MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY NGUYEN THI LAN HUONG TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY TO THE FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS AT NGHE AN TRADING AND TOURISM VOCATIONAL COLLEGE MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION Nghệ An, 2014 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY NGUYEN THI LAN HUONG TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY TO THE FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS AT NGHE AN TRADING AND TOURISM VOCATIONAL COLLEGE Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Code: 60140111 MASTER’S THESIS IN EDUCATION SUPERVISOR: NGUYEN GIA VIET, Ph.D. Nghệ An, 2014 i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that the thesis entitled “Teaching English vocabulary to the first-year students at Nghe An Trading and Tourism Vocational College” is the result of my own work, and that the thesis or my any parts of the same has not been submitted to any university or institution. Vinh, August 2014 Author’s signature Nguyen Thi Lan Huong ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Nguyen Gia Viet, for his kind help, careful guidance, valuable advice and encouragement from shaping the first draft till the completed thesis. I am also grateful to the head of Foreign Language Department of Nghe An Tourism-Trading Vocational College, Mrs. Le Thi Mai Hong, my colleagues and students of K18D1 and 18D2 who helped me much to finish the methodology of the research. I wish to thank my parents and my loved family who love, care and support and encourage me a lot in the production of this study. Finally, I am too aware that despite all the advice and assistance, I fell that the thesis is far from perfect, it is, therefore, my sole responsibilities for any inadequacies that it may be considered to have. iii ABSTRACT Students at Nghe An Trading and Tourism College have many difficulties in learning English Vocabulary. “How to help students to learn vocabulary better?” is always a question for teachers at Nghe An Trading and Tourism Vocational College. To improve vocabulary learning and teaching, two questionnaires are designed and directed to 70 students and 10 teachers. The findings discuss the difficulties in teaching and learning vocabulary of both teacher and students and the methods they use to teach and learn vocabulary. Simultaneously, some techniques of teaching and learning vocabulary better are recommended based on the findings of this survey. 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABERIVIATION…………………………………………………………… … 4 LISTS OF TABLES…………………………………………………………… … 5 LISTS OF FIGURES…………………………………………………………… 6 Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 7 1.1. Rationale 7 1.2. Aims and objectives of the study 9 1.3. Research questions 9 1.4. Significance of the study 9 1.5. Scope of the study 9 1.6. Methods of the study 10 1.7. Organization of the thesis 10 Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 12 2.1. Vocabulary 12 2.1.1. What is vocabulary? 12 2.1.2. Types of vocabulary. 13 2.1.3. Importance of vocabulary 15 2.1.4. What vocabulary to teach: criteria for selection 16 Learnability 19 2.1.5. Vocabulary in learning English as foreign language 19 2.1.6. How to teach vocabulary 20 2.1.7. Current trends in L2 vocabulary teaching 24 2.2. Teachers' beliefs 25 2 2.2.1. Teachers’ beliefs 25 2.2.2 Research on teachers’ beliefs and teaching practices………… 26 2.2.3. Teachers’ perceptions of learner difficulty 30 2.2.4. Teachers’ reception of vocabulary teaching 31 2.3. Previous studies on vocabulary teaching and learning 35 2.4. Summary 38 Chapter 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 39 3.1. Participants 39 3.2. Sites 40 3.3. Rationale of using the survey method 40 3.3.1. Questionnaire 40 3.3.2. Data collection procedures 42 3.4. Summary 43 Chapter 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 44 4.1 Students’ understanding in terms of English vocabulary learning 44 4.2 Teachers’ understanding in terms of vocabulary teaching 47 4.3 The students’ performance in their English vocabulary learning 50 4.4. Teachers’ performance in vocabulary teaching 52 Chapter 5: CONCLUSION 56 5.1. Summary of findings 56 5.2. Implications 56 5.2.1. For teaching 56 5.2.2. For learning 56 3 5.3. Suggestion for future research 57 5. 4. Suggestions for Vocabulary Teaching and Learning 57 5.4.1. Teaching vocabulary through games. 57 5.4.2. Teaching vocabulary through audio-visual aids and video clips 59 5.4.3. Using synonyms and antonym 59 5.4.4. Pair and group works 60 5.4.5. Role play 60 5.4.6. Using Mind-mapping 60 5.4.7. Using diagrams 63 5.4.8. Using flash cards 63 4 ABERIVIATION ESL: English as a Second Language EFL: English as a Foreign Language CLT: Communicative Language Teaching ELLs: English language learners TPLD: Teachers’ perceptions of learner difficulty SLA: Second language acquisition. %: Percent 5 LISTS OF TABLES Table 4.1. Perceived contents of vocabulary learning ……………… …… 45 Table 4.2. Students’ knowledge of vocabulary is helpful for their vocabulary learning………………………………………………………… 47 Table 4.3. Perceived contents of vocabulary learning 48 Table 4.4. Teachers’ knowledge of vocabulary is helpful for their vocabulary teaching 50 Table 4.5: The methods students usually use in learning vocabulary ……… 50 Table 4.6: The methods teachers usually use in teaching vocabulary 52 [...]... Tourism Vocational College to find out the best methods for teaching English vocabulary to the first- year students 1.5 Scope of the study The study focuses on teaching and learning English vocabulary for the students at Nghe An Trading and Tourism Vocational College, mainly focus on the first year students who are learning basic English Then, the difficulties found out will be analyzed and the solutions... techniques to teach English vocabulary with hope that students will be interesting in learning English Due to my English knowledge limitation and the frame of the graduation paper, I would like to choose the research paper entitle Teaching English vocabulary to the first- year students at Nghe An Trading and Tourism Vocational College 8 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study The aims of this study are to find... made to help to improve the teaching and learning English at Nghe An Trading and Tourism Vocational College 9 The study pays its contributions to both theoretical and practical aspects Theoretically, by exploring difficulties in teaching and learning vocabulary, the study adds to the growing demand of strategies for learning and memorizing words for English language learners (ELLs) Also, by investigating... techniques in their vocabulary teaching 1.3 Research questions Based on the background of the study above, the questions to answer in this study are formulated as follows: 1 What are the main difficulties facing the students and teachers in the process of teaching and learning English vocabulary at Nghe An Trading and Tourism Vocational College? 2 What are strategies used by teachers and students to overcome... study are to find out the difficulties in teaching and learning English vocabulary, as well as to find the solutions in teaching English vocabulary, and to find out more techniques in teaching English vocabulary to students at Nghe An Trading and Tourism Vocational College The scope of this research is limited only by focusing on teaching vocabulary The findings of the study can inform classroom teachers... difficulties in teaching and learning English vocabulary? 1.4 Significance of the study The researcher was conducted with the aim of finding out students attitude towards using some new techniques in teaching English vocabulary From that, teachers will know the ways to apply the techniques in their teaching affectively The researcher will give the chance for the teachers in Nghe An Trading and Tourism Vocational. .. difficult to put in to practice It means that to use productive vocabulary, the students are supposed to know how to pronounce it well, they must know and be able to use grammar of the language target, they are also hoped to familiar with collocation and understand the connotation meaning of the words This type is often used in speaking and writing skill Passive vocabulary Passive vocabulary refers to a language... in English, students resistance to new ways of learning, and heavy workloads were mentioned to account for the discrepancy The researchers then conclude that: Such factors discourage experimentation and innovation, and encourage a ‘safe’ strategy of sticking close to prescribed materials and familiar teaching approaches Without any relief from these factors and without any reward for innovating in the. .. situation using the word to stand for the meaning it represents and being able to think of suitable substitutes for the word if there any Jo Ann Aeborsold and Mary Lee Field classified vocabulary into two terms: active vocabulary and passive vocabulary Active vocabulary Active vocabulary refers to items the learner can use appropriately in speaking or writing and it is also called as productive vocabulary, ... made the students difficult to know the vocabulary meaning in Nghe An Trading and Tourism Vocational College such as, some students less knowledge about vocabulary, students lack of vocabulary, students never try to find the new words from a text To overcome the problems, the teacher could try some ways to develop their vocabulary and explore their ideas In this case, I have the ambition of presenting . Nghệ An, 2014 i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP I certify that the thesis entitled Teaching English vocabulary to the first- year students at Nghe An Trading and Tourism Vocational College is the. facing the students and teachers in the process of teaching and learning English vocabulary at Nghe An Trading and Tourism Vocational College? 2. What are strategies used by teachers and students. choose the research paper entitle Teaching English vocabulary to the first- year students at Nghe An Trading and Tourism Vocational College . 9 1.2. Aims and objectives of the study The