Developing english vocabulary on science and technology for grade 10 science gifted students through supplementary readings

Aims and Objectives of the Study This study is firstly aimed at investigating the students‟ needs to develop English vocabulary on science and technology.. Secondly, it is aimed to exper

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THANH NHÃ

DEVELOPING ENGLISH VOCABULARY ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FOR GRADE 10 SCIENCE GIFTED STUDENTS

THROUGH SUPPLEMENTARY READINGS

(PHÁT TRIỂN VỐN TỪ VỰNG VỀ KHOA HỌC VÀ CÔNG NGHỆ

CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 10 CHUYÊN TỰ NHIÊN

THÔNG QUA ĐỌC BỔ TRỢ)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410

HANOI, 2011

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THANH NHÃ

DEVELOPING ENGLISH VOCABULARY ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FOR GRADE 10 SCIENCE GIFTED STUDENTS

THROUGH SUPPLEMENTARY READINGS

(PHÁT TRIỂN VỐN TỪ VỰNG VỀ KHOA HỌC VÀ CÔNG NGHỆ

CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 10 CHUYÊN TỰ NHIÊN

THÔNG QUA ĐỌC BỔ TRỢ)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410

Supervisor: Nguyễn Bàng (M.A)

HANOI, 2011

-iv-

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Declaration ……… i

Acknowledgements ……… ii

Abstract ……… iii

Table of Contents ……… iv

List of Tables ……… vii

Part One: Introduction ……… 1

1 Statement of the Problems and Rationale of the Study ……… 1

2 Aims and Objectives of the Study ……… 3

3 Research Questions ……… 3

4 Scope of the Study ……… 4

5 Method of the Study ……… 4

6 Design of the Study ……… 4

Part Two: Development ……… 6

Chapter 1: Literature Review ……… 6

1.1 Vocabulary ……….……… 6

1.1.1 The Notions of Vocabulary ……… 6

1.1.2 Active and Passive Vocabulary ……… 7

1.1.3 What Need to Be Taught in Vocabulary ……… 8

1.1.4 Criteria for Selecting the Vocabulary to Teach ……… 9

1.2 Approaches to Vocabulary Acquisition ……… 10

1.2.1 Acquisition vs Learning Vocabulary ……… 10

1.2.2 Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition and Intentional Vocabulary Learning ……… 11

1.2.3 Implicit Learning and Explicit Learning Process ……… 12

1.3 Methodology in Vocabulary Teaching ……… ….…… 13

-v-

1.3.1 The Grammar-Translation Method ……….….…… 13

1.3.2 The Direct Method ……… ….…… 14

1.3.3 The CLT ……… 14

1.4 Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension ……… 15

1.4.1 Reading Comprehension ……… 15

1.4.2 Intensive and Extensive Reading ……… 16

1.4.3 The Relationship between Vocabulary and Reading

Comprehension ……… 17

1.5 Supplementary Materials for Reading ……… 18

1.5.1 Definition of Supplementary Materials ……… 18

1.5.2 Selecting Appropriate Supplementary Materials ……… 19

1.6 Supplementary Reading in the Study ……… 20

Chapter 2: The Study ……… …… 21

2.1 Research Questions ……… 21

2.2 Research Approach ……… 21

2.3 Descriptions of Participants ……… 23

2.3.1 Teacher of English ……… 23

2.3.2 The Students ……… 24

2.3.3 Materials ……… 25

2.4 Instruments to Collect Data ……… 25

2.4.1 Questionnaire ……… 25

2.4.2 Pretest and Posttest ……… 26

2.5 Procedures ……… 27

Chapter 3: Data Analysis and Discussion ……… 28

3.1 Data Analysis ……… 28

3.1.1 Questionnaire ……… 28

3.1.2 Pretest and Posttest ……… 32

3.2 Discussion on Research Questions ……… 35

-vi-

Part Three: Conclusion ……… 38

1 Implications ……… 38

2 Limitations of the Study ……… 39

3 Suggestions for Further Studies ……… 40

4 Conclusion ……… 40

References ……… 42 Appendices ……… I

Appendix 1: Survey Questionnaire ……… I Appendix 2: Pretest ……… IV Appendix 3: Posttest ……… VIII Appendix 4: Sample of Supplementary Reading Text ……… XIII Appendix 5: Pretest and Posttest Scores ……… XVI

-vii-

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 Questions to be answered when knowing a word ……… 8 Table 2 Criteria for vocabulary selection ……… 10 Table 3 Students’ purposes of English learning ……… 30 Table 4 Students’ satisfaction of their English vocabulary on science and

technology ……… 31 Table 5 Students’ perception of the need to develop their English

vocabulary on science and technology ……… 32 Table 6 Students’ willingness to do supplementary readings ………… 32 Table 7 Comparison of pretest results between two groups before

intervention ………

33 Table 8 Comparison of pretest and posttest results in experimental

group ……… 34 Table 9 Comparison of pretest and posttest results in control group ……… 35 Table 10 Comparison of results after intervention between control and

experimental groups ……… 35

-1-

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION

This part of the paper will be dedicated to introducing the rationale for the study, the aims and objectives of the study as well as the research questions It will also present the scope

of the study, method of the study and the design of the whole study

1 Statement of the Problems and Rationale of the Study

Vocabulary has a significant position in the process of mastering a language Linguists and researchers quotes Wilkin, D (1972:10):

“Without grammar, very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary, nothing can be

conveyed”

as the affirmation of the role of vocabulary

Within the current English teaching context in Vietnamese schools in the recent years, teachers and students are getting more complete awareness of the important role of vocabulary Therefore, they started to pay greater attention to vocabulary development Teachers have applied many teaching approaches, methods and techniques to improve the students‟ vocabulary acquisition The efforts from both teachers and students have made certain progress

As a high school English teacher, I am especially interested in developing students‟ vocabulary Having had several years of experience in teaching English to the students gifted in science at Hanoi – Amsterdam high school, I am concerned a lot about the needs

to improve their vocabulary on science and technology In my points of view, the number

of reasons that makes it necessary to improve the students‟ vocabulary on science and technology can be divided into external and internal ones

- However, from my observations, the vocabulary, especially the vocabulary on science and technology had been undervalued in comparison with grammar in the previous years

of their basic high school Many students have difficulties in expressing their own ideas because of the vocabulary deficiency Most students are unfamiliar to the vocabulary on science and technology, as well as English scientific literature

- In results, when students want to extract useful information related to their field in English, or have chance to attend the international examinations, camps or workshops on science and technology, the students often face with the lexical gaps and this significantly affects their progress and active participation

- In fact, many students have realized the vital role of English vocabulary on science and technology for their future study as well as carrier They devote a great deal of time to building up this kind of vocabulary

In the process of trying different vocabulary teaching strategies and techniques, I found that reading is a suitable way for students to enhance their vocabulary on science and technology The advantage of learning and developing vocabulary through reading is that students can understand word meaning in the concrete context The idea of testing the

2 Aims and Objectives of the Study

This study is firstly aimed at investigating the students‟ needs to develop English vocabulary on science and technology Secondly, it is aimed to experiment the impacts of supplementary reading program on the development of grade 10 students‟ vocabulary on science and technology

The main objectives in this study are as follows:

- To identify students‟ perceptions of the need to develop their English vocabulary on science and technology and their willingness to spend time on supplementary reading program

- To introduce the supplementary reading program and examine its effects on grade 10 students‟ English vocabulary acquisition

- To share the findings with teachers and students who are interested in this field of English vocabulary teaching

- To make some recommendations for further study

-4-

2 To what extent are the students willing to take part in the supplementary readings?

3 Is there a relationship between supplementary reading and the development of English vocabulary on science and technology?

4 Scope of the Study

Given the time constrain, the study was conducted on the grade 10 students in two classes gifted in science only Taking into account that the participants are only beginners of science and technology aspects, the vocabulary given through reading passages is mainly

English for General Science

5 Method of the Study

To find out the answers to the above research questions, a quasi-experiment design has been adopted

- The pre-experiment questionnaire was applied as an instrument to investigate what students think of the need to develop their English vocabulary on science and technology and how they are willing to take up the additional readings

- The pretest and posttest were conducted with 60 students divided into two randomly selected groups to measure the differences in students‟ vocabulary acquisition

6 Design of the Study

The study is divided into three parts as follows:

Part one presents an overview of the study in which the rationale for the research, the aims

and objectives, the research questions, the scope of the study, the research method as well

as the design of the study were briefly mentioned

-5-

Part two consists of three chapters

Chapter one reviews the literature relevant to the study including the definition of

vocabulary, its aspects to be taught, the approaches to vocabulary acquisition and some methods of vocabulary teaching Reading comprehension and the relationship between vocabulary and reading comprehension is also referred to Finally, some points on supplementary materials were mentioned in order to bring out the clarification of supplementary readings in this study

Chapter two is a detailed discussion of the method used in the study with the

research approach, the participants, the design of questionnaire, pretest and posttest and the procedures that the study follows

Chapter three presents significant findings of the study and discussion on the

research questions

Part three includes some pedagogical implications This chapter also points out some

limitations of the study that serve as the basis for the researcher‟s suggestions for further study

-6-

PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents the literature relating to this study composing vocabulary and its aspects to study; vocabulary acquisition approaches and teaching methods It also discusses reading and its relationship to vocabulary development, as well as supplementary material selection

1.1 Vocabulary

1.1.1 The Notions of Vocabulary

Linguists define vocabulary differently based on different criteria The most general one

is from “Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics”

Vocabulary is defined as “a set of LEXEMES, including single words, compound words

and idioms”

According to Ur, P (1996:60), vocabulary can be defined as

“the words we teach in foreign language However, a new item of vocabulary may

be more than a single word: a compound of two or three words or multiword idioms”

Pyles, I & Algeo, J (1970:60) emphasizes:

“It is words that sounds and meanings interlock to allow us communicate with one another, and it is word that we arrange together to make sentences, conversation and discourse of all kinds”

Lewis (1993:89) states more detailed definition of vocabulary

“… may be individual words or full sentences – institutionalized utterances – that convey fixed social or pragmatic meaning within a given community”

These concepts of vocabulary to some extent have given us an answer to the question what vocabulary is In general, vocabulary can be understood as the total number of all the words that a language possesses, including a single word, two or three word items expressing a single idea and multi-word idioms

-7-

Undeniably, sustained communication requires students to have a wide range of vocabulary at their disposal (Cunningsworth, 1995) Some students assume that the vocabularies of the English language are separate entities in themselves However, English words are more than individual items and assume their meaning in a related network and their use are realized in a discourse environment, i.e in an environment of context (Schmitt, 2000) In communication, there are many cases in which the lexical meaning cannot be deduced from analysis of the individual components of that word Therefore, it is helpful to instruct learners to gain vocabulary from authentic contexts

Given vocabulary quite a „large‟ concept, its clarification is diversified In the relation with the research topic, in this paper, only the active and passive vocabulary is studied

1.1.2 Active and Passive Vocabulary

In terms of the use of words, Doff A (1988:19) divides vocabulary into active and passive vocabulary He calls active vocabulary the words which students will need to understand and also use themselves while passive vocabulary are words which we want students to understand (eg when reading a text), but which they will not need to use themselves In teaching active vocabulary, it is usually worth spending time giving examples and asking questions, so that students can really see how the word is used Meanwhile, the passive vocabulary is often presented quickly or left for students to guess from the context Students should understand far more words than they can produce so we should not try to treat all new words as active vocabulary

Sharing the same point of view, Gairns R & Stuart R (1986:64) refers to Receptive and Productive Vocabulary Knowledge They suggest „receptive‟ vocabulary (or passive vocabulary) to mean “language items which can only be recognized and comprehended in the context of reading and listening materials” and „productive‟ vocabulary (or active vocabulary) to be “language items which the leaner can recall and use appropriately in speech and writing”

However, it is very often that the transition from a student‟s receptive vocabulary item to productive one occurs after repeatedly hearing or reading the item over a period of time or

by continual practice Reading is considered one of the common ways to impulse this transition process

-8-

1.1.3 What Need to Be Taught in Vocabulary

According to Ur, P (1996), when vocabulary is introduced to learners, pronunciation and spelling, word form, grammar, collocation, aspects of meaning, word formation need to be taught

Nation, I S P (1990:13) explains in a chart what knowing a word means He indicates that what means “knowing” a word depends on whether the word is learnt for receptive skills or for productive skills

Grammatical patterns In which patterns does

the word occur?

In which patterns must we use the word? Collocation What words or types

of words can be expected before or after the word?

What words or types

of words must we use with this word?

Appropriateness Where would we

expect to meet this word?

Where can this word

Associations What other words

does this word make

-9-

Taylor, L (1990) also shared the same point of view Their argument is that knowing a word involves not only knowing its spelling, morphology, pronunciation and meaning or the equivalent of the word in the learner‟s mother tongue Besides these aspects, the learner must know its collocation, register, polysemy (a single word with many meanings) and its homonym (different words with the same spelling and pronunciation)

Gairns R & Stuart R (1986) also claims that it is very important that the teachers (and in many cases, the learners) must decide whether a vocabulary item is worth acquiring productively or receptively

In this paper, English used in science and technology is mentioned It is not another kind of language, it does not possess separate, special grammar, special pronunciation, special spelling or orthography of words However, scientific English has some characteristic that distinguish it from the English language used in other fields

Strevens (1980:465-466) points out seven characteristics of scientific English as follows:

- Quantifications, formulae, symbols

- Greek and Latin roots and affixes

- Precise and frequent use of logical-grammatical connectors

- Long nominal groups

- Frequent passives

- The grammar and lexis needed for the rhetoric of science

- Special lexis

1.1.4 Criteria for Selecting the Vocabulary to Teach

The vocabulary should be selected in a suitable teaching setting That is, every situation is different and so core items in one context may be useless in another Teaching can effectively deal with only a small amount of information about vocabulary items at a time Thus, teachers should take into consideration the following factors

word occurs Language needs 3 The words that are regarded as „require‟ by the learner

in order to communicate Availability and

Table 2: Criteria for vocabulary selection

(Source: http://art-humanities.cant.ac.uk/language-studies)

1.2 Approaches to Vocabulary Acquisition

1.2.1 Acquisition vs Learning Vocabulary

In L2 vocabulary teaching and learning, “there is a difference between a „vocabulary lesson‟ (where, for example, the main objective is for the students to learn and use a number of vocabulary items) and a lesson in which vocabulary comes up as part of another activity (where, for example, the teacher helps students deal with vocabulary they may meet in an authentic listening or reading text)” (Gower, R:145) The former kind of lessons requires students to learn vocabulary while the latter one instructs them to acquire vocabulary It is worth distinguishing between „learning vocabulary‟ and „acquiring vocabulary‟

According to Nguyen Bang (Et.al) 2003, it is impossible to teach all English vocabulary in the school curriculum:

-11-

“If the teacher tries to teach all the new words thoroughly, there will be no time to

do anything in the lesson”

It is compelled for teachers to choose to teach about 2,500 high frequency words (which comprise 90% of all conversation) and develop strategies for helping students to understand and remember other 40,000-60,000 low frequency words (use of dictionaries, helping students deduce words in contexts, etc.)

1.2.2 Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition and Intentional Vocabulary Learning

In L2 lexical teaching and learning, there are two main approaches to vocabulary acquisition: incidental learning and intentional learning

Incidental learning is defined as the type of learning that is byproduct of doing or learning something else In terms of vocabulary learning, incidental learning always means the approach of learning vocabulary through texts, working on tasks or doing other activities that are not directly related to vocabulary Vocabulary forms, collocations, parts of speech are mainly the results of incidental learning

Intentional learning is defined as being designed, planned for, or intended by teachers or students The intentional learning always focuses on vocabulary itself, and combines with all kinds of conscious vocabulary learning strategies and means of memorizing words The sense of a word, meaning symbolizing and innuendo between words need intentional learning (Nation, 1990)

Undoubtedly, vocabulary can be learnt intentionally with the learners‟ intention and desire Enormous numbers of vocabulary teaching and learning strategies and techniques are presented and practiced by teachers and learners all over the world Many others are being discussed and experimented with the goal to improve the vocabulary learning process However, many scholars agree that second language vocabulary learning is a very complex phenomenon involving several different learning processes Besides the intentional vocabulary learning, many researchers argue that vocabulary can be acquired incidentally

-12-

According to Huckin, T & Coady, J (1999:181-193), except for the first few thousand most common words, vocabulary in second language can be obtained without learners‟ intention

In this study, both receptive and productive use of vocabulary is tended to be involved The teacher may select some key words from each supplementary reading given to students to present before their reading While reading, students are free to make decision which words they want to learn thoroughly, which ones they just need to know or guess the meaning for the comprehension purpose

1.2.3 Implicit Learning and Explicit Learning Process

The incidental vocabulary acquisition as a process involves implicit and/or explicit learning The most common distinction between involving implicit and explicit learning is

that implicit or incidental learning is often defined as “accidental learning of information

without the intention of remembering that information” and explicit learning, on the other

hand, refers to the application of vocabulary learning strategies on the part of learner (Hulstijn, J., Hollander, M & Greidanus, T., 1996:327) Krashen (1989:440-464) presented that implicit learning holds that meanings of new words are acquired subconsciously as a result of repeated exposures in a range of contexts, where the conscious focus is not on form, but on the message Explicit learning holds that the employment of a range of vocabulary learning strategies can greatly facilitate and enhance vocabulary acquisition On this view, learners are seen as active processors of information Ellis, N (1995: 12-16) also claimed that the implicit vocabulary learning holds true for simple pattern recognition of surface forms of input and output Explicit learning, on the other hand, is necessary for the mapping of those surface input and output forms to their corresponding semantic or conceptual representation

Ellis, N (1997) claims that both implicit and explicit learning mechanisms are involved in incidental vocabulary acquisition: while the acquisition of a word‟s form, collocation and grammatical class information is said to involve implicit processes, acquiring a word‟s semantic properties and mapping word form to meaning are the result from explicit learning process

-13-

In incidental learning, the teacher‟s focus is on general understanding of a text or on the meaning of a word, ignoring or paying less attention to the form of a word However, recognizing the word meaning in the context is only one aspect of word knowledge Knowing a word also involves many other aspects, such as grammatical patterns and collocation It also includes how to use it in suitable situations and using the word to stand for the meaning it represents and being able to think of suitable situations for the word (Nation, 1990) In order to deepen the knowledge of these words, students sometimes need the guidance from the teacher Without the teacher‟s help, despite the great effort students spend on the learning, it is not likely for students to acquire the knowledge, nor do they have large amount of time to read extensively to learn it subconsciously

1.3 Methodology in Vocabulary Teaching

According to Mackey, W.F (1971),

“the method used has often been said to be the cause of success or failure in language learning”

In recent years, foreign language teaching has undergone many dramatic changes In order

to understand the scope of the subject, language teachers should have a clear perspective

on the development of language teaching approaches as well as their inter-relationship among developed ones Based on the concrete teaching situation, teachers should make decision what an appropriate approach or method is to apply Following is a brief presentation of some major foreign language teaching methods and their application in the vocabulary language teaching

1.3.1 The Grammar-Translation Method

The Grammar-translation method is one of the oldest method foreign language teachings

In general language teaching, the classes are taught mainly in L1, with little active use of target language With regard to teaching vocabulary, much of it is taught in the form of lists of isolated words Then students are expected to study and memorize that list of vocabulary together with their mother tongue equivalents And the students are also given the grammatical rules and paradigm to put words together Besides, the method aims at

-14-

providing the rules with wide literary vocabulary in written exercises Teachers also find it

an easy and quick way to explain the meaning of words

In this method, the teachers‟ main task is to give the students grammatical rules, paradigm and the list of vocabulary by writing down the new words and its meaning in L1 to help students to do the written exercise in grammatical analysis and translation, not the exercises in the context of text This method is easy to apply and simple to test and to control

1.3.2 The Direct Method

According to this method, the second language learning should be treated as the first language learning It associates directly foreign utterances with object and actions without the use of the native language During the process of teaching and learning, only the target language is used, no mother tongue is allowed This method requires no translation between L1 and target language, little or no analysis of grammatical rules Besides, it lays

an emphasis on correct pronunciation and grammar from beginning

This method is very useful for teaching vocabulary, the teaching introduces through objects, pictures, etc The words used are very common, active and concerning daily activities By this method, concrete vocabulary is taught by demonstration while the meanings of abstract words are made clear by association of ideas

1.3.3 The CLT

The communicative approach which teaches students how to use the language is considered to be at least as important as learning the language itself In this approach, vocabulary is learnt through for “real-life” communication in classroom, through interaction in the target language and through enhancement of the learner‟s own experiences as important contributing elements to classroom learning and through an attempt to link classroom language learning with language activation outside the classroom

-15-

This approach of teaching makes students more confident when communicating with one another Being motivating, they also become more active in class That is the reason why CLT is considered a good teaching approach by a lot of researchers and teachers

1.4 Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension

According to Grellet, F (1981:3), “reading comprehension or understanding a written text

means extracting the required information from it as effectively as possible” In this sense,

reading comprehension simply means reading and understanding It should be noted that reading comprehension is not merely decoding-translating written symbols into corresponding sound, but comprehension is a process of negotiating understanding between the reader and the writer The reader, as s/he reads, receives information from the author via the words, sentences, paragraphs, and so forth, and tries to understand the inner feelings of the writer

Sharing the same opinion, Carrel (1997:21) indicates:

“Reading comprehension is reconstruction, interpretation and evaluation of what author of written content means by using knowledge gained from life experience”

One more definition put forth by Nuttal, C (1996:92):

“reading comprehension is best described as an understanding between the author and the reader”

In this case, reading comprehension is not just to get the information but also to respond to what is written so as to understand the hidden messages sent by the writer

-16-

From the definitions above, one can see that reading comprehension is a complex process involving an active search for information and interaction with the text; it requires the constant constructive involvement of the reader in what s/he is doing; and it demands the use of higher mental abilities The mental activities used to construct meaning from the text are generally referred to as reading strategies or reading skills

1.4.2 Intensive and Extensive Reading

Reading is classified in many different ways In terms of the scope and objects of this study, only intensive and extensive types of reading are focus on

According to Dawson, C (1984:43) students reading intensively look at every word, take notice of punctuation, sentences and paragraphs, understand the grammar Intensive reading is often used as an exercise to teach the students new vocabulary as well as present and/or practice the rules of the English language Beginners and low intermediate groups tend to read intensively Most textbook reading has, until recently, been intensive

Through intensive reading, vocabulary can be taught carefully However, the vocabulary of

a language in general and English vocabulary in particular is always innumerable Laufer,

B (1989) states that reading fluency requires that a reader knows 95% or more of the words encountered in a text for minimal comprehension; and these words need to be recognized automatically with minimal conscious effort That sort of vocabulary knowledge requires knowledge of 12,000-20,000 different words (Laufer, 1989; Nation, 1990) There is, undeniably, a need of another type to develop students‟ vocabulary than intensive reading

The aim of extensive reading is to get on the story, to read for gist, and to read much more quickly (Dawson C., 1984) In L2 reading context, it is now recognized that the best way to develop such a large vocabulary is to read extensively Many researchers agree that students have opportunities to develop such a large automatically recognized vocabulary from consistent, extensive reading

The kinds of intensive practice are not always sufficient in themselves to ensure the development of successful readers Intensive reading can activate the transfer of reading skills and strategies from the mother tongue to L2; teach specific skills like the efficient

-17-

use of the dictionary if it is needed, and increase the students‟ general understanding of language and their ability to understand socio-cultural meaning But of equal importance is the kind of practice that comes from extensive reading, lots of practice in reading different types of material Only then are students given the opportunity to operate strategies like prediction or guessing word meaning and to develop their ability to follow lines of argument In the context of teaching English vocabulary for high schools‟ students in Vietnam, intensive reading practice in class needs to be complemented by extensive reading in or out of class

In this study, a kind of extensive readings was applied, but with the guide from teacher before reading in order to ensure the best progress of students

1.4.3 The Relationship between Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension

Virtually all second language reading researchers agree that vocabulary development is a critical component of reading comprehension Barnett, M (1986) and Strother, J and Ulijn, J (1987) have demonstrated that vocabulary is an important predictor of reading ability

It is important to recognize that the core vocabulary argument, that the 2,000 most frequent vocabulary items account for 80% of all words in texts, may be useful for basic reading instruction (e.g., Nation, 1990); however, it falls far short of the need to know many of the less frequent words (Carter, 1987)

Hedge, F (1985:23) also agrees that every student needs to master a progressively expanding vocabulary, both active and passive The teacher can introduce new words carefully through the context of lessons or course materials, but the main way for a student

to gain control of an adequate vocabulary is through reading

It is through extensive reading that a student can best come to understand which words are appropriate in which contexts This is a point Winkins, D (1972:132) makes when he writes:

“Through reading the learner … is exposed to the lexical items embedded in natural linguistic contexts, and as a result they begin slowly to have the same meaningfulness for him that they have for the native speaker”

-18-

As a student sees words in different textual contexts, he gradually develops a more comprehension of their meaning and possible uses… However, graded readers undoubtedly offer wider exposure to English than the more limited material of a general course book and therefore a „step on the way‟ to mastery of vocabulary

The particular relationship between vocabulary knowledge and language skills is undoubtedly Especially, vocabulary has a close relationship with reading skills which in turn have an interconnection with reading comprehension This relationship seems logical because of the fact that students get meaning from what they read, they also need both many words in their vocabulary repertoire and ability to use various strategies to establish the meanings of new words when they encounter them It is the case that most of the weak students who don‟t have enough vocabulary or effective word-meaning strategies often struggle to achieve comprehension in reading Also, as they don‟t have sufficient word knowledge to understand what they read, they often avoid reading As a result, the students who don‟t read much don‟t have the opportunity to see and learn many new words in various contexts, but the students who read more can become better readers and gain more words Their reading comprehension skills, in consequences, are gradually improved

1.5 Supplementary Materials for Reading

1.5.1 Definition of Supplementary Materials

“Supplementary materials” is one of the basic terms in a glossary proposed by Tomlinson,

B (1998) in Materials Development in Language Teaching In his opinion, supplementary materials are defined as

“…materials designed to be used in addition to the core materials of a course They are usually related to the development of skills of reading, writing, listening

or speaking rather that to the learning of language items” (Tomlinson, 1998:xiii)

Actually, most language-teaching course books probably need supplementing to some extent, if only in order to tailor them to the needs of a particular class or to offer richer options According to Ur, P (1991), there are “packages” of supplementary materials such

as computers, simplified readers, overhead projectors, posters, pictures or games Each

-19-

type, obviously, has certain contribution in language teaching and its own good points as well as drawbacks

1.5.2 Selecting Appropriate Supplementary Materials

It is undeniable that supplementary materials lend itself very well to the goals of ESL instruction However, it is important to consider carefully the selection criteria of extra materials According to Nuttall, C (1996:170), three main guidelines should be taken into consideration when choosing a text: suitability of content, exploitability and readability

In his opinion, suitability of content is concerned with the text‟s ability to address students‟ needs and interests A text with interesting content makes the learners‟ task far more rewarding and the classroom more effective William, E (1984) confirms that students‟ motivation for reading increases when they read what they are interested in and that this results in improved reading By doing so, it serves as a motivating factor, which produces

in the readers a desire to read more into the particular text

Exploitability means facilitation of learning When you exploit a text, you make use of it to develop the students‟ competence as readers Reading texts should not only interest the readers, but also develop their language competence Therefore, different kinds of exercises and activities should be designed to best exploit the text so that the course‟s objectives could be obtained

Readability refers to the combination of structural and lexical difficulty That means the text must be suitable with students‟ English proficiency levels in terms of vocabulary, syntax, and style The teachers must know what their students‟ language proficiencies are

to find out what vocabulary and structures the students are familiar with in order to choose text at the right level and balance different levels of proficiencies

-20-

1.6 Supplementary Readings in the Study

In this study, supplementary readings are materials for language learning activities which are given to students in order to get additional linguistic input for vocabulary acquisition The main characteristics of the reading texts are:

- Chosen by teacher with English level of proficiency equal to Intermediate

- The main topics are various issues relating to science and technology

- Given to students regularly together with worksheet assignment

- Suitable to students‟ level of proficiency

- Students read at home, but present their assignment in front of the class

- Common mistake corrections / feedback presented in the classroom after each reading

This chapter presents a brief review of the relevant literature including the definition of vocabulary and its aspects, vocabulary acquisition approaches and teaching methods In the chapter, intensive and extensive reading practices and the relationship between reading and vocabulary development are also discussed; the definition of supplementary materials and main characteristics of supplementary reading texts are mentioned as well The following chapter will be devoted to the discussion of methodology of the study

-21-

CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY (THE STUDY)

This chapter is a detailed presentation of the methodological framework in the study It is comprised of rationale for choosing action research design, research questions and other components related to this method including the participants of the study, the design of the questionnaire and tests as tools of data collection The chronological steps to conduct the study were also mentioned

2.1 Research Questions

The study seeks the answers to the following questions:

1 What are the students’ perceptions of the need to develop their English vocabulary on science and technology?

2 To what extent are the students willing to take part in the supplementary readings?

3 Is there a relationship between supplementary reading and the development of English vocabulary on science and technology?

10 classes majoring in most school subjects Among them, there are about 350 students majored in science and technology subjects, like Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Computer Science All these students have passed the entrance examination with English as one of the subjects

-22-

2.3.1 Teacher of English

The researcher of the study is also the teacher of English in these classes, which can bring some advantages to help the experimental process happen smoothly First, the teacher understands deeply the English proficiency as well as the character of each learner because she has been teaching them for 5 months since they started their high school studies Second, the teacher can be proactive in planning, implementing and evaluating the study Last, the teacher is able to encourage students‟ motivation by giving them good marks during the process

2.3.2 The Students

The subjects of the study were 60 students from classes 10T and 10L of H-AS The students were randomly selected All of them were born in 1995 As the characteristic feature of the classes specialized in science, there is a significant difference in the gender

of the subjects The number of male and female participants is 42 and 18 respectively They are talented students, fond of study and have proved their learning ability All students have learnt English as a compulsory school subject for four years However, most

of them began to learn English very early, from primary school or even from the kindergarten Although they are majored in science, many students and their parents considered English one of the “important” subjects together with other science subjects These students have good command of general English Especially, they have equipped themselves with very good basic practical grammar knowledge and skills before they entered grade 10 At the time the study occurred, it was able to assume that their English proficiency level was roughly attributed to Intermediate

60 participants were randomly selected among 82 students in the two above mentioned classes regardless their over-all mark of English subject

The participants were divided into two groups: experimental and control groups equally in gender, average mark of English subject This selection enables to assume that there is an equal division of students‟ level of English proficiency in the two groups With the method

of cluster sampling, the researcher ensures the variety of students‟ English proficiency

-23-

level and ability This also enables for a wider range of application to other gifted classes

in science, which, to some extent, shorten the limitation of action research

The only factor that was considered in selecting experimental group was the students‟ willingness to take part in the supplementary reading program The purposes of the program with all its activities that would be carried out as well as the benefits that they would get from were clearly announced It was assumed that any student who was not voluntary to involve in would be ignored Fortunately, all students have agreed to participate

2.3.3 Materials

The main teaching material is the textbook “Tiếng Anh 10” (2006: Educational Press) This is a theme-based compilation including 16 units and 6 review lessons Each unit focuses on a specific topic and consists of five main sections namely: reading, speaking, listening, writing and language focus Each section is taught in one period In reality, as the level of proficiency of the students is quite high, teachers often spend just a small amount

of time on reviewing the knowledge in the textbook The other part of a period is usually used for the students to do additional tasks or exercises to strengthen their four skills and develop their vocabulary That means that teachers consequently have to collect, compile more exercises from other resources besides the textbook and workbook

As the purpose of the supplementary reading program was to give students opportunities to gain more vocabulary on English for General Science and get familiar with English scientific literature, supplementary reading materials for this program were carefully selected from some websites about science for kids or some reading books on science and

technology like Oxford English for Information Technology, English for Science, etc The

tasks for vocabulary developing and questions for reading comprehension were designed

by the teachers in account to the students‟ proficiency

2.4 Instruments to Collect Data

-24-

2.4.1 Questionnaire

“… the questionnaires is found to be a relatively popular means of collecting data

It enables the researcher to collect data in field settings, and the data are more

amenable to quantification than discursive data such as free-form field note,

participant observers’ journals, and the transcripts of oral language.”

(Nunan, 1992) (Nunan, 1992) Despite some challenges, questionnaire is one of the common methods of data collection

because it helps to get lots of information from people in a nonthreatening way

A simple questionnaire has been administered to students in experimental group to

investigate their purposes of studying English, their perceptions of the needs to develop

their English vocabulary on Science and Technology and their willingness to participate in

the supplementary reading program The questionnaire consisted of 7 close-ended

questions with multiple choice items and students were asked to tick to the statements

suitable to their opinion The last question has also been used to exclude the students

without the will The questionnaire was written in Vietnamese to prevent any language

barrier

2.4.2 Pretest and Post-test

The tests were designed with 50 lexical items each and divided into 5 parts The tests

contained the selection of lexical items chosen from Test Your English Vocabulary in Use,

English for Science, Longman Preparation Course for the TOEFL Test A great numbers

of vocabulary tested have appeared in the reading articles or passages given to

experimental group during the supplementary reading program In order to measure the

amount of vocabulary the students achieved in the experiment period, the pretest and

posttest mainly tested the same lexical items, but changes in order and types of exercises

This requires that students not only know the meaning of a word, but also use it correctly

in other context The tests were designed and administered to the students by the

researcher together with another teacher to ensure the content double checked and cheating

off among students avoided The seating plan was set up for both groups according to

alphabetical order The pretest was given to both groups at the same time on the same day

- Design and administer the pretest

- Apply the supplementary readings: give students 8 reading materials (one text per week) and guide students to accomplish assignments

- Design and administer the posttest

- Analyze the pretest and posttest scores

- Discuss the findings and draw out conclusions and suggestions for further study

This chapter focuses on the methodology of the study, description of the participants It also mentions questionnaire and pretest, posttest as the main data collection tools and the procedures of the study The next chapter will present the main findings of the study as well as discussion of the research questions

-26-

CHAPTER THREE: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

To find out the answers to the research questions, this section provides analysis of the data collected by two instruments: questionnaire and pretest-posttest

The questionnaire provides the data from students‟ views on their needs and their willingness toward the development of English vocabulary on science and technology The statistic analysis of the pretest and posttest shows the impacts of the supplementary readings on the students‟ English vocabulary development

3.1 Data Analysis

3.1.1 Questionnaire

The data from questionnaire have been analyzed from two aspects The first is about the students‟ opinions on the needs of English vocabulary on Science and Technology The other one is on their attitudes to the supplementary readings

(i) “What are the students’ perceptions of the needs to develop their English vocabulary on science and technology?”

This part can be divided into three portions: the first one is students‟ purposes of English learning; the second portion is students‟ satisfactory of their currently possessed English vocabulary on science and technology; the last one is students‟ perceptions of the needs to develop their English vocabulary on science and technology All these are illustrated in tables below

1 To what purposes do you study English at High School?

Number Percentage

- To be admitted into an English-majored university or college 0 0%

- To read English documents, articles, etc on science and technology 22 73.3%

- To actively participate in regional and international science camps

or workshops

2 What is your plan after your high school graduation?

- Keep on studying and working in science-related fields 30 100%

3 To what aspects do you intend to use English in your future job?

- To read English documents, articles, etc on science and technology 30 100%

- To work in international fields of science and technology 26 86.7%

- For the daily communication irrelative to science or technology 0 0%

Table 3: Students’ purposes of English learning