Web based activities for improving learners english vocabulary a case study of the tenth grade students at anh son 2 high school

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
VINH UNIVERSITY

NGUYỄN THỊ LƯƠNG

WEB-BASED ACTIVITIES FOR IMPROVING LEARNERS’
ENGLISH VOCABULARY. A CASE STUDY OF THE TENTH
GRADE STUDENTS AT ANH SON 2 HIGH SCHOOL

MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION

Nghệ An, 2017
1


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
VINH UNIVERSITY

NGUYỄN THỊ LƯƠNG

WEB-BASED ACTIVITIES FOR IMPROVING LEARNERS’
ENGLISH VOCABULARY. A CASE STUDY OF THE TENTH
GRADE STUDENTS AT ANH SON 2 HIGH SCHOOL

Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)
Code:

MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION

SUPERVISOR:
Trần Bá Tiến, Ph.D.

Nghệ An, 2017

2


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.
Author

Nguyen Thi Luong

3


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This thesis would not have been possible without the support of many people.
First, and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Tran Ba Tien,
my supervisor, who directly instructed and helped me carry out the study. His support,
detailed feedback and enthusiasm encouraged me over the time of conducting the
study.
Second, I would really thank my student Tran Manh Cuong for his friendliness,
generous assistance, which contributed significantly to the designing of the web on
Moodle of the study.
Next, I would like to show my special thankfulness to Anh Son 2 high school
students who helped me to carry out the experimental study.
Last but not least, I would like to devote my special thanks to my dear family

for their love and encouragement during the process of the study.

4


ABSTRACT
There has been exciting and serious progress in the field of computers for
teaching English. Identification of the most effective methods is essential to make
teaching and learning more efficient. The purpose of this study is to investigate the
effects of using multiple content forms in web-based activities on students’ English
vocabulary learning. The study, therefore, deals with the fundamental learning
activities for improving learners’ English vocabulary as they are practiced by students
in the contexts of web-based activities. The activities are interacted with students with
the help of the Open Source Moodle as an educational tool to create an online class to
meet the need of interesting and various learning materials for remembering and
acquiring English vocabulary. Moreover, Web-based activities constitute an easy-touse way for learning management and they make the internet a useful tool for
education. Our tenth grade students were very interested in the use of technology in
some aspects of their lives. Also, Anh Son 2 high School -where the study was
conducted- has placed emphasis on technology as part of its curriculum. So, I decided
to involve students in the implementation of an English project that focused on
technology and helped them enlarge their vocabulary. Through this experience I
wanted to explore how the perspective of the teaching learning process in a foreign
language could change our practices in the classroom, as well as get students to realize
the advantages of using the internet for some educative purposes. . To achieve the
above aims, in this study the action research method is employed with an intervention
program in the form of designed lesson plan was used for the treatment of
experimental group of 25 students in class 10A1 from Anh Son 2 high school. The
control group consists of 25 students from class 10B in the same school that has the
similar level of English. In this thesis I describe the implementation of the project, the
characteristics of the tenth grade participants, the main question and objectives, the

implementation of the project in a real context, how the literature review was
conceived and the results obtained during the process. In the last section of the thesis I
present the conclusions and the pedagogical implications. It is hoped that this thesis
will be useful for many students who want to improve their English vocabulary and
teachers who like to use web-based learning to inspire their students.
5


1


C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Statement of Authorship....................................................................................................
Acknowledgements...........................................................................................................
Abstract.............................................................................................................................
Table of contents..............................................................................……………….......1
List of abbreviations........................................................................................................4
List of tables....................................................................................................................5
Table of figures...............................................................................................................6
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION...................................................................................7
1.1. Rationale...................................................................................................................7
1.2. Aims of the study.....................................................................................................9
1.3. Methods of the study..............................................................................................10
1.4. Scope of the study..................................................................................................10
1.5. Design of study.......................................................................................................12
CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW......................................................................12
2.1. Vocabulary in language teaching and learning......................................................12

2.1.1. Definition of vocabulary.....................................................................................13
2.1.2. Components involving vocabulary instruction....................................................16
2.1.2.1. Components of vocabulary...............................................................................17
2.1.2.2 Techniques to teach English vocabulary as a foreign language.......................19
2.1.3. Methods of teaching vocabulary.........................................................................20
2.1.3.1. Grammar-translation...................................................................................... 20
2.1.3.2. Direct Method..................................................................................................22
2.1.3.3. Audio lingual method.......................................................................................23
2.1.3.4. Communicative Language Teaching................................................................24
2.1.4. Techniques in Remembering Vocabulary...........................................................26
2.2. Web-based Instruction............................................................................................27
2.2.1. Definition of web-based instruction....................................................................27
1
@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn


C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

2.2.2. Types of web-based learning activities...............................................................27
2.2.3. Web-based learning and vocabulary teaching.....................................................28
2.2.4. The Role of Multimedia in Vocabulary Learning...............................................29
2.2.5 The Computer as a Teaching Tool.......................................................................30
2.2.6. The World Wide Web as a Resource of Language Teaching Materials.............32
2.3. The Moodle and Gnomio Website........................................................................37
2.3.1. Definition of Moodle...........................................................................................37
2.3.2 Philosophy............................................................................................................38
2.3.3. Advantages of moodle.........................................................................................38
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY..............................................................................41
3.1 Research questions..................................................................................................41
3.2. Participants.............................................................................................................41

3.3 Instrumentation........................................................................................................42
3.3.1. General Test........................................................................................................42
3.3.2. Pretest and posttest..............................................................................................42
3.3.3. Survey questionnaire...........................................................................................43
3.4 Materials.................................................................................................................44
3.5 Procedure.................................................................................................................50
CHAPTER IV: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION...........................................55
4.1 Results...................................................................................................................55
4.1.1. Research question 1.............................................................................................55
4.1.1.1 General English test.........................................................................................55
4.1.1.2 Pre-treatment vocabulary test............................................................................56
4.1.1.2.1 Pronunciation..................................................................................................56
4.1.1.2.2. Word use........................................................................................................58
4.1.1.3 Post- treatment vocabulary test.........................................................................58
4.1.1.3.1 Pronunciation.................................................................................................59
2
@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn


C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

4.1.1.3.2 Word use.........................................................................................................60
4.1.2. Research question 2.............................................................................................66
4.2. Implication..............................................................................................................67
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION.....................................................................................69
5.1. Conclusion..............................................................................................................69
5.2. Limitations of the study..........................................................................................69
REFERENCES .............................................................................................................70
APPENDICES .............................................................................................................75
APPENDIX 1................................................................................................................75

APPENDIX 2................................................................................................................76
APPENDIX 3................................................................................................................77
APPENDIX 4................................................................................................................78
APPENDIX 5................................................................................................................79
APPENDIX 6................................................................................................................80
APPENDIX 7................................................................................................................81
APPENDIX 8................................................................................................................83
APPENDIX 9................................................................................................................85
APPENDIX 10..............................................................................................................88
APPENDIX 11..............................................................................................................89

3
@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn


C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
1. ALM:

Audio Lingual Method

2. EFL:

English as Foreign Language

3. ESL:

English as Second Language

4. ICT:

Information and Communication technology

5. GTM:

Grammar-Translation Method

6. NRP:

National Reading Panel

7. TBL:

Task Based Learning

8. WBLL:

Web-Based Language Learning

9. WBI:

Web-Based Instruction

4
@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn


C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Students’ gender.............................................................................................41
Table 2: Questionnaire paper......................................................................................44
Table 3: The average total scores and standard deviations of general English test for .....56

Table 4: Result of t-test for comparison between pre-test scores of experimental group
and control group for pronunciation.............................................................................47
Table 5: Result of t-test for comparison between pre-test scores of experimental group
and control group for word use.....................................................................................58
Table 6: Descriptive Statistics for Pretest and Posttest Scores of Control Group and
treatment Group for pronunciation...............................................................................59
Table 7: Results of t-test for comparison between posttest scores of treatment group
and control group for pronunciation.............................................................................60
Table 8: Descriptive Statistics for Pretest and Posttest Scores of Control Group and
Treatment Group for word use......................................................................................61
Table 9: Results of t-test for comparison between posttest scores of treatment group
and control group for word use....................................................................................62
Table 10: Descriptive Statistics for score of questionnaire of treatment Group.......66

5
@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn


C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Screenshot of the lesson vocabulary of unit 9 on moodle class....................45
Figure 2: Screenshot of the lesson vocabulary of unit 9 on moodle class...................46
Figure 3: Screenshot of the lesson vocabulary of unit 9(powerpoint) on moodle
class..............................................................................................................................46

Figure 4: Screenshot of the lesson vocabulary of unit 9( file word ) on moodle class47
Figure 5: Screenshot of the lesson vocabulary of unit 9( video ) on moodle class.....48
Figure 6: Screenshot of page homework of unit 9 on moodle class............................49
Figure 7: Screenshot of page unit 9 designed for the course......................................50
Figure 8: Screenshot of the class website designed for the course.............................51
Figure 9: Screenshot of the class website designed for the course..............................52
Figure 10: Screenshot of the page of users as subjects of treatment group on class
website designed for the course....................................................................................53
Figure 11: Screenshot of the page of users as subjects of treatment group on class
website designed for the course....................................................................................53
Chart 1: Pronunciation Pretest and Posttest Mean Increase............................63
Chart 2: Word use Pretest and Posttest Mean Increase....................................64

6
@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn


C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

Chapter I
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
Since the World Wide Web’s conceptualization as a method of making research
findings and scientific materials available to researchers and teachers across the globe,
it has become an indispensible tool for educators. Not only has the web achieved
making scientific findings more accessible, but also it is now becoming the new
method of teaching. As this new technology grows in acceptance and use, it is
essential for educator to increase their knowledge about the uses of the web in
education and to stay up-to-date on the latest findings in web based education research.
Moreover, in teaching and learning English language, Vocabulary is central because

without sufficient vocabulary students cannot understand others or express their own
ideas. Wilkins (1972) wrote that “. . . while without grammar very little can be
conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” (p. 111–112). Students often
instinctively recognize the importance of vocabulary to their language learning and
vocabulary helps students understand and communicate with others in English. I
believe English language students generally would concur, yet learning vocabulary
also helps students master English for their purposes. The study, therefore, combines
the using web based activities and teaching English vocabulary

to make learners’

vocabulary improved.
Vocabulary teaching and learning is a time consuming effort in traditional
approaches such as looking up the meaning of new in the printed dictionaries. It has
been increasingly argued that computer technologies can support learning in a
number of ways and facilitate learning processes (Gorjian, 2008). Teaching
vocabulary through Computer-Assisted Language Learning

activities has been

popularly used in English as a foreign/second language learning (EFL/ESL) contexts
(Son, 2008). Many features of the computer are considered to enhance vocabulary
development and reading comprehension. Multimedia is one of them which refer to
computer-based systems that use various types of content, such as text, audio, video,

7
@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn


C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

graphics, animation, and interactivity. The key concepts of multimedia are thus
'computer-based' and 'interactive' transactions (Busch, 2003).
One of the recent ways in making texts more comprehensible to students is to
use computerized Moodle as Web-based language Learning (WBLL) approaches
(Zhang, Wu, Wei & Wang, 2011). According to Lomicka (1998), and Moodle,
which are “typically located in the side or bottom margins of a page, are most
often supplied for unfamiliar words, which may help to limit continual dictionary
consultation that may hinder and interrupt the second language

reading

comprehension process” (p. 42).
This study, therefore, attempts to examine the effectiveness of web-based
activities in the mode of online annotation Moodle on the vocabulary learning of
students in Anh Son 2 high school.
The study has many implications in the field of Education. Due to the
dominance of lecture based traditional instruction in teaching, many students are
loosing their interest in studies. The present study will be helpful to all those students
whose learning styles do not match with their instructors teaching styles. Moreover, it
will help to increase students’ motivations and also scholastic achievement. The results
of the study will inspire all the teachers to use these types of activities in their routine
teaching. It is proved that web-based learning has the potential to cater diverse needs
of learners. The role of the teacher will shift from instructor to facilitator. Students will
be active partners in the whole teaching-learning process.
It is of common knowledge that vocabulary is the most important component of
language knowledge; it is one of the best predictors of language performance. It has
been found that students learn languages best when they experience it in context and
use the language independently in speaking and writing. This means that translating a
text word-for-word or memorizing lists of words will not necessarily help students to

learn new vocabulary that they can use when they speak and write in English. Students
need to develop strategies to guess the meaning of new words when they encounter
them. However, learning a new word or phrase once does not mean that the student
will remember it and be able to use it. That is why students also need support in
8
@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn


C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

learning how to record new vocabulary and repeatedly review it. If students improve
their knowledge of vocabulary, they can understand their lessons more easily and will
write and speak better in English. That is why review of the vocabulary at home is also
focused in this study.
In Vietnam in general, vocabulary teaching has not been paid due attention to as
it deserves. Vocabulary has not been a particular subject for students to learn but has
been taught within lessons of reading, writing, speaking and listening. For most of
teachers the common way to communicate word meaning is translation through word
list and many learners use rote strategies as their major way of vocabulary learning. In
my school, Anh Son 2 high school, in particular the problem of vocabulary teaching
and learning is more difficult. The main reason is that the classes are usually big with
learners of different abilities. It seems difficult for the teachers to apply the suitable
way to teach these learners. Another reason is the course book. The number of new
words in the book is rather large for mountainous learners in my school and it makes
the learners feel confused and difficult to remember all of them. Furthermore, the
learners usually learn vocabulary passively through their teachers' explanation. They
only write words on paper with translation into Vietnamese and try to learn them by
heart. During the lessons learners find many new words in the text and then ask their
teachers to explain the meaning and usage. As a result, the learners feel bored in
vocabulary lessons and they soon forget the new words they have learnt and this

affects students getting to twelfth grade with a relatively small vocabulary, which
prevents them from achieving their potential in National exams. Being a teacher of
English in my school I want to make something significant to my students not only in
English language acquisition but also in performing better in the National exam.
1.2. Aims of the study
In this study, I posed two main objectives:
• To explore the impact of using web-based activities as a classroom resource to
improve learners’ English vocabulary in the context of 10th graders at Anh Son
2 high school in Nghe An Province.
• To analyze how web-based activities improve learners’ English vocabulary.
9
@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn


C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

1.3. Methods of the study
1.3.1. Participants
The study was conducted in Anh Son 2 high school. Sixty seven learners were
selected in the school. Fifty students were chosen based on the general test to have
similar level of English proficiency. Then they were divided into two groups whose
level was indicated as pre- intermediate: The treatment of experimental group of 25
students in class 10A1 from Anh Son 2 high school. The control group consists of
25 students from class 10B in the same school.
1.3.2. Instrumentation
In the present survey, three tests were used: General Test, Pretest, Posttest and
questionnaires
1.3.3. Materials
Materials in the experimental study used 10th Grade English Textbook as the
main course book. However, only six units were chosen for the experiment, from unit

9 to unit 14. The lesson plans which were used in this study were designed and
selected based on the course book presented in the website of Moodle. Moodle
materials were extracted and adopted from the web-sites searched in the Google search
engine. The Moodle materials included extra glosses such as pictorial, animation, and
audio-visual materials.
1.3.4. Method
The main method is experimental research and survey questionnaires.
1.4. Scope of the study
The study is to explore the impact of using web-based activities as a classroom
resource to improve learners’ English vocabulary in the context of 10th graders at Anh
Son 2 high school in Nghe An Province,. The study, therefore, focused on word
pronunciation and word use which is an integral part in language learning as well as in
exams. Other aspect of vocabulary such as: word grammar, word formation ... were
not taken into consideration in the research. The course book which the researcher

10
@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn


C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

used in the experimental course was 10th Grade English Textbook, published by Viet
Nam Education Publishing House.
The study focuses on effective ways to teach and to learn vocabulary and
on presenting some advantages of the educational application in vocabulary
lessons at Anh Son 2 high school. From the findings of the research, adapted tasks
will be given to improve the students ‘English vocabulary.
1.5. Design of study
The thesis comprises four chapters:
Chapter 1 is the introduction, which provides a brief introduction, rationale and

overview of the thesis.
Chapter 2 presents the literature review, in which the definition and
classification of vocabulary, vocabulary in language learning and teaching, techniques
and principles in teaching vocabulary, web-based education and Moodle
Chapter 3 details an experimental research as the method of the study, the participants
and the instruments to collect both qualitative and quantitative data.
Chapter 4 consists of summarize of main findings, discussion, implications and
limitations.
Chapter 5 ‘Conclusion’ summarizes the main issues touched upon so far in the
study. Limitation and suggestion for further study are also discussed in this Chapter.

11
@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn


C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

Chapter II
LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter reviews the literature related to pedagogical methods for
vocabulary acquisition and offers an overview of the short history of web based
instruction, Blended Learning and learning vocabulary. The study will discuss the
learning vocabulary through web-based activities, and benefits and advantages of
web-based activities for vocabulary acquisition. According to Lomicka (1998), the
concept of glossing “dates back to the Middle Ages when students struggling with a
foreign text, usually Latin, produced them as they moved along during the reading
process” (p.41). Using appropriate presentation methods enables learners to obtain a
deeper impression of and richer information about the target words to make them
enter the long-term memory easily (Zhang, 2008). Cognitive psychologists and
language acquisition scholars working within the framework of cognitive psychology

believe that retention and recall of information is determined by the way in which this
information is processed (Hulstijn & Laufer, 2001).
2.1. Vocabulary in language teaching and learning.
Learning vocabulary is an important aspect of language learning which in the
past has been neglected. In recent years, there has been a greater understanding of the
importance of vocabulary learning to the process of language learning (Lightbown
2010). Nation (1994) identified five components of vocabulary learning:
- Meeting new vocabulary for the first time
- Establishing previously met vocabulary
- Enriching previously met vocabulary
- Developing vocabulary strategies
- Developing fluency with known vocabulary
Vocabulary is of great significance in expressing thoughts and ideas in interaction
activities. Vocabulary acquisition is the main task of second language acquisition. This

12
@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn


C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

section will present vocabulary teaching and learning theory in connection with the
study.
2.1.1 Definition of vocabulary
There have been different definitions of vocabulary. Each linguist gives his own
definition of vocabulary. Peny Ur, in his book: “A course in language teaching”
defined vocabulary roughly “as the words we teach in the foreign language. However,
a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word: a compound of two or three
words or multi-word idioms” (Ur, 1996, p.60). Pyles and Algeo also gave their idea
about vocabulary. They said “when most of us think about language we think first

about words. It is true that the vocabulary is the focus of language. It is in words that
sounds and meanings interlock to allow us to communicate with one another, and it is
words that we arrange together to make sentences, conversation and discourse of all
kinds” (1970, p.96). These statements indicate that vocabulary is the total number of
the words of a language and it is an essential part of language, as Wilkins emphasized
this with his saying: “without grammar, very little can be conveyed, without
vocabulary nothing conveyed”.
This is all true in teaching and learning a foreign language. Therefore, the
teaching of vocabulary to foreign language learners has long been an area of concern
to language teachers because learning vocabulary in a foreign language is much more
than making form - meaning correspondences and simply filling up individual words.
“Knowing a word, according to Nation (2001) means knowing at least its forms, its
meanings and its basic usage”.
Barry Sesnan in his book “How to teach English” considers “the words we use
are like the bricks, blocks, planks and tiles which we need to build a house” (2001,
p.123). However, he did not give a definition of words of his own.
In fact, linguistics has found it is difficult to define what precisely a word is.
According to Lyons “a word may be defined as the union of a particular grammatical
employment” (1974, p.200). This definition shows that the words must be a unit of
meaning, phonology and grammar.
13
@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn


C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

Pyles and Ageo (1970) also had difficulty in giving the notion of words. They
talked about it but did not give their own definition of it.
According to Quirk: “words come to us so naturally that it takes a serious effort
to realize what miraculous devices they are”. Like so many other things that are basic

and elemental in our lives, we take them for granted and we are apt to be surprised to
find how hard it is to say what exactly a word is” (1979, p.128).
Adams in his book “An introduction to modern English word formation” (1973)
came to conclusion that in general the linguists failure to give a consistent definition of
the words across language is an indication that words may only be definable with
respect to a particular language” (p.7).
The status of vocabulary now seems to be changing and the notion of a word
has been broadened. Hunt and David Beglar in “Current Research and Practice in
teaching Vocabulary defined a word “as including the base form and its inflections and
derivatives” (2001). Although this definition of a word is convenient and commonly
used in vocabulary research, it should be remembered that vocabulary learning is more
than the study of individual words.
The term vocabulary has a range of meanings. For example, some teachers use
the term to mean sight-word vocabularies, referring to students’ immediate recognition
of words in print; other teachers refer to words students understand as their meaning
vocabularies. Still other teachers use the term to mean listening vocabularies, or
students’ understanding of words that they hear in the spoken language. Content
teachers use the term academic vocabulary to refer to content-specific words. Within
this section, we use the term vocabulary to refer to students’ understanding of oral and
print words. Vocabularies include conceptual knowledge of words that goes well
beyond a simple dictionary definition. Students’ vocabulary knowledge is a building
process that occurs over time as they make connections to other words, learn examples
and nonexamples of the word and related words, and use the word accurately within
the context of the sentence (Snow, Griffin, & Burns, 2005).
Why is vocabulary development such an important aspect of a student’s
academic life? A number of studies have shown that vocabulary size in young children
14
@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn

C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

is a strong predictor for success in later grades: The larger the children’s vocabularies
in the primary grades, the greater their academic achievement in the upper grades. The
National Reading Panel (NRP; National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development, 2000) analyzed scientific studies that led them to conclude that readers’
vocabulary is strongly related to their understanding of text. The NRP explained that
when students are taught key words before reading text, they have greater
comprehension than students who do not receive such instruction. Clearly, the
preponderance of such evidence led the NRP to emphasize vocabulary instruction as
an essential element of the literacy program.
There are two types of meaning in words: the grammatical (functional) meaning
and the lexical (notional) meaning. The notional words, whose meaning are lexical,
name objects, actions, qualities and have material meaning such as book, pen, to go, to
speak, nice, quickly... in themselves. They are nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs... and
so on. The functional word whose meanings are grammatical, only have their
meanings in relation to other words with which they are used. They are participles,
articles or preposition. About these types of meaning Strang wrote “in some words
lexical meaning is perhaps dominant, in others class - meaning (grammatical meaning)
certainly is” (Widdowson, 1979, p. 25).
According to Francis, a sentence is the combination of two kinds of meanings
of the words in the sentence and the meaning of the constructions. He said “the major
purpose of language is to communicate meaning. All languages accomplish this
purpose by combining meaningful units of words into meaningful arrangements or
grammatical constructions” (1967, p.112).
In actual usage, vocabulary items may differ in their emotive value, stylistic
aspect and this leads to separate levels of meaning described by linguistics as
denotation and connotation. According to Raeska (1971) denotation refers to generally
approved definitions of a word as reflected in dictionary. In other words, denotional
meaning is found in dictionary and may be direct when it directly points to an object

without comparing it with other objects and may be indirect when the object is referred
to indirectly by associating with other object. Connotation is, on the other hand, an
15
@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn


C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

addition to denotation. It is related to the attitudes of the language user, his emotional
reaction to the use of a word. Lyon (1977) considers co notational meaning of a word
as an emotive or affective component additional to its central meaning. As said above
words have various types of meaning. Its is required that the teacher has to make a
careful choice of and decision on which meaning of a word to teach and how many
meanings and words to teach in the given class time or else learners will be impeded
by the pressure to absorb too many meanings and words.

2.1.2. Components involving vocabulary instruction
2.1.2.1. Components of vocabulary
When teaching English vocabulary, the teacher should teach some aspects of
vocabulary. Ur (1998) states some aspects that the learner should be mastered and the
teacher should be taught in order to help the learners in mastering vocabulary. They
include: Form (pronunciation and spelling),

Grammar,

Collocation, Aspect of

meaning (Denotation, connotation, appropriateness and. Meaning relationship), Word
formation
According to Cross (1991) the procedure of teaching vocabulary can be divided into

three stages, they are namely:
- Presentation. In this stage, the teachers can use various techniques which are
recommended in the previous discussion. However, the teachers have to be careful in
selecting the techniques that they used in teaching activity.
- Practice. In the second stage, the teacher give exercises to the students in order to
practice the subject items being learnt, making completion, matching, words
classification, etc. those are several types of exercise that can be used by the teacher in
this stage.
- Production. In this stage the students are expected to apply the newly learn
vocabulary through the speaking activities or writing activities.
Grains and Redman (1986, p.13-52) indicated that there are several aspects of lexis
that need to be taken into account when teaching vocabulary:
- Boundaries between conceptual meanings: knowing not only what lexis refers to, but
16
@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn


C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

also where the boundaries are that separate it from words of related meaning (e.g:
bowl, cup and mug)
- Polysemy: distinguishing between the various meaning of a single word form with
several and closely related meanings (e.g: head: of a person, of a pin and of an
organization)
- Homonymy: distinguishing between the various meaning of a single word form
which has several meanings which are not closely related (e.g: a file: used to put paper
in or a tool)
- Homophony: understanding words that have the same pronunciation but different
spellings and meanings (e.g: see, sea)
- Synonym: distinguishing between the different shades of meaning that synonymous

words have (e.g: big, huge)
- Affective meaning: distinguishing between the attitudinal and emotional factors
(denotation and connotation), which depend on the speakers attitude or the situation.
Socio-cutural associations of lexical items are another important factor.
- Style, register, dialect: Being able to distinguish between different levels of
formality, the effect of different contexts and topics, as well as differences in
geographical variation.
- Translation: awareness of certain differences and similarities between the native and
the foreign language.
- Chunks of language: multi-word verbs, idioms, strong and weak, collocation, lexical
phrases.
- Grammar of vocabulary: learning the rules that enables students to build up different
forms of the word or even different words from that word (e.g: buy, bought, buying)
- Pronunciation: ability to recognize and reproduce items in speech.
when teaching a new English word teachers should provide his learners with its
pronunciation, spelling, meaning, collocation as well as aspect of meaning. (Ur, 1996)
Each English word has its spelling and pronunciation. Learners have to know
all the spelling, pronunciation and meaning of the word. Teaching pronunciation is
important. It is one of fossilize good and hard. It needs to be taught properly at the
17
@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn


C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

beginning of language study. Pronunciation involves for more than individual sounds,
thus, it is necessary to teach correct pronunciation. They are word stress, sentence
stress, intonation, and word linking all influence the sound of spoken English. It is
well-known that the teaching of English to Vietnamese learners presents unusual
difficulties. The biggest difficulty is that there is virtually no similarity between the

two languages in the areas of sounds or rhythmic and intonation patterns. The
unusually rich system of the Vietnamese vowels (with 6 tones) and consonants can
produce an extraordinary number of different sounds without having to emphasize
the final consonants in any syllables and without ever having to combine two or three
consonants at any time. English does not make extensive use of two, three, four and
even five consonants in “clusters” within syllables and at the end of syllables.
Consequently, during the teaching process, teacher should let the students be familiar
with the articulators, the functions of them, help students write correct transcription of
the words as well as help them know how to use the words. Additionally, teacher
should help students practice sounds more and more, give them more variety of
pronunciation practice as well.
The grammar of a new word should be also taught to the learners. They should
know the grammar function, the unpredictable change of form in certain grammatical
contexts, the regularity and irregularity, the singular and plural forms of the new words
so that they can use it correctly. For example, teaching the verb “buy”, we might give
its irregularity in the past form “bought”. When a noun is taught, such as “child”,
teacher should give the plural form “children” as well. Word formation means how
words written and spoken and knowing how they can change their form.
Collocation is the way words are used together regularly in a specific language.
Collocation refers to the restriction on how words can be used together in right
contexts. Thus, this is another piece of information about a new item, which maybe
word teaching. Collocation also enables learners to identify multi word items and
further justifies their treatments as single items of the vocabulary. Therefore,
collocation can provide a useful framework for revising items.
Aspect of meaning concludes denotation, connotation, appropriateness and
18
@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn


C.33.44.55.54.78.65.5.43.22.2.4..22.Tai lieu. Luan 66.55.77.99. van. Luan an.77.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.37.99.44.45.67.22.55.77.C.33.44.55.54.78.655.43.22.2.4.55.22. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an.Tai lieu. Luan van. Luan an. Do an

meaning relationship. The meaning of a word is what it refers to in the real word, its
denotation. This meaning is found in a dictionary. For instance, “cat” denotes a kind of
animal, more specifically, a common, domestic carnivorous mammal. A less obvious
component of the meaning of a word is its connotation in different contexts or its
connotative meaning. This is the associations or positive or negative feelings it evokes.

2.1.2.2 Techniques to teach English vocabulary as a foreign language
Teaching vocabulary is very important in a language in general and in English
in particular. Knowing words is not filling papers with new words and memorizing
them. To let students achieve English vocabulary, teacher should use different
techniques in teaching English vocabulary in order to motivate the learners, enrich
their vocabulary knowledge and enable them to speak English properly. The selection
of an appropriate technique depending on the age of the students, their skills and
interests, what the teacher thinks will bring desirable results as well. The following are
most commonly used techniques in presenting vocabulary items. The first is visual
techniques. According to Gains and Redman (1986), techniques consist of realia,
flashcards and mine, action and gesture. Realia refers to the use of real objects in the
classroom. These objects help to make the meaning of word clear. Such as: a pencil, a
rubber, a cat, etc. The teacher may use classroom environment: a table, a board, a
window, etc. Classroom things can be touched. The success in learning depends on the
number of senses involved in the learning process. Mine, action and gesture are
considered as a technique which is useful for explaining the actions and grammar
items. Such as kicking, running or walking. Mine and action is a great fun for children
who like acting and moving in the class. The second is the verbal technique. In this
technique, contrast is the one which shows differences and similarities about persons,
ideas and things. Enumeration is technique used when any words difficult to explain
visually. For example, teacher says “colors” and explains this by enumerating or
listing various items. The teacher may list a number of colors: red, yellow, tan, grey,
blue, etc and then the meaning of the word will become clear. Explanation is the

technique which is usually used for upper beginners, who already have some
19
@edu.gmail.com.vn.bkc19134.hmu.edu.vn