Những vấn đề sinh viên năm thứ nhất Trường Cao đẳng Văn hóa Nghệ thuật Thanh Hóa gặp phải trong việc phát triển từ vựng để nói về các chủ điểm khác nhau tt

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES




NGUYEN THI HA MY
M.A. MINOR THESIS


Problems faced by the first-year students at Thanh Hoa College of
Culture and Arts in developing vocabulary for speaking in different
subject areas

(Những vấn đề sinh viên năm thứ nhất Trường Cao đẳng Văn hóa Nghệ
thuật Thanh Hóa gặp phải trong việc phát triển từ vựng để nói về các chủ
điểm khác nhau)



Field: Methodology
Code: 601410

Hanoi, 2011





VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES




NGUYEN THI HA MY
M.A. MINOR THESIS


Problems faced by the first-year students at Thanh Hoa College of
Culture and Arts in developing vocabulary for speaking in different
subject areas

(Những vấn đề sinh viên năm thứ nhất Trường Cao đẳng Văn hóa Nghệ
thuật Thanh Hóa gặp phải trong việc phát triển từ vựng để nói về các chủ
điểm khác nhau)



Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 601410

Supervisor: Nguyen Bang, M.A.





Hanoi, 2011


iii
Abstract


The importance of vocabulary is undeniable in language learning. Therefore,
understanding the difficulties faced by students in learning vocabulary is apparently
necessary to gain effective learning. This minor thesis was carried out with an attempt to
investigate the difficulties and obstacles that the first year students at Thanh Hoa College
of Culture and Arts (THCCA) have faced when learning English vocabulary.
It first described the issues which prompted the study. It then reviewed the
literature relevant to the topic of research which served as a theoretical framework for the
study. The data were collected by means of questionnaires and interviews. From that the
findings emphasized the problems influencing on the learners’ vocabulary development. In
addition, based on the findings, some solutions were suggested to improve the quality of
learning English vocabulary in speaking sections at THCCA.

iv
List of abbreviations
Clt: Communicative Language Teaching
THCCA: Thanh Hoa College of Culture and Arts
ESP: English for Specific Purposes

v
List of tables

Table 1: Criteria for selection
Table 2: Students’ purposes of learning English
Table 3: Students’ opinions about learning vocabulary for developing speaking skills
Table 4: Teachers’ effectiveness method of teaching vocabulary
Table 5: Students’ difficulties in learning vocabulary in speaking skills
Table 6: Students’ opinions about the effectiveness of teaching vocabulary in speaking
lessons

List of Charts
Chart 1: Students' habit in speaking English

Chart 2: Ss' attitudes towards the importance of speaking skills
Chart 3:
Ss' opinions about the vocabulary introduced in speaking topics in the course book

















vi
Table of contents
Page
Declaration i
Acknowledgement ii
Abstract iii
List of abbreviations iv
Table of contents v

Part A: INTRODUCTION 1

1. Rationale 1
2. Aims of the study 2
3. Research questions 2
4. Scope of the study 3
5. Method of the study 3
6. Design of the study 3

Part B: DEVELOPMENT 5
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 5
1.1. Speaking skills 5
1.1.1. Concept of speaking 5
1.1.2. Characteristics of speaking 6
1.1.3. The role of speaking in language teaching and learning 7
1.2. Vocabulary and its role in language teaching and learning 8
1.2.1. Definition of vocabulary 8
1.2.2. Classification of vocabulary. 9
1.2.3. The role of vocabulary in language teaching and learning 11
1.2.4. Criteria for selection to teach vocabulary 12
1.3. Methodology in vocabulary teaching 13
1.3.1. The Grammar-translation Method 13
1.3.2. The Direct Method 13
1.3.3. The Audio-lingual Method 14
1.3.4. The Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) 15


vii
1.4. The role of vocabulary in speaking skills 15
1.5. Summary 16

CHAPTER II: THE STUDY 17

2.1. Research setting 17
2.1.1. An overview of the research site 17
2.1.2.
The current situation of English teaching and learning at THCCA
17
2.1.2.1. Description of the teachers of English in THCCA
2.1.2.2. Description of the students at THCCA
2.1.2.3. The learning materials 18
2.1.3. Objectives of Basic English at the THCCA 18
2.1.4. The learning of English vocabulary at THCCA 19
2.2. Methodology 19
2.2.1. Participants 19
2.2.2. Research instruments 19
2.3. Summary 20

CHAPTER III: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 21
3.1. Data analysis and discussion from the finding 21
3.1.1. The reality of learning vocabulary and speaking skills at THCCA 21
3.1.2. Difficulties that the first year students have faced with in learning vocabulary in
speaking skills 28
3.1.3. The solutions to the improvement of learning vocabulary in speaking skills at
THCCA 29
3.2. Summary 30

CHAPTER IV: FINDING AND SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS FOR BETTER LEARNING
ENGLISH VOCABULARY 32
4.1. Findings 32
4.2. Suggested solutions 33
4.3. Summary 35

viii
III. Conclusion 36
1. Conclusion 36
2. Limitation of the study 36
3. Suggestions for further studies. 37

REFERENCE 38
Appendix 1: Survey questionnaire i
Appendix 2: Interview iv



2


PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
In Vietnam, the teaching and learning of English have recently gained significance firstly
because it is an international language; secondly it is also seen as a means to promote
mutual understanding and cooperation between Vietnam and other countries, especially
since Vietnam has became an official member of WTO. It has an increasing number of
people desiring to know English with the hope of keeping up with the latest modern
technology in the world. English has now been taught at all universities and colleges, and it
is considered as a compulsory subject at secondary school.
Being a teacher of THCCA, the researcher found that one of the main reasons why students
are not positive in English is that they do not have adequate vocabulary. Therefore, the
author to carry out a research on “Problems faced by the first-year students at Thanh Hoa
College of Culture and Arts in developing vocabulary for speaking in different subject

areas”.
2. Aims of the study
This study aims at finding out the difficulties that the first year students at THCCA have
faced with in learning vocabulary for speaking skills.
3. Research questions
To achieve the objectives of the study, the following questions were raised:
1. What is the reality of learning vocabulary in speaking skills at THCCA?
2. What difficulties have the first year students at THCCA faced with in
developing vocabulary for speaking skills?
3. What techniques should be applied to improve vocabulary learning for speaking
skills?
4. Scope of the study


3
The study is limited to the area of learning vocabulary in the current learning materials for
the first year students at THCCA. This minor thesis deals with the common problems
which students have met, and basing on these problems, some effective and feasible
solutions will be provided.
5. Methodology
In order to find out the answers to the research questions, this study is to be conducted as a
descriptive study that utilizes both quantitative and qualitative approaches.
6. Design of the study
This study consists of three parts: Introduction, Development and Conclusion.
PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Speaking skills
1.1.1. Concept of speaking
Of the four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), speaking plays a vital role
since it is the step to identify who knows or does not know a language. Pattison (1992)

confirms that when people know or learn a language, they mean being able to speak the
language. The nature of speaking has been discussed by many scholars.
According to Brown, G. and Yule, G. (1983), spoken language consists of short,
fragmentary utterances in a range of pronunciation. They also point out that in speaking the
loosely- organized syntax, and non- specific words and phrases are used.
1.1.2. Characteristics of speaking
In Bygate’s opinion, there are two kinds of routines.
Information routines may be described to involve two sub-routines: expository and
evaluation.
Interaction routines are routines based not so much on sequences of kinds of terms
occurring in typical kinds of interactions.
1.1.3. The role of speaking in language teaching and learning
In language teaching and learning, speaking has an important part to play. It is a medium
through which much language is learnt, and which is particularly useful for learning.


4
About the role of speaking, Bygate (1987: vii) points out that “It is the vehicle of social
solidarity, of social ranking, of professional advancement and of business”.
1.2. Vocabulary and its role in language teaching and learning
1.2.1. Definition of vocabulary
Ur, P (1996:75) defines vocabulary as the words we teach in the foreign language. The
author also emphasizes that a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word; for
example, post office and sister-in-law, which are made up of two or three words but
express a single idea. There are also multi-word idioms such as call it a day, where the
meaning of the phrase cannot be deduced from an analysis of the component words.
Therefore, a useful convention is to cover all such cases by talking about vocabulary
“items” rather than “words”
1.2.2. Classification of vocabulary
There have been different ways to classify vocabulary according to different criteria.

(i). In terms of the concept of morpheme.
(ii). In terms of the meaning
(iii). In terms of the function of vocabulary items in a sentence.
(iv). In terms of the use of word.
1.2.3. The role of vocabulary in language teaching and learning
“Vocabulary is one of the three dimensions of a language (phonetics, grammar,
vocabulary). Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing
can be conveyed.” (Wilkins,1972:111). The statement indicates the great importance of
vocabulary. Since vocabulary is so important, teaching and learning vocabulary should be
paid much attention to.
1.2.4. Criteria for selection to teach vocabulary

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


5

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
Learnability
7
Are some words easier to learn than other
Table 1: Criteria for selection
(from the website:
1.3. Methodology in vocabulary teaching
1.3.1. The Grammar- translation Method
In this method, the teachers' role is to explain grammatical rules, and the list of vocabulary
and its meaning in Vietnamese to help students to do the written exercise in grammatical
analysis, not the exercises in the context of text. This method can be classified as mental
discipline and is easy to apply and simple to test and to control.
1.3.2. The Direct Method
This method requires no translation between first and second language, little or no
analysis of grammatical rules. Besides, it lays an emphasis on correct pronunciation and
grammar.
1.3.3. The Audio-lingual Method
There are two of the main activities of the Audio-lingual Method that are dialogue

repetition and memorization, and substitution drilling. The dialogues are often little more
than vehicles for pronunciation practice with a few contextualized models of the new
structure.
1.3.4. The Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)
In this approach, vocabulary will be learnt through communication, 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.
1.4. The role of vocabulary in speaking skills

English is used as a communicative tool between two or more people who come from the
different countries so the use of English will require much vocabulary. Needless to say, a
person who has much vocabulary will find it easier to master English than any other person


6
who does not. With much vocabulary people can also be more proficient in
communication, because they do not need to be worried when selecting the words that will
be used in conversation. From this, we can say vocabulary and communicative ability are
highly correlated.
1.5. Summary
In this chapter, a brief description of the theoretical knowledge relating to the study was
provided.
Chapter II: THE STUDY

This chapter starts by describing the situation where the study is conducted. It includes an
overview of THCCA, the teachers of English, the students, the textbooks, the current
teaching and learning situation. The subjects and the method of data collection are also
discussed in details. At the end of the chapter there will be the analysis of the data
collected from the survey questionnaires and interviews that will be expressed as a

percentage in the form of tables.
Chapter III: Data analysis and Discussion
3.1. Data analysis and discussion from the findings
3.1.1. The reality of learning vocabulary and speaking skills at THCCA
 Students’ attitudes towards learning English

Question 1: What are your purposes of learning English?
From the results, it could be seen that most students were not willing to acquire English.
They learnt it for academic purpose. Therefore, the teachers should promote students’
awareness of learning English not only for study, but also for their future.
 Students’ attitudes towards speaking skills
Question 2: What language(s) do you often use in English lessons?
From the results, the habit of using the mother-tongue during English lessons has been a
big obstacle for students in using vocabulary for speaking skills development. It prevented
them from using it to communicate outside the classroom.
 Students’ attitudes towards the importance of vocabulary in speaking skills


7
Question 3: What do you think of the importance of vocabulary in speaking skills?
From the results, the students have highly evaluated the necessity of vocabulary for
developing speaking skills. Therefore, the teachers should create more teaching vocabulary
activities and provide opportunities for students to practice speaking appropriately.
 Students’ opinions about learning vocabulary for developing speaking skills
From the results, one could see some reasons which leading to the poor English
communicative competence of the students. Therefore, teachers needed to provide the
students with opportunities to use vocabulary in the relevant topics and give students as
much extra materials to read as possible, for example magazines, short stories and poetry
with interesting topics that were appropriate to the level of the students.
 Students’ opinions about vocabulary in speaking topics in the course book

Question 8: What do you think of the vocabulary introduced in speaking topics in the
course book “Lifeline-Elementary”?
According to the results, students had different ideas on the topics provided in this course
book. In summary, this course book met the students’ demand and it was suitable to their
level.

 Teachers’ current techniques in the students’ opinion
Question 9: Please evaluate the effectiveness of teachers’ vocabulary presentation through
the activities in class.
Students had some different attitudes towards the effectiveness of teachers’ vocabulary
presentation through some specific teaching activities. Most of the students thought that
the speaking skills were difficult, so their teachers, sometimes, could make class
atmosphere more relaxed by language games, activities, songs, role- plays after speaking
It could be seen that most students really needed the encouragement from their teachers for
their confidence, especially in speaking English.
3.1.2. Difficulties students have faced with in learning vocabulary in speaking skills
 Students’ difficulties in learning vocabulary in speaking skills
The results proved that most students were confused about the uses of words and words
order when learning vocabulary, one of the big problems with vocabulary learning was the
retention. It also implied that they had faced with pronunciation when using new words in


8
speaking skills. Students found that it is difficult to distinguish between meanings of words
from dictionary and those from context and thay alsocommented that they were often
confused about the use of words. A high percentage of the students commented that they
did not have a habit of speaking English so that it was more difficult to use vocabulary
appropriately
3.1.3.The solutions to the improvement of learning vocabulary in speaking skills at
THCCA

 The students’ opinions about the effectiveness and the solutions to improve
learning vocabulary in speaking lessons
The result of this question reflected that most students expected their teachers to set up
speaking habits in the classroom, and encourage them to be confident when they speak
English, teachers regularly gave vocabulary related to speaking topics and created a
relaxed atmosphere in classroom.
3.2. Summary
This chapter has presented the data analysis to find out the answers to the research
questions.

Chapter IV: Findings and suggested solutions FOR
better learning English vocabulary
4.1. Findings
1. The students’ low English proficiency was one of the major factors that prevented them
from using English for communication.
2. Some difficulties the first year students had faced with in vocabulary learning were
found: being confused the meaning of words, students often misunderstood between
meaning of words from dictionary and those from context. Secondly, students had faced
with the problems of words order in sentences and utterances Thirdly, one of the biggest
problems with vocabulary learning is that what has ‘learned’ today is often forgotten
tomorrow. The main reason was due to the lack of concentration on their teachers’
presentation of vocabulary.
4.2. Suggested solutions


9
Here are some suggestions to the first year students of THCCA in learning vocabulary.
1. The students should set up speaking habits. It means that they should use English during
the English lessons.
2. Students should pay more attention to the content of the topics and the teachers’

presentation. In order to have a rich vocabulary, students should learn how to use a
dictionary to look up the meaning and pronunciation of words and use a thesaurus to find
synonyms for common words. students should spend more time reading and building up
sentences with words. In order to avoid the influence of Vietnamese thinking students
should take part in the extra activities in English
3. In order to help the first year students to develop vocabulary for speaking skills students
should enrich their vocabulary by learning collocation.
How can a teacher help students enlarge their vocabulary?
1. Teachers can first help by raising students’ awareness of the importance of vocabulary
learning and expansion.
2. Second, teachers can help students enrich their vocabulary by teaching words in context.
3. Moreover, teachers can promote students’ vocabulary learning and expansion by
teaching words in relation to other words.
4. One more thing that teachers can do to help their students to widen their vocabulary is to
train them in dictionary using skills. Teachers can spend some of their class time showing
students how to use the dictionary they have recommended.
5. In order to develop vocabulary for the first year students in speaking skills some
teaching techniques should be applied, of which the most important were using pictures or
visual aids, creating a relaxed atmosphere, giving vocabulary related to speaking topics,
encouraging students to be confident when they speak English and encouraging them to
employ words, etc. Furthermore, teachers should give students some extra materials,
encourage students to read short stories or watch proper TV channels in English to enrich
their vocabulary so that they can practice more than what provided in the textbook.
4.3. Summary
In this chapter, some major findings based on the data analysis of the study at THCCA
context have been presented. It has led to a conclusion that there were many difficulties


10
that the students have faced when learning English vocabulary for speaking skills. In order

to develop learning English vocabulary for speaking skills more completely, some
solutions were suggested.
Part C. Conclusion
This study has achieved its second objective of measuring improvements in students’
vocabularies and matching them to suitable targets. Students finishing the program have
acquired sufficient knowledge of lexical items to comprehend different types of texts.
However, there was a limited degree of success in the first objective which was to look for
evidence of improvements in the students’ usage of vocabulary learning strategies that
occurs as the course progresses. But the research clearly helped to define key areas for
further actions.
1. Summary of the study
With the hope of finding the way to develop learning vocabulary for speaking skills to the
first year students at THCCA, this study has been carried out. This study aimed at finding
some common problems faced by students at THCCA in learning vocabulary for speaking
skills and then offers some suggestions to overcome those problems.
2. Limitations of the study
Despite of the unavoidable limitations, the researcher believes that this study will be
beneficial in developing vocabulary for speaking skills of the first year students at THCCA
3. Suggestions for further studies
There are some suggestions for further researches:
- A study on the problems in teaching vocabulary to the second year students in
Faculty of Tourism at Thanh Hoa College of Culture and Arts.
- A study on techniques and activities in teaching vocabulary to the second year
students which help them improve their Reading and Writing skills.
The author hopes that the further studies will overcome all the existing limitations of this
study and help to improve the quality of the teaching and learning English at THCCA
particular and at other colleges or universities in Thanh Hoa in general.