Improving english vocabulary retention by using memory strategies an action research

HOÀNG THỊ PHƯƠNG LOANIMPROVING ENGLISH VOCABULARY RETENTION BY USING MEMORY STRATEGIES: AN ACTION RESEARCH NÂNG CAO KHẢ NĂNG LƯU NHỚ TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH BẰNG CÁCH SỬ DỤNG CÁC THỦ THUẬT GHI

HOÀNG THỊ PHƯƠNG LOAN

IMPROVING ENGLISH VOCABULARY

RETENTION BY USING MEMORY STRATEGIES:

AN ACTION RESEARCH

NÂNG CAO KHẢ NĂNG LƯU NHỚ TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH BẰNG CÁCH SỬ DỤNG CÁC THỦ THUẬT GHI NHỚ: NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG

M.A Combined Program Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Code: 60.14.10

HANOI – 2013

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY

OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

HOÀNG THỊ PHƯƠNG LOAN

IMPROVING ENGLISH VOCABULARY

RETENTION BY USING MEMORY STRATEGIES:

AN ACTION RESEARCH

NÂNG CAO KHẢ NĂNG LƯU NHỚ TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH BẰNG CÁCH SỬ DỤNG CÁC THỦ THUẬT GHI NHỚ: NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG

M.A Combined Program Thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10

Supervisor: Phạm Thị Hạnh, M.A.

HANOI – 2013

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Candidate‘s statement………

Acknowledgement………

Abstract………

List of tables and figures………

PART A: INTRODUCTION………

1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study………

2 Aims of the study and research questions………

3 Significance of the study………

4 Scope of the study………

5 Methods of the study………

6 An overview of the rest of the paper………

PART B: DEVELOPMENT………

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW………

1.1 Language Learning Strategies………

1.1.1 Definition of Language Learning Strategies………

1.1.2 The importance of Language Learning Strategies in Language Learning and Teaching………

1.1.3 Features of Language Learning Strategies………

1.1.4 LLS – a sufficient condition for successful learning? ………

1.2 Vocabulary and Vocabulary Learning Strategies………

1.2.1 Vocabulary 1.2.1.1 Definition ………

1.2.1.2 The importance of vocabulary in second language learning……

1.2.1.3 Vocabulary retention and memory systems‘ process of working

1.2.2 Vocabulary learning strategies (VLS)………

1.2.2.1 Definition ………

1.2.2.2 Classification of VLS………

1.3 Memory strategies……….

1.3.1 Definition of memory strategies………

1.3.2 Why memory strategies?

1.3.3 Classification of Oxford‘s Memory strategies………

1.3.3.1 Grouping………

1.3.3.2 Associating………

1.3.3.3 Using imagery………

1.3.3.4 Placing a new word into a context………

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY………

2.1 The background of the study………

2.1.1 The study setting ………

2.1.2 Participants………

2.1.3 Materials………

2.1.4 TOEIC and TOEIC vocabulary………

2.2 Implementation of the Action Research………

2.3 Data collection instruments………

2.3.1 Vocabulary Knowledge Scale ………

2.3.2 Interview………

2.3.3 Pre-test and post-tests ……… ………

2.3.4 Learners‘ diaries.………

2.3.5 Questionnaire.………

2.4 Data collection procedure……….

2.5 Methods and data analysis procedures………

CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION………

3.1 Research question 1………

3.1.1 Results from VKS………

3.1.2 Result from the interview………

3.2 Research question 2………

3.2.1 Results from the immediate post-test ……… …… …

3.2.2 Results from the delayed post-test ………

3.3 Research question 3………

3.3.1 Results from learners‘ diaries ………

3.3.2 Results from the self-report column in the immediate post-test …………

3.4 Research question 4………

3.4.1 Students‘ attitudes towards the strategy training scheme………

3.4.2 The students‘ attitudes towards four sub-memory strategies………

3.4.3 Students‘ suggestions for future program………

CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS………

4.1 Strategy training………

4.2 Suggested activities for introducing and practicing memory strategies

4.3 Other recommendations for teachers………

PART C: CONCLUSION………

1 Major findings of the study………

2 Limitations of the study………

3 Suggestions for further study………

REFERENCES……….

APPENDICES Appendix 1: Vocabulary teaching schedule………

Appendix 2: Schmitt‘s taxonomy of VLS………

Appendix 3: Oxford‘ taxonomy of LLS………

Appendix 4: VKS test………

Appendix 5: Pre-test/post-test 1/post-test 2………

Appendix 6: Questionnaire………

Appendix 7: Sample of in-class & at-home handouts………

Appendix 8: Sample of learners‘ diaries………

Appendix 9: Suggested activities employing memory strategies………

LISTS OF TABLES, FIGURES, AND ABBREVIATIONS

TABLES

Table 1: Definitions of Language Learning Strategies………

Table 2: Features of Language Learning Strategies………

Table 3: A collection of some important principles needed to retain vocabulary items………

Table 4: Gu & Johnson‘s taxonomy of VLS………

Table 5: Nation‘s taxonomy of VLS………

Table 6: Oxford‘s memory strategies………

Table 7: Student profile………

Table 8: Schedule of vocabulary teaching for TOEIC A class………

Table 9: Students‘ problems in independent learning vocabulary……… …

Table 10: Strategies used as reported in students‘ diaries……… ……

Table 11: Report of strategies used in the immediate post-test…… ………

Table 12: Mean scores gained by the group in the pre-test and immediate post-test………

Table 13: Individuals‘ performance in the pre-test and immediate post-test……

Table 14: Mean scores gained by individuals in the pre-test and immediate post-test………

Table 15: Mean scores gained by the group in the pre-test and delayed post-test………

Table 16: Individuals‘ performance in the pre-test, immediate post-test and delayed post-test………

Table 17: Mean scores gained by individuals in the pre-test, immediate post-test and delayed post-test………

Table 18: Students‘ preference of four sub-memory strategies………

Table 19: Students‘ suggestions for future program………

Table 20: Types of strategy training………

FIGURES Figure 1: Diagram of Direct Strategies………

Figure 2: Diagram of Indirect Strategies………

Figure 3: Action research circle………

Figure 4: Data collection procedure………

Figure 5: Results from VKS test………

Figure 6: The whole group‘s performance in the pre-test and immediate post-test………

Figure 7: Individuals‘ performance in the pre-test and immediate post-test………

Figure 8: The whole group‘ performance in the pre-test and the delayed post test Figure 9: The whole group‘ performance in the pre-test, immediate post-test and delayed post-test………

Figure 10: Individuals‘ performance in the pre-test, immediate post-test and delayed post-test………

Figure 11: Strategies used as reported students‘ diaries………

Figure 12: Importance of the strategy training scheme………

Figure 13: Effectiveness of the strategy training scheme………

Figure 14: Pleasure during the strategy training scheme………

Figure 15: A model for strategy training………

ABBREVIATIONS

LLS: Language Learning Strategies

VLS: Vocabulary Learning Strategies

L2: Foreign Language

VKS: Vocabulary Knowledge Scale

M: Mean Score

TOEIC: Test of English for International Communication

PART A: INTRODUCTION

This chapter sheds light on the statement of the problem and rationale for the study

as well as its aims and research questions Moreover, the scope and the significance of the study are also presented in this part Lastly, the chapter concludes with an overview of the rest of the paper, serving as a useful compass to help the reader stay on track throughout the research.

1 Statement of the problem and rationale for the study

―I’m sure that I have seen this word before but…I do not remember its meaning Sorry

teacher.‖

―Teacher, could you tell me the best way to learn vocabulary? I have tried a lot but it

is always easy for me to forget the meanings of words that I have learned.”

“At first, I can remember all the words that you have taught us but… after a few days,

it seems to be very difficult for me to recall their meanings although they look really familiar to me.”

“I can’t remember all things about a word, like how to pronounce it, whether it is a verb or a noun, when I can use it…”

“Teacher, how can I remember the words that I have learnt?”

…

Those are questions and comments that my students often share with me They allknow the importance of learning vocabulary; however, they seem to be frustrated withtrying to learn new words This can be shown by the way they express themselves inEnglish confusingly; their gesture of slightly scratching their head when they have to dealwith words that they do not know; and their low marks in vocabulary test From this reality,

a challenging question is set for teachers of English in general and me - one teacher of

English in particular: “How to help students retain vocabulary effectively?‖

From my own experience as a student, I used to ask myself a question like my

students now: “How can I remember this word?” It was very easy for me to understand the

meaning and get the right pronunciation of a word at first, but it was also easy for me toforget those things a short time later It therefore resulted in bad marks in my readingcomprehension tests and the way I tried to use suitable words when I had to present inclass One day, there appeared an idea in my mind – that I think is a turning point in theway I have dealt with learning vocabulary: that was the time when my teacher gave us an

example to explain the meaning of the word: ―embarrassed‖ She said, ―Just imagine, you

are in a restaurant with a very important person and you carelessly pour your entire café cup on

his clothes….yup and that will be the time you feel so “embarrassed” So we all

understood that ―embarrassed‖ showed the feeling when we did something wrong and we did not know what to do then I myself think that this associating way is very simple but

really impressive and effective As a result, I remember that word for my life Thus, aftergraduating from university and being an English teacher, I started to study the very firstreadings about Vocabulary and Vocabulary Learning

Vocabulary plays an important part in language learning as Schmitt (2010) stated,

―Learning vocabulary is an essential part of mastering a second language‖ (p 4) Thisview has been strongly approved by all partners involving in learning process Forexample, McCarthy (1990, p.viii) added ―no matter how well the student learns grammar,

no matter how successfully the sounds of L2 are mastered, without words to express awider range of meanings, communication in an L2 just cannot happen in any meaningfulway‖ The learners will certainly face difficulties when communicating in English withoutequipping themselves with necessary vocabulary items Furthermore, vocabularydeficiency can be reason for weakness in many language skills, namely reading andlistening comprehension, speaking competence, writing performance and grammaticalaccuracy Learning vocabulary is no doubt an indispensable step of L2 acquisition.However, learning but not remembering is not successful learning Students should betaught how to remember vocabulary or recall necessary vocabulary when needed Ingeneral, they must be provided the way to process information deeply

Studying VLS has been an interest for a great deal of psychologists, linguists andlanguage teachers for a long time There are numerous studies conducted about VLS, theireffectiveness in learning vocabulary Almost these researchers have attempted to develop aframework of category of VLS They are: O‘Malley and Chamot (1990), Oxford (1990);Stoffer (1995); Gu and Johnson (1996), Schmitt (1997), Nation (2001), to name but a few

At the University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam NationalUniversity, Hanoi, vocabulary learning and teaching ―have yet to receive adequateattention‖ and that ―vocabulary is often integrated into other communicative skills and thetask of vocabulary acquisition is totally left to students Also, the research interest amongthe university staff and students has seemingly moved away from this field‖ (Ngo, 2009, p

2009, he himself conducted a research on ―Vocabulary Level and Vocabulary Strategies ofULIS First Year Mainstream English Majors‖ In this research, he aimed at finding out thevocabulary level of the first year students, what strategies they used in their vocabularylearning and what problems they encountered with vocabulary learning strategies.

This research took no attempt to fill the gap in changing and correcting the previousscholars‘ VLS systems, identifying the vocabulary level or the numbers of vocabularystrategies used among students, but practically focused on applying some specificstrategies in vocabulary learning and examining their effectiveness

In conclusion, with all the reasons from my own experience, my teaching andlearning situation and the large gap in studying VLS in my university, I would like todevote my time and effort researching to my thesis: ―Improving English Vocabulary

Retention by using Memory Strategies- An Action Research” as an answer to the very beginning question - ―How to help my students retain vocabulary effectively?”.

2 Aims of the study and research questions.

Initially, the study aimed at identifying the problems with vocabulary that studentswere facing with Secondly, it was intended to improve the students‘ vocabulary retention

by teaching them some helpful memory strategies, namely grouping, associating, usingimagery and placing new words into a context The study also aimed at finding out howmuch students obtained the memory strategies learnt; by the way, the strategy used themost by students could also be revealed Finally, it attempted to collect not only students‘attitudes towards the strategy training scheme in general and four sub-memory strategies inparticular but their own suggestions for a better future teaching and learning program aswell

In short, the study was conducted to answer the four following research questions:

1 What are the problems that the students encounter in their independent

vocabulary learning?

2 How does learning the 4 sub-memory strategies help to improve students' vocabulary retention?

3 How much do the students obtain the memory strategies learned in their independent learning?

4 What are the students’ attitudes towards teaching and learning the 4 memory strategies and their suggestions for future teaching and learning program?

sub-3 Significance of the study

In spite of not being the trailblazing study on the application of learning memorystrategies on vocabulary retention, this one would be of great benefit for the students whoare learning English in general and the ones who are dealing with TOEIC vocabulary inparticular, their teachers, and other researchers who are interested in the topic

To begin with, the treatment in the research hoped to hand over students a new way

of approaching vocabulary learning, escaping from the traditional way of listing andlearning by heart new words Especially, the recommendations of the research would notonly help students to deal with vocabulary problems of impending TOEIC Test, but alsoimprove their life-long vocabulary studying since ―vocabulary learning never stops, evenlong after grammar system is firmly in place‖ (Thornbury, 2002, p 160)

As for TOEIC instructors in particular and teachers dealing with Englishvocabulary in general, the findings of the study could be a source of references for them tomake a decision on how best to facilitate their students‘ lexicon extension

Last but not least, regarding to the researchers sharing the same interest invocabulary, this study would be a reliable resource of related literature review and a goodreference for them to continue their future work

4 Scope of the study

This study was conducted on 9 students ageing from twenty to twenty two in oneTOEIC class These students came from different universities in Hanoi They started thecourse with rather limited knowledge about TOEIC test and their TOEIC scores at thebeginning of the course test ranged from 220- 395

Taken from Oxford‘s (1990) classification of learning strategies, grouping,associating, using imagery and placing new words into a context were four specificmemory strategies introduced in this thesis With the application of these four memory

strategies, the teacher - researcher hoped to bring something new and effective in herteaching vocabulary to her students to improve their vocabulary learning

In this thesis, the number of vocabulary employed in the treatment was taken from

the book 600 Essential Words for the TOEIC (Lougheed, 2008) Vocabulary was then

categorized into different topics to deliver to students (see Appendix 1)

5 Methods of the study

The current action research combined both qualitative and quantitative approaches.The action actually taken was a vocabulary learning strategy training scheme designed forthe duration of nine weeks

5.1 Data collection methods

Data was collected by means of a Vocabulary Knowledge Scale (VKS) test,interviews, learners‘ diaries, tests and questionnaires Firstly, a VKS test and a groupinterview took place before the treatment to identify students‘ problems when dealing withvocabulary Furthermore, a system of tests, namely pre-test, post-test 1 and post-test 2 wasemployed to measure the improvement of students‘ vocabulary retention in terms of short-

term and long-term after being introduced four sub-memory strategies In addition, during

the treatment, a number of diary entries which were weekly written by students helped topoint out the most popular strategies used by students Finally, a questionnaire wasdistributed via emails to students in order to collect the students‘ attitudes towards teachingand learning the 4 sub-memory strategies and their suggestions for future teaching andlearning program

5.2 Data analysis methods

The collected data was categorized under the four research questions To bespecific, the data from the VKS test and a group-interview served to answer the firstquestion, the learners‘ diaries addressed the second one, the test scores for the third andquestionnaire data referred to the last question

Regarding to the first question, in the VKS test, the students represented how muchthey had known the word by marking it from 1 to 5 with reference to the 5 scales Theteacher then counted the number of each mark for each student, expressed the figure as apercentage and illustrated them in a bar chart In the interview, after the students tried toexpress their problems in vocabulary learning (both in Vietnamese and in English), the datawas translated, generalized, calculated, and described in a table

Next, for the tests, mean scores of the pre-test, and two post-tests were computedand compared with each other in pairs By this way, the improvement of students‘vocabulary retention in short term and long term could be revealed.

With reference to the third question, all the 144 learners‘ diary entries werecollected The teacher then calculated the number of each strategy used in each entry.These figures were then converted to percentages and given under the format of a pie-chart

to see the most popular strategies

Finally, the data from questionnaire was independently analyzed according to threedifferent parts The first part included three smaller questions addressing three aspects ofattitudes towards the strategy training scheme, namely the importance, the effectivenessand the pleasure For each question, the researcher then used calculating percentages toillustrate the data and presented them in three different pie-charts In the second part, aftercounting all the marks given for each strategy, a mean score was identified The strategyhaving the highest mean score would be the most favorite one In the last part, data wascounted, illustrated by percentages and displayed in a table so that the researcher couldmake a conclusion of ideas and suggestions for the course, perceived by the students

6 An overview of the rest of the paper

The rest of the paper is categorized into these following parts:

Part B: Development: is divided into three chapters:

• Chapter 1: (Literature review): introduces the theoretical foundations for the

whole study

• Chapter 2: (Methodology): elaborates on the participants, the method used, the

instruments, the data collecting and the data analysis procedure

• Chapter 3: (Results and discussion): presents and analyses all the correct data to

help find out the answers to the three research questions

• Chapter 4: (Recommendations): presents the author‘s suggestions on the

learning

and teaching vocabulary strategies based on the research findings and the related literature

Part C: Conclusion: summarizes all the major points in the study, reveals the limitations

of the study and proposes some suggestions for further research

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter, as its name, provides an overview of the literature related to the study, stretching from the larger to the smaller items in a unified language learning system: from language learning strategies, then vocabulary learning strategies, next, memory strategies and last four sub-memory strategies Besides, this review also reveals some critical analysis about the systems of classifying vocabulary learning strategies as well as the research gap, thus motivating to carry out the study.

1.1 Language Learning Strategies

1.1.1 Definition

―Give a man a fish and he eats for a day Teach him how to fish and he eats for a lifetime”.

Wenden (1985, cited in Griffiths, 2004)The target of education is not for only today, but for a person‘s whole life Thus, ifteachers just give students the answers, their immediate problems may be solved However,

if they are taught the way to work out the problems by themselves, they can manage theirown learning during their life Therefore, in language teaching and learning, utilizinglanguage learning strategies (LLS) is of great significance

In order to understand what Language Learning Strategies (LLS) are, it is

advisable for the writer to provide a definition of ―strategy‖ first and explain why this

term was chosen for the current study

As the basic meaning in military settings, ―strategy‖ was known as ―the

generalship/ the art of the war‖ or specifically as ―the optimal management of troops, ships or aircraft in a planned campaign‖ (Oxford, 1990, p 7) When moving to educational

field, the strategy concept has been transformed into ―learning strategies‖, which commonly means ―operations employed by the learner to aid the acquisition, storage,

retrieval and use of information‖ (Rigney, 1978, cited in Oxford, 1990, p 8) Together with

―strategy‖, in his study, Griffiths (2004) also gave out a list of some other alternative terms which are ―more or less synonymous‖ such as ―learning behaviours‖ by Wesche (1977) and Politzer & Mc Groarty (1985); ―tactics‖ by Seliger (1984) and ―techniques‖

by Stern (1992) (p 1) As the fact that Rubin (1975) used ―strategy‖ ―in

perhaps the earliest study in this area and it enjoys the widest currency today‖, ―strategy‖

is used as the official term for this study

Defining LLS is still a controversial issue There has been no general accepteddefinition of LLS so far The researchers tend to define LLS in their own way of teachingcontext; as a result, different expressions have been given Singleton (2008) has managed

to collect and illustrate some prominent definitions of LLS in the following table:

Table 1: Definitions of Language Learning Strategies (Singleton, 2008, p 51)

In general, from the table, LLS can be interpreted as ―specific actions, behaviors,steps or techniques that learners used (often deliberately) to improve their progress in

developing their competence in the target language” (Singleton, 2008, p 52).

1.1.2 The importance of Language Learning Strategies

Training students how to use LLS has been proved to give them a big help inlanguage learning In Oxford‘s definition mentioned above, the significance of LLS has

been highlighted as one kind of ―weapons‖ which can ―make learning easier, faster,

more enjoyable, more self-directed, more effective and transferrable to new situations‖.Once the learners are equipped with learning strategies, they will be more confident, moremotivated and more active in their own learning In other words, learning strategies canhelp to compensate the weakness in their learning style However, it is not true that all thelearners who use learning strategies will be successful in studying language Oxford (1990)emphasized although ―strategies are especially important for language learning‖, only

―appropriate language learning strategies resulted in improved proficiency and greater

self-confidence” (p 1) There have been many researchers studying the differences

between ―good learners‖ and ―bad learners‖ in their ways of using strategies Chamot(2004) stated, ―Differences between more effective learners and less effective learnerswere found in the number and range of strategies used, in how the strategies were applied

to the task, and in whether they were appropriate for the task‖ (p 18) The students withstrategic way of thinking and working will know what and how they should do to achievesuccess when dealing with language skills In academic field, this can be easily seen whencomparing them with the ones who do not use any kind of learning strategies or usestrategies inappropriately

Moreover, language learning strategies are demonstrated to ―encourage greateroverall self- direction for learners‖ (Oxford, 1990, p 10) Self-direction can beacknowledged as the ability to be self-responsible and active in grasping new language

Owing to the traditional education system, many learners are passive and ―spoon-fed‖

learners (Oxford, 1990, p 10) who sit and wait until they are told what to do and how tosolve the problems This makes their study more and more difficult and they themselvescertainly cannot catch up with the updated knowledge LLS are expected to alter this kind

of attitude and behavior towards learning, change passive learners into self-directed oneswho can gradually gain more confidence, proficiency and involvement in learning process

Obviously, LLS have played a very important part in language teaching andlearning For more understanding about LLS, the nature and key features will be discussed

in the next part

1.1.3 The features of Language Learning Strategies

Once teachers and learners get a good hold of LLS‘ characteristics, it is possible forthem to have a deeper and more precise understanding of LLS‘ concepts and a moreappropriate way of applying LLS in their own work

This part briefly concerned about two approaches of Oxford (1990) and Singleton (2008) when these two researchers presented the main features of LLS in their books

In her book titled Language Learning Strategies – What Every Teacher Should

Know (1990), Oxford summarized some key features of LLS as follows:

Table 2: Features of Language Learning Strategies (Oxford, 1990, p 9)

To begin with, LLS were discovered to help learners gain knowledge better, thushave a function to orient learners to the target of learning language, communicative

competence Learning strategies help learners to participate in authentic communication in

an active and effective way The proof is that while ―social strategies provide increasedinteraction and more empathetic understanding, two qualities necessary to reachcommunicative competence‖, memory strategies help to ―understand and recalling newinformation‖, and compensation strategies ―aid learners in overcoming knowledge gapsand continuing to communicate authentically‖ etc (Oxford, 1990, p 9)

Agreeing with Oxford about the contribution of LLS in stimulating learners‘ direction, Singleton added ―LLS enable learners to self-regulate their own learning andbecome autonomous and effective outside the classroom‖ (Singleton, 2008)

self-In terms of the change in teachers‘ role when applying LLS in language class, boththe two researchers confirmed its essential movement If the traditional teacher in the pastwas identified as a manager, a director, an instructor, a judge, a leader now they areexpected to become a helper, a guide, a consultant, a facilitator This alteration does notreduce the role of teachers, but strengthen their participations, make them more creativeand flexible in working environment Changing teachers‘ roles also require full awareness

of responsibility and direction from learners Once this can be done, the relationshipbetween teachers and learners as well as the effectiveness of teaching and learning willcertainly be guaranteed

In addition, two scholars also shared the same view about the problem orientation,action basis and involvement beyond just cognition of LLS Obviously, learners often useLLS when problems befall; for example, memory strategies are mobilized when there issomething necessary to be remembered; guessing strategies become useful when studentscome up against a difficult foreign language reading Besides, as ―LLS are specificactions or techniques used by learners‖ (Wenden, 1987, cited in Singleton, 2008, p 55),these actions ―are naturally influenced by learners‘ more characteristics or traits, such aslearning style, motivation and aptitude‖ In addition, LLS do not only concern about

―mental process or cognitive functions‖, but they also involve ―social, metacognitive andaffective aspects‖

As for the observability of LLS, there is an agreement among researchers that some

of the LLS can be observed, while others cannot For instance, when teachers use images toillustrate the meaning of the words, students can have a look at them; however, whenmental associations are made, it is unobservable

Both Oxford (1990) and Singleton (2008) admitted, ―The issue of consciousnessand LLS is still controversial Many researchers agree, however, that LLS are often useddeliberately and consciously, but their use can become automatic, i.e subconscious.‖ It can

be seen that whether LLS are ―conscious, potentially conscious or subconscious‖, it

depends on each learner and the task they are engaged in (Singleton, 2008, p 55)

Besides, Singleton (2008) has discussed one more time some factors affecting thechoice of LLS which were formerly mentioned in Oxford They can be degree ofawareness, stage of learning, task requirements, teacher expectations, age, sex, nationality,general learning style, learner belief, motivation level and purpose of learning

In short, almost twelve features of LLS listed in Oxford‘s study are mentioned andrestated in Singleton (2008), but there are still some differences While Singleton (2008)

omitted teachability, Oxford (1990) highlighted it as one important feature of LLS by

proving that LLS are ―easier to teach and modify‖ through strategy training Sheconsidered such training a big help for students to learn why they should use LLS, whenthey can use them and how they can flexibly utilize them in different situations

Furthermore, to supplement for the system of LLS‘ characteristics, Singleton (2008,

p 56) added two more features of systematization and finiteness In the first place, whenstudying LLS‘ systemization, he supported the view of Bialystok (1990), ―learners do notincidentally discover a language strategy; they use them systematically on the basis of theirknowledge.‖ As an illustration, in ancient times, some kinds of memory devices were used

to help story tellers remember their lines These techniques were still rather simple andnaturalistic Throughout the history, when more and more knowledge is updated, strategieshave been changed by the best language users who gradually ranged language techniquesfrom naturalistic practice to analytic and rule-based ones (Oxford, 1990, p 1) For the

finiteness of LLS, he considered LLS not an ―idiosyncratic creation‖ of each learner and

the number of LLS is limited and completely enumerated

All in all, features of LLS have called a lot of interest from researchers and beenmore and more fulfilled to accommodate learners with a comprehensive insight aboutlearning strategies in general and LLS in particular

1.1.4 LLS – a sufficient condition for successful learning?

Although LLS are especially important for language learning, is using only LLSenough for the learners to achieve success?

Nowadays, Communicative Language Teaching has been widely used and prevailed

in almost language schools in the world This has brought about the movement between therole of teachers and learners; a teacher-directed class has been moved to a learner-directedone, in which a learner will have to learn the way to take control of their own study This

heavy task cannot be fulfilled with just LLS The saying goes: you can bring a horse to

water, but you cannot make him drink In language learning field, the importance of

learners during language learning process should be highlighted If a teacher just provideshis/her students with LLS without waking their awareness of self-learning, proficiencycannot occur Language learning is a life-long learning, the teacher can help students todaybut not forever Learners need to work through their whole life by themselves Therefore, it

is the language teachers‘ duty to help their students become more autonomous in their own

study Talking about this, another term called ―learner autonomy‖ should be concerned.

―Learner autonomy‖ is considered a complicated concept to define, but for the

purpose of this thesis, a definition of Richards and Schmidt (2002) can be such asatisfactory one: learner autonomy in language teaching ―is the principle that learnersshould be encouraged to assume a maximum amount of responsibility for what they learnand how they learn it‖ (p 297)

In this thesis, the combination between the provision of LLS to students and the act

of waking up their responsibility in learning is carefully taken into account

1.2 Vocabulary and Vocabulary Learning Strategies

1.2.1 Vocabulary

1.2.1.1 Definition

Vocabulary is considered a very important aspect of language, yet one of the majorchallenges that L2 learners have to face during the process of learning a language Beforediscussing the significance of vocabulary, it is first necessary to clarify the working definition

of vocabulary Originally, vocabulary dated from the Medieval Latin word vocābulārium as perceived from the freedictionary.com According to Oxford Advanced Learner‘s Dictionary

(7th edition, p 1707), vocabulary can be defined as (1) ―all the words that a person knows or

uses‖ and (2) ―all the words in a particular language‖ In these above senses, there appears

the term ―words‖ for twice Regarding the connection between vocabulary and word,

McCarthy (1990) stated, ―When we speak of the vocabulary of a

language, we are speaking primarily, but not exclusively, of the words of that language‖(p.3) Also in the Oxford Advanced Learner‘s Dictionary (7th, p 1758), word ―is a singleunit of language which means something and can be spoken or written‖ In short, as theresearcher‘s perception, word is somewhat the representation of vocabulary in spoken orwritten form.

In addition, in terms of vocabulary teaching and learning, vocabulary should not berecognized as individual or separated words with fixed meanings More than that, it can be

a combination of words such as collocations (make a complaint, have breakfast…), word units (it‘s amazing how, well and truly…), polywords (at the weekend/ in hisopinion…), institutionalized expressions (I‘ll take it, I got it…) or even sentence frames(there is/ there are…) (Lewis, 1993, pp 92-94)

multi-1.2.1.2 The importance of Vocabulary

―…without grammar, very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be

conveyed‖

David Wilkins (1972, cited in Thornburry, 2002, p 13) Above was the way that DavidWilkins, a British linguist acknowledged vocabulary and the significance of vocabulary

Thornburry (2002) once more emphasized this by

restating an advice given to the students in the course book titled Innovations, ―If you

spend most of your time studying grammar, your English will not improve very much Youwill see most improvement if you learn more words or expressions You can say very littlewith grammar, but you can say almost everything with words‖

In terms of second language teaching and learning; however, vocabulary had beenignored for such a long time In the past, when the Direct Method and Audiolingualismprevailed, teaching of grammatical structures attracted special concern The advent of theCommunicative Approach since 1970s has raised awareness of the key role of teaching andlearning vocabulary Much more attention has been given to the vocabulary research, inwhich researchers have attempted to find the relationship between learning strategies andlanguage competence, the factors enhancing vocabulary acquisition, and so on

1.2.1.3 Vocabulary retention and memory systems’ process of working

In the Oxford Advanced Learner‘s Dictionary (2005), retention is defined as ―anability to remember things‖ (p 1297) There is also another definition in the website

http://en.wikipedia.org inwhich retention in learning can be defined as―the ability to

retain facts and figures in memory‖ Although no definition of vocabulary retention in theliterature has been found by the researcher, for the purpose of this study, vocabularyretention can be clarified as the storage of vocabulary in the memory, which becomesavailable for usage when needed

As mentioned above, learning vocabulary is an essential part of mastering alanguage To achieve vocabulary, learners not only have to learn but to remember a lot ofwords Indeed, ―learning is remembering‖ (Thornburry, 2002, p 2) He also added the factthat remembering words is not something like remembering grammar as ―it is essentially

a rule-based system, vocabulary knowledge is largely a question of accumulatingindividual items‖ (p 2) Talking about the relationship between learning and remembering,people mention about the connection between language exposure and memory While theterm memory more often refers to later storage and retrieval of information, languageexposure refers more to processes in the initial acquisition or encoding of information.These two factors have reciprocal relationship with each other Information is learned onlywhen it can be retrieved later, and retrieval cannot occur unless information is learned

Not only the relationship between language exposure and memory, but also the wayhow information can be stored in the memory should be taken into consideration Thanksfor this, it is entirely possible for us to explain why some chunks of information seem tostay still, whereas some slip away quickly This is no doubt a matter of concern for bothteachers and learners so as to promote effective learning and retention of new languageitems

Types of memory

The role of memory is crucial in any kind of learning and vocabulary learning is no

exception What we usually think of as ―memory‖ in day-to-day usage is actually

long-term memory, but there are also important short-term store and working memory, which must be worked through before a long-term memory can be established.

(http://www.human- memory.net)

Short-term store is defined as ―the brain‘s capacity to hold a limited number of

items of information for periods of time up to a few second It is the kind of memoryinvolved in holding in your head a telephone number for as long as it takes to be able todial it; or to repeat a word that you‘ve heard the teacher modeling‖ (Thurnburry, 2002, p.23)

Working memory can be thought of as the ability to remember and process

information at the same time This is one kind of process when words are focused long

enough to perform operations on them This is said to be the place where some cognitivetasks such as reasoning, learning and understanding happen (Thornburry, 2002, p 23) Itholds a small amount of information (typically around 7 items or even less) in mind in anactive, readily-available state for a short period of time (typically from 10 to 15 seconds, orsometimes up to a minute) ( http://www.human-memory.net)

Unlike working memory where the capacity to retain words is limited, long-term

memory has an enormous capacity and intends for storage of information over a long

period of time However, Thornburry (2002) stated, ―the fact that learners can retain newvocabulary items the length of the lesson (i.e beyond the few seconds‘ duration of theshort-term store) but have forgotten them by the next lessons suggests that long-termmemory is not always as long-term as we wish Rather, it occupies a continuum from the

―quickly forgotten‖ to the never forgotten‖ (p 24) Thus, it is necessary for the languagelearners to learn how to move information from the quickly forgotten to the neverforgotten To do this, the support of some typical techniques plays such a very important

part In his book How to Teach Vocabulary, Thornburry listed a number of principles

generalized from many research findings in the table follows:

Repetition

Retrieval

Spacing

Pacing

Table 3: A collection of some important principles needed to retain vocabulary items

(Adapted from Thornburry, 2002, pp.24-26)The above part has revealed the operating process of three kinds of memory Thechallenge for a language learner is to transform material from short-term and workingmemory into long-term memory as once the piece of information has been stored in long-term memory; it can remain there for a very long time, and sometimes even for the rest ofone‘s life (http://thebrain.mcgill.ca) Moreover, a number of effective techniques help toretain vocabulary items has just been suggested in the above table This thesis (usingmemory strategies to improve vocabulary retention) is therefore completely reasonable andpractically conducted to test the effectiveness of the techniques in specific student subjects

1.2.2 Vocabulary learning strategies

1.2.2.1 Definition

Vocabulary Learning Strategies (VLS) are one part of LLS which in turn are part ofgeneral learning strategies (Nation, 2001) In a specific way, VLS can be concluded as

―specific strategies utilized in the isolated task of learning vocabulary in the targetlanguage‖ (Singleton, 2008) However, it does not mean that VLS are only for vocabularylearning, they can be found useful in other types of tasks For instance, when identifyingthe list of learning strategies used by successful learners, a few VLS was found such asguessing a word‘s meaning from the context, identifying the grammatical category of aword, looking up words, and so on (Hosenfeld, 1984, cited in Singelton, 2008, p 52).Conversely, some general learning strategies such as planning and assessment can be used

in learning vocabulary Nation (2001) defined VLS with the following important features:

(1) they involve choice;

(2) they are complex, i.e consisting of several steps;

(3) they require knowledge and benefit from training; and

(4) they increase the efficiency of vocabulary learning and use

(cited in Singleton, 2008, p 52)While research into language strategy field dated from 1970s, by the 1990s, anumber of study on VLS were conducted In many studies, a number of general LLS were

found to be VLS or be used for vocabulary learning The reason may be ―learning

individual lexical items is more manageable than strategically tackling larger, more holisticelements of language proficiency like the four skills or grammatical knowledge‖ (Schmitt,2010) Some other studies oriented to the effectiveness of applying individual strategy invocabulary learning

1.2.2.2 Classification of VLS

Starting from the 1990s, studying VLS has been an interest for a great deal of scholars,linguists and language teachers Besides a lot of studies about the relationship betweenlearning strategies and language competence, the differences between the better learnersand their peers in the way of using learning strategies or the factors affecting LLS, VLSchoice in learning and teaching, developing a comprehensive list or taxonomy of VLS hasalso been paid attention to by many researchers Among them were some prominent onessuch as Stoffer (1995), Gu and Johnson (1996), Schmitt (1997) and Nation (2001) All

these studies have attempted to present as complete a list of VLS as possible

(1) strategies involving authentic language use,

(2) strategies involving creative activities,

(3) strategies used for self-motivation,

(4) strategies used to create mental linkages,

(5) memory strategies,

(6) visual/auditory strategies,

(7) strategies involving physical action,

(8) strategies used to overcome anxiety and

(9) strategies used to organise words

(Stoffer, 1995, cited in Schmitt, 1997, p 205) The most frequent strategy was the

fourth one: creating mental linkage strategies.One more interesting discovery in this study was the fact that learners who learn alanguage which is distant from English like Russian, Chinese or Japanese tends to use VLSmore often Her study is ―one of the first attempts at categorization of VLS, and thereforeworth noting‖ (Singleton, 2008)

Gu and Johnson (1996)

Studying on Chinese ELF learners, Gu and Johnson divided 91 statements in theirvocabulary learning questionnaire into four big groups: metacognitive, cognitive, memoryand activation strategies

Metacognitive strategies are composed of selective attention (what words are

important to learn and are essential for adequate comprehension of a passage) and

self-initiation strategies (a variety of means to clarify the meaning of vocabulary items).

Cognitive strategies include guessing strategies, skillful use of dictionaries and

note-taking strategies.

Memory strategies are comprised of rehearsal and encoding categories Word lists

and repetition are examples of rehearsal strategies Encoding strategies entail suchstrategies as association, imagery, visual, auditory, semantic, and contextual encoding aswell as word-structure

Activation strategies involve the strategies through which the learners actually use

new words in different contexts such as setting example sentences

(Gu& Johnson, 1996, cited in Ghazal, 2007, Singleton, 2008) These abovestrategies suggested by Gu and Johnson can be illustrated in a table as follows:

Table 4: Gu and Johnson’s taxonomy of VLS (cited in Ghazal, 2007, p 86) Schmitt’s taxonomy (1997)

In an attempt to fill the gap of vocabulary strategy research, in his study, Schmitt(1997) presented a rather complete inventory of VLS, in which he included 58 strategies

belonging to two big groups: discovery strategies and consolidation strategies The

majority of the strategies listed were collected from a number of reference books,textbooks, Japanese learners‘ reports and several teachers‘ own experience For Schmitt,

discovery strategies are used when the learners want to determine the meaning of the

words they meet for the first time; or in his words when ―learners are faced withdiscovering a new word‘s meaning without recourse to another person‘s experience‖ (p.205) This group includes determination and social strategies When encountering the newword, the learner can firstly rely on some available source such as: dictionary, pictures/gestures or the word‘s part of speech to identify the meaning; secondly, they can use social

strategies to ask teachers or classmates for translation or explanation The second big group

is consolidation strategies for practice and retaining the words once it has been

encountered This group comprises of social, cognitive, memory and metacognitivestrategies (see Appendix 2 for Schmitt‘s taxonomy in details)

Nation (2001)

Another taxonomy of VLS has been conducted recently by Nation (2001), in whichSingleton (2008) considered, ―the fundamental feature is that the types of strategies refer

to various aspects of vocabulary learning‖ Nation introduced 11 VLS in his taxonomy with

three big groups: planning, sources and processes The strategies of planning involve

decisions about which lexical items to attend to, as well as how to focus attention and howoften to give attention to the item Learners are expected to know which vocabulary theyneed, where they can find information, which aspect of knowledge is required Meanwhile,

sources strategies concern ways to find out information about words This information may

include all aspects of word knowledge and can be found in the word itself (word partanalysis), the context (guessing from context), sources of reference (dictionaries) or L1 (via

analogy) The final set of strategies, processes includes ways to remember words and make

them available for use The following table demonstrates briefly VLS categories according

to Nation‘s approach

Table 5: Nation’s taxonomy of VLS (Nation, 2001, p 218)

In a nutshell, when bringing the above classification systems of VLS to compare witheach other, it can be seen that the strongest point of Nation‘s taxonomy is probably itssimplicity Nation only used plain terms to mention different classes and types of strategies.This is entirely opposite with Gu and Johnson‘s taxonomy in which psychological termssuch as metacognitve, cognitive, activation, self- initiation, etc are widely used Schmitt‘staxonomy may be the most extensive and detailed one, in which he inherited, collectedexperience and systematized strategies in a relatively clear way It is not easy to decidewhich taxonomy is better Although they might be different in some ways, they all serve to

―provide a list of widely applicable vocabulary learning strategies‖ (Ghazal, 2007, p 87).This research took no attempt to fill the gap in changing and correcting the previousscholars‘ VLS system, this study only focused on applying some specific strategies invocabulary learning in practice and examining the effectiveness of them Although amongall classifications, Schmitt‘s taxonomy might receive more appreciation, it is not necessaryfor this study to employ such complicated and detailed strategies in Schmitt‘s taxonomy.The specific strategies used in this study were taken from Oxford‘s (1990) classification ofLLS due to its clarification and simplicity

Oxford’s taxonomy

Although Oxford has not taken further steps in classifying VLS, for the purpose ofthe thesis, four memory strategies were taken from her model as their obviousness indefinition and differentiation with others Oxford (1990) included in her system of LLS

two big groups: direct and indirect learning strategies Direct strategies are used directly to

learn a target language, in which memory strategies (e.g.: grouping or using imagery) helpthe learners to store and retrieve new information, cognitive strategies (e.g.: summarizing

or reasoning deductively) help the learners to produce new language by different tools; andcompensation strategies (e.g.: guessing and using synonym) help the learners to use thelanguage regardless of their lack of knowledge

Figure 1: Diagram of Direct Strategies (Oxford, 1990, p.38)

Unlike direct strategies, indirect strategies are used ―indirectly and support learning

without involving the target language directly‖ (Oxford, 1990, p 135) This group includedthese following strategies: metacognitive strategies that help the learners to control theirown learning, affective strategies that help the learners to arrange their emotions andmotivations and attitudes, and social strategies that help the learners to cooperate and learnwith their peers

Figure 2: Diagram of Indirect strategies (Oxford, 1990, p.136)

The more detailed Oxford‘s taxonomy can be seen in appendix 3.

1.3 Memory strategies

1.3.1 Definition of memory strategies

As one group of direct learning strategies set in Oxford (1990), memory strategies(traditionally known as mnemonics) have been found to enhance remembering through theconnection of new knowledge with familiar words and images These strategies involverelating the word to be retained with some previously learned knowledge, using some form

of imagery, or grouping, and so on

Thompson (1987) defined memory strategies as the following:

…mnemonics work by utilizing some well-known principles of psychology: aretrieval plan is developed during encoding, and mental imagery, both visualand verbal, is used They help individuals learn faster and recall better becausethey aid the integration of new material into existing cognitive units andbecause they provide retrieval cues (cited in Schmitt, 1997)

In a more simple way, memory strategies can be defined as ―…systematic strategiesfor strengthening long-term retention and retrieval of information‖ (adopted from thewebsite http://education.calumet.purdue.edu )

1.3.2 Why memory strategies?

Memory strategies were taken as the answer to the problem of the present thesis forthe two following reasons:

To begin with, learning vocabulary is not an easy task To achieve fluency incommunicating, language learners have to remember a large amount of vocabulary As Lord(cited in Oxford, 1990, p 39) stated, ―Vocabulary is by far the most sizeable andunmanageable component in the learning of any language, whether a foreign or one‘s mothertongue because of ten of thousands of different meanings‖ Oxford confirmed that with the help

of memory strategies, language learners can entirely overcome this problem as ―they enablelearners to store verbal material, and then retrieve it when needed for communication‖ Besides,

as stated in the above part, to retain information, it is necessary for the learners to transformwhat they learn from the working memory to the permanent long-term memory Choosingmemory strategies is one of good choices in this case since ―the memory strategy of structure

reviewing helps move information from the ―fact level‖ to the ―skill level‖ (Oxford, 1990).

This completely satisfies the learners‘ need since ―when

information has reached the skill level, it is more easily retrieved and less easily lost after aperiod of disuse‖ (Oxford, 1990, p 40) The effectiveness of memory strategies(mnemonics) was also admitted in Thornburry (2002) when he said, ―Mnemonics aretricks to help retrieve items or rules that are stored in memory and that are not yetautomatically retrievable‖ (p 25)

Secondly, the vocabulary textbook 600 Essential Words for the TOEIC comprises of

many word lists which are said to be presented in the TOEIC test These word lists are

―de-contextualized‖ vocabulary items As Oxford and Scarcella (1994, cited in Nemati,

2009) observed ―while de-contextualized learning (word list) may help students

memorize vocabulary for tests, students are likely to rapidly forget words memorized fromlists‖. In this case, rote repetition cannot be a good choice for the students to retain thewords a long time after the lesson They should be taught on how to process the words

deeply Of ―de-contextualized‖ vocabulary memorization strategies, ―memory

strategies” are strategies which ―involve deep semantic processing of target word and

have been shown to be more effective than memorization techniques which just involveshallow processing such as oral rote repetition‖ (Oxford, 1990) Given the above reasons,the appliance of memory strategies in this thesis is no doubt a reasonable one

1.3.3 Classification of Oxford’s Memory strategies

Oxford (1990)‘s system of memory strategies consists of ten items as follows:

Table 6: Oxford’s Memory strategies (Adapted from Oxford, 1990, pp 40- 43)

In this study, among ten memory strategy items classified by Oxford (1990)mentioned above, the four sub- memory strategies, grouping, associating, using imageryand placing new words into a context, were selected for some following reasons To beginwith, these strategies all enable learners to store material and then retrieve it when neededfor communication, which was fit for the aims of the study Secondly, these four sub-memory strategies are also four ones which were suggested in the introduction of the book

600 Essential Words for TOEIC – a book used as the course book for the treatment in this

study Last but not least, the selection of these four memory strategies also resulted fromthe teacher- researcher‘s previous pilot teaching in one class at her university Thefollowing sections would serve as a help for the readers to have closer view to these kinds

of strategies

1.3.3.1 Grouping

Grouping or thematic grouping is one of basic strategies in vocabulary learning.

This strategy involves the selection and grouping of vocabulary in topics or themes InOxford (1990)‘s words, it involves ―classifying or reclassifying language material intomeaningful units, either mentally or in writing, to make the material easier to remember by

reducing the number of discrete elements‖ (p 40) The topics or themes may be situations,places, feelings, subjects, jobs, among many other possibilities The primary purpose ofthis strategy is to provide students with basic contextualization and memorizationtechniques Thematic grouping has been widely used in course- books, dictionaries(monolingual and bilingual) and picture/photo dictionaries, explicitly or implicitly, in arange of teaching methods and approaches This strategy may be put into practice in anumber of techniques, which include monolingual or bilingual lists and theme-basedsyllabuses

Grouping applies any time that a number of items share the same attributes and can

be put into meaningful groups It can serve to organize students' thoughts as they begin awriting or speaking task For example, a student has a hard time remembering the names offurniture in English, so she groups them according to where each item belongs in a house;

or a business major student will try to remember words by dividing them into smaller groups such as marketing vocabulary, accounting vocabulary, and human resourcesvocabulary, and so on

sub-1.3.3.2 Associating

Associating strategy is used when you ―relate new language information toconcept already in memory, or relate one piece of information to another to createassociations in memory‖ (Oxford, 1990, p 41) These associations can be simple orcomplex, mundane or strange, but they must be meaningful to the learner Associationscan be between two things, such as ―bread‖ and ―butter‖, or they can be in the form ofmultipart ―development‖ such as ―school- book- paper- tree- country- earth‖ They can

be also a part of a network, such as a semantic map (Oxford, 1990, p 41)

There are some kinds of associations such as associating words by their structure (habitué' with habitual), usage (aglet which is the tip of a shoelace with anklet which is an ornament worn on the ankle), meaning (agrarian which means related to agriculture with agro which means the same) and pronunciation (agro which is related to agriculture with

aggro which leads to aggressive)

This following example is one way to deal with associations that an English teachercan use in his/her class:

Word

Search

Associations: Things you can search for:

keys

Warnings

Money Jobs Parking spaces

Associations: Places where you see warnings:

Elevators Electric wires Subways Cigarette packages

(Lougheed, 2008 )

1.3.3.3 Using imagery

Oxford (1990) defined using imagery as ―relating new language information toconcepts in memory by means of meaningful visual imagery, either in the mind or in an

actual drawing‖ (p 41) In the book titled Vocabulary: Description, Acquisition and

Pedagogy, Norbert Schmitt and Mc Carthy (1997) just wrote down, ―new words can be

learned by studying them with pictures of their meaning instead of definitions.‖ The imagecan be a picture of an object, a set of locations for remembering a sequence of words orexpressions, or a mental representation of the letters of a word This strategy can be used toremember abstract words by associating such words with a visual symbol or a picture of aconcrete object Learners can create their own mental images of a word's meaning Imageryhas been shown to be more effective than mere repetition for reading passages andsentences, suggesting it could well be more effective for vocabulary too New words canalso be associated with a particularly vivid personal experience of the underlying concept,

for example, a learner mentally connecting the word snow to a memory of playing in the

snow while a child.

Students use or create an image that helps them remember information It can be assimple as a pencil drawing, or as complex as a "mental movie." An image also helpsstudents recall vocabulary without translating from their native language Complex imagescan help students check their comprehension; if there are inconsistencies, then they mayneed to review the information Using imagery is well suited to any task that involves vividimages or where it is useful to put abstract ideas in concrete form For instance, in order toremember idiomatic expressions, students create funny pictures that illustrate them

1.3.3.4 Placing new words into a context

Placing a new word into a context can be interpreted as ―placing a word or phrase

in a meaningful sentence, conversation, or story in order to remember it‖ (Oxford, 1990, p.41) This strategy involves a form of associating/ elaborating, in which the newinformation is linked with a context This strategy is not the same as guessing intelligently,which involve using all possible clues, including the context, to guess the meaning

For example, you might not understand the word, acerbity, by itself, but this sentence ―The acerbity of the lemon caused the little girl to spit out the bite she had just

taken‖ makes you understand that the general meaning of acerbity must be ―bitter or sour‖ The context clues "lemon" and "spitting out the bite", which provide more

information in the sentence, help you understand what the vocabulary word means

The strategies discussed above are useful in improving one‘s own vocabulary Butlearners cannot learn these strategies on their own They need some external help in theway of providing strategy training by their teachers

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

The following chapter depicts in detail the methodology of this research paper It includes first the background of the study, the size and characteristics of the sample, the materials used, then the implementation of an action research as well as the description of data collection instruments Furthermore, an elaborate report on the procedures of data collection and data analysis is also incorporated.

2.1 The background of the study

2.1.1 The study setting

The study was conducted at one English centre situated in Hanoi capital, Vietnam.This centre specializes in teaching English for the beginners who want to take a TOEIC test

in the future There are three main courses for learners, namely (1) Foundation course (to

equip students with general knowledge of four skills: listening, speaking, reading andwriting, a system of basic vocabulary and grammar at elementary and pre-intermediate

level; (2) TOEIC A course (to provide students with the beginning knowledge of TOEIC

test by practicing reading and listening comprehension; furthermore, to supply studentswith a system of frequently used TOEIC vocabulary and a more detailed and advanced

system of grammar points); and (3) TOEIC B course (to train students with necessary

strategies for the test) In this research, the class was at TOEIC A level, at which all thestudents had passed the first course – Foundation one They all met each other twice aweek (on Tuesday and Friday evenings from 6p.m to 8p.m) for the lessons

In terms of the course schedule, it took learners 22 sessions (11 weeks) to finish thecourse Each session was about two hours

Regarding the objectives of the course, as its name (TOEIC A), this course aimed athelping students to get acquainted with the TOEIC Test‘s format (Listening and Reading)and also providing them with a system of 12 grammar points and basic vocabulary for

TOEIC The main textbook of the course was Starter TOEIC For each session, the teacher

managed to help students to cover one grammar part, one reading or listening part and onevocabulary part which had been clarified in the schedule (see Appendix 1)

The study room was a small room (about 15 square meters), suitable for 12 - 15students with such modern facilities as tables, desks, a white board, an air conditioner and aprojector All the students were arranged into two rows of desks facing the teacher A

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Table 7: Student profile

The researcher in this study was also the teacher of the class, who has been working

as a lecturer at the University of Languages and International Studies, Hanoi NationalUniversity, Vietnam for three years so far This class was the one in which she did her part-time job In this action research, she was both the practitioner and the researcher Not onlywas she responsible for the design and implementation of the vocabulary-learning strategytraining, but she collected and analyzed the data as well

2.1.3 Materials

All the vocabulary being taught in this course was taken from the book entitled 600

Essential Words for the TOEIC by Dr Lougheed - 3rd edition (2008) It should be noted

that in the course‘s schedule, vocabulary teaching and learning was treated as a separated

part with others as it was added as a supplementary material to provide learners with

necessary TOEIC words There were four big topics of TOEIC vocabulary included in the

course: General Business, Personnel, Purchasing, and Financing & Budgeting Each topic

was then divided into three or four small sub- topics

Table 8: Schedule of Vocabulary Teaching for TOEIC A class

Each sub-topic included about 8-10 words regardless of their word-family

According to the schedule of the course, the teacher was in charge of designing in-class

and at-home handouts for students to study In the former ones, teachers gave out the

activities, through which students were helped to approach new vocabulary items usingfour sub-memory strategies in turn At-home handouts were delivered to students after eachlesson as a way to revise vocabulary items and let students self-practise with VLS.Specially, this process would be all reported in learners‘ diaries later (see Appendix 7 forthe sample of handouts)