A study on the techniques of presenting vocabulary to increase motivation for grade 10 students at yen phong 1 high school

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ---  ---NGUYEN THI MINH HAU A STUDY ON THE TECHNIQUES OF PRESENTING VOCABULARY TO INCREASE MOTIVATION FOR GRADE 10 STUDENTS AT YE

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

- 

 -NGUYEN THI MINH HAU

A STUDY ON THE TECHNIQUES OF PRESENTING

VOCABULARY TO INCREASE MOTIVATION FOR GRADE 10

STUDENTS AT YEN PHONG 1 HIGH SCHOOL

M.A THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201

THAI NGUYEN - 2020

ĐẠI HỌC THÁI NGUYÊN TRƯỜNG NGOẠI NGỮ

- 

 -NGUYỄN THỊ MINH HẬU

NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ CÁC THỦ THUẬT GIỚI THIỆU

TỪ VỰNG NHẰM NÂNG CAO HỨNG THÚ HỌC TẬP CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 10 TẠI TRƯỜNG THPT

YÊN PHONG SỐ 1

LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ Ngành: Ngôn ngữ Anh

Mã ngành: 8220201

THÁI NGUYÊN - 2020

DECLARATION

I confirm that the thesis entitled “A study on the techniques of presenting

vocabulary to increase motivation for grade 10 students at Yen Phong 1 High School” is the result of my own study in the fulfillment of the requirement for the

Degree of Master at School of Foreign Languages, Thai Nguyen university I commit that this thesis has not been submitted anywhere for any degree or qualification

Approved by Supervisor

Phung Thi Thu Ha, Ph.D

Thai Nguyen, 2020 Student

Nguyen Thi Minh Hau

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Firstly, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to my supervisor, Ms Phung Thi Thu Ha, Ph.D for her wholehearted assistance Without her advice, comments, and corrections, it would have been impossible for me to fulfill the thesis Secondly, I would like to thank all of teachers in Foreign Languages Faculty at Thai Nguyen University who provided me with necessary help as well as good suggestions whenever I got into trouble

Thirdly, I would also like to send my special thanks to English teachers and a lot of students at Yen Phong 1 High School who helped me carry out the research Finally, I am willing to show my gratefulness to my family, my friends and colleagues who continuously offer spiritual support and encouragement during the process of doing this study

Student

Nguyen Thi Minh Hau

ABSTRACT

Vocabulary plays important role in teaching and learning English because it has the notability to stimulate students’ participation and help students improve their skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing Vocabulary learning is a crucial part of learning a second language There have been a number of researchers studying roles of learning and teaching vocabulary To enhance students in vocabulary lessons, and to achieve more effectiveness from vocabulary teaching techniques, the research was conducted to find the answer to the question “What techniques should be applied to increase students’ motivation in vocabulary lessons?” Therefore, it is necessary to use effective and interesting techniques to teach English vocabulary, especially techniques of presenting new words to raise students’ motivation in learning vocabulary The author wishes to help the learners improve their vocabulary and feel more interested in vocabulary lessons This thesis is a survey study This study was conducted to find out how vocabulary is presented and what factors effect students' motivation in learning vocabulary lesson and thus suggest some ways of improving the effectiveness of vocabulary teaching and learning at this high school The reality of teaching and learning English vocabulary of grade 10 students was made clear The data of research was collected

by two research instruments that are questionnaires, and interviews The results showed that both teachers and students found a lot of benefit from using techniques

in presenting vocabulary such as visual aids, verbal means However, there were some difficulties in teaching and learning new words at Yen Phong 1 High School

So, vocabulary learning of grade 10 students at Yen Phong 1 High School is not very effective in spite of both teachers' and students' efforts

This study is believed to be a reliable source of reference for teachers to enhance the effectiveness of using techniques of presenting vocabulary Hopefully,

it will be the springboard for many further studies in the future on the same topic

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF FIGURES vi

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aims of the study 3

1.3 Scope of the study 4

1.4 Significance of the study 4

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 Concepts of vocabulary 6

2.1.1 Some definitions of vocabulary 6

2.1.2 Classification of vocabulary 7

2.2 The role of vocabulary in language teaching and learning 9

2.3 Motivation and its role in language teaching and learning 10

2.3.1 Definitions of motivation 10

2.3.2 Types of motivation 10

2.3.3 The importance of motivation in language teaching and learning 12

2.3.4 Factors affect students’ motivation in vocabulary lessons 13

2.3.5 How to motivate students to learn English 15

2.4 Principles of vocabulary teaching 16

2.4.1 Purposes of teaching vocabulary 16

2.4.2 What to teach 17

2.5 Techniques in presenting vocabulary 19

2.5.1 Visual techniques 20

2.5.2 Verbal techniques 21

2.5.3 Context building 22

2.5.4 Translation 22

2.6 Previous studies 23

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 24

3.1 Method of the study 24

3.2 Subjects of the study 24

3.3 Research procedure 24

3.4 Data collection instruments 25

3.4.1 Questionnaires 25

3.4.2 Interview 26

3.5 Data analytical method 26

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 27

4.1 Data analysis 27

4.1.1 Result from the questionnaires 27

4.1.2 Results and discussions from the interviews 46

4.2 Discussion 48

4.3 Implications and suggestions for teaching and learning English 49

4.3.1 Implications 49

4.3.2 Suggestions for teaching and learning English 50

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 52

5.1 Conclusion 52

5.2 Limitations 52

5.3 Suggestions for further studies 53

REFERENCES 55 APPENDICES I

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Teacher's attitudes towards the role of vocabulary teaching in

language teaching 27

Figure 2: Teachers' purposes of teaching vocabulary 28

Figure 3: Teachers' ideas about choosing vocabulary to teach 28

Figure 4: Aspects of a word teachers use to teach their students 29

Figure 5: Teachers' current methods in presenting vocabulary 30

Figure 6: The frequency of teachers' using techniques of presenting vocabulary 31

Figure 7: Students' reflection about teachers' current techniques of presenting new words 32

Figure 8: Teachers' attitudes towards teaching vocabulary through communicative activities 33

Figure 9: Students' motivation in the vocabulary lesson 33

Figure 10: Factors affect students' motivation in the vocabulary lesson 34

Figure 11: Teachers' current methods to increase students' motivation in the vocabulary lesson 35

Figure 12: Teachers' methods to enhance students' motivation in vocabulary lessons at Yen Phong 1 High School 36

Figure 13: Students' attitude towards vocabulary learning 37

Figure 14: Students' current method to learn vocabulary 38

Figure 15: Teachers' current technique of presenting vocabulary 39

Figure 16: Students' comment on teachers' current techniques of presenting vocabulary 40

Figure 17: Students' purpose of learning English vocabulary 41

Figure 18: Factors affect students' motivation in learning vocabulary 42

Figure 19: External reasons caused your learning vocabulary ineffectively 43

Figure 20: Students' difficulties in learning English vocabulary 44

Figure 21: Students' expectations about teachers' methods to motivate their vocabulary learning 45

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

There is a unanimous agreement that vocabulary is an important and essential element in learning a second language Saleh (1997:12) argued, “the success in mastering a language is determined by the size of the vocabulary one has learned” Wilkins (1972:111) said, “Without grammar, very little can be conveyed; without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed.” That is the reason why vocabulary is one of the most important elements of language Without vocabulary knowledge, both language production and language comprehension would not be possible By enriching vocabulary, students are able to gain comprehensive using of English Insufficient vocabulary may limit one to understand and produce speech as well as text Although vocabulary plays a prominent role these days, many students have a minimal volume of vocabulary which can prevent them from producing and understanding a large coverage of speech or text However, it seems that having good vocabulary is still a challenging to quite a lot of English learners Most students often face up with some problems in leaning vocabulary They find it difficult to memorize a new word with its spelling, meaning and pronunciation Besides, some students tend to show little attention to learning vocabulary Therefore, vocabulary needs to be learned in an interesting way

Recent research indicates that teaching vocabulary may be problematic because many teachers are not confident about the best practice in vocabulary teaching and at times they don’t know where to begin to form an instructional emphasis on word learning (Berne & Blachowicz, 2008) In most of the cases, the approaches of teaching vocabulary adopted by teachers are not fruitful Therefore, vocabulary must be taught in an effective way so that students can learn and understand words properly and use those in real context

In Vietnam, since the 1990s, teaching English has become a topical issue appealing for concerns of both researchers and teachers Vocabulary has been taught within the lesson of reading, speaking, listening, and writing Most of students are aware of the importance of learning English in their study as well as in

the future job; therefore, they have a great effort in learning However, their English competence are not the same Some of them are good and active while a lot of them are quite passive and unmotivated in learning English Their knowledge of grammar

is acceptable, but their vocabulary is extremely limited From the survey of the author, it is surprising that many students are only at the beginning level of English Students usually feel bored in vocabulary lessons because they have not changed their learning habits, such as writing new words on paper, trying to learn by heart or learning passively through the teacher's explanations They find it difficult to learn and remember vocabulary Most of them claim that they don’t know the best way to learn a foreign language They don’t have a positive attitude towards learning English The majority of them doesn’t have appropriate learning strategies or have

an effective habit to learn independently or creatively As a result, they seem to forget vocabulary quickly, most of them lack a great deal of vocabulary so they can’t have a certain source of the words to express their ideas in speaking and writing skills

The author has been teaching English at Yen Phong 1 High School for more ten years and she finds that most of English teachers are energetic and willing to devote their time and energy to teaching These teachers have good experience in language teaching However, their vocabulary teaching methods and strategies are quite different There are some teachers who tend to adopt a communicative-oriented and student-centered approach They frequently find out the new methodologies and they are flexible in using different vocabulary teaching strategies to different groups of students, whereas some other teachers keep traditional teaching methods When they introduce new words, they often write new words on the board, then translate them into Vietnamese and make sentences with them They read aloud first, then students repeat the words in the chorus Then they ask some students to read the words individually Sometimes the teacher shows some pictures on the projectors to illustrate new words Futhermore, many students

at Yen Phong 1 High School usually learn vocabulary passively through teachers'

explanation They try to learn vocabulary by heart and they rarely use them in communication As a result, the vocabulary learning activities are neither interesting nor motivating Then, students’ vocabulary competence is not widened, and vocabulary teaching and learning are not effective as expected

To motivate students in vocabulary lessons, and to achieve more effectiveness from vocabulary teaching teachniques, the research was conducted to find the answer to the question “What techniques should be applied to increase students’ motivation in vocabulary lessons?” Therefore, it is necessary to use effective and interesting techniques to teach English vocabulary, especially techniques of presenting new words to raise students’ motivation in learning vocabulary The author wishes to help the learners improve their lexical knowledge and feel more interested in vocabulary lessons From the above reasons, the researcher would like

to choose the thesis topic: “A study on the techniques of presenting vocabulary to increase motivation for grade 10 students at Yen Phong 1 High School”

1.2 Aims of the study

With the hope of helping the students at Yen Phong 1 High School make progress in studying vocabulary, the research aims to improve the way of presenting vocabulary and to apply effective techniques of presenting vocabulary to increase the motivation for students to learn vocabulary The author finds out the reality of teaching and learning English vocabulary at Yen Phong 1 High School and suggests the feasible solutions to help the teachers apply more suitable methods in teaching vocabulary after that she investigates some appropriate activities for presenting vocabulary, which may hopefully attract students and help them feel enjoyable and

motivated when they are in English vocabulary lessons

Research questions

The study aimed at investigating the techniques in presenting vocabulary to motivate learners in language studying and based on the findings to make some suggestions on using some techniques to enhance language proficiency With such objectives, the study aims at answering the following research questions

1 What types of vocabulary presenting technique are used in vocabulary lessons at Yen Phong 1 High School?

2 What factors affect students’ motivation in learning vocabulary lessons at Yen Phong 1 High School?

3 What techniques should be applied to increase students’ motivation in vocabulary lessons at Yen Phong 1 High School?

1.3 Scope of the study

In fact, there are many ways and ideas to design vocabulary learning activities for students to study English vocabulary effectively However, because of the limitation of the author’s knowledge and limitation of time she only narrows down

to the area of teaching and learning vocabulary for grade 10 students at Yen Phong

1 High School She cannot study all the techniques that she just mainly focuses on studying some main techniques of presenting vocabulary to increase the motivation for Grade 10 students at Yen Phong 1 High School

1.4 Significance of the study

The study has helped the author understand the present situation of teaching and learning English vocabulary at Yen Phong 1 High School Besides, the researcher investigates in detail into teachers’ and learners’ vocabulary teaching and learning methods to find the effective techniques in presenting vocabulary stimulate students in learning vocabulary

From the research, the teachers of English have paid more attention to design effective techniques in introducing new vocabulary to students The teachers have realized the students’ attitude towards learning vocabulary to prepare suitable activities with the aim of enhancing students’ motivation learning vocabulary to increase the motivation for Grade 10 students at Yen Phong 1 High School

DESIGN OF THE THESIS

Chapter 1: Introduction

Introduction, rationale for the study, aims of the study, the research questions,

the significance of the study, and the scope of the study

Chapter 2: Literature Review

Overview of the literature, including relevant theoretical background and reviews of related studies concerning techniques of presenting vocabulary to motivate students in learning vocabulary

Chapter 3: Methodology

Participants in the study, instrumentations, methods, and procedures of data

collection and data analysis

Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion

Presentation of the findings accompanied by data analysis and discussion

Chapter 5: Conclusion

Major findings of the study and further recommendations for the implementation of using some techniques of presenting vocabulary in learning English vocabulary

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This part is concerned with some of the important issues in the theories of teaching vocabulary It consists of some concepts of vocabulary, classification of vocabulary, the role of vocabulary teaching in learning and teaching vocabulary Besides, the researcher addresses the important of motivation in foreign teaching and learning, particularly motivation in correlation with vocabulary teaching and the concepts of techniques in presenting vocabulary

2.1 Concepts of vocabulary

2.1.1 Some definitions of vocabulary

There are many definitions of vocabulary which were proposed by the scholars and the linguists Here are some definitions of vocabulary:

Nation (2000:5) defines that vocabulary is a list of different kinds of knowledge that a person must master to know a word: the meaning of word, the written form of the word, the spoken form of the word, the grammatical behavior of the word, the collocations of the word, the association of the word and the frequent

of word

In the book entitled A course in Language Teaching, Penny Ur (1996:60)

pointed out “Vocabulary can be defined roughly, as the words we teach in the foreign language However, a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word: a couple of two or three words or multi words idioms.”

Hornby (1994) stated that vocabulary is the total number of words that makes

up a language Brown (2001) viewed vocabulary items as a boring list of words that must be defined and memorized by the student, lexical forms are seen in their central role in contextualized and meaningful language

According to Kim and Kim (2012), “Vocabulary is the base of communication

in that language Therefore, it is critical to try out various teaching styles that cheer students to acquire vocabulary easily without negative emotions about it”

From the definitions above, it can be concluded that vocabulary is all words which contains of aspects (meaning, formation, grammar and use) It is considered

as a basic component and indispensable part of a language Vocabulary is used to communicate and express speaker's idea

In conclusion, vocabulary is an important part of a language as well as the basis of linguistic abilities It may be worth teaching students an easier formulation

of Wilkin’s (1972) view that without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed Vocabulary is the total number of words, including meaning and information

2.1.2 Classification of vocabulary

There have been different ways of vocabulary classification according to different criteria, features or functions The following ways are the most common ones to classify vocabulary

2.1.2.1 According to the concept of morpheme

Words can be divided into three kinds: simple word, derived word and compound word

Simple words consist of a root morpheme such as pen, book, cup, etc

Derived words consist of a root and one or more derivational morphemes such

as happiness, beautiful, computer, etc

Compound words are those that consist of at least two roots with or without

derivational morphemes such as black-board, swimming pool, etc Compound words also are words which have two or more parts Each part has function as a word

2.1.2.2 According to the meaning

There are two main kinds of meaning in a word, lexical meaning and grammatical meaning Hence, vocabulary can be divided into notional and functional words Notional words have clear lexical meaning These words form great number of each speaker’s vocabulary

Functional words are words that have little lexical meaning and express grammatical relationships among other words within a sentence or specify the attitude or mood of the speaker They signal the structural relationships that words have to one another and are the glue that holds sentences together Thus, they form important elements in the structures of sentences They only have meaning in relation with other words with which they are combined They are particles, prepositions, articles, conjunctions, etc

2.1.2.3 According to the function of vocabulary items in a sentence

With different functions of vocabulary in a sentence, English vocabulary can

be divided into different parts of speech such as verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions and pronouns Each part of speech has its own position complying with certain grammatical rules and relating to one another Thus, learners should be aware of different functions of vocabulary items during the course

2.1.2.4 According to the frequency of use

Nation and Waring (2004) suggested 2 types of vocabulary: high frequency word and low frequency ones High frequency words are words you’ve used frequently; those appear most commonly in everyday usage Some of the most

frequently used words are simple verbs and nouns like write or pair, articles, pronouns (i.e I, that, and your), prepositions, auxiliaries, or forms of the verb 'to be' (such as am, is and were). A word is considered to be low frequency, if it is not

commonly used, such as the word tisane It is important for the teacher to show the

students which words belong to which type because it is unnecessary for students to know all the words but only the more commonly used words

2.1.2.5 Other classifications of vocabulary

According to Nu, D (1992), vocabulary can be classified basing on context, conditions, communicative purposes, content or aims of lesson In terms of language methodology, a language learner’s vocabulary is divided into active and passive or productive and receptive vocabulary Active vocabulary includes the words which students can understand, pronounce correctly, use effectively in speaking and writing

Passive vocabulary is words that students can recognize and understand when they meet in a context, but in teaching a language, the active words tend to be concentrated on more

Some linguistics classify vocabulary into productive words and receptive words Productive words consist of words which the learner can use effectively to produce in speaking and writing Receptive words consist of words which the learners can receive and understand in listening and reading

2.2 The role of vocabulary in language teaching and learning

It cannot be denied that vocabulary plays a significant role in language as many aspects of learning vocabulary have been studied, including vocabulary use, vocabulary course design, evaluation, and vocabulary learning strategies Without a large vocabulary, it is difficult to hold a proper conversation Vocabulary knowledge is often viewed as a critical tool for second language learners because a limited range vocabulary in a second language impedes successful communication Underscoring the importance of vocabulary acquisition, Schmitt (2000) emphasized

that “lexical knowledge is central to communicative competence and to the

acquisition of a second language” p 55)

Folse (2014) expresses that " learning a language entails learning numerous aspects about that language, including its pronunciation, writing system, syntax…., but the most important aspect is vocabulary" Therefore, vocabulary is considered

as a useful part and fundamental tool for communicative purpose and acquiring knowledge

Nation (2001) further described the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and language use as complementary: knowledge of vocabulary enables language use and, conversely, language use leads to an increase in vocabulary knowledge Commenting on the role of vocabulary, Wilkins (1982), a famous British linguist, said: “Without grammar, very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed” (2002:35)

Moreover, Carmen (2005) states that vocabulary is crucial for getting meaning from a written or oral text Without knowledge of key vocabulary in a text, students may have difficulty in understanding the message

In conclusion, vocabulary teaching and learning is a complicated and laborious process For every language learner it is essential to acquire the language components of a language before developing the language skills Therefore, it cannot be denied that the role of vocabulary in language teaching and learning is extremely significant

2.3 Motivation and its role in language teaching and learning

2.3.1 Definitions of motivation

There are many different definitions of motivation, especially in language learning Harmer (1991, p.3) explains the meaning of motivation as the “internal drive” that encourages somebody to do something If we think that our goal is worth doing and attractive for us, then we try to reach that goal; this is called “the action driven by motivation”

According to Lightbown and Spada (1999, p 56) motivation in second language learning is not easy to study which can be explained in terms of two factors: learner’s communicative needs and their attitudes towards the second language community

In addition, Parsons, Hinson and Brown (2001 , p 28) define motivation as a crucial factor in the learning process To achieve the goal, learning and motivation have the same role and they support each other Learners will gain new knowledge and skills by learning and motivation encourages learners to go through the learning process Gardner (1982), in his socio-educational model, stresses that there are three elements that compose motivation These are effort, desire and affect Effort refers

to the time spent studying the language and the drive of the learner Desire expresses how much the learner wants to become proficient in the language, and affect means the learner’s emotional reactions related to language study

A motivated student can be defined as someone who:" Expends effort, is persistent and attentive to the tasks at hand, has goals, desires and aspirations, enjoys the activity, makes attributions concerning success or failure" Dornyei 2003, P.137)

In conclusion, motivation is the learner’s orientation with regard to the goal of learning a second language Learners with positive attitudes toward the subject and high motivation are likely to be successful in second language learning

2.3.2 Types of motivation

There have been different ways of motivation classification according to different features or functions

According to (Harmer, 1991, p 3) motivation in second language learning can

be categorized into two types They are short-term goal and long-term goal

When students wish to succeed in doing something in the near future, for example, students who want to pass their examination or to get good grade or high

scores at school, this is called short-term goal

term goal is something students want to do further in the future

Long-term goals require time and planning, for example, learners who want to get a better job in the future or to be able to communicate with people who use the language that they study or the target language

Besides, the motivation is further classified into two main categories: extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation

Extrinsic motivation refers to a desire to get a reward and avoid punishment It emphasizes external need to persuade the learner to take part in learning activity such as the need of passing the exam, homework, grade, or doing something to please teachers It is concerned with the factors beyond the classroom This motivation could bring a negative impact to the students, because with extrinsic motivation, students do not learn with their strong intention or will, but they study it because they are pushed by the interest in the rewards or the punishment

On the other hand, intrinsic motivation is an inner drive that propels a person

to pursue an activity, not for external rewards, but because the action itself is enjoyable It occurs when someone does something because they love to it or find it interesting It means the learners are willingly and voluntarily try to learn what they think it is worth or important for them When students have intrinsic motivation, they have the internal desire to learn and they do not have the need for external outcomes There are no negative impacts in having intrinsic motivation as students are motivated by the fun, challenge or satisfaction involved with an activity, not for

an outcome, pressure or reward Maslow (1970) believed that intrinsic motivation is noticeably superior to extrinsic because we are motivated to achieve "self-actualization" Bruner (1966, cited in chalak & Kassaian 2010) claimed that one of the most effective ways to help students is to free them from the control of rewards

In some cases, the two kinds of motivation may overlap to some degree because one may be motivated from both an inside source and an outside one at the same time

In Vietnam, both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are necessary for language learners who are often driven by social and family factors such as getting high scores, having well-paid job and exam pressure

In conclusion, both kinds of motivation play important roles in learning and lack of motivation can cause procrastination because motivation is the driving force that makes people act In other words, presence of motivation can increase learning behaviour Teachers need to know the type of motivation and its sources to meet the students’ particular needs

2.3.3 The importance of motivation in language teaching and learning

It is clear that motivation is one of the main factors which influence the rate and success of language teaching and learning Moreover, motivation provides the primary impetus to initiate learning language Motivation determines the extent of active, personal involvement in learning process Conversely, without sufficient motivation, even individuals with the most remarkable abilities cannot accomplish long-term goals, and neither are appropriate curricula and good teaching enough on their own to ensure students achievement (Dörnyei Z (2001a)

Reece & Walker (1997 as cited in Gomleksiz 2001) express that motivation is

a key factor in the second language learning process They stress that a lessable student who is highly motivated can achieve greater success than the more intelligent student who is not well motivated Sometimes students may come highly motivated and the task of the teacher is to maintain motivation of the students Motivation has an important role in success and failure in learning a second language Spolsky (1990) stated that motivated students are likely to learn more and learn more quickly than students who are less motivated In a particular learning situation, students who are less motivated are likely to lose their attention, misbehave and cause discipline problems On the contrary, students who are more highly motivated will participate actively and pay more attention to a certain learning task or activity

Reece & Walker (1997 as cited in Gomleksiz 2001) express that a lessable student who is highly motivated can achieve greater success than the more intelligent student who is not well motivated.It is very difficult to convey a second language in a learning environment if the learners does not have a desire to learn it Sometimes students may come highly motivated and the task of the teacher is to maintain motivation of the students

To include, motivation is one of the important aspects of second language acquisition The teachers should know how to motivate students by applying suitable and effective methods in each lesson and they must pay attention to both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation because these kinds of motivation will make the learners active and desirable in learning process

2.3.4 Factors affect students’ motivation in vocabulary lessons

Motivation has a great significance in language learning and teaching in general and in teaching vocabulary in particular Vocbulary plays a vital role in language learning, so it is essential that learners know a number of vocabulary to acquire different language skills at a certain level such as speaking, listening, reading and writing In order to motivate students in vocabulary lessons, teacher needs to know what factors affect students’ motivation while they are dealing with their new vocabulary in vocabulary lesson There are many factors which affect students’ motivation in vocabulary learning According to Harmer (1991, p.4) there are four factors that affect to the learners’ motivation as follows

2.3.4.1 Physical condition

Physical condition means the atmosphere and condition of classroom If we do not have good conditions for teachers to teach, for students to learn, it is not easy for them to get the best result as well as the effectiveness in teaching and learning For example, if students have to study in the bad lighting classroom, overcrowded with too many students, have to look at the small board, they can lose their motivation or their motivation in learning will be lowered

Nowadays, with the development of technology and the demand of students and teachers in teaching and learning are higher and higher, many modern types of

equipment are equipped for each classroom such as the projector, the laptop, the speaker and cassette player They are really useful equipment in teaching and learning

2.3.4.2 Method of teaching

Teacher's teaching methods are very important because it can demotivate or motivate students to get involved in learning activities The teacher’s methods are also among the most significant factors affecting student’s motivation in vocabulary lesson It refers to the way that students are taught must affect their motivation When the learners show their less interest in lesson than usual, their motivation would likely be lost or gradually decreased As he said, “If the students lose confidence in the method, they will become demotivated” (Harmer, 1991, p 5) The method of teachers should be changed usually so that it’s suitable for the learning style of the students, it seems that the students will be bored with learning and do not want to learn any more if the teachers often use traditional methods to teach Besides using the books and material just related to the lesson in accordance with the teachers’ book, the teachers should find and introduce extra books and material

to students Teachers should always update new methodology, study and advance their knowledge to meet the needs of students

2.3.4.3 The teachers

The importance of the teacher factor in having a high level of motivation in second language acquisition cannot be neglected The success of a teacher in second language acquisition in school directly affects the success of learners The more successful the teacher is in focusing and facilitating effective pupil calibration, the more effective the teacher will be in facilitating effective pupil learning The teachers as the most powerful variable of motivation and demotivation can become

a major part in demotivating the learners

Teachers who have teaching experience, enthusiasm, willingness to innovations and new methodological approaches will bring interesting and effective lessons to learners Other factors that influence the students' attitudes and motivation in the language learning class are teacher's personality traits and

teacher's behavior in class (Madrid,1993) So, teachers should be always pleased, friendly and willing to help students with their learning problems

2.3.4.4 Success

Success refers to the appropriate level of challenge designed by the teachers If the difficulty of work and activity is too high or too low, it can lead students to a demotivated situation in learning As Harmer pointed out, to give high challenge activities may have a negative effect on motivation Students can also equally be demotivated by too low level of challenge

Besides these factors, there are some factors affect students’ motivation such

as tiredness, depression, anxiety, boredom, etc., obstruct the learning process of the students This means that learners’ emotion can affect their motivation In addition, teaching materials also affect students’ motivation The materials provide the content of the lesson, the balance of skills taught, and the kind of language practice students take part in Suitable materials will enhance students’ motivation in vocabulary lessons

To sum up, there are some factors which affect to student’s motivation in vocabulary learning Teachers should have good methods to limit those factors to gain good result in teaching especially in teaching English vocabulary

2.3.5 How to motivate students to learn English

2.3.5.1 Make class communicative

One way to encourage students' intrinsic motivation is to make class communicative Part of the joy of language is using it to communicative Language learners get a rush when they can successfully use the new words they have learned

in context The more teacher encourage their students to communicate in class, the more motivated they will be Learners will see that they are accomplishing their goals even as they have learned, and the success and the achievement will make them readier to learn Group activities are a great way to make class communicative Teachers get students using the language that they already know to work together to develop new language

2.3.5.2 Make English practical

One way to keep things practical in class is to use realia whenever possible Bringing realia into classroom will make students more prepared for what they will find outside your classroom walls Role playing is another way to stay focused on the practical Giving students real-life situations they are likely to encounter in the outside world will give them a chance to practice for the future in a safe environment

2.3.5.3 Make class fun and forge relationships

Make class fun is surefire way to up intrinsic motivation levels When learners are having a good time, they will be more engaged in learning Their motivation will come from them, teachers just have to find the best ways to help students have fun atmosphere while they learn Besides that, teachers should let students know that they care about them and willing to share with them life skill experiences to find asuccessful relationship with your students

as giving score, competition, reward, giving praise, giving test and punishment

In conclusion, teachers should know how to motivate students so that they can enjoy and achieve their learning goal

2.4 Principles of vocabulary teaching

2.4.1 Purposes of teaching vocabulary

It cannot be denied that vocabulary is necessary in learning and teaching a foreign language The purpose of teaching vocabulary is to facilitate the comprehension of a text that students will be assigned to read Before guiding students’ reading of a particular narrative, teachers should be determined if there are any new words that represent concepts which are critical to understand the selection in context

The other purpose of teaching vocabulary is that teacher teaches the meaning

of words that students know and can use it in a variety of educational, social, and work-related areas Vocabulary enables language use; language use enables the increase of vocabulary knowledge and language use To increase the number of words the students learn, it is often helpful to teach these words in morphological or semantic clusters

2.4.2 What to teach

When teaching English vocabulary, teachers must make a question: “what needs to be taught?” According to Richard (1976), selecting what to teach, based on frequency and usefulness to the need of your students is essential because the students will not need to produce every word they learn In fact, learning a word is far more than just understanding its meaning and of course learners are not expected

to learn every word in the textbooks There are many elements of vocabulary teaching that are concerned; however, the teacher should focus on some important following elements:

2.4.2.1 Form: pronunciation and spelling

The learner has to know what a word sound like (its pronunciation) and what it looks like (its spelling) These are fairly obvious characteristics, and one or the other will be perceived by the learner when encountering the item for the accurately presented and learned

Pronunciation is extremely important not only in the process of learning but also in the process of teaching English vocabulary as well as all other languages all over the world Obviously, pronunciation plays an important role in making listeners understand what we are speaking about When teaching pronunciation of a certain English word for students, teachers should pay attention to teaching the stress of that word and the intonation of whole sentences

Spelling is defined as “the writing of a word or words with the necessary letters and diacritics present in an accepted standard order It is one of the elements

of orthography and a prescriptive element of alphabetic languages.”

2.4.2.2 Grammar

The grammatical features of a new word or phrase will need to be taught if this is not obviously covered by general grammatical rules A word may have an

unpredictable change of form in certain grammatical contexts It is important to provide learners with this information at the same time as we teach the base form When teaching a new verb, for example, we might give also its past form, if this is irregular (take, took), and teacher might note if it is transitive or intransitive

2.4.2.3 Meaning

Another important aspect of vocabulary that needs teaching is the meaning of the word Richard Frost (2001) said, it is vital to get cross the meaning of the item clearly and ensure that your students have understood correctly with checking questions There are two types of meaning in words: the grammatical meaning and the lexical meaning

The meaning of a word is primarily what it refers to in the real world, its donation; this is often the sort of definition that is given in a dictionary A less obvious component of the meaning of an item is its connotation: the associations, or positive

A more subtle aspect of meaning that often needs to be taught is whether a particular item is the appropriate one to use in a certain context or not Moreover, how the meaning of one word relates to the meaning of others can also be useful in teaching vocabulary (synonyms, antonyms, hyponym, etc.)

In short, words have various types of meaning It is required that the teacher has make a careful choice of and decision on which meaning of a word to teach and how many meanings and words to teach in the given class time

2.4.2.5 Usage

It is clear that we often use words only in certain social contexts What we say are governed by the style and register we are in Words are not only restricted geographically and socially, but they are also often restricted as to styles of speaking and writing Therefore, what a word means can be changed, stretched or limited by how it is used Vocabulary knowledge involves considerably more than knowing the meaning of a given word in isolation, but it also involves knowing the words that tend to co-occur with it It is obvious that the goal of vocabulary teaching is more than simply covering a certain number of words on a word list, and learners have to be given opportunities to use the items effectively

To include, students should be taught the form, the meaning and the usage of words in vocabulary lessons The teacher should ensure that vocabulary is regularly revised because if they do not get the chance to put it into use, they will easily forget it Teacher needs to consider students’ motivation It is important to ensure that students are paying attention and involved in the lesson

2.5 Techniques in presenting vocabulary

Teaching vocabulary can be divided into three stages: presenting stage, practicing stage and revising stage In this study, the author only mentions the first stage of teaching vocabulary Presenting stage is considered to be the most important stage in teaching vocabulary Teachers have to convey and help students understand the meaning, spelling, usage and the pronunciation of the new words It

is necessary for teachers to adopt different techniques to motivate and attract students into the lessons

This section reports on research results aimed at investigating the techniques used by a teacher of English in presenting the meaning and form of vocabulary Commonly, there are several techniques concerning the teaching of' vocabulary However, there are a few things that have to be remembered by most English teachers if they want to present a new vocabulary or lexical items to their students

It means that the English teachers want students to remember new vocabulary Then, it needs to be learnt, practiced, and revised to prevent students from

forgetting Techniques employed by teachers depend on some factors, such as the content, time availability, and its value for the learners This makes teachers have some reasons in employing certain techniques in presenting vocabulary In presenting one planned vocabulary item, the teacher usually combined more than one technique, instead of employing one single technique Teachers, furthermore, are suggested to employ planned vocabulary presentation as various as possible

(Pinter, 2006)

The objective of presenting vocabulary is to help students acquire the meaning

of a word or a phrase Moreover, the teacher can draw students’ attention to other aspects of a word such as its spelling, pronunciation and its use in different contexts There are many ideas of vocabulary presentation by famous linguists

Ur (1996) suggested ten ways of vocabulary presentation for the meaning of new items: “concise definition, detailed description, examples, illustrations (such as

by pictures and objects), demonstration (acting, mime), context, synonyms, antonyms, translation and associated ideas or collocations” Also, other ways were suggested by Allen (1983) in presenting vocabulary These techniques are applied for different levels of learners from beginners to advanced learners He stated that using visual aids, real objects and dictionaries can be of great help for vocabulary teaching Nu (2004) supported this idea by Allen by giving 8 ways of presenting a new word such as by using visual aids, realia, actions or gestures, situations or explanations, synonyms/antonyms, examples, translations and combining a variety

of techniques along with suggested questions These are some techniques used in the presentation of new vocabulary items by Gairns and Redman (1986)

2.5.1 Visual techniques

These techniques show the meaning of the word visually This is the most common way in the stages to present meaning of a new word There are different types of visual aids that help language teachers facilitate their teaching process According to Gains and Redman (1986) these techniques can include flashcards, photographs, blackboard drawings, wall chart, realia, facial expressions, gestures and mine These techniques attract the students, gives them the comfort to study and helps students associated material in a meaningful way

Flashcard and pictures are very useful tools which are used presenting vocabulary Rijavec (1991:51) states that " Pictures can be employed to enrich the context, add vividness and reduce boredom" In presenting new words, flashcards and pictures allow learners to brainstorm and present their ideas on thought Teachers find flashcards and pictures on magazines, newspapers, textbooks or the Internet

Realia refers to real objects which are around or brought into classroom and used for teaching and learning Using realia is an effective way in presenting new words Realia illustrates meaning more directly and quickly than through verbal explanation

Using gestures and mime is a useful and effective way of introducing words since it can promote students’ understanding and meaningful retention of new items This technique creates a good brainstorming, develops students' imagination and observation ability Visual support helps learners understand the meaning and helps to make the word more memorable In addition, students often feel comfortable and relaxed while learning vocabulary with the help of visual aids Students have chance to get involved to the lesson When teachers use visual aids such as pictures, real objects, facial and gesture expression, etc., will create an enjoyable atmosphere in classroom Students can observe the visual aids, listen to the teacher's explanation and guessing the meaning of the new words

In conclusion, visual aids are extensively used for conveying meaning and are useful for teaching concrete items of vocabulary such as food, jobs, sports or furniture or daily activities, etc These techniques are attractive to get students involved to the lesson

2.5.2 Verbal techniques

This is one of the most important techniques to present new words This technique is commonly used to help students understand more about the abstract words It consists of the use of definition, synonym, antonym and translation Teacher can use definition and illustrative sentence (the use of other words in the same language) to offer the advantage of con-tantalization and show how the new

words is used However, it may be difficult for the students to understand definition because they may contain words, which students do not know

Using synonyms and antonym is an effective way to widen and develop students' vocabulary because with this technique, teachers explain the meaning

of new words by giving its similar and opposite meaning It will help students remember the words better when they know how the meaning of a word relates

to the meaning of other words It also helps students build the new vocabulary based on the words they already know Shortly, it is a useful technique to attract students' attention

2.5.3 Context building

This is probably very useful technique because it gets students to work out the meaning of words for themselves The context plays a large role in helping the students learn new vocabulary and in establishing how words are actually used in speech and writing The teacher should think of a clear context when the word is used The teacher can also describe the context to the students or give them the example sentences to clarify the meaning The best way to remember words is using them in many different contexts

2.5.4 Translation

This is sometimes considered to be a traditional way but turns out to be an effective use in classroom context Showing the meaning of new vocabulary by using translation can be quicker and easier for teachers so that they can spend more time on other activities

According to Komarowska (2005) " translation is advisable when introducing abstract words" Translation is suitable to explain the difficult words This technique is simple and easy to understand and it also save time in classroom However, translation brings some negative effective because it may limit reduce the use of second language in class

To sum up, a combination of the techniques mentioned above should be implemented when it comes to the effectiveness of presenting meaning of the new words This is because of the reason that each technique when combined will

reinforce and support the others; thus, making the presentation of new words clearer and more efficient

2.6 Previous studies

For a long time in the past, methodologists have continuously kept finding effective ways to teach English vocabulary It has been witnessed that there has been a prominent shift in the field of vocabulary teaching Many books on vocabulary teaching have been introduced by such as Allen (1983), Notion (1994), Taylor (1990), Thornbury (2002) and so on A lot of researchers have spent so much effort studying teaching English vocabulary, such as Solange (2001), Tahririan (2009), etc

In Vietnam, there has so far been some research on teaching vocabulary Nguyen & Khuat (2003) asserted using games in teaching vocabulary to Vietnamese students Their researched subject was a group of 17 – 20 students at Distance Learning Centre By implementing an observing such games as: hangman, snakes and ladders and so on However, most research focused on teaching vocabulary generally Research on presenting vocabulary has not been done yet at Yen Phong 1 High School

As a teacher of English, the researcher has dealt with many questions relating

to teaching vocabulary as well as presenting vocabulary which were raised by her colleagues and her students For example, what is the best way to present vocabulary? How many words can be taught in each lesson? What should the teacher to do to motivate students in learning vocabulary? This is the main reason why the author is interested in this topic

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

This chapter discusses the research method applied in the study This is presented in the following sections that are: method of the study, subjects of the study, research procedure, data collection instrument and data analytical method

3.1 Method of the study

To find answers to the research questions, the study uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative research approaches, which include document analysis

and survey questionnaires, interviews

3.2 Subjects of the study

The participants are placed into two groups

The first group involves is 15 teachers of English ranging from 30 to 45 years old All of these teachers have been teaching English at least 8 years at Yen Phong 1 High School so they have enough experience to teach English Of these teachers, 6 are Masters of Art in English Teaching Methodology and the other 9 teachers are trained at College of Foreign languages, Vietnam National University They always try their best to catch up with the change in the content and requirement of New Text book Therefore, when teaching vocabulary, they know how to use a variety of activities to encourage students to take part in the lesson

The other group includes 95 students at 10th grade aged 16 in classes 10A1 and 10A2 at Yen Phong 1 High School Some students are good at learning English but some others find difficult to learn and remember the vocabulary In general, most of students know how to use basic grammatical knowledge However, they are lack of vocabulary and they do not have effective method to learn new words Therefore, the researcher does the survey to find out their attitude towards vocabulary learning, their current method to learn vocabulary, the difficulties and the factors affect their learning motivation

3.3 Research procedure

The research was carried out and followed these steps:

Questionnaires will be the first step to do the survey because this data collection instrument takes a lot of time The researchers made survey for both teachers and students and collected information to analyze

Secondly, the research will be continued by carrying on the second data collection instrument “interview” The researcher interviews four teachers of English at Yen Phong 1 High School by asking them five questions with the purpose of investigating teachers’ opinion about the importance of vocabulary, difficulties and their techniques used in their lessons to engage students' motivation

Finally, the researcher sums up the results from these two research instruments that are questionnaires and interviews

3.4 Data collection instruments

To obtain data for the study, the author uses two methods including questionnaires and interviews to collect reliable and useful data for the study The combination of the two methods listed previously allows the researcher to answer all three research questions thoroughly It was carefully calculated that each method was used in order to support the others I hope that with the information obtained from the questionnaire, and interviews with teaching staff and students, some useful suggestions can be made to increase students’ motivation in learning vocabulary by applying effective techniques in presenting new vocabulary in lessons for 10 grade students at Yen Phong 1 High School

3.4.1 Questionnaires

To gain the data for the research, two questionnaires were administered to the respondents One was designed for the teachers and the other for the students This method is chosen because it is convenient to construct and it is extremely versatile and uniquely capable of gathering a huge amount of information in a short time

(Dornyei)

The questionnaires were delivered to 15 teachers and 95 students After carefully examining the available instruments and basing on certain knowledge about learners, the author designs these questionnaires to get information as follow Students:

Students’ attitude towards vocabulary learning

 Students’ styles in learning vocabulary

Students’ comments on their teachers’ techniques in presenting vocabulary and their expectation

Teachers:

Teachers’ attitude towards the role of vocabulary in language teaching and their difficulties in teaching vocabulary at Yen Phong 1 High School

Teachers’ current techniques in presenting vocabulary

Techniques used by teachers to increase students’ motivation

3.4.2 Interview

Interview is considered as a technique used to understand the experiences of others It has been called the primary method used in qualitative research (Burnard, 1994; Doody & Noonan , 2013; Myers & Newman, 2007; Ryan, Coughlan & Cronin, 2009) and "the most direct, research-focused interaction between research and participant" ( Kazmer & Xie, 2008, p.258; see also Kvale, 1996) In this study, interviewing was used to obtain teachers' current method vocabulary teaching, the challenges and what techniques should be used to increase students' motivation

3.5 Data analytical method

The data collected through the questionnaires and interview The data obtained from questionnaires were easily analyzed by using the application of Google drive and Microsoft Excel application The results were collected, summed, and analyzed with the support of charts

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

This chapter presents and discusses the findings from the collected data through two main instruments: questionnaires and interviews to answer the research questions

4.1 Data analysis

4.1.1 Result from the questionnaires

* Result and discussion from teachers’ questionnaires

4.1.1.1 Teachers' attitude towards the role of vocabulary teaching in language

4.1.1.2 Teachers' purposes of teaching English vocabulary (Question 2)

Figure 2: Teachers' purposes of teaching vocabulary

It can be seen from the chart that the majority of the surveyed (52%) highlight the importance of teaching vocabulary for communication They expressed that students could use English in communication if they had variety vocabulary Whereas, 30% of the participants agreed that priority must be given to improvement

of students' language skills such as reading and writing Only 18% of teachers thought that the purposes of teaching vocabulary was for examination

4.1.1.3 Teachers' current methods in presenting vocabulary

The results gathered from questions 3 to 7 are supposed to provide reliable

information for research question 1: What types of vocabulary presenting

technique are used in vocabulary lessons at Yen Phong 1 High School?

a Teachers' ideas about choosing vocabulary to teach students (Question3)

Figure 3: Teachers' ideas about choosing vocabulary to teach

Vocaulary that appears many times

in the text Vocabulary that students ask Only active words

Which new words to be taught by the teachers are revealed through question 3

As it can it be seen from the Figure 3, most of teachers (40%) teach all the items that are difficult for students to pronounce and use 25% of the teachers teach vocabulary that appears many times in the text About 20% of the teachers pay attention to vocabulary asked by students, whereas, teachers choosing active words only accounts for 15% Obviously, one of the most challenging problems in teaching vocabulary is how to select what words to teach Therefore, language teachers should understand word choice for each lesson and then students can understand and use vocabulary effectively

b The teachers' opinion on the aspect of the word teachers use to teach students (Question 4)

Figure 4: Aspects of a word teachers use to teach their students

The results obtained from the survey indicate that 100% of the asked teachers often teach the meaning of the vocabulary Most of them pay attention to teach the meaning of the word for students About 90% of the teachers think the students should learn pronunciation of a new word while 60% of them always teach word