Difficulties encountered by the 9th form students in learning English vocabulary at Chu Văn An Secondary School, Thanh Hóa = Những khó khăn trong việc học từ vự

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

LÊ THỊ MAI


DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED BY THE 9
TH
FORM
STUDENTS IN LEARNING ENGLISH VOCABULARY AT
CHU VĂN AN SECONDARY SCHOOL, THANH HÓA

Những khó khăn trong việc học từ vựng Tiếng Anh
của học sinh lớp 9, trƣờng trung học cơ sở Chu Văn An, Thanh Hóa


M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS


FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY
CODE: 60140111





Hanoi, 2014
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
*********************

LÊ THỊ MAI


DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED BY THE 9
TH
FORM
STUDENTS IN LEARNING ENGLISH VOCABULARY AT
CHU VĂN AN SECONDARY SCHOOL, THANH HÓA

Những khó khăn trong việc học từ vựng Tiếng Anh
của học sinh lớp 9, trƣờng trung học cơ sở Chu Văn An, Thanh Hóa


M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS


FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY
CODE: 60140111
SUPERVISOR: Dr. DƢƠNG THỊ NỤ





Hanoi, 2014

i

DECLARATION

I hereby certify that the thesis entitled
“DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED BY THE 9
TH
FORM STUDENTS IN
LEARNING ENGLISH VOCABULARY AT CHU VĂN AN SECONDARY
SCHOOL, THANH HOÁ” is the result of my own research for the Degree of
Master of Arts at University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam
National University – Ha Noi and this thesis has not been submitted for any degree
at any other university or tertiary institution.


Signature


Le Thi Mai

ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First I would like to express my sincere and deep gratitude to my supervisor,
Dr. Duong Thi Nu, who has given me great help with this thesis. Without her
experienced guidance, valuable suggestions and dutiful supervision, my research
would be far from completed.
I would also like to acknowledge my debt of gratitude to Dr. Le Hung Tien,
Dr. Le Van Canh and the staff members at Faculty of Graduate and Post Graduate
Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National
University – Ha Noi for their valuable lectures, which laid the foundation of this
thesis and for their knowledge as well as their sympathy.
I am also grateful to the librarians at the Resource Centre, who are willing to
lend me a lot of interesting books and valuable materials for my thesis.
I take this opportunity to thank all students and teachers at Chu Van An secondary
school for their help and co-operation during the time I collected the data.
Last but not least, I would like to express my thanks to my beloved family
who continually gave me a lot of support and encouragement for the fulfillment of
this challenging work.

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ABSTRACT
No doubt that vocabulary is a significant factor in language acquisition since
words play an important role in expressing our feeling, emotions, and ideas to
others during the act of communication. However, learning vocabulary is really a
big challenge for students in learning a foreign language. The aims of this study are
to find out difficulties in learning English vocabulary of the 9
th
form students at Chu
Văn An secondary school and suggest possible solutions to help them overcome
those difficulties. To achieve these aims, a survey research was conducted to 130
students of Chu Văn An secondary school by means of questionnaire, an informal
interview with 3 English teachers of the school and classroom observation were also
used as tools to clarify the information from the students. The findings from data
analysis show that the difficulties were caused by both internal factors and external
factors. The internal factors are such factors coming from the students themselves
as, their lack of motivation and effective ways to learn vocabulary and also their
natural characteristics of young age. The external factors are English learning
environment, vocabulary learning task and lack of time for studying English. These
factors affected and caused difficulties for students in learning vocabulary process.
The study gives some solutions to deal with these factors including encouraging
students’self- study, providing students with learning vocabulary strategies and
improving various techniques in teaching vocabulary.

iv
ABBREVIATIONS
L2: Second language
CVASS: Chu Van An secondary school















v
LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES
Charts:
Chart 1: Students’ level of English vocabulary
Chart 2: Students’ attitudes towards the importance of vocabulary
Chart 3: Students’ attitudes towards learning new words
Chart 4: Students’ difficulties in learning new words
Chart 5: Students’ evaluation of their ways of learning new words

Chart 6: Teachers’ ways to present new words
Chart 7: Students’ evaluation towards teachers’ teaching method
Tables:
Table 1: Students’ time for learning new words
Table 2: Students’ ways of learning new words
Table 3: Students’ most interested way of vocabylary practice
Table 4: Students’ expectation towards teachers’ activities in vocabylary lessons
Table 5: Students’ expectation to ways of learning new words









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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
DECLARATION …………………………………….… i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS …………………………………………… ii
ABSTRACT …………………………………………………………… iii
ABBREVIATIONS ………………………… ………………………… iv
LIST OF CHARTS AND TABLES …………………………………… v
TABLE OF CONTENT vi
PART A: INTRODUCTION ………………….………….………… 1
1. Rationale for the study ……………………………………….……… 1
2. Aims of the study …………………………………………………… 2

3. Research questions …………………………………………………… 2
4. Scope of the study ………………………………………………….… 2
5. Methods of the study …………………………………………………. 3
6. Organization of the study …………………………………………… 3
PART B: DEVELOPMENT ………………………………………… 4
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW ……………………………… 4
1.1. An overview of vocabulary….……………………………………… 4
1.1.1. Definitions of vocabulary ………………… ……………… 4
1.1.2. Importance of vocabulary in language teaching and learning 4
1.2. Vocabulary learning …………………………………………… 5
1.2.1. Knowing a word……………………………………………… 5
1.2.1.1. Form of a word.…………………………………………… 5
1.2.1.2. Word meanings…………………………………………… 6
1.2.1.3. Use of a word.………………………………………………. 7
1.2.2. Approaches to vocabulary learning………………………… 7
1.2.2.1. Explicit vocabulary learning……………………………… 7
1.2.2.2. Emplicit vocabulary learning……………………………… 7

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1.3. Factors affecting vocabulary learning………………………………. 8
1.3.1. Internal factors……………………………… 8
1.3.2. External factors……………………………… 9
1.4. Previous work review……………………………………………… 10
CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY ……………………………………… 13
2.1. Context of the study ………………………………………………… 13
2.1.1. The teachers and their teaching methods…………………… 13
2.1.2. The students and their background………………………… 13
2.1.3. The teaching materials and facilities…………………………. 14
2.2. Subjects of the study………………………………………………… 14
2.3. Data collection instruments………………………………………… 15

CHAPTER III: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ……………… 17
CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND SUGGESTIONS ………………… 26
3.Findings ……………………………………………………………… 26
3.1. Internal factors …………… 26
3.1.1. Lack of motivation ………………………………………… 26
3.1.2. Ineffective ways of learning vocabulary ……………… 27
3.1.3. Age………………………………… 27
3.2. External factors …………………… 28
3.2.1. The English learning environment…………………………… 28
3.2.2. Vocabulary learning task ………………………… 30
3.2.3. Lack of time ………………………………………………… 30
3.3. Others ……………………………………… 30
3.3.1. Lack of teaching aids and reference materials 30
3.3.2. Intralexical factors …………………………… 30
4. Suggestions ……………………………………………………… 30
4.1. Encouraging students’ self-study ……………………………… 30
4.2. Providing students with different vocabulary learning strategies 32
4.3. Improving various techniques in teaching vocabulary…………. 36

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PART C. CONCLUSION …………………………………………… 40
1. Recapitulation of the study……………………………………………. 40
2. Conclusions………………………………………………… 40
3. Limitations of the study ………………………………………………. 41
4. Suggestions for further research ……………………………………… 41
REFERENCES ……………………………………………………… 42
APPENDICES I

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PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale for the study
As global communication among people has increased, English has become
the first choice for cross-border communication worldwide. English is the language
most widely taught as a foreign language in more than 100 countries in the world.
In Vietnam, since the economic open door policy, English has been also considered
to be the most popular foreign language. Especially after becoming a member of the
World Trade Organization, English has become a great demand for schooling and
job opportunities.
In learning a foreign language in general, and English in particular,
vocabulary plays an important role. Because meaning is chiefly conveyed through
words, vocabulary is the foundation of communication, without which
communication would be very limited. McCarthy (1990) states that “No matter how
well the student learns grammar, no matter how successfully the sounds of L2 are
mastered, without words to express a wide range of meanings, communication in an
L2 just cannot happen in any meaningful way”. By having rich vocabulary, students
can improve their listening, speaking, reading and writing abilities, not only in the

way they comprehend but also in the way they produce language. In order to become
independent users of English, students should acquire an adequate number of words and
should know how to use them accurately. However, vocabulary acquisition is really
challenging to every student, especially students at secondary schools.
In the context of Chu Văn An secondary school (CVASS), English is a
compulsory subject to the students. Vocabulary lessons are not paid enough
attention in order to help students learn new words more effectively. As a result,
most of them have formed a habit of only learning new words found in their text
books or through teachers’ sources. They normally learn vocabulary by such
methods as listing new words on a notebook and learning them by heart, writing
new words repeatedly down on papers, reading new words out loud several times,
and so forth. These above seem not to be very effective and interesting ways for
vocabulary acquisition. Moreover, students only think of vocabulary learning as
knowing the primary meaning of new words, they ignore all other functions of the

2
words. Many of them may also recognize a word in a written or spoken form and
think that they already "know the word", but they may not be able to use that word
properly in different contexts or pronounce it correctly. Many students, after
learning English for many years, can only read and understand short and simple
texts and hardly communicate in English.
As a teacher of English, I have dealt with many questions relating to
vocabulary learning which are raised by my students or among my colleagues. For
example, “why is it very difficult to remember new words?” or “what are the
effective ways of learning vocabulary?”, etc. Therefore, I conducted a study to find
out the causes of their difficulties. Then, the factors that most affect their learning of
English vocabulary can be identified. The solutions to these problems will be
suggested to improve the learning and teaching of vocabulary at Chu Văn An
secondary school.
2. Aims of the study

The study aims to find out the factors that cause difficulties for the 9
th
form
students in learning English vocabulary at Chu Văn An secondary school. Once
these factors have been identified, solutions to help students study vocabulary more
effectively will be suggested.
3. Research questions
This research was carried out to find out the answers to the following
research questions:
- What are the factors causing difficulties for the 9
th
form students’ learning of
English vocabulary at Chu Văn An secondary school ?
- What solutions should be suggested to help the students learn English vocabulary better?
4. Scope of the study
The study was designed to find out the factors that cause difficulties in
learning English vocabulary faced by the 9
th
form students at CVASS. In the
context of teaching and learning English at CVASS, English vocabulary mentioned
here mean the new words in the English textbook Tieng Anh 9 that students are
taught or learn by themselves. The target population is the 9
th
form students, who
have experienced from 6 to 9 years of learning English, but their English knowledge

3
is not very good. The solutions are also provided to improve the students’ English
vocabulary learning at CVASS.
5. Methods of the study

In order to achieve the purpose of the study, both qualitative and quantitative
methods are used. That is all comments, conclusions, suggestions given in the thesis
are based on the analysis of data from a survey questionnaire responded by 130 9
th

form students, an informal interview answered by three English teachers of the
school and author’s classroom- observation.
6. Organization of the study
The thesis is organized into three main parts:
Part A - Introduction.
In this part the rationale, the aims, the research questions, the scope, the
method, and the organization of the study are presented.
Part B - Development
This part is divided into four chapters.
Chapter 1: Literature Review
This chapter presents the theoretical background for the study. It focuses on
some concepts in the second language vocabulary learning and some factors
affecting second language vocabulary learning. It also provides a brief review of
previous study of similar topic.
Chapter 2: Methodology
This chapter presents a detailed description of the research methodology.
Chapter 3: Data analysis and discussion.
This chapter describes the analysis of data and discussion
Chapter 4: Findings and solutions
In this part, some main findings in the study and some teaching and learning
implications are presented.
Part C - Conclusion
This part summarizes the study, states the concluding remarks, the limitation
of the research and offers suggestions for further research.

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

1.1. An overview of vocabulary
1.1.1. Definitions of vocabulary
There have been a wide variety of definitions of vocabulary. Different
linguistics defined vocabulary in different ways. Ur (1996:60) 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”. Richards and Platt (1992: 400) also noted that vocabulary is “a set of
lexemes, including words, compound words and idioms”. Pyles and Algeo (1970:96) noted
that: “It is in words that sounds and meanings inter-lock to follow us to communicate with one
another, and it is words that we arrange together to make sentences, conversation and
discourses of all kinds”. These statements indicate that vocabulary is “the total number of
words in a language” (Hornby, 1995:1331).
In this thesis, vocabulary is defined 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 of which meaning cannot be deduced from the analysis
of the component words but only understood in the sentences, or in contexts.
1.1.2. Importance of vocabulary in language teaching and learning
The prominent role of vocabulary knowledge in second language learning
has been increasingly recognized. Vocabulary is commonly accepted to be the most
important language elements among pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar.
McCarthy (1990: viii) stated that “the biggest component of any language course is
vocabulary”. “No matter how well the student learns grammar, no matter how
successfully the sounds of L2 are mastered, without words to express a wide range

of meanings, communication in an L2 just cannot happen in any meaningful way.”
Wilkin (1972:11) emphasizes this in his saying, “without grammar, very little can
be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed”. A leading
linguistic researcher Paul Nation notes:“Vocabulary is not an end in itself. A rich vocabulary
makes the skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing easier to perform”.

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This is true in learning a foreign language. If a learner has a wide range of
vocabulary, he can help himself understood and understand others easily. However,
if his vocabulary is limited he will surely have difficulty in doing so and in English
learning. Therefore, nobody can learn a language without learning vocabulary, and
nobody can be a good language user without a reasonably rich vocabulary. These all
show that the success of a student in becoming proficient in any language depends
in part on the extent and richness of his/ her vocabulary, so vocabulary teaching
should be part of the syllabus, and vocabulary should be taught on a well-planned
and regular basis.
1.2. Vocabulary learning
1.2.1. Knowing a word
According to Nation (1990:30-33) and Taylor (1990:1-4) , knowing a word
involves not only knowing its spelling, morphology, pronunciation, meaning, or the
equivalent of the word in the learner’s mother tongue but also its collocations,
register, polysemy, and even its homonym.
Miller and Gildea (1987) points out that “knowing a word does not simply
mean being able to recognize what it looks and sounds like or being able to give the
word’s dictionary definition. Knowing a word by sight and sound and knowing its
dictionary definition are not the same as knowing how to use the word correctly and
understanding it when it is heard or seen in various contexts
According to Cook (2001:61), “a word is more than its meaning”, knowing a
word may involve four aspects: form of the word, grammatical properties, lexical
properties, and general meaning and specific meaning.

In summary, aspects of knowing a word compose of: form of a word, word
meanings and use of a word.
1.2.1.1. Form of a word
* Pronunciation and spelling: Each English word has its spelling and
pronunciation. Learners have to know all the spelling, pronunciation and
irregularities of the word. To many students, the complex relationship between
sound and spelling in English seems to make the language inexplicable.

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* Grammar: Regarding Ruth Gairns and Stuart Redman’s view (1986), foreign
language learners need some guidance on how to use vocabulary accurately. They
need to know the grammatical function, the unpredictable change of form in certain
contexts. For example, when they learn the noun person they should learn its plural
form as people. The form of a word can change unpredictably in certain
grammatical contexts. Therefore, when learners learn a new word, they should
know this information at the same time they learn the basic form of a word. For
example, when a verb such as teach is learnt, it should be noticed that its irregular
past form is taught.
* Collocation: Collocation is the way in which two or more words go together in a
certain context. In many cases a word has more than one meaning only. Then it is
the context and collocations that give essential clues to recognize which meaning is
intended. Therefore, this is another piece of information of a new item, which may
worth paying attention to. For example, we say take a photo but make a speech we
cannot say a handsome girl instead of a beautiful girl.
1.2.1.2. Word meanings
There are various kinds of meaning, which include denotational meaning,
connotational meaning, pragmatic meaning or appropriateness, and meaning
relationship. The denotation refers to things or concepts. This is often the sort of
definition given in dictionaries such as fish denotes a mammal that lives in the
water. The connotation is association, or positive and negative feelings the word

evokes which may not be indicated in a dictionary definition. Appropriateness is
more subtle aspect of meaning which indicates whether a particular item is appropriate one
to use in a certain context or not. Associations or meaning relationships show how the
meaning of one item relates to the meaning of the others.
Word - formation: Words can change their shape and their grammatical value.
Learners need to know affixing rules and derivation principles in word formation
and how to use words to fit different grammatical contexts. For example, if learners
know the meaning of affixes dis-, in- and -able, this will help them guess the
meaning of words such as , disappointed , ineffective, fashionable.


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1.2.1.3. Use of a word
The most important for students to learn a new word is to know how to use it
appropriately and effectively in different oral written contexts or else it may become
a dead or forgetable word. In order to use a word well, they need to know how to
collocate it with other words correctly. Therefore, they should put words into
collocation. For example, when learning words like “to remember” and “to miss”,
the student may note that both words mean “to memorize” but can be distinguished
by the words they collocate with , we often say I miss my family but we cannot say
I miss to post the letter.
1.2.2. Approaches to vocabulary learning
1.2.2.1. Explicit vocabulary learning
A traditional and common method in teaching vocabulary is explicit
vocabulary learning. Nation (1990) puts it that it helps to fill the gap of vocabulary
size between native speakers and a second or foreign language learner within a short
of time. Nation (1990) demonstrates that explicit attention is given to direct
vocabulary learning. That means learners are specially instructed to pay attention
directly to activities in which vocabulary acquisition occurs immediately. For
example, dictionary use, vocabulary lists and their translations, direct vocabulary

explanations, learning affixes and roots, semantic mapping and matching words
with different definitions, etc. or when students are doing word-building exercises,
guessing the meaning of unknown words in context, learning words in word lists, or
playing vocabulary games, they are learning vocabulary explicitly. Such activities
usually take place in class with a lot of help and instruction from teachers.
1.2.2.2. Implicit vocabulary learning
Implicit vocabulary learning has been explained by researchers as incidental
vocabulary learning. It is defined by Nation (2001) as one of the important
strategies in vocabulary acquisition. It refers to the fact that a person can expand his
or her vocabulary knowledge while being involved in any language activities
without any specific intention to focus on vocabulary. This method includes
learning from joining conversations, listening to radio, stories, music, watching
movies, television, especially extensive reading, or any other exposure of input and
output both in and out of the classroom (Nation, 2001).

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1.3. Factors affecting vocabulary learning
1.3.1. Internal factors
Internal factors concern the intrinsic characteristics of students that can play
an important role in learning an English vocabulary. According to Felix (1977, as
cited in Leontiev and Jame, 1981), “Students are the most important factor in
learning an English vocabulary” (p.133). Some of these characteristics are age,
motivation, behavior, and so forth. According to Lingtbown and Spada (1999:49
68), “those factors that affect the learner in language learning also have an effect in
his vocabulary learning”.
* Age: A learner’s age is one of the important factors affecting the process of
second language acquisition. Collier (1988), expresses that successful language
acquisition depends on the learner’s age. In the field of vocabulary learning,
Singleton offers what he believes to be the most plausible conclusion now regarding
the age factor and lexical acquisition:“ The age factor operates in relation to second

language vocabulary learning in the same way as its operates in relation to other
aspects of second language learning, ie.” (1995:20 - my italics-).
* Motivation: Motivation is one of the important aspects of second language
acquisition. Motivation is a kind of desire for learning. It is very difficult to teach a
second language in a learning environment if the learner does not have a desire to
learn a language. Reece & Walker (1997) express that motivation is a key in the
second language learning process. They stress that a less able student who highly
motivated can achieve greater success than the more intelligent student who is not
well motivated. Therefore, the stronger learning motivation is, the more passion
learners have for learning, the more lasting the learning activity will be, the more
difficulties can be overcome.
* Vocabulary learning strategies: It is know that mastery of vocabulary is a
gradual process and needs an effort invested by the learners. In vocabulary learning,
vocabulary learning strategies are considered important and have received much
attention in the area of second language learning. Gu and Johnson (1996) point out
that learners who employ selective attending strategies may know which words are
important and necessary for them to learn so that they are able to comprehend the
passage. Learners who employ self-initiation strategies may use a variety of means

9
to understand the meaning of vocabulary items. If learners are equipped with a
range of vocabulary learning strategies, they may be able to deal with the new or
unfamiliar vocabulary items without difficulty as vocabulary learning strategies
help simplify the new vocabulary learning process for them.
1.3.2. External Factors
External factors are factors outside students that fluence them in learning
English vocabulary. Those are:
* Time: Felix (1977, as cited in Leontiev & James, 1981, p. 150) stated that, “Time
is the key word in determining what level students can achieve.” If there is limited
time, students will tend to lack in theoretical material. Felix (1977, as cited in

Leontiev & James, 1981, p. 175), also defied that the frequency of the learners’
contact with the language is vey important. This means that regardless of the time
available, the teaching and learning process should be effective as it is exposure or
contact with the language that is the more important factor. If it is a short period of
time, but with the right objectives, the result will be likely better than learning over
a long period of time with the wrong objectives set.
* Language Learning Environment: Teaching methods, quality of materials,
reward system, peer group, teacher-student relationship, classroom atmosphere, and
homework assignment, are considers as a learning environment and it can affect the
learners’choice of vocabulary learning strategies (Kaylani, 1996). According to the
available research works, this factor can be categorized into formal and informal
language learning environment.
* Vocabulary learning task: A learning task is the end product in the learner’s
mind. It can be broad as mastering a second language or as specific as remembering
one meaning of a word. Wenden (1987), and Williams and Burden ( 1997) state that
the learning task includes the materials being learned as well as the goal the learner
is trying to achieve by using these materials. According to Fluente (2006), the goal
of L2 vocabulary tasks should be acquisition of words and expansion of word’s
knowledge, not only meanings but also the forms. For example, learning words in a
word list is different from learning the same words in a passage. Remembering a
word meaning is different from learning to use the same word in real life situations.

10
Besides the factors above, there are also some other factors causing
difficulties for students to learn English vocabulary such as intralexical factors, and
teaching aids and reference materials
1.4. Previous work review
A number of research studies on “difficulties in learning English vocabulary”
have been conducted by many researchers in Vietnam and in other countries for
recent years. This part the author focuses on previous works in which the different

factors causing difficuties for learners in learning vocabulary had been analyzed.
A study done by Wei (2007) found that Chinese college students with
positive attitudes towards vocabulary learning more frequently than those with
negative attitudes and he discovered that what students believed did not yield their
actual vocabulary learning. While Gu and Johnson (1996) showed that Chinese
university students devalued rote memorization strategies and they employed more
meaning-oriented strategies than rote strategies. This means that these researchers
found that learners’vocabulary learning related to what they believed. Fu’s (2003)
study revealed that inherrent interest motivation positively correlated with students’
vocabulary learning.
Besides motivation, language learning environment is considered as a factor
that affects learners’vocabulary learning. Nakamura (2000) conducted a mixed
method study by using questionnaires, observation and oral interviews to
understand the effects of learner variables and an external variable-learning
environment for Japanese learners of English use strategies when learning second
language vocabulary. The subjects of this study were Japanese high school English
learners in Japan and in England. The finding of the study revealed that, the external
variable of learning environment was the most significant factor affecting all
aspects of vocabulary learning. With regard to this factor, Kameli et al (2012)
discovered that the role of teachers, peers and classroom environment affected
Malaysian English as a second language students’vocabulary learning.
A research conducted by Musdalifah, a student of Teacher Training and
Education Faculty Sebelas Maret University in 2006, also showed that the process
of learning vocabulary at the fifth grade was conducted appropriately. However,
there were many weaknesses which came from the students who had simple

11
strategies, limited sources and lack of readiness in their vocabulary learning.
Meanwhile, another weakness came from the English teacher who employed simple
techniques and limited media in the process of vocabulary teaching. In the study,

she also found that there were two factors causing vocabulary-learning difficulties.
They were the internal factor, which came from the students and the external one
which included the family environment and the aspects of school such as the
teacher, teaching techniques, the materials, and instructional media. Through the
study, she suggested that besides motivating and preparing students’readiness, the
teacher also used various teaching techniques and various media in process of
teaching and learning vocabulary to improve their understanding in achieving better
English learning.
In Vietnam, some research studies on “difficulties in learning English
vocabulary” were done by the students of Vietnam National University, Hanoi
University of Language and International Studies. Mai Tuyết Nhung (2011)
investigated teaching and learning vocabulary in the textbook “English for Food
Production Staff” for the second year students of pre-intermediate level at Hanoi
Tourism College to find out their difficulties in vocabulary teaching and learning
and give some solutions. The study used the survey questionnaire for the students
and the interview with English teachers. The findings of the research showed that
the students did not have right English learning strategies or good motivation in
vocabulary learning while the teachers had shortage of specialized knowledge,
various teaching techniques or teaching aids and reference materials were poor.
Through the study, she suggested to reduce these difficulties by improving
specialized knowledge for ESP teachers, teachers’ activities and teaching facilities;
encouraging students to develop their self-study to become more active learners.
Nguyễn Thị Bích Hạnh (2010) also conducted a study on “challenges in English
vocabulary learning of ethnic minority grade 10 students at Mường Bi high school”.
The research was carried out by means of questionnaires and classroom
observations. In this study, she found that learners’ difficulties in learning
vocabulary caused by too many new words in each lesson; students’ low level of
English proficiency; teacher’s failure in applying communicative approach and
classroom activities and so on. In order to overcome these problems, she introduced

12
some suggestions such as motivating students to learn, adapting the textbook,
practising vocabulary and improving learning and teaching conditions.
According to the literature review above, few studies have been conducted
to examine Vietnamese lower secondary students’ vocabulary learning difficulties.
More importantly, no studies has been undertaken to particularly investiage Chu
Văn An students’ vocabulary learning difficulties. Therefore, the present study
aimed to explore Chu Văn An students’ vocabulary learning difficulties and give
some suitable solutions to help them overcome those problems.

13
CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY

2.1. Context of the study
The study was conducted at Chu Văn An secondary school which located in
the country of Thanh Hoa province. Established in 1991, CVASS is the most
qualified secondary school whose students have always been selected from other
schools in Nga Sơn district. All subjects including English are taught with new
course books and new methods according to the renovation program put forth by the
Ministry of Education and Training.
2.1.1. The teachers and their teaching methods
In Chu Văn An secondary school, there are 4 English teachers whose
teaching experience varies from 5 to 20 years. All of them have BA degrees in
English language teaching from different tertiary institutions in Vietnam.
It is obvious that most of the English teachers at CVASS are deeply
influenced by grammar-translation method. Teachers at CVASS usually apply the
traditional method of teaching in vocabulary lesson that Grammar- translation
method. In classes, the teacher play the key role, talk most of the time, explain new
words and mostly translate them into Vietnamese. Students often listen and copy on
their notebooks passively. Hence, this method leads to lack of motivation and few
chances for the students to practice English in general and vocabulary in particular.
2.1.2. The students and their background
The learners at Chu Văn An secondary school are the best students who have
been selected basing on their results from the entrance exam. There are around 45
students of mixed ability in each class. There are 18 classes, among which the 9
th
form students take up 5 classes. All of the students come from the countryside, so
they have less or no exposure to authentic English. In fact, most of these students

commonly spend very little time learning English as they have to spend much of the
time learning other subjects. Especially they spend most of their time learning the
subjects that they are good at and selected in the group of ten students to take the
exams for good students. Therefore, the majority of them learn English because it is
a compulsory school subject and they learn it just to pass the tests in the class.

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2.1.3. The teaching materials and facilities
The book Tieng Anh 9 by the Ministry of Education and Training has been
used as the only the textbook to teach the student at Chu Văn An secondary school.
It consists of 10 units. Each unit is divided into 5 lessons. Every unit provides
students with opportunities to learn and develop their knowledge in categories of
grammar, vocabulary, communication skills, and pronunciation through practicing
activities of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Especially, the number of
vocabulary in each unit is rather large. Thus, the students usually feel very difficult
in learning and mastering it.
Teaching facilities also play an important part in teaching English and may
affect the learning process positively or negatively. At our school, there is no
English laboratory. There is one computer room but used for teaching informatics,
not for English. There is also one library with few English books or magazines. The
only facilities for learning and teaching English are some cassette-players in poor
condition. It is obviously that the teaching facilities are poorly equipped. This
certainly has considerable negative effects on teaching and learning English at Chu
Văn An secondary school.
2.2. Subjects of the study
In order to achieve the aims of the thesis and answer the research questions
given above, the subjects of the study include 130 9
th
form students at Chu Văn An
secondary school. These participants are from 3 different classes. 78 of them are

male and 52 are female. All of the participants are at the age of 15 and have been
studying English for at least 6 years at primary schools and secondary schools. All of
them come from different villages in Nga Son district, Thanh Hoa province. So they
rarely have chance to commucicate with each other in English. It is one of their
difficculties in learning English generally and learning vocabulary particularly.
The researcher chose the 9
th
form students for some reasons. Firstly, this is
the last grade which is always considered the most important one at lower
secondary education and they have to face with many difficult subjects to prepare
for the upper secondary education in the next step. English is one of three subjects
chosen for the 10
th
form entrance exam in Thanh Hoa province but their knowledge

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of English in general and vocabulary specifically was very poor. Secondly, the
natural characteristics of the young learners make it harder for them to concentrate
on the lessons and they tend to lose their interest in learning English. So they are
suitable subjects for the study and their English vocabulary proficiency is of great
concern for me to conduct the study on the difficulties in learning vocabulary.
2.3. Data collection instruments
Questionnaire : To collect necessary data and information for the study, the
survey questionnaire was chosen as the main instrument for data collection. Survey
questionnaire is a simple and familiar instrument of collecting information from the
students, it is easy to administer and less time-consuming than other instruments.
The questionnaires were constructed based on the literature of vocabulary
learning and the discussion between the supervisor and the writer. They were
written in Vietnamese to make sure that the participants could fully understand the
questions before giving their answers.

The questionnaires for the students were designed with both close-ended and
open-ended questions. It consists of two sections:
Section 1 was designed to collect background information about the participants
Section 2 was aimed to gather the information about the reality of the participants’
English vocabulary learning: their attitude towards learning English vocabulary,
how they learn, how they are taught, and the difficulties they face when learning
English vocabulary.
The questionnaires were then delivered to the students while they were in
their classrooms. They were asked to answer the questions sincerely. Before each
question, they were given clear instruction. Therefore, they could understand and
give their appropriate answers. ( See appendix 1)
Interview: Interviews are particularly useful for getting the story behind a
participant’s experiences. The interviewer can pursue in-depth information around
the topic. Interviews may be useful as follow-up to certain respondents to
questionnaires, to futher investigate their responses. Hence, to get more information
about the research, interview was organized to find out teachers’attidude and their
methods in teaching English vocabulary as well as to achieve some suggestions to