Tài liệu An action research project on the effects of explicit english vocabulary teaching on grade 9 students’ vocabulary retention at lam thao lower secondary school

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES  N U NT P N N AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT ON THE EFFECTS OF EXPLICIT ENGLISH VOCABULARY TEACHING ON GRADE-9 STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY RETENTION AT LAM THAO LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL (Nghiên cứu hành động về hiệu quả của dạy từ vựng tiếng Anh hiển ngôn đối với sự nhớ từ vựng của học sinh lớp 9 tại Trường Trung Học Cơ Sở Lâm Thao) M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code : 60140111 HANOI – 2016 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES  N U NT P N N AN ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT ON THE EFFECTS OF EXPLICIT ENGLISH VOCABULARY TEACHING ON GRADE-9 STUDENTS’ VOCABULAR RETENTION AT LAM THAO LOWER SECONDARY SCHOOL (Nghiên cứu hành động về hiệu quả của dạy từ vựng tiếng Anh hiển ngôn đối với sự nhớ từ vựng của học sinh lớp 9 tại Trường Trung Học Cơ Sở Lâm Thao) M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code : 60140111 Supervi or Prof Dr oàng V n V n HANOI – 2016 DECLARATION I hereby certify that the thesis entitled “An action re earch project on the effect of explicit Engli h vocabulary teaching on grade-9 tudent ’ vocabulary retention at Lam Thao Lower Secondary School” is the result of my own research for Degree of Master of English Pedagogy at College of Foreign Languages, Hanoi National University, I confirm that this thesis has not been submitted for any other degrees. Hanoi, 2016 Nguyễn Thị Phương nh i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to thank my supervisor Prof. Dr. Hoang Van Van. The door to the office of Prof. Dr. Hoang Van Van was always open whenever I ran into a trouble spot or had a question about my research or writing. I am extremely grateful to him for his invaluable guidance, comments, and his kind encouragement during the process of implementing the research and writing the thesis. Secondly, I would like give my sincere thanks all my lectures in Post-graduate Department for their valuable lectures and suggestions during the time I have studied at university. My gratitude also goes to the leaders and staff at Faculty of Post-graduate Studies of ULIS, for their support in providing me the materials and convenience in the process of learning and conducting my thesis. Besides, I am also grateful to all my dear students at Lam Thao Lower Secondary School for their sympathetic participation in my research. Last but not least, my sincere thanks are desired to send to my family members, who always stand by me even at the harshest moment. ii ABSTRACT Teaching vocabulary is one of the most important tasks in the English language teaching process. To enhance my students‟ vocabulary retention the researcher applied explicit vocabulary teaching due to its suitable characteristics for her students. However, a research to find out the effects of this method was recognized to be a compulsory task to take advantages of the strength of this method and limit its weakness because every method bears its own weak points. The research was carried out with the participation of grade-9 students from Lam Thao Lower Secondary School. This research was conducted to find out the answers to the two questions below: firstly, “How does explicit English vocabulary teaching influence the students‟ vocabulary retention?”, secondly, “What are the good and bad effects of explicit English vocabulary teaching on the students‟ vocabulary retention? An action research was implemented based on its useful features. In the research process, the questionnaires and the tests were used to collect quantitative data, and the interviews and the observation were applied to collect qualitative information. The results of the research revealed that explicit vocabulary teaching method is relatively effective the learners‟ vocabulary retention, especially short term retention; however, the effects turn out unstable and different among different kinds of students. The researcher discovers the emerging problem related to the solution improving the students‟ attitude to English learning generally and vocabulary learning particularly. The findings of this research contributed further information to the theoretical background related to effects of explicit vocabulary teaching to the students‟ vocabulary retention, especially teenager students. It is believed to be useful for the teachers and the researchers who share the similar interest about this topic. iii TABLE OF CONTENT DECLARATION………………………………………………………………… i ACKNOWLEDFEMENT………………………………………………………. ii ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………... iii TABLE OF CONTENT………………………………………………………… iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS……………………………………………………..v LIST OF TABLES……………………………………………………………… vi PART 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................. 1 1. Rationale........................................................................................................... 1 2. The aims of the study ........................................................................................ 2 3. Research question ............................................................................................. 2 4. Research methodology ...................................................................................... 2 5. Scope of the study ............................................................................................. 2 6. Significance of the study ................................................................................... 2 PART B: DEVELOPMENT ................................................................................. 4 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................. 4 1. 1. Definition of special terms ........................................................................... 4 1.1. 1. Explicit vocabulary teaching .................................................................. 4 1.1.2. Vocabulary retention ............................................................................... 6 1.1.3. Effect ...................................................................................................... 6 1.1.4. Long-term and short-term memory .......................................................... 6 1.2. How has vocabulary been taught? ................................................................. 7 1.2.1. Empirical background of explicit English vocabulary teaching through the previous studies ........................................................................................... 7 1.2.2. What are students taught in terms of vocabulary? .................................... 9 1.2.3. The influential factors on the students‟ foreign language learning performance ...................................................................................................... 9 2.1. Rationale for the use of action research ....................................................... 11 2.2. Background of the study .............................................................................. 11 iv 2.2.1. Participants ........................................................................................... 11 2.2.2. Data collection instruments ................................................................... 12 2.3. Data collection procedure ............................................................................ 16 CHAPTER 3: FINDING ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ............................... 19 3.1. The results of the tests ................................................................................. 19 3.1.1. The results of the progress tests ............................................................. 19 3.1.2. The results of the posttest and delay test ................................................ 20 3.2. The results of the observation ...................................................................... 22 3.3. The results of the questionnaires .................................................................. 26 3.4. The results of focus group interview ............................................................ 32 3.5. Discussion and conclusion........................................................................... 36 3.5.1. The obstacles of the students to learn vocabulary well ........................... 36 3.5.2. How does EVT method improve the students‟ vocabulary retention? ................ 43 PART C: CONCLUSION ................................................................................... 45 1. Effects of EVT to students‟ vocabulary retention ............................................ 45 2. Limitations...................................................................................................... 45 3. Implications .................................................................................................... 46 3.1. Attitude and the suitable age of starting learning English ......................... 46 3.2. The importance of learning English vocabulary frequently ....................... 47 REFERENCES .................................................................................................... 51 APPENDICES ........................................................................................................I Appendix 1: Teaching content……………………………………………………… I Appendix 2: The observation analysis…………………………………………….. II Appendix 3: The results of the questionnaires in English …………………….......XI Appendix 4: The results of the questionnaires in Vietnamese………………….XIX Appendix 5: The results of the interviews…………………………………….XXVII Appendix 6: Sample of the progress test 1……………………………...……XXXIX Appendix 7: The results of the progress tests……………………………………..XL Appendix 8: The results of the posttest and the delay test- Part A………………XLI v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS Appendix: Ap. Appendices: Aps explicit vocabulary teaching: EVT international phonetic alphabet: IPA page: p. vocabulary teaching: VT vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1: The results of the progress tests Table 2: The results of part A in the posttest and the delay test Table 3: The results of part B in the posttest and the delay test vii PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale The important role of teaching vocabulary for foreign language learners in general and for English learners in particular is transparent and undeniable. A learner cannot succeed in learning a foreign language without prolific vocabulary. Nevertheless, to teach vocabulary successfully is always a challenge to all English teachers. The question “How to teach vocabulary effectively?” is really one of my big obstacles in the teaching process. The students who participated in this research attended an English course at my private English class. All of them learned at Lam Thao Lower Secondary School; however, they came from different classes. Two months after the course started, it was realized that the students‟ performance showed their poor vocabulary. Especially, the students never learned vocabulary before attending my class. However, they were required to retain a large amount of vocabulary to pass the high school entrance exam, which led their need of learning vocabulary. This inquiry was a challenge to them because the amount of time for teaching vocabulary at class was limited while their ability of learning vocabulary independently at home was ineffective. Consequently, explicit vocabulary teaching (EVT) was chosen to apply for the students because it is believed to be able to help students not only understand vocabulary clearly and quickly but also resume many lexicons simultaneously (Burn & Joyce, 2008). Nevertheless, there has been no best method to teach a foreign language in general and vocabulary in particular. EVT may not bring unpredictable disadvantages to learners. Hence, the requirement of evaluating the effects of this method of teaching vocabulary on students‟ vocabulary retention was given. Another research reason is related to the lack of information in the theoretical framework in terms of the effects of using EVT to students‟ vocabulary retention. The previous studies which shared the same topic and similar research background had not been implemented in Vietnam. This resulted in the impossible application of the implications provided by these studies. 1 Due to the urgent demand of strengthening the students‟ vocabulary retention, a research was required to be carried out. The research named “An action research project on the effects of explicit English vocabulary teaching on grade-9 students’ vocabulary retention at Lam Thao Lower Secondary School”. 2. The aims of the study The aim of this research is to study the effects of explicit English vocabulary teaching (VT) to grade-9 students‟ vocabulary retention at Lam Thao Lower Secondary School. 3. Research question To fulfill the aim as set above, the following research questions are raised for exploration. 1. How does explicit English vocabulary teaching (VT) influence the students‟ vocabulary retention in this research? 2. How does explicit English VT improve the students‟ vocabulary retention in this research? 4. Research methodology This research is an action research. The research data which included both quantitative and qualitative information was collected by various means. This research method was believed to help the researcher improve the efficiency of teaching vocabulary to her students and find out the emergent problems which should be solved in the next cycle. The rationale of using action research will be given in some detail in the following parts of the thesis. 5. Scope of the study The research focused on the grade-9 students‟ vocabulary retention at Lam Thao Lower Secondary School. The results of this research are expected to be helpful for the researcher to teach vocabulary for grade-9 students in particular and for other teachers to work in the similar conditions. 6. Significance of the study It is hoped that the results of this research will be helpful for the researcher to improve her students‟ vocabulary retention, especially unmotivated students. They 2 will help the researcher realize the cause of the current conflict aspects in her teaching process to enhance the efficiency of the students‟ vocabulary learning. Besides, the research also makes a contribution to enriching the related theoretical theory, which helps teachers working the similar conditions to improve their work. 3 PART B: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW Gass (1999) states that learning second language means learning its vocabulary. Besides, Wilkins (1967 cited in Thornbury, 2002) contents that one can convey very little without grammar and nothing without vocabulary. The participants of this research were believed to have poor vocabulary, which required this research to be implemented. Explicit English VT was chosen to apply in the research process. To have firm background knowledge of this teaching strategy, viewpoints of scholars in this field will be represented in the following writing. 1. 1. Definition of special terms 1.1. 1. Explicit vocabulary teaching a. Vocabulary: According to Cambridge Advanced Learners‟ Dictionary (4th e-edition), vocabulary is defined as “all words that exist in a particular language or subject”. Besides, vocabulary can be defined as being “all the words that someone knows or uses”, “all the words in a particular language”, “the words that are typically used when talking about a particular subject” and “a list of words with explanations of their meanings, especially in a book for learning foreign languages” (The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 2003). Especially, the definition of vocabulary became more specific in the definition given by Hiebert & Kamil (2005, as cited in Abolghasem, 2015) in relation to VT. It was pointed out that vocabulary can be defined as the knowledge of words and words meanings. More specifically, we use vocabulary to refer to the kind of words that students must know to read increasingly during the test with comprehension. In this study, to the researcher„s view point, the term vocabulary is the knowledge of any word or combination of words (such as collocations, phrasal verbs and idioms) in any form and their meanings that were taught explicitly within the realm of the curriculum for English for grade-9 students in the Vietnamese 4 school system as well as new words or word phrases emerging in the exercises for the students. b. Explicit vocabulary teaching The Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (2003) defines the term “explicit” as being “expressed in a way that is very clear and direct”. Furthermore, the Cambridge Advanced Learners‟ Dictionary (4th e-edition) defines “explicit” in a slightly different way as “clear and exact or very detailed”. Especially, the National Reading Panel ((NRP, 2000, as cited in Abolghasem, 2015) identified five main methods for teaching vocabulary including explicit instruction: Explicit instruction is the teaching strategy in which the researcher gave students definitions or other attributes of words to be learned. The definition of explicit teaching was defined more detailed by Burns & Joyce (2008) as the teaching strategy where teachers tell learners clearly and directly about what they have to learn, why they have to learn, how they have to learn. This idea is highly appreciated by the researcher. Consequently, in this paper, this definition of explicit English VT was understood to be teaching English vocabulary in this way. c. Implicit vocabulary teaching It is important to include some background on what is meant by implicit VT and acquisition because the learning of new words can and does occur this way. “Implicit” is defined in Cambridge Advanced Learners‟ Dictionary as “suggested but not communicated directly”. Noticeably, implicit instruction is identified by The National Reading Panel (2000) as the strategy where the researcher exposes students to words or given opportunities to do a great deal of reading. Ellis (2004) provides definitions of implicit learning as below: “Implicit learning is acquisition of knowledge about the underlying structure of a complex stimulus environment by a process which takes place naturally, simply and without conscious operations.” 5 In the writer‟s opinion, “implicit teaching” is understood to be a strategy of English teaching in which students are not explained about what they have to learn or how they should learn, but are given many opportunities to gain new knowledge by themselves thanks to participating in many activities in a particular context. 1.1.2. Vocabulary retention Retention is defined in Cambridge Advanced Learners‟ Dictionary (4th eedition) as “the continued use, existence or possession of something or someone”. Besides, Oxford Dictionary Advanced Learners‟ Dictionary defines this term as “the continued possession, use, or control of the fact of keeping something in one‟s memory.” Based on the definition of retention given above, vocabulary retention in this paper is defined as the continued use, existence or possession of vocabulary in the English learners‟ memory. 1.1.3. Effect According to Cambridge Advanced Learners‟ Dictionary (4th e-edition), “effect” is defined as “the result of a particular influence”. Furthermore, Oxford Advanced Learners‟ Dictionary also defines this term as “a change which is a result or a consequence of an action or other cause”. In this researcher, “effect” is understood to be the result or consequence of explicit English VT for grade-9 students of Lam Thao Lower Secondary School. 1.1.4. Long-term and short-term memory Long-term memory has the ability to store information away indefinitely. According to Gairns and Reman (1986) it is the ability of assuming an unlimited amount of new information in an automatic processing and realize them without any effort. In contrast, short-term memory holds information in mind over a brief period of time. Short-term memory is a controlled processing procedure at which the learners can retrieve their new knowledge with effort. It is believed to be limited in capacity according to Gairns and Reman (1986). 6 The definitions of short-term and long-term memory given above do not mention how long a period of short-term memory lasts. Besides, the unlimited capacity of information retention mentioned by Gairns and Reman seems incredible and fabulous. Most of the learners do not have this ability. Consequently, shortterm memory in this research is identified as the ability of remembering the vocabulary right after learning at the class. Besides, the long-term memory is identified as the ability of remembering the taught vocabulary within at least twelve weeks after being taught. This period of time is equivalent to the average time of a semester, and the students often take a semester test after this specific period. 1.2. How has vocabulary been taught? 1.2.1. Empirical background of explicit English vocabulary teaching through the previous studies Many researchers have done studies about the effects of explicit English teaching. Each scholar brought new ideas and findings about the effects of explicit English teaching in general and explicit English VT in particular. Firstly, it is given by the side of the scholars who underestimate the effects of this strategy. It is believed that students learn languages most effectively by way of expressing ourselves and trying to understand and communicate, not by studying separate building blocks in the language (Skolverket, 2011). Navy (1997, cited in Shakouria et al. (2014)) sharing the similar idea with Skolverket argued that the amount of vocabulary is too much; hence, EVT is “time-wasting” and “only accounts for a very small proportion of native speakers‟ vocabulary growth”. Remarkably, although Nation (2001 cited in Shakouria et al. (2014)) did not absolutely appreciate EVT, he concluded that it is only suitable to teach “high frequency words, a very small group of words, which deserve time and attention”. In contrast to the opposing idea given above, many other scholars highly appreciate EVT. Hanson and Padua (2011) suggested that using EVT with English teaching as the second language to give multiple encounters with words may provide deep word knowledge. Beck et al. (1982) concluded that participants processed word meanings more accurately and more rapidly due to this instruction method. 7 Researchers agree that implicit word learning is important, but it is equally important to have a balanced approach to word learning. Moreover, explicit learning has been shown more frequently to be of higher effectiveness in improving acquisition (Bardovi –Harlig Hatford, 1998; Beaton, Cruneberg and Ellis, 1996; Hulstjin, Hollander and Greidanus, 1996; Knight, 1994). It is summarized that EVT can be given through providing word definitions, synonym pairs, word lists, word associations, the keyword method, semantic mapping and semantic feature analysis (Duin and Graves (1987, cited in Shakouria et al. (2014)). Harmer (1991) states that the introduction of new vocabulary can be carried out through the use of realia, pictures, mimicry, contrast, enumeration, explanation and translation. All these vocabulary teaching techniques involve direct teaching. Hence, EVT and directing teaching have the same characteristics. Burns & Joyce (2008) clarified the traits of teaching explicitly as below: telling learners how new activities link to previous activities in earlier lessons or earlier segments of the same lesson, explaining the learning goals of activities and how they link to learning in previous activities, giving students the terms, allowing sufficient time for activities to ensure successful completion by all learners, providing learners with clear course introduction that frames and structures learning goals and material. These traits given by Burns & Joyce are considered the clues for the researcher to plan and implement curriculum to meet instructional goals and standards in this paper. However, it is realized that the results of the previous studies mentioned above are not useful and sufficient to apply for the participants of this research. Although explicit vocabulary teaching is pointed out to be suitable for the learners with their poor vocabulary, how this method improves the learners‟ vocabulary retention in a particular period has not been shown clearly. It is difficult for the researcher to make her vocabulary teaching plan, especially vocabulary revision activities, to enhance her vocabulary retention in long-term memory. Besides, the participants in the previous studies had more chances to communicate in English than the participants of this research as well as most of the learners the researcher usually 8 works with. Because of the difference in the learning environment, the results of the previous studies may not work well with the learners taught by the researcher. In conclusion, results of the previous studies in relation with EVT assert EVT is worth applying at first for the situation of this research although it still bares its weak points. Besides, the findings of this research are hoped to fill the knowledge gap of the previous studies. 1.2.2. What are students taught in terms of vocabulary? Nu (2004) gave the different criteria of classifying vocabulary such as morpheme, meaning, function, frequency of use, etc. Below are the most common ways of classifying vocabulary. In terms of morpheme, words can be divided into three kinds: simple words, derived words and compound words. Simple words are ones that consist of a root morpheme like like, car. Derived words are those that consist of a root and one or more derivational morphemes such as interested, actor. In terms of meaning, vocabulary is classified as lexical meaning and grammatical meaning. Therefore, vocabulary can be divided into notional and functional words. In terms of function, with different functions of words in a sentence, vocabulary can be divided into different terms as parts of speech such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, prepositions and pronouns. Each part has to comply with grammatical rules and relates to one another. This kind of vocabulary can be called “word family”. In terms of the form the vocabulary is expressed, it can be classified in spoken and written forms. Spoken form of vocabulary is expressed through pronunciation. To conclude, learners should be taught about grammatical meaning, lexical meaning and pronunciation in process of learning vocabulary. 1 2 3 The influential factor on the tudent ’ foreign language learning performance The factors which are frequently mentioned include the age of learning, the learning environment, the learner motivation, the learner attitude and the learner strategies. 9 Firstly, many scholars believed that learning foreign language at early age is easy for learners to achieve better results than adults. Lenneberg (1976) explains that the flexibility of learning language decreases over time in the process of puberty. Hence, post-adolescent language acquisition becomes more difficult. The participants of this thesis were teenagers. Adolescents are at a stage in life when they increasingly want to start taking responsibility for their own lives, including forming views about their own education, and the manner in which it is conducted (Ur, 1996). Hence, it is suggested giving learners more chances to learn by themselves rather than instruction, and avoiding scolding them. Moreover, it is believed that the learners can get better results if they are well facilitated by the environmental factors. Asgari et al. (2011) concluded that when home environment supports the learners, they will be strongly pushed to learn. It is suggested that encouragement is more useful to make learners learn with fun. Asgari et al. (2011) also emphasizes the teacher role. It is believed that teachers have an important role of providing their students with different strategies and training them to practice these strategies with useful tasks and assignments. As Oxford (1990) remarked, the students having suitable learning strategies have more advantages and make the progress by themselves. But they often have lack of knowledge and experience related to learning strategies. Noticeably, the learner motivation is highly appreciated. It is believed that motivation is a key factor to bring the progress to the foreign language learners (Reece & Walker, 1997; Shulman, 1986). Crookes and Schmidt (1991) define the motivation in terms of choice, engagement and persistence, as determined by interest, relevance, expectancy and outcome. Especially, it is remarked that the students should be aware of learning by themselves because their attitude is just the key to everything (Asgari et al. (2011)). The learning strategies can be successfully implemented only when learners are aware of doing it actively. In summary, the influential factors mentioned above should be considered to avoid their bad impacts on the results of this research. Hence, the information related to the learning environment, the learner attitude and motivation as well as the learner age was collected to provide the research background for designing the teaching content. 10 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 2.1. Rationale for the use of action research Mills (2003) defines action research as "any systematic inquiry conducted by teacher researchers to gather information about the ways that their particular school operates how they teach and how their students learn. The information is gathered with the goal of gaining insight, developing reflective practice, effecting positive changes in the school environment and on educational practices in generals, and improving student outcomes." This research method is believed to bring benefits to the teaching and learning process, which promote both personal and professional growth of a teacher and help him solve his problem on his own or in collaboration with other teachers if he is trained to conduct action research (Johnson, 1995; Burns, 2010). In summary, action research has a lot of advantages in comparisons with other types of research, and it is highly practical (Burns, 2010). 2.2. Background of the study 2.2.1. Participants Fourteen participants in this study were the students in the researcher„s private class. They attended this class once a week. However, the information of twelve participants were analysed in this research because two of the fourteen participants did not attend all lessons during the research. The participants were the students from Lam Thao Lower Secondary School, which the researcher did not teach for. Consequently, the researcher had no impact on their grade formally. This was the case where the students only learned when they needed and really wanted. It was impossible to force them to learn anything they did not want to. Some of them were rather naughty or had strong ego, which sometimes made the instruction of the researcher and their parents useless. Most of the participants in this study showed that they did not like learning English. And they learned it because it was a compulsory subject. 11