Vocabulary instruction on reading comprehension for students in grade 11 at truong dinh high school in tien giang province m a 60 14 10

The main objective of the study was to investigate the reality of vocabulary instruction in reading comprehension for students in grade 11 at Truong Dinh high school to find out what dif

VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION IN READING COMPREHENSION FOR STUDENTS IN GRADE 11

AT TRUONG DINH HIGH SCHOOL

IN TIEN GIANG PROVINCE

A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF

THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF TESOL

Submitted by PHAN ĐỖ NGỌC DIỆP

Supervisor

NGUYỄN THÁI ÂN, Ph.D

HO CHI MINH CITY, 2011

CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY

I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled:

VOCABULARY INSTRUCTION IN READING COMPREHENSION

FOR STUDENTS IN GRADE 11

AT TRUONG DINH HIGHSCHOOL

IN TIEN GIANG PROVINCE

in terms of the statement of Requirements for Theses in Master’s Programs issued

by the Higher Degree Committee

Ho Chi Minh City, November 24th, 2011

PHAN ĐỖ NGỌC DIỆP

RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS

I hereby state that I, PHAN ĐỖ NGỌC DIỆP, 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 Thesis deposited in the library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited

in the Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan

or reproduction of thesis

Ho Chi Minh City, November 24th, 2011

PHAN ĐỖ NGỌC DIỆP

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Dr Nguyễn Thái Ân, who did provide me with insightful discussions, constructive criticisms, valuable comments, and continuing support in the preparation and completion of this thesis

I am greatly in debt to all the lecturers of the TESOL graduate program at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities for their helpful instruction during the course from the year 2006 to 2009

Finally, I would like to send my deepest gratitude to my family and my friends who cared, encouraged and supported me during the time of completing the thesis

ABSTRACT

Vocabulary knowledge has long been a major determinant influencing ESL/EFL reading comprehension (Laufer, 1997) Reading comprehension efficiently helps readers to improve their vocabulary The more they would read extensively the more ideas and words would be generated, which ultimately helps

in the development of vocabulary of the target language Vocabulary acquisition is one of the most challenging obstacles language learners must overcome

The main objective of the study was to investigate the reality of vocabulary instruction in reading comprehension for students in grade 11 at Truong Dinh high school to find out what difficulties teachers and students face when dealing with vocabulary instruction in reading comprehension and in what way vocabulary can assist students in reading comprehension

Sample of the study constituted of 2 classes if eleven graders and 10 teachers at this school This study evaluates the vocabulary teaching component of

an English teaching program for students at high school It first describes the course and the issues which prompted the study Then it examines previous research in vocabulary learning and applies some of the key findings to the development of a research project This project has two elements: questionnaires related to vocabulary instruction in reading comprehension and classroom observation to find out the reality of vocabulary instruction in reading comprehension

Data analysis of the questionnaire shows reality and problems of vocabulary instruction in reading comprehension Students know the importance of vocabulary knowledge in comprehension but they do not know how to effectively deal with new words in a reading text Students should be actively involved in exploring word meaning and learn how to figure out meaning with unknown words in reading comprehension

Findings from questionnaire and classroom observation reveal that teachers’ vocabulary instruction sometimes falls back to the “old” procedure of teaching vocabulary: reading aloud, translating In addition, teachers seem to lack information about students’ real ability in reading For this reason, teachers’ teaching methods do not meet the need of the students Therefore, teacher should take into consideration the actual desire of students in learning as well as the problems students may encounter in reading comprehension Students should be well aware of the strategies to deal with unknown words in

a reading text When students are taught how to get through with the reading text more effectively, they will feel more confident in reading comprehension, which also builds a bridge to success in learning English “Guessing in context” and

“word parts” are useful techniques help to determine meaning of words in reading comprehension

NRP: National Reading Panel

TDHS: Truong Dinh High School

1.7.2.5 Methods being used in teaching English at high schools 11

2.1 Overview of the place of vocabulary in foreign language teaching 13 2.2 Teaching vocabulary in reading comprehension 15

2.3 Correlation between vocabulary and reading comprehension 16

2.5.3 What information is necessary to ‘know’ a word? 23

2.5.5 What makes a good vocabulary learner? 27 2.6 Principles of teaching and learning vocabulary 29

2.7.1 Guessing meaning of unknown words through context 38 2.7.2 Using word parts: prefixes, suffixes and roots 42

3.4.1 Data collection procedure of questionnaires 52 3.4.2 Data collection procedure of classroom observations 52

4.1 Analysis of students’ responses 54 4.1.1 Question 1: Factors can help students to comprehend the text better 54 4.1.2 Question 2: The most important thing teachers should do to help

students get success in vocabulary instruction 55 4.1.3 Question 3: The importance of context in guessing meaning of

4.1.4 Question 4 What students do when they find a new word 57 4.1.5 Question 5: Difficulties students encounter when reading

4.1.6 Question 6: The ways students apply to learn vocabulary 60 4.1.7 Question 7: What teachers should do to help students acquire

good ability of guessing meaning of unknown words 61 4.1.8 Question 8: Techniques students learn to guess meaning

4.1.9 Question 9: Technique students apply when trying to guess

4.1.10 Question 10: Students’ opinions on vocabulary instruction 65

4 1.11 Question 11: Which role of context should be taught to students 67

4.2.1 Question 1: Factors can help students to comprehend the text better 68 4.2.2 Question 2: The most important thing teachers should do to help

students get success in vocabulary instruction 69 4.2.3 Question 3: The importance of context in guessing meaning of

4.2.4 Question 4 What students do when they find a new word 71 4.2.5 Question 5: Difficulties students encounter when reading

4.2.6 Question 6: Ways students apply to learn vocabulary effectively 73 4.2.7 Question 7: Techniques students should employ to guess

meaning of unknown words 74 4.2.8 Question 8: How often teachers use different techniques

4.3.1 Analysis of techniques teachers applied in vocabulary

4.3.2 Analysis of the number of words presented in each lesson 82 4.3.3 Analysis of the selection of words presented in each lesson 83

5.1.1.1 Finding suitable ways to teach vocabulary to students 87 5.1.1.2 Helping students become confident with new words and new texts 88 5.1.1.3 Continuing to acquire knowledge of linguistics, developmental

stages of and instructional practices that enhance word knowledge

5.2.2.2 Dealing with unknown words when reading 92

APPENDIX 4: CLASSROOM OBSERVATION SHEET 114

APPENDIX 5: CLASSROOM OBSERVATION REPORT CLASS 1 115

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Vocabulary as an Important Component of Reading 17 Figure 2: Limited vocabulary skills can limit vocabulary development 18

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.The objectives of the questionnaire for students 49 Table 3.The objectives of the questionnaire for teachers 50 Table 4 The time framework of the four classes 52 Table 5 Factors can help students to comprehend the text better 54 Table 6 The most important thing teachers should do to help

students get success in vocabulary instruction 56 Table 7 The importance is of context in guessing meaning of

Table 13 Techniques students apply when trying to guess meaning

Table 14 Students’ opinions on vocabulary instruction conducted

Table 15 Which role of context should be taught to students 67 Table16 Factors can help students to comprehend the text better 68 Table 17 The most important thing teachers should do to help

students get success in vocabulary instruction 70 Table18 The importance of context in guessing meaning of new words 70 Table 19 What students do when they find a new word 71 Table 20 Difficulties students encounter when reading a text in

the textbook 72 Table 21 The ways students apply to learn vocabulary effectively 73 Table 22 Techniques students learn to guess meaning of unknown

Table 28 The number of words presented in each lesson 82

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.7 Background to the study

According to Baumamn and Kameenui (1991) words are the tools we use to access our background knowledge, express ideas, and learn about new concepts Students’ word knowledge is linked closely to academic success Success in reading comprehension is usually seen as fundamental to the academic success of foreign language learners Second language proficiency often assumes vocabulary and grammar as knowledge and reading as the ability to understand the text (Koda, 2005) Research consistently reveals that vocabulary knowledge heavily relates to reading comprehension more so than other factors such as grammar knowledge (Koda, 1989; Qian, 1999) Laufer (1997:20) has written, “No text comprehension is possible, either in one native language or in a foreign language, without understanding the text’s vocabulary Hence, without understanding the meaning of words, second language readers may have a hard time developing comprehension Consequently, vocabulary seems to be an important factor in reading comprehension (Richard & Rodgers, 2001) The stronger the vocabulary knowledge the EFL student has, the better reading comprehension the reader will achieve (Mecartty, 2000) Laufer (1997) indicates that it is not possible to achieve comprehension, either for native speakers or second language learners, without understanding the vocabulary in the text Laufer further claims that second language reading comprehension is affected by vocabulary alone The breath of vocabulary knowledge is usually presented as vocabulary size, which refers to the numbers of the words that second language learners know, rather than emphasizing

on how well learners know given words Anderson, R.C & Freebody, P.(1981) also

find that word knowledge is crucial to reading comprehension, and determines how well students will be able to comprehend the texts they read in the upper elementary grades, in middle and high school, and in college Although it is true that comprehension is far more than recognizing words and remembering their meanings, it is also true that if a reader does not know the meanings of a sufficient proportion of the words in the text, comprehension is impossible

Laufer and Sim (1985) show that FL learners seem to rely more on vocabulary meaning than on knowledge of the subject or syntax This means that a certain size of vocabulary has to be known to the learners before they can approach

a text comfortably As such, vocabulary learning and teaching must be an important part in the L2 classroom have examined the use of direct teaching including teaching vocabulary learning strategies as one of the means of promoting the development of L2 vocabulary knowledge As a matter of fact, it has been suggested that one way to increase the speed of learning vocabulary of a second or

a foreign language or a foreign language is to teach learners how to learn vocabulary more efficiently and effectively Graves (2000) states that if students want to be successful in understanding unfamiliar vocabulary in their reading, they need to learn about words not simply acquire new words Instruction that supports independent vocabulary learning strategies shows students how to determine the meaning of unfamiliar vocabularies On the whole, independent vocabulary learning strategies are procedures that teachers can model and teach explicitly to students to show them how to determine the meaning of unknown vocabularies Additionally, teaching vocabulary learning strategies directly can help students become better independent vocabulary learners (Baumann, Edwards & Kameenui, 2003; Blachowicz & Fisher, 2000; NRP, 2000) Therefore, vocabulary instruction plays an important role in reading comprehension A study on how to help students overcome trouble in dealing with unknown words in a reading passage should be carried down to find solutions to these problems

1.8 Rationale of the study

Students at Truong Dinh High school (TDHS) do have difficulties learning English especially when reading They often confide that not only vocabulary but also reading is the thing that makes them frustrated most when learning English However, they forget the words they learn very quickly for the reason that students do not know effective way to master vocabulary High school students study vocabulary by reading the words aloud and writing them down on a piece

of paper again and again They often learn the words in isolation not in context and they pay much attention to Vietnamese meaning of the words rather than how

to use the words in specific context In addition to this, vocabulary instruction being presented at high school is rather old Teachers pay much attention to word meaning rather than how the word is used in different context or how to figure out the meaning of a new word when reading (this can be seen in frequency of techniques applied in vocabulary instruction in reading comprehension) Teachers tend to give list of words and Vietnamese equivalents at the beginning of a reading period Teachers just focus on how to help students understand the content of the reading text Therefore, they sometimes translate the text into Vietnamese, which made students passive and dependent on teachers As a result

of this, the knowledge students get is not systematical, but somewhat mechanical This makes students bored in the learning process Teachers should motivate students in learning by providing them with suitable learning strategies when dealing with a reading text, e.g teaching students to deal with unknown words For this reason, it is necessary to carry out a study to find out what difficulties students and teachers face when dealing with vocabulary in reading comprehension and how vocabulary instruction can assist students to perform better in reading comprehension

1.9 Problem statement

Reading comprehension is one of the four language skills which require the teachers and learners to invest more time and energy to develop Difficulties are often experienced by teachers when teaching English as a foreign language when reading is involved Reading materials may be too difficult in terms of level, they may lack excitement, or some may be nothing more than texts on pages

Reading is such an important skill that learners need to spend time practicing

it Reading can provide “comprehensive input” as it leads to language acquisition

It can also enhance learners’ language competence In addition, it increases the students’ exposure to the language as well as knowledge of vocabulary Besides, reading can lead to improvement in writing At the same time reading can consolidate previously learned language

When learning a foreign language, reading comprehension is important as it contains elements that link the other three skills: listening, speaking, and writing In order to understand foreign language, learners should be well-trained in classes However, there are factors leading to passive learning First, learners think reading

is boring and time consuming Second, they treat reading as a simple task of understanding all the words in the passage, so they ignore other functions of reading Third, they acquire reading passively from textbook, not actively in combination with other skills At last, they hesitate to apply what they have learnt into practice For the above factors, learners often have difficulty in learning reading comprehension So do my students at high school

In fact, students have difficulty understanding the reading passage because they lack the ability to deal with unknown words in the text Students tend to translate words by words into Vietnamese before doing the reading tasks It is no good learning English like that, particularly in reading comprehension In reality, people read because they want to obtain the necessary information Therefore, in some cases, people just pay much attention to the main ideas or gist For example,

when reading an advertisement in a paper or a notice on board, they just read the main point, not read all the words

As a teacher of English at high school and with the observation on the students’ learning process and their test performance’s scores, the researcher sees that students know very little of how to deal with unfamiliar words in a reading passage and they have limited amount of vocabulary For this reason, they are often confused when doing reading comprehension test They also feel bored when learning reading and pay less attention to reading than to other language skills In order to help them get over their problems in reading comprehension, the researcher spends time studying vocabulary instruction in reading comprehension

to find out the major problems related to this aspect and suggest solutions to these problems

Some researches about aspects of reading have been done They do contribute a lot to the effectiveness of teaching reading concerning different aspects

of learners But more aspects of reading still wait ahead for further research Therefore, the researcher continues the work of former researchers

1.4 Significance to the study

Vocabulary, which consists of the knowledge of meaning as the main component of a language, should be taught together with reading, structure and conversation Vocabulary is also a means of communication One can not always communicate without using words conveys their thoughts, especially in written form So vocabulary should be part of a reading course because one needs the mastery of vocabulary to comprehend the reading passage

In learning English people can not only master one skill Language is the integration of the four skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing Language

learners have to master all of these skills However, reading is important as it can help develop the other language skills

The effectiveness of vocabulary instruction for foreign language learners has been reviewed in several studies However, the reviews of vocabulary instruction in reading comprehension research focus on ESL and EFL learners are fewer in number This research will give some useful information about vocabulary instruction in reading comprehension It also finds out students’ problems in dealing with vocabulary as well as how students employ vocabulary techniques in reading This study focuses on students’ problems to help them get over the obstacles to achieve English proficiency

Hopefully, the result of this study is useful for students and teachers The result will be used:

 For the researcher

By doing the research, the researcher hopes to study and get more attention

to identifying the problems of vocabulary instruction in reading comprehension Then she offers suggestions to solve these problems

 For the students

They can identify their problems in vocabulary instruction in reading comprehension They can also increase their ability in guessing the meaning of unknown words when reading

 For the teachers

This study is expected to provide teachers with students’ problems about vocabulary in reading comprehension, in which the teachers will help their students overcome their problems Teachers of English can use the result of the study as a reference in teaching reading comprehension so that the objectives of English teaching program (especially reading goals) can be achieved much more easily

1 5 Aims of the study

Vocabulary learning plays a key role in language acquisition, whether the language is first, second or foreign There is now a general agreement among vocabulary experts that lexical competence is at the center of communicative competence (Coady & Huckin, 1997) This can be realized by the very fact that it is closely related to all language skills For example, it is not only related to proficiency in L2 listening (Chang, 2007; Nation, 2006; Smidt & Hegelheimer, 2004), but also to L2 writing (Coxhead & Byrd, 2007) Moreover, the results of several other attempts show that vocabulary knowledge most assuredly highly correlates highly with proficiency in L2 reading (Chung & Nation, 2003) Most researchers believe second language learners have difficulty understanding reading texts because of the limited breath of their vocabulary (Laufer, 1998; Richard & Rodgers, 2001; Schmitt, 2000) Nation (2001) believes students’ reading comprehension will improve when their known words increase Yet, students often have trouble with unfamiliar words ion reading comprehension In this study, the researcher would like to focus on finding what difficulties students usually meet when encountering unknown words in reading and from that point, she would like

to bring out some effective strategies to help students overcome their problems To help students deal with unfamiliar words in reading comprehension, this study focuses on the following main points:

 Find out problems in vocabulary instruction in reading comprehension

 Suggest solutions to problems in vocabulary instruction in reading comprehension

In this study, the researcher wants to find out problems students have in learning reading comprehension and suggest solutions to help them develop suitable learning strategies in reading comprehension The researcher aims to help students overcome obstacles in learning reading so that they can have motivation in

learning which is one of the key factors influence the rate and success in foreign language learning

1 6 Limitations

The researcher chooses 11th graders at TDHS in Tien Giang province as sample for the research Students in Grade 10 or Grade 12 are out of the scope of this study

Of all the textbooks, English 11 is used as the main tool to carry on the study

There are some limitations in this study due to the limited time This study should widely examine all the students at TDHS as well as at the other schools in Tien Giang province instead of students in grade 11 at TDHS There is a need to find out problems of vocabulary instruction in reading comprehension of students

at high schools The problems discovered in this study may also exist in other high schools Therefore, further research should be done in wider scope to help make the problems clear

1.7 Study setting

1.7.1 The school

Located in Go Cong town (North of Tien Giang province) and named after the hero in the struggle against the French colonists, Truong Dinh high school (TDHS) is rather famous in Tien Giang province as well as in the South of Viet Nam Founded in 1960 with only two classes: one for boys and one for girls, TDHS now has forty classes: 13 classes for grade 12, 14 classes for grade 11, and 13 classes for grade 10 Since then, the school has gained a lot of achievements Teachers and students at TDHS are proud of their long tradition: good teaching and

studying In spite of the hardship of living in the small town far from Ho Chi Minh City, the students always try their best in studying

1.7.2 Syllabus

1.7.2.1 Aims and objectives of the syllabus

The aim of English 11 is to give further training in the four language skills:

speaking, listening, reading, and writing According to the group of authors who designed the series of English textbook, more emphasis is placed on the development of the student’s reading skill with the purpose to introduce students to the world of facts and ideas

1.7.2.2 The content of the syllabus

The English textbooks at high school consist of 16 units classified into 6 major themes: You and Me, Education, Community, Nature, Recreation, People and Places

The reading passage in each unit aims to provide students with knowledge of surrounding things, current issues in our world, ideas related to their future… The authors want to supply basic knowledge for students so that they can cope with the modern world

1.7.2.3 The construction of the textbooks

The English 11 is organized in the same format as English 10 and English 12

with 16 units, each of which is composed of five lessons as follows

 Lesson 1: reading which helps students develop the reading skills such as scanning, skimming, reading for gist and so on The reading passage provides

students with language items related to the theme to help students continue studying the other skills in each unit

 Lesson 2: speaking which helps students develop their ability to use the language in communication

 Lesson 3: listening which aims at developing students’ listening skills: intensive listening, extensive listening, listening for specific information, listening for gist …

 Lesson 4: writing which supplies knowledge of English and its use through communicative and writing activities

 Lesson 5: language focus which has two sub-parts: pronunciation (helping students practice pronouncing sounds, words, sentences, stress…) and grammar (providing students with activities to reinforce the new language items they have learned)

After three units, there are test-yourself tests which give sample tests to help students consolidate the language they have learned These tests are constructed to help student themselves value their performance after certain duration of studying, which is also the best way for students to systematize their language

1.7.2.4 Time allocation

For English 11, each unit is taught in five periods, each of which lasts 45

minutes including one period for each lesson in each unit For test-yourself test at the end of each three units, time allocation is two periods for English 11 Time allocation for test yourself is more than that for each lesson in one unit because the author aims to help students have more time to consolidate what they have learned

1.7.2.5 Methods being used in teaching English at high schools

Teaching English in high school nowadays is different from that in the past The integration of four language skills is highly valued Teachers aim to develop

students’ grammatical knowledge as well as communicative knowledge Learners play an important role in the learning process The learner-centered approach and communicative approach are applied in teaching English at high school These methods aim to help students develop their communicative ability, which is not easy to acquire, especially to foreign language learners The biggest disadvantage is that English is a foreign language and we do not have the environment to use the language in everyday communication High school students also pay more attention

to grammar rather than communicative competence, especially when learning reading comprehension; they have a tendency to translate the reading passage into their mother tongue, which is unnatural in the process of learning a foreign language Translation also slows down the reading speed of students and sometimes they can not get the correct main ideas or the writer’s points of view Some teachers still apply traditional methods in teaching vocabulary; they simply give a list of new words and their equivalent meaning, which hinders student in comprehension

as well as developing the ability to deal with unknown words in reading comprehension (see table 27) It is certain that reading comprehension plays an important part in the process of learning a foreign language Among the key factors leading to success in reading is vocabulary knowledge More attention should be paid to effective vocabulary instruction so that students can make progress in reading comprehension

1.7.2.7 Students’ profile

Half of the students at TDHS come from the countryside or rural areas Their houses are far from school so they have to live in boarding houses In junior secondary school they did not have chances to study the language properly because

of their schools’ lack of modern facilities Besides, they do not have the opportunity or the environment to use English in reality They also do not have suitable methods to learn the language Some of them lack the basic knowledge of

English For these reasons students find it difficult to be good at English Although they want to study English better, they do not know how to overcome their difficulties in learning English especially in reading comprehension

The students chosen in this study were eleven graders of the school year 2008.2009 They were eager to take part in the research to find out their problems

in learning The data collected from the questionnaire can help the researcher have

an insight into vocabulary instruction in reading comprehension at high school

1.8 Organization of the study

The final project is divided into five chapters, as follows

The first chapter is Introduction In this chapter, background to the study, rationale of the study, problem statement, significance to the study, aims of the study, limitations, study setting, and organization of the study are discussed

The second chapter presents the review of literature which contains theories underlying the writing of this study They are teaching vocabulary in reading comprehension, overview of the place of vocabulary in foreign language teaching, correlation between vocabulary and reading comprehension, need for vocabulary instruction, perspectives on vocabulary instruction, principles of teaching and learning vocabulary, and guessing meaning of unknown words

The third chapter is Methodology It discusses the methodology being used, research questions, research design, and data collection procedure

The fourth chapter includes an analysis and discussion on the findings provided by the questionnaires from the teachers and students, and classroom observation analysis

The fifth chapter based on the findings in the previous chapter, then suggestions about changes in teaching high schools are made, a conclusion and some recommendation for further research are also included in this chapter

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Overview of the place of vocabulary in foreign language teaching

Many approaches have been advocated and used in the teaching of foreign languages Great deal of research has been carried out in this area by linguists and educationalists in order to solve the different problems that face people learning a foreign language In the course of time, this has given rise to different approaches and methods to language teaching such as the Grammar Translation Method, the Direct Method, the Reading Method, the Audio-lingual Method, the situational Method, and the Communicative approach

Teaching English varied from time to time to meet the need of learners as well as to keep pace with the development of the modern society Different teaching methods have different points of view of vocabulary instruction

Grammar translation method pays much attention to the mother tongue with little active use of the target language, and much vocabulary is taught in the forms

of lists of isolated words On the contrary, the Direct Method highly values the target language which is the only means to fulfill vocabulary instruction

Audio-lingual Method focuses on dialog form and vocabulary is strictly limited and learned in context

The Natural Approach aims at communication skills, that is, everyday language situations There is a silent period in the learning process so that students can feel confident in leaning

Communicative Language Teaching tends to develop communicative competence rather than linguistic competence Vocabulary instruction is carried out

in relation to means of context as well as suitable techniques to help make students

interested in the learning process This method also aims to help students acquire good knowledge of word to well perform when reading

Around the 1930’s, the Reading Method (in the U.S.A.) and Situational Language Teaching (in Great Britain) were aimed at the development of reading skills In Great Britain, Michael West (1930: 514) stressed the need to facilitate the reading skill by improving vocabulary skills He states that “the primary thing in learning a language is the acquisition of a vocabulary, and practicing using it.”

The view that saw vocabulary as mainly a problem of grading and selection in the teaching of foreign language largely dominated up to the 1960’s at that time, the emergence of different works dealing with word lists had a great success

In the early 1970’s, there was a widespread reaction against the methods that stressed the teaching of grammatical forms and paid little attention to the way language is used in everyday situations The decline in emphasis on vocabulary learning was accelerated by movement in linguistics that concentrated on phonology, morphology, and syntax with a corresponding neglect of semantics Therefore, around the 1970’s, we started to take care of the word and insist that it has to be learned in “context” Semantics started to play a very important role in the teaching of vocabulary; we have even started to regard vocabulary as a skill that should not be subsumed by other aspects of language An inspiration seemed to emerge with the advancement of notional syllabuses: notions, topics and setting seemed to bring a new life for the word Wilkins (1972) deplored the neglect of vocabulary in the period dominated by the Audio-lingual Approaches, and wrote that “if without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” A concern also developed to make foreign language

“communicative” by focusing on learners’ knowledge of the functions of language and their ability to use them in specific situations

The communicative approach assumes that learning a foreign language requires the acquisition of the linguistic means to perform different kinds of

functions It was primarily designed to meet the need of adult learners and people engaged in academic, cultural, technical, and economic activities

Around the 1980’s, researchers started to claim the importance of vocabulary in foreign language learning Studies confirm that learners feel the lexical deficit as the major problem in their reading and that the need to understand can explain their fascination for lexis

As a matter of fact, the acquisition of lexis has become a question of interest to applied-linguists only since the 1980’s Meara (1980) was among the first researcher who stressed the importance of vocabulary acquisition in language learning He states that this was the neglected part of language teaching

The position in the early 1990’s is that lexis has been unduly neglected in the past, and is due to a re-evaluation The lexical approach to second/foreign language teaching has received interest as a complement to grammar-based approaches The lexical approach concentrates on developing learners’ proficiency with lexis, or words and word combination

In other words, the place of vocabulary in foreign language teaching has been highly valued gradually with the development of different methods in language teaching Nowadays, vocabulary is considered as one of the important components that helps make language learners succeed in the process of learning a foreign language

2.2 Teaching vocabulary in reading comprehension

Reading is one important skill in learning a language It is also a means of recreation and enjoyment At the same time it enlarges knowledge and improves vocabulary stock of readers

In order to develop reading skill it is necessary to read many kinds of reading materials Students should not only develop their reading skill through

formal education and assignment in various school textbooks, but also read fiction, free reading books, newspapers and magazines

Although people read many kinds of reading materials and have interest in reading, actually they do similar things; e.g decoding the meaning of word by word They try to catch the meaning or the idea of the text It means that they do not only interact with the written symbols, but they also use the knowledge to catch the meaning, to obtain the information in the reading text

The goal of reading for students is to understand or comprehend the material

of the test because reading comprehension is a bridge to understand written texts they read The ability of the students in reading is very important because by having the ability to read, they will be able to improve their knowledge in many fields of study Therefore, reading is considered to be a key to success for anyone who wants to be an educated person

Vocabulary and reading have a correlation to each other Good vocabulary knowledge leads to good comprehension The more words the learners acquire, the more they understand the reading passage Reading in a foreign language is rather difficult as there is a gap in students’ knowledge of the two languages There is a variety of reasons leading to students’ problems in reading comprehension such as lack of vocabulary knowledge, insufficient reading strategies, and lack of world knowledge

2.3 Correlation between vocabulary and reading comprehension

Educators and researchers have long known that there is a strong relation between vocabulary and reading comprehension Children who know more words understand text better Words are taught to help students understand what they read The skill found to be most related to the ability to comprehend the text was the knowledge of word meanings So teaching of reading should include a vocabulary-building component to improve the ability of students what they read There is a

direct causality between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension Word knowledge enables reading comprehension Knowing the meaning of words in a text is the necessary and sufficient condition for understanding that text

Vocabulary is the knowledge of word meanings (Shanahan, 2005) The depth of a person’s vocabulary is particularly important for their ability to comprehend reading material (NAEP, 2008) Countless studies have shown vocabulary is an essential element of understanding what we read (see Figure 1) (NAEP, 2008)

Figure 1 Vocabulary as an Important Component of Reading

Taken from California Department of Education, 2007

Vocabulary helps reading comprehension and reading improves vocabulary According to McShane (2005) reading is one way of improving your vocabulary Meanings are understood when they are experienced in a variety of context The recycle that presents itself is one where the person with low vocabulary skills often does not read Without frequent and broad reading, vocabulary development is

limited Those adults who have not completed secondary school or other related subjects do not possess the background knowledge that is needed to comprehend certain words (i.e, the contextual knowledge)

school-Figure 2 Limited vocabulary skills can limit vocabulary development

Reading comprehension efficiently helps readers to improve their vocabulary The more they would read extensively and the more ideas and words would be generated, which ultimately helps in the development of vocabulary of the target language The development of reading habit is very essential amongst the student from the very start; once it is developed at primary level, it brings positive and effective change and improvement in the vocabulary development of the students

There are four possible factors that may contribute to the connection between vocabulary development and reading comprehension The first is an underlying aptitude for verbal learning Students who can quickly grasp meaning of new words will be able to comprehend new text using the same skills Second, students learnt to access their prior knowledge of words meanings to help them understand new text Third, the more they know the words in context, the better

they comprehend the texts Fourth, students who thoroughly understand a word’s meaning also understand many ideas related to that word

In summary, there is a connection between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension Students who know more the meaning of words perform better on reading comprehension tests If teachers can teach the more words to the students, they will be able to comprehend increasingly difficult texts

2.4 Need for vocabulary instruction

Research links vocabulary knowledge with reading comprehension Vocabulary is, in fact, an integral part of reading and comprehending Rupley, Logan and Nichols (1995:5) state that “Vocabulary is the glue that holds stories, ideas and content together and that it facilitates making comprehension accessible” Laflamme (1997:1) feels more seeing that “researchers have acclaimed vocabulary knowledge as the single most important factor in reading comprehension” According to these authors, and in addition to comprehension, vocabulary knowledge increases reading skills Ediger (1999:1) discovers that “One reason that learners do not read well is that they do not possess a functional vocabulary for reading”

In view of what has been stated above, it can be stated that reading fluency and text comprehension necessitate vocabulary instruction and vocabulary recognition

The scientific research on vocabulary instruction reveals that most vocabulary is learned indirectly and some vocabulary must be learned directly This research is based on how children learn vocabulary in their native language It proposes that the vast majority of vocabulary words are learned gradually through repeated exposures in various discourse contexts Consequently, Nagy and Herman (1987) argue that ‘teachers should promote extensive reading because it can lead to

greater vocabulary growth than any program of explicit instruction alone ever could”

Krashen (1989:454), a proponent of extensive reading and who analyzes the results of 144 studies to provide evidence for the superiority of the input hypothesis, contends that “language learners acquire vocabulary and spelling most efficiently by receiving comprehensible input while reading” Other evidence can

be seen in a study carried out by Grabe and Stoller (in Coady J and Huckin, T., 1997:228) which describes an attempt to Portuguese by extensive reading Their theory was that “Many exposures of different intensives would gradually lead to a large recognition vocabulary” They conclude that reading and vocabulary abilities

do develop as a result of extensive reading practice

To sum up, vocabulary instruction is necessary to reading comprehension Without appropriate techniques to deal with unknown words, students can not figure out the meaning of new words, which hinder them in reading comprehension

2.5 Perspectives on vocabulary instruction

2.5.1 Definition of vocabulary

Preece (1936:1655) claims that “vocabulary” means a list of words with their meanings, glossary, some of words used in a language or particular books or a branch of science

Charles (1971:71) defined “vocabulary as a stock or supply of words that a person uses or understands even if he does not use them in oral or written communication or in reading”

Vocabulary is the knowledge of words and word meanings As Steven Stahl (2005) puts it, “Vocabulary knowledge is knowledge; the knowledge of a word not only implies a definition, but also implies how that word fits into the world”

From the statements above the writer concluded that vocabulary is a list or a series of words that is used to express the idea or in other meaning it is used for general communication

2.5.2 Vocabulary learning process

For incidental learning to be applied successfully, learners must become proficient at guessing meaning from context However, context guessing requires that learners already understand a sufficient number of the words in a text for them

to be able to make judgments about unknown words Nation proposes that if more than 1 in 20 words are unknown, guessing will probably be unsuccessful, and optimally, learners should know 98% of the words in a text (1 in 50 unknown) (2001:233) Laufer’s threshold vocabulary also implies that guessing from context with an un-simplified text requires an understanding of the most frequent 3,000 words

While guessing from context successfully is dependent on having a vocabulary sufficiently large enough to enable correct guessing to take place, there will also come a point at the other extreme when it becomes unnecessary, simply because the learners already know the words Indeed, proficient readers have been shown to use context guessing less than less-skilled learners for just this reason, and those who do make use of this strategy have been shown to guess meanings correctly only in 50% of cases (Walter, 2003)

For lower-level learners then, acquiring a large sight vocabulary must be regarded as imperative Rote-learning and regular rehearsal of words may be unfashionable, according to Read (2004:148), but they will offer greater gains for these learners than incidental learning Nation and Waring (1997:11-12) also support the use of vocabulary cards to provide an initial stage for learning a large number of words in a short period of time A further way to help expand vocabulary, which, unlike the previous methods, could be continued into higher

levels of proficiency, is to raise awareness of word families Even from a beginner’s level, learners could be taught inflected or derived forms of the target word to improve knowledge of the inter-relatedness of vocabulary

Discouraging learners from viewing unknown words as isolated semantic problems is best begun while they are still at a relatively low level, confirms McCarthy (1984:16) Lexical sets and collocations are examples of activities which promote paradigmatic and syntagmatic knowledge, thus deepening learners’ understanding of lexical items Sökmen (1997:242) advises using these, and other

‘deep’ methods, such as verbalizing thoughts on the definitions and nuances of words, to provide “richer encoding”, which will help students to learn better than if they had simply memorized a definition Ellis (1997:138) cites a summary of almost one hundred studies which demonstrated that exposing learners to words in multiple contexts greatly enhanced their comprehension in later reading activities

As mentioned above, ‘knowing’ lexical items requires understanding on many levels It is only by repeatedly encountering a word that a full appreciation of its uses can develop It has been estimated that 5-16 encounters with a word are necessary for acquisition to take place (Nation, 1990, cited in Sökmen, 1997:241-242) Teachers then, must allow vocabulary recycling to occur in class (Schmitt (2000:136)), whether this is through expanded vocabulary activities or regular review of vocabulary notebooks Reviewing words soon after they have studied then at increasing intervals has been shown to aid retention (Schmitt, 2000:130) This method, known as ‘expanded rehearsal’, could easily be introduced by teachers and then encouraged as an independent leaning strategy

Finally, once learners have reached an appropriate level, the bulk of vocabulary learning should take place in context, i.e incidentally The only true test of vocabulary learning is whether or not a lexical item is understood when the learner’s attention is on the meaning of the whole text, rather than on that particular item Although Nation (2001:238) concedes that experiments in learning from context have only shown small gains in vocabulary, extensive reading will clearly

increase those gains Put simply, “people who read more know more vocabulary” (Ellis, 1997:134)

Vocabulary learning process is rather complex because explicit vocabulary instruction can not cover the same number of forms as incidental learning Therefore, learners should learn words from context and repeated encounters

2.5.3 What information is necessary to ‘know’ a word?

Learning vocabulary is a complex process The students’ aim to be reached

in learning vocabulary process is primarily their ability to recall the word at will and to recognize it in its spoken and written form It is important for learners to recognize that there is more to ‘knowing’ a word than checking its definition in a dictionary Teachers need to emphasize that vocabulary learning is an incremental, ongoing process, and that learners will be able to improve their understanding of words by encountering them repeatedly

Generally, knowing a word involves knowing its form and its meaning at the basic level In deeper aspects it means the abilities to know it (Harmer, 1993): 1) Meaning, i.e relate the word to an appropriate object or context

2) Usage, i.e knowledge of its collocations, metaphors and idioms, as well as style and register (the appropriate level of formality), to be aware of any connotations and associations the word might have

3) Word formation, i.e ability to spell and pronounce the word correctly, to know any derivations (acceptable prefixes and suffixes),

4) Grammar, i.e to use it in the appropriate grammatical form

A distinction that is commonly made regarding word knowledge is over the productive uses of lexical items As Carter (2000:191) notes, “Comprehending a word is not the same as producing a word” It is one skill to be able to understand a word when it is heard or read, but quite another to be able to use it in spoken or written form

In Laufer’s (1998) study of vocabulary development in Israel high school students, productive knowledge was further subdivided into two parts Controlled productive knowledge can be accessed when prompted by a task, but free productive knowledge is used spontaneously, without prompting This is an important point, since learners who are being prompted to use a particular word are being provided with a context, and are therefore not exhibiting complete control of

a lexical item unaided It is only when items are used appropriately without any prompting that a teacher can be sure that an item has been fully acquired

Vygotsky (1986:6) claims that “a word without meaning is an empty sound,

no longer a part of human speech Nation (2001:26) presents a word knowledge framework suggesting that a person’s knowledge of a word should be both receptive and productive, “to cover all aspects of what is involved in knowing a word” According to him, there are nine aspects of knowing a word that include form, meaning and use as follows:

9 Word usage constraints; appropriateness

Henriksen (1999) proposes three components in vocabulary development:

1 Partial to precise knowledge

2 Depth of knowledge

3 Receptive to productive ability

As indicated, l2 readers need to develop both receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge and to increase their vocabulary size “When readers

increase their vocabulary size, their use of language skills implicitly increases and their knowledge of the world becomes broader” (Huang, 1999:43) A larger vocabulary enhances other language skills of L2 learners Language learners must acquire as much vocabulary as possible in order to effectively read in the language (Bernhardt & Kamil, 1995)

Word knowledge can be thought of as encompassing three elements: the word’s form, meaning and use Knowledge of form might include phonological and orthographical form as well as any recognizable word parts Beyond the word’s definition as given in a dictionary, meaning also encompasses connotation and synonyms Using the word requires an understanding of appropriate grammatical function, common collocations, appropriation in different contexts and frequency

of use

2.5.4 How should vocabulary be learned?

The communicative approach to learning which became popular in the 1970s emphasized a naturalistic, incidental approach to vocabulary learning Sökmen argued that unconscious acquisition, through natural communication, was the only possible way to acquire a language (Sökmen 1997:237) (Griffiths and Parr 2001:249) Word meanings could be understood from context and repeated encounters would help to improve the depth of understanding of each word, as well

as aiding retention

There is much to be said for naturalistic learning which provides a rich diet

of comprehensible input Firstly, this approach closely matches our L1 learning experience, and appeals to our sense of a ‘normal’ way of learning – there is no memorization of word lists or other rote learning Furthermore, the sheer number

of words to be learned, as well as those with multiple meanings, also suggests a primary role for incidental learning (Nagy 1997:71-72) Paribakht and Wesche (1997:175) noted that explicit vocabulary instruction cannot cover the same number