A study on vocabulary learning strategies of talented students in english language selection at thanh liem c high school, ha nam province

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ********************** NHIẾP THỊ VÂN ANH A STUDY ON VOCABULARY LE

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

**********************

NHIẾP THỊ VÂN ANH

A STUDY ON VOCABULARY LEARNING STRATEGIES

OF TALENTED STUDENTS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE SELECTION AT THANH LIEM C HIGH SCHOOL,

HA NAM PROVINCE

(NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ CHIẾN LƯỢC HỌC TỪ VỰNG CỦA HỌC SINH ĐỘI TUYỂN HỌC SINH GIỎI MÔN TIẾNG ANH TRƯỜNG THPT C

THANH LIÊM, HÀ NAM)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 60140111

HA NOI - 2016

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NHIẾP THỊ VÂN ANH

A STUDY ON VOCABULARY LEARNING STRATEGIES

OF TALENTED STUDENTS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE SELECTION AT THANH LIEM C HIGH SCHOOL,

HA NAM PROVINCE

(NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ CHIẾN LƯỢC HỌC TỪ VỰNG CỦA HỌC SINH ĐỘI TUYỂN HỌC SINH GIỎI MÔN TIẾNG ANH TRƯỜNG THPT C

THANH LIÊM, HÀ NAM)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Dr Trần Thị Thu Hiền

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my appreciation, first and foremost, to my supervisor Dr Tran Thi Thu Hien, who has patiently and constantly guided and supported me to develop my study into a practicable frame in the very beginning and offered valuable suggestions while the work was in progress

My thanks also go to all the teachers that have instructed me at the National University for their inspirational lectures in class, by which I have been motivated to explore some interesting issues concerning English language teaching and learning

A special word of thanks goes to my students, without whom it would never been possible for me to have this thesis accomplished

Last but not least, I would like to give my immense gratitude to my family, without whose support my dream of pursuing further study would not have been possible

Nhiep Thi Van Anh

The research involved 25 talented students in English language selection at Thanh Liem C high school, Ha Nam province Data was collected from a vocabulary learning strategies questionnaire

Results of the study showed that the students favoured strategies focusing on guessing meaning from context, when they encountered new words Besides, bilingual and monolingual dictionaries is also a useful tool to help students find the meaning of words Moreover, many students are interested in studying words through English language media such as television programs, Internet, English songs,…

However, students had difficulty implementing a number of social and metacognitive strategies, such as interacting with native speakers and testing oneself with word tests

To conclude, strategy training especially on guessing, dictionary strategies and deep processing strategies is essential It would be good if teachers could provide different opportunities for students to retrieve the vocabulary learned in different contexts The results suggested that teachers should make learners aware of their own responsibility in vocabulary learning and expose them to different approaches and strategies in enhancing vocabulary acquisition

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

LIST OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT……….iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iv

LIST OF CONTENTS v

LIST OF TABLES vii

CHAPTER ONE : INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale for choosing the topic 1

1.2 Research question 3

1.3 Aim and objectives of the study 4

1.4 Scope of the study 4

1.5 Significance of the study 4

1.6 Structures of the study 5

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 Learning Strategies 6

2.2 Vocabulary learning strategies 8

2.2.1 Definitions of vocabulary learning strategies 8

2.2.2 Classifications of vocabulary learning strategies 9

2.3 Previous studies on Vocabulary Learning Strategies 13

2.4 Summary 16

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY 17

3.1 Research Setting 17

3.2 Participants 17

3.3 Data collection instrument 18

3.4 Method in Language Learning Strategy Research 20

3.5 Data collection procedure 21

CHAPTER FOUR : FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 23

4.1 Findings 23

4.1.1 Discovery strategies 23

4.1.2 Consolidation strategies 27

4 2 Discussion 32

CHAPTER FIVE : CONCLUSION 37

5.1 Concluding remarks 37

5.2 Implications 38

5 3 Limitations 39

5.4 Recommendations for further research 40

REFERENCES 41

APPENDIX I PART 1: The Student‟s Personal Background I PART 2: Vocabulary Learning Strategies Questionnaire II

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1 Information of the participants 18

Table 4.1 Determination Strategies used by the talented students 24

Table 4.2 Social strategies used by the talented students 25

Table 4.3 Memory strategies used by the talented students 27

Table 4.4 Cognitive strategies used by the talented students 29

Table 4.5 Metacognitive strategies used by the talented students 31

CHAPTER ONE : INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale for choosing the topic

Vocabulary is the knowledge of words and word meanings As Steven Stahl (2005) puts it, "Vocabulary knowledge is knowledge; the knowledge of

a word not only implies a definition, but also implies how that word fits into the world." Vocabulary knowledge is not something that can ever be fully mastered; it is something that expands and deepens over the course of a lifetime Instruction in vocabulary involves far more than looking up words in

a dictionary and using the words in a sentence Vocabulary is acquired incidentally through indirect exposure to words and intentionally through explicit instruction in specific words and word-learning strategies.Limited vocabularies prevent students from comprehending a text Therefore, an effective approach to vocabulary is always one of the great concerns of every language teacher.The reason is that learning vocabulary is really challennging requiring many cognitive processes, and teachers have to make sure that the students understand the word and its meaning as well as how to use the word accurately and appropriately

At upper- secondary schools in Vietnam, with a short duration of 3 periods per week for all language skills and language focus, vocabulary instruction has paid less attention than it should have been Students have to learn so many new words every week, and by the time they learn the new words in the new lessons they have forgoten most of the words they have learned in previous lessons

Moreover, most of the students, in fact, are not interested in vocabulary lessons They feel bored with the common methods used by teachers since most of the teachers of English at the researcher‟ school are

listen” These traditional approaches encourage students to recite facts and figures, not stimulate their thinking and their analytical skills Consequently, the students are not able to apply what they‟ve learned, not able to make connections of what they‟ve just learned and what they had learned in the past.These traditional methods do not promote active engagement and participants As a result, students become passive.They don‟t have opportunity to participate in learning vocabulary ativities.They consider the teachers‟explanation for meaning, definition, pronunciation, spelling and grammatical functions boring.This leads to the problem that language learners have nothing to do in vocabulary learning section but to listen to their teacher

It is known that vocabulary is not available knowlegde, it should be a long-term cumulative study The teaching and learning of English vocabulary becomes more difficult for rural students experiencing problems due to learning conditions, teachers, etc Besides, with applying the innovation in the current exams, many students do not focus on learning English because it is simply for them to avoid the worst score when doing multiple choice English tests , therefore, they pass the graduation exam easily

The researcher is now in charge of teaching English for grade 10 and

12 During teaching,the researcher found that vocabulary plays an important role in the students‟language learning It is one element that links the four skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing all together In order to communicate well in a foreign language, students should have a number of words and should know how to use them accurately

In fact, the students at Thanh Liem C high school have encountered a lot of difficulties in remembering as well as using vocabulary.The ability to apply vocabulary learning strategies is still limited, for example, whenever

students think of vocabulary, they think of a list of new words with meaning

in their native language without any real context practice They look up the words in bilingual dictionary to find their meaning of new words Working by this way, after a short period of time, many students may find out that learning vocabulary doesn‟t satisfy them Students often learn to deal with the checking vocabularies of the teacher, then there are no circumstances and skills to apply those words, so learning new words becomes useless Meanwhile, the talented students in the English language selection proved that they had capability of learning new words when they achieved good results in the vocabulary tests

The writer would like to do a survey to know what English learning strategies talented students in the English language selection are using popularly and how often they learn these strategies From the results of this initial study, a more long-term study will be conducted in the mass student to find out, compare and apply for student‟s learning in order to improve learning English of all students at the writer‟ school So the writer has decided

to examine the question:“A study on vocabulary learning strategies of talented students in English language selection at Thanh Liem C high school, Ha Nam

province”

1.2 Research question

The primary aim of the present study is to investigate actual vocabulary

learning strategies that talented students in English language selection at

Thanh Liem C high school have used in English learning, therefore, this research attempts to answer the following research question:

“What vocabulary learning strategies are most and least popularly used

by the talented students in English language selection at Thanh Liem C high

1.3 Aim and objectives of the study

The aim of the study is to investigate vocabulary learning strategies

talented students in English language selection at Thanh Liem C high school

have used in English learning To realize this aim, the paper will :

1 Find the information about vocabulary learning strategies that

talented students in English language selection used when they study words

2 Draw the most and least popular vocabulary learning strategies

used by talented students in English language selection

1.4 Scope of the study

The study focuses on exploring vocabulary learning strategies used by

25 talented students who were considered “good learners” at Thanh Liem C high school They participated in the exam for talented students annually with age average between 15-17 years during the first semester of 2015 Schmitt‟s Taxonomy will be applied to analyse these students‟ use of vocabulary learning strategies

1.5 Significance of the study

1.The study can reveal the most and least popularly used vocabulary

learning strategies implemented by the talented students in English language

selection For talented students in English language selection, exposure to a large amount of new words and learning vocabulary through vocabulary learning strategies can develop good habits in terms of English learning as they study English at high school Thus, if the instruction of vocabulary

learning strategies leads to good results, it can be put to use in wider scale and

teachers could have a better idea about how to help students learn vocabulary effectively

2.The teachers can implement the findings of this study to support high proficient students and encourage weaker students to get better results

Moreover, this study gives recommendations to other teachers of English on how to teach the students to use vocabulary stratergies effectively to improve their learning vocabulary in classes

3 From the results of this study, talented students in English language selection also need to adjust the vocabulary strategies to achieve higher academic results Besides, the writer will continue to conduct other research

to a wider audience, the mass of students to have overview that helps regulate the teaching and learning of teachers and students in the researcher‟s school

The study is organized as follow:

Chapter 1: Introduction – provides an overview of the study

Chapter 2 : Liturature Review - a view of relevant liturature on this issue is presented

Chapter 3: Research Methodology- a description of research methods is discussed in detail, including a description of selection of the participants, data collection instruments and data collection procedures

Chapter 4: Finding and discussions - the results of the study are presented

Chapter 5: Conclusion - the researcher provides a summary on main points raised in the study, the major conclusion drawn from conducting this study, and a discussion of the study‟s limitations and suggestions for further research

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter examines the literature and research relevant to language learning strategies and vocabulary learning strategies

2.1 Learning Strategies

The term “strategy” is of military origin where it refers to carefully designed plans for military operations (Oxford, 1990:7) There have been numerous attempts to define strategies According to Rubin (1975:43), strategies are “ the techniques or devices which a learner may use to acquire knowledge.” When applied to a non military setting like school learning, the strategy concept has been taken on a new meaning and has been transformed into learning strategies Learning strategies have been defined in various ways in literature and they are connected to several areas

of language learning Learning strategies are thoughts or behaviour the learners use to comprehend, learn or retain new information (O‟Malley and Chamot 1990:1)

When O'Malley et al (1985) came to conduct their research, they based their definition on Rigney‟s (1978) definition of learning strategies as procedures which facilitate acquisition, retention, retrieval, and performance Whereas, Oxford (1990:8) provided another well-known definition of language learning strategies as “specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective, and more transferable to new situations.”

In addition, Takala (1996, as cited in Kristiansen 1998:44) determines the word “strategy”: “Strategies are taken to be the behaviours that the learners engage in during learning that are intended to influence cognitive andaffective processing.” Meanwhile, Ellis (1985:165) points out that native

language speakers use the same strategy types as learners of second language However, there are differences in the frequency of strategy use between native speakers and non-native speakers

The term language learning strategies has many different definitions Research into language learning strategies began in the 1960s and the term language learning strategy has been defined by many researchers In most of the research on language learning strategies, the primary concern has been on

"identifying what good language learners report they do to learn a second or foreign language, or, are observed doing while learning a second or foreign language." (Rubin and Wenden 1987:19) Wenden and Rubin (1987:19) define learning strategies as " any sets of operations, steps, plans, routines used by the learner to facilitate the obtaining, storage, retrieval, and use of information."According to Stern (1992:261),"the concept of learning strategy

is dependent on the assumption that learners consciously engage in activities

to achieve certain goals and learning strategies can be regarded as broadly conceived intentional directions and learning techniques."All language learners use language learning strategies either consciously or unconsciously when processing new information and performing tasks in the language classroom Since language classroom is like a problem-solving environment

in which language learners are likely to face new input and difficult tasks given by their instructors, learners' attempts to find the quickest or easiest way

to do what is required, that is, using language learning strategies is inescapable Griffiths (2008) explained that language learning strategies are activities consciously chosen by learners for the purpose of regulating their own learning Griffiths also demonstrated and showed a correlation between language learning strategy use and English proficiency

2.2 Vocabulary learning strategies

2.2.1 Definitions of vocabulary learning strategies

The term “vocabulary learning strategies” refers to “any set of techniques or learning behaviours, which language learners reported using in order to discover the meaning of a new word, to retain the knowledge

of newly-learned words, and to expand one‟s knowledge of vocabulary” (Intaraprasert 2004:53) Learner autonomy can be enhanced by introducing learner to different vocabulary learning strategies which can be used in developing the learning process

O‟Malley and Chamot (1990:7) supposed that training second language learners to use learning strategies concentrates mainly on learning vocabulary They also point out that vocabulary learning strategies are used most frequently and are probably the most well-known type of language learning strategies; but other author mentions that, in comparison with other aspects of language, such as grammar and pronunciation, vocabulary is the area of language that learners seem most conscious of

Vocabulary learning strategies are a subcategory of language learning strategies which in turn are a subcategory of learning strategies in general If language learning strategies can be defined as “specific actions taken by the learner to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable, more selfdirected, more effective, and more transferable to new situations.” (Oxford, 1990:8), and vocabulary learning strategies constitute knowledge about what students

do to find out the meaning of new words, retain them in long-term memory, recall them when needed in comprehension, and use them in language production (Catalan 2003, in: Ruutmets, 2005)

According to Schmitt (1997:199), summarising previous research, that many learners use vocabulary learning strategies and many learners agree that vocabulary is an essential part of language Schmitt (1997:200) notes that

even though many studies have been made about language learning strategies and vocabulary learning, only a few of them have discussed vocabulary learning strategies Schmitt (1997:200–201) states that the research done on the field of vocabulary learning strategies typically concentrates only on individual or small number of strategies He believed that the research has shown patterns of strategy use which can be changed over time when the learner gets older or becomes more proficient in the language he or she is studying Therefore some strategies are more popular in certain age groups ( Schmitt 1997:223)

2.2.2 Classifications of vocabulary learning strategies

In classifying learning strategies, researchers have different ways of classifying language learning strategies (Intaraprasert 2004:10) These classification systems give crucial contribution to the knowledge of vocabulary strategies Below is a summary, brief discussion as well as consideration of the classification systems of vocabulary learning strategies which have been identified in different contexts by different scholars, such as Cohen (1987;1990); Gu and Johnson‟s (1996) and Schmitt‟s (1997).The writer selected the classification of these scholars because it is

an useful reference source for the researcher to conduct her own research

2.2.2.1 Cohen’s classification of vocabulary learning strategies

Vocabulary Learning strategies classified by Cohen 37) were put together and could be devided into three main categories :

(1987:43;1990:21-Category 1: Strategies to remember words

It means that learners use rote-repetition by repeating the word and its meaning until it seems to have stuck; Besides, using mnemonic associations is necessary through :

- linking the word to the sound of a word in the native language

to the sound of a word in another language, or linking the word to the situation in which it appeared

- attending to the meaning of a part of the word or noting the structure of part and visualising the word in isolation or in a written context

- placing the word in the topic group and creating a mental image of the word

- associating some physical sensation to the word or associating the word to a keyword; and using of mnemonic device in order to create a cognitive link between an unfamiliar foreign language word

Category 2: Semantic Strategies involves in

- Thinking of synonyms in order to build a network of interlinking concepts

- Clustering words by topic group or type of word ; and linking the word to another sentence

Category 3: Vocabulary Learning and Practising Strategies

Analyse the word according to its roots, affixes, and inflections as

a way to understand its meaning Words in two languages such as using a Dictionary, the Use of Flash Cards, Grouping and Cumulative Vocabulary Study

Besides, vocabulary learning strategied proposed by Cohen (1987;

1990) have been found to share some common characteristics, therefore, they could be put together to create the new three main categories They consist of strategies like remembering words, semantic strategies, and vocabulary learning and practising strategies

2.2.2.2 Gu and Johnson’s classification of vocabulary learning strategies

Gu and Johnson (1996:51) investigate Chinese advanced learners‟ use

of English vocabulary learning strategies by using the questionnaire Gu and Johnson (1996) note L2 vocabulary learning strategies as metacognitive, cognitive, memory and activation strategies These scholars developed a substantial list of English foreign language vocabulary learning strategies reported employing by advanced Chinese learners The study has profiled the beliefs and strategies of adult Chinese learners for learning EFL vocabulary A wide variety of English vocabulary learning

strategies are developed and grouped into following categories:

Metacognitive strategies consist of selective awareness and self-initiation strategies L2 learners employing selective awareness strategies know which words are important for them to learn and are essential for adequate comprehension of a passage Learners employing self- initiation strategies use a variety of means to make the meaning of vocabulary items clear

Cognitive strategies in Gu and Johnson‟s classification involve guessing strategies, skillful use of dictionaries and note-taking strategies When using guessing strategies, learners draw upon their background knowledge and use linguistic clues like grammatical structures of a sentence to guess the meaning of new word

Memory strategies are classified into practicing and encoding categories Word lists and repetition are instances of practicing strategies

Instructing strategies include strategies such as association, imagery, visual, auditory, semantic, and contextual encoding as well as word-structure ( analyzing a word in terms of prefixes and suffixes)

The activation strategies refer to strategies that the learners actually use new words in different contexts For example, learners may set sentences using the words they have learned

2.2.2.3 Schmitt’s classification of vocabulary learning strategies

Schmitt‟s (1997) taxonomy of vocabulary learning strategies is organized in two groups: Discovery Strategies and Consolidation Strategies

The following is the strategy inventory offered by Schmitt (1997).These vocabulary learning strategies were devided into two main categories:

Category 1: Discovery Strategies

This category consists of Determination Strategies (DET) and Social Strategies (SOC)

In Determination Strategies, Schmitt‟s (1997) supposed that learners paid attention to strategies such as analysing part of speech, analysing affixes and roots, checking for L1 cognate, analysing any available pictures

or gestures, guessing meaning from textual context, and using a dictionary (bilingual or monolingual)

In Social Strategies , Schmitt‟s (1997) thought that learners used strategies ,for instance, asking teacher for a synonym, paraphrase, or L1 translation of new word and asking classmate for meaning when they discover the meaning of new words

Category 2: Consolidation Strategies

Consolidation Strategies includes strategies for consolidating a word once it has been encountered Schmitt‟s (1997) stressed on four types of strategies like :

Social Strategies (SOC) use interaction with other people to improve language learning Learners may study and practise meaning in a group

or interact with native speaker, or by any combination of these

In Memory Strategies ( MEM ), Schmitt (1997) explains that most memory strategies involve relating the word to be retained with prior knowledge For example, studying new words with pictures of their meaning, associating the word with its coordination, synonymy, or antonymy, using a scale for gradable adjectives or even grouping words together within a story line

Besides,Cognitive strategies (COG) do not engage learners in mental processing but is more mechanical In Cognitive strategies, Schmitt (1997) refers to Verbal and Written repetition, Word lists, Putting English labels on physical objects and Keeping a vocabulary notebook

Metacognitive strategies (MET) are strategies relating to processes involving monitoring, decision-making, and evaluation of learners‟progress Metacognitive strategies help the learner in determining appropriate vocabulary learning strategies for learning new words It includes using English-language media (songs, movies, newscasts, etc.), Testing oneself with word tests, Skiping or passing new word and Continuing to study word over time

2.3 Previous studies on Vocabulary Learning Strategies

Research on general learning strategies showed that many of them are used for vocabulary learning O‟Malley and Chamot (1990:7) note that research on the effect of training L2 learners to use learning strategies is often restricted to application of vocabulary tasks Learners are found to use more learning strategies for vocabulary acquisition than for other language activities (Takač, 2008) In one of the first large-scale studies, Ahmed (1989) investigated how good and poor learners (300 EFL learners in Sudan) applied vocabulary-learning strategies For the data collection Ahemd used a think-

showed that both good and poor learners used the same macro- strategies (note-taking, memorization, practice, dictionaries or other information sources), but good learners applied more micro-strategies within each macro-strategy; for example, they often used words in context or tested themselves while practicing

Gu and Johnson (1996) designed a questionnaire based on previous strategy research (Oxford, 1990) The questionnaire provided one of the most comprehensive lists of vocabulary strategies: 108 items It included three sections: vocabulary learning beliefs, metacognitive strategies, and cognitive strategies Gu and Johnson (1996) administered the questionnaire to 850 Beijing University sophomores who had about six years of English learning experience The researchers were interested in the ways learners combined different strategies, and if the choice of strategy combinations correlated with students‟vocabulary size and general language proficiency Learners were classified by their strategy profiles and learning outcomes into five groups.The findings revealed that the group of students with the highest English test scores believed that vocabulary should be picked up through natural exposure (reading, guessing, contextual encoding) and careful study, but not memorization They actively looked for opportunities to use English outside the classroom The second best group of participants also believed in natural acquisition, careful study, and use of new words, but in addition they had positive feelings about the memorization of words They used almost every strategy and spent a lot of time and effort on learning English Gu and Johnson (1996) believed that they might have succeeded due to their efforts, but not to particular strategy use Most of students in the study reported average use of various strategies, and the group with lowest English test

scores strongly believed in the effectiveness of only a very restricted set of strategies: memorization and visual repetition

Vocabulary size correlated positively with general English proficiency Positive correlations were also found between both variables and such strategies as contextual guessing, seeking personally significant vocabulary, using vocabulary that was not studied in class, active use of dictionaries for learning purposes (not for comprehension only), meaning-oriented note-taking, paying attention to word formation, and creating semantic associations and networks Strategies aimed at vocabulary retention correlated more with vocabulary size than with language proficiency Oral repetition and English proficiency correlated positively, but visual repetition of new words correlated negatively with both vocabulary size and English proficiency Memorization of vocabulary was found to be useful only when it was used in cluster with many other strategies

Schmitt‟s (1997) 58-item questionnaire was administered to 600 Japanese EFL learners of different ages: junior-high school, high school, university students, and adult learners Schmitt(1997) distinguished between strategies used for discovery of new words and strategies for consolidating the knowledge Discovery strategies included determination strategies used for independent looking up of the word‟s meaning and social strategies used for asking teachers or classmates for a meaning Consolidation strategies included social, cognitive, metacognitive, and memory strategies The participants were asked to indicate what strategies they used most often, and what strategies they found most helpful

The results showed that most frequently used strategies included using

a bilingual dictionary, verbal and written repetition, studying the spelling,

most helpful coincided with the most used ones: bilingual dictionary use, saying the new word aloud, oral repetition, and written repetition The results also showed changes in strategy use as learners matured: The youngest learners favored repetition, focus on form, L1–L2 word lists and cards More mature learners reported more strategies that involved deeper processing: imaging, associations, and analysis

Many more studies have investigated individual vocabulary-learning strategies, but only a few strategies have been researched in depth The most extensively studied vocabulary learning strategies are memory-based and inferencing strategies (Schmitt, 1997)

2.4 Summary

Chapter two has mainly examined some significant aspects of vocabulary learning, vocabulary learning strategies and available research works on vocabulary learning strategies Through the broad literature review in the field of vocabulary learning strategies, it can be seen that several researchers have made use of different vocabulary learning strategy classification systems Previous research work has been carried out in

a variety of purposes of the investigation, target populations, methods of data collection, places of research conduction, and different variables or factors

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY

This chapter discusses the methodology used in collecting data for this study Firstly, illustrations will be described through research setting and research question Secondly, details of the subjects are illustrated Apart from the data collection procedure, marking on how the questionnaires were

distributed is included

3.1 Research Setting

The study was conducted at Thanh Liem C high school There are 25 talented students in the English language selection The gifted students were recruited from the selected classes, including students achieved better academic achievement in the English learning process.They must participate

in the annual contest for gifted students, therefore, studying, consolidating and applying appropriate learning strategies to achieve good results in the exam for excellent students is very essential

Moreover, in the process of learning English, they are considered to have good thinking capability and have great enthusiasm about learning English These students have rich vocabulary and they have used different vocabulary strategies to achieve their purposes of learning English As a result, some of them won high prizes in the annual competition for gifted students

3.2 Participants

high school in Ha Nam are the target subjects of the study They are both male and female students aged from fifteen to seventeen and have learnt English at secondary schools for 5 years These students have studied in English seven years which is a requirement course offered by the National

The majority of the participants started learning English when they were ten years old Most students in the selection consider English their favorite subject They are all talented students who got good marks in the

entrance examination of the high school The table below summarizes the

background information of the participants, including the gender, age and their grades assessed by the teacher

Table 3.1 Information of the participants

Total number of participants

Secondly, all the students had received formal English instructions for

5 years at secondary school, some of them won prizes in competitions for excellent students previous years and they were supposed to have good knowledge of English words and sentences

3.3 Data collection instrument

There are varieties of methods that can be employed to collect data such as questionnaire, interview, observation and so on Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages.The researcher chose questionnaire because it is one of the most popular instruments It is quite easy to prepare and it can be used with a large number of subjects What is more, the information collected is not very difficult to tabulate and to analyze

(Brown,1995) In addition, questionnaires are generally used in collecting data from respondents about behavioral questions such as what they are doing or have done in the past (Dörnyei 2003)

The instrument used in this survey was a 40-item questionnaire based on Schmitt‟s Taxonomy for vocabulary learning strategies since it is one of the most comprehensive lists of strategies available and it matched with the researcher‟s purpose of the study

The questionnaire draws on both Discovery Strategies and Consolidation Strategies proposed by Schmitt(1997).The questions in the questionnaire will be analyzed in their vocabulary learning strategy groups

by counting its percentage It consisted of 40 items classified by five types of

strategies, such as Determination Strategies, Social Strategies, Memmory strategies, Cognitive and Metacognitive strategies, which were adapted from the vocabulary learning strategy classification based on Schmitt‟s Taxonomy (1997)

Discovery Strategies discovering meaning of new words includes 15

item - questionnaires, whose statements from 1 to 6 aim at gathering the information about Determination Strategies of Discovery meaning of new words and statements from 7 to 15 belong to Social Strategies Meanwhile,

25 statements of Consolidation strategies describe how the students consolidate a new word such as Memmory strategies (12 statements), Cognitive (8 statements) and Metacognitive strategies (5 statements )

The 40-item questionnaires were asked about the frequency of the use

of vocabulary learning strategies implemented by English talented students The participants were instructed to self-report how often they used the strategies by ticking ( √ ) in the corresponding columns ( see Apendix )