VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE THE USE OF ETYMOLOGY TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ ENGAGEMENT ON VOCABULARY LEARNING A thesis proposal submitted to the Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature By NGUYEN MINH QUAN Supervised by LE HOANG DUNG, Ph. HO CHI MINH CITY, NOVEMBER 2022 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Long and treacherous this journey has turned out to be. I never expected the completion of this thesis would require such a huge amount of effort and time. Nonetheless, like a protagonist in a role-playing game, I have to face endless waves of challenges, never-ending stress-inducing thoughts and repeated levelling of my “thesis” character before everything has come to fruition.
The success of this path I took would not have been possible without the help of my supervisor, Dr. Le Hoang Dung. His knowledgeable insight, invaluable instruction, and boundless patience have been of tremendous importance to me. Although he always seems to be snowed under a mountain of work and meetings, Dr.
Dung would never turn a blind eye whenever I am faced with research-related issues. He would try his best to give a detailed evaluation of what I had written, provide suggestions on what I should correct or omit, as well as remind me of the deadline ahead of time. For everything he has done, I am forever feel grateful to Dr. Le Hoang Dung.
He has always been a great motivational figure to me before, during, and even after this thesis journey of mine. Not only did he help me navigate through the dilemma of identifying the right track for my research, but he also offered priceless advice on important decisions for my career progress. I would also like to extend my thank to Mrs. Nguyen Trinh Hanh Phuc, Mr.
Nguyen Nhat Nam, and the whole staff of Vietop English Learning Center for their support in allowing me to conduct my research within one classroom of the centre and for endless provision of necessary equipment and facilities. I am also grateful for all my student participants who had agreed to take part in this research. Although I cannot reveal the name of each participant, I will never forget their important contributions to this research. Finally, I would like to dedicate this thesis to my mother who always believes in me even when I have serious doubts about myself.
She listens to me whenever I am lost I on my track, encourages me to get back up and try again, and most importantly, cooks delicious meals every time I feel hungry and exhausted in the face of this research challenge. Because of her, I can always keep up my belief that when all else fails, mother love doesn’t. STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY I hereby certify that this thesis entitled “THE USE OF ETYMOLOGY TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ ENGAGEMENT ON VOCABULARY LEARNING” is my original work. This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other institution.
Ho Chi Minh, October 2022. Nguyễn Minh Quân RETENTION OF USE I hereby state that I, Nguyễn Minh Quân, being the candidate for the degree of Master in TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of the Master’s Thesis deposited in the library. In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in the library should be accessible for the purpose of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the library for the care, loan, or reproduction of theses. Ho Chi Minh City, October 2022.
ABSTRACT Folk etymology, a linguistic field that touches on the creation and history of words throughout the test of time, has long been regarded as a novel yet effective approach to delivering fascinating vocabulary lessons to students. The utilization of folk etymology in lexical acquisition has been applied in foreign studies to promote students’ II comprehension, retention, and most of all, motivation in the learning of new word meanings and usages. Nonetheless, the application of folk etymology has not been considered a common approach in the vocabulary learning process in the Vietnam classroom context, especially in the IELTS classroom environment. To discover whether the use of folk etymological intervention helps improve the three aspects of engagement of students, namely behavioural engagement, cognitive engagement, and emotional engagement in their vocabulary learning, this study combined the Meaningful Learning Theory of Ausubel and Robinson (1969) and the Engagement Theory of Kearsley and Shneiderman (1999) to devise the fitting intervention.
First, the study collected baseline data on student participants’ engagement before the intervention. During and after the intervention, the study employed three different research instruments to collect three types of engagement from student participants: classroom observation for behavioural engagement, individual interviews for cognitive engagement, and journal writing for emotional engagement. From the data analysis, the application of folk etymological intervention provided positive results on student participants’ behavioural, cognitive, and emotional engagement. For student participants’ behavioural engagement, results suggested that student participants engaged in a more active manner of behaviours, and body language, as well as their confidence in giving answers to the task.
For student participants’ cognitive engagement, results revealed that student participants developed better metacognitive strategies for study, willingness for evaluation and clarification of ideas. For student participants’ emotional engagement, results demonstrated that student participants felt emotionally connected with folk etymological lessons, activities, and home assignments. From these results, the study provides a range of pedagogical implications and suggestions for future studies of the same topic in a different research context. Keywords: folk etymology, engagement, meaningful learning, IELTS, vocabulary acquisition III TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS.
IV CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION. Background to the study. Vietnamese university admission and scholarship opportunities. IELTS and vocabulary learning.
Etymology and vocabulary learning. Rationale for the study. Aim of the study. Significance of the study.
Scope of the study. Organization of the study. 6 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW. Definitions of Etymology.
Classifications of Etymology. Etymology and its application. Definitions of Engagement. Types of Engagement.
Operational definition of Engagement. Meaningful Learning Theory. Definitions of Meaningful Learning Theory. Meaningful Learning Theory and Etymology.
Definitions of Engagement Theory. Engagement Theory and Vocabulary Learning. Student journal writing. Data collection procedure.
The first phase of the folk etymological intervention. The second phase of the folk etymological intervention. The third phase of the folk etymological intervention. Semi-structured interview .43 CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION.
Results from the preliminary classroom observations. Results from the classroom observations of the three phases. Results from the semi-structured individual interviews. Results from the journal writings of the three phases.
Discussion of results. Discussion of behavioural engagement results from classroom observations. Discussion of cognitive engagement results from semi-structured individual interviews104 4. Discussion of emotional engagement results from journal writings.
Discussion of suitable applications for folk etymology in Vietnamese classroom context. Summary of findings. Evaluation of research methodology. For the teachers.
For English institutions and schools. Recommendation for further study. 138 APPENDIX A: CLASSROOM OBSERVATION PROTOCOL .138 APPENDIX B: STUDENT INTERVIEW PROTOCOL. 141 APPENDIX C: STUDENT JOURNAL WRITING PROTOCOL - PHASE 1.
143 APPENDIX D: STUDENT JOURNAL WRITING PROTOCOL - PHASE 2. 145 APPENDIX E: STUDENT JOURNAL WRITING PROTOCOL - PHASE 3. 147 APPENDIX F: BASELINE CLASSROOM OBSERVATION PROTOCOL .149 APPENDIX G: PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF BEHAVIOURAL ENGAGEMENT. 152 APPENDIX H: PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF COGNITIVE ENGAGEMENT.
157 APPENDIX I: PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF EMOTIONAL ENGAGEMENT. 160 APPENDIX J: LESSON PLAN FOR TEACHING THE FOLK ETYMOLOGY OF “TREADMILL”. 162 VI LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL English as a Foreign Language IELTS International English Language Testing System CEFR Common European Framework of Reference for Languages S Student participant VII LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1: Student participants’ demographic information.2: Alignment between conceptual framework and research instruments.1: Student participants’ frequency of use for phones to chat.2: Student participants’ frequency of use for google translation.3: Student participants’ frequency of passive body language.4: Student participants’ frequency of lack of interest in learning new words.5: Student participants’ frequency of sharing work unevenly.6: Student participants’ frequency of using notebook as the only learning materials .7: Student participants’ frequency of discussing teacher’s ideas.8: The number of word’s usage and context left unexplored by student participants.9: Low-level student participants’ frequency of accepting high-level students' solutions.10: The number of learned words require teacher’s explanation for meaning 58 Table 4.11: The number of words that student participants did not rely on past knowledge and social understanding to explore in and out of class.12: The number of learned words student participants’ found unenjoyable.13: The number of words student participants were unwilling to cooperate to discover.14: The number of words uninteresting for memorizing.15: Student participants’ frequency of unenjoyment of home assignment, albeit having been instructed.16: The number of words student participants enjoyed learning with new approaches.17: Comparison of assive body languages before and after the intervention.18: Comparison of sharing work unevenly before and after the intervention.19: Comparison of limited reliance on past knowledge and social understanding to explore in and out of class before and after the intervention.20: Comparison of unenjoyment of home assignments, albeit having been instructed before and after the intervention. Comparison of using notebook as the only learning materials before and after the intervention.
73 IX LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1: Classifications of Etymology.2: Different indicators between meaningful and rote learning.3: Engagement Theory Framework.1: Methods of data collection.2: Data collection procedure.1: Student participants’ behavioural engagement after the intervention.2: Student participants’ cognitive engagement after the intervention.3: Student participants’ emotional engagement after the intervention. Background to the study 1. Vietnamese university admission and scholarship opportunities Vietnamese students spend the utmost effort every year to prepare for university admission or scholarship opportunities for higher education. One important requirement of university and scholarship is performance on English standardized tests, especially the International English Language Testing System – IELTS.
This is because, besides the results of English tests, another criterion for university admission is the IELTS. When students have finished high school, it is sometimes compulsory to score high on the IELTS test to get admitted to a university or applied a scholarship (Pham & Bui, 2019). Since the demand for tertiary education is crucial to Vietnamese, it has shaped the need for IELTS certificates among students. They believe that IELTS open the door to tertiary education and opportunities for professional development.
The use of IELTS in determining English proficiency for tertiary education or scholarship is due to the highly recognized international credibility of the test itself and the significant need for English programs. Henceforth, IELTS has been of paramount importance in students’ future. IELTS and vocabulary learning Despite the growing trend of IELTS, there are challenges in taking the test. One concern is the lack of lexical input (Hsiao, Cheung, & Yu, 2016).
The limited vocabulary of IELTS test-takers leads to several difficulties in learning. Without sufficient lexical input, students are unable to reach the necessary score requirements for university and scholarship (Ho, 2020; Kim, 2011; Maharani & Setyarini, 2019; Poulaki et al. Vocabulary plays a crucial role since students often have to rely on schemata to solve complicated linguistic aspects in the IELTS. 1 Previous IELTS studies showed that the lack of lexical resources is mostly caused by low engagement (Ho, 2020; Kim, 2011; Tran, 2017).
Traditionally, English lessons are delivered from a teacher-focused point of view. This involves the teacher taking on the role of a classroom lecturer with high authority, delivering lessons to students. The approach limits students’ proactivity and promotes the rote-learning environment, reducing interest and engagement in activities. For many years, the teacher-centred approach has grown in popularity and emerged in the IELTS context.