VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
DEPARTMENT OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

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PHẠM THANH VIỆT THE USE OF EXTRA ACTIVITES TO IMPROVE ESP
VOCABULARY FOR THIRD – YEAR STUDENTS AT
FACULTY OF TOURISM, USSH – VNU
(Sử dụng một số hoạt động bổ trợ nhằm nâng cao hiệu quả việc học từ
vựng chuyên ngành cho sinh viên năm thứ ba Khoa Du lịch học, Trường
Đại học Khoa học Xã hội và Nhân văn, ĐHQG Hà Nội)
MA. MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology

FACULTY OF TOURISM, USSH – VNU
(Sử dụng một số hoạt động bổ trợ nhằm nâng cao hiệu quả việc học từ
vựng chuyên ngành cho sinh viên năm thứ ba Khoa Du lịch học, Trường
Đại học Khoa học Xã hội và Nhân văn, ĐHQG Hà Nội)
MA. MINOR THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 601410
Supervisor: MA. Kim Văn Tất Hanoi, 2009 iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents Page number
Candidate’s statement…………………………………………………………………….

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1.3.2 What needs to be taught about the vocabulary item? ……………………
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1.3.2.1 Meaning …………………………………………………………
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1.3.2.2 Usage…………………………………………………………………
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1.3.2.3 Form …………………………………………………………………
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1.3.2.4 Grammar ……………………………………………………………
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1.4 Vocabulary teaching and learning ……………………………………………….
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1.4.1. Vocabulary Learning ……………………………………………………
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1.4.1.1 Explicit vocabulary learning ………………………………………
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1.4.1.2 Implicit vocabulary learning ………………………………………
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1.4.2 Vocabulary Teaching ……………………………………………………
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1.4.2.1 Presentation techniques ……………………………………………
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1.4.2.2 Practice and consolidation activities ………………………………
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1.5 Vocabulary in ESP teaching and learning ……………………………………….
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1.5.1 What is ESP? ………………………………………………………………
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2.4 Problems of the students of tourism ……………………………………………
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CHAPTER 3: THE STUDY ……………………………………………………………
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3.1 Subjects of the study ……………………………………………………………
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3.2 Instruments and materials used in the study ……………………………………
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3.2.1 The questionnaires …………………………………………………………
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3.2.2 Handouts and additional reading materials ………………………………
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3.2.3. Supplementary listening lessons …………………………………………
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3.3 Data analysis and findings ……………………………………………………….
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3.3.1. About the first questionnaire………………………………………………
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3.3.2. About the second questionnaire …………………………………………
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3.3.2.1. Students’ evaluation of the applied extra vocabulary activities…….
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3.3.2.2. Effectiveness of extra vocabulary activities on the vocabulary
memory capacity of the student ……………………………………

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3.3.2.3. Students’ assessment about the effectiveness of extra vocabulary
activities …………………………………………………………….


APPENDIXES
1
INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
Together with teaching General English (GE), many teachers are now required to teach
English to students of different fields such as tourism, medicine, engineering, etc. namely

 Investigate the students‟ attitudes toward learning vocabulary
 Investigate the students‟ attitude toward vocabulary activities in the course book
 Encourage learners‟ autonomy in learning vocabulary through guidance and
instruction.
 Investigate the effectiveness of extra activities on vocabulary learning of students
 Identify which extra activities applied are most preferred by the students.
The author of this study, by doing such research, hopes to contribute to the improvement of
ESP teaching and learning in general and ESP vocabulary teaching in particular at USSH –
VNU.
3. Scope of the study
Obviously, we have a wide range of choice of activities that can help to improve ESP
vocabulary of students. However, this research only targets on the extra activities that were
designed and introduced by the author to the third – year students at Faculty of Tourism,
USSH. Also, it focuses on exploiting words, expressions and terms of the book English for
Students of Tourism, which is now being used as textbook in class for the target students,
edited by a group of teachers at the Department of Foreign Languages, USSH – VNU, and
some additional reading materials as well as supplementary listening lessons provided by the
teacher.
With such limited scope, the result of this research, of course, may not be applicable to
students of all levels or of all classes as well.
4. Research questions
This study was carried out in order to find the answer to two questions as follows:
1. How do extra activities help improve ESP vocabulary of third-year students at
Faculty of Tourism, USSH – VNU?
2. Which applied activity is most favoured by the students?

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5. Method of the study
The study applied quantitative approach which included two questionnaires for the target
students (one questionnaire is provided before the application of extra activities, and the other

Vocabulary learning is central to language acquisition, whether the language is first, second
or foreign. Although vocabulary has not always been recognized as a priority in language
teaching, interests 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. This chapter deals with theoretical
background of vocabulary in general and ESP vocabulary in particular.
1.1 Definition of vocabulary
Nobody can deny that vocabulary, together with grammar, phonology, is an essential
component of language. Thus, there exit various concepts relating to vocabulary. In Longman
dictionary of language teaching and applied linguistic, vocabulary is defined as “a set of
lexemes, including single words, compound words and idioms” (Richards, 1997:400). Pyles
and Algeo (1970) stated “it is true that vocabulary is the focus of language with its sound and
meaning, which interlock to allow us to communicate with one another, and it is words that
we arrange together to make sentences, conversation and discourse of all kind”. Meanwhile,
Penny Ur (1996) maintained “a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word, a
compound of two or three words and multi-words idioms”.
The above quotations about vocabulary have given us at least a partial answer to the question
of what vocabulary is in terms of vocabulary teaching and learning. Vocabulary deals not
only with simple words which may express a single idea, but also with complex, compound
words and multi – words idioms which can only be understood in a given sentence or context.
1.2 The role of vocabulary in language learning and teaching
“When most of us think about language, we think first about words” (Pyles and Algeo, 1970).
The quotation has proved the essential role of vocabulary in language. Obviously, for most
language learners it is important to acquire the components of a language before developing
its skills. People, in communication, can understand each other even if they make
grammatical mistakes. However, not knowing the exact word that you need makes it
frustrating for both you and the interlocutor. That is why Flower and Berman (1989) came to
a conclusion that “good English means having a big vocabulary”.

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 Supplementary materials which include drills, exercises, texts, audio, video, etc
 The students who provide a wide range of unanticipated and unpredictable items in
forms of questions, enquiries, and even errors.
 Specific vocabulary activities designed by the teacher for his particular group of
students.
In addition to above-mentioned principles, Gairns and Redman (1986) provide also cultural
factors and the principle of need and level. Learnability and teachability are other criteria we
should take into consideration.
1.3.2 What needs to be taught about the vocabulary item?
Once we have chosen what words to teach it is also necessary to know what to teach about
each lexical item. There are many categories which can be taught to know the word properly;
nevertheless, it is not necessary for learners to know about all the words they have learnt.
As for what involved in the learning of a new word, B. Laufer summarizes that knowledge of
the following is necessary in order to know a word:
 Form
 Word structure
 Syntactic pattern of the word in a phrase and sentence
 Meaning
 Lexical relation of the word with other words, such as synonymy, antonymy,
hyponymy
 Common collocations
According to Harmer (1991:158) to know the word involves knowing its:
 Meaning (its definition) - meanings in context, sense relations (synonyms, antonyms)
 Usage – collocations, idioms and metaphors, style and register
 Form – spelling and pronunciation, prefixes and suffixes, parts of speech
 Grammar – irregular forms, phrasal verbs, adverbs and adjectives
1.3.2.1 Meaning

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The meaning of a word, which can be found in the dictionary, is primarily what it refers to in

According to De Carrico (2001), when concerning collocational associations as memory aids,
researchers have noted that vocabulary is best learned in context and that words that are
naturally associated in a text are more easily learned than those having no such associations.
In terms of syntax, collocation can be divided into two mains syntactic groups: grammatical
and lexical. In grammatical collocations, a noun, verb, or adjective frequently co – occurs
with a grammatical item, usually a preposition. For example, reason for, rely on, account for.
Whereas lexical collocations do not contain grammatical words but combinations of full
lexical items, i.e., nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. These combinations are such verb +
noun (spend time, leave a message), adjective + noun (luxurious hotel, spacious room), verb
+ adverb (serve carefully), and adverb + adjective (terribly sorry).
According to Bahns (1993), learners seem to rely on a “hypothesis of transferability”
whereby the majority of collocational errors found in learner English can be traced to L1
influence. For example, Vietnamese learners in elementary level usually say phone to
somebody instead of phone somebody, based on influence from a Vietnamese equivalent.
Bahns also recommends that teacher should help students focus on identifying the differences
for a chosen group of semantically equivalent L1/L2 pairs.
1.3.2.3 Form
Students also need to know the different forms words have and when to use them. Therefore,
word formation is a very important part in teaching vocabulary. Getting familiar with the
different forms of words, the students can easily know how to use the words in writing and
speaking.
Because word formation provides essential clues for word recognition, language teachers
should be prepared to teach the basic rules of productive word-forming processes. According
to a number of sources, the five most productive types of word formation in present day
English are affixation, compounding, clipping, conversion, and blending. Studies suggest that
different instructional strategies should be placed in the foreground in teaching vocabulary at
different proficiency levels. While basic students learn from selective listening, songs,
rhymes, and drills, more advanced learners would be better served by synonym and antonym
exercises and with clusters of contextualized vocabulary arranged according to situational or
semantic categories.

as the spelling indicates: VIP (very important person). etc.

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1.3.2.4 Grammar
Word grammar is one of the most important parts that students should be taught carefully.
Teachers should give the students the opportunity to be exposed to grammatical patterns and
to practice them frequently, such as nouns (countable and uncountable), verb
complementation, phrasal verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Therefore, different parts of speech
should usually be taught separately because they occur in differing sentence pattern, but they
need not be widely separated in a course if their meanings are very similar.
1.4 Vocabulary teaching and learning
Teaching vocabulary is not just conveying the meaning to the students and asking them to
learn those words by heart. If teachers believe that the words are worth explaining and
learning, then it is important that they should do this efficiently. Teachers should use different
techniques and activities in teaching English vocabulary to motivate the learners, enrich their
vocabulary and enable them to speak English properly.
There are many techniques and activities that teachers can employ and use in teaching
vocabulary, such as presentation, discovery techniques and practice. Teaching vocabulary
involves not only presentation of new words but also practice and consolidation.
1.4.1. Vocabulary Learning
1.4.1.1 Explicit vocabulary learning
In explicit vocabulary learning students engage in activities that focus attention on
vocabulary. It is a very important consideration that we can maximize vocabulary learning
considerably by teaching word families instead of individual words forms. Presenting word
families with many words built around a particular root, gather word together so that
association among them can be seen (DeCarrico, 2001).
Meaning associations attached to words are also important. Words appear to be organized
into semantically related sets in the mind, and thus the association attached to a word will
affect the way that it stores in the brain. Psychologists investigate these associations by
presenting subjects with a word and asking them to suggest other words that bring to mind.

word and the process of translating does not encourage the manipulation with words which is
very important for the consolidation stage. At intermediate levels we can use discovery
techniques. They employ the learner‟s previous knowledge and activate the work with words.
Discovery techniques together with using dictionaries and asking others activities belong to

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more emphasised strategies that allow the learner more autonomy than the above mentioned
techniques.
It is suggested that closely related synonyms or antonyms should probably be avoided if the
activities of word pairing is used since research shows that similarities between words can
make learning more difficult because of interference, or cross - association. The way to avoid
cross – association in closely related semantic group is to integrate new words with old ones
by teaching the most frequent and useful and only after it is well- established introduce its
less frequent antonym partner (Nation 1990; Schmitt 2000).
For presenting word families, one way is simply to introduce such a family along with the
definitions for each word. Another way is to isolate the word families that occur in a
particular text by highlighting them so that students can see the relationships. Highlighting
passages in texts has the advantage of providing a more natural context in which students can
trace words through the discourse and observe how the form change according to discourse
function. Texts may be authentic materials or, may be simple natural constructed by the
teacher.
1.4.2.2 Practice and consolidation activities
The aim of this stage is to store the new word in the long-term memory and to turn passive
vocabulary into active vocabulary. The practice should be carefully organized so that the load
of new lexis would not discourage the learner. In addition, it is important to emphasize “that
experiments on vocabulary seem to suggest that students remember best when they have
actually done something with the words they are learning” (Harmer 1991:160).
Consequently, there are many techniques that involve more than just repeating vocabulary
and that help to fix the new word in the learner‟s memory. To name some of them: filling in
gaps in sentences, matching words to other words, replacing words with their synonyms or

As Dudley-Evans & St John and Anthony (1998) put it, English for Specific Purposes (ESP)
is centered on the language appropriate to the activities of the discipline it serves in terms of
grammar, lexis, register, study skills, discourse and genre.
Another definition is Komarova & Lipgart‟s (1994): “By ESP we understand a variety of
English characterised by the two most important features: a definite conceptual orientation,
and a set of linguistic restrictions imposed upon the contextual functioning of words. »
However, according to P. Strevens (1988), ESP consists of English teaching which is:

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 designed to meet specified needs of the learner;
 related to content (i.e. in its themes and topics) to particular disciplines, occupation
and activities;
 center on the language appropriate to those activities, in syntax, lexis, discourse,
semantics, etc;
 in contrast with General English
The term "specific" in ESP refers to the specific purpose for learning English. Students
approach the study of English through a field that is already known and relevant to them.
This means that they are able to use what they learn in the ESP classroom right away in their
work and studies. The ESP approach enhances the relevance of what the students are learning
and enables them to use the English they know to learn even more English, since their
interest in their field will motivate them to interact with speakers and texts.
ESP assesses needs and integrates motivation, subject matter and content for the teaching of
relevant skills. ESP combines subject matter and English language teaching. Such a
combination is highly motivating because students are able to apply what they learn in their
English classes to their main field of study, whether it be accounting, business management,
economics, computer science or tourism. Being able to use the vocabulary and structures that
they learn in a meaningful context reinforces what is taught and increases their motivation.
The students' abilities in their subject-matter fields, in turn, improve their ability to acquire
English. Subject-matter knowledge gives them the context they need to understand the
English of the classroom. In the ESP class, students are shown how the subject-matter content

- Symbols and Formulae – they are the subject matter of the learner‟s speciality, and
teacher may explain their function in the text, or if abbreviations are concerned, to
demonstrate their transfer from the written form into the spoken version and vice versa.
- Sub-technical vocabulary – “words that have one or more „general‟ English meanings
and which in technical contexts take on extended meanings (technical, or specialized in
some fashion)” (Trimble 1985:129) or as the Kennedy and Bolitho´s definition states
“words which are not specific to a subject speciality but which occur regularly in
scientific and technical texts – e.g. reflection, intense, accumulate, tendency, isolate and
dense” (1984:57-58).

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According to Inmann (cited in Kennedy Bolitho 1984: 58) sub-technical vocabulary
seems to be involved in almost 80 per cent of scientific texts which is a quite high
occurrence. Furthermore, as Trimble (1985:129) emphasized the sub-technical lexis
have their meanings in „general‟ English and take on specialized meanings within a
technical context, which often represent a problem for both the learner and the teacher.
Consequently, it is the sub-technical lexis that teacher should give high priority when
teaching ESP vocabulary.
- Highly technical vocabulary – these terms are very specific and so may be less
comprehensible. Every subject has its set of highly technical vocabulary and the gap
between the generally known terms and those known just by real specialists is quite
wide in some fields. Kennedy and Bolitho (1984: 57) suggest that these terms “should
arise, in context, in the specialist classes and are not normally the teacher‟s
responsibility”.
1.5.4 Identify the needs of ESP learners for vocabulary
According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987: 55) necessities can be understood as “what the
learner needs to know in order to function in the target situation effectively,” which in terms
of vocabulary means to know vocabulary which is “commonly used in the situation
identified”.
To define what the learner already knows is necessary. The learner‟s lack is then the gap

to identify the grammatical function of a word and can carry a meaning which may help
identify the word. In other words “there is a strong relationship between the root of the word
and its suffix” (Kennedy and Bolitho 1984: 61), which could be used in many exercises in
order to practise the identification of word classes.
Furthermore, there is technical vocabulary which is represented by noun compounds or “noun
strings” (Trimble 1985:130). Noun compounds consist of two or more nouns and necessary
adjectives (sometimes a verb or an adverb can be a part of noun strings). The whole nouns
string “expresses a ´single noun‟ idea” and so long phrasing in texts can be avoided (Trimble
1985:130-131). However, as Trimble points out, noun compounding is not common to all
languages. Thus, both understanding and producing noun compounds makes problems for
many non-native students and to analyse them is useful to practise (1985:131,163).

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“Compounds are usually formed from prepositional phrases or relative clauses and many can
be back-formed into one or the other of these” (Trimble1985:131). Trimble states basic rules
how to understand and produce from simple to very complex noun strings.
The complex and very complex noun strings present difficulties also for native speakers and
so these “types of compounds are best left out of teaching plans, except, perhaps, for a few
demonstrations of their difficulty” (Trimble 1985:163).
1.5.5.2. Word relations
Kennedy and Bolitho stress that “words do not exist in isolation” (1984:62) and so they
should be taught in context. Furthermore, “the meaning of a word can only be understood and
learnt in terms of relationship with other words in the language” (Gairns and Redman
1986:22). In order to practise these word relationships the learners should do activities
involving synonyms (words with similar meaning), antonyms (words with opposite meaning),
hyponyms (subordinate terms), collocations, phrasal verbs (a base verb and an adverbial
particle) and exercises focused on some other types of relations (e.g. cause and effect).
Contextual clues is an exercise designed to practise word relationship whereas “building up
sets of words related to one another not only practises vocabulary skills but also develops the
concept of classification” (Kennedy and Bolitho 1984:64).

linked with “the study skill of noting and ordering vocabulary for future reference, and with
decisions about the priorities of different items” (1984:65). It means that a student should be
encouraged to think about whether the word is very important for him and so an example in
context would be useful or whether he just needs a short definition to recognize the word next
time (Kennedy and Bolitho 1984:66).
Learners can organize new items in different ways. However, since “words are not learnt
mechanically, as little packets of meaning, but associatively” (Morgan and Rinvolucri
2004:7) the most effective and favourite strategies in ESP vocabulary teaching are diagrams,
mind maps, word trees, grouping words by activity or process, by categories (building
materials: stone, sand, wood), by word families (to build, builder, building), by topic (at a
building site), synonyms or antonyms. “As organization is the key to memory, this is an
important part of teaching your students how to be efficient learners”(Gairns and Redman
1986:100).

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ESP vocabulary can be practised by means of similar techniques used for practising ELT
vocabulary. Thus, the discussions and simulations focused on working environment and
technical issues requiring the learners´ knowledge of ESP vocabulary are useful.
Written tasks involve writing reports and instructions for use, giving summaries from
technical articles, describing processes, filling in diagrams, describing graphs and tables, or
classifying items into lists etc. In addition, these days many students participate in various
competitions where they introduce their projects and so they may try to develop a brief
English summary of their presentations and their teacher should encourage them.
1.5.5.5 Dictionaries and online - dictionaries
Dictionaries are the best resources where new words and new uses for old words can be
encountered. Whereas the students at elementary level prefer using a good bilingual
dictionary, the students at the intermediate level should be encouraged to use a monolingual
dictionary since it is the best source of information about meaning, spelling, pronunciation,
word formation, grammar, and idiomatic use of a word (Harmer 1991:175). As to the ESP
vocabulary teaching special attention should be paid to the sub-technical vocabulary when