VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** VŨ NGỌC HẢI THE IMPACT OF DIRECT INSTRUCTION ON STUDENTS‟ VOCABULARY LEARNING: AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT ON 11TH FORM STUDENTS AT GIA VIEN B HIGH SCHOOL Tác động của hướng dẫn trực tiếp đến việc học từ vựng của học sinh lớp 11 trường trung học phổ thông Gia Viễn B: Một nghiên cứu hành động M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HANOI, 2016 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIET NAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST – GRADUATE STUDIES ***************** VŨ NGỌC HẢI THE IMPACT OF DIRECT INSTRUCTION ON STUDENTS‟ VOCABULARY LEARNING: AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT ON 11TH FORM STUDENTS AT GIA VIEN B HIGH SCHOOL Tác động của hướng dẫn trực tiếp đến việc học từ vựng của học sinh lớp 11 trường trung học phổ thông Gia Viễn B: Một nghiên cứu hành động M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Dr. Nguyễn Thi Ngo ̣ ̣c Quỳnh HANOI, 2016 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com DECLARATION I, Vu Ngoc Hai, hereby certify that the thesis entitled “The impact of direct instruction on students‟ vocabulary learning: An action research project on 11th form students at Gia Vien B High School.” is submitted for the partial fulfillment of the Degree of Master of Arts at the Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies- Vietnam National University, Hanoi.
I also declare that this thesis is the result of my own research and efforts and it has not been submitted for any other purposes. Hanoi, 2016 Vũ Ngọc Hải i TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my sincere and deepest gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Quynh for her unfailing support, patience and continuous help in the process of writing up this dissertation. Her insightful ideas and constructive suggestions have enriched my knowledge about the research in the field of direct vocabulary instruction and it thus broadened the scope of my project.
Besides, my deep thanks and appreciation also go to all the lecturers and the staff of the Faculty of Post Graduate Studies at University of Languages and International Studies for their valuable lectures and knowledge on which my minor thesis was laid the foundation. In addition, I am also grateful to my lovely 11th form English major students at Gia Vien B High School who were highly cooperative in my study. Last but not least, I deeply indebted to my family whose love and great support help me complete this thesis. ii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ABSTRACT This study, which is an action research project, sets out to examine the impact of direct instruction on the vocabulary retention of 11th form student at Gia Vien B High School in Ninh Binh and to gain their self-evaluation of the impact of teachers‟ direct instruction on their vocabulary retention at the same time.
The research started with a semi-structure interview to explore students‟ attitudes toward and their problems in learning vocabulary. Based on results of this analysis, the researcher decided to design activities to present vocabulary through direct instruction during a six-week intervention. During this period, the students had to take a post-treatment test and a delayed post-treatment test which were designed to measure their retention of taught words. By the end of the intervention, the survey questionnaire was administered to all students and semi-structured interviews were carried out with four selected students to find out the students‟ opinions and attitude toward the impact of teachers‟ direct instruction on their vocabulary retention.
Findings of the study revealed that direct instruction did not make great improvement in the students‟ vocabulary retention. This might be because the time of the intervention was not long enough (6 weeks) for the intervention to bring about significant difference. However, the students‟ attitudes toward vocabulary learning were positive despite their insignificant change in the test scores. iii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION.
iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. vi LIST OF FIGURES, TABLES AND CHARTS .vii PART A: INTRODUCTION. Aims and Objectives of the Study. Method of the Study.
Scope of the Study. Significance of the Study. Organization of the thesis .1 An overview of vocabulary .1 Definition of vocabulary .2 Types of vocabulary .3 Aspects of Vocabulary Knowledge .2 Approaches to vocabulary instruction.1 Definition of Direct Instruction .2 The Characteristics of Direct Instruction .3 Process of Direct Instruction .5 Related previous studies on the impact of direct instruction on the students‟ vocabulary learning. 18 iv TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.1 Setting of the study .1 Rationale for using action research method.
Techniques of collecting data. Techniques of analyzing data. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION .1 Analysis of the preliminary study .1 The findings from the post-treatment tests .2 The findings from questionnaires .3 The findings from observation .4 The findings from the interviews with the students. Summary of the study.
Limitations of the study. Plan for the next cycle. I Appendix 1: Lesson Plans. I Appendix 2: Vocabulary post-treatment test.
XVII Appendix 3: Vocabulary delayed post-treatment test. XXI Appendix 4: Post-treatment questionnaire for students. XXIII Appendix 5A: Interview questions for students. XXVII Appendix 5B: Transcripts of the students‟ interview.
XXVIII Appendix 6: Classroom Observation Evaluation Sheet. XXX v TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS GVB: Gia Vien B MOET: Ministry of Education and Training EFL: English Foreign Language vi TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF FIGURES, TABLES AND CHARTS Table 1: What is involved in knowing a word………………………………………9 Figure 1: The model of action research………………………………………….23 Table 2: The results of the students‟ tests…………………………….30 Table 3: Students‟ perception of the impact of direct instruction on their retention of vocabulary………………………………………………………………………….30 Figure 2: Students‟ attitude toward activities in teaching learning process……….32 Figure 3: Students‟ evaluation on teacher‟s vocabulary teaching style……………33 Figure 4: Students‟ attitude to vocabulary teaching learning process…………….34 vii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com PART A: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale Vocabulary is crucial to language learning since it functions as a cornerstone of language use. According to Nation (2001), “vocabulary learning is not a goal in itself; it is done to help learners listen, speak, read, or write more effectively” (p.
In other words, a necessary skill to strengthen reading and listening comprehension as well as to communicate successfully is the ability to grasp the meaning of new words. This can positively impact overall academic success and can develop skills for real world applications. Rivers (cited in Nunan 1991) also argued that acquisition of an adequate vocabulary is vital for using second language successfully because without an extensive vocabulary, we will be unable to use the structures and functions we may have learned for comprehensible communication. The vital importance of vocabulary is also reaffirmed through famous line “Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” (Wilkins, cited in Guo 2010, p.
Truly, without vocabulary, there will be no sentence, no text and no language. Vocabulary learning, therefore, becomes central to language acquisition, and interest in its role in second language learning has grown rapidly in recent years. With two years‟ experience of teaching at Gia Vien B High School (GVB), the writer has realized that for GVB students who study English as a part of their general education requirement, vocabulary is an integral part in mastering other skills. However, through the pre-research observation, the writer found that they have been facing some obstacles in learning vocabulary.
They are: (1) they had limited number of vocabularies, (2) they had trouble in memorizing the meaning of words, (3) and they forget taught words quickly. By considering the problems as mentioned above, the writer conducted more observation and the interview to the students in the class to get more information. By doing so, the writer explored some factors causing those problems. They are: (1) the teacher‟s way of teaching is conventional.
Students are just asked to read, repeat and write words all the times. It 1 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com can also be said that teacher‟s vocabulary teaching technique is less varied, (2) students do not have many chance to review words after the lesson and (3) they are fed up with monotonous class‟ atmosphere. Therefore, in order to help the students achieve success in learning vocabulary, an appropriate method for teaching vocabulary is very urgent. As known, there are a lot of common methods such as contextual learning, definition instruction, strategy instruction, direct instruction, to name just a few.
Direct instruction is defined as a teacher-led instructional procedure in that students are provided with specific instructions on the task, modeling, teacher-led practice, independent practice, and frequent feedback on their performance (Bender, cited in Rockwell 1995). According to Rosenshine (1979), direct instruction has the following characteristics: an academic focus; a teacher-centered focus; and use of factual questions; and controlled practice in instruction. Direct Instruction, as Setiawan (2010) stated, not only uses more controlled and repetitive delivery of instruction, but also provides the teacher with strict guidelines for lesson presentation, their introduction of successive skills. It also gives students the chance to work independently, work in groups when taking part in vocabulary games.
Based on this background, the writer finds that direct instruction will be easier for the teacher to conduct the students in teaching learning process. In addition, the repetition delivery of vocabulary instruction can help the students review newly learned words. What is more, the students will no longer be passive ones obediently sitting in desks and taking notes because they will be given the opportunities to take part in the activities in groups. The teaching learning process becomes more interesting for them.
From the explanation above, it can be concluded that direct instruction method can be applied for dealing with the difficulties which GVB students have been encountering. As a result, the writer is motivated in conducting an action research on the impact of direct instruction on 11th-form students' vocabulary learning at GVB High School. 2 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Aims and Objectives of the Study The study aims to find out the impact of direct vocabulary instruction on vocabulary learning of 11th-form students at GVB High School in Ninh Binh.
Therefore, the study seeks to achieve the following objectives: a. To explore the impact of direct vocabulary instruction on students‟ vocabulary retention b. To gain understanding of the students‟ opinions of and attitudes towards direct vocabulary instruction regarding its impact on their vocabulary retention in order to inform my approaches to vocabulary instruction. Research questions With the above-stated aims and objectives in mind, the researcher designed and conducted this action research project in order to seek answers to the following research questions: 1.
To what extent does direct vocabulary instruction impact the students‟ vocabulary retention as measured by the post-treatment test and the delayed post- treatment test? 2. How do the students self-evaluate the impact of teacher‟s direct vocabulary instruction on their vocabulary retention? 4. Method of the Study As the aim of the study is to improve the teaching of vocabulary to the writer‟s own students, the study adopted an action research approach. The data were collected by means of: - Tests (post-treatment test and delayed post-treatment test) - Questionnaires - Interviews.
These three research instruments are used in this study to collect data for preliminary study, the process and the effects that the action created, and reflection on the action cycle. 3 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail. Scope of the Study To improve student‟s vocabulary learning, EFL teachers can use varieties of techniques. However, this study merely focused on studying how effective vocabulary direct instruction is to students‟ retention of vocabulary.