VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THANH NHÃ DEVELOPING ENGLISH VOCABULARY ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FOR GRADE 10 SCIENCE GIFTED STUDENTS THROUGH SUPPLEMENTARY READINGS (PHÁT TRIỂN VỐN TỪ VỰNG VỀ KHOA HỌC VÀ CÔNG NGHỆ CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 10 CHUYÊN TỰ NHIÊN THÔNG QUA ĐỌC BỔ TRỢ) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410 HANOI, 2011 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THANH NHÃ DEVELOPING ENGLISH VOCABULARY ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FOR GRADE 10 SCIENCE GIFTED STUDENTS THROUGH SUPPLEMENTARY READINGS (PHÁT TRIỂN VỐN TỪ VỰNG VỀ KHOA HỌC VÀ CÔNG NGHỆ CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 10 CHUYÊN TỰ NHIÊN THÔNG QUA ĐỌC BỔ TRỢ) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 601410 Supervisor: Nguyễn Bàng (M.A) HANOI, 2011 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com -iv- TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Declaration ………………………………………………………………… i Acknowledgements ………………………………………………………. iii Table of Contents ………………………………………………………….
iv List of Tables ………………………………………………………………. vii Part One: Introduction ……………………………………………………. Statement of the Problems and Rationale of the Study ………………. Aims and Objectives of the Study …………………………………….
Scope of the Study ……………………………………………………. Method of the Study …………………………………………………. Design of the Study …………………………………………………… 4 Part Two: Development …………………………………………………… 6 Chapter 1: Literature Review …………………………………………….1 The Notions of Vocabulary ……………………………………… 6 1.2 Active and Passive Vocabulary …………………………….3 What Need to Be Taught in Vocabulary ………………………….4 Criteria for Selecting the Vocabulary to Teach ………………….2 Approaches to Vocabulary Acquisition ……………………………… 10 1.2 Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition and Intentional Vocabulary 11 Learning ………………………………………………………….3 Implicit Learning and Explicit Learning Process ……………….3 Methodology in Vocabulary Teaching ……………………. 13 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.1 The Grammar-Translation Method …………………….2 The Direct Method …………………………………….4 Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension ………………………….2 Intensive and Extensive Reading ……………………………….3 The Relationship between Vocabulary and Reading 17 Comprehension ………………………………………………….5 Supplementary Materials for Reading ……………………………….1 Definition of Supplementary Materials ……………………….2 Selecting Appropriate Supplementary Materials ……………….6 Supplementary Reading in the Study ……………………………….
20 Chapter 2: The Study ………………………………………………. Descriptions of Participants …………………………………………. Teacher of English ………………………………………………. Instruments to Collect Data ……………………………………….
Pretest and Posttest ………………………………………………. 27 Chapter 3: Data Analysis and Discussion ………………………………. Pretest and Posttest ………………………………………………. Discussion on Research Questions ………………………………….
35 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.readings -vi- Part Three: Conclusion …………………………………………………… 38 1. Limitations of the Study ………………………………………………. Suggestions for Further Studies ………………………………………. I Appendix 1: Survey Questionnaire ……………………………………….
IV Appendix 3: Posttest ……………………………………………………… VIII Appendix 4: Sample of Supplementary Reading Text …………………… XIII Appendix 5: Pretest and Posttest Scores ………………………………….readings TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.readings -vii- LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Questions to be answered when knowing a word …………………. Criteria for vocabulary selection …………………………………. Students’ purposes of English learning …………………………… 30 Table 4.
Students’ satisfaction of their English vocabulary on science and technology …………………………………………………………. Students’ perception of the need to develop their English vocabulary on science and technology ……………………………. Students’ willingness to do supplementary readings …………. Comparison of pretest results between two groups before intervention ……………………………………………………….
Comparison of pretest and posttest results in experimental group ………………………………………………………………. Comparison of pretest and posttest results in control group ………. Comparison of results after intervention between control and experimental groups ……………………………………………….readings TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.readings -1- PART ONE: INTRODUCTION This part of the paper will be dedicated to introducing the rationale for the study, the aims and objectives of the study as well as the research questions. It will also present the scope of the study, method of the study and the design of the whole study.
Statement of the Problems and Rationale of the Study Vocabulary has a significant position in the process of mastering a language. Linguists and researchers quotes Wilkin, D. (1972:10): “Without grammar, very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed” as the affirmation of the role of vocabulary. Within the current English teaching context in Vietnamese schools in the recent years, teachers and students are getting more complete awareness of the important role of vocabulary.
Therefore, they started to pay greater attention to vocabulary development. Teachers have applied many teaching approaches, methods and techniques to improve the students‟ vocabulary acquisition. The efforts from both teachers and students have made certain progress. As a high school English teacher, I am especially interested in developing students‟ vocabulary.
Having had several years of experience in teaching English to the students gifted in science at Hanoi – Amsterdam high school, I am concerned a lot about the needs to improve their vocabulary on science and technology. In my points of view, the number of reasons that makes it necessary to improve the students‟ vocabulary on science and technology can be divided into external and internal ones. External reasons - There is no specific English textbook for the science gifted students at high school level all over the country. - At Hanoi-Amsterdam high school, the textbook “Tiếng Anh 10” issued by the MOET is used to teach all students including science gifted students.
This is a compulsory course (LUAN.readings TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.readings -2- book of general English for all students in the country, so not much knowledge and English vocabulary for specific purposes such as science and technology can be found in it. Internal reasons - Almost all students at Hanoi-Amsterdam high school have equipped themselves with good basic practical general English knowledge. Many of them started learning English from the primary school or even earlier. In order to be able to enroll to this school, they had to gain high marks at the entrance examinations including their majoring subjects, Maths, Vietnamese and English.
That is why for them, the “Tiếng Anh 10” is rather simple. Beside the textbook and workbook, students are regularly given supplementary and intensive exercises compiled by their classroom teachers. - However, from my observations, the vocabulary, especially the vocabulary on science and technology had been undervalued in comparison with grammar in the previous years of their basic high school. Many students have difficulties in expressing their own ideas because of the vocabulary deficiency.
Most students are unfamiliar to the vocabulary on science and technology, as well as English scientific literature. - In results, when students want to extract useful information related to their field in English, or have chance to attend the international examinations, camps or workshops on science and technology, the students often face with the lexical gaps and this significantly affects their progress and active participation. - In fact, many students have realized the vital role of English vocabulary on science and technology for their future study as well as carrier. They devote a great deal of time to building up this kind of vocabulary.
In the process of trying different vocabulary teaching strategies and techniques, I found that reading is a suitable way for students to enhance their vocabulary on science and technology. The advantage of learning and developing vocabulary through reading is that students can understand word meaning in the concrete context. The idea of testing the (LUAN.readings TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.readings -3- supplementary readings as a means of improving their students‟ vocabulary came to my mind. It became an impulse for me to do a study on the impact of supplementary reading on the development of English vocabulary on science and technology in grade 10 classes for the science gifted students.
In terms of students‟ benefits, this program will provide opportunities for students to develop their vocabulary and get ready for further reading in their future specialty. Aims and Objectives of the Study This study is firstly aimed at investigating the students‟ needs to develop English vocabulary on science and technology. Secondly, it is aimed to experiment the impacts of supplementary reading program on the development of grade 10 students‟ vocabulary on science and technology. The main objectives in this study are as follows: - To identify students‟ perceptions of the need to develop their English vocabulary on science and technology and their willingness to spend time on supplementary reading program.
- To introduce the supplementary reading program and examine its effects on grade 10 students‟ English vocabulary acquisition. - To share the findings with teachers and students who are interested in this field of English vocabulary teaching. - To make some recommendations for further study. Research Questions In order to achieve the above-mentioned aims and objectives, the answers to the following research questions are needed to be found.
What are the students’ perceptions of the need to develop their English vocabulary on science and technology? (LUAN.readings TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. To what extent are the students willing to take part in the supplementary readings? 3. Is there a relationship between supplementary reading and the development of English vocabulary on science and technology? 4. Scope of the Study Given the time constrain, the study was conducted on the grade 10 students in two classes gifted in science only.
Taking into account that the participants are only beginners of science and technology aspects, the vocabulary given through reading passages is mainly English for General Science. Method of the Study To find out the answers to the above research questions, a quasi-experiment design has been adopted. - The pre-experiment questionnaire was applied as an instrument to investigate what students think of the need to develop their English vocabulary on science and technology and how they are willing to take up the additional readings. - The pretest and posttest were conducted with 60 students divided into two randomly selected groups to measure the differences in students‟ vocabulary acquisition.
Design of the Study The study is divided into three parts as follows: Part one presents an overview of the study in which the rationale for the research, the aims and objectives, the research questions, the scope of the study, the research method as well as the design of the study were briefly mentioned.readings TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.readings -5- Part two consists of three chapters. Chapter one reviews the literature relevant to the study including the definition of vocabulary, its aspects to be taught, the approaches to vocabulary acquisition and some methods of vocabulary teaching. Reading comprehension and the relationship between vocabulary and reading comprehension is also referred to. Finally, some points on supplementary materials were mentioned in order to bring out the clarification of supplementary readings in this study.
Chapter two is a detailed discussion of the method used in the study with the research approach, the participants, the design of questionnaire, pretest and posttest and the procedures that the study follows. Chapter three presents significant findings of the study and discussion on the research questions. Part three includes some pedagogical implications. This chapter also points out some limitations of the study that serve as the basis for the researcher‟s suggestions for further study.readings TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.readings -6- PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter presents the literature relating to this study composing vocabulary and its aspects to study; vocabulary acquisition approaches and teaching methods.
It also discusses reading and its relationship to vocabulary development, as well as supplementary material selection. The Notions of Vocabulary Linguists define vocabulary differently based on different criteria. The most general one is from “Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics”. Vocabulary is defined as “a set of LEXEMES, including single words, compound words and idioms”.
According to Ur, P. (1996:60), vocabulary can be defined as “the words we teach in foreign language. However, a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word: a compound of two or three words or multiword idioms”. (1970:60) emphasizes: “It is words that sounds and meanings interlock to allow us communicate with one another, and it is word that we arrange together to make sentences, conversation and discourse of all kinds”.
Lewis (1993:89) states more detailed definition of vocabulary “… may be individual words or full sentences – institutionalized utterances – that convey fixed social or pragmatic meaning within a given community”.