Perceptions towards the use of TFLAT dictionary in english vocabulary learning by first year major english students at faculty of foreign languages, hanoi pedagogical university 2 and suggestions for users

HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2 FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES --- CHU THI HUONG THAO PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS THE USE OF TFLAT DICTIONARY IN ENGLISH VOCABULARY LEARNING BY FIRST-YEAR MAJOR E

HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2 FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

-

CHU THI HUONG THAO

PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS THE USE OF TFLAT

DICTIONARY IN ENGLISH VOCABULARY LEARNING

BY FIRST-YEAR MAJOR ENGLISH STUDENTS AT FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HANOI

PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2 AND SUGGESTIONS

FOR USERS

(Graduation paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the

Degree of Bachelor of Arts in English)

Supervisor: PHAM THI TUAN, M.A

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Ms Pham Thi Tuan She is very enthusiastic to give me the valuable suggestion for the problems that I had during the process of doing the research

Besides, I am indebted to all the lectures at Hanoi Pedagogical University 2, Hanoi Pedagogical University 2 especially the lectures at Faculty of Foreign Languages for their help and support

I also owe my special thanks to the first-year Major English students at Faculty of Foreign Languages, Hanoi Pedagogical University 2 If I had had

no their support, I would not have completed the research on time

Last but not least, I am grateful to my close friends for their contribution to my study

ABSTRACT

Nowadays, English has become an international language and the most widely spoken language in the world One of the most important components

of English language is English vocabulary This study is about the perceptions

of fifty first-year Major English students towards the use of TFlat Dictionary

in their English vocabulary learning The primary methods of this research were survey questionnaire and interviews The study focuses on the perceptions towards the use of TFlat Dictionary The research findings show that TFlat Dictionary has both benefits and drawbacks The research also gives some suggestions for the use of this application in their English vocabulary learning

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

Title:

PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS THE USE OF TFLAT DICTIONARY IN ENGLISH VOCABULARY LEARNING BY FIRST-YEAR MAJOR ENGLISH STUDENTS AT FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HANOI PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY 2 AND SUGGESTIONS

FOR USERS (Graduation paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the Degree of

Bachelor of Arts in English)

I certify that I have not copied study from any others’ reports without acknowledgment and this work is written by my best under the instruction from my supervisor

Date of submission: May 2018

LIST OF THE TABLES AND FIGURES

Tables:

Table 1 The frequency for studying the aspects of English vocabulary Table 2 Ranks of groups of English vocabulary to be learned with TFlat

Dictionary

Table 3 Students’ frequency for using TFlat Dictionary’s functions

Table 4 Ranks of aspects of English vocabulary based on the effectiveness

of TFlat Dictionary

Table 5 Students’ opinions about the effectiveness of TFlat Dictionary

Figures:

Figure1 Students’ time spent on English vocabulary learning

Figure 2 Students’ interest in learning groups of English vocabulary

Figure 3 Students’ strategies in learning English vocabulary

Figure 4 Students’ time spent on English vocabulary learning with TFlat

Dictionary Figure 5 Students’ opinions on TFlat Dictionary’s drawbacks

Figure 6 Students’ reasons for not using TFlat Dictionary in English

vocabulary learning Figure 7 Students’ expectations towards TFlat Dictionary

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

1 HPU2 : Hanoi Pedagogical University 2

2 FFL : Faculty of Foreign Languages

4 L2 : the second language

5 AWL : Academic Word List

6 TOEIC : Test of English for International Communication

7 IELTS : International English Language Testing System

8 TOEFL : Test Of English as a Foreign Language

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

ABSTRACT

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

LIST OF THE TABLES AND FIGURES

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aim of the study and Research Question 2

3 The scope of the study 3

4 Methods of the study 3

5 The significance of the study 3

6 Overview of the study 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1 Vocabulary 5

1.1 Definitions of vocabulary 5

1.2 Aspects of Vocabulary Knowledge 5

1.2.1 Meaning 5

1.2.2 Pronunciation 6

1.2.3 Grammar 6

1.2.4 Word Formation 6

1.2.5 Collocations 7

1.2.6 Idioms 7

1.2.7 Connotation 7

1.2.8 Register 8

1.3 Four major groups of vocabulary 8

1.3.1 High-frequency words 8

1.3.2 Academic vocabulary 8

1.3.3 Technical words 8

1.3.4 Low frequency words 9

2 Vocabulary learning strategies 9

2.1 Using Context Clues 9

2.2 Mnemonics 9

2.3 Word Part Analysis 9

2.4 Learning from Word Lists and Flashcards 10

2.5 Incidental Vocabulary Learning from Reading 10

2.6 Using dictionary applications 10

3 The use of dictionary applications in English vocabulary learning 11

3.1 The use of applications in English vocabulary learning 11

3.2 The use of dictionaries in English vocabulary learning 11

4 TFlat Dictionary 12

4.1 English- Vietnamese translation 12

4.2 Vietnamese- English translation 12

4.3 Quickly Translating Window 13

4.4 Text Translation 13

4.5 VIP Vocabulary 13

4.6 Your Vocabulary 13

4.7 Searched Vocabulary 14

4.8 Important Vocabulary 14

4.9 Other Applications 15

4.10 Setting 15

CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY 16

1 Participants 16

2 Data collection instruments 16

2.1 Questionnaire 16

2.1.1 Reasons for using Questionnaire: 16

2.1.2 Description of questionnaire 16

2.2 Interview 17

2.2.1 Reasons for using Interview 17

2.2.2 Description of interview 17

3 Data collection procedure 17

CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 19

1 Findings and discussion 19

2 Implications 33

PART C: CONCLUSION 35

1 Major findings 35

2 Limitations of the study 35

3 Suggestion for further studies 36

REFERENCE 37

APPENDIX

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Nowadays, English has become an international language and the most widely spoken language in the world According to Crystal (2003), there are 320-380 million people whose first language is English and 300-500 million people whose second language is English Moreover, English is a foreign language in some countries such as Philippines and Spain

The increasing popularity of English can be explained by the fact that having a good command of English gives better job opportunities or job promotion Since English is spoken in so many different countries, there are thousands of schools around the world that offer programmes in English If you speak English, there are many opportunities for you to find an appropriate school and course to suit your academic needs

One of the most important components of English language is English vocabulary According to Luppescu and Day (1993: 266), "Building a large vocabulary is essential when learning English because people with large vocabularies are more proficient than those with limited vocabularies‖ In other words, when students have lots of vocabulary, they can communicate more competently than those who lack vocabulary Therefore, students should have enough English vocabulary to be able to undertake their studies successfully Having a wide range of English vocabulary is important for anyone to use the language in real life as well as in academic fields Vocabulary learning is considered ―central to language acquisition‖ (Decarrico, 2001), whether first, second, or foreign It means that learning vocabulary is the prior component that must be given to the students during their language learning However, English learners still find it hard to acquire new or unfamiliar words as well as memorize them

Thanks to mobile Internet-connected devices, the mobile device ecosystems led to the rise of thousands of free or almost free applications (apps), ―which refer to compute programs designed to run exclusively on mobile devices‖ (Qizhen Deng & Guy Trainin, 2015) Along with the potential, however, the burden of selecting apps that can support learning can bring confusion to students and teachers At the same time, there is an emergence of an application on the mobile phone called TFlat Dictionary This application is quite common and easy to download and install TFlat occupies a small memory size of the mobile phone, and it is easy to use

As a teacher of English in the future, the researcher understands that a teacher plays a significant role in students’ vocabulary learning process and the teacher should adopt appropriate teaching strategies to facilitate learning She would like to carry out this research with the hope of finding out perceptions towards what ways first-year Major English students use TFlat Dictionary in English vocabulary learning Particularly, her interest goes to the first-year Major English students who need to get on well with a new learning environment in the university and are in need of a tool that can help

in their learning process

To sum up, the importance of English vocabulary learning, the convenience of TFlat Dictionary and the need of the first-year Major English students accelerate the researcher to carry out this study

2 Aim of the study and Research Question

2.1 Aim of the study

The study is carried out to investigate the perceptions of first-year Major English students towards the use of TFlat Dictionary in English vocabulary learning and suggestions for users of TFlat dictionary

2.2 Research Questions

The study attempts to answers the questions:

Q1: What are the perceptions of first-year Major English students at FFL, HPU2 towards the use of TFlat Dictionary in English vocabulary learning?

Q2: What suggestions can be made for users of TFlat dictionary?

3 The scope of the study

This study investigates the use of TFlat Dictionary in English vocabulary learning Due to the limited time and the limited size, the study focuses on how first-year Major English students at FFL, HPU2 use TFlat Dictionary and their perceptions on this application

4 Methods of the study

To achieve the aims of the study, the methods that have been applied are survey questionnaire and interviews The participants of the study are the English-majored freshmen at FFL, HPU2

5 The significance of the study

The study aims to find out the ways English-majored first-year students use TFlat Dictionary and their perceptions towards the use of this application

in their English vocabulary learning The study also presents TFlat Dictionary’s strengths and weaknesses to help students use it effectively in English vocabulary learning As for the theoretical field, this study is expected to make a minor contribution to the research of blended learning As for English language teaching, the study suggests the use of Information Technology solutions in English learning for both teachers and students of English

6 Overview of the study

This study is divided into three parts as follows:

Part A, Introduction, offers an overview of Rationale, Aims of the

study, Research questions, Scope of the study, Methods of the study and Significance of the study

Part B, Development, gives information on Literature Review,

Methodology, Findings and Discussion and Implications of the study

Chapter I, Literature Review, presents theoretical background

knowledge about Vocabulary and TFlat Dictionary

Chapter II, Methodology, describes in detail the Participants, Research

instruments employed and Procedure of data collection analysis

Chapter III, Findings and discussion, analyzes gathered data and

presents the discussion of research findings, and Implications

Part C, Conclusion, reviews Major findings, Limitations, and

Suggestion for further study

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

1 Vocabulary

1.1 Definitions of vocabulary

According to Dr Alfaki (2015:1), ―Vocabulary can be defined as single items and phrases or chunks of several words which convey a particular meaning, the way individual words do.‖ Vocabulary is not only the ―single lexical items—words with specific meaning(s)‖ (Alfaki, 2015) but it also includes phrases

Hatch and Brown (1995:1) defined vocabulary as a list of words for a particular language or a list or set of word that individual speakers of language might use

Roget (1980:1036) stated that vocabulary is:

- A list of words often defined or translated

- All the words of Language

- Specialized expressions which are indigenous to a particular field, subject, trade or subculture

In general, it can be said that vocabulary is an essential part of a language which consists of a system of single words or word sets relating to one another The speakers might use vocabulary to convey the information and interact with others

1.2 Aspects of Vocabulary Knowledge

According to West, C M and West, R (2012), there are several aspects of Vocabulary Knowledge

word or expression Therefore, the meaning is one of the most significant factors to understand a word Thornbury (2002: 15) declared that students learning the meaning could learn its connotations, register, and cultural accretions Students need to not only learn single words but also study phrases

as well as collocations, depending on students’ level, to use them exactly in any situation

1.2.2 Pronunciation

English pronunciation is one of the most difficult skills to acquire and learners should spend lots of time to improve their pronunciation (Gilakjani, 2016:2) Pronunciation is the act or result of producing the sounds of speech, including articulation, stress, and intonation, often concerning some standard

of correctness or acceptability However; incorrect pronunciation can lead to negative impression, misunderstanding and ineffective communication When learning a word, students should know its pronunciation, which is meaningful

in fluency and accuracy

1.2.3 Grammar

It is defined as ―the rules that govern how a language’s sentences are formed‖ (Thornbury, 2000:1) Grammar is the set of structural rules which influences the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given language It is the systematic study and description of a language, and it helps

us to understand how words and their parts combine to form sentences Grammar clarifies how the language should be structured, using various categories These grammatical features include: followed with a verb, with a verb that needs an object or with a particular word (prepositions)

1.2.4 Word Formation

Nation (2001) stated that students could study unfamiliar words by connecting to known words and check word guessing According to Adejumo and Osunbade (2014), word formation is conceived of as the process by which

words are brought into existence A word is located within morphemes As a result, a large number of English words are formed through affixation and other word formation processes such as blending, clipping, compounding, etc

1.2.5 Collocations

Pawley and Syder（1983）proposed that one of the reasons native speakers can speak instantly without thinking about building phrases is collocation Collocation is the way words work together to sound natural in a particular context For example, we might say ―The typhoon brought heavy rain and strong winds‖, but we would not say that it brought ―strong rain‖ or

―heavy winds‖ Those combinations do not collocate Choosing the right collocation will enable you to express yourself more precisely and will draw attention to where it should be on the content of what you have to say, not on how you are saying it

1.2.7 Connotation

According to West and West (2012), two words may have the same meaning in dictionary definition, but they are used in different way to express the different sense of native speaker The connotation includes semantic or stylistic elements which are connected in a certain way with the basic meaning and are superimposed upon it Connotation is used to express emotional

1.2.8 Register

Register concerns the politeness and relationship between speakers For example, the way students talk to their friends is different from that to their teachers Register is characterized by ―differences in the type of language selected as appropriate to different types of the situation‖ (Halliday et al 1964), which means that there is a close relationship between language and context of the situation

1.3 Four major groups of vocabulary

Nation (2001) stated that there were four major groups of vocabulary

1.3.1 High-frequency words

High-frequency words are listed in the General Service List, created by Michael West in 1953 These words are sometimes called tricky words, sight words or camera words High-frequency words are quite simply those words which occur most frequently in written material, for example, "and,‖ "the,‖

"as" and "it" (Nation, 2001) They are often words that have little meaning on their own, but they do contribute a great deal to the meaning of a sentence

1.3.2 Academic vocabulary

Nation（2008:125）stated ―that the 570-word families make up around 10% of the running words in the academic text, about 4% in newspapers and less than 2% of novels.‖ Academic Word List (AWL), was developed by Coxhead (2000) The corpus of this study was 3.5 million running words that the texts of her corpus were selected from different academic journals and university textbooks in four main areas: arts, commerce, law and natural science

specialist knowledge to understand it (Chung & Nation, 2004) Learning technical words plays an important role in learning about a particular discipline

1.3.4 Low frequency words

According to West and West (2012), low frequency words are words that uncommonly occur in a language, such as ―apopemptic,‖ ―diaphoretic,‖ and ―rebarbative‖ in English Low-frequency words produce more hits and fewer false alarms than high-frequency words in a recognition task

2 Vocabulary learning strategies

According to Kulikova (2015), there are several vocabulary learning strategies, as can be seen below

2.1 Using Context Clues

Research by Nagy and Scott (2000) showed that students use contextual analysis to infer the meaning of a word by looking closely at surrounding text People learn vocabulary from listening and because they have ―the luxury of multiple exposures to words over time in a variety of meaningful contexts‖ (Folse, 2004:130) Native speakers learning their first language receive a lot of language input from everyday conversations and media

2.2 Mnemonics

Mnemonic strategies are based on cognitive processes that are considered to facilitate faster learning, retrieval, and retention of material They can be classified into verbal, visual, or mixed techniques They include creating mental associations, applying images and sounds, using rhymes, verbal elaboration, reviewing in time intervals, self-testing, and using physical response (Thompson, 1987)

2.3 Word Part Analysis

Gaining control of prefixes, suffixes and other word-building devices may be a source of vocabulary growth: New words may be learned by relating

them to known ones, and guessing unfamiliar words in readings can be checked using knowledge of word parts (Nation, 2001) Mochizuki & Aizawa (2000) found a significant correlation between receptive knowledge of derivational affixes and vocabulary size in L2 students

2.4 Learning from Word Lists and Flashcards

Many textbooks contained lists of words that students were supposed to memorize and then use when needed Flashcard was a popular method learners used to memorize words While advanced learners may benefit from learning vocabulary in context, beginners learn words more easily if they are presented in lists of translation pairs (Laufer and Shmueli, 1997)

2.5 Incidental Vocabulary Learning from Reading

Although L2 learners are not found to be very successful in inferencing new word meanings from reading (Schmitt, Jiang, & Grabe, 2011), reading may deepen and strengthen the knowledge of partially known words (Pigada

& Schmitt, 2006) Nation (2001) argues that learning from context is a cumulative process, and even small increases in knowledge should be taken into account The quality of gained knowledge depended on the frequency of occurrence of the target words in the text

2.6 Using dictionary applications

According to Deng and Trainin (2015), digital dictionaries solve the problem of cognitive load, allowing students to quickly and efficiently find a definition, etymology, use an example and even audio of pronunciation In productive ways, learners can find the wanted word forms, check that there are no unwanted constraints on the use of the word, work out the grammar and collocations of the word, and check the spelling or pronunciation of the word before using it

3 The use of dictionary applications in English vocabulary learning

3.1 The use of applications in English vocabulary learning

As for affordances provided by technology, Klopfer and Squire (2008) discussed five advancements including: portability—mobile devices can be easily carried and used anywhere, social interactivity—mobile devices can be used for collaborative work, context sensitivity—mobile devices affords authentic contexts, connectivity— mobile devices are connected to other devices through an array of local and cellular networks, and individualizing instruction—apps on personal devices can provide user-specific scaffolding based on individual preferences and personal learning progress These qualities open new opportunities for individualized learning and practice There is a fit between the affordances of mobile devices and the needs of vocabulary learners

3.2 The use of dictionaries in English vocabulary learning

According to Nation (2001), dictionaries serve three purposes:

1) comprehension – look up unknown words or confirm word deduced from context during listening, reading, or translating;

2) production – look up unknown words or word parts needed for speaking, writing, and translating;

3) learning – enrich knowledge of known words, such as etymology or different contextual usages

English dictionary is a very important tool for anyone who is learning the English language Retrieved from www.teachingenglish.org.uk, the dictionary is a handy resource to develop vocabulary learning, researching different meanings, collocations, examples of use and standard pronunciation

Retrieved from www.britishcouncil.org/, a good dictionary is not just a list of isolated words with their meanings or translations The job of the dictionary is to place a word in each of its possible contexts and explain its

4 TFlat Dictionary

Retrieved from https://www.androidauthority.com, some items are useful and common to the students learning English vocabulary

4.1 English- Vietnamese translation

This item can help students to translate English into Vietnamese After they look up a word, its meanings appear with some examples that illustrate the meanings Moreover, learners have a chance to listen to the pronunciation and have knowledge about its part of speech as well as the synonyms and antonyms If students gradually update the new versions of this application, they can learn English vocabulary with images

4.2 Vietnamese- English translation

This function of TFlat Dictionary helps students to translate Vietnamese to English Learners only type the Vietnamese words exactly and then press the Search icon Students are also provided with some examples of each word

For example, when students type the word ―từ điển‖, this application will show the word ―dictionary‖ That is the way this function works

4.3 Quickly Translating Window:

The item is available on mobile screen with an icon, and the user can access easily

4.6 Your Vocabulary

Students can save words that were marked with a star and will be reminded when you set up Besides, learners can revise these words with the

section Revision and then practice with a game A word will not be in the

piece if students delete it

4.7 Searched Vocabulary

There are about five hundred recently translated words that are saved in this item In this part, there is also a game to help students learn new words

Meanwhile, like Your vocabulary, this function also contains images for

words if students have a VIP card

4.9 Other Applications

This part has some other applications students can use, such as BBC Learning English, Dynamic English, English Listening, English Test, Daily Learn English and Game for TOEIC Vocabulary

4.10 Setting

The most important thing in this part is prompting that will remind students after they set up times and pronunciation Besides, students can know the version of the application that they are using

TFlat Dictionary is a new dictionary application that has not been studied by any researchers while it is common to the students That is also the reason why I carry out a study about TFlat Dictionary

CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY

1 Participants

The participants of this study were 50 first-year English majors They (in their 17-19 years old) were students from K43 of Faculty of Foreign Languages of Hanoi Pedagogical University 2, having spent at least three years learning English Some of them have used TFlat Dictionary in English vocabulary learning while some others have not They took part in the survey

in January 2018 and answered some questions

Ten of the participants were selected for interviews They are chosen due to their long time in using TFlat Dictionary in English vocabulary learning The interviews aimed to collect their detailed opinions on the use of TFlat Dictionary The data were audio-recorded for analysis

2 Data collection instruments

Data were collected from two main instruments: survey questionnaire and interview

2.1 Questionnaire

2.1.1 Reasons for using Questionnaire:

This study used a questionnaire to collect the data in a quantitative form which focuses ―rigorous quantitative analysis‖ (Kothari, 2004) The questionnaire is not only practical but also can be carried out by the researcher or by any number of people Large amounts of information can be collected from a large number of people in a short period and in a relatively cost-effective way The results of the questionnaires can usually be quickly and easily quantified by the researcher and can be analyzed more scientifically and objectively than other forms of research

2.1.2 Description of questionnaire

In part I, Perceptions towards English vocabulary learning, the students were asked about such information as: the amount of time, the frequency and their opinions toward English vocabulary learning

In part II, there were questions about the perceptions towards the use of the TFlat dictionary in English vocabulary learning There were two groups of questions:

Group 1, questions from 7 to 12, for those who have used TFlat Dictionary in English vocabulary learning; students gave some of their opinions towards the use of TFlat Dictionary in English vocabulary learning

Group 2, questions from 13 to 15, for those have not used the TFlat Dictionary in English vocabulary learning, participants answered some questions about the reasons for not using TFlat Dictionary and expectations for this application in English vocabulary learning

2.2 Interview

2.2.1 Reasons for using Interview

This study also investigated attitudes of some students when using TFlat application in English vocabulary learning Therefore, it employed Qualitative interviews to understand some such information as: changes in emotions, behavior, and feelings Moreover, Qualitative interviews could obtain ―in-depth information‖ (Amin Marwat, 2010) about a topic The researcher could ―enter into the inner world‖ (Amin Marwat, 2010) of others

2.2.2 Description of interview

Students were asked to answer some questions about the perceptions and opinions about the use of a TFlat dictionary and the effects of this application in English vocabulary learning The answers were note-taken and discussed

3 Data collection procedure

In January 2018, survey questionnaires were delivered to 50 students of K43 at FFL, HPU2 The instructions were also given to help the respondents give objective answers Students circled one appropriate alternative, ticked () the appropriate boxes for closed-questions or wrote their answers for

some questions in questionnaires That was to survey students’ perceptions and some ways of using TFlat Dictionary towards in English vocabulary learning

Then, to have a deeper understanding and further data, ten students were asked to answer some questions in interviews

Finally, all survey questionnaires and note-taken interview answers were gathered carefully for analysis later

CHAPTER III: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

1 Findings and discussion

This part will summarize the results of the study about the perceptions

of first-year Major English students towards the use of TFlat Dictionary in English vocabulary learning (at Faculty of Foreign Languages, Hanoi Pedagogical University 2)

The results will be organized and analyzed in 2 parts: Students’ perceptions towards English vocabulary learning and Students’ perceptions towards the use of TFlat Dictionary in English vocabulary learning

1.1 Students’ perceptions towards English vocabulary learning

On being asked about the importance of English vocabulary, all of the

50 students said that it was important, which meant that 100% students appreciated the importance of English vocabulary Below are details of their perceptions on English vocabulary learning

1.1.1 Students’ time spent on English vocabulary learning

Figure1: Students’ time spent on English vocabulary learning

As for the question ―How much time do you spend learning English

vocabulary?‖ the majority of surveyed students (54%) spent more than 1 hour per day learning English vocabulary Meanwhile, one-third of participants (30%) answered that they learned English vocabulary for 1 hour per day The rest (16%) spent 30 minutes per day studying English vocabulary Answering

more than 1 hour/day; 54%

1 hour/ day; 30%

30 minutes/ day;

16%