Improving students’ vocabulary use through using word lists an action research project with 7th grade students at gia vuong secondary school

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY- HANOI UNIVERSITY OF
LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF
POSTGRADUATE STUDIES
------------------------

TRẦN THỊ TRANG NHUNG

IMPROVING STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY USE THROUGH USING
WORD LISTS. AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT WITH 7

th

GRADE STUDENTS AT GIA VUONG SECONDARY SCHOOL
(CẢI THIỆN KHẢ NĂNG SỬ DỤNG TỪ VỰNG CỦA HỌC SINH
THÔNG QUA VIỆC SỬ DỤNG NHỮNG DANH SÁCH TỪ VỰNG.
NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG VỚI HỌC SINH KHỐI 7
TRƢỜNG TRUNG HỌC CƠ SỞ GIA VƢỢNG)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS
Field: English Teaching Methodology I
Code: 60140111

Hanoi – 2016


VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY- HANOI UNIVERSITY OF
LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF
POSTGRADUATE STUDIES
------------------------

TRẦN THỊ TRANG NHUNG

IMPROVING STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY USE THROUGH USING
WORD LISTS. AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT WITH 7

th

GRADE STUDENTS AT GIA VUONG SECONDARY SCHOOL
(CẢI THIỆN KHẢ NĂNG SỬ DỤNG TỪ VỰNG CỦA HỌC SINH
THÔNG QUA VIỆC SỬ DỤNG NHỮNG DANH SÁCH TỪ VỰNG.
NGHIÊN CỨU HÀNH ĐỘNG VỚI HỌC SINH KHỐI 7
TRƢỜNG TRUNG HỌC CƠ SỞ GIA VƢỢNG)

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS
Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60140111
Supervisor: Dƣơng Thu Mai, Ph.D

Hanoi - 2016


DECLARATION
I certify that this minor thesis entitled “Improving students’ vocabulary use
through using word lists. An action research project with 7th grade students at
Gia Vuong secondary school” is the study of my own research and the substance
of this research has not been submitted for a degree to any other university or
institution.
Ninh Binh, November, 2016
Signature

Tran Thi Trang Nhung

i


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my gratitude to all those who have given me great assistance
in the completion of my research work.
In the first place, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my
supervisor Duong Thu Mai, Ph.D, who has provided me with insightful discussion,
helpful comments, valuable support in the preparation and completion of this thesis.
Without her guidance and help, this work would not have been accomplished.
Secondly, my sincere thanks also go to all lecturers and staff of the
department of Post- Graduate studies for their valuable lessons and precious helps.
Thanks to their lessons as well as needed helps, I could overcome enormous
obstacles when doing the study.
I also wish to acknowledge the cooperation of my colleagues and the 7

th

students at Gia Vuong secondary school in contributing to the data collection
presented in this study.
Last but not least, I would like to express my deepest thanks to my dear
family and friends for their encouragement and great support during my time of
fulfilling this thesis.

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ABSTRACT
This present study aims at investigating improvement of students‟ vocabulary use

through teaching with word lists. To reach this aim, an action research was
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conducted with forty 7 grade students at Gia Vuong secondary school in the first
semester of the year 2016- 2017. They were chosen from the same class to
participate in learning vocabulary with the different word lists for eight weeks. The
data were gathered through qualitative and quantitative data. The qualitative data
were gained by analyzing the class observation result and quantitative data were
obtained from the students‟ vocabulary scores of pretest, posttest and questionnaire
for students. Based on the result of this research which showed that there was a
development on the students‟ vocabulary use. Besides, from the result of
questionnaires, it showed that there was improvement of positive response in the
teaching- learning process of vocabulary with word lists. Furthermore, the results of
observation showed that the students were interested in the teaching- learning
activities during the implementation of word lists. The findings, suggestion, suitable
and effective ways for teachers in applying word lists in class to make certain
positive changes in their teaching methodology as well as to help students improve
their English vocabulary.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION........................................................................................................i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT............................................................................................................. iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS.......................................................................................... iv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS..................................................................................vii
LIST OF FIGURE, TABLES AND CHARTS........................................................ viii
PART A: INTRODUCTION...................................................................................1

1. Rationale...............................................................................................................1
2. Aims of study........................................................................................................2
3. Research questions................................................................................................3
4. Scope of the study.................................................................................................3
5. Methods of the study.............................................................................................3
6. Design of the study................................................................................................4
PART B: DEVELOPMENT...................................................................................5
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW...............................................................5
1. 1. Definition of Vocabulary and Vocabulary use....................................................5
1. 2. Classification of vocabulary..............................................................................5
1.2.1According to meaning.......................................................................................5
1.2.2. According to frequency of use.........................................................................6
1.2.3 According to language teaching methodologies...............................................6
1. 3. The role of vocabulary in language teaching and learning................................7
1.4. Aspects of word knowledge included in vocabulary teaching............................8
1. 5. Principles of vocabulary teaching.................................................................... 11
1.6. Approaches to vocabulary Instruction............................................................... 13
1. 7. Teaching with word lists.................................................................................. 14
1.7.1. Definition of word lists.................................................................................. 14
1.7.2. Selection of vocabulary items in word lists................................................... 15
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1.7.3. Related Studies to word lists.......................................................................... 16
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY....................................................................... 18
2.1 Research design: Action Research..................................................................... 18
2.2 Background of the study.................................................................................... 20
2.2.1 Context of the study........................................................................................ 20
2.2.2 Participants..................................................................................................... 21
2.3 Data Collection Instruments.............................................................................. 21

2.3.1. Pretest and Posttest........................................................................................ 21
2.3.2. Questionnaires............................................................................................... 22
2.3.3 Class observation checklists........................................................................... 23
2.3.4 Research Lesson Plan..................................................................................... 23
2.4. Data Collection Procedure................................................................................ 24
2.5 Data analysis...................................................................................................... 25
CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION.................................................. 27
3.1 Research question 1: What is students‟ vocabulary use proficiency before the
implementation of the research?.............................................................................. 27
3.2 Research question

2: What is students‟ vocabulary use proficiency after the

implementation of the research?.............................................................................. 28
3.3 Research question 3. What is the difference in students‟ vocabulary use before
and after teaching with word lists?.......................................................................... 29
3.3.1. The overall descriptive data of the pre-test and the post-test scores..............29
3.3.2. Descriptive statistics of sections in the tests.................................................. 30
3.3.3. One Sample T-test Results:............................................................................ 32
3.4 Research question 4. What are students‟ attitudes toward using word lists in the
language classroom?................................................................................................ 32
3.4.1 Findings from Students‟ questionnaires......................................................... 32
3.4.2 Findings from class observation..................................................................... 39
3.5 Discussion of all findings.................................................................................. 41
PART C: CONCLUSION...................................................................................... 43
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1. Summary of the findings and discussion............................................................. 43
2. Gained research experience; research evaluation................................................. 43

3.1. For other English teachers................................................................................ 45
3.2 For other researchers......................................................................................... 45
3.3 For students....................................................................................................... 46
4. Limitations of the study....................................................................................... 46
5. Suggestion for further studies.............................................................................. 47
REFERENCES...................................................................................................... 47
APPENDIX A............................................................................................................I
APPENDIX B.........................................................................................................IV
APPENDIX C........................................................................................................ VII
APPENDIX D.........................................................................................................IX
APPENDIX E...................................................................................................................................... XI
APPENDIX F................................................................................................................................ LXIV

vi


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
EFL

: English as a Foreign Language

WL

: Word List

AWL

: Academic Word List

Q

: Question

vii


LIST OF FIGURE, TABLES AND CHARTS

Figure 2.1. Action Research Cycle
Figure 3.1. Result of the Pretest
Figure 3.2. Result of the Posttest
Figure 3.3. The appropriateness the number of words.
Table 2. The study procedures
Table 3. The reliability of the tests
Table 4. The overall descriptive data of the tests
Table 5. The overall descriptive data of collocations
Table 6. The overall descriptive data of Uncommon lexical items
Table 7. The overall descriptive data of Word formation
Table 8. The overall descriptive data of part of speech
Table 9. One sample T- test
Chart 3.1. Contents of word lists
Chart 3.2. Skills of word lists
Chart 3.3. The WL introduction and teaching activities
Chart 3.4. The WL practice activities
Chart 3.5. Time among parts and teacher‟s feedbacks

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PART A: INTRODUCTION

1. Rationale.
Nowadays, learning English is more and more essential because it is considered as a
vital tool in communication. No one can deny its important roles in every field of
the modern world such as culture, economy, society, science - technology or even
the expansion of education. In Vietnam, English is known as a compulsory subject
in all levels. There is a rapidly growing tendency for English to be adopted as the
medium of communication, even when a majority of the population speaks a local
language.
In order to support the mastery of English, it is essential to learn vocabulary.
Underscoring the importance of vocabulary acquisition, Schmitt (2000, p.55)
emphasizes that “lexical knowledge is central to communicative competence and to
the acquisition of a second language”. Nation (2001) further describes the
relationship between vocabulary knowledge and language use as complementary:
knowledge of vocabulary enables language use and, conversely, language use leads
to an increase in vocabulary knowledge. British linguist Wilkins (1972: 111) once
said, “Without grammar, little can be conveyed; without vocabulary, nothing can be
conveyed”. Truly thanks to vocabulary, sentences, texts and language can be made
and become richer.
Today, there are research-based data on how best to provide students with effective
vocabulary instruction. And using word lists in class is considered as a new method
which offer a systematic, teacher-directed approach to improving students‟ vocabulary
use. For teachers, using word lists offers research-based instructional resources that
require minimal time. Teachers also have benefits from the program‟s flexible
instructional model, which allows them to customize instruction to fit their classroom
schedules and meet individual student needs. Besides, other benefits of word lists are:
(1) Word lists are written in a very simple form, one word – with the single, most
frequent meaning. (2) Word lists are portable so students can look at them anytime and
anywhere they want. (3) Word lists reduce students‟ stress from

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learning pages of words from the textbook. That is the reason why teaching word
lists is being researched and conducted widely now.
In Vietnam, the government has made some efforts to train human resources who
are able to understand and master English well. Therefore, English is not only
taught for junior and senior high school students but also to the elementary school
students so as to get students to be familiar with English as soon as possible and to
use English fluently.
In the context of Gia Vuong secondary school, Ninh Binh Province, vocabulary has
been taught for students for a long time basing on textbooks. From the researcher‟s
observation and professional experience as a teacher of English, teaching and
learning vocabulary has still faced some difficulties and the students‟ ability to use
English has not improved significantly. Many students cannot make sentences or
dialogues; over 90 % among them even cannot communicate basically in English
because of insufficient vocabulary. Students even do not know how to use the
vocabulary they have learned. They only understand a text and do exercises easily
when they know what most of the important words mean. In a word, this lack of
adequate vocabulary knowledge is an obvious and serious obstacle for many
students in learning English and improving their skills.
All the conditions above have offered me a chance to conduct a study on:
“Improving students’ vocabulary use through using word lists. An action
research project with 7th grade students at Gia Vuong secondary school”. The
study is conducted to test the continuing applicability of this method in the certain
context of Vietnamese rural areas where there are not enough facilities for the
leaners to learn a foreign language.
2. Aims of study
Surveying the 7

th

grade students, who are directly involved in the program, the

research firstly aimed at investigating their improvement in vocabulary use through
teaching with prepared word lists and find out the effectiveness of this method.
Secondly, the researcher explores students‟ attitude towards using word lists in
2


teaching vocabulary. Based on the findings, recommendations are made to promote
student‟s proficiency and improve the implementation of this method.
3. Research questions.
In order to achieve the above- mentioned aims, the following research questions are
addressed in the study.
1. What is the students‟ vocabulary use proficiency before the implementation of

the research?
2. What is students‟ vocabulary use proficiency after the implementation of the

research?
3. What is the difference in students‟ vocabulary use before and after teaching with

word lists?
4. What are students‟ attitudes toward using word lists in the language classroom?
4. Scope of the study
The scope of this study is about the use of word lists in teaching vocabulary so as to
help students get understanding about words and their meaning. Besides, is the core of
using word lists better for students to learn vocabulary and improve their vocabulary
use? The researcher uses one class and the research is done at the seventh grade of Gia
Vuong secondary school. Then, the researcher compares the results of the pre- test and

post- test that giving before and the last meeting. Using the results from class
observation, this study helps everyone see positive aspects/ strengths of using word lists
in vocabulary teaching - learning process. However, the result of this study may not be
generalized to all Vietnamese students in rural areas.

5. Methods of the study
To achieve the aims of the study, a mixed method was applied. Eight lesson plans
were designed and taught at one class in grade 7 at Gia Vuong secondary school so
that the researcher can investigate the effectiveness of teaching vocabulary with
word lists. Then, a quantitative method technique was applied as a survey
questionnaire was administered for 40 students there in order to get a more detailed
and comprehensive picture about what is investigated for the research. Other
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research instruments were also designed and applied.
A pretest and a posttest were given in order to evaluate the vocabulary use
proficiency improvement. The students‟ scores in the post- test will be compared
with the scores of students in the pre-test to determine the effectiveness of the use of
word lists in teaching vocabulary.
The qualitative research method is involved in conducting and analyzing the class
observation which is needed to find out how effective this method is.
Then, the data were collected, sorted and analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively
to obtain the results.
6. Design of the study
This study is composed of five following parts:
Part A :“INTRODUCTION” presents the background, aims, research question,
the significance, the scope and the design of the study.
Part B : DEVELOPMENT is organized in three main chapters:
Chapter I is “Literature review” which conceptualizes the framework of the study

through the discussion of issues and ideas on theories of teaching vocabulary in the
implementation of word lists.
Chapter II is “Methodology” which presents the context, the methodology used in
this study including the context, the subject, the data collection instruments, data
collection procedure and data analysis.
Chapter III is “Findings and Discussions” which consists of a comprehensive
analysis of the data and a discussion on the findings of this study.
Part C “CONCLUSION” offers a summary of the findings, gained research
experience, recommendations, limitations and future directions for further study.

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter discusses some definitions of vocabulary, vocabulary use, its
classification, its role in EFL teaching and learning, approaches in vocabulary
instruction, word lists, using word lists and the related literature review of the research.

1. 1. Definition of Vocabulary and Vocabulary use
There are many definitions of vocabulary proposed by some experts. It is very
important for one to know what vocabulary is before discussing vocabulary use. In
the field of linguistics, Nash and Snowling (2006) describe vocabulary as “the
knowledge of words and their meanings (p.336). Another definition came from
Sheehan (2002), who states “vocabulary is the ability to understand and use words
to acquire and convey meaning” (vocabulary, Para. 1). Meanwhile, as Bromley
(2007) reported, “Vocabulary is a principle contributor to comprehension, fluency
and achievement”. Without an extensive vocabulary, most language learners will not
be able to use the structures and functions they may have learnt for comprehensible
communication. In sum vocabulary can be understood as the words of language,

including single items and phrases or chunks of several words which convey a
particular meaning, the way individual words do.
Vocabulary use, Nation (2001) noted, involves the grammatical function of the word
or phrase, collocations that normally often go with it, and finally any constrains on
its use, in terms of frequency, level, and so forth. Therefore, using a large
vocabulary accurately is very important for foreign language learners. Without
mastering it, of course, foreign language learners will get some difficulties in
developing the four language skills.
1. 2. Classification of vocabulary.

1.2.1 According to meaning
Semantically, vocabulary is divided into notional words and functional words.
Notional words are words with clear lexical meaning. They are indefinitely
extendable, open classes- new items can be added to them. The main notional words
5


are nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Members of these four classes are often
connected by derivational relations.
Functional words, in contrast, are closed system, including a limited number of
members. They cannot be extended by creating new items. Prepositions,
conjunctions, and articles as well as auxiliaries and words classified as “particles”
are function words.
1.2.2. According to frequence of use.
It is possible to distinguish two kinds of vocabulary: high- frequency words and
low - frequency words.
High- frequency words are the words that appear most often in oral
communication and printed materials of different fields of life. Learning to
recognize high- frequency words by sight is critical to developing fluency in
reading. Considerable researchers been done to generate lists of the 1,000, 2,000 or

3,000 most frequently- used word in English. Recognizing these words gives
students a basic context figuring out other word.
Low- frequency words are of a very large group of words that occurs very
infrequency and cover only a small proportion of any text. The younger the learner,
the fewer words they are likely to have in their low- frequency bank.
For a teacher, it is very important to distinguish between high and low – frequency
vocabulary in order to decide which words to teach and how much class time should
be spent on them.
1.2.3 According to language teaching methodologies.
Methodologically, a foreign language learners‟ vocabulary is divided into active
vocabulary and passive vocabulary. Active vocabulary is the words which students
can understand and use effectively in speaking and writing, whereas passive
vocabulary is the words which the student can recognize and understand when they
occur in a context, but he cannot remember or use in their own speaking and writing
( Nguyen Bang & Nguyen Ba Ngoc 2002: 36). However, the active and passive
vocabulary of language learners changes constantly. They start using words, try new
6


meanings, forget words, and abandon words that have no use or revise words, etc.
Lewis and Hill (1885, p. 100) suggested that it was helpful to guide students
towards the words which it would help them to add to their active vocabulary.
In this study, the researcher classified the vocabulary according to meaning and
frequency of use. Both of them are useful for choosing wordlists and implementing
them in class.
1. 3. The role of vocabulary in language teaching and learning
Vocabulary is an important aspect of EFL teaching and learning, the one that has
called for a great attention from researcher, teachers and students. Traditionally,
second language instruction has focused on teaching grammatical knowledge.
However, vocabulary is very crucial in language teaching and learning because

people cannot understand others and express their own ideas without sufficient
vocabulary. Some authors, led by Lewis (1993, p. 51) argue that vocabulary should
be the center of language teaching since “language consists of grammaticalised
lexis, not lexicalised grammar”. Hunt & Beglar (2005) go on to say that effective
second language vocabulary acquisition is particularly important for EFL students,
who frequently have impoverished lexicons despite years of formal study.
Learners seem to recognize the importance of vocabulary for their learning as
Schmitt (2010, p. 4) notes, “learners carry around dictionaries and not grammar
books”. This is also echoed by Laufer who stated: “solid vocabulary is necessary in
every stage of language learning, as is now being openly stated by second language
acquisition researchers” (1997, p.147). Besides, many other researchers conducted
plenty of studies and pointed out that improving vocabulary makes student‟s ability
to use foreign language better and more fluently. The bigger vocabulary size
language learners get, the better they understand and use. Vocabulary learning is,
therefore, one of the specific goals in a language classroom and the acquisition of an
adequate vocabulary is essential for successful second language use. In conclusion,
vocabulary plays a key role in any EFL course, for any language students.

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1.4. Aspects of word knowledge included in vocabulary teaching
One of the greatest concerns of a language teacher is selecting what aspects of
vocabulary to be taught in a language classroom. In general, when teaching a new
English word, a teacher should by all means provide students with its meaning,
form and use simultaneously. Selecting what to teach, based on frequency and
usefulness to the needs of the particular students is therefore essential. In the book
“A course in Language Teaching” (1999, p. 23), Ur suggested the four aspects of
vocabulary as Form: Pronunciation and spelling, Grammar, Collocation, Aspects of
meaning (1): denotation, connotation, appropriateness, (2): meaning relationship,

Word formation need to be taught about vocabulary. According to Nation (2001, p.
27), to know everything about a word, one needs to know the word‟s:
Form: spoken form, written form, and word parts (e.g., prefix/ root/ suffix...)
Meaning: meaning(s), concepts/referents, and associations (positive...)
Use: grammatical functions, collocations, constraints (register, frequency...)
Word form: Pronunciation ad spelling
In learning and teaching vocabulary process, it is commonly observed that students
must know how to write the words and how to pronounce it correctly. As Ur (1996,
p. 60) said, there are some important points that should be considered when
teaching vocabulary that is form (pronunciation and spelling) in which
pronunciation of a language is the main components of speech which combine
together (Hewings, 2004, p.3). It is defined as the way in which a word is
pronounced. Rules of pronunciation vary widely from language to language.
Spelling is the writing of a word or words with letters and diacritics. Spelling is the
arrangement of letters or putting letters together. Spelling is important because it
aids in reading and writing. It helps cement the connection that is shared between
sounds and letters.
There is a relationship between spelling and pronunciation. According to O‟neil
(1969), the spelling does not directly reflect the way in which a word is pronounced,
but “the pronunciations of words are quite generally predictable in their spelling.
8


This relationship often causes trouble for students, so a teacher needs to make sure
that both these aspects are accurately presented and learned. According to Davies
(2000, p. 61), it is usually best to present new items orally first and in written form
later, especially at lower level. As a result, students can avoid getting the habit of
using “spelling pronunciation”.
Grammar
Language teachers need to introduce the grammar of a new vocabulary if this is not

obviously covered by general grammatical rules. Specially, it is important to provide
students information in case the item has an unpredictable change of form in certain
grammatical contexts or may have some unusual ways of connecting with other
words in sentences. For instance, when teaching a noun, we may wish to present its
plural form if irregular (man, men) or draw students‟ attention to the fact that it has
no plural at all (beauty, knowledge).
Use
According to Nation (2001, p.1), teachers are able to direct students‟ attentions to
the use of words with several techniques such as quickly showing the grammatical
pattern the word fits into (countable/uncountable, transitive/intransitive, etc), giving
a few similar collocates, mentioning any restrictions on the use of the word (formal,
informal, impolite, only used with children, etc), and giving a well- known opposite
or a well- known word describing the group or lexical set it fits into.
Collocation
A collocation is a combination of two or more words together in a language. They
can be nouns and nouns, nouns and verbs, adjectives and nouns, adverbs and verbs,
verbs and prepositions etc… According to Firth (1957, p.181), “collocations of a
given word are statements of the habitual or customary places of that word”. It does
not mean every word can be used together. In other words, the combination of
words must follow certain rules, peculiar to each language. For example, we have
collocations “do homework” or “make a bed”, and we cannot put “make
homework‟ or “do a bed”.
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Word meaning
The meaning can be classified according to the form they attach to. It can be
classified into three forms: lexical meaning, morphological meaning, and syntactic
meaning. Lexical meaning is the meaning of a word considered in isolation from the
sentence containing it, and regardless of its grammatical context. For example, the

lexical meaning of learn in or as represented by learns, learned, learning, etc.
Morphological meaning is the meaning that attaches to morphemes. In linguistics, a
morpheme is the smallest meaningful unit of a language.
Grammatical meaning is the meaning that is conveyed by word order and other
grammatical signals. For example question attaches to the word arrangement in the
sentence is he a student. (Lado, 1964, p. 209-212,).
Word meaning has four components, two of which are denotation and connotation.
Denotation is conceptual meaning and dictionary meaning (Tarigan, 1985,p. 58) and
she states that connotation is feeling and emotion that occurs within a word. How
the meaning of one item relates to the meaning of others is important in teaching.
There are different relationships. Some of the main ones are synonyms, antonyms,
hyponyms, co- hyponyms and superordinnates.
 Synonyms: are actually words of the same parts of speech that have similar

or identical denotation, speech but differ in shades of meaning, connotation
or combinability with other words.
 Antonyms: words of the same part of speech that are opposite in meaning are

called antonyms. Usually adjectives denoting quality, verb denoting actions
or states and abstract nouns have antonyms.
 Hyponyms: is a word or phrase whose semantic field is included within that

of another word. They are decided based on the viewpoint of intension and
extension.
 Co- hyponym or co-ordinates: other items that are the “ same kind of thing”
 Superordinates: general concepts that “cover” specific items.

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Word formation
According Bauer (1983,p. 1), word formation is of central interest to theoretical
linguistics of all persuasions because of light it throws on other aspects of language.
We may consider word formation the creation of a new word.
When talking about word formation, affixation is the first sector that is mentioned
about. Affixation is, thus, the linguistic process speakers use to form new words by
adding morphemes (affixes) at the beginning (prefixation), the middle ( infixation) or
the end (suffixation) of words, for example: redo, sickness. New combinations using
affixes are usual and the reader or hearer would be expected to gather their meaning
from understanding of their components. Besides, there are various other ways of
forming new words such as compounding ( house+ work -> housework, etc).

All in all, words can be formed in different ways. Students should know well about
word formation and the way to use words in appropriate grammatical contexts.
Therefore, this study focused on all aspects mentioned above.
1. 5. Principles of vocabulary teaching.
According to Armbruster, Lehr, & Osborn (2001), vocabulary can be learned in the
following ways:
Directly: Students can learn vocabulary directly when they are explicitly taught
both individual words and word-learning strategies.
Indirectly: Students can learn the meanings of most words indirectly, through every
day experiences with oral and written language, through conversations with adults,
through being to read and through reading extensively on their own. However, this
kind of learning is difficult and not very sufficient.
Rubin & Thompson (1994) also characterize two general approaches as follows:
with direct vocabulary learning, students focus their attention on learning words in
lists or completing various vocabulary exercises; whereas, with indirect vocabulary
learning, learner‟s attention is focused on conveying or understanding a spoken or
written message, in the process of which they are likely to learn new vocabulary.
The two approaches vie for superiority and have created much controversy. So

11


while criticisms of the direct approach abound, many studies do support the
decontextualized style of the direct approach as an effective way of learning
vocabulary.
To help students learn vocabulary, Nation (2008) suggests using four strands for
teaching: 1) meaning-focused input for listening and reading practice, particularly with
graded readers, 2) meaning-focused output for speaking and writing, 3) languagefocused learning through deliberate vocabulary teaching, using rich vocabulary
instruction, raising students‟ word consciousness, and teaching vocabulary learning
strategies, and 4) developing fluency with vocabulary across language skills (practice,
making connections with vocabulary). Besides, Nation( 2005), Hubbard et al ( 1989)
( cited in Bui Thi Kim Cuc, 2012 , p. 12) proposed general principles that are
significant for anyone who concerned teaching English vocabulary:

Firstly, teachers quickly give the meaning of the word by ( a) using an L1
translation, ( b) using a known L2 synonym or a simple definition in the L2, (c)
showing an object or picture, (d) giving quick demonstration, (e) drawing a simple
picture or diagram, ( f) breaking the word into parts and giving the meaning of the
parts and the whole word ( g) giving several examples with the word in context, ( h)
commenting on the underlying word meaning and other referents. Then, teachers
can direct students‟ attention to the form of the word by (a) showing how the
spelling of the word is like the spelling of unknown words, ( B) giving the stress
pattern of the word and its pronunciation, (c) showing the prefix stem and suffix that
make up the word, (d) getting students to repeat the word pronunciation, (e) writing
the word on the board, ( f) pointing out any spelling irregularity in the word. Finally,
teachers can explain the use of the word by ( a) quickly showing the grammatical
pattern the word fits into ( countable/ uncountable, transitive/ intransitive, etc), (b)
giving a few similar collocates, (c) mentioning any restrictions on the use of States,
only use with children, old fashioned, technical, infrequent),

(d) giving a well-known opposite, or a well-known word describing the group or

lexical set it fits into.
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To sum up, students had better be taught with various learning strategies for
effective self- study. In this study, direct vocabulary learning has been chosen to
help students get their improvement best in learning vocabulary.
1.6. Approaches to vocabulary Instruction
Definitional Approaches
Traditionally, much vocabulary instruction has involved some variety of a definitional
approach: students learn definitions or synonyms for instructed words. In other word, it
requires students to find word meanings independently. There are obviously better
versions of this approach. Although it helps the teacher save time and enable them to
progress to content matter, definitions alone can lead to only a relatively superficial
level of word knowledge. However, using the definitional approach should not be
avoided. Rather, learning definitions of words can be effective when students already
have an understanding of the underlying concept of the term.

Contextual Approaches: Another common approach to teaching vocabulary is the
use of context. When determining the meaning of an unfamiliar word, it is often
helpful to see the word used in a sentence and to find clues within the sentence that
suggest the word's meaning. There is no question that learning from context is an
important avenue of vocabulary growth and that it deserves attention and practice in
the classroom. But context, used as an instructional method by itself, is ineffective
as a means of teaching new meanings, at least when compared with other forms of
vocabulary instruction.
Combining Definitional and Contextual Approaches
A combination of definitional and contextual approaches is more effective than either

approach in isolation; such mixed methods do, in general, increase reading
comprehension (Stahl and Fairbanks, 1986). Indeed, it would be hard to justify a
contextual approach in which the teacher did not finally provide an adequate definition
of the word or help the class arrive at one. Likewise, a good definitional approach
includes sentences that illustrate the meaning and use of the words defined. Therefore,
both definitional and contextual approaches have chosen in this study.

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1. 7. Teaching with word lists
1.7.1. Definition of word lists

A word list is a list of words, for example words that someone has to learn or words
explained in a dictionary. According to Hatch and Brown (1995, p. 1), the term
vocabulary refers to a list or set of words for a particular language or a list or set of
words that individual speaker of a language might use. Nation(2001) mentioned
four different lists of vocabulary categorized by high-frequency words, academic
words, technical words, and low-frequency words. These wordlists provide students
with a useful solution to a problem in the naturalistic acquisition of the vocabulary
needed for academic studies. Besides, Millington and Siegel (2010) states, “the
creation of vocabulary lists should be taken as an important duty that can have
profound implications, assuming that students will invest time and effort attempting
to acquire these lexical items, in addition to being evaluated on vocabulary tests”
and they will probably acquire more knowledge about the target words since they
spend considerable time engaged with new vocabulary. Therefore, teaching specific
words before doing tasks may help both learning vocabulary and practicing other
skills.
Coxhead ( 1998, 2000) at the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand also
studied academic word lists ( AWL) as a list of words which appear with high

frequency in English - language academic texts. The list was compiled following an
analysis of over 3,500,000 words of text which come from academic journals,
textbooks, course workbooks, lab manuals, and course notes and occur frequently in a
range of academic subjects, including the Arts (including history, psychology,
sociology, etc.), Commerce (including economics, marketing, management, etc.), Law
and the Sciences (including biology, computer science, mathematics, etc.). This means
that the AWL is helpful and necessary to all second-language learners who wish to
study in an English-speaking institution no matter what their field of study.

The difficulties that students have in mastering the vocabulary necessary for written
test are obvious. In order to read and write successfully, students need to be able to
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recognize as many words as possible in the textbooks and use as many as possible
in their assignments. Teaching vocabulary through word lists is useful because most
of the words in lists are quite common and students can frequently see in
newspapers, magazines, and novels, and hear on television, movies or in
conversation. As a result, they can improve vocabulary size by themselves. For
beginners, the basic wordlists are great guides to master essential words for general
English use. For students with academic needs, the academic word list is an
excellent source of words which will be useful in a wide range of academic fields
and topics. There is, however, a need for a new word list, catering to the needs of
advanced students, who require additional words for daily use in English-speaking
contexts. In this study, word lists are defined as lists of words related to specific
topics for the purpose of daily life use.
1.7.2. Selection of vocabulary items in word lists
One guideline for effective vocabulary teaching is careful selection of words to learn or
to teach and frequency has been the most common principled way of selection of
vocabulary in second or foreign language learning. For middle school a key website is

Word Generation, based on a large research project: . Hiebert
and Lubliner (2008) discuss academic vocabulary in schools (including Hiebert‟s Core
Academic Word List), as does Marzano (2010). See also Harmon, Wood, and Hedrick
(2008) for middle and secondary content vocabulary and its instruction. Kinsella‟s

(2013) text is also geared toward middle school students. Teachers who teach
English as a foreign language need to help students build up a large vocabulary of
useful words during the course. However using word lists for rural students is not
easy. Before setting a criteria for deciding which vocabulary items should be
chosen, teachers have to be clear about their aim to decide on what is involved in
word lists. They also have to know what kind of words and how many words that
students should master in a course. The reasonable quantity of new words which
teacher decides to use in a lesson is also important because if there are too many
words, the students may be confused or stressed. They feel difficult to remember all.
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