Using semantic mapping to teach ESP vocabulary to final-year students of finance and accounting at Hanoi tourism college

Using semantic mapping to teach ESP vocabulary to final-year students of finance and accounting at Hanoi tourism college Sử dụng sơ đồ ngữ nghĩa để dạy từ vựng tiếng Anh chuyên ngành c

Using semantic mapping to teach ESP

vocabulary to final-year students of finance and

accounting at Hanoi tourism college

Sử dụng sơ đồ ngữ nghĩa để dạy từ vựng tiếng Anh chuyên ngành cho sinh viên năm cuối, chuyên ngành tài chính và kế toán, trường Cao

đẳng Du lịch Hà Nội

Phạm Thị Hạnh

University of Languages and International Studies M.A Thesis English Teaching Methodology; Mã số: 60 14 10

Supervisor : Dr Lê Văn Canh Năm bảo vệ: 2012

Abstract Vocabulary learning is a great challenge to English language students This

challenge seems to be greater to students learning ESP vocabulary There have been several solutions suggested in the literature to the challenges of vocabulary learning One

of those suggestions is the use of semantic mapping Although this technique has been promoted and researched by many researchers, little has been done about using this technique to teach ESP vocabulary learning The action research reported in this thesis is

an attempt to explore this issue The study is aimed at exploring the possibility of teaching ESP vocabulary through semantic mapping with reference to the students’ attitudes to, and opinions of, this instructional strategy as well as their retention of ESP vocabulary It was conducted with 38 final-year students of finance and accounting at Hanoi Tourism College Although the results from students’ test scores and students’ responses to questionnaire revealed that semantic mapping fosters vocabulary retention to some extent and students seemed to value this teaching technique However, it is necessary to note that the findings of this study, which is an action research study, has many limitations regarding the research design, the methods of data collection and the duration of the treatment, can by no means by generalized Despite those limitations, the significance of the study is that it encourages the researcher-teacher of this study to further implement semantic mapping to teach ESP vocabulary as this question has been little researched by other researchers

Keywords Tiếng Anh; Từ vựng; Sơ đồ ngữ nghĩa; Phương pháp giảng dạy

Content

TABLE OF CONTENTS Page

Declaration i

Acknowledgements ii

Abstract iii

Table of contents iv

List of abbreviations vii

List of tables vii

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study 1

2 Aims and objectives of the study 2

3 Scope of the study 2

4 Research questions 3

5 Significance of the study 3

6 The method of the study 4

7 Design of the study 4

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 What is vocabulary? 6

1.2 The role of vocabulary in second language learning 6

1.3 What is involved in teaching L2 vocabulary 8

1.4 Challenges of L2 vocabulary learning 8

1.5 The nature of ESP vocabulary 9

1.6 Challenges of ESP vocabulary learning 11

1.7 What should be taught in ESP vocabulary teaching 12

1.7.1 Word form 12

1.7.2 Word formation 12

1.7.3 Word relations 13

1.7.4 Collocation 14

1.8 Characteristics of financial & accounting English vocabulary 14

1.8.1 The morphological characteristics 14

1.8.2 The semantic characteristics 15

1.9 Vocabulary retention 16

1.10 Semantic mapping as a vocabulary instruction strategy 16

1.10.1 Definitions of semantic mapping 16

1.10.2 Procedures to construct a semantic map 17

1.10.3 Previous studies of the impact of semantic mapping on students’ vocabulary learning 19

Benefits of semantic mapping 19

Limitations of semantic mapping 23

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY 2.1 The context of the study 25

2.1.1 Research setting 25

2.1.2 Teaching materials 26

2.2 Research participants 26

2.3 Data collection instruments 27

2.3.1 Tests 27

2.3.2 Questionnaire 28

2.4 Treatment procedures 29

2.5 Procedures of data collection 31

2.6 Data analysis 31

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 3.1 Findings 32

3.1.1 The effectiveness of semantic mapping on students’ word retention 32

3.1.2 Students perceptions of the benefits of semantic mapping to their word retention 34

3.2 Discussion 36

PART C: CONCLUSION 1 Summary of the study 38

2 Limitation of the study and suggestions for further study 40

REFERENCES

APPENDICES

References

1 Antonacci, P A (1991) Students search for meaning in the text through

semantic mapping, Social Education, International Reading Association 55,

pp 174-5

2 Al-Kufaishi, Adil (1988), A Vocabulary Building Program is a Necessity not

a Luxury English teaching Forum, 26(2): 42-44

3 Abdollahzadeh and Amiri (2009), “The effect of semantic mapping as a vocabulary instruction technique EFL learners with different perceptual

learning styles”, The journal of Applied Linguistics ,Vol.2, Issue 1

4 Brikena Xhaferi (2010), Teaching and learning ESP vocabulary, BIBLID,

pp.229-255

5 Barcroft, J.(2004), Second language vocabulary acquisition: A lexical input

processing approach, Foreign Language Annals, 37,2,200-208

6 Erten, I.H., & Tekin, M (2008) “Effects on vocabulary acquisition of presenting new words in semantic sets versus semantically unrelated sets” ELSIVIER, 36, 407-42

7 Fraser, S (2005), The Lexical Characteristics of Specialized Texts Retrieved

April 22, 2010 from jalt-publications.org/archive/proceedings/2004/E115.pdf

8 Firth, J R (1957) A synopsis of linguistic theory [ Reprinted in: Palmer, F

R (ed.) (1968) Selected Papers of J R Firth 1952-59, pages 168-205 Longmans, London ]

9 Ghazal, L.(2007) Learning vocabulary in EFL contexts through vocabulary

learning strategies Novitas-Royal 1 (2), 84-91

10 Gairns, R and Redman, S (1986), Working with Words: A guide to teaching

and learning vocabulary, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

11 Gunning, Thomas G.(1992) Creating Reading Instruction for all Children,

Allyn and Bacon, London

12 Harmer, J (1991), The Practice of English Language Teaching, Longman,

London

13 Hornby, A.S (1995), Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary of Current

English, Oxford University Press, London

14 Jensen (1998), E Teaching with the Brain in Mind, ASCD Publication,

Alexandria Virginia

15 Johnson, D., Pittelman, S & Heimlich, J (1986) “Semantic mapping”, The

Reading Teacher, 39(8), 778-782, International Reading Association

16 Kenedy, C & Bolitho, R (1984), English for Specific Purposes, Macmillan

Press Ltd, London

17 Laufer, B (1998) “The development of passive and active vocabulary in a

second language: same or different?” Applied Linguistics 12, pp.255-271

18 McCarthy, M (1990), Vocabulary O.U.P

19 Morgan, J and Rinvolucri, M (2004), Vocabulary (second edition), Oxford

University Press, Oxford

20 Mergel, B (1998) Instructional Design and Learning Theory Retrieved

http://www.usask.ca/education/coursework/802papers/mergel/brenda.htm

21 Nation, I.S.P., (2001) Learning vocabulary in another language, Cambridge

University Press, Cambridge

22 Nation, I.S.P (1990), Teaching and Learning Vocabulary, Newbury House,

New York

23 Norbert Schmitt and Michael McCarthy ( 1977), Vocabulary: Description,

Acquisition and Pedegory, Cambridge university press, Cambridge

24 Nunan, D (1992), Research methods in language learning, Cambridge

University Press, Cambridge

25 Nguyễn Phước Vĩnh Cố & Bùi Thị Kim Yến (2011), Lexical and semantic

features of a financial, accounting, and banking English text, Tạp chí khoa

học và công nghệ, Đại học Đà Nẵng, 4, pp.245-254

26 Oxford, R (1990), Language learning strategies: What every teacher should

know, Newbury House , New York

27 Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary (1992), Oxford University Press

28 Pyles, T and Algeo, J (1970), English – An Introduction to Language,

Harcourt, Brace and World, New York

29 Robinson, P.C (1991), ESP today: A Practitioner’s Guide, Prentice Hall,

New York

30 Scott Thornbury (1997), How to Teach Vocabulary, Pearson ESL

31 Sprenger (1999), M Learning and Memory - The Brain in Action, ASCD

Publication, Alexandria Virginia

32 Sinatra R C., J Stahl-Gemakel, and D N Berg (1984), “Improving reading

comprehension of disabled readers through semantic mapping” The Reading

Teacher, 33, pp 22-29, International Reading Association

33 Stoller, F.L (1994), Making the most of a newsmagazine passage for reading

skills development Forum, 32 (1), Retrieved January 23, 2007, from

http://www.exchanges

34 Svenconis and Kerst (1995), “Investigating the teaching of second-language

vocabulary through semantic mapping in a hypertext environment” CALICO

journal, volume 12 numbers 2&3

35 Susan and Mehrdad ( 2011), “Enhancing vocabulary retention through

semantic mapping : a single-subject study”, The international Journal

Language Society and Culture 32, pp.11-15

36 Saeidi and Atmani (2010) “Teaching vocabulary through semantic mapping

as a pre-reading Activity across Gender” Archive of SID 1(1), 51-64

37 Stoller, F & Grabe, W (1993) “Implications for L2 vocabulary acquisition and instruction from L1 vocabulary research” In T, Huckin, M, Haynes & J,

Coady (Ed.), Second language reading and vocabulary learning (pp 24-39),

Ablex Publishing Corporation, New Jersey

38 Trimble, L (1985), English for Science and Technology: A Discourse

Approach Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

39 Tinkham, T (1993), “The effects of semantic and thematic clustering on the

learning of second language vocabulary”, SAGE journals, Second Language

Research, 13(2), 138-163

40 Ur, P (1996), A course in language teaching, Cambridge University Press,

Cambridge

41 Waring, R (1997), “The negative effects of learning words in semantic sets”

, ELSIVIER, 25(2), 261-274

42 Wilkins, D.A (1972), Linguistics in Language Teaching London, Oxford

University Press, Oxford