MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES ------------ PHAN THI THU HA AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE RELATIONSHIP OF TEACHERS’ KNOWLEDGE, BELIEF, AND PRACTICE OF VOCABULARY TEACHING TECHNIQUES OF TEACHERS IN SOME A LUOI PRIMARY SCHOOLS MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING CODE: 60. PHAM HONG ANH HUE, 2016 i BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ TRƢỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ ------------ PHAN THỊ THU HÀ NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ MỐI LIÊN HỆ GIỮA KIẾN THỨC, NHẬN THỨC VÀ THỰC HÀNH CỦA GIÁO VIÊN ĐỐI VỚI CÁC KĨ THUẬT DẠY TỪ VỰNG CỦA MỘT SỐ GIÁO VIÊN TẠI MỘT SỐ TRƢỜNG TIỂU HỌC A LƢỚI LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƢƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH MÃ SỐ: 60.11 NGƢỜI HƢỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: TS. PHẠM HỒNG ANH HUẾ, 2016 ii STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I hereby acknowledge that this study is mine. The data and findings discussed in the thesis are true, used with permission from associates and have not been published elsewhere.
Date: 07/7/2016 Author PHAN THI THU HA iii ABSTRACT This project aims to find out the relationship of teachers‟ knowledge, belief and practice of vocabulary teaching techniques of teachers in some A Luoi Primary Schools. Qualitative and quantitative approach was used for this study. The research methods consist of questionnaire and follow-up interviews. Questionnaire was given to 23 primary English teachers taught in A Luoi primary schools.
Additionally, interviews were conducted with 10 teachers, who have already answered in questionnaire. The results show that there is not a linear relationship of teachers‟ knowledge, belief and practice of vocabulary teaching techniques because teachers‟ practice of vocabulary teaching techniques in classroom is dominated by not only teachers‟ knowledge, teachers‟ belief but remarkably other factors. Based on the findings, it is recommended that the teachers need to raise teachers‟ self-awareness of the impact of vocabulary teaching. The pedagogical issues of vocabulary teaching are to improve themselves in term of their practice in the vocabulary teaching for primary students.
iv Acknowledgements This thesis would not have been possible without the encouragement and whole-hearted assistance of many people. Firstly, I would like to express my deepest to my supervisor, Dr. Pham Hong Anh, whose encouragement, guidance, and support from the initial to the final level has enabled me to overcome many difficulties and develop my research skills. It is an honor for me to extend my special thanks to all the staff, especially, the teaching staff at Hue College of Foreign Languages.
Without their help and encouragement, I would not have accomplished my thesis. Secondly, I owe deeply my family, especially my parents, and my brother, whose continuous encouragement, support, and has helped me pass through insurmountable difficulties during my project. Finally, my sincere thanks go to my peer students in the MA in the Theory and Methodology of English Language Teaching course in the academic year 2014-2016. The data collection for my research paper would not have been impossible without the support of the primary teachers at A Luoi.
I thus owe them a great deal. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents Pages SUB COVER PAGE. i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP. v TABLE OF CONTENTS.
vi LIST OF CHARTS. ix CHAPTER I - INTRODUCTION. Background of the Study. Aims of the study.
Scope of the study. Significance of the study. Structure of the study. 6 CHAPTER II - LITERATURE REVIEW.
The Teaching of English to Young Learners. Teachers‟ knowledge in vocabulary teaching techniques. Showing actual objects or models. Using demonstrations and showing pictures.
Teaching words in context. Using associated vocabulary. Using morphological analysis of words. Using words often confused.
Using word map. Reading the word. Using series, scales, systems. Teachers‟ belief in vocabulary teaching techniques.
Teachers‟ belief in language teaching techniques. Teachers‟ belief in vocabulary teaching techniques. Teachers‟ practice in vocabulary teaching techniques. 22 CHAPTER III - METHODOLOGY.
Research site and context. Procedure of data analysis. Data analysis methods. Data analysis procedures.
30 CHAPTER IV- FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. Teachers‟ knowledge about vocabulary teaching techniques. Teachers‟ belief about the usefulness of vocabulary teaching techniques. Teachers‟ use of vocabulary teaching techniques.
Research question 1: Is there a linear relationship of teachers‟ knowledge, teachers‟ belief and teachers‟ practice of vocabulary teaching techniques? How is the relationship presented in reality?. Research question 2: What other factors apart from teachers‟ knowledge, teachers‟ belief influence teachers‟ practice?. 48 CHAPTER V - CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS. Summary of findings.
A linear relationship of teachers‟ knowledge, belief, and practice of vocabulary teaching techniques. Other factors apart from teachers‟ knowledge, teachers‟ belief influence teachers‟ practice of vocabulary teaching techniques. For future researchers. 56 viii LIST OF CHARTS Chart 4.1: Teachers‟ knowledge about vocabulary teaching techniques in general .2: Teachers‟ knowledge about vocabulary teaching techniques in particular.3 Teachers‟ belief about the usefulness of vocabulary teaching technique in general .4 Teachers‟ belief about the usefulness of vocabulary teaching technique in particular .5 Teachers‟ use of vocabulary teaching techniques .6 Comparing teachers‟ yes answers to each part of the questionnaire .7 Comparing teachers‟ yes answers to part B, part C, and no answers to part D of the questionnaire.
43 ix CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1. Background of the Study As early as the 1970s, research into vocabulary learning began to receive attention and gain development in the field of language teaching. British linguist David Wilkins (1972) stated, “While without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed.” Moreover, vocabulary is the solid foundation to learn English for children. It is a primary skill which should be mastered by the children before they acquire another language skill, such as listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
It means that vocabulary plays an important role in communication both in spoken and written. Richards and Renandya (2002, p.255) say, “Vocabulary is a core component of language proficiency and provides much of the basis for how well learners speak, listen, read, and write.” So, vocabulary is a main skill which should be mastered by the students to get and understand whole English skill; receptive skill (listening and reading) and productive skill (speaking and writing). The problems may occur when the students do not master the vocabulary well. They will not be able to comprehend the content of the text if they have less vocabulary.
They also cannot speak fluently if their vocabulary is low. Moreover, they cannot write when they want to convey their opinion or ideas. Schmitt and Mc Carthy (1997, p.11) in their book “Vocabulary: Description, Acquisition and Pedagogy” stated that the learners clearly needed to know the 3,000 or so high frequency words of the language. Related to their opinion, the learners are obviously expected to get 3, 000 or more new words, so they will be able to use and practice English.
Thus, it is important apply some vocabulary learning strategies to build students” vocabulary in order that their vocabularies are increased and improved. Vocabulary knowledge is a key component of literacy and language acquisition. Students must have a wide knowledge of vocabulary to comprehend 1 texts and concepts. It is important to note that “vocabulary knowledge is not something that can never be fully mastered; it is something that expands and deepens over the course of a lifetime” (Diamond L.
There are two ways to acquire vocabulary: “incidentally through indirect exposure to words and intentionally through explicit instruction in specific words and word-learning strategies” (Diamond L. Intentionally teaching vocabulary includes teaching specific words and word-learning strategies, as well as showing the words in various contexts. The incidental learning of vocabulary happens when children are “engaged in rich oral-language experiences at home and at school” (Diamond L. Finally, it is also important to help students become conscious of words and their own word learning.
It is highly suggested that teachers do not use direct translation when teaching vocabulary to students learning a second language (Mehta, 2009). It is more helpful to the student to use contexts, key words, images, etcetera to help the students learn the definition and use of new words. The following strategies prove very helpful with ESL students: discovering the definition, context clues, giving antonyms and synonyms, using dramatizations, showing pictures or having the students create drawings and looking at parts of words (Mehta, 2009). Teaching English vocabulary is an important area worthy of effort and investigation.
Recently methodologists and linguists emphasize and recommend teaching vocabulary because of its importance in language teaching. “If language structures make up the skeleton of language, then it is vocabulary that provides the vital organs and the flesh” (Harmer 153). Vocabulary is not a syllabus, i., a list of words that teachers prepare for their learners to memorize and learn by heart. Memorizing may be good and useful as a temporary technique for tests, but not for learning a foreign language.
Language students need to learn vocabulary of the target language in another way. If we are really to teach students what words mean and how they are used, we need to show them being used together in context. Words do not just exist on their own; they live together and they depend upon each other. Therefore, teaching vocabulary correctly is a very important element in 2 language learning.
Correct vocabulary instruction involves vocabulary selection, word knowledge and techniques. In the past, teachers used to select and present vocabulary from concrete to abstract. Words like „door‟, „window‟, „desk‟, etc., which are concrete, used to be taught at beginning levels. However, words like „honesty‟, „beauty‟ etc., which are abstract words, used to be taught at advanced levels because they are not “physically represented” in the learning/teaching environment and are very difficult to explain.
Nowadays methodologists and linguists suggest that teachers can decide and select the words to be taught on the basis of how frequently they are used by speakers of the language. That is, the most commonly used words should be taught first (Harmer 154). We can get information about which words will be most useful for learners of English by looking at frequency counts of vocabulary. Usually a vocabulary count is done by making a list of the words in a particular text or group of texts and counting how often and where they occur.
Some of the more recent counts have used computers to list the words and count their frequency (Nation 18). Besides that, teachers can decide which words are useful and should be taught to their learners on the basis of semantics. This means, that the word is more useful if it covers more things than if it only has one very specific meaning. Furthermore, Nation says that frequency and coverage are not enough to be used when teachers select and prepare a word list for learners of English.
So he suggests other criteria, such as language needs, availability and familiarity, regularity and ease of learning or learning burden. Teachers can help their learners enrich and increase their vocabulary. They can also help the learners to build a new store of words to select from when they want to express themselves. If any learner can handle grammar correctly, that does not mean that he can express him-self fluently unless he has a store of words to select from.
Therefore, teachers are a very important factor in selecting and teaching English vocabulary, and they have to design vocabulary syllabi according to their learners‟ needs. The selection of words which are to be taught to the students is a very important procedure in the language learning process. However, the word selection process doesn‟t mean that the students will be fluent in expressing themselves in English upon learning that list, i., what students need to know regarding vocabulary is the word meaning, the word use, the word formation and the word grammar.