THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES PHAM THI HAO USING SHORT STORIES TO ENHANCE ENGLISH VOCABULARY FOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS MASTER THESIS THAI NGUYEN - 2023 THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES PHAM THI HAO USING SHORT STORIES TO ENHANCE ENGLISH VOCABULARY FOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS Major: English teaching theories & methodologies Code: 8140111 MASTER THESIS Instructor: Nguyen Thi Que, Ph.D THAI NGUYEN - 2023 i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contains no material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma. No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgements in the thesis. This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution. Thai Nguyen, June 2023 Author’s signature Pham Thi Hao ii ACKNOWLEDGMENT I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Mrs.
Nguyen Thi Que, Ph. for her valuable instructions and encouragement. Her help and guidance helped me at every level of the project's development. A special word of thanks goes out to my family for their constant support and tolerance as I performed my research and authored my project.
Last but not least, I want to express my gratitude to all of the English faculty members at Thai Nguyen University of Education. Your kind advice and support have helped me tremendously as a university student and have been really useful in finishing my study. iii ABSTRACT Teaching vocabulary through short stories is an exciting strategy to enhance students’ interest in learning vocabulary and help them understand what they read. However, to what extent short stories enhance students’ vocabulary in English is a topic worth studying—the research aimed to investigate the effects of short stories in enhancing English vocabulary for secondary school students.
The population samples consist of 33 secondary school students. The action research design was selected to answer the following research questions: 1) What is the current situation of learning English vocabulary for secondary students? - 2) To what extent do short stories enhance vocabulary for secondary students? - 3) What are the students’ attitudes toward using short stories in vocabulary lessons? Data collected from the questionnaires and tests showed that after using short stories to teach vocabulary, the students became more interested in learning vocabulary, and their vocabulary was greatly improved. Keywords: vocabulary, short stories, teaching vocabulary iv TABLE OF CONTENTS STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS.
iv LIST OF TABLES. vii LIST OF FIGURES. viii LIST OF ABBREVIATION. ix CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION.
Aims and Objectives. Aims of the Study. Scope of the Study. Significance of the Study.
Organization of the study. 4 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW. Definitions of Vocabulary. Types of Vocabulary.
Strategies for Enhancing Learners’ Vocabulary. Vocabulary Size of Language Learners. Top-down vs. Bottom-up approach to Second Language Vocabulary Learning.
Definitions of short stories. Components of a short story. Benefits of short stories in teaching English. The role of short stories in vocabulary learning process.
Attitudes towards the use of short stories in enhancing vocabulary for students. 21 CHAPTER III: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. Respondents and locale of the study. Data Collection Instrument.
Data collection procedure. 30 CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS. Findings from the tests. Findings from the questionnaires.
Students’ difficulties in learning vocabulary. Students’ methods of learning vocabulary. Current situations of learning vocabulary through short stories. 43 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.
The current situation of learning English vocabulary for secondary students. How the use of short stories enhances vocabulary for secondary students. The students’ attitudes toward using short stories in vocabulary lessons 50 5. Limitations and Recommendations.
81 vii LIST OF TABLES Name of table Page Table 2. True Mastery of a Word, Nation (2001, p. Action plan 25 Table 4. Results of the Pre-Test 31 Table 4.
Results of the Post-Test 33 Table 4. Comparison between the results of Pre-Test and Post- 35 Test Table 4.4: Students’ difficulties in learning vocabulary 35 Table 4.5: Students’ methods of learning vocabulary 38 Table 4.6: Students’ attitudes toward using short stories in 43 vocabulary lessons viii LIST OF FIGURES Name of figures Page Figure 4. Students’ use of short stories to learn vocabulary 40 Figure 4. Students’ interests in using short stories to learn 41 vocabulary Figure 4.
Students’ frequency of using short stories to learn 41 vocabulary Figure 4. Students’ time using short stories to learn vocabulary 42 per week ix LIST OF ABBREVIATION ABBREVIATION MEANING EFL English as a foreign language ESL English as a second language 1 CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale Learning vocabulary is an important aspect of academic study. It is often observed that without grammar, little can be communicated, but without vocabulary, nothing can be communicated.
It is clear then that vocabulary is essential for any language learner. There is an association between reading interest, reading habits, and vocabulary. Because of this, teachers should use the methods to assist students in improving their source of vocabulary. Language learners can grasp some vocabulary items quickly, while others are harder to master.
There are various reasons for this: how much we 'need' the word, whether it is similar to a word in our language or makes sense to us somehow. However, repetition is undoubtedly a crucial part of learning vocabulary. If we keep coming across a word or phrase while reading, it will either make more and more sense to us because we see it in different contexts, or we may even be motivated to go away and look it up. However, even if we read a lot, only high-frequency words will keep coming up time after time.
This is where a concept called 'narrow reading' comes in. The idea here is that learners are encouraged to read around the same topic for a while, thus increasing their chances of coming across the same, topic-related, lexical items repeatedly. Language learners may find it challenging, nevertheless, when they read lengthy reading texts. The challenges they encountered - they do not grasp some of the words in the reading passage, it is difficult for them to understand the words, but it makes them have to face reality if reading is complicated, so that is why they do not understand the reading passages.
On the other hand, it uses complex vocabulary and the way the teacher teaches it could be more fascinating. Therefore, teaching vocabulary through short stories is an exciting strategy to enhance students' interest in learning vocabulary and help them understand what they are reading. In order to motivate the learners, teachers need to apply what is needed to be learned to encourage the learners to study vocabulary more effectively. 2 Students can enjoy learning reading comprehension through short stories, and it can help them develop their vocabulary.
They will be entertained by the short stories that the teacher provides. It is also useful and suitable for the students to enhance their source of vocabulary because it provides an exciting and useful story to read. It also has various interesting topics and pictures that can make students interested in reading and learning new vocabulary. It has been suggested that students' vocabularies will grow in line with their reading habits (Blachowicz & Fisher, 2004).
According to the study's authors, multiple exposures in varied contexts have been linked to stronger vocabulary memory. Learners are more likely to retain new vocabulary if they encounter it in a variety of settings, including reading, writing, speaking, and listening (Rupley & Nicholas, 2005). Students are given a chance to combine vocabulary study with the development of other language skills through reading short stories. Word-list education could be more effective (Dixon-Krauss, 2002), whereas contextualized vocabulary learning utilizing short tales has been shown to enhance word usage.
According to Vural (2013), pleasant short stories will motivate students and propose a fictional and exciting world. At Doan Thi Diem Ha Long School, secondary students know the importance of learning and improving their English skills. However, many students still need help learning vocabulary. They find it difficult to express their ideas, and it often takes them a long time to make sentences or speak out their ideas despite knowing the words and their meanings.
Moreover, their ability to use vocabulary in the proper contexts is limited, and they need to be more productive and creative in their English skills. Though some techniques have been applied to raise their interests and improve their vocabulary, the results seem not to be acceptable. Students still find using the words they have learned challenging. Therefore, the author has chosen the research topic: Using Short Stories to Enhance English Vocabulary for Secondary School Students.
Aims and Objectives 1. Aims of the Study The study aimed at finding ways to enhance English vocabulary for secondary school students through the use of short stories in English classrooms. Objectives More specifically, the study seeks to: - Investigate the current situation of learning English vocabulary for secondary students at the secondary school in Ha Long. - Determine the effects of using short stories in enhancing English vocabulary for secondary school students.
- Identify the students’ attitudes toward using short stories in vocabulary lessons. Scope of the Study The study was implemented with the participation of 33 secondary school students. There are many aspects of a language, but the study only focused on how short stories enhance students’ vocabulary. Other aspects were not the concern of this study.
Research Questions 1) What is the current situation of learning English vocabulary for secondary students? 2) To what extent does the use of short stories enhance secondary students’ English vocabulary? 3) What are the students’ attitudes toward using short stories in vocabulary lessons? 1. Significance of the Study Firstly, the study provided secondary students an effective way to enhance their vocabulary. Short stories were expected to be an exciting and helpful way to enrich students’ vocabulary. Secondly, the study would provide some fruitful ideas for teachers to teach vocabulary.
These ideas enable teachers to create a more relaxing environment and improve teaching effectiveness. 4 Thirdly, for further researchers, the study could be a good reference source for using short stories and teaching vocabulary. Finally, the study is expected to be a valuable document for educational policymakers or school boards of managers who would like to make positive changes in English teaching and learning by introducing new approaches to improving students’ vocabulary in particular and English competence in general. Organization of the study Chapter I: Introduction - This chapter discussed the rationale for selecting the research issue, the aims and objectives, the scope, the research questions, the significance of the study, and the study's organization.
Chapter II: Literature Review - The chapter included the theoretical background of vocabulary (definitions of vocabulary, types of vocabulary, strategies for enhancing learners’ vocabulary, vocabulary size of language learners, and top- down vs. bottom-up approach to second language vocabulary). Chapter III: Research Methodology - The research design, study respondents, data collecting instrument, and data collection technique were all provided in this chapter. Chapter IV: Researching Findings - This chapter provided and discussed all of the research findings.
Chapter V: Conclusions and Recommendations - This chapter summarized the study's findings and drew its conclusions. In addition, the study's limitations and recommendations for future research and relevant parties were highlighted. 5 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter includes the theoretical background of vocabulary (definitions, types of vocabulary, strategies for enhancing learners’ vocabulary) as well as short stories (components, benefits and the use of short stories in vocabulary teaching and learning). Definitions of Vocabulary Learning new words is one of the most crucial parts of learning any language, especially English.