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

NGUYỄN THỊ HUYỀN TRANG

A STUDY ON ENGLISH VOCABULARY LEARNING STRATEGIES
EXPLOITED BY THE SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS OF DIFFERENT
LEARNING STYLE PREFERENCES AT SCHOOL OF LAW,
VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY
(Nghiên cứu các phƣơng pháp học từ vựng tiếng Anh của sinh viên năm hai
thuộc các nhóm phong cách học khác nhau ở Khoa Luật, ĐHQGHN)

M.A. COMBINED PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Teaching Methodology
Code: 60140111

HANOI - 2015


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

NGUYỄN THỊ HUYỀN TRANG

A STUDY ON ENGLISH VOCABULARY LEARNING STRATEGIES
EXPLOITED BY THE SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS OF DIFFERENT


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In order to complete this M.A. thesis, I owe profound indebtedness to many
people for their invaluable help during the conduct of the research.
First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my
supervisor Assoc.Prof. Nguyen Van Do, PhD. and my lecturer Assoc.Prof. Le Van
Canh, PhD. for their whole-hearted support, helpful guidance and considerable
encouragement, which are the most decisive factors leading to the completion of
this paper.
Besides, I would like to send my sincere thanks to the teachers and secondyear students at SOL, VNU who do me a great deal of favor for their participations
in the conduct of my survey questionnaire and interviews. Without their precious
help, this study would not have been completed.
I also owe a great debt of gratitude to my grandmother, my parents, my
parents-in-law and my baby-sitter who constantly encouraged me and helped me
take care of my little daughter during the time I conducted this study.
Last but not least, never enough thanks are sent to my husband – Nguyen Ba
Tuong, who always stood by my side, suffered from my moody feelings and lent me
his hands whenever I was in need during the implementation of this study.

ii


ABSTRACT
This study aims at exploring vocabulary learning strategies employed by the
second-year students of different learning styles at School of Law, VNU. In
addition, the research paper suggested several possible ways to help students better
their vocabulary learning strategies which are more likely to fit their learning styles.
The data collection tools used in this study included survey questionnaires and
interviews. Then the findings were coded and analyzed by both quantitative and

CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW
1. Key terms…………………………………………………………………….7
1.1.

Learning style preferences (LSP)……………………………..………7
1.1.1. Definitions……………………………………………………..7
1.1.2. Classifications…………………………………………...…….8
1.1.3. Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences…………………...10
1.1.4. Advantages of understanding individual LSP..………………11

1.2.

Vocabulary learning strategies (VLS)…….………………..………..12
1.2.1. Definitions……………………………..……………………..12
1.2.2. Classifications…..,…………………………………...………14
1.2.3. Advantages of using appropriate VLS………………...……..20

1.3.

The distinction between LSP and VLS………………………………21

2. An overview of related studies………………….……………………...…..22
CHAPTER II: METHODOLOGY
1. Design of the study…………………………………………………………26
2. Setting of the study…………………………...…………………………….26
iv


3. Participants and participant selection method………………………………27
4. Data collection instruments…………………………………………………28

Percentage of overall strategies used by visual learners

Chart 3:

Percentage of overall strategies used by auditory learners

Chart 4:

Percentage of overall strategies used by kinesthetic learners

List of tables
Table i:

Definitions of language learning strategies

Table ii:

Structured and unstructured approach to vocabulary learning by Sanaoui
(1995)

Table iii:

Gu & Johnson’s classification of VLS (1996)

Table iv:

Schmitt’s taxonomy of VLS (1997)

Table 1:



Table 8:

Descriptive statistics of strategies used by auditory learners in social
(discovery)

Table 9:

Descriptive statistics of strategies used by auditory learners in social
(consolidation)

Table 10: Descriptive statistics of strategies used by auditory learners in memory
vi


Table 11: Descriptive statistics of strategies used by auditory learners in cognitive
Table 12: Descriptive statistics of strategies used by auditory learners in
metacognitive
Table 13: Descriptive statistics of strategies used by kinesthetic learners in
determination
Table 14: Descriptive statistics of strategies used by kinesthetic learners in social
(discovery)
Table 15: Descriptive statistics of strategies used by kinesthetic learners in social
(consolidation)
Table 16: Descriptive statistics of strategies used by kinesthetic learners in
memory
Table 17: Descriptive statistics of strategies used by kinesthetic learners in
cognitive
Table 18: Descriptive statistics of strategies used by kinesthetic learners in
metacognitive

n:

Number of students

F:

Frequency

X:

Mean (average score)

vii


PART A: INTRODUCTION
This first part states the problem and the rationale of the study, together with
the general aims, objectives and the scope of the study as a whole. Most
importantly, it is in this chapter that the research questions are identified to work as
clear guidelines for the whole research.
1. Rationale
As a matter of fact, English has recently become one of the most popular
languages in the world. According to the statistics of Graddol (1997) in the
publication named “The future of English”, there is a remarkable rise in the number
of English users and this number is likely to reach two billion in the next decade.
Vietnam, in the process of integrating into the world, also identifies the
importance of learning and teaching English in order to educate the adequate
number of English users for this integration process. However, in the last twenty
years, effective and innovative English teaching methods at Vietnamese schools
were mostly taken for granted and teachers were seen to focus on teaching testoriented skills. In addition, these English tests generally put the emphasis on

objective and subjective factors. “Learning style preferences” is mentioned as one
of those. In the history of researching in Vietnam, “learning style preferences” is
seemingly a novel research area as it can be seen that there have been very few
research studies in VNU investigating the relationship between learners’ learning
style preferences and their English vocabulary learning strategies.
Furthermore, Vietnamese students in general and VNU students in particular
are still unaware of their own learning styles; thus, they tend to exploit language
learning methods intuitively and somehow ineffectively, which has pressed on the
demand for more studies on this field so as to get students more aware of their own
learning styles and then find out suitable language learning strategies.
For those above-mentioned reasons, the researcher has decided to conduct a
study for her M.A. thesis on the topic:
“A study on English vocabulary learning strategies exploited by the second
year students of different learning style preferences at School of Law, Vietnam
National University, Hanoi.”

2


2. Aims and research questions
The general aim of this research paper is to explore what English vocabulary
learning strategies of second year students of different learning styles at School of
Law, VNU are.
Specifically, the first objective of the research paper is to classify different
learning styles of second-year students at School of Law, VNU in their process of
learning English vocabulary. The second objective is to find out the most common
vocabulary learning strategies exploited by each learning style group during their
B1 English course. From that, it is expected that the paper can suggest several
possible ways to help students better their vocabulary learning strategies which are
more likely to fit their learning styles.

Secondly, the paper might be practical for the teachers who are in charge of
teaching B1 English course for English non-major students. Specifically, the
teachers will probably realize the influences of learning style preferences on their
students and then have useful adjustment on vocabulary teaching in class as well as
suggesting students following suitable vocabulary self-study strategies so that
students will gain more positive results.
Last but not least, it is expected that this research paper could help enrich the
literature review of the same field.
4. Scope of the study
This paper places its focal point on students’ learning style preferences as
well as their English vocabulary learning strategies rather than on students’
strategies to learn other languages such as French or Chinese, or other language
skills such as speaking or listening. These vocabulary learning strategies are
exploited by second-year students at School of Law, VNU who are taking B1
English course and expected to reach English Level 3 after this course.
5. Methods of the study
5.1 Data collection methods
The two research instruments the researcher relies on to find out the answer
to those questions are survey questionnaire and semi-structured interview.
Specifically, the first questionnaire comprising of 30 three-option questions were
delivered to 65 second-year students at School of Law, VNU in order to help the
researcher discover learning styles of the student participants and then these
students into three groups of different learning styles. The second questionnaire
including 24 questions was used to find out the most and least common vocabulary
learning strategies exploited by each group of learning style. In addition, a semistructured interview for three teachers who are currently teaching English for these
students was employed so as to quest for the teacher participants’ suggestions about
suitable vocabulary learning strategies to each learning style.
Regarding the procedure, firstly, the first questionnaire was delivered to 65
second-year students to investigate their learning style preferences perceived by
4

5


6. Structure of the study
This study consists of three parts: Introduction, Development and
Conclusion.
Part A: Introduction- presents the reasons for carrying out this study,
defines the specific purposes, research questions, the scope of the study and the
outline of the study.
Part B: Development- consists of 3 chapters:
Chapter 1: Literature Review - provides the theoretical background
needed for the study and reviews some previous studies which is related to the topic
of the study.
Chapter 2: Methodology - discusses the methodology for this study and
the procedure for carrying out the research such as the selection of the sample, the
data collection procedures, and the data analysis.
Chapter 3: Results and Discussion - reports the results of the data analysis
along with the discussion as well as some pedagogical implications.
Part C: Conclusion - summarizes the main issues discussed in the paper,
draws out some concluding points from the findings, the contributions and
limitations of the research as well as some suggestions for further studies.
Following Part C is References listing all reference books or materials. The
final section of the thesis contains the appendices that show all documents serving
this research.

6


PART B: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW


Among above-mentioned definitions, this one was the most comprehensive
and did not focus too much on learning environment or type of information
perceived. Therefore, in this paper, researchers will rely on this definition to be the
base of the research.
1.1.2. Classifications
As mentioned above, learning style is the field receiving a lot of concern
from different researchers; therefore, a number of classifications of learning styles
have been raised up to now. Although there is a wide acceptance of the concept of
learning style in educational psychology, there is, nevertheless, disagreement on
how it is classified and measured.
According to Kolb et al. (1979), there are four basic learning styles:
Converger: who wants to solve a problem and who relies heavily upon
hypothetically deductive reasoning to focus on specific problems.
Diverger: who solves problems by viewing situations from many perspectives and
who relies heavily upon brain storming and generation of ideas.
Assimilator: who solves problems by inductive reasoning and ability to create the
theoretical models.
Accommodator: who solves problems by carrying out plans and experiments and
adapting to specific intermediate circumstances.
In this classification, problem solving is the most important criterion which
was based on to classify learning styles and different learning style learners are
those who have different ways of collecting reasons and carrying out experiments to
come to the conclusion. However, problem solving is not the only subject for
learners but students also have to deal with other kinds of activities such as
perceiving new knowledge or revising old information.
Gregorc and Butler (1984) categorized learning styles into four models:
Concrete, Abstract, Sequential and Random. They supposed that every one
possesses some natural abilities in each of the models above; however, most people
have more natural abilities in one of the models. Concrete and Abstract are

“Visual learning – reading, studying charts
Auditory learning – listening to lectures, audiotapes
9


Kinesthetic learning – experiential learning, that is, total physical involvement with a
learning situation.”

To be more detailed, according to Reid, visual learners learn by seeing
because they can only do best with textbooks that contain graphs, photographs and
charts whereas auditory learners learn by being read to and by discussing what has
been read. The auditory learners will also be more likely to be distracted by sounds.
The third group of learners are kinesthetic ones who enjoy being able to move while
learning. They may find it very hard to sit still for long periods of time and they
really need hands-on experience to fully understand the content of the lesson.
Discussing the perceptual learning channels that these three learning styles
prefer to reach, Reid added that the visual learner may think in pictures and learns
best from visual displays including diagrams, illustrated textbooks, overhead
transparencies, videos, flipcharts and handouts. During a lecture or classroom
discussion, visual learners tend to take detailed notes to absorb the information.
Videos can be beneficial for a visual learner as he can see what is going on. These
learners need to see the teacher’s body language and facial expressions to
understand the core issue. Meanwhile, auditory learners might learn best through
verbal lectures, discussion and listening to what others have to say. They interpret
the underlying meanings of speech through listening to tone of voice, pitch, speech
and other nuances. These learners often benefit from reading texts aloud and using a
tape recorder. The last group of learning style preferences, kinesthetic learners,
learns best through a hands-on approach by touching or experiencing themselves the
physical world around them.
Dunn & Dunn (2003) also shared the similar classification of learning style

cognition and human potential led to the development of the initial six intelligences.
Today there are nine intelligences and the possibility of others may eventually
expand the list. These intelligences relate to a person’s unique aptitude set of
capabilities and ways they might prefer to demonstrate intellectual abilities.
Specifically, they are:
1. Verbal-linguistic intelligence (well-developed verbal skills and sensitivity to
the sounds, meanings and rhythms of words)
11


2. Logical-mathematical intelligence (ability to think conceptually and
abstractly, and capacity to discern logical and numerical patterns)
3. Spatial-visual intelligence (capacity to think in images and pictures, to
visualize accurately and abstractly)
4. Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence (ability to control one’s body movements and
to handle objects skillfully)
5. Musical intelligence (ability to produce and appreciate rhythm, pitch and
timber)
6. Interpersonal intelligence (capacity to detect and respond appropriately to the
moods, motivations and desires of others)
7. Intrapersonal intelligence (capacity to be self-aware and in tune with inner
feelings, values, beliefs and thinking processes)
8. Naturalist intelligence (ability to recognize and categorize plants, animals
and other objects in nature)
9. Existential intelligence (capacity to tackle deep questions about human
existence such as “What is the meaning of life?” or “Why do we die?”
1.1.4. Advantages of understanding individual LSP
According to Al-Hebaishi (2012), variation and diversity are pervasive
features of human beings; therefore, people are more different than they are alike.
He added that classrooms are where these differences seem to be most apparent.

Table i. Definitions of language learning strategies
Authors

What are LLS?

What are LLS for?

Rubin (1975)

Techniques or devices

To acquire knowledge

Bialystok (1978)

Methods/conscious

For

enterprises

information

exploiting
to

available
improve

competence in L2

Language

learning To learn and regulate L2

behaviors learners actually learning
engage

in,

strategic

knowledge about learning
Oxford (1990)

Specific actions, behaviors, To improve their progress in
steps or techniques that developing second language
students intentionally use

skills

Regarding the definition of a language’s vocabulary learning strategies
Cameron (2001) defined vocabulary learning strategies as “actions that learners take
to help themselves understand and remember vocabulary.”
Catalan (2003) proposed a more concrete and careful definition of
vocabulary learning strategies:
“Vocabulary learning strategies are knowledge about the mechanisms (processes,
strategies) used in order to learn vocabulary as well as steps or actions taken by
students to find out the meaning of unknown words, to retain them in long-term
memory, to recall them at will, and to use them in oral or written mode.”


Unstructured Approach

Opportunities for learning vocabulary
Self-created

Reliance on course

Independent study

Minimal independent study

Range of self-initiated activities
Extensive

Restricted
Records of lexical items

Extensive (tend to be systematic)

Minimal (tend to be ad hoc)

Review of lexical items
Extensive

Little or no review
Practice of lexical items

Self-created opportunities in and outside

Reliance on course

regulation

-

Self-initiation

Guessing strategies

-

Using background knowledge/wider context

-

Using linguistic cues/immediate context

-

Dictionary strategies for comprehension

-

Extended dictionary strategies

-

Looking-up strategies

Dictionary strategies