VIETNAM NATIONAL UNTVERSITY-HANOL UNIVERSITY OF LANGL AGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDLES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ~-- đe LE) o& --- NGUYÊN THỊ KIỂU NGA EFTICIENCY OF GAP-ETLL EXERCTISES TO 10”8 FORM STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY ACQUISITION (Hiéu qua của bải tập điền khuyết đối với sự tiếp thu từ vựng của học sinh lớp I0) MINOR M.A THESIS Field: English Methodology Cade: 601410 HANOI - 2011 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNTVERSITY-HANOL UNIVERSITY OF LANGL AGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDLES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES ~-- #&e LL] ow --- NGUYÊN THỊ KIỂU NGA EFTICIENCY OF GAP-ETLL EXERCTISES TO 10”8 FORM STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY ACQUISITION (Hidu qua của bài tập điền khuyết đối với sự tiếp fhụ từ vựng của học sinh lớp I0) MINOR M.A THESIS Field: English Methodology Code: 601410 SUPERVISOR: LE VAN CANH, Ph.D TIANG! - 2011 -iv- TABLE OF CONTENTS Pages Declaration Acknowledgements AbstracL ii Tables of contents 1 Lists of Tables, Tigurss vii Lists of Abbreviations vill PART TI: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale Aims and Objectives of the study kề mà BH mm Rescarch Hypothescs and Questions ie Method of the Study ww Scape of the study Significance of the Study Bh 7. Organization of the thesis PART I: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE : LIRETATURE REVIEW 1.1, What is vocabulary? 1. The role of vocabulary in second language learning 1.
The vocabulary acquisition 1. Vocabulary teaching techniques - 1. Revising vocabulary LA. Vocabulary activities and oxcrcises 1.
Criteria of a good vocabulary exercise 2, Aims and Objectives of the Study ‘The main aim of this study is to experiment gap-fill exercises in helping grade 10 students acquire their Lnglish vocabulary. To be more specific, the primary objectives of the study are set as follows: © To experiment gap-Gill exercises and examine their effects on grade 10 students’ English vocabulary acquisition = To invesligals the stutkenls? allitudes towards gap-fill excreiscs. how effeative they think domg gap-fill exercises is to their vocabulary learning 3. Research [lypotheses and Questions ‘To achieve the aims and objectives, the study is designed to test the hypothesis: Hi Grade 10 students who apply gap-fill exercises will make more significant impravement in their English vocabulary acquisition as measured by both pre-test and post-test scores than those who do not apply such exercises.
If the above hypothesis was fully accepted, the following null hypothesis would be obviously rejected or vice versa: HO: There is no difference in English vocabulary acquisition as measured by bath pre-test and post-test scores between grade 10 students who apply wap-fill exercises and those who do nol apply such exercises. In order to identify which hypothesis would be accepted, the following rescarch questions are formulated and needed to answer satisfactorily: (1) Whal effect do gap fill exarcises have on studenls” vocabulary acquisition as measwed by their scores in the pre-test and post-test? Q) WHal sre the studenls’ attitudes towards gup-fill excreises afler the expermentall period? -vi- 3. Recommendations for the application of GIs tà3 4, Suggestions for further study REFERENCES 39 APPENDICES. Appandix A: Tost Scores Appendix B: Vocabulary pretest & key Appendix C: Vocabulary posttest &key Appendix D: The Questionnaire Appendix E: Word lists PART I: INTRODUCTION 1.
Rationale Vocabulary is an important language clement that links four language skills, namely listening, speaking, reading and writing together and makes communication flow smoothly. Reality shows that many students have fairly good knowledge of grammar but atc hardly able lo express themselves properly becauss of their vacubulary doficicney Vocabulary leammg, therefore, becomes the central to language acquisition and interest in its role in second language learning has grown rapidly in recent years. Scholars and teachers new emphasize the need of systematic and principled approach lo vocabulary by both the teacher and the learner (Decarzico, 2001; Nation, 1990). One of the concerns in vocabulary is how to help students acquire their English vocabulary, However, at upper secondary schools, the teaching and learning of English language in general, L’nglish vocabulary in particular are still far from satisfaction as students’ final results in most Tinglish examinations remain unchanged at low levels.
In fact, most secondary school students have not paid cnough: attention to vocabulary learning as they mainly receive basic lessons of grammar together with four skills from their teachers and textbooks. IL is common knowledge thal there are various techniques of learning vocabulary, mastering and using it in different contexts and one of the effective techniques to help students to reinforce vocabulary is giving them appropriate vocabulary exercises, namely, gup-fill cxcrciscs. This lype of vocabulary excreises typically consists of leaving a zap or a blank space in a sentence or a passage which students have to fill in with the correct latter, word, phrase or whatever is missing, Though vocabulary is vitally important to master any forcign languages, in reality, many grade 10 students’ English vocabulary is shll limited even though they have learned English for four years at the lower secondary school, It is their limited vocabulary that explains their poor performance in using English and in their test performance. All these have motivated me to conduct this quasi-experimental research on the topic given, namely efficiency of gap- fill exer sto 17" form students’ vocabulary acquisition.
Rationale Vocabulary is an important language clement that links four language skills, namely listening, speaking, reading and writing together and makes communication flow smoothly. Reality shows that many students have fairly good knowledge of grammar but atc hardly able lo express themselves properly becauss of their vacubulary doficicney Vocabulary leammg, therefore, becomes the central to language acquisition and interest in its role in second language learning has grown rapidly in recent years. Scholars and teachers new emphasize the need of systematic and principled approach lo vocabulary by both the teacher and the learner (Decarzico, 2001; Nation, 1990). One of the concerns in vocabulary is how to help students acquire their English vocabulary, However, at upper secondary schools, the teaching and learning of English language in general, L’nglish vocabulary in particular are still far from satisfaction as students’ final results in most Tinglish examinations remain unchanged at low levels.
In fact, most secondary school students have not paid cnough: attention to vocabulary learning as they mainly receive basic lessons of grammar together with four skills from their teachers and textbooks. IL is common knowledge thal there are various techniques of learning vocabulary, mastering and using it in different contexts and one of the effective techniques to help students to reinforce vocabulary is giving them appropriate vocabulary exercises, namely, gup-fill cxcrciscs. This lype of vocabulary excreises typically consists of leaving a zap or a blank space in a sentence or a passage which students have to fill in with the correct latter, word, phrase or whatever is missing, Though vocabulary is vitally important to master any forcign languages, in reality, many grade 10 students’ English vocabulary is shll limited even though they have learned English for four years at the lower secondary school, It is their limited vocabulary that explains their poor performance in using English and in their test performance. All these have motivated me to conduct this quasi-experimental research on the topic given, namely efficiency of gap- fill exer sto 17" form students’ vocabulary acquisition.
Recommendations for the application of GIs tà3 4, Suggestions for further study REFERENCES 39 APPENDICES. Appandix A: Tost Scores Appendix B: Vocabulary pretest & key Appendix C: Vocabulary posttest &key Appendix D: The Questionnaire Appendix E: Word lists -vi- 3. Recommendations for the application of GIs tà3 4, Suggestions for further study REFERENCES 39 APPENDICES. Appandix A: Tost Scores Appendix B: Vocabulary pretest & key Appendix C: Vocabulary posttest &key Appendix D: The Questionnaire Appendix E: Word lists PART I: INTRODUCTION 1.
Rationale Vocabulary is an important language clement that links four language skills, namely listening, speaking, reading and writing together and makes communication flow smoothly. Reality shows that many students have fairly good knowledge of grammar but atc hardly able lo express themselves properly becauss of their vacubulary doficicney Vocabulary leammg, therefore, becomes the central to language acquisition and interest in its role in second language learning has grown rapidly in recent years. Scholars and teachers new emphasize the need of systematic and principled approach lo vocabulary by both the teacher and the learner (Decarzico, 2001; Nation, 1990). One of the concerns in vocabulary is how to help students acquire their English vocabulary, However, at upper secondary schools, the teaching and learning of English language in general, L’nglish vocabulary in particular are still far from satisfaction as students’ final results in most Tinglish examinations remain unchanged at low levels.
In fact, most secondary school students have not paid cnough: attention to vocabulary learning as they mainly receive basic lessons of grammar together with four skills from their teachers and textbooks. IL is common knowledge thal there are various techniques of learning vocabulary, mastering and using it in different contexts and one of the effective techniques to help students to reinforce vocabulary is giving them appropriate vocabulary exercises, namely, gup-fill cxcrciscs. This lype of vocabulary excreises typically consists of leaving a zap or a blank space in a sentence or a passage which students have to fill in with the correct latter, word, phrase or whatever is missing, Though vocabulary is vitally important to master any forcign languages, in reality, many grade 10 students’ English vocabulary is shll limited even though they have learned English for four years at the lower secondary school, It is their limited vocabulary that explains their poor performance in using English and in their test performance. All these have motivated me to conduct this quasi-experimental research on the topic given, namely efficiency of gap- fill exer sto 17" form students’ vocabulary acquisition.
-vii- LISTS OF TABLES AND FIGURES Pages ‘Table 3.1 Descriptive statistics for the pretest and posttest of 26 experimental and control groups.2 Means gains of the expatimental group and control groups 28 after the experiment.3 Students’ altitudes towards GFFs 30 Fieuc 3.1 The differences between the means scores on the paired pretest 27 and the paired posttests Figure 3.2 Differences in gain values obtainsd by both groups after the 29 experiment 1. Gap-fll exercises and the acquisition of vocabulary L7. Summary CHAPTER TWO: THE STUDY 2.1, Context of the stuty 2. Rationale for using a Quasi-experimental method 2.
Designing and applying gap-fill exercises Procedures, Instruments for data collection 2. Pretest and Posttest 2. Summary CHAPTER THREE: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 26 3. The Effectiveness of GFEs on students’ vocabulary acquisition 3.
Comparison of Pretest and Posttest Performance 3. Comparison of both group’s vocabulary gains aller the experiment 3. Students’ attitudes towards GFEs 3. Vooubulary gains as resullsd fram the application of GFEs 3.
Students’ attitudes towards GFEs 3.4, Summary PART II: CONCLUSION 1. Summary of main findings trSi 2, Limitations of the study 1. Gap-fll exercises and the acquisition of vocabulary L7. Summary CHAPTER TWO: THE STUDY 2.1, Context of the stuty 2.
Rationale for using a Quasi-experimental method 2. Designing and applying gap-fill exercises Procedures, Instruments for data collection 2. Pretest and Posttest 2. Summary CHAPTER THREE: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 26 3.
The Effectiveness of GFEs on students’ vocabulary acquisition 3. Comparison of Pretest and Posttest Performance 3. Comparison of both group’s vocabulary gains aller the experiment 3. Students’ attitudes towards GFEs 3.
Vooubulary gains as resullsd fram the application of GFEs 3. Students’ attitudes towards GFEs 3.4, Summary PART II: CONCLUSION 1. Summary of main findings trSi 2, Limitations of the study -vii- LISTS OF TABLES AND FIGURES Pages ‘Table 3.1 Descriptive statistics for the pretest and posttest of 26 experimental and control groups.2 Means gains of the expatimental group and control groups 28 after the experiment.3 Students’ altitudes towards GFFs 30 Fieuc 3.1 The differences between the means scores on the paired pretest 27 and the paired posttests Figure 3.2 Differences in gain values obtainsd by both groups after the 29 experiment -vii- LISTS OF TABLES AND FIGURES Pages ‘Table 3.1 Descriptive statistics for the pretest and posttest of 26 experimental and control groups.
