

Table 7: Vocabulary learning, strategies in survey questionnaire

Table 8: Descnplive statistics of students’ use of Delermination

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Table 9: Descriptive statistics of students’ use of Social strategies

Table 10: Descriplive statistics of students’ use of Social strategies

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Table 11: Descriptive slalistics of students’ use of Memory strategies

Table 12: Descriptive statistics of students’ use of Cognitive

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Table 13: Descriptive statistics of students’ use of Metacognitive

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Table 14: Strategies use according to descending order of mean

Table 15: Mean of six categories

7 Structure of the study

The study is divided into four chapters Each chapter deals with an important

aspect of the study

Chapter 1 is the introduction of the study, which inchades the rationale, aim, research questions, scope, significance the study as well as the methods and

structure of the study:

Chapter 2 presents the information about some basis concepts related Lo

language loarning stratogics and vocabulary caring strategies In addition, the classifications of language learning strategies and vocabulary learning strategies are

data analysis and implications

Chapter 4 summarizes the main issues of the whole stady and gives the

fulure directions for further rescarch and lunitalions of lhe study.

4 Scope of the sLudy

The study focused on the investigation of vocabulary leaming strategics which are employed by the first year students at Lai Phong Community College during the second term of school year 2011-2012

5 Significance of the study

Schmitt and McCarthy (1997) points out that vacabulary leaming has been

regarded as one of ihe most important parts in a sccond or foreign language acquisition On the basis of the idea above, this study helps raise the students’

awareness of the imporlance of vocabulary learmmg and thal there are many other

vocabulary leamg strategies and therefore the strategy training is necessary to be done by the teachers Vurther, it reveals the most and least frequently used vocabulary learning stralogics adopicd by the students, which can be implemented

to support both teachers and students in teaching and learning vocabulary at Hai Phong Community College

6 Mcthods of the study

In order to achieve the aims of the study mentioned above, the study was

carried out on the basis of semi-structured interview and survey questionnaire The

Rnglish tcachors al Hai Phong Community College wero interviewed about the strategies their students use in leaning, vocabulary to support information for the

survey questionnaire Then, vocabulary learning strategies listed im the survey

questionnaire were compiled from a review of the literature on vocabulary learning strategies and the interviews’ data After the results were analyzed, the findings

were reporled and discussed then some suggestions wore raised in the sinndy