dificulties in memorizing esp vocabulary in the couse book english for finance faced by the second-year non-english major students at the academy of finance and some suggested solutions

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
*****************




PHẠM THỊ TÂM


DIFICULTIES IN MEMORIZING ESP VOCABULARY IN THE
COURSE BOOK “ENGLISH FOR FINANCE” FACED BY THE
SECOND-YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT THE
ACADEMY OF FINANCE AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS

( Những khó khăn mà sinh viên năm thứ hai không chuyên tiếng Anh học viện
tài chính gặp phải khi ghi nhớ từ vựng tiếng Anh chuyên ngành và một số giải
pháp)


M.A. MINOR THESIS


Field: English Linguistics
Code: 602215

Ha Noi – 2012



VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
*****************




PHẠM THỊ TÂM


DIFICULTIES IN MEMORIZING ESP VOCABULARY IN THE
COURSE BOOK “ENGLISH FOR FINANCE” FACED BY THE
SECOND-YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT THE
ACADEMY OF FINANCE AND SOME SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS

( Những khó khăn mà sinh viên năm thứ hai không chuyên tiếng Anh học viện
tài chính gặp phải khi ghi nhớ từ vựng tiếng Anh chuyên ngành và một số giải
pháp)

M.A. MINOR THESIS

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 602215
Supervisor: Le The Nghiep, M.A.

Ha Noi - 2012
iv


LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS
Tables:
No
Title
Page
1
Students‟ opinion on the language input
19
2
Students‟ opinion on their teachers‟ vocabulary teaching methods
21
3
Students‟ opinion on their own vocabulary learning
23
4
Students‟ vocabulary memorizing strategies used
24

No
Title
Page
1
The comparison between used strategies and effective ones
25

v


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AOF: Academy Of Finance
EFL: English as a Second Language
EOP: English for Occupational Purposes
EAP: English for Academic Purposes
ESP: English for Specific Purposes
L2: second language
C.O.D: cash on delivery
S.W.I.F.T: Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications

GHQ: General Headquarters
LBO: leveraged buyout

vi


TABLE OF CONTENTS
Candidate‟s statement ……………………………………………………………………… i
Acknowledgements …………………………………………………………… ii
Abstract…………………………………………………………………………… iii
List of tables and charts …………………………………………………… iv
List of abbreviations………………………………………………………………………… v
Table of contents…………………………………………………………………………… vi
PART A: INTRODUCTION 1
The rationale of the study 1
The aims of the study 2
Research questions 2
The scope of the Study 2
The method of the Study 2
The design of the Study 2
PART B: DEVELOPMENT 3
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 3
1.1. Vocabulary in second language learning and teaching 3
1.1.1. Definitions of vocabulary 3
1.1.2. The status of vocabulary in language teaching and learning 3
1.1.3. Main characteristics of vocabulary in business context 4
1.2. Vocabulary memorization 9
1.2.1. Memorization 9
1.2.2.
Vocabulary memorizing

9
1.2.3. Factors afecting ESP vocabulary memorizing 11
1.2.3.1. Word related factors 11
1.2.3.2. Learner-s related factors 12
1.2.3.3. Teacher- related factors 13
1.2.3.4. Learning context 13
CHAPTER 2: THE INVESTIGATION 15
2.1. The context of teaching and learrning ESP vocabulary in “Englisf for Finance” at the
AOF 15
2.1.1. A description of the course book and the syllabus 15
2.1.2. The second-year non-English major students 16
2.1.3. The teachers and their methods of teaching 17
vii


2.2. Research methodology 17
2.2.1. Research questions 17
2.2.2. The participants 18
2.2.3. Data collection instruments 18
2.2.4. Data collection procedure 18
2.2.5. Data collection procedure 18
2.3. Data analysis and discussion 19
2.3.1. Discussion of the results 19
2.3.1.1. The results collected by questionnaire on the target language input 19
2.3.1.2. The results collected by questionnaire on the teachers’ vocabulary teaching
methods 21
2.3.1.3. The results collected by questionnaire on students’ vocabulary learning 23
2.3.2. Major findings 29
2.4. Some suggested solutions 30
2.4.1. Material writers and curriculum developers 30

2.4.2. Teachers 30
2.4.3. Students 31
PART C: CONCLUSION 32
1. Conclusion 34
2. Limitations of the study 35
3. Suggestions for further study 35
REFERENCES………………………………………………………………………………I
APPENDIX…………………………………………………………………………………IV
APPENDIX 1……………………………………………………………………………… V
APPENDIX 2……………………………………………………………………………….VII
APPENDI 3……………………………………………………………………………… VIII
APPENDIX 4……………………………………………………………………………… XII
APPENDIX 5…………………………………………………………………………… XIII
APPENDIX 6…………………………………………………………………………… XVI



1


PART A: INTRODUCTION

1. The rationale of the study
More and more Vietnamese people are becoming aware of the importance of
English, which is due to the increasingly global communications in the English
language. However, it is known that words play an indispensable role in human
communication. Without words, the language would be inane, just as a building cannot
be constructed without bricks. The methods for learning and teaching English
vocabulary well are always heatedly discussed in Vietnam on purpose of helping
teachers and students teach, learn and then acquire English vocabulary at an ease, for

example, Quach Thi Mai (2007), Nguyen Thu Huong (2008) and many other authors. It
is still quite a problem. Learners face difficulties in vocabulary learning in general and
memorizing in particular. Memorizing vocabulary has been discussed a lot in the foreign
context, however, in Vietnam it is still a potential to exploit.
Many Vietnamese students experience considerable difficulties in learning
vocabulary because of word nature, lack of time, learning strategies, motivation and so
on. Having worked with the course book “English for Finance” by Cao Xuan Thieu, the
Financial Publishing House (2008) and examined many oral final tests of the second-
year non-English major students at the AOF for several years, the researcher has noticed
a number of problems faced by students here. These problems still exist in the process of
learning ESP vocabulary when many of the students could not even give a simple
answer or speak a simple sentence. They find it hard to remember, to correctly
pronounce and use vocabulary. Many students confide to the researcher that they spend
lots of time learning vocabulary but they can remember only few words they have learnt.
As a result, English vocabulary becomes very challenging and threatening for them in
learning English for specific purposes at university.
These reasons urge the researcher to find out the difficulties in memorizing ESP
vocabulary faced by the second-year non-English major students at the AOF and the
possible solutions to help students improve their vocabulary memorization.




2


2. The aims of the study
The study aims at finding out the difficulties in memorizing ESP vocabulary
faced by the 2
nd

year non-English major students and then suggesting some solutions
to help the learners memorize ESP vocabulary better.
3. Research questions
The study is done to find out the answers for the two research questions:
(1) What are the 2
nd
year non-English major students’ difficulties in memorizing ESP
vocabulary in the textbook “English for Finance”?
(2) What are the possible solutions to help the learners memorize ESP vocabulary
better?
4. The scope of the Study
The study limits itself to the investigation of difficulties in memorizing ESP
vocabulary faced by the second-year non-English major students at the AOF when
working with the course book “English for Finance” by Cao Xuan Thieu and his
colleagues at the English faculty of the AOF (2008). It also tries to seek for possible
solutions to the current problems.
5. The method of the Study
The study adopts the combination of both qualitative and quantitative research
methods. This means that all comments, findings and suggestions given in the thesis are
based on firstly analyzing the results of questionnaire obtained from 100 second-year
non-English major students at the AOF, secondly on analyzing the information gathering
from formal interviews with 16 teachers from the English faculty of the AOF.
6. The design of the Study
The study is composed of three parts. The first part, Introduction, provides the
rationale, aims, scopes, and method of the study, which offers readers an overview of
how the research idea is generated, what its goals are, and what research methodology is
adopted. The second part, Development, is divided into two chapters. The first chapter,
Literature Review, provides the theoretical background for the study. It focuses on the
second language vocabulary learning, and some factors affecting vocabulary
memorizing. The second chapter, Investigation, is the main part of the study. It reports

the collection and analysis of the data and major findings of the study. The last part,
Conclusion, summarizes the findings, draws teaching implications, states the limitation
of the research, and offers suggestions for further research.
3


PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1
LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Vocabulary in second language learning and teaching
1.1.1. Definitions of vocabulary
There have been different definitions of vocabulary. Ur (1996) defined
vocabulary 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”. A similar definition from Richards and Platt (1992) is that vocabulary is
“a set of lexemes, including words, compound words and idioms”. Read (2000) believes
that vocabulary is considered as an inventory of individual words, with their associated
meanings. From different definitions of vocabulary, it indicates that vocabulary is “the
total number of words in a language” (Hornby, 1995)

1.1.2. The status of vocabulary in language teaching and learning
Vocabulary teaching and learning has changed dramatically in the last two
decades. Mc Carthy (1990) pointed out that the biggest component of any language
course is vocabulary. The fact is that no matter how well the student learns grammar, no
matter how successfully the sounds of second language (L2) are mastered, without
words to express a wide range of meanings, communication in an L2 just cannot happen
in any meaningful way.
Since the mid-1980s there has been a renewed interest in the role of vocabulary
in second language learning. There have been studies on the nature of the bilingual
lexicon, vocabulary acquisition, lexical storage, lexical retrieval, and the use of

vocabulary by second language learners. Vocabulary is an essential component of
language. “Vocabulary is central to language” and “words are of critical importance to
the typical language learner.” (Coady and Huckin, 1997).
Nowadays, vocabulary is considered an important aspect of teaching and
learning a foreign language. L2 vocabulary acquisition has become an increasingly
interesting topic of discussion for researchers, teachers, curriculum designers, theorists,
and others involved in second language learning and teaching.

4


1.1.3. Main characteristics of vocabulary in business context
What vocabulary is and how important it is in second language learning and
teaching have just been discussed in the above sections. In this section, what ESP
vocabulary is and what major characteristics of vocabulary in business context are will
be mentioned.
ESP vocabulary
English for Specific Purposes (ESP) represents a specific reason for learning a
foreign language. There are two distinguished types of ESP: English for Occupational
Purposes (EOP- learning English for a job) and English for Academic Purposes (EAP -
learning English for a study specialization). At present, these streams include many
other fields, e.g. English for Technicians, English for business, etc.
Technical words are specialized words closely related to a specific area or
field
of study like engineering, medicine, linguistics, etc. They are commonly used in
specialized course books. The meaning of a word strict to the field in which it occurs
identifies this group of words and its high frequency of occurrence or use in that field and
covers about
5% of running
words in the text (Nation, 2001).

Specialized words are made up of
words that occurred frequently in a specialized text or subject area but did not occur or
were of frequency in other fields (Nation and Chung 2004).

Main characteristics of vocabulary in business context
It is necessary to specify that the characteristics of specialized English, including
medical English, technical English, business English, etc lies in its lexicon. Nguyen
Phuoc Vinh (2011) researches the main characteristics of Business English. Business
English covers many subjects and professions, therefore; the meaning of a word is
usually related to one/more than one subject such as accounting, finance, banking,
marketing, etc. These following parts will focus on the morphological and semantic
characteristics of financial, accounting, and banking English vocabulary (Vinh, 2011).


Morphologically he mentions:
Simple words: financial, accounting, and banking English has simple words such
as „asset‟, „bear‟, „capital‟, „debit‟, „earnings‟, „fraud‟,etc., and most words are
composite in that they have a recognizable internal structure.
5


Compound words: according to Longman Business English Dictionary (2007),
compound nouns make up a large part of the vocabulary of business English. Nguyen
and Ton (2010) point out that collocations (nouns plus nouns and adjectives plus nouns)
are one of the most typical features of financial, accounting, and banking English. The
corpus of the collocations of compound nouns in „Longman Business Dictionary‟ given
by these two authors shows that the word „account‟ has 65 collocations; „asset‟ has 13
collocations; „balance‟ has 14 collocations and so on.
Some compounds consisting of verb + preposition also add to the terminology
of finance, accounting, and banking such as buy-back, buy-in, take-out, take-over, turn-

over, write-back, write-down, write-off.
The few compounds on the pattern count noun + adjective that take the plural
inflexion on the noun as in attorneys general, notaries public, courts-martial are also
present in financial English such as accounts payable, bills receivable, shares
outstanding.
Some examples of following compounds will show that they themselves are the
problems for anyone learning, reading, and translating a financial text: (dormant)
account, (liquid) asset, (idle) balance, (baby) bond, (cooperative) bank, (red-chip)
company.
Phrasal words: some phrases (conversion from phrases to adjectives), though
not common, also present in financial English as in above-par, below-par, above-the-
line. below-the-line. There are also phrasal verbs and long premodified and postmodified
noun phrases in this kind of vocabulary. According to Close (1975), constructions on the
pattern of verb + preposition are very common in English. However, only a few verbs
are seen in financial English as in to buy out, to bring/ carry forward, to carry down, to
take out, to take over, to write back. Another fairly common characteristic in financial
terminology is long premodified and postmodified noun phrases. The long premodified
noun phrases are as in public sector borrowing requirement, pay-in-kind debenture,
accelerated cost recovery system, accounts receivable turnover, etc., Besides them, long
postmodified noun phrases are also seen as in lender of last resort, law of diminishing
returns, return on capital employed, balance brought down, amount falling due after
one year, work(s) in process/ progress.
6


Abbreviations: the most common of all abbreviations in the area of finance is
the acronyms derived from the initials of several words as in C.O.D (cash on delivery),
S.W.I.F.T (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications) or the
letters represent elements in a compound or just parts of a word as in GHQ (General
Headquarters), LBO (leveraged buyout), deb (debenture). These ones are familiar to

specialised English students but they are new to general English students.
Culture in the terminology of finance, accounting, and banking: what is meant
by culture here is culture-bound terms. Harvey (2003) defines culture-bound terms as
the terms which refer to concepts, institutions and personnel which are specific to the
source language culture. Any readers, learners, and translators for a financial text must
have had some problems with a range of culture-bound terms as in bulldog market, bear,
bull, bull market, shark, cats and dog, white knight, black knight, red herring, wildcat.
The difference between British English and American English in the area of
finance, accounting, and banking: this is the most significant characteristic because the
difference between them sometimes faces learners, for example , the British use debtors
(the amounts of the money that are owed to a company which are recorded as assets on
its BALANCE SHEET) when Americans use accounts receivable. Below are some
more examples.
British English: Annual General Meeting, Articles of Association, authorized share
capital, barometer stock, base rate, bonus issue, bridging loan, building society, etc.
American English: Stockholders Meeting, bylaws, authorized capital stock, bellwether
stock, prime rate, stock dividend, bridge loan, savings and loan association, etc.
The oppositions or contrasts in financial English: one of the characterisics
(typical of financial English) is the strong oppositions or contrasts in financial English
as in assets / liabilities, credit / debit, income / expenditure, output / input, supply /
demand. Learners should pay much attention to these oppositions because they are
typical of financial English.
The lexical productivity in financial English: by lexical productivity, firstly, we
mean „derivatives: words that have been developed or produced from other words such
as speculate (v), speculation (n), speculator (n), speculative (adj). This is one of the
7


ways to enlarge vocabulary. Secondly, lexical productivity is also one of the main
features in the types of specialised English owing to the new developments in the fields

of science, technology, economics, computing, etc. In the field of business, lexical
productivity is clearly shown in subjects/ topics as in accounting, finance, banking,
marketing, law, insurance, and is arranged in clear divisions and subdivisions. Look at
the arrangement of the subjects/ topics and divisions and subdivisions in the book on
the vocabulary and knowledge of finance written by MacKenzie (2007):
Subject/ topic : Banking
Division : Personal Banking
Subdivision : A. Current Accounts
B. Banking Products and Services
C. E-Banking
For example, Subdivision B will give us a range of financial terms as in loan,
overdraft, mortgage, standing order, bank transfer, banker’s order, foreign currency,
traveller’s cheque.
Semantically, he points out financial, accounting, and banking English contains:
General English words with specialised English senses: specialised terms such
as asset, balance, capital, gain, honour, and many other terms, when combining with
other terms, usually make a collocational pattern that may sound odd in everyday
English but common in financial English. The following four familiar verbs when
collocating with the noun debt easily make ambiguity in meaning, for example, to
service a debt, to forgive a debt, to retire a debt, and to restructure/ to reschedule a debt
and its collocations as compound nouns such as debt service, debt forgiveness, debt
retirement and debt restructuring.
Polysemous words with a specialised English sense: the word return in Oxford
Advanced Learner‟s Dictionary has 10 senses, one of which refers to „financial
subject‟/„topic‟, (the amount of profit or income that you get from a particular
investment), and the word „interest‟ has 8 senses, two of which refer to „financial area‟
(1. the extra money you pay back when you borrow money or that you receive when you
invest money, 2. a share in business or company and its profits). The following
examples will illustrate this point:
8

Ex. 1. Shareholders are expecting to see some RETURN from their investment.
Ex. 2. Bond INTEREST is fixed, but earnings per share are growing.
Ex. 3. He has a 15% controlling INTEREST in the new company.
Polysemous words with many specialised senses: the phenomenon of
polysemous words is also one fairly common feature in the terminology of finance,
accouting, and banking. In Oxford Business English Dictionary, the word credit has 8
senses, four of which refer to specialised senses. (1) Commerce: an arrangement that you
make with a bank, shop/store, etc, to be able to buy things now and pay for them later.
(2) Finance: money that financial institutions lend to business, governments and people.
(3) Accounting: an amount that is written in a company‟s financial account to show an
increase in money that the company owes or a decrease in the value of the assets. (4)
Accounting: an amount of money that is paid back or owed to you, because you paid too
much. The following examples will be given in the order of subjects/topics:
Ex. 1. I bought it on CREDIT.
Ex. 2. It is unlikely that the bank will extend additional CREDIT to the firm.
Ex. 3. Produce a trial balance to ensure that CREDITS equal the debits.
Ex. 4. We will issue you with a CREDIT for any damaged goods that you return.
1.2. Vocabulary memorization
1.2.1. Memorization
Language learning involves memorization, i.e., the storage of the new
information in memory (Schmitt, 1997). Many definitions of memorization can also be
found in various studies and dictionaries. For example, according to Richards and Platt
(1992), "Memorizing is the process of establishing information in memory. The term
'memorizing' usually refers to the conscious processes." This means the learners use
memorization consciously and they think about the process of memorization when they
are applying it. Another explanation can be found in the Oxford Advanced Learner's
Dictionary (2005) that "Memorizing is to learn something carefully so that you can
remember it exactly." This technique is similar to a description of a cognitive learning

strategy called rehearsal (O'Malley & Chamot, 1990). In short, memorization is the
process of committing something to memory. The act of memorization is often a
9


deliberate mental process undertaken in order to store in memory for later recall items
such as experiences, names, appointments, addresses, telephone numbers, lists, stories,
poems, pictures, maps, diagrams, facts, music or other visual, auditory, or tactical
information.
1.2.2.
Vocabulary memorizing
Unlike the learning of grammar, which is essentially a rule-based system,
vocabulary knowledge is largely a question of accumulating individual items. During
the process of
teaching and learning vocabulary an important problem occurs: How
does
memory work? Researchers into the workings of memory distinguish between the
following systems (Thornbury, 2002):
- short- term store
- working memory
- long- term memory
Short - term store
Short-term store is the brain capacity to hold a limited number of items of
information for periods up to a few seconds. It is the kind of memory
that is involved
in repeating a word you have just heard the teacher
modeling. However, successful
vocabulary learning involves more than holding words for a few seconds. To integrate
words into long - term memory they need to be subjected to different kinds of operations.
Working memory

Alan Baddeley and Graham J. Hitch (2010) define working memory as a limited
capacity part of the human memory system that combines the temporary storage and
manipulation of information in the service of cognition. Klimesch (1994) points that
there exist four characteristics that are important in describing short-term memory: it‟s
limited capacity, its primarily serial way of processing, its importance as temporary-
working store and its control processes. Material remains in working memory for about
twenty seconds. The existence
of articulator loop enables this new material
processing. It works a bit like audiotape going around again. It assures the short-
term store to be
kept refreshed. The ability to hold a word in working memory is
a good
predictor of language learning aptitude. The better ability to hold words in
working memory the smoother the process of learning foreign languages is.
Long-term memory
Long-term memory can be seen as kind of filling system. Unlike working
10


memory, which has a limited capacity and no permanent content, this kind of
memory
has an enormous capacity and its contents are durable over time.
However, to ensure
moving new materials into permanent long-term memory requires a number of
principles to be followed, described by Thornbury (2002):
Repetition - repetition of encounters with a word is very important, useful and
effective. If the word is met several times over space interval during reading activities,
students have a very good chance to remember it for a long time.
Retrieval - another kind of repetition. Activities, which require retrieval, such as
using the new items in written tasks, help students to be able to recall it again in the

future.
Spacing - it is useful to split memory work over a period rather than to mass it
together in a single block.
Pacing - to respect different learning styles and pace, students should be
ideally given the opportunity to do memory work individually.
Use - putting words to use, preferably in an interesting way, is the best way of
ensuring they are added to long - term memory. This is so called “Use it or lose it”
principle.
Cognitive depth - the more decisions students make about the word and the more
cognitively demanding these decisions are, the better the word is remembered.
Personal organizing - personalization significantly increased the probability
that
students will remember new items. It is achieved mainly through
conversation and
role-playing activities.
Imaging - easily visualized words are better memorable than those that do not
evoke with any pictures. Even abstract words can be associated with some mental image.
Mnemonics - tricks to help retrieve items or rules that are stored in
memory. The best kinds of mnemonics are visuals and keyword
techniques.
Motivation - strong motivation itself does not ensure that words will be
remembered. Even unmotivated students remember words if they have to face
appropriate tasks.
Attention - it is not possible to improve vocabulary without a certain degree of
conscious attention.
11


1.2.3. Factors affecting ESP vocabulary memorizing
According to Ur (1996), there are various reasons why we remember some

words better than the others: the nature of the words themselves, under what
circumstances they are learnt, the method of teaching and so on. The following
paragraphs will discuss the factors in detail.
1.2.3.1. Word- related factors
Nation (2001) points out that specific lexis is one of the key problems in teaching
and learning ESP. As he states, then, specific lexis can be a problem for ESP language
learners not only because they do not know the correct words, but because they lack
experience of a “whole new way of conceptualizing” that is characteristic of discourse
community using that word. Similarly, ESP lexis constitutes a puzzle for ESP learners
because it involves values and conventions shared by a discourse community, which are
not familiar to outsiders.
Moreover,
Bowker and Pearson (2002) mention that technical words and
general words can have some degree of
overlap. When two words overlap in meaning,
learners are likely to confuse them. Words with multiple meanings can also be
troublesome for learners. Having learned one meaning of the word, they may be
reluctant to accept a second, very different meaning. Unfamiliar concepts may make a
word difficult to learn.
1.2.3.2. Leaner- related factors
Vocabulary memorizing strategies
Research on the use of vocabulary strategies has revealed differences among learners
in terms of their strategy use. Macaro (2005) states that a learner needs to be able to
consciously apply a strategy to a cognitive process to strengthen the link between the
strategy and the achievement of vocabulary learning. In this regard, Cohen (1996)
indicates that many learners do not develop sufficient mastery of a strategy repertoire that
will allow them to make progress in language learning on their own.
Daller, Milton, and Treffers-Daller (2007) propose that learning strategies and
individual variation interfere with vocabulary memorizing to some extent. In general,
memorization strategies refer to making connections between the to-be-learned word and

some previously learned knowledge, using some forms of imagery or grouping. Thus,
memorization strategies play an important role in helping learners to commit new words
into memory and in the whole process of vocabulary learning.
Schmitt (2000)
12


includes
twenty-seven memorization strategies in his 58-item vocabulary learning
strategy taxonomy, for examples “study word with a pictorial representation of its
meaning”.
There are many memorizing strategies; however, the problems here are in
how to use and apply them so that they are the most effective to individual learners.
Individual differences
Sun (2010) further explains the way in which individual learner differences
affect word storage in the memory. Based on the arguments postulated by Sun, there are
three main aspects of individual learner differences play a role in remembering words.
To begin with, learners‟ presence or lack of self-confidence in learning new words is of
great importance. If learners are confident when memorizing new words instead of
anxious or worried, they will be more successful in remembering vocabulary. Secondly,
interest and motivation are two additional and influential factors. Ellis (1997) claims that
motivation involves “the attitudes and affective states that influence the degree of effort
that learners make to learn an L2”. If learners are interested in and have a positive
attitude towards memorizing new words, they will be able to provide correct translations
of more words. The final factor is learner‟s language aptitude. Language aptitude is
believed to be “in part related to general intelligence but also to be in part distinct”
(Ellis, 1997). If a learner has a higher language aptitude, then he is considered to be able
to memorize words more successfully.
1.2.3.3. Teacher- related factors
Vocabulary teaching methods

Teacher‟s methodology is a pivotal factor that much influences on learners‟
motivation and involvement in class activities, which much contribute to learners‟
vocabulary memorizing success. Clearly, some language teachers are better than others
at providing appropriate and effective learning experiences for their students in their
classrooms. These students will make faster progress in language learning in general and
vocabulary memorizing in particular.
Vocabulary is acquired incidentally but it should be taught systematically and
intentionally, especially in foreign language environment where learners have limited
exposure to the language outside of the classroom as in Vietnam. If teachers have
suitable methods in introducing vocabulary, it is more interesting to study vocabulary. It
is therefore a motivation for students to pay attention to and then store it in their long-
term memory. However, this may be very difficult, when ESP teachers are rarely trained
13


in specific knowledge and they often lack of time for vocabulary presenting because
they have to focus so much on the content and structure of the lessons.
Strategy training
Ellis (1985) notes we should remember that vocabulary learning also involve the
use of individual learning techniques. He has also found that vocabulary learning
techniques and strategies enhance understanding of the acquisition processes in the
learners‟ mind. Therefore, a description of vocabulary learning strategies can be used as
a guideline to help learners in their lexical acquisition (Ellis, 1995). Thus, they need to
be given explicit instruction to become more aware of and proficient with the broad range
of strategies that can be used through the learning process (Cohen, Weaver & Li, 1998).
1.2.3.4. Learning context
The learning context refers to the socio-cultural-political environment where
learning takes place. The learning context can include the teachers, the peers, the
classroom climate or the classroom interaction in general. With regard to classroom
interaction and second language acquisition, Ellis (1994) concluded that opportunities to

negotiate meaning may help the acquisition of vocabulary. The learning context can
include the curriculum and the availability of input and output opportunities. All of such
factors may affect the ways learners interact learning tasks and acquire vocabulary
knowledge. Krashen (1985) clarified second language is most successfully acquired
when the conditions are similar to those present in first language acquisition: that is,
when focus is on meaning rather than form; when language input is at or just above the
proficiency level of the learners; and when there is sufficient opportunities to engage in
meaningful use of that language. Vocabulary is acquired and retained through seeing,
hearing and saying the words numerous times in many contexts then producing
messages in communication. Steele (2005) justifies words are learned by individual, but
through memorable presentation, personalization tasks, so how lexicon is presented and
activities are conducted in the class for practice is very important in anchoring new
words into students‟ memory (Hulstijin ,1997), especially when they do not have
advantageous language environment outside the classroom.
In short, there are factors affecting vocabulary memorizing. However, in the
scope of this study, the researcher investigates how target language input, vocabulary
teaching methods and students‟ own vocabulary learning affect students‟ vocabulary
memorizing.
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CHAPTER 2
THE INVESTIGATION
2.1. The context of the teaching and learning ESP vocabulary in
“English for Finance” at the AOF
2.1.1. A description of the course book and the syllabus
“English for Finance” adopted by the AOF for the second-year non-English
major students published by the Finance Publishing House is written by teachers of the
English Faculty of the AOF. This course book consists of 42 units taught in 240 periods
for many different fields at the AOF. There are different topics discussed in this course

book: economics, money and banking, finance, accounting and auditing, financial
analysis, marketing and international business.
As for the syllabus, the teacher and the students meet three times a week, each
time for three 45 - minute periods to finish one unit. Each unit includes 5 parts: part I:
Reading text, part II: Comprehension questions, part III: Language focus, part IV: Word
study and part V: Vocabulary.
In detail, in part I, the reading texts have from 300 to 500 words for discussing
particular financial topics such as economics, money and banking, finance, accounting
and auditing, and others. These texts often mention the conceptions of the topics. For
example, the first unit is about economics including: what economics is, what the fields
and subfields of economics are. Part II, reading comprehension, designed to help
students understand the content of reading text, has from 5 to 10 questions related to the
reading text. Part III, Language focus, presents grammar issue in both theory and
practice. Part IV and V are about vocabulary. Part IV focuses on vocabulary practice
exercises. The exercises in this part are often blank-filling, one word for each blank in
separate sentences or paragraph so that students can revise the contents and vocabulary
as well, finding the opposites, word- formation, grouping words. Part V is a list of new
vocabulary items and their explanation in English and then meanings in Vietnamese at
the end of each unit.
The teaching syllabus is designed in the form of a form-focused instruction. Less
attention is paid to vocabulary in the specific area because of time limit. At the end of
the term, there is an oral test for students. This oral test includes 4 main parts: reading a
15


paragraph in one unit, summarizing the main contents of a unit, presenting a topic
related to the unit and answering teachers‟ questions. These parts are included in one
unit, which students choose at random.
2.1.2. The second-year non-English major students
The second-year non-English major students are approximately from 19 to 24 in

age. They come from different provinces of the country and have different English
background. Most of them started English at high school; except some of them learnt
French. Before learning “English for Finance”, they have experienced one year learning
the material “Business Basics” - Oxford University Press, by David Grant and Robert
McLarty (2002), which brings them a chance to learn and review grammar, vocabulary
and get familiar with language skills. Moreover, this book also provides students with
many business vocabulary items- the basics for studying their ESP later. In the third and
fourth semester, they work with the course book “English for Finance” for the purpose
of mastering English skills, especially translating and reading skills in economics,
finance and baking, etc. However, the students are expected to speak well because they
have an oral test at the end of the term.
2.1.3. The teachers and their methods of teaching
English teachers teaching ESP have been working at the English faculty at the
AOF, aged from 30 to 50. All of them have graduated from a formal ELT training
course from different tertiary institutions in Vietnam. The oldest teacher has more than
25 years of teaching experience and the youngest one has 4 years. Sixteen of them have
the responsibility to teach both general English (GE) and ESP. None of them, however,
has been trained in teaching ESP. Therefore, they are facing many difficulties in their
teaching process, of which the lack of the specific knowledge and the choice of
appropriate teaching materials and methodologies seem to be the major concerns.
The common method of ESP teaching is the traditional teacher-centered one. In
classes, explanation, translation, asking and answering questions are the main class
activities. The teachers are often asked to explain every new word, new structure and
even to translate the text. The students are usually passive in the learning process.
The major interaction patterns in the classroom are: teacher-whole class (most of the
time), teacher-student interaction (sometimes), and students‟ initiating interaction: pair
work, group work, questions and comments (occasionally).
16

Through class observation and small talks to ESP teachers and learners, it is
obvious that most of the teachers teaching ESP at the AOF are deeply influenced by the
grammar-translation method. There are few language activities for vocabulary learning.
This is actually one of the reasons why the learners find it hard to acquire vocabulary in
the specific field.
2.2. Research methodology
2.2.1. Research questions
The study aims at finding out the difficulties in memorizing ESP vocabulary
faced by the second-year non-English major students and possible solutions to the
problems by answering two research questions:
(1) What are the 2
nd
year non-English major students’ difficulties in memorizing ESP
vocabulary in the textbook “English for Finance”?
(2) What are the possible solutions to help the learners memorize ESP vocabulary
better?
2.2.2. The participants
There are two groups of participants: students and teachers. Group 1 involves
100 students of 4 departments (31 from the Accounting Department, 23 from the
banking and insurance department, 29 from the international finance department and the
rest from the taxation and customs department). They are in the second term of their
second year at the AOF, and had finished both GE and ESP courses. Most of these
students (78%) come from the countryside, 22% are from towns and cities. Most of them
are female (79%). 87% have learnt English before entering the AOF. Among 13% of the
students who have not learnt English before, 2% have not learnt any foreign languages,
the rest have learned French. Group 2 includes 16 teachers who are teaching ESP at the
AOF. They have got from 4 to 25 years of teaching experience.
2.2.3. Data collection instruments
To collect data, two instruments, questionnaire for students and interview for
teachers are used.

The questionnaire was based on the literature on ESP vocabulary learning, the
researcher‟s observation and experience during her 4 years of teaching at the AOF and
the discussion with the other English teachers at the college. The questionnaire consists
of four main parts. Part I collects information about the students‟ background – place of
domicile, their major and their status of learning English. The other three parts collect
17


information about students‟ difficulties in memorizing ESP vocabulary. Part II is for
getting students‟ opinions on ESP course book and ESP vocabulary. Part III is for
getting students‟ opinions on their teachers‟ vocabulary teaching. Part IV is for getting
students‟ opinion on their own vocabulary learning. The questionnaire is presented in
appendix 1.
The semi-structured interview is designed to get teachers‟ opinions on ESP
vocabulary in the course book, their students‟ vocabulary memorizing, their vocabulary
teaching methods, and recommendations to improve their students‟ vocabulary
memorizing. The interview questions are added in appendix 2.
2.2.4. Data collection procedure
To obtain the data for the investigation, the questionnaires were delivered to 100
students during their class time. The students were given clear instruction for each
question so that they could respond appropriately to each one. After the questionnaire
was administered, the respondents were encouraged to read it thoroughly and answer
frankly and truly. Then they will be instructed to take as much time as they need to
complete the questionnaire.
For teachers‟ deep understanding, thorough answers and great contribution, the
interview questions were delivered before having interviews with them.
2.2.5. Data analysis
The answers for the questions in the questionnaire were used for analysis.
Descriptive statistics were mainly employed to examine the collected data. In addition,
raw data were transformed and illustrated in tables and charts for easy understanding

and comparison. For the open-ended questions in the interviews, the common themes
were identified and then analyzed.
2.3. Data analysis and discussion
This part deals with the results from the questionnaire to the students and from
the interviews with teachers. The findings from those results will lead to the suggested
solutions to make improvement for memorizing ESP vocabulary.

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2.3.1. Discussion of the results
2.3.1.1. The results collected by questionnaire on the target language input

Questions

Options
Sts’ answers
(%)

Topics of reading texts are…to your own knowledge.
A. unfamiliar
61
B. familiar
27
C. very familiar
12

According to you, reading texts contain…new
vocabulary items.
A. many

63
B. average
35
C. few
2

There are…phrases, compounds in each unit.
A. many
67
B. average
29
C. few
4

New vocabulary items are…repeated in the next units.
A. usually
0
B. sometimes
62
C. rarely
38

Meanings of vocabulary items are…
A. very familiar
5
B. familiar
17
C. unfamiliar
78

There are…vocabulary practice exercises in each unit.
A. many
15
B. average
34
C. few
51

Vocabulary practice exercises in each unit are….
A. interesting
7
B. neutral
35
C. boring
58

Table 1: Students‟ opinion on the syllabus and ESP vocabulary in the course book

Regarding students‟ opinion on the syllabus and ESP vocabulary, table 1 shows
that:
In terms of topics of the reading texts, 61% consider they are strange while only
27% feel familiar to their background knowledge when they have finished their course
19


on these topics in Vietnamese. Evidently, it is a challenge for students to memorize what
they do not know in their target language.
The option that reading texts contain many new vocabulary items accounts for
the largest portion, 63%. There are only 2 % choose option C (few). The rest choose
option B (average). Thus, there are too many new vocabulary items, which students are

not able to remember all of them after each unit. Besides, 67% say there are many
phrases, compounds in each unit. This also contributes to the students‟ worry and
difficulty in memorizing new vocabulary items.
The next question shows that no one thinks new vocabulary items are usually
repeated in the next units, while 62% students say “rarely”, the rest choose “sometimes”.
This reveals that students have few chances to come across new vocabulary items so that
they can review and put them in their long- term memory.
In terms of meanings, only 5% students think meanings of vocabulary items in
the book are very familiar, while 15 more times than that number (78%) are in favor of
the option C (unfamiliar). It is difficult for student to memorize general English;
however, it is even much more difficult for them to memorize ESP vocabulary items that
have numerous special meanings and many others overlap with general English, which
results in students‟ meaning confusion.
More than a half (51%) of the students think there are few vocabulary practice
exercises in each unit. However, more than a half (58%) think those exercises are
boring. This indicates that although a large number of students want to do more
vocabulary practice exercises while they are not interesting enough. This prevents the
students from consolidating and then memorizing vocabulary items.

1.3.1.2. The results collected by questionnaire on the teachers’ vocabulary
teaching methods
Teachers play important roles in helping students acquire language knowledge in
general, and vocabulary in particular. However, the figures in table 2 indicate that
teachers at the AOF still cannot help students much in their vocabulary memorizing.