Problems faced by the first year students at thanhhoa college of culture and arts in developing vocabulary for speaking in different subject areas

MINOR THESIS Problems faced by the first-year students at Thanh Hoa College of Culture and Arts in developing vocabulary for speaking in different subject areas thuật Thanh Hóa gặp ph

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

- -

NGUYEN THI HA MY M.A MINOR THESIS

Problems faced by the first-year students at Thanh Hoa College of Culture and Arts in developing vocabulary for speaking in different

subject areas

thuật Thanh Hóa gặp phải trong việc phát triển từ vựng để nói về các chủ

điểm khác nhau)

Field: Methodology Code: 601410

Hanoi, 2011

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

- -

NGUYEN THI HA MY

M.A MINOR THESIS

Problems faced by the first-year students at Thanh Hoa College of Culture and Arts in developing vocabulary for speaking in different

subject areas

thuật Thanh Hóa gặp phải trong việc phát triển từ vựng để nói về các chủ

điểm khác nhau)

Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410

Supervisor: Nguyen Bang, M.A

Hanoi, 2011

Abstract

The importance of vocabulary is undeniable in language learning Therefore, understanding the difficulties faced by students in learning vocabulary is apparently necessary to gain effective learning This minor thesis was carried out with an attempt to investigate the difficulties and obstacles that the first year students at Thanh Hoa College

of Culture and Arts (THCCA) have faced when learning English vocabulary

It first described the issues which prompted the study It then reviewed the literature relevant to the topic of research which served as a theoretical framework for the study The data were collected by means of questionnaires and interviews From that the findings emphasized the problems influencing on the learners’ vocabulary development In

addition, based on the findings, some solutions were suggested to improve the quality of

learning English vocabulary in speaking sections at THCCA

List of abbreviations

Clt: Communicative Language Teaching THCCA: Thanh Hoa College of Culture and Arts

ESP: English for Specific Purposes

List of tables

Table 1: Criteria for selection

Table 2: Students’ purposes of learning English

Table 3: Students’ opinions about learning vocabulary for developing speaking skills Table 4: Teachers’ effectiveness method of teaching vocabulary

Table 5: Students’ difficulties in learning vocabulary in speaking skills

Table 6: Students’ opinions about the effectiveness of teaching vocabulary in speaking

lessons

List of Charts Chart 1: Students' habit in speaking English

Chart 2: Ss' attitudes towards the importance of speaking skills

Chart 3: Ss' opinions about the vocabulary introduced in speaking topics in the course book

Table of contents

Page

Declaration i

Acknowledgement ii

Abstract iii

List of abbreviations iv

Table of contents v

Part A: INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Research questions 2

4 Scope of the study 3

5 Method of the study 3

6 Design of the study 3

Part B: DEVELOPMENT 5

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 5

1.1 Speaking skills 5

1.1.1 Concept of speaking 5

1.1.2 Characteristics of speaking 6

1.1.3 The role of speaking in language teaching and learning 7

1.2 Vocabulary and its role in language teaching and learning 8

1.2.1 Definition of vocabulary 8

1.2.2 Classification of vocabulary 9

1.2.3 The role of vocabulary in language teaching and learning 11

1.2.4 Criteria for selection to teach vocabulary 12

1.3 Methodology in vocabulary teaching 13

1.3.1 The Grammar-translation Method 13

1.3.2 The Direct Method 13

1.3.3 The Audio-lingual Method 14

1.3.4 The Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) 15

1.4 The role of vocabulary in speaking skills 15

1.5 Summary 16

CHAPTER II: THE STUDY 17

2.1 Research setting 17

2.1.1 An overview of the research site 17

2.1.2 The current situation of English teaching and learning at THCCA 17

2.1.2.1 Description of the teachers of English in THCCA 2.1.2.2 Description of the students at THCCA 2.1.2.3 The learning materials 18

2.1.3 Objectives of Basic English at the THCCA 18

2.1.4 The learning of English vocabulary at THCCA 19

2.2 Methodology 19

2.2.1 Participants 19

2.2.2 Research instruments 19

2.3 Summary 20

CHAPTER III: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 21

3.1 Data analysis and discussion from the finding 21

3.1.1 The reality of learning vocabulary and speaking skills at THCCA 21

3.1.2 Difficulties that the first year students have faced with in learning vocabulary in speaking skills 28

3.1.3 The solutions to the improvement of learning vocabulary in speaking skills at THCCA 29

3.2 Summary 30

CHAPTER IV: FINDING AND SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS FOR BETTER LEARNING ENGLISH VOCABULARY 32

4.1 Findings 32

4.2 Suggested solutions 33

4.3 Summary 35

III Conclusion 36

1 Conclusion 36

2 Limitation of the study 36

3 Suggestions for further studies 37

REFERENCE 38

Appendix 1: Survey questionnaire i

Appendix 2: Interview iv

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

In Vietnam, the teaching and learning of English have recently gained significance firstly because it is an international language; secondly it is also seen as a means to promote mutual understanding and cooperation between Vietnam and other countries, especially since Vietnam has became an official member of WTO It has an increasing number of people desiring to know English with the hope of keeping up with the latest modern technology in the world English has now been taught at all universities and colleges, and it

is considered as a compulsory subject at secondary school

Being a teacher of THCCA, the researcher found that one of the main reasons why students are not positive in English is that they do not have adequate vocabulary Therefore, the

author to carry out a research on “Problems faced by the first-year students at Thanh Hoa

College of Culture and Arts in developing vocabulary for speaking in different subject areas”

2 Aims of the study

This study aims at finding out the difficulties that the first year students at THCCA have faced with in learning vocabulary for speaking skills

3 Research questions

To achieve the objectives of the study, the following questions were raised:

1 What is the reality of learning vocabulary in speaking skills at THCCA?

2 What difficulties have the first year students at THCCA faced with in developing vocabulary for speaking skills?

3 What techniques should be applied to improve vocabulary learning for speaking skills?

4 Scope of the study

The study is limited to the area of learning vocabulary in the current learning materials for the first year students at THCCA This minor thesis deals with the common problems which students have met, and basing on these problems, some effective and feasible solutions will be provided

5 Methodology

In order to find out the answers to the research questions, this study is to be conducted as a descriptive study that utilizes both quantitative and qualitative approaches

6 Design of the study

This study consists of three parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion

PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Speaking skills

1.1.1 Concept of speaking

Of the four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), speaking plays a vital role since it is the step to identify who knows or does not know a language Pattison (1992) confirms that when people know or learn a language, they mean being able to speak the language The nature of speaking has been discussed by many scholars

According to Brown, G and Yule, G (1983), spoken language consists of short, fragmentary utterances in a range of pronunciation They also point out that in speaking the loosely- organized syntax, and non- specific words and phrases are used

1.1.2 Characteristics of speaking

In Bygate’s opinion, there are two kinds of routines

Information routines may be described to involve two sub-routines: expository and

evaluation

Interaction routines are routines based not so much on sequences of kinds of terms

occurring in typical kinds of interactions

1.1.3 The role of speaking in language teaching and learning

In language teaching and learning, speaking has an important part to play It is a medium through which much language is learnt, and which is particularly useful for learning

About the role of speaking, Bygate (1987: vii) points out that “It is the vehicle of social

solidarity, of social ranking, of professional advancement and of business”

1.2 Vocabulary and its role in language teaching and learning

1.2.1 Definition of vocabulary

Ur, P (1996:75) defines vocabulary as the words we teach in the foreign language The

author also emphasizes that a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word; for

example, post office and sister-in-law, which are made up of two or three words but express a single idea There are also multi-word idioms such as call it a day, where the

meaning of the phrase cannot be deduced from an analysis of the component words Therefore, a useful convention is to cover all such cases by talking about vocabulary

“items” rather than “words”

1.2.2 Classification of vocabulary

There have been different ways to classify vocabulary according to different criteria

(i) In terms of the concept of morpheme

(ii) In terms of the meaning

(iii) In terms of the function of vocabulary items in a sentence

(iv) In terms of the use of word

1.2.3 The role of vocabulary in language teaching and learning

“Vocabulary is one of the three dimensions of a language (phonetics, grammar, vocabulary) Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed.” (Wilkins,1972:111) The statement indicates the great importance of

vocabulary Since vocabulary is so important, teaching and learning vocabulary should be paid much attention to

1.2.4 Criteria for selection to teach vocabulary

language

which a word occurs

learner in order to communicate

Availability and

familiarity

4 The word the learner is mostly in contact with

and somehow ' know'

words

language

Table 1: Criteria for selection

(from the website: http://www.uclm.es/ab/educacion/ensayos/pdf/revista10/10_6.pdf)

1.3 Methodology in vocabulary teaching

1.3.1 The Grammar- translation Method

In this method, the teachers' role is to explain grammatical rules, and the list of vocabulary and its meaning in Vietnamese to help students to do the written exercise in grammatical analysis, not the exercises in the context of text This method can be classified as mental discipline and is easy to apply and simple to test and to control

1.3.2 The Direct Method

This method requires no translation between first and second language, little or no analysis of grammatical rules Besides, it lays an emphasis on correct pronunciation and grammar

1.3.3 The Audio-lingual Method

There are two of the main activities of the Audio-lingual Method that are dialogue repetition and memorization, and substitution drilling The dialogues are often little more than vehicles for pronunciation practice with a few contextualized models of the new structure

1.3.4 The Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

In this approach, vocabulary will be learnt through communication, through interaction in the target language and through enhancement of the learner's own experiences as important contributing elements to classroom learning and through an attempt to link classroom language learning with language activation outside the classroom

1.4 The role of vocabulary in speaking skills

English is used as a communicative tool between two or more people who come from the different countries so the use of English will require much vocabulary Needless to say, a person who has much vocabulary will find it easier to master English than any other person

who does not With much vocabulary people can also be more proficient in communication, because they do not need to be worried when selecting the words that will

be used in conversation From this, we can say vocabulary and communicative ability are highly correlated

1.5 Summary

In this chapter, a brief description of the theoretical knowledge relating to the study was provided

Chapter II: THE STUDY

This chapter starts by describing the situation where the study is conducted It includes an overview of THCCA, the teachers of English, the students, the textbooks, the current teaching and learning situation The subjects and the method of data collection are also discussed in details At the end of the chapter there will be the analysis of the data collected from the survey questionnaires and interviews that will be expressed as a percentage in the form of tables

Chapter III: Data analysis and Discussion

3.1 Data analysis and discussion from the findings

3.1.1 The reality of learning vocabulary and speaking skills at THCCA

 Students’ attitudes towards learning English

Question 1: What are your purposes of learning English?

From the results, it could be seen that most students were not willing to acquire English They learnt it for academic purpose Therefore, the teachers should promote students’ awareness of learning English not only for study, but also for their future

 Students’ attitudes towards speaking skills

Question 2: What language(s) do you often use in English lessons?

From the results, the habit of using the mother-tongue during English lessons has been a big obstacle for students in using vocabulary for speaking skills development It prevented them from using it to communicate outside the classroom

 Students’ attitudes towards the importance of vocabulary in speaking skills

Question 3: What do you think of the importance of vocabulary in speaking skills?

From the results, the students have highly evaluated the necessity of vocabulary for developing speaking skills Therefore, the teachers should create more teaching vocabulary activities and provide opportunities for students to practice speaking appropriately

 Students’ opinions about learning vocabulary for developing speaking skills

From the results, one could see some reasons which leading to the poor English communicative competence of the students Therefore, teachers needed to provide the students with opportunities to use vocabulary in the relevant topics and give students as much extra materials to read as possible, for example magazines, short stories and poetry with interesting topics that were appropriate to the level of the students

 Students’ opinions about vocabulary in speaking topics in the course book

Question 8: What do you think of the vocabulary introduced in speaking topics in the course book “Lifeline-Elementary”?

According to the results, students had different ideas on the topics provided in this course book In summary, this course book met the students’ demand and it was suitable to their level

 Teachers’ current techniques in the students’ opinion

Question 9: Please evaluate the effectiveness of teachers’ vocabulary presentation through the activities in class

Students had some different attitudes towards the effectiveness of teachers’ vocabulary presentation through some specific teaching activities Most of the students thought that the speaking skills were difficult, so their teachers, sometimes, could make class atmosphere more relaxed by language games, activities, songs, role- plays after speaking

It could be seen that most students really needed the encouragement from their teachers for their confidence, especially in speaking English

3.1.2 Difficulties students have faced with in learning vocabulary in speaking skills

 Students’ difficulties in learning vocabulary in speaking skills

The results proved that most students were confused about the uses of words and words order when learning vocabulary, one of the big problems with vocabulary learning was the retention It also implied that they had faced with pronunciation when using new words in