Grade 10th students learning english vocabulary a case study at phalai high school

DECLARATION GRADE 10 TH STUDENTS' LEARNINGENGLISH VOCABULARY: A CASE STUDY AT PHALAI HIGH SCHOOL Graduation paper submitted in partial fulfill for B.A degree in English studies I cer

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF ENGLISH

GRADUATION THESIS

B.A DEGREE IN ENGLISH STUDY

ENGLISH VOCABULARY:

A CASE STUDY AT PHALAI HIGH SCHOOL

Supervisor : Dr Nguyen Van Quang Name of student : Tran Van Thuat

Date of birth : 25/07/1994 Class : 1271A03 (2012- 2016)

Hanoi, 2016

CODE: 09

DECLARATION

GRADE 10 TH STUDENTS' LEARNINGENGLISH VOCABULARY:

A CASE STUDY AT PHALAI HIGH SCHOOL

(Graduation paper submitted in partial fulfill for B.A degree in English studies)

I certify that no part of the research has been copied or reproduced by me from any other person’s work without acknowledgement and that the research

is originally written by me under strict guidance of my supervisor

Hanoi, April, 2016

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am, first of all, particularly indebted to my supervisor, Dr Nguyen Van Quang, for his invaluableadvice, instructions and correction, excellent suggestions and constant encouragement during the research period Without his guidance and help, this work would not have been accomplished

Secondly, my sincere thanks also go to all lecturers and staff of the Faculty of English, Hanoi Open University for their valuable lessons and precious helps Thanks to their lessons as well as needed helps, I could overcome enormous obstacles when doing the research

Besides, I would like to give my heartfelt thanks to the teachers and grade 10th students at Pha Lai High School who have participated in this research and many others who helped me during my study at Pha Lai High School Last but not least, I would like to convey my deepest gratitude to my family members for their constant support and thorough understanding Their great encouragement and love have helped me to overcome the difficulties during

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TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENT PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study 3

3 Scope of the study 4

4 Research questions 4

5 Methods of the study 4

6 Design of the study 4

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 6

CHAPTER 1: THEORITICAL BACKGROUND 6

1.1 Theory on vocabulary 6

1.1.1 Definition of vocabulary 6

1.1.2 The importance of vocabulary 7

1.1.3 Classification of vocabulary 8

1.1.3.1 According to the concept of morpheme 9

1.1.3.2 According to the meaning 9

1.1.3.3 According to the function 10

1.1.3.4 According to the frequency of use 10

1.2 Vocabulary learning 12

1.2.1 Aspects need to be studied 12

1.2.2 English vocabularylearning strategies 13

1.2.2.1 Definition of English vocabulary learning strategies 13

1.2.2.2 Classification of English vocabulary learning strategies 13

CHAPTER 2: FINDINGS, INTERPRETATIONS & ANALYSES 19

2.1 Methodology 19

2.1.1 Methods 19

2.1.2 Subjects 19

2.1.2.1 Grade 10 th students at Phalai high school and their learning background 19

2.1.2.2 English teachers at Pha Lai High school 20

2.1.2.3 Tieng Anh 10 coursebook and its vocabulary topics 20

2.1.3 Questionaires 23

2.1.3.1 Purposes 23

2.1.3.2 Discription of survey questionaires 23

2.1.4 Procudure 24

2.1.5 Data analysis 24

2.2 Findings and discussions 34

CHAPTER 3: SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVE ENGLISH VOCABULARY LEARNINGFOR GRADE 10 TH STUDENTS AT PHALAI HIGH SCHOOL 36 3.1 Learning English vocabulary from pictures 36

3.2 Learning English vocabulary from funny games 38

3.2.1 The jumble word game 39

3.2.2 The “Crossword” game 40

3.2.3 The word search game 42

3.3 Leaning English vocabulary through mass media 43

3.3.1 Using books, magazine, newspapers 43

3.3.2 Learning vocabulary by watching films or cartoons with English subtitles 46

3.3.3 Learning English vocabulary through Internet 56

PART C: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 48

REFERENCES 49 APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1

APPENDIX 2

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LIST OF FIGURES ANDTABLES

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Students’ interests in learning English 24 Figure 2: The ways students often apply in memorizing words 28 Figure 3: Students’ opinions toward current teaching method 32 Figure 4: Teachers’ opinions on using various techniques on teaching

vocabulary 33

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Vocabulary topics presented in Tieng Anh 10 coursebook 22 Table 2: Teachers’ and students’ opinions toward the role of English vocabulary 25 Table 3: Students’and teachers’ difficulties in learning and teaching vocabulary 26 Table 4: Strategies employed by students in getting the meaning of the words 27 Table 5: Current teaching techniques and thier effectiveness 29 Table 6: The frequency of adopted techniques on teaching vocabulary 300 Table 7: Students ’expectations to improve their vocabulary learning 33

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Each nation has their own language, custom and culture To have a common voice, all nations in the world need have a common language and English is such a language

In Vietnam, since the implementation of the open door policy, it is now a great demand to learn English for the process of integrating into regional and international economic and diplomatic development Studying English, students have chances to know many interesting things around the world However, it is not easy work because English is very variety and complex

It has been, in fact, said that if language were a house, vocabulary would be a construction material to build up that house Therefore, studying a language cannot be separated from studying vocabulary Yet it is true that the vocabulary is the focus of language It is in words that sound and meaning interlock to allow us to communicate with one another, and it is word that we arrange together to make sentences, conversation, and discourse of all kinds However, it is not easy to study perfect English vocabulary Almost students often face up with some problems in learning vocabulary at first In fact, it is difficult to memorize a new word with its meaning, spelling and pronunciation, many students are often confused with knowing how can apply grammar into sentences, sometimes, they can not understand when being opposed to video and audio

For a long time, methodologists have continuously kept seeking effective ways to teach and learn English vocabulary Some books on learning English vocabulary have been written by scholars such as Nation (1982, 1990 and 2000), Rubin and Thomson (1994) and Taylor (1990), etc

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In Vietnam,several studies into this field have been conducted with different type of learners to find out particular strategies employed by effective and ineffective learners in learning English vocabulary such as Huyen Tran’s study (2004) on vocabulary learning strategies used by students of English at Quy Nhon University or Mai Van Binh's (2007) on vocabulary learning strategies preferred by students at College of Finance and Business Administration However, research on effective ways to learn English vocabulary for 10th form students at Phalai High School has not been done yet

From the above reasons, the researcher has the ambition of presenting some effective techniques to learn English vocabulary for students at PhaLai high school, where the researcher studied in his school days and practiced teaching, with hope that students will be interested in learning English Due to his English knowledge limitation and the frame of the graduation paper, the

researcher would like to choose the research paper entitle: “Grade 10 th

students’ learning English vocabulary: a case study at Pha Lai High school”

2 Aims of the study

With the hope of helping grade 10th students at Pha Lai high school make progress in studying vocabulary, this graduation paper is about to help the students improve their own vocabulary and to prepare for them to the basic knowledge of vocabulary with higher requirement for the next grades Specifically, the research aims at:

- Covering background knowledge of vocabulary

- Finding out reality of teaching and learning English at school

- Investigating difficulties experienced by students of grade 10th when learning English vocabulary;

- Suggesting some ways of learning English vocabulary effectively for students of grade 10th in Phalai High school

3.Scope of the study

In fact, there are various techniques to study English vocabulary It requires much of time and effort; therefore, due to the limitation of knowledge and time, the researcher has no ambition to study all techniques In this graduation paper, the reseacher mainly focuses on studying some difficulties faced by grade 10th students at Phalai high school (Phalai ward, Chilinh district, Haiduong) and suggesting some effective techniques in learning English vocabulary

4 Research questions

The research was carried out with an attempt to find out the answers to the following questions:

- How do grade 10th students at Phalai high school learn English vocabulary?

- What difficulties do grade 10th students at Phalai high school face when learning English vocabulay?

- How can grade 10th students at Phalai high school learn English vocabulay effectively

5 Methods of the study

To complete this graduation paper, a series of methods have been applied: First, collected references, books and websites related to vocabulary and techniques to study English were analyzed in details to form the theoretical background of this paper

Besides, in order to achieve the aims of the study mentioned above, the

quantitative analysis is the main tool for analyzing the data, which is collected from the questionnaire for students and teachers of grade 10th at Phalai high school, the information from which has provided invaluably

6 Design of the study

The study is divided into three main parts: Introduction, Development, and conclusion

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Part A: Introduction shows the reasons to choose the study, the aims, scope,

methods and design of the study

Part B: Development consists of three chapters:

Chapter 1: “Theoretical background” focuses on the aims to answer the

questions related to vocabulary, and strategies of learning English vocabulary

Chapter 2: “Findings, Interpretations and Analyses” refers to the survey

questionnaire and analyzed findings of questionnaire results

Chapter 3: “Suggestions to improve English vocabularylearning for grade

vocabulary and some more suggested ways to help students make progress in studying English vocabulary

Part C: Conclusion in which all the issued mentioned in the previous parts

are summarized

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORITICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 Theory on vocabulary

1.1.1 Definition of vocabulary

In fact, there are many definitions of vocabulary which can be found

in many various resources Here are some main definitions of vocabulary:

According to Steven Stalh (2005), “Vocabulary knowledge is knowledge, the

knowledge of a word not only implies a definition, but also implies how that word first into the world…” Vocabulary knowledge is not something that can never be fully mastered, it is something that expands and deepens over the course of a lifetime Because instruction in vocabulary involves far more than looking up words in a dictionary and using the words in sentence Moreover, vocabulary is acquired incidentally through indirect exposure to words and intentionally through explicit instruction in specific instruction in specific words and word-learning strategies

From the book entitled “A course in Language Teaching” written by

Penny Ur vocabulary is defined as“…the words we teach in the foreign

language However, a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word” (21, p.60) For example “foot-path”, “railway station”, “forget-me-

not”, which are made up of more than one word but express a single idea There are also multi-word idioms such as “once in a blue moon”, where the meaning of the phrase cannot be deduced from an analysis of the component words A useful convention is to cover all such cases by talking about vocabulary “items” rather than “words”

According to Richard, Platt (1992), vocabulary is “a set of lexemes, including

single words, compound words and idioms.”(13, p.40) Whereas, the Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (p.1331) offered its own definition

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Vocabulary here is simply understood as “the total number of words in a

information on both “oral and written communication”

In conclusion, it is easy to see that there are many ways to define vocabulary The way that linguists choose to define vocabulary depends on the way he assesses the importance of the components of each language Of all the above definitions, the one that Richard and Platt (1992) proposes in the “Dictionary

of language teaching and applied linguistics” is perhaps one of the most widely-accepted definitions since it given us the whole scope of vocabulary

1.1.2 The importance of vocabulary

It is impossible to assume the importance of vocabulary in English learning because of different reasons Commenting on the role of vocabulary, Wilkins

(1982), a famous British linguist said: “without grammar, very little can be

conveyed, without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed” (Cited in A course

in TEFL – Theory and Practice II by Nguyen Bang and Nguyen Ba Hoc (8, p.35)

What is more, there has been a statement “If language structures make up the

skeleton of language, then it is vocabulary that provides the vital organs and the flesh”, (7, p.153)

People consider vocabulary as the key to master English knowledge With the lack of vocabulary, it is difficult to communicate with other people confidently Moreover, it is hard to express idea and explain something necessary Therefore, on a personal level, a good vocabulary is important in

sharpening one’s thought and perception, to become fully conscious, must be formulated in words

A good vocabulary is important not only for more precision in thought but also in one’s daily affairs, the actions one must perform both on and off the job in ordinary living Basically, people can relate to other people (love ones, friends, co-workers, society at large) and the rest of the external world (nature) in only two ways: physically and verbally

Vocabulary plays an important role in combining 4 basic English skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing Naturally, when having multiform vocabulary, it is extremely advantageous to develop 4 above skills For example, if we lack of necessary vocabulary, it will be difficult to express any ideas to others Therefore, our speaking skill cannot make any progress Additionally, if it is supposed that you have a poor vocabulary, how can you write a lively and excellent essay or normal paragraphs? Truly, it requires a great number of vocabularies Normally, we also can get information from reading books If books are Vietnamese certainly these are not any problems However, these books are written in English and denoted in English style If you do not have a good dictionary, it will take you lots of time to understand

In communication, it is a decisive factor to make us talk with others actively and understand each other quickly With a poor vocabulary, the free flow of ideas and pen is blocked and dribbles out With a good vocabulary, it will be helped to flow, unimpeded

1.1.3 Classification of vocabulary

According to Nu (2004), vocabulary can be classified in different ways according to different criteria such as the concept of morpheme, the meaning, the function of vocabulary items in a sentence, the frequency of use…

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1.1.3.1 According to the concept of morpheme

“A morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit or part of a word Words are made up from free and bound morphemes According to the concept ofmorpheme we can classify words into three types: simple words, derived words and compound words” (1, p.14)

a Simple words

A simple word consists of one morpheme only and cannot be broken into smallest meaningful unit For example: house, ball, tree, cow, etc Most of single words are root to make up compound words or complex words in a language

English has many compound words Some of these are written as one word as

in above examples Other compounds are hyphenated such as Mother-in-law,

Master-at-arms, Editor-in-chief…

1.1.3.2 According to the meaning

A word can posses two kinds of meaning: lexical meaning and grammartical meaning Therefore, vocabulary can be devided into notional and functional words

a Notional words (Lexical words)

Notional word are words with clear lexical meaning They are subjects, action, qualities, etc and they have meaning in themselves Notional words

dform a great number of each speakr’s vcabulary For instance, a book, a dog,

to travel, to teach, beautiful …

b Functional words (Grammatical words)

Functional words are those whose meaning is grammartical and they have meaning in the relation to the other words with wich they are used Functional words are particles, articles, prepositions, auxiliaries, conjuctions…, for

example, a, an, the, from…

1.1.3.3 According to the function

In a sentence, words have many different functions English words can be classified basing on functions as different parts of speech such as noun, verb, adjective, adverb, and preposition Each part of speech has to follow particular grammar rules so that when learning English words, we have to be aware of the importance of the parts of speech of that word in sentence

For example: - Noun: a boy, a lake, a chicken…

- Verb: to wash, to drive, to study…

- Adjective: excellent, friendly, industrious…

Apart from the meaning, pronunciation and spelling of new words, learners need to know how these words function in a sentence A word may have many functions in a sentence For example, the word “English” can function as:

I like English She is an English teacher

1.1.3.4 According to the frequency of use

The number of words in the English language is: 1,035,877 This is the estimate by the Global Language Monitor for January 1, 2016 Obviously, there are a variety of words in English To save time, and even more important to reduce possible stress caused by learning by heart many new

Tran Van Thuat- 1271A03

words in each lesson, learners should be aware of words with high frequency

in use and those with low f

High frequency words are quite simply those words which occur most frequently in written material, for example, "

They are often words that have little meaning on their own, but they do contribute a great deal to the me

first 100 high frequency words:

In contrast, Low-frequency words are those that are not often used While these words may appear a number of times within one text (and be important for an understanding of tha

for a long time because they are only used in some specific situations such as words related to specific fields For example:

1271A03- (2012- 2016)

words in each lesson, learners should be aware of words with high frequency

in use and those with low frequency

High frequency words are quite simply those words which occur

frequently in written material, for example, "and", "the", "as

They are often words that have little meaning on their own, but they do contribute a great deal to the meaning of a sentence Following is the list of first 100 high frequency words:

frequency words are those that are not often used While these words may appear a number of times within one text (and be important for an understanding of that text), readers are not likely to meet them again for a long time because they are only used in some specific situations such as

words related to specific fields For example: isotope, peninsula, refinery

11

words in each lesson, learners should be aware of words with high frequency

High frequency words are quite simply those words which occur

and", "the", "as " and "it"

They are often words that have little meaning on their own, but they do

aning of a sentence Following is the list of

frequency words are those that are not often used While these words may appear a number of times within one text (and be important

t text), readers are not likely to meet them again for a long time because they are only used in some specific situations such as

isotope, peninsula, refinery…

1.2 Vocabulary learning

1.2.1 Aspects need to be studied

Many people believe that knowing a word means knowing its meaning Cook (2001) states that “ a word is more than its meaning” (4, p.61) For Cook, knowing a word may involve four aspects: form of the word (for instance, spelling and pronunciation), grammartical properties (for example, grammartical category of a word, its possible and impossible structure), lexical properties (for instance, word combination), and geeneral meaning and specific meaning

According to Nation (1990), what is involves in “knowing” a word depends

on whether a word is learned for receptive skills or productive skills Taylor (1990) also shared the same point of view Their argument is that, knowing a word involves not only knowing its spelling, morphology, pronunciation, and meaning or the equivalent of the word in learner’s mother tongue Besides these aspects, the learner must know its collocations, register, polysemy (i.e, a single word with many meanings, eg She broke her foot due to the foot of the stairs), or even its homonym (words either sound the same (homophones), have the same spelling (homographs), or both, but do not have related meanings, for instance, He often lies in the sofa to lie to his wife.)

The aspects of words mentioned above can be examined in details as follows:

- Word form: When learning a word, learners should not learn what the word sounds like (its pronunciation of its spoken form), but also how it looks like (its spelling or its written form)

- Grammar: a word may have unpridictable changes of form and meaning in different contexts Therefore, when learning a new word, learners should know this information at the same time they learn the basic form of a word

For example, when a noun such asman, it should be noticed that the plural form of its is men

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- Collocation: Collocation is the way in which words are used together regularly in a specific language It refers to the restriction on how words can

be used together in right contexts Therefore, this is another piece of information of a new item which may worth paying attention to For example,

we can say

- Word meanings include denotation, connotation, appropriateness and meaning relationship

1.2.2 English vocabularylearning strategies

1.2.2.1 Definition of vocabulary learning strategies

It should be noted that there have been many the definitions of language learning strategies Meanwhile, there is no official definition for vocabulary learning strategies Perhaps it’s because that vocabulary learning strategies are part of language learning strategies and part of learning strategies as well The working definition of vocabulary learning strategies in this research is adapted from Rubin (1987), cited in Schmitt (1997) that learning strategies

are defined as “the process by which information is obtained, stored,

retrieved, and used ” and “therefore vocabulary learning strategies could be

any which affect this broadly-defined process” (17, p.203)

1.2.2.2 Classification ofvocabulary learning strategies

A comprehensive inventory of vocabulary learning strategies is developed by Schmitt (1997) He distinguishes the strategies into two groups: The ones to determine the meaning of new words when encountered for the first time, and the ones to consolidate meaning when encountered again The former contains determination and social strategies and the latter contains cognitive, metacognitive, memory and social strategies Schmitt includes social strategies in both categories since they can be used for both purposes

a Determination strategies

One group of determination strategies involves analyzing the unknown word, its constituent elements or the surrounding context to determine the meaning Identifying the part of speech will offer some information; the learner might

be able to identify the word as an entity, state, action or quality Inflectional

or derivational word parts could also be examined Due to the limited number

of inflections available in English, learners should encounter and understand them quite rapidly Derivational affixes are far more numerous, yet they offer tremendous insights into word class and definition Nation (2001) refers to a study which found that 60% words containing the prefixes un-, re-, in- and dis- could be understood if the base word was known (10, p.264)

Dictionaries, while lacking the depth of processing that comes with guessing strategies, are commonly used by many learners of foreign languages Although monolingual dictionaries may offer better quality anchovy information and also improve learners’ ability to paraphrase, Schmitt’s (1997)survey of attitudes to learning strategies showed a clear preference for bilingual dictionaries This might be due to the sense of security they provide – Grabe and Stoller (1997) noted a learner’s unwillingness to give up his

“accuracy anchor” (6, p.112)

To achieve maximum benefit, dictionary skills have to be taught in the same manner as other skills It is important that learners are taught when not to use dictionaries because they may be overused, resulting in the neglect of other strategies and increasing the length of time taken to complete tasks Nation (2001) presents a summary of studies carried out on dictionary use, which show a positive effect on vocabulary comprehension for all but high-level learners, but also an increase in completion time (10, , p.283)

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b Social strategies

Some social strategies such as direct translation, paraphrasing, or using synonyms can be used to determine word definitions In the first place, teachers are a valuable source of information for learners and they can provide information about second language vocabulary in several ways, if the teacher understands the learners’first language, then a direct translation is possible Learners receiving a translation of foreign word may assume that it carries all of the functional and stylistic properties of its nearest root language equivalent and so use it in the same manner as they would in their language There is also the attendant risk that learners used to hear translations will become reliant on them, which is likely to have a negative impact on their ability to hold conversations in the sencon language

Although this information could also be provided by classmates instead of teachers, some learners might feel that information from a teacher is more reliable However, if classmates all work together at providing information through group work or pair work, the whole class will benefit from improved paraphrasing skills and by becoming less dependent on the teacher

Social strategies can also be used to consolidate information Sanaoui’s (1995) study highlighted the need for learners to create their own opportunities for language use outside the classroom Students may make an effort to use the second language together outside class, or seek opportunities

to speak to native speakers or even to their teacher outside class There are obvious benefits to practising second language vocabulary in a less academic setting The more opportunities to speak a learner has, the more he/she will be able to experiment with new language Accordingly, the experience of using the language for genuine communication is likely to increase learner motivation (17, p.211)

c Memory strategies

Researchers have identified a large number of strategies that learners use to aid recall of vocabulary Schmitt’s (1997) taxonomy, for example, lists no less than 27 separate memory strategies One group of strategies involves using images when learning to form a stronger association with the word and its meaning These images can be sketched in notebooks, formed in the mind or even drawn from personal experience This is a good example of how a deeper level of processing can be achieved without it becoming excessively arduous and thus potentially demotivating

There is another large group of strategies that link or group words together to assist retrieval There is evidence that the brain stores vocabulary in a “lexical matrix”, with individual words entering into a variety of semantic relationships including: synonymy, antonymy, hyponymy and meronymy Using words in sentences can also be considered a memory strategy because the added context may make retrieval easier Grouping first language words spatially has also been shown to improve recollection L1 words arranged into patterns can be recalled easier than when the words are in a list Schmitt postulates that the same approach is likely to work for secon language vocabulary (17, p.213)

A final group of memory strategies uses aspects of word knowledge to consolidate meaning This includes paying special attention to the word’s orthographical or phonological form, memorizing affixes and roots and learning the word class

d Cognitive strategies

Cognitive strategies focus on the mechanical aspects of learning vocabulary These methods may be required parts of the course, set as homework by the teacher or habits of individual learners

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Vocabulary notebooks are a valuable way of increasing learner independence

By giving the learner the responsibility of choosing the words, the notebooks help to develop greater self-awareness, and at the same time, remove the teacher from some of the learning process Schmitt (1995) emphasizes the necessity of giving learners the responsibility of selecting vocabulary to increase their sense of discovery

One cognitive strategy that was commonly employed by learners in Schmitt’s (1997) survey of learning strategies was repetition In order to improve vocabulary, learners repeat the words either orally or in written form This method lacks the depth of processing recommended by researchers and seems

to review only a limited amount of the knowledge that is necessary for communicative use However, both Nation (2001, p.383) and Read (2004, p.148) noted that learners in the past used rote methods to reach high levels of proficiency

Other examples of cognitive strategies include taking notes and highlighting words, using the vocabulary sections in textbooks, and labeling physical objects These strategies could all be said to assist noticing, an important first element in bringing an item into conscious attention (Schmitt, 1990) Once an item has been noticed, learners are more likely to focus attention on it and so the process of acquiring the item has begun

e Metacognitive strategies

The first requirement for a learner is to find sufficient opportunities to learn English learners are fortunate in that there is a vast number of commercially produced pedagogic materials available and the internet and other electronic resources are also easily accessed, thus providing EFL learners with an even wider range of potentially useful material Once vocabulary has been encountered, it is vital that it is recorded and reviewed in an organized

fashion Without such a system in place, learning is likely to be haphazard and sporadic, as a number of the studies reviewed earlier in this chapter have shown Finally, learners should also consider which words most deserve their attention It is commonly agreed that learners usually have a limited amount

of time available for studying Hence, learning to skip infrequent or obviously technical vocabulary when it is not crucial to overall comprehension will greatly improve their proficiency

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CHAPTER 2: FINDINGS, INTERPRETATIONS & ANALYSES 2.1 Methodology

2.1.1 Methods

While conducting the survey research, a questionnaire was used as the main

method for data collection According to Brown (2000), “Questionnaires are

any written instruments that present respondents with a series of questions or statements to which they are to react either by writing out their answers or selecting from among existing answers”.(2, p.1) Obviously, using questionnaires helped the researcher to obtain data quantitatively, at the same time, the results will be move objectively and persuasively

The basis English of these students is not equal However, they begin to acquaint with the English learning environment from primary school and are fully aware of the fact that English is really important and necessary for their future work Therefore, their attitudes toward learning English seem to be serious Most of the students like learning English and have been learning English for many years They soon realize the importance of English with this positive attitude, they will have some effective ways to learn English because English is not only their favorite subject but also essential in their future job

They, however, still do not have the effective learning methods, especially in vocabulary lesson which requires student memorize as much words as possible, well pronounce and exactly spell Therefore, new and interesting ways of learning vocabulary is very necessary

2.1.2.2 English teachers at Pha Lai High school

With 5 English teachers, Pha Lai High school has young English teaching staff and advantageously, all of them graduated from Hanoi National University of Education and Faculty of English Language Teacher Education, University of Languages and International Studies – Vietnam National University, Hanoi (ULIS - VNU)and have experience in teaching English, one

of them got C1 certificate All of them are interested in teaching profession and they are very enthusiastic in teaching and helping students; they always prepare their lectures carefully and thoroughly They wish to bring interesting lectures for their students and always set goal how to communicate knowledge in the best way to help students understand and acquire in almost effectiveness They always try their best to meet the demands of work The fact shows that the way of teaching is refreshed by these enthusiastic teachers day by day to avoid boredom

However, to catch up with the intention of time and development of the country, the English teaching staff should be taken more care by author and government to have the best teaching condition, enhance the teaching and learning quality by applying modern teaching methods

2.1.2.3 Tieng Anh 10 coursebook and its vocabulary topics

In the school, 10th graders have been working with the course book entitled

“Tieng Anh 10” published by Vietnam Education Publisher The book consists of sixteen units which are theme- based and six Test Yourself Units Each units is being taught in five periods and each consolidation unit being taught in periods Each unit has five following parts:

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- Reading: includes one or several paragraphs of 180- 220 words providing

information and material for the whole unit and helping students improve their reading comprehension skills

- Speaking: includes activities that help students practice and improve

speaking skills They may be conversation, discussion and monologue

- Listening: refers to passages or conversations relating to the topic of the

unit The main purpose of Listening section is to develop listening skills for students Furthermore, Listening helps students check and correct the mistakes relating to pronunciation and the use of structure

- Writing: consists of exercises helping students improve their writing skills

through different forms such as letter, data description, report…

- Language focus: includes 2 main parts, Pronunciation and Grammar and

Vocabulary Pronunciation aims at revising the pronunciation of single sound

or diphthongs (vowels or consonants) in words and in statements Grammar

and Vocabulary states the key grammatical structures and vocabulary of the unit and consolidated by some exercises

Six Test yourself units are presented in the test form These are designed so that students can check their own knowledge after learning every four units, and help teachers designed the 45 minutes test

The units and vocabulary topics presented in “Tieng Anh 10” are as follows:

1 A day in the life

3 People’s background Words to describe people’s background:

name, age, place/date of birth, education, job, interest…

4 Special education Words to describe special education, school

life of disabled children, words related to a

letter of complaint

5 Technology and you Words related to modern computers and

equipment, related to public telephones, televisions and remote controls

6 An excursion Words related to famous places in Viet

Nam, words to talk about activities in an excursion: planning for a trip, preparation, entertainment activities

7 The mass media Vocabulary on the mass media Vocabulary

10 Conservation Words related to forest and animal

11 National parks Words related to forests: trees, animals,

mountains…

12 Music Words related to music

13 Films and cinema Vocabulary related to films and cinema

14 The World Cup Words related to World Cup, sport, football,

people’s background…

15 Cities Words related to city, the Statue of Liberty

16 Historical places Words related to historical places

Table 1: Vocabulary topics presented in Tieng Anh 10 course book

Tran Van Thuat- 1271A03- (2012- 2016) 23

2.1.3 Questionnaires

2.1.3.1 Purposes

The general goal of this study is to have a right look at current situation of learning vocabulary of grade 10th students at Pha Lai High school to find out the better learning techniques

This survey has following purposes:

- To look for students’ attitude toward techniques to learn vocabulary

- To find out the reality of students when learning English vocabulary

- To explore students’ expectation for learning techniques that are interesting and useful one

2.1.3.2 Description of survey questionnaires

There were two questionnaires The first questionnaire was for teachers who teach English at grade 10th and consists of 4 questions and the second one including 9 questions was for students

The questionnaires required about 30 minutes to complete the closed- ended question, that was, the participants had to choose one or more than one options among a limited number of responses, except for the last question in each questionnaire

2.1.4 Procedure

The questionnaires were delivered directly to the participants, who were 5 English teachers and 133 students of classes 10A, 10D and 10Hat Pha Lai high school There are some reasons for choosing these three classes as subjects of the study In the first place, they are typical classes of grade 10th

at PhaLai high school, class 10A consists of students of natural science subjects, class 10D includes social science gifted students and normal students attend class 10H Secondly, they are the classes where the researcher

practiced teaching during one month; therefore, the researcher had the opportunity to meet them and carry out the survey more easily.

The instrument required about 30 minutes to complete and was administered

in the students’ English class Before filling out the questionnaire, students were told that their participation was voluntary and their responses would remain confidential; they were

possible, which was crucial to the success of this investigation

questionnaire is written in

the informants can understand and complete all questions

After the questionnaires and interview results were collected, they were tallied The data gathered through the questionnaire were coded for statistical analysis to investigate the reality of teaching and learning English vocabulary

of grade 10th students

2.1.5 Data analysis

2.5.1.1 Students’ interest in learning English

Chart 1: Students’ interest

Do you like learning English?

teaching during one month; therefore, the researcher had the opportunity to meet them and carry out the survey more easily

instrument required about 30 minutes to complete and was administered

in the students’ English class Before filling out the questionnaire, students were told that their participation was voluntary and their responses would remain confidential; they were also asked to give their opinions as honestly as possible, which was crucial to the success of this investigation

questionnaire is written in English, then translated into Vietnamese so that all the informants can understand and complete all questions

After the questionnaires and interview results were collected, they were

The data gathered through the questionnaire were coded for statistical

the reality of teaching and learning English vocabulary

2.5.1.1 Students’ interest in learning English

Chart 1: Students’ interests in learning English.

4%

96%

Do you like learning English?

No Yes

teaching during one month; therefore, the researcher had the

instrument required about 30 minutes to complete and was administered

in the students’ English class Before filling out the questionnaire, students were told that their participation was voluntary and their responses would

also asked to give their opinions as honestly as possible, which was crucial to the success of this investigation The

Vietnamese so that all

After the questionnaires and interview results were collected, they were

The data gathered through the questionnaire were coded for statistical

the reality of teaching and learning English vocabulary

Tran Van Thuat- 1271A03- (2012- 2016) 25

This question to find how grade 10th graders students are interested in learning English the results indicate that most of students are fond of studying English Only 4% of students do not like learning English When being interviewed, they express that they find it easy to remember a new word, but quickly to forget it, and they cannot pronounce some syllables as /s/ - /z/ or /f/ - /v/ So they are fed up with studying English

From that point of view, teachers should have show students the importance

of English and try to help students like this subject more by using useful and workable techniques Because when students have the love, the indulgence to English , they can overcome many difficulties to have the success

2.5.1.2 Teachers’ and students’ opinion toward the role of English vocabulary (%)

Important Not important

Most students who gave negative response said that they do not like learning English vocabulary because they met many difficulties in reading and memorizing vocabulary, and they found other skills more important

This data shows that students are still not aware of the importance of learning vocabulary Teacher must explain to help them understand more about the importance of this subject and love this subject more

2.5.1.3Students ‘and teachers’ difficulties in learning and teaching vocabulary (%)

Students remember and forget quickly the

word’s meaning

Student have difficulty writing some new

words

Students cannot pronounce some syllables 50% 40%

Table 3: Students ‘and teachers’ difficulties in learning and teaching

vocabulary

The aim of this question is to study about the difficulties in teaching and learning English vocabulary Basing on the result, teacher can focus more on it and have useful methods to help student learn better

According to the table, both students and teachers agree that students rarely get bored when they learn English Students always feel eager and elated in English periods, because they not only learn English but also play interesting games

Looking at above table , we can easily see that the most popular difficulty student encounter when learning vocabulary is word’s pronunciation ( 50% of teacher, 40% of student) They are confused because of the interference of local language’s characteristic Most students of 10thgrader often pronounce a word without final syllable or make mistake with this difficult sounds such as /0/ Additionally, they are affected by their mother language and read the words according to their thought Some students transcribe English words by themselves in particularly funny ways For example, the word “beef”, teacher pronounces /bi:f/ while students create their own transcribe /bíp/