VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES soQa AE GOCR TEACHING VOCABULARY IN READING COMPREHENSION LESSONS TO THE 10" FORM STUDENTS AT THANH HA UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL: PROBLEMS AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS (Day từ vựng trong các bài đọc hiểu cho học sinh lớp 10 ở trường THPT Thanh Hà: Khó khăn và một số giải pháp khả di) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Hanoi, 2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES soQs AE GOCR TEACHING VOCABULARY IN READING COMPREHENSION LESSONS TO THE 10” FORM STUDENTS AT THANH HA UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL: PROBLEMS AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS (Day từ vựng trong các bài đọc hiểu cho học sinh lép 10 ở trường THPT Thanh Hà: Khó khăn và một số giải pháp khả di) M.MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Supervisor: PROF. HOANG VAN VAN Hanoi, 2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS Candidate’s đeclarafÏ01.- G5 n1 HH HH TH ng TH th 1 Acknowledgements .- -- Gà HH HH HH HH HH HH nhớt ii ,ˆ Âu. iii Table of contents.
iv List of abbreviations and tables .-- 5 Sàn HH HH Hư Vii PART 1: INTRODUCTION. -- Sàn ng Hee 1 L. Rationale of the Study .- - G1121 HH HH TH HH ng HH ng p KNFCTAW\n0tD=HYfa© II. Aim and objectives of the Study .- SH TH HH TH HH tư TIT.
Scope of the 0. Methods of the 0 .- - G ShnnnHHnHHHnHTghnHn ngnre CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND.1 Vocabulary in EFL teaching and learning .1 The notion Of Vocabulary .2 Classification Of VOCabullaTV. -- cv +2 cv HH HH ng ng 1.1 According to Meaning .2 According to teaching methodology .3 According to sequence Of US€.3 The place of vocabulary in EFL teaching and learning .4 The place of vocabulary in EFL learners' reading comprehension .2 Principles in teaching and leaning vocabulary .1 Selection of vocabulary items for learners .2 Aspects of vocabulary that should be taught .1 Word form: Pronunciation and spelling. ---- 11 ID tu nh .4 Aspects Of MEANING .3 What makes words đIfẨICUÏL??.4 Current approaches to teaching and learning vocabulary.
17 CHAPTER 2: PROBLEMS FACING THE 10" FORM STUDENTS AT TH- USS IN LEARNING VOCABULARY IN RC LESSONS.1 The setting of the Study 200.1 Subjects of the Study .-- Gv 19v ng TH TH ngư 18 2.2 The teaching staff and their teaching situations .2 English language teaching and learning program for the 10th form Students 800500.3 The objectives of the 10” form course of English .2 Data collection instruments and procedure .1 The questionnaire for the stUd€TIES.2 The interview with the teachers of English .3 Data collection and amallySis .1 Results from the questionnaires for the students .2 Students' perception about the importance of vocabulary in RC lessons (Question n1 727.3 Students' ideas about the reality of teaching vocabulary in RC lessons to the 10th form students at TH-USS (Question 8, 9) .4 Students' ideas about the solutions to bettering the current situations of teaching vocabulary in RC lessons to the 10th form students (Question 10, 11) .ce cece ecccccescccsseseerseceseecsseeeseecnseeesaees 24 2.2 Results from the interviews with the teachers of English .4 Problems facing the 10th students at TH-USS in learning vocabulary in RC TeSSOms nh.1 Rigid, insufficient and ineffective ways of teaching vocabulary .2 Unfavorable vocabulary teaching environment .3 Students' poor background knowledge and limited vocabulary size.4 Bad habits and ineffective ways of learning .5 Students’ passiveness and shyness in learning .6 Lack of favorable vocabulary learning environment. 28 CHAPTER 3: POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS TO IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF TEACHING AND LEARNING OF ENGLISH VOCABULARY IN RC LESSONS FOR THE 10" FORM STUDENTS AT TH-USS .1 Need for the teachers to change their teaching vocabulary approaches.1 Aspects of vocabulary that should be taught .2 Categories of vocabulary 1SSU€S .2 Providing effective strategy training for all students .3 Stimulating students’ interest and motivation in learning vocabulary through various techniques of presenting new word items .4 Improving students’ English proficiency and reading skills to activate students' vocabulary and enhance their RC .5 Adapting the textbook. -- Gv HH» “HH ng ng ng giết 35 3.6 Creating a favorable teaching and learning environment .- Án Sàn HH HH ngàn ri, 37 I0) 0000001010) 0). Limitations of the study .-- - - nn* HH HH Hy 38 IIN®).
Suggestions for further research.---- Tà LH HH ng HT HT TH TH TH HH TH Hiện LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL: English Foreign Language RC: Reading Comprehension TH - USS: Thanh Ha Upper Secondary School LIST OF TABLES (In Appendix 3) Page Table 1: Students' perceptions about the role of vocabulary in students' RC (6015001. IX Table 2: Students' observation about the current state of learning vocabulary in RC lessons 1(9)). X Table 3: Students' observation about the current state of teaching vocabulary in RC lessons (Question 01. XI Table 4: Students' ideas about the solutions to bettering the current situation of teaching vocabulary in RC lessons to the 10th form students (Question 10).
XII Table 5: Students' ideas about the solutions to bettering the current situation of learning vocabulary in RC lessons of the 10th form students (Question 11). XI 10 PART ONE: INTRODUCTION I. Rationale of the study In EFL teaching and learning program for high school students, there are no proper periods for teaching vocabulary. It means vocabulary is integrated in all other language lessons, especially RC lessons, the first period of any language unit.
The purpose of reading lessons is not only to develop students’ reading skills but also to equip them with important language input for the lessons that follow, such as: listening, speaking and writing. And vocabulary seems to be one of the most effective tools to improve students’ RC. Obviously, knowing vocabulary of a language is a minimum self-requirement of those who want to learn a foreign language such as English. The reason is that ‘vocabulary is central to language and of critical importance to the typical language learner’ (Zimmerman 1997:5).
Lack of vocabulary knowledge will result in lack of meaningful communication. Thus, a language learner who has no vocabulary of a language could not use that language for reading comprehension, listening, speaking and writing. And in fact, the main difficulties of understanding English, not only written and spoken, but also listened and read English for people studying English is the limit of vocabulary they process. Yet, a great many words are learnt from reading, mostly extensive reading program.
Therefore, improving students’ vocabulary size is essential in any language classes, especially in the author’s own teaching context at TH-USS, where many students, mostly students in 10" form class, the new comers to a high school with very low vocabulary size, always prove worried, passive in RC lessons and teachers’ routine ways of teaching vocabulary have demotivated students to acquire new language items. The factual state has urged the author to take into account an investigation into the reality of teaching vocabulary in RC lessons to the 10" form students at her school with the hope to find out feasible solutions to problems facing the students, and lastly to light up their vocabulary size then enhance their comprehension. Aim and objectives of the study The study aims at solving the problems facing the 10th form students at TH-USS when learning English vocabulary in RC lessons. To achieve this aim, the following objectives are set for exploration: II 1.
Investigating the current state of teaching vocabulary in RC lessons to the 10” form students at TH-USS. Obviously, it is impossible to capture a real classroom experience on paper, the goal is to get a sense of the life of the classroom and of the problems facing the 10" form students in learning vocabulary in RC lessons. Proposing a number of feasible solutions to promoting the teaching of English vocabulary, and lastly to enhance the effectiveness of learning English to the 10” form students at the author’s school. With these above aims, the study is carried out in an attempt to provide a beneficial reference to the researcher herself, to the teachers of English at her school and to anyone who is interested in vocabulary teaching in RC lessons.
Research questions In order to achieve the aim and the objectives above, the following research questions are raised for exploration: 1. What are the problems facing the 10" form students at TH-USS in learning vocabulary in RC lessons? 2. What are the feasible solutions to the problems facing the 10th form students at TH-USS when dealing with vocabulary in RC lessons? IV. Scope of the study This minor thesis does not cover all the broad matter of four language skills, it only focuses on giving an insight into the teaching of vocabulary in RC lessons to the 10” form students at TH-USS.
It deals with background knowledge of vocabulary teaching, provides investigated and analyzed data of the current state of teaching vocabulary in RC lessons to the 10" form students at the author’s school, and proposes possible solutions to promote the quality of the teaching and learning of vocabulary. Within the scope of the study, the samples of the study were restricted to 100 students at 10" form, the grade is undertaking the currents English 10 textbook and six teachers of the English teaching staff. This number of participants is sufficient to provide valid and reliable information, the contributions of which are vital to the success of this modest research. Significance of the study The present research would serve as the initial study on vocabulary teaching in RC lessons to the 10" form students at TH-USS.
Once feasible solutions to the problems facing the 12 10th form students when dealing with vocabulary in RC lessons are found, the study might contribute to building up and enriching the 10” form students’ vocabulary, improving their communicative competence to fulfill the general objectives of the textbook. It is also hoped that the study would bring theoretical as well as practical benefits to the researcher herself, the teachers of English at her school and for anyone who is interested in vocabulary teaching in RC process. Method of the study The study utilizes both qualitative and quantitative methods. These methods have played an important role in TESOL for a long time.
Qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or to interpret, phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them (Denzin 2000). It involves an interpretive, naturalistic approach to its subject matter and gives priority to what the data contribute to important research questions or existing information. Whereas, quantitative research is the systematic scientific investigation of quantitative properties and phenomena and their relationships. Quantitative methods explain the data collected and their statistical treatment as well as all relevant results in relation to your research questions (Nunan 1992: 5).
In carrying out these research methods, two instruments are used. The first instrument is questionnaire and the second instrument is the semi-structure interview. * Survey questionnaire for the 10" students: According to Brown (2001: 6), questionnaires are any written instruments that present respondents with a series of questions or statements to which they are to react either by writing out their answers or selecting from among existing answers. In this study, survey questions were designed and distributed to the students to get information on actual situation of teaching and learning vocabulary in RC lessons in ten language classes of grade 10.
Questionnaire focused on the problems facing the students in learning vocabulary in RC lessons and suggested solutions to better the current state. * Interviewing the teachers of English teaching staff: Interview is one kind of questionnaire but it is the vocal questionnaire.