An investigation into learning and teaching english vocabulary at cua lo hihg school and some suggested activities to help students learn better

vinh university foreign Languages department===    === nguyễn thị khánh ly an investigation into learning and teaching english vocabulary at cua lo high school and some suggested acti

vinh university foreign Languages department

===    ===

nguyễn thị khánh ly

an investigation into learning and teaching english

vocabulary at cua lo high school and some

suggested activities to help students learn better

(khảo sát về việc dạy và học từ vựng tiếng anh

ở trờng thpt cửa lò và một số hoạt động gợi ý

giúp học sinh học tốt hơn)

graduation thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Vinh - 2011

vinh university foreign Languages department

===    ===

an investigation into learning and teaching english

vocabulary at cua lo high school and some

suggested activities to help students learn better

(khảo sát về việc dạy và học từ vựng tiếng anh

ở trờng thpt cửa lò và một số hoạt động gợi ý

giúp học sinh học tốt hơn)

graduation thesis

Field: English Teaching Methodology

Supervisor: cao thị phơng, m.a

Student: nguyễn thị khánh ly, 48A - English

Vinh - 2011

First of all, I would like to acknowledge my deep indebtedness to Mrs.Cao Thi Phuong (M.A), my supervisor who has helped me a lot with heradvice, directions, comments, criticism and encouragement for theaccomplishment of the study

I specially would like to express my deepest thanks to Mrs Nguyen ThiVan Lam (M.A) and to all my teachers at the Foreign Languages Department,Vinh University for their tireless support, valuable lectures and guidance fromwhich I have had such great motivation and benefited a lot in the writing ofthis thesis

I also acknowledge to Mrs Tran Tuan Anh, teacher at Cua Lo highschool for giving me some advice to complete my survey

Finally, I am grateful to my family as well as my friends for their help,encouragement and source materials were of great importance and assistance

to me in carrying out this study

I have made great efforts to complete the study However, due to my limited knowledge, my study is far from being perfect

Vocabulary plays an important role in learning all languages in general,especially English in particular However, it is not easy for teachers andstudents to teach and learn English vocabulary In this study, the author has asurvey about learning vocabulary at Cua Lo high school With the aim ofhelping students learn vocabulary better, the author also discusses someproblems as well as some ways to learn it better

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i

ABSTRACT ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS iii

PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Reasons for choosing the Study 1

2 Aims of the Study 2

3 Scope of the Study 2

4 Methods of the Study 3

5 Design of the Study 3

PART 2: INVESTIGATION 5

Chapter 1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 5

1.1 The importance of Vocabulary in Language Learning 5

1.2 Understanding Vocabulary 6

1.2.1 Definition of Vocabulary 6

1.2.2 Active and Passive Vocabulary 6

1.2.3 Words and their meanings 7

1.2.4 Words and their forms 8

1.3 Principles for teaching vocabulary 15

1.4 Techniques for presenting the Meanings of Words 18

1.4.1 Showing the Meaning Visually 18

1.5.2 Showing the Meaning Verbally 20

1.5.3 Combining different Techniques 21

1.6 Steps for Teaching New Words 22

1.7 Summary 22

Chapter 2 REAL SITUATION OF ENGLISH VOCABULARY

TEACHING AND LEARNING AT CUA LO HIGH SCHOOL 23

2.1 Overview about real situations of teaching and learning English vocabulary at Vietnamese high schools 23

2.2 Survey 26

2.2.1 Aims of the survey 26

2.2.2 Informants of the Survey 26

2.2.3 The results of the Survey 30

2.2.4 Summary of the investigation 31

2.3 Summary 36

Chapter 3 THE SOLUTIONS TO THESE PROBLEMS AND SOME SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH VOCABULARY AT HIGH SCHOOL .37

3.1 Introduction 37

3.2 Suggested solutions 37

3.3 Some suggested activities to improve teaching and learning English vocabulary at high school 41

3.3.1 Word guessing game 41

3.3.2 Word card games 42

3.3.3 Confused words 42

3.3.4 Find the Owner 43

3.3.5 Vocabulary Brain Shower 44

3.3.6 Vocabulary on Slips 44

3.4 Suggested Exercises 45

PART III: CONCLUSION 50

3.1 Recapitulation 50

3.2 Suggestions for Further Study 51

REFERENCES 52

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Reasons for choosing the Study

Everyone is now aware of the importance of English, which is thereason why English is learnt with the great motivation However, it is not easy

to master and use it effectively because of many reasons such as learningenvironment, age, ability and especially mother tongue interference It isshown that interference appears in almost aspects of English like grammar,pronunciation and especially vocabulary, which is very important If a learnerwants to be good at any skill (listening, speaking, reading and writing), heneeds certain words According to Wilkins, (1984): “ Not being able to findthe words you need to express yourself is the most frustrating experience inspeaking another language” It is important for the following reasons

Firstly, it is vocabulary which appears in every text and readingcomprehension In every text, if pupils can understand the meanings of words,they can be easier to take the content If they only focus on grammarstructures without vocabulary, their communication is very bad In the texts orreading comprehensives, it is not easy to guess new words if there are somany, at least you can understand more than half of the text And manystudents have to face this difficulty, not only Cua Lo students but also most ofthe pupils learning English

Secondly, vocabulary is a mean of making up sentences and expressingthe ideas It is clear that vocabulary is definitely one of the biggest things thatpeople notice when we are speaking English When we meet a native speaker,

he could already know if our English is good or bad through our vocabulary

It will be very difficult for us to express the opinion clearly if our vocabulary

is so few Thus, in communication, the first thing that people can understand

our ideas is vocabulary In some contexts of communication, you can usewrong grammar structure but use right vocabulary; hearer can still understandyour ideas Because non-speakers cannot have perfect pronunciation, weshould learn as many new words as possible.

There are other reasons for choosing the study, but the above reasons

are the main ones that encourage me to choose the thesis: “An investigation into learning and teaching English vocabulary at Cua Lo high school and some suggested activities to help students learn better”

2 Aims of the Study

This study aims at helping pupils be aware of the importance oflearning English vocabulary and making them focus on learning Englishvocabulary more and finding out good methods for the problems It have beenmentioned with the hope that they could make a small contribution to theimprovement in learning and teaching English, especially in teaching andlearning English vocabulary in Vietnam

3 Scope of the Study

In this study, the author wants to mention the way of learning Englishvocabulary at Cua Lo high school The study only focuses on the mainproblems which cause difficulties for both teachers and pupils and the realsituation of teaching and learning English vocabulary according to the surveydone in three grades of Cua Lo high school

Besides, this survey also tried to find the answers for two questions:

 How are the situations of learning and teaching English vocabulary at Cua Lo high school in particular and at Vietnamese high schools in general?

 How can the quality of teaching and learning English vocabulary be improved?

From this survey, some suggestions and some methods are given inorder to partly improve the quality of teaching and learning Englishvocabulary skill at high schools.

4 Methods of the Study

Due to the scope and characteristics of the study, the author followsthe steps:

- Collecting and analyzing the materials

5 Design of the Study

The study consists of three main parts : the first part is Introduction.This part provides the information about the reasons for choosing the topic,the aims of the topics, the scope of the study, the method of the study and thedesign of the study In the second part - Development, there are three chaptersChapter 1- Theoretical background discusses some main points relating to thetopic: definition of word and its importance, some characteristics of words,the main principles of teaching vocabulary and the main kinds of vocabularyactivities This chapter focuses on the theory about the main types ofvocabulary teaching activities Chapter 2- The real situation of learningEnglish vocabulary at Cua Lo high school describes the real situations of

learning English vocabulary of the students in this school through the surveydone in three grades In chapter 3- Suggested activities to improve vocabularylearning at high school, some solutions to the problems students have whenlearning vocabulary are suggested and some vocabulary learning activities aregiven to be applied in teaching and learning this part with the aim to motivatestudents into learning vocabulary The last part is Conclusion This partsummarizes the main points discussed in the previous parts and offers somesuggestions for further study The study ends up with references which are thematerials collected to find necessary information for the study

PART 2: INVESTIGATION

Chapter 1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1.1 The importance of Vocabulary in Language Learning

Nowadays, English has become the international language More andmore people learn English because of many reasons Some people learn itbecause they think they will be able to get a better job with two languagesthan if they only know their mother tongue Many other learners studyEnglish for special purposes For example, business executives need Englishfor international trait Students of medicine or specialized areas need to beable to read articles, textbooks and reference materials in English English isalso learnt because it is added in the curriculum Vocabulary of a language isalways developing constantly and new words are needed to express newideas, new concepts and new wants when the human society develops Inother words, vocabulary is a mean of transferring the information, opinionand feelings

Vocabulary plays an important role in language learning Because italways involves in four skills: speaking, reading, writing and listening.However, many learners neglect it and are not conscious of the importance oflanguage

Talking about the importance of vocabulary in comparison withgrammar, Wilkin 1978 says: “Without grammar, very little can be conveyed.But without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed” In fact, grammaticalknowledge allows us to generate sentences At the same time, though, wemust have something to say; we must have meanings that we wish to express,and we need to have store of words that we can select from when we wish to

express, and we need to express these meanings It is said that “If languagestructures make up skeleton of language, then it is vocabulary that providesthe vital organs and the flesh” It is true that the vocabulary is the focus oflanguage It is in words that sounds and meanings interlock to allow us tocommunicate with one another, and it is a word that we arrange together tomake sentences, conversations and discourse of all kinds”.

1.2 Understanding Vocabulary

1.2.1 Definition of Vocabulary

As in Ur (1995), vocabulary can be roughly defined as the words taught

in a foreign language A new item may be either a single word, eg book, pen,etc or more than a single word, eg post -office , mother-in-law, etc., which ismade up of two or more words but express a single idea

In fact, vocabulary always appears in the texts, a message, a magazine,newspaper Vocabulary is a mean of transferring the information, opinion orideas However, learners have to cope with some difficulties because it is noteasy to remember new words and to use them appropriately in suitablecontexts Vocabulary is always integrated with the other skills in language use

1.2.2 Active and Passive Vocabulary

Every language student has two kind of vocabulary in their memory:active and passive vocabulary

The former refers to vocabulary that students have been learnt or taughtand which they are expected to be able to use while the latter refers to wordswhich students will recognize when they meet them but which they willprobably not be able to produce Active vocabulary refers to vocabulary itemsthat a language student needs to understand and use effectively incommunication In teaching active vocabulary, it is usually worth spending

time giving examples and asking questions so that the student can see how theword is used Passive vocabulary: vocabulary items that a language studentcan recognize and understand when they occur in a context, but cannotprocedure or use effectively in communication.

1.2.3 Words and their meanings

It is said that “Language without meaning is meaningless” toemphasize the importance of the meaning of language”

Words can be divided into two 2 types: function words and contentwords

Functions words belong to the closed system which consists of articles(a, an, the), prepositions (on, to,…); conjunctions (and, but….);interjections(wow!); and content words belong to the opened system whichconsists of parts of speech such as nouns (pen, ruler, book…),verbs( drive,run, ) adjectives (tired, ugly )

The meaning of function words and content words, therefore, areclassified into grammatical meanings and lexical meanings

1.2.3.1 Grammatical meaning

In order to have a good understanding of what grammatical meaning is,

we should cite the definition of function words of Richards, J.C.Platt,J and H:

“Function words are words which have little meaning on their own, butwhich show grammatical relationships in and between sentences(grammatical meaning)” (1992: 81)

Examples of these are articles, conjunctions, prepositions, andpronouns…The grammatical meaning of “beautiful, ugly, fat, short…” is thatthey are adjectives The grammatical meaning of “carelessly, quickly,slowly…” is that they are adverbs

Or according to Hoang Tat Truong:

“Lexical meaning is the realization of concept or emotion When wehear or see the word ‘table’, for example, our concept is realized and thepicture or image of a ‘table’ occurs to our mind Therefore, this realization iscalled lexical meaning”

1.2.4 Words and their forms

1.2.4.1 Word Grammar

The grammar of a new item will need to be taught if this is notobviously covered by general grammatical rules An item may have anunpredictable change of form in certain grammatical contexts or may havesome idiosyncratic way of connecting with other words in sentences It isimportant to provide students with this information at the same as we teachthe base form

When teaching a new verb, for example, we might give also its pastform, if this is irregular (think- thought), and we might note if it is transitive

or intransitive “Tell” is followed by an object + to + infinitive, for example(He told her to wake him up at six) But “say” does not work in the same way,etc… Similarly, when teaching a noun, we may wish to make a distinctionbetween countable and uncountable nouns The former can be both singularand plural It is very important for learners to note the important points ofgrammar as above

For example: care (noun)

- care + ful = careful (adjective)

- careful + ly = sadly (adverb)

ii, Compounding: (or word - composition)

Is the process of building a new word by combining two or moreseparate word A compound word is therefore a word that consists of at leasttwo root morphemes

For example: “racehorse, schoolboy, etc.”

There are three types of compound words: compound nouns, compoundverbs and compound adjectives

Poor (adj) : the poor (n)

iv, Other types

Besides these three main forms of word formation, in English we canform a new vocabulary item by several other ways as follow:

- Shortening: is also very productive way of building words in English,especially in colloquial speech and advertisement There are many types ofshortenings:

The first is to make a new word from a syllable or two of original word

The latter may lose its beginning (ex: phone is made from “telephone or mobile phone”, fence from defense) or its ending (ex: ad from advertisement,

holes from holidays

The second way of shortening is to make a new word from the initial

letters of a word group such as UNESCO from United Nations Educational

Scientific and Cultural Organization, B.B.C from the British Broadcasting Corporation

- Sound imitation: is the formation of words by imitating differentkinds of sounds that may be produced by animals, birds, insects, humanbeings and inanimate objects and so on…

There are also many other ways of word-formation such as

Substantiation, back derivation (back-formation), reduplication…Understanding word- formation is very essential to learners of foreignlanguages

1.2.4.3 Forms: Pronunciation and Spelling

Pronunciation and spelling are really a big problem to its learnersbecause there is a big difference between a word spelling and the way wepronounce it In communication, the first thing that people can realize is

pronunciation To stress the importance of pronunciation in languagelearning, Grain and Redman argue:

“Sadly it is not uncommon for learners of a foreign language to find that lexical knowledge is rendered almost useless by their inability to make themselves intelligible when they speak Such painful experiences are not confined to production either, for it is equally true that unfamiliarity with correct pronunciation can result in the learner failing to understands words in connected speech that he understands clearly in written English Careful attention to pronunciation is , therefore, an essential part of vocabulary teaching if new lexis is to be used effectively, or understood without difficulty, in spoken English” (1992:50).

The teacher has to know what a word sounds like (its pronunciation)what it looks like (its spelling) These are fairly obvious characteristics, andone or the other will be perceived by the student when encountering the itemfor the first time In teaching, we need to make sure that both these aspects areaccurate presented and learned

In our teaching we will want to be sure that the students can make thevarious sounds that occur in the English language We will help them todifferentiate between these sounds, especially where such distinction changemeaning (‘live’ /i/ and ‘leave’ /i:/ for example), and we will also help them tounderstand and use certain sound rules - for example the differentpronunciations of the -ed past tense endings In addition, students need to userhythm and stress correctly if they are to be understood We will make surethat they are able to say sentences, etc with appropriate stress and we willshow them how stress can be used to change the meaning of questions,sentences and phrases

1.2.4.4 Collocation

Word meaning is also governed by collocation- that is which words gowith each other We can have a headache, stomachache or earache, but we can

not have a ‘throatache’ or a ‘legache’ The collocations typical of particularitems are another factor that makes a particular combination sound “right” or

“wrong” in a given context When introducing words like decision andconclusion, for example, we may note that you take or make the one, butusually come to the other; similarly, you throw a ball but toss a coin Weoften use words only in certain social and topical contexts If you want to tellsomeone you are angry you will choose carefully between the neutralexpression of this fact (I’m fact) and the informal version (I’m really pissedoff) The latter would certainly seem rude to listeners in certain contexts At adifferent level we recognize that two doctors talking about an illness will talk

in a different register than one of them who then talks to the patient inquestion - who has never studied medicine They also need to understandwhat stylistic and topical contexts words and expressions occur in

1.2.4.5 Aspects of Meaning

a Denotation:

is a set of semantic properties which serves to identify the particularconcept associated with a word It is also the ability of a wide range of thingswhich share certain characteristic features

Example: Dog: in the denotative meaning:

b Connotation:

A word may convey certain affective or evaluative associations,generally referred to as connotation The connotation meaning can beconsidered as an additional meaning to denotation, which shows us how things,concepts, etc, are indicated (denoted) Connotations arise as words becomeassociated with certain characteristics of the items to which they refer

For example: The word “dog” in the connotative meaning is:

- In Arabic culture: negative connotation of dirt and inferiority

- In British culture: positive connotation of friendship and loyalty

c Appropriateness:

A more subtle aspect of meaning that often needs to be taught iswhether a particular item is appropriate one to use in a certain context or not.Thus it is useful for a student to know that a certain word is very common, orrelatively rare, or “taboo” in polite conversation, or tends to be used in writingbut not in speech, or is more suitable for formal than informal discourse, orbelongs to a certain dialect

d Aspects of Meaning: Meaning Relationships:

How the meaning of one item relates to the meaning of others can also

be useful in teaching There are various such relationships Some of mainones are as follows:

1, a long thin flat piece of cut wood

2, a flat surface with patterns, used for playing a game on

3, a flat piece of hard material used for putting food on

4, a flat piece of hard material fastened to the wall in a public place topin notices on

5, the cost of meals

6, a committee or association, as of company directors or governmentofficials, set up for a special responsibility (Longman Dictionary ofContemporary English 1978 : 105)

We use the term antonyms to indicate words of the same category part

of speech which have contrasting meanings

For example: - Ugly - pretty

- Mean - generous

- Tidy - messy

A polysemantic word may have an antonym (or several antonyms) for

each of it meanings So, the adjective dull has the antonyms interesting,

amusing

iii Synonyms:

Synonyms are the words of the same part of speech, similar in theirdenotational meaning, but different in their in their phonetic and graphicforms, combinability and /or connotational meaning

iv Co- hyponyms or co-ordinates

Other items that are the “same kind of thing”

Eg: red, blue, green, brown are coordinates

v Super - ordinates:

General concepts that cover specific items

Eg: animal is the super - ordinates of dog, cat, and lion

1.3 Principles for teaching vocabulary

There are many different ways to teach vocabulary, but some ways aremore effective than others Forseth et.al (1996: 23-25) propose eightprinciples for teaching vocabulary:

The first principle is to provide a context for new words Such apractice may have beneficial results, of course, but it avoids one of the centralfeatures of vocabulary use, namely that words occur in context If we arereally to teach students what words mean and how they are used, we need toshow them being used, together with other words, in context Words do notexist on their own: they live with other words and they depend upon eachother When students learn words in context they are far more likely toremember them than if they learn them as single items If students hear a newword in isolation, they are likely to misunderstand in meaning There aredifferent kinds of contexts such as grammatical, semantic and discourse.Every word with clear explanation and contexts given will help studentsunderstand the lesson very fast, especially vocabulary On the other hand,students can also remember the words in a long time

The second principle is that the teachers do not present too many words

at once because teaching a few words and allow student to practice and usethem a lot Remembering new words is not easy for students, so if the teachergives so many new words at the same time, this will make students feel bored.Moreover, if there is imbalance between excellent students and bad ones Ifteacher understand the students’ psychology, they will know how to helpthem learn vocabulary better Presentation will help students understand.Practice will help them remember If the students forget what has beenpresented, it will not be useful to them in the future

The third principle is that practicing words in context is moreimportant than memorizing isolated one Learning new words in context iseasier to remember and help students use the words in right way We canlearn many new words without being able to use them in communication.Students may be required to learn the meanings of words but they must also

be given the opportunity to use them productively in speaking and writing

We know that learning the theory without practicing, it also means studentswill have no facts and face many difficulties in communication as well aslearning other skills

The fourth principle is that teachers should teach students skills forguessing new words, especially when reading Another way of helpingstudents remember the words longer is that the teacher can learn how to guessthe meaning of the words from the reading comprehensions and newspapers

or magazines The meaning of words can be inferred from the different types

of contexts and from looking at the affixes of the word Through this way,students can understand the gist of the texts or reading comprehensions Afterthey guess the meaning of the words, they will understand the words moreand the context of that word

For example: person who teaches us English at school Who is teacher?The fifth principle is to avoid translation as much as possible If thestudents are always having words translated, they are really onlycommunicating in their own language, not in English Also, students do notusually remember vocabulary that has been translated Only using translation

as a last resort, when it would otherwise takes too long to communicate inEnglish English is a complex language because a word can be used indifferent contexts, after translating words; many students will face someproblems in communication and feel more difficult to use English

The sixth principle is to avoid using the dictionary as much as possible.When reading or listening, students should firstly try guessing or ignoringnew words so that they can continue without stopping Also, using adictionary when speaking or listening often slows down communication Inwriting, using a dictionary can be beneficial It helps student expressthemselves more clearly This is a situation of many students who learninglanguage, because they only rely on dictionaries without guessing wordsthrough the context; it will be very difficult for them to remember new words.Dictionary should only be used when encountering difficult words which theycan not guess or explain

The seventh principle is that the teachers should remember that not allwords are important In a sentence, some words are more important thanothers If students know the more important words, they can guess themeaning of the other words around it and understand the sentence easily.While reading a newspaper or listening a text, you should note down theimportant words or underline the key words Through this way, teacher will

be easier to make students understand the passage more

Last but not least, if a word is necessary for understanding an activity

or a passage, teach it to the students beforehand If it is not so necessary orimportant, the teacher should let first guess at the meaning while they arereading or listening Teach the meaning later or not at all If there are somepassages or news which are not easy to understand, the teacher should explainthe meaning of the words before students read

1.4 Techniques for presenting the Meanings of Words

Not all vocabulary can be learnt through interaction and discoverytechniques Even if such techniques are possible, however, they are notalways the most cost effective There are many occasions when some forms

of presentation and/or explanation is the best way to bring mew words intothe classroom We will look at some techniques:

1.4.1 Showing the Meaning Visually

1.4.1.2 Realia or Real Objects

The students will be easier to remember the words if they can see realobjects The teacher can show the meaning of the words by using thingsavailable in the classroom or anything that can be brought into the classroom,

eg : hat, pen, ruler or small objects from home, from school These are notonly for seeing but also for holding and passing around Teacher holds up theobject (or point to it) , says the word and then gets students to repeat it

1.4.1.3 Flashcards or charts

Teacher can use flashcards or charts to teach vocabulary for students

On cards, we can have a picture on one side of the word on the others On achart we can organize groups of words or draw diagrams

1.4.1.4 Mime or facial Expressions

It is often impossible to explain the meaning of words and grammareither through the use of realia or pictures Actions, in particular, are probablybetter explained by mime

For example: we can act out some home activities such as eating,drinking or school activities such as listening, reading, writing, etc

1.5.1.3 Pictures

Bringing a pen into the classroom is not a problem Bringing in a car,however, by using photographs, prints or painting, teacher can communicateabout many types of words

non-vocabulary items: teachers can illustrate concepts such as above and oppositejust as easily as hets, coats, walking sticks, etc

1.5.2 Showing the Meaning Verbally

We saw how words exist because of their sense relations and this can

be used to teach meaning

For example: We can present the meaning of ‘empty’ by contrasting itwith ‘full’, ‘cold’ by contrasting it with ‘hot’…

1.5.2.4 Guessing from the Context

The teachers can use the context to teach new words By this way, thestudents can guess the meaning the words and remember them longer

Eg: To show the meaning of the word building, the teacher can provide

1.5.2.5 Guessing from Stem and Affixes

Many words are formed by adding affixes; thus their meaning can beunderstood through the affixes

Eg: disagreement: dis agree ment

Unacceptable: un accept able

1.5.2.6 Translation

Translation is a quick and easy way to present the meaning of wordsbut it is not without problems Where translation can quickly solve apresentation problem it may be a good idea, but we should hear in mind that aconsistent policy towards the use of the mother tongue is helpful for teacherand students

For example: stapler: ghim bấm

Squirrel: con sóc

1.5.2.7 Using Dictionary

When having any difficult and complex word, the students can usedictionary to save time or communicate

Eg: showing the meaning of the word: diagnose

1.5.3 Combining different Techniques

A combination of techniques can be very useful to show the meaning of

a new word as students can perceive it from different source of information.All of these presentation techniques either singly or in combination are usefulways of introducing new words What must be remembered with vocabularypresentation, too, is that pronunciation is just as important here as it is forstructural material We should not introduce words without making sure thatstudents know how they are said Not only will mean that they can use thewords in speech, it will also help them to remember the words

1.6 Steps for Teaching New Words

There are some steps suggested for teaching new words as follow:

1 Provide the context for the word

2 Say the word clearly and write it on the board

3 Show the meaning of the word

4 Get the class to repeat the word in chorus and individually

5 Give example to show how the word is used

6 Ask questions using the word

7 Ask students to make sentences with the word

1.7 Summary

This chapter has dealt with the definition of vocabulary and theunderstanding of vocabulary, especially some useful principles and steps inteaching and learning English vocabulary with the hope to help readers haveknowledge about the vocabulary

Chapter 2 REAL SITUATION OF ENGLISH VOCABULARY TEACHING

AND LEARNING AT CUA LO HIGH SCHOOL

2.1 Overview about real situations of teaching and learning English vocabulary at Vietnamese high schools

Although English is popularized in over the world in common and inVietnam in private, teaching and learning English in Vietnam is not attachedspecial importance Thus, the effect of teaching and learning is not high Manystudents have not been aware of the importance of English Nowadays, English

is a necessary problem in society, especially when Vietnam joins in WTO Athigh school, many teachers’ teaching methods are not various and interestingenough to motivate students’ attitude English is a foreign language and needsthe creation and activity of both teachers and students And here the authorwants to mention English vocabulary learning of Cua Lo students Cua Lo highschool is one in top ten of Nghe An high school It meets the national standardhigh school It is well - equipped with a lot of modern equipments: projectorrooms, lab for studying biology, lab for studying physics and many cassetteplayers for learning English In addition, it has a room with a lot of computersfor teaching and learning English This school is really a good teaching andlearning environment for teachers and students During two weeks of teachingpractice in this school, it was realized that the teachers and students have mucheffort to enhance the quality of teaching and learning English However, thereare still some problems such as: the modern teaching and learning equipmentshave not been used very effectively, some teachers do not have really creativemethods of teaching, so they cannot motivate their students’ attitude andconsciousness of learning Moreover, the number of students in this school whoare good at English is not high Some of them do not pay much attention to