MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

LÊ THỊ TUYẾT HẠNH

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MULTIPLE
INTELLIGENCES AND VOCABULARY LEARNING
STRATEGIES OF EFL UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THESIS IN THEORY
AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

HUE, 2018


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

LÊ THỊ TUYẾT HẠNH

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MULTIPLE
INTELLIGENCES AND VOCABULARY LEARNING
STRATEGIES OF EFL UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY THESIS IN THEORY
AND METHODOLOGY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING
CODE: 62.14.01.11

SUPERVISOR:
Assoc. Prof. Dr LÊ PHẠM HOÀI HƯƠNG


survey as the two main research tools. Besides, the qualitative phase collected data
from 35 diarists and 65 interviewees out of the total number of all the participants.
The findings from questionnaires, interviews, and students’ diaries revealed
that using a bilingual dictionary was reported to be the most frequently used
strategy to find out the new word knowledge, followed by analyzing parts of
speech, guessing from textual context and asking classmates for meaning. For
memorizing new words, participants reported a high frequency in using soundrelated strategies, and then put new words in contexts, including conversation,
paragraphs or stories. In addition, vocabulary notebooks and word lists were also
preferred by university students. For evaluating new words, both quantitative and
qualitative findings showed a medium use of these strategies. The results indicated a
receptive practice of new words by doing word tests by students. The study also
found that textbooks and media were two main resources on which students relied
to expand vocabulary size.
The second aim of the study was to find out the correlation between students’
MI scores and their vocabulary learning strategy use. Before analyzing the
correlation, it was found that Intrapersonal intelligence was the most dominant type
among participants, while Mathematical Intelligence was the least used one.
Pearson correlation was performed to see the potential relation between two
variables. The findings showed that different intelligences correlated with different
types of VLS use frequency. The highest significant correlation was found between
Musical intelligence and Determination (DET) strategies and the lowest correlation
between Spatial Intelligence and DET strategies. Surprisingly, Interpersonal and
Verbal-linguistic intelligences had no relationship with any types of VLS. Positive
relationships were found between Musical Intelligence and DET, memory (MEM)
strategies; Spatial intelligence and DET strategies. Negative relationships were found

ii


between Naturalist intelligence and Cognitive (COG) strategies; Mathematical

I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Prof. Dr Tran Dinh Thang
and Assoc. Prof. Dr Luu Tien Hung, Dr Le Cao Tinh, who have stayed by my side
and empowered me during the program.
Special thanks to my two sisters, Dr Truong Thi Dung and Dr Nguyen
My Hang, from whom I gained a lot of experience for managing time to
complete the thesis. Moreover, I highly appreciate the times they cheered me
up when I felt stressed.
I am grateful to all the participants who took the time to take part in the
questionnaire surveys, interviews, diaries and other activities related to this research.
Without their involvement and assistance, the thesis would not have been possible.
I would like to thank my family, who have always provided me with unconditional
love and support during my course, and my lovely daughter, Bui Thao My, who offered me
time by being independent. My thanks also come to all the teachers who taught me during
the PhD program and my students, my friends who helped me in different ways.
iv


TABLE OF CONTENTS
STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP .......................................................................... i
ABSTRACT ...............................................................................................................ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................... iv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS............................................................................... viii
LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................... ix
LIST OF FIGURES AND PICTURES .................................................................. xi
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................ 1
1.1. Rationale ..............................................................................................................1
1.2. Research objectives ..............................................................................................4
1.3. Research questions ...............................................................................................4
1.4. Research scope .....................................................................................................4
1.5. Significance of the study ......................................................................................4

3.4.2. Pilot testing .............................................................................................. 55
3.5. Data collection procedure ..................................................................................59
3.6. Data analysis ......................................................................................................61
3.7. Research reliability and validity ........................................................................62
3.8. Ethical considerations ........................................................................................63
3.9. Summary ............................................................................................................63
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ................................................... 65
4.1. Introduction ........................................................................................................65
4.2. EFL university students’ VLS use .....................................................................65
4.2.1. Findings ................................................................................................... 65
4.2.2. Discussion ................................................................................................ 81
4.2.3. Summary .................................................................................................. 88
4.3. The relationship between EFL university students’ MI scores and VLS use ........89
4.3.1. Findings ................................................................................................... 90
4.3.2. Discussion .............................................................................................. 118
4.3.3. Summary ................................................................................................ 127
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS ................................. 128
5.1. Summary of key findings .................................................................................128
5.2. Limitations of the study ...................................................................................131
5.3. Implications for vocabulary teaching and learning ..........................................132
5.4. Suggestions for further study ...........................................................................135
5.5. Conclusion ........................................................................................................136
AUTHOR’S WORKS ........................................................................................... 137
REFERENCES ...................................................................................................... 138
APPENDICES
APPENDIX A:

VOCABULARY LEARNING STRATEGY
QUESTIONNAIRE ................................................................... 151


A SAMPLE OF GENERAL INTERVIEW ON
FACEBOOK .............................................................................. 171

APPENDIX J :

VLS QUESTIONNAIRE CRONBACH’S ALPHA
RELIABILITY .......................................................................... 176

APPENDIX K : MI QUESTIONNAIRE CRONBACH’S ALPHA
RELIABILITY .......................................................................... 178
APPENDIX L:

DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS OF VLS GROUPS ................... 179

APPENDIX M:

MEAN OF VLS IN MI GROUPS ............................................. 181

APPENDIX N:

CORRELATION BETWEEN STUDENTS’ MI SCORES
AND VLS USE ......................................................................... 183

vii


LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
COG

Cognitive strategies


Multiple Intelligences

MIDAS

Multiple Intelligences Developmental
and Assessment Scales

MIT

Multiple Intelligences Theory

SOC

Social strategies

VLS

Vocabulary learning strategies

viii


LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1.

Classifying Language Learning Strategies ...........................................7

Table 2.2.



Table 4.2.

VLS in three stages .............................................................................66

Table 4.3.

Mean and standard deviation of Discovery strategies ........................69

Table 4.4.

Mean and standard deviation of mnemonic strategies ........................72

Table 4.5.

Mean of frequency use of six Memory strategy types ........................73

Table 4.6.

Evaluating strategies used by EFL university students ......................78

Table 4.7.

Most frequently used VLS to discover new words .............................82

Table 4.8.

EFL university students’ most frequently used strategies

to


Table 4.16.

Musical students’ examples of learning new words .........................103

Table 4.17.

Correlation between Mathematical students and VLS use ...............105

Table 4.18.

Mathematical students’ strategy presentation ...................................105

Table 4.19.

Correlation between Existentialist students and VLS use ................108

Table 4.20.

Existentialist students’ reported VLS use .........................................108

Table 4.21.

Correlation between Interpersonal students and VLS use ................110

Table 4.22.

Correlation between Kinesthetic students and VLS use ...................111
ix


Figure 3.2.

Data analysis framework.....................................................................61

Figure 4.1.

EFL university students’ MI scores ....................................................90

Picture
Picture 4.1. Example from web-based vocabulary learning ..................................68
Picture 4.2. Example from K3_20’s diary..............................................................74
Picture 4.3. An example from student’s diary........................................................76
Picture 4.4. An example of student’s diary ............................................................77
Picture 4.5. An example of student’s diary. ...........................................................79
Picture 4.6. An example of student’s diary ..........................................................101

xi


CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
Vocabulary plays an indispensable role in language learning and is assumed
to be a good indicator of language proficiency (Steahr, 2008). It is also generally
believed that if language structures make up the skeleton of language, then it is
vocabulary that provides the vital organ and flesh (Harmer, 1997). This is
probably one of the reasons why English foreign language (hereafter EFL)
vocabulary teaching has become the focus of several studies in EFL teaching and
learning for the last thirty years. The growth of interest in vocabulary has also
been reflected in many books (Nation, 1990, 2001, 2014; Rebecca, 2017; Schmitt,
1997, 2000). Although research has demonstrated the key role of vocabulary