1

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1.1. Rationale

As an effective medium of international communication, English language has been
making a considerable contribution to the increasing development of various fields of
people’s life such as economy, politics, culture, science, education and international
relations. Indeed, to meet the increasing demands for the development and integration of the
country into the greater English-speaking world, over the last two decades, English language
teaching and learning have been carried out throughout the country, not only at tertiary level
but also at secondary and primary education. Many Vietnamese linguists, educators and
researchers have been doing their best in order that the quality of English language learning
and teaching at all educational levels will be greatly improved for the time being.
However, at upper secondary schools, the teaching and learning of English language in
general, English vocabulary in particular are still far from satisfaction as students’ final
results in most English examinations remain unchanged at low level. In fact, most secondary
school students have not paid enough attention to vocabulary learning as they mainly receive
basic lessons of grammar together with four skills from their teachers and textbooks. It is
common knowledge that vocabulary has a very important role to play in the language
learning process and in language use as Wilkins (1972: 11) has claimed that “without
grammar, very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed”. Also,
vocabulary can function as the cohesive device that links the four skills of listening,
speaking, reading and writing all together. Thus, vocabulary deficiency will lead to
deficiency in other language skills.
Though vocabulary is vitally important to mastering any foreign languages, in reality,
many grade 10 students' English vocabulary is still limited even though they have learned
English for four years at the lower secondary schools. It is their limited vocabulary that
explains their poor performance in using English and in their test performance. All these

do not take part in such a program.
In order to identify which hypothesis would be accepted, the following research
questions were formulated and needed to be answered satisfactorily:
(1). Does an extensive reading program bring about differences in terms of students’
vocabulary acquisition as measured by their scores in the pre-test and post-test?
(2). What are the students’ attitudes towards the GERP after the experimental period?

1.4. Method of the Study

To test the hypothesis (Grade 10 students who participate in the GERP will make more
significant improvement in their English vocabulary acquisition as measured by both pre-
test and post-test scores than those who do not take part in such a project), a quasi-
experiment was adopted in this study. A design of pretest and posttest was employed as the
main research method to measure the validity of the hypothesis. Two non-random groups of
60 students (one control group and one experimental group, N= 30 each) participated in this
experiment. The pre-test and post-test scores were analyzed by means of t-test to find out
the correlation of the two means to accept or to reject the null hypothesis, namely extensive
reading (ER) does not have any effect on grade 10 students' English vocabulary learning.
Besides, a post-experiment questionnaire was also used as the supplementary instrument to
elicit the students’ evaluative attitudes towards the GERP after the experimental period.

3

1.5. Scope of the Study

This quasi-experimental study was designed to measure the effects of the GERP on
grade 10 students' English vocabulary acquisition at HTSS. Due to the time constraint, the
researcher could just carry out an experiment upon a small sample of grade 10 students who
were non - randomly assigned to a control class and an experimental class, (30 students per
each). The pre-test and post-test scores were used to measure both groups' English

4

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. Introduction

In Chapter One, the rationale, aims and the hypothesis to be tested in the present
study were presented. This Chapter reviews the relevant literature on the relationship
between extensive reading and L2 vocabulary acquisition. The Chapter begins with a
definition of vocabulary, which is followed by the discussion of the role of extensive reading
in L2 vocabulary from both Second Language Acquisition theory and pedagogical
perspectives.

2.2. Vocabulary in Foreign Language Teaching and Learning

2.2.1. What is Vocabulary?

So far, the term vocabulary has been defined quite differently according to its various
aspects such as criteria, features and functions. According to Ur, P. (1996: 60), vocabulary
can be defined “as the words we teach in the foreign language. However, a new item of
vocabulary may be more than a single word: a compound of two or three words or multi
word idioms”. Lewis, M. (1993: 89) states that vocabulary “… may be individual word or
full sentences – institutionalized utterances – that convey fixed social or pragmatic meaning
within a given community”. Pyles & Algeo (1970: 96) also emphasizes that “It is words that
sounds and meanings interlock to allow us to communicate with one another, and it is word
that we arrange together to make sentences, conversation and discourse of all kinds”.
The above quotations have helped us have general look at the notions of vocabulary.
However, as going into further features, vocabulary can be interpreted as knowledge of
words and word meanings. Firstly, words are virtually manifested in the two forms: spoken
form and written form. Oral vocabulary including the words, phrases or sentences are used

blocks upon which knowledge of language can be built. In fact, vocabulary always holds a
significant place in foreign language teaching and learning. According to Troike (1976: 87),
“vocabulary is most important for understanding and knowing names for things, actions and
concepts”. Also, vocabulary knowledge can help language users perform and develop
language skills since “substantial vocabulary knowledge is always a prerequisite to the
performance of language skills. Vocabulary enables language use, language use enables the
increase of vocabulary knowledge and language use and so on” (Nation and Waring, 2004:
6-19). Therefore, it is undeniable that vocabulary plays an extremely important role in
making a success of language learning and that the acquisition of adequate vocabulary is
essential for successful second language use.
The main objective of language learners is to be able to use their learning language to
communicate well with people around them. To achieve this objective, they have to master
enough vocabulary of that language; if not, they will find it impossible to express themselves

6

in most circumstances. Wallace (1982: 73) has said that “failure to find the words one needs
to express himself is the most frustrating experience in speaking another language”. Indeed,
as students succeed in obtaining wide knowledge of vocabulary, they often get more
confidence in using language and they can perform other language skills for various
communicative purposes. Thus, vocabulary knowledge always holds an important role in
performing language skills. For example, vocabulary has a close relationship with reading
skills which in turn have an interconnection with reading comprehension. This relationship
seems logical because of the fact that when students get meaning from what they read, they
also need both many words in their vocabulary repertoire and ability to use various strategies
to establish the meanings of new words when they encounter them. It is the case that most of
the weak students who don’t have enough vocabulary or effective word-learning strategies
often struggle to achieve comprehension in reading. Also, as they don’t have sufficient word
knowledge to understand what they are reading, they often avoid reading. As a result, the
students who don’t read very much don’t have the opportunity to see and learn very many

incidental learning is often defined as “accidental learning of information without the
intention of remembering that information” (Hulstijn, J., Hollander, M. & Greidanus, T.,
1996: 327), and explicit learning, on the other hand, refers to the application of vocabulary
learning strategies on the part of the learner. L2 vocabulary acquisition processes are also
presented quiet enough by Krashen (1989: 440-464) in the Implicit Vocabulary Learning
Hypothesis and Explicit Vocabulary Learning Hypothesis. According to Krashen’s Input
Hypothesis, the former holds that meanings of new words are acquired subconsciously as a
result of repeated exposures in a range of contexts, where the conscious focus is not on form,
but on the message. The latter holds that the employment of a range of vocabulary learning
strategies can greatly facilitate and enhance vocabulary acquisition; on this view, learners are
seen as active processors of information. Agreeing to some points in Krashen's Hypothesis,
Ellis (1995: 12-16) also claims that both hypotheses are true, but apply to different aspects of
vocabulary acquisition. According to him, the implicit vocabulary learning hypothesis holds
true for simple pattern recognition of surface forms of input and output. Explicit learning, on
the other hand, is necessary for the mapping of those surface input and output forms to their
corresponding semantic or conceptual representation. Then, learners can recognize the word
meanings via spelling, associations, grammatical information and meaning. He, therefore,
suggests the following possible explanations for the process of vocabulary acquisition:
• According to the strong implicit vocabulary learning hypothesis, new words are
acquired totally unconsciously.
• A weak implicit vocabulary learning hypothesis holds that it is at least necessary
for learners to notice that a word is new to them.
• A weak explicit vocabulary learning hypothesis suggests even when words are
learned implicitly, some active processing is also taking place.
• A strong implicit vocabulary learning hypothesis holds that learners consciously
apply meta-cognitive strategies in acquiring new vocabulary.
In sum, each hypothesis explains different aspects of vocabulary acquisition. The strong
implicit hypothesis can explain a learner's ability to recognize and produce words. This

8

information processors. An explicit viewpoint would thus argue that incidental vocabulary
acquisition also involves explicit (i.e. conscious) learning processes, and would consequently
characterize it as primarily explicit learning. Ellis (1997) claims that both implicit and
explicit learning mechanisms are involved in incidental vocabulary acquisition: while the
acquisition of a word’s form, collocations and grammatical class information are said to
involve implicit processes, acquiring a word’s semantic properties and mapping word form
to meaning are claimed to result from explicit learning processes. Furthermore, He also
Incidental vocabulary acquisition
– intention

Implicit learning processes
– intention
– awareness

Explicit learning processes
– intention
+ awareness 9

argues for a complete dissociation of implicit aspects and explicit aspects of vocabulary
acquisition (see Figure 2).
Figure 2: Ellis’ view of implicit and explicit learning processes in incidental vocabulary
acquisition

learning word form
=
implicit learning
(without awareness)

learning word
meaning
=
explicit learning
(with awareness)

dissociated
processes 10

2.5.2. Role of Extensive Reading in L2 Vocabulary Acquisition from Second Language
Acquisition Perspectives: Krashen's Comprehensible Input Hypothesis

It is possible for us to claim that extensive reading has a very important role to play in
language learning as it can bring the benefits to learners in acquiring language in general,
vocabulary in particular. This is because extensive reading may provide 'comprehensive


Affective filter
(Monitoring) Comprehensive
input
Language
Acquisition
Device
(LAD)
Acquired
knowledge

Output

11

their current stage of linguistic competence. For example, if a learner is at a stage 'i', then
acquisition takes place when they are exposed to 'comprehensive input' that belongs to level
'i+1'. Since not all of the learners can be at the same level of linguistic competence at the
same time, Krashen suggests that natural communicative input is the key to designing a
syllabus, ensuring in this way that each learner will receive some 'i+1' input that is
appropriate for his/her current stage of linguistic competence. For instance, an English

access to comprehensible input in the target language. In the subsequent section, the
pedagogical value of extensive reading will be discussed.

2.5.3 Role of Extensive Reading in Vocabulary Acquisition from Pedagogical
Perspectives: Paul Nation's Theory of L2 Vocabulary Acquisition According to Paul Nation (2001), the best practice in vocabulary teaching and learning is
to design or create a well-balanced language course for organizing tasks and class activities
to best facilitate vocabulary acquisition and fluency. The best course should contain four
major strands of learning activities as follows:
• Learning through meaning -focused input activities or comprehensible input such as
listening and reading where 98% of the running words are already known,
• Learning through meaning -focused output activities such as speaking and writing,
• Learning through language-focused study and teaching,
• Developing fluency in listening, speaking, reading and writing where 100% of the
vocabulary is already known (Nation, 2001: 97).
Paul Nation writes about different aspects of vocabulary teaching and learning.
Specifically, with regard to the relationship between vocabulary and meaning- focused
input, he states that there is a close relationship between vocabulary growth and the amount
and variety of meaning-focused input in which reading is a long major source of vocabulary
growth. However, vocabulary learning through meaning-focused input still contains some
fragility for the following reasons:
- Research with native speakers reveals that the amount of vocabulary learning that occurs
during the reading text is rather small.
- There is little vocabulary growth through reading while learners gain control of reading
skill. Thus, to reduce the major barrier to reading, it is better for the teacher to give the
students series of graded readings with careful vocabulary control.
- Depending too much on meaning-focused input is leaving too much to chance. As
students just focus on the meaning, they may find it easily to deal with unknown words in

word and being corrected for incorrect use of a word. So, students can gain explicit
knowledge which can speed up and encourage further progress in the acquisition of implicit
knowledge at the same time.
Last but not least, some attention should be paid to developing fluency with vocabulary.
Fluency development tasks have the characteristics of involving no new language items,
dealing with largely familiar content and discourse types. What the teachers should focus is
to think of easy texts or simplified versions of text which can help students go through the
use of repetition, get no time pressure, and revisit texts previously encountered. Included in
these strategies are the use of graded readers for fluency development, word card
construction and consistent review of unlearned vocabulary items, recycling of information

14

and vocabulary within the same text, generation of sentences, along with written and oral
output to facilitate productive usage.

2.6. Learning Vocabulary through Input Enrichment

The research is about the idea that extensive reading is good for developing students' L2
vocabulary. This view seems uncontroversial because most people would agree that reading
is a useful learning experience. Many previous studies have come to show that extensive
reading can take language learners beyond themselves and it can help them broaden their
perspectives, learn new facts and come to a better understanding of the world and our place
in it. Indeed, it is reasonable to assume that extensive reading increases our vocabulary
knowledge. Obviously, most reading materials introduce us to new words, and in many
cases, we can deduce their meanings from the written context. We can also remember some
of these new meaning associations if we continue to read and meet the new items in context
again. According to Nation (2001), the close relationship between vocabulary growth and the
large amount of meaning-focused input always exists since reading is a long major source of
vocabulary growth. Also, Krashen (1989) claims that reading in an L2 is one of the main

language competence" since it provides learners with practice in automaticity of word
recognition and decoding the symbols on the printed page. Extensive reading obviously
helps the students increase their exposure to the language. The quality of exposure to
language that learners receive is seen as important to their potential to acquire new forms
from the input.
In reference to L2 vocabulary acquisition, extensive reading can increase knowledge of
vocabulary. According to Nagy & Herman's (1987) survey, children between grades three
and twelve (US grade levels) can learn up to 3000 words a year. It is thought that only a
small percentage of such learning is due to direct vocabulary instruction, the remainder is
due to acquisition of words from reading. This suggests that traditional approaches to the
teaching of vocabulary, in which the number of new words taught in each class was carefully
controlled (words often being presented in related sets), is much less effective in promoting
vocabulary growth than simply getting students to spend time on silent reading of interesting
books. The book flood project in Fiji (Elley & Manghubai, 1983), in which Fijian school
children are provided with high-interest story books, reveals significant post-treatment gains
in word recognition after one year.
These findings are further supported by the study conducted by Krashen & Bribbons
(2004), which showed the positive impact of extensive reading on learner's knowledge of
vocabulary and grammar. Their research involves fourth semester students of Spanish as
foreign language at the university level in the US. The subjects participate in two kinds of
comprehensive-input based instruction, an extensive reading class that combined assigned
and self-selected reading, and a 'reading-discussion' class that consisted of assigned reading,
debates and discussions. Their research results show that students in both classes
outperformed those in traditionally taught class on a checklist vocabulary test and grammar
test.

16

Besides the obvious benefits of extensive reading mentioned above, many researches into
the effects of extensive reading on L2 language acquisition also show that extensive reading

17

CHAPTER THREE: THE STUDY

3.1. Introduction

As presented in Chapter One, this study was designed to experiment the relationship
between extensive reading and vocabulary acquisition by Grade 10 students. In order to
achieve the aim of the study, a quasi-experiment was designed and implemented in two
intact Grade 10 groups in one high school. This Chapter presents the information about the
context of the study, the rationale of using quasi-experiment, variables, the GERP, the
participants, the procedures as well as the instruments for data collection.

3.2. Context of the Study

The study was conducted at Ha Tinh Specialized School (HTSS), which is located right
in the centre of Ha Tinh city, Ha Tinh province. The school has 32 clean, beautiful class
rooms and a large school yard. Moreover, it has two AV rooms and quite a big library which
is housed in a separate building. The library has plentiful sources of reference books,
magazines and newspapers, which are convenient for all the students to make reference.
For the 2007- 2008 academic year, the school has more than 730 students (243- grade 10,
245- grade 11 and 242- grade 12), with an average of 30 students per class. There are 7
teachers of English and 70 others who are teaching different subjects at school. For recent
years, HTSS has been the leading upper secondary school of Ha Tinh Training and
Educational Service. In fact, it has received quite a few awards for being the most effective
school in Ha Tinh province.
As for the students of the school, about forty three percent of them come from many

influence of extraneous variables". Also, W. Borg & M. Borg, (1988, p.680) claim that "If
you want to make causal statements, you should conduct a true experiment. If you cannot
use random assignment to design a true experiment, a quasi experiment is the second best
choice". Since random assignment of subjects to the experimental and control groups is not
always possible, particularly in field studies, quasi-experiments become appropriate for
accomplishing the subject assignment in particular contexts. In these circumstances, the
researcher should pay attention to the specific issues that may arise when subjects are not
randomly assigned. In comparison with a true experimental design, L. H. Kidder, (1980: 43)
also says that "Quasi-experiments are research designs that do not have randomly assigned
treatment and comparison groups … You forfeit control when you do not use random
assignment, but you can still conduct research and analyze cause-effect relationships without
a true experiment". Indeed, in a quasi-experiment, the researcher can still examine the cause-
effect relationships by observing what happens, when, and to whom; and by deciding what
and when to measure. Besides the above, the quasi-experimental design is more likely to
have external validity as it is conducted under conditions closer to those normally found in
educational contexts. Furthermore, since this design is less intrusive and disruptive than the
true-experimental design, it is easier to gain access to the subject to the population and thus
more convenient to conduct such research (Selinger & Shohamy (1989: 149). As a result, it

19

helps the researcher save a lot of time in grouping the participants, which was impossible
under the present conditions.
Despite its practical benefits, the quasi-experimental design also has some shortcomings
compared with the true-experiment. For instance, the pre-assignment to groups of
participants makes it hard for the researcher to control the extraneous variables such as
gender, group size, age, English readiness, which may threaten the reliability and internal
validity of the research. To increase the strength of the design, the researcher first attempted
to equate the number of male and female students in the two groups by removing one male
student in the control group and one female student in the experimental group from the study

posttest were employed as a valid and reliable means for this study. The vocabulary test
scores of both control and experimental groups were carefully computed and compared
before and after the experiment by a t-test.

3.5. Participants The subjects of the study are the two groups of grade 10 students, non-English majors,
who are learning at HTSS. These students were selected as a subset of the population by
means of cluster sampling. Under the present condition, the quasi-experimental design was
used so as to be able to obtain control over sources of invalidity and non-equivalent groups
which did not involve the random assignment of each subject to both groups. The following
table presents main background information about participants such as gender, age and their
predetermined English proficiency.
Table 1: Background information about the subjects of the study
Experimental Controlled Total number of participants
Male
18 18 36
Female
12 12 24
Total
30 30 60
Age 15-16 15-16 15-16
English proficiency
Elementary Elementary Elementary

This research took the whole class as a unit in the experiment. Two existing classes
(Class 10 T and Class 10 L) were already pre-assigned to the experimental group and the
control group before the study. The total number of students in both groups was 60, 30 per
each. Their age ranged from 15 to16. There were 24 girls and 36 boys, 73% of them came

graded readers at their disposal, they still faced quite a few difficulties in selecting and using
books, managing their reading time as well employing their reading strategies. Without the
teacher's guidance, the students' first practice in an extensive reading program would be far
from being successful or different.

3.6. The Guided Extensive Reading Program

This program was adapted from Hsui's (2000: 31) Guided Independent Reading (GIR)
Program, which, as she suggests, "may be used as a supplementary reading program in upper
primary (5th and 6th grade) and lower secondary (7th to 9th grade) classrooms….for
students who can read with varying degrees of proficiency, but who generally will not read
for various reasons, such as failure to develop a love for reading, unavailability of
appropriate reading materials, insufficient time to read extensively because of school
demands, and lack of motivation to read extensively". We realized that the way in which
Hsui's GIR program was structured would benefit students in most upper secondary schools
in Ha Tinh, where English is a foreign language for the majority of the students. In the
present context, the study, based on a quasi-experiment, attempted to experiment the GERP

22

on 30 grade 10 students at HTSS in order to examine the effects of extensive reading on their
English vocabulary acquisition after a period of 16 weeks in the first semester of the 2007-
2008 academic year. The GERP was carried out as the "Home Reading Program" since most
of students' reading activities were done at home. The program exploited the collections of
simple passages and graded readers available in the school library and on the internet. After
each reader or passage, students were required to do some follow-up activities related to
their home reading. A detailed description of reading materials, post reading activities, the
teacher's guidance and procedures is presented as follows.

3.6.1. Reading Materials

environment. They were comprehension questions, vocabulary quizzes and book summary.
Though follow-up activities were used less frequently in the ER programs than other reading
programs, they were used as reliable means to check whether and how students had read
their assigned passages and chosen readers. Follow-up tasks were carried out in such way
that students still kept interest in their readings and did not have a feeling of being
burdensome. Specifically, after reading a passage or story which was distributed in each
lesson, students were required to answer at least two comprehension questions and a
vocabulary quiz (see Appendix 2). The comprehension questions were about the plot of the
story (the main characters and the most important events) and the vocabulary quiz was
related to word-meaning recognition, word-collocations, pronunciation and spelling.
As regards the summarizing task, the students were asked to write a brief report about the
reader or story they had read, in which they must report how many pages they had read, what
their story was about and express what they liked most about the main characters, the
exciting events and the main contents of the story in a book report form (see Appendix 4 for
a sample of book report). Writing a summary of the story, according to Deacon and Murphey
(2001: 12), "helps students to show […] what they understood". By doing so, the students
have chance to review and recycle key ideas and vocabulary from what they read. Besides
the above, students were also motivated to retell their classmates about the stories they had
read at home. According Smith (1988: 277), retelling stories would help learners improve
comprehension. Through this task, students learned to express themselves in front of the
class, no matter how difficult at first, in English. This activity would also help to motivate
them to read more books, as it created a sense of accomplishment in having read one book
after another. Moreover, through what students expressed, the teacher also recorded some
observations of students' progress in diaries and then offered some help in time.

3.6.3. The Teacher's Guidance

There was a matter of fact that extensive reading had been unfamiliar or even unknown
to most grade 10 students at HTSS since this was the first time they had ever had a chance to
get familiar with the program. Although students had freedom to choose graded readers at

5. Apply the guided extensive reading program on the experimental group;
6. Design and administer the posttest (version of the pretest) to both groups;
7. Analyze both groups' posttest scores to establish the difference in vocabulary
acquisition between the two groups after four months;
8. Deliver the questionnaire to the experimental group to get their ideas of the GERP;
9. Collect and analyze all the data for the results of the study; and
10. Discuss the findings and draw out conclusions and suggestions for further study.
The procedure of how this quasi-experimental study was conducted was presented in
detail as follows:
For the first class meeting, all the experimental students were delivered a handout of
photocopies of the first page from graded readers. This process helped students with a

25

general look before choosing their books appropriate for their reading level. All books were
then marked on the front cover of each with a round, colored seal indicating reading level
(green = level 1 (easiest), blue = 2, yellow = 3, orange = 4, red. The number of reading pages
was also estimated and recorded on the colored seal. In each subsequent class session, books
were set out on tables, and during the last five minute break of class, students were
encouraged to select their proper readers. To administer the books easily, a simple check-out
system was used in which students recorded the books they borrowed and check-out and
return dates (see Appendix 5 for a sample of personal check-out system).
All the experimental students were asked to read their assigned passages and chosen
readers before coming to class. Each student was required to finish at least one graded reader
per a two-week period. In class, either at the beginning or at the end of the lesson, the
teacher asked the students to submit their summary worksheets for some feedback and
comments which were done at home by the teacher. These summaries formed the basis for
in-class post-reading activities which were done at least once two weeks. On regular basis,
students received the teacher's comments and feedback which focused mainly on the content
rather on the mechanics.