A survey research at Nguyen Du high school Thanh Oai, Hanoi = Thái độ của giáo viên và học sinh với hiệu quả của việc dạy và học từ vựng thông qua ngữ cảnh Khảo

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ MAI CHUNG TEACHERS AND STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THỊ MAI CHUNG

TEACHERS AND STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TEACHING AND LEARNING

VOCABULARY IN CONTEXTS: A SURVEY RESEARCH AT NGUYEN DU HIGH SCHOOL, THANH OAI, HANOI

(Thái độ của giáo viên và học sinh với hiệu quả của việc dạy và học

từ vựng thông qua ngữ cảnh: Khảo sát tại trường THPT Nguyễn

Du, Thanh Oai Hà Nội)

M.A Minor Thesis Programme I

Major: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10

HANOI, 2012

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THỊ MAI CHUNG

TEACHERS AND STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TEACHING AND LEARNING

VOCABULARY IN CONTEXTS: A SURVEY RESEARCH AT NGUYEN DU HIGH SCHOOL, THANH OAI, HANOI

(Thái độ của giáo viên và học sinh với hiệu quả của việc dạy và học

từ vựng thông qua ngữ cảnh: Khảo sát tại trường THPT Nguyễn

Du, Thanh Oai Hà Nội)

M.A Minor Thesis Programme I

Major: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10

Supervisor: Trần Hiền Lan, M.A

HANOI, 2012

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

Table 1 Students and teachers’ attitudes towards the role of vocabulary

in language learning and teaching Table 2 Students’ common ways in vocabulary learning

Table 3 Frequency of using context-based techniques in presenting

vocabulary evaluated by teachers Table 4 Frequency of using context-based techniques in presenting

vocabulary evaluated by students Table 5 Techniques used by teachers to teach vocabulary through contexts

in the practicing stage Table 6 Students’ attitudes towards context-based techniques used to

present vocabulary Table 6 Techniques preferred by students

Chart 1 Kinds of vocabulary chosen to teach by teachers

Chart 2 Students’ difficulties in learning vocabulary

Chart 3 Context-based vocabulary techniques used to present

vocabulary Chart 4 Ideas from students about the effects of learning vocabulary

through contexts Chart 5 Ideas from teachers about the effects of teaching vocabulary

through contexts Chart 6 Teachers’ idea about the benefit of teaching vocabulary through

contexts

1.1.3 The roles of vocabulary in language teaching and learning 7

1.1.4.1 Criteria for selection of vocabulary 8

1.2.2 Reasons for teaching vocabulary in contexts 12 1.2.3 Techniques to teach vocabulary through contexts 14 1.2.3.1 Techniques for presenting vocabulary in contexts 14 1.2.3.2 Techniques for practicing vocabulary in contexts 16

Part A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Nowadays, we have witnessed the wide use of English as an international language in different fields of life English has become the most popular foreign language in Vietnam This trend has led to much focus on teaching and learning English from linguistic competence to communicative one Therefore, the important role of teaching and learning vocabulary is more paid attention It is known to most second language learners that the acquisition of vocabulary is a fundamental and important component in the process of their learning The

importance of vocabulary was emphasized by Wilkins (1972) that “without

grammar very little can be conveyed; without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” (p.111) Besides, Pyles and Algeo (1970) also stated that “when we

first think about language, we think about words It is words that we arrange together to make sentences, conversation and discourse of all kinds” Generally, the teaching and learning of vocabulary is obviously a very significant aspect in foreign language teaching in general and in English language teaching in particular

In Vietnam vocabulary teaching is still not quite concerned Developing students’ strategies for handling unknown words has always been one of the principal challenges of English reading classes Dealing with this challenge, many teachers normally use explanations and translation through word-list as a common way to teach vocabulary The learners therefore passively acquire vocabulary through teachers’ explanation This situation also happens to the teachers and learners at Nguyen Du high school The students here mainly use some rote strategies such as writing words on paper with equivalence in Vietnamese, trying

to learn by heart, looking up words in dictionaries and asking teachers for help whenever they encounter any new words The drawbacks of this approach are obvious Too much dictionary work can kill all interest in reading and even

interfere with comprehension, because readers become more concerned with individual words and less aware of the context which gives them meaning It also results in very slow and inefficient reading (Wallace 1982) Moreover, the students rarely remember the meaning of words and do not know how to use these words appropriately in particular situations or contexts Meanwhile, a word learned in a meaningful context is highly assimilated and remembered The contexts in which the new items are used helps students guess the meanings more easily

For all the above reasons, the researcher has strong desire to undertake the study which aims at exploring the teachers and students’ attitudes towards the effectiveness of teaching and learning vocabulary in contexts at Nguyen Du high school

2 Aims of the study

This study is aimed at investigating the attitudes of teachers and students towards the effectiveness of teaching and learning vocabulary in contexts To be specific, the aims of the study are:

- To investigate the current situation of teaching vocabulary through contexts

to students at Nguyen Du high school, Thanh Oai, Hanoi

- To investigate the effectiveness of using contexts to teach vocabulary

3 Research questions

In order to achieve the set goals, the following questions were proposed:

1 What is the current situation of teaching context-based vocabulary to students at Nguyen Du high school?

2 How effective is the teaching context-based vocabulary to students at Nguyen Du high school?

4 Scope of the study

The study is limited to the area of teaching English vocabulary at Nguyen Du high school Specifically, this minor thesis deals with the current situation of using

contexts to teach vocabulary to the eleventh grade students at Nguyen Du high

school and suggests some pedagogical implications to the teachers

5 Method of the study

To find answers to the above - stated research questions, the study uses a combination of qualitive and quantitive research approaches, which include data analysis and survey questionnaires In the study, data which is collected through questionnaires will be processed and analyzed to investigate into vocabulary teaching and learning strategies

6 Design of the study

The study is designed as follow:

Part A: Introduction provides a general introduction of the study with the specific

reference to the rationale, the aims, the scope, the methods and the design of the

thesis

Part B: Development consists of three chapters:

Chapter 1: “Literature Review” gives a brief view on the theoretical background

of English vocabulary, contexts and the benefits of using contexts in teaching vocabulary

Chapter 2: “Methodology”, shows an insight into the research methods to find

out the answers to the research questions This chapter also gives a brief view on the subjects, the procedures and the instruments to collect data employed to reach the aims of the research

Chapter 3: “Data analysis and discussion” presents the data collected from the

survey questionnaires and class observation and the discussion of these data Pedagogical implications for teachers are also suggested in this part

Part C: Conclusions concludes the report of the study with the suggestions for

further research

Part B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter deals with some of the important issues in the theories of vocabulary and the use of contexts in vocabulary teaching It consists of the definitions of vocabulary, the roles of vocabulary in language teaching and learning, classification of vocabulary, principles of vocabulary teaching, definitions of contexts, context clues and techniques to teach vocabulary through contexts

1.1 Vocabulary

1.1.1 Definition of vocabulary

According to Ur (1996:60), the vocabulary was roughly defined as “the words we

teach in the foreign language.” It was also accepted that “a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word: for example, post office and mother- in-law, which are made up of two or three words but express a single idea”

Additionally, Pyles and Algeo (1970 : 96) affirmed that „vocabulary is the focus of

language with its sound and meaning, which 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 " It is inferred that vocabulary is essential

for learning language in general and particularly for learning foreign language

According to Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary Third Edition

(2008), vocabulary is defined as “all the words which exist in a particular

language or subject” (p.1624) This definition covers vocabulary’s meaning on the

whole However, it is not the knowledge of words and word meanings, vocabulary

is more complex than this definition suggests The definition does not totally show

a deep understanding about vocabulary

In conclusion, there are different ways to define the concept “vocabulary” However, the idea that vocabulary is the total number of words existing in a language, including single words as well as multi-word items is more favorable

1.1.2 Classifications of vocabulary

Vocabulary can be classified in various ways depending on different criteria, features or functions

1.1.2.1 Semantics: There are two main kinds of meanings in a word, lexical

meaning and grammatical meaning Thus in term of semantics, vocabulary can be categorized into notional words and functional words (Read, 2000: 18)

 Notional words: Their meanings are lexical, form a great mass of the speaker’s vocabulary Those words name objects, actions, qualities and have meanings themselves In terms of part of speech, they can be nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and so on

 Functional words: They are grammatical words, which only have their meanings in relation to other words with which they are used They can be particles, articles, prepositions, etc

1.1.2.2 Grammar: In terms of grammar, vocabulary items are divided into

different parts of speech such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, etc (Quirk, 1987: 18)

1.1.2.3 Methodology: In terms of the use of word, vocabulary can be divided into

two types basing on the classification Doff (1988: 19):

 Active words: Active vocabulary includes all words which can be understood, pronounced correctly, and can be used effectively in speaking and writing

 Passive words: Passive vocabulary includes all words which the learners can recognize and understand when they occur in a context, but which learners cannot produce or use correctly themselves even when they attempt to

In addition, some other methodologists follow communicative Language

Approach divide vocabulary into productive and receptive Gairns and Redman

(1986) define productive vocabulary as the language items which a language learner can use effectively to produce information in speaking and writing The

receptive vocabulary is, on the other hand, used to receive and understand information in the context of reading and listening materials (p 64)

In general, distinguishing different types of vocabulary is essential in teaching and learning vocabulary because different types of vocabulary need different focus and treatment Sometimes, depending on the learners’ purposes of learning, types of vocabulary will be given more emphases in teaching and learning

1.1.3 The roles of vocabulary in language teaching and learning

It is commonly accepted that vocabulary is the most important language element

among phonetics, vocabulary and grammar By saying that “vocabulary is one of

the three dimensions of a language (phonetics, grammar, vocabulary)”, Wilkins

(1972:111) emphasizes the special role of vocabulary in teaching and learning a language Shafaei and Nejati (2009) also strongly supported this idea that

“vocabulary is one of the most important objectives in teaching of foreign

languages” (p 32)

Similarly, Gower (2005) pointed out that “vocabulary is important to students – it

is more important than grammar for communication purposes, particularly in the early stages when students are motivated to learn the basic words they need to get

by in the language” (p.142) The idea emphasized the communicative purpose in

learning vocabulary as an ultimate goal for leaning a new language

For those statements, it is undeniable that vocabulary is a decisive element in language communication

Moreover, the importance of vocabulary is also indicated in all four language skills In terms of speaking, it is impossible to communicate without vocabulary And sometimes, students have difficulties in finding the proper words to express oneself In terms of listening, the vocabulary errors caused confusion of the texts and difficulty in listening comprehension Most importantly, vocabulary plays a role in reading It is indicated that the lack of vocabulary is a serious obstacle for readers, which prevents them from thoroughly comprehending the text In terms of

writing, it was asserted by Mayher and Brause (1986) that writing highly depends

on the ability to choose words when describing events

To conclude, vocabulary is a language component that plays an important role in deciding a learner’s language proficiency The role of vocabulary in second language learning is immediately recognized and it implications for teaching are in great demand

1.1.4 Principles of vocabulary teaching

1.1.4.1 Criteria for selection of vocabulary

It is unnecessary for the teachers to spend the same amount of time and care on presenting all new vocabulary Some vocabulary will be more important to students than the others Doff (1988) clarify two types of vocabulary which teachers should distinguish Firstly, for the words needed to understand and use which are called active vocabulary, it is worth spending time giving examples and asking questions

so that students can really see how the world is used Secondly, for the passive vocabulary which needed to understand but unnecessary to use themselves (e.g when reading a text, or listening to a talk), it is often best to present it quickly with

a simple example to save time, or teachers can leave students to guess the words from the contexts

The criteria of selecting vocabulary become the first priority to help the teacher make proper decision on the right vocabulary items to teach at the learners’ different level Some criteria are mentioned here:

• Range: the extent to which a word occurs in the different types of texts

• Coverage: the capacity of a word to replace other words

• Frequency: the number of occurrences of a word in the target language

• Learn ability: the extent to which a word can be learned without

difficulty language

• Needs: the extent to which a word is regarded as "required" by the learner

in order to communicate

Hammer (1991:154-156) affirmed that “one of the most common principles of vocabulary selection is to teach at first concrete words and gradually abstract words” That means concrete words should be taught at the lower level while abstract ones should be taught at higher level He also added more criteria for selecting vocabulary as coverage (general words should be taught before specific terms) and rapport (students’ involvement with the words is the most important motivator for vocabulary learning

1.1.4.2 Criteria for teaching vocabulary

According to Ur (1996), when the teacher teaches a new English words, he should,

by all means, provide his learners with its pronunciation and spelling, word form, grammar, collocation, aspects of meaning, word-formation As regards to this issue,

Nu, D (2004) also states that knowing a word means knowing its meaning, word form (spelling, pronunciation, grammar), and its use in appropriate contexts

1.1.4.2.1 Forms of a word

 Pronunciation and spelling

Each English word has its spelling and pronunciation Learners have to know all the spelling, pronunciation and irregularities of the words they are learning In teaching, these aspects must be presented and learned accurately

 Grammar

Learners should also understand the grammar function, the change of form in certain grammatical context, the regularity as well as the irregularity, etc so that they can use the word correctly

1.1.4.2.2 Meaning

 Denotative and connotative meaning

The denotative meaning of a word is its actual meaning, with no spin on it intended to persuade For example, the actual meaning of the word "propaganda"

is "plan for the propagation of a doctrine or of a system of principles." There's no implication here that such a doctrine or system is either good or bad

The connotative meaning of a word is the associations or positive or negative feeling it evokes It is the meaning of a symbol that is personal to an individual and not shared

 Meaning relationship

How the meaning of one word, especially its denotative meaning, relates to the meaning of others can also be useful in teaching There are various relationships as synonyms, antonyms, translation, etc

It should be noted that the teacher has to make a careful choice of and decision on which meaning of the word to teach and how many words to teach in the limited class time If not, the learners may not absorb these words and the vocabulary teaching process may become a failure

1.1.4.2.3 Use of a word

The most important for learners to learn a new word is how to use it properly and effectively in different contexts In order to use a word well, learners have to combine it with other words correctly Therefore, the teacher has to put words into

combination For example, when introducing the words “to make” and “to do”, the teacher should point out that these two words have the same meaning “to

perform” but they are used in different combination People often say “to make the bed” not “to do the bed”

In short, learners should be taught the form, the meaning and the usage of words in vocabulary lesson Teachers should note that vocabulary should always be revised because learners will easily forget words if they do not have a chance to put them into use

1.2 Teaching vocabulary in contexts

It also refers to “the whole situation, background Or environment relevant to a particular event, personality, creation ect.” There are the dictionary meanings of context, and based on them, people develop their own definition of context

According to Widdowson (2000:126), context is defined as “those aspects of the circumstance of actual language use which are taken as relevant to meaning.” When studying the relationship between discourse and literature, Cook (1989) also took context into his consideration as well In his definition, context is just a form

of knowledge the world and the term context can be used in a broad and narrow sense In narrow sense, it refers to knowledge of factors outside the text under consideration While in the broad one, it refers to knowledge of these factors and

to knowledge of the other parts of the text, sometimes referred to as co-text Additionally, Yule (1996) defined context as “physical environment in which a word is used”

In short, context includes both linguistic and non-linguistic aspects (Nunan, 1993) Thus, this study is carried out basing on both these two aspects of context which help students derive the meanings of a word

1.2.2 Reasons for teaching vocabulary in contexts

In the past and even somewhere now, vocabulary was taught in isolation from any context That is, it was taught in lengthy lists consisting only the words and their meanings in the mother tongue By using the method, a lot of words could be learnt in only a short time without the need of teachers’ help and learners’ attempts

to clarify the texts or participate in real-life situations During their teaching, nothing concerning contexts in which the words appeared was mentioned, which led to the extremely weak point that soon made the method out of fashion because

of the inability to communicate Learners had a lot of words in their minds but failed to produce the language Thus, all their vocabulary became dead and useless

Today, words are mainly taught and learn in their contexts It means that all the relationships of the words with other ones in the texts are exploited to make clear the meaning and usage of them This way takes more time and thus the teaching process is slower than teaching vocabulary in isolation but teaching of vocabulary

in contexts will be far more effective than the one in isolation Learners of this new method can use their vocabulary to communicate at their levels Hereafter are specific advantages of teaching vocabulary in contexts

1.2.2.1 Meaning guessing

Basing on clues in contexts to get the meaning of words is undoubtedly a good

strategy It is emphasized by Nation (2001) that “guessing from contexts is the

most important vocabulary learning technique and time spent practicing it is well justified It provides access to thousands of words” This is obviously a good way

of learning vocabulary because when students try and make guesses it means that they actively involve themselves in the learning process, not just passively perceive what are taught And the ability to guess unknown words helps them a lot

in communication, reading or doing the tests For 11th grade, as most students are

of low-intermediate level in English, it is necessary that guessing should be based

on contexts that do not have too many new words and teachers should help students by eliciting the meaning of new words from the clues patiently Basing on contexts to guess unknown words can be used both in class and at home When students get used to it, they will be able to deal with and learn a lot of words independently

1.2.2.3 Polysemantic words distinction

Polysemy is the common characteristic of almost every word in English and frequency words have most meanings Like homonyms, polysemantic words need contexts to clarify their meanings For example, the word “set” has 126 meanings

high-In “a television set” it means a piece of equipment for receiving television signals But in “a set expression”, it means fixed and not likely to change

1.2.2.4 Effective and appropriate use of the word

Putting the words in context helps students not only learn words but also know how to use them in certain context Guessing the meaning of a word from its use

in context requires an understanding of semantic properties, register, and collocation It makes readers aware of one important feature of vocabulary, namely, that context determines the meaning of words If teachers only tell what the word means without any contexts, all their vocabulary will become dead vocabulary because students do not know how to use it appropriately

1.2.3 Techniques to teach vocabulary through contexts

1.2.3.1 Techniques for presenting vocabulary in contexts

As discussed in the previous part, contexts can be classified into linguistic context which include language surrounds such as words, phrase, sentence in a text and non-linguistics one relating to the environment or situation words occur Thus it is necessary to consider both these two sides when words are taught through contexts

Firstly, showing the meaning of words visually is a way of putting the words in the context Lee and Coppen (1970) claim that visual aids can help teacher create real communicative situations (contexts), clarifying the meaning of the words used According to Doff (1988: 82), visual aids often draw students’ attention, and help to make language used in the class more real, lively and interesting Visual techniques include flashcards, pictures, photographs, realia (object themselves), gesture and mime, etc are useful for teaching concrete words

 Realia:

This is the way of using real objects to show the meaning of words It can help teachers avoid boring class, and make it easier for students to remember the words and recall them for later use When presenting vocabulary with real objects, the teachers simply points at them and says: “Look – this is…”

 Pictures (pictures, photos and postcards)

These can be used to illustrate scenes, people or objects and must be large enough

to be seen by the learners Teachers can used them for different kinds of tasks such

as describing pictures, comparing pictures and pointing out the differences, telling

a story using a series of pictures, etc

 Gestures, mime

Billows (1961:147) states that actual representation of an action or performance represents the action and performance better than any pictures This emphasizes the importance of demonstration, gestures, facial expression, etc of teachers and students in language class because they help teachers illustrate contexts and introducing new items and help students practice new vocabulary items like pronunciation, spelling, meaning, etc

Secondly, using examples, situation or explanation, synonyms and antonyms is another useful way of showing the meaning of words in contexts Most abstract words can be taught effectively by this technique

 Giving examples

Vocabulary can sometimes be classified into groups with a superordinate such as

“relative” (aunt, uncle, brother…), furniture (desk, table…), etc With such superordinate words, giving examples to illustrate their meanings is of great use It helps the students not only grasp the word easily but also study the vocabulary systematically For example: to teach the word “parents” the teacher can give an example as follow:

Parents are father and mother

Thus, learners can see the meaning of “parents” without any more clues given by teacher Generally, a good example should clearly show the meaning of the word

 Using situation, explanation

It is not necessary to give a complicated explanation, the meaning should be shown by simple sentences This can be done by making statements using the word presented For example, to show the meaning of word “lazy”, teacher can give out a situation/ explanation “I have a brother He always gets up late and does

nothing all day He is very lazy.”

 Using synonym or antonyms

This is a quick way to show the meaning of word in contexts However, the technique should be used only when the synonyms or antonyms of the new words are already known to students Besides, most words in English are polysemantic, it

is essential to give out at the same time the contexts in which we give the synonyms or antonyms of the words

For example: the word “plain” (Unit 4 English 11) is similar in meaning to “clear”

in the sentence “It is plain to see how greedy she is” But we have “plain flour” but not “clear flour”

1.2.3.2 Techniques for practicing vocabulary in contexts

At this stage, teachers not only treat new vocabulary items as a means to comprehension of the context but also are able to exploit new lexis in its own

right The reason is that “if we are to bring new vocabulary into active use and not

just passive understanding, it is not sufficient for us just to teach it We must provide ways to make sure that it is learnt and used” (Cranmer, 1986, p 60) In

other words, after students have been shown the meaning of a word in the stage, teachers should provide them with enough practice of that word Most students need lots of practice with new vocabulary in order to remember and use the new words correctly According to Cranmer (1986), all of the techniques he suggests using in the pre-stage can also be used subsequently, but there are a number of additional techniques:

pre- Matching

 Inference and Definition

 Use of monolingual learner dictionaries

 Guessing new words from context

 Word part analysis

 Collocation activities

 Checking comprehension by asking questions

 Multiple choice exercises

 True/False statement exercises

 Gap-filling exercises

 Translation

In this stage, it is necessary for the teacher to develop the skill of guessing word meanings from context for his students Nation (2001) presents five steps of guessing the meaning of words from context

Step 1 Look at the unknown word and decide its part of speech Is it a noun, a

verb, an adjective, or an adverb?

Step 2 Look at the clause or sentence containing the unknown word If the

unknown word is a noun, what adjectives describe it? What verb is it near? That

is, what does this noun do, or what is done to it?

If the unknown word is a verb, what nouns does it go with?

Is it modified by an adverb?

If it is an adjective, what noun does it go with?

If it is an adverb, what verb is it modifying?

Step 3 Look at the relationship between the clause or sentence containing the

unknown word and other sentences or paragraphs Sometimes this relationship

will be signaled by a conjunction like but, because, if, when, or by an adverb like

however, as a result Often there will be no signal The possible types of

relationship include cause and effect, contrast, inclusion, time, exemplification, and summary

Step 4 Use the knowledge you have gained from steps 1 to 3 to guess the meaning

of the word

Step 5 Check that your guess is correct

(1) See that the part of speech of your guess is the same as the part of speech of the unknown word If it is not the same, then something is wrong with your guess (2) Replace the unknown word with your guess If the sentence makes sense, your guess is probably correct

(3) Break the unknown word into its prefix, root and suffix, if possible If the meanings of the prefix and root correspond to your guess, good If not, look at your guess again, but do not change anything if you feel reasonably certain about your guess using the context

Among different techniques above, this is probably a very useful technique because it gets students to work out the meaning of words by themselves It is the context of the text that helps students to learn new vocabulary items easily and

acquire how words are actually used in speech and writing

1.3 Summary

So far, in this chapter of literature review, the theoretical issues related to the topic of the research have been discussed The next chapter will describe the methods employed in the study

Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY

This chapter discusses the context in which the study was conducted and the informants involved in the study A detailed account of the subjects, settings and the method of data analysis are presented as follows

2.1 Context of the study

The second group includes 90 students chosen from 13 classes of 11th grade

at Nguyen Du high school at Thanh Oai, Hanoi They are both male and female students aged from sixteen to seventeen and have learnt English at junior high school for four years Their proficiency in English is more than elementary because many of them did not pay attention to studying English at lower classes They do not know the best way to learn English, especially, vocabulary They find

it difficult to learn and memorize vocabulary During vocabulary learning activities, it is the teachers who have to talk much and students have a very passive learning habit

2.2 Instruments

In order to obtain in-depth, rich data and information for investigating the attitudes

of teachers and students towards the effectiveness of teaching vocabulary through contexts, the study used two methods of data collection: questionnaires and class observation

2.2.1 Questionnaires

To gain data for the research, two questionnaires were administered to the respondents One was designed for the teachers and the other for the students This method is chosen because it is easy to construct, extremely versatile and uniquely capable of gathering a huge amount of information in a short time ( Dornyei,

2003)

The questionnaires were delivered to 10 teachers and 90 students After carefully examining the available instruments and basing on certain knowledge about

learners, I design these questionnaires to get information as follows

2.2.1.1 The teachers‟ survey questionnaires

The teacher questionnaire, comprising 8 questions, was delivered to ten teachers of English who are teaching English at Nguyen Du high school The questionnaire completed by the teachers covered these main points

(1) Teachers’ attitudes towards the role of vocabulary in language teaching (question 1)

(2) Kinds of vocabulary teachers often choose to teach (question 2)

(3) Techniques used to present vocabulary through contexts and the frequency

of use (question 3,4)

(4) Students’ attitudes towards T’s using techniques to teach vocabulary through contexts (question 5)

(5) Techniques used to practice vocabulary (question 6)

(6) Teachers’ attitudes towards the effectiveness of teaching vocabulary through contexts (question 7, 8)

2.2.1.2 The students‟ survey questionnaires

The student questionnaire, consisting of 10 questions, was delivered to 90 students chosen randomly The questions for students focus on these following points: (1) Students’ attitudes towards the role of vocabulary in language teaching (question 1)

(2) Kinds of vocabulary teachers often choose to teach (question 2)

(3) Ss’ difficulties in learning vocabulary (questions 3)

(4) Students’ common ways in learning vocabulary (question 4)

(5) Students’ comments on their teachers’ techniques used in presenting vocabulary (question 5, 6, 7)

(6) Techniques used to practice vocabulary (question 8)

(7) Effectiveness of learning vocabulary through contexts (question 9)

(8) Techniques preferred by students (question 10)

2.2.2 Classroom observation

In this research, apart from the survey questionnaires, classroom observation is also applied in order to clarify and test the validity of the information about teaching and learning vocabulary through contexts at 11th form The observation was carried out in two English vocabulary lessons Also, formal and informal discussions, small talks with both teachers and students to collect more data for this study were carried out at the same time

Classroom observation is important to this study because it helps to show the researcher how effectively contexts are exploited to teach vocabulary

2.3 Data collection and analysis

Both of the teachers and students filled out the questionnaire The participants were asked to complete the questionnaire seriously in their classroom Four classes (with about 90 students) were selected by chance The researcher asked the teachers for permission to have personal contacts with the study population in order to explain the purpose, relevance and the importance of the study, as well as to clarify any questions that the students might have

The data collected from the survey were read through to obtain a sense of the overall data They were then categorized and analyzed The results were then displayed in forms of table of figures; charts or pie charts while qualitative data from the open – ended questionnaire items were presented by quoting relevant responses from the respondents

2.4 Summary

In short, this chapter presents the research methodology as well as the procedure

of data collection and data analysis to find out answers to the research questions

Chapter 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter presents all the collected data which will be discussed and analyzed

to reveal the answers to each research question relatively The collected data will

be illustrated on tables and graphs Each table or graph is followed by an analysis

of the data

3.1 Data analysis of survey questionnaires

3.1.1 The current situation of teaching context-based vocabulary to 11 th

-grade students at Nguyen Du high school

3.1.1.1 Students and teachers‟ attitudes towards the role of vocabulary in

language learning and teaching – Table 1

The table shows that all of the teachers (100%) consider vocabulary a very important element in language teaching Similarly, most of the students (90 %) are aware of the importance of learning vocabulary in language learning Some of them find it quite important (5,5%) However, there exist a small number of students supposing that the role of vocabulary in language learning is not very important (4,5 %) It is delighted that most of students and teachers are fully aware

of the importance of learning English vocabulary They understand that vocabulary is essential in any language teaching and learning

3.1.1.2 What kind of vocabulary is chosen to teach

In order to get answer to this question, question 2 from both students’ questionnaire and the teachers’ one, survey questionnaire were designed to get necessary information Data was collected and displayed in the following chart

Chart 1: Kinds of vocabulary chosen to teach by teachers

It can be revealed from Chart 1 that words relating to the topic of the text are mostly chosen by teachers to teach, which accounts for 81% by students’ evaluation and 80% by teachers’ Their ideas coincide in this point and teachers also meet students’ need The reason is that it helps students follow the text easily and acquire new words quickly because they belong to one topic Another percentage of 50% of the teachers says that they teach any new words students meet in the text with a view to aiding to enrich their vocabulary size and comprehend the text This percentage from the students’ questionnaire is 15, 5%

In addition, the chart also shows that teachers pay considerable attention to frequency words in selecting words from the text to teach (40%) Low-frequency words are rarely or not selected by teachers (1% and 0% from the students and teachers’ survey questionnaire respectively)

high-3.1.1.3 Students‟ difficulties in learning vocabulary

Chart 2: Students’ difficulties in learning vocabulary

It can be seen from Chart 2 that the students face many problems in learning vocabulary 33 of the participants which account for 36, 7% claimed that they found it hard to remember a word They can easily forget it after a short time if they do not use it often 27, 8% of the students faced considerable difficulty in word use in correct contexts since they do not know the use of words in exact situations They try to remember the words by learning by heart, so how to use words correctly in certain situation is a serious obstacle In addition, because there

is no time for teaching phonetic so the teachers do not give the rules for pronouncing Therefore, they are very confused about these word aspects with 20% of them having difficulty in pronunciation and (15, 5%) in spelling

3.1.1.4 Students‟ common ways in vocabulary learning – Table 2

(Question 4 from students’ questionnaire)

Options Number of the

students

Percentage