VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES
 VŨ THỊ THU GIANG THE EFFECTS OF AN EXTENSIVE READING PROGRAM
ON THE SECOND YEAR NON-ENGLISH MAJORS’ VOCABULARY
ACQUISITION AT HA HOA TIEN UNIVERSITY

Ảnh hưởng của chương trình đọc rộng đối với khả năng phát triển từ vựng của
sinh viên năm thứ hai không chuyên ngữ trường Đại học Hà Hoa Tiên
M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60140111
Hanoi, 2014



i
DECLARATION

To the best of my knowledge and belief, this minor thesis contains no materials which has
previously been submitted and accepted for any other degree at any university. The thesis
is my own work and based on my own research. It is submitted to Faculty of Graduate
Studies, ULIS, Hanoi for Degree of Master in TESOL and has not been published
anywhere. Hanoi, August 2014 VŨ THỊ THU GIANG


iii
ABSTRACT

Ha Hoa Tien University first implements the extensive reading program to improve
students‘ vocabulary acquisition in March, 2014. This calls for the need to access the
program to create a better path for the program in the future. Therefore, the study is
conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the extensive reading program on the second
year non-English majors‘ vocabulary acquisition. In this case study, the data are collected
by a vocabulary test and a survey questionnaire for students. The results show that the
program has the effectiveness on the second year non-English major students‘ vocabulary
acquisition at Ha Hoa Tien University. However, there is still room for improvement in
terms of facilities, environment, teaching methods for students‘ extensive reading. Based
on the findings, the thesis suggests some recommendations to promote the maximum
effectiveness of the for students‘ long-term benefits in learning English in general and in
acquiring vocabulary in particular. iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS

v
2.5.2. Questionnaire 17
2.6. Data collection procedures 18
2.6.1. Test procedure 18
2.6.2. Questionnaire survey procedure 18
2.8. Concluding remarks 20
CHAPTER 3: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 21
3.1. Findings 21
3.1.1. Total test scores 21
3.1.2. Component test scores 22
3.1.3. Students’ perception on the ERP 23
3.2. Discussion 26
3.2.1. An evaluation on the effectiveness of the ERP based on the findings of
vocabulary test scores 26
3.2.2. An evaluation on the effectiveness of the ERP based on the findings of
survey questionnaire 27
3.2.3. The correlation between vocabulary test scores and results of survey
questionnaire 28
3.4. Concluding remarks 29
1. Recapitulation 30
2. Conclusion 31
3. Implications 31
4. Limitations of the study 32
5. Suggestions for further research 33
REFERENCES 34
APPENDICES I
Appendix 1 : Vocabulary Test I
Appendix 2: The extensive reading program questionnaire III vii
LIST OF TABLES AND CHARTS

Chart 3.1. The validity of total test scores 21
Table 3.1. The validity of component test scores 22
Table 3.2. Students‘ opinions on the ERP 23

1

2
to evaluate the effectiveness of ERP on students‘ vocabulary acquisition in Vietnam in
general and at Ha Hoa Tien University in particular. In fact, every program needs
evaluating from time to time to improve the quality of teaching and learning for all
learners. This ensures the teaching is on track and that learners are learning what they are
supposed to learn so that the desired results can be attained. These are incentives for me to
conduct this study.
2. Aims of the study
The study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of an extensive reading program currently at
Ha Hoa Tien University on students‘ vocabulary acquisition with the hope to create a
better path for the program in the future.
3. Research questions
The above aim could be achieved by seeking answer to the research question: „How does
extensive reading program currently have the effect on the second year non -English
majors‟ vocabulary acquisition at Ha Hoa Tien University?‟
4. Scope of the study
The effectiveness of an ER on students‘ vocabulary acquisition is evaluated through a
vocabulary test and a survey questionnaire for students in Ha Hoa Tien University. The
researcher focuses on investigating the effectiveness of ER program after implementation
in a term. The effectiveness of the ER program in this study is identified as the
achievement of the purposes of the program. In addition, the details about characteristics of
participants and the research instruments involved in the following chapters are going to
reveal more the scope of the study.
5. Methods of the study
This evaluation study is carried out at class DK6 of Accounting Faculty in Ha Hoa Tien
University. The information is collected by quantitative method with the instruments of the
vocabulary test and the survey questionnaire. 3

5
PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter is divided into two main themes: literature review of program evaluation, of
vocabulary, of extensive reading, and previous ER research. The knowledge not only
contributes to the research process but also reveals differences and gaps between previous
studies and this research.
1.1. Overview of evaluation
1.1.1. Definition of program evaluation
In English, evaluation only means to make a reasoned judgment about or to give a
plausible account of something. Various ideas and definitions of evaluation are given by
different researchers.
According to Lee (1999:23), evaluation itself is value judgment for an object or its
meaning. In educational context, ―evaluation is a purposeful activity that includes the
collection of relevant information, interpretation of that information and making decisions
about teaching and learning‖ (Genesee & Upshur,1996: 256). In words of Yoloye
(1981:12) defined evaluation as the assigning of some values to an entity in relation to
some criteria values or objectives. To make it clearer, Aldeson (1986:5), ―evaluation is the

developed from principles or basic truths of the program.
In the context of Ha Hoa Tien University, an extensive reading program is implemented
for the purposes of increasing students‘ vocabulary knowledge in terms of form, meaning,
and use. Therefore, the achievement of these purposes of the program is criteria to evaluate
it. In other words, the effectiveness of the ER program on vocabulary acquisition in this
study is evaluated on the above criteria.
1.2. Extensive reading
1.2.1. Definition of extensive reading
For those who know the meaning of the word ―extensive‖, this phrase does not take them
much time to work out. Since ―extensive‖, according to The Little Oxford Dictionary, 7
means ―large, far-reaching‖, this phrase can be understood simply as ―reading a lot‖. Put it
in the academic context, this definition conveys little. Instead, a definition that can reveal
the nature of extensive reading seems to be expected. This is the way most linguists and
practitioners follow when introducing this approach in teaching writing. Nevertheless,
working out a thorough definition of extensive reading is a difficult task. In fact, many
trials have been made by those who are interested in this approach. Among them is the one
by Lewis and Hill (1992) in which extensive reading means that ―students have general
understanding of the text without necessarily understanding every word‖. Obviously, this
definition fails to help learners imagine the whole picture of extensive reading since only
one respect of it is shed light on, that is, the purpose of extensive reading (general
understanding). The definition given by Carrel and Carson (1997) which says that
―extensive reading generally involves rapid reading of large quantities of material or long
readings‖ also shed light on only the length of the reading materials (p. 47).
The definition that seems to be more satisfying than those mentioned above is the one
introduced by Susser and Robb (1990) . According to them, extensive reading as a
language teaching or learning procedure is reading (a) of large quantities material or long
texts; (b) for global understanding; (c) with the intention of obtaining pleasure from the

discuss the story. Often there is some language work developing vocabulary, reading skills
and grammar.
- ER as literature: In this design of an ER program students read the same book
usually slowly and treat it as a work of literature examining the plot, characters and various
literary aspects of the book.
Based on the model of the Integrated ER program, the ERP in Ha Hoa Tien University is
implemented with using graded readers to examine the effects of reading on students‘
vocabulary acquisition. The design of this extensive reading program can exist as a part of
the current curriculum. This made the program possible to be carried out easier. The
learners in the ER program are flooded with comprehensible input with the purpose of
getting the readers to enjoy reading and simultaneously improve their vocabulary 9
acquisition. Furthermore, when designing the ER program, some of the principles for
teaching ER by Day and Bamford (2002: 136) are applied.
Principles for teaching Extensive reading which are applied in the program:
1. The reading material is easy.
2. A variety of reading material on a wide range of topics must be available.
3. Learners choose what they want to read.
4. Learners read as much as possible.
5. The purpose of reading is usually related to pleasure, information, and general
understanding.
6. Reading is its own reward.
7. Reading speed is usually faster rather than slower.
8. Reading is individual and silent.
9. Teachers orient and guide their students.
10. The teacher is a role model of a reader.
Using all ten principles in an extensive reading program will create the ideal conditions for
reading, which will lead to students enhancing their language skills and proficiency.

only ―the most common parts of speech found in natural text‖ (p. 9), in the hope that
further research would include other word classes. They organized the two word classes
into six different frequency groups according to the number of encounters and tested three
types of word knowledge (meaning, spelling, and grammatical behavior). They found that
substantial word learning occurred during the ER, although the improvement was not
uniform across the three types of word knowledge.
In Vietnamese EFL context, there are not any researches on vocabulary acquisition through
extensive reading. Researches in the ER field focus mainly on the effect of ER on students‘
reading ability and the practice of ER by EFL students. Quach Ngoc Anh (2007) examined
the effect of an ER program on students‘ reading proficiency at College of Foreign
Languages – Vietnam National University (Hanoi). Tran Hoai Giang (2009) carried out a
survey at Vietnam National University (Hanoi) to find out the practice of ER by second
year English majors. 11
In summary, the above researches provide good evidence that vocabulary is learned
incidentally from extensive reading, but participants are not Vietnamese students. In
addition, there are still large gaps in our knowledge of this learning in an authentic
extensive reading context. For example, we do not know much about how extensive
reading enhances vocabulary acquisition in terms of size and depth. Therefore, it is
necessary to carry out a research to investigate the effect of extensive reading on
Vietnamese EFL students‘ vocabulary acquisition.
1.4. Concluding remarks
This chapter has presented theories related to ER and evaluation as definitions, principles,
criteria, approach, and previous researches. The next chapter deals with the research
methods used in the study and reports of the pilot study that was conducted prior to the
main study to ascertain the strengths and weaknesses of the instruments to be used for the
main data collection.


study is conducted after the program has been taken for a semester with the hope that
students can have enough time to get its effect as much as possible.
2.3. Setting of the study
Ha Hoa Tien University, where the ER program described in this study is conducted, is a
private university. Ha Hoa Tien students have lower proficiency in English than other 13
university students of the same age. Therefore, we often examine students‘ vocabulary
level at the end of each term to find a suitable method for developing their next level. The
result of this test shows that students‘ vocabulary acquisition in Ha Hoa Tien University is
quite weak. For instance, in DK6, about 37% of students obtain scores over the average in
this test. Therefore, Ha Hoa Tien University decides to implement an ER program to focus
on improving the second-year students‘ vocabulary acquisition from the first semester of
the year 2014 in course 6 of Accounting Faculty.
2.4. The extensive reading program
The ER program at Ha Hoa Tien University is designed as part of an existing class or
curriculum whereby students would probably read their self-selected materials and then
make discussions, reports or do other follow up class work and applied ten reading
principles of Day and Bamford (2002). It provides students not only guidelines on reading
but also comprehensible inputs, and to lower down their affective filter, on the other hand,
so as to let the comprehensible input internalized because they were allowed to read with
their own pace. The program lasts for 20 weeks with 90 periods attended in the classroom.
The program exploits the collections of graded readers available and involved several
study activities taking place both inside and outside classroom. A detailed description of
the purposes, materials, activities, as well as the students and teacher‘s role in the ERP is
presented below.
Purposes of ERP
Ha Hoa Tien University proposed the ERP with the following objectives:
1. Recognizing the word form (spelling)

ends with a set of high interest, interactive tasks as watching CNN video highlights, or
playing games to help students practice the new vocabulary and the skills they have
learned in more open-ended contexts. 15
Beside this book, 30 other graded readers from some publishers (eg. Foundations Reading
Library, Collins English Library, Heinemann Guided Readers, Nelson Readers, Macmillan
Readers, Oxford Bookworm, and Streamline Graded Readers) are selected as the ER
materials to be read as homework. Each student is required to read continuously one book
within two weeks, based on their own choice from among the ER collection. This amount
of reading is considered by Day and Bamford (2002:136) as the goal for a successful
extensive reading program. It is also consistent with Nation and Wang's (1999: 355)
suggestion that "learners need to read graded reader per week in order to meet repetitions
of the new words soon enough to reinforce the previous meeting," assuming that the
learners do not meet the words in other language activities. The collection consists of
simplified story books with a range of books that have been adapted to learners in the areas
of vocabulary and syntax. These books are available at the English department library,
making it easy for students to borrow and keep for reading in their own time. With a wide
variety of topics from science stories to those touching upon social issues in real life and
the varieties of genres, these reading materials are believed to cater to all students‘
interests. The names of the graded readers (appendix 3) are included in a table to be later
introduced to students for their selection.
Students‟ and teacher‟s role
In such an extensive reading program, the students play the leading role who will actively
take part in the reading as well as all the activities that follow under the instructions of the
teacher. The teacher acts as an instructor. As extensive reading can be said to be quite new
to the students, the teacher needs to help learners understand how to read in the ERP. The
teacher should also become a role model for the learners as well as create an environment
that encouraged learners to read.

books and read them at home. Specially, they are required to read one book every two
weeks, after reading the book, they are required to write down the new words or phrase
they are interested and the form, meaning, use of these words in that context. The whole
organization and activities are determined by the objectives of the program.