Ảnh hưởng của việc sử dụng mối quan hệ về nghĩa vào việc học từ vựng của học sinh lớp 9 tại một trường thcs ở hà nội

DECLARATION I hereby certify that the thesis entitled “The effects of using sense relations on learning English vocabulary of 9 th grade students in a secondary school in Hanoi” is the

Rationale for the study

In a world where multilingual communication is the norm, vocabulary is essential because it underpins listening, speaking, reading, and writing and can boost learners' overall language ability (Linse, 2006) However, many learners struggle to memorize new words, which drives teachers to seek effective methods for vocabulary acquisition A variety of techniques exist for presenting vocabulary, but several factors should be considered regarding how new lexical items are introduced For learners to retain words, teachers should present them in meaningful contexts, provide practice, and implement regular revision, since the success of vocabulary learning depends on both presentation and revisiting the items.

Finding suitable techniques for vocabulary teaching is crucial for helping students acquire vocabulary, making vocabulary instruction a central topic in English language studies today Researchers compare traditional methods with newer approaches to identify more effective strategies, including how to present a new item in semantically related versus semantically unrelated sets Studies indicate that learning vocabulary through sense relations is particularly important for foreign language learners, because it helps teachers engage students and boost retention of new words However, many English teachers report difficulties in teaching vocabulary effectively, and the vocabulary acquisition of many Vietnamese students remains relatively low, underscoring the need for instructional practices that leverage semantic connections and context.

2 could be that in Vietnam, vocabulary is learnt with traditional methods such as writing new words in a notebook and learning them by heart, reading new words several times This can make students become bored and some students find it more difficult to remember words especially if they are young learners

Teaching vocabulary is challenging for language teachers, but using sense relations—such as synonyms and hyponyms—offers an effective tool for teaching English and foreign languages in general This approach helps learners remember words more easily and makes lessons more engaging and interesting Accordingly, this study investigates the effects of using sense relations on vocabulary learning.

Aims and objectives of the study

The study mainly aims at examining whether sense relations can improve students‘ English vocabulary knowledge at the 9 th grade students at a secondary school Its inter-related objectives are:

- Determining whether sense relations can improve students‘ English vocabulary for the 9 th grade students at a secondary school or not

- Providing some possible suggestions on the use of sense relations in teaching vocabulary

Research Questions

In this study, the researcher attempts to answer the following questions:

 Do sense relations improve students‘ English vocabulary at the 9 th grade students at a secondary school?

 What are possible suggestions on the use of sense relations in teaching vocabulary?

Scope of the study

The study was conducted at a secondary school, Thach That district, Hanoi city It only focused on investigating whether sense relations improve the 9 th grade students‘ English vocabulary knowledge Other research aiming at studying on the

3 effects of sense relations on other aspects of English learning and other types of students in other institutions are out of the scope of the study.

Significance of the study

The study aims at determining if sense relations improve learners‘ English vocabulary Therefore, it can be useful for both theoretical and practical contributions In terms of theoretical contributions, this thesis will be served as a reliable and useful reference material about using sense relations in teaching vocabulary for other readers and researchers in their further studies on related subjects For the practical contributions, the findings and results of the research are significant to both teachers and students because using sense relations helps learners acquire vocabulary effectively and easily This is one of the most useful techniques that teachers should make use of to facilitate their students‘ learning.

Methods of the study

An eight-week action research study was conducted to investigate vocabulary learning and teaching In Week 1, students completed a questionnaire and the teacher participated in a pre-interview to explore opinions on vocabulary learning approaches, while a pre-test was administered to 29 students to establish baseline vocabulary knowledge From Week 2 through Week 7, the researcher prompted the teacher to implement sense relations as a method for teaching vocabulary In Week 8, a post-test was given to the same population to measure vocabulary improvement after the treatment After the post-test, a post-interview with the participating teacher examined difficulties in applying sense relations to vocabulary instruction and gathered suggestions for using sense relations in future vocabulary teaching.

Organization of the study

The study is divided into three parts as follows:

This part is a brief description of the research including the rationale for conducting the research, the aims of the study, research questions, scope

4 of the study, significance of the study, and outline of the study

This chapter deals with the theoretical framework of the subject and related studies

This chapter presents the research context and methodology of the study including the context, the subject, data collection instruments, data collection procedure and data analysis

This chapter presents the major findings and discussions from the students‘ pre-test and post-test, the questionnaire and interviews

This part provides a summary of the key findings, implications, limitations, and future suggestions for further study

DEVELOPMENT

Part 1 presented the overview of the study, its aim and structure To provide a background of the study, this part describes a theoretical framework for designing and analyzing data

Vocabulary is the collection of words we use to express thoughts, feelings, and desires in daily life It plays a central role in improving English skills and is a core component of effective communication Without a sufficient vocabulary, communication can stall, making it hard for learners to complete sentences or convey ideas To support learners, English teachers can help students build and master vocabulary, unlocking clearer expression and greater confidence in speaking and writing.

Vocabulary has several interrelated definitions in language learning Pyles (1970) sees it as the focus of language, with sounds and meanings interlocking to enable communication McCarthy (1990) defines vocabulary as the words in a language—or freestanding linguistic items—that carry meanings Ur (1996) characterizes vocabulary roughly as the set of words taught in a foreign language As a core language component, vocabulary underpins the four language skills—reading, listening, speaking and writing—and thus should be taught in an appropriate way Lehr et al (2004) broaden the notion by treating vocabulary as knowledge of word meanings, noting that words appear in both oral and written form and exist in two strata: receptive (recognised in reading and listening) and productive (used in speaking and writing).

LITERATURE REVIEW

Vocabulary

In everyday life, we say something, express our feelings and tell what we want to say All the things need the words, and these words are called vocabulary Vocabulary plays an important role in improving our skills in English It becomes one of aspects for improving communication skill Without having enough words, communication will end up in unpleasant situation and make the students difficult to continue their sentences or ideas Therefore, it is highly essential for English teachers to help their students master vocabulary

There are a variety of definitions of vocabulary Pyles (1970) asserts that vocabulary is the focus of language with its sounds and meaning, which interlock to allow us to communicate with one another What is more, vocabulary can be defined as words in a specific language or freestanding items of language that have meanings (McCarthy, 1990) Ur (1996) defines vocabulary roughly as ―the words we teach in the foreign language‖ Vocabulary was one of language components, which supports the teaching and learning of the four language skills of reading, listening, speaking and writing As the language component, vocabulary must be taught in a proper way Moreover, vocabulary can be broadly defined as knowledge of words and word meanings (Lehr et al., 2004) Lehr and his colleagues state that vocabulary is more sophisticated than this definition Firstly, words not only come in oral forms but also in print forms Secondly, vocabulary also comes in two forms: receptive and productive Receptive words refer to words that can be recognized in reading and listening Productive words are words used in speaking and writing

Vocabulary is a multifaceted concept that includes words, compounds, and idioms that people use to convey and interpret information In this study, vocabulary is defined as the set of linguistic units—words, compounds, and idioms—that enable effective communication in both spoken and written language.

When it comes to the importance of vocabulary, Krashen (1989) shows that ―a large vocabulary is, of course, essential for mastery of a language‖ as ―without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed‖ (Wilkins, 1972) Rubin and Thompson

(1994) demonstrate that ―one cannot speak, understand, read or write a foreign language without knowing a lot of words.‖ Nguyen and Khuat (2003) also assert that vocabulary knowledge plays an important role in learning a foreign language

In fact, vocabulary is a means to help learners communicate well Thus, they should have an adequate numbers of words to support communication It is an important component of language instruction In order that learners can communicate with other people well in a certain foreign language, they should acquire an adequate number of words and know how to use them correctly When referring to the importance of vocabulary in communication, Della and Hocking (1992) also state that with a little grammar, learners can have a little smooth communication, but without vocabulary, it is difficult for others to understand the information that they want to express Therefore, knowing words and how to use them in suitable contexts are more important than grammar rules "When students travel, they do not carry grammar books, they carry dictionaries"(Krashen as cited in Lewis, 1993:25)

As discussed above, vocabulary plays a crucial role in language learning to sustain other language skills, namely listening, speaking, reading and writing

According to Montgomery (2007), there are four main kinds of vocabulary: listening vocabulary referring to words we hear and understand when listening to a speech, speaking vocabulary including all words we use in our everyday conversations, writing vocabulary consisting of all words we use in writing, and

Reading vocabulary encompasses all the words we recognize in print or deduce from context According to Elfreida and Michael (2005), vocabulary can be categorized by purpose into types defined as knowledge of word meaning in its various forms—oral or print—and its functions—receptive or productive Oral vocabulary consists of the words we use in speaking or in oral reading, while print vocabulary refers to the words we recognize or use in writing or silent reading Receptive vocabulary includes words whose meanings we understand when we listen or read, whereas productive vocabulary comprises the words we actively use in speaking and writing Although definitions vary, the common thread is that vocabulary is the knowledge of words and their meanings.

Vocabulary teaching

In general, vocabulary is a matter of remembering, unlike e.g learning grammar, which is a system based mainly on rules Thornbury (2004) states that in order to teach vocabulary effectively as possible, it is important to know, how words are remembered and stored in students‘ minds and how long term memory is organized Some researchers agree that vocabulary is stored in the mind in a highly organized and complex web-like system, the so-called ‗mental lexicon‘ In the mental lexicon, words are stored, categorized and interconnected in many ways, according to their features such as meaning, form, collocation, syntactic properties, cultural background As a result, a word being retrieved is looked up through several pathways at once, which is extremely economical in terms of time needed (Gairns and Redman: 1992; McCarthy: 1992; Thornbury: 2004) One of the most important roles of language teachers is to help their students find the easiest way of conveying new information into the already existing system of the mental lexicon (Thornbury 2004: 93) Besides, students need to acquire the ability to store the information for as long as possible

Teaching English is not easy task to do because it needs teachers who are aware of

8 the importance of target language aspects Teaching vocabulary is regarded as an important step in the process of teaching foreign languages

Sửkmen (1997) listed some key principles of teaching vocabulary such as building a large sight of vocabulary, integrating new words with old one, providing a number of encounters with a word, promoting deep level of processing, facilitating imaging, making new word "real" by connecting them to the student's word in some way, using various techniques and encouraging independent learning strategies Thus, teachers need to meet almost all the principles so as to get effective results

According to Marzano (2004), vocabulary teaching process can be organized into six instructional steps The first three steps are used to introduce a new vocabulary term to students The last three steps provide different ways that students should experience over time to help them shape their understanding of the terms In this study, teaching vocabulary by implementing sense relations also follows these steps The six steps are as follows:

Step 1: Explain—Provide a student-friendly description, explanation, or example of the new term

Step 2: Restate—Ask students to restate the description, explanation, or example in their own words

Step 3: Show—Ask students to construct a picture, symbol, or graphic representation of the term

Step 4: Discuss—Engage students periodically in structured vocabulary discussions that help them add to their knowledge of the terms in their vocabulary notebooks

Step 5: Refine and reflect—Periodically ask students to return to their notebooks to discuss and refine entries

Step 6: Apply in Learning Games—Involve students periodically in games that allow them to play with terms

There are a variety of techniques that can be used in teaching vocabulary and teachers need to know how to use various techniques in presenting vocabulary to

9 their learners Gairns & Redman (1986) mentioned the most common ways of presenting and explaining meanings of the new words These techniques are divided into two groups: visual techniques and verbal techniques

Visual techniques consist of two main techniques which are visuals, mime and gesture a Visuals

Visual aids such as flashcards, photographs, blackboard drawings, wall charts, and realia (Gairns and Redman:73) are effective for conveying meaning, especially for teaching tangible vocabulary items like food and furniture, while mime and gestures provide a complementary nonverbal approach that enhances comprehension and retention.

These techniques are used additionally as another way of conveying meanings For instance, when teachers explain an action like smoking, it is better to use mime than draw a picture However, using mime and gestures is not always easy because the teacher should be a good ―actor‖ Sometimes, to have our presentation more precise, the mimes can be accompanied by blackboard drawings or showing pictures (Gairns and Redman, 1986: 74)

Verbal techniques are techniques that are presented orally or that have a written form Ur (1991: 64) stated that ―on the whole, definition, synonym and description tend to be most popular, perhaps because they are most obvious and conventional.‖

In this section, techniques such as using sense relations (synonyms, antonyms), definitions, collocations and translation are discussed as common verbal presentation techniques a Synonyms

This technique can be used with students either at lower or at higher levels (Gairns and Redman, 1986: 74) The explanation for low level learners should be shorter and simpler than that for high level learners

As with synonyms, antonyms are alternative techniques in presenting words and their meaning, so learners can grasp the sense of such items For example, when presenting the meaning of the word "big", we can illustrate it by contrasting it with

"small" Nevertheless, it is necessary to illustrate the contexts in which these items are took place c Definition

Definition is another important technique in conveying meaning Harmer (1991:

Introducing new words with definitions can be challenging for beginner learners, yet it can be highly useful for intermediate learners in vocabulary teaching Gairns and Redman (1986:74) advise that definitions should be presented with the word in context to avoid misunderstandings The discussion then turns to collocations, exploring how learners can benefit from understanding word partnerships alongside definitions.

Another technique used when presenting new words is teaching words with their collocations Generally, we should not teach individual words in the classroom As Hoey (1991) in Lewis (2000: 224) informed, ―learning individual words is relatively inefficient― Thus, for instance, when presenting the word

To teach vocabulary effectively, educators should present the common collocation “bitterly disappointed” to show how “disappointed” is used with an adverb, illustrating real-world usage Lewis (2004, p 14) argues that learners benefit most from seeing how words are actually used and how they collocate, rather than having their meanings explained in isolation.

According to Catford (1985), translation is defined as ―an operation performed on languages, a process of substituting a text in one language for a text in another‖ Although translation does not make learners have the motivation to think about word meaning (Cameron, 2001), it could be an effective technique for teachers in some situations, such as when dealing with incidental vocabulary (Thornbury,

2002), checking students‘ comprehension, and pointing out similarities or

11 differences between first and second language, when these are likely to cause errors (Takač, 2008) There are always some words that need to be translated and this technique can save a lot of time However, teachers need to consider that translation should not prevail over other presentation techniques when teaching vocabulary in the classroom.

Vocabulary learning

Acquiring the vocabulary of our first language is not an easy task However, acquiring the vocabulary of a second language especially if the second language learners are young is even more complicated Young learners of a second language are still building up their first language vocabulary, and this development is closely tied up with their conceptual development In fact, young language learners begin the task of first language acquisition without the cognitive maturity or metalinguistic awareness that older second language learners have Although young second language learners have begun to develop these characteristics, they still have far to go in these areas, as well as in the area of world knowledge, before they reach the levels already attained by adults Therefore, in planning and teaching a foreign language, we need to bear in mind this first language background to know what will work and what may be too difficult for children Vocabulary development is not just about learning words, it is also about learning more about those words, about learning formulaic phrases or chunks, or finding words inside them Learning words is not an easy task that is done and finished in a short period of time It is complex since learning words is a cyclical process of meeting new words, followed by meeting those words again and again, each time extending knowledge of what the words mean and how they are used in the foreign language As Cameron points out

―every time children meet familiar words, they have changed and will bring new first language and conceptual knowledge to the vocabulary‖ (Cameron, 2001:74) According to Locke (1993), the acquisition of the word meanings takes much longer than the acquisition of the spoken form of the words so children use the words in

12 their speech long before they have a full understanding of them The vocabulary development is a continuous process in which, children do not only add new words to their existing vocabulary bank but also build up knowledge about words they already know partially Learning a word requires a long time and plenty of exposure to the word used in different situations

Nation (2001) defines three broad vocabulary learning strategies: planning, sources, and processes Planning involves setting clear vocabulary goals, selecting which words to study based on those goals, and deciding where to find target vocabulary, with attention to the aspects to focus on (meaning primarily, though for listening and writing the word’s form also matters) to guide the learning effort The sources strategy emphasizes how learners cope with new words, including analyzing word parts (stems and affixes) to reveal connections among related words, using context clues to check guesses, and consulting reference sources and leveraging lexical parallels to support acquisition The processes strategy concerns establishing durable vocabulary knowledge, featuring how to remember and retrieve words; noticing serves as a common initial recording step, while retrieval strengthens the cue–knowledge link and is superior to mere noticing, and generating—the production of the word—represents the next step in the learning sequence.

Sense relations

Lexical semantic relations or ―sense relations‖ show the relationship between words and their meanings (one type of meaning with each other) According to the meaning we can differentiate between two distinctions: the first is the ―reference‖ which shows the external meaning of a word (what the word refers to in the physical world), while the other is the ―sense‖ that indicates the internal meaning of a word (its content)

Sense relations show the relationship between words and their meaning According to Kess (1992), Miller (1996) and Cruse (2004), sense relations can indicate many kinds of relations as follows:

Synonymy refers to a group of words that share a general sense and so may be interchangeable in a limited number of contexts As Palmer suggested in (1976:88)

Synonymy refers to the sameness of meaning, meaning that a set of words share the same sense or are synonyms of one another For example, pairs such as alter and change, big and large, rich and wealthy are synonyms because they convey the same meaning Saeed (1997:65) stated that synonyms expand expressive options in language, offering interchangeable terms that preserve meaning while enabling nuance and variety in usage.

―synonyms are different phonological words which have the same or very similar meanings

Although synonyms are defined as the sameness of meaning, there are no true synonyms in a language, since no two words share exactly the same sense in all contexts Palmer (1976:89) contends that there are no real synonyms, and that no pair of words would survive in a language if their meanings were identical in every situation For example, big and large are often treated as synonyms, but they have different collocations and cannot be interchangeable in some contexts due to usage patterns and nuances.

Antonyms refer to the oppositeness of meaning O‘Grady (1987:269) stated that

―antonyms are words or phrases that are opposites with respect to some components of their meaning‖ Palmer (1976:94) stated that ―words that are opposite are

14 antonyms‖ Take some pairs of words such as ―long/short, old/young, husband/ wife‖ as striking examples of antonyms Saeed (1997:94) listed two types of antonyms: simple antonyms (dead/ alive) and gradable antonyms (young/ old) Another type of antonyms that Lyons (1968:467) mentioned was converseness, so he stated that ― the third sense relation which is frequently described in terms of

―oppositeness‖ is that which holds between buy and sell or husband and wife‖ so the word ‗buy‘ is the converse of ‗sell‘ and vice versa

Hyponymy is the inclusion-based relationship in which the meaning of one term is contained within the meaning of another When we analyze hyponyms, we examine words that sit in a hierarchical arrangement, such as apple, orange, banana, grape, pear, and mango as hyponyms of the broader category fruit In this setup, fruit is the hypernym and each specific fruit is a hyponym, illustrating how more specific terms nest under a general concept and supporting clear semantic structure for content and SEO.

Figure 1.1: Example of hyponymy relation

Looking at this diagram, we can say that words such as ‗apple’ and ‗banana are the hyponyms of ‗fruit’, while ‗fruit’ is the superordinate term; words such as

‗orange’ and ‗grape‘ are called co-hyponyms

Palmer (1976:100) stated that ―sameness of meaning is not very easy to deal with but there seems nothing inherently difficult about difference of meaning Not only do different words have different meanings but it is also the case that the same words may have a set of different meanings‖ Therefore, the two terms are closed to each other therefore the learner should pay attention in distinguishing between them

Polysemy refers to a word that has two or more meanings McCarthy (2002:14) suggested that ―polysemy is concerned with the way words often have a number of different meanings‖ Look at the word ‗head‖ in the following sentences, we can know that the word ―head‖ has more than one meaning

- He shook his head (head = one part of the body)

- Dinner will cost $30 a head (head = a person)

- Mr Nam is the head of this department (head = a leader)

Another example of polysemy is the word ―fair‖ Some following examples will show many meanings of the same word ―fair‖

- I thought it was a fair price that my mother was offering {fair (adj) = reasonable}

- Fair weather was forecast for the following day {fair (adj) = dry and pleasant}

- Her knowledge of English is fair {fair (adj) = average, neither very bad nor very good}

- There is a fair on at the park {fair (n) = a public event with games}

Homonymy occurs when two words are identical in form, either in spelling or in sound, yet differ in meaning Saeed (1997:63) distinguishes among homonyms (the same phonological word), homographs (the senses of the same written word), and homophones (the senses of the same spoken word) Recognizing these distinctions helps in lexicography, language teaching, and semantic analysis by showing how shared form can conceal distinct meanings.

16 word means knowing its pronunciation and meanings It is obvious that some words have the same pronunciation and/or same spelling, but they have different meanings When different words are pronounced the same but have different meanings, they are called homonyms or homophones For example, the words such as air and heir are called homophones because they have the same pronunciation but different meanings

Moreover, Palmer (1976:101) suggested that ―there are some complications in the fact that we do not make the same distinction in writing and speech Thus lead

(metal) and lead (dog‘s lead) are spelt in the same way but pronounced differently, while site and sight /rite and write are spelt differently but pronounced in the same way There is a problem with words having many meanings, for example: can we say that ―fan‖ is a one word having more than one meaning {polysemy} or there are two different words having the same form {homonymy}?

O‘Grady (1987:270) stated that ―polysemy and homonymy create lexical ambiguity in that the single form has two or more meanings‖ For example, the word ruler in this sentence ― The ruler is straight.‖ can create ambiguity because we do not know whether ruler refers to an instrument used to draw a line or a leader Similarly, the word bank in the sentence ―I went to the bank with my boyfriend yesterday.‖ also creates ambiguity

Meronymy describes the part–whole relationships between lexical items—the way the parts of things relate to the wholes they comprise For example, “cover” and “page” are meronyms of a book, and signals such as the word part or position in a part–whole expression help structure semantic space in a hierarchical way While meronymy is sometimes similar to hyponymy, they differ in transitivity: hyponymy is always transitive, whereas meronymy may or may not be A clear transitive example is nail as a meronym of finger and finger as a meronym of hand, so nail is also a meronym of hand.

Meronyms describe non-transitive part‑of relationships in lexical semantics A pane is a meronym of a window, and a window is a meronym of a room, illustrating how parts fit into a broader hierarchy; however, a pane is not a meronym of room, because we cannot say "a room has a pane" in the same sense, so the transitive chain stops at the intermediate level.

Attributive relations describe the words, for example, convenience describes chair

(Carroll, 2008: 108) One of the most significant subcategories of attributive relation is being a relation On the basis of this relation, one of the words which construct the pair is a noun (being) and the other one is an adjective which has been made through a derivational process, such as disappointment (being disappointed), largeness (being large), envy (being envious), friendship (being a friend)

This kind of relation describes one of the pairs is an instrument which is mostly put in a specific place such as refrigerator/kitchen, or it is an instrument which is used in an industry or any type of work such as hammer/carpentry.(Izanloo, 2006, 62 &

Chapter summary

In summary, this chapter reviews literature related to the subject It is an overview

This article examines vocabulary teaching and learning by presenting clear vocabulary definitions, outlining why vocabulary knowledge matters for reading, listening, speaking, and writing, and detailing the main types of vocabulary and the techniques used to teach it effectively It also provides a focused review of sense relations, defining the terms and explaining the core categories—synonyms, antonyms, and hyponyms—and discusses how these relations support meaning, nuance, and lexical networks in language learning The discussion highlights the advantages of explicit instruction, semantic mapping, contextualized practice, and retrieval-based activities for building durable word knowledge, with practical implications for classroom practice In addition, the article surveys previous studies related to the present study, summarizing key findings, methodological approaches, and gaps in the literature that inform the research design and instructional implications Together, these elements offer a coherent framework for understanding vocabulary teaching and learning and for designing evidence-based curricula and activities that improve vocabulary depth, recall, and communicative competence.

METHODOLOGY

The research setting

The study was conducted at a secondary school, Thach That District, Hanoi City This secondary school, which is situated in a rural district- Thach That- of Hanoi City, was established in 1960 There are about seventy teachers and staffs with four English teachers The school has over 900 students divided into thirty seven classes: nine six-grade classes, nine seven-grade classes, ten eight-grade classes and nine nine-grade classes

The researcher chooses this secondary school because her friend teaches English here, so she finds it easier to conduct the experiment Moreover, thanks to the head master‘s permission and the help of the school teachers, the researcher can conduct the study

Tieng Anh 9, the English textbook published by the Ministry of Education and Training, uses a theme-based approach across ten units taught in about 60 class periods (two periods per week) Each unit centers on a single topic and combines Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing, and Language Focus to develop all four language skills The four skills and Language Focus are typically taught over five to six forty-five-minute lessons Grammar is usually taught within Language Focus, while vocabulary is integrated into the four-skill lessons rather than as a separate unit, taking about 5 to 10 minutes to introduce new vocabulary in each lesson.

In this study, the class was taught vocabulary from Units 5 and 6 of the English 9 textbook, Tieng Anh 9 To reinforce learning, students also used the workbooks Bài tập Tiếng Anh 9 and Bài tập thực hành Tiếng Anh 9 as supplementary practice resources.

Participants

The study was conducted in a class with the help of an English teacher She took part in the process of experimental teaching for 6 weeks She is 38 years old and has

15 years of teaching experience She has taught English since she graduated from Hanoi National University of Education She was enthusiastic and responsible for helping the researcher to conduct the experiment

In order to collect data, 29 students from class 9A1 in the academic year 2017-2018 at a secondary school were chosen based on non-random sampling method They were asked to take part in the process of experimental teaching which lasts for 6 weeks The student participants are learning English as a foreign language at this school They are fifteen years old, of both genders, with similar backgrounds and English proficiency Many of them come from poor families in rural areas, so they do not have many opportunities to practice English; thus, their ability to use English is limited.

Methods of the study

In this research, both quantitative research and qualitative research are flexibly adapted in order to be suitable for context and target of this study The researcher uses the student‘s questionnaire and the teacher‘s pre-interview to investigate students‘ ways of vocabulary learning and the teacher‘s teaching techniques in order to help her design the suitable activities for the experimental teaching A pre-test and a post-test are also used to determine whether students‘ vocabulary is improved after implementing sense relations to teach vocabulary In order to have in-depth information, the English teacher who took part in the experimental teaching in 6 weeks was interviewed after the experiment

This study employs action research as its methodological framework to improve students' vocabulary knowledge and to generate practical pedagogical implications for vocabulary teaching and learning by both teachers and students Given these objectives, action research is the most appropriate approach for investigating and enhancing current instructional practices.

Action research has gained momentum in recent years, underpinned by the belief that teachers are best placed to assess and improve the quality of their own teaching Scholars define action research in various ways and articulate its aims, highlighting its iterative cycle of inquiry, reflection, collaboration, and practical outcomes that directly enhance classroom practice.

Firstly, action research is a ―small- scale intervention in the functioning of the real world and a close examination of the effects of such intervention.‖ (Cohen & Manion, 1994) The aim of action research is to improve the current state of affairs within the educational context in which the research is being carried out To put in another word, it involves ―small-scale intervention‖ when a specific problem is identified; specific actions are implemented to bring about the changes and solutions to solve the problems The specific problem in this study is that the students have low vocabulary ability

Secondly, the main purpose of the study is to ―evaluate‖ the application of sense relations whether it is suitable and effective in enhancing grade-9 students‘ vocabulary “Action research is the name given to a series of procedures teachers can engage in either because they wish to improve aspects of their teaching, or because they wish to evaluate the success and/or appropriacy of certain activities and procedures” (Harmer, 2002:344-345) In other words, action research relates to a ―self- reflective, critical and systematic‖ research method to identify and deeply understand the teaching and learning context Also, according to Tsui (1993), action research is a very effective way of helping teachers to reflect on their teaching and to come up with their own alternatives to improve their practice‖

According to Mills (2003), action research is any systematic inquiry conducted by teacher researchers to examine how their school operates, how they teach, and how well their students learn The information gathered is used to gain insight, develop reflective practice, drive positive changes in the school environment and educational practices, and, ultimately, improve student outcomes.

Lastly, Kemmis & Mc Taggert, (1982) state that action research is a combination of the terms ―action‖ and ―research‖ It puts ideas into practice for the purpose of self- improvement and increasing knowledge about curriculum, teaching, and learning Action research aims at improving what happens in the classroom and school

Action research is conducted to improve the current situation by identifying a problem within a specific context and applying a systematic, scientific approach to address it This iterative process involves diagnosing the issue, implementing targeted interventions, and evaluating outcomes to generate practical knowledge that fits the setting Therefore, action research is a highly suitable methodology for this study, offering both theoretical insight and tangible improvements in the identified context.

Different authors and researchers have established and proposed different models of action research However, also discussing about action research, Nunan (1992) suggested 7 steps of a typical action research:

Figure 1: Action research cycle (Nunan, 1992)

As can be seen in the diagram above, the process starts with the initiation, means that the researcher attempts to identify the problem area This is followed by

Action research starts by collecting concrete information to accurately diagnose the problem and form a testable hypothesis With evidence in hand, the researcher designs an intervention and plans action that temporarily interrupts routine classroom activities to apply a new treatment intended to change how things are organized The next step is evaluating the intervention by analyzing the resulting changes in teaching and learning After the study, dissemination shares the findings with peers and stakeholders, and practitioners then follow up by implementing the results in their own contexts As a result, the traditional methods of instruction are reshaped, and a new approach is adopted to advance students’ progress Ultimately, action research aims to address practical problems in education by bridging the gap between theory and practice, turning insights into tangible improvements in the studying process.

According to the above action research cycle of Nunan (1992), this study is carried out based on these following steps in an action research:

Before conducting this action research, basing on her experience as an English teacher at a secondary school, the author discovered that students‘ vocabulary was not good They often have many difficulties in learning vocabulary For example, they find it difficult to remember new words, forget quickly the words that they have just learnt or cannot recall the words when necessary In fact, students tend to learn vocabulary by writing new words in their notebook, reading new words loudly many times and then try to remember them

To investigate the causes of these above problems, the researcher based on her teaching experiences, the result of the students‘ questionnaire, the pre- test and the teacher‘s pre-interview From these results, it is indicated that students have low

26 vocabulary knowledge Moreover, students‘ difficulties, habits and favorite ways of vocabulary learning are identified in the study

After reviewing initial data, the researcher formed the hypothesis that students' vocabulary is improved after applying sense relations

Based on the hypothesis above, the researcher suggested using sense relations in the hope of solving the problem The researcher asked the English teacher to carry out the process of using sense relations to help grade-9 students improve their vocabulary within 8 weeks Two units of including ―the media‖ and ―the environment‖ were implemented with seven different types of sense relations depending on vocabulary and the topic of the lesson Six instructional steps proposed by Marzano (2004) were carried out The first three steps are used to introduce a new vocabulary term to students using sense relations The last three steps provide different ways that students should experience over time to help them shape their understanding of the terms The six steps are as follows:

Step 1: Explain—Provide a student-friendly description, explanation, or example of the new term

Step 2: Restate—Ask students to restate the description, explanation, or example in their own words

Step 3: Show—Ask students to construct a picture, symbol, or graphic representation of the term

Step 4: Discuss—Engage students periodically in structured vocabulary discussions that help them add to their knowledge of the terms in their vocabulary notebooks

Step 5: Refine and reflect—Periodically ask students to return to their notebooks to discuss and refine entries

Step 6: Apply in Learning Games—Involve students periodically in games that allow them to play with terms

During the period of implementing sense relations, the researcher used the following two instruments to help her to see the effectiveness of her intervention: the tests and the interviews

STEP 6 and 7: DISSEMINATION AND FOLLOW- UP

The researcher stated that the use of sense relations in teaching vocabulary has positive effects on students‘ vocabulary learning For example, students can remember words more quickly and easily, avoid some traditional ways such as translation from the mother tongue to English or using a dictionary Moreover, the researcher gives some suggestions for teachers who want to use sense relations to improve their students‘ vocabulary knowledge.

Data collection instruments

The researcher used three main instruments to collect data They are tests, students‘ questionnaire and the teacher‘s interviews

Maulia (2014) states that a test is used to find out how well something works The test is the first instrument used to examine students‘ vocabulary knowledge It is divided into two categories: pre -test and post -test The pre- test, which aims to find out the students‘ vocabulary knowledge, is conducted in the first week before the experiment is conducted Then, a post-test is carried out after the treatment in order to see the differences or students‘ development in vocabulary mastery by using sense relations The test consists of 20 questions which are divided into two main types: multiple choices and gap-filling (see appendix) The lexical words in the test are taken from the textbook Both the pre-test and the post-test are designed to be similar to each other in terms of content, task types, allotted time and numbers of the tasks In other words, the post-test and the pre-test have the same items In order for the post-test‘s validity and reliability to be ensured, students are not given the answer keys of the pre-test Besides, they are not notified in advance that they will be given another test Generally, the aim of the test is to determine the effectiveness

28 of using sense relations on students‘ vocabulary acquisition by comparing the scores of the students in the pre-test with those of the students in the post-test

After the pre-test, a questionnaire is administered to explore students' views on the importance of learning English vocabulary, their experiences and habits in vocabulary learning, the difficulties they encounter, and their preferred vocabulary-learning methods Analyzing these responses yields valuable insights that help designers create suitable and effective vocabulary-teaching activities and tailor instruction to learners' needs, ultimately improving English vocabulary learning outcomes.

The questionnaire contains nine (9) questions with three main types of questions: multiple –choice questions, ranked questions and open- ended questions The questionnaire is divided into 5 sections as follows:

Purposes The number of questions

Students‘ vocabulary learning time length and levels of vocabulary

2 Multiple –choice questions Ranked questions

The importance of learning vocabulary

2 Multiple –choice questions Ranked questions Students‘ difficulties in learning vocabulary

Open-ended questions Students‘ habits of vocabulary learning

2 Multiple –choice questions Open-ended questions Students‘ favourite ways of vocabulary learning

Table 2.1: Summary of the questions in the students’ questionnaire

Interviews enable in-depth discussions about respondents’ needs and opinions, while questionnaires often fail to yield detailed answers on the topic As a result, several questionnaire responses required further clarification that could be provided through interview dialogue Consequently, the researcher used interviews to gain deeper insights into the subject.

The pre-interview was carried out with the English teacher before the experiment The purpose of this pre-interview is to help the researcher get information about her students‘ vocabulary acquisition and investigate whether she used sense relations in teaching vocabulary or not There are four questions in this interview In the first question (Q1), the teacher is asked about the number of years of teaching The second question (Q2) tries to investigate her opinions on her students‘ vocabulary mastery The next questions (Q3 and Q4) aim at exploring techniques that she used in teaching vocabulary and the frequency she used sense relations

After the 6-week treatment, a post-interview was conducted to examine the difficulties that the teacher faced in the process of applying sense relations and some possible suggestions for other teachers who want to use this technique to teach vocabulary, The purpose of this post-interview is to help the researcher have more information for her evaluation of the effectiveness of sense relations in teaching vocabulary

Data collection procedure

The table below summarizes the procedure of collecting data for the study

Week 1 - Administering the pre-test of vocabulary knowledge

- Conducting the teacher‘s interview before the experiment

- Delivering the students‘ questionnaire Week 2-

- Implementing sense relations in teaching vocabulary

Week 8 - Administering the post-test of vocabulary knowledge

-Conducting the teacher‘s interview after the experiment

Chapter summary

This chapter outlines the research setting, study methods, data collection instruments, data collection procedures, and the study participants Conducted over eight weeks, the study used three instruments—a test, a questionnaire, and an interview—to collect data from 29 ninth-grade students and one English teacher In the first week, the pre-test, the students’ questionnaire, and the teacher’s interview helped the researcher identify the problem and implement sense relations in teaching vocabulary to assess its effectiveness.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

The tests

The pre-test and post-test were given to a class which consists of twenty -nine students In the pre-test, the scores of seventeen students (60%) clustered between

Pre-test scores ranged from 27 to 40 out of 100, indicating generally weak student performance The frequency distribution is approximately bell-shaped but left-skewed, with most scores clustered below the pass mark Chart 3.1 illustrates the pre-test score distribution, highlighting the low level of achievement among the students.

Chart 3 1: Frequency Distribution of Pre-test

In the post test the scores of more than twenty three students (about 80%) range between 78 and 91 The frequency curve of the scores is skewed to the right which indicates far better results than those in the pretest

Chart 3 2: Frequency Distribution of Post-test

The questions of the tests were set with the aim of measuring students‘ improvement in vocabulary acquisition The mean of the students' scores of the pre-test was (39.17) This indicates a poor achievement The mean was far below the pass mark (50) In contrast, the mean of the scores of the students in the post test was (80.28), which is twice as high as the mean of the pre-test scores It means that the mean score of both tests are significantly different

In short, the result of the test indicates that the mean score of the pre-test and post- test is 39.17 and 80.28 respectively It is clear that the mean score of the post-test is much higher than that of the pre-test Based on the findings above, it can be concluded that the use of sense relations can help students learn vocabulary better

It is also supported by the previous research conducted by Hashemi and Gowdasiaei

According to (2005), lexical sets help students learn vocabulary more effectively than semantically unrelated word groups, because leveraging lexical semantic relations strengthens the teaching and learning of vocabulary By organizing words around related meanings, collocations, and usage patterns, teachers can create more memorable and transferable vocabulary knowledge for learners.

Section 1: Students’ vocabulary learning time length and levels of vocabulary

The first question in the questionnaire concerned time that students started to learn English The statistic showed that students‘ time length of English learning was the

All students have studied English for seven years, starting in grade 3, under the same English curriculum and syllabus issued by the Ministry of Education and Training This uniform instruction results in similar patterns of English vocabulary acquisition among students Nevertheless, the majority feel that their vocabulary is underdeveloped.

Section 2: The importance of learning vocabulary

About 80 % of the students assume that vocabulary is more difficult to study than other elements like grammar and phonetics Nearly all the students (96 %) are also aware that vocabulary is necessary and important to master a foreign language because without vocabulary, they cannot communicate with other people well

Section 3: Students’ difficulties in learning vocabulary

The next two questions try to examine difficulties that students encountered in learning vocabulary The result indicates that nearly 90% of the students always or usually face problems in learning vocabulary, while the figure for the students who rarely have any difficulty is 3.4 % They also mention some difficulties they have to face in vocabulary learning It is clear that they find it difficult to retain words that have many syllables or difficult pronunciation; quickly forget vocabulary if it isn‘t repeated many times; and even cannot recall some words that they have just learnt

Section 4: Students’ habits of vocabulary learning

Writing new words on some pieces of paper

Sticking new words on the wall

Learning new words and their meanings by heart

Table 3.1: Students’ habits of vocabulary learning at home

According to the table, students use several vocabulary-learning methods Most learners rely on rote strategies, such as writing new words on slips of paper or memorizing their meanings by heart, while only one student expands their vocabulary by reading English-Vietnamese stories.

In this section, the researcher asked students how much time they spend learning vocabulary at home The results indicate that most students (over 80%) devote only a small amount of time to vocabulary learning, and on average, they spend less than a minimal amount of time.

10 minutes every day learning new words It means that they lack motivation for learning vocabulary

Section 5: Students’ favourite ways of vocabulary learning

A researcher offered several vocabulary-learning strategies and asked participants to select their preferred methods The results show a clear preference for visual and semantic approaches: about 80% chose learning vocabulary through pictures and synonyms or antonyms, while only 5% preferred translation or definitions.

Section 1: Teacher’s evaluation of students’ vocabulary acquisition

Before the treatment, the teacher was asked about the level of her students‘ vocabulary She stated that only 5% of students have high acquisition of vocabulary The percentage for students who achieve average level in acquiring vocabulary is 40 %, while the figure for students who have low acquisition of vocabulary is 55 % This means that most students do not have good vocabulary knowledge

Section 2: Teacher’s techniques to teach vocabulary

Her approach to vocabulary teaching centers on translation, clear definitions, and visual aids such as pictures She also uses additional techniques, including synonyms, though she believes they are not very effective To save time, she sometimes writes a word list on the blackboard.

“… Some technique I usually use to teach vocabulary translation,

35 definition and visual aids like pictures Besides, I use some other techniques such as synonyms, but I think that they are very effective Sometimes, I choose to write a list of words on the blackboard to save time.”

Section 3: Frequency of using sense relations in teaching vocabulary

In order to gain insight into the use of sense relations in teaching vocabulary, the researcher asked her how often she used sense relations in teaching vocabulary She said that she sometimes used sense relations such as synonyms or antonyms to teach vocabulary However, it took a lot of time to use sense relations in teaching vocabulary because the time of a lesson was limited and she thought that teaching grammar was more important than teaching vocabulary That was the reason why she often focused on spending more time on grammar teaching than vocabulary teaching

Chapter summary

This chapter synthesizes data from students’ tests, their questionnaires, and the teacher’s interview to present the major findings: measurable vocabulary improvement from pre-treatment to post-treatment; the teacher’s evaluation of the effectiveness of sense-relations in vocabulary teaching and learning; the difficulties the teacher encountered when applying sense relations in vocabulary instruction; and practical recommendations for other teachers who want to implement sense-relations-based vocabulary teaching.

This chapter presents recapitulation, pedagogical implications, limitations and suggestions for further studies

Considering that vocabulary is of great importance in English language learning, the researcher conducted this study to determine the positive effect of the use of sense relations in students‘ vocabulary mastery Three main instruments used in this study are pre-test, post-test, students‘ questionnaire and the teacher‘s interview In this study, two research questions were answered clearly Through the result of the pre- test and the post-test, it is indicated that there is a significant difference between the scores of the students before and after the experiment Specifically, the mean score of the pre-test was 39.17 and the post-test was 80.28 This meant that the result of the post-test is far better than that of the pre-test It proves that the use of sense relations has a positive impact on students‘ vocabulary acquisition and the use of sense relations could significantly contribute to enhance vocabulary learning process of students in terms of understanding and memorizing vocabulary In addition, the result from the teacher‘s interview reveals the advantages and the difficulties of applying sense relations in teaching vocabulary as well as provides teachers with some possible suggestions for the use of sense relations in teaching vocabulary

The results of this study have several important implications

Vocabulary plays a crucial role in learning English, so students should explore the most effective vocabulary learning methods that suit their needs They should identify which learning strategies work best for them and tailor their study accordingly Sense relations offer a powerful way to master vocabulary more easily, so students should become familiar with using sense relations in their vocabulary practice at both school and home to improve retention and overall language comprehension.

40 make vocabulary learning better They should do more exercises related to the use of sense relations to improve their vocabulary

Firstly, since vocabulary is a very important part of the language, teachers must equip themselves with various techniques and methods of teaching Using an appropriate technique in teaching vocabulary is important because it can affect their students' level of progression They should provide students with not only vocabulary knowledge but also the strategies to access, to memorize and to consolidate the knowledge They should know that choosing a technique to teach a word can depend on some factors such as the topic of a lesson Secondly, the present study showed that the use of sense relations can be a useful technique in vocabulary learning and teaching, so teachers should use this technique more to facilitate vocabulary learning for students Since vocabulary is not a random collection of lexical items but a systematic network of interrelated items, it seems more reasonable to present and interpret words to students in a systematized way which will exemplify the systematic nature of vocabulary Thirdly, teachers should examine students‘ favorite ways of vocabulary learning with the aim of designing lesson plans appropriately This will help teachers achieve educational outcomes Finally, teachers should design more exercises related to sense relations in order that their students can practice doing them both in class and at home because the time for teaching vocabulary in class is limited

Although the researcher has made efforts to carry out this study, there were some unavoidable limitations due to many reasons such as time limitation and the researcher‘s experience

One major limitation of the study was its short duration, which restricted the sample to a single class of 29 students and limited the ability to generalize findings to the broader secondary school population To improve generalizability, future research should extend the study period and include participants across multiple classes and levels A second limitation is that the investigation examined sense relations in general rather than analyzing different types of sense relations individually Additionally, vocabulary knowledge was measured only in a short-term assessment, which may not reflect long-term learning or retention.

Some topics can be suggested for further studies in the future in order to cover other areas in the same study The field of sense relations had been discussed as a whole, so further studies can be done to cover these sense relations individually For example, some detailed titles such as the role or the effect of synonyms and antonyms in learning vocabulary or the importance of polysemy and homonymy in vocabulary learning can be discussed in the next studies Besides, it is necessary for further studies to consider students‘ vocabulary acquisition by using sense relations in the long-term Also, this study only focused a small sample with 29 students, so other future studies can be conducted with a bigger sample with the same or different contexts to make them more reliable

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APPENDICES APPENDIX 1 QUESTIONNAIRE Dear Students,

You are kindly invited to fill in the following questionnaire as a part of a Master‘s thesis entitled ―The effects of using sense relations on learning English vocabulary of 9 th grade students in a secondary school in Hanoi.‖ I would be grateful if you could answer the following questions which will be very necessary for my study That you answer these questions does not affect your academic performance

Please put a tick  in the box next to the answer of your choice or write in the space provided as the case may be

1 How long have you studied English?

 Under 3 years  3- 4 years  7 years  Over 7 years

2 What do you think about your acquisition of English vocabulary?

 High  Above average  Average  Below average  Low

3 Which of the following language elements is difficult to study?

4 Do you think that vocabulary is important in learning English language?

 Very unimportant  Unimportant  Neutral  Important  Very important

5 To what extent do you face difficulties in learning new vocabulary?

 Always  Usually  Sometimes  Rarely  Never

6 Can you tell any difficulties that you often face in learning new words?

7 Besides learning vocabulary in class, how do you learn vocabulary at home?

 Writing new words on some pieces of paper

 Sticking new words on the wall or somewhere in the house and try to memorize them

 Learning the words and their meanings by heart

8 How much time do you spend learning English vocabulary every day?

9 To what extent do you like implementing the following techniques in learning vocabulary?

Disinterested Neutral Interested Very interested Translation

Thank you for your collaboration!

PRE-INTERVIEW AND POST-INTERVIEW FOR THE ENGLISH

1 How long have you taught English?

2 What do you think about the level of your students‘ vocabulary acquisition?

3 What techniques do you use to teach vocabulary?

4 To what extent do you use sense relations in teaching vocabulary?

1 In your opinion, what are the advantages of using sense relations in teaching and learning and learning vocabulary?

2 Do you have any difficulties in implementing sense relations to teach vocabulary?

3 How do you evaluate the effectiveness of sense relations in teaching and learning vocabulary?

4 Do you have any suggestions for teachers who want to use sense relations in teaching vocabulary?

1 A dump B bin C junk-yard D throw

II Choose the word that is CLOSEST in meaning to the underlined word or phrase

6 The Internet has some disadvantages

7 We should use public transports to preserve the environment

8 You should leave home early to avoid traffic congestion

A traffic lights B traffic jams C traffic police D traffic circle

10 I‘m disappointed that people have spoiled this area

III Choose the word that is OPPOSITE in meaning to the underlined word or phrase

12 You should turn off the lights to save electricity when you leave the room

13 We should minimize the amount of rubbish that we create every day

14 If you throw rubbish onto the water, you will make water polluted

15 We should burn trash to reduce the amount of garbage

IV Put the following words in the correct box channel - deforestation –remote control - spraying pesticides- dynamite fishing

II Put the following words in the correct box channel - deforestation –remote control - spraying pesticides- dynamite fishing

III Choose the word that is CLOSEST in meaning to the underlined word or phrase

IV Choose the word that is OPPOSITE in meaning to the underlined word or phrase

SYLLABUS FOR APPLYING SENSE RELATIONS TO TEACH

Topic Competences Lesson Vocabulary SR

- Ask for and give opinions

Getting started – Listening and Reading crier (n), magazine (n), newspaper (n) remote control (n), channel (n) interactive (adj), benefit (n)

Speaking + Language Focus 2 violent (adj), documentary (n), informative (adj), boring (adj), like (v), prefer (v), love (v), enjoy (v),…

Listening + Language Focus 1,3,4 telegraph (n), assignment (n), viable (adj), journalism (n) ,commercial (adj), drama (n)

Attributive relation Synonym Place relation

Reading convenient (adj), communicate (v), surf

(v), purpose (n), costly (adj),limitation (n), get access to, information leaking (n.p), time- consuming (adj), useful (adj)

Writing advantage (n), drawback (n), a source of education, a source of entertainment, means of education, …

Getting started + Listening and Reading garbage dump (n.p), deforestation (n), pollution (n), dynamite fishing (n.p), spraying pesticides (n.p), disappointed (adj), shore (n)

(v), traffic jams (n.p), reduce (v), polluted (adj), recycle (v), exhaust fume (n.p)

Polysemy Collocation Synonym Antonym Place relation Listening +

Language Focus sewage (n), pump (v), drop (v), oil (n), vessel (n), marine life (n.p), deliberate (adj), waste (n)

(n), hedge (n), folk (n) treasure (n), rubbish (n), minimize (v)

Writing electric shock (n.p) prohibit (v), complaint (n), smell (n), fly (n) authority (n), catch (v)

SOME ACTIVITIES IN THE EXPERIMENTAL TEACHING

Weather forecast music film sport drama news soccer tennis horror film detective film action film cartoon romantic film film folk pop jazz rock

Name of the programs Adjectives to describe Verbs to describe

Interesting Informative Violent Boring Exciting

Enjoy Love Like Prefer Dislike Hate

Activity 4: self- study online schools online lessons game movie music

A source of entertainment Benefits of the Internet articles news

SKILL SPEAKING + LANGUAGE FOCUS 2 (Period 28)

I Objectives: By the end of the lesson, Ss will be able to:

- Ask and answer questions about favorite programs

- Talk to their friends about the programs they like or dislike

III Teaching aids: Textbook, chalk, blackboard, handouts, posters

Ss may not have enough vocabulary to talk about the topic, so T should be ready to provide help

STAGES AND TEACHER’S ACTIVITIES Work arrangement 5ms

- T elicits the topic by asking Ss some questions:

+ What kinds of programs do you like best?

+ Why do you like it?

 To practice more about the media, we continue Unit 5- The media, speaking part

- violent (adj): bạo lực (synonym)

- documentary (n): phim tài liệu (hyponym)

- informative (adj): giàu thông tin (attributive relation)

- boring (adj): nhàm chán (antonym)

- opposite (adj, n): trái ngược (antonym)

Steps to present the vocabulary:

+ T elicits the new word with a technique

+ T asks Ss to repeat the word 2 times chorally

+ T asks some Ss to repeat the word 2 times individually

+ T writes the word on the board

+ T asks Ss to give meaning of the word in Vietnamese

+ T asks Ss to copy all new words

Nam: You like watching sports, (1) ………… ?

Mai: Not really, Some sports are so violent, and I don‘t

Nam: I‘m the opposite I (3) …… watching sports, and documentaries seem quite boring to me

Mai: But you (4) ………the news, (5) …………?

Trung: Yes, every day It‘s very (6) …………

Mai: I enjoy it too You don‘t like foreign films, (7) ……… ?

- T asks Ss to complete the dialogue between Nam and Mai

You like watching sports, don‘t you?

You don‘t like foreign films, do you?

- T asks Ss to read the dialogue in pairs

- T checks their pronunciation/ intonation of tag question

- T asks Ss to pick out sentences showing agreement and disagreement and has them practice

- Documentaries seem quite boring to me

Activity: Talk about favorite programs

- T divides the whole class into 4 groups

Work in your group and discuss about your favorite programs in

3 minutes After 3 minutes, the leader of each group comes to the board and presents the group’s result

- T asks Ss to work in pairs, basing on the model to talk about your own music taste

- T moves around to give help if necessary

- T calls on some groups to present their work before the whole class

- Learn by heart the new words

- Rewrite the last activity in a short paragraph

Pedagogical implications

The results of this study have several important implications

Vocabulary plays an important role in learning English, so students need to find the best ways of vocabulary learning They should find out which methods of learning are suitable for themselves Sense relations can be an effective way to help them master vocabulary more easily, so they also should be familiar with the use of sense relations in learning vocabulary at school as well as at home to

40 make vocabulary learning better They should do more exercises related to the use of sense relations to improve their vocabulary

Effective vocabulary teaching hinges on teachers equipping themselves with a range of techniques and methods, as the choice of technique can influence students' progress and should address not only word knowledge but also strategies for accessing, memorizing, and consolidating vocabulary The study demonstrates that sense relations are a valuable teaching technique, helping students learn vocabulary through a systematic, interconnected network rather than a random collection of items, and suggests presenting words in a structured way that reflects the nature of vocabulary Teachers should assess students’ preferred ways of learning vocabulary to design lesson plans that optimize educational outcomes, and they should create more exercises on sense relations for both in-class and at-home practice to compensate for limited classroom time.

Limitations of the study

Although the researcher has made efforts to carry out this study, there were some unavoidable limitations due to many reasons such as time limitation and the researcher‘s experience

This study has several limitations that affect generalizability and scope First, time constraints limited the sample size to a single class of 29 students, which may not reflect the broader secondary school population To generalize findings to larger groups, future research should extend the study period and include participants from multiple classes and levels Second, the investigation addressed sense relations as a whole rather than analyzing individual types of sense relations Finally, vocabulary knowledge was measured only in the short term, limiting insights into longer-term retention and development.

Suggestions for further studies 44 REFERENCES APPENDICES