The effects of an extensive reading program on the second year non-English majors’ vocabulary acquisition at Ha Hoa Tien University. M.A. Thesis Linguistics: 60 22 15

FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES -------- VŨ THỊ THU GIANG THE EFFECTS OF AN EXTENSIVE READING PROGRAM ON THE SECOND YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJORS’ VOCABULARY ACQUISITION AT HA HOA TIEN UNIV

FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES



VŨ THỊ THU GIANG

THE EFFECTS OF AN EXTENSIVE READING PROGRAM

ON THE SECOND YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJORS’ VOCABULARY

ACQUISITION AT HA HOA TIEN UNIVERSITY

Ảnh hưởng của chương trình đọc rộng đối với khả năng phát triển từ vựng của sinh viên năm thứ hai không chuyên ngữ trường Đại học Hà Hoa Tiên

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Hanoi, 2014

FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES



VŨ THỊ THU GIANG

THE EFFECTS OF AN EXTENSIVE READING PROGRAM

ON THE SECOND YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJORS’ VOCABULARY

ACQUISITION AT HA HOA TIEN UNIVERSITY

Ảnh hưởng của chương trình đọc rộng đối với khả năng phát triển từ vựng của sinh viên năm thứ hai không chuyên ngữ trường Đại học Hà Hoa Tiên

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Supervisor: PROF NGUYỄN HÒA

Hanoi, 2014

Hanoi, August 2014

VŨ THỊ THU GIANG

In addition, my gratitude is reserved for all my colleagues and students at Ha Hoa Tien University for their valuable information, assistance and cooperation

Last but not least, I am thankful to all of the members in my family, my husband, my son, and all of my dear friends who gave me so much encouragement and support in carrying put this research paper

ABSTRACT

Ha Hoa Tien University first implements the extensive reading program to improve students‘ vocabulary acquisition in March, 2014 This calls for the need to access the program to create a better path for the program in the future Therefore, the study is conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the extensive reading program on the second year non-English majors‘ vocabulary acquisition In this case study, the data are collected

by a vocabulary test and a survey questionnaire for students The results show that the program has the effectiveness on the second year non-English major students‘ vocabulary acquisition at Ha Hoa Tien University However, there is still room for improvement in terms of facilities, environment, teaching methods for students‘ extensive reading Based

on the findings, the thesis suggests some recommendations to promote the maximum effectiveness of the for students‘ long-term benefits in learning English in general and in acquiring vocabulary in particular

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS vii

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study 2

4 Scope of the study 2

5 Methods of the study 2

6 Design of the study 3

7 Concluding remarks 3

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 Overview of evaluation 5

1.1.1 Definition of program evaluation 5

1.1.2 Criteria of program evaluation 6

1.2 Extensive reading 6

1.2.1 Definition of extensive reading 6

1.2.2 Models and principles of an extensive reading program 8

1.3 Previous research of vocabulary acquisition through extensive reading 9

1.4 Concluding remarks 11

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 12

2.1 Restatement of research question 12

2.2 Participants 12

2.3 Setting of the study 12

2.4 The extensive reading program 13

2.5 Data collection instruments 17

2.5.1 Vocabulary Test 17

2.5.2 Questionnaire 17

2.6 Data collection procedures 18

2.6.1 Test procedure 18

2.6.2 Questionnaire survey procedure 18

2.8 Concluding remarks 20

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 21

3.1 Findings 21

3.1.1 Total test scores 21

3.1.2 Component test scores 22

3.1.3 Students’ perception on the ERP 23

3.2 Discussion 26

3.2.1 An evaluation on the effectiveness of the ERP based on the findings of vocabulary test scores 26

3.2.2 An evaluation on the effectiveness of the ERP based on the findings of survey questionnaire 27

3.2.3 The correlation between vocabulary test scores and results of survey questionnaire 28

3.4 Concluding remarks 29

1 Recapitulation 30

2 Conclusion 31

3 Implications 31

4 Limitations of the study 32

5 Suggestions for further research 33

REFERENCES 34 APPENDICES I Appendix 1 : Vocabulary Test I Appendix 2: The extensive reading program questionnaire III Appendix 3: Lists of Graded Readers V Appendix 4: Reading Lesson VIII Appendix 6: A sample story XIII Appendix 7 A sample of reflection story XIX

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

EFL: English as a foreign language

ESL: English as a second language

ER: Extensive reading

ERP: Extensive reading program

LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

Chart 3.1 The validity of total test scores 21 Table 3.1 The validity of component test scores 22 Table 3.2 Students‘ opinions on the ERP 23

In the case of Ha Hoa Tien University, where I am teaching English, students also have a lot of difficulties in learning English because of their limited vocabulary An inappropriate word choice and lack of vocabulary prevent students from expressing their ideas properly This increasing demand for improving students‘ vocabulary leads to an extensive reading program carried out at Ha Hoa tien University With an extensive reading program (ERP), the teachers here supplied more reading materials with more interesting topics and easier words to learners That can encourage them in learning vocabulary and develop their vocabulary acquisition

For the long time, extensive reading has been studied and developed in many language aspects through research done by Krashen (1982), Lewis & Hill (1992), Cho & Krashen (1994: 662-667), (Huckin, 1999: 182-193), Pigada (2006: 1-28) These researches have shown that extensive reading program has positive effects on language learners Seeing the benefits of ERP in language learning, the educators have applied the program in teaching English in Vietnam for the past few years However, there has been no research conducted

to evaluate the effectiveness of ERP on students‘ vocabulary acquisition in Vietnam in general and at Ha Hoa Tien University in particular In fact, every program needs evaluating from time to time to improve the quality of teaching and learning for all learners This ensures the teaching is on track and that learners are learning what they are supposed to learn so that the desired results can be attained These are incentives for me to conduct this study

2 Aims of the study

The study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of an extensive reading program currently at

Ha Hoa Tien University on students‘ vocabulary acquisition with the hope to create a

better path for the program in the future

3 Research questions

The above aim could be achieved by seeking answer to the research question: „How does extensive reading program currently have the effect on the second year non -English

majors‟ vocabulary acquisition at Ha Hoa Tien University?‟

4 Scope of the study

The effectiveness of an ER on students‘ vocabulary acquisition is evaluated through a vocabulary test and a survey questionnaire for students in Ha Hoa Tien University The researcher focuses on investigating the effectiveness of ER program after implementation

in a term The effectiveness of the ER program in this study is identified as the achievement of the purposes of the program In addition, the details about characteristics of participants and the research instruments involved in the following chapters are going to reveal more the scope of the study

5 Methods of the study

This evaluation study is carried out at class DK6 of Accounting Faculty in Ha Hoa Tien University The information is collected by quantitative method with the instruments of the vocabulary test and the survey questionnaire

Firstly, the students are given a vocabulary test after the completion of the extensive reading program for the purpose to evaluate the effectiveness of the program on quantitative aspect Then, the students are received a survey questionnaire involving their feedbacks to the extensive reading program Finally, the researcher analyzes the obtained results from test scores and respondents of survey questionnaire to evaluate the effectiveness of ER program on students‘ vocabulary acquisition

6 Design of the study

This study consists of three parts as follows:

Part A is an overview of the study In this part, it presents the rationale, the aims, the research questions, the scope, the research methods, and the design of the study briefly

Part B is the development of the study It is divided into three chapters

Chapter one reviews the literature of the study It includes the knowledge relevant to evaluation, and extensive reading with related issues such as its definition, purposes, models, principles, and incidental language learning It also points out some previous researches related to the study

Chapter two describes the methods used in the study, the participants, the research tools, the extensive reading program, and the procedures in detail

Chapter three presents the most important part of the study - the findings of the study and discusses the major findings as well as implications for the study

Part C summaries the process of the study to give its conclusion It also points out some limitations of the study and suggestions for further study on this issue

7 Concluding remarks

This chapter has provided an overview of the study through its rationale, aims, and objectives at first Then, it mentions to the scope and the methods of the study The last section of the study is the organization of the thesis On the whole, the aim of this part is to

give the readers a general picture of the study before elaborating on the research theme in the following parts

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter is divided into two main themes: literature review of program evaluation, of vocabulary, of extensive reading, and previous ER research The knowledge not only contributes to the research process but also reveals differences and gaps between previous studies and this research

1.1 Overview of evaluation

1.1.1 Definition of program evaluation

In English, evaluation only means to make a reasoned judgment about or to give a plausible account of something Various ideas and definitions of evaluation are given by different researchers

According to Lee (1999:23), evaluation itself is value judgment for an object or its meaning In educational context, ―evaluation is a purposeful activity that includes the collection of relevant information, interpretation of that information and making decisions about teaching and learning‖ (Genesee & Upshur,1996: 256) In words of Yoloye (1981:12) defined evaluation as the assigning of some values to an entity in relation to some criteria values or objectives To make it clearer, Aldeson (1986:5), ―evaluation is the process of seeking to establish the value of something for some purpose, test is an instruments for gauging learning outcomes‖ ( Alderson, 1986 as cited in Brown and Rodgers, 2002:227)

More specifically in using the phrase language program evaluation, it is meant ―the systematic process of judging the worth, desirability, effectiveness, or adequacy of something according to definite criteria and purposes‖ (Steele, 1970:6) Share the idea, Brown (1989:223 cited in Brown & Rogers, 2002:227) defined program evaluation as ―the systematic collection and analysis of all relevant information necessary to promote the improvements of all curriculums and access its effectiveness and efficiency as well as participants‘ attitudes within the context of a particular institutions involved‖

In more detail, Steele (1970:7) showed that program evaluation consists of three essential elements which are criteria, evidence, and judgment He asserted that program evaluation does not occur without an element There must be criteria against which the program is judged, evidence of the extent to which the program meets those criteria, and a judgment

of the extent to which the criteria were met (p 8) In addition, he also confirmed more that evaluation must be purposeful and not done just for its own sake and it should contribute to the present program or future program (p 7)

In all, ‗the program evaluation is the process of judging the worth or value of a program This judgment is formed by comparing evidence as to what the program is with criteria as

to what the program should be‘ (Steele, 1970:8)

1.1.2 Criteria of program evaluation

Steele (1970: 9) confirmed criteria are one of the essential elements for evaluation He defined criteria as ―a rule, a standard, a norm, or an object, condition, or behavior that is considered good or ideal‖ The evaluator must identify the range in appropriate criteria, and which ones are most relevant to the purpose of the program He also pointed out that the criteria for the effectiveness of a program are bases on the questions as what its objectives accomplished and how well its objectives accomplished The criteria can be developed from principles or basic truths of the program

In the context of Ha Hoa Tien University, an extensive reading program is implemented for the purposes of increasing students‘ vocabulary knowledge in terms of form, meaning, and use Therefore, the achievement of these purposes of the program is criteria to evaluate

it In other words, the effectiveness of the ER program on vocabulary acquisition in this study is evaluated on the above criteria

1.2 Extensive reading

1.2.1 Definition of extensive reading

For those who know the meaning of the word ―extensive‖, this phrase does not take them much time to work out Since ―extensive‖, according to The Little Oxford Dictionary,

means ―large, far-reaching‖, this phrase can be understood simply as ―reading a lot‖ Put it

in the academic context, this definition conveys little Instead, a definition that can reveal the nature of extensive reading seems to be expected This is the way most linguists and practitioners follow when introducing this approach in teaching writing Nevertheless, working out a thorough definition of extensive reading is a difficult task In fact, many trials have been made by those who are interested in this approach Among them is the one

by Lewis and Hill (1992) in which extensive reading means that ―students have general understanding of the text without necessarily understanding every word‖ Obviously, this definition fails to help learners imagine the whole picture of extensive reading since only one respect of it is shed light on, that is, the purpose of extensive reading (general understanding) The definition given by Carrel and Carson (1997) which says that

―extensive reading generally involves rapid reading of large quantities of material or long readings‖ also shed light on only the length of the reading materials (p 47)

The definition that seems to be more satisfying than those mentioned above is the one introduced by Susser and Robb (1990) According to them, extensive reading as a language teaching or learning procedure is reading (a) of large quantities material or long texts; (b) for global understanding; (c) with the intention of obtaining pleasure from the text Further, because (d) reading is individualized, with students choosing the books they want to read, (e) the books are not discussed in class

What makes this definition distinctive from other definitions is the summary of the general characteristics of extensive reading it provides including the issues related to the amount and primary purpose of reading and the role of learners in such a kind of reading However, since extensive reading cannot be implemented in isolation from an instructional program, the last characteristic mentioned in this definition is questionable

Given the fact that there is hardly any definition that can work in all contexts, a working definition of extensive reading for this study is needed Considering various definitions offered previously and the context of the present study, we have finally come up with the following definition in which extensive reading is understood as reading of (a) large quantities of graded readers, (b) chosen by learners themselves, (c) at their own level of

proficiency, (d) for global or general understanding, (e) with primary intention of obtaining pleasure form the reading materials and (f) done both in and out of class

1.2.2 Models and principles of an extensive reading program

From the time the term ―extensive reading‖ was fist coined by Palmer (1917), a number of different models for ER in second language contexts have been developed throughout the world

There are four common models to organize an ER program as follows:

- Purist ER program: In this version of ER, the students only read large amounts of self-selected comprehensible input at their own pace with no tests, and little follow-up work

- Integrated ER program: This design of ER program exists as part of an existing class or curriculum whereby students would probably read their self-selected materials and then make discussions, reports or do other follow up class work

- Class reader ER program: In this mode, all the students read the same book and work through it slowly, often over a period of weeks then stop to check comprehension and discuss the story Often there is some language work developing vocabulary, reading skills and grammar

- ER as literature: In this design of an ER program students read the same book usually slowly and treat it as a work of literature examining the plot, characters and various literary aspects of the book

Based on the model of the Integrated ER program, the ERP in Ha Hoa Tien University is implemented with using graded readers to examine the effects of reading on students‘ vocabulary acquisition The design of this extensive reading program can exist as a part of the current curriculum This made the program possible to be carried out easier The learners in the ER program are flooded with comprehensible input with the purpose of getting the readers to enjoy reading and simultaneously improve their vocabulary

acquisition Furthermore, when designing the ER program, some of the principles for

teaching ER by Day and Bamford (2002: 136) are applied

Principles for teaching Extensive reading which are applied in the program:

1 The reading material is easy

2 A variety of reading material on a wide range of topics must be available

3 Learners choose what they want to read

4 Learners read as much as possible

5 The purpose of reading is usually related to pleasure, information, and general understanding

6 Reading is its own reward

7 Reading speed is usually faster rather than slower

8 Reading is individual and silent

9 Teachers orient and guide their students

10 The teacher is a role model of a reader

Using all ten principles in an extensive reading program will create the ideal conditions for reading, which will lead to students enhancing their language skills and proficiency

So far, the theory of the different models and principles has been studied However, to understand the path extensive reading effects on vocabulary acquisition, the next section in this chapter will present this issue

1.3 Previous research of vocabulary acquisition through extensive reading

This section is to describe previous researches on vocabulary acquisition through extensive reading Researches have proved that new vocabulary knowledge can be acquired through incidental learning of word meanings from context (Huckin, 1999: 182)

Pitts, White and Krashen (1989:271-275) after conducting an experiment on ER among 35 ESL learners, found that students gained 6.4% of the total number of words that they were exposed to Grabe and Stoller (1997) report some interesting conclusions that further complicate the issue of incidental vocabulary acquisition and reveal the relative learning

difficulties of different words; it seems that "some words needed to be looked up only once while others required multiple exposures and multiple dictionary consultations" (p 112) Based on that, they argue "each learner seems to encounter some sets of words that just will not be remembered" (p 115) Horst, Cobb and Meara (1998) conducted a study on students‘ ER with the material for reading were novel for native speakers and found that the number of words one student gained increased when he or she increased the reading amount (p.207-223)

In a recent study of extensive reading that took place in an authentic extensive reading environment (Horst, 2005: 374), participants appeared to have learned "well over half of the unfamiliar" words they encountered in the simplified readers (although there might have been "a role for other sources of exposure in learning" for some of these words) This seems a very encouraging result, however, that the procedure involved a self-rating test, and that as Horst acknowledges, the pre- and post-tests were not the same

Pigada and Schmitt (2006) used 70 nouns and 63 verbs in their study in investigating incidental vocabulary acquisition with a participant, G, a native Greek speaker, by using four graded readers in French Because the texts were short, Pigada and Schmitt included only ―the most common parts of speech found in natural text‖ (p 9), in the hope that further research would include other word classes They organized the two word classes into six different frequency groups according to the number of encounters and tested three types of word knowledge (meaning, spelling, and grammatical behavior) They found that substantial word learning occurred during the ER, although the improvement was not uniform across the three types of word knowledge

In Vietnamese EFL context, there are not any researches on vocabulary acquisition through extensive reading Researches in the ER field focus mainly on the effect of ER on students‘ reading ability and the practice of ER by EFL students Quach Ngoc Anh (2007) examined the effect of an ER program on students‘ reading proficiency at College of Foreign Languages – Vietnam National University (Hanoi) Tran Hoai Giang (2009) carried out a survey at Vietnam National University (Hanoi) to find out the practice of ER by second year English majors

In summary, the above researches provide good evidence that vocabulary is learned incidentally from extensive reading, but participants are not Vietnamese students In addition, there are still large gaps in our knowledge of this learning in an authentic extensive reading context For example, we do not know much about how extensive reading enhances vocabulary acquisition in terms of size and depth Therefore, it is necessary to carry out a research to investigate the effect of extensive reading on Vietnamese EFL students‘ vocabulary acquisition

1.4 Concluding remarks

This chapter has presented theories related to ER and evaluation as definitions, principles, criteria, approach, and previous researches The next chapter deals with the research methods used in the study and reports of the pilot study that was conducted prior to the main study to ascertain the strengths and weaknesses of the instruments to be used for the main data collection

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Chapter two is devoted to a brief presentation of the research It consists of the description

of the participants and setting of the study, the tool for data collection, and the extensive reading program used in this study

2.1 Restatement of research question

In order to investigate the effect of an ERP on the second non- English major students‘ vocabulary acquisition in Ha Hoa Tien University, the researcher attempts to find out the answers to the following questions:

‗How does the current ERP of Ha Hoa Tien University have the effect on the second year

non-English majors‟ vocabulary acquisition?‟

The criteria to identify the effectiveness of the ERP are formed under the accomplishment

of the ERP‘s objectives The evidence to show this effectiveness is the results of a vocabulary test and survey questionnaire And the judgement on the effectiveness of the ERP is based on these evidences compared to the given criteria

2.2 Participants

The subjects include 25 of the second year non-English major students at DK6 of Accounting Faculty at Ha Hoa Tien University They are aged from 19 to 21, in which there are 13 female and 7 male students They all have been learning English for one year

of General English at Ha Hoa Tien University In the first year at Ha Hoa Tien University, they have attended two 45-minute reading periods in the class per week And they do not engage in any kind of extensive reading activities besides the textbooks in the class The study is conducted after the program has been taken for a semester with the hope that students can have enough time to get its effect as much as possible

2.3 Setting of the study

Ha Hoa Tien University, where the ER program described in this study is conducted, is a private university Ha Hoa Tien students have lower proficiency in English than other

university students of the same age Therefore, we often examine students‘ vocabulary level at the end of each term to find a suitable method for developing their next level The result of this test shows that students‘ vocabulary acquisition in Ha Hoa Tien University is quite weak For instance, in DK6, about 37% of students obtain scores over the average in this test Therefore, Ha Hoa Tien University decides to implement an ER program to focus

on improving the second-year students‘ vocabulary acquisition from the first semester of the year 2014 in course 6 of Accounting Faculty

2.4 The extensive reading program

The ER program at Ha Hoa Tien University is designed as part of an existing class or curriculum whereby students would probably read their self-selected materials and then make discussions, reports or do other follow up class work and applied ten reading

principles of Day and Bamford (2002) It provides students not only guidelines on reading

but also comprehensible inputs, and to lower down their affective filter, on the other hand,

so as to let the comprehensible input internalized because they were allowed to read with their own pace The program lasts for 20 weeks with 90 periods attended in the classroom The program exploits the collections of graded readers available and involved several study activities taking place both inside and outside classroom A detailed description of the purposes, materials, activities, as well as the students and teacher‘s role in the ERP is presented below

Purposes of ERP

Ha Hoa Tien University proposed the ERP with the following objectives:

1 Recognizing the word form (spelling)

2 Knowing the synonyms and antonyms of the word

3 Knowing the use of the word in grammatical structures and collocations

Reading materials

Simplified materials are preferred instead of authentic ones since they "compare favourably to the much more lexically dense literary originals" (Horst, 2005: 375)

Therefore, after considering student‘s vocabulary competence, the chosen reading materials are graded readers (level 1) from different publishers Graded readers are simplified short story books written within a limited vocabulary and are in common use in second language and foreign language teaching (Wodinsky and Nation, 1988)

The main reading material is the book Facts & Figures level 1 about 700 words of Patricia Ackert & Linda Lee It is also prior to examine in order to gain an overview of students‘ vocabulary acquisition when the program completed

The book has seven main topics such as animals, phenomena, plants, music, work and leisure, people, and exploration and adventure Each topic contains five lessons, in which about 12 words are introduced in each lesson All of the new vocabulary items are used several times in the lesson, and then are systematically recycled through out the text Each lesson includes exercises and activities to support new words organized as follow:

- Pre-reading questions provide a motivation for reading the text

- Vocabulary in the text takes sentences directly from the text All new words are included This is for practice in writing the new words

- Vocabulary in new context gives further practice with the new words in a different context but with the same meaning

- Vocabulary review is used in subsequent texts and exercises to give additional review They are filling or matching synonyms and antonyms

- Questions and main ideas focus on the comprehension of the text

Furthermore, a word study section is provided near the end of each topic It reinforces vocabulary knowledge as word form, word meaning, and word use In addition, each topic ends with a set of high interest, interactive tasks as watching CNN video highlights, or playing games to help students practice the new vocabulary and the skills they have learned in more open-ended contexts

Beside this book, 30 other graded readers from some publishers (eg Foundations Reading

Library, Collins English Library, Heinemann Guided Readers, Nelson Readers, Macmillan Readers, Oxford Bookworm, and Streamline Graded Readers) are selected as the ER materials to be read as homework Each student is required to read continuously one book within two weeks, based on their own choice from among the ER collection This amount

of reading is considered by Day and Bamford (2002:136) as the goal for a successful extensive reading program It is also consistent with Nation and Wang's (1999: 355) suggestion that "learners need to read graded reader per week in order to meet repetitions

of the new words soon enough to reinforce the previous meeting," assuming that the learners do not meet the words in other language activities The collection consists of simplified story books with a range of books that have been adapted to learners in the areas

of vocabulary and syntax These books are available at the English department library, making it easy for students to borrow and keep for reading in their own time With a wide variety of topics from science stories to those touching upon social issues in real life and the varieties of genres, these reading materials are believed to cater to all students‘ interests The names of the graded readers (appendix 3) are included in a table to be later introduced to students for their selection

Students‟ and teacher‟s role

In such an extensive reading program, the students play the leading role who will actively take part in the reading as well as all the activities that follow under the instructions of the teacher The teacher acts as an instructor As extensive reading can be said to be quite new

to the students, the teacher needs to help learners understand how to read in the ERP The teacher should also become a role model for the learners as well as create an environment that encouraged learners to read

The performance of the ERP

The extensive reading program is implemented from week 2 to week 19 The textbook is Facts & Figures level one about 700 words of Patricia Ackert & Linda Lee The reading class includes three stages as follows:

Step 1: Pre-reading

In this stage, students are encouraged to express their expectations and predictions by discussing pictures, the cover page, titles, or the author's biography, brainstorming the relevant vocabulary, matching titles and parts of a text, ordering parts of a text, or answering questions

Step 2: While-reading

Students are offered to read books silently at their own pace, without referring to dictionaries, and recorded new words, or word phrases encountered while reading to a personalized vocabulary notebook Then, students will discuss about the meaning, form, and use of these words with their classmates and teacher The teacher also instructs students doing exercises as vocabulary in text, vocabulary in new context, vocabulary review in the form matching synonyms and antonyms or collocations, guessing the word meaning, identifying the word form, cross-words, word-search puzzles, and traditional comprehension exercises of true or false questions Further, teacher also supply students some basic rules for word study at each aspect of word to support their vocabulary knowledge systematically and strengthen their vocabulary acquisition

2.5 Data collection instruments

Two instruments are used in this research, namely vocabulary test and questionnaire The vocabulary test is used to measure the level of students‘ vocabulary acquisition while the questionnaire was administered to gain information on students‘ perception about the program Using both instruments is to evaluate the effectiveness of the ERP on students‘ vocabulary acquisition

2.5.1 Vocabulary Test

To measure the change in students' vocabulary through the ERP, I designs a vocabulary test (see appendix 1) based on vocabulary exercises and words learned in the book Facts and Figures and what the teacher instructed in ERP The test consists of five different types

of exercises in which each exercise had five sentences The first exercise requires students

to choose the right word form This exercise aims to examine students‘ vocabulary knowledge on word form The second exercise and the third exercise are on synonym and antonym These two exercises are used to test students‘ ability on word meaning In the fourth exercise, students have to use the word correctly in grammatical structures And in the last exercise, they are required to make collocations by matching the correct words together Two last exercises show students‘ ability on using words after the ERP The form

of the test is designed in three different formats namely: putting, matching and choosing The total sentences of the test are 25 items And it requires about 30 minutes of class time for students to finish

The test is scored in ten-degree scale Each exercise is graded with two-degree scale (from

0 as minimum to 2 as maximum) The total sentences of an exercise are five, in which each sentence is scored mark 0.4 The total scores of each test range from 0 as the minimum to

10 as the maximum

2.5.2 Questionnaire

The questionnaire (appendix 2) included 15 questions with the intention to know students‘ feedback and attitudes about the extensive reading program It is divided in three parts Each part consists of five sentences The firs part aims to know students‘ interest towards the program as a whole The second part is their evaluation towards the content of the

program And the last part points out their perception on the effects of the program to vocabulary acquisition Each sentence of the questionnaire includes a statement about learners‘ extensive reading in English followed by three options (Y = Yes; NI = No idea; N

= No) To achieve the validity and reliability of participants‘ responses, both positive and negative items are used in questionnaire

2.6 Data collection procedures

In this section, the procedures of the present study are presented including vocabulary test and questionnaire survey for students as follow:

2.6.2 Questionnaire survey procedure

A questionnaire survey (appendix 2) is done in June 2014 to get information on students‘ attitude and perceptions towards the English extensive reading program The questionnaire

is given personally to the students in DK6 by the researcher The questionnaire is given individually so as to prevent any discussion or comparison of answers, and to aver any type

of peer influence or conformity 15 students complete and hand in their questionnaire surveys within 15 minutes Seven students hand in within 25 minutes and three students hand in 30 minutes All students are assured of the confidentiality of their responses There

is a 100% response

2.7 Data analysis procedures

The analysis procedure includes the following steps:

Step 1: Collecting the results

The entire test scores and the answers of survey questionnaire are collected to enable closer, full investigation of the results and the information provided by the respondents This makes the examination of the data more convenient and the researcher easier to find out the theory generated from the data

Step 2: Classifying the data

The data were classified to seek answer for the study as follow:

Firstly, with test scores, each is divided in five component scores And each component score is calculated the valid percent by the formula (V= F/N*100), in which V is the valid percent, F is frequency of score, and N is a total of frequency of all scores The valid percent shows the ability of achievement to each criterion in the program This point is also supported more by the mean The mean is the average score computed by adding all the scores together and then dividing by the number of score Through the mean, the researcher obtains insight by considering large amount of data

Secondly, the data are classified according to three purposes of survey questionnaire Thus there are three major groups of answers corresponding to these purposes That is students‘ interest towards the program as a whole, their evaluation towards the content of the program, and their perception on the effects of the program to vocabulary acquisition

Based on the classification of the test score and the information from survey questionnaire, the researcher can make the foundation for answering the research question

Step 3: Interpreting the data

In this step, the data are calculated in percent Then the comparison and contrast are made for evaluating the data more exactly to find the answer for the research question

2.8 Concluding remarks

This chapter has so far presented at full length the methodological framework of the study including the detail of the extensive reading program, participants, vocabulary test, and the questionnaire used as tools of collecting data as well as the specific steps of conducting the study The next chapter will be exhibiting the findings and discussion of the study

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter presents the results of the study from qualitative and quantitative data analysis The first section presents the results of data analysis from the students‘ scores of the vocabulary test, and the second section presents the students‘ perception toward the extensive reading program

3.1 Findings

3.1.1 Total test scores

Although the vocabulary test scores are distributed among the large range, their frequency

is stressed on some typical scores Six of 25 students gained mark 7.2 which occupies the highest percent at 24% Following after this value is 20% of the frequency of mark 8 as well as of mark 6 The less valid percents are for mark 7.6 with 12% and mark 5.6 as well

as mark 5.2 at 8% Only a student got mark 4, and another was at mark 4.4 with the lowest frequency of 4% It can be calculated from the statistics that 92% of students obtained scores over the average in the vocabulary test Below is the table of valid percent or frequency of total test scores

Chart 3.1 The validity of total test scores

3.1.2 Component test scores

To make clearer what the ER program achieves in accordance with its purposes, the researcher gives a concrete table on the frequency of component test scores in each exercises below

Table 3.1 The validity of component test scores

Valid percent Scores Word Form Synonym Antonym Structures Collocation

2 5 (20%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 8 (32%) 0 (0%) 1.6 12 (48%) 10 (40%) 5 (20%) 11 (44%) 5 (20%) 1.2 7 (28%) 10 (40%) 14 (56%) 5 (20%) 11 (44%) 0.8 1 (4%) 4 (16%) 4 (16%) 1 (4%) 6 (24 %) 0.4 0 (0%) 1(4%) 2 (8%) 0 (0%) 2 (8%)

0 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (4%)

As can be seen from the table that each exercise of vocabulary test have six kinds of points

in the range scale from 0 as minimum to 2 as maximum equivalent to its five questions

In the exercise of word form, the common mark is 1.6 equivalents to answer correctly four questions up to 48% In contrast, only 4% of students get mark 0.8 No students get minimum mark while 20% of students obtain maximum mark This means that the majority of students up to 96% get mark over average in this exercise

In the synonym exercise, the range of mark is relatively uniform 40% of the valid value is reserved for the frequency of mark 1.6 as same as mark 1.2 The minimum and maximum marks do not appear simultaneously in this exercise With 80% of marks over average also indicates that most of students acquire this exercise form are quite good in spite of less than the word form Similar to the synonym exercise, no students got minimum and maximum mark in antonym exercise 56% of students obtain mark 1.2 The rest is spread for other marks From the statistics, it can be calculated that the number of students having the correct answers over a half of questions in this exercise was 76%

In the exercise of word grammatical structures, from the statistic, it can be seen that the most common mark is 1.6 at 44% Also, there are many students get maximum mark up to 32% It is the highest percentage in all exercises which have students get maximum mark

No students obtain minimum mark in this exercise This demonstrates that most of students are good at in using words in grammatical structures

In contrast, many students do not acquire the collocation well There are eights students obtaining mark under average in this exercise, in which even there is a student get minimum mark The most common is mark 1.2 with 44% It is reveals that students acquire the collocation less than other aspects of words

In short, based on the above results, it can be seen that most of students get marks over average in each exercise It indicates that students‘ vocabulary acquisition in the program

is relatively good These are realistic evidences for the judgments on the effectiveness of the ERP in the following section

3.1.3 Students’ perception on the ERP

To seek the answer for the research question on students‘ perception of the ERP, a questionnaire is administered to them in order to gather their evaluative opinions of the ERP, which were then put in three subs – categories Five first sentences are their interest towards the program as a whole Then, their evaluation towards the content of the program

is expressed from sentence six to sentence ten And five last sentences are their perception

on the effects of the program to vocabulary acquisition The results of these opinions are shown as follow

Table 3.2 Students‘ opinions on the ERP

1 The ERP didn‘t give me more pleasure in learning English

1 2 22 4% 8% 88%

2 I wish I had been encouraged to read extensively before 21 2 2