VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ********* NGÔ MẠNH HÙNG EXPANDING GRADE 11 STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY THROUGH EXTENSIVE READING: AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT (PHÁT TRIỂN TỪ VỰNG CỦA HỌC SINH KHỐI 11 BẰNG PHƯƠNG PHÁP ĐỌC MỞ RỘNG: MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 HANOI – 202019 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ********* NGÔ MẠNH HÙNG EXPANDING GRADE 11 STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY THROUGH EXTENSIVE READING: AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT (PHÁT TRIỂN TỪ VỰNG CỦA HỌC SINH KHỐI 11 BẰNG PHƯƠNG PHÁP ĐỌC MỞ RỘNG: MỘT NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231. Lê Văn Canh TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com HANOI – 202019 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com DECLARATION I certify that the thesis entitled “Expanding grade 11 students’ vocabulary through extensive reading: An action research project.” is my own research requirement for the Degree of Master of English Language Teaching Methodology at the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.
Signature Ngo Manh Hung i TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Assoc.Le Van Canh, my supervisor for his encouragement and inspirational review during this process of writing the thesis. Without his precious support and invaluable guidance, this thesis would never have been completed. Besides, I would like to thank the authority of Dong Thanh High School for allowing me to carry out this study and thank my colleagues and all the students in class 11A3 for their participation in the study process. Finally, an honorable mention goes to my families and friends for their assistance and support for me in completing this thesis.
ii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ABSTRACT The study aimed at determining how extensive reading influenced vocabulary development of high school students, what students‟ attitudes towards extensive reading stories in enriching their vocabulary knowledgeprogram were and what can be learned from this action research project about extensive reading that can be applied in Vietnamese high schoolsbenefits other than learning vocabulary of extensive reading program from this action research project were. The participants were 38 students from a grade 11 class at a high school in Quang Ninh province. They were asked to read 10 short stories within a twelve – week EFL extensive reading program. The vocabulary pretest and posttests were administered to measure learners‟ incidental vocabulary learning through the program.
The results indicated that there were significant vocabulary improvements gained by the participants after the EFL extensive reading program, suggesting that the extensive reading program had created a beneficial effect on the incidental word learning gained by the participants. iii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS. iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS.
xvii LIST OF TABLES. xiviii LIST OF FIGURES. xiviii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION. Rationale of the study.
Aims of the study and the research questions. The scope and significance of the study. Method of the study. Design of the thesis.
3 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW. The definition of vocabulary. The importance of vocabulary in foreign language teaching and learning. Approaches to Vocabulary Acquisition Incidental vocabulary acquisition and intentional vocabulary learning.
Definition of extensive reading. The benefits of extensive reading. The basic principles of extensive reading. 15 iv TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com CHAPER III: METHODOLOGY.
Description of participants. Data collection instruments. Vocabulary Knowledge Scale(The Post-test 2). Data presentation and data analysis.
The pre-test and post-test. Minimum Mastery Criterion. Vocabulary knowledge scale. 28 In this research, the researcher asked participants to write answers to five open ended questions after they had finished each short story.
28 CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS. The results of the tests. The result of pre-test. The result of the post-test.
Data collected from the Vocabulary Knowledge Scale. The results of questionnaire. 3938 In this research, the researcher asked participants to write answers to five open ended questions after they had finished each short story. Participants‟ attitudes towards the extensive reading stories in enriching their vocabulary knowledge.
The benefits other than learning vocabulary of extensive reading v TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com program from this action research project. Discussion of research questions. Positive effects of extensive reading stories on participants‟ vocabulary development. Students‟ attitudes towards the extensive reading program in enriching their vocabulary knowledge.
Applicability of extensive reading program to other contexts. I APPENDIX 1: VOCABULARY PRE- TEST. I APPENDIX 2: VOCABULARY POST- TEST 1. III APPENDIX 3: THE POST-TEST 2 (second measure).
V APPENDIX 4: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (ENGLISH VERSION). VI APPENDIX 5: PHIẾU KHẢO SÁT (PHIÊN BẢN TIẾNG VIỆT) .VII APPENDIX 6: A SAMPLE OF A LESSON PLAN. iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. vii LIST OF TABLES.
viii LIST OF FIGURES. viii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION. Rationale of the study. Aims of the study and the research questions.
The scope and significance of the study. Method of the study. Design of the thesis. 3 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW.
5 vi TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. The definition of vocabulary. The importance of vocabulary in foreign language teaching and learning. Approaches to Vocabulary Acquisition.
8 Incidental vocabulary acquisition and intentional vocabulary learning. Definition of extensive reading. The benefits of extensive reading. The basic principles of extensive reading.
15 CHAPER III: METHODOLOGY. Description of participants. Data collection instruments. Vocabulary Knowledge Scale(The Post-test 2).
Data presentation and data analysis. The pre-test and post-test. Minimum Mastery Criterion. Vocabulary knowledge scale.
28 CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS. The results of the tests. The result of pre-test. The result of the post-test.
32 vii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Data collected from the Vocabulary Knowledge Scale. The results of questionnaire. Participants‟ attitudes towards the extensive reading program.
The applicability of extensive reading program to high schools. Discussion of research questions. Positive effects of extensive reading on participants‟ vocabulary development. Students‟ attitudes towards the extensive reading program.
Applicability of extensive reading program to other contexts. I APPENDIX 1: VOCABULARY PRE- TEST. I APPENDIX 2: VOCABULARY POST- TEST 1. III APPENDIX 3: THE POST-TEST 2 (second measure).
V APPENDIX 4: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (ENGLISH VERSION). VI APPENDIX 5: PHIẾU KHẢO SÁT (PHIÊN BẢN TIẾNG VIỆT) .VII APPENDIX 6: A SAMPLE OF A LESSON PLAN. VIII viii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ix TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AR Action Research EFL English as a Foreign Languages ER Extensive Reading L1 First Language L2 Second Language M Mean MOET The Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam x TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1: Results of Studies of the Benefits of Extensive Reading Program 12 Table 3.1: individual results of pre-test .2: individual results of pre-test .3: The participants‟ vocabulary score of pre-test and post-test1373635 Table 3.4: Sample item requiring demonstration of word knowledge .6: The result of questionnaire of 10 lessons .7: Mean result of questionnaire from 10 lessons. 474443 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1: Action Research Cycle (McBride & Schostak, 1989).1: Pie chart shows percentage of what participants like about extensive reading .2:Pie chart shows percentage of what participants do not like about extensive reading .3: What participants gained from ER program.4: What participant learnt about reading skill after ER program .5: Participants‟ changes in English reading skill after ER program.
535048 xi TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com xii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study As a teacher at a high school in Quang Ninh province, I realized that in spite of great investment in the physical conditions for teaching and learning English by the province, the learners‟ ability to use English remained unsatisfactory. One of the main reasons for this fact was student‟s limited vocabulary knowledge. Because of having a small vocabulary size, the students encountered great challenges in developing their language skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing.
Most students who were studying English at the school did not know how to enrich their vocabulary to use and communicate every day. Vocabulary plays the most important part in learning foreign languages. Students need to have a rich vocabulary if they want to be good at any skills such as reading, listening, writing or speaking. Enriching vocabulary is not a quick progress because it must be a process of preparation, practicing, learning and long-term accumulation.
In general, most students often have difficulties in mastering or remembering vocabulary. They do not know how to use vocabulary in situations or real contexts exactly and they tend to learn Vietnamese meanings of vocabulary by heart. If they do not learn vocabulary in contexts they may not know how to use vocabulary appropriately. In the process of making efforts to try many different techniques of teaching vocabulary, the researcher found that reading is an effective way to enhance students‟ vocabulary.
Krashen (2004) believes in the power of reading for the development of the first, second or foreign language competence. He displays some case studies to support his claim of the power of recreational reading for progress. Extensive reading leads learners to acquire the language if they are 1 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com sufficiently exposed to the language and if they have the materials that are interesting for them. Krashen (2004) brings in the term “narrow reading” for the extensive reading the learners do on the areas of their own interest.
Reading can broaden learners‟ language competence by providing automaticity of recognizing and decoding words and written symbols of a printed message (Grabe, 1991). Moreover, it can increase the learners‟ exposure to the language. However, the quality of exposure to language is very important to their motivation to acquire new forms of the input. This exposure to language is more likely to reduce the gap between L1 and L2.
From these reasons, the researcher has intended to apply extensive reading as a good way to enhance students‟ vocabulary. It led the researcher to do this study entitled “Expanding grade 11 students’ vocabulary through extensive reading: An action research project”. The researcher expected to help his students to enrich their vocabulary through extensive reading program. Aims of the study and the research questions The research was carried out to find out how extensive reading influenced students‟ vocabulary development through an action research project.
The project was carried out in an attempt to answer the following questions: 1. How does extensive reading influence students’ vocabulary development? 2. What are the students’ attitudes towards the extensive reading stories in enriching their vocabulary knowledgeprogram? 3. What are benefits other than learning vocabulary of extensive reading program from this action research project? 3.
The scope and significance of the study The present study was conducted at the second semester on the students who were in grade 11 and used the seven –year English textbook of MOET. They had three English every week and the researcher decided to choose one 2 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com English optional lesson a week to apply extensive reading program of the research. In total, the researcher carried out ten lessons in three months during the research and the 10 short stories were from the book “Stories for reproduction: introductory” (L.A Hill, 1965) used as the main materials of the study.