DRAWING UP SELF STUDY TASKS TO INCREASE VOCABULARY RANGE OF ENGLISH MAJOR FRESHMEN AT QUANG BINH UNIVERSITY

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUẢNG BÌNH



BÁO CÁO TỔNG KẾT
ĐỀ TÀI NGHIÊN CỨU KHOA HỌC CỦA SINH VIÊN

ĐỀ TÀI: DRAWING UP SELF-STUDY TASKS TO INCREASE
VOCABULARY RANGE OF ENGLISH MAJOR FRESHMEN
AT QUANG BINH UNIVERSITY

Giảng viên hướng dẫn: TS.GVS. Lê Thị Hằng
Nhóm sinh viên thực hiện: Hà Cơng Thành
Hồng Thị Anh Tú
Nguyễn Thùy Lan
Ngành: Ngơn ngữ Anh
Khoa: Ngoại ngữ
Khóa học: 2014 - 2018
Quảng Bình, năm 2016


TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUẢNG BÌNH



BÁO CÁO TỔNG KẾT
ĐỀ TÀI NGHIÊN CỨU KHOA HỌC CỦA SINH VIÊN

ĐỀ TÀI: DRAWING UP SELF-STUDY TASKS TO
INCREASE VOCABULARY RANGE OF ENGLISH
MAJOR FRESHMEN AT QUANG BINH UNIVERSITY

Giảng viên hướng dẫn: TS.GVC. Lê Thị Hằng
Nhóm sinh viên thực hiện: Hà Cơng Thành
Hồng Thị Anh Tú
Nguyễn Thùy Lan
Ngành: Ngơn ngữ Anh
Khoa: Ngoại ngữ
Khóa học: 2014 - 2018

Quảng Bình, năm 2016


TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................................... 3
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................ 4
LIST OF PHOTOS .................................................................................................................................. 5
LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................................. 6
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 7
1.1.Rationale of the study ....................................................................................................................
7
1.2.

Aims of the study .....................................................................................................................
7

1.3.

Reseach questions
......................................................................................................................... 8

1.4.

. New contributions of the study
............................................................................................... 8

1.5.

Scope of the study
......................................................................................................................... 9

1.6.

The organization of the research
.................................................................................................... 9

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL BACKGROUND................................ 11
2.1. Prior studies related to the research
............................................................................................. 11
2.2. Theoretical background ...............................................................................................................
12
2.2.1. Definition of self-study task .................................................................................................
12
2.2.2. The process of vocabulary acquisition ..................................................................................
12
2.2.2.1. Definition of vocabulary acquisition ..............................................................................
12
2.2.2.2. The process of vocabulary acquisition............................................................................
13
2.2.3. The importance of vocabulary acquisition ............................................................................
13

2.2.4. Factors affecting English vocabulary learning.......................................................................
17
2.2.4.1. Person-dependent factors
............................................................................................... 17


2.2.4.2. Vocabulary learning task ...............................................................................................
18
2.2.4.3. Vocabulary learning strategies .......................................................................................
19
2.2.4.4. Learning vocabulary in context ......................................................................................
19
2.2.5. Activities of vocabulary acquisition with a communicative approach
.................................... 16
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY.......................................................................................................... 22
3.1. Participants .................................................................................................................................
22
3.2. Data collection methods. .............................................................................................................
23
3.2.1. Questionnaires. ....................................................................................................................
23
3.2.2. Interview ..............................................................................................................................
23
3.3. Procedure....................................................................................................................................
24
3.4. Data analysis methods .................................................................................................................
25
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ..................................................................................... 26
4.1. The vocabulary concerns by freshmen and the reality students’
.............. 26

vocabulary learning

4.1.1 The reality students’ vocabulary learning............................................................................... 26
4.2 Some suggestions about self-study tasks to help students learning English vocabulary more
effectively .........................................................................................................................................
30
4.2.1. Some self-study tasks intergrated into a notebook
................................................................. 30
4.2.2. Games
................................................................................................................................. 36
5.1. Summary ....................................................................................................................................
39
5.2. Limitations .................................................................................................................................
41
5.3. Suggestions for further research ..................................................................................................
41
APPENDICE......................................................................................................................................... 43
INTERVIEW .................................................................................................................................... 43


VOCABULARY TEST ..................................................................................................................... 44
QUESTIONNAIRES ......................................................................................................................... 46
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................... 50

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Firstly, we would like to express our deepest gratitude to our supervisor - Le Thi Hang, Ph.D.
Thanks to her guidance, caring, patience, we are provided wide knowledge and experience for doing
research. Therefore, we can carry out our research favorably.
We would like to send our sincere gratefulness to Quang Binh University for financial

support for our research.
We also want to express our thanks to the students who were willing to spend their time
participating on the questionnaires, vocabulary tests as well as the interviews.
Moreover, there is no word deserved to express the gratitude to our friends who are always
by our side and give us more inspirations to finish the research with a sense of satisfaction.

ABSTRACT
How to master vocabulary learning skill seems to be the most challenging task that students
have to face, especially freshmen. In fact, there is a great deal of research done to solve concerns. To


be English – major students, we would like to help the first year students learn English vocabularies
more effectively, which urged us to carry out this study. Moreover, in this study, the researchers
conducted an investigation into the difficulties in learning vocabulary encountered by the English –
major freshmen at Quang Binh University.
The study attempts to figure out the difficulties that they often meet during learning and
using vocabularies. Based on those difficulties and theories of vocabulary acquisition, the research
group suggested some self-study tasks integrated in a vocabulary notebook resources that students
can use to improve their English vocabulary capital and games. Finally, suggestions for further
studies for students who are interested in this problem. We also made effort with the hope of
contributing to self-study improvement of the English major freshmen at Quang Binh University.

LIST OF PHOTOS
Photo 1: Diary
Photo 2: Wordlists
Photo 3: Exercise


LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: The ways that students self-study vocabulary

Figure 2: The ways which the students use to remember vocabulary
Figure 3: The students is spending time learning vocabulary
Figure 4: The reason leads to the difficulties of freshmen when acquiring English vocabulary

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale of the study
Nowadays, English has become an international language, which is also required for any
public sectors. Excellent English learners will have more opportunities to find jobs. Nevertheless, it is
not easy to learn English well, especially to learn and to use English vocabularies. When we were first
year students of English language a year ago, we faced difficulties in methods of English vocabulary
learning. Normally, students who are studying in some central provices have fewer chances to
practice English than those in other central cities; their vocabularies to learn skills and to
communicate are not enough. In addition, because of the effects of Vietnamese and dialect, they
hesitate to speak English. Inevitably, it leads to use vocabulary incorrectly and appropriately. In spite
of determining the importance of vocabulary self-study, most of the students do not have an
effective learning method. Besides, at Universities, teachers mainly guide and teach the basic skills
such as listening, speaking, reading, writing in which only a few vocabularies of lessons are taught as
the time does not allow. Therefore, students need to use methods and effective self-study habits to
increase their vocabulary range.


In learning a foreign language in general and learning English in particular, that the learner
has got the ability of use a wide range of vocabularies is the most significant factor. Vocabulary
acquisition process requires the learner to give it time, they have to constantly learn and use
vocabularies in the real context, therefore the learner must become patient. Moreover, the learner
should soon have the appropriate learning method from the start, especially freshmen in the English
language sector. All these main reasons urge the research group to do this study.
1.2. Aims of the study
Within six months, this research focuses on English-major freshmen at Quang Binh
University. The research help student learn with a good method and acquire vocabulary effectively.

From the above reasons, the specific aims of the research are as follows:

(1) Drawing-up a self-study activities that are integrated into a Student Vocabulary
Notebook.

(2) Designing some vocabulary games to improve using vocabulary effectively.
(3) Introducing to the freshmen some resourses to take up their self-study.
(4) After applyingng the tasks of vocabulary self-study, students of English Language at Quang Binh
University will have the passion, excitement and they can take up English vocabulary self-study
everyday.

(5) Being students of a foreign language, we wish we would be more natural and confident when
using English, the quality of students graduated in English Language major at Quang Binh
University will be improved.
1.3. Reseach questions
This research aspires to answer these following questions:
1, Is vocabulary deficiency is one of difficulties in learning English of English major freshmen?
2, What are the ways of the freshmen’s English vocabulary self-study?
3, What self-study tasks should be applied to increase the freshmen’s English vocabulary range ?
1.4 . New contributions of the study
The reseachers hope that there will be many benefits if the reseach are sucessful. They are for the
English major’s freshmen at Quang Binh University, other major’s students or anyone who want to
learn English and the researchers.

-

As for the students of English major freshmen, the use of the reseach results
will help them extend vocabulary range and discover the methods of more effective
English vocabulary self-study; Students can use vocabulary flexibly, reasonably in the
different contexts of communication. This will facilitate their English communication, then

this in turn will probably accommodate students to become graduates who are good at
English in the future.


-

As for students of other majors at Quang Binh University who want to study
English vocabulary better, the reseach result can be also useful.

-

As for the reseachers, after conducting this research, we ourselves can

develop knowledge, skills and experiences for reseaching and enhancing our vocabulary.
Moreover, the findings of this research can be useful as a references and other
considerations to investigate problems related to self study in further research.

1.5. Scope of the study
This study focuses on investigating difficulties that English-major freshmen and sophomore
at Quang Binh University encounter in learning vocabulary and suggests some methods to self-study
English effectively. The participants are first year students of English major at Quang Binh University,
whose English vocabulary is estimated to be at pre-intermediate and intermediate levels. Besides,
after two years, we have not had an effective method in self-studying yet.

1.6. The organization of the research
The research paper consists of five chapters as follows:
Chapter 1: Introduction
In this chapter, the reseachers present the rationale, aims of the study, the research questions, the
significance of the research, the scope of the study and the organization of the researches.
Chapter 2: Literature review and theorical background

This chapter states a theoretical background with two main parts. The first part contains the prior
studies related to the current research. The second is about the theoretical background. It also
includes the definition of vocabulary acquisition, the definition of self-study task, the process of
vocabulary acquisition, the role of this skill be mentioned and finally, the factors affecting English
vocabulary learning.
Chapter 3: Methodology
This chapter describes the research methodology used so as to achieve the objectives of the study. It
includes a brief description of the basic type of the research, participants in the study, data
collection methods and data analysis.
Chapter 4: Finding and discussion
This chapter presents the findings and discussions for the study. The findings are classified and
interpreted into the perceptions of whom on the self-study vocabulary tasks, the difficulties in
learning vocabulary, and some possible solutions to minimize the difficulties. We are proposing a
notebook, some games and several websites.
Chapter 5: Conclusions and recommendations


This chapter summarizes the main points and provides some pedagogical implications, proposing the
Student Vocabulary Notebook (with a training course), three Games to be applied in self-studying,
and the limitations and suggestions for further research.

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW AND
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
This chapter states a theoretical background with two main parts. The first part contains the
prior studies related to the current research. The second is about the theoretical background. It also
includes the definition of vocabulary acquisition, definition of self-study task, the process of
vocabulary acquisition, and the role of this skill be mentioned. Finally, factors affecting English
vocabulary learning.
2.1. Prior studies related to the research
Since the difficulties met by learners in mastering vocabulary learning skill, there have been

researches conducting investigation into vocabulary. Henriksen [10] investigates three dimensions of
vocabulary development, relationships among those dimensions, and the way they function in word
learning and practice.
His study reveals that three dimensions involved in lexical competence are “partial to precise
knowledge,” “depth of knowledge,” and “receptive to productive use ability”.
Besides, Aitchison [2] who investigates the process of how a learner acquires a vocabulary
word, a learner goes through three stages in vocabulary learning: labeling, packaging, and network
building.
Paribakht and Wesche [18] develope five steps of vocabulary exercise types: selective attention,
recognition, manipulation, interpretation, and production.
Moreover, according to Laufer & Hulstijn [11] , noticing, elaboration, motivation, or need
play an essential role in second language vocabulary acquisition.


2.2. Theoretical background
2.2.1. Definition of self-study task
Definition of task
As Crookes [5] defines, task is a piece of work or an activity, usually with a specified objective,
undertakens as part of an education course, or at work. While according to Oxford advanced
learner’s Dictionary (p.1514), a task is an activity which is designed to help achieve a

particular learning goal, especially in language teaching. In Lee’s viewpoint [12], a task is a
classroom activity or exercise that has an objective attainable only by the interaction among
participants, a mechanism for structuring and sequencing interaction, and a focus on meaning
exchange.

Definition of self-study task

Oxford advanced learner’s Dictionary (p.1327) and Oxford advanced learner’s Dictionary online
define self-study is the activity designed to help students to learn about something

without a teacher to help them.
Therefore, self-study task in this research refers to a self-study activity which helps the English
major freshmen increase their English vocabulary range.
2.2.2. The process of vocabulary acquisition
2.2.2.1. Definition of vocabulary acquisition
In Friederici [7] definition, vocabulary acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the
capacity and comprehend language, as well as to produce and use words and sentences to
communicate.
Aitchison [2] in his research points out that a learner goes through three stages in vocabulary
acquisition: labeling, packaging, and network building.
Learning vocabulary is one of the first steps in learning a second language, but a learner
never finishes vocabulary acquisition. Whether in his/her native language or a second language, the
acquisition of new vocabulary is an ongoing process.
2.2.2.2. The importance of vocabulary acquisition
Acquiring vocabulary plays a critical role in students’ vocabulary capital development.
Thanks to abundant resource of vocabulary, students can easily improve four main skills of listening,
speaking, reading and writing. Moreover, without knowing words, it would be impossible to name
objects around us or communicate with other people. Discussing about this, Linda Taylor [23] states
that the act of naming objects is essential for the process of constructing the reality. Without a
name, it is difficult to accept the existence of an object, an event, an above all, an abstract thing, like
a feeling. By assigning names we impose a pattern and a meaning which allows us to manipulate the
world.


D.A. Wilkins [25] mentions that “Without gramar, very little can be conveyed; without
vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed.” So in learning a foreign language, the vocabulary can be seen
as small cells forming learners’ usability of foreign languages.
Michael F. Graves [8] enumerates, after a few authors, some points to support the statement
of the importance of lexical knowledge:

• Vocabulary knowledge contributes to young children’s phonological awareness, which in turn
contributes to their word recognition.

• Vocabulary difficulty strongly influences the readability of text.
• Teaching vocabulary can improve reading comprehension for both native English speakers and
English language learners.

• Learning English vocabulary is one of the most crucial tasks for English language learners.
Vocabulary knowledge is inseparable from reading comprehension, therefore the larger the
lexical knowledge, the better access to different sources of information. Thanks to it we can
understand more and be understood better by others.
Therefore, through previous researches, we can see that studying vocabulary plays a really
important part in foreign or second language acquisition. It has an effect on other language skills and
the learner’s language learning.
2.2.2.3. The process of vocabulary acquisition

English vocabulary range of a student sounds quite a vague concept because
the process of acquiring English vocabulary as a foreign language of a learner involves
various stages of his/her learning and using English vocabulary that are called process
of vocabulary acquisition. Under the viewpoints of Krashen and Long, it concerns two

main stages - learning to have a thorough grasp of information about it and learning
to be able to use it in real communication contexts.
In Vivian Cook’s research [4], vocabulary acquisition relates to many problems, not symply
learning the words and their meanings separately. To study vocabulary effectively, students
shouldn’t study the meaning of a word and use it for all situations. They should study the word with
information involved in them such as pronunciation and part of speech, grammar, meaning and
special style, collocations.
Therefore, the strategies for vocabulary acquisition that Vivian Cook’s proposes include:

-

Strategies for guessing the meaning of words: Students know the meaning of a word

by guessing from the situations or use dictionaries. However, guessing can go wrong which makes us
come to the wrong conclusion.

-

Strategies for acquiring words: It is one thing to be able to work out the meaning of a

word on one occasion; it is another to remember the word so that it can be used on future occasions.


Moreover, the first lesson in Internation Express: Pre-intermediate of Taylor (as cited in Cook
Vivian, 2001) was designed with vocabulary learning activities with the title “Learning vocabulary”.
This part is about acquiring vocabulary by keeping a vocabulary notebook which is ordered according
to headings
“collocations” or rewrite the meaning and pronunciation of words. The next lessons have “Word
power” which helps students acquire vocabulary with “Word families”.
Like Taylor, Stuart Redman suggested each learner of English should keep a vocabulary
notebook to take up vocabulary self study. Each new word entry learners should record the
basic information of a words such as meaning, pronunciation, part of speech,

grammar, common partners, etc. However, there are various ways to record
the meaning of a word, learners can translate directly the meaning of the
word into their native language, define the word, write the synonym or
opposite and draw a picture. It is not necessary to record all the information
of the word, they just record crucial information that they think they should

learn to memorize. Therefore, learners can learn the formation according to
their needs and in specific scope of its meaning and around vocabulary level
they are studying. If not, they could not remember all it information of the
word. The Table 1 below is an example of recording the information needed
to learn of a word. The information in the first two columns and the fourth
column must be filled; the other columns are not compulsory.
Table 2: The basic information of the vocabularies needs to be filled
Diary
week. They can practice with help them
their notebook more lively
students

practice vocabulary

part. We took some photos

helps

f students course 57, as the photo 1


Word +
pronunciatio
n is also a
+ part of
speech

41.
concentrate

/ˈkɒnsntre
ɪt/; v

Meaning Grammar
+
Special
bulary whic
style
voca

remember vocabulary longer and write
- tập
trung
an
d attra

Collocati
ons
important
part. In
diary,
students
will write
their
experienc
e in a
h they
learnt
- to
nconcentra

a te on
t
u
r
a
l
l
y
.
T
h
e
y
c
a
n
a
l
s
o
u
s
e
p
a
i
n
t
s
t

o
m
a
k
e

Examples
that will

I decided
to
concentrat
e all my
efforts on
finding
somewher
e to live.


c
t
.
We have given this book which the freshmen
try using for 8 months. Almost
many Before main good

and
like 42.
sh
nearly“di

ares
, verb except many st the verb ‘to
ary” /
more. vocabulary, for detail, they do not fill
ˈmore
almost
collocation because as I see, this is a difficult
Beside
nɪəli/;
be’

and adv

43. beard
/naif/

from “ StudentCountable ’s V noun
bellow.

44. forget ≠
Sp, pp: forgot, forgotten
remember
/fəˈɡet/;

v

45.
decision

/dɪˈsɪʒn/;

- quyết
định

Countable noun

sto ries help I've
sthat
worked
udents do here
not
them
like for
nearly
two
“table”
years.
ocabulary tebook ” o
No
- a sharp
/bread
knife
I'd
completel comple
tely
y forget
forgott
en
about
the

money
he
owed
me.
take/mak
ea
decision

n
However, discussing about this, Jeremy Harmer [9] points out that knowing a word means
far more than just understanding (one of) its meaning(n). Somhow teaching should help students
understand what this knowledge implies both in general and for certain words in particular. By being
aware students will be more receptive to the contextual behaviour of words when they first see
them in texts, etc. And they will be better able to manipulate both the meanings and forms of the
words
Jeremy Harmer ( p.158) summarises what students need to know a word as the table 2
below:


Table 2. Information that students need to know when learning a new word [9. P.158]

MEANING

WORD USE

WORDS
WORD INFORMATION

•
•

Meaning in context

•
•
•
•
•
•

Metaphor and idiom

Sense relations

Collocation
Style and register
Parts of speech
Prefixes and suffixes
Spelling and pronunciation

•

Nouns: countable and
uncountable, etc.
WORD GRAMMAR

• Verb complementation,
phrasal verbs, etc.
•

Adjectives and adverbs:
position, etc.

2.2.3. Activities of vocabulary learning with a communicative approach
Richard [19] argues that communicative activities refers to activities where practice in using
language within a real communicative context is the focus, where real information is exchanged, and
where the language used is not totally predictable. Whereas Littlewood [15] groups activities into
two kinds:
Pre-communicative activities (activities to know words): They include structural activities

and quasi-communicative activities. In the former, learners are expected to be able
to successfully engage in communicative activities without necessarily understanding
new language forms they are using will controlled practice such as repetition drills
and substitution drills. In learning English vocabulary, it may be the activities of
repeatedly writing or reading aloud the new words that learners find it hard to
remember their spellings and pronunciation. In the later, learners are expected to be
able to effectively done an activity where language control is still provided but where
learners are required to make meaning full choices. Rechard presented an example
of this kind of activity as follow: “in order to practice use to practice the use of
prepositions to describe locations of places, the students might be given a list of
prepositions a street map with various buildings identified in different locations.
They are also given a list of prepositions such as across from, on the corner of, near,


on, next to. They then have to answer questions such “Where is the book shop?
Where is the café?” etc. The practice is now meaningful because they have to
respond according to the location of places on the map.” (19, p.16).
Communicative activities (activities to use words): They include functional communication
activities and social interactional activities. The former requires learners to use their language
resources to overcome an information gap or solve a problem. The later requires learners to pay

attention to the context and the roles of the people involved, and to attend to such things as formal
versus informal language. In these activities, learners have to practise English regularly in

natural or unrehearsed communication contexts. This will help students get quick
reactions to processing the use of new words and use it fluently and naturally.
2.2.4. Factors affecting English vocabulary learning
2.2.4.1. Person-dependent factors
Lightbown and Spada [14] state that these factors include age, language aptitide,
intelligence, attitide and motivation, personality. Rubin and Thomson [20] share the same idea about
the factors including age, aptitude, attitude, personality, learning style and past experiences.
Ahmed [1] was amongst the first to elicit vocabulary strategies learners spontaneously
employ. The good learners were found to be more aware of what they could learn about new
words, paid more attention to collocation and spelling, and were more conscious of contextual
learning. By contrast, the poor learners refused to use the dictionary and almost always ignored
unknown words. They were generally characterized by their apparent passiveness in learning. They
also took each word as a discrete item unrelated to previously learned words.
Another study that explored students' ability level and their guessing strategies is Schoutenvan Parreren [22]. It was found that, compared to their strong counterparts, weak pupils tended to
focus on the problem word and ignore the context; their knowledge of the world was more
restricted; they had difficulty integrating knowledge from different sources; they lacked mother
tongue vocabulary knowledge, and they had difficulty generalizing from words they had already
learned to slightly different new words.
Sex differences in vocabulary learning have also received some attention. Boyle [3] finds
that despite a female superiority in general proficiency, male students outperformed their female
counterparts in litstening vocabulary. Oxford, Lavine, Hollaway, Felkins and Saleh [16] , On the other
hand, discovered that females were significantly more willing than males to try out new vocabulary
learning strategies.
2.2.4.2. Vocabulary learning task


The traditional, broader understanding of task as in Flavell [6], Wenden [24], and Williams

and Burden [26] state that the learning task includes the materials learned ( such as the genre of a
piece of reading) as well as the goal the learner is trying to achieve by using these materials.
Different types of task materials, task purposes, and tasks at various difficulty levels demand
different learner strategies. For example, learning words in a word list is different from learning the
same words in a passage. Remembering a word meaning is different from learning to use the same
word in real life situation. Likewise, guessing from context would mean different things for texts of
different levels of new word density.
2.2.4.3. Vocabulary learning strategies
Learning strategy is one important factor affecting vocabulary acquisition. A learning
strategy is a series of action a learner takes to complete a learning task. A strategy starts when the
learners analyze the task, the situation, and what is available in his/her own repertoire. The learner
then goes on to select, deploy, monitor, and evaluate the effectiveness of this action, and decides if
he/she needs to revise the plan and action.
Besides the above factors, the mother tongue can influence the way secondlanguage
vocabulary is learnt, the way it is recalled for use, and the way learners compensate for lack of
knowledge by attempting to construct complex lexical items. Schmitt and McCarthy [21] point out
that the more aware learners are of the similarities and differences between their mother tongue
and the target language, the easier they will find it to adopt affective learning and production
strategies.
2.2.4.4. Learning vocabulary in context
The learning context refers to the socio-cultural-political environment where learning tasks
place. The learning context can include the teachers , the peers, the classroom climate or the
classroom interaction in general.
Compared to task- and person-dependent strategies, learning context has received only
cursory attention. Most studies would either ignore the educational and cultural traditions, the
availability of input and output opportunities, and the classroom environment, or try to confine the
contextual dimension by focusing on one homogeneous group of learners. Many studies, however,
do discuss their results by singling out the context factor. Oxford's [17] volume, though not
specifically on vocabulary learning, underscores the importance strategy researchers are beginning
to place on learning context. Throughout this review, I have repeatedly highlighted learning context

when the focus is on task or person. This shows the interrelatedness of the person-task-contextstrategy model.
To sum up, psychologists, and language teachers have been interested in second language
vocabulary learning for a long time (Levenston) [13]. Moreover, future research should focus on


different aspects of learning context as they relate to learners, tasks and vocabulary learning
strategies. In addition, classroom learning environment should demand different vocabulary learning
strategies from informal learning contexts. Likewise, the availability and richness of input/output
opportunities should also determine the strategies learners decide to use.


CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
This chapter is intended to define the method of the research including features of the
participants, instruments, data collection and data analysis procedure.
3.1. Participants
The research was carried out in three groups of participants. The main participants that the
research focuses on is 35 freshmen from the class University of English Language couse 57 at Quang
Binh University. Their mother tongue is Vietnamese and they are studying English as a foreign
language. After finishing the “Vocabulary Test” which we gave, we checked the answers, they seem


not to have not experienced any advanced English course, and most of them are at the same level of
English competence. For this kind of research beyond this group, we can draw up a “Student
Vocabulary Notebook” that fit to their level. Moreover, they will be aware of the importance of the
method in learning English - almost of them have not applied.
The second group of participants includes ten students who were chosen randomly from the same
class to be interviewed. We met them and asked them about the good points and the bad points of
the “Student Vocabulary Notebook” to complete the notebook. They have used our notebook in
learning for about eight months.
The last group is 20 students in University of English Language course 56 who used to be

freshmen at Quang Binh University. After two years study at the university, there is no reseach to
help them self-study English vocabulary. In order to get information and their wishes, we gave them
our questionaires.

3.2. Data collection methods.
In order to answer the research questions mentioned above, the instruments used to get
data are testing, questionnaire and interview.
3.2.1. Questionnaires.
For the Questionaire with 20 Sophomores of the class University of English Language course
56 group of participants, we collected data are given into details and possible solutions are drawn
out. Known as a common way, questionnaire is really useful to get information within the constraint
of time and a large number of participants. The questionnaire delivered to 20 Sophomores of the
class University of English Language course 56 includes 11 questions with both multiple choice and
open-ended ones. It aims at finding out the students’ perception towards selfstudy vocabulary and
what difficulties they meet in learning vocabulary, which methods they are using and 100% of them
wish to take part in English games. In addition, suggested solutions to minimize difficulties are also
asked in the questionnaire. All the questions were written in Vietnamese to assure that they are able
to understand the questions and have their full expression of idea.
3.2.2. Interview
This method is often used for the group of fewer people. In this case, there are 10 students
who were chosen randomly from the class University of English Language K57 at Quang Binh
University. To get information from this group of participants, there are 5 open-ended questions. We
met them and asked them about the good points and the bad points of the “Student Vocabulary


Notebook” so as to complete it. They have used our notebook in learning for about eight months. All
of us communicated with each other in Vietnamese.
Thanks to personal interviews with the 10 students, the researchers were able to acquire a
lot of useful data concerning what their perception of the benefits of the “Student Vocabulary
Notebook”, the reasons of the difficulties in selfstudying vocabulary. Especially, 100% of them like

the Diary of the note book. All the interviews were tape-recorded to ensure the exactness of the
information collected.
3.2.3. Tests
The adjusted test was distributed to 35 participants in the first group. In order to get the
most effectiveness, the test was brought to the participants in the break time and collected as soon
as they completed. Furthermore, the participants were asked to read the questions carefully, and
think to write the answers without any document. Beyond our expectations, all of the 35 copies
were returned and used for later analysis because all of them were completely answered. After the
test was collected, the result data were quickly complied quantitatively and analyzed
3.3. Procedure
After gathering the necessary information in related books, articles, websites, other
reaseach, all members of research team discuss and give opinions. Then one test for 35 student and
an interview for 10 students in the same class, one questionnaire for 20 students in our class were
designed.
About the interview method, after designing interview questions, research team conducted
interviews with 10 chosen students above. As usual, the researchers began the interview by making
the interviewees really understand the topic of the research and would have a thoughtful idea of
what they are going to be asked. After that, the interview questions were posed by the researchers
one by one so we could get their own opinion. During the interview, the researchers tried to make
the interviewees focus on the subject matter to have desired interview answers. And thank to the
enthusiasm of 10 students, 10 interviews took place successfully. Furthermore, the interviews were
tape-recorded for later analysis.
For the questionnaire, 20 sophomore in English K56 write on 20 the questionnaire copies,
after two years having studied at Quang Binh University, they gave us different ideas about the


method they learning vocabulary. But they need the better self-study methods, not except us . That
is the reason why we do this reseach.
3.4. Data analysis methods
Data analyses were based on two approaches which are quantitative and qualitative

approaches.
When the data were collected, they are carefully examined by the researchers. The data
obtained from questionnaire were analyzed according to statistical frequency and converted into
percentages. Afterwards, it was presented in figures and tables. Also, the findings gained from
interviews were analyzed qualitatively. Considerable efforts were made to reflect the meanings.
The questionnaires will code for different types of comments including difficulties and
methods in self-studying vocabulary. The analysis of the test, questionnaire data and interviews will
help the researchers get the valuable assessment on drawing up self-study tasks to enhance
vocabulary capital of English major freshmen at Quang Binh University upself-studying.
In short, with the combination of both quantitative and qualitative methods through 35
tests, 10 interviews of the student in the same class and 20 questionnaires from English-major
sophomores at Quang Binh University, the researchers not only had a careful plan to collect and
analyze the data accurately but also took photo and video them, so that the research results can be
reliable.

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
This chapter presents the findings and discussions for the study. The findings are classified
and interpreted into the perceptions of whom on the selfstudy vocabulary tasks, the difficulties in
learning vocabulary, and some possible solutions to minimize the difficulties. We are proposing a
notebook, some games and several websites
4.1. Freshmen’s vocabulary concerns by and the reality of their vocabulary self study
4.1.1 The reality students’ vocabulary learning


Figure 1 : The ways

of the freshmen’s

vocabulary

self - study

90%
80%

Learning in books and
notebooks

70%

Listening to English songs
and watching movies with
English subtitles
Communicating with native
speakers

60%
50%
40%

80%
70%

30%
20%
10%

Talking to friends and
teachers in English

35%
20%

0%

It can be seen in the chart. There are many ways that the students use to learn vocabulary.
According to the survey result, there are 80% of the students said that they learn vocabulary in
books and note books. It means, they only learn vocabulary related to the topic or which are ordered
by teacher. Many students like learning vocabulary by entertainment activities. It seems that the
students will study new words easily when they feel relaxed. Indeed, 70% the participants admit that
the can also learn vocabulary when they listen to music and watch TV with English subtitles, just 35%
of students improve their vocabulary while communicating with native people. Actually, that is the
best way because they not only know more new words but also practice their intonation and
pronunciation.
“Talking with friends and teachers by English”, only 25% of the students choose this way to learn
vocabulary. That is not surprising because it is convenient to chat in Vietnamese instead of English.


Figure 2 : The ways

of freshmen’s

vocabulary

remembering

70%
70%
60%

Learning by heart

50%
Making sentences with the
words which they need
remember

40%
25%

30%

Learning colocations of words

20%
10%

5%

0%

From the figure above, there are many students selecting “learning by heart” to remember
vocabulary (70%). It shows that the students find it easy to learn new words but in fact, they can’t
remember new words for a long time with this way. Only 5% of the students choose “making
sentences with the words which they need remember”. This is a good way to learn vocabulary but it
seems to be difficult to students who are not good at grammar. Lastly, there are 25% of students
learn vocabulary by learning collocations of words. By these ways, students could have advantages
to enrich their vocabulary capital with family words
Figure 3: Freshmen’s time span for learning English vocabulary