Kiểm tra từ vựng như một hình thức nâng cao khả năng lưu nhớ từ vựng của học sinh lớp 10

So far there has been little empirical evidence about the effectiveness of meaningful practice in vocabulary retention, so whether vocabulary checking technique improves students' Vocab

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY-HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

-    -

NGUYỄN THỊ BÍNH

VOCABULARY CHECKING TECHNIQUE AS A

VOCABULARY RETENTION (KIỂM TRA TỪ VỰNG NHƯ MỘT HÌNH THỨC NÂNG CAO KHẢ

NĂNG LƯU NHỚ TỪ VỰNG CỦA HỌC SINH LỚP 10)

MINOR M.A THESIS

Field: English Methodology Code: 60 14 10

VOCABULARY CHECKING TECHNIQUE AS A

VOCABULARY RETENTION (KIỂM TRA TỪ VỰNG NHƯ MỘT HÌNH THỨC NÂNG CAO KHẢ

NĂNG LƯU NHỚ TỪ VỰNG CỦA HỌC SINH LỚP 10)

MINOR M.A THESIS

Field: English Methodology Code: 60 14 10

SUPERVISOR: Assoc Prof., Dr NGÔ ĐÌNH PHƯƠNG

Hanoi, 2010

TABLES OF CONTENTS

Candidate's statement i

Acknowledgements ii

Abstract iii

Tableof contents iv

List of table and figures vii

Abbreviation vii

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Scope of the study 3

4 Method of the study 3

5 Design of the study 4

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE 5

1 1 The importance of vocabulary in second language and teaching 5

1.1.1 Notions of vocabulary 5

1.1.2 Classifications of vocabulary 6

1.1.2.1 According to the concept of morpheme 6

1.1.2.2 According to the meaning 7

1.1.2.3 According to the function of vocabulary items in a sentence 7

1.1.2.4 According to the use of word 7

1.2 Main principles in Vocabulary Teaching 7

1.2.1 Decision about the content 7

1.2.2 Source of vocabulary and information about vocabulary 8

1.3 Factors affecting the retention of vocabulary 8

v 1.3.1 Theoretical aspects of Memory 9

1.3.1.1 Types of memory 9

1.3.1.2 Language exposure with respect to pedagogical implications 9

1.3.1.2.1 Attention 10

1.3.1.2.2 Retrieval 10

1.3.1.2.3 Generation 10

1.3.2 Effective vocabulary learning strategies 10

1.4 Using communicative activities to check vocabulary .12

1.4.1 Present new vocabulary for the first time .13

1.4.2 Establish previously met vocabulary 13

1.4.3 Enrich previously met vocabulary 13

1.4.4 Develop vocabulary strategies 14

1.4.5 Develop fluency with known vocabulary 14

1.4.6 Memory strategies in combination with communicative activities 14

1.5 Vocabulary checking techniques in combination with communicative activities 15

1.5.1 Visual techniques 15

1.5.2 Verbal techniques 16

1.5.3 Using games 16

1.5.4 Role-play 16

1.6 Summary 17

CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY 18

2.1 Research question and research hypothesis .18

2.2 Participants 18

2.3 Materials 19

2.4 The course contents 19

2.5 Procedure of data collection .20

2.5.1 Test designing 21

2.5.1.1 The purposes of the test 21

2.5.1.2 Components of the test 21

2 6 Procedures 22

2.6.1 The schedules 22

2.6.2 Treatment 24

2.7 Test 25

CHAPTER III: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 26

3.1 Data analysis 26

3.1.1 Results of the pre-test scores of the two groups and discussion 26

3.1.2 Analysis of post-test results 28

3.1.2.1 Results of the post-test scores of the two groups 28

3.1.2.2 Frequency of distribution 31

3.2 Post-test means' comparison 32

3.2.1 Choosing the correct statistic "t-test" 32

3.2.2 Statistical hypotheses 33

3.2.3 Interpretation of results 34

3.3 Findings and implications for teaching 35

PART C: CONCLUSION 39

1 Conclusions 39

2 Implications 40

3 Limitations and recommendations for further study 41

REFERENCES 42 APPENDICES I

APPENDIX 1: Pre-test & post-test I APPENDIX 2: Word games for experimental class I

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Lists of tables

Table 2.1: The course contents

Table 2.2: The detailed timetable for the two groups

Table 3.1: Pe-test scores

Table 3.2: Comparison of mean scores in pre-test of the two groups

Table 3.3 Pre-test score frequencies of the two groups

Table 3.4 Post-test score of the two groups

Table 3.5 Frequency of distribution of the two groups

Table 3.6 Number of students scored less from Xi

Table 3.7 Statistics of % of students scored less from Xi

Table 3.8 The statistics parameters of the two groups

Table 3.9: Means of pre-test & post-test

Lists of figures

Figure 3.1: Frequency of distribution of the two groups

Figure 3.2: Cumulative frequency curves of the two groups

Lists of abbreviations

L1: First language V: Coefficient of variation L2: Second language EFL: English as Foreign Language STM: Short-term Memory ESL: English as second language LTM: Long-term memory S2: Variance

CLT: Communicative language Teaching

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Vocabulary is an important language element that link four language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing together and makes communication flow smoothly "When our first goal is communication, when we have little of new language at our command, it is lexicon that is crucial The words will make basic communication possible" (Hatch 1983: 74) Reality shows that many students have fairly good knowledge of grammar but are hardly able to express themselves properly because of their deficiency Vocabulary learning, therefore, becomes central to language acquisition, and interest in its role in second language learning has grown rapidly in recent years Specialists now emphasize the need of systematic and principled approach to vocabulary by both the teacher and the learner (Decarrico, 2001; Nation, 1994) One of concerns in vocabulary is how to help students increase their retention

of learned vocabulary items

Many Vietnamese students experience considerable difficulty retaining English words that they have learnt in the previous lessons Long lists of words noted down from reading texts, listening passages, vocabulary or grammar sections in the text books are limited help to them if they do not know how to learn, remember and use these words That most words which have been learned are forgotten soon and then become dead is one of the reasons for students' difficulty in communication, both in oral and written forms

To ensure a good communicative task performance, the ground work is to ascertain a good lead-up and preparation or learners' intake of vocabulary So far there has been little empirical

evidence about the effectiveness of meaningful practice in vocabulary retention, so whether

vocabulary checking technique improves students' Vocabulary Retention during the teaching

and learning process is the question that the author tries to answer

Retention is defined as "an ability to recall or recognize what has been learnt or experienced; memory" (Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary Oxford University Press, 1992:773) Although I have not founded any definition of vocabulary retention in the literature, I, for the purpose of my study, can define it as the "storage of vocabulary in the memory, which becomes available for use when needed" So retention of vocabulary is ability

to recall words that have been learnt or encountered for online communication

Motivated by the idea of finding relevant checking techniques to help 10th students to retain vocabulary in integration with other communicative abilities in CLT approach , with the goal to create a context for vocabulary acquisition in the classroom in order to develop what referred to as communicative competence, I have chosen the topic

"Vocabulary checking Technique as a way of Improving 10 th Graders' Vocabulary Retention"

for my thesis with the hope that it may be of some help for learning and teaching English vocabulary

2 Aims of the study

This thesis has been carried out to implement these following purposes:

First of all, I would like to experiment two different methods in vocabulary checking in two different classes name: control class and experimental class to find out the effect of each method

Secondly, this minor thesis was born not beyond the wish to improve 10th Graders’ vocabulary retention through different activities to check vocabulary

Last but not last, my study also hopes to help learners, especially 10th learners, to find the most effective ways to remember and develop their vocabulary

In the brief, these aims are two answer the following research question: “Is there any significant relationship between the diffident vocabulary checking techniques and learners’ vocabulary retention?”

The two methods are detailed as follows: The traditional method of vocabulary checking was applied into the control class in which vocabulary was revised by inviting learners to go to blackboard and write down the words by heart; the second method was applied into the experimental class where learners’ vocabulary retention was checked by various checking vocabulary techniques designed or chosen by their teacher as a means of consolidation

Under this research, the following one-tailed hypothesis was made, using t-test of the null hypothesis

The means for the experimental group is significantly higher than that for the control group

3 Scope or the study

There are, of course, wide ranges of ways that help students to retain vocabulary However, in this minor thesis I would focus my research on vocabulary checking techniques

as a way of improving 10th Graders’ vocabulary retention The reason is that communication is the goal of most English teaching and learning endeavors today

Besides that, that English vocabulary is the building blocks of English teaching and learning process

In addition, if it is noteworthy that the study is limited to the area of teaching and learning vocabulary in grade 10th learners at Ha Hay Tap High school in Nghe An

4 Method of the study

To find answers to the research questions stated in the “ aims of the study”, the researcher chose quantitative research methodology for this study for a number of reasons Firstly, this study was aimed at exploring the relationships between vocabulary checking techniques and learners’ vocabulary retention, employing a quantitative approach which is an experimental designed to test a hypothesis was appropriate because experimental method researchers for effects of contain treatment on given measures

Secondly, quantitative was an essential method to find the answer to the research question as it can seek the answer to the question through experimentation and appropriate statically analyses

This statement clearly show the suitability of using quantitative approach for this study because the researcher would like to find out the answer for the above research question by exploring experiment and using “t-test” as an useful statistical tool

The researcher exploited quasi-experimental method since it aims to answer specific questions by rejecting specific hypothesis and quasi-experiment has proved itself an appropriate method that has been effectively applied in this research

To collect data on learners’ knowledge of vocabulary, a vocabulary test was produced

at the end of experimental process

To prove how effective vocabulary checking techniques were applied in the experimental process, the researcher gave a wide range of activities for 4 units (from unit 11 to unit 14) at the Appendix 2

Concerning data analysis methods, the researcher used “t-test” as an useful statistical tool to help the researcher be confident that the differences found between the two groups a result of treatment are not due to by chance

5 Design of the study

The thesis is composed of three parts: part A is the introduction which presents the justification, aim as well as the scope and methods of the study

Part B is the development of the study, divided into three chapters: chapter 1 is for literature review, covering vocabulary’s definition, main principle in vocabulary teaching, factors affecting the retention of vocabulary and checking vocabulary through communicative activities Next, chapter 2 is the main part of the study which describes the participants and instruments for the study as well as the procedure employed to carry out the research Following it is chapter 3 with the detailed analyses of the data given by the pre-test and post-test along with discussing the findings that the researcher found out from the data collected Lastly, part C is the conclusion of the study which summarizes the result of the experiment, voices some suggestions for teachers of English at Ha Huy Tap High school and states the limitations of the study and recommendations for further research

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 The importance of vocabulary in second language and teaching

In order to progress in foreign language learning, learners need to be able to understand what they are encountered with the verbal communication that is they need to acquire a certain amount of words In the very first part of his book on vocabulary, McCarthy (1990:2) wrote: "It is the experience of most language teachers that the single, biggest component of any language course is vocabulary No matter how well the students learn grammar, no matter how successfully sounds of L2 are mastered, without words to express the wide range of meaning, communication in an L2 just cannot happen in any meaningful way"

This claim might an overestimate of the role of vocabulary, and many language teachers can argue that an appropriate way of communication is far more important than words, or in other words, HOW we say something is more important than WHAT we say However, one's communication ability in general depends a lot on his/her vocabulary size, because words are the tools we use to think, to express ideas and feelings, and to learn about the world, to communicate about something very concrete to something very abstract

The support for the important role of vocabulary can be found in works of Nation and Coady (1997), Nassaji (2003) and Alexander (2000) In her book "Understanding Vocabulary" (2000: 16), Alexander wrote: "Comprehension improves when you know what the words mean" and "words are the currency of communication A robust vocabulary improves all areas

of communication - listening, speaking, reading and writing" These all show that the success

of a student in becoming proficient in any language depends in part on the extent and richness

of his/her vocabulary, so vocabulary teaching should be part of the syllabus, and vocabulary should be taught on a well-planned and regular basis

1.1.1 Notions of vocabulary

In everyday conversation we speak of vocabulary in the singular; we speak of a

person's vocabulary This is actually an oversimplification The American Heritage Dictionary

defines vocabulary as "the sum of words used by, understood by, or at the command of a particular person or group."

According to Michael Lewis (1993:89), Vocabulary " may be individual words, or full sentences - institutionalized utterances - that convey fixed social or pragmatic meaning within a given community"

The above quotations about vocabulary have given us at a partial answer to the question "What is vocabulary? " in terms of vocabulary teaching and learning That is, they make a distinction between vocabulary - traditionally understood as a stock of individual words with fixed meanings - and vocabulary, which includes not only the single words but also the word combinations that we store in our mental lexicons In short, vocabulary deals not only with simple words in all their aspects, but also with complex and compound words, the meaningful units of language

For the pedagogical purposes of this paper, we have chosen to use the terms vocabulary and lexis interchangeably to refer to individual words ( e.g., table, book, etc.), poly words ( e.g., by the way, upside down), collocations or word partnership ( e.g., terrible accident, sense of humor), institutionalized utterances ( e.g., I'll get it; My name is ; What's (is) your name ; Where are you from?), sentence frames and heads ( e.g., That is not as as you think; The fact/ problem/ was ) and even text frames (e.g., In this thesis we introduce ; Firstly .; Secondly .; Finally .) because vocabulary learning should involve learning

"chunks" that are longer than individual words In other words, the study uses Penny Ur' (1991) definition of vocabulary

1.1.2 Classifications of vocabulary

There have been different ways of classifying vocabulary according to different criteria Below are the most common ways of all:

1.1.2.1 According to the concept of morpheme

Base on this criterion, McCarthy divides words into three kinds (1990:5):

* Simple word: A simple word is one that consists of only a root morpheme, which can not be further subdivided such as "read", "make"

* Compound word: Compound words are items that consist of more than one root but have a single identity in that they name a single thing or concept such as "handsome" and

"inviting cards"

* Derived word: A derived word is one that consists of a root and one or more derivational morphemes such as "trainer" and "learner"

1.1.2.2 According to the meaning

There are two main kinds of meanings in a word, lexical meaning and grammatical meaning Vocabulary, therefore, can be divided into notional words and functional words (Read, 2000: 18)

* Notional words: Notional words are words with clear lexical meaning They address objects, actions, qualities, etc, and they have meaning in themselves Notional words form great number of each speaker's vocabulary

* Functional words: Functional words are words which only have meaning in relation

to the other words with which they are used Functional words are particles, articles, prepositions, auxiliaries, conjunctions, etc

1.1.2.3 According to the function of vocabulary items in a sentence

With different function of vocabulary in a sentence, English vocabulary can be divided into different items as parts of speech They are nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions and pronouns (Quirk, 1987: 18) Each part of speech has its own position, complying with certain grammatical rules and relating to others

1.1.2.4 According to the use of word

It is impossible for teachers to spend the same amount of time and care on presenting all new vocabulary; some vocabulary will more important to students than others In general,

we can distinguish two types of vocabulary basing on the classification Adrian Doff (1988: 19)

* Active vocabulary: Active words are those that students have been taught and learnt and which they are expected to be able to use 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

* Passive vocabulary: They are words which are used especially in the texts to create necessary understandable contexts for the learning of active words

1.2 Main principles in Vocabulary Teaching

1.2.1 Decision about the content

In this section we are going to examine the factors which influence the teacher's selection and organization of lexical items for the classroom, and also the role that the learner

can and does play in making some of those decisions But before considering the criteria governing how we select vocabulary, we should first say something about where we select vocabulary from

1.2.2 Source of vocabulary and information about vocabulary

According to Ruth Grairs and Stuart Redman (1999: 54) vocabulary reach the classroom from following four main sources:

* The text book: This will include the written text and spoken texts, activities for the

presentation and practice of grammatical structures, testing exercises, and so on Even the instructions for classroom activities can form a source of new vocabulary

* Supplementary materials: These are not designed specially for vocabulary

development or provided by the educational institution or selected by the teacher himself This may include texts, drills, narrative, role-plays, exercises, video, ect

* The students: A wide range of unanticipated and unpredictable items will inevitably

surface from student enquiries, queries, and errors

* Specific vocabulary activities designed by the teacher for his particular group of

students

1.3 Factors affecting the retention of vocabulary

The retention of vocabulary is may be affected by some factors as followed:

- Memory;

- Language exposure;

- Effective Vocabulary Learning Strategies

The above mentioned factors are closely related The term learning is often used to refer to processes involved in the initial acquisition or encoding of information, whereas the term memory more often refers to later storage and retrieval of information After all, information is learned only when it can be retrieved later, and retrieval cannot occur unless information was learned To talk about the mutual relationship among the three mentioned Grairns (1999) pointed out: "Understanding how we store information in the memory and why certain chunks of it seem to 'stick' while others slip away is obliviously a matter of concern to anyone whose work involves helping others to learn For language teachers this knowledge should help to establish classroom procedures that will promote more effective learning and retention of new language items." (p.86)

Clearly, understanding how our memory works might help us create more effective ways to teach vocabulary So, it is necessary to have some insights into this process

1.3.1 Theoretical aspects of Memory

1.3.1.1 Types of memory

According to Baddeley (1990) "Retention as a function of the number of repetition."

Short term memory (STM) refers to the ability to hold information in mind over a brief

period of time Ruth Gairns and Stuart Redman (1999) suggested that STM is limited in capicity

Unlike short-term memory, which is limited in capacity, " Long term memory (LTM)

is seemingly inexhaustible and can accommodate any amount of new information" ( Gairns, R

& Redman, S 1999:87)

From the experts' point of views, it seems that learning new items involves storing them first in STM, and afterward in LTM We do not control this process consciously but there seem to be some important clues to consider First, retention in STM is not effective if the number of chunks of information exceeds seven Therefore, this suggests that in a given class we should not aim at teaching more than this number However, our LTM can hold any amount of information

In short, foreign language learners need all the information of the language to be learnt transferred into long-term memory (LTM) The main way of transferring from STM to LTM is

by finding some pre-existing information in the LTM to attach the new information to

1.3.1.2 Language exposure with respect to pedagogical implications

Getting the meaning of an unknown vocabulary is not the same as remembering that meaning Although the learners may discover the meaning through the written context, through hearing it used, or through the explanation of other members of the group, there is no guarantee that the vocabulary items and its meaning will remembered

According to Angela Joe (1996), there are three important processes that may lead to vocabulary being remembered These processes can be viewed as three steps with the later steps including the earlier steps

Let us look at each of these in turn

1.3.1.2.1 Attention

It is the first process encouraging learning This means that learners need to notice the word to be aware of it as a useful language item This noticing may be affected by several factors, including: 1/the salience of the word in the textual input or in the discussion of the text; 2/ previous contact that the learners have had with the word; 3/ the learners' realization that the word fills a gap in their knowledge of the language ( Schimidt and Frota 1986, Ellis

1990 - cited in Angela, J (1996)

1.3.1.2.2 Retrieval

The second process that may lead to a word being remembered is retrieval (Baddeley 1990:156) A word may be noticed and its meaning comprehended in the textual input to the task, and if that word is subsequently retrieved either receptively or productively during a task, the memory of that word will be strengthened

Receptive retrieval involved perceiving the form and having to retrieve its meaning when the word is met in listening or reading

Productive retrieval involves wishing to communicate the meaning of the word and having to retrieve its spoken or written form as in speaking or writing

1.3.1.2.3 Generation

It is the third process that may lead to a word being remembered Generation, or generative processing, can also be receptive or productive This means that a word is used generatively if it is used in a way, which is different from its use in the textual input Whereas, receptive use involves meeting the word in new context only

1.3.2 Effective vocabulary learning strategies

Like general learning strategies, English vocabulary learning strategies include those techniques that help learners to remember what have learnt - their storage and retention of new information

Learning of any kind requires the retention of the desired, new information In language acquisition, students have to learn grammar, the sound system, social and cultural behaviors, and of course, vocabulary There are many strategies that have been found to be effective for retaining vocabulary items However, Memory Strategies proposed by Oxford (1990) has been taken into consideration within the scope of the study In other words,

Oxford's memory strategies that are related to vocabulary learning will be presented below as

a source of reference to designing classroom based vocabulary communicative activities

Oxford's (1990) Memory strategies consist of 10 items as following:

* Grouping: Words are easier to memorize, store, and recall if they are put into groups

Words can be grouped mentally or in writing according to their class, topic, function, similarity, dissimilarity or opposition, and so on

* Associating/ Elaborating: New vocabulary items are easier to learn and use if they

are associated to those, which are already in memory

* Placing new words into a context: New vocabulary items should be learned as active

items That is, a new item should be put in a meaningful sentence, conservation, story, etc

* Using imagery: New vocabulary items are related to concepts in memory by means

of meaningful visual imagery either in the mind or in real drawings The imagery can be a picture of an object, a set of collocations for remembering a sequence of words or expressions,

or a mental presentation of the letters of a word

* Semantic mapping: A key concept is put at the center of at the top, and related words

and concepts are linked with the key concept by means of lines or arrows This strategy involves meaningful imagery, grouping, and associations It visually shows how groups of words relate to each other

* Using keywords: A new word is linked to a known word (either in L1 or in L2)

which sounds like the new word The new word can be linked to a known word which has similar spelling as the known word has

* Presenting sounds in memory: Students create a meaningful, sound-based association

between the new word and known words in L1 or L2 Rhyme can also be exploited to remember new words

* Structured reviewing: New words should be in spaced intervals, at first close

together and then more widely spaced apart Reviewing is essential for vocabulary learning

* Using physical responses or sensation: Students should act out a new word or

expression That is, they should meaningfully relate a new word or expression to a physical action, a feeling or sensation

* Using mechanical techniques: An example of this strategy is to write words on cards

and moving cards from on stack to another when words are learned

Many factors-motivation, gender, cultural background, and type of task, age and learning style, however, influence the use of the above mentioned vocabulary learning strategies For example, Asian students use strategies that are different from those used by students from other cultural backgrounds, such as students from European countries

The evidence reveals from my teaching and learning experience is that Grouping,

Associating/Elaborating, Placing new words into a context, Semantic mapping, and Structure reviewing strategies are the most frequently used and effective for Asian/Vietnamese students

Most of EFL students in Vietnam confessed that remembering words by listing the difficult words was not effective They said that new words should be learning in context so that they

would be meaningful The other left ( Using key words, Presenting sounds in mind, Using

physical responses or sensation, Using mechanical techniques), for some reasons, has been

rarely used by teachers and learners Based on the observation, the learning atmosphere in the EFL classroom in the school in Vietnam is not as active and stimulating as in the ESL classroom, so the application of the strategies mentioned in proceeding sentence still faces many problems In addition, students' learning habits that may originate from culture will also influence the use of certain strategies

Generally, knowing the relationship between learning habits and the choice of memory strategies for vocabulary learning will help teacher not risk imposing a methodology that is not relevant to students' ability and their learning habit as well, and process the language more deeply, facilitating students' ability to retain vocabulary in their long term memory

1.4 Using communicative activities to check vocabulary

According to purposes of activities, vocabulary communicative activities are classified

by Paul Nation (1994) as follows:

1.4.1 Present new vocabulary for the first time

In the classroom, new vocabulary can be met in activities where the learners work individually, or in pairs or small groups to reach the outcome of a self-motivating The common features of this kind of activities is that they relate the new word to previous knowledge, create a context for the word, draw on a range of clues to recall the word, appropriately relate the word to a variety of aspects, using the word in a goal directed activity like solving problems

1.4.2 Establish previously met vocabulary

Obviously, after a word has been met for the first time, it should be recalled fairly soon after (within a few minutes), then a little later (an hour or two after), then a few days later, then a month later Establishing vocabulary activities encourage repetition of what was previously learned In the activities, repetition is achieved when the learners:

- perform an action

- draw the term

- choose synonyms

- define terms

- produce the written form of a word

- make a sentence containing the word

1.4.3 Enrich previously met vocabulary

One reason for which it is difficult to learn a word from one encounter is that there are many things to know about a word: As what part of speech can it function? What range of meaning can it have? What is its' core meaning? What prefixes and suffixes can it take? With what other words does it collocate? What grammatical pattern does it fit into? What particular positive and negative associations does it have? Is it a frequency used word or an infrequently used word?

The answer to these questions comes from meeting and having to use the word in a variety of new contexts Paul Nation indicates: "Enriching activities involve learning new information about previously met words This can occur through: gaining new input from the teacher; extending knowledge of the meaning of words through meeting new uses, new collocations, and new associations; placing the word in a new context" (Paul Nation, 1994: 121)

1.4.4 Develop vocabulary strategies

In addition to learning new vocabulary, learners need to be able to use strategies to cope with unknown vocabulary met in listening or reading texts, to make up for gaps in productive vocabulary in speaking and writing, to gain fluency in using known vocabulary, and to learn new words in isolation

It is true that the development of vocabulary learning strategies requires increasingly spaced practice over a period of time It is of use to teach a strategy that is poorly understood

and as not reached the level of fluent use Guessing from the context for example requires practice over several weeks so those learners are able to use it without causing a major interruption to their reading The benefits from being able to use this strategy well are so great that time given to learning is well repaid

1.4.5 Develop fluency with known vocabulary

Vocabulary learning is not and end in itself A rich vocabulary makes the skills listening, speaking, reading and writing easier to perform Learners' growth in vocabulary must be accompanied by opportunities to become fluent with that vocabulary

Paul Nation (1994) pointed out: " The most suitable activities for fluency practice are ones in which a substantial part of the requirements of the task are already within the experience and capacity of the learner." (p.207)

In other words, the vocabulary and grammatical constructions required in the activity, the content matter of the activity, and the organization of the discourse and the activity itself are already known by learners

1.4.6 Memory strategies in combination with communicative activities

Students can learn to communicate in many different ways and as a result of many used different techniques In a communicative activity, teachers can use one of memory strategies, or the combination of several memory strategies to make learning process more plentiful and implement the purpose of teaching point

The memory strategies proposed by Oxford (1990) that have been presented in section 1.2 (see 1.2.3) can be used as a framework for the discussion For example, Oxford's fifth memory strategy (Semantic mapping) can be used to motivate and involve students in given activities It enhances vocabulary development by helping students link new information with

previous experience Whereas, in communicative activities with the use "Using physical

responses or sensation" strategy, teachers make use of the blackboard and gesture to reinforce

the concept - teachers make the typical gesture with their hand as they say "Stand up", "Come here, or "Sit down"; mime writing as they say "Write the answers", mime distributing things as they, "Please give out these photocopies"

The above mentioned examples seem to offer the best answer to the matter of using memory strategies in combination with communicative activities Memory strategies in

combination with communicative activities also require learners to analyze and process vocabulary more deeply, which should help them retain information in LRM

1.5 Vocabulary checking techniques in combination with communicative activities

After the teacher/ researcher presents vocabulary, to check whether my students remember new words (spelling, pronunciation and meaning) or not, she often designs some activities for them to practice The purpose of these activities is helping students to recall, to recycle vocabulary in real situations correctly Perhaps the least effective way to check vocabulary is the " Rub out and remember" techniques Here, students typically stare at the term and definition, apparently trying to activate photographic memory they wish they had Another common checking technique is "rote verbal rehearsal" - saying the word over and over again, usually in the exact language and format from which the definition originally came More importantly, it is impossible to fit the above mentioned checking techniques into exclusively communicative activities

Here are some checking vocabulary techniques the researcher often uses in combination with communicative activities

1.5.1 Visual techniques

According Zebrowska (cited in Gairn and Redman (1999), visual techniques pertain to visual memory, which is considered especially helpful with vocabulary retention Learners remember better the material that has been presented by means of visual aids such as flashcards, photographs, blackboard drawings, wall charts and relia (i.e objects themselves) can stimulate students to speak the language Regarding visual aids, students can benefit from communicative activities since they help to provide the situation which light up the meaning

of the utterances used Besides, mime and gesture are often used to supplement other ways of conveying meaning Teachers can make use of the blackboard and gesture to reinforce the concept For example, make the typical gesture with your hand as you say "Stand up", "come here", or "sit down"; mine writing as you say " Write the answers", or mime distributing things

as you say, "Please give out these photocopies"

1.5.2 Verbal techniques

Vocabulary learning and checking communicative actives can be carried out by the means of verbal techniques as follows:

i) Use of illustrative situations (oral or written): To ensure that students understand,

teachers often make use of more than one situation or context to check that learners have grasped the concept

ii) Use of synonym and definition: Teachers often use synonymy, where inevitably they

have to compromise and restrict the length and complexity of their explanations Besides, definition alone is often inadequate as a means of conveying meaning, and clearly contextualized examples are generally required to clarify the limits of the item

iii) Contrasts and opposites: As with synonymy, this is a technique which students

themselves use, often asking "What's the opposite ?"

iv) Examples of the type: To illustrate the meaning of super ordinates such as

'furniture', 'vegetables', 'meat' and 'transport', it is a common procedure to exemplify them e.g table, chair, bed and sofa are all furniture Some of these can of source also be dealt with through visual aids

1.5.3 Using games

Games encourage, entertain teach, and promote fluency There is also a large variety of word games that are "useful for practicing and revising vocabulary after it has been introduced" (Haycraft 1978: 50) Numerous puzzles, word squares, crosswords, jigsaw tasks, picture-describing, ect., are useful especially for pair or group work More clearly, games provide a situation in which they provide a setting in which communication is essential and therefore will become stimulating and interesting way to help students acquire the target language with even realizing it

1.5.4 Role-play

Role-play activities can involve a written text or oral production However oral activities are more effective since they help to create the presence of a real-life situation in the classroom Ladouse (1987: 5) also stresses: " When students assume a 'role', they play a part either own or somebody else's in a specific situation 'play' means that the role is taken on in a safe environment in which students are as inventive and playful as possible In the role is experimenting with their knowledge of the real world and developing their ability to interact with other people"

Furthermore, activities of this kind let students develop and practise vocabulary in combination with other language skills such as grammar and speaking, and create the

motivation and involvement necessary for learning to occur Teachers can prepare a range of situation, for example, Airport Enquiries, Shop role-play, ect The students should work in pair, improvise a suitable dialogue to teach situation Thus students will have less pressure and more willingness to participate Moreover, it has certainly been noticed that even some shy learners are more talkative when playing role

In short, in a communicative activity, teachers can choose one of the above techniques

to have students to retain vocabulary It depends on the nature of a communicative activity the teacher decides to choose For example, to revise vocabulary, teachers can use list of synonyms or antonyms to be matched, sentences to be paraphrased, or just some words or expression in context to be substituted by synonymous expression, multiple choice and gap filling exercises to activate the vocabulary while students select the appropriate response Visual aids such as picture; photograph can be of great help with revision and can facilitate the consolidation of individual words as well as idioms, phrases and structures Besides, there is a large of variety of word games that are useful for practising and revising vocabulary after it has been introduced

1.6 Summary

So far all theoretical issues related to the topic of the research have been discussed The next chapter will describe the methods employed in the study and introduces the techniques of checking and learning vocabulary for non-major 10th graders at Ha Huy Tap High school

CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY

This chapter is aimed at providing a detailed description of the experiment carried out

to get the results of the study First, it is started with formulating the research question and research hypothesis Then, the processes of carrying out the experiment are discussed in detail such as the participants, the instruments, the different exploited vocabulary tasks as well as the procedures of data collection and analysis

2.1 Research question and research hypothesis

To fulfill the task of identifying and evaluating the effect of different vocabulary checking techniques on learners' vocabulary retention, the following question is to be answered relevantly:

Is there any significant relationship between the vocabulary checking techniques and learners' vocabulary retention?

Under this research question, the following one-tailed hypothesis was made, using the t-test of the null hypothesis

The mean for the experimental group is significantly higher than that for the control group?

was purposely formed with both good and weak learners to make sure their equal contributions for each learning activity

2.3 Materials

The main material used for this study is the textbook English 10 (2006: Educational Press), which is a them-based complication 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 Due to time constraint, the researcher could not cover the whole textbook in this study; so, only the four units (from unit 11 to unit 14) of the book were used

2.4 The course contents

As having been mentioned above, the main material used for this study was the new textbook English 10 with the main focus on the four units namely: Unit 11: "National parks", Unit 12: "Music", Unit 13: "Films and Cinema", Unit 14: "The world cup" Each unit was taught within 5 periods of 45 minutes each And each session focused on only one main skill: reading, speaking, listening or language focus, respectively The main content of these four units was presented as follow:

Reading Speaking Listening Writing

Language focus

- Talking about an excursion

- Monologue:

+ Gap-filling

Comprehension questions

- Writing a letter of a acceptance

- Dialogue:

- Deciding on True or False statements

- Writing a profile

Pronunciation:

/ s / - / z /

- Grammar: -

to + infinitive

comprehension - Talking

about favorite kinds of music

-Comprehension questions

to talk about purposes

- Expressing preferences

- Talking about a film

- Dialogue:

- listening for the main idea

- Filling in the table

- Talking about the World Cup winners

- Monologue:

- Filling in the table

Comprehension questions

writing an announcement

making offers

Table 2.1 The course contents The above table clearly shows that vocabulary is an integrated part in each skill In order to cover all the required content, teacher could only spend from 10 to 15 minutes at the beginning of each session both for revising and checking new vocabulary Therefore, deciding

on what vocabulary to check as well as what kind of game to use is very important and should

be carefully selected before session

2.5 Procedure of data collection

For a collection of sufficient reliable and valid data for the study test a method of quantitative approach was fully employed

2.5.1 Test designing

Two tests used in this research were designed to measure the change in students' ability

to retain vocabulary (If there were any) when checking vocabulary techniques was employed

in teaching and learning process These two tests were constructed by the researcher basing on the word lists in the textbook English 10 and what the teacher taught in four units Research by Nation (1982) shows that most forgetting occurs immediately after initial learning This would seem to suggest that repetition is most effective it it commences soon after the first encounter

As a result, the test was designed to test students' ability to recall lexical items for language production Most vocabulary items and the distracters in the tests were selected from the new lexical items of the textbook and glossary And, the post-test was carried out right after learners had finished the four units of the textbook English 10

2.5.1.1 The purposes of the test

2.5.1.2 Components of the test

All the target words in the progress test came from the four units of the textbook 10 The test consisted of five different types of exercises, two of which are in the format of objective tests in which "the learning material is divided into small units, each of which can be assessed by means of a test item with a single correct answer that can be specified in advance" (Read, 2000: 75)

The reason why objective test is chosen is that in this kind of test, "words could be treated as independent linguistic units with a meaning expressed by a synonym, a short

defining phrase or a translation equivalent " As a result, it was possible to write a set of multiple-choice items consisting of a word followed by four possible meaning or a matching test comprising jumbled lists of words and their short definitions Here in this paper, the multiple-choice test items were designed in two different formats namely: matching and multiple-choice In multiple-choice test, each item of the test consists of four different choices with on correct answer and three different distracters'

In order to highlight particular meanings and uses of the target words, one kind of test

in the form of "word-formation" is also designed From the stem words, learners are requested

to fill in the blank with suitable form of that word depending on the meaning of that specific sentence

As stress is another important component in learning vocabulary, the test also reserves

a space which requires learners to put the words into the correct stress column

The last kind of exercise is the phonemic script in which phonemic scripts of 10 words are provided and learners are required to write down the full-form of these scripts

2 6 Procedures

2.6.1 The schedules

This study was carried out within 07 weeks of the second semester in two different classes Each class had 3 periods of English per week Class 10A1 - the control class, and class

10 A2 - the experimental class The detailed timetable for both classes was as follows:

Week Control class - 10 A1 Experimental class - 10 A2

1

Tuesday Reading & Speaking- Unit 11

Vocabulary presentation

Reading - Unit 11 Vocabulary presentation

Thursday

Listening - Unit 11 Vocabulary practice (learners wrote down words on BB) Vocabulary presentation

Speaking and listening - Unit 11 Vocabulary practice (Game: Word search)

Vocabulary presentation

Writing + Language Focus - Unit Writing - Unit 11

2

Tuesday

11 Vocabulary practice (learners wrote down words on BB) Vocabulary presentation

Vocabulary practice (Game: Matching strips)

Vocabulary presentation

Thursday

Reading & Speaking- Unit 12 Vocabulary practice (learners wrote down words on BB) Vocabulary presentation

Language Focus - Unit 11 & Reading 12

Vocabulary practice (Game: Crosswords)

Speaking - Unit 12 Vocabulary practice (Game: Join the dots)

Vocabulary presentation

Thursday

Writing - Unit 12 Vocabulary practice (learners wrote down words on BB) Vocabulary presentation

Listening& Writing - Unit 12 Vocabulary practice (Game: Bingo)

Language Focus - Unit 12 Vocabulary practice (Game: Slap the board)

Vocabulary presentation

Thursday

Speaking - Unit 13 Vocabulary practice (learners wrote down words on BB) Vocabulary presentation

Reading & Speaking- Unit 13 Vocabulary practice (Game: Lucky numbers)

Vocabulary presentation

Tuesday

Listening& Writing - Unit 13 Vocabulary practice (learners wrote down words on BB)

Listening - Unit 13 Vocabulary practice (Game: Dominoes)

Writing and Language focus - Unit

13 Vocabulary practice (Game: Noughts & Crosses

Reading - Unit 14 Vocabulary practice (Game: An all-star football team)

Vocabulary presentation

Thursday

Listening - Unit 14 Vocabulary practice (learners wrote down words on BB) Vocabulary presentation

Speaking and listening - Unit 14

Vocabulary practice (Game:

Vocabulary presentation

Thursday

Language Focus - Unit 14 Vocabulary practice (Game: Heavy syllables)

experimental group received explicit instruction on how to check new words through some

games namely: Word search, Dominoes, Matching strips, Noughts and crosses, Crossword puzzle, Lucky number, Scrambled words, Joint the dots, Bingo, An all-star football team,

Matching synonyms, Heavy syllables and slap the board in Appendix 2 Concerning the control class, in general, at the beginning of each lesson, teacher let learners revise new words

by inviting some of them to go to BB and write down the new words they had learnt by heart

2.7 Test

To be able to carry out experimental research, the learners were required to take a pre - test and a post - test Actually, it is arguable that test may procedure doubtful results as learners could copy their classmate's tasks easily However, this has been considered by the teacher before the test were designed and given to learners, and so, the possibility of cheating during the test was prevented Before doing the test, learners were informed that their marks would be subtracted by once if they were caught to look around or copy answers from their friends This rule was also strictly applied for the previous tests before so learners did not dare

to do anything to break the rule Moreover, during the test, there were only two learners sitting

at a desk instead of four as usual and any reference materials were also not permitted to use during the testing time In addition, being allowed only 30 minutes to answer over 30 questions let learners just enough time to complete their tests, not to look around and copy from others All these necessary things were done to assure the reliability of the test