Teaching text based vocabulary to the first year non english major students at hoa binh university current teaching situation and pedagogical implications

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIESVŨ THỊ TUYẾT TEACHING TEXT-BASED VOCABULARY TO THE FIRST YEAR NON- ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HOA BINH UNIVERSITY: CURRENT TEACHING SITUATION AND PEDAGOGIC

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

VŨ THỊ TUYẾT

TEACHING TEXT-BASED VOCABULARY TO THE FIRST YEAR NON- ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HOA BINH UNIVERSITY: CURRENT TEACHING SITUATION AND

PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS

DẠY TỪ VỰNG DỰA TRÊN VĂN BẢN CHO SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH NĂM THỨ NHẤT TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÒA BÌNH: THỰC TRẠNG VÀ ỨNG DỤNG TRONG GIẢNG DẠY

MA MINOR THESIS

Major: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10

HANOI, 2011

GRADUATE STUDIES

VŨ THỊ TUYẾT

TEACHING TEXT-BASED VOCABULARY TO THE FIRST YEAR NON- ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT HOA BINH UNIVERSITY: CURRENT TEACHING SITUATION AND PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS

DẠY TỪ VỰNG DỰA TRÊN VĂN BẢN CHO SINH VIÊN KHÔNG CHUYÊN TIẾNG ANH NĂM THỨ NHẤT TẠI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC HÒA BÌNH: THỰC TRẠNG VÀ ỨNG DỤNG TRONG GIẢNG DẠY

1.1.1Definitions of vocabulary 41.1.2The roles of vocabulary in language teaching and learning 41.1.3Classification of vocabulary 61.1.4Criteria for selection of vocabulary to teach 71.2 Teaching vocabulary through texts 8

2.2 The instruments 16

2.2.1 The teachers’ survey questionnaires 16

2.2.2 The students’ survey questionnaires 17

2.3 Procedure of data collection 17

2.4 Procedure of data analysis 18

2.4.1 Data analysis methods 18

2.4.2 Data analysis procedures 18

2 Limitations of the study 41

3 Suggestions for further study 41

APPENDICES

LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES

Chart 1: The frequency of teachers’ using texts to teach vocabulary (p.21)

Chart 2: Kinds of vocabulary chosen to teach by teachers (p.22)

Chart 3: Text-based vocabulary techniques used by teachers in the pre-stage (p.23)

Chart 4: Text-based vocabulary techniques used by teachers in the while-stage

(p.24)

Chart 5: Text-based vocabulary techniques used by teachers in the post-stage

(p.26)

Chart 6: Difficulties that teachers and students have in teaching and learning

vocabulary through texts (p.30)

Chart 7: Necessity of using texts to teach vocabulary (p.31)

Chart 8: Teachers’ idea about the benefit of texts (p.31)

Chart 9: Ideas from students about the effects of texts in vocabulary teaching

Part A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

The recent years have witnessed a shift in focus in foreign language learning andteaching in general and in English in particular from the linguistic competence to thecommunicative one This trend has clearly led to the increasingly important role of teachingand learning vocabulary Generally, vocabulary is considered to be one of the main tasks inacquiring a foreign language as one cannot make himself/ herself well-understood with his/her poor vocabulary Wilkins (1972) emphasized the importance of vocabulary whensaying: “without grammar very little can be conveyed; without vocabulary nothing can beconveyed” (p.111)

However, in Vietnam in general and at Hoa Binh university in particular, vocabularyteaching has not been paid due attention as it deserves Traditionally, vocabulary has notbeen a particular subject for students to learn but has been taught within the lessons oflistening, speaking, reading and writing For most teachers, the common way of teachingvocabulary is to give explanations and definitions of the word-list Then many learners userote strategies like writing words on papers, trying to learn by heart as their major ways ofvocabulary learning As a result, they rarely remember the meanings of vocabulary itemsand do not know how to use these words appropriately in the context Whereas, texts areconsidered to be a rich source of vocabulary and they provide contexts in which new itemsare used Therefore, the study on how vocabulary is taught through texts to first year non-English major students at Hoa Binh university and how effective this method is is carriedout

2 Aims of the study

The aims of the study are:

- To investigate the current situation of teaching vocabulary through texts to first year non-English major students at Hoa Binh university

- To investigate the effectiveness of using texts to teach vocabulary to first year English major students at Hoa Binh university

non To suggest some pedagogical implications to English teachers at Hoa Binh university

3 Significance of the study

The study was carried out with the hope that it can be a good source of reference toteachers, learners and those who concern about vocabulary teaching and learning It is alsohoped to provide an insight into the current teaching situation of using texts to teachvocabulary to first year students at Hoa Binh university Therefore, it is believed that thisstudy will raise the teachers’ awareness of the situation and then they can have properadjustment to their teaching methods in order to help their students to learn English,especially its vocabulary effectively Students are also exposed to a new way of learningvocabulary through this study.

4 Scope of the study

The study is limited to the area of teaching English vocabulary at Hoa Binh university.Specifically, this minor thesis deals with the current situation of using texts to teachvocabulary to first-year non-English major students at Hoa Binh university and suggests somepedagogical implications to teachers

5 Research questions

The research aims at answering the following questions:

1 What is the current situation of teaching text-based vocabulary to first year English major students at Hoa Binh university?

non-2 How effective is the teaching text-based vocabulary to first year non-English major students at Hoa Binh university?

6 Methods of the study

The study uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative research approaches, whichinclude observation and survey questionnaires The quantitative data were collected from twoquestionnaires and were analyzed statistically, while the qualitative data were obtained fromthe class observation Survey questionnaires were used to collect information and evidencefor the study with the hope that the research would be reliable and the processing of datawould be manageable within the limited time budget Class observation was carried out tosupplement the survey questionnaires It is hoped that the combination of the two methodswould make the data more valid and reliable

7 Design of the thesis

The thesis was presented in three main parts as follows:

Part A: Introduction provides a general introduction of the study with the specific reference

to the rationale, the aims, the significance, the scope, the methods and the design of the thesis

Part B: Development consists of three chapters:

Chapter 1: “Literature Review” gives a brief view on the theoretical background of English

vocabulary, texts and the benefits of using texts in teaching vocabulary

Chapter 2: “Methodology”, shows an insight into the research methods to find out the

answers to the research questions This chapter also gives a brief view on the subjects, theprocedures and the instruments to collect data employed to reach the aims of the research

Chapter 3: “Data presentation and discussion” presents the data collected from the survey

questionnaires and class observation and the discussion of these data

Part C: Pedagogical Implications and Conclusions suggests implications for teaching and

learning vocabulary through texts and concludes the report of the study with the suggestionsfor further research

Part B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter deals with some of the important issues in the theories of vocabulary andthe use of texts in vocabulary teaching It consists of the definitions of vocabulary, the roles ofvocabulary in language teaching and learning, classification of vocabulary, criteria forselection of vocabulary to teach, definitions of texts, roles of texts in enriching students’vocabulary and techniques to teach vocabulary through texts

1.1 Vocabulary

1.1.1 Definitions of vocabulary

Vocabulary is considered to be one of the three most crucial components of language(vocabulary, grammar and phonology) It has been paid great attention by researchers,linguists, teachers and learners However, it is difficult to give an exact definition aboutvocabulary According to Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary Third Edition (2008),

vocabulary is defined as “all the words which exist in a particular language or subject”

(p.1624) This definition covers vocabulary’s meaning on the whole Nevertheless, it does notshow vocabulary in a deep understanding because vocabulary is more complex than thisdefinition suggests

Ur (1996) gives clearer explanation of vocabulary as follows:

“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: for example, post office and mother-in-law, which are made up of two or three words but express a single idea There are also multi-word idioms such as call it a day, where the meaning of the phrase cannot be deduced from an analysis of the component words A useful convention is to cover all such cases by talking “items” rather than “words””(Ur, 1996, p 60).

In this sense, the definition by Ur is favorably satisfying because his definitionindicates that vocabulary is bigger than just the meaning of words It covers a huge aspect oflanguage and is the medium to express ideas

In conclusion, there are different ways to define the concept “vocabulary” However,the idea that vocabulary is the total number of words existing in a language, including singlewords as well as multi-word items is the most favorable

1.1.2 The role of vocabulary in language teaching and learning

Vocabulary plays a significant role in language teaching and learning as Shafaei and

Nejati (2009) said “vocabulary is one of the most important objectives in teaching of foreign

languages” (p 32) Wilkins (1972) also stated that “vocabulary is one of the three dimensions

of a language (phonetics, grammar, vocabulary)” (p.111) By saying that, he emphasizes the

special importance of vocabulary in teaching and learning a language

Gower (2005) came to the point that “vocabulary is important to students – it is more

important than grammar for communication purposes, particularly in the early stages when students are motivated to learn the basic words they need to get by in the language” (p.142).

This reflects the truth that even when students have already “done” all the rules in grammar,the lexical system is still “open” for them to gain more vocabulary Furthermore, thisconclusion emphasized the communicative purpose in learning vocabulary as an ultimate goalfor learning a new language

Similarly, Laufer (1997) asserts that learners “tend to regard words as main

landmarks of meaning” (p 21) She adds that no comprehension would be possible without

understanding the vocabulary in the text According to Nation (1990), many language learners

believe that the lack of an adequate vocabulary is a serious obstacle directly related to theirlanguage learning frustration Nagy (1997) also points out that for many students, theirinsufficient vocabulary knowledge is a serious barrier in learning a language In summary, it

is clear that without adequate vocabulary, learning can be difficult and frustrating, and verylittle can be learned Therefore, helping learners to acquire adequate vocabulary should be acentral issue in language teaching

The importance of learning vocabulary is furthered stressed on two course bookswhich are commonly used in Vietnam such as Cutting Edge Intermediate (Cunningham &Moor, 2002) or New Headway English Course (Soars, 2006) On the back cover of these text-books, readers can be briefly provided with information about focused points of the book,

which includes: “Strong emphasis on vocabulary, with a particular focus on high frequency,

useful words and phrases”.

(Cunningham & Moor, 2002)

Or “Well-defined vocabulary syllabus plus dictionary training and pronunciation

practice, including the use of phonetics”.

(Soars, 2006)Furthermore, vocabulary plays a role in all four language skills: listening, speaking,

reading, and writing In terms of listening, the vocabulary errors caused confusion of the textsand brought difficulty to about three-fourths of listening comprehension In terms of speaking,Wallace (1982) shows that the most frustrating experience is the failure to find the properwords in the second language to express oneself And it is in reading that vocabulary plays themost important role Researchers indicate that lack of vocabulary is the most significanthandicap for readers Mayher and Brause (1986) assert that writing depends highly on theability to choose words while describing events To sum up, the significance of vocabulary in

the four language skills can be concluded with Laufer’s statement (1986), “without adequate

lexis, there is no proper language competence or performance” (p 70).

In fact, we have seen that teaching and learning vocabulary are very important It isbecause the main objective of language learners is to understand and be understood in theircommunication using the language acquired In order to achieve this aim, language learnershave to study a certain number of words If someone has adequate vocabulary, he or she willfeel more confident when communicating with others as well as expressing himself/herself inboth oral and written forms

1.1.3 Classification of vocabulary

Vocabulary can be classified in various ways depending on different criteria, features

or functions In terms of semantics, vocabulary items are categorized into notional or lexical words and functional or grammatical words Notional words consist of the majority of

vocabulary items a language learner can acquire These words, which convey meanings inthemselves, namely, objects, actions, or qualities On the contrary, functional words are thosewords whose meanings are grammatical, which means they have some relation to the otherwords with which they are used

In terms of grammar, vocabulary items are divided into different parts of speech.They can be nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions, articles, conjunctions and so on

According to the sequence of use, there are three groups of words, which appear indifferent frequencies: high frequency words, low frequency words and specialized words.However, Nation (2001) suggests distinguishing four kinds of vocabulary in the text Theyare high-frequency words, academic words, technical and low-frequency words

In terms of the concept of morpheme, there are simple words (only consist of a rootmorpheme); derived words (consist of a root and one or more derivational morpheme); andcompound words (have at least two roots with or without derivational morpheme)

In addition, a language learner’s vocabulary is divided into active and passive orproductive and receptive vocabulary According to Doff (1998), a person’s active vocabularyincludes the words which he can understand, pronounce correctly, use effectively in speakingand writing On the contrary, a person’s passive vocabulary consists of the words he canrecognize and understand when they occur in a context, but he cannot produce or use correctlyeven when he wants to (Doff, 1988, p.19) In the same vein of thinking, Grains and Redman(1986) define productive vocabulary as the language items which a language learner can useeffectively to produce information in speaking and writing The receptive vocabulary is, onthe other hand, used to receive and understand information in the context of reading andlistening materials (p 64).

In conclusion, it is essential to distinguish different types of vocabulary in teachingand learning vocabulary because different types of vocabulary need different focus andtreatment Sometimes, some types of vocabulary will be given priorities and emphases inteaching and learning according to learners’ different aims of learning, thanks to whichteachers can have good decisions as to what should be taught to their students

1.1.4 Criteria for selection of vocabulary to teach.

When preparing the vocabulary component of a language course, teachers should have

the basic words to refer to and “they need to judge whether a particular word deserves

attention or not” (Nation & Warring, 1997, p 17).

There have been various suggestions or criteria for vocabulary selection to teach Gairnsand Redman (1986) outline several criteria for selecting vocabulary to teach such as frequency,cultural factors, need and level, as well as expediency Among the four criteria, frequency isplaced in the first position due to its importance Carter (1987) also lists the main criteria for theselection of vocabulary like frequency; information about the various meanings and uses;universality; utility; and usefulness White (1988) proposes a list of seven crucial criteria forselecting vocabulary: frequency of use, coverage, range, availability, learnability, opportunism,and centers of interest Nation and Newton (1997) suggest looking into the principled selection ofvocabulary through the following dimensions: frequency; range; the ability to combine, define orreplace other words; association; and availability Richards (2001) presents seven criteria forvocabulary selection: frequency, range, teachability, similarity, availability, coverage, anddefining power In addition, McCarthy (1990) once states that “the most frequent words in thelanguage must be presented in the early state of language teaching,

and this is a sensible decision, because they offer the learner a survival-level repertoire forcomprehension and production” (p.79) From these points of view, we find that most ofscholars share the same idea about the importance of frequency when mentioning it in the firstposition and emphasize it rather than other criteria They seem to agree that frequency is animportant criterion for vocabulary selection and consider the words which are frequently used

by speakers of that language should be taught first

1.2 Teaching vocabulary through texts

1.2.1 Definitions of texts

The term “text” is defined in many different ways Crystal (1992) considers text as “apiece of naturally occurring spoken, written, or signed discourse identified for purpose ofanalysis It is often a language unit with definable communicative function, such as aconversation, a poster” Brown and Yule (1983) see “text” as “verbal record of acommunicative act” (p 6) Cook (1989) considers “text” as “a stretch of language interpretedformally” (p 158)

Nunan (1993) gives a clearer definition when he considers text as the “written record

of a communicative event which conveys a complete message Text may vary from singlewords (for example, Stop!, EXIT) to books running to hundreds of pages” (p 124) Thecommunicative events may include oral language (for example, a sermon, a casualconversation, a shopping conversation) or written language such as a poem, a newspaperadvertisement, a shopping list, a novel

Halliday and Hasan (1976) states that “the word text is used in linguistics to refer toany passage, spoken or written, of whatever length, that does form a unified whole” (p.1)

From these points of view, a text may be viewed as the basic unit of meaning inlanguage A text should be distinguished from a disconnected sequence of sentences It forms

a unified whole and is not just a collection of unrelated sentences So a text requires cohesionand coherence

In short, a text is any communication, spoken, written or sign language and texts areround us, in books, documentaries, or in everyday life such as everyday conversations, letters,magazines However, in language teaching and learning process, teachers and students oftenwork with such texts as conversations, speeches, postcards, letters, extracts from novels,plays, song, poems, articles, stories and so on through which teachers can exploit to teachvocabulary

1.2.2 Roles of texts in enriching students’ vocabulary

Texts play a very important role in language teaching and learning, especially inteaching vocabulary If students are taught individual words only, they hardly use them inpractice But when they are shown how words are used in contexts, they will know how tomodify and extend in their language use Texts, therefore, not only enrich readers’ vocabularybut also enrich readers’ awareness of language in use Furthermore, it makes readers aware ofone important feature of vocabulary, namely, context determines the meaning of words

One more benefit of using texts is that it helps students with ability to infer meaningfrom context, which gives them a powerful aid to comprehend and speed up their reading

Using texts to teach vocabulary allows learners to make intelligent, meaningfulguesses This will make the learning task much more active and challenging than directexplanation of words It has a problem-solving characteristic that appeal to most people andchallenge them to make use of their intelligence to an extent that is not always common inlanguage classes

Finally, texts help readers develop a holistic approach toward reading Because thecontext of a new word may be drawn from a group of sentences, a paragraph or even theentire text, they learn to direct their attention to language unit larger than the sentence whilethey are looking for context clues

1.2.3 Techniques to teach vocabulary through texts

As mentioned above, the ultimate goal of teaching English is that learners cancommunicate in English In order to do that, learners do not only know isolated words andrecognize them in reading and listening but also know how to use these words incommunication through speaking or writing Therefore, in teaching English, teachers shouldalways teach the language in use, that is how words are put in the right contexts In fact, textswhich are considered to be a good source of vocabulary for students can provide contexts ofwords Texts are often used in four language skills, listening, speaking, reading and writing.Thus, when teaching vocabulary through texts, teachers should always bear in mind threestages which include pre-stage, while-stage and post-stage Each stage has its own techniques

1.2.3.1 Pre-stage

The purpose of pre-stage is to activate students’ prior knowledge and present new

vocabulary items It is because “if words important to the meaning of the text are not

understood, then the meaning and significance of the text will not be understood either What

will follow will be Listening/Reading incomprehension” (Cranmer, 1986, p.58), and finally

resulted in Writing/Speaking inability According to him, there are some ways of teachingvocabulary before text presentation They are as follows:

 Illustration (picture, object)

 Demonstration (acting, mime)

 Context (story or sentence in which the item occurs)

 Synonym

 Opposite(s) (antonyms)

 Translation

 Associated ideas, collocations

(Ur, 1996, p 63)And the followings are different ways of presenting new vocabulary suggested by Murcia(1991):

 Visual aids (Pictures, Objects)

 Word Relations (Synonyms, Antonyms)

 Pictorial Schemata (Venn diagrams, grids, tree diagrams, or stepped scales)

 Definition, Explanation, Examples, and Anecdotes

1.2.3.2 While-stage

In this stage, teachers not only treat new vocabulary items as a means tocomprehension of the text but also are able to exploit new lexis in its own right The reason is

that “if we are to bring new vocabulary into active use and not just passive understanding, it

is not sufficient for us just to teach it We must provide ways to make sure that it is learnt and used” (Cranmer, 1986, p 60) In other words, after students have been shown the meaning of

a word in the pre-stage, teachers should provide them with enough practice of that word Moststudents need lots of practice with new vocabulary in order to remember and use the newwords correctly According to Cranmer (1986), all of the techniques he suggests using in thepre-stage can also be used subsequently, but there are a number of additional techniques:

 Matching

 Inference and Definition

 Use of monolingual learner dictionaries

 Categorization

 Information transfer

(p 60-61)Furthermore, there are some other techniques that teachers can use to develop students’ vocabulary through texts such as

 Guessing new words from context

 Word part analysis

 Collocation activities

 Checking comprehension by asking questions

 Multiple choice exercises

 True/False statement exercises

 Gap-filling exercises

 Translation

In this stage, it is necessary for the teacher to develop the skill of guessing word meaningsfrom context for his students It is because teaching vocabulary through texts means that newwords are not taught in isolation but within the context of the text Nation (1990) presents fivesteps of guessing the meaning of words from context

Step 1 Look at the unknown word and decide its part of speech Is it a noun, a verb, an

adjective, or an adverb?

Step 2 Look at the clause or sentence containing the unknown word If the unknown word is

a noun, what adjectives describe it? What verb is it near? That is, what does this noun do, or

what is done to it?

If the unknown word is a verb, what nouns does it go with?

Is it modified by an adverb?

If it is an adjective, what noun does it go with?

If it is an adverb, what verb is it modifying?

Step 3 Look at the relationship between the clause or sentence containing the unknown word

and other sentences or paragraphs Sometimes this relationship will be signaled by a

conjunction like but, because, if, when, or by an adverb like however, as a result Often there

will be no signal The possible types of relationship include cause and effect, contrast, inclusion, time, exemplification, and summary.

Step 4 Use the knowledge you have gained from steps 1 to 3 to guess the meaning of the

word.

Step 5 Check that your guess is correct.

(1) See that the part of speech of your guess is the same as the part of speech of the unknown word If it is not the same, then something is wrong with your guess.

(2) Replace the unknown word with your guess If the sentence makes sense, your guess is probably correct.

(3) Break the unknown word into its prefix, root and suffix, if possible If the meanings of the prefix and root correspond to your guess, good If not, look at your guess again, but do not change anything if you feel reasonably certain about your guess using the context.

(p 20-21)

Among different techniques above, this is probably a very useful technique because itgets students to work out the meaning of words by themselves It is the context of the text thathelps students to learn new vocabulary items easily and acquire how words are actually used

in speech and writing

1.2.3.3 Post- stage

This is considered to be the students’ production stage in which students are offeredchances to consolidate what they have been taught and express themselves in both speakingand writing, using the target language This is also the stage where teachers can see clearlyhow students can turn passive input into active output Therefore, the teacher, in this stage,should create opportunities for students to regularly and freely use the words they have learnt

by the following activities:

 Eliciting personal response from students

According to Doff (1988), there are three possible ways of eliciting personal response from students

“- By asking students to match what they read against their own experience.

- By asking students to imagine themselves in a situation related to the text but beyond their own experience.

- By asking students to express feelings or opinions”(p 181).

Thus, questions to elicit students’ personal response should be straight forwardcomprehension questions, focusing on the text itself They require students to respond to thetext and to contribute something personal that comes from their own experience or expresstheir own feelings by using words they have been taught

 Summarizing the text

Summarizing is a helpful technique to help students to practice their using words andimprove their expressing ability in foreign language It is a good method that develops bothwriting and speaking skills In order to summarize the text, students have to recall what they

have read/listen and concentrate on the main ideas, expressing them in their own way.Whereas, teachers should give students a little time to prepare and suggest them some wordsand phrases After they complete their summaries, teachers can ask students to stand up andsummarize the text or write their summary on the blackboard.

 Organizing discussion

Discussion can enhance students’ vocabulary usage by asking them to discuss aboutthings relating to the text using words they have known The best way to do this activity is tolet students to work in pairs or groups so that the whole class have chance to express theirideas

To carry out this activity, teachers should raise a problem and ask students to express theiropinions freely After discussing, the reporter of each group will tell the whole class abouttheir ideas By doing that, all the students have chance to express their ideas freely, practicewhat they have learnt and therefore become more confident in real life situations

 Retelling the story by using the given words

This is a method to develop students’ memory Through retelling the story using wordsthey have learnt, students can consolidate their vocabulary as well as improve their speakingand writing skill

In conclusion, each stage offers the teacher different techniques to teach, revise and usevocabulary However, teachers do not need to follow this three phase approach mechanically

on every occasion but depending on each case Sometimes, teachers may wish to cut outvocabulary presenting in the pre-stage in order to save time for while- stage Or sometimespost-stage work does not work well or may not be suitable to their students so they can omit it

as long as it motivates students in learning vocabulary

1.3 Summary

So far the theoretical issues related to the topic of the research have been discussed.The next chapter will describe the methods employed in the study and present procedure ofdata collection and data analysis

Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY

In chapter 1, Literature Review, theories about vocabulary and vocabulary teachingthrough texts are presented In this chapter, the research methodology chosen for theachievement of the aims and objectives of the study will be discussed in details

2.1 The participants

The participants of the study consist of 110 people placed into two groups

The first group involves ten English teachers aged from 31 to 53 years old who areteaching non-English major with the textbook New Headway Elementary at Basic Departmentand most of whom are working part-time at Hoa Binh university Among them, only one halfhas been trained at University of Foreign Language and International Studies and HanoiUniversity, the others come from Open University Moreover, two thirds of the teachers havegot the master degree in English teaching methodology and they are all working full-time atother universities or colleges Hence, most of the teachers have a lot of experience in foreignlanguage teaching

The second group includes 100 first year non-English major students (among them, 25students in Technology department, 25 students in Public Relations department, 25 students inBusiness Administration and 25 students in Applied Graphics department) aged from 18 to 23years old in their first term and randomly chosen at Hoa Binh university It is a private andnewly founded university and receives little fame in the country Thus the students’ entrylevel is very low The numbers from the students’ survey questionnaires show that thevocabulary size of first year students when they came to study at Hoa Binh university isconsiderably low, only 39% of students ( the largest percentage) know 100-500 words while66% claim that they have learnt English for 7 years In addition, most of them fail the nationalentrance exam to famous universities and then have to apply for studying in this university asthe last chance Moreover, these students come from different places in the country so thereare different levels of ability amongst students Some students from urban areas have hadseven years of learning English comprising of four years at secondary school and three years

at high school, some have learnt English for only three years Those coming from remoteplaces have never learnt English As a result, some of them do not know anything aboutEnglish but some others know quite a lot One more thing is that all of them are not students

of English so they do not devote themselves to learning English In other words, they have no

motivation to learn English They find English too difficult to master Therefore, most of themare not interested in learning English They learn English just because it is a compulsorysubject and they need to pass the exam.

The textbooks used in the course are the New Headway series, published by OxfordUniversity Press in 2006 It is a multi-level course for adults and young adults who want touse English both accurately and fluently Grammar and vocabulary are taught and explainedthoroughly and all four language skills are developed systematically All the students startwith the Elementary level and end up with “New Headway Upper-Intermediate” aftergraduation This textbook is evaluated as a lexical syllabus because most new words arepresented in a lexical set such as weather, sports, clothing, jobs and so on Texts used in fourlanguage skills of reading, listening, writing and speaking are constructed around the theme

of each unit

2.2 The instruments

In order to obtain in-depth, rich data and information for investigating what is the currentsituation and effectiveness of teaching text-based vocabulary, the study used two methods ofdata collection: questionnaires and class observation

2.2.1 The questionnaires

To gain data for the research, two questionnaires were administered to therespondents One was designed for the teachers and the other for the students This method ischosen because it is easy to construct, extremely versatile and uniquely capable of gathering ahuge amount of information in a short time ( Dornyei, 2003)

2.2.1.2 The teachers’ survey questionnaires

The teacher questionnaire, comprising ten questions, was delivered to ten teachers ofEnglish who are teaching at Basic departments at Hoa Binh university The questionnairecompleted by the teachers covered these six main points

(1) The question 1 aims at investigating how often teachers use texts to teach vocabulary.(2) What kind of vocabulary teachers often choose to teach is examined (question 2).(3) What techniques teachers often use to teach vocabulary through texts (questions 3, 4, 5)

(4) The next questions (questions 6, 7) deal with difficulties that teachers often have when using texts to teach vocabulary

(5) Questions 8, 9 are aimed at finding out the effectiveness of using texts to teach

vocabulary to first year non-English major students

(6) The last question is an open-ended one that focuses on the suggestions made by the teachers for a better exploitation of using texts in teaching vocabulary

2.2.1.3 The students’ survey questionnaires

The student questionnaire, consisting of twelve questions, was delivered to one hundred firstyear non-English major students chosen randomly The questions for students focus on thesefollowing points:

 Students’ information about the frequency that teachers use texts to teach vocabulary

 Vocabulary teaching techniques preferred by students (questions 7, 8)

 Students’ difficulties in learning vocabulary through texts (questions 9, 10)

 Their ideas about the effectiveness of using texts to teach vocabulary (questions 11, 12)

2.2.2 Class observation

Apart from the survey questionnaires for students and teachers, classroom observation

is also applied in order to clarify and test the validity of information about teaching Englishthrough texts to first year non-English major students at Hoa Binh university The observationwas carried out in two English vocabulary lessons at different departments

Classroom observation is important to this study because it helps to show theresearcher how texts are exploited to teach vocabulary, what difficulties teachers often have

2.3 Procedure of data collection

The process of data collection could be put into three major phases as follows

Phase 1:

The first phase is considered as the preparation phase for the data collection, whichconsists of the designing of the two questionnaires All the information of the participants wasensured to be kept confidential In this phase, thanks to the invaluable supervision from mysupervision and friends, the survey questionnaires were carefully designed

Phase 2:

The second phase was conducted with English teachers at Hoa Binh university Inorder to ensure the success of getting data, an advance notice was made to each teacher viatelephone or directly to explain the purpose of the research and to invite participation

After having the permission, the researcher made an appointment with the teachers.The researcher explained why the information was being collected and how it would be used.Then, the teachers were asked to spend their time reading the questionnaires and completethem

Phase 3:

The next phase was conducted with one hundred first year non-English major students

at Hoa Binh university in classrooms during the break time Before completing thequestionnaire, students were briefly explained about the research topic and the reason why theinformation was being collected While they are fulfilling the questionnaires, their additionalquestions were answered to clarify their misunderstanding and minimize their confusion

2.4 Procedure of data analysis

2.4.1 Data analysis methods

The data analysis in this study was implemented based on the framework with clearset aims and research questions Therefore, there were the tasks of categorization,classification and final analysis

The data received from the close-ended questions in the questionnaires was quantified,calculated and transferred into numerical form In order to see the overall evaluation, theparticipants’ choices were synthesized and analyzed to gain a composite score

Data collected mainly from open- ended questions and classroom observationsallowed the researcher to gain insight into the participants’ perceptions, attitudes, andsuggestions All the same ideas would be grouped together to be compared

2.4.2 Data analysis procedures

After all the data was gathered, it was transformed and classified according to the tworesearch questions From the data analysis, a large amount of statistics obtained from thequestionnaire was transformed into tables and charts, which reassured the clear-cut format andfacilitate the analytical task as well as help readers understand comparison and synthesis

2.5 Summary

In short, this chapter presents the research methodology as well as the procedure of data collection and data analysis to find out answers to the research questions.

Chapter 3: DATA PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION

This chapter presents all the collected data which will be discussed and analyzed toreveal the answers to each research question relatively

(1) The frequency of using texts to teach vocabulary

(2) Kinds of vocabulary chosen to teach by teachers

(3) Techniques used by teachers to teach vocabulary through texts

(4) Text-based vocabulary teaching techniques preferred by students

(5) Difficulties in teaching and learning vocabulary through texts

3.1.1.1 The frequency of using texts in teaching vocabulary

The frequency of teachers using texts to teach vocabulary to first year non Englishmajor students was revealed in question 2 from the students’ survey questionnaire andquestion 1 from the teachers’ survey questionnaire The data collected from these questions ispresented in Chart 1

The chart indicates that 63% of the students think their teachers usually use texts toteach vocabulary, 24% of them find that their teachers sometimes use texts, 11% of thestudents claim that teachers always do so and only 1% fall into two groups of the studentssaying that their teachers rarely or never use texts in vocabulary teaching

sometimes 30%

24%

rarely 20%

Chart 1: The frequency of teachers’ using texts to teach vocabulary

According to teachers, 87.5% of them usually use texts to teach vocabulary, whichaccounts for the biggest percentage, followed by 12.5% of the teachers saying that theyalways do so Especially, none of them response that they rarely or never use texts to developtheir students’ vocabulary Therefore, it can be concluded that teachers at Hoa Binh universitytake texts into great consideration and use it regularly in their vocabulary teaching lessons

In fact, there is always at least one text in each unit of New Headway Elementary and

it is considered a good source of teaching vocabulary Most of the teachers are aware of thisand take advantage of texts in their vocabulary teaching, which was proved throughobservations from two classes It means that teachers at Hoa Binh university usually teachvocabulary through texts

3.1.1.2 What kind of vocabulary is chosen to teach by teachers

In order to get answer to this question, question 3 from the students’ questionnaire andquestion 2 from the teachers’ survey questionnaire were designed to get necessaryinformation Data was collected and displayed in the following chart

high-words relating to the topic of the text

frequency words

any new words in the text

Chart 2: Kinds of vocabulary chosen to teach by teachers

From Chart 2, the largest number of the students (75%) says that their teachers oftenchoose words relating to the topic of the text to teach Similarly, the largest number of theteachers (87.5%) claims that words relating to the topic of the text are often chosen by them toteach to their students Their ideas coincide in this point and teachers also meet students’need The reason is that it helps students follow the text easily and acquire new words quicklybecause they belong to one topic Another percentage of 50% of the teachers says that theyteach any new words students meet in the text with a view to aiding to enrich their vocabularysize and comprehend the text This percentage from the students’ questionnaire is 18% Inaddition, the chart also shows that teachers pay considerable attention to high-frequencywords in selecting words from the text to teach (37%) Low-frequency words are rarely or notselected by teachers (1% and 0% from the students and teachers’ survey questionnairerespectively)

As observed by the researcher in the two lectures, both of the teachers chose to presentany new words that students met in the text For example, topic of the first lecture relates to

houses but she still taught such new vocabulary items as design (v) – designer (n), record (n),

chosen to teach It can be explained that these words help students understand texts better, do

follow-up exercise easier and therefore acquire new words better

3.1.1.3 Techniques teachers often use to teach vocabulary through texts

As it can be seen from the questionnaires, teachers use various techniques in each stage toteach text-based vocabulary Their usual vocabulary teaching techniques can be summarized

in the following charts

 Techniques used by teachers to teach vocabulary through texts in the Pre-stage

(question 4 from the students’ questionnaire and question 3 from teachers’ one)

Chart 3: Text-based vocabulary techniques used by teachers in the pre-stage

a Teachers provide students with the word list with Vietnamese equivalents

b. Teachers provide students with the word list and explain new words in English

f. Teachers provide students with the word list and ask students to look up in the dictionary

It is clear from the chart that the main technique teachers often use to teach vocabularythrough texts in the pre-stage is illustrating the meanings of new words through exampleswith 44% from students’ questionnaire and 100% from teachers’ one, which account for thelargest numbers in both questionnaires 87.5% of the teachers claim that they often explainthe meaning of new words through synonyms and antonyms but only 29% of the studentsagree about this It may be due to the fact that teachers already apply this method but students

do not recognize or do not understand Finally, the table shows the common thing of the twoquestionnaires, that is, dictionary is not encouraged to be used in vocabulary lessons throughtexts (6.5% and 12.5% from students and teachers’ questionnaire respectively and account forsmallest percentages)

 Techniques used by teachers to teach vocabulary through texts in the While-stage

(question 5 from students’ questionnaire and question 4 from teachers’ one)

Chart 4: Text-based vocabulary techniques used by teachers in the while-stage

a Ask students to guess the word meaning based on the context

b. Ask students to look up new words in the dictionary

c. Translate new words into Vietnamese

d. Ask students to answer questions based on the text using new words they have learnt

e. Ask students to do Matching exercises: match words with its definition

f. Ask students to do Multiple Choice exercises to check word meaning

g. Ask students to do True/False statement exercises to check word meaning

h. Ask students to do Gap-filling exercises using new words in the text

The data from the students’ questionnaire shown in Chart 4 are quite inconsistent withwhat collected from the questionnaire for the teachers Accordingly, techniques of guessingword meaning based on the context and doing matching exercises are often used by teachers(87.5%) but according to students, their percentages are only 34% and 21% irrespectively Instead, according to students, translation and gap-filling exercises are more commonly used inthe while-stage (54% and 53% respectively) The biggest difference is presented in usingmultiple choice exercises While 75% of the teachers claims that they use this technique inteaching text-based vocabulary in the while-stage to check their students’ word meaningcomprehension, 9% of the students feedback about the use of multiple choice exercises.Furthermore, none of the teachers mention about dictionary use whereas 15% of the studentssay that teachers ask them to look up new words in the dictionary All of these differencesmay be due to students’ expectation about some techniques is not met or teachers use sometechniques but students are not aware of them

 Techniques used by teachers to teach vocabulary through texts in the Post-stage

(question 6 from students’ questionnaire and question 5 from teachers’

questionnaire)

Chart 5: Text-based vocabulary techniques used by teachers in the post-stage

a Elicit personal response from students using newly taught words

b. Ask students to summarize the text using newly taught words

c. Ask students to discuss about the content of the text using newly taught words

d. Ask students to retell the story using newly taught words

Chart 5 shows that eliciting personal response from students is mostly used by teachers

(87.5%) and 35% of the students agree about that (claim for the second position from

students’ questionnaire) In addition, discussion about the content of the text using new words

is a common technique in the post-stage (44% and 62.5% from students and teachers’

questionnaire respectively)

To get an insight, the data from classroom observations show that teachers use different

techniques in each stage to present new vocabulary items Sometimes, they activate students’

prior knowledge, use matching exercise in the pre-stage (first lecture) Sometimes they use

translation to make it easy for their students In the while-stage, the most polular way of

presenting new words is writing them down on board with Vietnamese equivalents, followed

by examples or atonym provision Then, various activities are used such as answering

questions, doing T/F exercise, or listening to the tape and correct the information However,

teachers do not pay attention to activities in the post-stage because data from