A STUDY ON THE ROLE OF USING VIETNAMESE IN TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY TO THE 10TH FORM ETHNIC MINORITY STUDENTS AT VUNG CAO VIET BAC HIGH SCHOOL -Nghiên cứu về vai trò của việc sử dụng Tiếng Việt trong dạy từ vựng Tiếng Anh cho học sinh dân

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

NGUYỄN THỊ MAI LIÊN

A STUDY ON THE ROLE OF USING VIETNAMESE IN TEACHING
ENGLISH VOCABULARY TO THE 10TH FORM ETHNIC MINORITY
STUDENTS AT VUNG CAO VIET BAC HIGH SCHOOL

Nghiên cứu về vai trò của việc sử dụng tiếng Việt trong dạy từ vựng
tiếng Anh cho học sinh dân tộc thiểu số lớp 10 tại trường
PT Vùng Cao Việt Bắc

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
*********************

NGUYỄN THỊ MAI LIÊN

A STUDY ON THE ROLE OF USING VIETNAMESE IN TEACHING

ENGLISH VOCABULARY TO THE 10TH FORM ETHNIC MINORITY
STUDENTS AT VUNG CAO VIET BAC HIGH SCHOOL

Nghiên cứu về vai trò của việc sử dụng tiếng Việt trong dạy từ vựng
tiếng Anh cho học sinh dân tộc thiểu số lớp 10 tại trường
PT Vùng Cao Việt Bắc

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY
CODE: 60140111
SUPERVISOR: DƯƠNG ĐỨC MINH, PhD.

Hanoi, 2014


DECLARATION
I, Nguyễn Thị Mai Liên, certify that the work presented in this study " A
study on the role of using Vietnamese in teaching English vocabulary to the 10th
form ethnic minority students at Vung Cao Viet Bac High School" is the result of
my own research and the material has not been submitted either in whole or in part
for any degree to any other university or institution.

Hanoi, August, 2014
Student‟s signature

Nguyễn Thị Mai Liên

In my capacity as supervisor of the candidate's thesis, I certify that the above
statements are true to the best of my knowledge.

Supervisor

Duong Duc Minh, Ph.D.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

On the completion of this thesis, I greatfully express my deepest gratitude to
my supervisor Dr. Duong Duc Minh who gave me his precious comments, expert
advice and most of his kind encouragement during my doing research.
Also, I would like to acknowledge my gratitude to all of the lecturers and the
staff of the Department of Post-Graduate Studies at University of Languages and
International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their valuable
lectures and supports.
I am greatly indebted to my colleagues and students at Vung Cao Viet Bac
high school for their enthusiasm, helpfulness, care and patience towards my
interviews which grant great contributions for my thesis.
Finally, I would like to express my special thanks to my parents, my husband and
other members in my family for their love, care, support and encouragement so that
I could accomplish my study .

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ABSTRACT
The use of the first language in foreign language teaching and learning has
long been a controversial issue. However, as a common phenomenon in English
language learning, the influence of the first language can not be ignored especially

with low proficiency learners. This paper aims at providing the evidence to the role
of using the first language (Vietnamese) in vocabulary teaching and learning
process. For these purposes, nearly 200 students of four classes of grade 10th and 6
teachers of English Department at Vung Cao Viet Bac high school were participants
of the research. Three research tools were used to gather the data: questionnaire,
interview and observation. The findings of the research were totally true to the
research hypotheses. First, Vietnamese is still widely used to teach and learn
vocabulary by teachers and students of Vung Cao Viet Bac high school. Frequent
using of Vietnamese for words‟ explanation, habit of using bilingual dictionary to
look up new words and doing translation exercises to practice new words are the
evidences for the findings. Most of participants found using Vietnamese effective to
their teaching and learning vocabulary, therefore they often apply it to improve
vocabulary acquisition.

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

L1 : First language
L2 : Second language
ESL: English as a second language

iv


LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
Table 1 ....................................................................................................................... 19
Table 2 ....................................................................................................................... 20
Table 3 ....................................................................................................................... 21

Table 4 ....................................................................................................................... 23
Table 5 ....................................................................................................................... 27
Table 6 ....................................................................................................................... 28
FIGURE 1 ................................................................................................................. 22
FIGURE 2 ................................................................................................................. 24
FIGURE 3 ................................................................................................................. 25
FIGURE 4 ................................................................................................................. 25
FIGURE 5 ................................................................................................................. 26

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION ..................................................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................... iii
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS............................................................................... iv
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES ......................................................................v
TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................... vi
PART A: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................1
1. Rationale of the Study ...........................................................................................1
2. The Aims of the Study ..........................................................................................2
3. Research Questions ...............................................................................................2
4. The Scope of the Study .........................................................................................2
5. The Methods of the Study .....................................................................................2
6. Design of the Study ...............................................................................................3
7. The Summary ........................................................................................................3
PART B: DEVELOPMENT...................................................................................4
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW ..............................................................4
1.1 Vocabulary ..........................................................................................................4

1.1.1 What is Vocabulary? ..................................................................................4
1.1.2 The roles of Vocabulary in Second Language Acquisison ........................5
1.1.3 Approaches to Vocabulary Teaching .........................................................6
1.1.4 Explicit and Incidental Vocabulary Learning.............................................7
1.2 L1 and Translation in Second Vocabulary Language Teaching .........................8
1.2.1 Translation Method in Language Teaching ................................................8
1.2.2 The Roles of First Language on the Second Language ..............................9
1.2.3 The Use of Translation to Facilitate Vocabulary Teaching .....................11
1.2.4 Empirical Studies of Translation Method in Vocabulary Teaching and
Learning ...............................................................................................................12
1.3 Chapter Summary..............................................................................................14
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY .......................................................................15
2.1. Participants and Setting of the Study ...............................................................15

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2.2 Data Collection ..................................................................................................15
2.2.1. Data Collection Instruments ....................................................................15
2.2.2 Data Collection Procedures ......................................................................18
2.2.3 Data Analysis Procedure ..........................................................................18
2.3 Chapter Summary..............................................................................................18
CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .................................................19
3.1 Findings .............................................................................................................19
3.1.1 Findings and Discussion of Survey Questionnaires .................................19
3.1.1.1 Analysis of Teacher Questionnaires‟ Results: .................................19
3.1.1.2 Analysis of Student Questionnaires‟ Results: ..................................23
3.1.2 Findings and Discussion of Class Observations .......................................27
3.1.3 Findings and Discussion of Interviews.....................................................30
3.1.3.1 Summary of Teachers‟ Interviews ...................................................30

3.2 Discussion .........................................................................................................33
3.3 Pedagogical Implications ..................................................................................34
3.4 Chapter Summary..............................................................................................34
PART C: CONCLUSIONS ..................................................................................35
1. Conclusions .........................................................................................................35
2. Limitations of the Study ......................................................................................35
3. Suggestions for Further Study.............................................................................36
REFERENCES ......................................................................................................37
APPENDICES............................................................................................................I

vii


PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the Study
Vocabulary forms the biggest part of the meaning of any language, and it is the
biggest problem for most learners, as described by Mc Carthy (“Interview”, 2001:2,
cited in Fan, 2003:222). Mc Carthy firmly believes that language is lexis-driven, and
therefore, vocabulary learning is the real key to second language learning. He claims that
learners will be more successful if they can develop their own techniques and disciplines
for vocabulary learning. Therefore, an effective approach to vocabulary is always one of
the great concerns of every language teacher.
A recent study by Ramachandran and Rahim (2004) investigated the
effectiveness of using the L1 translation in recalling the meaning and retention of the
words with elementary level ESL. Their results indicated that the translation method
through using the first language was more effective than the non-translation method in
enhancing ESL learners‟ vocabulary learning ability, and it could improve elementary
ESL learner‟s ability to recall the meaning of the word learnt. Auer Bach (1993) claims
that the use of the learner‟s L1 in the L2 classroom will have a positive effect on
learners‟ second language learning, especially in the area of vocabulary. Personally, the

researcher is interested in the findings of many researchers including Nation (2001) and
Kroll and Curley (1988) that new second language words are stored more effectively in
the brain when they are linked to their first language equivalents.
At Vung cao Viet Bac High school, with more than 2,000 ethnic minority
students coming from different minority groups, each ethnic group has its own
language, but Vietnamese is nominated the national language. As far as I can
observe, these learners are much in favour of using Vietnamese when learning
English vocabulary. This has motivated me to carry out this study, which aims at
finding the answer for the question about the real situation of using Vietnamese and
its role in vocabulary teaching and learning.
Hopefully, findings will reaffirm the use of L1 as a strategic teaching method
within the field of vocabulary acquisition.
Furthermore, it is to partially help English foreign language teachers have a reflection
on their teaching practice.

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2. The Aims of the Study
The research is aimed to investigate the role of using Vietnamese in teaching
vocabulary to the 10th form students at Vung cao Viet Bac High School.
The objectives of the study are:
- to investigate how frequently Vietnamese is used in vocabulary teaching and
learning of teachers and students.
- to explore the teachers and students‟ perceptions of the effectiveness of using
Vietnamese in teaching and learning vocabulary
3. Research Questions
1. How is Vietnamese used in vocabulary teaching to 10th form students at
Vung Cao Viet Bac High School?
2. How effective do teachers and students find the use of Vietnamese to their

vocabulary teaching and learning?
4. The Scope of the Study
The study limits itself to the role of using Vietnamese in teaching English
Vocabulary. The effectiveness of this technique would be explored from the
perception of the students and teachers. The study was carried out only with tenth
form students and the teachers who are in charge of English teaching to those
students at Vung cao Viet Bac High school in Thai Nguyen
5. The Methods of the Study
Both qualitative and quantitative research methods are used in this study,
including Questionnaire, classroom observations and interviews.
Questionnaires
Both open-ended and close-ended questions were administered to 200
students and 6 English teachers to find out their perceived effectiveness of
Vietnamese use on vocabulary teaching and learning.
Classroom Observations
Five periods (of about 45 minutes in length) taught by different teachers
were observed to find out how was Vietnamese used to teach vocabulary in the
class.

2


Interviews
Teacher interviews were conducted to obtain a better understanding of the
teachers‟ perceptions towards the effectiveness of using Vietnamese in teaching
English vocabulary. The interviews were transcribed fully and analyzed
qualitatively.
6. Design of the Study
The author chose survey research to do this study because of many reasons.
First of all, the author could gather a great number of opinions from participants. As

the aim of this study was to investigate the application of using Vietnamese in
teaching English vocabulary, the researcher needed a big number of participants to
get the most reliable result. The author could save a lot of time by getting the answers
from delivering questionnaires in class and then interviewing some participants in
person. The research adopted a mixed methodology – both qualitative and
quantitative approaches in data collection and data analysis.
The study consisted of 5 chapters which covered the introduction of the research, the
literature review, the methodology, findings and discussion and the conclusion
chapter.
There are three instruments which were used in this study, namely
questionnaire, interview and observation. Therefore the author could have very
reliable findings at the end. The questionnaires were delivered to all participants with
both close questions and open questions so that they can specify their opinions. The
researcher did the observation on her own with the checklist at class. The interviews
consisted of semi-structured interviews and free interviews. The researcher
interviewed three teachers who had just taught the observed periods.
7. Summary
In this the first part, the author introduced the thesis with the aims that inspired
her to conduct the study as well as the research questions. The author also presented
the scope of the study that the thesis‟s focus was the role of Vietnamese use in
vocabulary teaching and learning so she did not pay attention equally to all lessons of
the participants.

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT
Part B consists of three chapters: literature review; methodology and findings
and discussion.
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter focuses on providing an overview of the theoretical knowledge
relevant to the study including vocabulary and its roles in second language
acquisition, recent research about teaching and learning second language
vocabulary, L1 and translation in second vocabulary language teaching and the
summaries of previous researches on closely –related topics.
1.1 Vocabulary
1.1.1 What is Vocabulary?
Vocabulary is a matter which many linguists and language teachers have been
concerned for a long time. Vocabulary is defined differently by different scholars.
Below some definitions of vocabulary that are relevant to the present study are
introduced.
In The American Heritage Dictionary, “vocabulary” is defined as:
1. All words of a language.
2. The sum of words used by, understood by, or at the command of a particular
person or a group.
3. A list of words and often phrases, usually arranged alphabetically and defined
or translated; a lexicon or glossary.
It‟s apparent that above definition show the relationship between vocabulary
and words. In other words vocabulary is defined as words. However, it seems
important to see clear definitions, a concise explanation as sited as follow:
"Vocabulary can be defined, roughly, as the words we teach in the foreign
language. However, a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word:
for example, post office, and mother-in- law, which are made up of two or three
words but express a single idea. A useful conversation is to cover all such cases
by talking about vocabulary “items” rather than “word” which is made up of
two or three words but express a single idea.’‟ (Ur, 1996:60)

4

According to Ur, vocabulary should be recognized as words we teach in a foreign
language. Ur argues a vocabulary item can be either a single word or a multi-word
phrase.
In conclusion, there are many different definitions about vocabulary, but the
idea that vocabulary is the total number of words existing in a language, including
single words as well as multi-word items of which meaning cannot be deduced from
the analysis of the component words but only understood in the sentences; or in
contexts, is more favorable.
1.1.2 The Roles of Vocabulary in Second Language Acquisison
It is known that, in learning a foreign language in general, and English in
particular, the knowledge and mastery of vocabulary play an extremely important
role. Mc Carthy (1990) stated that:
“No matter how well the students learn grammar, no matter how successfully
the sounds of L2 are mastered, without words to express a wider range of
meanings, communication in an L2 just cannot happen in any meaningful
way”. (Mc Carthy, 1990:viii)
Pyles and Algeo (1970:96) noted that: "When we first think about the
language, we think about words. It is words that we arrange together to make
sentences, conversations and discourse of all kind". In fact, vocabulary is the element
that links the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing all together. In
order to communicate well in a foreign language, students should acquire an
adequate number of words and should know how to use them accurately. Wilkins
emphasized the importance of vocabulary learning:
"Without grammar very little can be conveyed; without vocabulary nothing
can be conveyed." (Wilkins, 1972:111)
Cook‟s (1991) conclusion is also consistent with Wilkins in that “Grammar
provides the overall patterns, vocabulary the material to put into those patterns”. Or
some authors, led by Lewis (1993) argue that vocabulary should be at the centre of
language teaching, because „language consists of grammaticalised lexis, not
lexicalised grammar‟. According to Meara (1995) central to learning to communicate

in the target language are vocabulary and lexical units. No amount of grammatical or

5


other type of linguistics knowledge can be employed in communication or discourse
without the mediation of vocabulary. Folse (2004:3 ) claims that:
“The lack of grammar knowledge can limit conversation; lack of vocabulary
knowledge can stop conversation”. (Folse, 2004:3)
Learners can express themselves with poor grammar. However, it is always a
challenge to get the message across in a foreign language (Wallace, 1982), and
because of this communication in foreign language is constrained considerably to
those with limited vocabulary.
Thus, the importance of vocabulary in language learning cannot be denied.
Vocabulary learning is obviously an essential part of language learning. Learning
words can considered to be the most important aspect of second language acquisition
(Knight, 1994). Candlin (1988) stated that “The study of vocabulary is at the heart of
language teaching in terms of organization of syllabuses, the evaluation of learner
performances, and the provision of learning resources.”
1.1.3 Approaches to Vocabulary Teaching
There are many different methods, approaches, techniques as well as strategies
to vocabulary teaching. In the early decades of the 20th century, vocabulary teaching
became the focus of interest of many applied linguistic researchers and language
teachers. In order to fully understand this development it is certainly worth giving a
brief discussion of some major approaches in teaching vocabulary. It can be easily
seen that several hundred years ago, bilingual teaching was favoured, with students
learning through translation. Howatt (1984) tells us that the idea of using L1 in the
L2 classroom was a respected view during the era of The Grammar Translation
Method. The Grammar Translation Method had dominated late 19th and early 20th
century teaching. The aim of The Grammar Translation Method was to provide the

students with a detailed literary vocabulary which is learned through long lists of
translated items and a bilingual dictionary and practiced through translation
excercises with little opportunity to try out pronunciation (Rivers, 1981: 28-30).
The second major foreign language teaching approach is the Direct Method.
The Direct Method stressed the ability to use rather than analyze a language as the

6


goal of language instruction or in other words, the main goal was to train students to
communicate in the target language and to have an acceptable pronunciation.
The Reading approach attracted more importance than grammatical skill. The
vocabulary used in the reading passages is controlled at beginning levels and is
chosen according to their frequency and usefulness. The acquisition of vocabulary is
considered to be more important than grammatical skills and is expanded as fast as
possible through intensive and extensive reading. The translation of vocabulary items
and sentences are permitted. (Murcia and Prator, 1979:3)
The Audio-lingual Approach which was dominant in the United States during
the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s is known to be a major paradigm shift in foreign
language teaching (Larsen-Freeman, 2000). In this method, the amount of vocabulary
presented was kept low (Thornbury, 2002:14) and was chosen for its simplicity
(Schmitt, 2000:13). It was assumed that when grammatical fluency was present,
exposure to the foreign language itself lead to vocabulary development (Coady,
1993:4).
The Communicative Language Teaching Approach is a renowned British
Approach to language teaching the emergence of which dates back to the mid-1960s.
Concepts like context, use, effective communication, communicative function,
comprehensible pronunciation, etc. were given importance in this approach. Senel
(2002: 243) emphasized that new words were not presented in isolation, but in the
context of a complete sentence, and in a meaningful situation. This way, the words

acquired meaning when they appeared in a particular definition in a determined
context. Moreover, Thornbury (2002:14) stated that course books began to
incorporate communicative activities specifically targeting vocabulary since the
meaning-giving role of lexis was recognized in this approach.
1.1.4 Explicit and Incidental Vocabulary Learning
Explicit vocabulary learning focuses on teaching vocabulary directly to
learners in order to enhance the chance of new vocabulary acquisition. Even though
that explicit teaching strategy is time consuming, it is worth the time to teach second
learners the most frequent words in a language and technical vocabulary that learners
will need in order to succeed in their education field.

7


On the other hand, incidental vocabulary learning can occur when learners
focused on comprehending meaning rather than focusing on learning new vocabulary
(Gass and Selinker, 2001). Incidental learning can occur from reading or from having
conversations with others who speak the language. Words that not explicitly taught
can be learned incidentally from exposure. It is necessary to increase the amount of
exposure in order to enhance the incidental vocabulary learning because the lack of
exposure is one of the problems facing the incidental approach (Schmitt, 2000). A
learner can start learning vocabulary incidentally from conversation from the
beginning, but when it comes to reading, a certain amount of explicit instruction is
necessary.
Written language usually uses more low frequency vocabulary than spoken
language; thus, teaching these infrequent words explicitly for second language
learners is necessary especially for learners at elementary levels. Thus, explicit
teaching is necessary for low proficiency learners until they reach a vocabulary size
threshold that allows them to learn words incidentally from reading (Schmitt, 2000).
Sokmen (1997) states that “the pendulum has swung from direct teaching of

vocabulary (the grammar translation method) to incidental (the communicative
approach) and now, (laudably, back to the middle: implicit and explicit learning” (as
cited in Schmitt (2000: 120). These studies suggest that both explicit and incidental
learning are necessary, and they should complement each other.
In conclusion, both incidental and explicit learning are necessary and they
should be used together to bring the highest effectiveness.
1.2 L1 and Translation in Second Vocabulary Language Teaching
1.2.1 Translation Method in Language Teaching
Grammar Translation Method was the predominant teaching methodology
from the beginning of the nineteenth century. It was developed based on a procedure
for teaching Latin and evolved out of the need to standardize foreign language
teaching for children (Howatt, 1984, as cited in Schmitt, 2000). Students were given
extensive grammatical explanation in their first language, lists of bilingual
vocabulary, and some practice exercises to translate from the first language into the
second language or vice versa. In this method, the content focused more on reading

8


and writing skills. Vocabulary was only used as a way of illustrating grammar rules
(Zimmerman, 1997, as cited in Schmitt, 2000). Students were expected to learn new
vocabulary themselves by using bilingual word lists; thus, the bilingual dictionaries
became an important reference tool. Steinberg and Sciarini (2006: 114) stated that the
Grammar- Translation Method “has enjoyed and continues to enjoy acceptance in
many countries around the world,” especially in countries where language teachers
are not fluent and the classes are very large.
Although it has advantages, there are many problems associated with the
Grammar-Translation Method. One of the main problems with Grammar-Translation
Method was that it focused on language analysis instead of language use. It also
focused on reading and writing skills which did not help to develop the ability to

communicate orally in the target language (Schmitt, 2000). Therefore, this method
aims at providing students with a detailed literary vocabulary which is learned
through long lists of translated items and a bilingual dictionary and practiced through
sentence translation with little opportunity to try out pronunciation (Rivers, 1981:2830). Murcia and Prator (1979:3) listed major characteristics of Translation Method:
 Classes are taught in the mother tongue, with little active use of target language
 Much vocabulary is taught in the form of lists of isolated words.
 Long elaborate explanations of the intricacies of grammar are given.
 Grammar provides the rules for putting the words together and instruction often
focuses on the form and inflections of words.
 Reading of difficult classical texts is begun early.
 Little attention is paid to the content of texts, which are treated as exercises in
grammatical analysis.
 Often the only drills are exercises in translating disconnected sentences from the
target language into the mother tongue.
 Little or no attention is given to pronunciation.
1.2.2 The Roles of First Language in the Second Language
Many researchers have found out that the learners‟ first language has great
influence on the learning and the use of second languages. Second language learners
use their L1 in learning the target language in many ways. Many Vietnamese students

9


have ever said “What is the Vietnamese word for...?”, if they do not get the answer,
immediately they will look up the bilingual dictionaries to find unknown vocabulary.
Even though when this does not happen, an immediate association with a mother –
tongue word is likely to be set as soon as possible. There are complaints about the
influence of the first language on second language vocabulary learning because it
takes time for students and teachers to think in the first language before they have the
right word in second language. However it even takes more time to explain a word

without translating because the teacher has to spend several minutes to find other
simple words or materials to make students understand. According to Schmitt
(Schmitt, 1997) many second language learners believe that translating helps them in
learning second language skills such as reading, writing, vocabulay.
Atkinson (1987) not only acknowledges the positive role of the mother tongue in
the classroom, but also identifies the following uses of it: eliciting language,
checking comprehension, giving instructions, enhancing co-operation among
learners, promoting discussions of classroom methodology, improving presentation
and reinforcement of language, checking for sense testing, and development of useful
learning strategies. The following are several reasons why the first languages should
be used as a tool in the language classroom:
 It is more natural to use the first language with others who have the same first
language.
 It is easier and more communicatively effective to use the first language.
 Using the second language can be a source of embarrassment particularly for shy
learners and those who feel they are not very proficient in the second language.
 The first language can help to move the task along by establishing a joint
understanding of the text and to manage the task.
 The first language allows learners to focus attention on vocabulary and
grammatical items or providing information and explanation about grammatical
rules and conventions.
 The first language may facilitate classroom activities, particularly for low
proficiency students and complex tasks.

10


 The first language can provide a foundation for learners on which to build the
second language structures, especially during collective activities in the classroom,
and the first language provides a sense of security and validates the learners‟ live

experiences, allowing them to express themselves.
 The first language can make learners feel more confident of using the second
language, especially when their level is low.
 Using the first language to explain, teachers can save a lot of time.
On the contrary, using the first language causes some interference errors in
English because there is not always equivalence between the two languages. Some
languages like Swedish and English share some characteristics which led learners to
think that a word or structure what works in Swedish will work in English. Sokmen
(1997) states that vocabulary teaching was based on a top – down, naturalistic, and
communicative approach which emphasized implicit and incidental learning of
vocabulary. Inferring from the context and guessing are considered to be implicit
teaching. The implicit approach is commonly used in foreign language teaching
classrooms. Teachers often encourage students to guess the meaning of the word by
looking at the context where the words are located. They rarely use the first language
in the classroom because they are concerned that students may just rely on their first
language. Using the first language may lead students to the conclusion that learning a
foreign language is just by translating it or foreign language is the first language in
another form.
In short, the first language may support learners to learn the second language,
once they understand their first language they can apply it into their second language
learning. Sometimes it may not help, and it even causes difficulties for learners
because of the two language differences.
1.2.3 The Use of Translation to Facilitate Vocabulary Teaching
As it was discussed in the previous section, learners‟ first language has a great
impact in the learning of the second language. Thus, we come to the question: should
translation be used in teaching and testing second language vocabulary? There may
be a belief that first language translation should not be used in the teaching of
vocabulary. However, translation is one of number of ways of conveying meaning

11

and it is not better or worse than other ways, such as the use of pictures, real objects,
definitions, the second language synonyms and so on. Actually, the use of learners‟
first language to test or convey vocabulary is quite sufficient. (Nation, 2001).
One of the greatest advantages of using learners‟ first language in vocabulary
teaching is that it provides an easier way to explain the meaning of second language
vocabulary. The use of the learners‟ first language meaning is like using a simple
synonym, while a second language definition usually involves a definition that
includes a relative clause or reduced relative clause, and reading such sentences
require greater grammatical skills.
The use of first language translation provides a useful mean of testing
vocabulary, both receptively and productively, and in recall and recognition of
meaning. The difficulties that caused by no exact corresponding between meanings in
both languages are less than the difficulties that caused by the lack of connection
between the second language definitions and the meaning they are trying to convey.
As a result, using learners‟ first language translation to establish the initial form meaning of the new second language words‟ form with the corresponding the first
language words which already exist in the memory is very useful (Barcroft, 2002).
Moreover, new second language words are stored more effectively in the brain when
they are linked to their first language equivalents (Kroll and Curely, 1988 , as cited in
Barcroft, 2002). Thus, using first language translation is a good method to teach
second language words as any other methods.
1.2.4 Empirical Studies of Translation Method in Vocabulary Teaching and
Learning
There are numbers of researches on the effectiveness of Translation Method in
second language teaching in general, and in vocabulary teaching and learning in
particular.
Haijti (1989) examined conditions in which oral translation was used as an
exercise to build vocabulary knowledge. He stated that this activity led to effective
results.

A year later, Shamash (1990) stated that the learners started by writing about
their lives in their first language or a mixture of their first language and English.

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Then they translated the text into English with the help of bilingual tutors or learners.
By this way, learners overcome the problems of vocabulary and language confidence.
The use of native language may attract those students who are at low level of
English. Such findings are in accordance with current theories of second language
acquisition. All of them emphasize that the use of the first language reduces anxiety
and consequently makes effective environment appropriate for learning.
In another study, Knight (1994) investigated the effects of using dictionary on
the retention of unknown words during a reading activity. In this experiment students
who used computerized dictionary demonstrated more vocabulary knowledge than
those without access to a dictionary.
Furthermore, Saggara and Alba (2006) also conducted a research to
investigate effectiveness of translation with elementary students and came to a
conclusion that using key word method and direct first language translation of the
second language words would lead to better second language vocabulary learning at
the early stages of acquisition.
Another study is by Majid and Hayati (2009) conducted a research to make
comparison between task-based instruction and translation method in the
effectiveness of learning vocabulary and found out that higher range of vocabulary
had been learnt in the translation group. Learning happened in the task group but not
as much as in the translation one. Doing translation the learners had time to focus on
every single word. Added to that, when looking up words in bilingual dictionaries,
learners paid attention to the meaning and the form of the words then considered
semantic relation of each word with its surrounding words.
According to Ellis and Beaton (1993:604) knowing a lexical item involves

knowing various components such as its spelling, phonological representation, word
class, syntactic features and delivered meaning. Current trends in language education
mostly consider no role of the mother tongue in language learning but many
researches including study of Majid suggest that translation method is effective in
improving learners‟ ability to recall meanings of words which are unknown to them.
Pal Heltai (1988) did a research on conditions in which oral translation can be an
exercise to build vocabulary and he came to a conclusion that translation is best used as a
supplementary exercise to practice and build vocabulary at advanced level under some

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conditions. In countries where English is a foreign language, opportunities for naturalistic
acquisition are few, students have less chances to practice real English, therefore some
activities like translation can be beneficial for learners to reach motivation to learn new
words. He also stated that translation might, indirectly, through contributing to the learning
of vocabulary; help improve learners‟ communicative fluency.
Another study is by Ramachandran and Abdul Rahim (2004) to investigate
the effectiveness of the translation method in teaching vocabulary to elementary level
English as second language (ESL) learners. The authors sought answers to the
following questions: Do Malaysian elementary level ESL learners who learn words
through translation method recall the meaning of the words learnt more effectively
and is the translation method effective for lasting word meaning recall?. The results
of the study show two characteristics of the translation method that may have
contributed to the outperformance in word meaning recall by the participants
receiving it. First, given that participants‟ second language lexical knowledge is
limited, instruction in their first language may have made their learning of second
language lexical items more effective. Second, the subjects found learning the new
lexical items using their first language less tedious than trying to understand different
explanations in English. The findings of the study show that elementary level ESL

learners recall the meaning of the words learnt effectively by using the translation
method. The study also reveals that the effects of the translation method is more
lasting for word meaning than recall among elementary level ESL learners. At the
end, translation method seems to have positive impact on ESL elementary learners‟
recall and retention of meaning of vocabulary learning.
1.3 Chapter Summary.
The current chapter summarizes the previous studies on Translation Method
towards second language learning and vocabulary teaching and learning in particular.
It also covers the influence of the first language to the second language acquisition.
There are different, controversial ideas on that, however; many researchers found out
that the first using translation method and the first language bring benefits to
students, especially to lower level ones. The term “word” and all issues surrounding
such as what should be taught in vocabulary, the role of vocabulary in a language,
incidental and explicit vocabulary teaching are all included.

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CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY
This chapter consists of the design of the study; the participants; the three
instruments, namely questionnaire, interview; observation and finally the data
collection.
2.1. Participants and Setting of the Study
The participants of the research were 200 students from grade 10A5, 10A6,
10A7, 10A8 at Vung cao Viet Bac high school, Thai Nguyen. The researcher is also
an English teacher of this school. My school is a boarding school with more than
2,000 ethnic minority students. Most of the students in the school come from farmer
families in the remote mountainous villages in the northern provinces. They are pure
ethnic students, they have their own first language; they often use it to communicate
with their parents and other friends of their communities. They use Vietnamese at

schools or at public places. You are sure to imagine all sorts of difficulties those
ethnic students have to overcome when they learn English. Most of the participants
are at the age of 16 and all these students are ethnic minorities, they belong to
different ethnic minorities namely: Tày, Thái, Mường, Dao, Hmong, Nùng, Sán Dìu,
La Hủ, La Chí, Cao Lan, Hoa, Pu Péo, Giáy. They have been learning English for
four years in junior schools but their knowledge of English vocabulary is at a low
level.
In terms of 6 volunteer teachers participating in the study, three of them were
quite young with no more than 5 year teaching experience; two of them had less than
10 year experience. There was only 1 teacher who had been teaching for 14 years in
this school. They were English teachers of those 4 classes I chose. They were helpful
to assist the author to deliver students the questionnaire and get their answers...
2.2 Data Collection
2.2.1. Data Collection Instruments
2.2.1.1. Survey Questionnaires
The instruments used in this study consisted of two questionnaires: one for
teachers and one for students. According to Gillham (2000), using questionnaires has
some advantages such as low cost in time and money; easy to get information from a
lot of people, respondents can complete the questionnaire when it suits them, analysis of

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answers to closed questions is straightforward; less pressure for an immediate response,
respondents‟ anonymity; lack of interviewer bias, standardization of questions (but true
of structured interviews); can provide suggestive data for testing an hypothesis. The
questionnaires were designed in both close and open-ended questions.
There are 6 different questions in questionnaire that the author delivered to six
teachers and about 200 students in their break time. The questionnaire for students
was in Vietnamese so they could clearly understand each question and respond to

them without any language barrier. All the questions designed were to seek answers
for the following research questions:
1. How is Vietnamese used in vocabulary teaching and learning at Vung Cao
Viet Bac High School?
2. How effective do teachers and students find Vietnamese to their vocabulary
teaching and learning?
Some questions are closed questions, and the participants responded by
circling their choices, so they could save much time. Some of the questions sought
answers for frequency of actions which were typical characteristics of Translation
Method such as using Vietnamese to explain the meaning and usage of the new
words or using translation exercises to help students drill new words or using
dictionary to look up new words, etc. Other questions explored participants‟ opinions
about the effectiveness of L1 to their new vocabulary learning and teaching and the
reasons for their choices. The researcher also spent 1 first questions to investigate the
personal information of students and teachers such as their language proficiency,
their teaching experience so that the author could see differences in their viewpoints
about the use of Vietnamese if they had any.
The last question was an open ended question which allowed participants to
specify their ideas about the effectiveness of using translation exercises. This
question was also the key question that may facilitate the researcher to directly
interview some teachers for more ideas. (See appendix 3).

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