Developing English vocabulary on science and technology for grade 10 science gifted students through supplementary readings = Phát triển vốn từ vựng về khoa học

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



NGUYỄN THANH NHÃ


DEVELOPING ENGLISH VOCABULARY ON SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY FOR GRADE 10 SCIENCE GIFTED STUDENTS
THROUGH SUPPLEMENTARY READINGS

(PHÁT TRIỂN VỐN TỪ VỰNG VỀ KHOA HỌC VÀ CÔNG NGHỆ
CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 10 CHUYÊN TỰ NHIÊN
THÔNG QUA ĐỌC BỔ TRỢ)

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS


Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 601410





HANOI, 2011

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



NGUYỄN THANH NHÃ


DEVELOPING ENGLISH VOCABULARY ON SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY FOR GRADE 10 SCIENCE GIFTED STUDENTS
THROUGH SUPPLEMENTARY READINGS

(PHÁT TRIỂN VỐN TỪ VỰNG VỀ KHOA HỌC VÀ CÔNG NGHỆ
CHO HỌC SINH LỚP 10 CHUYÊN TỰ NHIÊN
THÔNG QUA ĐỌC BỔ TRỢ)

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS


Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 601410
Supervisor: Nguyê
̃
n Bàng (M.A)

HANOI, 2011

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
Declaration …………………………………………………………………
i
Acknowledgements ………………………………………………………
ii
Abstract ……………………………………………………………………
iii
Table of Contents …………………………………………………………
iv
List of Tables ……………………………………………………………….
vii


Part One: Introduction …………………………………………………….
1

1. Statement of the Problems and Rationale of the Study ………………
1
2. Aims and Objectives of the Study ……………………………………
3
3. Research Questions ……………………………………………………
3
4. Scope of the Study ……………………………………………………
4

5. Method of the Study …………………………………………………
4
6. Design of the Study ……………………………………………………
4

Part Two: Development ……………………………………………………
6

Chapter 1: Literature Review ……………………………………………
6
1.1 Vocabulary …………………………………………….……………
6
1.1.1 The Notions of Vocabulary ………………………………………
6
1.1.2 Active and Passive Vocabulary ……………………………
7
1.1.3 What Need to Be Taught in Vocabulary ………………………….
8
1.1.4 Criteria for Selecting the Vocabulary to Teach …………………
9
1.2 Approaches to Vocabulary Acquisition ………………………………
10
1.2.1 Acquisition vs. Learning Vocabulary …………………………….
10
1.2.2 Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition and Intentional Vocabulary
Learning …………………………………………………………
11
1.2.3 Implicit Learning and Explicit Learning Process ………………
12
1.3 Methodology in Vocabulary Teaching …………………… ….…….

13

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1.3.1 The Grammar-Translation Method …………………….….……
13
1.3.2 The Direct Method …………………………………… ….……
14
1.3.3 The CLT ………………………………………………………….
14
1.4 Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension …………………………
15
1.4.1 Reading Comprehension …………………………………………
15
1.4.2 Intensive and Extensive Reading ………………………………
16
1.4.3 The Relationship between Vocabulary and Reading
Comprehension …………………………………………………
17
1.5 Supplementary Materials for Reading ………………………………
18
1.5.1 Definition of Supplementary Materials ………………………
18
1.5.2 Selecting Appropriate Supplementary Materials ………………
19
1.6 Supplementary Reading in the Study ………………………………
20

Chapter 2: The Study ……………………………………………… …….
21

2.1. Research Questions ………………………………………………….
21
2.2. Research Approach …………………………………………………
21
2.3. Descriptions of Participants ………………………………………….
23
2.3.1. Teacher of English ………………………………………………
23
2.3.2. The Students ……………………………………………………
24
2.3.3. Materials ………………………………………………………….
25
2.4. Instruments to Collect Data ………………………………………
25
2.4.1. Questionnaire …………………………………………………
25
2.4.2. Pretest and Posttest ………………………………………………
26
2.5. Procedures …………………………………………………………….
27

Chapter 3: Data Analysis and Discussion ………………………………
28
3.1. Data Analysis …………………………………………………………
28
3.1.1. Questionnaire ……………………………………………………
28
3.1.2. Pretest and Posttest ……………………………………………….
32
3.2. Discussion on Research Questions …………………………………

35

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Part Three: Conclusion ……………………………………………………
38
1. Implications …………………………………………………………….
38
2. Limitations of the Study ………………………………………………
39
3. Suggestions for Further Studies ………………………………………
40
4. Conclusion ……………………………………………………………
40
References ………………………………………………………………
42
Appendices …………………………………………………………………
I
Appendix 1: Survey Questionnaire ……………………………………….
I
Appendix 2: Pretest ……………………………………………………….
IV
Appendix 3: Posttest ………………………………………………………
VIII
Appendix 4: Sample of Supplementary Reading Text ……………………
XIII
Appendix 5: Pretest and Posttest Scores ………………………………….
XVI

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 1. Questions to be answered when knowing a word ………………….
8
Table 2. Criteria for vocabulary selection …………………………………
10
Table 3. Students’ purposes of English learning ……………………………
30
Table 4. Students’ satisfaction of their English vocabulary on science and
technology ………………………………………………………….

31
Table 5. Students’ perception of the need to develop their English
vocabulary on science and technology …………………………….

32
Table 6. Students’ willingness to do supplementary readings …………
32
Table 7. Comparison of pretest results between two groups before
intervention ………………………………………………………

33
Table 8. Comparison of pretest and posttest results in experimental
group ……………………………………………………………….

34
Table 9. Comparison of pretest and posttest results in control group ……….
35
Table 10. Comparison of results after intervention between control and
experimental groups ………………………………………………

35


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PART ONE: INTRODUCTION

This part of the paper will be dedicated to introducing the rationale for the study, the aims
and objectives of the study as well as the research questions. It will also present the scope
of the study, method of the study and the design of the whole study.

1. Statement of the Problems and Rationale of the Study

Vocabulary has a significant position in the process of mastering a language. Linguists and
researchers quotes Wilkin, D. (1972:10):
“Without grammar, very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary, nothing can be
conveyed”
as the affirmation of the role of vocabulary.
Within the current English teaching context in Vietnamese schools in the recent years,
teachers and students are getting more complete awareness of the important role of
vocabulary. Therefore, they started to pay greater attention to vocabulary development.
Teachers have applied many teaching approaches, methods and techniques to improve the
students‟ vocabulary acquisition. The efforts from both teachers and students have made
certain progress.
As a high school English teacher, I am especially interested in developing students‟
vocabulary. Having had several years of experience in teaching English to the students
gifted in science at Hanoi – Amsterdam high school, I am concerned a lot about the needs
to improve their vocabulary on science and technology. In my points of view, the number
of reasons that makes it necessary to improve the students‟ vocabulary on science and
technology can be divided into external and internal ones.

External reasons

- There is no specific English textbook for the science gifted students at high school level
all over the country.
- At Hanoi-Amsterdam high school, the textbook “Tiếng Anh 10” issued by the MOET is
used to teach all students including science gifted students. This is a compulsory course

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book of general English for all students in the country, so not much knowledge and English
vocabulary for specific purposes such as science and technology can be found in it.

Internal reasons

- Almost all students at Hanoi-Amsterdam high school have equipped themselves with
good basic practical general English knowledge. Many of them started learning English
from the primary school or even earlier. In order to be able to enroll to this school, they
had to gain high marks at the entrance examinations including their majoring subjects,
Maths, Vietnamese and English. That is why for them, the “Tiếng Anh 10” is rather
simple. Beside the textbook and workbook, students are regularly given supplementary and
intensive exercises compiled by their classroom teachers.

- However, from my observations, the vocabulary, especially the vocabulary on science
and technology had been undervalued in comparison with grammar in the previous years
of their basic high school. Many students have difficulties in expressing their own ideas
because of the vocabulary deficiency. Most students are unfamiliar to the vocabulary on
science and technology, as well as English scientific literature.

- In results, when students want to extract useful information related to their field in
English, or have chance to attend the international examinations, camps or workshops on
science and technology, the students often face with the lexical gaps and this significantly
affects their progress and active participation.

- In fact, many students have realized the vital role of English vocabulary on science and
technology for their future study as well as carrier. They devote a great deal of time to
building up this kind of vocabulary.

In the process of trying different vocabulary teaching strategies and techniques, I found
that reading is a suitable way for students to enhance their vocabulary on science and
technology. The advantage of learning and developing vocabulary through reading is that
students can understand word meaning in the concrete context. The idea of testing the

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supplementary readings as a means of improving their students‟ vocabulary came to my
mind. It became an impulse for me to do a study on the impact of supplementary reading
on the development of English vocabulary on science and technology in grade 10 classes
for the science gifted students. In terms of students‟ benefits, this program will provide
opportunities for students to develop their vocabulary and get ready for further reading in
their future specialty.

2. Aims and Objectives of the Study

This study is firstly aimed at investigating the students‟ needs to develop English
vocabulary on science and technology. Secondly, it is aimed to experiment the impacts of
supplementary reading program on the development of grade 10 students‟ vocabulary on
science and technology.

The main objectives in this study are as follows:

- To identify students‟ perceptions of the need to develop their English vocabulary on
science and technology and their willingness to spend time on supplementary reading
program.
- To introduce the supplementary reading program and examine its effects on grade 10
students‟ English vocabulary acquisition.
- To share the findings with teachers and students who are interested in this field of English
vocabulary teaching.
- To make some recommendations for further study.

3. Research Questions

In order to achieve the above-mentioned aims and objectives, the answers to the following

research questions are needed to be found.

1. What are the students’ perceptions of the need to develop their English vocabulary on
science and technology?

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2. To what extent are the students willing to take part in the supplementary readings?
3. Is there a relationship between supplementary reading and the development of English
vocabulary on science and technology?

4. Scope of the Study

Given the time constrain, the study was conducted on the grade 10 students in two classes
gifted in science only. Taking into account that the participants are only beginners of
science and technology aspects, the vocabulary given through reading passages is mainly
English for General Science.

5. Method of the Study

To find out the answers to the above research questions, a quasi-experiment design has
been adopted.

- The pre-experiment questionnaire was applied as an instrument to investigate what
students think of the need to develop their English vocabulary on science and technology
and how they are willing to take up the additional readings.
- The pretest and posttest were conducted with 60 students divided into two randomly
selected groups to measure the differences in students‟ vocabulary acquisition.

6. Design of the Study

The study is divided into three parts as follows:

Part one presents an overview of the study in which the rationale for the research, the aims
and objectives, the research questions, the scope of the study, the research method as well
as the design of the study were briefly mentioned.




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Part two consists of three chapters.
Chapter one reviews the literature relevant to the study including the definition of
vocabulary, its aspects to be taught, the approaches to vocabulary acquisition and some
methods of vocabulary teaching. Reading comprehension and the relationship between
vocabulary and reading comprehension is also referred to. Finally, some points on
supplementary materials were mentioned in order to bring out the clarification of
supplementary readings in this study.
Chapter two is a detailed discussion of the method used in the study with the
research approach, the participants, the design of questionnaire, pretest and posttest and the
procedures that the study follows.
Chapter three presents significant findings of the study and discussion on the
research questions.

Part three includes some pedagogical implications. This chapter also points out some
limitations of the study that serve as the basis for the researcher‟s suggestions for further
study.

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PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter presents the literature relating to this study composing vocabulary and its
aspects to study; vocabulary acquisition approaches and teaching methods. It also discusses
reading and its relationship to vocabulary development, as well as supplementary material
selection.

1.1. Vocabulary

1.1.1. The Notions of Vocabulary

Linguists define vocabulary differently based on different criteria. The most general one
is from “Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics”.
Vocabulary is defined as “a set of LEXEMES, including single words, compound words

and idioms”.
According to Ur, P. (1996:60), vocabulary can be defined as
“the words we teach in foreign language. However, a new item of vocabulary may
be more than a single word: a compound of two or three words or multiword
idioms”.
Pyles, I. & Algeo, J. (1970:60) emphasizes:
“It is words that sounds and meanings interlock to allow us communicate with one
another, and it is word that we arrange together to make sentences, conversation
and discourse of all kinds”.
Lewis (1993:89) states more detailed definition of vocabulary
“… may be individual words or full sentences – institutionalized utterances – that
convey fixed social or pragmatic meaning within a given community”.
These concepts of vocabulary to some extent have given us an answer to the question what
vocabulary is. In general, vocabulary can be understood as the total number of all the
words that a language possesses, including a single word, two or three word items
expressing a single idea and multi-word idioms.

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Undeniably, sustained communication requires students to have a wide range of
vocabulary at their disposal (Cunningsworth, 1995). Some students assume that the
vocabularies of the English language are separate entities in themselves. However, English
words are more than individual items and assume their meaning in a related network and
their use are realized in a discourse environment, i.e. in an environment of context
(Schmitt, 2000). In communication, there are many cases in which the lexical meaning
cannot be deduced from analysis of the individual components of that word. Therefore, it is
helpful to instruct learners to gain vocabulary from authentic contexts.
Given vocabulary quite a „large‟ concept, its clarification is diversified. In the relation with
the research topic, in this paper, only the active and passive vocabulary is studied.

1.1.2 Active and Passive Vocabulary

In terms of the use of words, Doff A. (1988:19) divides vocabulary into active and passive
vocabulary. He calls active vocabulary the words which students will need to understand
and also use themselves while passive vocabulary are words which we want students to
understand (eg. when reading a text), but which they will not need to use themselves. In
teaching active vocabulary, it is usually worth spending time giving examples and asking
questions, so that students can really see how the word is used. Meanwhile, the passive
vocabulary is often presented quickly or left for students to guess from the context.
Students should understand far more words than they can produce so we should not try to
treat all new words as active vocabulary.
Sharing the same point of view, Gairns R. & Stuart R. (1986:64) refers to Receptive and
Productive Vocabulary Knowledge. They suggest „receptive‟ vocabulary (or passive
vocabulary) to mean “language items which can only be recognized and comprehended in
the context of reading and listening materials” and „productive‟ vocabulary (or active
vocabulary) to be “language items which the leaner can recall and use appropriately in
speech and writing”.
However, it is very often that the transition from a student‟s receptive vocabulary item to
productive one occurs after repeatedly hearing or reading the item over a period of time or
by continual practice. Reading is considered one of the common ways to impulse this
transition process.

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1.1.3 What Need to Be Taught in Vocabulary

According to Ur, P. (1996), when vocabulary is introduced to learners, pronunciation and
spelling, word form, grammar, collocation, aspects of meaning, word formation need to be
taught.
Nation, I. S. P. (1990:13) explains in a chart what knowing a word means. He indicates
that what means “knowing” a word depends on whether the word is learnt for receptive
skills or for productive skills.

Receptive (R)
Productive (P)

Form
Spoken form
What does the word
sound like?
How is the word
pronounced?
Written form
What does the word
look like?
How the word written
and spelled?



Position
Grammatical patterns

In which patterns does
the word occur?
In which patterns
must we use the word?
Collocation
What words or types
of words can be
expected before or

after the word?
What words or types
of words must we use
with this word?


Function
Frequency
How common is the
word?
How often should the
word be used?
Appropriateness
Where would we
expect to meet this
word?
Where can this word
be used?


Meaning
Concepts
What does the word
mean?
What word should be
used to express this
meaning?
Associations
What other words
does this word make

us think of?
What other words
could we use instead
of this one?

Table 1: Questions to be answered when knowing a word

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Taylor, L. (1990) also shared the same point of view. Their argument is that knowing a
word involves not only knowing its spelling, morphology, pronunciation and meaning or
the equivalent of the word in the learner‟s mother tongue. Besides these aspects, the learner
must know its collocation, register, polysemy (a single word with many meanings) and its
homonym (different words with the same spelling and pronunciation).
Gairns R. & Stuart R. (1986) also claims that it is very important that the teachers (and in
many cases, the learners) must decide whether a vocabulary item is worth acquiring
productively or receptively.

In this paper, English used in science and technology is mentioned. It is not another kind of
language, it does not possess separate, special grammar, special pronunciation, special
spelling or orthography of words. However, scientific English has some characteristic that
distinguish it from the English language used in other fields.
Strevens (1980:465-466) points out seven characteristics of scientific English as follows:
- Quantifications, formulae, symbols
- Greek and Latin roots and affixes
- Precise and frequent use of logical-grammatical connectors
- Long nominal groups
- Frequent passives
- The grammar and lexis needed for the rhetoric of science
- Special lexis

1.1.4 Criteria for Selecting the Vocabulary to Teach

The vocabulary should be selected in a suitable teaching setting. That is, every
situation is different and so core items in one context may be useless in another.
Teaching can effectively deal with only a small amount of information about
vocabulary items at a time. Thus, teachers should take into consideration the
following factors.




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Criteria
Order of
importance
Definition
Frequency
1
Average number of occurrences of a word in a
language
Range
2
A measure of the different types of texts in which a
word occurs
Language needs
3
The words that are regarded as „require‟ by the learner
in order to communicate
Availability and
familiarity

4
The word the learner is mostly in contact with and
somehow „know‟
Coverage
5
The capacity of a word to take the place of other words
Regularity
6
How is the use of a word „spread‟ over the language
Learn ability
7
Are some words easier to learn than other?

Table 2: Criteria for vocabulary selection
(Source:

1.2. Approaches to Vocabulary Acquisition

1.2.1. Acquisition vs. Learning Vocabulary

In L2 vocabulary teaching and learning, “there is a difference between a „vocabulary
lesson‟ (where, for example, the main objective is for the students to learn and use a
number of vocabulary items) and a lesson in which vocabulary comes up as part of another
activity (where, for example, the teacher helps students deal with vocabulary they may
meet in an authentic listening or reading text)” (Gower, R:145). The former kind of
lessons requires students to learn vocabulary while the latter one instructs them to acquire
vocabulary. It is worth distinguishing between „learning vocabulary‟ and „acquiring
vocabulary‟.
According to Nguyen Bang (Et.al) 2003, it is impossible to teach all English vocabulary in
the school curriculum:

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“If the teacher tries to teach all the new words thoroughly, there will be no time to
do anything in the lesson”.
It is compelled for teachers to choose to teach about 2,500 high frequency words (which
comprise 90% of all conversation) and develop strategies for helping students to
understand and remember other 40,000-60,000 low frequency words (use of dictionaries,
helping students deduce words in contexts, etc.)

1.2.2 Incidental Vocabulary Acquisition and Intentional Vocabulary Learning

In L2 lexical teaching and learning, there are two main approaches to vocabulary
acquisition: incidental learning and intentional learning.

Incidental learning is defined as the type of learning that is byproduct of doing or learning
something else. In terms of vocabulary learning, incidental learning always means the
approach of learning vocabulary through texts, working on tasks or doing other activities
that are not directly related to vocabulary. Vocabulary forms, collocations, parts of speech
are mainly the results of incidental learning.

Intentional learning is defined as being designed, planned for, or intended by teachers or
students. The intentional learning always focuses on vocabulary itself, and combines with
all kinds of conscious vocabulary learning strategies and means of memorizing words. The
sense of a word, meaning symbolizing and innuendo between words need intentional
learning (Nation, 1990).

Undoubtedly, vocabulary can be learnt intentionally with the learners‟ intention and desire.
Enormous numbers of vocabulary teaching and learning strategies and techniques are
presented and practiced by teachers and learners all over the world. Many others are being
discussed and experimented with the goal to improve the vocabulary learning process.

However, many scholars agree that second language vocabulary learning is a very complex
phenomenon involving several different learning processes. Besides the intentional
vocabulary learning, many researchers argue that vocabulary can be acquired incidentally.

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According to Huckin, T. & Coady, J. (1999:181-193), except for the first few thousand
most common words, vocabulary in second language can be obtained without learners‟
intention.
In this study, both receptive and productive use of vocabulary is tended to be involved. The
teacher may select some key words from each supplementary reading given to students to
present before their reading. While reading, students are free to make decision which
words they want to learn thoroughly, which ones they just need to know or guess the
meaning for the comprehension purpose.

1.2.3. Implicit Learning and Explicit Learning Process

The incidental vocabulary acquisition as a process involves implicit and/or explicit
learning. The most common distinction between involving implicit and explicit learning is
that implicit or incidental learning is often defined as “accidental learning of information
without the intention of remembering that information” and explicit learning, on the other
hand, refers to the application of vocabulary learning strategies on the part of learner.
(Hulstijn, J., Hollander, M. & Greidanus, T., 1996:327). Krashen (1989:440-464)
presented that implicit learning holds that meanings of new words are acquired
subconsciously as a result of repeated exposures in a range of contexts, where the
conscious focus is not on form, but on the message. Explicit learning holds that the
employment of a range of vocabulary learning strategies can greatly facilitate and enhance
vocabulary acquisition. On this view, learners are seen as active processors of information.
Ellis, N. (1995: 12-16) also claimed that the implicit vocabulary learning holds true for
simple pattern recognition of surface forms of input and output. Explicit learning, on the
other hand, is necessary for the mapping of those surface input and output forms to their

corresponding semantic or conceptual representation.
Ellis, N. (1997) claims that both implicit and explicit learning mechanisms are involved in
incidental vocabulary acquisition: while the acquisition of a word‟s form, collocation and
grammatical class information is said to involve implicit processes, acquiring a word‟s
semantic properties and mapping word form to meaning are the result from explicit
learning process.

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In incidental learning, the teacher‟s focus is on general understanding of a text or on the
meaning of a word, ignoring or paying less attention to the form of a word. However,
recognizing the word meaning in the context is only one aspect of word knowledge.
Knowing a word also involves many other aspects, such as grammatical patterns and
collocation. It also includes how to use it in suitable situations and using the word to stand
for the meaning it represents and being able to think of suitable situations for the word
(Nation, 1990). In order to deepen the knowledge of these words, students sometimes need
the guidance from the teacher. Without the teacher‟s help, despite the great effort students
spend on the learning, it is not likely for students to acquire the knowledge, nor do they
have large amount of time to read extensively to learn it subconsciously.

1.3. Methodology in Vocabulary Teaching

According to Mackey, W.F. (1971),
“the method used has often been said to be the cause of success or failure in
language learning”.
In recent years, foreign language teaching has undergone many dramatic changes. In order
to understand the scope of the subject, language teachers should have a clear perspective
on the development of language teaching approaches as well as their inter-relationship
among developed ones. Based on the concrete teaching situation, teachers should make
decision what an appropriate approach or method is to apply. Following is a brief
presentation of some major foreign language teaching methods and their application in the

vocabulary language teaching.

1.3.1. The Grammar-Translation Method

The Grammar-translation method is one of the oldest method foreign language teachings.
In general language teaching, the classes are taught mainly in L1, with little active use of
target language. With regard to teaching vocabulary, much of it is taught in the form of
lists of isolated words. Then students are expected to study and memorize that list of
vocabulary together with their mother tongue equivalents. And the students are also given
the grammatical rules and paradigm to put words together. Besides, the method aims at

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providing the rules with wide literary vocabulary in written exercises. Teachers also find it
an easy and quick way to explain the meaning of words.
In this method, the teachers‟ main task is to give the students grammatical rules, paradigm
and the list of vocabulary by writing down the new words and its meaning in L1 to help
students to do the written exercise in grammatical analysis and translation, not the
exercises in the context of text. This method is easy to apply and simple to test and to
control.

1.3.2. The Direct Method

According to this method, the second language learning should be treated as the first
language learning. It associates directly foreign utterances with object and actions without
the use of the native language. During the process of teaching and learning, only the target
language is used, no mother tongue is allowed. This method requires no translation
between L1 and target language, little or no analysis of grammatical rules. Besides, it lays
an emphasis on correct pronunciation and grammar from beginning.
This method is very useful for teaching vocabulary, the teaching introduces through
objects, pictures, etc. The words used are very common, active and concerning daily

activities. By this method, concrete vocabulary is taught by demonstration while the
meanings of abstract words are made clear by association of ideas.

1.3.3. The CLT

The communicative approach which teaches students how to use the language is
considered to be at least as important as learning the language itself. In this approach,
vocabulary is learnt through for “real-life” communication in classroom, through
interaction in the target language and through enhancement of the learner‟s own
experiences as important contributing elements to classroom learning and through an
attempt to link classroom language learning with language activation outside the
classroom.

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This approach of teaching makes students more confident when communicating with one
another. Being motivating, they also become more active in class. That is the reason why
CLT is considered a good teaching approach by a lot of researchers and teachers.

1.4. Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension

1.4.1. Reading Comprehension

A range of definitions of reading comprehension has been developed by researchers.
Goodman, K.S. (1971:135) terms reading as
“a psycholinguistic process by which the reader, a language user, reconstruct, as
best as he can, a message which has been decoded by a writer as a graphic
display”.
According to Grellet, F. (1981:3), “reading comprehension or understanding a written text
means extracting the required information from it as effectively as possible”. In this sense,
reading comprehension simply means reading and understanding. It should be noted that

reading comprehension is not merely decoding-translating written symbols into
corresponding sound, but comprehension is a process of negotiating understanding
between the reader and the writer. The reader, as s/he reads, receives information from the
author via the words, sentences, paragraphs, and so forth, and tries to understand the inner
feelings of the writer.

Sharing the same opinion, Carrel (1997:21) indicates:
“Reading comprehension is reconstruction, interpretation and evaluation of what
author of written content means by using knowledge gained from life experience”.
One more definition put forth by Nuttal, C. (1996:92):
“reading comprehension is best described as an understanding between the author
and the reader”.
In this case, reading comprehension is not just to get the information but also to respond to
what is written so as to understand the hidden messages sent by the writer.


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From the definitions above, one can see that reading comprehension is a complex process
involving an active search for information and interaction with the text; it requires the
constant constructive involvement of the reader in what s/he is doing; and it demands the
use of higher mental abilities. The mental activities used to construct meaning from the
text are generally referred to as reading strategies or reading skills.

1.4.2 Intensive and Extensive Reading

Reading is classified in many different ways. In terms of the scope and objects of this
study, only intensive and extensive types of reading are focus on.
According to Dawson, C. (1984:43) students reading intensively look at every word, take
notice of punctuation, sentences and paragraphs, understand the grammar. Intensive
reading is often used as an exercise to teach the students new vocabulary as well as present

and/or practice the rules of the English language. Beginners and low intermediate groups
tend to read intensively. Most textbook reading has, until recently, been intensive.
Through intensive reading, vocabulary can be taught carefully. However, the vocabulary of
a language in general and English vocabulary in particular is always innumerable. Laufer,
B. (1989) states that reading fluency requires that a reader knows 95% or more of the
words encountered in a text for minimal comprehension; and these words need to be
recognized automatically with minimal conscious effort. That sort of vocabulary
knowledge requires knowledge of 12,000-20,000 different words (Laufer, 1989; Nation,
1990). There is, undeniably, a need of another type to develop students‟ vocabulary than
intensive reading.

The aim of extensive reading is to get on the story, to read for gist, and to read much more
quickly (Dawson C., 1984). In L2 reading context, it is now recognized that the best way to
develop such a large vocabulary is to read extensively. Many researchers agree that
students have opportunities to develop such a large automatically recognized vocabulary
from consistent, extensive reading.
The kinds of intensive practice are not always sufficient in themselves to ensure the
development of successful readers. Intensive reading can activate the transfer of reading
skills and strategies from the mother tongue to L2; teach specific skills like the efficient

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use of the dictionary if it is needed, and increase the students‟ general understanding of
language and their ability to understand socio-cultural meaning. But of equal importance is
the kind of practice that comes from extensive reading, lots of practice in reading different
types of material. Only then are students given the opportunity to operate strategies like
prediction or guessing word meaning and to develop their ability to follow lines of
argument. In the context of teaching English vocabulary for high schools‟ students in
Vietnam, intensive reading practice in class needs to be complemented by extensive
reading in or out of class.
In this study, a kind of extensive readings was applied, but with the guide from teacher

before reading in order to ensure the best progress of students.

1.4.3 The Relationship between Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension

Virtually all second language reading researchers agree that vocabulary development is a
critical component of reading comprehension. Barnett, M. (1986) and Strother, J. and
Ulijn, J. (1987) have demonstrated that vocabulary is an important predictor of reading
ability.
It is important to recognize that the core vocabulary argument, that the 2,000 most frequent
vocabulary items account for 80% of all words in texts, may be useful for basic reading
instruction (e.g., Nation, 1990); however, it falls far short of the need to know many of the
less frequent words (Carter, 1987).
Hedge, F. (1985:23) also agrees that every student needs to master a progressively
expanding vocabulary, both active and passive. The teacher can introduce new words
carefully through the context of lessons or course materials, but the main way for a student
to gain control of an adequate vocabulary is through reading.
It is through extensive reading that a student can best come to understand which words are
appropriate in which contexts. This is a point Winkins, D. (1972:132) makes when he
writes:
“Through reading the learner … is exposed to the lexical items embedded in
natural linguistic contexts, and as a result they begin slowly to have the same
meaningfulness for him that they have for the native speaker”.


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As a student sees words in different textual contexts, he gradually develops a more
comprehension of their meaning and possible uses…. However, graded readers
undoubtedly offer wider exposure to English than the more limited material of a general
course book and therefore a „step on the way‟ to mastery of vocabulary.
The particular relationship between vocabulary knowledge and language skills is

undoubtedly. Especially, vocabulary has a close relationship with reading skills which in
turn have an interconnection with reading comprehension. This relationship seems logical
because of the fact that students get meaning from what they read, they also need both
many words in their vocabulary repertoire and ability to use various strategies to establish
the meanings of new words when they encounter them. It is the case that most of the weak
students who don‟t have enough vocabulary or effective word-meaning strategies often
struggle to achieve comprehension in reading. Also, as they don‟t have sufficient word
knowledge to understand what they read, they often avoid reading. As a result, the students
who don‟t read much don‟t have the opportunity to see and learn many new words in
various contexts, but the students who read more can become better readers and gain more
words. Their reading comprehension skills, in consequences, are gradually improved.

1.5. Supplementary Materials for Reading

1.5.1. Definition of Supplementary Materials

“Supplementary materials” is one of the basic terms in a glossary proposed by Tomlinson,
B. (1998) in Materials Development in Language Teaching. In his opinion, supplementary
materials are defined as
“…materials designed to be used in addition to the core materials of a course.
They are usually related to the development of skills of reading, writing, listening
or speaking rather that to the learning of language items” (Tomlinson, 1998:xiii)
Actually, most language-teaching course books probably need supplementing to some
extent, if only in order to tailor them to the needs of a particular class or to offer richer
options. According to Ur, P. (1991), there are “packages” of supplementary materials such
as computers, simplified readers, overhead projectors, posters, pictures or games. Each

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type, obviously, has certain contribution in language teaching and its own good points as
well as drawbacks.

1.5.2. Selecting Appropriate Supplementary Materials

It is undeniable that supplementary materials lend itself very well to the goals of ESL
instruction. However, it is important to consider carefully the selection criteria of extra
materials. According to Nuttall, C. (1996:170), three main guidelines should be taken into
consideration when choosing a text: suitability of content, exploitability and readability.
In his opinion, suitability of content is concerned with the text‟s ability to address students‟
needs and interests. A text with interesting content makes the learners‟ task far more
rewarding and the classroom more effective. William, E. (1984) confirms that students‟
motivation for reading increases when they read what they are interested in and that this
results in improved reading. By doing so, it serves as a motivating factor, which produces
in the readers a desire to read more into the particular text.

Exploitability means facilitation of learning. When you exploit a text, you make use of it to
develop the students‟ competence as readers. Reading texts should not only interest the
readers, but also develop their language competence. Therefore, different kinds of
exercises and activities should be designed to best exploit the text so that the course‟s
objectives could be obtained.

Readability refers to the combination of structural and lexical difficulty. That means the
text must be suitable with students‟ English proficiency levels in terms of vocabulary,
syntax, and style. The teachers must know what their students‟ language proficiencies are
to find out what vocabulary and structures the students are familiar with in order to choose
text at the right level and balance different levels of proficiencies.