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

NGUYỄN THỊ MAI CHUNG
TEACHERS AND STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE
EFFECTIVENESS OF TEACHING AND LEARNING
VOCABULARY IN CONTEXTS: A SURVEY RESEARCH AT
NGUYEN DU HIGH SCHOOL, THANH OAI, HANOI
(Thái độ của giáo viên và học sinh với hiệu quả của việc dạy và học
từ vựng thông qua ngữ cảnh: Khảo sát tại trường THPT Nguyễn
Du, Thanh Oai Hà Nội)

M.A Minor Thesis
Programme I

Major: English Language Teaching Methodology
Code: 60.14.10

HANOI, 2012


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

NGUYỄN THỊ MAI CHUNG

TEACHERS AND STUDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE
EFFECTIVENESS OF TEACHING AND LEARNING
VOCABULARY IN CONTEXTS: A SURVEY RESEARCH AT

Table 4

Frequency of using context-based techniques in presenting
vocabulary evaluated by students

Table 5

Techniques used by teachers to teach vocabulary through contexts
in the practicing stage

Table 6

Students’ attitudes towards context-based techniques used to
present vocabulary

Table 6

Techniques preferred by students

Chart 1

Kinds of vocabulary chosen to teach by teachers

Chart 2

Students’ difficulties in learning vocabulary

Chart 3

Context-based vocabulary techniques used to present


iii

List of charts and tables

iv

Table of contents

v

Part A: INTRODUCTION

1

1. Rationale

1

2. Aims of the study

2

3. Research questions

2

4. Scope of the study

3


7

1.1.4 Principles of vocabulary teaching

8

1.1.4.1. Criteria for selection of vocabulary

8

1.1.4.2. Criteria for teaching vocabulary

9

1.2. Teaching vocabulary in contexts

11

1.2.1. Definition of contexts

11

1.2.2. Reasons for teaching vocabulary in contexts

12

1.2.3. Techniques to teach vocabulary through contexts

14

20

2.2. The instruments

21

2.2.1 Survey questionnaires

21

2.2.2 Class observation

22

2.3 Data collection and analysis

23

2.4 Summary

23

Chapter 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

24

3.1 Data analysis of survey questionnaire

24


45

2. Limitations and suggestions for further study

46

REFERENCES
APPENDICES

vi


Part A: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
Nowadays, we have witnessed the wide use of English as an international
language in different fields of life. English has become the most popular foreign
language in Vietnam. This trend has led to much focus on teaching and learning
English from linguistic competence to communicative one. Therefore, the
important role of teaching and learning vocabulary is more paid attention. It is
known to most second language learners that the acquisition of vocabulary is a
fundamental and important component in the process of their learning. The
importance of vocabulary was emphasized by Wilkins (1972) that “without
grammar very little can be conveyed; without vocabulary nothing can be
conveyed” (p.111). Besides, Pyles and Algeo (1970) also stated that “when we
first think about language, we think about words. It is words that we arrange
together to make sentences, conversation and discourse of all kinds”. Generally,
the teaching and learning of vocabulary is obviously a very significant aspect in
foreign language teaching in general and in English language teaching in
particular.
In Vietnam vocabulary teaching is still not quite concerned. Developing


To investigate the current situation of teaching vocabulary through contexts
to students at Nguyen Du high school, Thanh Oai, Hanoi

-

To investigate the effectiveness of using contexts to teach vocabulary

3. Research questions
In order to achieve the set goals, the following questions were proposed:
1. What is the current situation of teaching context-based vocabulary to
students at Nguyen Du high school?
2. How effective is the teaching context-based vocabulary to students at
Nguyen Du high school?

2


4. Scope of the study
The study is limited to the area of teaching English vocabulary at Nguyen Du high
school. Specifically, this minor thesis deals with the current situation of using
contexts to teach vocabulary to the eleventh grade students at Nguyen Du high
school and suggests some pedagogical implications to the teachers.
5. Method of the study
To find answers to the above - stated research questions, the study uses a
combination of qualitive and quantitive research approaches, which include data
analysis and survey questionnaires. In the study, data which is collected through
questionnaires will be processed and analyzed to investigate into vocabulary
teaching and learning strategies.
6. Design of the study

Vocabulary

1.1.1. Definition of vocabulary
According to Ur (1996:60), the vocabulary was roughly defined as “the words we
teach in the foreign language.” It was also accepted that “a new item of
vocabulary may be more than a single word: for example, post office and motherin-law, which are made up of two or three words but express a single idea”.
Additionally, Pyles and Algeo (1970 : 96) affirmed 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 kinds " . It is inferred that vocabulary is essential
for learning language in general and particularly for learning foreign language.
According to Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary Third Edition
(2008), vocabulary is defined as “all the words which exist in a particular
language or subject” (p.1624). This definition covers vocabulary’s meaning on the
whole. However, it is not the knowledge of words and word meanings, vocabulary
is more complex than this definition suggests. The definition does not totally show
a deep understanding about vocabulary.
In conclusion, there are different ways to define the concept “vocabulary”.
However, the idea that vocabulary is the total number of words existing in a
language, including single words as well as multi-word items is more favorable.
1.1.2. Classifications of vocabulary

4


Vocabulary can be classified in various ways depending on different criteria,
features or functions.
1.1.2.1. Semantics: There are two main kinds of meanings in a word, lexical
meaning and grammatical meaning. Thus in term of semantics, vocabulary can be
categorized into notional words and functional words (Read, 2000: 18).

teaching and learning vocabulary because different types of vocabulary need
different focus and treatment. Sometimes, depending on the learners’ purposes of
learning, types of vocabulary will be given more emphases in teaching and
learning.
1.1.3. The roles of vocabulary in language teaching and learning
It is commonly accepted that vocabulary is the most important language element
among phonetics, vocabulary and grammar. By saying that “vocabulary is one of
the three dimensions of a language (phonetics, grammar, vocabulary)”, Wilkins
(1972:111) emphasizes the special role of vocabulary in teaching and learning a
language. Shafaei and Nejati (2009) also strongly supported this idea that
“vocabulary is one of the most important objectives in teaching of foreign
languages” (p. 32).
Similarly, Gower (2005) pointed out that “vocabulary is important to students – it
is more important than grammar for communication purposes, particularly in the
early stages when students are motivated to learn the basic words they need to get
by in the language” (p.142). The idea emphasized the communicative purpose in
learning vocabulary as an ultimate goal for leaning a new language.
For those statements, it is undeniable that vocabulary is a decisive element in
language communication.
Moreover, the importance of vocabulary is also indicated in all four language
skills. In terms of speaking, it is impossible to communicate without vocabulary.
And sometimes, students have difficulties in finding the proper words to express
oneself. In terms of listening, the vocabulary errors caused confusion of the texts
and difficulty in listening comprehension. Most importantly, vocabulary plays a
role in reading. It is indicated that the lack of vocabulary is a serious obstacle for
readers, which prevents them from thoroughly comprehending the text. In terms of

6



Coverage: the capacity of a word to replace other words

•

Frequency: the number of occurrences of a word in the target language

•

Learn ability: the extent to which a word can be learned without
difficulty language

•

Needs: the extent to which a word is regarded as "required" by the learner
in order to communicate

7


Hammer (1991:154-156) affirmed that “one of the most common principles of
vocabulary selection is to teach at first concrete words and gradually abstract
words”. That means concrete words should be taught at the lower level while
abstract ones should be taught at higher level. He also added more criteria for
selecting vocabulary as coverage (general words should be taught before specific
terms) and rapport (students’ involvement with the words is the most important
motivator for vocabulary learning.
1.1.4.2.

Criteria for teaching vocabulary


meaning of others can also be useful in teaching. There are various relationships as
synonyms, antonyms, translation, etc.
It should be noted that the teacher has to make a careful choice of and decision on
which meaning of the word to teach and how many words to teach in the limited
class time. If not, the learners may not absorb these words and the vocabulary
teaching process may become a failure.
1.1.4.2.3. Use of a word
The most important for learners to learn a new word is how to use it properly and
effectively in different contexts. In order to use a word well, learners have to
combine it with other words correctly. Therefore, the teacher has to put words into
combination. For example, when introducing the words “to make” and “to do”,
the teacher should point out that these two words have the same meaning “to
perform” but they are used in different combination. People often say “to make
the bed” not “to do the bed”.
In short, learners should be taught the form, the meaning and the usage of words in
vocabulary lesson. Teachers should note that vocabulary should always be revised
because learners will easily forget words if they do not have a chance to put them
into use
1.2.

Teaching vocabulary in contexts

1.2.1. Definition of context
According to the Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language,
context means “the parts of a sentence, paragraph, discourse etc, immediately next
to or surrounding a specified word or passage and determining its exact meaning.”

9




Today, words are mainly taught and learn in their contexts. It means that all the
relationships of the words with other ones in the texts are exploited to make clear
the meaning and usage of them. This way takes more time and thus the teaching
process is slower than teaching vocabulary in isolation but teaching of vocabulary
in contexts will be far more effective than the one in isolation. Learners of this
new method can use their vocabulary to communicate at their levels. Hereafter are
specific advantages of teaching vocabulary in contexts.
1.2.2.1.

Meaning guessing

Basing on clues in contexts to get the meaning of words is undoubtedly a good
strategy. It is emphasized by Nation (2001) that “guessing from contexts is the
most important vocabulary learning technique and time spent practicing it is well
justified. It provides access to thousands of words”. This is obviously a good way
of learning vocabulary because when students try and make guesses it means that
they actively involve themselves in the learning process, not just passively
perceive what are taught. And the ability to guess unknown words helps them a lot
in communication, reading or doing the tests. For 11th grade, as most students are
of low-intermediate level in English, it is necessary that guessing should be based
on contexts that do not have too many new words and teachers should help
students by eliciting the meaning of new words from the clues patiently. Basing on
contexts to guess unknown words can be used both in class and at home. When
students get used to it, they will be able to deal with and learn a lot of words
independently.
1.2.2.2.

Homonyms distinction


As discussed in the previous part, contexts can be classified into linguistic
context which include language surrounds such as words, phrase, sentence in a
text and non-linguistics one relating to the environment or situation words occur.
Thus it is necessary to consider both these two sides when words are taught
through contexts.
Firstly, showing the meaning of words visually is a way of putting the words in
the context. Lee and Coppen (1970) claim that visual aids can help teacher create real
communicative situations (contexts), clarifying the meaning of the words used.
According to Doff (1988: 82), visual aids often draw students’ attention, and help to
make language used in the class more real, lively and interesting. Visual techniques
include flashcards, pictures, photographs, realia (object themselves), gesture and

mime, etc. are useful for teaching concrete words
 Realia:
12


This is the way of using real objects to show the meaning of words. It can help
teachers avoid boring class, and make it easier for students to remember the words
and recall them for later use. When presenting vocabulary with real objects, the
teachers simply points at them and says: “Look – this is…”
 Pictures (pictures, photos and postcards)
These can be used to illustrate scenes, people or objects and must be large enough
to be seen by the learners. Teachers can used them for different kinds of tasks such
as describing pictures, comparing pictures and pointing out the differences, telling
a story using a series of pictures, etc.
 Gestures, mime
Billows (1961:147) states that actual representation of an action or performance
represents the action and performance better than any pictures. This emphasizes
the importance of demonstration, gestures, facial expression, etc. of teachers and

is essential to give out at the same time the contexts in which we give the
synonyms or antonyms of the words.
For example: the word “plain” (Unit 4 English 11) is similar in meaning to “clear”
in the sentence “It is plain to see how greedy she is”. But we have “plain flour”
but not “clear flour”.
1.2.3.2.

Techniques for practicing vocabulary in contexts

At this stage, teachers not only treat new vocabulary items as a means to
comprehension of the context but also are able to exploit new lexis in its own
right. The reason is that “if we are to bring new vocabulary into active use and not
just passive understanding, it is not sufficient for us just to teach it. We must
provide ways to make sure that it is learnt and used” (Cranmer, 1986, p. 60). In
other words, after students have been shown the meaning of a word in the prestage, teachers should provide them with enough practice of that word. Most
students need lots of practice with new vocabulary in order to remember and use
the new words correctly. According to Cranmer (1986), all of the techniques he
suggests using in the pre-stage can also be used subsequently, but there are a
number of additional techniques:
 Matching

14


 Inference and Definition
 Use of monolingual learner dictionaries
 Categorization
 Information transfer
(p. 60-61)
Furthermore, there are some other techniques that teachers can use to develop

and summary.
Step 4. Use the knowledge you have gained from steps 1 to 3 to guess the meaning
of the word.
Step 5. Check that your guess is correct.
(1) See that the part of speech of your guess is the same as the part of speech of
the unknown word. If it is not the same, then something is wrong with your guess.
(2) Replace the unknown word with your guess. If the sentence makes sense, your
guess is probably correct.
(3) Break the unknown word into its prefix, root and suffix, if possible. If the
meanings of the prefix and root correspond to your guess, good. If not, look at
your guess again, but do not change anything if you feel reasonably certain about
your guess using the context.
Among different techniques above, this is probably a very useful technique
because it gets students to work out the meaning of words by themselves. It is the
context of the text that helps students to learn new vocabulary items easily and
acquire how words are actually used in speech and writing.
1.3.

Summary

So far, in this chapter of literature review, the theoretical issues related to
the topic of the research have been discussed. The next chapter will describe the
methods employed in the study.

16


Chapter 2: METHODOLOGY
This chapter discusses the context in which the study was conducted and the
informants involved in the study. A detailed account of the subjects, settings and

2.2. Instruments
In order to obtain in-depth, rich data and information for investigating the attitudes
of teachers and students towards the effectiveness of teaching vocabulary through
contexts, the study used two methods of data collection: questionnaires and class
observation
2.2.1. Questionnaires
To gain data for the research, two questionnaires were administered to the
respondents. One was designed for the teachers and the other for the students. This
method is chosen because it is easy to construct, extremely versatile and uniquely
capable of gathering a huge amount of information in a short time ( Dornyei,
2003).
The questionnaires were delivered to 10 teachers and 90 students. After carefully
examining the available instruments and basing on certain knowledge about
learners, I design these questionnaires to get information as follows.
2.2.1.1. The teachers‟ survey questionnaires
The teacher questionnaire, comprising 8 questions, was delivered to ten
teachers of English who are teaching English at Nguyen Du high school. The
questionnaire completed by the teachers covered these main points.
(1) Teachers’ attitudes towards the role of vocabulary in language teaching
(question 1)
(2) Kinds of vocabulary teachers often choose to teach (question 2).
(3) Techniques used to present vocabulary through contexts and the frequency
of use (question 3,4)
(4) Students’ attitudes towards T’s using techniques to teach vocabulary
through contexts (question 5)
(5) Techniques used to practice vocabulary (question 6)
(6) Teachers’ attitudes towards the effectiveness of teaching vocabulary
through contexts (question 7, 8)
2.2.1.2. The students‟ survey questionnaires


study, as well as to clarify any questions that the students might have.

19


The data collected from the survey were read through to obtain a sense of the
overall data. They were then categorized and analyzed. The results were then
displayed in forms of table of figures; charts or pie charts while qualitative data
from the open – ended questionnaire items were presented by quoting relevant
responses from the respondents.
2.4. Summary
In short, this chapter presents the research methodology as well as the procedure
of data collection and data analysis to find out answers to the research questions.

20