VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND FOREIGN LANGUAGES BA THESIS A SURVEY ON THE ENGLISH MAJORED FRESHMEN’ USING SMARTPHONE APPLICATIONS IN LEARNING ENGLISH VOCABULARY AT VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE (KHẢO SÁT VỀ THỰC TRẠNG SỬ DỤNG CÁC ỨNG DỤNG TRÊN ĐIỆN THOẠI THÔNG MINH CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM NHẤT NGÀNH TIẾNG ANH ĐỂ HỌC TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH Ở HỌC VIỆN NÔNG NGHIỆP VIỆT NAM) Student: NGUYEN HOANG HAI Student code: 621193 Major: ENGLISH Supervisor 1: NGUYEN THI THANH HIEN, M.A Supervisor 2: BUI TRUNG KIEN, M.A Hanoi – 2021 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled A SURVEY ON THE ENGLISH MAJORED FRESHMEN‟ USING SMARTPHONE APPLICATIONS IN LEARNING ENGLISH VOCABULARY 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 Nguyen Hoang Hai Approved by SUPERVISOR (Signature and full name) Date:…………………… i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS At first, I am grateful to all teachers in the Faculty of Education and Foreign Languages of Vietnam National University of Agriculture for allowing me to do this BA thesis. Second, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my first supervisor, Nguyen Thi Thanh Hien, M.A for her patience and enormous contribution to build my graduation thesis.
I am also very thankful to my second supervisor, Bui Trung Kien, M.A for his valuable feedback and comments. Without their guidance, it would not be possible to complete my thesis successfully. I also would like to delicate my special thanks to all my friends at Vietnam National University of Agriculture, who have supported, cooperated and provided me with valuable suggestions. Last but not least, I also would like to express my great thanks to my family for the sacrifice they have devoted during my studies.
ii TABLE OF CONTENTS CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS. vi LIST OF ABBREVIATION. vii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES.
viii PART 1: INTRODUCTION. RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY. SCOPE OF THE STUDY.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY. DESIGN OF THE STUDY. 6 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW. REVIEW OF THE PREVIOUS STUDIES.
Review of the domestic researches. Review of the international researches. REVIEW OF THEORETICAL BACKGROUND. The definition of vocabulary.
The important role of vocabulary in learning languages. The definition of smartphone. Mobile-assisted language learning (MALL). Mobile applications for English language learning.
Examples of mobile applications for English vocabulary learning. RESEARCH SETTING/CONTEXT:. Data collecting instruments. Data collecting procedures.
19 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS. THE CURRENT STATUS OF THE VNUA‟S ENGLISH MAJORED FRESHMEN‟ USING SMARTPHONE APPS IN ENGLISH VOCABULARY LEARNING. Common English vocabulary learning methods and the frequency of using each tool/app. The locations where VNUA’s English majored freshmen often use smartphone applications to learn English vocabulary.
The reasons why VNUA’s K65 English majored students use smartphone applications to learn English vocabulary. THE EFFECT OF ENGLISH MAJORED FRESHMEN' USING SMARTPHONE APPLICATIONS IN VOCABULARY LEARNING AT VNUA. The effect of using smartphone apps to learn English vocabulary. Using smartphone apps to learn English vocabulary affect students’ learning outcomes.
Using smartphone apps to learn English vocabulary compared to other vocabulary learning methods. EXTRA RESULTS FROM THE INTERVIEW. LIMITATION OF THE CURRENT STUDY. SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY.
50 v ABSTRACT This paper aimed at investigating how the English Majored freshmen use smartphone apps in learning English at VNUA so that they can acquire knowledge and learning English vocabulary effectively. It was carried out in VNUA, Hanoi, Vietnam in the academic year 2021. It is a descriptive survey paper done to survey VNUA English majored freshmen's opinions about using smartphone apps to learn English vocabulary. The sample consisted of 70 students.
This paper depended on two instruments to collect data which are a 77- item, 6-category, closed-answer questionnaire and an online interview. The questionnaire addressed questions concerning frequency, locations, reasons, effects, learning outcomes and using smartphone applications to learn English vocabulary versus other methods of learning vocabulary. The interview was added as a supporting method to evaluate the reliability of students‟ replies compared to reality. The findings revealed that using smartphone apps is of great usefulness to English vocabulary learning in general.
The students considered smartphone apps simple and usable and preferred using them rather than traditional tools and computers because of their capabilities and acceptance among students. To effectively use smartphone apps in English vocabulary learning, students should be well trained and classrooms should be more mobile- oriented. Also, teachers must be technically and pedagogically competent. vi LIST OF ABBREVIATION VNUA : Vietnam National University of Agriculture Application(s) : App(s) M-leaning : Mobile leaning MALL : Mobile Assisted Language Learning CALL : Computer Assisted Language Learning EFL : English as a Foreign Language vii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES TABLE CONTENT PAGE NAME The frequency of using traditional tools to learn English Table 1 20 vocabulary The frequency of using the computer to learn English Table 2 22 vocabulary The frequency of using dictionary apps on smartphone to Table 3.1 23 learn English vocabulary The frequency of using translation apps on smartphone Table 3.2 24 to learn English vocabulary The frequency of using flashcards apps on smartphone to Table 3.3 25 learn English vocabulary The frequency of using pronunciation apps on Table 3.4 25 smartphone to learn English vocabulary The frequency of using idioms apps on smartphone to Table 3.5 26 learn English vocabulary The frequency of using examination apps on smartphone Table 3.6 26 to learn English vocabulary The frequency of using apps of program, media or press Table 3.7 27 on smartphone to learn English vocabulary viii The frequency of using video apps on smartphone to Table 3.8 27 learn English vocabulary The frequency of using pictures apps on smartphone to Table 3.9 28 learn English vocabulary The frequency of using text messaging apps on Table 3.10 28 smartphone to learn English vocabulary The frequency of using vocabulary game apps on Table 3.11 28 smartphone to learn English vocabulary The frequency of using social media apps on smartphone Table 3.12 29 to learn English vocabulary The locations of using vocabulary game apps on Table 4 30 smartphone to learn English vocabulary The reasons of using smartphone apps to learn English Table 5 32 vocabulary The effect of using smartphone apps to learn English Table 6 34 vocabulary The students’ typical English subject scores in the first Table 7 36 semester Using smartphone apps to learn English vocabulary Table 8 37 compared to other vocabulary learning methods Table 9.1 Students’ interview answers about the most popular 38 ix smartphone apps and their sources Students’ interview answers about the advantages and Table 9.2 disadvantages of using smartphone apps to learn English 39 vocabulary Students’ interview answers about the suggestions for Academic advisors / Faculty / Academy to support and Table 9.3 40 promote student use smartphone apps to learn the English vocabulary x PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1.
RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY Recently, because of their compactness, ease of carrying, and ease of use, smartphones have been used by students at colleges and universities to support their learning rather than other electrical devices such as laptops, tablets, especially in Vietnam. In terms of language learning, smartphones are used for many different purposes as well as to learn many different skills and English is no exception. Apart from this, since the importance of vocabulary is proved by many studies such as Abbasi & Hashemi (2013); Cain & Oakhill (2014); and Khan, Radzuan, Shahbaz, Ibrahim and Mustafa (2018b), vocabulary learning is very fundamental for language learning. However, the status of learning English in VNUA is quite disappointing.
Mobile technology can provide many possibilities to enhance EFL learning. Vocabulary learning has been the core of many MALL programs. Nowadays, smartphones, especially web accessible ones, can provide rich online multimedia-mediated means for vocabulary learning. In addition to this, smartphones are a developing technology that can provide plenty of services and emerging apps for users.
There are basic services such as dialing and SMS, and innovative services such as learning apps that can be found and installed online from the market like Google Play and Apple Store. In addition, everyone can use smartphones to edit, store, send, share, play media files, access the web and even to learn. Hence, using smartphones in education is increasing in order to facilitate learning and provide students with more choices for language learning. In this field, many creative learning ideas were developed based on mobiles and mobile-assisted methods of learning to help making language learning more enjoyable and efficient.
A new sub-field in computer-assisted language learning 1 (CALL) evolved that focus on using mobiles in language learning. This sub- field is called „Mobile-assisted language learning (MALL)‟. MALL research studies brought us with many promising findings that indicate that mobiles can be well exploited in class and non-class language learning (Kassem, 2018, p. 116; Shahbaz & Khan, 2017; Uz Bilgin & Tokel, 2018).
As students at other universities in Vietnam, regarding using smartphones to learn languages, the English majored freshmen at VNUA will immediately think of students using smartphones to watch English movies or listen to English music so as to improve their English listening and speaking skills. Actually, it is really shown that students are more likely to use smartphone apps for vocabulary learning, but they just aware of it themselves. History has shown that there has been a lot of researches on smartphone apps in students' language learning, but not many researches on students using their smartphones to learn a specific category of knowledge such as English vocabulary, and in a specific professional environment. For all above reasons, this study was entitled: „A survey on the English majored freshmen‟ using smartphone apps in learning English vocabulary at Vietnam National University of Agriculture‟.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY Smartphone apps was attractive because of their increasing use and popularity in education. As the researcher's opinion, for teenage intermediate graders, it is easier and more enthusiastic to use smartphone apps to learn vocabulary than other traditional vocabulary learning methods. On the other hand, vocabulary was selected to explore because vocabulary is evidently very important for language acquisition and learning. It is emphasized that vocabulary plays a central role in the whole show of language education.
Therefore, the aim of the study is to investigate how the English Majored 2 freshmen use smartphone apps in learning English at VNUA so that they can acquire knowledge and learning English vocabulary effectively. Due to that, this study aimed at accomplishing two objectives. The first objective is to investigate the English majored freshmen‟ current situation towards the use smartphone apps in learning English vocabulary at VNUA. The second one is to find out the benefits of smartphone apps in learning English vocabulary in order to see the advantages of Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (MALL) compare with other vocabulary learning methods in terms of vocabulary learning.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS As there are several reasons and opinions for why using smartphone apps in the educational field in general and language learning in particular, this research seeks to provide answers to the following questions related to the use of English majored freshmen' smartphone apps in learning English vocabulary at VNUA. Thus, the study questions are as follows: Q1: How do English majored freshmen use smartphone applications in learning English vocabulary at VNUA? Q2: What is the effect of using smartphone applications on English majored freshmen' vocabulary learning at VNUA? 1.