Contextualization problems encountered by information technology students at the hochiminh city university of industry in their learning technical jargon m a 60 14 10

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HOCHIMINH CITY
UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES & HUMANITIES
FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE

CONTEXTUALIZATION PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED
BY INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY STUDENTS
AT THE HOCHIMINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF
INDUSTRY IN THEIR LEARNING
TECHNICAL JARGON

Submitted to the
Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature
in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL

By
NGUYEN THI BICH

Supervised by
LE HOANG DUNG, PHD

HO CHI MINH CITY, OCTOBER 2011


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my thesis
supervisor, Le Hoang Dung, Ph.D., who spent a lot of time and great patience
correcting my thesis and gave me helpful guidance, valuable comments for my
thesis. I owe my thesis supervisor a debt of gratitude forever and I never forget his

deserts.
My great thanks go to my previous instructors, Nguyen Thanh Tung, Ph.D.,
and Peter Leonard, M., who helped me a lot when I started my thesis. Especially,
Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tung suggested the topic of the thesis - vocabulary
contextualization.
Many thanks also go to lovely IT students who participate in this research.
They were not only the subject of the thesis, but also a source of inspiration for
my research.
I would like to express my deep gratitude to all my teachers and my family
members who always support me during the time of conducting this thesis.


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STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY

I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled:
CONTEXTUALIZATION

PROBLEMS

ENCOUNTERED

BY

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY STUDENTS AT THE HOCHIMINH
CITY UNIVERSITY OF INDUSTRY IN THEIR LEARNING TECHNICAL
JARGON
in terms of the statement of Requirement for Theses in Master’s Programs issued
by the Higher Degree Committee. This thesis has not been submitted for the

award of any degree or diploma in any other institution.

Ho Chi Minh City, October 11, 2011
NGUYEN THI BICH


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RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS

I hereby state that, I- Nguyen Thi Bich, being the candidate for the degree of
Master of TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the
retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited in
the library should be accessible for purposes of study and research, in accordance
with the normal conditions established by the library for the care, loan or
reproduction of theses.

Ho Chi Minh City, October 11, 2011

NGUYEN THI BICH


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TABLE OF CONTENT

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................. I
STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY...................................................................... II
RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS .......................................................... III

TABLE OF CONTENT ........................................................................................ V
ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………….IX
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................... 1
1.1 Background to the study ................................................................................ 1
1.1.1 The importance of learning English in Vietnam today ................................ 1
1.1.2 Learning English at Hochiminh City University of Industry……. .............. 1
1.1.3 The importance of contextualization in learning IT jargon .......................... 2
1.1.4 IT English in Vietnam and at HUI .............................................................. 4
1.2 Purpose of the Study and the research question ............................................... 4
1.3 Delimitation and limitation ............................................................................. 5
1.4 Significance of the study ................................................................................ 5
1.5 Organization of the thesis ............................................................................... 6
CHAPTER 2- REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE ..................................... 8
2.1 What is context………………………………………………… ..................... 8
2.1.1 What does context refer to in language use…………………… .................. 8
2.1.2 Elements of Context…………………………………………………. ......... 9
2.1.2.1 The Linguistic Context .............................................................................. 11
2.1.2.2 The Situational Context ............................................................................. 12
2.1.3 Context and communicative competence .................................................... 14
2.1.4 Context in retaining vocabulary ................................................................. 16
2.2 Vocabulary knowledge .................................................................................. 18
2.2.1 The meaning(s) of the word ........................................................................ 19
2.2.2 The written forms ...................................................................................... 20
2.2.3 The spoken form ........................................................................................ 21
2.2.4 The grammatical behavior of the word ....................................................... 22
2.2.5 Register ...................................................................................................... 24


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2.2.6 Frequency and Collocation ......................................................................... 24
2.2.7 Word associations ...................................................................................... 25
2.2.8 Conclusion of word knowledge .................................................................. 26
2.3 Vocabulary learning strategies (VLS) ............................................................ 26
2.3.1 Determination strategies ............................................................................. 27
2.3.2 Social strategies (SOC ................................................................................ 29
2.3.3 Memory strategies (MEM) ........................................................................ 30
2.3.4 Cognitive strategies (COG) ....................................................................... 31
2.3.5 Metacognitive strategies (MET) ................................................................ 31
2.3.6 The conclusion of VLS ............................................................................... 32
2.4 Conceptual Framework of the Study ............................................................... 32
CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY ......................................................................... 38
3.1 Research site ................................................................................................... 38
3.2 Research respondents...................................................................................... 38
3.3 Research instrument ....................................................................................... 38
3.4 Collection of data ........................................................................................... 41
3.5 Treatment of data ........................................................................................... 42
CHAPTER 4- DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF RESULTS .............. 43
4.1 Analysis of data .............................................................................................. 43
4.1.1 Part I -Vocabulary learning strategies .......................................................... 44
4.1.1.1 - Group 1: Students’ activities ................................................................. 44
a. The students’ activities to acquire word knowledge aspects............................... 44
b. The students’ activities to use context’s elements in learning vocabulary .......... 52
c. The activities the students perform most ........................................................... 55
d. Summary of group 1 – Students’ activities ........................................................ 58
4.1.1.2 - Group 2: Students’ awareness ................................................................ 58
a. Students’ awareness of word knowledge aspects ............................................... 59
b. Students’ awareness of context elements ........................................................... 63
c. Summary of Group 2: Students’ awareness ....................................................... 66
4.1.1.3Conclusion of part I ................................................................................... 68

4.1.2 Part II : Students’ guessing strategies ......................................................... 68


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4.1.2.1

Finding the definitions of new words .................................................... 69

4.1.2.2

Finding synonyms and antonyms of the new words. ........................... 72

4.1.2.3

Finding examples illustrating the meanings of new words .................... 75

4.1.2.4

Using logic to get word meaning from context...................................... 79

4.1.2.5

Summary of Students’ guessing strategies .......................................... 81

4.1.3

Conclusion ........................................................................................... 84

4.2 Discussion of the results ............................................................................... 85

4.2.1 Problems of using situational context ......................................................... 85
4.2.2 Problems of using linguistic context .......................................................... 87
4.2.3 Word knowledge problems ......................................................................... 88
4.2.4 Summary .................................................................................................... 91
CHAPTER 5 – CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS ...................................... 92
5.1 Summary of the major findings....................................................................... 92
5.1.1 Word knowledge problems ......................................................................... 92
5.1.2 Linguistic contexts problems ....................................................................... 93
5.1.3 Situational context problems ...................................................................... 93
5.1.4 Summary ................................................................................................... 94
5.2 Suggestions .................................................................................................... 94
5.2.1 Suggestions of using word knowledge ....................................................... 94
5.2.2 Suggestions of using context (contextualization ......................................... 95
5.3 Conclusion...................................................................................................... 95
REFERENCES .................................................................................................... 98
Appendix 1-Survey questionnaire to it students..................................................... 99
Phụ lục tiếng Việt – Bảng bút vấn dành cho sinh viên ........................................... 106


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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1a Summary of Contextualization Strategies ............................................... 35
Table 1b Summary of strategies of guessing word meaning in context ................ 36
Table 2a Summary of the part A of questionnaire ................................................. 40
Table 2b Summary of the part B of questionnaire ................................................. 41
Table 3a Students’ activities of using word knowledge ......................................... 44
Table 3b Students’s activities to use context’s elements ........................................ 52

Table 3c The activities students perform most...................................................... 56
Table 4a Students’ awareness of word knowledge ................................................. 59
Table 4b Students’ awareness of context elements ............................................... 63
Table 5a Strategies to guess word meanings in context ......................................... 81
Table 5b Contextual signs students use to guess word meanings .......................... 82
Table 5c The answers of exercises ....................................................................... 83
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 The map of Situational context ............................................................. 13
Figure 2 Context Elements ................................................................................. 33
Figure 3a Student’s activities to acquire word knowledge ................................... 51
Figure 3b Activities of using context’s elements ................................................. 55
Figure 3c Item 3: The activities students do most ............................................... 57
Figure 4a Students’ awareness of word knowledge aspects .................................. 63
Figure 4b Students’ awareness of context’s elements ........................................... 66
Figure 4 Students’ awareness ............................................................................ 67
Figure 5a Finding definition of new words .......................................................... 70
Figure 5b Item 12 -Using definition structures ..................................................... 70
Figure 5c Item 14 - Using ‘that is’ ...................................................................... 71
Figure 5d Item 16 - Using phrase ‘in other words’ .............................................. 71
Figure 5e The right answers to exercises of finding definitions ............................ 72
Figure 6a Finding synonyms of new words ......................................................... 73
Figure 6b Finding antonyms of new words........................................................... 73
Figure 6c Item 11 - Using dashes ........................................................................ 74

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Figure 6d Item 8 - Using comma ......................................................................... 74
Figure 6e The right answers to exercise of synonyms and antonyms ................... 75
Figure 7a Finding examples ................................................................................. 76
Figure 7b Using parentheses ................................................................................ 76
Figure 7c Using quotes ........................................................................................ 77
Figure 7d Using phrase ‘such as’ ......................................................................... 77
Figure 7e Using ‘for example’ ............................................................................. 78
Figure 7f The right answers to exercises about finding examples........................ 78
Figure 8a Finding logic of new words and the whole paragraph ........................... 80
Figure 8b Finding logic of new words and the whole sentence ............................ 80
Figure 8c Using literal meaning ........................................................................... 80
Figure 8d The right responses to exercises about logic ........................................ 81

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ABSTRACT
This study aims to find out the contextualization problems encountered by IT
students at Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry (hereinafter called HUI) in
their learning information technology jargon.
Context is a useful factor for students in their learning vocabulary. It helps
students guess words’ meanings and some other aspects of word knowledge.
However, contextualization is their difficult process. In order to find out the
contextualization difficulties that IT students at HUI encounter in their learning IT
jargon, the study listed some elements of context, aspects of word knowledge,

vocabulary learning strategies, and some strategies of guessing word meaning in
context in the Questionnaire. The findings showed the strength and the weakness
of students in learning IT jargon, especially in guessing word meaning in context.
The results also expressed students’ contextualization problems in their learning IT
jargon.
The survey was carried out among 45 IT students at HUI. The students were
asked 6 questions of part I and 38 questions of part II regarding how much they
used vocabulary learning strategies and strategies of guessing word meaning in
context, word knowledge aspects, and context’s elements

in their learning

vocabulary.
The study found that not many students use contextualization in their learning
vocabulary. Some of the major reasons include (1) their lack of vocabulary that
caused difficulties in understanding and reading texts; (2) and their lack of
awareness of some aspects of word knowledge which inhibited them in using
vocabulary and using linguistic contexts; (3) It also found that students’ weakness
of using linguistic context certainly leads to the weakness of employing or
guessing words in situational contexts.
The thesis suggests that IT students at HUI should pay more attention to
different aspects of word knowledge and word usage in order to achieve their own
skills of using words in contexts and produce utterances that can communicate
their ideas in the technical context.

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CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION
In order to give readers orientation in reading this thesis, the introduction
chapter of this study consists of (1) background to the study, (2) purpose of the
study and the research question, (3) Delimitation and limitation, (4) Significance of
the study, and (5) organization of the thesis.
1.1- Background to the study
1.1.1-

The importance of learning English in Vietnam today

Learning English attracts great attention of Vietnamese people nowadays.
Vietnam is a developing country, so to gain the achievements in technology and
science is the only way for Vietnam to step up. English is not only the language of
developed countries like the USA, the UK, Australia... but it already become the
most popular language in the world. As Broughton, Et All. (1980: 6) stated “A
good command of English in second language situation is considered as a passport
to social and economic advancement.” (cited in Tran Thanh Du, 2010: 1). This
leads to the explosion of learning English in Vietnam. Everyone tries to equip
themselves with the most effective communicative medium- English. Trench wrote
in his report on UNDP project VIE/80/53 in Vietnam: “There is enormous
enthusiasm for learning English in Vietnam on the part of learners and the
government attaches great important English language teaching.” (Trench, J.,
1983: 8, cited in Tran Kim Hang, 2004). This is also confirmed by the situation of
learning English in Vietnam. English is a compulsory subject taught at secondary
schools, universities. Besides, there are more English centers, schools in Vietnam
as well as different kinds of books for learning English.
The importance of English in Viet Nam leads to so many studies of teaching
English in order to better English teaching and learning processes. English is not

less essential at Hochiminh City University of Industry than in any other places.
This is the reason for conducting a research at the University.
1.1.2-

Learning English at Hochiminh City University of Industry
Being aware of the importance of learning English for students, the leaders

of Hochiminh City University of Industry (hereafter it is abbreviated to HUI) have
issued regulations ( Students manual, 2006: 331) that all the students at HUI have

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to earn appropriate certificates in English before sitting for university graduation
exams. For example, college students have to earn certificates of intermediate
level in English, and university students have to earn those of advance level.
According to HUI’s Scientific Management’s statistics, HUI currently enroll more
than 60,000 students, all of whom have to learn English as a compulsory subject. It
is a difficult task to make them good at English and be able to communicate in
English.
The English curriculum at HUI consists of “American Headway 2” – an
EGP component which uses as the textbook, a grammar course that uses the
textbook “Grammar in Use”, and a course on Technical English. Those courses
supply students with English Grammar and four skills – listening, speaking,
reading, and writing as well as technical jargons that prepare for their future jobs.
To ease this burden, The University invites about 40 visiting teachers from

different universities and colleges besides 44 full time faculties from the English
Department and 20 from others.
The situation of English at Hochiminh City University of Industry urges
English teachers to have better methods in their teaching job.
1.1.3- The importance of contextualization in learning IT jargon
Teachers are always ready to improve their teaching methods which aim at
students’ learning results. So much research over the years has been done in the
world. The research focused on the linguistic properties (psycholinguistic or
sociolinguistic), pragmatic aspects, social factors that influence second language
acquisition. Rod Ellis in his book “The Study of Second Language Acquisition”
has shown the scene of linguistic research: ‘The developments in SLA research
over the years have been of several kinds. One development concerns the scope of
the field of enquiry. Whereas much of earlier work focused on the linguistic – and,
in particular, the grammatical- properties of learner language and was
psycholinguistic in orientation, later work has also attended to the pragmatic
aspects of learner language and, increasingly, has adopted a sociolinguistic
perspective. Thus, whereas many researchers continue to focus their attention on
how L2 learners develop the ability to perform speech acts such as requests or

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apologies appropriately’ (1994:1). Celce-Murcia and Olshtain (2000: 74) also give
an emphasis to productive use of vocabulary because they feel ‘this area has been
neglected’. Meanwhile, one of decisive factors for this field of research is context
and its influence on the producing utteraces. Thus, the matter that cannot be

avoided is the need to study contextualization and the problems students meet
when they are using it.
As the researchers all over the world work on very large scopes of
linguistics, there are also a lot of studies of USSH (University of Social Sciences
and Humanities) that focus on teaching or learning different linguistic aspects, or
on the ways of students’ learning to improve their communicative competence.
Among linguistic elements, ‘vocabulary will still be the largest single elements in
teaching a new language for the learner’ (McCarthy, 1991: 64).
Due to the role of vocabulary in learning and teaching a language, it has
been studied by many researchers not only in the world, but also in Viet Nam.
There are two benefits from vocabulary. First, having enough vocabulary enables
learners to talk, to watch TV, or to read newspapers and other kinds of books.
Second, vocabulary in use under the effects of context and repetition becomes
easier to memorize. These benefits are confirmed by John Morgan and Mario
Rinvolucri as follows: ‘Encountering and ‘understanding’ a word are seldom
enough: as with meeting people, there need to be depth and interaction for the
encounter to be memorable’ (1986:4). It can be said that contextualization is the
most effective means of both learning vocabulary and using it.
The effects of context above show that context is very important in learning
a language in general, vocabulary in particular. The role of context is also
expressed in the receptive and productive processes. ‘Some of the later research
has operated within a different framework- one that acknowledges the role of
context. On the one hand researchers have recognized that we need to examine not
only the language produced by the learner but also the language addressed to her.
That is why the properties of the input may be reflected in the properties of the
output in various ways. On the other hand researchers have recognized that the
situational context in which learner is attempting to communicate will influence

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her output’ (Ellis, 1987: 3). The research affirms that situational context covers
overall communication – both output and input processes.
Therefore, teaching and learning vocabulary in context have found the
acceptance of a lot of the researchers, linguists, language teachers and learners.
‘Most are already in agreement that vocabulary should, wherever possible, be
taught in context’ (McCarthy, 1991: 64). This is the reason to learn vocabulary in
context.
1.1.4- IT English in Vietnam and at HUI
Information Technology’s necessity in this world can’t be denied. It is
widely used all over the world. The essential role of IT is shown in the Information
Technology Act passed by National Assembly of Vietnam on July 12 th 2006. This
Act regulates all the activities concerning Information Technology. Some circulars
and decisions issued by Vietnam’s Government have given teacher’s criteria at
colleges and Universities in Vietnam, such as the decision No. 58/2010/QÑ-Ttg
dated September 22nd 2010 and the circular No. 30/2010/TT-BLDTBXH dated
September 29th 2010. These legal documents show that teachers must have
appropriate levels of foreign languages and information technology in order to
meet the requirements of their jobs. Appropriate levels of foreign languages and
Information Technology are also required at Vietnamese Universities and HUI is
not an exception.
It is clear that internet is the most powerful means of communication to day.
Meanwhile, English is mainly used on the internet and IT books, and IT devices.
This reason makes English become the essential factor to achieve success in IT
learning and business.
The above information shows the importance of Enrglish in learning

Information Technology in Vietnam in general, at HUI in particular as well as the
needs for this study.
1.2- Purpose of the Study and the research question
At Hochiminh City University of Industry students use different methods to
learn English vocabulary. Some students are able to contextualize vocabulary to

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make utterances, to understand the ideas of the utterances that they receive.
Synchronously, they consolidate their vocabulary and put it in their long-term
memory. The matter is the factors

that help them and prevent them from

vocabulary contextualization to communicate their ideas.
In that context, this purpose of the study is to find out the problems that the
HUI’s students meet in learning vocabulary in context, including guessing word
meanings in context. The study supplies students with strategies of using context in
their learning vocabulary as well as helps students know their weakness and
strength. The results help students to better the vocabulary learning in general, IT
jargon’s learning in particular.
The study aims to answer the guiding research question :
What contextualization problems do IT students at HUI encounter in their
learning IT jargon?
1.3-Delimitation and limitation

Research on contextualization is an enormous matter that exceeds the ability
of this thesis’ writer. Therefore, the study concentrates on the strategies students
use to guess word meanings in context - besides, the study tries to provide readers
with some general information about contextualization in vocabulary learning.
From the information about vocabulary learning strategies the study finds out how
much the IT students use context in their learning, especially in guessing word
meanings in context.
Furthermore, the constant changing of information technology leads to
changing of IT jargon causing difficulties for students in learning vocabulary.
Because the subject of this study is only IT students at HUI, the results of the study
would reflect the vocabulary learning situation of a quite small group of students.
1.4- Significance of the study
Over the years there have been a lot of scholarly research studies of
vocabulary learning and teaching strategies that confirm the role of context in
learning a language in general, in learning vocabulary in particular. Those studies
focus on what strategies students use and should use in learning vocabulary, but
the difficulties students encounter in vocabulary contextualization.

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Finding the contextualization problems encountered by IT students at HUI is
very useful and necessary for students and teachers to improve the vocabulary
learning for communicative purpose. First, the study points out the meaning of
context as well as the vocabulary aspects covered by context. Second, the thesis
emphasizes the vital role of word knowledge in contextualization in learning

vocabulary in general, in guessing word meanings in context in particular. Third,
findings from the survey questionnaire show some contextualization problems IT
students encounter while learning IT vocabulary. Finally, the thesis provides
students with some suggestions of vocabulary learning strategies for the
communicative purpose.
1.5- Organization of the thesis
As mentioning at the start, the introduction chapter establishes a framework
for the research. It is necessary to present the organization of the thesis in order
that readers can acquire the overview of the research study. The organization of
this thesis consists of 5 chapters: (1) introduction, (2) review of related literature,
(3) methodology, (4) data analysis and discussion of results, and (5) conclusion
and suggestions.
The first chapter – introduction- informs readers about background to the
study, its population, significance, aims, the research question and an overview of
the study. Through the first chapter, readers would receive the controlling ideas of
the thesis as well as the process of research study.
The next chapter – review of related literature- accomplishes several
purposes of the literature review presented by John W. Creswell: ‘It shares with
the readers the results of other studies that are closely related to the study being
reported. It provides a framework for establishing the importance of the study as
well as a benchmark for comparing the results of a study with other findings’
(2003: 29&30). Based on the above theory, the review of related literature of this
thesis consists of some research on (a) context with its elements, its role in
vocabulary retention and its relationship with communicative competence; (b)
word knowledge through which the study shows the relationship between context
elements and word knowledge aspects; and (c) contextualization vocabulary

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learning strategies which are basis for description of students vocabulary learning
process. There are also two tables which summarize contextualization strategies
and strategies of guessing word meaning in context. The findings of the research
are analyzed according to these tables.
Following chapter 2 (review of related literature), chapter 3- methodologydescribes research site, research respondents, research instrument, collection of
data, and treatment of data. This part gives the readers an overview of research
process. Chapter 4 analyses the data and discusses the results. This chapter helps
the researcher answer the research question and give some suggestions and
conclusion in chapter 5.

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CHAPTER 2- REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter – Review of Related Literature- presents a review of some of
researchers’ scholarly opinions related to vocabulary, vocabulary learning, and
contextualization. This review is a theoretical basis for the study and construction
of its research questionnaire.
2.1. What is context?
One of the most important factors to be studied in the thesis is context. Why
is it so important? Does context cover language use? The answer to these questions
is that ‘If the context is taken away, so hearers have nothing to guide them in their

guesses, the result is often quite bizarre’ (Aitchison, 1987:178). Furthermore, ‘a
language is what the members of a particular society speak’(Wardhaugh, 1986: 1).
The definition above confirms the idea that language is a social phenomenon and
language use cannot happen without context. The matter to be solved in this part is
understanding of context’s concept.
The followings are some previous research on context that provides more
understandings of context and context’s role in learning vocabulary which helps
the study to design its questionnaire.
2.1.1- What does context refer to in language use?
Rod Ellis in his book “Second Language Acquisition in Context” writes :
‘The term context often defined with reference to the actual situation in which a
communicative event takes place. As Lyons (1977:572) puts it, context is : a
theoretical construct in the postulation of which the linguist abstracts from the
actual situation and establishes as contextual all the factors which, by virtue of
their influence upon the participants in a language event, systematically determine
the form, the appropriacy and the meaning of utterances’ (1987:6). Context is here
mentioned as a structure on which utterances are created. However, this definition
has not referred to context’s elements, so its structure cannot be imagined. There is
a clearer definition of Context :‘The term Context in discourse analysis refers to all
the factors and elements that are nonlinguistic and nontextual but which affect

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spoken or written communicative interaction. Halliday (1991:5) describes context
as “the events that are going on around when people speak or write”’ (Marianna &

Elite, 2000 :11). To some extent, this definition is not sufficient for this study for
it is not specific. So Marianna and Elite give a more comprehensive definition of
context. According to this, context is:
1. all the factors and elements that are nonlinguistic and nontextual, but
which affect spoken and written communicative interaction.
2. the social, psychological, physical setting in which language use takes
place. The context often helps in understanding the particular meaning of the word,
phrase, and so forth.
3. discourse context (co-text) – prior and subsequent textual forms and
information that may have a bearing on interpreting some items in or portion of the
text.’(2000:236)
The definition above describes context as all the things happen around the
word, phrase, or sentences, and so forth which enhances and complements the
meaning of the utterances. Ann M. Johns also explains the meaning of word
‘context’ quite clearly: “Context refers not merely to a physical place, such as a
classroom, or a particular publication, such as a journal, but to all of the
nonlinguistic and nontextual elements that contribute to the situation in which
reading and writing are accomplished. Thus, context refers to “the events that are
going on around when people speak [and write]” (1997:27)
On the upshot, context is not only simulative factor that helps people
understand the ideas expressed, but also the place where the utterance and L2
learning take place.
2.1.2- Elements of Context
If the above definitions are chosen as the base on which the context
elements are defined, context includes the (1) nonlinguistic and nontextual factors
affecting utterances, the social, psychological, physical settings in which
utterances take place, and prior and subsequent information interpreting some item
or portion of the utterances. The above definitions show that context consists of
two factors : linguistic and extra linguistic elements

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Context elements are also determined in the book ‘Second Language
Acquisition in Context’ edited by Rod Ellis (1987) as follows : ‘the term context,
considering both the extra linguistic and linguistic factors that influence language
choice’ (1987: 5). In addition to the definition of context, Ellis presents some
definitions of linguistic and situational contexts: ‘Linguistic elements are generally
referred to as the linguistic context and the extralinguistic elements as the
situational context,’(1987: 7). Also, linguistic elements in the context’s definitions
by Marianna and Elite refer to the co-text (discourse context)- the information
explaining the utterances and extra -linguistic context is seen as the settings where
the utterances happen, and factors affecting the utterances. The linguistic context
and the extra linguistic context are also confirmed in the book “Discourse and
Context in Language Teaching” written by Marianne Celce-Murcia and Elite
Olshtain:
‘Duranti and Goodwin (1992) propose four types of context:
a. setting (physical and interactive)
b. behavioral environment (nonverbal and kinetic)
c. language (co-text and reflexive use of language)
d. extra situational (social, political, cultural, and the like)’
(2000 : 12)
In language learning in general, vocabulary learning process in particular,
the “setting” and “language” are considered more important than the others. ‘For
specific purposes, two of these types of context are particularly important,
corresponding roughly to Duranti and Goodwin’s (a) and (c) respectively: (1) the

situational context – i.e., the purpose, the participants, and the physical and
temporal setting where communication is taking place (i.e., analyzed as
pragmatics) and (2) the discourse context (co-text)- the stream of prior and
subsequent language in which a language segment or an exchange occurs (i.e.,
analyzed as discourse). For example, if someone encounters a friend and says
“Hello,” the person expects some sort of oral response. Or, if one hears as
utterance such as “who else was there?” one looks to prior discourse about the
people present at some event in order to interpret the utterance. ’ (Marianna &

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Elite, 2000 : 12). The study will go further to discourse context called linguistic
context (language) and situational context (settings) which strongly affect the
vocabulary learning process.
2.1.2.1-The Linguistic Context
As it is said above, discourse (or linguistic) context is the stream of prior
and subsequent language in which a language segment or an exchange occurs.
Meanwhile, discourse is defined as a combination of two perspectives: internal
relationships of form and meaning and external communicative functions or
purposes. Marianna and Elite in their book “Discourse and Context in Language
Teaching” say that ‘the most satisfying definition of discourse is one that combines
these two perspectives: a piece of discourse is an instance of spoken or written
language that has describable internal relationships of form and meaning (e.g.,
words, structures and cohesion) that relate coherently to an external
communicative function or

purpose and

a

given

audience/interlocutor.

Furthermore, the external function or purpose can only be properly determined if
one takes into account the context and participants (i.e., all the relevant situational,
social, and cultural factors) in which the piece of discourse occurs.’ (2000:4).
From the ideas presented, linguistic context consists of two perspectives –
internal relationships of form and meaning and external communicative functions
and purposes – that precedes or follows language segments and exchanges.
However, Ellis claims that ‘the contract of ‘linguistic context’ should not
be limited to the preceding and following elements in isolated utterances. It can be
extended to include the verbal environment of whatever category the linguist
chooses to examine.’ (1987:7) It is said that linguistic context which is consists of
relationships of forms and meanings and communicative functions and purposes, is
not only precedes and follows utterances, but also it covers the entire verbal
environment.
In short, linguistic context with its elements expresses its indispensability in
choosing vocabulary as well as in understanding the utterances. The knowledge of
linguistic context is really helpful for this research to find out the contextualization
problems of the participants of the study.

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2.1.2.2- The Situational Context.
One more factor is not less important than linguistic context in vocabulary
choosing and understanding the utterances is situational context. This is the second
type of context which happens synchronously with the discourse context. ‘The
situational context can be defined at the macro or the micro level. At the macro
level we can distinguish prototypical contexts or, as they are sometimes called
domains. A domain is a grouping together of recurring situation types. Examples
often cited in the literature are the school, the family, the church, government
administration, etc. Each domain is associated with the use of either a separate
language or a particular variety of a single language. Thus, different choices arise
in the domain of the school from the domain of the family.’ (Ellis, 1987: 7)
Domain itself affects language user’s choice of vocabulary that is appropriate to
specific situation.
At micro level, Ellis (1987) listed some variables of situational context which
are used in the study, by virtue of their plain and detailed definitions. According to
Ellis (1987), situational context consists of

scene (setting and purpose),

participants (idividual’s traits and the participants’ interrelation). These variables
are described by Ellis (1987) as follows: ‘We need to examine how individual
situational variables affect language choice. There are a number of descriptions of
these variables available to choose from. One of the best known is that of Hymes
(1974). The one we will briefly outline here is Brown and Fraser’s (1979). They
begin by classifying ‘situation’ into ‘scene’ and ‘participants’. Scene’ is in turn
divided into ‘setting’ and ‘purpose’. The former involves such factors as who the

bystanders (i.e. non-active participants in the language event) are, and what the
location or time is. Purpose is described in term of activity type (e.g. buying,
lecturing, or playing a game). The participants’ category of Brown and Fraser’s
framework is also further subdivided. There are various factors to do with the
participants as ‘individuals’ (e.g. personality , interests, moods, social class, ethnic
background) and other factors to do with how the participants interrelate (e.g. their
shared knowledge, social status and social power). The general framework is
shown in Figure 1:

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Situation
Scene

Participants
Individuals

Setting

Purpose

(e.g. bystanders,

(e.g. buying,

locale and time)

lecturing, or
playing a game)

Relationship
between

Individual

Individual

qua

as member

individual

of social

(e.g.

category

personality ,

(e.g. class,

attitudes)

ethnicity)

individuals (e.g.
shared knowledge,
social power)

Figure 1 : The map of Situational context (Ellis, 1987: 8)
Those elements were mentioned a long time ago. Writing about context,
J.R.First (regarded by many as the founder of modern British linguistics) said that
‘A context of situation for linguistic work brings into relation the following
categories:
A The relevant features of participants: persons, personalities
(i) The verbal action of the participants
(ii) The non-verbal action of the participants
B The relevant objects
C The effects of the verbal action’
(Brown & Yule 1983:37)
Category (A) has the same meaning as the variable ‘individual’ raised by
Ellis (1987). However, the category (A) is subdivided into the verbal action and
non-verbal action. There are some special things that verbal action and the effects
of verbal action mentioned by Brown & Yule (1983) and linguistic context raised
by Ellis have similar features. Meanwhile, the non-verbal action of the participants
and the relevant objects mentioned by Brown & Yule are the same as the
situational context raised by Ellis (1987).
From the presentation above, we can see the factors of context in language
use. In fact, context with its elements decides how people use a language. When
producing and utterance, we must know :

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- the setting where the utterance happens; the place (locale) and the time
- the purpose of the utterance
- the participants, the listeners, their knowledge, their social background....
- language choice, how to produce it....
The factors mentioned above are the basis for examining what factors the
study’s participants consider in learning vocabulary and what problems they meet
when using these factors.
2.1.3- Context and communicative competence
When people communicate ideas, they always take account of

relevant

objects, relevant features of participants, and even effects of the verbal action. In
other words, the elements of situational context have a decisive influence on
language choice to communicate ideas. Therefore, there is an integrated
relationship between context and communicative competence. Furthermore, as
described above, context itself consists of the elements that relate to
communicative competence.
This relationship can be seen in some definitions of communicative
competence. First of all, the study presents the definition of communicative
competence by Ellis as follows : ‘Communicative competence consists of the
knowledge that users of a language have internalized to enable them to understand
and produce messages in the language. Various models of communicative
competence have been proposed, but most of them recognize that it entails both
linguistic competence (for example, knowledge of grammatical rules) and

pragmatic competence (for example, knowledge of what constitutes appropriate
linguistic behaviour in a particular situation)’ (1994: 696). Two components of
communicative competence are mentioned in this definition: the linguistic
competence and pragmatic competence. Douglas Brown (2000: 247) also presents
components of communicative competence, but 4 subcategories. They are
(1)grammatical competence, (2) discourse competence, (3) sociolinguistic
competence, and (4) strategic competence. Two components presented in Ellis’s
definition of communication competence are equivalent to the four subcategories

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raised in Brown’s definition because ‘the first two subcategories reflect the use of
the linguistic system itself; the last two define the functional aspects of
communication’ (Brown 2000: 246&247). The two definitions mentioned above
show the relationship between context’s elements and communication aspects.
This kind of relationship is also expressed in detail by some scholarly research.
According to Brown (2000), ‘Grammatical competence is that aspect of
communicative competence than encompasses “knowledge of lexical items and of
rules of morphology, syntax, sentence-grammar semantics, and phonology”
(Canale & Swain 1980:29). It is the competence that we associate with mastering
the linguistic code of a language, “linguistic” competence’ (2000: 247). It is clear
that linguistic code with its aspects is a bridge between linguistic context and
linguistic competence (or grammatical competence). Similarly, linguistic context is
also connected with discourse competence by discourse. Because

discourse

competence is ‘the ability we have to connect sentences in stretches of discourse
and to form a meaningful whole out of a series of utterances. Discourse means
everything from simple spoken conversation to lengthy written texts (articles,
books, and the like)’ (Brown 2000: 247). Furthermore, Marianne Celce-Murcia
and Elite Olshtain (2000: 236) mentioned discourse context as a type of context in
their book ‘Discourse and Context in Language Teaching’. This confirms the
relationship between linguistic context and linguistic competence.
The relationship between sociolinguistic competence and situational
context is formed by the factors like participants, function of the interaction, and
the like. Because situational context consists of setting, purpose, individual, and
relationship between individual (or scene and participants) while sociolinguistic
competence ‘requires understanding of the social context in which a language is
used: the roles of the participants, the information they share, and the function of
the interaction’ (Brown 2000:247). Some more factors express the relationship
between strategic competence and situational context is individual and the
relationship between individuals which are expressed by some traits of individuals
like fatigue, distraction, and inattention. These traits are expressed in the definition
of strategic competence as follows: ‘Canale and Swain (1980: 30) described

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