VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES
HOÀNG VIỆT HƯƠNG

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE EFFECTIVENESS OF
VIETNAMESE TRANSLATION IN TEACHING ENGLISH
VOCABULARY TO THE 10
TH
FORM STUDENTS AT
VUNG CAO VIET BAC HIGH SCHOOL

(NGHIÊN CỨU TÍNH HIỆU QUẢ CỦA VIỆC DỊCH NGHĨA TỪ SANG
TIẾNG VIỆT TRONG VIỆC DẠY TỪ VỰNG TIẾNG ANH CHO
HỌC SINH LỚP 10 TRƯỜNG PHỔ THÔNG VÙNG CAO VIỆT BẮC) M.A MINOR THESIS FIELD: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY
CODE: 601410

Hanoi – 2012
iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Declaration i

Vocabulary…………………………… ………………………………… …15
v

1.10. Summary…………………………………………………………… ….17
CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY…………………………………………… … 18
2.1. A quantitative and qualitative study………………………………… ….18
2.2. Participants………………………………………………………… ……18
2.3. Data collection instruments……….………………………………… … 19
2.3.1. The students questionnaire………….…………………………… ……19
2.3.2. Class observation………… ……………………………………… …20
2.3.3. Interviews…………… …………………………………………… …20
2.4. Data collection procedure…………………………………………… ….21
2.5. Data analysis procedure……………………………………………… …21
CHAPTER 3: ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION ………………… … …22
3.1. Findings…………… ……………………………………………… … 22
3.1.1. The frequency of using Vietnamese translation in teaching English
vocabulary to 10
th
form students……………………………………… …….22
3.1.2. Common classroom vocabulary activities………… ……………….…25
3.1.3. The effectiveness of Vietnamese translation for learning vocabulary as
perceived by students……………….…………………………… ………… 28
3.1.4. Teachers‟s perceptions of the effectiveness of using Vietnamese
translation for presenting new vocabulary………….………………… … …31
3.2. Discussion……………………………………………………… …….…35
PART C: CONCLUSIONS………………….…….…………………… ………37
1. Conclusions……………………………… ………………………… ……37
2. Implications……………………………………………………… … ……38
3. Limitations……………………………………………………………… …39
4. Suggestions for further research…………… ………………………… …39

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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

TABLES
Page
Table 1: The Frequently used techniques to present new the meaning of new
vocabulary
22
Table 2: The frequently used activities to help students consolidate words
26
Table 3: Students‟ preference for Vietnamese translation use in vocabulary

learners”. McCarthy firmly believes that language is lexis-driven, and therefore,
vocabulary learning is the real key to second language learning. He claims that
learners will be more successful if they can develop their own techniques and
disciplines for vocabulary learning. Therefore, an effective approach to vocabulary
is always one of the great concerns of every language teacher. The reason is that
learning vocabulary is really challenging requiring many cognitive processes, and
teachers have to make sure that students understand the word: the form of the word
(pronunciation, spelling, derivations) and its meaning as well as how to use the
word accurately and appropriately.
There are many ways of presenting the meaning of a new word. These include a
definition in the second language, a demonstration, a picture or a diagram, a real
object, L2 context clues, or an L1 translation (Nation, 2003). However, studies
comparing the effectiveness of various methods for learning always come up with
the result that an L1 translation is the most effective (Lado, Baldwin, Lobo and
Mishima 1967; Laufer and Shmueli, 1997). This is probably because L1 translations
are usually clear, short and familiar, qualities which are very important in effective
definitions (Mc Keown, 1993).
At Vung cao Viet Bac High school, with more than 2,000 ethnic minority students
come from different minority groups, each ethnic group has its own language, but
Vietnamese is nominated the national language. Thus, to students coming from the
minority groups, English is their second foreign language. As far as I can observe,
these learners are much in favour of Vietnamese translation when learning English
vocabulary. This has motivated me to carry out this study, which aims at finding the
effectiveness of using Vietnamese translation in teaching vocabulary.

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Hopefully, findings will reaffirm the use of mother tongue and translation as a
strategic teaching method within the field of vocabulary acquisition.
Furthermore, it is to partially help English foreign language teachers have a

from the perception of the students and teachers. The study was carried out only
with tenth form students and the teachers who are in charge of English teaching to
those students at Vung cao Viet Bac High school in Thai Nguyen.

3

One more noteworthy point about the scope of this study is that it focuses on the
effectiveness of using Vietnamese translation technique for presenting the meaning
of new vocabulary rather than the form.
5. Methods of the study.
Both qualitative and quantitative research methods are used in this study,
including questionnaire, classroom observations and interviews.
Questionnaire
Both open-ended and close-ended questions were administered to 152 students to
find out the students‟ perceived effectiveness of Vietnamese translation
technique on vocabulary learning.
Classroom observations
Six classes (of about 45 minutes in length) taught by three different teachers were
observed to find out how frequently Vietnamese translation is used and what
activities are used to help their students consolidate words after using
Vietnamese translation.
Interviews
Teacher interviews were conducted to obtain a better understanding of the
teachers‟ perceptions towards the effectiveness of using Vietnamese translation
in teaching English vocabulary. The interviews were transcribed fully and
analyzed qualitatively.
6. Design of the study
The research includes three parts namely Part A, Part B, Part C.
Part A is the introduction, which presents the rationale, the aims, the research
questions, the scope, the methods, and the design of the study.

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PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1.1. Introduction
This chapter focuses on providing an overview of the theoretical knowledge
relevant to the study including vocabulary and its roles in second language
acquisition, approaches to vocabulary teaching, recent research about teaching and
learning second language vocabulary, techniques in presenting new vocabulary, L1
and translation in vocabulary teaching and learning, previous studies on L1
translation in teaching L2 vocabulary, the role of L1 translation in vocabulary
acquisition, advantages and disadvantages of using L1 translation in teaching
vocabulary.
1.2. Vocabulary and Its Roles in Second Language Acquisition
1.2.1. What is Vocabulary?
Vocabulary is a matter which many linguists and language teachers have been
concerned for a long time. Vocabulary is defined differently by different scholars.
Below some definitions of vocabulary that are relevant to the present study are
introduced.
In The American Heritage Dictionary, “vocabulary” is defined as:
1. All words of a language.
2. The sum of words used by, understood by, or at the command of a particular
person or a group.

(Mc Carthy 1990:viii)
Pyles and Algeo (1970) noted that:
“When most of us think about language, we think first about words. It is true
that the vocabulary is the focus of language. It is in words that sounds and
meanings inter-lock to allow us to communicate with one another, and it is
words that we arrange together to make sentences, conversations and
discourse of all kinds”.
(Pyles and Algeo 1970: 96)
In fact, vocabulary is the element that links the four skills of speaking, listening,
reading and writing all together. In order to communicate well in a foreign

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language, students should acquire an adequate number of words and should know
how to use them accurately. David Wilkin emphasized the importance of
vocabulary learning:
"Without grammar very little can be conveyed; without vocabulary nothing
can be conveyed."
(Wilkins, 1972: 111).
Cook‟s (1991) conclusion is also consistent with Wilkins in that “Grammar
provides the overall patterns, vocabulary the material to put into those patterns”. Or
some authors, led by Lewis (1993) argue that vocabulary should be at the centre of
language teaching, because „language consists of grammaticalised lexis, not
lexicalised grammar‟. According to Meare (1995) central to learning to
communicate in the target language are vocabulary and lexical units. No amount of
grammatical or other type of linguistics knowledge can be employed in
communication or discourse without the mediation of mediation of vocabulary.
Folse (2004:3 ) claims that:
“The lack of grammar knowledge can limit conversation; lack of vocabulary
knowledge can stop conversation”.

translation with little opportunity to try out pronunciation (Rivers, 1981: 28-30).
The second major foreign language teaching approach is the Direct Method. The
Direct Method stressed the ability to use rather than analyze a language as the goal
of language instruction or in other words, the main goal was to train students to
communicate in the target language and to have an acceptable pronunciation. It
introduced vocabulary through classroom objects, mime, drawing and explanations
(Rivers, 1981: 32-33)
The Reading approach attracted more importance than grammatical skill. The
vocabulary used in the reading passages is controlled at beginning levels and is
chosen according to their frequency and usefulness. The acquisition of vocabulary
is considered to be more important than grammatical skills and is expanded as fast
as possible through intensive and extensive reading. The translation of vocabulary
items and sentences are permitted. (Murcia and Prator, 1979: 3)
The Audio-lingual Approach which was dominant in the United States during the
1940s, 1950s, and 1960s is known to be a major paradigm shift in foreign language
teaching (Larsen-Freeman, 2000). In this method, the amount of vocabulary
presented was kept low (Thornbury, 2002:14) and was chosen for its simplicity
(Schmitt, 2000:13). It was assumed that when grammatical fluency was present,
exposure to the foreign language itself lead to vocabulary development (Coady,
1993: 4).

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The Communicative Language Teaching Approach is a renowned British Approach
to language teaching the emergence of which dates back to the mid-1960s. Concepts
like context, use, effective communication, communicative function,
comprehensible pronunciation, etc. were given importance in this approach. Senel
(2002: 243) emphasized that new words were not presented in isolation, but in the
context of a complete sentence, and in a meaningful situation. This way, the words
acquired meaning when they appeared in a particular definition in a determined

vocabulary cards because learners can control the order in which they study the
words (Atkinson, 1972). Prince (1996: 488) states that simply knowing translation
for L2 words does not "guarantee that they will be successfully assessed for use in
an L2 context” because knowing a word means knowing more than just its
translated meaning or its L2 synonyms. Consequently, to presenting a new word,
teacher should also create opportunities to meet recently learned words in new
contexts that provide new collocations and associations (Nation, 1994). For
intentional learning of vocabulary it is required that the teacher provide
opportunities for developing fluency with known vocabulary. And here fluency-
building activities play an important role as they recycle already known word in
familiar grammatical and organizational patterns, so that students can focus on
recognizing or using a word without hesitation (Hunt and David Beglar, 2001).
Nation (1994: 208) also points out that developing fluency "overlaps most of all
with developing skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing". As a result,
giving learners many opportunities to practice these skills is essential.
1.4.3. Independent Strategy
Independent strategy development involves practicing guessing from context and
training learners to use dictionaries. Guessing from contexts is a complex and often
difficult strategy to carry out successfully; to guess successfully from contexts,
learners need to know about 19 out of 20 words (95%) of a text which requires
knowing 3,000 most common words (Liu and Nation, 1985; Nation, 1990). In fact
helpful contexts are rare and difficult to guess the meaning of words in a long and
difficult context. If students know more new words, they can understand the text
and learn more new words. If students' vocabulary is poor, they can not guess words

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in a text containing too many unknown words. In vocabulary learning process,
foreign language learners should use dictionaries for vocabulary development. In
Nation‟s (2001) opinion, dictionary use helps learning comprehension and

writing the word on the board, (f) pointing out any spelling irregularity in the word.
Finally, the use of the word can be explain by (a) quickly showing the grammatical
pattern the word fits into (countable/uncountable, transitive/intransitive, etc), (b)
giving a few similar collocates, (c) mentioning any restrictions on the use of the
word (formal, colloquial, impolite, only used in the United States, only used with
children, old fashioned, technical, infrequent), (d) giving a well known opposite, or
a well known word describing the group or lexical set it fits into.
1.6. L1 and Translation in Vocabulary Teaching and Learning
Translation is defined by Cartford (1965: 20) as “the replacement of a text in one
language by an equivalent text in another language”. Newmark (1995: 5) simply
defines “translation as the rendering of a written text into another language in the
way the author intended in the text.”
Translation is the technique of explain the new word by the learner‟s first language.
This is considered the simplest and clearest way to show the meaning of a new
word. Moreover, it seems to be a favourable technique by teachers thanks to its
time-saving nature. However, several authors suggest that first language does not
play an essential role in foreign language teaching (Tang, 2002). Hence, the use of
translation as a teaching technique has been viewed with suspicion by many
language teachers, and many proscribe it altogether as a matter of principle. It has
become a famous and well-accepted creed among language teachers that the
translation hinders the acquisition of L2.
Other professionals in the field of second language and foreign language acquisition
agree that mother tongue should be used with students who are not highly proficient
in the target language such as Nation (2001) or Atkinson (1987). Schmitt and
McCarthy (1997: 2) note that “… a learner‟s L1 is one of the most important factors
in learning L2 vocabulary.” Nation (1982) indicates that if we study the practice of

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vocabulary learning and teaching also, we can see its use. At least with non-

The last study to be reviewed here is a case study conducted by Bouangeune (2009)
at the National University of Laos. The study makes an important contribution to
EFL teaching, particularly in the area of vocabulary for students with a lower
proficiency level. It shows the effectiveness of using L1 in teaching vocabulary
through translation exercises and dictation. The findings indicate that the
experimental group achieved better performance in both vocabulary in direct
translation and vocabulary in context. In fact, the results could provide empirical
support for the application of L1 in the FL classroom. The researcher concludes that
''in order to prevent the misunderstanding of the meaning of the new word, teachers
should provide clear, simple, and brief explanations of meaning, especially in the
learners' first language'' (Bouangeune, 2009:189)
1.8. The Role of L1 Translation in Vocabulary Acquisition
Nowadays, vocabulary acquisition is one of the main aspects of students‟ attention
when it comes to language learning. They stress the necessity to learn vocabulary
through various exercises: reading, repetition, using words in context,
conversations, and most certainly, translations.
Using L1 translation accelerates students‟ L2 acquisition process. Students learn
new vocabulary faster through L1. Laufer and Shmueli claim “studies comparing
the effectiveness of various methods for learning always come up with the result
that an L1 translation is the most effective” (as quoted in Nation, 2001). If students
are aware of similarities and differences between L1 and L2, they can avoid errors
which could be derived from the transfer of their L1.
Rana Raddawi (2005:75) shows that “there was one factor that was tested and
proved that translation is effective when used in vocabulary acquisition, and that
was the time factor”. He concludes that in the vocabulary learning process, instead
of using various contexts, definitions in L2 and sometimes visual aids, the instructor
can utilize translation as a way of teaching the words especially in conveying the
meaning of abstract and unclear concepts like: happiness, sadness, success, failure,
health, luck, depression, etc. Providing the equivalent words in L1 is proven to be



16

“Translating a new word is in itself a useful technique- it is often the
simplest and clearest way of showing what a word means’’
Liu (2009:68) sees the use of L1 in L2 vocabulary learning, or providing translation
equivalents have several advantages. They are an easy and efficient way of
depicting the core meaning of a word. Knowing the L1 equivalent also gives the
learner a sense of certainty about the meaning of a word, a certainty that is a vital
first step for reinforcing the form-meaning connection and retaining the new word
in long tern memory. As Grabe and Stoller (1997: 114) put it, “Perhaps, for adults,
there are times when it is important to know that a word is understood accurately”.
What‟s more, using L1 translation may link a L2 word with well-established
semantic and linguistic structure which help the learner retain the word better,
because the L1 and its semantic structures are no doubt the steadiest “cognitive
hook to hang the new item on”(Fraser,1999: 238)
Translation has also advantage of being the most direct route to a word‟s meaning.
It is therefore economical and especially suitable for dealing with incidental
vocabulary that may crop up in a lesson. Many teachers find it extremely effective
in case the new words are too complicated or difficult to explain in English, for
example: to deal the word “patriotism” The teacher can say “patriotism có nghĩa là:
lòng yêu nước”.
One of the advantages is that it is not time-consuming and leaving more time for the
study of some other important language aspects. Using translation is the surest and
most economical way to convey the meanings during the lesson. Thus, translating
new words into Vietnamese can save the teachers‟ time of unsuccessful explanation
in English. Instead of going through a long explanation in the target language, it
would sometimes be easier and more efficient to give a translation of a vocabulary
item.
However, this way is not considered as creative way because it makes students fail


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CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY
2.1. A Quantitative and Qualitative study
Qualitative research, broadly defined by Strauss and Corbin (1990: 17), means "any
kind of research that produces findings not arrived at by means of statistical
procedures or other means of quantification". Strauss and Corbin (1990) also claim
that qualitative methods can be used to better understand any phenomenon about
which little is yet known. They can also be used to gain new perspectives on things
about which much is already known, or to gain more in-depth information that may
be difficult to convey quantitatively.
The quantitative approach, as defined by Burnes (1999: 21), “values objectivity
through the discovery of facts or truths” and “tests pre-established hypotheses
through the collection and measurement of data”. Creswell (2003:18) states,
quantitative research “employ strategies of inquiry such as experimental and
surveys, and collect data on predetermined instruments that yield statistical data”.
The findings from quantitative research can be predictive, explanatory, and
confirming.
This study used both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection,
including classroom observation, interviews and questionnaire. The reason of using
both qualitative and quantitative methods is minimize the weaknesses of single
measuring instruments to achieve greater reliability and validity (Johnson and
Onwuegbuzie, 2004). Quantitative research using questionnaire is able to produce

Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used, including class
observations, interviews and a student questionnaire to collect relevant information
for the study.
2.3.1. The student questionnaire
The questionnaire was administered to students. It contains nine items including
both close and open-ended items in Vietnamese so that the students can fully
understand the questions (See appendix 1). Questionnaire is preferred to interviews
to reduce the possible anxiety brought to the ethnic minority students.
The questionnaire emphasizes on: The students‟ preference and perceived towards
the use of Vietnamese translation in teaching English vocabulary and the usefulness

20

of this vocabulary teaching technique on students‟ vocabulary learning. The strong
point of questionnaire is the ability of collecting data from a wide group of
participants and it has fairly reliability (Mackey and Gass, 2005: 29).
2.3.2. Classroom observations
Six classes conducted by 3 teachers were observed to find out frequently
Vietnamese translation is used for presenting the meaning of new vocabulary and
activities are used to help their students consolidate words after using Vietnamese
translation. The lessons were not video-taped. Instead, the researcher observed and
noted the moments when the teacher used techniques and activities. As noted by
Mackey and Gass (2005:175), observations are advantageous in that they provide
the researcher with the opportunity to collect large amounts of rich data on the
participants‟ behavior and actions within a particular context. Thanks to its benefits,
in this research, class observation was utilized together with the above methods.
2.3.3. Interviews
Interviews are a research tool in which a researcher asks questions of participants;
interviews are often audio or video-taped for later transcription and analysis. The
interviews may take one of several forms: open-ended, focused, structured or