MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
VINH UNIVERSITY
NGUYEN THI LAN PHUONG
AN APPLICATION OF SEMANTIC MAPPING IN TEACHING ENGLISH
VOCABULARY FOR STUDENTS OF FOOD PROCESSING 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:: TRAN BA TIEN, Ph.D
Nghệ An- 2014
STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP
I certify that the thesis entitled “An application of semantic mapping in
teaching English vocabulary for students of Food Processing at Nghe An Trading
and Tourism vocational college" is the result of my own work, and that the minor
thesis or any part of the same has not been submitted to any university or institution.
Vinh, August 2014
Author’s signature
Nguyen Thi Lan Phuong
i
ACKNOWLDGEMENTS
The thesis could not have been completed without the help of many people to
whom I am indebted.
I would like to thank Dr. Tran Ba Tien, who commented on my work, for his
kind help and valuable advice he provides me.
I am also grateful to the head of Foreign Language Department at Nghe An
Tourism-Trading Vocational College, my colleagues and students of K18B5 and
K18B6 who helped me much to finish the methodology of the research.
I wish to thank my parents and my loved family who love, care, 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 feel that
the thesis is far from perfect, it is therefore, my sole responsibilities for any
inadequacies that it may be considered to have.
ii
ABSTRACT
At Nghe An Trading and Tourism vocational college, when students
learn English, they usually face with many difficulties not only in specific language
skills but also in vocabulary. Semantic mapping is considered as a good strategy be
applied in teaching of vocabulary. Based on literature review, it is found that
semantic mapping has had good effects on vocabulary learning; especially it
improves the retention and retrieval of word meanings. This study was
conducted to explore the students’ vocabulary performance under the treatment
of semantic mapping and their reflections on the teacher’s application of this
method.
This experimental study followed a two-group pre-test and post-test
design. The participants were 87 freshmen of Food processing students at At Nghe
An Trading and Tourism vocational college. Three instruments: (1) the tests on
vocabulary knowledge, (2) the questionnaire on the students’ perceptions towards
semantic mapping, and (3) the interview on the students’ reflections towards
semantic mapping were employed to collect both quantitative and qualitative data.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP............................................................................i
ACKNOWLDGEMENTS.........................................................................................ii
ABSTRACT.............................................................................................................iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS..........................................................................................1
LIST OF ABBRIVIATIONS.....................................................................................5
LIST OF TABLES....................................................................................................6
LIST OF FIGURES...................................................................................................7
LIST OF CHARTS....................................................................................................8
Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION...................................................................................9
1.1. Rationale
9
1.2. Aims of the study
11
1.3. Research questions 12
1.4. Significance of the study
12
1.5. Organization of the study
12
Chapter 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND.......................................................14
2.1. What is vocabulary? 14
2.2. The importance of vocabulary
15
2.3. Approaches to teaching vocabulary 16
2.3.1. General traditional methods
16
2.3.1.1. The grammar-translation method 16
2.3.1.2. The direct method
16
2.3.1.3. The audio-lingual method 17
2.3.2. Communicative approach to teaching vocabulary
2.4. Semantic mapping
21
2.4.1. Definitions of semantic mapping
21
2.4.2. A typology of semantic mapping
23
2.4.2.2. Story mapping
25
2.4.2.3. Concept mapping
27
1
17
2.4.3. The use of semantic mapping in empirical research 29
2.4.3.2. Stage to use 32
2.4.3.3. Way to use
33
2.5. The roles of semantic mapping in EFL classrooms
35
2.5.1. Improvement in success and rate of foreign language acquisition 35
2.5.2. Improvement in attitudes towards foreign language acquisition
36
2.6. Implications for English vocabulary teaching practices 37
2.6.1. Stage 1: Introduction
38
2.6.2. Stage 2: Brainstorm
38
2.6.3. Stage 3: Categorization 38
2.6.4. Stage 4: Synthesis
2.7. Summary
39
39
Chapter 3: METHODOLOGY................................................................................40
3.1. Study setting 40
3.2. Participants
40
3.2.1. The Control Group
41
3.2.2. The Experimental Group41
3.2.3. Resemblance
41
3.3. Data types of methods of data collection 42
3.3.1 Experiment42
3.3.1.1. Pre-test
43
3.3.1.2. Experimental teaching process
3.3.1.3. Post-test
43
45
3.3.2. Interview 45
3.3.3. Questionnaire
46
3.4. Analytical framework
47
3.4.1. Quantitative analysis of pre- and post-tests
3.4.2. Qualitative analysis of interview
48
3.4.3. Quantitative analysis of questionnaire 48
2
47
Chapter 4: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION..............................................49
4.1. Results from the experiment 49
4.1.1. Pre-test results
49
4.1.1.1. The Control Group 49
4.1.1.2. The Experimental Group
50
4.1.1.3. Pre-test similarities 50
4.1.2. Post-test results 51
4.1.2.1. The Control Group 51
4.1.2.2. The Experimental Group
52
4.1.2.3 Post-test differences 52
4.1.3. A comparison of pre- and post-test results for each group
53
4.1.3.1. Means53
4.1.3.2. Distribution of score types 54
4.2. Results from interviews and questionnaires
55
4.2.1. About the role of vocabulary and the application of semantic mapping in
its teaching
56
4.2.1.1. The students’ preference for the approach to teach vocabulary 56
4.2.1.2. The students’ impression on semantic mapping 57
4.2.1.3. The students’ reflections on the teacher’s application of semantic
mapping58
4.2.1.4. The students’ opinions for the frequency of using semantic mapping
65
4.2.2. Summary 66
4.3. Discussion
66
4.4. Overall summary
67
Chapter 5: CONCLUSION......................................................................................68
5.1. Conclusions 68
5.2. Recommendations for English language practitioners
5.2.1. For teachers
70
3
70
5.2.2. For students
71
5.3. Suggestions for further research
5.4. Summary
71
72
REFERENCES........................................................................................................73
APPENDIX A.........................................................................................................78
APPENDIX B.........................................................................................................82
APPENDIX C.........................................................................................................86
APPENDIX D.........................................................................................................87
APPENDIX E..........................................................................................................88
APPENDIX F..........................................................................................................93
4
LIST OF ABBRIVIATIONS
EFL:
English as a foreign language
P:
Participant
Q:
Question
S.M.:
Semantic mapping
W.L:
word list
%:
Percent
LIST OF TABLES
5
Table 3.1: The Control Group’s background information.......................................41
Table 3.2: The Experimental Group’s background information..............................41
Table 4.1: Pre-test score analysis for Control Group...............................................49
Table 4.2: Pre-test score analysis for Experimental Group......................................50
Table 4.3: Post-test score analysis for Control Group.............................................51
Table 4.4: Post-test score analysis for Experimental Group....................................52
Table 4.5: Approaches to teach vocabulary that the students’ former teachers used
................................................................................................................................. 56
Table 4.6: How the students found semantic mapping............................................57
Table 4.7: Students’ responses to the effect of S.M. on creating motivation...........58
Table 4.8: Students’ responses to the effect of S.M. on stimulating the vocabulary
learning process.......................................................................................................60
Table 4.9: Students’ responses to the effect of S.M. on facilitating the vocabulary
learning process.......................................................................................................61
Table 4.10: Various strengths realized by the students............................................62
As can be seen in table 4.11, for the Students’ responses to the effect of S.M. on
promoting group-work competence.........................................................................63
Table 4.11: Students’ responses to the effect of S.M. on promoting group-work
competence.............................................................................................................. 64
Table 4.12: Students’ responses to the constraints of S.M.......................................64
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 2.1: Model of a word mapping (Source: http:// graphic.org)........................24
Figure 2.2: Items in bedroom (Gairns and Redman, 1986)......................................25
Figure 2.3: Basic framework of a story mapping (Source: http:// graphic.org)........26
Figure 2.4: Semantic mapping for “human life circle’(Gairns and Redman, 1986)..............26
Figure 2.5: Detailed example of a story mapping (Source: http:// graphic.org).......27
Figure 2.6: Model of a Double Cell Diagram (Source: http:// graphic.org).............28
Figure 2.7: Model of a Project Concept Mapping (Source: http:// graphic.org)…...28
Figure 2.8: Word Scroll by Beers (2003, p. 192).....................................................30
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LIST OF CHARTS
Chart 4.1: The change in pre- and post-test means for each group..........................53
Chart 4.2: Control Group’s score type distribution..................................................54
Chart 4.3: Experimental Group’s score type distribution.........................................55
Chart 4.4: Students’ impression on semantic mapping............................................57
Chart 4.5: Students’ opinions for the frequency of using semantic mapping...........65
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Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
Vietnam is entering a unique stage of its development. With impressive
economic growth over the last ten years, it has been integrating with the region and
the world exemplified by its recent accession to WTO, membership of the UN
Security Council, and active participation in various major regional and
international activities. To sustain the growth and enhance its status in international
arena in the years to come, more than ever it needs a highly-skilled workforce that
can help achieve its stated goals of modernization, industrialization and
international integration. One of the important skills needed is the mastery of
foreign languages, especially English, as claimed by Vietnam’s Prime Minister
Dung Tan Nguyen (as cited in Tran, 2008 para. 2) that from now on to 2020, it will
be the nuclear point in the foreign language educational policy and in
communication.
Indeed, during the last ten years English has maintained its dominant role as
the first foreign language in Vietnam. This phenomenon comes from various
demands in both personal and social aspects. In the light of the former, English
proficiency is seen as a vital requirement for employment or overseas higher
education. For example, the mastery of basic English is one of the prerequisite
demands for applicants for jobs in offices and companies, and certifications such as
TOEFL, IELTS or TOEIC are a must for those students who want to study
overseas. In regard to the latter, English plays an extremely important role in
international co-operation. For instance, with the recent economic policy
promulgated by the government to attract capital investment, it has significantly
facilitated economic co-operation “with an ever greater influx of foreign
investment, mostly from capitalist countries” (Do, 2006 p. 2).
Due to such necessary demands, in the last decade English has developed
“with an unprecedented speed in Vietnam” (ibid., p. 8). Specifically, hundreds of
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language centres have been established all over the country, with an overwhelming
majority of learners studying English (Ministry of Education and Training, as cited
in Do, 2006, p. 2). Though it has not yet fully documented, “around 90% of foreign
language learners have been studying English” (ibid., p. 8).
Despite the recent English learning boom, “the basic knowledge about this
popular language of a great majority of the learners has not met the demands in
reality” (Nguyen, 1992, p. 21). One of the major reasons for this problem is their
shortage of vocabulary stock. Truly, in a language, lexical items are the building
blocks, since they label objects, actions and ideas, without which people cannot
convey the intended meaning. Many students’ difficulties, both receptive and
productive, result from inadequate vocabulary, and even when they are at a higher
level of language, they are still in need of it. Hence there is no doubt that lexical
knowledge can directly influence the success of language learning in which
“students with affluent vocabulary tend to have advantages in enhancing the four
language skills” (Nguyen, 2006, p. 2).
Although it is of such great importance and in high demand, the interest in
vocabulary in the teaching of English as second or foreign language has long been
neglected. Until the last decade or so, it was a common practice to consider the
teaching of vocabulary as an afterthought or an “appendage” to the more important
tasks of teaching other levels in the study of language such as grammar and
pronunciation. This misconception is proven by the fact that the teaching of
vocabulary in many schools and universities in Vietnam is strategically limited. A
recent report by the Department of Education and Training of Quang Ninh Province
(2008) shows that the teaching of vocabulary in many schools tends to be
“conventionally restricted to translation into the mother tongue or improvised”. (p.
2) Obviously, practices such as listening to teachers, writing down the target
language new words and their mother tongue equivalences, and trying to memorize
word lists passively are what students normally involve themselves in. These
practices surely cause students a feeling of boredom and indigestibleness. Likewise,
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as asserted by Nguyen (2006, p. 4) “such obsolete and poor presentations have
resulted in students’ negative attitude to vocabulary learning; thus most of them
rarely remember the meanings of new terms beyond the tests”. What is worse, as
articulated by Hoang and Wright (2005), the recent strategies to instruct vocabulary
in Vietnam “rarely take place in a communicative environment” (p. 3).
Although this field has recently begun to take a greater interest in the
strategies for vocabulary instruction manifested with the appearance of studies
which suggest some interesting and efficient strategies for teaching and retrieving
vocabulary, such as the investigation of teaching vocabulary through games
(Nguyen & Khuat, 2003; Nguyen, 2006) and the exploration of creative approaches
to build vocabulary (Hoang & Wright, 2005), none have exploited the strategies
which can create mental linkages to reinforce the memorization of words yet.
Hence the call for employing such strategies to diversify the lexical
instruction is necessary, and it is high time the strategies which can synchronize the
easy retrieval of words with the creation of a relaxed and communicative learning
atmosphere were applied. As there has hardly been any investigation into semantic
mapping and its effects on the improvement of the memorization of words as well
as the creation of a positive and exciting learning attitude for students until now in
Vietnam, such a useful strategy captures the researcher’s curiosity and deserves due
research attention.
The expectation of effectively employing this strategy for vocabulary
instruction, therefore, generated ideas from which this study came into being.
1.2. Aims of the study
The study is, thus, conducted in an attempt to investigate the feasibility and
educational values of applying semantic mapping as a strategy into the teaching of
vocabulary to enhance its effectiveness and, concurrently, students’ positive
attitudes towards lexical acquisition.
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1.3. Research questions
To achieve the aim established above, the process of researching is guided by
the following main research question:
1. What is students’ vocabulary performance under the treatment of semantic
mapping?
2. What are their reflections on the teacher’s application of this strategy into
their learning of vocabulary?
1.4. Significance of the study
The study pays its contributions to both theoretical and practical aspects.
Theoretically, by exploring semantic mapping, the study adds to the growing
demand of strategies for learning and memorizing words for English language
learners (ELLs). Also, by investigating semantic mapping within academic settings,
it is hoped to provide useful information about characteristics and benefits of this
interesting but less-exploited strategy in dealing with vocabulary so far.
Practically, the study is hopefully to provide helpful knowledge about kinds
of semantic mapping and recommend clear guidelines for teachers to use this
strategy to deal with vocabulary in particular and, thus, to facilitate their teaching of
English in general. For learners, this study hopefully provides useful instructions so
that they can use semantic mapping as an effective vocabulary self-learning tip.
1.5. Organization of the study
The study consists of 5 chapters. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the
topic of the study by stating its context, aim, research questions, significance, and
structure. Chapter 2 reviews relevant theories of vocabulary and semantic mapping
which are organized along five main categories: definition, typology, use in
empirical research, roles in language pedagogy, and implications for language
teaching practices. Chapter 3 justifies the design and methods of investigation by
taking the four features of setting, participants, data types of methods of data
collection, and analytical framework into account. Chapter 4 presents the data
analysis and interpretation for the three types of data: experiment, journals and
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questionnaire. It then discusses the findings in the light of the data already
presented. Chapter 5 draws conclusion by explicitly answering the research
questions, gives some recommendations for English language practitioners, and
proposes topics for further research.
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Chapter 2
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
As presented in the previous chapter, the teaching and learning of vocabulary
have not been effective up till now in Vietnam due to the limitative application of
strategies. Therefore, an exploration of one of them – semantic mapping – is
necessary. To know how to apply it into practice effectively to solve the problem of
vocabulary teaching, a theory of vocabulary and semantic mapping needs to be
carefully worked out.
Thus this chapter shapes the background that is relevant to the topic under
investigation in the present study by firstly exploring the concept of vocabulary,
roles of vocabulary and methods to teach vocabulary. Secondly, it give definition of
semantic mapping, it classifies its types; however, as only three of them will be
employed to teach the selected lessons, these three are theoretically examined in
detail. Thirdly, it reviews some empirical research in which this strategy is used.
Fourthly, it considers the roles this strategy plays within English as a foreign
language (EFL) classrooms. The chapter ends with some implications for English
vocabulary teaching practices.
2.1. What is vocabulary?
So far there have been a lot of definitions of vocabulary. Vocabulary is
defined as words in a specific language or freestanding items of language that have
meaning (McCarthy, 1990). Penny Ur (1996) defined vocabulary roughly as “the
words we teach in the foreign language”. She also suggested that “a new item of
vocabulary may be more than a single word, a compound of two or three words
(e.g., post office, mother-in-law), and multi-word idioms (e.g., call it a day)”.
Besides, vocabulary is broadly defined as knowledge of words and word
meanings (Lehr et al., 2004). According to Lehr and his colleagues, vocabulary is
more complex than this definition suggests. First, words come not only in oral
forms including those words that can be recognized and used in listening and
speaking but also in print forms to be recognized and used in reading and writing.
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Second, word knowledge also comes in two forms: receptive and productive.
Receptive vocabulary is words that can be recognized in reading and listening.
Productive vocabulary refers to words that can be used in speaking and writing
(Lehr et. al., 2004). Therefore, vocabulary is understood as knowledge of word
spelling, pronunciation, collocations (i.e. words it co-occurs with), and
appropriateness (Nation, 1990). However, Pyles (1970) confirmed that vocabulary
is the focus of language with its sounds and meaning, which interlock to allow us to
communicate with one another.
As discussed above, vocabulary can be seen in many different ways.
Vocabulary refers to words or a set of words in a language or knowledge of words
regarding its forms, meanings and how to use it accurately in the context. In the
present study, vocabulary refers to the words, compounds and idioms in a language
that can be used to conveyed and
received
information in oral and written
communication.
2.2. The importance of vocabulary
Regarding the importance of vocabulary, Krashen (1989) pointed out that “a
large vocabulary is, of course, essential for mastery of a language”(pp 73, 440-463)
as without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed. (Wilkins, 1972)
Rubin and Thompson (1994) considered the significant role of vocabulary in
communication as stating that “one cannot speak, understand, read or write a
foreign language without knowing a lot of words. Vocabulary learning is at the
heart of mastering a foreign language”. Nguyen and Khuat (2003) also accepted
that vocabulary knowledge plays an important role in learning a foreign
language. Vocabulary is one element that links the four skills of speaking,
listening, reading and writing all together. Vocabulary is a core component of
language proficiency and provides much of the basis for how well learners
listen, speak, read, and write (Richards and Renandya, 2002).
In fact, vocabulary is a means to support communication. It is a necessary
component of language instruction. In order to communicate well in a foreign
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