TÌM HIỂU về sử DỤNG các kỹ THUẬT dạy từ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH CHO học SINH lớp 10 tại các TRƯỜNG TRUNG học PHỔ THÔNG ở HUẾ

- Clarify the teachers’ as well as students’ perceptions on the implementation of vocabulary teaching techniques in teaching English language skills to grade 10students at upper secondar

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Pages

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 5

LIST OF TABLES 6

LIST OF FIGURES 7

ABSTRACT 8

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 9

1.0 Overview 9

1.3 Research Questions 12

1.4 Scope of the Research 12

1.5 Significance of the Research 12

1.6 Organization of the research 13

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 14

2.0 Overview 14

2.1 Previous Studies Related to the Research 14

2.2 Clarification of Basic Concepts 16

2.2.1 Vocabulary 16

2.2.2 Teaching Techniques 16

2.3 The Complicated Nature of Vocabulary Knowledge 17

2.5 The Relationship between Vocabulary Teaching and Language Skill Lessons 17

2.5.1 Stages of a Language Skill Lesson 17

2.5.2 The Role of Vocabulary Teaching in Language Skill Lessons 18

2.6 Procedures for Presenting Vocabulary in Language Skill Lessons 18

2.7 Selecting Vocabulary to Be Taught at Pre-stage of Language Skill Lessons 20 2.8 An Overview of Vocabulary Teaching Techniques 22

2.8.1 Definition 22

2.8.2 Synonym 23

2.8.3 Antonym 23

2.8.4 Hyponym 23

2.8.5 Vocabulary Network/ Word Association 23

2.8.6 Situation/ Context 24

2.8.7 Picture 25

2.8.8 Drawing 25

2.8.9 Translation 25

2.8.10 Realia/ Real Object 26

2.8.11 Mime/ Gesture 26

2.8.12 Word Roots and Affixes 26

2.9 About the Textbook Tieng Anh 10 28

2.9.1 Principles of Selection and Sequencing 28

2.9.2 Aims and Objectives of Tieng Anh 10 29

2.10 Summary 30

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 31

3.0 Overview 31

3.1 Research Approach 31

3.2 Participants 32

3.3 Materials and Procedures for Data Collections 32

3.3.1 The Questionnaires 32

3.3.2 The Interviews 33

3.3.3 The Class Observations 34

3.4 Data Analysis 34

3.5 Procedures 34

3.6 Summary 36

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 37

4.0 Overview 37

4.1 Findings 37

4.1.1 Teachers’ Points of View on Vocabulary Teaching Techniques to Grade 10 Students at Upper Secondary Schools in Hue 37

4.1.1.1 Teachers’ Perceptions of Vocabulary Teaching 37

4.1.1.2 Teachers’ Purposes of Pre-teaching Vocabulary 38

4.1.1.3 Teachers’ Reasons for Using Vocabulary Teaching Techniques 39

4.1.2 Teachers’ Use of Vocabulary Teaching Techniques 42

4.1.2.1 Language Skill Lessons to Which Teachers Apply Vocabulary Teaching Techniques 42

4.1.2.2 Teachers’ Choice of New Vocabulary Items to Teach 42

4.1.2.3 Teachers’ Precedures in Teaching Vocabulary 43

4.1.2.4 Frequency of Teachers’ Use of Vocabulary Teaching Techniques 44

4.1.3 Teachers’ Evaluation of the Effects of Vocabulary Teaching Techniques 48

4.1.3.1 The Importance of Vocabulary Teaching Techniques in Teachers’ English Teaching 48

4.1.3.2 Teachers’ Self Evaluation on Using Vocabulary Teaching Techniquesư 48

4.1.4 Students’ Attitudes towards the Teachers’ Vocabulary Teaching Techniques 49

4.1.4.1 Students’ Perceptions of Teachers’ Vocabulary Teaching 49

4.1.4.2 Students’ Evaluation on Teachers’ Current Vocabulary Teaching Techniques 50

4.1.4.3 Students’ Favorable Vocabulary Teaching Techniques 51

4.2 Discussion 52

4.2.1 Teachers’ Points of View on Vocabulary Teaching Techniques to Grade 10th Students at Upper Secondary Schools in Hue 52

4.2.2 Teachers’ Use of English Vocabulary Teaching Techniques 54

4.2.3 Teachers’ Evaluation of the Effects of Vocabulary Teaching Techniques 63

4.2.4 Students’ Attitudes towards the Teachers’ Vocabulary Teaching Techniques 64

4.3 Summary 67

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATION 68

5.0 Overview 68

5.1 A Summary of the Study 68

5.2 Teaching Implication 71

5.2.1 To Teachers 71

5.2.2 To Administrators 72

5.3 Contributions of the Study 73

5.4 Limitations 73

5.5 Suggestions for Further Research 74

5.6 Summary 74

REFERENCES 75 APPENDICES

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

LIST OF TABLES

Pages

Table 1 The Common Affixes in Tieng Anh 10 27

Table 2 Theme and Their Corresponding Units in Tieng Anh 10 29

Table 4.1 Teachers’ Reasons for Using Vocabulary Teaching Techniques 39

Table 4.2 Frequency of Teachers’ Use of Vocabulary Teaching Techniques 44

Table 4.3 The Importance of Vocabulary Teaching Techniques in Teachers’ English Teaching 48

Table 4.4 Students’ Evaluation on Teachers’ Current Vocabulary Teaching Techniques 50 Table 4.5 Students’ Favorable English Vocabulary Teaching Techniques 51

LIST OF FIGURES

Pages

Figure 4.1 Teachers’ Perceptions of Vocabulary Teaching 37 Figure 4.2 Teachers’ Purposes of Pre-teaching Vocabulary 38 Figure 4.3 Language Skill Lessons to Which Teachers Apply Vocabulary Teaching Techniques 42 Figure 4.4 Teachers’ Choice of New Vocabulary Items to Teach 43 Figure 4.5 Teachers’ Procedures in Teaching Vocabulary 43 Figure 4.6 Teachers’ Self Evaluation on Using Vocabulary Teaching Techniques 48 Figure 4.7 Students’ Perceptions of Teachers’ Vocabulary Teaching 49

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to find out how and to what extent teachers teaching English to grade 10 students at upper secondary schools in Hue deal with vocabulary teaching in their classes

For the above purpose, commonly used 13 techniques in language classes were discerned by reviewing the professional literature in the field of vocabulary teaching Based on the literature review, the data were collected from 180 students

of grade 10 and 16 teachers at upper secondary schools in Hue through the questionnaires, interviews and classroom observations The data collected were analyzed according to statistical frequency and percentage

The findings of the data analysis have shown that most of the teachers were aware of the importance of vocabulary teaching in the process of language acquisition They identified clearly the advantages as well as disadvantages of the vocabulary teaching techniques while teaching As a result, a wide range of vocabulary teaching techniques have existed and been exploited in English classes

of all four skills With regard to students’ attitudes towards their teachers’ vocabulary teaching techniques, students also asserted that most of their teachers’ current vocabulary teaching techniques were their favorable ones Nevertheless,

“hyponym” and “word roots and affixes” were two types of technique that their teachers seldom or even never use them in teaching vocabulary In addition, most of the students showed their wish to have attractive ways of teaching vocabulary from their teachers in every language skill lesson

On the basis of the research findings, some pedagogical implications related

to vocabulary teaching were proposed by the researcher to facilitate effective vocabulary teaching and learning at upper secondary schools in Hue Besides, limitations of the research and suggestions for further research were also included

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.0 Overview

This chapter presents the rationale of the study in which the background of the research and the reasons for the research are taken into account In addition, the aims, the objectives, the scope, the significance and the organization of the research are also given by the researcher

1.1 Rationale of the Research

English is an international language which serves as a language of diplomatic relations, trade, academic texts, reference materials and medium of several distinguished world media It is undeniable that English provides a powerful tool to access world scholarship Teaching and learning English are becoming popular in

most of the world nowadays

In Vietnam, English has been taught as a compulsory subject in the school curriculum As cited in Nguyen Loc (2005), in the survey of Vietnamese National Institute for Education Strategies and Curriculum Development, the proportion of pupils who study English at secondary school level in the country as a whole is 99,1% (French accounts for 0,6% and the rest percentage is for the other languages) It shows the demand for English which has been dramatically realized However, the quality of English teaching and learning in Vietnam has not necessarily improved (Ton Nu Nhu Huong, 2002) It is commonly heard criticism

of teachers that students’ language proficiency is terribly low although there is again equal dissatisfaction of students about their teachers’ ability of the English language In addition, due to students’ low language proficiency, teachers easily shift to the Vietnamese language during their teaching instead of using English instructions Consequently, the interpersonal skill in English is not enhanced in both teachers and students Commenting on this matter, Truong Thi My Van (2008) points out that the Vietnamese students’ passive learning habit resulting from the

traditional method discourages even the active students to contribute to the lesson unless they feel “safe” about what they are going to say For the passive students, the safest and the easiest way is to remain silent

Recently, it can be seen that government of Vietnam as well as the whole society have made great efforts to meet the demand of English in the era of integration and development As indicated by Tran Van Co (2006:1), “Since 1992 many teacher training workshops, courses and conferences have been conducted by outside Vietnamese organizations coming from New Zealand, Australia and the

UK Vietnamese English language teachers have opportunities to be trained new teaching techniques.”

Obviously, foreign language teaching techniques coming from Western countries can make new changes and remarkable improvements in teaching and learning of English However, the employment of new teaching techniques in the language classrooms among many Vietnamese teachers is still a challenge As Pham Hoa Hiep (1999: 3) strongly confirms: “For many teachers in Vietnam, the concept of adapting whatever aspect of the new methodology is appropriate to the Vietnamese context and using whatever new techniques seem to work with Vietnamese students has not been considered.” Accordingly, Harmer (2003) emphasizes that the problem is not with the methodology itself, or with ideas that it generates, but rather with how they are amended and adapted to feed the needs of the students who come into contact with them Furthermore, Tran Van Co (2006), concludes that although some achievements have been made, there are many problems in applying the new teaching techniques which foreign trainer teachers use or which are written in teaching methodological books into Vietnamese language classrooms

With the importing of the Communicative Language Teaching, vocabulary teaching techniques have also been introduced into Vietnamese classrooms It is, therefore, very significant for language teachers to find out how efficient vocabulary teaching techniques are used in order that they have appropriate teaching and guiding methods to help their students master new vocabulary Since a

good range of vocabulary could be a big potential so as to communicate clearly and successfully, it enriches both spoken and written language According to Richards (2000), vocabulary and lexical units are at the heart of learning and communication Indeed, vocabulary and lexical expressions can sustain a great deal of rudimentary communication without much support from other aspects of the language system

As a teacher of English, I have long perceived that students’ vocabulary knowledge is rather limited and students sometimes get difficulties in using or applying the vocabulary in reality This partly has great negative influences on their communicative competence That is the reason why the appropriate method in conducting the lesson in the classrooms should be considered Hence, it naturally raises the question: Why should language teachers take advantages of vocabulary teaching techniques to enable students to learn and acquire a new lexical base to get success in language learning?

Up to now, no research has been conducted on how effective that the vocabulary teaching techniques have shown themselves in the local setting - at secondary schools in Hue Thus, the researcher attempts to move from theory about vocabulary teaching techniques to reality in which these techniques are implemented This is the ground for the researcher’s interest in choosing the study:

“Exploring the Use of Vocabulary Teaching Techniques to Grade 10 Students

at Upper Secondary Schools in Hue” It is hoped to gain insights into these

techniques employment to draw out some possible pedagogic procedures in language teaching and learning at upper secondary school level

1.2 Aims of the Research

This research aims to:

- Have an insight into the theoretical basis of vocabulary teaching techniques and discuss their possible effects on English teaching and learning at upper secondary school level

- Clarify the teachers’ as well as students’ perceptions on the implementation

of vocabulary teaching techniques in teaching English language skills to grade 10students at upper secondary school in Hue

- Suggest some appropriate ways of teachers’ use of vocabulary teaching techniques in their teaching process for better English teaching as well as learning

1.3 Research Questions

In order to attain the above aims, the research tries to answer the following questions:

1 What are teachers’ points of view on English vocabulary teaching

techniques to grade 10 students at upper secondary schools in Hue?

2 What are grade 10 students’ attitudes toward the teachers’ English

vocabulary teaching techniques in language skill lessons at upper secondary schools

in Hue?

3 How are English vocabulary teaching techniques employed by teachers to

grade 10 students at upper secondary schools in Hue?

4 What are teachers’ evaluations of the effects of vocabulary teaching

techniques on their English teaching to grade 10 students at upper secondary schools in Hue?

5 What should be done to make the use of vocabulary teaching techniques to

grade 10 students at upper secondary school in Hue more effective?

1.4 Scope of the Research

Within the scope of this study, it is restricted to investigating the use of vocabulary teaching techniques to grade 10th students at secondary schools in Hue Namely, this research focuses on what vocabulary should be selected to teach, what techniques are adopted and adapted to teach vocabulary and how procedures of presenting vocabulary are conducted by teachers in charged of grade 10th at four upper secondary schools in Hue: Nguyen Truong To, Cao Thang, Phan Dang Luu and Thuan An

1.5 Significance of the Research

The research is conducted to explore the use of vocabulary teaching techniques to grade 10 students at upper secondary schools in Hue In theory, it hopes to contribute to the academic understanding of English teaching toward vocabulary In practice, the researcher desires to offer the education administrators a

solution to improve the quality of English teaching and learning at upper secondary school To Vietnamese teachers of English, the results of this study would make them conscious of the use of foreign teaching techniques in general and vocabulary teaching techniques in particular in teaching English as a foreign language To the researchers as EFL teachers, researching into vocabulary teaching techniques is a way to enhance her professional development She has looked for ways to help her students to learn English better for communication

1.6 Organization of the research

The thesis comprises five main chapters as follows:

Chapter 1 presents the rationale of the research in which the background of the research and the reasons for the research are clarified In addition, the aim of the research, research questions, research scope, significance of the research, and the organization of the research are mentioned

Chapter 2 reviews the related theories as theoretical background of the research and the previous researches related to the topic of this research

Chapter 3 is concerned with the issues such as participants - the population that the study focuses on, procedures of the research and instruments for data collection as well as explanation for the author’s utilizing of those instruments in the research are also given

Chapter 4 concentrates mainly on the data collected from questionnaires and

formal interviews for teachers and students In this chapter, the data collected will

be analyzed to answer the research questions of the research paper Then, a discussion is conducted based on the data collected

Chapter 5 summarizes the findings obtained from the study, draws the implications related to the issue of vocabulary teaching techniques, discusses the limitations of the study and puts forward some suggestions for further study in ELT

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 Overview

This chapter focuses on the theoretical background of the study It, therefore, firstly deals with previous studies related to the research Then, it presents some issues related to vocabulary teaching like vocabulary teaching techniques, the relationship between vocabulary teaching and language skill lessons, procedures for presenting vocabulary in language skill lessons and the ways to select vocabulary to be taught In addition, it also reviews the concept of vocabulary

Finally, the issues of the current textbook Tieng Anh 10 are described

2.1 Previous Studies Related to the Research

A number of studies have recently focused on understanding various aspects related to vocabulary teaching Language experts such as Nation (1974), Allen (1983), Gains and Redman (1986), Cross (1991), Murcia (1991), Ur (1996) have described a lot of different techniques of presenting new vocabulary These authors listed the techniques of teaching either the word meaning or the word form

Among the techniques of teaching the word meaning are visual techniques like the use of pictures, body actions, real objects and video; verbal techniques like definition, context, synonym, antonym, hyponym, translation and description Form teaching techniques focuses on the pronunciation or spelling of the word and includes techniques like the teacher’s modeling of the target word, chorus repetition, or the what-is-it technique proposed by Nation (1990) Cross (1991) also added audio techniques like imitation of sound or having learners listen to a tape-recording According to these authors, such proposed techniques are believed to be useful to introduce the target vocabulary for the first time of language lessons This point of view, in my opinion, is necessary for language teachers to be professional

in handling which technique is the most suitable for the particular situation in order

to have effective and interesting lessons In addition, Gains and Redman (1986) in

their book entitled “Working with Words”, asserted that a teacher who was not able

to make use of the vocabulary teaching techniques might feel severely handicapped

As far as vocabulary teaching techniques are concerned, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Anh (2006) in her graduation dissertation aimed at providing 10th grade teachers of English at some upper secondary schools in the central of Vietnam (Quoc Hoc, Dao Duy Tu, and Quang Trach Upper Secondary School) with some efficient activities that liven up their lessons as well as support the communicative approach Her research focused on investigating the effectiveness of 75 designed activities incorporated with vocabulary teaching techniques

Gashaw Nigussie Abtew (2008) was deeper into the vocabulary teaching techniques with his MA thesis in Addis Ababa University: “A Study on the Effectiveness of Teaching and Learning Vocabulary in Three Second Cycle Elementary Schools in Addis Ababa: Grade 8 in Focus” One of the results of the study indicated that among a wide range of vocabulary teaching techniques, teaching vocabulary through reading texts, synonym, antonym, translation and definition were the most commonly used techniques However, his study did not explore all the techniques of teaching vocabulary but concerned with only 6 techniques that he considered to be the most common used ones relevant to the level

of the sample population at that current time

My research, to some extent, can be seen as the follow-up to a pioneering research entitled “A Study on Pre-teaching Vocabulary in English Reading Class at Hue College of Foreign Languages” by Truong Thi Thu Thao (2006) in her BA graduation thesis As the titled suggested, the paper focused chiefly on techniques

of teaching vocabulay in pre-stage of the reading lessons However, there is also a questioning arising whether the same results can be achieved in English classes for learners of lower levels - grade 10 students at upper secondary schools in Hue

From the previous studies, it is obvious that those authors have dealt with various aspects concerned with vocabulary teaching However, there is yet a question arising that how effective the vocabulary teaching techniques have shown

themselves in the local setting - at upper secondary schools in Hue at the current time in all four language skill lessons: reading, speaking, listening, and writing

2.2 Clarification of Basic Concepts

2.2.1 Vocabulary

According to Hornby (1995), vocabulary is all the words that a person knows and uses (passive vocabulary and active vocabulary) Also, it is all the words in a particular language or the words that people use when they are talking about a particular subject

Saleh (1997: 60) emphasizes that vocabulary items are divided into two principal categories: concrete words and abstract words

- Concrete Word is a word whose the meaning can be perceived through

one or more of the five senses The meaning of concrete word can be pointed out by means of audio visual aids like realia, pictures, and demonstration

- Abstract Word is a word whose the meaning cannot generally be grasped

by virtue of the five senses The notions of abstract word are like thank and enjoy,

its can be shown by circumlocution or translation

2.3 The Complicated Nature of Vocabulary Knowledge

The genaral conception of FL/SL learners is that learning a word is assumed

as learning the form plus the meaning of the word Despite this simple conception, Schmitt (2000: 5) states that “the potential knowledge that can be known about a word is rich and complex.” According to Nation (1990), Schmitt (2000) and Wallace (1982), the following aspects are generally identified as elements of word knowledge: meaning, spelling, pronunciation, grammar, collocations, register,

associations and frequency

Basically, to be able to say ‘I know a word,’ one has to master all these components of word knowledge Practically, the acquisition of all these components seems to be too difficult As Cook (2001: 62) notes: “nobody completely knows every aspect of a word.” It should be stressed that at least they cannot necessarily be learned

at the same time The acquisition of all aspects is perhaps possible only through a long time of practice and interaction with the language In relation to this, Schmitt (2000, p.5) writes “vocabulary acquisition must be incremental.” However, it should be noticed that lack of the knowledge of all aspects does not seem to completely hinder the use of a word at least in receptive skills (listening and reading skills)

Nation (2000) appears to simplify the learning burden of a word when he classifies all those aspects into three fields: meaning, form and use It could be for this reason that textbooks and classroom teaching of vocabulary tend to emphasize

on these variables And more narrowly, Schmitt (2000) concludes that meaning is the most obvious kind of word knowledge However, the stress on meaning should not be at the expense of overlooking at the vitality of form (written and spoken) plus the actual use of the word

2.5 The Relationship between Vocabulary Teaching and Language Skill Lessons 2.5.1 Stages of a Language Skill Lesson

In language teaching and learning, methodologists point out that listening, speaking, reading, and writing are generally called the four language skills of the lessons Normally, speaking and writing are called the active/ productive skills and vice versa reading and listening, the passive/receptive skills

It is commonly seen that there are three main stages in each language skill lesson They are pre-stage, while-stage and post-stage This common instructional sequence is often found in many course books and teacher training courses such as

‘Planning Lessons and Courses’ by Woodward (2001) and ‘English Language Teaching Methodology’ by Nguyen Bang et al (2003)

Woodward (2001) points out that each language skill lesson follows a strict chronological frame and aims at raising learners’ awareness of and interest in a particular subject and introducing them to core vocabulary at ‘pre-stage’ For him, this pre-stage prepares students by getting them to think about the topic or situation before they read, listen and speak or write The next one is ‘while-stage’ where a series of activities that involve skills or sub-skills are carried out And the last one is

‘post-stage’ where teachers ask students to evaluate and discuss these activities with reference to other skills ‘Post-stage’ helps students to do an extension activity after controlled activities in ‘while-stage’

2.5.2 The Role of Vocabulary Teaching in Language Skill Lessons

It is clear that vocabulary teaching is often incorporated into the ‘pre-stage’

of any language skill lessons Vocabulary teaching is considered as one of the most important components of any language skill lessons The main reason is the fact that

it is a medium, which carries meaning; learning to understand and express the meaning is what counts in learning languages As McCarthy (1990: 108) suggests

that before presenting new language, pre-teaching activities might be beneficial “to

activate existing knowledge to make the encounter with new words more meaningful” Besides this, Thornbury (2002:75) clarifies: “By presentation we mean those pre-planned lesson stages in which learners are taught pre-selected vocabulary items.” Therefore, the pre-selected vocabulary or the so called pre-

teaching vocabulary is quite helpful, which gives learners the chance to identify words and then be able to place them in context and remember them

2.6 Procedures for Presenting Vocabulary in Language Skill Lessons

Both McCarthy (1990) and Thornbury (2002) suggest two general possibilities of arranging vocabulary presentation The teacher provides the learners

with the meaning of the words and then progresses to introduction of their forms or vice versa , the form is introduced first, followed up with illustration of the meaning The followings are 2 typical types of vocabulary used commonly by

language teachers in Vietnam

Focusing on the form first, 7 basic steps suggested by Luu Quy Khuong (2006) in his book ‘A Practical Course for Teaching English as a Forein Language’ are taken into language classrooms as follows

Step 1: Teacher reads the new word and writes it on the board

Step 2: Teacher explains the meaning with vocabulary teaching techniques Step 3: Teacher asks the students to repeat in chorus and individually

Step 4: Teacher gives example to show how the word is used

Step 5: Teacher translates it into students’ own language

Step 6: Teacher asks students to write it in their notebook

Step 7: Teacher asks the students questions to help them use the new word

Focusing on the meaning first, 7 basic steps for presenting vocabulary in stage extracted from the course book “English Language Teaching Methodology” (2003) by Nguyen Bang et al suggested as below:

pre-Step 1: Teacher elicits the new word produced in oral using vocabulary

teaching techniques

Step 2: Teacher models the pronunciation 2 or 3 times

Step 3: Teacher asks Ss to chorus repetition

Step 4: Teacher calls 2 or 3 students to do individual repetition

Step 5: Teacher corrects students’ pronunciation (if necessary)

Step 6: Teacher write the word on the board and check its Vietnamese

equivalent, while students copy it down

Step 7: Teacher checks pronunciation (sound, stress)

After all words have been taught, the teacher starts Vocabulary - checking

The researcher highly agrees with both McCarthy (1990) and Thornbury (2002)’s suggestion Teachers can alternate 2 ways of presenting new vocabulary in order to avoid the feeling of boring and monotonousness in students during the

process of teaching However, meaning presentation should be preferential because

it helps to create a more communicative environment in language classroom

2.7 Selecting Vocabulary to Be Taught at Pre-stage of Language Skill Lessons

The initial step in teaching vocabulary is to determine which vocabulary items in fact to teach first (during pre-stages of language lesson skills) and what vocabulary to leave for later on The very important point that language teachers should take into consideration is the usefulness of the words So, what does it meant

by usefulness in this situation? To be able to clarify this matter, it should be worth looking into many criteria

First of all, “Every teaching situation is different and so essential items in one context may be quite useless in another” (Gains and Redman, 1986: 57) Each language lesson skill gets different requirements For example, in speaking class, teacher must consider or even predict what words students need to know for talking about everyday life, people and things around them “When such words are learnt, the new language can immediately be put to use” (Allen, 1983: 108) In addition, students’ level also varies from this class to others Hence, the teacher should

consider the learner’s needs and levels criteria in selecting new vocabulary to teach

This criteria is proposed by Gains and Redman (1986) through the book entitled

‘Working with Words’

Putting emphasis on the usefulness of the words, Harmer (1993) points out

that a general principle of vocabulary selection has been that of frequency That is,

teachers should decide which words they should teach on the basis of how frequently they are used in the language lesson skills through the written texts as well as speaking tasks Harmer (1993: 54) writes, “The words which are mostly commonly used are the ones teachers should teach firstly Tsutomu Umamoto (1989:7) also demonstrates the usefulness of frequent words as follow:

Selection by frequency, which is made by counting the number of items that occur in materials, appear to give us a guarantee of usefulness It is because the items occurring the most frequently are those which the learner is most likely

to meet

Harmers (1993) identifies another principle that has been used in the

selection of vocabulary is that of coverage A word is more useful if it covers more

things than if it only has one very specific meaning For example, the word ‘book’ will be taught before the word ‘notebook’ or ‘exercise book’ Teachers, therefore, should select the words with the ability to combine with other words, the ability to help to define other words and the ability to replace the other words

There are, indeed, many criteria for word selection proposed by methodologists and linguists such as:

- Blaschowicz and Fisher (2005) found four types of words essential for teaching explicitly: Comprehension words, Useful words, Academic words and Generative words

- Cohex and Nation (2001) also describes 4 types of word that teacher should focus on: High frequency words, Low frequency words, Technical vocabulary and Academic vocabulary

- Gains and Redman (1986) puts 4 criteria as an important guiding that teacher should take into consideration in their own teaching situation: Frequency, Cutural factors, Need and Level, Expediency

- Markey (1965) and Kelly (1969) both agree to briefly characterize the criterion of word selection under 5 principles: Frequency, Range, Availability, Coverage and Learnability (Facility)

However, the researcher believes that ‘learner’s need and level’, ‘frequency’ and

‘coverage’ are the useful criteria for teachers at upper secondary schools to select

suitable vocabulary to present to their students in every language skill lessons

One more thing, the researcher would like to add into this discussion is that the number of words to teach in pre-teaching stage “5 - 8 words are about all that students can digest in a pre-teaching stage”, this idea I learn from many experts of VTTN- British Council through the workshops “The number of words depends on things like how difficult the words are, how important the words are to understand the listening/reading etc ” They suggest that learning longer lists of vocabulary has its place, but this is not in the pre-teaching stage

2.8 An Overview of Vocabulary Teaching Techniques

The emergence of Communicative Language Teaching Methods in the 1980s marked the paradigm shift in the history of language teaching from structure-based (grammatical accuracy) to meaning focus (fluency approach) (Gashaw Nigussie Abtew, 2008: 10) Hence, it might be reasonable to confirm that vocabulary would

be given a major place of interest in language teaching, because words, not grammar, are basically carriers of meaning As Richards and Rodgers (2001: 132) support: “ the building blocks of language learning and communication are not grammar but lexis, which is words and word combinations ” Sharing this point

of view, Nation (2001) also states that vocabulary seems to come back once again

on the agenda of foreign language teaching which was arguably neglected for many years The following section, therefore, deal with the some of common vocabulary teaching techniques which were suggested through the revolution of foreign language teaching

2.8.1 Definition

According to Ur (1996), definition technique is performed by teachers when they use their own words to explain the meaning of a word or they can take the definition from dictionary For example: when teacher want to elicit the word:

dream (n), s/he can do like this:

- T: What do you call it? - It is like a film in your head that you sometimes have when you are asleep

- Ss: It’s a dream

“Defining words by means of other words is a technique needed by teacher” (Allen, 1983) In order to handle this technique effectively, however, researchers such as Ellis (1995), Mc Keown (1993), Nation (1990) & Chaudron (1982) advised that definition has to be specific, direct, unambiguous and simple It may result in counter productive if the definition consists of words and phrases as difficult as the target vocabulary item to be defined It is very important for language teachers to have skills and expertise in their teaching process

2.8.2 Synonym

Synonym mentioned by Gairns and Redman (1986), McCarthy (1990), and

Carter and McCarthy (1988), is sameness of meaning between two or more words of

the same grammatical category As to Gairns and Redman, synonymy is a fast and

effective technique of explaining the meaning of new words Carter and McCarthy (1988) also argue that teachers and students employ synonymy as a convenient means

of communicating the meaning of words because the words are highly interchangeable Synonymy as a teaching technique may enhance effective communication and prevents communication from breakdown since it provides rich source of vocabulary to talk about specific issues In practice, when a student fails to remember the required word during communication, either communication ceases to proceed or he/she strives for continuing the speech by paraphrasing, which Wallace (1982) refers to it as ‘repair strategy’, in a relatively understandable manner

When employing this technique, teachers have to pay attention that teachers must use the words students already know to teach them similar words

2.8.3 Antonym

Antonym, defined as oppositeness of words, is another way of conveying

vocabulary items The meaning of words in addition to sameness of meaning can be

determined by other words with opposite sense Teachers often begin with the question: “What’s the opposite of ?” to elicit the new words in their presentation (Gains and Redman 1986, p.74)

2.8.4 Hyponym

In addition to the sense of sameness and oppositeness, words can be studied in terms of the relationship of inclusion Some specific words can be viewed in relation

to other general term E.g green, blue and red are hyponym of colour (Ur 1996)

2.8.5 Vocabulary Network/ Word Association

The principle of vocabulary network, also known as word web, word map, mind map, brainstorming, word association, explains that beyond sameness, oppositeness and inclusion of meanings of words, there is an intricate and complex

interconnection or network among group of words

In making use of vocabulary network technique, Harmer (1993:165)

suggests: “ A word item, for example, ‘HOUSE” is selected and given in a box at

the centre of a sheet of paper and students are encouraged to build a network of arrows connecting it to many possible words that have semantic association in any way” Below is given a simple example of word network (Ur 1996: 69)

Ur (1996: 69) emphasizes that this kind of technique can be used as “a

framework for the introduction of some of the new vocabulary”

The vocabulary network technique is believed to function as a convincing framework of organizing lexical items Carter and McCarthy (1988: 441) state:

“knowing a word means knowing its place in a network or associations with other words in a language.”

2.8.6 Situation/ Context

Situation/context is such a technique that assumed to be the most helpful when items become more abstract (Gains and Redman, 1986) For example, when

teacher wants to elicit the expression: to do one’s duty, s/he can do like this:

- T: Who does the job of cleaning the board and sweeping the floor in our class today?

- Ss: Quynh Anh

- T: Ok Quynh Anh does her duty today

Tree green

high trunk

shade

It goes without saying that the meaning of a lexical item depends on the situation of occurrence, thus teachers should always simulate, as best the classroom facilities can afford, the context where the word is employed (e.g., authentic material such as magazines and newspapers, or everyday situations in familiar environments such as home, school, friends, shops, and the like) Teachers also should be careful to choose situations that are interesting for their students, since this device helps them remember new words better

2.8.7 Picture

Wright (1990) and Wright and Haleem (1996) listed several possibilities how

to illustrate the meaning of a new word or a piece of language through pictures A single picture might often serve this purpose well enough; yet, employing several pictures might be in some cases preferable if not necessary to make sure that students get the correct idea about what aspect of the picture the teacher had in mind Displaying several different pictures with one identical feature should suffice for this purpose E.g to teach the phrase ‘to be horrified’, the teacher

could show pictures of people horrified by different things

2.8.8 Drawing

Drawing finds huge potential in teaching languages The researcher must agree with Wright (1990) that in the first place, simple drawings can possibly substitute other forms of pictures Although some teachers may not be exactly proficient in drawing, they are eventually bound to find a way of drawing simple pictures for classroom use He states that drawings provide an immediately available source of pictorial material for the activities Students and teachers drawings also have a special quality, which lies in their immediacy and their individuality

2.8.9 Translation

Translation is traditional way of explaining the meaning of words It could

be done by the teacher or with using a dictionary The advantage of translating the word by the teacher is that this method saves time On the other hand, this is not very effective way of acquiring new words because learners are just passive

recipients

Both Harmer (1992) and Komorowswa (1993) write about translation as an easy way of teaching new words; however it can cause some problems That is why during translating words teacher must explain all the differences in use between in L2 and its mother tongue equivalent

2.8.10 Realia/ Real Object

Realia, or real object, is very effective way of presenting meaning of new words This is the way how learners learnt their mother tongue They simply saw an object, touched it and heard its name A minor disadvantage is that as realia can be used only concrete nouns On the other hand, realia are everywhere Lots of helpful objects, e.g door, windows, clock etc, are in the classroom and the teacher can just point to them Realia are not only this equipment, but also maps, postcards, souvenirs etc

Realia should be used whenever possible Firstly, it saves time when the teacher just points to an object instead of drawing a picture or thinking of a suitable definition Secondly, the best way how to learn the foreign language is the way how

we learnt our mother tongue

2.8.11 Mime/ Gesture

Gestures may be used to convey the meanings of some words and is also useful in understanding the meaning of the words Especially, it is quite helpful for explanation of the actions and grammar items The items such as ‘crying, running, swimming ’ or ‘from, on, to ’ ect are easy ones to explain through performing those actions Using gestures when giving new words would more like to get a deeper impression for students

The reseacher realizes that mimes, actions, gestures are a great fun for children who like acting and moving very much Furthermore, this is such a technique that liven up the atmosphere in classroom effectively

2.8.12 Word Roots and Affixes

Students can perceive the meanings of new words if they have knowledge of

the common word roots and affixes For example: repay, revisit, redo, review,

Teachers should make use of this point in introducing new words to their students

Structural analysis of a word draws the student’s attention to the individual units of meaning in the word, also known as morphemes A free morpheme, or root word, can stand alone (e.g., pay, while a bound morpheme needs to be attached to another morpheme (e.g., re), and two free morphemes can combine to form a compound word (e.g., airplane) The followings are the most common affixes (prefixes and suffixes) that students at upper secondary school often encounter

Table 1 The Common Affixes in Tieng Anh 10

In brief, all of the above mentioned techniques are very useful for teaching new lexical items in particular situations They can help the teacher to make his/her lesson interesting and useful Using these ways, the teacher can motivate his /her students and get them involved in the teaching learning process, and then enhance the communicative competence

2.9 About the Textbook Tieng Anh 10

2.9.1 Principles of Selection and Sequencing

Previously there were 2 pilot EL textbooks for secondary schools in Vietnam The main purpose of the pilot was to provide feedback on the revised curriculum and textbooks so that they could be revised before being introduced nationwide After piloting, the new textbooks were introduced throughout the nation to grade 6 in school year 2002-2003 This followed a progressive scheme with new textbooks introduced to each grade every school year Thus, the introduction of new Tieng Anh 10 has been implemented since the school year 2006-2007 Tieng Anh 10 is the current textbook delivered by MOET It is written

by a group of instructors named Hoang Van Van, Hoang Thi Xuan Hoa, Do Tuan Minh, Nguyen Thu Phuong, Nguyen Quoc Tuan The book is used for the tenth grade students who have finished Tieng Anh 6, Tieng Anh 7, Tieng Anh 8 and Tieng Anh 9 at lower secondary It is the first textbook in the series of three books using nationally at upper secondary education level The book is designed on theme-based viewpoint, consists of 16 units ( Vu Thi Loi & Nguyen Hai Chau,

2009, translation) Tieng Anh 10 is built up around the following six themes: You

and me, Education, Community, Nature, Recreation, People and places The table

below describes the themes in accordance with units, which is taken from the national curriculum for English education at secondary school (2007)

Table 2 Theme and Their Corresponding Units in Tieng Anh 10

Unit 2: School talks Unit 3: People’s background

Unit 5: Technology and you

Unit 7: The mass media Unit 8: The story of my village

Unit 10: Conservation Unit 11: National park

Unit 13: Films and cinema Unit 14: The World cup

Unit 16: Historical places

2.9.2 Aims and Objectives of Tieng Anh 10

The purpose of the textbook illustrated in the foreword is firstly is that students are expected to continue getting familiar with the four language skills and language areas at basic level Secondly, it is to help nurture communicative language skills With the diverse content, Tieng Anh 10 focuses on exploring the topics, situations, and communicative competence, which are relevant to students’ life, needs, and interests

2.9.3 Format of the Textbook Tieng Anh 10

The textbook includes units with the glossary section and an index for all units

There are five sections in a unit which are listening, speaking, reading, writing and

language focus In addition, there are six consolidations presented in the form of TEST

YOURSELF The schematic format of each unit is illustrated below:

Sections Description

Reading

In this section, there is one or more than one paragraph about from 180 to 220 words helping students to get familiar with the theme of the unit It also provides information and linguistic material for the whole unit and develop students’ reading skills

Speaking

There includes tasks to practice speaking skills upon the language function and the theme These tasks are transferred to the

communicative activities such as speaking in pair, discussing in

group and individual speaking

Listening

In this section, there are paragraphs or conversations related to the theme of the unit Its main purpose is to train listening skills for students In addition, listening helps students to review and correct the mistakes about pronunciation and use the language structure

2.10 Summary

In short, in this chapter, previous studies related to the research are discussed Next, the key concepts which are necessary for understanding the study such as vocabulary and teaching techniques are also presented The important issues related to vocabulary teaching which are the relationship between vocabulary teaching and language skill lessons, procedures for presenting vocabulary in language skill lessons, the ways to select vocabulary to be taught, overview of vocabulary teaching techniques and the complicated nature of vocabulary knowledge are presented as well Finally, the issue of the current textbook Tieng Anh 10 are mentioned

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

3.0 Overview

This chapter looks into the methodology and the procedures of the research That is, the issues such as participants of the study, instruments for data collection, reasons for choosing those instruments, procedures of doing research and data analysis are all presented in detail in this chapter

Peshkin A (1992, :2) point out :“… coming to understand and interpret how the

various participants in a social setting construct the world around them To make their interpretation, the researcher must gain access to the multiple perspectives of the participants.” From the challenging aspect mentioned above, the sole source of

data originating mainly from the analysis of numbers collected from the questionnaires seems to be not valid and reliable enough Hence, the researcher also makes use of qualitative methods to gather the information from the interviews and class observations These instruments are used to triangulate the findings from the

questionnaires That is, it is necessary to combine these three data collection methods to obtain valid and reliable results

The second group includes 180 students (aged from 15 to 16) randomly chosen from 8 grade 10 classes at the schools involved The choice of the students is based on some important facts They all have been learning English as a foreign language since grade 3 so theoretically they may get familiar with the activities in a language classroom and the idea of what learning English is like

3.3 Materials and Procedures for Data Collections

The instruments for data collection comprised questionnaires, interviews, and class observations

3.3.1 The Questionnaires

There are many advantages to using questionnaires According to Brown (1988), a large amount of data can be collected in a fairly short time Sharing the same idea, Seliger & Shohamy (1989) state that they are easier and less expensive than other forms of data collection Meanwhile, Nunan (1989) points out that questionnaires can

be used to research almost any aspect of teaching or learning Likewise, questionnaires have been shown to be beneficial instrument for this research, which has been motivated by the researcher’s own experiences of teaching English

There are two questionnaires - Questionnaire A for teachers and Questionnaire B for students Questionnaire A (see appendix 1) included 11 items written in English and Question B (see appendix 2) 3 items in English In each questionnaire, there are both close and open questions At the beginning of the questionnaires, a short but clear explanation about the nature of the study is also given The questions in both questionnaires focus on the following issues:

- Points of view of both teachers and students on vocabulary teaching techniques

- Teachers’ procedures in teaching vocabulary

- Frequency of teachers’ use of vocabulary teaching techniques

- Teachers’ reasons in choosing vocabulary teaching techniques

3.3.2 The Interviews

Besides the questionnaires, informal interviews with teachers and students at

4 upper secondary schools (Nguyen Truong To, Cao Thang, Phan Dang Luu and Thuan An) in Hue were also done by the researcher There are 2 set of questions for the interviews constructed by the researcher (see Appendix 3 and 4) The aim of these interviews is to confirm what have been done in questionnaires; most of the questions in the interview are repeated However, some extended questions are added in the hope that more information will be collected so that the research paper becomes more practical and reliable

All the interviews with teachers and students are conducted in Vietnamese The reason is that both the researcher and the interviewees in this study are Vietnamese, the use of mother tongue - Vietnamese - can both help to avoid misunderstandings if the interviews are done in English and help the interviewees feel more confident and comfortable to response the questions Moreover, since all students in this study are high school students, their level of proficiency in English may not be qualified enough to understand all of the questions in English Vietnamese, in this case, can be more useful

The interviews with teachers are conducted flexibly at convenient time because most of them are busy Some of them are done at teachers’ home, the others

in the teaching-staff rooms at schools And the interviews with students are mainly done in the break time

3.3.3 The Class Observations

Together with the questionnaires and the interviews, class observations contribute to the study as a triangulation of the findings that make the research paper more practical and reliable

An observation sheet (see Appendix 5) is designed by the researcher herself

to have an overall observation on how vocabulary teaching techniques is used to teach language The contents concern with four areas: (i) Teachers’ways of conducting vocabulary teaching techniques; (ii) Ss’participation in vocabulary teaching process; (iii) Ss’attitudes toward teacher’s vocabulary teaching techniques; (iv) Paterns of vocabulary teaching techniques employed

3.4 Data Analysis

Both qualitative and quantitative data analyses are implemented The quantitative method is used to analyze the data collected from the questionnaire Besides, the data collected from the interviews and observations are qualitatively analyzed so as to obtain a thorough description of the issues of the study

In order to analyze and present the data collected, the quantitative analysis is mainly applied The data collected from questionnaires as well as class observations and interviews are analyzed according to statistical frequency and percentage The results are put in tables and figures These sorts of visuals are exploited with the purpose that they can help to provide an overview on what is being discussed As Duigu (2006) claims that the purpose of a graph or table is to make the text easier to understand

3.5 Procedures

Firstly, 16 copies of the questionnaire (see appendix 1) are distributed to the teachers involved It takes the researcher one week to visit the various schools, introducing the research objectives with either individual teachers or groups of teachers The informant teachers have one week to fulfill the questionnaires so that

they have more time to think and are able to provide a more detailed answer to each question Then, all these 16 teachers complete the questionnaires and the questionnaires are collected to analyze

Next, the purpose of this questionnaire (see appendix 2) is to identify student’s attitude towards the teachers’ application of vocabulary teaching techniques to their English lessons Since the researcher is not sure whether the participants involved are good at English language, she decides to design the instructions and all the items of the questionnaire in Vietnamese There are four parts in the questionnaire when the researcher first pilot the questionnaire with a group of 15 students at Thuan An secondary school After that, pilot analysis is done to roughly reveal the results The researcher gathers the students and goes through the questions to check whether they understand the questions or not The researcher let them read by themselves and then ask them to tell her the meaning of some items that they were not clear As a result, the researcher keep the questionnaire as originated 180 copies of the 5-item questionnaire (see appendix 2) are delivered to the students involved Thanks to teachers’ care, the researcher collects all the completed copies after that

Then, formal interviews are conducted with 9 teachers who are teaching 10thgrade students at 4 schools aforementioned In addition, there are formal interviews with students as well - 20 students of grade 10 are chosen at random from different classes of 4 schools

Finally, the researcher has chances observes ten 45-minute skill lessons at the nominated school The researcher takes notes by ticking the items in the observation sheets for later analysis

The collected data are categorized into 4 main groups according to the research questions After being classified, the data are analyzed, put into percentage and presented in tables and cylinder charts There are 5 tables and 7 figures altogether fallen into 4 groups:

- Group 1 aims to focus on teachers’ points of view on English language vocabulary teaching techniques to grade 10 students at upper secondary schools in Hue

- Group 2 concentrates on how English language vocabulary teaching techniques are employed by teachers to grade 10th students at upper secondary schools in Hue

- Group 3 correlates with teachers’ evaluations of the effects of English language vocabulary teaching techniques on their English teaching to grade 10 students at upper secondary schools in Hue

- Group 4 mainly focuses on grade 10th students’ attitudes toward the teachers’ English language vocabulary teaching techniques in language skill lessons

at upper secondary schools in Hue

In sum, the procedure of the research includes the following steps:

Step 1: Collecting and studying previous works related to my research paper Step 2: Designing questionnaires and interview questions for both teachers and students In addition, an observation sheet is composed for class observations

Step 3: Collecting data through questionnaires, informal interviews with teachers and students, and class observations

Step 4: Classifying the data into intended groups

Step 5: Doing statistical calculation

Step 6: Describing the collected data presented in tables, pie charts and bar graphs

Step7: Generalizing, giving comments and evaluations

3.6 Summary

In summary, both quantitative and qualitative approaches are applied in order

to get more valid and reliable data for the research. The questionnaires are chosen as the main instrument of the study due to its advantages for this study All of the questionnaires are administered to 180 students and 16 teachers However, class observations and interviews are done to make the research paper more practical and reliable After the data are analyzed according to statistical frequency and percentage, they are presented in tables and pie charts

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

Lacking vocabulary is the most serious problem affecting students to speak in class

In teaching vocabulary, techniques enabling learners to remember words once they are learnt are very essential

Meaning is the most important aspect to be concentrated on when teaching vocabulary

Vocabulary teaching has to be given prime consideration in class

Vocabulary is the most difficult aspect in teaching English

Figure 4.1 Teachers’ Perceptions of Vocabulary Teaching

Figure 4.1 reveals the teachers’ perception on vocabulary teaching Firstly, it can be seen that 62.5% of the teachers thought that meaning, pronunciation, spelling, part of speech, collocation, usage of the word are always focused on during vocabulary teaching Next, 50% agreed the most serious problems affecting students to speak in class resulted from the lack of vocabulary Then, 37.5% of the teachers assumed that meaning is the most important aspect s/he always focused on when teaching new vocabulary The same percentage (37.5%) said that in teaching vocabulary, techniques enabling students to remember words once they were learnt very essential Finally, only four teachers, accounting for 25% considered that vocabulary had to be given prime consideration in class

4.1.1.2 Teachers’ Purposes of Pre-teaching Vocabulary

Figure 4.2 Teachers’ Purposes of Pre-teaching Vocabulary

Figure 4.2 reveals that 100% of the teachers believed teaching vocabulary was to aim at facilitating their students to understand the theme words of the lessons, especially in reading classes The other ideas, accounting for 87.5% of the teachers claimed that improving students’ vocabulary knowledge was one of their purposes of providing vocabulary Meanwhile, 50% of the teachers thought that they presented vocabulary in order to activate their students’ background knowledge In addition, the same proportion (50%) suggested that teaching vocabulary was to arouse students’ interest in learning English

4.1.1.3 Teachers’ Reasons for Using Vocabulary Teaching Techniques

Table 4.1 Teachers’ Reasons for Using Vocabulary Teaching Techniques

in Table 4 3 It can be seen from this table that teachers’ reasons towards selecting

vocabulary teaching techniques tend to be different First, for the reason “Easily

taken from the dictionary”, there were 87.5% choosing “definition”; 62.5% agreeing with “synonym” and “antonym” respectively; 37,5% reckoning “translation”; and 0% approving of “hyponym”, vocabulary network”, “situation”, “picture”,