THE EFFECTIVENESS OF MEMORY STRATEGIES TRAINING ON STUDENTS VOCABULARY RETENTION AN ACTION RESEARCH AT PHUONG DONG UNIVERSITY

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES ---o0o---DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS THE EFFECTIVENESS OF MEMORY STRATEG

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

-o0o -DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF MEMORY STRATEGIES TRAINING ON STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY RETENTION: AN ACTION RESEARCH AT

PHUONG DONG UNIVERSITY

Hiệu quả của việc đào tạo những chiến lược ghi nhớ đối với việc lưu nhớ từ vựng của sinh viên: Nghiên cứu hành động tại trường Đại học Phương Đông

M.A COMBINED PROGRAM THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY CODE: 60140111

SUPERVISOR: Assoc Prof Le Van Canh, PhD

Hanoi, 2015

PART A: INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents the statement of the problem, rationale as well as aims and objectives

of the study reported in this thesis It also presents the research questions and the scope of the research Finally, the chapter ends with an outline of structure of the thesis

1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study

Vocabulary is considered an essential part of language learning According to Knight (1994, cited in Gu, 2003), learning words is the most important aspect of language acquisition Learning vocabulary is regarded as the basis of obtaining other skills Vocabulary deficiency can result in weakness in reading comprehension, listening comprehension, speaking competence, writing performance and grammatical accuracy Therefore, learning vocabulary is an indispensable step of L2 acquisition However, how recently learners have learnt something is not important, but in fact, the depth of processing In other words, students must be taught on how to process information deeply This view confirmed the role

of understanding and applying Vocabulary Learning Strategies (VLS) in teaching and learning vocabulary

Studying VLS has been an interest for a great deal of psychologists, linguists and language teachers for a long time There are numerous studies conducted about VLS, their effectiveness in learning vocabulary and these researchers almost have attempted to develop

a framework of category of VLS (e.g O’Malley & Chamot 1990, Oxford 1990; Gu & Johnson 1996, Schmitt 1997, Nation 2001)

Vocabulary retention is one of the prolems of vocabulary learning Students have not known how to use memory strategies Thus the training of memory strategies is esential However, there are many memory strategies so each study focuses on a group of Memory strategies

2 Aim of the study

The study aims at finding out the extent to which the training of memory strategies help the students to retain the learned words better The training in this study is limited to four

strategies as introduced in Oxford(1990)’s taxonomy These are structured reviewing, using

mechanical techinques, using imagery and placing new words into a context

3 Research questions

In an attempt to achieve the above-presented aim, the study was designed to answer the three following research questions:

1 What are the problems second language learners have with vocabulary retention?

2 Why do they have those problems?

3 To what extent does applying the 4 selected strategies, i.e, structured reviewing, using mechanical techniques, using imagery and placing new words into a context help to improve students' vocabulary retention?

4 Scope of the study

This action research is an investigation into the effectiveness of the training of Memory Strategies on students’ vocabulary retention However, the training does not cover all the memory strategies In an attempt to make this study more managable, the study focuses on

the effectiveness of the training of 4 memory strategies: structured reviewing, using

mechanical techniques, using imagery and placing new words into a context on a group of

students (n=28) who were studying English as a minor in Phuong Dong university curriculum

5 The organization of the thesis

The thesis is composed of three parts: Part A, Part B, and Part C Part A – Introduction

-introduces the rationale, aims and objectives as well research questions of the study Part B

labelled as Development is composed of two chapters: Chapter 1 Literature review

introduces the theoretical foundations for the whole study and Chapter 2 – Methodology -elaborates on the participants, the method used, the instruments, the date collecting and processing procedure from the tests, questionnaires, interviews and learners’ diaries Part C

– Conclusion - summarizes all the major points in the study, reveals the limitations of the

study and proposes some suggestions for further research

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter provides an overview of the literature related to the study: from vocabulary learning strategies, next, memory strategies and last four sub-memory strategies Besides, this review also reveals some critical analysis about the systems of classifying vocabulary learning strategies as well as the research gap, thus motivating to carry out the study

1.1 Language learning strategies

1.1.1 Background of language learning strategies

1.1.2 Definition of language learning strategies

1.1.3 The importance of language learning strategies in language learning and teaching 1.1.4 Classification of learning strategies

1.1.5 Strategies Training

1.1.5.1 Why training?

1.1.5.2 How to train?

1.2 Vocabulary and Vocabulary Learning Strategies

1.2.1 Definition of vocabulary

1.2.2 The importance of vocabulary in second language learning

1.2.3 Factors affecting vocabulary learning and acquisition

1.2.4 Retention and factors affecting vocabulary retention

1.2.4.1 Memory

1.2.4.2 Language exposure

1.2.4.3 Effective Vocabulary learning strategies

1.2.5 Vocabulary learning strategies (VLS)

1.2.6 Classification of VLS

1.2.7 Oxford’s taxonomy

1.3 Memory strategies

1.3.1 Definition of memory strategies

1.3.2 Why memory strategies?

1.3.3 Oxford’s classification of Memory Strategies

1.3.3.1 Structured reviewing

1.3.3.2 Using mechanical techniques

1.3.3.3 Using imagery 1.3.3.4 Placing new words into a context

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

The following chapter depicts in detail the methodology of this research paper It includes first the background of the study, the size and characteristics of the sample, the materials used then the implementation of an action research as well as the description of data collection instruments Furthermore, an elaborate report on the procedures of data collection and data analysis is also incorporated

2.1 The rationale of using Action Research

Action research is initiated and conducted by the teacher with his or her own students in his

or her classroom The purpose and function of Action Research is to help the teacher to improve his or her own teaching practices (Nunan, 1992) This study is aimed at solving one particular problem that the teacher-researcher of the study was encountered with: how to help her students retain words better The assumption is that the training of memory strategies may lead to better word retention This purpose and nature fit well with how action research is documented in the literature

2.2 The background to the study

The study was conducted at Phuong Dong university, situated in Hanoi capital, Vietnam For 4 years of studying (8 semesters), students have to take 2 different courses: General English (GE) from semester 2 to 5 and English for Specific Purpose (ESP) for semester 6 With GE courses, lecturers aim at providing students with genenal knowledge, essential grammar, vital range of vocabulary for communicative English Four sub-courses are

carried out to serve this demand General English 1 (GE1) makes use of the book “Starting

skills 1” (Unit 1-9) GE2 and GE3 exploit “Starting skills 2” respectively first half and

second half of the book In GE4, students are studying first 5 units of “Starting skills 3”.

GE1 is designed to help students reach A1-1 level GE2 is for A1-2 level Accordingly, after finishing GE4, students are expected to get A2 level according to CEFR The class was chosen for this study was all at beginning level, which means all the students had little knowledge about English They all met three times a week (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday afternoon from 12.30 p.m to 4.15 p.m) for the lessons

In terms of schedule and objectives of the course, this course was conducted in 45 sessions (15 weeks) Each session lasted 100 minutes As the name of the class (GE1), this course aimed at providing students with a system of grammar points and basic vocabulary for

general communication The main textbook of the course was “Starting Skills 1” For each

session, the teacher managed to help students cover one out of four skills or grammar points

or vocabulary part which had been clarified in the schedule (See Appendix 2)

The study room was about 20 square meters for about 30 students with such essential facilities as tables, desks and a board All the students were arranged into two rows of desks facing the teacher with an aisle which allowed the teacher to move backwards and forwards

to give lectures or to be a participant with students’ group activities

2.3 The research process

A typical action research needs to go from one step to another As suggested by Ferrance (2000), an action research cycle will be as follows:

Figure 1: Action Research circle

As can be seen from the above cycle, there are six main steps to conduct an action research The first is to identify the research problem Then, data must be collected through means of interviews, questionnaires, etc Next, the data is analyzed to find out the problems The fourth step is to design a plan of action so that the research can make a change and study that change After the intervention has been carried out, it is the researcher’s task to evaluate its effects to justify whether the action worked or not Then, if it had not been effective as expected, another method should be considered in order to improve the situation This circle

of action research was adopted for this study The whole process of carrying out this action research is described below

2.3.1 Identify the problems

Fifty words included in this first VKS were taken from the book: “Tiếng Anh 12” It was

assumed that the students had learned all these words before their entry into the university Twenty-five minutes was the time the teacher allowed her students to complete this kind of test

Following the VKS, a follow-up interview was conducted with all 28 students, who had

participated in the VKS survey A group interview was chosen instead of individual interviews because the number of interviewees was relatively great (n=28) Regrading the format, a semi-structured interview format was chosen so that more in-depth information about the students’ problems of word retention could be obtained

2.3.2 Gather data

2.3.2.1 Results from VKS

The results showed that the students seemed to be weak at retaining the words that they have learned They could see the words familiar, that they had seen them somewhere before, but they could not give out the meanings or gave out the meanings indecisively The semi-interview was used in the next lesson helped to find out whether what students did in the test was the same as what they said in the interview Furthermore, an interview also helped the teacher to go insight the problems that her students were having when learning vocabulary

2.3.2.2 Results from the interview

The interview results showed that the number one reason for students’ weaknesses at

vocabulary retention is lack of memory strategies (100%) The second considerable obstacle

is limited opportunities for using words productively (66.7%) Next come the two causes

with the same score 33%: problems with skills in using dictionaries and misbeliefs about

vocabulary knowledge The final reason involves insufficient time on vocabulary learning

and teachers’ approaches to vocabulary teaching.

2.3.3 Interprete data

The results from the VKS test revealed the fact that the students seemed to be weak at

retaining the words that they have learned “What were the reasons for this?” was the

question set for the researcher It could be the insufficiency in time, input, output, techniques for remembering, and knowledge of a word These were the problems that the

researcher could collect from the interview Due to the time for the study, the teacher just

tried her best to help students with the biggest reason: lack of memory strategies This could

be done by equipping students with strategies to retain vocabulary items

Among ten, four sub-memory strategies were chosen and applied as techniques in meaningful practice in class to help improve students’ vocabulary learning, namely:

structured reviewing, using mechanical techniques, using imagery and put the word into its context

2.3.4 Act on evidence

2.3.4.1 Participants

The participants of this study were 28 university students studying general English course that students of non English major at Phuong Dong University These were the students who had participated in the questionnaire and interview survey

2.3.4.2 Materials

All the vocabulary being taught in this course was taken from the book “Starting Skills 1” There were nine big topics of vocabulary included in the course, namely: Education, Daily

Life, Work and Business, Science and Nature, the Physical World, Culture and Civilization, Technology, Art and Literature, Sports and Leisure

Based on the schedule of the course, teacher was in charge of designing handouts for

students to study: in- class handouts and at-home handouts In the in-class handouts,

teachers explained and helped students to approach the ways to study the words using four sub memory strategies in turn At-home handouts were delivered to students after in- class

handouts as a small practicing part with normal gap-filling, word family exercises and a

self-learning and expanding strategies part Specially, this self- learning part would be

reported in students’ learning diaries

2.3.4.3 Training and data collection procedure

Figure 2: Data collection procedure 2.3.5.Evaluation

2.3.5.1 Data analysis methods and procedures

The data collected were categorized under the three research questions To be specific, the VKS test served to answer the first research question, the semi-structured interview the second and the learners’ diaries, the test scores addressed the last question

Regarding to the first question, in the VKS test, the students would mark the given word from Level 1 to Level 5 The teacher then counted the number of each mark for each student, expressed the figure as a percentage and illustrated in form of a bar chart

For the second question, in the interview, the data was collected and generalized into different groups of reasons The teacher then calculated and illustrated data in a table By this way, the researcher and readers could easily see the outstanding problem that students encountered when retaining vocabulary

With reference to the last research question, all the learners’ diaries were collected There were totally 9 entries for each students, so 252 for all 28 students The teacher then checked each entry and calculated the number of each strategy used in each entry These figures were then converted to percentage and illustrated under the format of a pie-chart Moreover, the data collected from the extra column in the post-test 1 was also analyzed here to answer the last question The researcher would count the number of each four sub-memory strategies used in the test, describe and compare with the results from the diaries Next, for data from tests, all the test scores were first recorded Mean scores in each test were then calculated Both the performances of the total group and each student were then indicated by comparing mean scores between the pre-test and the two other post-tests By this way, the improvement of students’ vocabulary retention in short term and long term could be revealed