The effects of applying the clarifying routine as a strategy of vocabulary instruction in a reading class m a 60 14 10

However, except for concrete words with single identity, quick and cursory vocabulary instruction cannot help learners acquire thorough knowledge of the word so as to understand it in a

UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE

THE EFFECTS OF APPLYING THE CLARIFYING ROUTINE AS A STRATEGY OF

PHO PHUONG DUNG, Ph.D

HO CHI MINH CITY, JULY 2014

I am deeply grateful to a number of people for assisting me in completing this M.A thesis

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Dr Pho Phuong Dung, my supervisor I would not have been able to write the thesis to the end without the expert guidance and wholehearted support that I received from her throughout my thesis writing process

My deep gratitude goes to my course coordinator, Le Ba Khanh Toan, M.A who has made great contribution to the process of conducting the experiment and collecting data Very special thanks are also due to my colleagues and friends, especially Khuong Thi Hong Cam, Vu Thieu Duong, Phan Thi Tra Khuc, who assisted me with access to the materials, gave me constant encouragement as well as kindly helped me very much in a number of ways

I am truly indebted and thankful to the participants in the pilot study, pilot testing and the main study who contributed data to this study

Last but by no means least, I owe my heartfelt gratitude to my devoted parents Nguyen Thi Nhan and Nguyen Ngoc Van, my supportive husband Nguyen Minh Tuan and beloved children for their unfailing love, understanding, encouragement and support over time Without them, I could not have overcome

my ups and downs in life and concentrated on my studies

ii

STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY

I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled “The effects

of applying the Clarifying Routine as a strategy of vocabulary instruction in

a reading class” in terms of the statement of requirements for theses in Master’s

Program at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities of Ho Chi Minh City, issued by the Higher Degree Committee

No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main text of the thesis

This thesis has not previously been submitted for a degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution

Ho Chi Minh City, May 28th, 2014

NGUYEN HANH MINH

I hereby state that I, NGUYEN HANH MINH, being the candidate for the degree of Master of TESOL, accept the requirement of the University relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the Library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the originality of my thesis deposited in the Library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan or reproduction of theses

Ho Chi Minh City, May 28th, 2014

NGUYEN HANH MINH

iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements i

Statement of originality ii

Retention and use of the thesis iii

Table of contents iv

List of abbreviations xi

List of tables xii

List of figures xiv

Abstract xvi

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background to the study 1

1.2 Aim of the study 5

1.3 Research questions 6

1.4 Significance of the study 6

1.5 Outline of the thesis 7

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 9

2.1 Vocabulary 9

2.1.1 Definition of vocabulary 9

2.1.2 Aspects of word knowledge 10

2.1.3 Learnability of words 13

2.2 Vocabulary learning 13

2.2.1 Process of acquiring a word 13

2.2.2 The receptive-productive distinction 14

2.3 Vocabulary instruction in a reading process 16

2.3.1 Purposes of learning/ teaching vocabulary in a reading process 16

2.3.2 Tendency of learning vocabulary in a reading process 17

2.3.3 Vocabulary instruction in a reading class 18

2.3.3.1 Quality of effective vocabulary instruction 18

2.3.3.2 Procedure of vocabulary instruction 19

2.3.3.3 Activities for vocabulary instruction 20

2.4 Related studies in vocabulary learning and teaching 21

2.5 The Clarifying Routine: A conceptual framework 24

2.5.1 Defining the Clarifying Routine 24

2.5.2 Instructional tool and procedure 24

2.5.3 Ways of applying the Clarifying Routine strategy 28

2.5.4 The effects of the Clarifying Routine 29

2.5.4.1 Facilitating vocabulary learning 29

2.5.4.2 Enhancing other learning objectives 30

2.5.5 Some concluding thoughts about the conceptual framework 31

2.6 Summary 31

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 32

3.1 Research design 32

3.2 Study setting 33

3.3 Research procedure 33

vi

3.4 Participants 35

3.5 Research instruments 36

3.5.1 Preparation for tests 36

3.5.1.1 Selection of words 36

3.5.1.2 The pilot test 37

3.5.1.3 Revision 39

3.5.1.4 Re-testing 40

3.5.2 The pre-test and post-test 40

3.5.2.1 The pre-test 41

3.5.2.2 The post-test 41

3.5.2.3 Administration of the pre- and post-tests 42

3.5.3 Experiment 43

3.5.3.1 Preparation for lessons 43

3.5.3.2 Experimental teaching 44

3.5.4 Questionnaire 47

3.6 Data analysis procedure 49

3.7 Summary 49

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 50

4.1 Results from the pre-test 50

4.2 Results from the post-test 52

4.2.1 Results from the M40-post-test 52

4.2.2 The students’ progress from the M40-pre-test to M40-post-test 55

4.2.4 Summary 59

4.3 The results from the questionnaire 59

4.3.1 The participants’ perceptions about learning vocabulary in a reading process 59

4.3.1.1 The need to learn vocabulary in a reading process 60

4.3.1.2 The purpose of vocabulary learning in a reading process 61

4.3.1.3 The choice between intentional learning and incidental learning of vocabulary 62

4.3.1.4 Summary 63

4.3.2 The participants’ reflection on the application of the Clarifying Routine strategy 63

4.3.2.1 The participants’ opinions about the learnability of vocabulary 64

4.3.2.2 The participants’ general impression on the Clarifying Routine strategy 64

4.3.2.3 The effects of the application of the Clarifying Routine strategy in the classroom 65

4.3.2.4 The restraints of the Clarifying Routine strategy in the classroom 72

4.3.2.5 The students’ intention to apply the Clarifying Routine as their self-learning strategy of vocabulary 74

4.3.3 Summary 75

4.4 Discussion 75

4.4.1 The participants’ lexical performance 75

viii

strategy 82

4.4.4 Summary 82

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 83

5.1 Major conclusions 83

5.2 Limitations of the study 85

5.3 Suggestions for further research 87

5.4 Recommendations for English language practitioners 87

5.4.1 For teachers 87

5.4.2 For students 90

5.5 Summary 90

References 91

Appendices 102

Appendix 1: Taxonomy of vocabulary learning strategies (Schmitt, 1997, pp 207-208) 102

Appendix 2: Course syllabus in Advanced-reading 104

Appendix 3: Pilot testing 108

Appendix 3A: Pilot vocabulary test (N= 87 test items) 108

Appendix 3B: Item Facility analysis of the pilot test 115

Appendix 3C: Cronbach Alpha of the pilot test (N= 70 chosen test items) 118

Appendix 3D: Results of Item Discrimination and Distractor Efficiency analysis of the 70 chosen items in the pilot test 119

W70-pre-test & the M40-pre-test) 121

Appendix 3F: Cronbach Alpha for the revised version of the pilot test 127

Appendix 4: Lists of words 128

Appendix 4A: List of 70 chosen terms 128

Appendix 4B: Lists of target terms for use in the pre- and post-tests 129

Appendix 5: Vocabulary post-test 130

Appendix 6: Sample lesson plans for vocabulary instruction 134

Appendix 6A: Sample lesson plan 1 for the Experimental Group 134

Appendix 6B: Sample lesson plan 2 for the Experimental Group 142

Appendix 6C: Sample lesson plan 3 for the Experimental Group 154

Appendix 6D: Sample lesson plan for the Control Group 158

Appendix 7: Questionnaire 161

Appendix 7A: Questionnaire in Vietnamese 161

Appendix 7B: Questionnaire in English .165

Appendix 8: Item facility analysis of the W70-pre-test 169

Appendix 9: Results of score frequency in pre- and post- tests 172

Appendix 9A: Score frequency of the M40-pre-test for the Control Group 172

Appendix 9B: Score frequency of the M40-pre-test for the Experimental Group 172

Appendix 9C: Score frequency of the M40-post-test for the Control Group 173

x

Experimental Group 174 Appendix 10: Tests of normal distribution of data 175 Appendix 10A: Result of One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test

of the data in the M40-pre-test for each group 175 Appendix 10B: Result of One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test

of the data in the M40-post-test for each group 176 Appendix 10C: Result of One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test

of the data of gain scores from the M40-pre-test to the M40-post-test for each group 177 Appendix 10D: Result of one-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test

of the data in the G20-post-test for each group 178 Appendix 11: Participants’ responses to their language learning

background 179 Appendix 11A: Participants’ responses to English self-study hours

at home 179 Appendix 11B: Participants’ responses to whether they attend extra

English courses outside the University during the time of the experiment 179

CG Control Group

Literature

Humanities – Ho Chi Minh City

M40-pre-test The first 40 items of the pre-test

xii

Table 2.1: Aspects of word knowledge 11

Table 2.2: Result of the study in Ellis et al (1997) 30

Table 3.1: Description of the Control Group and the Experimental Group 36

Table 3.2: Quality of items basing on ID 39

Table 3.3: Plan of constructing the pre- and post-tests 40

Table 4.1: Summary of the M40-pre-test results for the two groups 50

Table 4.2: The output of the independent-sampless t-test for the M40-pre-test 52

Table 4.3: Summary of the M40-post-test results for the two groups 52

Table 4.4: The output of the independent-samples t-test for the M40-post-test 54

Table 4.5: Summary of the M40-pre-test and the M40-post-test for the two groups 55

Table 4.6: The output of the paired-samples t-test for the M40-pre-test and the M40-post-M40-pre-test for each group 55

Table 4.7: Summary of the G20-post-test results for the two groups 57

Table 4.8: The result of the independent-samples t-test for the G20-post-test 58

Table 4.9: The students’ choice between incidental and intentional learning of vocabulary in a reading process 62

Table 4.10: The students’ opinions about the learnability of lexical terms 64

Table 4.11: The subjects’ responses to the effects of the C.R on creating motivation 66

developing learning abilities 66 Table 4.13: The learners’ feedback on the strengths of the C.R in

promoting group spirit 68 Table 4.14: The students’ reflection on some main effects of the

C.R on facilitating the acquisition of vocabulary 69 Table 4.15: The restraints of the application of the Clarifying

Routinestrategy 72

xiv

Figure 2.1: Mental representation of concept (Singleton, 2000, p

65) 11 Figure 2.2: Procedure of vocabulary instruction (Peters et al., 2009,

p 147) 19 Figure 2.3: Format of the Clarifying Table (adapted from Ellis, E

S., 1997, p 45) 25 Figure 2.4: An example of the Clarifying Table (from Ellis, E S.,

1997, p 25) 26 Figure 3.1: Procedure of research conduction 34 Figure 4.1: Gain scores from the M40-pre-test to the M40-post-test

of each group 56 Figure 4.2: The score type distribution of the G20-post-test for the

two groups 58 Figure 4.3: The students’ opinions about the need to learn

vocabulary in a reading process 60 Figure 4.4: The participants’ opinions about dealing with unknown

words in a reading text 61 Figure 4.5: The learners’ opinions about the purpose of learning

vocabulary in a reading process 62 Figure 4.6: The participants’ overall impression on the use of the

Clarifying Routine strategy 65 Figure 4.7: The learners’ views about the suitability of the C.R for

the problematic terms 69 Figure 4.8: The participants’ thoughts about the future use of the

Clarifying Tables 71

sections in the Clarifying Table 73 Figure 4.10: The students’ plan for the frequency of using the

Clarifying Routine strategy 74

xvi

Vocabulary capacity plays an important role in communication To enhance this linguistic competence for learners of English, the application of an effective strategy in the teaching and learning of vocabulary is necessary Numerous approaches have been explored so far in the literature, but little attention has been focused on such a package of combined deep-processing strategies as the Clarifying Routine initiated by Edwin S Ellis (1997) The present study, therefore, aimed to address that gap It was conducted in the form

of a quasi-experiment to investigate the effects of this strategy when it is applied

in vocabulary instruction in a reading class Data from the pre- and post-tests were collected from 52 students of the Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature, University of Social Sciences and Humanities - Ho Chi Minh City The results indicated that, after the experiment, English lexical knowledge of the students in the Experimental Group was remarkably improved and significantly better than that of the Control Group Moreover, the questionnaire was also distributed to the students learning vocabulary with the Clarifying Routine, who showed positive attitudes toward the use of this strategy Given the research findings, some suggestions were offered to future researchers and several recommendations were put forward to both teachers and learners of English who are interested in the employment of this approach to teach and learn vocabulary

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the study

As an international language, English is widely taught in most of the schools and language centres in Vietnam Learners’ purposes of learning English vary from finding a decent job, getting promotion, and seeking good opportunities for business with partners from overseas, to studying abroad, travelling or making friends with foreign people Whatever intentions they have

in mind, the ability to communicate successfully in English is their ultimate goal and desire In order to reach that goal, they need to acquire communicative ability which consists of a number of language skills and proficiency capacity

Among the “domains of skill” which form a person’s communicative capacity, linguistic competence is taken for granted to be of great importance because “we communicate by exploiting the creative potential of linguistic structures” (Littlewood, 1981, p 6) Linguistic competence involves the abilities

of pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary Among the three linguistic components, vocabulary prevails to be the most important feature No matter how perfect their pronunciation of sounds may be or how good they might be at structures, “without words to express a wide range of meanings”, communication

in a second language (L2) or a foreign language (FL) cannot happen “in a meaningful way” (McCarthy, 1990, p viii) Moreover, when comparing vocabulary role with that of grammar, Wilkin (1972, as cited in Barcroft, 2004) notes that incompetence in grammar sometimes hinders successful transmission

of meaning but lack of vocabulary knowledge often obstructs the transmission of meaning completely The role of vocabulary in facilitating communication is also confirmed in other studies (Read, 2000; Singleton, 2000; Taylor, 1990; Wallace, 1988) In short, in order to establish a good command of communication, learners

of English as L2 or FL need to attend to vocabulary because “knowing words is

However, in reality, Vietnamese learners’ communicative competence of English as well as their vocabulary knowledge is not as satisfactory as what is desired In an article on Dan Tri newspaper (Tran, Q D., 2008), among the weaknesses of Vietnamese learners of English, two are cited as having an inadequate stock of vocabulary, and possessing an inability to comprehend discourse in English and express themselves to others The former problem is the limit of vocabulary size; and the latter is similar to what Marzano (2009) terms as

“communication breakdown”, which is also significantly due to “vocabulary errors” (p 1) One common vocabulary error involves recognizing a word which has already been learnt but not knowing its meaning because, as Anderson, N J (1999) points out, “the students have no comprehension of the words they ‘read’ and “they are simply naming words” (p 24) Even when the students know a word, their knowledge of the word is so vague that they may recognize and understand a word when reading or listening, but cannot use it themselves (Schmitt, 2000) The failure in either comprehension or expression of an L2 word

is the limitation inherent not only in students at an elementary level but also learners at an advanced level (Read, 2000) Read states that in learning an L2 or a

FL, students usually experience “lexical gaps” or “words they read which they simply do not understand, or concepts they cannot express as adequately as they could in their first language” (Read, 2000, p 1) In addition, there are many occasions when the students encounter a learnt word but get confused at distinguishing it from others, especially those which share common features with that word (Laufer, 1990, as cited in Read, 2000) As such, these limitations in learners’ knowledge of L2 words depict a disappointing and alarming reality that

calls for some solutions to overcome it

One imperative task to overcome learners’ lexical weaknesses is to develop their knowledge of vocabulary This task is not an easy and straightforward job at all, not to say a very difficult one It requires a lot of conditions, among which is the application of effective strategies in learning and teaching vocabulary But the practice of vocabulary learning and teaching in

many schools and universities in Vietnam is considered “strategically limited” (Le, N H G, 2009) and far beyond the expectation

The first consideration goes into the employment of vocabulary learning strategies From the researcher’s observation in the classroom during her ten years of teaching in both high schools and colleges, students frequently deal with new words by looking them up in dictionaries for simple English definitions or Vietnamese translations; and then learn words by watching, saying aloud and copying them many times together with the Vietnamese equivalents Likewise, as reported in a study by the Department of Education and Training of Quang Ninh Province (2008, as cited in Le, N H G., 2009, p 2), the practice of vocabulary learning in many schools tends to base traditionally on translation into the first language (L1) Some examples of this practice are listening to teachers, writing down words with L1 equivalents, and memorizing word lists (Le, N H G., 2009) From informal talks with the researcher’s students, it can be found that in their perception, rote memorisation and L1-L2 association are typically quick, convenient, not demanding and easy to use Despite the ease and convenience, those strategies still generate doubts about their effectiveness in acquiring word knowledge, and retaining words in the long term

The second view is placed on the teaching practice There are two contrasting perspectives on second language acquisition, which influence the teaching practice of vocabulary among educators and teachers The first strand is the traditional language-focused learning, which gives attention to the formal features of the language (Nation, 1996) The typical approach employed to pursue this strand is the Grammar Translation method, in which lexical instruction is focused but in a mechanical and boring way To put it another way, long lists of words are chosen from reading texts and taught through dictionary study and memorization (Richards & Rodgers, 1986) In contrast with the traditional view, learning through meaning-focused input is a new tendency of

lexis There is a belief that words can be learnt naturally and do not need to be taught (Coady, 1997) As a result of this strand, Communicative Language Teaching becomes popular in contemporary English language classrooms, where vocabulary experiences “a loss of a concerted focus” from teachers (Brown, H D., 2001, p 375) As a matter of fact, in the curriculum of most schools, there is

no arrangement for vocabulary courses or classes with the assumption that vocabulary can be incidentally acquired as a by-product of communicative tasks Therefore, in a skill-based lesson, especially in a reading class, teachers tend to train students various reading skills and sub-skills, and teach them dealing with

unknown words by guessing techniques, such as sentence meaning, rereading, or

clue word (Dakun, 2007) Even when the deliberate instruction is required, it is

common that teachers quickly pre-teach a new word in the pre-reading stage by giving a simple translation, a brief definition, a synonym or antonym (Phan, D

N D., 2011), using visual aids, or providing an example sentence (the researcher and her colleagues’ habitual teaching) with the hope that the word meaning would be conveyed However, except for concrete words with single identity, quick and cursory vocabulary instruction cannot help learners acquire thorough knowledge of the word so as to understand it in a reading text and to be able to use it appropriately in production In sum, neither of the two perspectives on vocabulary instruction is rewarding, since one treats vocabulary as a boring long list of words to be learnt by heart and the other regards vocabulary as an appendage of the reading process The call for a balanced model of teaching and learning vocabulary is, therefore, necessary

From what has been discussed, vocabulary is an essential component in every language but L2 learners’ capacity of this language element is limited Further, the urge for a considerable focus on L2 vocabulary learning and teaching together with the unfavourable real situation in the context of Vietnam has inspired the researcher to search for a plan of vocabulary instruction that can be effectively and favourably applied in the context of L2 teaching and learning in Vietnam Moreover, it is necessary to find an effective method to help learners deepen the comprehension and enhance the retention of words With the same

thought, scholars in the field have suggested some interesting and potential strategies for teaching and learning vocabulary in Vietnam, such as game-based activities (Huynh, H H N., 2007), association (Tran, T T D., 2011), repetition (Nguyen, T N H., 2010), or semantic mapping (Le, N H G., 2009) Nevertheless, none have exploited a combination of strategies which allows learners to deeply process lexis in a meaningful way with the activation of their cognition and the creation of mental linkages between the word and their background to facilitate the exploration and retention of word knowledge

Hence, the researcher’s zeal for searching such a set of strategies to benefit the teaching and learning of vocabulary keeps burning From her investigation of scholarly works in the field, the Clarifying Routine (C.R.) strategy initiated by Ellis, E S (1997, 2002) prevails to be the most effective to her students This strategy was proved to be successful when conducted in the U.S with L2 learners of English (Ellis, E S., Raines, Farmer, & Tyree, 1997) Disappointingly, out of the researcher’s expectation, this strategy has not been popularly known by teachers and learners of English and has not been experimented in the context of Vietnam This finding is revealed through informal talks with her colleagues and students and from her constant research in the literature of vocabulary teaching and learning in Vietnam The curiosity about the practical effects of applying the Clarifying Routine as a strategy of vocabulary instruction in a subject-matter class in the context of Vietnam has urged the researcher to conduct this study

1.2 Aims of the study

With clear and practical rationale as presented above, the current study, thus, will make an attempt to investigate the effects of applying the Clarifying Routine initiated by Ellis, E S (1997, 2002) as a strategy of vocabulary instruction in a skill-based class In this study, the researcher decides to embed

concern for vocabulary and the restrictive practice of teaching vocabulary in a reading class, as discussed above, require some kind of reform The researcher’s aim is to turn teachers and learners’ attention to vocabulary learning in reading Finally, learning lexis in reading is essential to the facilitation of ease and motivation in a reading process because “vocabulary is the fuel that ignites the fire of reading and comprehending what one reads” (William Grabe, personal communication, as cited in Anderson, N J., 1999, p 22) With the use of the C.R which is supposed to develop critical thinking skills through a process of clarification of word meaning basing on the context and topic of the reading passage, reading capacity can be satisfactorily enhanced

Besides, since the Clarifying Routine strategy is not popular in Vietnam, this study also tries to obtain learners’ reflection about its usefulness and restraints when they learn with it, in order to enhance its effectiveness and reduce its drawbacks in later use

1.3 Research questions

To achieve this aim, the research design is guided by the main research question: “What are the effects of applying the Clarifying Routine as a strategy of vocabulary instruction in a reading class?”

Underlying the main research question are sub-questions as follows: (1) What is students’ vocabulary performance under the application of the Clarifying Routine strategy?

(2) What is students’ reflection on the use of the Clarifying Routine in terms of its effects as well as restraints after the treatment?

1.4 Significance of the study

The research is conducted with the hope to contribute to the field of teaching and learning English as an L2 or a FL in general and to the teaching and

learning it in Vietnam in particular The two terms L2 and FL are used

interchangeably throughout this study to imply a “non-native language” which a person learns “after they have already acquired an L1” (Stern, 1983, pp 11-12)

Theoretically, the study provides a suggestion for both English language teachers and learners who crave effective strategies for vocabulary instruction and acquisition Besides, it presents useful information about the principles and characteristics of an interesting, but quite new, un-exploited strategy in learning and memorizing words Furthermore, the current study also suggests a way to effectively integrate vocabulary instruction into a reading class, which can facilitate the improvement of critical reading abilities

In practice, the study helps to provide empirical evidence about the possibility of applying the Clarifying Routine strategy and its effects in Vietnamese context It also recommends guidelines, instructions as to how to apply this strategy in classrooms, as well as warnings about the use of the strategy in reality

Finally, the current study is hopefully a reliable source of encouragement for any scholars and language teachers to do further research on explicit vocabulary instruction

1.5 Outline of the thesis

The thesis consists of five chapters The first chapter introduces the study

by presenting the background, aim, research questions, significance, and outline

of the study Chapter 2 reviews relevant theories and related studies about vocabulary, vocabulary acquisition, vocabulary learning and teaching in reading, and the conceptual framework of the Clarifying Routine All the information in Chapter 2 serves as the basis for the construction of the research design and methods of investigation, which are described clearly in Chapter 3 More specifically, the third chapter presents the study setting, participants, instruments and data analysis procedure Chapter 4 provides the study outcome with data

questions and proposes some recommendations for English language educators, learners and suggestions for researchers

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

The teaching and learning of vocabulary have not attracted adequate attention in the classroom, especially in a reading-based curriculum, which results in language learners’ limitations in vocabulary competence Therefore, an exploration of an effective strategy, to be named the Clarifying Routine, to help them acquire vocabulary is undeniably necessary To pave the way for research into the target strategy, this chapter shapes the theoretical framework that is relevant to the topic under investigation Firstly, it defines and describes some general characteristics of vocabulary Secondly, it reviews the theory of vocabulary acquisition process Thirdly, it discusses some issues related to vocabulary instruction in a reading process The fourth section mainly considers some related studies in the field of vocabulary learning and teaching And finally the chapter ends with some principles and effects of the target strategy

2.1 Vocabulary

2.1.1 Definition of vocabulary

In this sub-section, the notion of vocabulary is defined for the aim of

choosing, teaching and learning it Vocabulary or lexis is meant as a “collective

expression in linguistic terminology” (Singleton, 2000, p 1), or a collection of the words of a language (McCarthy, 1990), or “the words we teach in the foreign

language” (Ur, 1996, p 60) So, what counts as a word, also termed as lexeme,

lexical item or lexical unit (Schmitt, 2000, p 2), is of great interest to scholars in

linguistic fields

On one hand, a word is defined, with form-based view, as “a specific freestanding item of language that has meaning” (McCarthy, 1990, p 3) On the other hand, the semantic approach classifies words basing on their meaning Despite being subject to rejection due to the fuzziness in word meaning

proposes the distinction between form words and content words, which is useful

for the practice of vocabulary teaching and learning Form words (also called

grammatical words) – such as articles the, a, an and prepositions to, from, of - are

empty or function words which have almost no meaning out of context; thus, no effort should be spared to learn them (Singleton, 2000) In contrast, content words or lexical words contain “substantial meaning even out of context” (Singleton, 2000, p 6), and therefore, deserve teaching and learning time so that they can be acquired After all, the notion of word should be understood as a lexical unit which includes one or several freestanding forms and which may contain context-independent meaning or just functional usage Moreover, content words should be more overtly focused than form words, which may be taught only in the grammar instruction

2.1.2 Aspects of word knowledge

It may be intuitively assumed that knowing a word may simply involve knowing its form and its meaning However, the mastery of a word requires various types of information

Though there has been a consensus on the multiplicity of word knowledge, linguistic scholars present different views on the number of features to be acquired Lists of vocabulary aspects are suggested by Nation (1990), Harmer (1991), Ur (1996), Laufer (1997), Henriksen (1999), and Schmitt (2000) Whatever lists are recommended, they all centre on the three categories indicated

by Nation (2001): form, meaning, and use By basing on Nation’s (2001)

classification and by way of summary from the others’ lists, Table 2.1 presents

aspects of word knowledge which are generally agreed by most linguists

Each component of word knowledge is of considerable importance for students to learn about the word First, the most visible one is the word form which can be presented orally and in writing to students Some teachers insist on the assumption that if learners can recognize the form, they have already known the word However, the process of mastering a word is a very complicated

‘itinerary’ in which learners have to discover what is inside the word, just like adventurers trying to explore a mysterious jungle

Table 2.1: Aspects of word knowledge

FORM

Spoken form (pronunciation) Written form (spelling) Word formation (prefix and suffix) MEANING

Conceptual meaning Affective meaning Sense relation USE

Grammar Collocation Constraints on use

The most important feature is the word meaning because, as Ellis, N C (1995) points out, more explicit attention should be given to meaning and less to

form Except for some words such as sun or moon or technical terms which refer

to “a single fixed entity” (Gairns & Redman, 1986, p 13), the meaning of most lexical units cannot be fully expressed by a simple translation, a short definition,

or a series of semantic features (Anderson, R C & Nagy, 1989) One possible explanation is that most of words may have multiple aspects of meaning which need to be explored The various layers of meaning include the conceptual meaning, affective meaning and sense relation

The conceptual meaning of a word (Nation, 1990, 2001) can be identified

by creating a connection between the form and its basic meaning, The meaning connection is, in the simplest way, a mental linkage of a linguistic form with a phenomenon or referent in the real world (Singleton, 2000), which is diagrammatically shown in Figure 2.1

form-CONCEPT

PHENOMENON

(indirect link)

Though this mental representation excludes the limitation of the traditional view which sees word learning as attaching an L2 form with an equivalent in L1;

it cannot be applied to all cases, especially where a single form is associated with

multiple meanings For example, the word fork may refer to the fork you use to

eat, a fork in the road, forked lightening According to Nation (2001), with such

multiple-meaning vocabulary, whether teachers should treat each use of a form as

a separate word or as related senses of the same word is based on whether or not that sense requires any extra learning for it to be acquired Nation (2001) also

suggests, the word fork can be best explained as having a concept of a

two-pronged shape with various referents being worked out within a particular

context As such, clarifying the conceptual meaning of a word is not as simple as just writing a definition or a translation It requires an analysis of “conceptual boundaries” that shape the concept of the word (Gairns & Redman, 1986, p 16) and a process of “reference specification” (Nation, 2001, p 50)

Apart from the conceptual meaning, in order to understand a word thoroughly and use it appropriately, learners need to know its connotative features or the “attitudinal and emotional factors” which it expresses (Gairns & Redman, 1986, p 18) It is the connotation that helps to differentiate the word from its range of synonyms Various areas of connotation which have been suggested by Gairns and Redman (1986) are positive-negative connotation, attitudinal, contextual and socio-cultural associations

Besides the extensional relations between concept and referent, a word also has its intensional relations with other lexical items (Henriksen, 1999)

Relating a word to its synonyms is an efficient way of explaining it and distinguishing it from other related units because even similar words still contain differences among them (Gairns & Redman, 1986)

Moreover, to add more information to the correct use of the word, grammatical functions, collocations and other constraints on use are worth indicating during the process of word clarification Some examples of factors that limit the use of words are level of formality, appropriacy (Schmitt, 2000), or

styles such as humorous, ironic and literary (Gairns & Redman, 1986) As confirmed by Martin (1984, as cited in Schmitt, 1997), knowledge of collocational, stylistic and syntactic differences is beneficial for students to use the word effectively in production

From what has been discussed, knowing a word requires learners to pay attention to the form, various layers of meaning and the use of the word All those features are the prerequisite for the mastery of a word and can only be explored through an exhaustive clarification process with attention to the context

2.1.3 Learnability of words

The learnability of a word is obviously connected with the multiplicity of word knowledge Some words are difficult to learn because they contain some problematic and hard-to-discover features Typical factors which may affect word learnability or “intrinsic difficulty” (Nation, 1990, p.48) involve word length, pronounceability, abstractness, multiplicity of meaning and the complexity or unpredictability of the word features (Laufer, 1997; McCarthy, 1990; Nation, 1990)

2.2 Vocabulary learning

2.2.1 Process of acquiring a word

Due to the multiplicity of vocabulary knowledge which is the main source

of difficulty in learning words, the mastery of all types of word features cannot

be achieved in an easy and straightforward way, but through a long and complicated process According to Beck, McKeown and Kucan (2002), the process of acquiring a word goes through 5 stages from zero to absolute mastery:

 Having no knowledge about the word

 Having general sense of the word

 Having knowledge of the word but not being able to recall it readily enough to apply it in appropriate situations

 Having rich, de-contextualized knowledge of a word’s meaning, its relationship to other words, and its extension to metaphorical uses (p 10)

An implication drawn from the continuum of word knowledge is that learners need multiple encounters with a word in order to build up their knowledge of its various features (Schmitt, 2010)

2.2.2 The receptive-productive distinction

Words can be conventionally classified into receptive (or passive) type and productive (or active) type Within a word, there are also receptive and productive dimensions In other words, vocabulary contains in itself two types of knowledge: (i) receptive knowledge, which means “perceiving the form of a word while listening or reading and retrieving its meaning”; and (ii) productive use, which involves being able to “express a meaning through speaking and writing and producing the appropriate spoken and written word form” (Nation,

2001, pp 24-25) Further, recognition and production should be seen as being on

a continuum instead of being viewed as a distinction, with the former being more easily acquired than the latter (Nation, 1990, 2001; Schmitt, 2000) Therefore, more time and effort in learning words should be spent if we desire to master full knowledge of word, especially if we want to be able to use it productively

2.2.3 Vocabulary learning strategies

In order to move forward from zero to absolute mastery and move along from receptive to productive end of the word knowledge, language learners need

to employ appropriate strategies in their vocabulary learning, beginning with strategies for discovering the overall meaning of a new word and continuing with strategies for exploring its deeper layers of meaning

There have been numerous vocabulary learning strategies (VLS) suggested by linguists Initially, Cook and Mayer (1983) propose a system of VLS basing on the purpose of learners in learning vocabulary, i.e whether they want to discover the meaning of a word at first encounter or they wish to consolidate the word which has been introduced before Later, Oxford (1990) develops a system of VLS containing 6 groups: Memory, Cognitive, Compensation, Metacognitive, Affective and Social This system of VLS seems unsatisfactory to Schmitt (1997); so he leaves out 2 categories (Compensation and Affective) and adds one more category of his own (Determination) Oxford’s (1990) and Schmitt’s (1997) classification of VLS are rooted from the assisting sources on which the strategies rely, i.e memory devices, cognitive or metacognitive tools, social relations and reference materials A simpler way of grouping strategies is based on the level of complexity of the strategy Schmitt (2000) suggests two major types of VLS which are ‘shallow’ strategies such as memorization and repetition for beginners and ‘deeper’ strategies such as consolidation and determination for more advanced learners

Overall, Schmitt’s (1997) taxonomy of VLS is best-constructed It is based

on both the Discovery-Consolidation distinction and the sources of the strategies

A detailed description of this VLS taxonomy is shown in Appendix 1 In this taxonomy, all five groups of strategies, i.e MEM (Memory strategies), COG (Cognitive strategies), MET (Metacognitive strategies), SOS (Social strategies) and DET (Determination Strategies), are classified into two major types of VLS, i.e Discovery Strategies (strategies for the discovery of a new word’s meaning) and Consolidation Strategies (strategies for consolidating a word once it has been encountered)

One implication from Schmitt’s (1997) system of VLS is that no single strategy can assist learners to acquire word knowledge to the full It is only by combining a diversity of strategies and techniques that different features of word

others are suitable for exploring the use of the target word Therefore, it is advisable that learners combine various strategies from the taxonomy for the best result of their vocabulary acquisition The implication for a combination of strategies inspires the researcher to search for a scheme of vocabulary instruction that can put it into practice This is also the rationale underlying the debut of the present study

2.3 Vocabulary instruction in a reading process

Vocabulary is essential to language acquisition, and learning words requires the employment of a combination of strategies However, as discussed in Chapter 1, in a skill-based curriculum, particularly in a reading class, there is either an excessive attention on learning and teaching words by rote with L1 translations, or quick instruction of words with focus on the word form and superficial meaning Neither of these perspectives on vocabulary teaching is efficient to provide successful learning of words This section addresses the issues concerning the learning and teaching of vocabulary in a reading process to establish a stand on a robust instruction of key lexical terms

2.3.1 Purposes of learning/ teaching vocabulary in a reading process

For most L2 learners, learning vocabulary while reading texts can serve both short-term and long-term purposes

The first purpose of teaching and learning words in a reading lesson is to assist students in understanding the reading texts better (Beck, McKeown, & Omanson, 1987; Nagy & Herman, 1987), because they cannot understand a text without knowledge of most of the words (Nagy, 1988)

Secondly, the intensive instruction of vocabulary is integrated in reading classes with the hope that it will lead to “the word being well known” (Nation,

2001, p 157) so that learners notice it in future reading or listening as well as use

it productively in speaking or writing (Nation, 1994, 2001) In short, vocabulary

involvement while reading is for the benefit of both reading comprehension and vocabulary mastery for future use

2.3.2 Tendency of learning vocabulary in a reading process

The two strands of meaning-focused and language-focused learning (Nation, 1996, 2008) are correlative with indirect and direct vocabulary learning, respectively The difference between the two types is the lack or presence of intention to learn (Shintani, 2013) Indirect learning is a natural process of acquiring words while reading from books and authentic materials without any deliberate learning process In contrast, with direct approaches, words are intentionally focused on by the learner or explicitly taught in the class through learning strategies (Schmitt, 2010) The influence of these two learning tendencies on vocabulary acquisition has been widely studied

For L1 learners, extensive reading is proved to have influence on enhancing their vocabulary size (Cunningham & Stanovich, 1997; McKeown, 1985; Nagy, Anderson, & Herman, 1987) This effect is due to their continual and natural encounter with the language during their whole life However, for L2 learners, incidental learning of vocabulary through reading does not appear to be sufficient for their vocabulary acquisition There has been a vast body of studies which proves the limited value of incidental exposure to vocabulary Studies by Horst and Meara (1999), Pigada and Schmitt (2006) , which expose learners to texts in a natural way without deliberate intervention, conclude that learning does occur but with modest efficiency Moreover, according to Sokmen (1997, as cited

in Takac, 2008, p 18), learning vocabulary incidentally is a “slow and inefficient process” for long-term vocabulary acquisition One possible reason for the low rate of uptake is that the requirement of an extensive reading program with authentic materials seems unrealistic and impractical in an L2 classroom As an illustration for such a program, L2 learners need to read texts containing about

of efficiency of indirect learning, as Nation (2011) argues, is the distraction of many other things that takes learners’ attention from vocabulary acquisition during this type of learning

The limitations of incidental learning pave the way for the tendency of learning vocabulary intentionally, especially in L2 environments Because of learners’ late beginning to learn an L2, “limited exposure” to the L2 outside the classroom (Read, 2000, p 41), and also due to the strong desire for immediate, visible results by both teachers and learners, “direct vocabulary study is a way of speeding up the learning process” (Nation, 2001, p 97) The effectiveness of intentional vocabulary learning has been strongly justified in the literature by the studies of Thorndike (1908); Beaton, Gruneberg, and Ellis, N C (1995); Griffin and Harley (1996); and Elgort (2011) All these works consistently emphasize the positive effects of deliberate learning on recognition of word meaning, understanding of word knowledge, and long-term retention

2.3.3 Vocabulary instruction in a reading class

Research has empirically proved the predominance of intentional learning over the incidental learning of vocabulary In a reading class, in order to focus students’ attention to vocabulary learning and help them explore the in-depth knowledge of words, the teacher provides “rich instruction” (Nation, 2001, p 94), in which they will not only learn lexis, but also get training in vocabulary learning strategies, gradually acquire them, and become able to use those strategies on their own (Nation, 1990)

2.3.3.1 Quality of effective vocabulary instruction

The quality of vocabulary instruction is demanded so that the intervention

is helpful for learners in mastering the lexis Guidelines for an effective treatment

of vocabulary are recommended by Nagy and Herman (1987):

Vocabulary instruction that does improve comprehension generally

has some of the following characteristics: multiple exposures to

instructed words, exposures to words in meaningful context, rich or

varied information about each word, the establishment of ties

between instructed words and students’ own experience and prior

knowledge, and an active role by students in the word-learning

process (p 33)

2.3.3.2 Procedure of vocabulary instruction

Barcroft (2004) advocates the progressive vocabulary instruction beginning with form-focusing, form-meaning connection activities, and gradually moving to activities “that involve more elaboration on meaning and production of the target words” in order for “learners to acquire different components of word knowledge” (p 206) Peters, Hulstijin, Sercu and Lutjeharms (2009) present a three-step procedure of vocabulary instruction like this:

students take notes and keep record of the learnt words for future use (Schmitt, 1997) This way is proved to benefit learners in vocabulary performance in both receptive and productive use (Walters & Bozkurt, 2009)

2.3.3.3 Activities for vocabulary instruction

There are a considerable number of activities which have been popularly recognized as being efficient in enhancing learners’ lexical competence Some of those activities are listed as follows

(1) Context-based inferencing: This involves instructing students the steps and skills of inducing meaning of words from the textual context and organizing students to practice the skill of guessing

(2) Using definitional and rote memorization approaches: This involves writing a list of instructed words together with their definitions, synonyms or translations and learning them all by heart Students can check each other in pairs or do matching exercises

(3) Using visual aids or games: This involves employing relia, pictures, photos or games to present the meaning of words or engage students in doing some vocabulary tasks such as matching or guessing

(4) Using word cards / concept maps: This involves making a small card

or a concept map with some useful information about a word such as a definition, synonym, antonym, examples, non-examples, or sentences

(5) Semantic mapping or List-group-label: This involves creating a semantic map to link associated words/ ideas and discussing their relations (6) Using mnemonic techniques: This involves applying the key word technique in memorizing a word In this technique, students make use of L1-L2 link and create an unusual association between the word form and its meaning

(Clarke & Nation, 1980; Nagy, 1988; Nation, 1990, 2008)

2.4 Related studies in vocabulary learning and teaching

So far several issues related to vocabulary definition and features, vocabulary acquisition process and strategies, and vocabulary instruction in a reading process have been discussed This section reviews some studies in the literature of vocabulary learning and teaching In the field of vocabulary learning and teaching, there are two basic directions in most of the related studies: (i) examination into the frequency of use and learners’ perception toward VLS, and (ii) research into the effectiveness of a particular strategy

As far as the former direction is concerned, it has been shown that L2 learners particularly like to use and overwhelmingly believe in the usefulness of simple, easy and somewhat mechanical ways to learn words For example, Japanese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) in Schmitt (1997), and EFL Taiwanese students in a later study by Wu (2005) are reported to frequently use and possess positive perception about bilingual dictionaries (for discovery of word meaning) and mechanical repetition strategies (for consolidation)

In Vietnam, studies by the Department of Education and Training of Quang Ninh Province (2008, as cited in Le, N H G., 2009), Huynh T B V (2007), Tran, T T D (2011), and Vo, T T T (2011) show similar tendency of learning words by relying on bilingual dictionaries, friends or teachers, and by repeatedly saying aloud or copying words with translations The results in those studies imply that L2 learners should be trained and provided practices with various VLS, especially ‘deeper processing’ strategies, i.e those which “require a greater cognitive effort” (Schmitt, 1997, p 224) such as association and elaboration

With respect to empirical evidence of VLS impact, related studies in the field have indicated the effectiveness of different ways of teaching and learning new words

learning is shown in Bakhtiarvand (2007), Shokouhi and Askari (2010), and Truong, N N T (2011) However, a study by Nelson & Stage (2007) produces diverse results in investigating the effect of contextually-based vocabulary instruction on vocabulary knowledge Only the treated participants with low score in initial vocabulary and comprehension test showed significant gains in vocabulary knowledge The treated learners with average to high level indicated

no or modest improvement relative to their counterparts in the untreated group The outcome of the study questions the effect of context-based guessing on vocabulary learning As Read (2000) indicates, inferring lexical meaning from context does not guarantee an adequate and correct acquisition of word knowledge and retention of lexis over time Therefore, an implication can be made in favour of a more direct measure of the words to be taught instead of context-dependent strategies (Nelson & Stage, 2007), or a combination of context-based and definitional approaches (Nagy, 1988)

Another way of teaching vocabulary is through definitional instruction This approach shows its remarkable effectiveness over three other approaches – context clues, word parts and elaboration techniques (Robson, 2009) One matter

to be noted in this study is that Robson implemented only 2 steps in Ellis, E S.’s (2002) elaboration process due to time balance among the four methods Despite the usefulness, definition-based approaches are viewed as bringing students to

“only a relatively superficial level of word knowledge” (Nagy, 1988, p 4)

Fun-creating activities with visual aids or games are supposed to motivate learners and thus facilitate vocabulary acquisition Teaching vocabulary with the use of games has been proved to improve vocabulary mastery, arouse learners’ interest, focus students’ attention to the teacher’s instruction, to motivate and entertain learners in learning vocabulary (Huynh, H H N., 2007; Nguyen, V T T., 2006; Sudiyarti, 2012; Tran, Q T., 2011; Uberman, 1998) However, the effectiveness of fun-activating activities is not obvious in terms of vocabulary comprehension (Uberman, 1998) In Rohani and Pourgharib (2013), the use of games resulted in the treated group’s lexical improvement but did not result in

any difference between this group and the group learning vocabulary with the non-game approach

Investigation into the systematic use of the mnemonic strategies, such as the keyword technique, proves that learning vocabulary with this method benefits the retention of words (Beleghizadeh & Ashoori, 2010; Pavio & Desrochers, 1981; Pressley, Levin, & Delaney, 1982; Pressley, Levin, & McDaniel, 1987; Soleimani, Saeedi, & Mohajemia, 2012) However, memorisation with mnemonic strategies may “fail with synforms” (Laufer, 1997, p 154) This is when the L2 key word to be memorised has another similar form in L2; then the L1 associate just creates confusion between the two L2 words, let alone enhances their memorisation

Next, associative networks have been justified as a good method of reinforcing vocabulary knowledge Crow (1986) presents evidence for better performance in vocabulary learning using a semantic field approach Besides, semantic mapping is also proved to be effective in facilitating vocabulary acquisition (Le, N H G., 2009) However, the association approach may be criticized due to its interference with learning because similarity among associated words may puzzle learners in differentiating them and may result in learners’ making vocabulary errors (Laufer, 1987; Zimmerman, 1987)

To sum up, investigation into both international and local studies in the field of vocabulary learning and teaching indicates that there has been a lack of interest in deep-processing strategies which can help L2 students learn words effectively The first dimension of research reveals the fact that language learners tend to employ some mechanical and easy ways of learning lexis In the second dimension, it is noticeable that most of the studies focus only on individual, separate, specific strategies, each of which offers not only merits but also limitations in promoting the process of learning L2 vocabulary Little concern has been paid on the use of a package of combined strategies that provide learners