VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES


NGUYỄN THỊ BÍCH HẠNH

USING GUIDED EXTENSIVE READING TO
IMPROVE INCIDENTAL VOCABULARY LEARNING
FOR FIRST YEAR ENGLISH MAJOR STUDENTS
AT HUNG YEN TEACHERS’ TRAINING COLLEGE
(Sử dụng đọc rộng có hướng dẫn nhằm cải thiện việc học từ vựng ngẫu nhiên
cho sinh viên chuyên Anh năm thứ nhất tại trường Cao đẳng
Sư phạm Hưng Yên)

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60140111

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Hanoi – 2015

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES


NGUYỄN THỊ BÍCH HẠNH

Nguyen Thi Bich Hanh

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I owe my deepest gratitude to my supportive supervisor, Dr. Hoang Thi
Xuan Hoa, for her whole-hearted assistance, encouragement as well as the
profound guidance she gave me while I was doing my research.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my thanks to all my
teachers and lecturers in Faculty of Post-graduate Studies, University of
Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for
their valuable instruction and assistance throughout the realization of this thesis.
I am heartily thankful to the administrators, my colleagues, and first-year
students at Hung Yen Teachers’ Training College for their willingness to
participate in the research. Without their help, this program could not be
fulfilled.
Last but not least, I am indebted to my beloved family and friends who
have always inspired me to complete this study.

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ABSTRACT

The study aimed to examine whether EFL extensive reading could lead to
increase incidental vocabulary of elementary-level EFL learners and evaluate
the learners’ opinions about the ER program. The participants were 25 freshmen
majored in English at Hung Yen Teachers’ Training College. They were asked

1.3.Previous research...................................................................................................14
CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY............................................................................21
2.1.Participants ...........................................................................................................21
2.2.Action research......................................................................................................21
2.3. Instruments...........................................................................................................27
2.4. Data presentation and data analysis.....................................................................29
2.5.Chapter summary..................................................................................................30
CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS......................................................31
3.1.The results of the tests (Research question 1) ...................................................31
Table 3........................................................................................................................ 32
3.2.The results of questionnaire (Research question 2)..............................................34
3.1.Discussion.............................................................................................................38
PART C: CONCLUSIONS.......................................................................................40
1.Summary of the findings..........................................................................................40
2.Limitations of the study and recommendations for further study...........................42
REFERENCES.............................................................................................................I
APPENDICES.............................................................................................................V
APPENDIX 1: VOCABULARY TEST .....................................................................V
APPENDIX 2: THE VOCABULARY PRETEST RESULTS..................................IX
APPENDIX 3: THE VOCABULARY IMMEDIATE POSTTEST RESULTS.........X
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APPENDIX 4: THE VOCABULARY DELAYED POSTTEST RESULTS...........XI
APPENDIX 5: SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE .......................................................XII
APPENDIX 6: CÂU HỎI ĐIỀU TRA ...................................................................XIV
APPENDIX 7: WORKSHEET FOR BOOK REPORTS........................................XVI
APPENDIX 8: A SAMPLE OF LESSON PLAN.................................................XVII

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Second language

M

Mean

P

Probability value

SD

Standard of Deviation

SPSS

Statistical Package for the Social Sciences

ULIS

University of Language and International Studies

VNU

Vietnam National University, Hanoi

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It is clear that comprehension is one of the most fundamental reasons for reading, and
vocabulary, in turn, plays significant part in comprehension. Vocabulary clearly makes
a critical contribution to understanding what has been read. One important way to
develop vocabulary knowledge is through extensive reading. Students by reading
extensively will be exposed to variety scope of vocabulary which is necessary in
reading comprehension. Extensive reading (ER) is an important aspect of any English
as a foreign/second language reading program. Bell (2001) stated that ER is a type of
reading instruction program that has been used in EFL settings, as an effective strategy
of developing reading fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary development.
The benefits of ER have been widely documented in studies which range in scope from
large-scale implementation across whole school districts to a case study of single
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participant. The effectiveness of ER has been generally summarized to provide
comprehensible input, to develop reading speed and comprehension which lead to
learners' motivation and confidence and specifically to reinforce, confirm and deepen
knowledge of vocabulary (Bell, 2001; Pigada & Schmitt, 2006; Rashidi & Piran, 2011;
Richards & Schmitt, 2002; Soltani, 2011). Since ER offers a large number of graded
interesting materials of various topics in an anxiety-free learning environment for
general language improvement, it increases learners' motivation and more positive
attitude towards the target language. It is believed that since the learner is reading for
pleasure, he will be eager to see what happens next and will therefore try to read more
rapidly. Moreover, ER can help students to automatically recognize the words that
frequently appear in the reading texts in a very pleasurable manner. While reading
extensively, learners are engaged in reading materials as naturally and comfortably as
possible without compulsory or strict follow-up assessments or precise confirmation of
meaning by teachers, so that learners experience fun and reward rather than stress
during the ER process (Allan, 2009; Hill, 2001) which can help develop students’
learning independence, confidence and autonomy (Bell, 2001; Pigada & Schmitt, 2006;

research could just reflect the effects of the extensive reading program on the subjects
in the context.
4. Method of the study
To find out the answers to the above research questions, an action research (AR) design
was adopted. The research followed the model of an AR program as McBride and
Schostak (1991). They steps were carried out as follows: (1) Identifying the problem,
(2) collecting and analyzing the data, (3) planning and implementing the action, (4)
collecting data to monitor change and (5) analyzing and evaluating
5. Design of the study
The study is composed of three following parts:
The study consists of 3 parts:
Part A - Introduction

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This part includes rationale, aims, scope and design of the study to introduce and
appeal the readers.
Part B
Chapter 1: Literature Review - mentions some theoretical background about
extensive reading, factors affecting the effectiveness of ER and vocabulary leaning.
This chapter aims to provide the readers background knowledge to have more
understanding about the paper.
Chapter 2: Methodology - discusses the methods or approaches employed by
the authors to collect the data for the study.
Chapter 3: Results and Discussion - analyses the data collected in the research
process and introduces recommendations to make a good ER program.
Part C - Conclusion
In this part, the author offers a summary of the findings, conclusion, recommendations,
limitations, and future directions for further study.


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Spanish; S. Y. Lee (2001) regarding factors which make writing difficult. To sum up,
many researchers have agreed upon the vital role of reading in language learning.

1.1.2. Extensive Reading
Many studies have been made on working out a definition of ER. Among them is the
one done by Lewis and Hill (1992) in which extensive reading means that students
have general understanding of the text without necessary understanding every word.
This definition fails to help learner imagine the whole picture of ER but an aspect of
purpose of ER. However, Bamford and Day (1997) defined ER as an approach to
foreign language teaching in general, and to the teaching of foreign language reading in
particular. To follow Bamford and Day’s (1997) ideas, Bruton (2002) suggested that
ER can apply to a number of “amounts”. The amount of new reading text which is
read, the amounts of text consumed and the amount of time spent reading. Furthermore,
the definition that seems to be more satisfying than those mentioned before is
concluded by Robb and Susser (1989). They defined ER as a language teaching and
learning procedure because it was reading (1) of large quantities of material or long
text, (2) for global or general understanding, (3) with the intention of obtaining
pleasure from the text, (4) with students choosing what they want to read, (5) the books
are not discussed in class.
After considering various definitions and the context of the study, our working
definition is that extensive reading is reading authentic texts in the foreign language
without help at students' own level of proficiency for general or global understanding
with primary intention of obtaining pleasure from the materials and done out of class
without the added pressure of a comprehension test to follow.

1.1.3. Effective Extensive Reading


When supplied with materials of high interest, students not only read more (Glazer &
Giorgis, 2005), they also apply more reading strategies (Coady, 1979).
•

Variety: The reading materials should deal with a wide range of subject matter.

While narrow reading focuses on in-depth studying of one topic, extensive reading
instead stresses exposing students to different subjects and genres in order to
construct/expand their word schemata.

1.1.4. Benefits of extensive reading
The specific benefits of extensive reading are diversified and wide-ranging. A large
numbers of researched s have provided evidence through experiences for these effects
of extensive reading in language learning. Many teachers who have been deeply
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involved in this instructional approach for a very long time wrote about these benefits.
From Day & Bamford (1998), Hill (2001), Nation (2005), Robb (1998), and Waring
(1997) the benefits of extensive reading were reported as follows (Porcaro, 2009).
• Extensive reading builds automaticity of word recognition.
• Automatic recognition of a word allows lexical access – the automatic calling up from
memory of a word’s meanings and its phonological representation.
• Extensive reading builds vocabulary knowledge.
• Comprehension and fluent reading depend on automatic word recognition and
vocabulary knowledge, and thus are advanced through extensive reading.
• Fluent reading allows the reader to move from word-by-word decoding to the
processing of ideas, which is essential to higher level reading and thinking skills.
• Extensive reading builds awareness of grammatical structures and the ability to

After investigating the available materials at the bookstores and the level of my
students, the researcher decided to choose GRs of the Oxford Bookworm Libraries.
Stories in the series seem to be interesting and suitable for the students in this study.
Moreover, there are pictures which illustrate the content of the stories. Some of the
stories are very famous and made into films or plays. The researcher also took books a
level 1 for my student, who have never had habit of extensive reading before.
1.2.

Vocabulary

1.2.1. Vocabulary in second language learning
In the very first part of his book “Vocabulary”, Michael Mc Carthy (1990, p.2, cited in
Quach, 2007) stated: “It is the experience of most language teachers that the single,
biggest component of any language course is vocabulary. No matter how well the
student learns grammar, no matter how successfully the sounds of L2 are mastered,
without words to express a wide range of meanings, communication in an L2 just
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cannot happen in any meaningful way”. It is impossible to deny the role of vocabulary
in communication in an L2. A leaner’s vocabulary size plays a very significant part in
his or her ability to communicate due to the fact that “words are the tools we use to
think, to express ideas and feelings and to learn about the world.” (Johnson and
Johnson, 2004, p.1, cited in Quach, 2007)
In the book named “Understanding Vocabulary” (2000, p.16, cited in Quach, 2007),
Alexander wrote: “Comprehension improves when you know what the words mean”
and “words are currency of communication. A robust vocabulary improves all areas of
communication – listening, speaking, reading and writing”.
All the above quotations highly appreciate the important role of vocabulary in language
learning, especially in second language learning. Thus, teaching vocabulary should be a

content of the story, not on vocabulary learning. Learners’ attention is on the meaning
of the text and on developing reading fluency.

1.2.3. Reading and incidental vocabulary learning
A case study implemented by Grabe and Stoller (1997) also found significant
gains in vocabulary through incidental vocabulary learning through extensive reading.
They examined the vocabulary development of an American man learning Portuguese
through extensive reading. The subject received three weeks of instruction and spent
additional hours reading outside of class. After being exposed to a large amount of
vocabulary, he showed a 20% increase on the final vocabulary test five months later.
They claimed that the study “strongly suggests that reading and vocabulary will
develop as a result of extensive reading practice”
In the process of incidental vocabulary learning, word knowledge is thought to be
cumulated and developed gradually through multiple exposures in various reading
contexts. Extensive reading, as a form of comprehensible input, has the effect of
providing learners with rich contexts ideal for vocabulary learning. During the
reciprocal process of extensive reading, the acquisition of words is the result of
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successes in inferring word meanings from a meaningful context and through more
reading experiences the developed and matured vocabulary inference ability could in
turn contributes to reading level.
According to Krashen (1993), extensive reading is considered beneficial for overall
language competence and fundamental to vocabulary development as well in the L2
learning. Researchers such as Krashen believe that similar to L1 word learning, reading
is the major means for acquiring vocabulary and have thus strongly encouraged the
implementation of extensive reading programs in an L2 learning environment
(Krashen, 1989). The proposition that most vocabulary is learned incidentally has
appealed to the default argument that learning from context is the only way to account

learning, other researchers have found that reading for L2 vocabulary development
may lead to some problems. First, there were wrong inferences that vocabulary was
learned cursorily which prevents learners from using words actively. Some lexical
items such as words with a deceptive morphological structure, idioms, words (Laufer,
1997) often misguide the learners and make them misunderstand the words. It shortcircuits readers’ contextual guessing process.
Second, to have an effective guessing, the context is well understood and almost all of
the surrounding words in the text are known, which requires good textual clues and
substantial prior vocabulary knowledge on the part of the learner. Different from native
speakers, L2 learners have some difficulties in guessing word meanings correctly, for
they always have more opportunities to encounter new words within various contexts
with their lack of sufficient word knowledge. Moreover, correct guessing of word
meanings depends on accurate recognition of surrounding words and good use of
reading strategies (Huckin & Coady, 1999). However, learners always feel frustrated in
comprehension when facing overwhelming texts in extensive reading, for their word
knowledge is insufficient and lack active use of different reading strategies. So the
readers may decide to ignore the words, or cannot infer a word from context.

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Last, Huckin & Coady (1999) stated that the non-recurrence of new words cannot
guarantee the acquisition of the vocabulary. This can be accounted for by the fact that
unlike native speakers, L2 learners have very few opportunities to be exposed to the
unknown words repeatedly, apart from the high-frequency words. Accordingly, they
cannot pick up the features of the words incrementally to form the solid lexical
knowledge in their mental lexicon.
1.3.Previous research
Regarding the benefits of ER on improving learners’ vocabulary learning, a numbers of
studies that range in scope from case studies of single readers to large-scale
applications through a school were widely documented. Within the scope of the thesis,

be learned incidentally but that most of the words were not learned. More frequent
words were more likely to be learned and were more resistant to decay. The data
suggest that, on average, the meaning of only one of the 25 items will be remembered
after three months, and the meaning of none of the items that were met fewer than eight
times will be remembered three months later. The data thus suggest that very little new
vocabulary is retained from reading one graded reader, and that a massive amount of
graded reading is needed to build new vocabulary. It is suggested that the benefits of
reading a graded reader should not only be assessed by researching vocabulary gains
and retention, but by looking at how graded readers help develop and enrich already
known vocabulary.
In 2006, Pigada and Schmitt used 70 nouns and 63 verbs in their study in investigating
incidental vocabulary acquisition with a participant, a learner of French, by using four
graded readers in French. Since the texts were short, the authors included only “the
most common parts of speech found in natural text”, 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). The
measurement procedure was a one-on-one interview that allowed a very good
indication of whether learning occurred. They found that substantial word learning
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occurred during the ER, although the improvement was not uniform across the three
types of word knowledge. Spelling was enhanced in all noun frequency groups and in
all but two verb groups. For meaning, low-frequency nouns and verbs showed limited
learning, and verbs were more limited than nouns. Grammatical behavior knowledge
was improved in all frequency groups of nouns, while the percentage of grammatical
mastery of verbs was much lower than that of nouns. Overall, the study indicates that
more vocabulary acquisition is possible from extensive reading than previous studies
have suggested.