UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUIHES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES TRAN THI HOA PROMOTING LEARNER AUTONOMY IN LEARNING VOCABULARY FOR SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS AT IIAI PIEONG MEDICAL UNIVERSITY (Phát huy tính tự chủ trong việc học từ vựng cho sinh viên năm thứ hai, 'Trường Đại học Y Hải Phòng) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.10 HANOT - 2010 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES TRAN THI HOA PROMOTING LEARNER AUTONOMY IN LEARNING VOCABULARY FOR SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS AT IIAI PIEONG MEDICAL UNIVERSITY (Phát huy tính tự chủ trong việc học từ vựng cho sinh viên năm thứ hai, 'Trường Đại học Y Hải Phòng) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60.10 Supervisor: Phung Ha Thanh, MEd HANOE - 2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Declaration. ne 1 Aoknowilodgomơnl. it CA DSTäEI. canh HH HH heo nurrerrerdrrdrrdrrdrrarrirruseoTE List of tables and figures viii PART A: INTRODUCTION 1.
Rationale of the study. Aims and objectives of the stỗy. Metods of the siudy. Sựgnificanee of the stuđy.
cọ chang reererireraerorooẨ 6. Overview of the study 4 PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1. Processes of vocabulary acquisition 3 2. Vocabulary learning and teaching.
Aspects of learning a word 7 2. Iacidental learning approach. Dcnifloni oŸ aulonOHHV. cà Hnằneneeeirirrirereeeeeeeeoce TỔ, 3.
Prinoiples of developing autonomy A. Vocabnilary learnings stratogios 4 1. Definition of learning strategies 4. Classification of vocabutary learning strategies 4.
Frameworks for strategy training. Background of the study 1. Current learning and tcaching af English al Hai Phong Medical Univetsity. 1dentifieation of tho problem 2, Participants.eceosesaes wenseseenenintvtuneeeee 3, Implementation of the action research.
4, Tusiruments of dala collection 4. Description of the pre-treatment questionnaire 4. Description of ths vocabulary — learning records 4. Description of the vocabulary learning diary.4, Description of the post —treatment questionnaire 5, Data collection procedures.
Data analysis procedures CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 1. Phase One - Research question 1: Students’ problems in independent vocabulary learning,. Research question 2: Students’ performance in the use of the taught strategies.1, Students’ performance in the use of Strategy Set 1 and Set 2 2. Students” performance in the use of Strategy Set 3.
Research question 3: Students’ participation in the use of the taught strategies 3i 2. Students” participation in the use of Strategy Set 1 and Set 2. Students” participation im the use of Strategy Set3 32 3. Research question 4: Students’ maintenance of the taught strategies in independent vocabulary learning 33 3.
Research question 5: Students” perception of the effectiveness of the slrategy taining programme 34 3. Students’ frequency of using the taught strategies before and after the training programme 34 3. Usefillness of the taught strategies. Students’ evaluation of the strategy training programme 36 PART C: CONCLUSION 1.
Pedagogical implications trom the findings. Lãmitations of he shudy and suggestions for further studÿ. coi „41 APPENDICES Appendix 1: Schmitt's laxonomy af vocabulary learning strategies (1997) T Appendix 2: ‘Three lesson plans LE Appendix 3: Three word-leaminys records XXIV Appendix 4; Sample vocabulary-leaming diaries. XXXII Appendix5: Pro-trcutmant quostiormairs survey (Engtish version) T.VIT Appendix6; Pre-treatment questionnaire survey (Vietnamese Version).
essen LX Appendix 7: Post-trealment questionnaire survey (English version) LNT Appendix8: Post-troatment questionnaire survey (Victnamese version} .LXV 10 LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES TABLES Table 1: Criteria for evaluating word-tearning records. ‘Table 2: Lolistic rubric for marking the maintenance of the trained strategy sets Table 3: Students’ performance in the use of Dictionary-related strategies and Vocabulary-recording strategies 20 Table 4: Students’ performance in the usc of Affix-studying strategies. 30 Table 5: Students’ participation in the use of Dictionary-related strategies and Vocabulary-recording strategies AI Table 6: Students’ participation in the use of Atlix - studying strafegies. FIGURES Figure 1: Strdents’ problems in independent vocabulary learning 28 Figure 3: Sludenis’ maintenance of the Gnught strategies in independent vocabulary learning Figure 3: Frequency of vocabulary strategy use before and after training Figure 4; Usefulness of the taught strategies.
Vigure 5: Liffectiveness of the strategy training programme Figure 6; Students’ recommendations for vocabulary-leaming strategy training 1 PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study Learner autonomy, a concept promoted by Liolec (1981) and others in the context of Turopean language education, has become a favorite topic for analysis for the last twenty years. In many parts of the world, Icamer autonomy has been put forward as a goal to achieve (Pemberton et al., 1996; Sinclar et al, 2000; Little et al, 2000; Benson, 2001) Several arguments muy be used in favor of developing aulonomy in language learners. For example, according to Naimen et al.
(1978), autonomous learning is more effective than other approaches to leaning, and Waite (1994) specifies that learners nzed to take charge of their own Isarning in ordor to make the most of available resources, especially outside the classroom, Despite being widely discussed worldwide, leamer autonomy remains a fairly novel concept in Vietnam. Whether or to what extent learner autonomy is developed and practiced in Victnamese schools and universitics is still opcn to question. Furthermore, since the idea of learner autonomy originated trom Westem cultures, it hardly sutlices to just transfér the concept to an Asian context (Renson, Chik & Lim, 2003; Smith, 2003). Rather, the implementation of icamer autonomy in Asian countrics should be tailored so that an appropriate methodology for developing leaner autonomy in non- Westem contexts can be devised (Smith, 2003).
Another argument is that learner aulonomy is a universal social phenomenon, which manifests ilsclf differenlty in different local contoxis (Holliday, 2003), Because of all these complex and interesting points, it seems appealing to explore how autonomy can be enhanced in an Asian educational institution like Iai Phong Medical Uni sity. Morcover, developing learners? autonomy becomes increasingly important as far as tertiary education is concemed. A student at university is requized to do a substantial amount of research fr his assignments, so he is supposed to know when and how to work independently so that he can achicve a satisfactory result, Specifically, the local context of Hai Phong Medical University calls for the idea of promoting leamer antonomy. The second-year students, who are at pre-intermadiate level, do nol seem to study Bnglish as well as in the first year.
Tavmg taughl them for three successive semesters, I immediately take notice of the situation and intend to design a remedy plan to improve it. After my open talk with the whole class, several problems came 12 to light. Most of the students feel discouraged by a large number of words they encounter in cach English lesson. As toany of thom confess, learning voaabutary seems lo be the most difficult and most important to them, However, as English non-majors, the students have only four periods per week for English lessons.
It means the time spent on vocabulary learning is really limited in class. In order to develap the stuđents` vocabulary, it is cructal that they practice independent vocabulary learning, regularly outside class, Therefore, it has become increasingly essential to provide them with useful learning strategies so that they can employ in their selfstudy time. In this ease, the success of learning vocabulary depends very much on how effectively and autonomously the students practice vocabulary self-study. As Waite (1994) says, learners need to take charge of their own learning in order to make the most of available resources, especially outside the classroom.
For all the reasons above, I have decided to undertake a study on promoting learner antonomy in learning vocabulary for second-year students at Hai Phong Medical University. The focus of the study is a training programme of vocabulary — learning strategics conducted for ten weeks. Aims and objectives of the study Firstly, the sludy aims al improving the students’ autonomous vocabulary learning by teaching them some helpful strategies, namely dictionary-related strategies, recording vocabulary and studying affixes. Secondly, it is intended to evaluate their employment of these vocabulary-learning strategies in terms of performance, participation and maintenance.
These aims can be achieved by answering the following research questions: i. What are the problems thai the students encounter in their independent vocabulary learning? 2 How well do the shidents use the taught strategies in their guided vocabulary practice? 3. Hew much do the students use the taught strategtes in their guided vocabulary practice? 4. Toa what extent do the students maintain the taught strategies in their independent vocabulary learning? 5.
Haw effective is the strategy training progranime in helping the students learn vovabulary, as perceived by the students? 13 3. Scope of the siudy The 1 arch focuses ơn ere spcoile way of devaloping lesmer autonomy: the explicit teaching of learning strategies, A vocabulary-learning strategy training programme is conducted for ten weeks. Within the scope of the study, only three strategy sets, namely dictionary-telated strategies, recordings vocabulary and studying affixes, are taught, The effectivenass of the taught strategies is measured in terms of performance, participation and maintenance. Performance refers to the extent of correctness when the students use the laugh! stratogios white participation means bow much they usc th ơ stralogios in their guided vocabulary practice, Lastly, maintenance refers to the extent of retaining the taught strategies in their independent vocabulary study.
The participanis include 27 second-year students of the some Fnglish class at Hai Phong Medical University and their teacher. In this study, the teacher is in charge of teaching the class and plays the role of the researcher at the same time. Methods of the study The current study is carried out as an action rescarch, which combincs qualitative and quantitative approaches. The action actually taken is a vocabulary-learning strategy training programme designed for the duration of ten weeks, The programme is divided into three phases.
In phase one, pre-treatment questionnaires are distributed to seek the answer for research qnestion ane tegarding (he students’ problem in Igarning vocabulary. Then, the students are taught about three strategy sets, namely dictionary-related strategies, vocabulary-recording and affix-stadying, In phase two, three word-learning records are provided a3 guided practice of the laugh! strategies. The data fram the word-records arm al answering the carch question two and three about the students’ performance and participation in the use of the tausht strategies. In phase three, the students keep fice-style vocabulary Icaming diaries, in which they record the vocabulary they want to learn in their self-study time.
‘The diaries are used to answer the research question four aboul the extent of maintaining the taught strategies in the students’ independent vocabulary Joarning. By the end of phase threc, posi-lrcatment questionnaires are distributed to answer the research question five about the learners’ perception of the strategy traming programme. 14 ‘The data fiom the pre-treatment and post-treatment questionnaires, the word- learning records and voeabulary-Icarning diarics arc calenlaled with regard to items” frequency, mean, and percentage. Significance of the study First and foremost, the habit of indspendent vocabulary learning will hopefully be developed for the second-year students at Hai Phong Medical Univarsity.
The students can overcome their difficulties in learning vocabulary by means of monitoring and regulating their self-study wilh appropriate learning strategies. Iv Ihis way, the rescarcher hopes that the students’ awareness of learning strategies and learner autonomy can. be raised and nurtured. Sccond, the sludy of ers an cxample oC how learner autonomy can be fostered in an Asian context, It is expected that the study will contribute an insightful picture of the practice of Asian learner autonomy to the literature and help to shed light on the concept of Jearner autonomy.
6 Overview of the study ‘The research paper consists of the following parts: Parl, A. Development ‘The development is divided into three chapters: © Chapter one (Literature review) provides the theoretical background of the susdy, covering the key terms and review of related studies © Chapter two (Methadology} justifies and describes the methodology of the susdy in details. ® Chapter three (Results and discussion) presents full analysis of the collected data and discusses the findings. Part C, Conclusion 15 PART B: DEVELOPMENT CIIAPTER 1.