VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
DEPARTMENT OF POST GRADUATE STUDIES
ĐỖ THỊ KIM OANH

A STUDY ON ENGLISH VOCABULARY LEARNING
STRATEGIES USED BY THE FIRST YEAR STUDENTS
AT HAI PHONG COMMUNITY COLLEGE

NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ CÁC CHIẾN LƯỢC HỌC TỪ VỰNG
TIẾNG ANH CỦA SINH VIÊN NĂM THỨ NHẤT
TRƯỜNG CAO ĐẲNG CỘNG ĐỒNG HẢI PHÒNG
MINOR THESIS
FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY
CODE: 60.14.10
SUPERVISOR: NGUYỄN THỊ MINH TRÂM, M.A

1.2.2.2. Classification of Schmitt (1997) 13
1.2.2.3. Classification of Nation (2001) 15
1.2.3. Summary 16
Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY 18
2.1. The context of the study 18
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2.2. Research questions 20
2.3. Pilot study 20
2.4. Main study 23
2.4.1. Participants 23
2.4.2. Data collection instruments 24
2.4.2.1. Semi-structured interview 25
2.4.2.1. Survey questionnaire 26
2.4.3. Procedures 27
2.4.4. Data analysis 28
2.4.4.1. Student‟s awareness of vocabulary learning strategies 28
2.4.4.2. Strategies used for discovery a new word‟s meaning 30
(1) Determination strategies 30
(2) Social strategies 31
2.4.4.3. Strategies used for consolidation a word in memory 33
(1) Social strategies 33
(2) Memory strategies 33
(3) Cognitive strategies 35
(4) Metacognitive strategies 36
2.4.4.4. Overall strategies use of the six categories
of strategies 37
2.5. Implications 39
2.5.1. The need of vocabulary learning strategy training 39
2.5.2. Learner responsibility 40
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES
List of tables:
iv

Table 1: Gu and Johnson‟s (1996) taxonomy of vocabulary learning
strategies 13
Table 2: Norbert Schmitt‟s (1997) taxonomy of vocabulary learning
strategies 15
Table 3: Nation‟s (2001) taxonomy of vocabulary learning strategies 16
Table 4: Table of test specifications 20
Table 5: Vocabulary learning strategies for discovery a new word‟s
meaning used by the Pilot study participants 22
Table 6: Vocabulary learning strategies for consolidation a word in
memory used by the Pilot study participants 23
Table 7: Vocabulary learning strategies in survey questionnaire 27
Table 8: Descriptive statistics of students‟ use of Determination
strategies 30
Table 9: Descriptive statistics of students‟ use of Social strategies 31
Table 10: Descriptive statistics of students‟ use of Social strategies
(Consolidation) 33
Table 11: Descriptive statistics of students‟ use of Memory strategies 34
Table 12: Descriptive statistics of students‟ use of Cognitive
strategies 35
Table 13: Descriptive statistics of students‟ use of Metacognitive
strategies 36
Table 14: Strategies use according to descending order of mean 38
Table 15: Mean of six categories 39
List of figures:

PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale for the study
Vocabulary is very important for people‟s communication and language
learning, which plays an important role in the process of second language
acquisition. Wilkins (Wilkins, 1972: 111) stated that “without grammar little can be
conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed”. Hence, we cannot deny
that skills of language learning including listening, speaking, reading and writing
cannot be successfully achieved without vocabulary. So the study of vocabulary
learning strategies is as an important step in second language acquisition.
During the 1950s and 1960s, the study on vocabulary learning received little
attention. Fortunately, vocabulary learning has been studied more widely since the
1980s. It has attracted more and more interest from researchers, educationalists as
well as teachers. Many of them, both at home and abroad, have pointed out their
view on the vocabulary learning‟s significance. As Decarrico (2001: 285) stated that
“Although vocabulary has not always been recognized as a priority in language
teaching, interest in its role in second language learning has grown rapidly in recent
years and specialists now emphasize the need for a systematic and principled
approach to vocabulary by both the teacher and the learner”. Or Nguyen Huyen
(2004: 1) compared “If a language could be considered as a house, then its grammar
could be considered as cement and its vocabulary could be figuratively compared to
bricks. To build a complete house, not only cement but also bricks are needed.
Without bricks, no house can be built, even when plenty of high quality cement is
available.” This means that to be a competent English communicator, one must
acquire a good knowledge of English grammar and have a rich amount of English
vocabulary as well.
In Vietnam in general and in my college, Hai Phong Community College in
particular, English is the compulsory course for students. However, there is a large
gap between the students‟ English ability and requirements settled in the syllabus.
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which are employed by the first year students at Hai Phong Community College
during the second term of school year 2011-2012.
5. Significance of the study
Schmitt and McCarthy (1997) points out that vocabulary learning has been
regarded as one of the most important parts in a second or foreign language
acquisition. On the basis of the idea above, this study helps raise the students'
awareness of the importance of vocabulary learning and that there are many other
vocabulary learning strategies and therefore the strategy training is necessary to be
done by the teachers. Further, it reveals the most and least frequently used
vocabulary learning strategies adopted by the students, which can be implemented
to support both teachers and students in teaching and learning vocabulary at Hai
Phong Community College.
6. Methods of the study
In order to achieve the aims of the study mentioned above, the study was
carried out on the basis of semi-structured interview and survey questionnaire. The
English teachers at Hai Phong Community College were interviewed about the
strategies their students use in learning vocabulary to support information for the
survey questionnaire. Then, vocabulary learning strategies listed in the survey
questionnaire were compiled from a review of the literature on vocabulary learning
strategies and the interviews‟ data. After the results were analyzed, the findings
were reported and discussed then some suggestions were raised in the study.
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7. Structure of the study
The study is divided into four chapters. Each chapter deals with an important
aspect of the study.
Chapter 1 is the introduction of the study, which includes the rationale, aim,

1.1. Language learning strategies
1.1.1. Background of language learning strategies
There has been a prominent shift within the field of language learning and
teaching over the last twenty years with greater emphasis being put on learners and
learning rather than on teachers and teaching. In parallel to this new shift of interest,
how learners process new information and what kinds of strategies they employ to
understand, learn or remember the information has been the primary concern of the
researchers dealing with the area of foreign language learning. So, language
learning strategies (LLS) for foreign language learning and the teacher's role in
strategy training is very important.
Research into LLS began in the 1960s. Particularly, developments in
cognitive psychology influenced much of the research done on LLS. In most of the
research on LLS, the primary concern has been on “identifying what good language
learners report they do to learn a second or foreign language, or, in some cases,
are observed doing while learning a second or foreign language” (Rubin and
Wenden 1987:19). In 1966, Aaron Carton published his study entitled “The Method
of Inference in Foreign Language Study”, which was the first attempt on learner
strategies. After Carton, in 1971, Rubin started doing research focusing on the
strategies of successful learners and stated that, once identified, such strategies
could be made available to less successful learners. Rubin classified strategies in
terms of processes contributing directly or indirectly to language learning. Wong-
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Fillmore (1976), Tarone (1977), Naiman et al. (1978), Cohen and Aphek (1981),
Wenden (1982), Chamot and O'Malley (1987), Politzer and Mc Groarty (1985),
Conti and Kolsody (1998), and many others studied strategies used by language
learners during the process of foreign language learning.
1.1.2. Definition of language learning strategies
It is clearly seen that research on learning strategies in general and language
learning strategies in particular is becoming increasingly popular. So far, there has

Obviously, learning strategies are defined in different words and from
different perspectives such as cognitive, social or pragmatic. Therefore, researchers
worked out the taxonomy of learning strategies instead of defining them. This can
be seen in the following part.
1.1.3. Classification of learning strategies
In the 1980s and early 90s, research mainly focused on categorizing the
strategies found in the studies of the previous decade. As a result, several
taxonomies were proposed to classify them, including classifications of LLS in
general and language sub-skills strategies in particular.
One of the most famous to date that proposed by O'Malley and Chamot
(1990). Their hierarchical framework of strategies distinguishes three major strategy
types:
 Metacognitive Strategies
 Cognitive Strategies
 Socio-affective Strategies
O'Malley and Chamot's framework of strategies has considerable intuitive
appeal and many practitioners have used this taxonomy in planning their teaching.
However, O'Malley and Chamot have never examined the construct validity of their
taxonomy. As a result, it is unclear enough to teach students and to train them to use
these three separate strategies.
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According to Rubin, there are three types of strategies used by learners that
contribute directly or indirectly to language learning. These are:
 Learning Strategies
 Communication Strategies
 Social Strategies
Stern (1992:262-266) stated that, there are five main LLS. These are as
follows:
 Management and Planning Strategies

transferable to new situations”. Learning strategies will compensate for the
weakness of a learning style and maximize the strengths of a learning style
powerfully.
To emphasize the importance of LLS, Chamot et al. (1999) stated,
“Differences between more effective learners and less effective learners were found
in the number and range of strategies used, in how the strategies were applied to
the task, and in whether they were appropriate for the task”. Therefore, teaching
learning strategies is especially useful for the latter learners. If they can find
effective strategies, they will be able to successfully, through effective strategy
teaching, students will acquire not only vocabulary but also the way for studying.
The language learner capable of using a wide variety of LLS appropriately
can improve his language skills in a better way. According to Oxford (1990),
memory strategies “help students store and retrieve new information”, cognitive
strategies “enable learners to understand and produce new language by many
different means”, compensation strategies “allow learners to use the language
despite their often large gaps in knowledge”, metacognitive strategies “allow
learners to control their own cognition - that is, to coordinate the learning process
by using functions such as centering, arranging, planning, and evaluating”,
affective strategies “help to regulate emotions, motivations, and attitudes” and
social “help students learn through interaction with other”. Developing skills in
three areas, such as metacognitive, cognitive, and socio-affective can help the
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language learner build up learner independence and autonomy whereby he can take
control of his own learning. Lessard-Clouston (1997:3) states that LLS contribute to
the development of the communicative competence of the students. Being a broad
concept, LLS are used to refer to all strategies foreign language learners use in
learning the target language and communication strategies are one type of LLS. As
Oxford (1990:1) stated, LLS “ are especially important for language learning
because they are tools for active, self-directed movement, which is essential for

 a great deal about its general frequency of use, syntactic and
situational limitations on its use.
 its underlying form and the form that can be derived from it,
 the network of its semantic features and,
 the various meaning associated with the item.
(Richards, 1997:6)
Knowing a word is also defined as knowing its spelling, pronunciation,
collocations (i.e. words it occurs with), and appropriateness (Nation, 1990).
Therefore, lexical competence is far more than the ability to define a given number
of words and covers a wide range of knowledge which in turn requires a variety of
strategies to gain the knowledge. Foreign language learners may then use various
strategies to acquire the target language word knowledge. Taking this into
consideration, language researchers have made various attempts to classify
vocabulary learning strategies employed by foreign and second language learners.
Instances of such classifications are the taxonomies proposed by Gu and Johnson
(1996), Schmitt (1997) and Nation (2001) which are briefly discussed below.
1.2.2.1. Classification of Gu and Johnson (1996)
Gu and Johnson (1996) list second language (L2) vocabulary learning
strategies into metacognitive, cognitive, memory and activation strategies
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Metacognitive strategies consist of selective attention and self-initiation
strategies. Learners who employ selective attention strategies know which words
are important for them to learn and essential for adequate comprehension of a
passage. Learners employing self initiation strategies use a variety of means to
make the meaning of vocabulary items clear.
Cognitive strategies in Gu and Johnson‟s taxonomy entail guessing
strategies, skillful use of dictionaries and note-taking strategies. Learners using
guessing strategies draw upon their background knowledge and use linguistic clues
like grammatical structures of a sentence to guess the meaning of a word.

A comprehensive inventory of vocabulary learning strategies is developed by
Norbert Schmitt (1997). He distinguishes the strategies into two groups: The ones to
determine the meaning of new words when encountered for the first time, and the
ones to consolidate meaning when encountered again. The former contains
determination and social strategies and the latter contains cognitive, metacognitive,
memory and social strategies. Schmitt includes social strategies in both categories
since they can be used for both purposes. This categorization is based, in part, on
Oxford‟s (1990) classification scheme. The details can be seen on the table below:
Strategy group
Strategy
Strategies for the discovery of a new word’s meaning DET
Analyze parts of speech
Analyze affixes and roots
Check for L1 cognate
Analyze any available pictures or gestures
Guess the meaning from textual context
Bilingual dictionary
Word lists
Flash cards SOC
Ask teacher for an L1 translation
Ask teacher for paraphrase or synonym of a new word
Ask teacher for a sentence including the new word
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Image word form
Underline initial letter of the word
Configuration
Use keyword method
Affixes and roots
Parts of speech
Paraphrase the word‟s meaning
Use cognates in study
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Learn the words of an idiom together
Use physical action when learning a word
Use semantic feature grids
COG
Verbal repetition
Written repetition
Word lists
Flash cards
Take note in class
Use the vocabulary section in your textbook
Listen to tape of word lists
Put English labels on physical objects
Keep a vocabulary notebook MET
Use English-language media (songs, movies, newscasts, etc.)

Sources: finding information about words
 Analyzing the word
 Using context
 Consulting a reference source
in L1 or L2
 Using parallels in L1 and L2
Processes: establishing knowledge
 Noticing
 Retrieving
 Generating
Table 3: Nation’s (2001) taxonomy of vocabulary learning strategies
1.2.3. Summary
In general, although the taxonomies cited above may slightly differ in terms
of strategies they categorize, they all provide a list of widely applicable vocabulary
learning strategies.
The strongest point of Nation‟s taxonomy is probably its simplicity: only
classes and types of strategies are mentioned and plain terms are used. This is in
sharp contrast with Schmitt‟s taxonomy in which up to 58 strategies are named and
with Gu and Johnson‟s taxonomy in which psychological terms such as
metacognitive, cognitive, activation self-initiation, etc. are widely used. However,
the other two have their own advantages over nation‟s categorization.
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For its comprehensive treatment of individual vocabulary learning strategies,
Schmitt‟s taxonomy is an effective research instrument for investigation into
vocabulary learning strategies followed by a particular group or learners. This
remark has been confirmed in reality by Schmitt‟s research on Japanese learners of
English (1993). It is due to the taxonomy‟s proven research value that it has been
chosen as the basic for data analysis procedure of the study on vocabulary learning
strategies of the first year students at Hai Phong Community College.

brand-new features, making it even fresher and easier to use.
The textbook New Cutting Edge – Elementary (Students‟ Book) for the first
year students comprises fifteen theme-based modules and three review modules.
Each module is about one topic and consists of six parts: Language focus,
Vocabulary, Reading/Listening, Task, Further skills and Study practice remember.
The average time for each module is seven periods. Three review modules are in
form of “Consolidation module” to help students check their understanding and
study‟s result by themselves.
Each vocabulary part deals with a familiar issue such as people and places,
everyday life, transportation, food and drink, films, clothes, weather etc. which are
considered the important points of each module. Vocabulary input is closely related
to topic and task in the modules so it provides a necessary foundation for practicing
every other part of the modules.
By the time of the survey, the first year students at Hai Phong Community
College have finished one-half of the second term.
In this term, they study vocabulary of seven modules (from module 9 to
module 15), which contains following vocabulary issues:
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- Shops and shopping
- Clothes and describing people
- Animals and natural features
- Going out and staying in; the weather
- Education and careers
- Ways of communicating
- Things in a town
At the end of the term, the students have to take an online exam called
“Online multiple choice test on LAN network” which is designed with 35 multiple
choice questions in total. The students have 30 minutes to answer after signing in to
accept the test. Completed or not completed the test within 30 minutes the computer

Grammar
10
Easy &
Medium
Multiple choice
questions & short
answers
10
points
IV
Reading
comprehension
5
Medium &
Difficult
Multiple choice
questions & short
answers
5 points
Table 4: Table of test specifications
As can be seen from table, the Vocabulary contains at least fifteen multiple-
choice questions in a test, which holds 15 points in total 35 points. Besides, in the