The 11th form non-english majors’ level of satisfaction with their reading comprehension lessons at phan boi chau specialized upper secondary school, nghe an

The 11th form non-english majors’ level of satisfaction with their reading comprehension lessons at phan boi chau specialized upper secondary school, nghe an

PART I : INTRODUCTION1 Rationale

Our students are often frustrated with trying to learn new words We cannot count how many times the students have come up to us to express their frustration with vocabulary when they say things like, “I have such a high level of vocabulary in my language, so it is very frustrating that I can’t express myself as well in English What can I do? How can I increase my vocabulary?” or “Why is my use of this word awkward? How can I use new words that I learn?” or “I need to use my dictionary How can I read without using my dictionary? - It’s too hard!” We hope by teaching them the strategies of elaboration it will help them with learning vocabulary and minimize some of their frustrations

Vocabulary is an essential constituent of second language acquisition and is of great significance to language learners Without words that are the building blocks of a

language, a speaker cannot convey the intended meaning "Learning the most frequent 2 -3,000 words in a language provides a firm basis of about 80 percent of the words likely tobe encountered” (Carter, 1988, p.166) Learning vocabulary is the important basis to gain

all other skills Vocabulary deficiency leads to poor reading comprehension, poor listening comprehension, poor writing performance, poor conversational competence and poor grammatical knowledge Thus, vocabulary learning is one of the major challenges foreign language learners face during the process of learning a language One way to alley the burden is to assist students in becoming independent learners during the process of L2 vocabulary learning To do this task, we have to know the strategies that the learners are using as well as the effectiveness to teach suitable vocabulary learning strategies (VLS)

because learning strategies instruction can help “EFL learners become better learners Inaddition, skill in using learning strategies assists students in becoming independent,confident learners” (Chamot, 1999, p.1).

Psychologists, linguists, and language teachers have been interested in VLS for a long time Numerous studies have been conducted comparing the retention effects of different vocabulary presentation strategies In fact, the vocabulary field has been especially productive in the last two decades We have seen a number of classic volumes on theories (e.g., Carter, 1987; Carter & McCarthy, 1988; Mc Carthy, 1990; Nation, 1990), researches

(e.g., Arnaud & Bejoint, 1992; Gass, 1987; Meara, 1989; Nation & Carter, 1989), and practical tips (e.g., Gairns & Redman, 1986; McCarthy & O'Dell, 1994) Recent volumes shed significant light upon different aspects of vocabulary acquisition include Huckin, Haynes, and Coady (1993), Harley (1995), Hatch and Brown (1995), Coady and Huckin (1997), Schmitt and Mc Carthy (1997), Atkins (1998), Wesche and Paribakht (1999), Read (2000), Schmitt (2000), and Nation (2001) These researches solved the present problems Hence, based on the significance attributed to VLS in the process of vocabulary learning and enhancement, this research aims at studying on the effectiveness of Cognitive Strategies (CS) in learning vocabulary.

2 Aims of the study

The aim of this study is to introduce CS into vocabulary learning syllabus at Nghe An Continuing Education Center (NACEC) so that we can examine the effectiveness of those strategies and to elicit students' opinions about the application of CS From these aims, this study was an attempt to meet the need of the students at NACEC for an alternative way to improve their vocabulary learning ability It was expected that the results of this study would serve as a useful source of reference for the teachers and administrators at NACEC To gain the aims which are mentioned above, this study was designed to test the following hypothesis:

H1: Students who take part in the application of CS in learning vocabulary will make moreimprovement in vocabulary ability than those who do not participate in such a program.

The acceptance of this hypothesis would result in the rejection to the following null hypothesis or vice versa:

H0: There is no difference in vocabulary proficiency as measured by a proficiency testbetween students who take part in the experiment program and those who do not.

In order to draw the conclusion on which hypothesis would be accepted, the answers to the research questions presented below would be found:

 Is there a significant difference in using CS to learn vocabulary between the control group (students who do not participate in applying program of CS) and the experimental group (students who participate in the program)?

 Do CS make the students' vocabulary learning ability improved?

 What are the students' opinions about CS and their suggestions for future programs? The first and the second questions are the focal points The answer to them would yield empirical evidence for the effectiveness of CS in learning vocabulary The answer to the last question would provide invaluable information about students' evaluation of CS necessary for further application

3 Scope of the study

Given the time constraint, the study was conducted on the 1st non-English students at NACEC only The thesis limited itself to the experimental research of CS in learning vocabulary to find out their effectiveness This means the study was not extended to measure students' common VLS Therefore, data for analysis were collected from those students in the researcher's hope of gaining a better understanding of the issue in consideration.

4 Method of the study

The main research method employed in this study to find out the answers to the proposed research questions within the scope of the study is a quasi-experimental design which involves the three basic components of experiments as presented by Selinger and Shohamy, that is, the population (1st students at NACEC), the treatment (CS) and the

measurement of the treatment (t-test) (1989, p.136).

Beside this main method, a questionnaire was also delivered to the students taking part in applying program of CS as a complementary tool to obtain their feedback on the program and their suggestions for future programs.

5 Design of the study

The study comprises three main parts:

Part I: Introduction

This part discusses the rationale, aims, scope, an overview of the research method and the design of the study.

Part II: Development

This part is divided into four chapters:

Chapter 1: presents a brief theoretical background for the thesis

Chapter 2: presents a detailed discussion of the method used in the study with all of its

components encompassing the justification for using the quasi-experimental design, the participants, the design of the pretest and posttest.

Chapter 3: is the most important part of the study presenting significant findings and

discussions of the study.

Chapter 4: presents some pedagogical implications derived from the main findings and

some suggested vocabulary practicing activities

Part III: Conclusion

This part summaries the main findings and points out some limitations of the study that serve as the basis for the researcher’s suggestions for further study.

PART II: DEVELOPMENT

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

1 Language Learning Strategies

1.1 Background of Language Learning Strategies

There has been a prominent shift within the field of language learning and teaching over the last twenty years with greater emphasis being put on learners and learning rather than on teachers and teaching In parallel to this new shift of interest, how learners process new information and what kinds of strategies they employ to understand, learn or remember the information has been the primary concern of the researchers dealing with the area of foreign language learning So, language learning strategies (LLS) for foreign language learning and the teacher's role in strategy training is very important

Research into LLS began in the 1960s Particularly, developments in cognitive psychology influenced much of the research done on LLS In most of the research on LLS, the primary

concern has been on “identifying what good language learners report they do to learn asecond or foreign language, or, in some cases, are observed doing while learning a secondor foreign language.” (Rubin and Wenden 1987:19) In 1966, Aaron Carton published his

study entitled “The Method of Inference in Foreign Language Study”, which was the first attempt on learner strategies After Carton, in 1971, Rubin started doing research focusing on the strategies of successful learners and stated that, once identified, such strategies could be made available to less successful learners Rubin classified strategies in terms of processes contributing directly or indirectly to language learning Wong-Fillmore (1976), Tarone (1977), Naiman et al (1978), Bialystok (1979), Cohen and Aphek (1981), Wenden (1982), Chamot and O'Malley (1987), Politzer and Mc Groarty (1985), Conti and Kolsody (1997), and many others studied strategies used by language learners during the process of foreign language learning

1.2 Definition of Language Learning Strategies

The term strategies, in the second-language-learning sense, has come to be applied to the

conscious moves made by second-language speakers intended to be useful in either learning or using the L2 Strategies can be very different in nature, ranging from planning

the organization of one's learning (a metacognitive learning strategy) through using mnemonic devices to learn vocabulary (cognitive learning strategies) and rehearsing what one expects to say (a performance strategy) to bolstering one's self-confidence for a language task by means of “self-talk” (an affective strategy)

A learning strategy is a series of actions a learner takes to facilitate the completion of a learning task A strategy starts when the learner analyzes 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 needs to revise the plan and action.

Ever since Naiman et al (1976) noted that “good” language learners appeared to use a larger number and range of strategies than “poor” language learners, the implications of understanding strategy use have seemed increasingly important However, there are still many questions to resolve Does strategy use actually aid language learning, or is it just something that good learners do? Are some strategies better than others, or is it the number and range of strategies used that counts? Are there “bad” strategies that actually making learning or performance worse? Can “poor” language learners benefit from being taught the strategies that “good” learners use, or do you need to be a good learner already to use some of the strategies? Does strategy training affect language learning, and if so is the effect direct, or does such training serve mainly to raise motivation and awareness? If learners are encouraged to use strategies to organize their own learning, for example, what are the implications for the role of the classroom teacher? Such issues have already prompted a considerable volume of research and writing, and directly or indirectly made a significant impact on language learning, at least in some places For example, the establishment of self-access centers and the encouragement of learner independence are essentially based on the assumption that students will be able to use viable metacognitive

learning strategies Ellis (1994) writes: "The study of learning strategies holds considerablepromise, both for language pedagogy and for explaining individual differences in secondlanguage learning It is probably true to say, however, that it is still in its infancy For thisreason, perhaps, discussions of learning strategies typically conclude with the problemsthat have surfaced and that need to be addressed before progress can be made” (p 558)

So far, the term LLS has been defined by many researchers But few seem to agree on what a language strategy actually is (Bialystok, 1983) because each researcher has defined strategy within the context of his or her own study Learning strategies are defined by

O'Malley and Chamot (1990) as “special thoughts or behaviors that individuals use tocomprehend, learn, or retain new information” (p.1) while Oxford (1994) definesstrategies as “actions, behaviors, steps, or techniques students use, often unconsciously, toimprove their progress in apprehending, internalizing, and using the L2” (p.1) Rubin' s

(1987) view of strategies relates more to how they might contribute directly to L2 development, while Stern (1983), concerned more with the observability of strategies, describes a strategy as a general approach to learning by the individual learner and

“techniques” as “particular forms of observable learning behaviors” Richards and Platt(1992:209) stated that learning strategies are “intentional behavior and thoughts used bylearners during learning so as to better help them understand, learn, or remember newinformation” Faerch Claus and Casper (1983:67) stress that a learning strategy is “anattempt to develop linguistic and sociolinguistic competence in the target language”

All language learners use LLS either consciously or unconsciously when processing new information and performing tasks in the language classroom Since language classroom is like a problem-solving environment in which language learners are likely to face new input and difficult tasks given by their instructors, learners' attempts to find the quickest or easiest way to do what is required, that is, using LLS is inescapable

1.3 Classification of Learning Strategies

In the 1980s and early 90s, research mainly focused on categorizing the strategies found in the studies of the previous decade As a result, several taxonomies were proposed to classify them, including classifications of LLS in general and language sub-skills strategies in particular

 One of the most famous to date that proposed by O'Malley and Chamot (1990) Their hierarchical framework of strategies distinguishes three major strategy types:

 Metacognitive Strategies  Cognitive Strategies  Socio-affective Strategies

O'Malley and Chamot's framework of strategies has considerable intuitive appeal and many practitioners have used this taxonomy in planning their teaching However, O'Malley and Chamot have never examined the construct validity of their taxonomy As a result, it is unclear enough to teach students and to train them to use these three separate strategies  According to Rubin, there are three types of strategies used by learners that contribute directly or indirectly to language learning These are:

 Learning Strategies

 Communication Strategies  Social Strategies

 According to Stern (1992:262-266), there are five main LLS These are as follows:  Management and Planning Strategies

 Cognitive Strategies

 Communicative - Experiential Strategies  Interpersonal Strategies

 Affective Strategies

 It seems that among numbers of classifications of learning strategies given by researchers, Oxford’s scheme is the most comprehensive detailed system of six strategies, classified as direct and indirect Oxford's (1990:17) taxonomy of LLS is shown as

It can be seen that much of the recent work in this area has been underpinned by a broad concept of LLS that goes beyond cognitive processes to include social and communicative strategies

1.4 The importance of Language Learning Strategies in Language Learning and Teaching

Bridging the gap between students’ learning styles and teachers’ teaching styles will be a powerful means to guide students towards successful learning Thus, teaching students learning strategies should not be neglected Oxford (1990) describes learning strategies as

“specific actions taken by the learners to make learning easier, faster, more enjoyable,more self-directed, more effective, and more transferable to new situations” (p.8).

Learning strategies will compensate for the weakness of a learning style and maximize the strengths of a learning style powerfully.

To emphasize the importance of LLS, Chamot et al (1999) stated, “Differences betweenmore effective learners and less effective learners were found in the number and range ofstrategies used, in how the strategies were applied to the task, and in whether they wereappropriate for the task” (p.166) Therefore, teaching learning strategies is especially

useful for the latter learners If they can find effective strategies, they will be able to successfully, through effective strategy teaching, students will acquire not only vocabulary but also the way for studying.

The language learner capable of using a wide variety of LLS appropriately can improve his

language skills in a better way According to Oxford (1990), memory strategies “helpstudents store and retrieve new information”, cognitive strategies “enable learners tounderstand and produce new language by many different means”, compensation strategies“allow learners to use the language despite their often large gaps in knowledge” (p.37),metacognitive strategies “allow learners to control their own cognition - that is, tocoordinate the learning process by using functions such as centering, arranging, planning,and evaluating”, affective strategies “help to regulate emotions, motivations, andattitudes” and social “help students learn through interaction with other” (p.135).

Developing skills in three areas, such as metacognitive, cognitive, and socio-affective can help the language learner build up learner independence and autonomy whereby he can take control of his own learning Lessard-Clouston (1997:3) states that LLS contribute to

the development of the communicative competence of the students Being a broad concept, LLS are used to refer to all strategies foreign language learners use in learning the target language and communication strategies are one type of LLS As Oxford (1990:1) stated,

LLS “ are especially important for language learning because they are tools for active,self-directed movement, which is essential for developing communicative competence”.

Besides developing the communicative competence of the students, teachers who train students to use LLS can help them become better language learners Helping students understand good LLS and training them to develop and use such good LLS can be considered to be the appreciated characteristics of a good language teacher Research into the good LLS revealed a number of positive strategies so that such strategies could also be used by bad language learners trying to become more successful in language learning However, there is always the possibility that bad language learners can also use the same good LLS while becoming unsuccessful owing to some other reasons At this point, it should be strongly stressed that using the same good LLS does not guarantee that bad learners will also become successful in language learning since other factors may also play role in success.

1.5 The factors influencing the choice of L2 learning strategies

When a person approaches a relatively challenging task, he adopts certain strategies to solve the problem This problem-solving process is constrained by the learning context where the problem is being tackled Language learning in general and vocabulary acquisition in particular are such problem-solving tasks at different levels of complexity The strategies a learner uses and the effectiveness of these strategies very much depend on the learner him/herself (e.g., attitudes, motivation, prior knowledge), the learning task at hand (e.g., type, complexity, difficulty, and generality), and the learning environment (e.g., the learning culture, the richness of input and output opportunities)

Oxford (1990) synthesized existing research on how the following factors influence the choice of strategies used among students learning a second language:

 Motivation: More motivated students tended to use more strategies than less motivated

students, and the particular reason for studying the language (motivational orientation, especially as related to career field) was important in the choice of strategies

 Gender: Females reported greater overall strategy use than males in many studies

(although sometimes males surpassed females in the use of a particular strategy)

 Cultural background: Rote memorization and other forms of memorization were more

prevalent among some Asian students than among students from other cultural backgrounds Certain other cultures also appeared to encourage this strategy among learners

 Attitudes and beliefs: These were reported to have a profound effect on the strategies

learners choose, with negative attitudes and beliefs often causing poor strategy use or lack of orchestration of strategies

 Type of task: The nature of the task helped determine the strategies naturally employed

to carry out the task

 Age and L2 stage: Students of different ages and stages of L2 learning used different

strategies, with certain strategies often employed by older or more advanced students

 Learning style: Learning style (general approach to language learning) often determined

the choice of L2 learning strategies For example, analytic-style students preferred strategies such as contrastive analysis, rule-learning, and dissecting words and phrases, while global students used strategies to find meaning (guessing, scanning, predicting) and to converse without knowing all the words (paraphrasing, gesturing)

 Tolerance of ambiguity: Students who were more tolerant of ambiguity used

significantly different learning strategies in some instances than did students who were less tolerant of ambiguity

2 Vocabulary and Vocabulary Learning Strategies

2.1 Definition of Vocabulary

Since we all know what the words mean, why spend time defining them? Every word refers to a concept, which exists in the memory of the listener's mind Some concepts are the product of nonverbal experiences For instance, when we were very young, we saw several kinds of animals, which other people called dogs; this formed our concept of “dog” Since the particular animals we saw differed from those seen by other people, our

concept is slightly different from the concepts that other people have On the other hand, certain concepts are the result of verbal or written explanations by other people Here the explanations differed, so again our concept is not identical to that of other people Any concept that we have, therefore, consists of other, previously learned, concepts and these concepts differ from person to person So you see, no two people can have exactly the same concept, as related to a given word

Thus, so far there have been different definitions of vocabulary Each linguist gives his

own definition According to Michael Lewis (1993:89), Vocabulary " may be individualwords, or full sentences - institutionalized utterances - that convey fixed social orpragmatic meaning within a given community” Peny Ur, in her book: “A course inlanguage teaching” defined vocabulary roughly "as the words we teach in the foreignlanguage However, a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word: acompound of two or three words or multi-word idioms” (1996, p.60) Pyles and Algeo alsogive their idea about vocabulary They said “when most of us think about language wethink first about words It is true that the vocabulary is the focus of language It is inwords that we arrange together to make sentences, conversation and discourse of allkinds” (1970, p.96)

In short, vocabulary is an essential part of language, as Wilkins emphasized this with his

saying: "without grammar, very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can beconveyed” (cited in Hoang Tat Truong 1985:1).

2.2 Vocabulary Learning Strategies

In the literature on LLS, there is no official definition for VLS Because VLS are considered as one part of LLS which in turn are part of general learning strategies LLS encourage greater overall self-direction for learners Self-directed learners are independent learners who are capable of assuming responsibility for their own learning and gradually gaining confidence, involvement and proficiency So is the case with VLS

Oxford (1990:8) gave the working definition of VLS as “ specific behavioural or mentalactions taken by learners to make their vocabulary learning easier, faster, more enjoyable,more self-directed, more effective, and more transferable to new situations”.

It is believed that the characteristics of learning strategies introduced by Oxford are also true to VLS.

2.3 Classification of Vocabulary Learning Strategies

Word knowledge is an essential component of communicative competence, and it is important for both production and comprehension in a foreign language Knowing a word involves knowing:

 A great deal about its general frequency of use, syntactic and situational limitations on its use,

 Its underlying form and the forms that can be derived from it,  The network of its semantic features and,

 The various meanings associated with the item.

Knowing a word is also defined as knowing its spelling, pronunciation, collocations (i.e words it co-occurs with), and appropriateness Therefore, lexical competence is far more than the ability to define a given number of words and covers a wide range of knowledge which in turn requires a variety of strategies to gain the knowledge Foreign language learners may then use various strategies to acquire the target language word knowledge Taking this into consideration, second and foreign language researchers have made various attempts to classify VLS employed by foreign and L2 learners In this thesis, we used the classification of Oxford as the main theoretical background to study:

c Placing new words into a context

2 Applying images and sounds

a Using imagery b Semantic mapping c Using keywords

d Representing sounds in memory

3 Reviewing well a Structured reviewing

b Formally practicing with sounds and writing systems

c Recognizing and using formulas

a Getting the idea quickly

b Using resources for receiving and

4 Creating structure for input and output

s 1 Guessing intelligently a Using linguistic clues

b Using other clues

2 Overcoming limitations inspeaking and writing

a Switching to the mother tongue b Getting help

c using mine or gesture d Avoiding communication partially or totally

e Selecting the topic

f Adjusting or approximating the message

g Coining words

h Using a circumlocution or synonym

es 1 Centering your learning

a Over viewing and linking with already known material

c Setting goals and objectives d Identifying the purpose of a language task

e Planning for your task

f Seeking practice opportunities

3 Evaluating your learning a Self-monitoring

es 1 Lowering your anxiety

a Using progressive relaxation, deep breathing, or meditation b Using music

c Using laughter

2 Encouraging yourself

a Making positive statements b Taking risks wisely

c Writing a language learning diary d Discussing your feelings with

b Asking for correction

2 Cooperating with others

a cooperating with peers

b Cooperating with proficient users of the new language

3 Empathizing with others

a Developing cultural understanding

b Becoming aware of the others' thoughts and feelings

Table 1: Direct and Indirect learning strategies

(Adapted from Oxford 1990:18-20)

We can see the details of learning strategies from the above table In this study, we only

chose five specific strategies of CS to apply in the experiment including Formallypracticing with sounds and writing systems; Notes-taking; Analyzing expressions;

Highlighting and Practicing naturalistically CS belong to the direct strategies As the

word “direct” conveys, these strategies are directly involved in learning the target

language Oxford defines CS as “enabling learners to understand and produce newlanguage by many different means” The first letters of these strategies sets create theacronym “PRAC” as a memory aid of the essence of these strategies “CS are PRACticalfor language learning” (Oxford, 1990:43)

3 Cognitive Strategies

3.1 Definition of Cognitive Strategies

It has long been recognized that the CS that students use when tackling learning task are a

major influence on the quality of the learning outcome As Paris stated “People rely on CSto promote learning, remembering and problem solving” (1998, p.299).

According to Kirby and Lavoson (1983), CS are beneficial to learning, they can be identified and they can be developed Indeed, CS development has provided positive results to students of all ages and abilities (Mayo, 1993) regardless of material format and whether strategies are used publicly or privately (Patterson, Dansereau and Newbern, 1992) Bouffard and Dunn (1993) claimed that when an appropriate CS is shown to pupils and they are requested to use it, motor performance usually improves.

So far, many researchers have given the definitions of CS However, there are difficulties in defining because there seem to be concerns for how general and incorporating the term should be.

Some definitions argued that CS must be conscious, planned processes whilst other definitions related to any activities that streamlined cognitive performance.

According to Perry and Murphy (1986), Lipson and Wixon (1983), CS signify the collection of mental tactics selected, employed and controlled by an individual in a particular learning situation to facilitate their acquisition of knowledge or skill, and to achieve their desired objectives It has been further claimed that CS can be defined as being deliberate, learner-initiated and learner-controlled (Palmer and Goetz, 1988) Thus, it

is implied that CS will not be utilized unless a pupil is motivated and deliberately attempts to initiate and control them.

Derry and Murphy (1986) supposed that CS may be viewed as a continuum from generality to specificity, from cognitive style and the most generalized of CS to the most task-specific cognitive tactics.

To sum up, CS are very important to improve students’ ability Specially, these strategies are crucial for academic skills.

3.2 Clarifying Oxford's Cognitive Strategies

 Repeating: This strategy is most often employed by most students Students read or write or both read and write a new word over and over again.

 Formally practicing with sounds and writing systems: Students practice sounds (pronunciation, intonation, etc) in a variety of ways but not yet in naturalistic communication practice Practicing the writing system of English is not a problem for Vietnamese students because they use Roman scrip as English.

 Recognizing and using formulas and patterns: Being aware of and/ or using routine formulas (single, unanalyzed units).

 Recombining: Students combine known words in new ways to produce a longer sequence For instance, they link one phrase with another in a whole sentence  Practicing naturalistically: Students practice using new words in natural realistic

settings, as in participating in a conversation, reading a book, writing diary, etc  Reasoning deductively: Students use general rules and apply them to specific

cases For example, students can use general rules of English affixes to guess the meaning of new English words or to facilitate their learning new words.

 Analyzing expressions: students determine the meaning of a new expression by breaking it down into parts and using the meanings of the parts to understand the meaning of the whole expression.

 Analyzing contrastively: Students compare elements (sounds, vocabulary, etc) of English words with those of Vietnamese to determine the similarities and differences between them.

 Translating: Students convert an English expression into Vietnamese (or the other way round), using one language as the basis for understanding and producing another.

 Transferring: Students directly apply knowledge of words from one language to another in order to understand or produce an expression in the new language  Taking notes: Students take notes of specific points about a word they want to

 Highlighting: Students use many techniques (underlining, circling, color-coding, etc) to highlight the words they want to learn.

CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

1 Rationale for using Experimental method

As mentioned in the preceding chapter, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of CS in learning vocabulary and discover students' attitudes towards the application of CS in learning vocabulary, therefore, the best method chosen for this study was the experimental research The fact that this method offers the luxury that others cannot As

Hopkins & Antes (1990, p.307) said in the strictest sense "An experiment can take placeonly on a laboratory setting with the greatest possible control to study the effects ofmanipulation” And in the broadest sense "any interjection of something different into anatural setting could be considered an experiment” (cited in Vu Thi Thanh Nha, 2006,p.38-39).

An experimental research is an attempt by the researcher to maintain control over all factors that may affect the result of an experiment In doing this, the researcher attempts to determine or predict what may occur Experimental design enables the researcher to test his hypothesis by reaching valid conclusions about relationships between independent and dependent variables It refers to the conceptual framework within which the experiment is conducted To put it in other words, an experiment method, when done correctly, can provide a tremendous amount of power and control over the understanding of the causal relationship between variables.

According to Nunan (1992), there are three types of experiments: pre-experiment, quasi-experiment and true-quasi-experiment They are different from one another in terms of the degree to which they impose control over the variables being studied and the degree of randomness that enters into the design (Salkind, 2006, p.218).

Basing on the characteristics of different experiments in language research in combination with the present conditions in which the study would be carried out, we decided to choose

the quasi-experiment design A quasi-experimenter treats a given situation as an

experiment even though it is not wholly by design The independent variable may not be manipulated by the researcher, treatment and control groups may not be randomized or matched The researcher is limited in what he or she can say conclusively Quasi-experimentation in educational research is widespread because not only are many researchers also teachers, but many subjects are also students.

Moreover, the quasi-experimental design has greater external validity (more like real world conditions) and much more feasible given time and logistical constraints And since this design is less intrusive and disruptive than the true-experiment design, it is easier to gain access to the subject population and that easier to conduct such a research

In short, the quasi-experimental design is the most practical and feasible for the researcher, all above factors considered.

2 Participants

2.1 The students

In this study we chose the participants in the two classes in which there are 40 non-English major students at the age of 19-22 from NACEC, including 12 males and 28 females They were divided into 2 groups: experimental group and control group with 20 each These participants were not randomly assigned because of the time limitation, expense and accessibility We know that it is not always feasible to carry out the study with all the students in the population individually Thus, we chose basing on the basis of cluster sampling that is proved to be convenient, inexpensive and time-saving (Salkind, 2006, p 92) The forty students participating in this study are the first yearstudents Their English level was Elementary The most serious difficulties for them are the lack of self-learning method, LLS and motivation Most importantly, they emphasized the need for instructions on how to learn better and to clear away all these problems Before the experiment they had finished one term of English In the first term, the material they used was Lifelines-Elementary (from Unit 1 to Unit 7) which is an integrated course book intended to develop four basic language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing and especially learning vocabulary according to topics (For example, food and drinks, daily activities, clothes, etc)

The two groups that we chose in this study were arranged in accordance with their level of English based on the results of their placement test

To sum up, we tried to select two compatible groups for the experiment Twenty students in each group officially became the subjects of the research and all information about them was gathered and analyzed in the next chapter Despite the fact that there might be some inevitable variables such as intelligence and characteristics which vary from person to person, the differences between two groups were limited to minimum.

2.2 The teachers

The two instructors were the researcher herself and another teacher at NACEC They both have been teaching at NACEC for nearly five years Before the experiment period, they were arranged to meet and discuss the methods, contents, outcomes and time allocation for the experiment

3 Materials and Data Collection Instruments

3.1 Materials

Course book: The participants taking part in this study used Lifelines-Elementary as the

main course book This course book is divided into fourteen topic-based units presenting and practicing vocabulary and grammar, as well as developing the four language skills (Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking) After every two units, there is an extension to check the learnt knowledge

The interesting feature of this course book is that Vocabulary is learnt according to topics It means that there are 14 topics corresponding with 14 units:

- Unit 2: Classroom language- Unit 9: Verbs - Unit 3: Describing people - Unit 10: Travel

- Unit 5: Food and drinks- Unit 12: Parts of the body- Unit 6: Daily activities- Unit 13: Phrasal verbs

- Unit 7: Parts of a house- Unit 14: The world

Because of the time limitation, the researcher only chose two units (Unit 11 and Unit 12) to do the experiment for this study Each unit was taught within nine periods.

Handouts: In the experiment group, handouts were designed by the researcher herself and

delivered to the students as student-training worksheets Each of the worksheets provided

the students what it meant by the term "Cognitive Strategies”.

Projector: This is a supplementary tool in teaching and learning which help teachers to

teach more successfully In this study, the researcher used activities on web-sites So, projector is really useful and create positive atmosphere and motivation in learning classroom.

3.2 Data Collection Instruments

This study employed both quantitative and qualitative methods including pre-test (at the beginning of the experiment), post-test (at the end of the experiment) and questionnaire to collect data with the aims of investigating the effect of CS in learning vocabulary

3.2.1 Tests

In the researches and in language acquisition, tests are used to check students' vocabulary ability and knowledge Thus, in order to know students' results exactly, teachers must design good tests The question is: What is a good test? It should have five main characteristics: validity, reliability, discrimination, practicality and backwash.

To ensure those characteristics of the test, both pre-test and post-test in this study were

taken from Building skills for the TOEFL IBT Beginning by Adam Worcester - LarkBowereman - Eric Williamson and English pronunciation in use by Mark Hancock This is

because these two books are considered a standardized source So, they are widely accepted to be highly valid and reliable in measuring one's language proficiency

The pre-test and post-test used in this study were in fact two versions of the same test The use of the same test before and after the experiment treatment was to measure exactly the difference that may have been caused by that treatment However, to minimize the possible effect of the test familiarity on the students' gains between the two test administrations, some items of the first version of the pre-test were reordered for the second use (post-test).

3.2.2 Questionnaire

Questionnaires are also the effective instrument for collecting data in this study According

to Brown (2000) “Questionnaires are any written instruments that present respondentswith a series of questions or statements to which they are to react either by writing outtheir answers of selecting from among existing answers” This makes questionnaire data

particularly suited for quantitative, statistical analysis With questionnaires, the experimenter can employ categories, viewpoints and models that have been precisely defined in advance then determine the relationship between these categories and to test the research hypotheses from numerical or directly quantifiable data However, the data from questionnaires are ideal because the participants can have some time to think about the answers, which may reflect reliable facts.

The questionnaire in this study was used at the end of the experiment (post-program questionnaire) This questionnaire aimed at investigating students' attitudes and comments towards the application of CS in learning vocabulary The questionnaire took 15 minutes to complete It focused on three parts: (1) the students' opinions about the application of CS in learning vocabulary including 10 statements in which each statement students could choose one of the two cases: Y = Yes; N = No; (2) the students' preference towards five specific strategies (arranged in the order of the level of the students' preference); and (3) the students' ideas and suggestions to make the application of CS in learning vocabulary more enjoyable and useful in the next school year (five suggestions were given so that students could choose Agree or Disagree) The information and results collected from this questionnaire were valuable As a result, the researcher had a reliable basis to decide whether or not to go on applying CS in the future

3.3 Data collection procedures

The experiment was conducted for eight weeks During the experiment, the researcher herself directly taught the experimental group and another teacher taught the control group (under the researcher’s observation) In order to collect sufficient information about the students' VLS or techniques through the application of CS as well as their attitudes towards this, the researcher exploited a pre-test, a post-test and a questionnaire Here below is the procedure of the study: