VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES BA THESIS A SURVEY ON VOCABULARY LEARNING STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY THIRD-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS AT VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE KHẢO SÁTCHIẾN LƯỢC HỌC TỪ VỰNG CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM BA NGÀNH NGÔN NGỮ ANH TẠI HỌC VIỆN NÔNG NGHIỆP VIỆT NAM Student : VU THI QUYNH Student code : 621274 Major : ENGLISH Supervisor : NGUYEN THI HOAI, MA. Hanoi – 2021 VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES BA THESIS A SURVEY ON VOCABULARY LEARNING STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY THIRD-YEAR ENGLISH MAJORS AT VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE KHẢO SÁTCHIẾN LƯỢC HỌC TỪ VỰNG CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM BA NGÀNH NGÔN NGỮ ANH TẠI HỌC VIỆN NÔNG NGHIỆP VIỆT NAM Student : VU THI QUYNH Student code : 621274 Major : ENGLISH Supervisor : NGUYEN THI HOAI, MA Hanoi – 2021 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled a survey on vocabulary learning strategies adopted by third-yearenglish majors at vietnam national university of agriculture submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor in English Language. Except where the reference is indicated, no other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis. Hanoi, 2021 Vu Thi Quynh Approved by SUPERVISOR (Signature and full name) Date:…………………… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In order to be able to complete the thesis topic completely, besides my own efforts, I also have the enthusiastic guidance of teachers, as well as the encouragement and support of family and friends in this thesis.
throughout the period of study, research and writing of the thesis. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Master Nguyen Thi Hoai who wholeheartedly helped and created the best conditions for me to complete this thesis. She shared invaluable expertise and provided intellectual inspiration and insightful commentary on the paper. I especially acknowledge her gift of encouragement and confidence that I need most at the end of this research.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the teachers in the Faculty of Education and Foreign Languages at Vietnam National University of Agriculture for their dedication to imparting valuable knowledge as well as creating the most favorable conditions for me. throughout the course of study and research and until the implementation of the thesis topic Finally, I would like to thank my colleagues and good friends, who greatly assisted in the data collection of this study. I am certainly indebted to all the students who volunteered to take part in the survey. Without them, this study could not have been completed.
ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Certificate of originality i Table of contents iii Abstract v List of abreviation vi List of tables vii PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1 1. Rationale for the study 1 2. Aims and objectives of the study 2 3. Scope of the study 2 5.
Significance of the study 2 6. Design of the study 3 Part 2: DEVELOPMENT 5 Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5 1.1 The importance of vocabulary 5 1.2 what is involved in knowing a word 7 1.4 vocabulary learning strategies 11 Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY 19 2. Research setting / context 19 2.1 Data collecting instruments 20 2. Data collecting procedures 20 2.5 Summary of research methods 21 Chapter 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 22 iii 3.
To what extent do third-year english majors at vnua use different vocabulary learning strategies 22 3. What are the reasons why some vocabulary learning strategies are more common among third-year english majors at vnua 32 3. Easy access to the internet offer many different strategies involving the internet 32 3. Familiarity with the strategies 32 3.
The suitability to individuals learning style 33 3. The chance for vocabulary repetition or review 33 3. The entertaining aspect of vocabulary learning strategies 34 3.3 summary of findings and discussion 35 PART 3: CONCLUSION 36 1. Limitation of the study 37 4.
Recommendations/suggestions for further study 37 REFERENCES 39 APPENDIX 1 43 APPENDIX 2 Vietnamese Questionnaire 47 APPENDIX 3: Interview question 51 APPENDIX 4: Interview question – Vietnamese version 52 iv ABSTRACT This research studied students' strategies to learn English vocabulary. This research applies both quantitative and qualitative approach. The participants are 122 third-year students English majors at VNUA. The Questionnaire on English Vocabulary Learning Strategies (QAVLS) adapted from Liu (2013) was used to measure students' level of use of vocabulary learning strategies.
Descriptive statistics, including mean and standard deviation are used to analyze the results from the questionnaire. Responses from the interview was synthesized in themes. Results show that what extent students use different vocabulary learning strategies and why some vocabulary learning strategies are more popular among third-year English majors at VNUA v LIST OF ABREVIATION VNUA : Vietnam National University of Agriculture R = receptive knowledge, P = productive knowledge QAVLS : Questionnaire of English Vocabulary Learning Strategies CUP : Cambridge University Press SD : Standard Deviation M : Mean vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1: What is involved in knowing a word (Nation, 2013, p.60) 8 Table 2: Participants of the study 19 Table 3: The extent to which students use memory strategies 22 Table 4: The extent to which students use metacognitive strategies 24 Table 5: The extent to which students use functional practicing strategies 25 Table 6: The extent to which students use Production- Oriented strategies 27 Table 7: The extent to which students use Centering Attention strategies 29 Table 8: The extent to which students use other strategies 30 vii PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale for the study Psychologists, linguists, and language teachers have been interested in vocabulary learning strategies for a long time (Levenston, 1979).
Numerous studies have been conducted comparing the retention effects of different vocabulary presentation strategies. In fact, the vocabulary field has been especially productive in the last two decades. We have seen a number of classic volumes on theories (e., Carter, 1987; Carter & McCarthy, 1988; McCarthy, 1990; Nation, 1990), research (e., Arnaud & Bejoint, 1992; Gass, 1987; Meara, 1989; Nation & Carter, 1989), and practical tips (e., Gairns & Redman, 1986; McCarthy & O’Dell, 1994). Recent volumes, especially the CUP volumes, that shed significant light upon different aspects of vocabulary acquisition include Huckin, Haynes, and Coady (1993), Harley (1995), Hatch and Brown (1995), Coady and Huckin (1997), Schmitt and McCarthy (1997), Atkins (1998), Wesche and Paribakht (1999), Read (2000), Schmitt (2000), and Nation (2001).
Before the trend of integration and globalization, English is considered the most commonly used language in the world. Therefore, this foreign language plays a very important role in the current globalization integration era. Human relationships as well as cooperation and investment in any field from business, commerce, transportation, technology, media, tourism. to opportunities in studying, working, Expanding relationships for cooperation is not only limited to Vietnam but also to other countries around the world.
In such a context, an understanding of the learner's usage strategy and its relationship to learning outcomes is of utmost importance. At Vietnam National University of Agriculture (VNUA), vocabulary learning strategies of students in general, and English majored students in particular, are rather limited and seems to be ineffective. There is a big 1 difference in students' proficiency and there is a big difference in vocabulary learning methods between them. Students are afraid to learn new words and have limited basic knowledge, failing to keep up with the vocabulary of the program will cause many difficulties, thereby hindering their learning, especially when English majored students are in their later years of study At VNUA, there has been no research investigating students’ vocabulary learning strategies.
From the above reasons, we have decided to investigate the vocabulary learning strategies of third-year English majors at VNUA. Aims and objectives of the study The research aims to evaluate the current situation of students' vocabulary learning strategies. Specifically, the study examines the extent to which third- year English majors at VNUA use different vocabulary learning strategies. In addition, The study examines the reasons why some vocabulary learning strategies are more common among third-year English majors at VNUA.
Research questions The current study attempts to address the following questions: (1) To what extent do third-year English majors at VNUA use different vocabulary learning strategies? (2) What are the reasons why some vocabulary learning strategies are more common among third-year English majors at VNUA? 4. Scope of the study The subjects of the study are 3rd year English majors at VNUA.The number of K63 students is 122, the time of doing research is from February 17, 2021 to June 30, 2021. Significance of the study The study aims at finding out third-year English majors’ current use of vocabulary learning strategies. As for students, research results will help raise their awareness of the use of vocabulary learning strategies.
In addition, it can 2 help learners realize their full potentials and thereby discover the most effective vocabulary learning strategies. The study will also provide some useful suggestions to students in their use of vocabulary learning strategies in order to improve their vocabulary in particular and advance their English proficiency in general.As for lecturers, research results can direct teachers to pay more attention to teaching vocabulary strategies in a more intentional way as well as encourage students to practice vocabulary learning strategies more often. This study would gives teachers and students a broader view of vocabulary learning that goes hand in hand with practice. Design of the study Apart from abstracts, references & appendices, the study consists of three main parts: PART 1 - INTRODUCTION Presents rationale of the study, aims and objectives of the study, research questions, the scope as well as the significance of the study.
PART 2 - DEVELOPMENT: is divided into 3 chapters: Chapter 1 - Literature review Provides theoretical background for the study including definition of vocabulary, importance of learning vocabulary, vocabulary acquisition and methods of teaching vocabulary Chapter 2 - Methodology Describes the methodology used in the research including the research approach and methods action research, data collection instruments, participants, the procedures employed to carry out the research. Chapter 3 - Findings and discussions Reports and discusses the findings of the study. PART 3 - CONCLUSION 3 Summarizes the main issues that have been addressed in the study, points out the limitations, draws pedagogical implications concerning the research topic and suggests several solutions. Summary of introduction This chapter presents an overview of the thesis research.
It introduces the rationale of the study, the purpose of the study, the research question, the scope of the study, the significance of the study, and finally the Design of the study. This topic delves into the study of vocabulary learning strategies to help students learn and improve English more effectively. This study was conducted to determine to what extent third-year English majors at VNUA use different vocabulary learning strategies; Next is to explore why certain vocabulary learning strategies are more common in English vocabulary acquisition. 4 Part 2: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 THE IMPORTANCE OF VOCABULARY As Nation (1990) states, "without a vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed".
Besides Hatch (1983) said: "vocabulary is the goal in communication". It plays an essential role in language acquisition. Researchers such as Laufer, Gu (2003) and Nation (2011) clam thatvocabulary plays an important role in all language skills (eg listening, speaking, reading and writing. Research shows that vocabulary diversity is extremely important in vocabulary acquisition: it is essential for successful use of a second language because without broad vocabulary, we would not be able to use structures and functions in communication (Nation,2011).
It depends on vocabulary knowledge and lack of knowledge is the biggest obstacle for learners to overcome (Huckin, 1995). Indeed, vocabulary is considered to be the beginning of all foreign language learning and determines the success of learners. Therefore, in order for their English learning to be really effective and highly applicable, learners themselves must understand the importance of vocabulary.