VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOT UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES RRERRARARERERRARE LE THI MINH DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING ENGLISH VOCABULARY FACED BY THE 10™ FORM STUDENTS AT DONG SONI UPPER SECONDARY SCIIOOL (Những khó khăn trong việc học tiv vung Tiéng Anh cha hoc sinh lép 10 tai frudng THPT Pang Son 1) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: Knglish Language ‘caching Mcthodolagy Code: 601410 HANOI — 2013 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST - GRADUATE STUDIES RRERRARARERERRARE LE THI MINH DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING ENGLISH VOCABULARY FACED BY THE 10™ FORM STUDENTS AT DONG SONI UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL (Những khả khăn trong việc học từ vựng Tiếng Anh cita hoc sinh lép 10 tai trường THPT Đông Sơn 1) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: Knglish Language Tcaching Mefhodolngy Code: 601410 Supervisor: Lam Thị Phúc Han, M. LI: mother tongue 1.2: second language DSUSS: Dong Son| upper secondary school @: questiormaire lem I: question in interview iv PART A: INTRODUCTION: 1.
Rationale for the study As far as we know, English is a common language im international communication. In Vietnam, with the reformation of the economy and society, as well as the implementation of the open - door policy, English has been used more and more widsly. English also becomes « compulsory subject m education curriculum. It is known that, in learning a foreign language in general, and English in particular, the knowledge and mastery of vovabulary play an oxlremely impertant role.
McCarthy (1990) states that “No matter how well the student learns grammar, no malter how successfully the sounds of 1.2 are mastered, without words Lo express a wide range of meanings, communication m an L2 just cammot happen in any meaningful way.” By having rich vocabulary, students can improve their listening, speaking, reading and writing abilities; nol only in the way they comprehend but also in the way they produce language. In reality, in Viet Nam, vocabulary lessons are not paid enough attention in order to help students leam new words more interestedly and effectively. As a result, most of them have formed a habit of only leamming new words found in their text books or through teacher’s sources. They normally leam vocabulary by such methods as listing new words on a notebook and learning them by heart, writing new words repeatedly down on papers, reading new words out loud several times, and so forth.
These above seem not to he very effective and interesting ways for vocabulary acquisition. Moreover, students only think of vocabulary learning as Imowing the primary meaning of new words, they ignore all other functions of the words. Many of them may also recognize a word in a written or spoken form and think thal they already "know the word", but they may not be able to use thal word properly in different contexts or pronounce it correctly. Many students, after learning Fnglish for many years, they can only read and understand short and simple texts aud hardly communicate in English.
As a teacher of English, I have dealt with many questions relating to vocabulary learning which are raised by my students or among my colleagues. or cxample, whl are the effective ways of learning vocabulary? How to retain a new word in the mind? ‘Therefore, I conducted a study to find out the main difficulties in learning vocabulary faced by the 10" form students at Dong Son I upper secondary school (DSUSS). Then I would like to give some suggestions to help students learn English vocabulary more effectively 2. Aims of the study The study aims to find out the difficulties faced by the 10" form students at DSUSS when they lean Fnglish vocabulary.
Then some suggestions will be given to help students lean English vocabulary more effectively. Research questions This research was carried out lo find out the answers to the following research questions - What are the difficulties in learning English vocabulary faced by the 10" form students al DSUSS? - Whal are the suggestions thal help the students learn English vocabulary better? 4. Scope of the study The study was designed to find oul the diflicultics im leaming English vocabulary faced by the 10" form students at DSUSS. In the context of teaching and learning English at DSUSS, Engli vocabulary mentioned here mean the new words in the English textbook Tieng Ank 10 that students arc taught or Ieam by themselves.
‘I'he target population is the 10" form students. ‘They have experienced from 4 lo 7 years of learning English, bul their English knowledge is nol. very good, The findings of the study would be much beneficial to both teachers who are considering whether lo improve thew sludsrils’ vocabulary and sludents who wants to overcome the difficulties and boredom in leaming vocabulary. ie} PART A: INTRODUCTION: 1.
Rationale for the study As far as we know, English is a common language im international communication. In Vietnam, with the reformation of the economy and society, as well as the implementation of the open - door policy, English has been used more and more widsly. English also becomes « compulsory subject m education curriculum. It is known that, in learning a foreign language in general, and English in particular, the knowledge and mastery of vovabulary play an oxlremely impertant role.
McCarthy (1990) states that “No matter how well the student learns grammar, no malter how successfully the sounds of 1.2 are mastered, without words Lo express a wide range of meanings, communication m an L2 just cammot happen in any meaningful way.” By having rich vocabulary, students can improve their listening, speaking, reading and writing abilities; nol only in the way they comprehend but also in the way they produce language. In reality, in Viet Nam, vocabulary lessons are not paid enough attention in order to help students leam new words more interestedly and effectively. As a result, most of them have formed a habit of only leamming new words found in their text books or through teacher’s sources. They normally leam vocabulary by such methods as listing new words on a notebook and learning them by heart, writing new words repeatedly down on papers, reading new words out loud several times, and so forth.
These above seem not to he very effective and interesting ways for vocabulary acquisition. Moreover, students only think of vocabulary learning as Imowing the primary meaning of new words, they ignore all other functions of the words. Many of them may also recognize a word in a written or spoken form and think thal they already "know the word", but they may not be able to use thal word properly in different contexts or pronounce it correctly. Many students, after learning Fnglish for many years, they can only read and understand short and simple texts aud hardly communicate in English.
Methods af the study In order to achieve the purpose of the study, both qualitative and quantitative metheds were uscd A survey questionnaire and an informal interview wore implemented with 120 10 form students who were chosen randomly. The questionnaire consists of 18 questions grouped into 2 main parts, that is background information which helps to seek for information conceming students’ background and the reality of learning English vocabulary which serves for gathering information of students’ attitudes to vocabulary learning, the ways the students leam English vocabulary, some difficulties they face when leaming Fnglish vocabulary, the ways they are taught Linglish vocabulary and their expectation towards English vocabulary teaching method. The informal interview with 30 students was conducted basing on the students’ answers in the survey questionnaire 6. Organization of the study The thesis is composed of Ice main parts: Part A - Introduction.
In this part the rationale, the aims, the research questions, the scope, the method, and the organization of the study are presented, Part B - Development This part is divided into three chapters. Chapter 1: Literature Review ‘This chapter presents the theoretical background for the study. It focuses on some concepts in the second language vocabulary learning and some difficulties in second language vocabulary learning Chapter 2: The study This is the main part of the study. It describes the context of the study, the participants, the dala collection methods and data aualysis procedures TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION.
LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES PART A: INTRODUCTION. Rationale for the study 2. Aims of the study wow 3. Scope of the study tà 5.
Methods of the study wD 6. Organization of the study. wt ww PART B: DEVELOPMENT AWW CHAPTER T: LITERATURE REVIEW 1. Atroverview of vocabulary 1.1, Definitions of vocabulary 1.
The notion 0Ÿ WOFd. cà cà nà nà bê HH nh như 1.4, Roles of vocabulary in foreign language learning. Aspects of knowing a word - 1. Explicit and implivit vocabulary leaning .3, Difficulties in vocabulary learning.4, Summary CHAPTERII: THE STUDY.
of teaching and learning English al DSUSS vi TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES PART A: INTRODUCTION. Rationale for the study 2. Aims of the study wow 3.
Scope of the study tà 5. Methods of the study wD 6. Organization of the study. wt ww PART B: DEVELOPMENT AWW CHAPTER T: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.
Atroverview of vocabulary 1.1, Definitions of vocabulary 1. The notion 0Ÿ WOFd. cà cà nà nà bê HH nh như 1.4, Roles of vocabulary in foreign language learning. Aspects of knowing a word - 1.
Explicit and implivit vocabulary leaning .3, Difficulties in vocabulary learning.4, Summary CHAPTERII: THE STUDY. of teaching and learning English al DSUSS vi 2.1, Restating the research question. Data collection instruments .2, Data collection procedure Data analysis and discussion. Students’ level of English vocabulary 2.
Suuslents’ attitudes towards learning English vocabulary 2. Students’ difficulties in learning a new word. Students’ preference and attitudes towards ways of learning English vocabulary 2. Students’ preference, attitudes and expectation towards Linglish vocabulary teaching method 2.
CILAPTER III: FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS 3. Students’ difficulties in leaming English vocabulary. Difficulties related to sudents themselves 3. Ti clive ways of learning vocabulary 3.
Lack of motivation.2, Difficulties related to vocabulary itself 3. Dillicultses related to teachers 3. Teachers’ attitude to students. Teacher's teaching method 3.
The poor application of teaching aids and reference materials vil 2.1, Restating the research question. Data collection instruments .2, Data collection procedure Data analysis and discussion. Students’ level of English vocabulary 2. Suuslents’ attitudes towards learning English vocabulary 2.
Students’ difficulties in learning a new word. Students’ preference and attitudes towards ways of learning English vocabulary 2. Students’ preference, attitudes and expectation towards Linglish vocabulary teaching method 2. CILAPTER III: FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS 3.
Students’ difficulties in leaming English vocabulary. Difficulties related to sudents themselves 3. Ti clive ways of learning vocabulary 3. Lack of motivation.2, Difficulties related to vocabulary itself 3.
Dillicultses related to teachers 3. Teachers’ attitude to students. Teacher's teaching method 3. The poor application of teaching aids and reference materials vil 3.
The challenging cwriculum. For the tes rs 3 3. Improving awareness of teachers’ roles. Improving vocabulary teaching method.
Improving students’ self-study 33 3. Kor the stuđets. For the adminstralors at DSUSS 39 3. Limitations of the study 4, Suggestions for further research.
APPENDIX 1: SURVEY QUESTIONRATRE AFPPRRDIX 2: SURVEY LNTERVIEW VI LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES.