Using a vocabulary website to increase the vocabulary size of IT workers in Hanoi

Nonetheless, countless learners who learn English as a second language have always found learning vocabulary frequently as a challenging and boring task to do because they are too busy w

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THỊ LƯƠNG

USING A VOCABULARY WEBSITE TO INCREASE THE VOCABULARY SIZE OF IT WORKERS IN HANOI

(Việc sử dụng trang web từ vựng để gia tăng vốn từ của nhân viên IT tại Hà Nội)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

Hanoi, May 2019

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THỊ LƯƠNG

USING A VOCABULARY WEBSITE TO INCREASE THE VOCABULARY SIZE OF IT WORKERS IN HANOI

(Việc sử dụng trang web từ vựng để gia tăng vốn từ của nhân viên IT tại Hà Nội)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01

Supervisor: Trần Thị Thu Hiền, PhD

Hanoi, May 2019

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the thesis entitled “using a vocabulary website to increase the

vocabulary size of IT workers in Hanoi” is my own work and effort and that it has

not been submitted to any other university or institution wholly or partially

Hanoi, May 2019

Nguyễn Thị Lương

be unable to overcome difficulties during the time my research was carried out

Besides, I would like to give my whole-hearted thanks to my students in my tutor class for their enthusiastic participation in my research Without their help, I would not have been able to complete this paper

Last but not least, I owe a great debt of gratitude to my beloved family whose support and encouragement have always been a great deal of motivation that has helped me to overcome all problems to complete my thesis

Nguyễn Thị Lương

English as foreign language

Information communication technology

Information quality

First language

Second language

Uniform Resource Locator

Website for education

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS iii

LIST OF TABLES vi

ABSTRACT vii

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale of the study 1

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 3

1.3 Research questions 3

1.4 Scope of the study 3

1.5 Significance of the study 4

1.6 Methods of the study 4

1.7 Organization of the thesis 5

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 Vocabulary in Foreign Language Acquisition 6

2.1.1 Definition of vocabulary 6

2.1.2 Principles of vocabulary learning 7

2.1.3 Difficulties in learning vocabulary 10

2.1.4 Approaches to teaching and learning vocabulary 11

2.2 ICT application in vocabulary acquisition 16

2.2.1 Definition if ICT 16

2.2.2 Role of ICT in education 16

2.2.3 Potential use of ICT in vocabulary learning 17

2.3 Vocabulary websites 18

2.3.1 Definition of vocabulary websites 18

2.3.2 Evaluation criteria for vocabulary websites 18

2.4 Previous studies 22

2.4.1 Oversea studies 22

2.4.2 Vietnamese studies 24

2.5 Chapter summary 26

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 27

3.1 Context of the study 27

3.2 Action research 27

3.2.1 Definition 27

3.2.2 Rationale of uing AR 32

3.3 Participants of the study 33

3.4 Data collection instruments and procedure 34

3.4.1 The pre-test and post-test 34

3.4.2 The questionnaire 35

3.5 The research stages 35

3.5.1 Identifying the problem 35

3.5.2 Intervention 36

3.5.3 Post-intervention stage 36

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 38

4.1 The progress in increasing students’ vocabulary by using the vocabulary websites 38

4.1.1 Result of the pre-test 38

4.1.2 Result of the post-test 38

4.1.3 Result of the questionnaire 40

4.2 Discussion 41

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION 43

REFERENCES 47 APPENDICES I

APPENDIX A: PRE-TEST I APPENDIX B: POST TEST IV APPENDIX C: QUESTIONNAIRE VI APPENDIX D: Word List VII

LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1 The vocabulary pre-test 38

Table 4.2 The vocabulary post – test result 39

Table 4.3 The results of students’ questionnaire answers 40

LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3.1 Types of research methodology 27

Figure 3.2 Ernest Stringer’s AR model (in Mills, G 2003, p.18) 29

Figure 3.3 Detailed AR model 31

Chart 4.1 The overall mean score in pre-test and post-test 39

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the potential effect of using a vocabulary website on increasing vocabulary size The research aimed to figure out whether the use of vocabulary instruction website could help widen IT students’ vocabulary and to identify students’ attitude towards using the website instead of their traditional way

In order to accomplish these purposes, 15 students who are IT workers in one of my tutor classes in Hanoi were selected to participate in the study All the students learned to take TOEIC exam to meet their company requirement which is 700 TOEIC and they came from the same linguistic background To achieve this target

in a short period of time, the students focus mainly on increasing the passive vocabulary Three data collection instruments were employed, namely pre-test/post-tests and questionnaire After one month, the post-test and a questionnaire were administered The analysis of the data collected revealed that the students made encouraging progress in boosting vocabulary size by using the vocabulary website; besides, according to the result of the questionnaire these IT workers were more motivated to learn vocabulary than they usually do

Key words: vocabulary learning, vocabulary increase, information

communication technology (ICT)

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale of the study

Undoubtedly, English has become the global language which is used widely all over the world, at school and for entertainment and tourism and especially at work Among many other elements to master before one can have communicative competence at English, vocabulary plays one of the most significant roles “One thing that students, teachers, materials writers, and researchers can all agree upon is that learning vocabulary is an essential part of mastering a second language However, the best means of achieving good vocabulary learning is still unclear, partly because it depends on a wide variety of factors” (Schmitt, 2008) Wikins argued (1972) that “Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed.” Oxford (1990a) pointed out that language learners typically have significant difficulty remembering large vocabularies Over the past recent years, numerous studies have examined English learning, and most emphasized the importance of vocabulary learning to English learning (DeCarrio, 2001) An excellent vocabulary is beneficial to inferring meaning from English sentences (Harmon, 1998, 2002; Rupley, Logan & Nichols, 1999) Nonetheless, countless learners who learn English as a second language have always found learning vocabulary frequently as a challenging and boring task to do because they are too busy with their work, social relationships and family; not to mention that most of them cannot memorize words as well as young learners, especially with long or infrequently used words In addition, learning vocabulary is supposed to do

by themselves at home, and then it requires lots of autonomy and self-motivation Last but not least, forgetting learned vocabulary is another serious problem during learning English vocabulary Forgetting is the loss of information over time People typically recall information better just after learning than after a long delay Ebbinghaus (1985), based on experimental result, proposed the forgetting curve However, memory strategies help learners to overcome forgetting Memory

strategies enable learners to store and retrieve information when needed Oxford (1990a) subdivided memory strategies into following four types creating mental linkages; applying images and sounds; reviewing; and, employing actions However, as a teacher, the researcher often sees the lack of strategies students in learning vocabulary

While English has become the most important second language in English speaking countries, developing modern assistive learning forms or tools that support effective English learning has been a crucial issue in language English education field Besides work books and other written resources, technology integrated language teaching provides a lot of materials for language learners as well Websites might be regarded as online teaching tools which can be very effective resources both for learners and teachers While teachers cannot spend a sufficient amount of time to teach vocabulary regularly at class, making use of some vocabulary website equipped with lots of organized learning tools can be a wise choice Using some particular vocabulary sites to learn new words, teachers can recommend students with appropriate range of words and can keep track of student’s vocabulary size as well as be able design some more relevant activities or tasks at class In other words, these websites can work as an efficient teaching and learning tool Besides, we are living in a time of high technology that almost every adult owns at least one smart mobile phone or tablet which is easily accessible to the Internet, students feel free to learn at their convenience, which is perfect for busy workers such as IT employees

The students that the researcher teaches are IT workers who are learning English for TOEIC exam In a regular TOEIC test, there are two skills being tested, namely listening and reading; besides, this is a multiple-choice test then students who learn for the test rather than for a direct communicative purposes

Last but not least, the website chosen for the research on is https//: quizlet.com Its reputation has been stated with over fifty million users active every month It is creatively designed for a variety of levels and subjects The website

quizlet.com let the students learn the words they choose by inputting them into the site and it will create activities, tests and games with those words Whereas, traditionally, students often find it uninteresting to learn vocabulary with flashcards

or repeat the word in writing or speaking, but with these websites they can learn, do test and play games Words are presented with picture and spoken by native speaker The website also marks the students on each words they learn and give them more tasks for the words they tend to miss With such varied qualities, students are more likely to find it interesting to learn vocabulary

For such those reason, the researcher has chosen this matter to conduct the study

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study

This research aims at using a vocabulary website to encourage adult students who work for an IT company in order to increase their vocabulary size In order to achieve the aim, the researcher points out some main objectives as below:

- Investigating to what extent using the vocabulary website suggested by the researcher increases the students’ vocabulary size

- Identifying the students’ attitude towards the use of vocabulary websites for improving their vocabulary size

1.3 Research questions

In a nutshell, the researcher is going to answer two following questions:

1 To what extent does using a vocabulary website improve the IT workers’ vocabulary size?

2 What is the attitude of the IT workers towards the use of vocabulary websites for improving vocabulary size?

1.4 Scope of the study

There are many aspects of learning vocabulary to be investigated; however, this study is narrowed down to identify the effect of using a vocabulary website to increase the number of words and mainly focus on vocabulary retention in short-term memory in order that adult students of a small-scale class can make use of it for a specific target (the TOEIC test in this case) Therefore, the use and

improvement of the vocabulary size for other purposes like communication would not be discussed in this study

1.5 Significance of the study

Needless to say how important the role that vocabulary learning and teaching plays is to language learners, teachers and linguistics; this study might make be taken advantage in the following aspects

In term of theory, the study would make some certain contribution to the field of vocabulary teaching and learning as well as information technology application into language learning The whole study based on a great number of theories of knowledge related to vocabulary learning and teaching from renowned linguistics all over the world and several studies closely related to the field that this research investigates

For practical use, the study, if proved effective, will be a good reference to English learners and teachers in the similar context Learning vocabulary of a language has always been considered as one of the hardest parts in learning a new language, as it is rather boring but time-consuming Learners are supposed to memorize a massive number of words to master the language Therefore, if this website proves to be an effective way of learning vocabulary, language learners can make extensive use of Moreover, although the study is conducted in a small scale class, once being completed, it may bring advantages to numerous teachers Optimistically, the teachers will take this research as a helpful consultant for teaching English vocabulary to learners

1.6 Methods of the study

In order to achieve the aims and objectives afore mentioned, the study employs a mix-method approach In this research, both qualitative and quantitative methods are employed

Firstly, the quantitative method is used to analyze the data collected from the pre-tests and post-tests Then, conclusions are drawn from the results using inferential statistics In the next step of the research, the qualitative method has been

applied so that the data collected from the survey questionnaire can show out the learners’ attitudes towards the use of the vocabulary website in their vocabulary development

Importantly, action research plays a crucial role in this thesis as through the stages of the research conducted by the researchers, the learner’s vocabulary development and their attitudes towards the use of the website have been identified

1.7 Organization of the thesis

The minor thesis is composed of following parts and chapters:

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

This part presents rationale of the study, aims and objectives, research questions, the scope, the significance, the research methods and organization of the study

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents the theoretical backgrounds and previous research related

to the topic of the study

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

This chapter involves the information about the setting of the study, the participants, instruments for collecting data and data collection and analysis procedures

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

The findings of the tests, questionnaire and observations are presented in this chapter Issues related to the topic are then discussed to help hightlight the research findings

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION

This part summarizes major findings, provides recommendations, shows limitations of the study and suggests topic for further studies

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Vocabulary in Foreign Language Acquisition

2.1.1 Definition of vocabulary

There are several definitions of vocabulary in the literature review The central idea of these definitions may be summed up by Lewis (1993) who identified vocabulary as “individual words, or full sentences – institutionalized utterances – that convey fixed social or pragmatic meaning within a given community” So from single words like “play” to multiple word items such as greenhouse and father –in-law can be identified as vocabulary as long as it expresses a single idea Another definition sharing this idea is “a set of lexemes, including single words, compound words and idioms” (Richard, Platt &, 1992) or as defined by Ur (1996 :60):

“vocabulary can be defined, roughly, as the words we teach in the foreign language However, a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word” Likewise, McCarthy (1990) argues that multi-word units including idioms and phrasal verbs should clearly be treated as single lexical items since their meaning are partly identified by their fixedness The second idea would be the definition of vocabulary

as its importance in a language Pyles and Algeo (1970) stated when most it of us think about language we think first about words It is true that the vocabulary is the focus of language It is in words that sounds and meanings interlock to allow us to communicate with one another, and it is words that we arrange together to make sentences, conversation and discourse of all kinds As another researcher supporting this idea, Wilkins (1972) also emphasized this “without grammar, very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing conveyed” Therefore, vocabulary teaching and learning has long been an area of concern to linguists To what extent a words is considered known to learners is another question Nation (2001) once stated knowing a word means knowing at least it forms, its meaning and its basic usage Besides, there are many factors affecting the learning difficulty of words

Overviews are given by Nation (1990, ch.3), Laufer (1997), and Rodgers (1969) Nowadays, no one might deny the significant role of vocabulary in language teaching and learning

Last but not least, what is meant to see the overall task of vocabulary learning is through the distinction between knowing a word and using a word In other words, the purpose of vocabulary learning should include both remembering words and the ability to use them automatically in a wide range of language contexts when the need arises (McCarthy, 1984) In fact, evidence suggests that the knowledge aspect (both breadth and depth) requires more conscious and explicit learning mechanisms whereas the skill aspect involves mostly implicit learning and memory (Ellis, 1994) Vocabulary learning strategies, therefore, should include strategies for “using” as well as “knowing” a word Another way to view vocabulary learning is to see it as a process of related sub-tasks When learners first encounter a new word, they might guess its meaning and usage from available clues Some learners might proceed to look it up in the dictionary Others might take down notes along the margins, between the lines, or on separate vocabulary notebooks Some learners will repeat the new word a number of times until they are comfortable with it Others will go beyond simple rote repetition to commit the word to memory Some would even try to use the word actively Each of these task stages demands metacognitive judgment, choice, and deployment of cognitive strategies for vocabulary learning And each strategy a learner uses will determine

to a large extent how and how well a new word is learned

2.1.2 Principles of vocabulary learning

However, many theories about vocabulary learning process were written, it still remains the matter of memory Thus, there are several general principles for successful teaching, which are valid for any method According to Wallace (1988), the principles are:

 Aim – what is to be taught, which words, how many

 Need - target vocabulary should respond student’s real needs and interests

 Frequent exposure and repetition

 Meaningful presentation – clear and unambiguous denotation or Reference should be assured

Estimates of vocabulary size based on an individual’s knowledge of words sampled from a dictionary or frequency accounts of words found in the running text have continued to be the main source of information about vocabulary size (Lorge and Chall, 1963)

Unlike the learning of grammar, which is essentially a rule based system; vocabulary is mainly a question of accumulating individual item The general rule seems to be the question of memory during the process of learning and teaching vocabulary Thornburry (2002) distinguished memory into three systems namely short-term memory, long-term memory and working memory Short-term store is the brain capacity to hold a limited number of item of information for a short period

of time It is kind of memory that is involved in repeating a word that you have just heard your teacher modeling But successful vocabulary learning involves more than holding words for such short period of time To integrate words into long-term memory they need to be subjected to different kinds of operations on them It means the information is manipulated via the senses from external sources and/ or downloaded from the long-term memory Material remains in the working memory for about twenty second The existence of articulator loop enables this new material working It works a bit like audiotape going round around again It reassures the short-term store to be refreshed The ability to hold a word in working memory is a good predictor of language learning aptitude The better ability to hold words in working memory the smoother process of learning foreign languages is Long-term memory can be seen as permanent content, this kind of memory has an enormous capacity and its contents are durable over time However, to ensure moving new materials into permanent long-term memory requires number of principles to be followed, described by Thornbury (2002):

• Repetition-repetition of encounters with a word is very important, useful

and effective If the word is met several times over space interval during reading activities, students have a very good chance to remember it for a long time

• Retrieval: another kind of repetition Activities, which require retrieval, such as using the new items in written tasks, help students to be able to recall

it again in the future

• Spacing it is useful to split memory work over a period of time rather than

to mass it together in a single block

• Pacing-to respect different learning styles and pace, students should be ideally given the opportunity to do memory work individually

• Use-putting words to use, prefer ably in an interesting way, is the best way

of ensuring they are added to long-term memory This is so called “Use it or lose it” principle

• Cognitive depth-the more decisions students make about the word and the more cognitively demanding these decisions are, the better the word is remembered

• Personal-organizing personalization significantly increased the probability that students will remember new items It is achieved mainly through conversation and role playing activities

• Imaging-easily visualized words are better memorable than those that do not evoke with any pictures Even abstract words can be associated with some mental image

• Mnemonics – tricks to help retrieve items or rules that are stored in memory The best kinds of mnemonics are visuals and keyword techniques

• Motivation strong motivation itself does not ensure that words will be remembered Even unmotivated students remember words if they have to face appropriate tasks

• Attention it is not possible to improve vocabulary without a certain degree

of conscious attention

More importantly, it should be noted that 5-16 exposures are needed in order

to learn a word from context (Nation: 1990) Meara (1997) suggested a 0.01 hypothesis (1 uptake every 100 exposures) for L2 learners, arguing that these learners are normally unable to be exposed to large quantities of text A more recent study (Horst, Cobb, & Meara, 1998), which featured low intermediate EFL learners reading a 109- page book over a ten-day period, obtained a 20% pick-up rate They also observed than words that were repeated less Results so far seem to vary considerably However, researchers do seem to have come to the conclusion that the number of exposures needed for the mastery of a new word hinges on many other factors such as the salience of the word in context (Brown, 1993), the richness of contextual clues, the learner’s interest and the size and quality of his/her existing repertoire of vocabulary (Laufer & Hadar, 1997; Nation & Hwang, 1995)

Encouraging findings on this issue can be found in the literature Crothers and Suppes (1967) discovered that almost all of their participants remembered all

108 Russian – English word pairs after 7 repetitions, and about 80% of 216 word pairs were learned by most participants after 6 repetitions Similarly, Lado, Baldwin and Lobo (1976) presented their intermediate level college students of Spanish with

a list of 100 words, and found that only one exposure sufficed for an average of 95% recognition and 65% recall In general, results on this issue show that, if remembering word pairs is the aim, a surprising amount can be learned within a relatively short time (Thorndike, 1908; Webb, 1962), and not many repetitions are needed before the L2-L1 word pairs can be remembered

2.1.3 Difficulties in learning vocabulary

Word forms may differ in difficulty for coding and storing depending on the learner’s prior phonotactic knowledge When a L2 learner embarks on the learning of an entirely new language, morphonologically and phonetically unrelated

to any language already known to him or her, he or she may experience great difficulties in storing isolated as well as clustered sounds or letters Learning the first 15 content words of a new L2 language may take the beginning learner several

hours However, three months of daily study later, he or she may easily add another hundred new words to his or her medium-sized vocabulary in one hour simply because, by that time, letters and sounds are no longer encoded as single units but in now familiar chunks of phonemes, morphemes, syllables and prosodic patterns The learner now implicitly knows which sequences and combination of elements are legal and which ones are not (Ellis & Beaton, 1993) Several studies have shown that repetition of L2 word forms in the form of avert or silent articulation, briefly held in working memory (Baddeley, 1997) promotes their long-term retention Thus, the evidence of all these studies suggests that the codability and hence the memorability of the forms of new words is contingent upon the learner’s prior familiarity with various aspects of the linguistic system

The second subjective, knowledge-dependent factor affecting a word’s memorability is the arbitrariness of the form-meaning link, i.e., arbitrariness in terms of existing lexical knowledge If a new word appears to the learner as having

a form unrelated to its meaning it will need more attention and mental elaboration than if it has a transparent appearance For example, suppose someone was trying to coin a new word in the English language referring to a door made of opaque glass Suppose, furthermore, this person considered three alternatives: “fogdoor”, “rog” and “dorricor”, then clearly for people already familiar with the words “fog”,

“door” and “corridor”, “fogdoor”, being a non-arbitrary and transparent word form, would be easy to learn, while “rog” and “dorricor” would be more difficult to learn,

“rog” being a fully arbitrary word form, and “dorricor” likely to be confused with

“corridor”: being what Laufer (1988,1991) has called a “synform”, when lexical forms similar in their phonological, graphic and/or morphological features, prone to causing lexical confusion in learners of English

2.1.4 Approaches to teaching and learning vocabulary

2.1.4.1 Incidental and intentional vocabulary learning

Incidental learning is not planned by either the instructor or the student but occurs as a ‘by-product’ of another activity; intentional learning is regarded as

being deliberately intended by the teacher or the students (Nation, 1990) In terms

of learning vocabulary, incidental learning requires learners to acquire vocabulary through reading, and, although some tasks or exercises might be imposed on them, the tasks or the exercises may not be directly related to learning vocabulary In contrast, intentional learning requires learners to memorize the meaning of the target words via various conscious vocabulary-learning strategies

Much research (Krashen, 1993; Laufer, 2009; Nagy, Herman, & Anderson, 1985) has shown that the successful achievement of incidental vocabulary learning could manifest through extensive reading However, some researchers (Nation, 2001; Van Zeeland & Schmitt, 2012; Waring & Nation, 2004) have questioned the effectiveness of extensive reading on incidental vocabulary learning For instance, Waring and Nation (2004) argued that extensive reading could not provide enough opportunities to learn vocabulary proficiently within a restricted time Instead, they proposed that explicit vocabulary learning, wherein attention is paid to linguistic forms, is more effective in learning vocabulary Other researchers (Nation, 2001; Van Zeeland & Schmitt, 2012) have also pointed out that successful guessing in context requires knowing 95% of the words In some research, although incidental vocabulary learning did occur, the effects were very small and cumulative For example, Saragi, Nation and Meister (1978) argued that, for the words to be better engraved in learners’ mind, at least ten instances of exposure to target words were necessary Waring and Takaki (2003) proposed that almost one half of the vocabulary learned incidentally through reading was lost after three months, and the learners needed at least eight instances to achieve a 50% chance of recognizing a word after three months Moreover, Teng (2014a) also proposed that ten instances were needed for EFL learners in China to master the form and meaning of target words incidentally Hence, the extant research questions the effectiveness of extensive reading on incidental learning for L2 or EFL learners However, this research shares a common point in that learners could deepen the understanding of previously encountered words, thus making it easier to master the words when they

have more exposure to the words through extensive reading Therefore, according to the mentioned research, learning from extensive reading Therefore, according to the mentioned research, learning from extensive reading is worthwhile Indeed, as stated in Nation (2008), extensive reading is, by far, one of the most essential vocabulary learning strategies and an indispensable part of any vocabulary learning program In addition to this, the research on incidental learning sheds light on understanding the process of acquiring words

However, focusing solely on incidental vocabulary learning is not sufficient (Nation, 2001) Consequently some researchers (Pellicer-Sanchez & Schimitt, 2010; Pigada & Schmitt,2006) have recommended a learning method that combines intentional and incidental learning, arguing that, although extensive reading does contribute to the incidental learning of vocabulary, a supplementary regime with explicit vocabulary-enhancing exercises yields more vocabulary gains The current study, with an aim to measure the growth of vocabulary knowledge for EFL learners through extensive reading, employs two different groups: a control group (CG) receiving instruction in extensive reading only, and an experimental group (EG) using a combined method of incidental learning and intentional learning; e.g., they received extensive reading plus pushed-output activities of learning vocabulary

2.1.4.2 Grammar-translation method

Grammar-translation method of foreign language teaching is one of the most traditional methods, dating back to the late nineteenth and early twentieth century It was originally used to each “dead” languages (and literatures) such as Latin and Greek (Thuleen, 1996) However, conscious learning of grammar is no longer the leading strategy in language educating area The principle characteristic

of the grammar-translation method is a focus on learning the grammar rules and their application in translating from one language to the other Most of the teaching

is provided in students’first language Vocabulary is presented mainly through direct translation from the native language and memorization, using bilingual

wordlist:

e.g accountant – kế toán

aiport – sân bay

The basic unit of teaching process is a sentence Students spend most of the lesson time completing grammar exercises where the main emphasis is laid on the accuracy and following given structure The grammar is presented systematically in students’ native language and practiced through translation from one language to the other, e.g

The woman is sitting by the window – Người phụ nữ đang ngồi gần cửa sổ

Bạn có thể đưa tôi ra sân bay được không – Can you take me to the airport?

In regard to language skills, reading and writing are distinctively preferred to speaking and listening Little time is spent on oral practice and students

do not have enough opportunities to produce their own sentences

Krashen (1987) analyzed linguistic output of students from grammar translation class He noticed the fact that many students make errors in rules that are easy to describe, which means that this technique cannot lead to acquisition He also emphasizes the importance in balance between grammatical accuracy and communication Though utilizing grammar rules raise student’s correctness, when speaking they incline to have a hesitant style that is often difficult to listen to They plan their utterance while their conversational partner is talking Their output maybe accurate, but they all too often do not pay enough attention to what the other person

is saying Students often have difficulties “relating” to the language, because the classroom experience keeps them from personalizing in or developing their own style Grammar translation method should be tempered with other approaches to create a more flexible and conducive methodology Thuleen, in his website article criticizes the harmful effect on students’ interest: “The worst effect of this method is

on students’ motivation Because (s)he cannot succeed leads to frustration and lack

of confidence in language usage On the other hand, for students who respond well

to rules, structure and correction, the grammar translation method can provide a

challenging and even appealing classroom environment” stated Thuleen (1996) The list of linguistic attitudes to grammar translation method could be finished by Barnhouse (1981): “In English teaching dominated by the grammar translation method accuracy is emphasized more than fluency Students in such classroom are extremely particular about linguistic details They never feed satisfied with their language productions until the correct answers are provided They are keenly interested in the exact words, have a low tolerance of ambiguity, and tend to focus

on discrete grammar points and specific syntactic constructions”

The role of translation is emphasized through this method as Harmer (1993) “Translation seems to be a useful tool if used sparingly, but t should be used with caution” If teachers rely on the use of translation to excess, students are losing some of the essential spirit of being in a language learning classroom This often causes listening skills decline Furthermore, Harmer points to the difficulties of translation, which requires an efficient speaker of both languages to translate well Additionally, according to Harmer, sometimes it is worth giving the mother tongue equivalent rather than to spending valuable time trying to define or show the meaning

Considering the aim of this method we must admit a great deal of grammar translation method for generations of people educated in such way, particularly in the study The students in the research learn to take TOEIC test which focus on listening and reading multiple choice questions In addition to this, the students use English at work mainly reading some instructions in English To conclude, it would not be fair to condemn it for being old fashioned and worthless On the other side, it would be of great value to the students with such particular purpose in learning as shown in the experiment later; especially for influencing their motivation and their linguistic competence in term of increasing their vocabulary size

2.2 ICT application in vocabulary acquisition

2.2.1 Definition if ICT

Information and communication technology (ICT) is referred to as the varied collection of technological gear and resources which are made use of to communicate They are also made use of to generate, distribute, collect and administer information ICT has incredibly changed many aspects of the life we live ICT consists of software, hardware, network and media for collecting, processing, storage, transmission and presentation of the information (voice, text, data and images) as well as related services ICT can be divided into two components, information and communication infrastructure which refer to physical telecommunication system and networks (cellular, broadcast, cable, satellite, postal) and the services that utilize those (internet, voice, mail, radio, and the television); and information technology that refers to the hardware and software of information collection, storage, processing, and presentation

2.2.2 Role of ICT in education

Introducing ICT as a tool to support the education sector has initiated substantial discussions since the late 1990s Over two decades ago the emphasis was

on technical and vocational education and training and training teachers During recent years, an increasing number of international development agencies have embraced the potential of ICT t support education sector

Integrating ICT in teaching and learning is high on educational reform agenda Often ICT is seen as indispensable tool to fully participate in the knowledge society ICT needs to be seen as “an essential aspect of teaching’s cultural toolkit in the twenty-first century, affording new and transformative models of development that extend the nature and reach of teaching and learning wherever it takes place” (Leach, 2005) For developing countries like Vietnam, ICT can moreover be seen as

a way to merge into a globalizing world It is assumed that ICT brings revolutionary change in teaching methodologies The innovation lies not per se in the introduction and use of ICT but in its roles as a contributor towards a student-centered form of

teaching and learning

2.2.3 Potential use of ICT in vocabulary learning

Channell (1998) argued for the need of teaching approaches for

vocabulary learning as a separate learning activity since the lexicon that organizes

the mental vocabulary in a speaker’s mind appears to be an independent entity in

processing A similar view as expressed by Carter (1992) that “the need for much

more vocabulary t be taught and learned as a separate activity rather than, say, part

of a grammar or reading lesson” However Carter did not suggest separating

vocabulary learning from communication and pointed to the need of both a static

approach “i.e word semantics) and a dynamic approach (i.e word usage) in

vocabulary teaching and learning The importance of learning word meanings as

well as words in context has also been stressed (Allen, 1983; DeCarrico, 2001)

As Taylor (1990) pointed out, receptive and productive skills are both

within the domain of vocabulary learning However, a learner may be overloaded f

she or he is asked to learn both word meaning and form simultaneously Thus

learners may start off with learning word meaning by stressing receptive skills After gaining a firm grasp of the word meaning, the learners may then try other

means, such as choral repetition, to help with understand the word forms This will

assist them in using the learnt words correctly in new contexts One of the most

tremendous advantages from educational websites is their visual stimulation

Appropriate use of sensual stimuli is believed to be beneficial to learning, not only

for ordinary learners but also for learners with learning difficulties (Schmidt, 2005)

Allen (1983) believed that the more coherent sensual stimuli a learner is exposed to

in a learning process, the higher the chance that she or he will learn successfully

Taylor (1990) added that “a combination of stimuli is desirable, with written

consolidation for adults, in order to facilitate transfer from short-term to long-term

memory” Heidemann (1995) expressed a similar view in relation to three main

concern guiding the design of visual materials on learning web pages, namely

learner-oriented principles “e.g maintaining learner motivation).picture figures (e.g

presenting vocabulary items in semantically related groups) and picture functions (e.g pictures are remembered better than words and can therefore act as mediators

of new knowledge) The research community generally agrees that visual elements like pictures help learners remember and recall the words that have seen

2.3 Vocabulary websites

2.3.1 Definition of vocabulary websites

According Collins dictionary, a website is a set of data and information about a particular subject which is available on the internet In addition to this idea, Cambridge dictionary defined a website as a set of related web pages containing information of a particular subject, published by a single person or an organization

A website is hosted on at least one web server, assessable via a network such as the internet or a private local area network through an internet address also called URL Recent developments in computer have triggered a whole line of interest

in electronic dictionaries, online dictionaries or vocabulary glosses intergrated into language learning software or web pages (Hulstijn, 1993; Laufer & Hill, 2000; Lomika, 1998)

To conclude, vocabulary websites can be defined as a collection of related web pages consisting of images, video, lessons, conversations, exercises, quizzes, tests, games, etc in order to help students memorize a number of new vocabulary in a language

2.3.2 Evaluation criteria for vocabulary websites

There are thousands of websites for learning and teaching English available on the internet With such many choices, learners definitely feel confused

to pick up one so that it matches their needs the best There are two valuation models, namely CARE (Yuen & So, 1999) and WSE (Kim et al., 2001) used to evaluate websites for education

CARE is an acronym for the information quality (IQ) categories in contents, accessibility, representation and education Each IQ category is associated with a number of IQ dimensions, such as completeness, uniqueness, motivation and

creativity, to name just a few Other dimensions which may be relevant are not discussed in this paper Note that most of the IQ dimensions in the accessibility and representation categories are of technical nature and are not detailed here

Kim et al (2001) further described in their websites for education (WSE) model that “a website for education should present explanation about how to utilize it in education and about the web page regarding educational courses.” The authenticity

of the information source is stressed A specific dimension that WSE addresses which is not covered by CARE is whether an education website can facilitate the formation of a learning community

The CARE model offers several important guiding principles on the technical aspect of education website development First, navigation should be user friendly and it should always offer clear, quick and direct links to the main content

It is preferable that materials can be easily accessed within a few clicks The language used should be clear, simple and correct to facilitate navigation

Second, with a stress on the quality of expression, the look and feel of the web site should be consistent The layout and location of different frames should be the same whichever level the learners go to This gives uniformity and consistency

to the web site Any plug-in software, if required, should be made clear to users, either when users visit the home page of the web site or when the concerned software application is executed

Third, it is important to ensure that the use of multimedia is an enhancement, not a distraction Last, but not least, web site interactivity can be achieved not only

by the presence of games, but also timely feedback A means of communication between the users and the web master would be a desirable bridge for giving and collecting opinions as to how the web site can be enhanced

As another view on this matter, five guidelines were described by Wood

(2001) to help design effective vocabulary learning soft- ware from an educational perspective:

 relating the new to the known;

 promoting active, in-depth processing;

 providing multiple exposures to new words;

 teaching students to be strategic readers;

 promoting additional reading

In addition, with regard to the desirable technical features of a vocabulary web site, Wood (2001) suggested the following:

 animations;

 sound components;

 hints or clues related to word meaning;

 multimodal presentation of information;

 online definitions, glossaries or thesauruses

We believe that the above features are also applicable to the design of educational games Cowan (1974) listed some other evaluative criteria for assessing vocabulary games

 Relevance The tasks to be achieved in a game should be ‘readily related by the student to the tasks required in the study course’ (Cowan, 1974, p 57)

 Peer interaction The games should be accommodated with sufficient interaction between various players to increase the group dynamic and promote peer learning

 Continuous motivation The games should ensure continuous motivation for learners This can be achieved by providing a sufficient challenge and the scope to mature to players

 Minimum equipment Although the use of some ‘games-like’ equipment, such as joysticks and steering wheels, may increase the excitement of the games, too much may distract the learners’ attention from the learning goals

The chosen website was considered in the criteria suggested above and it shows that the site meet many of them especially the desirable technical features enlisted by Wood (2001); namely, animations, sound components, hints or clues related to word meaning, multimodal presentation of information

Besides, the site fulfills other evaluative criteria suggested by Cowan (1974) such as continuous motivation and minimum equipment

However, the website still has not met some other criteria; namely peer interactions (Cowan, 1974) or more importantly, it misses a few significant points of the five guidelines given by Wood (2001) such as promoting additional reading and promoting active in-dept processing

This website is particularly designed for learning vocabulary which are mostly input by the learners When learners encounter new words, they can put them on the website and those words will be organized into different tasks and activities, games so that language learners can memorize them after completing those activities The illustrations look simple but professional, appalling and more importantly customized Especially the instructions are easy enough for even students at low to follow efficiently The point is that the students can learn the words they find from different materials off the website Not many website allow students to learn the new words that way The users can also browse for the picture illustrating the new words or update their own pictures In term of functionality, it

is a customized site well-accessed with steady and speedy connection so there

2.4 Previous studies

2.4.1 Oversea studies

Regarding the application of technology in vocabulary learning, several studies have been conducted, as the Internet getting used so widely One of them was conducted by Sim Monica from University of Oradea, Romania (2013) to identify the impact of social media; in this case, Facebook, on vocabulary learning Social media language learning is an innovative approach in teaching languages interactively, linking social channels to language learning When social media has been expanded so massively that there are billions of users, it would be so beneficial

if people can make use of it in learning language The research does emphasize the convenience of Facebook – the curren most popular social network To specify, it is

a valuable way for the students to communicate, to get news and other kinds of information In this research, 127 college students, after taking a pre-test, were divided into two groups, experimental group and control group Then they would receive either Facebook instructional program or traditional lecture program After one semester, the two groups took a post-test The result of the study did not support the assumption that the experimental group outperform the control group as there were no significant different between the groups’ test result Nevertheless, the overall differences were slightly in favor of the Facebook instructional strategy This meant using Facebook in teaching vocabulary proved a little bit more effective than the traditional method, even if not necessarily crucial Another study was carried out by Florence and Kwan from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (2006) The two researchers tried to find out whether online vocabulary games could be used as a tool for teaching and learning English vocabulary To specify, the research was conducted in order to identify the effects of using games and tasks on some educational websites in Hong Kong on learning vocabulary This study showed lots of valuable theories related to the field To specify, the article stated what characteristics those are important to learning languages according to

different linguists In the study, visual stimulation is stated as advantageous toward

learning, In addition, an appropriate use of sensual stimuli is believed to be beneficial to learning, not only for ordinary learners but also for learners with learning difficulties (Schmidt, 2005) Heidemann (1995) expressed a similar view in relation to three main concerns guiding the design of the visual materials on learning web pages, namely learner-oriented principles (e.g maintaining learner motivation), picture features (e.g presenting vocabulary items in semantically related groups) and picture functions (e.g pictures are remembered better than words and can therefore act as mediators of new knowledge) The research also used certain evaluative criteria for educational websites which they use for learning vocabulary Two evaluation models namely CARE (Yuen & So, 1999) and WSE

were combined and adopted in this study for the evaluation of educational websites

The CARE model offers several important guiding principles on the technical aspect of education web site development

The research results show, both quantitatively and qualitatively, that learners playing online vocabulary games tend to learn better and could retain the learnt vocabulary for a longer period and retrieve more words than those who simply attended face-to-face lessons without accessing the vocabulary games Although Kiili (2005) expressed serious doubt about the effectiveness of drill and practice games to learning, our research indicates that vocabulary learning can be significantly improved by their use Students expressed a preference for online lessons One possible explanation for this finding is that students welcome a higher degree of autonomy in their learning and they tend to be in control of their own learning when learning from vocabulary web sites with games This research has shed light on various aspects of the use of online games for tertiary English vocabulary learning and teaching The key findings are as follows:

 Online games are regarded by both students and teachers as effective vocabulary learning

 Students tend to favor online games as a learning tool when compared with

face-to-face learning lessons;

 To retain students’ interest and ensure learning effectiveness, more motivating games that give students a sense of achievement and scope for development are needed;

 Teachers think their role as researcher and facilitator has grown more prominent

as a result of the use of information communication technology tools

In summary, there is no apparent research on the website the researcher would like to conduct one on-http//:quizlet.com However, the research conducted

by Florence and Kwan from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (2006) is useful to refer since it mentioned important points of influences of two educational media on vocabulary and especially some certain information of evaluating websites for education While the two studies concentrates on studying the online games or social media on learning vocabulary of students at college, the current research studies one website which focus more on learning activities for adult workers Besides, the purposes of learning vocabulary in the learners in the three studies are different too All in all, despite some similarities of the topic for research, the subject and participants among three studies are different, which make findings disparate

2.4.2 Vietnamese studies

Regarding the topic of learning vocabulary, there are quite a number of Vietnamese studies mentioning the topic of learning vocabulary The two studies that have the most similar topic are as below

The first is an action study on the effect of strategy training program on learning vocabulary independently at a medical school in Hai Phong This study adapted Cohen (1998)’s strategy training to help students achieve learner autonomy and linguistic autonomy Besides, by choosing their own strategies without continued prompting from the language teacher, learners should be able to monitor and evaluate the relative effectiveness of their strategy use, and more fully develop their problem-solving skills In this way, learners are encouraged to become more

autonomous, to diagnose some of their own learning strengths and weaknesses, and

to self-direct the process of language development What is the most important in the research literature review is to build up the learner autonomy in learning through three phases; namely, raising awareness, attitude-changing and role-transferring What the research did is applying three sets of vocabulary strategies suggested by Schmit (1997) including dictionary-related strategies (use bilingual dictionary, study the spelling of a word, study the sound of a word, remember part of speech), recording vocabulary (keep a vocabulary notebook, take notes in class, group words together to study them) and studying affixes (analyze affixes and roots, remember affixes and roots) The research also found out the most frequent problems that his learn encountered in independent vocabulary learning, namely, not enough time, not enough material, not interested, not know what to learn, not know how to learn As

a result of adopting the learning strategies, the students showed relative impressive performance in learning vocabulary However, only two third of the students used the strategies as much as the researcher expected Besides, the students considered the dictionary related strategies as the most useful and most frequently used among the three sets of strategies

The second research investigated the use of games in learning and teaching vocabulary The research was carried out with 16 teachers and 160 students at the age between 13 and 45 The research was based on the approach of Fraenkel and Wallen (1996) for randomly selecting four classes for investigation Apart from investigating the using of game in learning and teaching of vocabulary, the research explored the way that students currently use for learning vocabulary As expected, they learnt words separately, or in written form, learned by highlighting words in books; which is not effective or interesting to them That explained why most of the students suggested changing the current method of teaching vocabulary On the other hand, the teachers who were surveyed stated that they found the most difficulties to make good use of materials in teaching vocabulary especially they found it hard to choose what words to teach and what not Most of the teachers

agreed that many of the vocabulary topics in current materials were not useful for their students’ practical use In term of using game, the students and teachers reflected positively on its effect on their classes’ atmosphere and the success of lessons Apparently, the students wanted to use more games in other stages of lessons

2.5 Chapter summary

In summary, the literature on vocabulary acquisition, ICT and some previous studies reviewed above provides evidence of the likelihood of some positive impact

of ICT on learners’ language acquisition, particularly the beneficial effects of using

it on increasing students ‘vocabulary size Therefore, applying ICT can be advantageous to help students improve their English in general and particularly enrich their vocabulary

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

3.1 Context of the study

The chosen students were taken from a tutor corporate class They are all IT programmers working for an IT company The classes are organized with 10-15 students at the same intermediate level The class target is to get TOEIC 750 after 6 months of learning (not to communicate) Apparently, they are motivated under pressure to urge to learn English in such short time Even though vocabulary plays a significant role in their learning English; in class, however, there are no official lessons teaching vocabulary to students Besides, they learn vocabulary slowly by themselves There are needs of specific strategies in learning vocabulary for these particular learners To specify, all the students are undoubtedly familiar with working with computers or websites because they are IT workers Moreover, they are equipped with computers and smart phones well- assessed to the internet both at home and at work Therefore, it is more likely for them to enjoy learning via website than with printed books A favorable website that can help them learn vocabulary would be a reasonable choice So after considering a few theories on criteria of evaluating an education website discussed in the literature review, the website quizlet.com was chosen to be applied in this study

3.2 Action research

3.2.1 Definition

Figure 2.1 Types of research methodology

Action research (AR) in the past decades has become a valued research methodology, an innovative approach to encourage active intervention of people in the issues being researched The ways that researchers defined it can be various Action research is a wide, polyvalent and a controversial concept (Drummond and Themessl-Huber 2007; Rolfsen and Knutstad 2007) This research, as commonly defined, combines action and reflection with intent to change practice and theory (Carr and Kemmis 1986) Action research is a unique research strategy (Grant 2007) “It involves people working to improve their skills, techniques, and strategies” (Ferrance 2000: 3) It is simply ‘learning by doing’ what Wadsworth (1997) has described as ‘do-it-yourself social science’- a group of people identify a problem, do something to resolve it, see how successful their efforts were, and if not satisfied, try again Action research has been described ‘as a way of generating knowledge about a social system whole, at the same time, trying to change it’ (Elden and Chisholm 1993: 121) It is also known as participatory research, collaborative inquiry, emancipatory-research, action learning and research, but all are variations on a theme While this is the essence of the approach, there are other key attributes of action research that differentiate it from common problem-solving activities that we all engage in every day According to Reason & Bradbury (2001)

AR seeks to bring together actions and reflections, theory and practice, academic and local knowledge, and participation It is a rigorous qualitative research process which aims at modifying the current situation being researched, based on a straightaway implementation of research findings and relying on the participation of the various local actors (Greenwood & Levin, 1998)

AR is carried out by a team of ARers and members of an organisation or a community They together formulate the problems to be examined and then generate new knowledge about these problems and take concrete actions to create a better situation in which members have an increased capacity to influence their destiny

Reason & Bradbury (2001) define AR as follows: “a participatory, democratic process concerned with developing practical knowledge in the pursuit of

worthwhile human purposes… It seeks to bring together action and reflection, theory and practice, in participation with others, in the pursuit of practical solutions

to issues of pressing concern to people, and more generally the flourishing of individual persons and their communities”

Reason & Bradbury (2001) define AR as follows: “a participatory, democratic process concerned with developing practical knowledge in the pursuit of worthwhile human purposes… It seeks to bring together action and reflection, theory and practice, in participation with others, in the pursuit of practical solutions

to issues of pressing concern to people, and more generally the flourishing of individual persons and their communities”

Figure 3.2 Ernest Stringer’s AR model (in Mills, G 2003, p.18)

AR has been one of the most major types of research conducted in applied linguistics In 1988, Kemmis and Taggart defined that “an AR is teacher initiated classroom research which seeks to increase the teacher understanding of classroom teaching and learning, and therefore, brings about improvement in classroom practices” Wallace (1998) also defined AR as the work done by systematically collecting data on teachers’ everyday practice and analyzing them in order to come

to some decision about what teacher’s future practice should be or the process of systematic collection and analysis of data in order to make change and improvement

or solve problems Lewin described AR ‘as a way of generating knowledge about a