Strategies for learning english vocabulary a case study at HOU

Thus, language learning students need to be trained with the strategies which can help the learners attaining the meaning of words.. The particular strategies which are used by learners

HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF ENGLISH

GRADUATION THESIS B.A DEGREE IN ENGLISH STUDY

STRATEGIES FOR LEARNING ENGLISH VOCABULARY –

A CASE STUDY AT HOU

Supervisor : Assoc Prof Dr Hoang Tuyet Minh Name of student : Nguyen Phuong Hong

Date of birth : 12/02/1993

Hanoi - 2016

Graduation Paper

DECLARATION

TITLE: STRATEGIES FOR LEARNING ENGLISH VOCABULARY –

A CASE STUDY AT HOU

(Graduation Paper submitted in Partial Fulfillment for B.A Degree in English)

I certify that no part of the above report has been copied and reproduced me

from any other person’s work without acknowledgement and that the report is

originally written by me under strict and enthusiastic guidance of my

Graduation Paper

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I wish to convey my sincere appreciation to many people who

wholeheartedly helped me to accomplish this paper Without their guidance

and advice, this paper might not have been completed

Firstly, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor

Assoc Prof Dr Hoang Tuyet Minh for her enthusiatic guidance, thoughtful

and constructive comments on almost every aspect on this study Without

invaluable supervision and words of encouragement, my study would not

have been completed

Secondly, I would like to express my special thanks to all the teachers

at English Faculty of HOU for their precious lectures and instructions which

have helped me much in completing the final task

students for their animated cooperation in completing my survey

questionnaires

Finally, I would like to give my great thanks to my beloved friends and

family members who supported me throughout my research paper

Hopefully, this paper will be useful for learners of English in generals

Student Nguyen Phuong Hong

Graduation Paper

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Graduation Paper

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims and objectives of the study 2

3 Scope of the study 2

4 Research questions 3

5 Methods of the study 3

6 Design of the study 3

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

2.1 Previous studies 5

2.2 Theoretical background 6

2.2.1 Knowing a word 6

2.2.2 Vocabulary learning 8

2.3 Theoretical framework 9

2.3.1 Definitions of vocabulary learning strategies 9

2.3.2 Classifications of vocabulary learning strategies 11

2.3.3 Importance of vocabulary learning strategies 20

2.3.4 Memory-based strategic framework for vocabulary learning strategies 21

2.4 Summary 23

CHAPTER 3: THE STUDY 24

3.1 Methodology 24

3.1.1 Survey 24

Graduation Paper

3.1.1.1 Questionnaire 24

3.1.1.2 The subjects 25

3.1.2 Procedure 25

3.2 Results 26

3.3 Conclusion 29

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 31

4.1 Data Analysis 31

4.2 Some suggestions in learning vocabulary 31

4.3 Summary 39

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 40

REFERENCES 41

APPENDIX

Graduation Paper

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES

Table 1: What Is Involved in Knowing a Word (Nation, 2001: 27) 7

Table 2: Oxford's Strategy Classification System (Oxford and Ehrman,

1990:313-314) 17

Table 3 : A taxonomy of vocabulary learning strategies 18

Table 4: Subjects in use 25

Table 5: The number of strategies that HOU sophomore uses in learning

vocabulary 28

Table 6: The number of students use/ do not use process for vocabulary

learning strategies 29

Table 7: Step 1- Sensory memory and vocabulary learning strategies 32

Table 8: Step 2- Short-term memory and vocabulary learning strategies 37

Table 9: Step 3- Long-term memory and vocabulary learning strategies 37

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

A language is a systematic means of communication that we all use to

express ourselves and communicate to others A language is the written and

spoken methods of combining words to create meaning used by a particular

group of people Over the years, English has become the international

language This seems to be an appropriate edge to argue that English, in

international settings, plays an increasingly important role Since English is

regarded as the universal language, lexical competence is seen as the heart of

language learning and the ultimate goal to improve the language competence

of learners Additionally, vocabulary has been recognized as an important

factor for language learning because inadequate vocabulary knowledge leads

the learners encounter difficulties in language learning

Learners can significantly improve their language competence by

developing their ability to use vocabulary learning strategies What is more?

Mastering vocabulary is one of the most challenging tasks that any learner

faces while acquiring another language Thus, language learning students

need to be trained with the strategies which can help the learners attaining the

meaning of words The particular strategies which are used by learners for the

acquisition of new words in the second language are called vocabulary

learning strategies To deal with vocabulary learning problems, vocabulary

learning strategies should have been brought to the language classroom to

boost the learners’ effectiveness in language learning

In Faculty of English of Hanoi Open University, although strategies for

learning vocabulary is not considered as a major subject, a few researches on

vocabulary learning strategies have been completed by the students of the

University Wherein, the recent study indicates that due to studies for the own

students of HOU, the researchers concluded that it should have some specific

strategies in learning vocabulary, as well as a number of approaches may be

applied for short and long term memory However, there are still certain

restrictions of these studies such as limitation of setting out a map for

strategies and specific ways to apply them Therefore, in this study, the

researcher will seek to complement and dig deeper to this interesting topic

2 Aims and objectives of the study

This study aims at crutinizing the strategies of the second year students

at HOU when using vocabulary learning strategies to learn new words With

this aim, this study is:

preview of previous studies, classifications and memory-based strategic

framework of vocabulary learning strategies

rarely used in the vocabulary acquisition of the second year students

Indicating the shortcomings in vocabulary learning process of students

to suggest an effective vocabulary learning process

learners acquire vocabulary efficiently

3 Scope of the study

This study was conducted to examine 46 sophomore students who were

studying at English Faculty of Hanoi Open University The study mainly

focuses on finding out the most used and the least used strategies, which

frequently employed by students In addition, the study also gives an

emphasis on the deficiency in vocabulary learning process of learners

4 Research questions

With the aim of this study is locating the shortcomings in vocabulary

learning process to help students to overcome, there are 3 questions need to be

answered:

students?

of Hanoi Open University?

5 Methods of the study

The study is conducted by several methods as qualitative, quantitative,

descriptive and analysis Qualitative is used to collect related information

from previous researches Quantitative is used to collect data from

questionnaires and students’ answers Descriptive is used to describe

theoretical background and the figure and answers from questionnaire result

Analysis is used to analyses data from the result of survey and investigating

problems form the gathered data

6 Design of the study

For achieving the aims stated, this study is divided into 5 chapters,

references and appendix

Chapter 1 is entitled Introduction, giving the background and aim of

the study

Chapter 2, Literature review, firstly enumerates some previous studies

about vocabulary learning strategies Then, theoretical background and

theoretical framework are presented as the foundation for the study

Chapter 3, The study, submits the survey questionnaire with the help

of the 46 students at HOU and the preliminary results were given

Chapter 4, Findings and discussion, begins with analyzing the

strategies that HOU students use when learning vocabulary Next, describes a

common model used by learners when it comes to learn a new word Finally,

a vocabulary learning process to overcome the shortcoming in vocabulary

acquisition is submitted

Chapter 5 is the Conclusion, which presents a summary of the study

and suggestions for further research

REFERENCES

APPENDIX

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Previous studies

Through out the years, voluminous studies have done on the subject of

vocabulary acquisiton strategies for learners in expanding their amount of

vocabulary Concerning direct and indirect strategies, Oxford (1990) brought

out a completed classification of effective learning strategies for vocabulary

learners From the strategies, which used by the learners alone to strategies,

which required to interact with learners’ peers to achieve the highest

efficiency in learning vocabulary Seven years later, a large-scale study

conducted by Schmitt (1997) represented sample of 600 students The

Schmitt’s research is very interesting First, the comparison of the two set of

data (the most used strategies versus the most useful strategies) revealed some

overlap There were six strategies in common Then, patterns of strategy use

change over time as a learner either matures or becomes more proficient in

the target language Finally, the results indicate that learners willing to try

new strategies if they are introduced and instructed Since then, Schmitt’s

reasearch was great importance for his proposal of a comprehensive

taxonomy of vocabulary learning strategies In 1996, Gu and Johnson

administered a questionnaire to 850 second year Chinese University students

to figure out how they use different strategies and how this affects their

learning outcome in terms of vocabulary size and general English proficiency

The main findings were that: (1) the two metacognitive strategies,

self-initiation and selective attention, tend to be positive and the best predictor of

English proficiency; (2) contextual guessing, skilful use of dictionaries,

contextual encoding, and activation strategies are correlated with both English

proficiency and vocabulary size

Vocabulary Learning Strategy is an interesting topic, which attracted

many researchers study on this topic These well-known researches

contributed significantly to the field of VLSs and for students who study

English as their second language What is more? Three research papers are

shared the same ideas As a result, it supplements the others

2.2 Theoretical background

2.2.1 Knowing a word

Without a huge amount of words, English learners cannot not only

entirely comprehend the meaning of listening and reading, but also

communicate or express the meaning undoubtedly in the process of speaking

and However, knowing a word is complicated and there are various

definitions for knowing a word Nation (2001) applies the terms ‘receptive’

and ‘productive’ to vocabulary knowledge description covering all the aspects

of what is involved in knowing a word as in the following table

Form Spoken Receptive What does the word sound like?

spelled?

word?

express this meaning?

Meaning Form & Receptive What meaning does this word form

meaning signal?

express this meaning?

Concept &

referents

to?

us think of?

instead of this one?

occur with this one?

we use with this one?

Constraints

on use

(register,

frequency…

we expect to meet this word?

use this word?

Table 1: What Is Involved in Knowing a Word (Nation, 2001: 27)

However, Mondria and Wiersma (2004) state that productive and receptive

knowledge of a word tend to overlap since certain productive learning leads to

certain amount of productive knowledge They also point out that productive

learning is more difficult than receptive learning and it takes more time

Moreover, productive knowledge decays faster than receptive knowledge of a

word

According to Richards (1976), knowing a lexical item includes

knowledge of word frequency, collocation, register, case relations, underlying

forms, word association, and semantic structure Ling (2005) states that words

are interwoven in a complex system in which knowledge of various levels of

a lexical item is required in order to achieve adequate understanding in

listening and reading or produce ideas successfully in speaking and writing

In this section, we have been acquainted with the concepts of knowing

a word through the concepts of receptive and productive of the Nation The

conceptual knowledge of word frequency, collocation, register, case relations,

underlying forms, word association, and semantic structure of Richards or the

level of word understanding based on the ability to apply it in four skill such

as reading, writing, listening and speaking From here, the concept of a lexical

item is putted in for further studies of the strategies’ definitions

2.2.2 Vocabulary learning

Learning vocabulary is an arduous task The task of vocabulary

learning is to see the distinction between knowing a word and using it

Learning vocabulary should focus on remembering words and using them

easily in the right contexts Evidence suggests that the knowledge aspect

requires employment of conscious mechanisms of learning while the skill

aspect involves implicit learning (Ellis, 1994) This is essential in selecting

strategies for both using words as well as knowing them

Nation (1990:33-50) remarks three factors which have influence on

making a word difficult to learn The first is the learners’ previous

experiences of English and their mother tongue since one’s first language

affects the second language vocabulary acquisition and usually borrowing and

interference between first and second language vocabulary occurs The

second factor is the way a word is learned or taught The third aspect is the

intrinsic difficulty of the word which basically means that some words are

harder than others

Laufer (1997:154) also mentioned the several factors which can make

learning a word difficult For example, phonological factors, length, semantic

features, abstractness and multiple meaning may have an impact on how

easily the word can be learned

In terms of learning vocabulary definitions, while (Ellis, 1994) refers to

the concept of “Conscious mechanisms of learning”, the Nation (1990) and

Laufer (1997) point out the factors that make us realize that learning English

vocabulary is not an easy task From these points, a question is brought out to

see whether there are strategies that can help learners to accumulate

vocabulary more efficient and easier?

2.3 Theoretical framework

2.3.1 Definitions of vocabulary learning strategies

Throughout numerous studies, the definitions of “Languague learning

strategies (LLSs)” were dissected by the scholars all around the world to

contribute to a comprehensive definition of LLS

O’Malley and Chamot (1990, p 1) define language learning strategies

as “the special thoughts or behaviours that individuals use to help them

comprehend, learn, or retain new information.” Oxford (1990, p 8) states that

language learning strategies are “specific actions taken by the learner to make

learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, and more

transferable to new situations.” Nunan (1991, p 168) sees language learning

strategies as “the mental processes which learners employed to learn and use

the target language.”

Though VLLs is a branch of LLSs, there are few definitions are given

for VLSs The working definition of vocabulary learning strategies in this

research is adapted from Rubin Rubin (1987, p 29) defines lexical strategies

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” Follow this statement closely, Ellis (1999) defines

VLSs are “Specific strategies for learning vocabulary”

But it seems that these definitions are still vague for the students and

researchers in the field of VLSs So that, Nation (2001) sorted out that there

are 3 categories of strategies: planning, sources, and processes, each covering

a subset of strategies ‘Planning’ involves choosing what and when to focus

attention on the vocabulary items This category contains strategies for

choosing words, choosing the aspects of word knowledge, choosing

strategies, and planning repetition ‘Sources’ refers to finding information

about words from analyzing the words; context, dictionary ‘Process’ means

establishing lexical knowledge through powerful processes as noticing,

retrieving and generating Two years later, Further, Catalán (2003, p 56) sees

VLSs as “knowledge about the mechanisms (process, strategies) used in order

to learn vocabulary as well as steps or actions taken by students (a) to find out

the meaning of unknown words, (b) to retain them in long-term memory, (c)

to recall them at will, and (d) to use them in oral or written mode.”

Eventually, in the year of 2011, Asgari and Mustapha gave a definition is

considered to be compendious, concise and newest definition of VLSs Asgari

and Mustapha (2011, p.85) defined VLSs as ‘steps taken by the language

learners to acquire new English words.”

Therefore, it can be said that VLSs are commonly used not only to

discover the meanings of unknown words but also to retain them in long-term

memory and to recall them at will

In short, in this part, definitions of VLSs were extracted based on the

definitions of LLSs and a few brief definitions of some of the recent research

These definitions will provide the foundation for the classifications of the

VLS types, and help the researcher to take a futher step in finding out the

effective strategies for vocabulary acquisition

2.3.2 Classifications of vocabulary learning strategies

In the world, there are many large and small researches on vocabulary

learning strategie All these strategies spread over various aspects of

vocabulary, such as strategies of grammar, semantic meanings, forms, prefix

and suffix strategies,…there are also strategies related to human memory

process or psychology Within the limitation of this study, three famous

studies about VLSs are brought out to be the framework for the study Firstly,

study of Oxford (1990) refers to VLSs in a fairly comprehensive way,

followed by the study based on the Oxford platform of scholar Schmitt

(1997) One of the things that made his research famous is that he has added

to the Oxford research: strategies of encountering a new word In 1996, Gu

and Johnson also were well known for not only having the same ideas about

the vocabulary learning strategies two studies but also the outstanding

strategies related to human memory processes Overall, these three studies

added to the others to contribute to VLSs of learners

Oxford (1990) proposed “perhaps the most comprehensive

classification of language learning strategies to date” (Ellis, 1994:539)

Oxford’ taxonomy of language learning strategies is direct strategies and

indirect strategies

Direct strategies involve directly and deal with the target language

Memory strategies Techniques specially adapted to help learners to store new

information and restore it later, such as, grouping, associating or elaborating,

placing new words into a context, using imagery, semantic mapping,

keywords, representing sounds in memory, reviewing structurely, using

physical response or sensation, or using mechanical techniques And

cognitive strategies skills involve manipulation or transformation of the

language material in direct ways, for example, repeating, practicing with

sounds, recognizing and using formulas and patterns, recombining, practising

naturalistically Compensation strategies Behaviors used to compensate for

missing knowledge of some kind like: guessing meaning from context and

using synonyms and gestures to convey meaning

Metacognitive Strategies Behaviors used for centering, arranging, planning,

and evaluating ones’ learning social strategies actions involving other people

in the language learning process like: questioning and cooperating with peers

Affective strategies techniques which help learners to gain better control over

their emotions, motivation, and attitudes related to language learning, for

example, reducing anxiety, self-encouragement and self-reward

Direct Strategies : Memory, Cognitive, and Compensation Strategies

Applying images and sounds

Using imagery Semantic mapping Using keywords

memory

sensation Using mechanical techniques

Cognitive

strategies

sounds and writing systems

formulas and patterns Recombining

Practicing naturalistically Receiving and sending

messages

Getting the idea quickly Using resources for receiving and sending messages

reasoning

Reasoning deductively Analyzing expressions

(across languages) Translating

Transferring Creating structure for

input & output

Taking notes Summarizing Highlighting

Comprehension

strategies

Using other clues Overcoming limitations

in speaking and writing

tongue

Getting help Using mime or gesture

partially or totally Selecting the topic Adjusting or approximating the message

Coining words Using a circumlocution or synonym

Indirect Strategies: Metacognitive, Affective, and Social Strategies

listening/reading/speaking/writing) Planning for a language task

Seeking practice opportunities

learning

Self-monitoring Self-evaluating

Listening to your body Using a checklist Writing a language learning diary Discussing your feelings with someone else

Social

Strategies

verification

Asking for correction

others

Cooperating with others Cooperating with proficient users of the new language

others

Developing cultural understanding Becoming aware of others' thoughts and feelings

Table 2: Oxford's Strategy Classification System (Oxford and Ehrman,

1990:313-314)

Although, Oxford’s strategy classification is well known for it’s

plentiful of VLSs, which classified into four strategy groups: Social, Memory,

Cognitive, and Metacognitive Social Strategies (SOC) is employed to

interaction with other people to improve language learning Approaches draw

on new material to existing knowledge fall into the Memory Strategies

(MEM) category Cognitive Strategies (COG) exhibit the common function

of "manipulation or transformation of the target language by the learner"

(Oxford, 1990:43) Initally, Metacognitive Strategies (MET) involve a

conscious overview of the learning process and making decisions about

planning, monitoring, or evaluating the best ways to study However, Schmitt

(1997) states that “Oxford's classification system was unsatisfactory in

categorizing vocabulary-specific strategies in several respects” He pointed

out there are 3 inadequate categorization in Oxfords’ classifications First,

there is no category in Oxford's taxonomy which adequately describes the

kind of strategies used by an individual when faced with discovering a new

word's meaning without recourse to another person's expertise It was

therefore necessary to create a new category for these strategies:

Determination Strategies (DET) Furthermore, Oxford's categories proved

inadequate in places, as some strategies could easily fit into two or more

groups, making their classification difficult For example, interacting with

native speakers is obviously a Social Strategy, but if it is part of an overall

language learning plan, it could also be a Metacognitive Strategy He asserted

that “it is often unclear whether some strategies should be classified as

Memory Strategies or Cognitive Strategies” Thirdly, when it comes to facing

a new vocabulary item, learners must use their knowledge to discover the

contextual clues, or reference materials to find out the meaning

(Determination Strategies), or learners also can ask people who know the

meaning (Social Strategies) These strategies for gaining initial information

about a new word are labeled Discovery Strategies

From all these above realization and commentation, Schmitt (1977)

falls into two main groups of strategies: discovery strategies and consolidation

strategies of his taxonomy and this classification gives a vital contribution to

the lexical knowledge.This following table illustrates the complete

classification scheme proposed by Schmitt

strategies

Social strategies Memory strategies Cognitive strategies Metacognitve strategies

Table 3 : A taxonomy of vocabulary learning strategies

There is a wide-ranging inventory of vocabulary learning strategies

developed by Schmitt in 1977 His taxonomy falls into two main groups of

strategies: discovery strategies and consolidation strategies There are two

strategy categories emerging in the first group: determination strategies and

social strategies Discovery strategies are strategies that are used by learners

to discover learning of words and consolidation strategies mean a word is

consolidated once it has been encountered Schmitt (1997) categorized

vocabulary learning strategies into five sub-categories: Determination

strategies are individual learning strategies Social strategies are learners learn

new words through interaction with others Memory strategies are strategies,

whereby learners link their learning of new words to mental processing by

associating their existing or background knowledge with the new words

Cognitive strategies are strategies that do not engage learners in mental

processing but is more mechanical means Metacognitive strategies are

strategies related to processes involved in monitoring, decision-making, and

evaluation of one’s progress

Gu and Johnson (1996) created a taxonomy on the basis of the

responses to their self-reporting questionnaire The researchers identified six

types of strategy (1996:650- 651): (1) Guessing strategies: Using background

knowledge or wider context, Using linguistic cues or immediate context (2)

Dictionary strategies: dictionary strategies for comprehension, extended

dictionary strategies, and Looking-up strategies (3) Note-taking strategies:

meaning-oriented note-taking strategies, and usage-oriented note-taking

strategies (4) Rehearsal strategies: Using word lists, Oral repetition, and

Visual repetition (5) Encoding strategies: Association/Elaboration, Imagery,

Visual encoding, auditory encoding, using word-structure, semantic encoding,

contextual encoding (6) Activation strategies: Memorizing lists of facts by

linking them to familiar words or numbers by means of an image,

Remembering lists by picturing them In specific locations, and Establishing

an acoustic and image link between an L2 word to be learned and a word in

L2 that sounds similar

In brief, Oxford (1990) has made a great effort in making nearly

complete classifications of VLSs Based on it, Schmitt (1997) issued some

more detail and precise classifications of vocabulary learning strategies,

which classified into two main strategies They are discovery strategies and

consolidation strategies Within this essay, the researcher also wanted to

mention to six strategies of Gu and Johnson (1996) Two out of six types of

strategies of Gu and Johnson are considered as outstanding strategies, which

Schmitt was not referring to They are encoding strategies and activation

strategies These types of strategies are related to human memory process

contributing a very important meaning to the system of effective vocabulary

learning strategies that researcher design in this paper

2.3.3 Importance of vocabulary learning strategies

As Shaw (2000) stated that: “Vocabulary continues to be a major area

for language learning into higher education, and therefore it is important that

the learners have effective strategies in this area”

Without Vocabulary Learning Strategies, accumulating a large amount

of vocabulary can be a difficult task to achieve Lord (quoted in Hague, 1987)

states that "vocabulary is by far the most sizeable and unmanageable

component in the learning of any language, whether a foreign or one's mother

tongue" because of "tens of thousands of different meanings" To solve this

problem, Oxford (1990:39) suggests “memory strategies help language

learners to cope with this difficulty They have a highly specific function in