Using semantic mapping to teach ESP vocabulary to final-year students of finance and accounting at Hanoi tourism college

Using semantic mapping to teach ESP
vocabulary to final-year students of finance and
accounting at Hanoi tourism college
Sử dụng sơ đồ ngữ nghĩa để dạy từ vựng tiếng
Anh chuyên ngành cho sinh viên năm cuối,
chuyên ngành tài chính và kế toán, trường Cao
đẳng Du lịch Hà Nội

Phạm Thị Hạnh

University of Languages and International Studies
M.A. Thesis. English Teaching Methodology; Mã số: 60 14 10
Supervisor : Dr. Lê Văn Canh
Năm bảo vệ: 2012

Abstract. Vocabulary learning is a great challenge to English language students. This
challenge seems to be greater to students learning ESP vocabulary. There have been
several solutions suggested in the literature to the challenges of vocabulary learning. One
of those suggestions is the use of semantic mapping. Although this technique has been
promoted and researched by many researchers, little has been done about using this
technique to teach ESP vocabulary learning. The action research reported in this thesis is
an attempt to explore this issue. The study is aimed at exploring the possibility of
teaching ESP vocabulary through semantic mapping with reference to the students’
attitudes to, and opinions of, this instructional strategy as well as their retention of ESP
vocabulary. It was conducted with 38 final-year students of finance and accounting at
Hanoi Tourism College. Although the results from students’ test scores and students’
responses to questionnaire revealed that semantic mapping fosters vocabulary retention to
some extent and students seemed to value this teaching technique. However, it is
necessary to note that the findings of this study, which is an action research study, has
many limitations regarding the research design, the methods of data collection and the
duration of the treatment, can by no means by generalized. Despite those limitations, the

significance of the study is that it encourages the researcher-teacher of this study to
further implement semantic mapping to teach ESP vocabulary as this question has been
little researched by other researchers.
Keywords. Tiếng Anh; Từ vựng; Sơ đồ ngữ nghĩa; Phương pháp giảng dạy
Content.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Page
Declaration i
Acknowledgements ii
Abstract iii
Table of contents iv
List of abbreviations vii
List of tables vii
PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study 1
2. Aims and objectives of the study 2
3. Scope of the study 2
4. Research questions 3
5. Significance of the study 3
6. The method of the study 4
7. Design of the study 4
PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1 What is vocabulary? 6
1.2. The role of vocabulary in second language learning 6
1.3. What is involved in teaching L2 vocabulary 8
1.4. Challenges of L2 vocabulary learning 8
1.5. The nature of ESP vocabulary 9
1.6. Challenges of ESP vocabulary learning 11
1.7. What should be taught in ESP vocabulary teaching 12
1.7.1. Word form 12

1.7.2. Word formation 12
1.7.3. Word relations 13
1.7.4. Collocation 14
1.8. Characteristics of financial & accounting English vocabulary 14
1.8.1. The morphological characteristics 14
1.8.2. The semantic characteristics 15
1.9. Vocabulary retention 16
1.10. Semantic mapping as a vocabulary instruction strategy 16
1.10.1. Definitions of semantic mapping 16
1.10.2. Procedures to construct a semantic map 17
1.10.3. Previous studies of the impact of semantic mapping on students’ vocabulary
learning 19
Benefits of semantic mapping 19
Limitations of semantic mapping 23
CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY
2.1. The context of the study 25
2.1.1. Research setting 25
2.1.2. Teaching materials 26
2.2. Research participants 26
2.3. Data collection instruments 27
2.3.1. Tests 27
2.3.2. Questionnaire 28
2.4. Treatment procedures 29
2.5. Procedures of data collection 31
2.6. Data analysis 31
CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
3.1. Findings 32
3.1.1. The effectiveness of semantic mapping on students’ word retention 32
3.1.2. Students perceptions of the benefits of semantic mapping to their word retention.
34

3.2. Discussion. 36
PART C: CONCLUSION
1. Summary of the study 38
2. Limitation of the study and suggestions for further study 40
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