VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES o0o HOÀNG THU BA THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PRESENTING AND PRACTISING NEW VOCABULARY THROUGH MINIMAL CONTEXT FOR SECOND - YEAR NON ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT VIETNAM UNIVERSITY OF COMMERCE HIỆU QUẢ GIỚI THIỆU VÀ LUYỆN TẬP TỪ VỰNG MỚI QUA NGỮ CẢNH TỐI THIỂU CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HAI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC THƯƠNG MẠI M.A Minor Thesis Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10 MA course: 19 HANOI – 2012 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES o0o HOÀNG THU BA THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PRESENTING AND PRACTISING NEW VOCABULARY THROUGH MINIMAL CONTEXT FOR SECOND YEAR NON ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS AT VIETNAM UNIVERSITY OF COMMERCE HIỆU QUẢ GIỚI THIỆU VÀ LUYỆN TẬP TỪ VỰNG MỚI QUA NGỮ CẢNH TỐI THIỂU CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HAI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC THƯƠNG MẠI M.A Minor Thesis Field: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 60.14.10 MA course: 19 Supervisor: Dr Nguyen Thi Ngoc Quynh HANOI – 2012 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi LIST OF TABLES vii LIST OF FIGURES viii INTRODUCTION 1 PROBLEM STATEMENT AND RATIONALE AIMS OF THE STUDY SCOPE OF THE STUDY METHOD OF THE STUDY ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1.1 Context and minimal context 1.1.2 Vocabulary 1.2 OVERVIEW OF VOCABULARY ACQUISITION IN CONTEXT 1.2.1 Vocabulary implicit learning and explicit teaching 1.2.2 Vocabulary teaching procedure 1.2.2.1 Vocabulary selection 1.2.2.2 Vocabulary presentation 10 iv 1.2.2.3 Vocabulary practice 12 1.3 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF PRESENTING VOCABULARY IN CONTEXT AND MINIMAL CONTEXT 12 1.4 PREVIOUS STUDIES 15 1.5 JUSTIFICATION FOR THE STUDY 16 CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 18 2.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY 18 2.2 PARTICIPANTS 18 2.3 RESEARCH DESIGN 19 2.3.1 Identifying initial problem 20 2.3.2 Materials 22 2.3.2.1 New vocabulary 22 2.3.2.2 Minimal context 22 2.3.3 Data collection methods 23 2.3.3.1 Pre-test/ posttest 23 2.3.3.2 Observation 24 2.3.3.3 Questionnaire 25 2.3.4 Data collection procedure 25 2.3.5 Data analysis methods 27 CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 28 3.1 STUDENTS‟ IMPROVEMENT IN ACQUISITION OF THE TARGET VOCABULARY 28 3.2 STUDENTS‟ MOTIVATION IN NEW VOCABULARY ACQUISITION 30 3.2.1 Data from the Observation 31 3.2.2 Data from the students‟ questionnaire 33 3.3 DISCUSSION 35 v CONCLUSION 38 SUMMARY OF THE STUDY 38 PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS 39 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY 40 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDIES 40 REFERENCES 41 APPENDICES vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL English as a foreign language ELT English Language Teaching MCQs Multiple Choice questions M Mean VUC Vietnam University of Commerce SPSS Statistical Product and Service Solutions vii LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 Plan of the intervention Table 3.1 Means and Standard Deviations of the scores of the pretest and post test Table 3.2 Correlations of the pretest and posttest Table 3.3 Paired Sample T-Test Table 3.4 Students‟ interest and benefits in the intervention LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2.1 The frequency of adapting vocabulary teaching techniques Figure 3.1 Scores of the pretest and posttest Figure 3.2 Class motivation during the lessons Figure 3.3 Students‟ motivation in guessing new vocabulary in minimal context Figure 3.4 Students‟ motivation in vocabulary practice activities viii INTRODUCTION PROBLEM STATEMENT AND RATIONALE Vocabulary is one of the most important aspects of language learning and language use (Laufer 1997; Bromley, 2007) It is a principle contributor to comprehension, fluency and achievement Moreover, lack of command in vocabulary becomes the cause of communication breakdown (Balochowicz & Fisher, 2000; Nagy & Scott, 2000) Therefore, it is of great importance for teaching and learning vocabulary Meanwhile, in the real context in many English classes at Vietnam University of Commerce, where teachers have devoted much time to vocabulary teaching, applied a lot of different methods like glosses, translation, pictures, etc., the results have been disappointing A large number of students not know and remember what word to use, they never feel encouraged when frequently encountering unfamiliar and less familiar words, much less they have the passion and courage to use them in daily social conversations and exchanges in an appropriate way Thus, there needs a question of the effective ways to promote understanding and use of vocabulary Quite a few of linguistics researchers (e.g Nation, 1982; Nation & Coady, 1988), have suggested that new words can be best learnt when presented in context and when their meaning must be inferred from context by learners themselves From this suggestion and above initial problems, the author decided to develop an action research on the effectiveness of presenting and practicing vocabulary in minimal context for second-year students at Vietnam University of Commerce AIMS OF THE STUDY This was an action research whose purpose was to investigate the effectiveness of presenting and practicing vocabulary in minimal context for the second-year non English major students at Vietnam University of Commerce (VUC) Specifically, it addressed the following research questions: a How much presentation and practice using minimal contexts improve learners' acquisition of the target vocabulary? b Do presenting and practicing vocabulary in minimal context have any effect on students’ motivation in learning of the words? Pedagogically, the findings and comments of this study were believed to be relevant to improve the teaching English to students at VUC The study would help teachers to motivate their English classroom so that their students can develop their language skills SCOPE OF THE STUDY This study was conducted on 40 second-year non English majors at the University of Commerce They were taught during two weeks (five contacts) of the intervention The study covered the vocabulary items from course book including collocations, nouns Grammatical aspect of the vocabulary was beyond the scope of this study The study only focuses on vocabulary meaning recognition Therefore, the productive aspect of the vocabulary was ignored during the study Linguistic context and situational context in terms of background knowledge presented in one sentence were used in this study When the participants encountered the single - context sentence, they used their prior knowledge as a comprehension process approach As a result, the participants should have schemata in order to make sense of the minimal context METHOD OF THE STUDY An action research was applied in this minor thesis to find out students‟ achievement and interest in learning vocabulary after new vocabulary items were taught in minimal context In order to collect sufficient and relevant data for the study, three research techniques were employed: - using a pre-test and post-test to evaluate the teaching and learning results - observing classes to find out how students participate in the intervention - Conducting a survey questionnaire to investigate how much students are interested in the intervention ORGANIZATION OF THE THESIS The study consists of three parts: Introduction, development and conclusion The Introduction presents the rationale, aims, scope and method of the study The development includes three chapters Chapter One covers an in-depth review of the literature in which relevant theoretical background and reviews of related studies concerning teaching vocabulary in context and minimal context Chapter Two continues with the research method including the participants of the study, the methods and procedures of data collection and data analysis Chapter Three demonstrates the findings accompanied by data analysis and discussion The Conclusion ends the report with the summary of the findings, pedagogical implications, limitations of the study and suggestions for further studies the meaning of the target vocabulary in L1 Students will: Demonstrate understanding by matching the taughtvocabulary items in the suitable sentences GUIDED PRACTICE Act Teacher gives and asks students to complete the matching worksheet which contains the new vocabulary items Look Teacher listen to their answers Act Teacher checks and corrects the answers word meaning in L1 recognizing new words in minimal context in L1 Look/ think Students the task Act Students give the answers PHASE 3: PRACTICE (Independent practice) Students will: Act Look/ think Create their own Teacher asks students Students listen to context by using to work in group of the instruction the given and write a and work in vocabulary description of a group company which contains the given vocabulary items in 10 minutes Look Teacher goes around the class and helps the students if necessary Act Teacher observes the participation of the students in the activity Act Teacher records the participation of the students in the activity X APPENDIX NEW VOCABULARY ITEMS AND MINIMAL CONTEXT Unit New vocabulary 1 Make a fortune (collocation) Make a living Get a promotion Get the sack Get a job Earn a bonus Take an early retirement Work flexi-time 2 Refund Discount Deliver Return Purchase Warehouse Bargain Share price (n) Workforce Vocabulary in minimal context Tom is my friend, he was a poor student but he has made a fortune after winning 1,000,000,000 VND in the last month‟s lottery Many students wish to make their living in the city after graduation Mark Zuckerberg got a promotion very soon, after a few year he becomes a chairman and CEO of Facebook, Inc Unreliable staff often get the sack, so they are not allowed to work in the company If you are a good student, you will get a job easily after graduation If marketing staff find more customers this month, they will earn a bonus My farther didn‟t want to work for state-own company when he was just 40, so he decided to take an early retirement to work for his own company Farmers work flexitime so they can start or finish their working time When the concert of Michael Jackson was cancelled, the people who had bought tickets had their money refunded He discounted me 20% when I bought all his goods Pizza is delivered free The products can be returned after bought if they are not qualified He needs a car to work, so he decides to purchase one Warehouse is a place in which goods are store I bought the laptop with half price, it is really a bargain Share price of ACB decreased immediately after the director was arrested XI Profit Turnover Subsidiary Market share Head office All the people working in a nation, a company are workforce I bought a car at $10,000 but now I sell at $12,000 so I made a profit of $2,000 The total sales in a month x price unit of an item = turnover Nestlé has many subsidiaries all over the world Samsung has a large market share in mobile phone market Samsung head office is in Korea XII APPENDIX 4: PRE-TEST AND POST TEST PRETEST Instruction: Complete each of these sentences with the correct option Selim believed he deserved a , so he just asked his boss for one A target B progress C promotion In many countries, there are very few career for people without formal qualifications A plans B breaks C opportunities It is very inconvenient to have to work when you have young children A flexitime B overtime C time off Anika attends lots of professional development seminars because she wants to a career move A take B make At that price, the car you bought was a real C earn A discount B bargain C price You cannot get a if you not send back the goods in their original packaging A return B refund C product It was particularly hard hit during the recession last year, when …………… fell to an all-time low of $8.5 A market share B share price C turnover …………………… increased by 5% to $61 million last year, but unfortunately our profit figures are not so impressive A share price B turnover C profit If you want to get in your career, you have to have clear short- and long-term goals A ahead B progress C the sack 10 If we don‟t produce and sell more than 10,000 sets a year, we won‟t make any…… A sales B decision C profit XIII POST TEST Instruction: Complete each of these sentences with the correct option Sales representatives often earn a in addition to their salary when they achieve their targets A money B living C bonus Multinationals often their employees excellent career opportunities if they are willing to travel A offer B make C take If there is a problem with any of the goods you receive, please them within three days A refund B return C deliver Our policy is to goods within 72 hours of receiving an order A delivery B despatch We offer a 5% on orders over $500 C sell A discount B sales C bargain It was particularly hard hit during the recession last year, when …………… fell to an all-time low of $8.5 A market share B share price C turnover …………………… increased by 5% to $61 million last year, but unfortunately our profit figures are not so impressive A share price B turnover C profit If we buy out our local competitor, ………………… will increase to 33% A price B market share Two thirds of our ……………………… are women C competition A workforce B company C people 10 „Bright Sparks‟ is an agency that helps school leavers on a career plan A offer B decide C take XIV APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE (FOR TEACHERS) PRESENTING AND PRACTISING NEW VOCABULARY IN MINIMAL CONTEXT FOR SECOND-YEAR NON ENGLISH MAJORS AT VIETNAM UNIVERSITY OF COMMERCE My name is Hoang Thu Ba from K19A at Post-graduate Studies, ULIS, VNU At present, I am conducting my M.A thesis entitled “The effectiveness of presenting and practicing new vocabulary in minimal context for second-year non English major students at Vietnam University of Commerce” Your cooperation with sincere answers is crucial to the success of the research Your information will be kept confidential for the study purposes only Thank you for your help Gender: Male Female Your English score of the previous semester: …………… Instruction: For each statement, there are two scales for you to place a tick ( The ) first scale is for you to specify how often vocabulary teaching techniques or activities you used to teach vocabulary in the previous term The second scale is for you to evaluate how useful you consider the technique is to your students’ vocabulary learning The first scale (I): Never or almost never Rarely or seldom Sometimes Usually Always or almost always Useful Quite useful Very useful The second scale (II): Not at all useful Slightly useful XV How often and how useful you used the following techniques to teach English vocabulary in the previous semester? No Vocabulary teaching techniques Using translation Real things Pictures Miming definition Context/ situation Others: ………………………… Scale (I) (II) (I) (II) (I) (II) (I) (II) (I) (II) (I) (II) (I) (II) If you used the technique (6), justify its effects on students’ achievement? - XVI QUESTIONNAIRE (FOR STUDENTS) PRESENTING AND PRACTISING NEW VOCABULARY IN MINIMAL CONTEXT FOR SECOND-YEAR NON ENGLISH MAJORS AT VIETNAM UNIVERSITY OF COMMERCE My name is Hoang Thu Ba from K19A at Post-graduate Studies, ULIS, VNU At present, I am conducting my M.A thesis entitled “The effectiveness of presenting and practicing new vocabulary in minimal context for second-year non English major students at Vietnam University of Commerce” Your cooperation with sincere answers is crucial to the success of the research Your information will be kept confidential for the study purposes only Thank you for your help Gender: Male Female Please respond to the following questions as honestly as possible Put a tick () on the box that corresponds to your answer choice: SA: Strongly Agree A: Agree, NC: Not Certain, D: Disagree SD: Strongly Disagree XVII Remember, there are no right or wrong answers to these questions! Statement SA A NC D SD I am interested in the way the teacher presented new vocabulary in minimal context I am interested in creating my own story with given vocabulary The lessons in this course were very boring Guessing word meaning in minimal context is very helpful for my vocabulary retention when it is challenging, appropriate/ closed to my knowledge and life I can use the word learned in the course into communication I have chance to practice listening skill when the teacher presents new words in minimal context I learn incidentally some contextual clues to guess the word meanings I can make my own sentence with the words taught in the course XVIII APPENDIX OBSERVATION SHEET: Overall class motivation (adopted from Nunan (1995)) Observer: Date: Time of class: No of students present: Observation focus: Level of student motivation generated from the lessons is an average mark for any one item Instructions - This sheet is for observing the class as a whole, not individual student - Complete this sheet when the activity is drawing to a close - Circle ONE number for each statement below - Add final comments at the bottom of the sheet if you wish Phase 1: Presenting new vocabulary The students are paying persistent (extended) attention to the learning task (students’ attention) not really very much so Mark how involved in the learning task the students are (students’ involvement) not very involved very involved The students are enjoying the activity (students’ interest) not really very much so Phase 2: Practice and Production Mark the level of student concentration on the learning task (students’ concentration) low high Mark how involved in the learning task the students are (students’ involvement) not very involved very involved The students are enjoying the activity (students’ interest) not really very much so Mark the student’s activity level (effort / intensity of application) low high XIX Comment: ……………………………………………………………………………………… APPENDIX Results of Pretest and Posttest Student test Pre-test Post-test code score score S01 10 60 S02 20 60 S03 10 70 S04 30 80 S05 30 70 S06 20 70 S07 10 60 S08 50 S09 20 60 10 S10 50 11 S11 10 60 12 S12 40 13 S13 20 60 14 S14 10 40 15 S15 30 20 16 S16 30 70 17 S17 20 70 18 S18 10 70 19 S19 20 50 20 S20 20 60 No XX 21 S21 10 60 22 S22 20 70 23 S23 40 90 24 S24 10 70 25 S25 50 26 S26 10 60 27 S27 10 70 28 S28 60 29 S29 20 70 30 S30 20 80 31 S31 30 80 32 S32 40 100 33 S33 20 60 34 S34 30 80 35 S35 10 60 36 S36 70 37 S37 30 38 S38 10 40 39 S39 10 50 40 S40 20 100 Mean 15.75 63 XXI APPENDIX GUIDED ACTIVITY Period Period XXII Period XXIII XXIV ... STUDENTS AT VIETNAM UNIVERSITY OF COMMERCE HIỆU QUẢ GIỚI THIỆU VÀ LUYỆN TẬP TỪ VỰNG MỚI QUA NGỮ CẢNH TỐI THIỂU CHO SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ HAI TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC THƯƠNG MẠI M.A Minor Thesis Field: English Language... 22 2. 3 .2. 1 New vocabulary 22 2. 3 .2. 2 Minimal context 22 2. 3.3 Data collection methods 23 2. 3.3.1 Pre-test/ posttest 23 2. 3.3 .2 Observation 24 ... Day/ Date 13-8 -20 12 15-8 -20 12 17-8 -20 12 19-8 -20 12 21-8 -20 12 ✓ Pre-test The first session Jobs The second session Work ✓ ✓ 26 The third session ✓ Problems at work ✓ Post test Table 2. 1 Plan of the