Vocabulary learning strategies a SURVEY WITH STUDENTS ATHIGH SCHOOL

Ministry of Education and Training
Hanoi University

Vocabulary learning strategies:
A SURVEY WITH STUDENTS AT
HIGH SCHOOL

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the
Requirement of the degree
of master of art in tesol

Hanoi
August 2015


Ministry of Education and Training
Hanoi University

VocabulARY learning strategies:
A SURVEY WITH STUDENTS AT
HIGH SCHOOL

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the
requirement of the degree
of master of art in tesol

supervisor:

Hanoi
August 2015

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
ABSTRACT
LIST OF ABBREVIATION
LIST OF TABLES
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Back ground to the study
1.2. Aim of the study
1.3. Scope of the study
1.4. Significance of the study
1.5. Outline of the thesis
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1. Definition of vocabulary learning strategies
1.2. Studies on vocabulary learning strategies abroad
1.3. Studies on vocabulary learning strategies in Vietnam
CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY
3.1. Research questions
3.2. Data collection instruments
3.3. Subjects
3.4. Data collection procedures
3.5. Data analysis
3.6. Summary
CHAPTER 4
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
CHAPTER 5

2


IMPLICATION AND CONCLUSION
REFERENCES
APPENDIX A
APPENDIX B
APPENDIX C

3


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my most sincere appreciation to my supervisor, Nguyen
Thai Ha, MEd. for her encouragement and guidance throughout the research. Without
her well-designed plan and meticulous review of the draft, this study would have been
impossible.
I also wish to thank all the staff members of Post-graduate Department of Hanoi
University for giving me the best environment to fulfill my thesis.
I would like to acknowledge and express my appreciation to my colleagues from
Cao Ba Quat Gia Lam (CBQGL) high school for their enthusiastic supports and
constructive suggestions in completing this research.
My special thanks also go to the students at CBQGL high school who have
helped me to collect data for this study.
Finally, my gratitude is extended to my family for their endless love, constant
support and encouragement.

i

ABSTRACT

ii


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
CBQGL: Cao Ba Quat Gia Lam
COG: Cognitive strategies
DET: Determination strategies
LSs: Learning strategies
MEM: Memory strategies
MET: Metacognitive strategies
SEEU : South East European University
SILL: Strategy Inventory for Language Learning
SOC: Social strategies
VLSs: VocabularyLSs

iii


LIST OF TABLES

iv


CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Background to the study
At CBQGL high school - a public school located in Gia Lam district, Hanoi city,
English is one of the compulsory subjects and students have to study four English skills:
reading, speaking, listening, writing and language focus that deal with pronunciation

and grammar. The time spent learning English at CBQGL high school is only 3 periods
a week for basic classes and 4 periods a week for advanced classes. However, they all
have learned English for over seven years before entering this high school. Despite the
large amount of English learning time, their vocabulary is still poor. Many students
complain that they spend most of their time to learn vocabulary but the results are
disappointing. It is their lack of good vocabulary that has consequently badly affected
their writing, reading, listening and speaking proficiency. The real situation leads to an
assumption that the students may have problems in their VLSs. To solve to problem of
poor lexicon, the students should possess appropriate vocabulary learning strategies
(VLSs).
For a long time many books on LSs have been introduced by such experts as
Oxford , O’Malley & Charmot , Nation and Nunan . Some books on VLSs have been
written by such scholars as Nation , Rubin & Thompson and Taylor . Moreover, a
number of recent foreign studies have been specifically carried out to investigate VLSs
used by students at university or high school. They were carried out by Hamzah,
Kafipour & Abdullah (2009), Xhaferi (2008) at unversity context and Kudo (1999),
Marttinen (2008) at high school context. Besides, in Vietnam, there has so far been
some research on VLSs such as Trinh Tuyet Mai (2006) and Dinh Thuy Hang (2008).
Trinh Tuyet Mai (2006) carried out a research on VLSs used by students at Lang Son
College of Education, but Dinh Thuy Hang (2008) investigated students’ VLSs at Hung
Vuong gifted high school. However, research on VLSs employed by students at
CBQGL high school has not been done yet.
Based on the findings of previous studies relating to VLSs and the needs
mentioned above the present research should be carried out with the aim to investigate
VLSs used by students at CBQGL high school.

1


1.2. Aims of the study

The purpose of the research is to investigate vocabulary-learning strategies used
by students at CBQGL high school. To achieve this aim, the study provides the answers
to the following question: What VLSs are commonly used by the students of CBQGL
high school?

1.3. Scope of the study
The study was designed to investigate VLSs which are employed by the students
of CBQGL high school. It also finds out the differences in the use of VLSs among
students at grade 10, 11 and 12. The findings obtained from this study was to help
improve teaching and learning English in general and teaching and learning English
vocabulary in particular at CBQGL high school.

1.4. Significance of the study
The study is significant for several reasons. First, the findings of the study will
provide us plenty of useful information. It is necessary to determine VLSs commonly
used by the students of CBQGL high school. Therefore, it is hoped that the study will
contribute to improve the learning English for students. Moreover, the information
obtained from the students’ viewpoints on VLSs will also establish a practical basis for
English teachers at CBQGL high school to adjust their ways of teaching vocabulary and
training appropriate strategies as well.

1.5. Outline of the thesis
The thesis is divided into five chapters below:
Chapter 1: Introduction, presents the background to the study, states the aims of
the study, scope of the study and significance of the study. The outline of the study is
also discussed.
Chapter 2: Literature review, deals with the brief review of the previous studies
relating to vocabulary learning strategies including the researchers’ findings on the
issues. The first section provides definition of VLSs. The second section dicusses
studies on VLSs abroad. The third section concerns studies on VLSs in Vietnam. The

chapter includes with a review of previous studies on VLSs.
Chapter 3: Methodology focuses on the research method used to gather and
anaylyze data. First, research questions are addressed. Then instruments for data

2


collection, subjects and procedures are described. The chapter ends with data analysis
and summary.
Chapter 4: Results and discusssion, reports the results of the use of VLSs by
students at CBQGL high school, differences among three grades on their strategy use.
The major findings are considered as basic for some suggestions for future pedagogical
implications.
Chapter 5: Implications and Conclusion, provides several implications and
conclusion for CBQGL high school training for students, mentions some limitations of
the present research and suggestions on further studies.

3


CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter deals with the brief review of the previous studies relating to
vocabulary learning strategies including the researchers’ findings on the issues. The first
section provides definition of VLSs. The second section dicusses studies on VLSs
abroad. The third section concerns studies on VLSs in Vietnam. The chapter includes
with a review of previous studies on VLSs.

2.1. Definition of vocabulary learning strategies
VLSs are “specific strategies for learning vocabulary” as Ellis put it. VLSs can
be considered as a subset of general LSs in second language acquisition. Schmitt echoes

this very broad definition in defining vocabulary-learning strategies. Citing Rubin ,
Schmitt claims learning is “the process by which information is obtained, stored,
retrieved and used... Therefore, VLSs could be any which affect this broadly defined
process” (Rubin 1987, cited in Schmitt 1997, p.203).
Nation (2001), instead of providing a clear-cut definition of VLSs, has opted for
listing their characteristics. According to Nation (2001), a strategy must:
•

involve choice, i.e. there should be several strategies to choose from;

•

be complex, i.e. there should be several steps to learn;

•

require knowledge and benefit from training;

•

increase the efficiency of vocabulary learning and vocabulary use;

Accordingly, we admit that vocabulary-learning strategies are one aspect of the
overall LSs. Then what are learning strategies (LSs)?
LSs are attempts to develop linguistic and sociolinguistic competence in the
target language. Strategy is best reserved for general tendencies or overall
characteristics of the approach employed by the language learner, learning techniques as
the term to refer to particular forms of observable learning learner’s encoding process
LSs are techniques, approach or deliberate actions that students take in order to
facilitate the learning, recall of both linguistic and content area information

Language LSs are behaviors or actions which learners use to make language
learning more successful, self-directed and enjoyable

4


O’Malley

&

Chamot

(1990)

are

interested

in

LSs

and

characteristics of good language learner defined LSs as “the special
thoughts or behaviors that individuals use to help them comprehend,
learn or retain new information” (O’Malley & Chamot , 1990, p.1)
A strategy consists of mental or behavior activity related to some specific stage
in the overall process of language acquisition or language use (Ellis, 1994)
It can be observed that it seems difficult or even impossible to set a criterion to

judge which definition is perfect or comprehensive. Ellis (1994), therefore, suggested
that the following characteristics should be recognized.
1(1) Strategies refer to both general approaches and specific actions or
techniques used to learn a language.
2(2) Strategies are problem-oriented, and the learner employs a strategy to
overcome some particular learning problem.
3(3) Learners are generally aware of the strategies they use and can identify
what they consist of and they are asked to pay attention to what they are doing and
thinking.
4(4) Strategies involve linguistic behavior (such as, pointing at an object so as to
tell its name)
5(5) Linguistic strategies can be performed in language learning.
6(6) Some strategies are behavioral while others are mental. Thus some
strategies are directly observable while others not.
7(7) In the whole, strategies contribute indirectly to learning by providing
learners with data about the second or foreign language they can process. However,
some strategies may also contribute directly (e.g. memorization strategies directed at
specific lexical items or grammatical rules).
8(8) Strategies use varies considerably because of both the kind of task the
learner is engaged in the individual learner preferences.
Taking all the characteristics into account, Ellis (1994) suggested that strategies
could be defined as “production sets that exist as declarative knowledge and are used to
solve some learning problem”.

5


2.2. Studies on vocabulary learning strategies abroad
A majority of recent studies have been specifically carried out to investigate
VLSs used by students at university.

In a university context, the most recent study was carried out by Hamzah,
Kafipour & Abdullah . This study mainly aims to explore the most and least frequently
used VLSs by Iranian undergraduate students, the overall frequency of strategy used by
Iranian EFL undergraduate learners and the contribution of Iranian EFL undergraduate
learners’ VLSs to their vocabulary size. They used Schmitt's vocabulary learning
strategy questionnaire with 41-items classified under 5 different groups of strategies as
determination, memory, social, cognitive, and metacognitive. One hundred twenty five
Iranian second year undergraduate students randomly selected among 30 provinces
around Iran participated in the study. The other instrument utilized for this piece of
research is Nation's standardized vocabulary size test which includes 140 items and
determines the learners' vocabulary size.
After the analysis of data, they found that Iranian undergraduate EFL learners
are medium strategy users. They revealed more interest in discovering the meaning of
new words-determination strategy-rather than other categories. Among the strategies
used to retain the meaning of new words, they used memory strategies more frequently
while social strategies were used less frequently. Moreover, VLSs contribute to
vocabulary size of the learners. Only nine out of 41 VLSs showed a contribution and
significant relation to vocabulary size. However, this study has some suggestions that
future studies should take into consideration qualitative data collection to triangulate the
data. It may show if what the learners reported in questionnaire is consistent with what
they actually do. To achieve this purpose, journal writing as a qualitative data collection
is beneficial. Furthermore, other relevant variables can be investigated to find if
vocabulary learning contribute to them or not. One of these variables which is expected
to be affected by VLSs is reading comprehension.
Furthermore, in a univesity context, Xhaferi carried out a research to
investigate VLSs used by students at South East European University (SEEU) in terms
of gender and teachers’ attitudes toward teaching vocabulary. In this study, he aims to
find out what types of VLSs are used by female and male students at SEEU in learning
high-frequency and low-frequency words. The total sample of students involved in the
study is 100 and were chosen randomly. In addition, twenty English language teachers

6


expressed their attitudes that they hold about teaching vocabulary and what techniques
they use to teach vocabulary. This study used three research instruments. The first
instrument is a ten-item background questionnaire in order to get some background
information about students' English learning experiences. The second instrument is a
student survey which includes 30 VLSs. It was modified based on the Oxford's Strategy
Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) (1990). The participants should include four
more strategies that they use but are not included in the list. The third instrument is a
ten-item teacher questionnaire and the aim was to find more information about the
teacher's attitudes toward teaching vocabulary and what teaching techniques they used.
The findings of Xhaferi (2008) indicated that both females and males employ
different strategies to discover the meaning of unknown words and to remember the
meaning. It presents the techniques that students use to learn high frequency and low
frequency words in English. It was demonstrated that learning new words is a complex
process and the students need to use many strategies in order to remember the meaning
of the words. They use the results obtained from teachers’ responses, different
approaches. The most-used teaching approaches are developing guessing strategy, using
flashcards, using pictures and illustrations, doing word games and puzzles, and using
different texts to enrich students' vocabulary.
However, the study by Xhaferi (2008) remains some limitation and has its own
suggestions. This empirical study only included a small number of participants and a
small number of teachers teaching English as a foreign language. A larger sample from
different institutions would definitely yield more findings that are generalizable. As
other studies, the data were collected by using only three instruments, which do not
reflect a reality because students could have not read the questions carefully but only
circled them. This study definitely will not be the only one in this field and does not
offer any conclusive findings about vocabulary learning and teaching at SEEU. This

will lead to more thorough investigations in the field and both students and teacher will
benefit from these findings.
In a high school context, Kudo carried out a research on 325 Japanese high
school students to serve his specific aim at investigation and systematically
categorization of VLSs. In a first study, the data were collected from Japanese senior
high school students (N=325) in a questionnaire in which participants answered the
frequency of 56 strategies. Descriptive statistics indicated that many strategies were
infrequently used. In the second study, again, Japanese senior high school students

7


participated (N=504). Descriptive statistics indicated that the means of each category
declined compared to Study 1 probably because the items with high means had been
eliminated. The questionnaire was used to measure the frequency of the VLSs. These
strategies were operationalised as measured by the questionnaire developed by the
researcher, based on the study done by Schmitt (1997).
In this research, Kudo (1999) also carried out a main study with its aim to
describe what strategies Japanese senior high school students use to learn vocabulary,
and to gain insights into what teachers and students can and should do in teaching and
learning vocabulary. As a result, many findings of the questionnaires turned out to be
quite congruent with those of Schmitt’s (1997) descriptive studies and Oxford’s (1990)
classification schemes. As far as classification is concerned, the main study seems to
support Oxford’s (1990) classification schemes as a whole. In addition, although some
researchers argue that strategies may be culture-specific (O’Malley & Chamot, 1990;
Cohen, 1996), this research empirically provided evidence that this argument may not
hold true. While Oxford (1990) based her scheme on her research in Alabama, this
study was conducted in Japan, very different culture. Therefore, the results of this study
suggest that learners may commonly employ LSs at least in Japan and in Alabama,
rather than culture-specific.

This study suggests that students should be exposed to many strategies. Some
students wrote that they did not know that there are so many different strategies to learn
vocabulary. Furthermore, they said that they planned to try some that they found in the
questionnaire and that looked interesting, but that they had never though of before. If
students can find strategies suitable to them and actually use them, this might increase
their vocabulary size. While it was found that Japanese senior high school students used
many different strategies to learn vocabulary, it was also found that there were some
that they did not use such as the Keyword Method and semantic mapping. It is possible
that these “unknown” strategies will help them learn vocabulary. In addition, as Schmitt
(1997) argued, such cognitively demanding strategies lead to higher retention in
memory than do the cognitively shallow activities such as verbal repetition. Therefore,
English teachers might want to introduce such potentially effective techniques to their
students and encourage them to try these strategies out. To accomplish this goal, teacher
educators and teachers must be knowledgeable about as many strategies as possible and
introduce them to their students whenever students need help. If teachers are not very

8


knowledgeable about strategies, they need to make the effort to investigate strategies by
themselves or consult with specialists.
There are some limitations in a large-scale study like this. First, since the
questionnaire is self-report and the single source of information in this part of the study,
it is not clear whether the participants actually used the strategies, they indicated in
learning vocabulary. Their responses may be just their beliefs or thoughts that they have
about their use of strategies. There must have been differences in the awareness of
strategy use among individuals, and some may have inadvertently responded
incorrectly. In order to investigate students’ actual use of strategies, researchers must
observe classes where vocabulary learning is taking place, use think-aloud procedures
(introspection), and interview the students to find out what they do to learn vocabulary

and so forth. Second, there may also have been some unclear points in the questionnaire
itself. “Never” to “always” may have been fuzzy because they interpretations of these
scales can change according to context . For example, the participants many have
though of different contexts when they are asked how frequently they use a bilingual
dictionary. They might have thought of home context or school context. Their answer
may have been “It depends.” Therefore, it would have been better if the context had
been specified. In addition, as one teacher pointed out, the definitions of some words
may not have been clear.
Along with Kudo (1999), Marttinen also investigated VLSs used by
students two upper secondary schools in Western Finland. The purpose of his thesis was
to find out more about theLSs L1 Finnish students of upper secondary school use when
studying English as their first foreign language. Especially interesting was finding out
what kind of different strategies upper secondary school students use in their study of
English vocabulary and where they have gotten their information about these different
strategies. In addition, he wanted to study the possible gender differences, which may
have an impact on strategy use. Furthermore, he was interested in the relationship of
second language learning motivation and VLSs. A questionnaire which was completed
by 50 upper secondary school students of two different schools in Western Finland (31
males, 19 females). Thirty participants used the paper version of the questionnaire and
20 completed the questionnaire in the Web environment. In addition, the strategies were
classified by the vocabulary learning strategy taxonomy by Schmitt (1997).
After the analysis of data, Marttinen (2008) found out upper secondary school
students acknowledge the meaning of vocabulary in language proficiency even though

9


they may not take the initiative to enhance their vocabulary learning abilities by using
different VLSs or even actively take issues regarding vocabulary learning into
consideration. The distinction between vocabulary learning and vocabulary acquisition

is hard to make and the participants of the present study seemed to be somewhat
confused whether vocabulary acquisition outside the classroom is vocabulary learning.
When planning further study in the field of vocabulary learning strategy use it would be
useful to take some suggestions into account. A large number of participants and equal
number of females and males could offer more accurate data and results. In addition,
interviews or observations could serve as useful tools for data acquisition instead of or
together with a questionnaire used in the study.

2.3. Studies on vocabulary learning strategies in Vietnam
Together with foreign studies on VLSs, this field of research has been attracting
the attention of researchers in Vietnam.
There are two of all VLS studies are one by Trinh Tuyet Mai and another study
conducted by Dinh Thuy Hang . As shown in the studies, both of them investigated
VLSs. However, they have some differences. Trinh Tuyet Mai (2006) carried out an
investigation of the first year English major students’ VLSs in Lang Son College of
Education, whereas Dinh Thuy Hang (2008) studied VLSs employed by students at
Hung Vuong gifted high school.
The study done by Trinh Tuyet Mai aims to provide answers to the following
questions: What VLSs are most frequently used by the first year English major students
at Lang Son College of Education and How does their choice of VLSs relate to their
personality, motivation and language learning backgrounds. There were questionaires
and one vocabulary test supporting questionaire one given to 31 students comprising 1
male and 30 female. These students come from different districts of Lang Son province
and their age from 18 to 24. After the analysis of data, she found out that there were a
wide range of VLS use. The study’s subjects prefer cognitive and metacognitive ones.
Moreover, VLS were used at a quite low level of frequency and use more simple and
shallow strategies of different

categories neglecting those ones requiring much

manupulation of information.
The purpose of Dinh Thuy Hang’s study was to identify what VLSs are
commonly used by the students at Hung Vuong Gifted High School and to look at the
differences in vocabulary learning strategy by gender and major in relation to strategy

10


use. A vocabulary-learning strategy questionnaire was given to 67 students from Hung
Vuong Gifted High School participated in the study. Thirty-five students of English
(n=35) and thirty-two students of math (n=32). Forty-seven students were female and
twenty were male. The participants have been studying English for 5 to 8 years.
Statistical analysis revealed that most of the strategies given in the questionnaire were
not used with high frequency. Only one of five groups of strategies had the frequency
above 50% (Determination strategies). The rest had the frequency below 50%. This may
lead to difficulties in long-term retention and use of vocabulary. Significant differences
existed in strategy use by field of study. The results showed that means of vocabulary
learning strategy use between the male and female were not so much different. Most of
the female had greater means than the male.

2.4. Summary
As shown in the studies reviewed above, VLSs have been taken into
consideration and attempted to study in a vast number of foreign researchers and several
Vietnamese ones. All of the studies mentioned above used Schmitt's vocabularylearning strategy questionnaire to gather data from the students on theirs vocabularylearning strategies. This proves that the questionnaire is very reliable. However, all
above-mentioned studies indicated that the data were collected by using questionnaires,
which do not reflect the reality of students’ VLSs because students could have not read
the questions carefully but only circled them or there may also have been some unclear
points in the questionnaire itself. Besides, “Never” to “always” may have been fuzzy
because they interpretations of these scales can change according to context. Therefore,
it is suggested that researchers should have a qualitative data collection, which is more

beneficial such as journal writing, think-aloud procedures (introspection), or interview
the students in order to investigate students’ actual use of strategies.
Second, based on the fact at CBQGL high school, students all have learned
English for over seven years before entering this high school. In spite of having large
amount of English learning time their vocabulary is still poor. Many students complain
that they spend most of their time to learn vocabulary but the results are at low level. It
is their lack of good vocabulary that has consequently badly affected their writing,
reading, listening and speaking proficiency. The real situation leads to an assumption
that the students may have problems in their VLSs.

11


For some reasons mentioned above, the present research is implemented
to investigate vocabulary-learning strategies used by students at CBQGL High School.
The details will be presented in the methodology section.

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
The review of literature relating to the present study in the previous chapter has
provided a theoretical basis for developing its methodology. This chapter aiming at
depicting the methodology addresses the following issues: The research questions; the
data collection instruments; the subjects of the study; the research procedure description
and data analysis.

3.1. Research questions
As stated in chapter 1, the purpose of the research is to investigate VLSs used by
students at CBQGL high school. To achieve this aim, the study provides the answers to
the following question: What VLSs are commonly used by the students of CBQGL high
school?

3.2. Data collection instruments
A questionnaire was chosen to identify what VLSs are commonly
used.

The questionnaire was designed to gather data from the

students on their VLSs. It contained fifty-eight closed-ended questions
and one open-ended question classified under five different groups of
strategies

as

determination,

memory,

social,

cognitive,

and

metacognitive. Questions from 1 to 9 belong to determination
strategies, from 10 to 17 belong to social strategies, from 18 to 44
belong to memory strategies, from 45 to 53 belong to cognitive
strategies and from 54 to 58 belong to metacognitive strategies. The
questionnaire was translated into Vietnamese so that students could
understand and respond to the items easily (see the Appendix). The
items were adapted from Schmitt (1997) because they were reliable
and

used

in

most

of

above-mentioned

studies.

Examples

or

explanations were added in most of the questions in the questionnaire
to help students understand clearly about VLSs. For example, in
question 1, 2, 3, there were some changes. Question 1: I analyze part of

12


speech (noun, verb, or adjective...) of a new word to discover its meaning.
Question 2: I analyze affixes (prefixes e.g. happy - unhappy and suffixes e.g.
understand - understandable) and roots to its meaning. Question 3: I check for L1
cognate (having the same origin as another word or language) E.g. ‘Haus’ in German is
cognate with ‘house’ in English (see Appendix A and B)
After analyzing the data of the questionnaire, the researcher conducted

interviews with some students to triangulate the data collected through questionnaire. It
showed if what the learners had reported in the questionnaire was consistent with what
they actually did. Some students selected were based on the highlights of the
questionnaire results. They were among the learners who use the most or least frequent
strategies. During the interview, the learners were encouraged to answer three questions
as follows:
(1) Why do they use these strategies most or least frequently?
(2) Can you describe one learning task you use these strategies?
(3) What VLSs should be used to complete the following task?
(Given task: In part A – Reading of Unit 8 – The story of my village – Textbook
10, there are some new words found in the reading text such as mud, brick, result in,
export, water shortage, make ends meet). For example, students answered this question
as follows: I use pictures to discover the meaning of new words mud, brick
(determination strategies). I ask teachers for synonym of the new word result in ~ bring
about (social strategies). I guess the word export from the textual context (determination
strategies), analyze part of speech short (adj)- shortage (n) (determination strategies)
and I use group work activity in task 1 (textbook 10) to discover the meaning of the new
words make ends meet.(social strategies)

3.3. Subjects
A total of 200 students chosen randomly from about two thousand students
studying at CBQGL high school participated in the study. They were selected randomly
every five students in grade 10 (N=70), 11(N=70) and 12(N= 60). The age of the
students is probably 16, 17 and 18.

3.4. Data collection procedures
The first instrument required about 45 minutes to complete and was
administered in the students’ English class. Before filling out the questionnaire, students

13

were told that their participation was voluntary

and their responses

remained

confidential; they were asked to give their opinions as honestly as possible, which was
crucial to the success of this investigation. I also confirmed to them that the research
was carried out with the aim at improving their own English learning in general and
their English vocabulary learning in particular. The questionnaire was written in
Vietnamese so that all the informants could understand and complete all questions.
After the survey questionnaire, the second instrument was interviews that took one
student from 5 to 10 minutes to complete.

3.5. Data analysis
The data gathered through the questionnaire were coded for statistical analysis to
investigate which vocabulary learning strategy are commonly used and how often each
strategy is used by students at CBQGL high school. The terms high frequency and low
frequency were used in the data analysis procedure. The former term refers to always
and frequently and the later one refers to sometimes and rarely. The questions in the
questionnaire were analyzed one by one in their vocabulary learning strategy groups by
counting its percentage. Mean values of vocabulary learning strategy use were
calculated to determine whether there are differences in strategy use. The qualitative
data from the interviews were recorded, translated, and analyzed.

3.6. Summary

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter reports the results of the use of VLSs by students at CBQGL high
school, differences among three grades on their strategy use. The major findings are
considered as basic for some suggestions for future pedagogical implications.

14


CHAPTER 5: IMPLICATIONS AND CONCLUSION
5.1. Implications
5.2. Further research and limitations
5.3. Conclusion
REFERENCES

15


APPENDIX A
THE TAXONOMY OF VOCABULARY LEARNING STRATEGIES

(Schmitt, 1997)
Strategies for the discovery of a new word’s meaning.
DET

Analyze part of speech

DET

Analyze affixes and roots

DET

Check for L1 cognate

DET

Analyze any available pictures or gestures

DET

Guess from textual context

DET

Bilingual dictionary

DET

Monolingual dictionary

DET

Word lists

DET

Flash cards

SOC

Ask teacher for L1 translation

SOC

Ask teacher for paraphrase or synonym of new words

SOC

Ask teacher for sentence including the new word

SOC

Ask classmates for meaning

SOC

Discover new meaning through group work activity

16


Strategies for consolidating a word once it has been encountered
SOC

Study and practice meaning in a group

SOC

Teacher checks students’ flash cards or word lists for accuracy

SOC

Interact with native speakers

________________________________________________________________
MEM

Study words with a pictorial representation of its meaning

MEM

Imagine word’s meaning

MEM

Connect word to a personal experience

MEM

Associate the word with its coordinates

MEM

Connect the word to its synonym and antonyms

MEM

Use semantic maps

MEM

Use scales for gradable adjectives

MEM

Peg method

MEM

Loci method

MEM

Group words together to study them

MEM

Group words together spatially on a page

MEM

Use new word in sentences

MEM

Use new words together within a storyline

MEM

Study the spelling of a word

MEM

Study the sound of the word

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