Sử dụng đọc rộng có hướng dẫn nhằm cải thiện việc học từ vựng ngẫu nhiện cho sinh viên chuyên tiếng anh năm thứ nhất

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ****** NGUYỄN THỊ BÍCH HẠNH USING GUIDED EXTENSIVE READING TO

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

******

NGUYỄN THỊ BÍCH HẠNH

USING GUIDED EXTENSIVE READING

TO IMPROVE INCIDENTAL VOCABULARY LEARNING FOR FIRST YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS

AT HUNG YEN TEACHERS’ TRAINING COLLEGE

SỦ DỤNG ĐỌC RỘNG CÓ HƯỚNG DẪN NHẰM CẢI THIỆN VIỆC HỌC TỪ VỰNG NGẪU NHIÊN CHO SINH VIÊN CHUYÊN ANH NĂM THỨ NHẤT TẠI TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG SƯ PHẠM HƯNG YÊN

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Hanoi – 2015

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

******

NGUYỄN THỊ BÍCH HẠNH

USING GUIDED EXTENSIVE READING

TO IMPROVE INCIDENTAL VOCABULARY LEARNING FOR FIRST YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS

AT HUNG YEN TEACHERS’ TRAINING COLLEGE

SỦ DỤNG ĐỌC RỘNG CÓ HƯỚNG DẪN NHẰM CẢI THIỆN VIỆC HỌC TỪ VỰNG NGẪU NHIÊN CHO SINH VIÊN CHUYÊN ANH NĂM THỨ NHẤT TẠI TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG SƯ PHẠM HƯNG YÊN

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111

Supervisor: Dr Hoàng Thị Xuân Hoa

Hanoi – 2015

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DECLARATION

I hereby certify that this thesis is entirely my own work I have provided fully documented references to the others‟ work The material in this thesis has not been submitted for assessment in any other formal course I also accept all the requirements of ULIS relating to the retention and use of M.A Graduation Thesis deposited in the library

Hanoi, October 2015

Nguyen Thi Bich Hanh

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I owe my deepest gratitude to my supportive supervisor, Dr Hoang Thi Xuan Hoa, for her whole-hearted assistance, encouragement as well as the profound guidance she gave me while I was doing my research

I would like to take this opportunity- to express my thanks to all my teachers and lecturers in Faculty of Post-graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their valuable instruction and assistance throughout the realization of this thesis

I am heartily thankful to the administrators, my colleagues, and first year English major students at Hung Yen Teachers‟ Training College for their willingness to participate in the research Without their help, this program could not be fulfilled

Last but not least, I am indebted to my beloved family and friends who have always inspired me to complete this study

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ABSTRACT

The study aimed to examine whether EFL extensive reading could lead to increase incidental vocabulary of elementary-level EFL learners and evaluate the learners‟ opinions about the ER program The participants were 25 freshmen majored in English at Hung Yen Teachers‟ Training College They were asked to read 6 graded readers within a twelve-week EFL extensive reading program The vocabulary pretest and posttests were administered to measure learners‟ incidental vocabulary learning gains in the 118 selected target words achieved through the program Results revealed that the significant vocabulary gains were achieved by the participants after the EFL extensive reading program, suggesting that the EFL extensive reading treatment had produced a beneficial effect on the incidental word learning gains of the participants with elementary EFL competence.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi

LIST OF FIGURES vii

LIST OF TABLES vii

PART A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study 3

3 Scope of the study 3

4 Method of the study 3

5 Design of the study 4

PART B: DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 Reading 5

1.1.1 The roles of reading 5

1.1.2 Extensive Reading 6

1.1.3 Effective Extensive Reading 7

1.1.4 Benefits of extensive reading 8

1.1.5 Graded readers 9

1.2 Vocabulary 10

1.2.1 Vocabulary in second language learning 10

1.2.2 Incidental vocabulary learning 11

1.2.3 Reading and incidental vocabulary learning 12

1.2.4 Difficulties in incidental vocabulary learning 14

1.3 Previous research 16

1.3.1 Researches on incidental vocabulary acquisition 16

1.3.2 Researches on attitudes towards ER 21

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 24

2.1 Participants 24

2.2 Action research 24

2.2.1 Action research procedures 25

2.2.2 Selection of reading materials 30

2.3 Instruments 31

2.3.1 Vocabulary tests 31

2.3.2 Questionnaire 31

2.4 Data presentation and data analysis 32

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2.4.1 The pretest and posttest 32

2.4.2 T- test 33

2.5 Chapter summary 34

CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 35

3.1 The results of the tests (Research question 1) 35

3.1.1 The pretest and the posttest 1 35

Table 3 presents the paired sample T-test of pretest and posttest 1 36

Table 3 36

3.1.2 The posttest 1 and the posttest 2 37

3.2 The results of questionnaire (Research question 2) 38

3.2.1 Results of the first part of the questionnaire 39

3.2.2 Result of the second part of the questionnaire 41

3.3 Discussion 43

3.4 Chapter summary 43

PART C: CONCLUSION 44

1 Summary of the findings 44

2 Limitations of the study and recommendations for further studies 45

REFERENCES I APPENDICES V

APPENDIX 1: VOCABULARY TEST V APPENDIX 2: THE VOCABULARY PRETEST RESULTS IX APPENDIX 3: THE VOCABULARY IMMEDIATE POSTTEST RESULTS X APPENDIX 4: THE VOCABULARY DELAYED POSTTEST RESULTS XI APPENDIX 5: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE XII APPENDIX 6: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (VIETNAMESE VERSION) XIV CÂU HỎI ĐIỀU TRA XIV APPENDIX 7: BOOK REPORT WORKSHEET XVI APPENDIX 8: A SAMPLE OF LESSON PLAN XVII

GRP Graded Readers Program

HYTTC Hung Yen Teachers‟ Training College

SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Sciences

ULIS University of Language and International Studies

VNU Vietnam National University, Hanoi

Table 4: The immediate posttest and delayed posttest paired samples statistics …….… 37 Table 5: The sample T-test of immediate posttest and delayed posttest ……… 38 Table 6: Students' opinions about the graded readers program ……….…… 39 Table 7: Students' suggestion for future program ……….……… 41

Most EFL learners learn vocabulary passively which can be resulted from several factors although students realize the vital importance of vocabulary when learning language First, they consider the teacher's techniques such as explanation for meaning or definition In this case, language learners have nothing to do in a vocabulary learning section but to listen to their teacher Secondly, students only focus on knowing the primary meaning of new words Thirdly, students usually only acquire new vocabulary through contextualized new words in their textbooks or when given by teachers during classroom lessons

It is clear that comprehension is one of the most fundamental reasons for reading, and vocabulary, in turn, plays significant part in comprehension Vocabulary clearly makes a critical contribution to understanding what has been read One important way to develop vocabulary knowledge is through extensive reading By reading extensively, students will be exposed to variety scope of vocabulary which is necessary in reading comprehension Extensive reading (ER) is an important aspect of any English as a foreign/second language reading program Bell (2001) stated that ER is a type of reading instruction program that has been used in EFL settings, as an effective

in a very pleasurable manner While reading extensively, learners are engaged

in reading materials as naturally and comfortably as possible without compulsory or strict follow-up assessments or precise confirmation of meaning by teachers, so that learners experience fun and reward rather than stress during the ER process (Allan, 2009; Hill, 2001) which can help develop students‟ learning independence, confidence and autonomy (Bell, 2001; Pigada & Schmitt, 2006; Cha, 2009)

It is the fact that until recently, Vietnamese learners have not paid enough attention to vocabulary learning (Tran, 2006) This is true with the context of

my students at Hung Yen Teachers‟ Training College (HYTTC) Despite the fact that these students had preciously studied English at lower secondary

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schools for four years, their vocabulary, grammar and practical skills were limited When being informally interviewed, these students showed that they had never read outside the class However, these students expressed their willingness to join in the study since they were really in need of improving their vocabulary and reducing vocabulary learning stress All these have motivated me to carry the study “using guided ER to improve incidental vocabulary learning for first year English major students”

2 Aims of the study

This action research mainly aims to improve first year English-majored students‟ incidental vocabulary learning in the aspect of word meaning at Hung Yen Teachers‟ Training College using guided extensive reading

To reach the aims, the researcher supposes two research questions as follows:

1 To what extent can the use of guided extensive reading improve the students‟ incidental vocabulary learning?

2 What are the students‟ opinions about the extensive reading program?

3 Scope of the study

The study was conducted on a class of first year English major students at HYTTC only The study focused on incidental vocabulary learning through a guided graded readers program (GRP) in the aspect of meaning Therefore, the findings of the research could just reflect the effects of the extensive reading program on the subjects in the context

4 Method of the study

To find out the answers to the above research questions, an action research (AR) design was adopted The research followed the model of an AR program

as McBride and Schostak (1991) The steps were carried out as follows: (1)

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identifying the problem, (2) collecting and analyzing the data, (3) planning and implementing the action, (4) collecting data to monitor change and (5) analyzing and evaluating

5 Design of the study

The study is composed of three following parts:

Part A - Introduction

This part includes rationale, aims, scope and design of the study to introduce

and to appeal the readers

Part B

Chapter 1- Literature Review– mentions some theoretical

background about extensive reading, factors affecting the effectiveness of ER and vocabulary leaning This chapter aims to provide the readers background knowledge to have more understanding about the paper

Chapter 2 – Methodology– discusses the methods or approaches

employed by the authors to collect the data for the study

Chapter 3 - Results and Discussions– analyses the data collected in

the research process and introduces recommendations to make a good ER program

Part C - Conclusion

In this part, the author offers a summary of the findings, conclusion, recommendations, limitations, and future directions for further study

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1 Reading

1.1.1 The roles of reading

It is a fact that reading helps in mental development and is known to stimulate the muscles of the eyes Reading is an activity that involves greater levels of concentration and adds to the conversational skills of readers It is observed that children and teenager who have habits of reading have comparatively higher intelligence quotients Therefore, reading skills are essential for not only students‟ academic success but also their social and business advancement Gradman and Hanania (1991) investigated between English as

a Second Language learners‟ language achievement and forty-four background variables which include formal learning experiences, exposure to the language in class and outside, and opinions about English The results indicated that the strongest effect to be that of extracurricular reading

Walter (2004) stated that reading in a second language call for fast, automatic word decoding and access to the mental lexicon This means working on building speed and fluency and on learning to recognize at least 10,000 words

in the new language By reading, students got familiar with many topics, acquired a lot of new words and were easy to deal with a number of reading text without difficulty Students would gradually be more confident about the topics in the text and could read and write well

Krashen (2005) mentioned to the power of reading in his work He referred to studies that consistently report a positive relationship between the amounts of free reading done and various aspects of second and foreign language competence as follows Lee, Krashen, and Gribbons (1996) regarding the

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acquisition of relative clauses; Stokes, Krashen, and Kartcher (1998) regarding the acquisition of the present subjunctives in Spanish; S Y Lee (2001) regarding factors which make writing difficult To sum up, many researchers have agreed upon the vital role of reading in language learning

1.1.2 Extensive Reading

Many studies have been made on working out a definition of ER Among them is the one done by Lewis and Hill (1992) in which extensive reading means that students have general understanding of the text without necessary understanding every word This definition fails to help learner imagine the whole picture of ER but an aspect of purpose of ER However, Bamford and Day (1997) defined ER as an approach to foreign language teaching in general, and to the teaching of foreign language reading in particular To follow Bamford and Day‟s (1997) ideas, Bruton (2002) suggested that ER can apply to a number of “amounts” The amount of new reading text which is read, the amounts of text consumed and the amount of time spent reading Furthermore, the definition that seems to be more satisfying than those mentioned before is concluded by Robb and Susser (1989) They defined ER

as a language teaching and learning procedure because it was reading (1) of large quantities of material or long text, (2) for global or general understanding, (3) with the intention of obtaining pleasure from the text, (4) with students choosing what they want to read, (5) the books are not discussed

in class

After considering various definitions and the context of the study, our working definition is that extensive reading is reading authentic texts in the foreign language without help at students' own level of proficiency for general

or global understanding with primary intention of obtaining pleasure from the

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materials and done out of class without the added pressure of a comprehension test to follow

1.1.3 Effective Extensive Reading

To ensure students get the maximum benefit, extensive reading has to be consistent and sustained (Schmitt, 2000) Lee and Hsu (2009) however warned that many so called ER curriculums designed by Taiwanese educators last a relatively short time, fail to provide a large volume of books, and usually require some sort of oral/written reports or performance tests, which could reduce students‟ pleasure of reading Therefore, in planning an authentic ER program, they suggested teachers take into consideration the duration of time, amount of reading materials accessible for students and finance

Another key to successful ER is to supply materials that are comprehensible, relevant, interesting and varied (Nuttall, 1996; Waring & Nation, 2004; Shen, 2008; cited in Lee & Hsu, 2009) According to Shen (2008; cited in Lee &

involved in the book selection process

• Readability: The reading materials should be short and not far beyond students‟ current linguistic levels (Coady, 1997; Huang & Liou, 2007) Nuttall (1996) stated that improvement comes from reading a lot of easy material

• Appropriateness and Authenticity: Because one‟s prior background knowledge has an essential impact on reading comprehension, (Blachowicz & Fisher, 2006; Paynter et al., 2006) the selected materials should be culturally familiar and authentic (Coady, 1997)

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• Attraction: The materials need to be appealing to the students (Elley, 1989) When supplied with materials of high interest, students not only read more (Glazer & Giorgis, 2005), they also apply more reading strategies (Coady, 1979)

• Variety: The reading materials should deal with a wide range of subject matter While narrow reading focuses on in-depth studying of one topic, extensive reading instead stresses exposing students to different subjects and genres in order to construct/expand their word schemata

1.1.4 Benefits of extensive reading

The specific benefits of extensive reading are diversified and wide-ranging A large numbers of researched s have provided evidence through experiences for these effects of extensive reading in language learning Many teachers who have been deeply involved in this instructional approach for a very long time wrote about these benefits From Day & Bamford (1998), Hill (2001), Nation (2005), Robb (1998), and Waring (1997) the benefits of extensive reading were reported as follows (Porcaro, 2009)

• Extensive reading builds automaticity of word recognition

• Automatic recognition of a word allows lexical access – the automatic calling up from memory of a word‟s meanings and its phonological representation

• Extensive reading builds vocabulary knowledge

• Comprehension and fluent reading depend on automatic word recognition and vocabulary knowledge, and thus are advanced through extensive reading

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• Fluent reading allows the reader to move from word-by-word decoding to the processing of ideas, which is essential to higher level reading and thinking skills

• Extensive reading builds awareness of grammatical structures and the ability

to quickly and accurately process sentence structures

• Extensive reading enhances learners‟ background knowledge

• Extensive reading promotes learners‟ positive attitude toward reading It fosters their confidence and motivation to read

•Extensive reading increases exposure to English The important role of comprehensible input in foreign language learning has been strongly demonstrated by Krashen (1993)

• Extensive reading reinforces a grasp of language that is taught in class It provides students with an excellent opportunity to consolidate what they have learned, which is an essential aspect of foreign language learning

• Research studies also show that extensive reading improves learners‟ writing skills, listening and speaking skills, and examination results

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are not identical with each other in number of levels, the amount of vocabulary at each level, or the vocabulary lists on which they are based, they share a lot of the vocabulary covered Therefore, it is not important to stick to only one series of GRs To many language teachers and learners, GRs are attractive option for several reasons GRs not only offer controlled, systematic, and comprehensive development of vocabulary and grammar, they also fulfill the different interests and levels of learners

After investigating the available materials at the bookstores and the level of

my students, the researcher decided to choose GRs of the Oxford Bookworm Libraries Stories in the series seem to be interesting and suitable for the students in this study Moreover, there are pictures which illustrate the content

of the stories Some of the stories are very famous and made into films or plays The researcher also took books a level 1 for my student, who have never had habit of extensive reading before

1.2 Vocabulary

1.2.1 Vocabulary in second language learning

In the very first part of his book “Vocabulary”, Michael Mc Carthy (1990, p.2, cited in Quach, 2007) stated: “It is the experience of most language teachers that the single, biggest component of any language course is vocabulary No matter how well the student learns grammar, no matter how successfully the sounds of L2 are mastered, without words to express a wide range of meanings, communication in an L2 just cannot happen in any meaningful way” It is impossible to deny the role of vocabulary in communication in an L2 A leaner‟s vocabulary size plays a very significant part in his or her ability to communicate due to the fact that “words are the

All the above quotations highly appreciate the important role of vocabulary in language learning, especially in second language learning Thus, teaching vocabulary should be a part of the syllabus and vocabulary should be paid more attention through well- planned lesson of language teachers‟ and serious learning behavior of learners

1.2.2 Incidental vocabulary learning

Most of the researches in the special matter of incidental vocabulary learning (Wesche & Paribakht, 1999) have considered incidental learning as something that is learned without specific focus of attention in a classroom context In Wesche and Paribakht‟s definition (1999), incidental vocabulary learning refers to the process in which learners focus on comprehending meaning of reading and listening contexts rather than on the intentional vocabulary learning and acquire vocabulary as a “by-product” without the learner‟s conscious decision, or intention to learn the words While, Nation (2001) has indicated that in incidental vocabulary learning the learners‟ attention is focused on some other feature, usually the message that is conveyed by a speaker or a writer Considerable vocabulary learning can occur even though the learners‟ attention is not directed toward vocabulary learning when the amount of unknown vocabulary is low in such messages

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Another explanation of the incidental learning was set by Haynes (1998, cited

by Wesche & Paribakht, 1999) The author considered attention rather than intention as the key to clarifying the construct, as well as a separation of teaching considerations from those of learning She proposed two continua, one of them from “indirect teaching” to “direct teaching” and the other from

“incidental learning” (or automated learning, involving the learner‟s peripheral attention while focal attention is elsewhere) to “attended learning” (involving focal attention)

Although many researchers have defined incidental vocabulary acquisition from different aspects, there is not an all-sided and authoritative definition of incidental vocabulary acquisition In this paper, the researcher adopted the definition made by Nation and Wang (1999) that incidental learning takes place when the focus is on the content of the story, not on vocabulary learning Learners‟ attention is on the meaning of the text and on developing reading fluency

1.2.3 Reading and incidental vocabulary learning

A case study implemented by Grabe and Stoller (1997) also found significant gains in vocabulary through incidental vocabulary learning through extensive reading

They examined the vocabulary development of an American man learning Portuguese

through extensive reading The subject received three weeks of instruction

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They claimed that the study “strongly suggests that reading and vocabulary will

develop as a result of extensive reading practice”

In the process of incidental vocabulary learning, word knowledge is thought

to be cumulated and developed gradually through multiple exposures in various reading contexts Extensive reading, as a form of comprehensible input, has the effect of providing learners with rich contexts ideal for vocabulary learning During the reciprocal process of extensive reading, the acquisition of words is the result of successes in inferring word meanings from a meaningful context and through more reading experiences the developed and matured vocabulary inference ability could in turn contributes

to reading level

According to Krashen (1993), extensive reading is considered beneficial for overall language competence and fundamental to vocabulary development as well in the L2 learning Researchers such as Krashen believe that similar to L1 word learning, reading is the major means for acquiring vocabulary and have thus strongly encouraged the implementation of extensive reading programs in an L2 learning environment (Krashen, 1989) The proposition that most vocabulary is learned incidentally has appealed to the default argument that learning from context is the only way to account for most vocabulary acquisition (Wesche & Paribakht, 1999)

Many studies results support the assumption of the important relationship between incidental vocabulary learning and extensive reading Milton and Meara (1995, cited by Nagy, 1997) estimated that advanced students could learn words at an annual rate close to 2,500 in a second language setting A

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substantial proportion of this growth is possibly from incidental learning Elley‟s (1991) survey of “book flood” studies (the essential element of such studies is increasing the availability of books to the students) showed that L2 learners tended to benefit more from an increase in volume of reading than do L1 learners because they encountered unfamiliar words at a greater rate than L1 learners The study suggested that language learning was for the most part incidental, and it relied on essence motivation, primarily through the use of interesting, well-illustrated books

Horst, Cobb and Meara (1998) proposed a carefully controlled book-length reading treatment (34 low-intermediate learners in Oman read 21,232 words

of the simplified Mayor of Casterbridge text in a ten-day period) when replicating the well-known study by Saragi, Nation and Meiter in 1978 The result showed that there was an average Furthermore, Xu Hong selected about one in every five new words and subjects with larger L2 vocabulary sizes had greater incidental word learning gains The study also found that L2 learners recognized the meaning of new words and built associations between them as a result of comprehension-focused extensive reading However, the results of Day et al (1991) demonstrated that exposure to previously unknown or difficult words through sustained silent reading for entertainment

by Japanese EFL students had a positive effect on their ability to recognize these words in a vocabulary test

1.2.4 Difficulties in incidental vocabulary learning

In spite of the fact that extensive reading has an influence on incidental vocabulary learning, other researchers have found that reading for L2 vocabulary development may lead to some problems First, there were wrong inferences that vocabulary was learned cursorily which prevents learners from

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using words actively Some lexical items such as words with a deceptive morphological structure, idioms, words (Laufer, 1997) often misguide the learners and make them misunderstand the words It short-circuits readers‟ contextual guessing process

Second, to have an effective guessing, the context is well understood and almost all of the surrounding words in the text are known, which requires good textual clues and substantial prior vocabulary knowledge on the part of the learner Different from native speakers, L2 learners have some difficulties

in guessing word meanings correctly, for they always have more opportunities

to encounter new words within various contexts with their lack of sufficient word knowledge Moreover, correct guessing of word meanings depends on accurate recognition of surrounding words and good use of reading strategies (Huckin & Coady, 1999) However, learners always feel frustrated in comprehension when facing overwhelming texts in extensive reading, for their word knowledge is insufficient and lack active use of different reading strategies So the readers may decide to ignore the words, or cannot infer a word from context

Last, Huckin & Coady (1999) stated that the non-recurrence of new words cannot guarantee the acquisition of the vocabulary This can be accounted for

by the fact that unlike native speakers, L2 learners have very few opportunities to be exposed to the unknown words repeatedly, apart from the high-frequency words Accordingly, they cannot pick up the features of the words incrementally to form the solid lexical knowledge in their mental lexicon

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1.3 Previous research

Regarding the benefits of ER on improving learners‟ vocabulary learning, a numbers of studies that range in scope from case studies of single readers to large-scale applications through a school were widely documented Within the scope of the thesis, the researcher would like to review the previous studies focusing on the way that those emphasized the benefits of graded readers to incidental vocabulary acquisition and the attitudes of learners towards reading and ER

1.3.1 Researches on incidental vocabulary acquisition

A famous research known as the Clockwork Orange Study by Saragi, Nation

& Meister, 1978 reported the effectiveness of incidental vocabulary acquisition

through reading 20 native speakers of English working in Indonesia participated

in the study Students were asked to read a novel, A Clockwork Orange

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Waring and Takaki (2003) examined the rate at which vocabulary was learned

from reading the 400 headword graded reader A Little Princess To ascertain

whether words of different frequency of occurrence rates were more likely to

be learned and retained or forgotten, 25 words within five bands of differing frequency of occurrence (15 to 18 times to those appearing only once) were selected The spelling of each word was changed to ensure that each test item was unknown to the 15 intermediate level (or above) female Japanese subjects

(e.g., beautiful into smarty, world into rumple) The full text of A Little

Princess, with the substitute words, was printed for each subject and was put

into book form along with a test booklet The subjects were asked to "read this story as usual and enjoy it." Three tests (word-form recognition, prompted meaning recognition and unprompted meaning recognition) were administered immediately after reading, after one week and after a three month delay The results show that words can be learned incidentally but that most of the words were not learned More frequent words were more likely to

be learned and were more resistant to decay The data suggest that, on average, the meaning of only one of the 25 items will be remembered after three months, and the meaning of none of the items that were met fewer than eight times will be remembered three months later The data thus suggest that

very little new vocabulary is retained from reading one graded reader, and that

a massive amount of graded reading is needed to build new vocabulary It is suggested that the benefits of reading a graded reader should not only be assessed by researching vocabulary gains and retention, but by looking at how

graded readers help develop and enrich already known vocabulary

In 2006, Pigada and Schmitt used 70 nouns and 63 verbs in their study in investigating incidental vocabulary acquisition with a participant, a learner of French, by using four graded readers in French Since the texts were short, the

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authors included only “the most common parts of speech found in natural text”, in the hope that further research would include other word classes They organized the two word classes into six different frequency groups according

to the number of encounters and tested three types of word knowledge (meaning, spelling, and grammatical behavior) The measurement procedure was a one-on-one interview that allowed a very good indication of whether learning occurred They found that substantial word learning occurred during the ER, although the improvement was not uniform across the three types of word knowledge Spelling was enhanced in all noun frequency groups and in all but two verb groups For meaning, low-frequency nouns and verbs showed limited learning, and verbs were more limited than nouns Grammatical behavior knowledge was improved in all frequency groups of nouns, while the percentage of grammatical mastery of verbs was much lower than that of nouns Overall, the study indicates that more vocabulary acquisition is possible from extensive reading than previous studies have suggested

Kweon and Kim (2008) conducted an experimental research to investigate how and which unknown words can be incidentally learned and retained while Korean learners of English read substantial amounts of authentic text over a long period of time 12 Korean learners of English read authentic literary texts and were tested on their knowledge of vocabulary before reading (pretest), immediately after reading (Posttest 1), and 1 month after Posttest 1 (Posttest 2) The results showed a significant word gain between the pretest and Posttest 1 and that most gained words were retained at Posttest 2 Of the 3 different word classes that were used, nouns were a little easier to retain than verbs and adjectives, the authors came to an important conclusion that words can be learned incidentally but that most of the words were not learned More frequent words were more likely to be learned and were more resistant to

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decay The data suggest that, on average, the meaning of only one of the 25 items will be remembered after three months, and the meaning of none of the items that were met fewer than eight times will be remembered three months

later The data thus suggest that very little new vocabulary is retained from

reading one graded reader, and that a massive amount of graded reading is needed to build new vocabulary Finally, the authors suggested that the benefits of reading a graded reader should not only be assessed by researching vocabulary gains and retention, but by looking at how graded readers help

develop and enrich already known vocabulary

Tiryaki and Tütüniş (2012) conducted a research on extensive reading and

vocabulary development, and they focused on vocabulary learning of reluctant elementary level students The study investigated whether extensive reading would make any noteworthy distinction in the vocabulary development of these students To this respect, a small-scale classroom research was carried out at a private university in the fall term of 2010-2011 academic year A hundred elementary level students were chosen and they were divided into experimental and control groups With experimental group the materials for extensive reading were selected Those materials were four graded readers Control group was not exposed to any extensive reading during the fall term whereas students of the experimental group were asked to read those graded readers until the end of the fall term However, both groups were responsible from the syllabus which was designed by school administration and it involved studying three units of a main course book until the end of the fall term Then both groups took a pre-test at the beginning of the term to display that they were at elementary level and a post-test at the end of the term to present whether any improvements were observed in their vocabulary or not Finally the results were analyzed and compared to find out

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whether any difference occurred between two groups in terms of vocabulary development The results of the data analysis showed that extensive reading improved the range of the words of the reluctant learners in the experimental group who were asked to read graded readers However, when the results analyzed and compared it was observed that the control group who were not obliged to read, distinguishably performed worse in the vocabulary test both

in the first part and in the second part

In another study by Eghtesadi and Momeni, situated in an EFL context, seventy five elementary learners of English were randomly selected with the authors‟ aim at discovering the ways purposes behind reading activities influence vocabulary knowledge gain and retrieval The participants were assigned to three groups of „free reading‟, „reading comprehension‟ and

„reading to summarize‟ The input text „A good night’s work’ was selected from a graded reader series Reading Comprehension 4 by Louis Fidge The

text was administered to all the three groups The data in both immediate and delayed post-test revealed that both vocabulary learning and retention were greatly influenced by the purposeful reading activity The Scheffe post-hoc test revealed that the mean scores of the „summarizing‟ and „reading comprehension‟ groups were significantly different from the mean score of the „free reading‟ group But the results did not indicate any significant differences between the mean scores of the two groups of „summarizing‟ and

„reading comprehension‟ However the strength of association for the immediate post-test and the delayed one showed that a large part of the variance between the three groups could be explained by the reading purpose The findings of the present study generally provided positive support of the role of readers‟ purpose on incidental gain of vocabulary knowledge Furthermore, the low rate of incidental vocabulary learning and retention in

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English as a foreign language context extremely suggested the explicit teaching of new lexicon on the part of teachers along with encouraging the learners toward ER Finally, it should be noted that since the participants in the study were female elementary language learners, the results may face problems of generalizability

1.3.2 Researches on attitudes towards ER

The effects of ER on learner‟s motivation and attitude are impressive Study after study shows how attitudes changed toward reading in English and how the students became eager readers Numerous studies have found favorable attitudes toward ER classes and GRs Students with high motivation naturally like the experience of ER In regard to less-motivated students reporting positive attitudes, their positive feelings are primarily due to the satisfaction they felt at their unexpected accomplishment But many of these students stop reading books in English when the motivation provided by an instructor‟s homework assignment is absent But this stoppage should not mean that they

do not like reading GRs The students‟ reading success and the opportunity to practice English generates the positive attitudes and intentions mentioned above This method also introduces students to a different way of developing their English proficiency

Murphy (2010) conducted a study among first and second-year non-English majors at a national university in western Japan In the first class, students

were timed as they read a chapter of the graded reader The Good Earth,

(Heinemann Intermediate level) In the second to last class of the semester, they were timed again reading a different chapter of the same book Both chapters were similar in setting and characters Students were also asked about their reading habits In the last class of the semester, students were

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interviewed in small groups in English or Japanese, and interviewed about their attitudes and opinions toward the class The findings in this study confirm that ER should be one of the fundament of L2 curriculums Furthermore, communicative activities can easily be incorporated into an ER course, with graded readers providing a treasure chest of content and ideas for discussion Students also enjoy feeling successful in the L2 The high levels

of positive attitude toward this type of approach seems to suggest that a communicative approach with ER is an obvious path toward better student performance (versus intensive-only reading classes) and attitudes toward reading in the L2 and the language and culture in general

Pellicer-Sánchez and Schmitt (2010) conducted a research to explore the degree to which relatively advanced L2 readers can acquire spelling, word class, and recognition and recall of meaning from reading the unmodified

authentic novel Things Fall Apart The participants were twenty Spanish in

the last year of their undergraduate degree from a university in Spain Readers were simply asked to read the book for pleasure without paying special attention to any aspect of the book for around one month Finally, a section on participants‟ attitudes was included so as to have the possibility of examining the relationship, if any, between readers‟ attitudes and vocabulary acquisition Nine questions were prepared concerning participants‟ opinions about their participation in this study The questions were asked orally, with the participants encouraged to answer freely The interviews revealed that all participants had read the complete book and that all had enjoyed taking part in the study, although three said that participation had been a little burdensome because of the book topic or the limited amount of reading time available In addition, most participants found the level of the book appropriate for their level of English, verifying our original judgment Furthermore, the two

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participants who found the level of the book a bit difficult for their level of English did not show noticeably lower scores Seventeen out of the twenty participants liked the book overall and found it interesting Only one participant found the presence of foreign words in the book to be a problem for general understanding, and only three participants felt that there were sometimes too many foreign words Finally, sixteen of the participants had the feeling of having learnt something of the target words Four of these sixteen participants also had the impression of having learnt something of the foreign culture, and two believed they had learnt something more about English The encouraging figures and results of this study make us think that participants‟ positive attitudes and opinions had a helpful effect on vocabulary acquisition

Yamashita (2013) studied the effects of ER on reading attitudes in a foreign language with the participants of 61 second-year undergraduate students He used a questionnaire to measure two aspects of reading, attitude-affect (feeling) and cognition (thinking)- based on a five-point scale During class, students were able to access approximately 500 GRs of different series and they read both in and outside of class The results indicated that ER increased students‟ feelings of comfort and reduced anxiety towards EFL reading, and had a positive effect on the intellectual value that the students attached to reading However, it did not increase perceived despite the fact that the students knew that the amount of reading they did would be reflected in their class grade Yamashita (2013) concluded that the study had gone a step further into the effective domain and expanded the understanding of the impact of ER by documenting its positive effect on changes different aspects

of EFL attitudes

of pre-intermediate judging from their results of the English test in the

university entrance examination and those of their Reading skill 1 final tests at

the end the first semester In addition, I was also their English teacher in

charge of Reading Skill 1 subject Another important factor is that the students

were willing to take part in the research Before this program, they had not involved in any English extensive reading activity They were selected in the second semester with the assumption that they could get used to the teaching and learning environment at college after graduating from high school

2.2 Action research

Wallace (1998) defined an action research is done by systematically collecting data on teachers‟ everyday practice and analyzing them to make some decision regarding future practice According to him, AR can be helpful because of the three following reasons: (1) It can have a specific and immediate outcome which can be directly relate to practice in the teacher‟s own context, (2) the findings of such research might be primarily specific (it means that it is not claimed that they are necessarily of general application and therefore the method might be more free-ranging than those of conventional research Nunan (1992) stated that AR is problem focus, mainly concerned with a single case in a specific situation and tries to find solutions

to the problem in focus An AR as defined by Kemmis and Mc Taggart (1998) is a teacher initiated classroom research which seeks to increase the

2.2.1 Action research procedures

An AR program should be flexible as different researchers may have variety

of processes in different certain situations An AR study can have a number of steps of phrases The researcher decided to use the model of an AR program

as McBride and Schostak (1991).The process consists of the following steps:

FIGURE 1: Action research model of Bride and Schostak (1991 )

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In this study, an AR was conducted based on the above process The stages of this AR were described in details:

1 Identifying the problem

The researcher‟s experience, her discussion with learners and her observation helped her find out that one of the students‟ problems is lack of vocabulary Therefore, this feature was selected to be the focus in this study

2 Collecting and analyzing the data

To have more information, the researcher had to collect the data relating to students‟ vocabulary knowledge, their reading habits and their reading ability First of all, the researcher found out that her students often complained about having difficulties in reading in English Secondly, she investigated the course

book of Reading Skill 1 Thirdly, the researcher had small interviews with

students in order to know about their reading habits and opinions about reading outside the class All came to a hypothesis that her students‟ lack of vocabulary items may be the result of their poor extensive reading in English habits Another question was raised that if their vocabulary would be improved when they read extensively

3 Planning and implementing the action

Based on the literature review relating to the topic, a procedure of an AR was carried out to bring the improvements in the context of the researcher‟s situation The researcher decided to use graded readers to help her students to improve their vocabulary The procedure of the action was described as follows

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Table 1: The Graded Readers Program

1 Introduce the graded readers program

Carry out pretest

2 Deliver the first story “Goodbye Mr Hollywood”

Deliver book report worksheet 1

3 Collect book report worksheet 1

Deliver “Mutiny on the Bounty”

Deliver book report worksheet 2

4 Collect book report worksheet 2

Deliver “The Elephant Man”

Deliver book report worksheet 3

5 Collect book report worksheet 3

Deliver “The Phantom of the Opera”

Deliver book report worksheet 4

6 Collect book report worksheet 4

Deliver “The Witches of the Pendle”

Deliver book report worksheet 5

7 Collect book report worksheet 5

Deliver “The Withered Arm”

Deliver book report worksheet 6

8 Collect book report worksheet 6

Carry out immediate-posttest Hand out Questionnaire

10 Carry out delayed -posttest

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Week 1: Introduction and pretest

In this activity, the teacher introduced the ER program, its aims and benefits

to all participants and encouraged them to read the GRs extensively outside the classroom By doing this, the researcher was able to monitor the participants' reading with the belief of Vietnamese that learners had worked better under the time pressure The researcher integrated with investigating students' attitudes and past experience of vocabulary learning Students were also suggested not to use dictionaries to look up unknown words What the researcher deeply sought for was students' personal experience of what they had read, for example, how interesting they found the materials especially the ways they dealt with new vocabulary encountering during reading the selected books Also, the researcher was in search of comprehensive understanding why and how ER worked well or not to help students enhance their knowledge of vocabulary, especially whether ER could work to increase students' engagement and motivation in learning vocabulary In this section, the vocabulary test was carried out

Week 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7: Students' reading and doing worksheet

Each week, the participants were handed over one 400-headword story and encouraged to read the materials immediately Students' reading and writing worksheet were done outside the classroom To help students have fuller understanding of the stories, a number of pre, while and post reading activities designed at the end of each book were suggested for students to accomplish With every graded reader chosen, students were asked to keep book reports in which students expressed their personal experiences of what they had read i.e whether and why they found the materials enjoyable, whether the reading was easy or difficult for them and especially the ways they dealt with new