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

HANOI – 2012


TABLE OF CONTENT


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
2.5.3. Dictionary strategies ................................................................ 40
2.5.4. Teaching and learning in context .............................................. 41
2.5.5. Memory strategies .................................................................... 41
2.5.6. Analysis of word features ......................................................... 42
2.5.7. Use of vocabulary .................................................................... 42
PART C: CONCLUSION .......................................................................... 43

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:
Figure 1: Chart of the design of the study .................................................... 25
Figure 2: Student's awareness of the importance of vocabulary
learning ........................................................................................................ 29

ABBREVIATIONS
COG

Cognitive strategy
iv


DET

Determination strategy

HPCC

Hai Phong Community College

L1

First Language


Vocabulary Learning Strategies

X

Mean of frequency of use

v


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.

3. Research questions
The research questions that the present study seeks to answer are:
1. What is the students‟ awareness of the importance of vocabulary learning?
2. What vocabulary learning strategies do the first year students at Hai Phong
Community College commonly use?

2


4. Scope of the study
The study focused on the investigation of vocabulary learning strategies
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

are also presented. In addition, the classification of language learning strategies in
general and vocabulary learning strategies in particular are reviewed to set up the
theoretical framework for the investigation in the next chapter.
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. Wong5


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.

ways of processing information that enhance comprehension, learning, or retention
of the information” or in their other words learning strategies are the “special
thoughts or behaviors that individuals use to help them comprehend, learn, or retain
new information.”
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.



Communicative - Experiential Strategies



Interpersonal Strategies



Affective Strategies

It seems that among numbers of classifications of learning strategies given by
researchers, Oxford‟s scheme is the most comprehensive detailed system of six
strategies, classified as direct and indirect. Oxford's (1990:17) taxonomy of LLS is
shown as following:
Direct strategies

Indirect strategies



Memory strategies

 Metacognitive strategies



Cognitive strategies


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
9


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
developing communicative competence”. Besides developing the communicative
competence of the students, teachers who train students to use LLS can help them
become better language learners. Helping students understand good LLS and
training them to develop and use such good LLS can be considered to be the
appreciated characteristics of a good language teacher. Research into the good LLS
revealed a number of positive strategies so that such strategies could also be used by
bad language learners trying to become more successful in language learning.

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
11




Self-initiation: using a variety of means to make the

meaning of words clear
Cognitive



Guessing: activating background knowledge, using

linguistic items


Use of dictionaries

12


Memory

Activation



Note-taking



Rehearsal: word lists, repetition, etc.


Bilingual dictionary
Word lists
Flash cards
Ask teacher for an L1 translation
Ask teacher for paraphrase or synonym of a new word

SOC

Ask teacher for a sentence including the new word
13


Ask classmates for meaning
Discover new meaning through group work activities
Strategies for consolidating a word once it has been encountered
Study and practice meaning in a group
SOC

Teacher checks students‟ flash cards or word lists for accuracy
Interact with native speaker
Study word with a pictorial presentation of its meaning
Image word‟s meaning
Connect word to a personal experience
Associate the word with its coordinates
Associate the word with its synonyms and antonyms

MEM

Use semantic maps
Use „scales‟ for gradable adjectives

Use the vocabulary section in your textbook
Listen to tape of word lists
Put English labels on physical objects
Keep a vocabulary notebook
Use English-language media (songs, movies, newscasts, etc.)
Testing oneself with word tests

MET

Use spaced word practice
Skip or pass new word
Continue to study word over time

Table 2: Norbert Schmitt’s (1997) taxonomy of vocabulary learning strategies
1.2.2.3. Classification of Nation (2001)
In a more recent attempt, Nation (2001) proposes taxonomy of various
vocabulary learning strategies. The strategies in the taxonomy are divided into three
general classes of „planning‟, „source‟ and „processes‟. Planning strategies involve
deciding on what words and aspects of words to focus on, what strategies to use and
how often to give attention to certain words. Meanwhile, sources strategies concern
ways to find out information about words. This information may embrace all
aspects of word knowledge and can be found in the word itself (word part analysis),
the context (guessing from context), sources of reference (dictionaries) or L1 (via
analogy). The final set of strategies (processes) includes ways to remember words
and make the available for use. The particular strategies in this set are divided into
15


three sub-categories related to three conditions of vocabulary learning, namely
noticing, retrieving and generating. The whole taxonomy is illustrated in the


Analyzing the word



Using context



Consulting a reference source

in L1 or L2

Processes: establishing knowledge



Using parallels in L1 and L2



Noticing



Retrieving



Generating

during the first and second year. It means that there are four terms of studying
English with the total 240 periods. The textbook chosen for the first two terms is
New Cutting Edge – Elementary (Students‟ Book) by Sarah Cunningham and Peter
Moor, 2005. During the two terms later, the students are introduced New Cutting
Edge – Pre-intermediate (Students‟ Book) by Sarah Cunningham and Peter Moor,
2005. These materials were chosen to teach because it combines the comprehensive
syllabus and reliable teaching resources that have made the course so popular, with
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:
18


-

Shops and shopping

choice format of phonetics, vocabulary, grammar, reading comprehension.
Following is the form of a final examination.
Number

Test items

I

Phonetics

Number of
questions
5

Level of
difficulty
Easy &
Medium
Easy &
Medium

II

Vocabulary

15

III

Grammar

answers

5 points
15
points
10
points
5 points

Table 4: Table of test specifications
As can be seen from table, the Vocabulary contains at least fifteen multiplechoice questions in a test, which holds 15 points in total 35 points. Besides, in the
19