VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES N U NT P N N AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT ON THE EFFECTS OF EXPLICIT ENGLISH VOCABULARY TEACHING ON GRADE-9 STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY RETENTION AT LAM THAO LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL (Nghiên cứu hành động về hiệu quả của dạy từ vựng tiếng Anh hiển ngôn đối với sự nhớ từ vựng của học sinh lớp 9 tại Trường Trung Học Cơ Sở Lâm Thao) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code : 60140111 HANOI – 2016 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES N U NT P N N AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT ON THE EFFECTS OF EXPLICIT ENGLISH VOCABULARY TEACHING ON GRADE-9 STUDENTS’ VOCABULAR RETENTION AT LAM THAO LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL (Nghiên cứu hành động về hiệu quả của dạy từ vựng tiếng Anh hiển ngôn đối với sự nhớ từ vựng của học sinh lớp 9 tại Trường Trung Học Cơ Sở Lâm Thao) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code : 60140111 Supervi or Prof Dr oàng V n V n HANOI – 2016 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com DECLARATION I hereby certify that the thesis entitled “An action re earch project on the effect of explicit Engli h vocabulary teaching on grade-9 tudent ’ vocabulary retention at Lam Thao Lower Secondary School” is the result of my own research for Degree of Master of English Pedagogy at College of Foreign Languages, Hanoi National University, I confirm that this thesis has not been submitted for any other degrees. Hanoi, 2016 Nguyễn Thị Phương nh i LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to thank my supervisor Prof.
Hoang Van Van. The door to the office of Prof. Hoang Van Van was always open whenever I ran into a trouble spot or had a question about my research or writing. I am extremely grateful to him for his invaluable guidance, comments, and his kind encouragement during the process of implementing the research and writing the thesis.
Secondly, I would like give my sincere thanks all my lectures in Post-graduate Department for their valuable lectures and suggestions during the time I have studied at university. My gratitude also goes to the leaders and staff at Faculty of Post-graduate Studies of ULIS, for their support in providing me the materials and convenience in the process of learning and conducting my thesis. Besides, I am also grateful to all my dear students at Lam Thao Lower Secondary School for their sympathetic participation in my research. Last but not least, my sincere thanks are desired to send to my family members, who always stand by me even at the harshest moment.
ii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com ABSTRACT Teaching vocabulary is one of the most important tasks in the English language teaching process. To enhance my students‟ vocabulary retention the researcher applied explicit vocabulary teaching due to its suitable characteristics for her students. However, a research to find out the effects of this method was recognized to be a compulsory task to take advantages of the strength of this method and limit its weakness because every method bears its own weak points. The research was carried out with the participation of grade-9 students from Lam Thao Lower Secondary School.
This research was conducted to find out the answers to the two questions below: firstly, “How does explicit English vocabulary teaching influence the students‟ vocabulary retention?”, secondly, “What are the good and bad effects of explicit English vocabulary teaching on the students‟ vocabulary retention? An action research was implemented based on its useful features. In the research process, the questionnaires and the tests were used to collect quantitative data, and the interviews and the observation were applied to collect qualitative information. The results of the research revealed that explicit vocabulary teaching method is relatively effective the learners‟ vocabulary retention, especially short term retention; however, the effects turn out unstable and different among different kinds of students. The researcher discovers the emerging problem related to the solution improving the students‟ attitude to English learning generally and vocabulary learning particularly.
The findings of this research contributed further information to the theoretical background related to effects of explicit vocabulary teaching to the students‟ vocabulary retention, especially teenager students. It is believed to be useful for the teachers and the researchers who share the similar interest about this topic. iii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com TABLE OF CONTENT DECLARATION………………………………………………………………… i ACKNOWLEDFEMENT………………………………………………………. iii TABLE OF CONTENT………………………………………………………… iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS…………………………………………………….v LIST OF TABLES……………………………………………………………… vi PART 1: INTRODUCTION.
The aims of the study. Scope of the study. Significance of the study. 4 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW.
Definition of special terms. Explicit vocabulary teaching. Long-term and short-term memory. How has vocabulary been taught?.
Empirical background of explicit English vocabulary teaching through the previous studies. What are students taught in terms of vocabulary?. The influential factors on the students‟ foreign language learning performance. Rationale for the use of action research.
Background of the study. 11 iv LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail. Data collection instruments. Data collection procedure.
16 CHAPTER 3: FINDING ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION. The results of the tests. The results of the progress tests. The results of the posttest and delay test.
The results of the observation. The results of the questionnaires. The results of focus group interview. Discussion and conclusion.
The obstacles of the students to learn vocabulary well. How does EVT method improve the students‟ vocabulary retention?. Effects of EVT to students‟ vocabulary retention. Attitude and the suitable age of starting learning English.
The importance of learning English vocabulary frequently .I Appendix 1: Teaching content……………………………………………………… I Appendix 2: The observation analysis……………………………………………. II Appendix 3: The results of the questionnaires in English …………………….XI Appendix 4: The results of the questionnaires in Vietnamese………………….XIX Appendix 5: The results of the interviews…………………………………….XXVII Appendix 6: Sample of the progress test 1…………………………….……XXXIX Appendix 7: The results of the progress tests…………………………………….XL Appendix 8: The results of the posttest and the delay test- Part A………………XLI v LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Appendix: Ap. Appendices: Aps explicit vocabulary teaching: EVT international phonetic alphabet: IPA page: p. vocabulary teaching: VT vi LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com LIST OF TABLES Table 1: The results of the progress tests Table 2: The results of part A in the posttest and the delay test Table 3: The results of part B in the posttest and the delay test vii LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1.
Rationale The important role of teaching vocabulary for foreign language learners in general and for English learners in particular is transparent and undeniable. A learner cannot succeed in learning a foreign language without prolific vocabulary. Nevertheless, to teach vocabulary successfully is always a challenge to all English teachers. The question “How to teach vocabulary effectively?” is really one of my big obstacles in the teaching process.
The students who participated in this research attended an English course at my private English class. All of them learned at Lam Thao Lower Secondary School; however, they came from different classes. Two months after the course started, it was realized that the students‟ performance showed their poor vocabulary. Especially, the students never learned vocabulary before attending my class.
However, they were required to retain a large amount of vocabulary to pass the high school entrance exam, which led their need of learning vocabulary. This inquiry was a challenge to them because the amount of time for teaching vocabulary at class was limited while their ability of learning vocabulary independently at home was ineffective. Consequently, explicit vocabulary teaching (EVT) was chosen to apply for the students because it is believed to be able to help students not only understand vocabulary clearly and quickly but also resume many lexicons simultaneously (Burn & Joyce, 2008). Nevertheless, there has been no best method to teach a foreign language in general and vocabulary in particular.
EVT may not bring unpredictable disadvantages to learners. Hence, the requirement of evaluating the effects of this method of teaching vocabulary on students‟ vocabulary retention was given. Another research reason is related to the lack of information in the theoretical framework in terms of the effects of using EVT to students‟ vocabulary retention. The previous studies which shared the same topic and similar research background had not been implemented in Vietnam.
This resulted in the impossible application of the implications provided by these studies. 1 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com Due to the urgent demand of strengthening the students‟ vocabulary retention, a research was required to be carried out. The research named “An action research project on the effects of explicit English vocabulary teaching on grade-9 students’ vocabulary retention at Lam Thao Lower Secondary School”. The aims of the study The aim of this research is to study the effects of explicit English vocabulary teaching (VT) to grade-9 students‟ vocabulary retention at Lam Thao Lower Secondary School.
Research question To fulfill the aim as set above, the following research questions are raised for exploration. How does explicit English vocabulary teaching (VT) influence the students‟ vocabulary retention in this research? 2. How does explicit English VT improve the students‟ vocabulary retention in this research? 4. Research methodology This research is an action research.
The research data which included both quantitative and qualitative information was collected by various means. This research method was believed to help the researcher improve the efficiency of teaching vocabulary to her students and find out the emergent problems which should be solved in the next cycle. The rationale of using action research will be given in some detail in the following parts of the thesis. Scope of the study The research focused on the grade-9 students‟ vocabulary retention at Lam Thao Lower Secondary School.
The results of this research are expected to be helpful for the researcher to teach vocabulary for grade-9 students in particular and for other teachers to work in the similar conditions. Significance of the study It is hoped that the results of this research will be helpful for the researcher to improve her students‟ vocabulary retention, especially unmotivated students. They 2 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com will help the researcher realize the cause of the current conflict aspects in her teaching process to enhance the efficiency of the students‟ vocabulary learning. Besides, the research also makes a contribution to enriching the related theoretical theory, which helps teachers working the similar conditions to improve their work.
3 LUAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail.com PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW Gass (1999) states that learning second language means learning its vocabulary. Besides, Wilkins (1967 cited in Thornbury, 2002) contents that one can convey very little without grammar and nothing without vocabulary. The participants of this research were believed to have poor vocabulary, which required this research to be implemented. Explicit English VT was chosen to apply in the research process.
To have firm background knowledge of this teaching strategy, viewpoints of scholars in this field will be represented in the following writing. Definition of special terms 1. Explicit vocabulary teaching a. Vocabulary: According to Cambridge Advanced Learners‟ Dictionary (4th e-edition), vocabulary is defined as “all words that exist in a particular language or subject”.