HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE
DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES

LÊ SƠN THỦY

A STUDY ON TEACHING AND LEARNING
ENGLISH VOCABULARY AT THAC BA HIGH
SCHOOL.
NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ VIỆC DẠY VÀ HỌC TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG
ANH CỦA TRƯỜNG THPT THÁC BÀ.

M.A. MINOR THESIS
FIELD: ENGLISH METHODOLOGY
CODE: 601410
I.1.6. Memory and vocabulary development
I.2. Current points of view of teaching and learning English vocabulary
I.3. Previous studies related to teaching and learning English vocabulary
CHAPTER II. THE STUDY
II.1. The English teaching and learning situations at Thac Ba high school
II.1.1. Description of the students at Thac Ba high school
II.1.2. Description of the teachers at Thac Ba high school
II.1.3. Settings of the study
II.2. Research methodology
II.2.1.Subjects
v

II.2.2. Survey instruments
II.2.2.1. Questionnaire for the students
II.2.2.2. Questionnaire for the teachers
II.2.2.3. Interview
CHAPTER III: DATA COLLECTION AND DISCUSSION
III.1. Presentation of statistical results
III.1.1. Questionnaire
III.1.1.1. Questionnaire for the students
III.1.1.1.1. Students' background of English language before entering Thac Ba
high school
III.1.1.1.2: Students' attitude to learning English vocabulary.
III.1.1.1.3: Students' difficulties in learning English vocabulary
III.1.1.1. 4. Students' activities in a vocabulary lesson
III.1.1.1.5 : Students' suggestions for bettering the learning of English
vocabulary
III.1.1.2. Questionnaire for the teachers
III.1.1.2.1: Teachers' ages
III.1.1.2.2: Teachers' teaching experience.

iii

LIST OF TABLE
Table 1: Students' background of English before entering Thac ba high school.
Table 2: Students' attitude to learning English vocabulary.
Table 3: Students' difficulties in learning English vocabulary
Table 4 : Students' activities in a vocabulary lesson.
Table 5: Students' suggestions for bettering the learning of English vocabulary.
Table 6: Teachers' ages
Table 7: Teachers' teaching experience.
Table 8: Teachers' opinions on teaching English vocabulary.
Table 9: Difficulties confronted by teachers in teaching English vocabulary.
Table 10: Activities teachers do when teaching English vocabulary.
Table 11: Teachers' suggestions for bettering the teaching of English vocabulary '


The teaching of language teachers is seen as a full time- explanation to the passive
listeners. Language teachers do not care much for the teaching of Vocabulary. There are
some teachers who have poor knowledge of the language in general, and of the teaching of
vocabulary in particular. They dot not show their students the importance of adequate
vocabulary. These are some of the serious reasons that discourage the students in the
learning of the language generally and of vocabulary particularly. The students are often
fed up with boring vocabulary lessons. That is perhaps why the students do not feel like
learning vocabulary and do not show their interests of learning the language. The reasons
2

here are that the teachers are not qualified enough to teach the language in general and to
teach vocabulary in particular. The teachers of language are known to be traditionally
educated to meet the demand of foreign language teaching, as we all know that there have
been many types of English teachers training courses recently.
Last, but not the least, the new Tieng Anh 10 textbook has been widely used as the
official teaching and learning material. It has 16 units with interesting topics. Every unit
consists of 5 lessons: Reading, speaking, listening, writing and the language focus. This
book was designed with various learning tasks, the purpose of which is to set up chances
for students to practise different language situations. It has been said to be a suitable
material. However, it is the vocabulary that is not clearly presented or not culturally related
and so on. This makes students and teachers find it difficult to teach and to learn
vocabulary.
For all the reasons mentioned above, I would like to devote my time and effort to
investigating the current vocabulary teaching and learning at Thac Ba high school
including teaching methods, difficulties faced by the teachers and the students, their
suggestions for better in the situation, then finding out how the teaching and learning of
vocabulary are carried out there at my school. Especially, the study will recommend some
suitable and specific teaching methods for the teachers and the students at my school as
references. It is to improve the teaching and learning at Thac Ba high school, Yen Bai
Province.

The thesis consists of three parts.
Part A is the introduction, which presents the rationale, the scope, the objectives, the
method, significance and the design of the study.
Part B consists of three chapters:
Chapter I deals with an overview of the literature. It starts with the various
methods of teaching and learning English vocabulary, activities need using. The final is the
review of previous studies related to the teaching and learning of English vocabulary.
Chapter II presents the methodology performed in the study. It provides
information about the participants, the instrumentations and data analysis.
Chapter III discusses the data of the study. Chapter IV proposes some
recommendations on teaching and learning of vocabulary to teachers and students at Thac
Ba high school.
Part C is about the conclusion and suggestions for further study.

PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW

I.1. An overview of the teaching and learning of English vocabulary
4

I.1.1. The status of vocabulary in the curriculum
According to David Nunan and some other linguists like H. Douglas Brown. Teaching by
Principles. An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy; Ruth Gairns and Stuart
Redman (1986). Working with Words. A guide to teaching and learning vocabular;
Edward Finegan (2004). Language Its structure and use the principal focus of language
teaching has been on the grammar of the language. Grammar translation approaches to the
teaching language provided a balanced diet of grammar and vocabulary, audio-lingualists
suggested that the emphasis should be strongly on the acquisition of the basic grammatical
patterns of the language. It was believed that if learners were able to internalize these basic
patterns, then building a large vocabulary would come later. This emphasis on grammar

Considerable attention has been paid to the issue of the minimum adequate vocabulary
of which aim was to scientifically select and compile some thousand words most
commonly used in English. West(1960) published a list of 1200 words based on a
frequency count of the 2000 most frequent words in English which he argued provided
learners with a minimum adequate speech vocabulary. According to him, these words
would enable learners to express practically any idea they wanted to. Fox (1979) argues
that minimum adequate vocabularies might be adequate for productive purposes, but that
they leave learners seriously unequipped to deal with authentic language. Fox( 1979) says
that reader who possesses West's 2000 words will find the text practically
incomprehensible. If they want to comprehend such material, they should need to have a
much more extensive receptive vocabulary. Receptive words are those which readers
understand but which they do not necessarily use. This is perhaps a serious matter for
linguists to argue because when teaching and learning a second language, one need to
know not only necessary vocabulary but also other words that are contextually related. On
the whole, frequency counts has been still argued by linguists.
I.1.3. Vocabulary and context.
As it has been actually seen that language reflects the contexts in which it is used and
purposes to which it is put. If language is assumed to be best encountered and learned in
context, then this has particular implication for practice. The focus in class will be on
encouraging learners to develop strategies for inferring the meaning of new words from the
context in which they occur, and teaching them to use a range of cues both verbal and
nonverbal to determine meaning. Teaching and learning vocabulary in its context have
been considered to be successful and effective. Here we mention the importance of
contexts in teaching and learning vocabulary. The teaching and learning will be more and
more practical and effective if we can put them into certain contexts to reflect or recycle
the new words we wish to deal with.
I.1.4. Vocabulary development and second language acquisition.
6

Research into second language acquisition has confined itself to the areas of

Investigate Determine Explore Enquire
7

Although this is intended basically as a collaborative small group task, the teacher plays an
important role in pushing the students to articulate the underlying semantic relationships
between the words which belong together. Such relationships can be extremely subtle, and
it is not always easy, even for native speakers, to spell them out. From the task, we can see
how much more useful are collaborative discussions based on semantic networks in
sorting out relationships between words, than say, individualised, dictionary-based
memorisation tasks.
I.1.6. Memory and vocabulary development
A great deal has been written about the role of memory in the development of a second
language lexicon and techniques for memorisation and receive relatively generous
treatment compared with its use in other aspects of second language development such as
the acquisition of syntax and morphology. Stevick (1976) summerises some of the classic
research into memory which has been carried out by cognitive psychologists and relates
this to language teaching. This has demonstrated that in order for new items to enter long-
term memory, some form of active involvement on the part of learner is desirable. In the
other words, a learner who has activated this knowledge through use will be more likely to
retain it than a learner who has simply heard or read the item and seen a translation. This
also shows that regular revision is very important and that revision which is distributed
over a period of time is more effective than massed practice. In the learning of a list of
vocabulary items, for example, six-10 minute sessions over the course of a week will result
in more effective learning than a single 60-minute session. Now we can see the importance
of memory in the development of vocabulary. Memory can be effectively built up through
the frequent use of the target language by learners with the help and instructions from
teachers.
For a number of years, the teaching and learning of vocabulary were neglected in
language classrooms, despite the importance that learners attach to the task of building and
maintaining an adequate vocabulary. It could be argue that in a second, as opposed to

* Form: Pronunciation and spelling.
We should need to teach and learn the form, pronunciation and spelling of the word we
deal with. The learners and teachers have to know what a word sounds like (its
pronunciation) and what it looks like (its spelling). These are fairly obvious characteristics,
and one or the other will be perceived by the learners when they encounter the item for the
first time. In teaching, teachers should make sure that both these aspects are accurately
presented and learned.
*Grammar:
The grammar of a new item will need to be taught if this is not obviously covered by
general grammatical rules. An item may have a predictable change of form in certain
grammatical contexts or may have some idiosyncratic way of connecting with other words
9

in sentences; it is important to provide learners with this information as the same time we
teach the base form. When teaching a new verb, for example, we might also give its past
form, if this is irregular, and we might note if it is transitive or intransitive. When teaching
a noun, we may wish to present its plural form, if irregular, or draw learners' attention to
the fact that it has no plural at all. We may present other grammatical rules in various ways
so that learners can remember the rules.
* Collocation.
The collocations typical of particular items are another factor that makes a particular
combination sound in a given context. This is another piece of information about a new
item which it may be worth teaching. Collocations are often noted in dictionaries, either by
providing the whole collocation under one of the head-words, or by a note in parenthesis.
*Aspects of meaning (1): Denotation, Connotation, Appropriateness /
Formality
The meaning of a word is primarily what it refers to in the real world, its denotation;
this is often the sort of definition that is given in a dictionary. A less obvious component of
the meaning of an item is its connotation: the associations, or positive or negative meaning
it evokes, which may or may not be indicated in a dictionary definition. A more subtle

* Visual: use visual aids to present the word
* Mine: Teachers use miming to present the word
* Realia: Teachers use real things to explain the word
* Situation/ Explaination: Teachers can use real situations or explain the new
vocabulary in a certain context.
* Synonym/ Antonym: Teachers use synonyms or antonyms to present the words.
* Translation: This is sometimes a good way to translate the new vocabulary by
translating into mother tongue.
To help make better teaching and learning vocabulary, one should use certain
techniques that he thinks could be suitable and could bring effectiveness and success to the
teaching and learning.
Here in the study, there are some techniques activities for checking vocabulary that are
designed to help teachers to enhance their vocabulary teaching, and to help learners to best
recycle, use and memorise the vocabulary they have been presented with. The activities
are designed in form of easy games that may help make comfortable learning atmosphere
and bring the learners with encouragement and excitement when learning new vocabulary.
* Bingo
* Guess the picture
* Jumbled words
* Matching
* Networks
11

* Noughts and crosses
* Ordering
* Rub out and remember
* Slap the board
* What and where
* Wordsquare
* Wordstorm

Many research works and studies on the teaching and learning of vocabulary have been
known and applied into language teaching and learning such as An Examination of
Vocabulary Learning of College-level Learners of English in China by Ming Wei from
Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA, Vocabulary Learning Strategies in
an ESP Context: The Case of Para/medical English in Iran by Zahra Akbari and M.H.
Tahririan.
The research has mainly been about the teaching and learning of vocabulary. There in their
studies they show the readers the current teaching and learning vocabulary, teachers' and
students' attitude to the teaching and learning of vocabulary, their suggestions for bettering
the teaching and learning of vocabulary.
Basing on their studies I can have precious knowledge of the teaching and learning of
vocabulary for references of my study. My research intends to investigate the current
teaching and learning vocabulary, teachers' and students' attitude to the teaching and
learning of vocabulary, their suggestions for bettering the teaching and learning of
vocabulary at Thac Ba high school. I do hope with my study, I would help improve the
teaching and learning of vocabulary at my school. CHAPTER II. THE STUDY
II.1. The English teaching and learning situations at Thac Ba high school.
II.1.1. Description of the 10th grade students.
The 10th grade students at my school are all the local students who come from the 8
villages in the district. Some of them are the Kinh, some are the ethnic. There are now
about 387 10th grade students in the school. All of the 387 students had learnt English
language before they entered the school. None of them had not known anything about
English language before they took the entrance exams to start this school. As asked and to
run my thesis successfully, I teach the three classes of grade 10( 10A1, 10D1, 10D2).

fulfill the aims of the study. All the teachers graduated from colleges of foreign languages.
6 of them graduated from in-service courses. They are aged from 27 to 37. Their
experience of teaching English is from 5 years to 15 years. The students are aged from 16
to 19. The 100 are selected from the three classes as I have mentioned above to answer the
questionnaire. All of them were to answer the questionnaires given by the researcher.
Apart from the questionnaire, interviews for the nine teachers were also carried out.
14

+ The questionnaires for the 9 teachers of English aim at collecting information about
their age, their teaching experience, their opinions on teaching vocabulary, their difficulties
in teaching vocabulary, and their suggestion for bettering the teaching of vocabulary .
+ The questionnaires designed for the students from the three classes are to know the
students' background of English their attitude to learning the learning of English
vocabulary, their activities in a vocabulary lesson, and their expectations for better
vocabulary learning. The difference here is that the questionnaires are written in
Vietnamese for ease of understanding and answering.
II.2.2. Research instruments.
II.2.2.1. Questionnaire for the students.
The Questionnaire for the students includes 5 questions written in Vietnamese. It took
two weeks to deliver and collect all of the copies of the questionnaire from the students.
The questionnaires are about:
- Students' background of English language before entering
Thac Ba high school
- Students' attitude to learning English vocabulary.
- Students' difficulties in learning English vocabulary
- Students' activities in a vocabulary lesson.
- Student' suggestions for bettering the learning of English vocabulary II.2.2.2. Questionnaires for the teachers

Students learned English for 7 years
27%
Students learned English for 4 years
73%
Students learned other languages
0%
Table 1: The students' background of English language before entering Thac Ba
high school.
Question 1 relates to The students' background of English language before entering Thac
Ba high school. The results are presented as follows:
As can be seen in the above table, all of the students had learnt English before they
entered Thac Ba high school accounting for 100% of them had learnt English. Normally
when students are in grade 10, they have been studying English for 7 years. Therefore 27%
of the students have been studying English for 7 years, 73% for 4 years. None of the
students had ever learnt another language before.
III.1.1.1.2. Students' attitude to learning English vocabulary.
The questionnaires deal with Students' attitude to learning English vocabulary. The
following table shows the results Students' attitude to learning English vocabulary
%
17

Learning English vocabulary is very important
22%
Learning English vocabulary is quite important

Students' difficulties in learning English vocabulary
%
Too many new words in a lesson
89%
Teachers' explanation of new words is not clear enough
67%
There are not many activities that help you learn vocabulary
73%
Teachers' explanation of new words is only in English
9%
Teachers' explanation of new words is only in Vietnamese
91%
There is not much feedback or recycling for the new words
88%
There is lack of time for learning vocabulary
96%
18

other difficulties

Table 3: Students' difficulties in learning English vocabulary.
The data in table 3 show that there are many serious difficulties faced by the students in
learning English vocabulary. These are perhaps the traditional difficulties they have in
learning a second language. 89% of the students say that there are too many new words in
a lesson. The unclear explanation of teachers over the new words makes 67% of the
students find it difficult to learn vocabulary. 73% of the students think that there are not
many activities that help them learn vocabulary effectively. Teachers' explanation of new
words in English is difficult for 9% of the students, whereas the teachers' explanation of
new words in Vietnamese makes difficulties to the rest of about 91% of them. The very
important aspects of learning vocabulary that seem to be neglected are the feedback and

Table 4: Students' activities when learning vocabulary.
The data in table 4 show us more information about activities done by students when they
are asked to deal with in learning vocabulary. There are only the Matching and the
Wordstorm made up over 40%. Matching makes up 65%, Wordstorm 47%. The other
19

activities suggested by the teachers such as Bingo, Ordering, Slap the board, does not
have much interest from the students. These make up fewer than 10% only. 24% of the
students are interested in Networks though it is a rather complicated activity.
III.1.1.1.5. Students' suggestions for better vocabulary learning.
Follows are the students' suggestions for improving the learning of vocabulary. The results
are presented below.
Students' suggestions for better vocabulary learning
%
There are fewer new words in each lesson
98%
Teachers explanation about new words is clearer
62%
Teachers use more activities to teach new words
100%
Teachers use more techniques to elicit new words
87%
New words are recycled and used frequently
94%
Teachers must be well-qualified
6%
Other suggestions

Table 5: Students' suggestions for better vocabulary learning
Based on the statistics presented in the table, students give some suggestions for enhancing

9- 12
44%
36- 40
23%

12- 20
12%
> 45
0%

>20
0%
Table 6: The teachers' ages. Table 7: Teachers' teaching experience
It can be seen in table 6 that the teachers at Thac Ba high school are not much of different
ages. Teachers aged from 25 to 30 make up 22%. Teachers aged from 31 to 36 are 55%.
23% of the teachers asked are aged from 36 to 40. None of them is over 40. The data show
that the teachers at the school are still young with not much living experience as well as
teaching experience.
According to the data collected in table 7, 44% of the teachers have from 5 to 8 years of
teaching experience. Other 44% of them have experience of teaching from 9 to 12 years.
12% of the teachers have from 13 to 20 years of teaching experience.

III.1.1.2.2. Teachers' opinions on teaching English vocabulary.
This question aims at discovering teachers' opinions on teaching English vocabulary