An investigation into the effects of external factors on vocabulary leaning of grade 10 students at phu binh high school

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES DUONG THAO LINH AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE EFFECTS OF EXTERNAL FACTORS ON VOCABULARY LEARNING OF GRADE 10 STUDENTS AT PHU BINH HIGH

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

DUONG THAO LINH

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE EFFECTS

OF EXTERNAL FACTORS ON VOCABULARY LEARNING OF GRADE 10 STUDENTS

AT PHU BINH HIGH SCHOOL

M.A THESIS

Field: English Linguistics

Code: 8220201

THAI NGUYEN - 2020

ĐẠI HỌC THÁI NGUYÊN

TRƯỜNG NGOẠI NGỮ

DƯƠNG THẢO LINH

NGHIÊN CỨU NHỮNG ẢNH HƯỞNG

CỦA CÁC YẾU TỐ BÊN NGOÀI ĐẾN VIỆC HỌC

TỪ VỰNG CỦA HỌC SINH KHỐI 10

Ở TRƯỜNG THPT PHÚ BÌNH

LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ

Ngành: Ngôn ngữ Anh

Mã số: 8220201 Người hướng dẫn: TS Nguyễn Thị Diệu Hà

THÁI NGUYÊN - 2020

ABSTRACT

Undeniably, vocabulary learning plays an integral part in learning a second language There have been numerous studies that aim to find out the roles of vocabulary learning, approaches to vocabulary and factors that affect vocabulary teaching and learning However, there is still lack of insight into external factors that have influence on students’ learning of vocabulary in the context of Phu Binh high school Moreover, it is the fact that vocabulary learning of grade 10 students at this school is not effective despite both teachers’ and students’ efforts Hence, this study was conducted to discover what external factors have the most and the least impacts on grade 10 students’ vocabulary learning, and suggest some measures to improve the effectiveness of vocabulary teaching and learning at this high school This thesis is a survey study Questionnaire was used as the instrument to collect data for this research A Likert Scale questionnaire was developed on the basis of items which refer to external factors affecting students’ vocabulary learning; and SPSS program was used to analyze the data collected The study revealed that ‘Teachers” is the most influential factor, which is followed by Peers, Number of exposures to the new words, Lexical items and English curriculum There is not enough evidence to prove that Access to native speaker has strong impacts on students’ vocabulary learning It is expected that the findings of this study will not only benefit teachers and students at this high school but also evoke further studies

DECLARATION

I hereby certify that the thesis entitled “An investigation into the

effects of external factors on vocabulary learning of grade 10 students at Phu Binh high school” is my own study in the fulfillment of the requirement

for the Degree of Master of Arts at Faculty of Post - Graduate Studies, School

of Foreign Languages, Thai Nguyen University

Thai Nguyen, November, 2020

Besides, my sincere thanks also go to my dear colleagues and students

at Phu Binh high school for helping me collect data for this study and for all their support and encouragement

Finally, I would also like to give my special thanks to my family and friends who have been interminably encouraging and facilitating me to complete this thesis

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT i

DECLARATION ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iv

LIST OF TABLES vi

LIST OF FIGURES vii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS viii

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale for the study 1

2 Research questions 2

3 Scope of the study 3

4 Methodology 3

5 Organization of the study 4

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1 Definition of vocabulary 5

2 Vocabulary learning 6

2.1 Importance of vocabulary learning 6

2.2 Factors affecting vocabulary acquisition 7

2.3 External factors affecting vocabulary acquisition 8

3 Teaching vocabulary techniques 13

3.1 Using Pictures and Mimes 13

3.2 Using Description and Definition 13

3.3 Using Real Objects 13

3.4 Guessing from the Context 14

3.5 Giving examples 14

3.6 Using Translation 14

4 Previous studies 15

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 17

1 Context of the study 17

2 Subjects of the study 18

3 Method of the study 18

4 Data collection instrument 18

5 Data collection 19

6 Data analytical method 20

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 21

1 Data analysis 21

1.1 Questionnaires for students results 21

1.2 Questionnaires for teachers results 46

2 Discussion 48

2.1 Factors affecting students’ vocabulary learning 48

2.2 Measures to help students learn vocabulary better 50

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS 52

1 Conclusion 52

2 Pedagogical implications for teachers 53

3 Limitations of the study 54

4 Recommendations for further research 54

REFERENCES 56 APPENDICES I

APPENDIX 1:

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS (ENGLISH VERSION) I APPENDIX 2

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR STUDENTS (VIETNAMESE VERSION) VII APPENDIX 3

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS (ENGLISH VERSION) XVII APPENDIX 4: DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS XIX

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 General information about the participants 21

Table 2 Reliability Statistics - factor C 22

Table 3 Item-Total Statistics - factor C 22

Table 4 Reliability Statistics - factor C (2nd test) 22

Table 5 Item-Total Statistics - factor C (2nd test) 23

Table 6 Reliability Statistics - factor T 23

Table 7 Item-Total Statistics - factor T 23

Table 8 Reliability Statistics - factor T (2nd test) 24

Table 9 Item-Total Statistics - factor T (2nd test) 24

Table 10 Reliability Statistics - factor E 25

Table 11 Item-Total Statistics - factor E 25

Table 12 Reliability Statistics - factor E (2nd test) 25

Table 13 Item-Total Statistics - factor E (2nd test) 26

Table 14 Reliability Statistics - factor P 26

Table 15 Item-Total Statistics - factor P 26

Table 16 Reliability Statistics - factor N 27

Table 17 Item-Total Statistics - factor N 27

Table 18 Reliability Statistics - factor L 27

Table 19 Item-Total Statistics - factor L 28

Table 20 Reliability Statistics - factor L (2nd test) 28

Table 21 Item-Total Statistics - factor L (2nd test) 28

Table 22 Reliability Statistics - factor V 29

Table 23 Item-Total Statistics - factor V 29

Table 24 KMO and Bartlett's Test (independent variables) 30

Table 25 Total Variance Explained 31

Table 26 Rotated Component Matrixa (independent variables) 33

Table 27 KMO and Bartlett's Test (dependent variables) 35

Table 28 Total Variance Explained (dependent variables) 35

Table 29 Component Matrixa (dependent variables) 36

Table 30 Correlations 37

Table 31 ANOVAa 38

Table 32 Model Summaryb 38

Table 33 Coefficientsa 39

Table 34 Descriptive statistics - questionnaires for teachers results 46

LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 Descriptive statistics - factor T 41

Figure 2 Descriptive statistics - factor P 43

Figure 3 Descriptive statistics - factor E 44

Figure 4 Descriptive statistics - factor L 45

Figure 5 Descriptive statistics - factor C 46

Figure 6 Descriptive statistics 47

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

EFA Exploratory Factor Analysis EFL English as a Foreign Language KMO Test Kaiser - Meyer - Olkin Test L2 Second Language

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale for the study

In recent societies, English, an international language, undeniably is a very important language It is considered as the link between countries all over the world In Vietnam, due to its vital role, English is one of the core subjects in the national curriculum Besides, mastering English helps learners have better opportunities for higher education at prestigious colleges and universities around the world as well as for well-paid working positions at international companies However, it is the fact that many young learners are incapable of mastering this language although they have learned English since they were little boys/ girls

Obviously, in learning a foreign language in general and English in particular, the role of vocabulary is irreplaceable Building extensive vocabulary can help learners have clear understandings when reading and listening as well as help them express their ideas and thoughts fluently and cogently when speaking and writing According to McCarthy (1990), “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” Moreover, it is stated by Folse (2008) that the vocabulary level is a key factor that helps learners to enhance their second language proficiency Conclusively, vocabulary is the element that links four main skills namely speaking, listening, reading, and writing altogether By enriching vocabulary students will find it easy to master English in both the way they comprehend and the way they produce the language

Actually, in Vietnam education, much effort has been made in teaching and learning English inside and outside schools In each 45 - minute lesson, 5

to 7 minutes are often spent to deliver the new words or phrases, and 3 to 5 minutes for small activities to check students’ understanding of the new words The time may be shorter or longer, depending on the familiarity of the topic to students In the researcher’s workplace, each teacher has her techniques of teaching vocabulary and checking students’ understanding of new words that are appropriate with each class setting and students’ level However, a huge number of students still cannot acquire the words and use them correctly; consequently, their results in the tests and examinations are not good even though they meet the questions relating to the words or phrases they have learned In short, although both teachers and students have made great efforts, students’ learning of vocabulary is not as effective as expected

For all of the above - mentioned reasons, to identify the problems in learning vocabulary faced by 10th form students at Phu Binh high school, where the researcher is working, is necessary Then, the external factors that have the most impact on their learning of the new words or phrases can be found out This will make it possible to suggest some measures for the teachers and learners to boost up the learning and teaching vocabulary at that high school

2 Research questions

This study aims to find out external factors that have the most and the least effect on the vocabulary learning of 10th grade students at Phu Binh high school in Thai Nguyen Therefore, the specific research questions addressed

in this study are as follows:

1 What external factors have the most and the least effect on the

Nguyen province?

2 What can be done to help students learn vocabulary better?

3 Scope of the study

Due to the fact that it is impossible to cover all the aspects of needs analysis and course objectives The study mainly focuses on investigating some external factors that have huge influences on vocabulary learning of 10th

- grade students at Phu Binh high school in Thai Nguyen province where the researcher is working

In the context of teaching and learning English at high school, English vocabulary mentioned here means the new words in the English textbook

“Tieng Anh 10” - the old version The target population is students at grade

10 who have been learning English for 4 to 7 years

Besides, the study also investigates English teachers working at Phu Binh high school to find out techniques which are often used to motivate students to learn vocabulary

Practically, the findings of the study would be much useful to both teachers who are thinking of the ways to teach vocabulary effectively and students who want to overcome the challenges and boredom in learning vocabulary

4 Methodology

4.1 Subjects of the study

200 10th form students randomly selected from 13 classes and 13 English teachers at Phu Binh high school participated in this study

4.2 Method of the study

The study is conducted to find the factors that have the most and the least impact on vocabulary learning of the 10th-grade students Therefore, a quantitative approach which focuses mainly on understanding, explaining, exploring, discovering, and clarifying situations, feelings, perceptions, attitudes, values, beliefs, and experiences of a group of people is used

4.3 Data collection instrument

Questionnaires for both teachers and students will be employed to collect data

4.4 Data analytical method

The purpose of the survey is to find out the factors that have the most and least effects on 10th form students’ learning of vocabulary The data was analyzed by using frequency, percentages, and means For the statistical analyses of the data obtained, the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used

5 Organization of the study

The thesis consists of five main chapters as follows:

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

In this part, general information including the rationale, the aims, the research questions, the scope, the method, and the organization of the study is presented

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This part provides a summary of some theories relating to vocabulary in the second language teaching and learning, and factors affecting vocabulary acquisition

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

This part describes the context of the study, the subject as well as the method of the study Besides, the methods used to collect and analyze the data are also presented

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

In this chapter, the detailed results of the study as well as the discussion about the results will be presented

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION

This chapter provides a summary of major findings, proposes some recommendations, states the limitations of the study, and offers some suggestions for future research

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter provides a brief review of the theoretical knowledge relevant to the study including an overview of vocabulary; the importance of vocabulary in language learning; factors affecting vocabulary acquisition; external factors that affect students’ vocabulary learning and teaching

vocabulary techniques

1 Definition of vocabulary

Michael Lewis (1993:89, cited in Hoang, 1995) states that vocabulary

“…may be individual words or full sentences - institutionalized utterances - that conveyed fix social or pragmatic meaning within a given community”

According to Hornby (1995), vocabulary could be a list of words with their meaning it was defined by Penny Ur (1996:60) that “the words we teach

in the foreign language However, a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word; a compound of two or three words or multi-word idioms”

Zimmerman cited in Coady and Huckin (1997) defines vocabulary as central to language teaching and of critical importance to a language learner Vocabulary is defined by Neuman and Dwyer (2009) as words learners are obliged to know to have effective communication

Moreover, in his study, Benettayeb (2010) states that vocabulary is the most amounts of words illustrating a given language Without vocabulary, the learner would be incapable of using and discerning the target language

Lessard - Clouston (2013) assumes that vocabulary is implied as the

words of a language, including single items and phrases or chunks of several words that express a particular meaning In other words, vocabulary not only consists of single words with particular meaning but it also comprises words phrases, or chunks

2 Vocabulary learning

2.1 Importance of vocabulary learning

In the very first part of his book, Michael Mc Carthy (1990:2) stated that:

It is the experience of most language teachers that the single, biggest component of any language course is vocabulary No matter how well students learn 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

The learning of vocabulary is taken into account as an essential part in learning a distant language Therefore, as one of the knowledge aspects in language, vocabulary plays an integral role for learners in language acquisition (Cameron, 2001) According to Schmitt (2000: 55) “lexical knowledge is central

to communicative competence and to the acquisition of a second language”

Furthermore, Laufer and Nation (1999), Maximo (2000) and Read (2000) approving of the idea that vocabulary acquisition is one of the most important factors contributing to success in using a second language Undoubtedly, having

an extensive vocabulary enable students to use the structures and language functions they have been taught before to communicate comprehensibly

According to Nation (2001), vocabulary knowledge and language use have a corresponding relationship To be more detailed, the more vocabulary is acquired, the more appropriately and correctly language is used and, on the other hand, language use leads to an improvement in knowledge of vocabulary

Many other researchers such as Richards (1980) and Krashen (1989) cited in Maximo (2000) state some reasons for which vocabulary needs to be devoted special attention to when students learn a second language Firstly, to master a language, it is necessary to enlarge vocabulary Secondly, it is reported that the lack of vocabulary is the main reason why language learners carry dictionaries with them instead of grammar books

In short, the important role of vocabulary in language learning is highly appreciated, 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 lessons of language teachers and serious learning behavior of learners

2.2 Factors affecting vocabulary acquisition

Despite several pieces of research on vocabulary acquisition that has been carried out by linguists, psychologists, and theorists of L2 acquisition, there is still no general theory of vocabulary acquisition Psychologists are in favor of vocabulary development and exploration of the formal models of vocabulary acquisition and ignore the L2 vocabulary literature because it is model free Meanwhile, applied linguists pay more attention to the descriptive aspects of bilingual lexicon even when this implies an immediate pedagogical significance (Singleton, 2008) It was these differences that have made it extremely challenging to list all the influential factors and how they affect

Singleton (2008:4-24) listed some significant factors that have impacts

on vocabulary learning and acquisition namely linguistic features of lexical items, the influence of first and other languages, the incremental nature of vocabulary acquisition, the role of memory in vocabulary learning, the organization and development of L2 mental lexicon, the source of vocabulary (exposure to linguistic input), individual learner differences, the role of teacher and vocabulary teaching and strategies

Quach (2007) classified all the factors into three main groups, including learner - related factors, teacher-related factors, and learning context In term of learner - related factors, she mentioned memory and storage system, learner’s needs and interests and learning styles and strategies Teacher - related factors consisted of teaching method and strategy training Language input and output were two other factors mentioned in the group of learning context

Maraco (2010) and Lightbow & Spada (2013) categorized factors affecting vocabulary acquisition into two main groups namely internal factors and external factors Internal factors include age, language aptitude, intelligence, attitude and motivation, personality External factors are the factors outside the learners and have effects on their learning External factors refer to particular language learning conditions including foreign language curriculum, the teachers, learning task, the partners, the classroom atmosphere, motivation, the support of family, and the availability of input and output opportunities

2.3 External factors affecting vocabulary acquisition

Foreign language curriculum

In terms of curriculum, according to Nation and Macalister (2010), the act of analyzing, sequencing the course materials, evaluation, format, and presentation of materials is indispensable Undeniably, materials are focused entirely on foreign language learning in general, and second language vocabulary learning in particular

Various types of task materials with dissimilar levels of difficulties will create different impacts on the students’ vocabulary acquisition of a foreign language For instance, learners learn a new word in a given list is not in the same way as when learning the same word appearing in a passage Probably, remembering the meaning of a word does not mean the learner can use that word

in real-life situations Consequently, the purpose of vocabulary learning should include both remembering words and the ability to use them automatically in a wide range of language contexts when the need arises (McCarthy, 1984)

Learning task

Williams and Burden (1997) indicate that the learning task includes the materials being learned as well as the goal the learner is trying to achieve by using these materials As stated by Crookes (1986), a task is a piece of work

or an activity, usually with a specified objective, undertaken as part of an educational course, or at work

In fact, it appears to refer to the idea of some kinds of activity designed

to engage the learner in using the language communicatively or reflectively in order to arrive at an outcome other than that of learning a specified feature of the L2 A task can be a real-world activity or a contrived, pedagogic activity (Nunan, 1989), as long as the process of completing the task corresponds to that found in discourse based on the exchange of information (Ellis, 1994)

Additionally, it is stated by Fluente (2006) that the best learning condition of a foreign language can be facilitated by specific language-learning activities called tasks Tasks should be structured in reference to desirable goals The goal of L2 vocabulary tasks should be the acquisition of words and expansion of word knowledge, not only the meanings but also the forms In her research on the role of pedagogical tasks and form-focused instruction, Fluente (2006) concludes that the Presentation, Practice and Production lessons are not

as effective as task-based lessons The analysis also suggests that a task-based lesson with an explicit focus-on-forms component is more effective than a task-based lesson that does not incorporate this component in promoting the acquisition of word morphological aspects The results also indicate that the explicit focus on the forms component may be more effective when placed at the end of the lesson when meaning has been acquired

Different types of task materials, task purposes, and tasks at various difficulty levels have various effects on the learners’ vocabulary acquisition For example, learning words in a word list is different from learning the same words in a passage As well, remembering a word’s meaning is different from learning to use the same word in real-life situations

Number of exposures to the new words

The number of exposures and recycling is also important in acquiring vocabulary Nation (2001) states that five to more than 20 repeated meetings are needed to learn words according to the various criteria in the different studies

Peers

Lantolf and Thorne (2004) claims that “peers” is a factor that affects the developmental process of learning occurring through participation in cultural, linguistic, and previously formed settings such as family life and peer group interaction Besides, Shah (1999:107) also suggests that “aspects such as an inappropriateness in the use of second language, show of dislike, boastfulness, showing off, and formality second language use are several other factors” These factors, according to her, lead to either the lack of oral communication or practice of the second language among students Seng (2006) also draws a conclusion from her research that it will be better for language learners if their peers share their inspirations and information; and if

a classmate explains something to them

Teachers

Teacher’s personalities may have a great influence on students’ performance and their final results In addition, the teacher’s performance in the classroom, teaching style, and methodology is part of the process variables (Dunkin & Biddle, 1974) The teacher’s age may also be another important factor It has a strong relation with teaching experience, which helps explain the teacher’s (1) efficiency in the language learning class; (2) activity, energy, and movement in the classroom; (3) openness to innovations and new methodological approaches; (4) enthusiasm and degree of hopefulness, which may decrease with age; (5) willingness to strive and improve teaching and learning conditions, etc The teacher’s social class, ideology, and beliefs derived from his/ her background may affect his/ her behavior and performance in class, which influence learners’ acquisition For instance, some progressive teachers identify themselves with certain practices

that are associated with the progressive teaching movement Other teachers maintain more traditional beliefs and teaching styles or combine the progressive and traditional practices opting for different positions in this continuum (Bennet, 1976) Other factors that influence the students’ attitudes and motivation in the language learning class are the teacher’s personality traits and his/ her behavior in class (Madrid, 1993)

Access to native speakers

According to Felix (1977), as cited in Leontiev and James (1981), an important factor that affects vocabulary learning is the frequency of the learners’ contact with the language It would be a great advantage if second language learners have opportunities to communicate with native speakers both within and outside of the classroom Interacting with native speakers, learners can receive appropriate feedback so that they can make quicker progress, particularly in the oral/aural aspects of language acquisition Moreover, when learners can understand what native speakers say and can give responses, it means that they have a certain amount of vocabulary and know how to use them

Interlexical factors

Interlexical factors refer to the relationship between the new words and the words learners know in their first or second language This relationship includes similarity of form of the first and the second language and meaning relations between words in the first and second language

Intralexical factors

According to Laufer (1997), intralexical factors arise from intrinsic word properties He also states that intralexical factors that affect the learnability of lexical items include pronouncing ability and multiple word meaning

Learning context

The learning context refers to the socio-cultural-political environment where learning takes place The learning context can include the teachers, the peers, the classroom climate, or the classroom interaction in general With regard to classroom interaction and second language acquisition, Ellis (1994) concluded that opportunities to negotiate meaning may help the acquisition of L2 vocabulary

Teacher-controlled pedagogic discourse may contribute to the acquisition

of formal language skills, while learner-controlled natural discourse may help the development of oral language skills; Learners need access to well-formed input that is tailored to their own level of understanding This can be achieved

in teacher-directed lessons with a clearly-defined structure and by well-adjusted teacher talk; All of these give support to the hypothesis: successful L2 learning may be possible in a favorable classroom environment The learning context can include the availability of input and output opportunities

Home factors

Socioeconomic status consistently predicts cognitive and academic outcomes among both native English speakers and English Language Learners (Neuman, 2008) To be more detailed, children from low-income homes perform less well than their more economically advantaged peers Moreover, social class differences give higher-income children better access to language-related literacy experiences including ownership of books and other reading materials (Raz & Bryant, 1990), frequency of shared reading (Adams, 1990), and opportunities to engage in experiences that build conceptual knowledge needed for understanding text (Neuman, 2008) Furthermore, research on the relationship between language use in the home and learners’ literacy development

in their first or second language generally indicates that children’ proficiency is related to family language preferences (Duursma et al., 2007)

3 Teaching vocabulary techniques

3.1 Using Pictures and Mimes

Using pictures and mimes is one of the beneficial ways used to the meaning of new vocabulary items The list of pictures consists of posters, flashcards, wall charts, magazine pictures, board drawings, stick figures, and photographs If the teacher intends to teach words like vegetables, clothes, and markets, the use of pictures will be very important because it will be very difficult and time-consuming to explain them Harmer (1985) states that pictures can also be used to create a situation or context The usage of mimes in teaching new words is also considered of great value, especially with actions such as jumping, running, writing, and smoking A type of these concepts is easily explained if the teacher pretends to do them before the class

3.2 Using Description and Definition

Another way of teaching vocabulary is providing definitions or descriptions of new words Bright (1970:40) indicates that “the ability to produce short, clear relevant definitions of words is important to the teacher” It was stated by Nation (1990) that an adequate definition indicates the grammatical function or the category of the word, a noun, verb, an adjective, it also indicates the typical sentence pattern in which the word enters, and finally it indicates other formal aspects of the word

3.3 Using Real Objects

Obviously, using realia can help learners remember vocabulary better due to the fact that memory for objects and pictures is very reliable, and visual techniques can act as cues for remembering words Using this technique includes the use of visual aids and demonstrations (Takač & Singleton, 2008) Objects can be used to show meanings when the teacher wants to explain concrete nouns Introducing a new word by showing the real object often helps learners to memorize the word through visualization Objects in the classroom or things brought to the classroom can be used

3.4 Guessing from the Context

Learning from context not only includes learning from extensive reading, but also learning from taking part in a conversation, and learning from listening to stories, films, television, or the radio (Nation, 2001) In order to activate guessing in a written or spoken text, there should be four elements available: the reader, the text, unknown words, and clues in the text including some knowledge about guessing The absence of one of these elements may affect the learner’s ability to guess Furthermore, this technique encourages learners to take risks and guess the meanings of words they do not know as much as possible This will make students more confident so that they can work out the meanings of words when they are on their own There are many clues learners can use to establish meanings for themselves, such as illustrations, the similarity of spelling or sound in the mother tongue, and general knowledge (Walters, 2004)

3.5 Giving examples

Giving examples is another way of showing the meaning of a new word; these examples should contain the meant lexical item According to McCarthy (1990), new vocabulary knowledge is most efficiently absorbed when it is assimilated to the already known words by using it in a context The example sentences used to explain meaning should obviously teach the meaning of the new word Showing the meaning of words via context is very fruitful especially when the word in question is from the list-of abstract lexis like, hate, hesitate, think, and possible

3.6 Using Translation

One of the most common techniques is translation that is to translate the word in question into a learner’s native language Translation is simple, clear, and quick for reaching the goal; particularly when teachers give examples then students give the word translation Nation (1990) thinks that

the value of translation depends on how and when we use it Translation into the mother tongue presents the same processes as translation into a picture, a description in English Hill (1965) criticizes translation into the mother tongue as a way of communication or teaching meaning They believe that generally there is no exact correspondence between one language and another Besides, the use of the mother tongue takes time which could better

be spent in using English

4 Previous studies

Narsir, Ayesha, and Zunaira (2006) conducted a study to investigate the external factors of motivation that influence 9th grade students in second language learning A close end questionnaire with 45 statements was used to collect the opinion of 225 students This study concluded that teacher’s attitudes, classroom atmosphere, and course content are the main factors that motivate or demotivate students to learn a second language Moreover, in this study, the researcher also found that teachers’ attitude was the most important and strongest factor motivating students in their language learning Besides, the study stated that the content of courses in state schools was out of date and boring while in private schools, the content of courses was very carefully designed

Wang (2014) in his research about factors that influence EFL learning strategies indicated that beside internal factors such as learners’ age, intelligence, personality and cognitive styles, external factors including teacher’s teaching approaches and material, motivation, and learning environment also have a huge impact on students’ learning of foreign language

Rostami (2015) conducted a study to find out the effects of two external factors namely teacher burnout and family influence on students’ second language motivation The results of this study showed that teacher

burnout had a negative impact on learner’s attitudes to learning English The study also concluded that teachers play an indispensable role in creating a classroom climate that boosts up students’ positive attitude to language learning Besides, in this study, the author states that in Iran, parents hope that mastering English could help their children have better educational opportunities inside and outside the country as well as have better living conditions in other countries; therefore, family still plays a crucial role in decision making for their children

Ishag Adam (2018) carried out a study to examine the effect of the learning environment on the vocabulary learning strategies among ESL students in the University of Bahri This study shows that teachers, peers, and the classroom enviroment are considered as important supportive factors to students’ vocabulary learning

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

In this part, the methodology employed to collect data for the study will

be discussed First of all, the subjects of the study are clarified Secondly, the context of the study is stated Besides, an overview of the research method is also stated Furthermore, the data collection procedure will be demonstrated Finally, details of how that collected data from the questionnaire was analyzed will be presented

1 Context of the study

Phu Binh, a state high school, is one of the three upper secondary schools

in Phu Binh district, Thai Nguyen province All subjects including English are still taught with the old course books However, teachers have been trained to apply new teaching methods in the classroom according to the innovation program given by the Ministry of Education and Training

There are 13 10th grade classes in this school Each class has around 40

to 45 students with mixed abilities Most of the students come from the countryside, so they have less or no exposure to authentic English Furthermore, most of them do not have the habit of learning English independently and tend to depend on the textbooks and the teachers for knowledge Besides, the majority

of students learn English because it is a compulsory subject and they learn it just to pass the national examinations They do not have an obvious communicative need in the target language Most of the students say that they can hardly express their ideas in speaking and writing lessons and it is difficult for them to get the gist of information from the conversation or texts

in listening and reading lessons All they need is the knowledge of grammar and vocabulary of the target language enough to pass the national grammar - based examinations

2 Subjects of the study

The subjects of the study were 200 10th form students randomly collected from 13 classes at Phu Binh high school in the academic year 2019 -

2020 and 13 English teachers at this school The students were at the age of

15 or 16 and in mixed abilities

In Phu Binh high school, there are 4 male and 9 female English teachers whose teaching experiences varies from 5 to 30 years All of them have BA degrees in English language teaching from different tertiary institutions in Vietnam Although some of them used to teach Russian before teaching English, most of them have participated in textbook training workshops run by key teachers They are also very responsible and enthusiastic

3 Method of the study

The study is conducted to find the factors that have the most and the least impact on vocabulary learning of the 10th grade students Therefore, a quantitative approach which focuses mainly on understanding, explaining, exploring, discovering and clarifying situations, feelings, perceptions, attitudes, values, beliefs and experiences of a group of people is used

4 Data collection instrument

To collect the necessary data and information for the study, the researcher used questionnaires for both students and teachers

The survey questionnaire for students was adapted from Nhung’s study (2018) The questionnaire was written in Vietnamese to make sure that all participants could fully understand the questions before giving the answers The reason why the researcher adopted the survey questionnaire from Nhung’s study is that most of the questions are suitable for the context and the subject of the researcher’s study Besides, the survey questionnaire in Nhung’s study has been tested so it ensures the reliability

The questionnaire includes two main parts: the respondent’s general information and the questions relating to external factors affecting students’ vocabulary learning

In the first part, data collected from this section included detail about students’ gender, years of studying English and their average grade in English subject The questions were in the form of checklist items

In the second part of the questionnaire, a Likert Scale was employed to indicate the degree of students’ agreement or disagreement with the given statements in the questionnaire, specifically:

5 Data collection

To collect data for the investigation, the questionnaires were delivered

to 200 grade 10 students during class time and 13 English teachers 200 students were randomly collected from 13 classes according to the list of students in each class The researcher chose students that had the odd number

of orders (for example, 1, 3,…) in the class list The researcher gave the participants clear instructions, made any explanation to questions if needed so that the participants could give suitable answers the respondents were encouraged to read each question thoroughly and answer frankly and truly Then, the answered questionnaires were collected right after the participants finished answering them

6 Data analytical method

The purpose of the survey is to find out the factors that have the most and least effects on 10th form students’ learning of vocabulary The data was analyzed by using frequency, percentages, and means For the statistical analyses of the data obtained, the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

1 Data analysis

1.1 Questionnaires for students results

1.1.1 General information about the participants

Table 1 General information about the participants

of 16 In terms of students’ English score at the end of the first term at grade

10, students with score from 5.0 to 6.4 made up the largest proportion with 42% Besides, 18% of the students had the English grade of less than 5.0 These results indicate that the English grade of more than 50% of the participants was at average or low levels

1.1.2 Reliability Statistics

In this part, SPSS version 26 was used to test the reliability of variables

1.1.2.1 Factor C (English curriculum)

The 1 st test

Table 2 Reliability Statistics - factor C

Cronbach’s Alpha N of Items

Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted

Table 4 Reliability Statistics - factor C (2nd test)

Cronbach's Alpha N of Items

Table 5 Item-Total Statistics - factor C (2nd test)

Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted

1.1.2.2 Factor T (Teachers)

Table 6 Reliability Statistics - factor T

Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted

The reliability statistics above show that Cronbach’s Alpha 0.800 > 0.6, which is acceptable However, corrected Item - Total correlation of variables T8, T9 and T10 (0.279, 0.227 and 0.068 respectively) are smaller than 0.3 Therefore, these three variables were discarded, and the rest variables were tested the second time

Table 8 Reliability Statistics - factor T (2nd test)

Cronbach's Alpha N of Items

Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted

1.1.2.3 Factor E (Number of exposures to the new words)

Table 10 Reliability Statistics - factor E

Cronbach's Alpha N of Items

Corrected Item-Total Correlation

Table 12 Reliability Statistics - factor E (2nd test)

Cronbach's Alpha N of Items

Table 13 Item-Total Statistics - factor E (2nd test)

Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted

1.1.2.4 Factor P (Peers)

Table 14 Reliability Statistics - factor P

Cronbach's Alpha N of Items

Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted

The reliability statistics of the second test above show that Cronbach’s Alpha: 0.776 > 0.6, which is proper Additionally, corrected Item - Total correlation of all variables is more than 0.3 Thus, Factor P including P1, P2, P3, and P4 has reliablility

1.1.2.5 Factors N (Access to native speakers)

Table 16 Reliability Statistics - factor N

Cronbach's Alpha N of Items

Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted

1.1.2.6 Factor L (Lexical factors)

The 1st test

Table 18 Reliability Statistics - factor L

Cronbach's Alpha N of Items

Table 19 Item-Total Statistics - factor L

Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted

Table 20 Reliability Statistics - factor L (2nd test)

Cronbach's Alpha N of Items

Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted

The reliability statistics of the second test above show that Cronbach’s Alpha: 0.715 > 0.6, which is proper Additionally, corrected Item - Total correlation of all variables is more than 0.3 Thus, Factor L including L2, L3 and L4 has reliablility

1.1.2.7 Factor V (Vocabulary acquisition)

Table 22 Reliability Statistics - factor V

Cronbach's Alpha if Item Deleted

1.1.3 Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA)

1.1.3.1 Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) of independent variables

In this study, EFA helps to consider if the researcher can reduce the number of variables Accordingly, the impacts of the six factors (English curriculum - C, Teachers - T, Exposures to the new words - E, Peers - P, Access to native speakers - N, and Lexical factors - L) on factor V (Vocabulary acquisition) can be reflected clearly

KMO Test

To conduct EFA, the data collected needs to meet the conditions of KMO and Barlett’s test

Table 24 KMO and Bartlett's Test (independent variables)

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy .786

Bartlett's Test of Sphericity Approx Chi-Square 2208.353

As can be seen from the above table, the value of KMO is 0.786 > 0.5, Sig of Bartlett’s Test is 0.000 < 0.05 Therefore, 26 independent variables have correlation and they are suitable for factor analysis