the techniques by teachers in presenting the meaning of new vocabulary and their effectiveness as

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

NGUYỄN VŨ XUÂN LAN

THE TECHNIQUES BY TEACHERS IN

PRESENTING THE MEANING OF NEW

VOCABULARY AND THEIR EFFECTIVENESS AS

PERCEIVED BY STUDENTS OF THE

STRATEGIC MISSION PROGRAM IN VIETNAM

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY.

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS

FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS (TEFL)

Hanoi, May 2011

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

NGUYỄN VŨ XUÂN LAN

THE TECHNIQUES BY TEACHERS IN

PRESENTING THE MEANING OF NEW

VOCABULARY AND THEIR EFFECTIVENESS AS

PERCEIVED BY STUDENTS OF THE

STRATEGIC MISSION PROGRAM IN VIETNAM

NATION UNIVERSITY.

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS

FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS (TEFL)

SUPERVISOR: Mr. KHOA ANH VIỆT, M.A.

Hanoi, May 2011

i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Firstly, I would like to express our deep gratitude to my

supervisor - Mr. Khoa Anh Viet for his valuable guidance, helpful

and supportive pieces of advice.

I am also thankful to Ms Nguyen Nhue Giang – my class

mate, who has helped me a lot in gathering the information about

Strategic Mission Program and collecting data.

I greatly appreciate the willingness to take part in our

research of Strategic Mission Program’s students and teachers,

especially three teachers and ten students their meticulous and

truthful sharing in the interview. Without them, this research

cannot be carried out.

ii

ABSTRACT

Strategic Mission is a short name for the project of building and

developing 16 branches, 23 specialties of basic science, high technology,

economy-society with international standard at Vietnam National

University. Students who have not been qualified enough in English to

take courses of their major will take a supplement course on language for

one year. Due to its young age, it is unavoidable for the project as well as

the English course which is applied to encounter numbers of problem and

difficulties that need to be studied and adjusted. This study was carried

out in order to investigate the techniques of presenting the meaning of

new vocabularies by teachers and their effectiveness as perceived by

students of the Strategic Mission Project in VNU. Quantitative methods

with questionnaire and individual interview were applied to find out the

usage of techniques as perceived by both teachers and students, and

measure their effectiveness according to the opinion of students from

three classes.

It was revealed from the study that there is not much difference

between the frequency of using each technique for presenting vocabulary

from the perception of teacher and of students. Both two sides agreed on

the highest frequency of “showing words in context” and “combining

several techniques” and the lowest one of “showing the meaning of words

visually”. Regarding the effectiveness of techniques for presenting the

meaning of vocabulary, most students confirmed that combining different

techniques is the most efficient method, and the least useful one is the

visual technique of using realia. In terms of suggestions to improve the

effectiveness of presenting vocabulary, teachers and students agreed with

each other to enhance the five techniques by Penny Ur, and raise some of

their own ideas such as using games, dictionaries or peer-explanations.

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements i

Abstract ii

Table of contents iv

List of figures and tables vii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1. Rationale of the study

1.2. Aims of the study and research questions

1.3. Scope of the study

1.4. Significance of the study

1.5. Organization of the study

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. An overview of vocabulary

2.1.1. Definition of vocabulary

2.1.2. Roles of vocabulary

2.1.3. Aspects of vocabulary to be taught

2.1.4. Classification of vocabulary

2.2. Presenting vocabulary

2.3. Techniques for presenting new vocabulary

2.3.1. Showing the meaning of words visually

2.3.2. Showing words in context

2.3.3. Using synonyms or/and antonyms

1

2

2

3

3

5

5

6

7

13

17

18

18

19

20

iv

2.3.4. Translation

2.3.5. Combining different techniques

2.4. Vocabulary acquisition

2.5. Related study

2.5.1. In Vietnam

2.5.2. In the world

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

3.1.Settings

3.2. Participants

3.3. Instrument

3.3.1. Questionnaire

3.3.2. Interview

3.4. Sampling

3.5. Procedure

3.5.1. Data collection

3.5.2. Data analysis

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1. Findings

4.1.1. The frequency of using each technique for

presenting new vocabulary as perceived by students

4.1.2. The frequency of using each technique for

presenting new vocabulary as perceived by teachers

4.1.3. The effectiveness of each techniques for

21

22

22

24

24

25

26

27

29

29

30

31

31

31

32

33

33

36

45

v


4.2. Suggestions to improve the effectiveness of techniques

for presenting new vocabulary

4.2.1. Suggestions by teachers

4.2.2. Suggestions by students

4.3. Conclusion

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION

5.1. Summary

5.2. Teaching implications

5.3 Limitation of the study

5.4. Suggestion for further research

REFERENCES

APPENDICES

52

52

55

56

58

59

59

61

vi

LIST OF FIGURES

Figures Page

1. Figure 1: The frequency of using each technique for


33

2. Figure 2: The frequency of using each sub-technique in

“showing the meaning of words visually” as perceived by

students

34


“showing the meaning of words in context” as perceived by

students

35

4. Figure 4: The frequency of using each technique in presenting

new vocabulary according to teachers’ lesson plans

37


"Showing the meaning of words visually" according to lesson

plans

38


"showing words in context" according to lesson plans

39

7. Figure 7: The frequency of using each technique in presenting

new vocabulary in actual teaching sessions

40


“showing the meaning of words visually” in actual teaching

sessions

41

vii


“showing the meaning of words in context” in actual teaching

sessions

43

10. Figure 10: The effectiveness of each technique for presenting

denotational meaning as perceived by students

45

11. Figure 11: The effectiveness of each sub-technique in

"Showing the meaning of words visually" for presenting

denotational meanings as perceived by students

46


"showing words in context" for presenting denotational

meanings as perceived by students

48

13. Figure 13: The effectiveness of each technique for presenting

connotational meanings as perceived by students

49

14. Figure 14: The effectiveness of each technique in "Showing

the meaning of words visually" for presenting connotational

meaning as perceived by students

50


"Showing words in context" for presenting connotational


51

1

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1. Rationale

Together with grammar, vocabulary is an essential element that

needs to be mastered by any English learners. Allen (1983) once claimed

that “Experienced teachers of English as a second language know very

well how important vocabulary is. They know their students must learn

thousands of words that speakers and writers of English use.” To some

extends, vocabulary is even more highly regarded than grammar as

linguist Wilkin (1972) said: “Without grammar, very little could be

convey, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed.”(p.111). However,

teaching vocabulary used to be neglected for a long time due to a belief

that vocabulary only could be absorbed through experience (Allen, 1983),

which leads to the little necessary of lecturing on vocabulary in class by

teachers. Fortunately, according to Thornbury (2002), the interest in

vocabulary has recovered in recent years, partly because of the expansion

of the “word-centered” approaches in language teaching. This also means

that the importance of vocabulary has been considered more seriously and

its role has been estimated more fairly than in the past.




University. This is a new project that is first conducted by ULIS, VNU in

2010. One of the criteria for recruiting students is the appropriate level of

English (for example: at least 550 score for TOEFL). Students who have

not been qualified in English will take a supplement course on this

subject for one year. Due to its young age, it is unavoidable for the

project as well as the English course which is applied to encounter

2

numbers of problem and difficulties that need to be studied and adjusted.

Because of the level of students, new vocabularies would be a possible

problem. The techniques of teacher when introducing new words play an

important role in the effectiveness in reception of students. Therefore, the

researcher decided to carry out a study on techniques of presenting new

vocabularies of teachers and their effectiveness as perceived by students

of the Strategic Mission Project in VNU.

1.2. Aims of the study and research questions

As stated in the topic, this research aims at finding out the

techniques of presenting new vocabularies of teachers and their

effectiveness as perceived by students of the Strategic Mission Program

in VNU. The result of the research will serve to revise and improve the

ways teachers carry out the teaching vocabulary activity, which may help

to enforce the effective studying for students of this program. The

questions will be answered after the research finished are:

1) What are the techniques of presenting new vocabulary that are

used by teachers of the Strategic Mission Program?

2) What is the effectiveness of the techniques as perceived by

students of the Strategic Mission Program?

3) What can be some possible solutions to improve the

effectiveness of presenting new vocabulary suggested by teachers and

students?

1.3. Scope of the study

The study focuses on the techniques for presenting new vocabulary

and their effectiveness within the scope of the Strategic Mission Program,

which was carried out by Vietnam Nation University. It does not discuss

3

the effectiveness of techniques for presenting vocabulary in any other

context outside the program.

The effectiveness of the techniques would be explored from the

perception of the students of Strategic Mission Program. The participants

are first year students of the program, who are at Pre-intermediate level.

One more noteworthy point about the scope of this study is that it

focuses on the effectiveness of techniques for presenting the meaning of

new vocabulary rather than the form.

1.4. Significant of the study

As having been clarified in the rationale, vocabulary is inevitable to

learn a new language. As for students at the early stage, the role of

vocabulary in studying procedure is even more important as it is one of

the basic tools for any language learners to attain more difficult

knowledge later on. Therefore, the effective presentation of new

vocabulary is significant.

First and foremost, the research makes a contribution to the storage

of the researches on the issue of vocabulary teaching in the FELTE,

especially on the effectiveness of this activity. It serves as a reference

material for the other researchers who are keen on the topic. Secondly,

based on the findings and suggestions in this research, the quality of

English teaching and learning in Strategic Mission Program in the next

years could be enhanced in terms of its techniques in presenting

vocabulary.

4

1.5. Organization of the study

The paper consists of five main chapters.

Chapter I “INTRODUCTION” states the rationale, the aims, scope,

methods and overview of the study.

Chapter II named “LITERATURE REVIEW” defines the key terms and

reviews some earlier papers surrounding the topic.

Chapter III “METHODOLOGY” clarifies the methods employed

throughout the research.

Chapter IV “RESULTS AND DISCUSSION” includes the results and

analysis.

In the last chapter “CONCLUSION”, findings summary and implications

of the research are provided.

5

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. An overview of vocabulary

2.1.1 Definition of vocabulary

According to Cambridge Dictionary for Advanced Learners, there are

two definitions for vocabularies:

a. All the words known and used by a particular person.

b. All the words which exist in a particular language or subject

Oxford Dictionary for Advanced learners gives one more definition:

“A list of words with their meanings especially in a book or learning a

foreign language”.

In “A Course in language teaching”, Ur, P. (1991) defined:

“Vocabulary can be defined, roughly as the words we teach in a foreign

language” (p.27). However, Penny also claimed that vocabulary items are

not only single words but can also be combined words or multi-word

idioms. Therefore, he suggested the name “items” instead of “words” for

those cases.

In “English, An introduction to language”, Pyles and Algeo (1970)

said:

It is true that vocabulary is the focus of language. It is in words that sounds

and meanings interlock to allow us to communicate with one another, and it

is words that we arrange together to make sentences, conversations and

discourse of all kinds.

6

There is also methodology concept for vocabulary: “a word is a

basic unit of a language denoting concept, things and phenomena in

society” (GHP, 1998, p.58)

In brief, there are different definitions of vocabulary from different

angles of study. This research focuses on vocabulary as all the words

which exist in a particular language, including single words and items

that contain more than one word.

2.1.2. Roles of vocabulary

Initially, it is undeniable that vocabulary is an inevitable component

of language. Especially, for the learners of second language, vocabulary

is the issue that needs to be studied before all others.

Wu Jiangwen & Wang Binbin of Guangdong College of Finance

said:“A good mastery of vocabulary is essential for ESL/EFL learners,

especially for those who learn for specific purposes or expect to operate

at an advanced level in English.” This emphasizes the necessity of

studying vocabulary for students of non-English-major, in this case,

students of Strategic Mission program.

I. S. P. Nation also supports that: “Giving attention to vocabulary is

unavoidable. Even the most formal of communication-directed

approaches to language teaching must deal with needed vocabulary in one

way or another.”

Some may oppose to the importance of vocabulary teaching and

consider grammar the most essential to be taught. Wilkin, D. (1972) may

answer them: “Without grammar, very little can be conveyed. Without

vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed.” (p.111). Grammar, though

7

necessary, is also illustrated through words; hence, grammar by no means

can surpass vocabulary in the range of importance.

Harmer (1992) agreed with Wilkin and claimed that: “If language

structures make up the skeleton of language, then it is in vocabulary that

provides the vital organ and flesh to make up its perfect body” (p.23).

McCarthy (1990) stated in a more general way: “Without words to

express a wide range of meanings, communication in the second language

cannot happen in any meaningful way.” (p.5).

All four skills in English learning – Writing, Reading, Listening and

Speaking – are involved with vocabulary. Therefore, for English learners,

it is compulsory to gain a certain amount of English words before

practicing the above skills. Moreover, in their learning process, widening

and sharpening their vocabulary are also important as all kinds of

knowledge are expressed by one of the most basic component of

language: words.

In brief, all the statements above lead to a conclusion that

vocabulary is the first and foremost factor that needs to be approach in

order to master a language. Without vocabulary – the most significant

one, every other factor cannot be achieved.

2.1.3. Aspects of vocabulary to be taught

What involved in knowing a word? To answer this question, Penny

Ur (1996) brought out some aspects that should be pay attention to when

teaching vocabulary: meaning, form, grammar, collocation, and word

formation.

2.1.3.1. Meaning

8

2.1.3.1.1. Aspects of meaning

Some aspects of meaning that need to be learned are: denotation,

connotation, appropriateness/ formality.

Denotational meaning (also known as propositional meaning) - is

the literal meaning of a word, the meaning that we can find in the

dictionary. In other words, propositional meaning of a word is what it

refers to in the real world.

Connotation of a word refers to “the associations, or positive or

negative feelings it evokes, which may or may not be indicated in a

dictionary definition” (Ur, 1996). Connotational meaning is an implied

meaning of a word, the suggesting of a meaning by a word apart from the

thing it explicitly names or describes.

Another subtle aspect of meaning need to be taught is the

appropriateness of a particular item in a certain context. Thanks to this,

learners can be aware of when and where to use a word properly. For

examples, "put up with" is an informal word, typically used in speech;

tolerate is the more formal equivalent, common in academic writing

(according to uefap.com).

2.1.3.1.2. Meaning relationships

Meaning relationships is how the meaning of one item relates to the

meaning of the others. There are some main types of meaning

relationships: synonym, antonym, hyponym, co-hyponym, metonym and

translation.

Synonyms:

9

Synonyms are items that have the same or nearly the same meaning.

To be more specific, synonyms are words of the same part of speech

which have similar or identical denotation, but differ in shades of

meaning, connotation or combinability with other words. There are 6

types of synonyms: absolute, semantic, stylistic, semantic stylistic,

phraseological, and euphemism synonyms.

- Absolute synonyms: words that are identical in their meanings

and synonymous in all contexts. For example: begin – start.

- Semantic synonyms: words that are different in denotational

meaning. For example: discuss – debate – argue.

- Stylistic synonyms: words that are different in connotational

meaning. For example: friend – mate

- Semantic stylistic synonyms: words that are different in both

denotational and connotational meaning. For example: compound –

department – dwelling.

- Phraseological synonyms: words that are different in collocation.

For example: do-make, say-tell

- Euphemism synonyms: words that are used to reduce the

unpleasant effect. For example: die – pass away

Antonyms:

Words of the same part of speech that are opposite in meaning.

The three main types of antonym are gradable, complementary and

conversive antonyms.

10

- Gradable antonyms: the name has illustrated their characteristic

which is gradable. They are opposite ends of a continuous scale of

value. For example: rich/ poor, strong/ weak.

- Complementary antonyms: this type includes two items, the

assertion of one is the negation of the other. Complementary synonyms

come in pairs and between them exhausting all relevant possibilities. If

one is applicable, then the other cannot be, and vice versa. For example:

True/false.

- Conversive antonyms: words that denote the same situation but

from different point of view, with a reversal of the order of

participants and their roles. For example: Doctor/ patient.

Hyponyms:

This is the relationship between two words in which the meaning

of one includes the meaning of the other. Items that serve as specific

examples of a general concept are call co-hyponyms.

For examples, daisy, rose, violet are flowers. “Rose” is the

hyponym of “flower”, “flower” is called the super-ordinate. “rose”,

“daisy” and “violet” are co-hyponyms.

Metonyms:

Metonym is the substitution of one word for another with which it

is associated. In other words, instead of the name of one object or

notion, we use the name of another because these objects are associated

and closely related. Metonymy is based on contiguity. For example:

- The Crown had absolute power in the Middle Age.

In this sentence, “the Crown” refers to the King or the Queen.

11

Translation: words or expressions in the learners’ mother tongue

those are more or less equivalent in meaning to the item being taught. For

example: house – nhà.

2.1.3.2. Form

Form of a word includes spoken form and written form.

Spoken form of a word is its pronunciation, which means how it is

said in a particular way (Cambridge Dictionary for advanced learners).

The role of word pronunciation has been asserted by Gairns and Redman

(1986) that even if learners can communicate clearly in written form, they

would not make it in spoken form if there is incorrect pronunciation.

Written form – also known as spelling- is the proper way a word is

written. If in Vietnamese, all literate people can write down a word after

listening to it, the case is different in English. English words’ spelling do

not closely attached with pronunciation. One letter can be pronounced

differently in different words and vice versa, one sound can be

transcribed by more than one letter. For examples, the sound /i:/ can be

written as ee (need), i (sit) or ea (feat). Some students may have the habit

of applying language rules from L1 to assume one of the two above

component when they first approach a new word in L2. For instance,

when he/she hears the sound /ru:m/ , he/she may write it down as “rum”

instead of “room”. Therefore, it is necessary that students should be

provided with both spelling and pronunciation of a new word

simultaneously.

2.1.3.3. Grammar

12

Grammatical rules in English are not applied to every vocabulary

items. There are irregular cases where the form of a word is unpredictably

changed or the combination with other words is distinctive. A typical

example for the unpredictable form changing is irregular verb. Since most

verbs’ past form is created by adding “ed”, a lot of students make mistake

when they apply this rule to irregular verbs such as “goed” or “eated”.

The distinctive combination with other word can be seen clearly when

adjectives or verbs go with prepositions like “interested in” or “fond of”.

2.1.3.4. Collocation

Collocation refers to the restriction on how words can be used

together. McCarthy (1990) said: “the relationship of collocation is

fundamental in the study of vocabulary; it is a marriage contract between

words and some words are more firmly married to each other than

others.” As mentioned in the aspect of grammar, the combination of

adjectives or verbs with preposition is an example. For another instance,

the combination of verbs and nouns or adjectives and nouns is also

restricted. We can say “take/ make a decision” but “come to a

conclusion”, not vice versa; a person is often described as “tall”, not

“high”.

In some special cases like in literature, some untypical collocations

may appear and confuse or mislead the learners. Therefore, collocation is

an important aspect to teach.

2.1.3.5. Word formation

Normally, vocabulary items can be divided into smaller component

“bits”. Word formation is about the way to put these “bits” together.

13

There are two main ways of word formations: using affixes and

combining many words.

Instead of teaching a lot of words like unfriendly, unreal,

uninteresting, unkind, teachers can provide the meaning of prefix “un”, so

that learners can guess the meaning of the above words. Nevertheless, it

should be noted that the affixes in many words do not have their original

meanings such as “subject” or “comfortable”.

Words can be built by combining two or more words; for examples,

bookcase is created from two nouns. Knowing the meaning of each

separated word, learners can predict the meaning of the compound word.

2.1.4. Classification of vocabulary

In his research paper on “Selection, Classification, Strategies of

Developing and Techniques of Teaching Vocabulary” (2010), V.

Harindhar Reddy divided vocabulary into 4 groups, basing on their

functions in a sentence. They are functional words, substitute words,

distributive words and content words.

2.1.4.1. Functional words

Functional words do not have their own meanings. Mainly, they are

used for expressing relationship between words and grammatical patterns,

and connecting the content words. Functional words include the

following categories:

Prepositions: A preposition shows a relationship between noun or

noun substitute and some other words in a sentence. For examples:

with, at, by, to, in, for, from, of, in, betwixt, amidst, underneath, circa,

14

subsequent to, pursuant to, in lieu of, on behalf of, be-hither, anent,

vis-a vis, etc.

Auxiliaries: Do forms, be forms, have forms, can, could, may, might,

shall, should, will, would, must, ought to, need, dare are all

auxiliaries.

Conjunctions: Which, for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so, nevertheless,

unless, that, if, but, and, when, since, whether, therefore, unless, until,

albeit, whereas, while, whilst, etc.,

Articles: English has two articles: the and a/an. „The‟ is used to refer

to specific or particular nouns; a/an is used to modify non-specific or

non-particular nouns.

Demonstrative adjectives: This, these, those, that, etc.

Interrogative Particles: How, what, when, where, which, who, whom,

whose, why, however, whatever, whenever, wherever, whichever,

whoever, whomever, etc.

Degree words: More, most, than, one of the, best, etc.

Miscellaneous: There, it, ever, etc.

2.1.4.2. Substitute words

These are the words that serve as substitutes for other words. For

example:

- Mary does her work as well as you do.

- She finished the course and he did too.

15

Here the words do and did stand for other words. Hereafter they are

called substitute words. Some more examples for substitute words are

given below.

Personal pronouns: I, me, our, us, you, your, he, his, him, she, her,

they, their, them, we, etc.

Indefinite substitutes: everybody, somebody, anybody, someone,

everyone, anyone, everything, anything, etc.

Negative substitutes: nothing, none, nobody, nowhere, none, etc.

Words denoting number of quantity: all, several, much, each, some,

few, once, twice, one, etc.

Flexible substitutes: so, do, as, alike, akin, similar, etc.

2.1.4.3. Distributive words

There are a number of words with affirmation and negative

distribution. Let us consider the following examples:

- He went to the disco and she did too.

- Speech is good; better still is silence.

Here the words too and still are the words affirmation distribution. Here

are two more examples.

- Rita does not like oily food; neither do I.

- I have not any pen.

Here the words neither and any are the words of negative distribution.

Evidently, these words show the absence or the presence of a negative

16

thing. Several other words such as quite, already, yet, more, some etc.

fall under this category.

2.1.4.4. Content words

If functional words are the skeleton of a passage, content words ửok

the flesh and blood of the language. They form the solid substance of a

language. These are the words that stand for things, actions or qualities

and are fragmented into 4 types.

- Concrete words

- Abstract words

- Action words and

- Quality words

a. Concrete words or words for things: These words include common

nouns and the nouns formed out of verbs and adjectives. They are:

Simple forms: table, chair, pencil, kite, light, camera, etc.

Compound forms: chairperson, blackboard, white-house,

spokesperson, sports-car, penknife, etc.

b. Abstract words

Words for actions changes as nouns: approval, invention, departure,

feeling, etc.

Words for qualities changed as nouns: goodness, weakness, strength,

length, conduct, width, sincerity, bravery, breadth, etc.

17

c. Action words

Simple forms: run, jump, rowing, type, google, jig, grimace,

chuckle, etc.

Compound forms: run-over, turn-over, depend upon, cutting

across, break apart, tore off, etc.

Words for qualities changed as nouns: unveil, endanger, imprison,

dethrone, etc.

Words for qualities changed as verbs: weaker, harden, soften,

enable, endear, etc.

Adverbial words: fast, slow, quick, fleetingly, etc.

d. Quality words

These words describe the quality. They include simple adjectives and

adjectives formed out of verbs and nouns.

Simple form: Short, tall, good, bad, happy, nice, rotten, sour,

colossal, mammoth, etc.

Words for things changed into adjectives: boyish, childlike, girlish,

accidental, tom-foolish, etc.

Words for actions changed into qualities: cheerful, smiling, written,

learned, etc.

2.2. Presenting Vocabulary

18

As proposed by Gower (2005) and Thornbury (2002), there are three

stages in teaching vocabulary: Presenting, practicing, and consolidating

and revising. This research focuses only on the techniques for the first

stage which is presenting vocabulary.

Thornbury emphasized on some factors that affect the number words

should be presented:

The learners’ level (beginner, intermediate, or advanced)

Learners’ likely familiarity with the words (learners may have met

the words before even though they are not part of their active

vocabulary)

The difficulty of the items (whether, for example, they express

abstract rather than concrete meaning, or whether they are difficult

to pronounce)

Their “teachability”, which means whether they can be easily

explained or demonstrated within the context of the classroom.

Whether items are being learned for production (in speaking or

writing) or recognition only (as in listening and reading). Since

more time will be needed for the former, the number of items is

likely to be fewer than if the aim is only recognition.

2.3. Techniques for presenting new vocabulary

According to Ur, P. (1996), as adapted in ELT Methodology II course

book (by Vietnam Nation University), four following main techniques are

used for presenting new vocabulary.

19

2.3.1. Showing the meaning of words visually:

Using pictures: Pictures can be used in many ways. They can be

flashcards of separated words, big printed pictures in textbooks or

prepared by teacher, or they can even be pictures drawn by teachers or

students directly on the board. Pictures are useful in catching student’s

attention, raising their interest in the presented subjects and thus,

enhancing their motivation. This instrument offers the chance for students

to make use of their imagination; hence, using pictures help students to

create the link between the meaning of words and real-world image

immediately. This technique is highly recommended for beginners in

English.

Using realia: In this way, real objects are used to illustrate the

meanings of words. The objects may already in the classroom, or brought

to class by teachers. Penny Ur emphasized that “Real objects are better

than pictures whenever we have them in classroom” and it would be “a

waste of excellent opportunities” if teachers only use textbook instead of

exploiting the real objects surrounding. However, there are a few

exceptions when using this instrument. Using real objects is not

recommended when the words relate to clothes or body parts. Pointing at

these objects, especially the ones one someone’s body in class would

create uncomfortable feeling. In these cases, pictures can be used as

substitutes.

Using mime: Teachers use their own action and facial expressions

to illustrate the words. This way is applied mostly for verbs and

adjectives, when pictures and real objects are not available.

In general, the advantages of showing the meaning of words visually

are the directness, attractiveness and quickness. Nevertheless, this way

20

cannot be applied to teach every word but mostly used when illustrating

non-abstract words.

2.3.2. Showing words in context:

As for abstract words, when visually techniques cannot be used,

showing word in context using examples, situations and explanations can

take effect. However, it should be remembered that the examples,

situations or explanations do not have to be too complicated. Simple

sentences like “Houses are building. This school is also building” are

enough to clarify the meaning of “building”. As Penny Ur described, this

is the way teacher “use simple English to show meanings of words”

(1996, p.46). He also emphasized that it is not easy to use simpler English

to describe one English word, even with native speakers. This technique

requires considerable experience in teaching English to speakers of other

languages.

An effective example should be simple but clear enough for the

learners to understand the word meaning. The sentence “He is lazy” itself

cannot show the meaning of “lazy” to someone who does not know it.

The word should be illustrated more by description such as “He wakes up

late. He does nothing all day long”. Ur claimed that example sentences

can be more helpful than definitions, especially when the sentences are

simple and familiar enough.

This technique requires preparation of teachers in order to create

appropriate contexts which are brief and comprehensible enough for

learners.

2.3.3. Using synonyms or/and antonyms

21

If the learners have already known the synonym/ antonym of the

new word, this will be a quick way to explain the meaning. This way can

help learners revise old words and study new words simultaneously.

Moreover, when learners can see a relation in meaning between the new

knowledge and the one that they have known, memorizing the new words

becomes easier. Once learners have been familiarized with some rules to

create antonyms such as using prefixes, they can easily get the meaning

of a new word or can even predict the form of an unknown antonym. For

instances, when learners have known about pairs of words like “happy –

unhappy”, “friendly – unfriendly”, they can guess the meaning of

“uninteresting” or guess that there can be words like “unkind,

unnecessary”. However, this technique is not applicable if the students do

not know the words from which they have to infer the opposite or similar

meaning. One more disadvantage of this technique is that antonym can

hardly be applied with nouns, and not all adjectives, adverbs or verbs

have a true synonym or antonym.

2.3.4. Translation

Translation is the technique of explain the new word by the learner’s

first language. This is considered the simplest and clearest way to show

the meaning of a new word. Moreover, it seems to be a favourable

technique by teachers thanks to its time-saving nature. Several authors

suggest that first language does not play an essential role in foreign

language teaching (Tang, 2002). Whilst Nation (1990), for example,

suggests that the degradation of mother tongue has a harmful

psychological effect on learners. A number of professionals in the field of

second language and foreign language acquisition agree that mother

tongue should be used with students who are not highly proficient in the

target language such as Nation (2002) or Atkinson (1987).This may

22

suggest that mother tongue plays an important role in language teaching,

especially for the low proficiency learners like students of Strategic

Mission Program.

However, only translation technique itself cannot vividly shows how

the word is actually used. Furthermore, there are cases that the

Vietnamese word cannot fully depict all aspects of meaning of the

English counterpart. If students are not active enough to study the

meaning carefully by themselves, they will easily misuse the words.

Therefore, it is recommended that together with translation, teachers

should provide examples to illustrate how the words really work.

2.3.5. Combining different techniques

Because each technique has its own benefit and limitation, the

combination of different techniques is applied frequently in order to

support each other and reinforce the effectiveness of the presentation. The

ways to combine techniques depend on the purpose and the creativeness

of each teacher.

2.4. Vocabulary acquisition

To serve the aim of this study, the researcher did not take “the

number of words a language learner should know” into consideration. In

order to evaluate the effectiveness of techniques for presenting new

vocabulary, the researcher needs to initially answer the question: What

does it mean by “knowing a word”? Richards (1976) brought out eight

assumptions in relation to lexical competence which are listed in Carter

and McCarthy (1989).

23

Knowing a word means knowing the degree of probability of

encountering it and the sorts of words most likely to be found

associated with it (frequency and collocability).

Knowing a word means knowing its limitations of use according to

function and situation (temporal, social, geographical; field, mode,

etc).

Knowing a word means knowing its syntactic behaviour (e.g.

transitivity patterns, cases).

Knowing a word means knowing its underlying forms and

derivations.

Knowing a word means knowing its place in a network of

associations with other words in the language.

Knowing a word means knowing its semantic value (its composition).

Knowing a word means knowing its different meanings (polisemy)

Joanna Channell (1988) stated that an L2 word is considered as

being acquired by a learner when:

a) its meaning can be recognized and understood both in and out of

context

b) it can be used naturally and appropriately to situation.

The limitation of time does not allow this study to investigate

thoroughly into each of the eight assumptions by Richard. The

methodology is also not enough to explore the ability of using new words

naturally and appropriately of students. Consequently, in the scope of this

24

study, the researcher only aim at the vocabulary acquisition at the most

basic level, at which “knowing a word involves knowing its form and its

meaning.” (Thornbury, 2002) Moreover, as most techniques for

presenting vocabulary listed here focus on the meaning of words, the

significant focus of the study is also the meaning of the new vocabulary

presented.

2.5. Related studies

2.5.1. In Vietnam

There have been a number of researches on teaching vocabulary.

The major of them are about techniques in teaching vocabulary for

students in secondary schools, high schools (especially 11th

and 12th

form) or some certain centers. Those studies aim at the techniques to

teach vocabulary in general but do not elaborate in the presenting stage.

Besides, the focus of a lot of those studies is teaching vocabulary through

games and visual aids, or the difficulty when teaching vocabulary. There

haven’t been any study investigates the effectiveness of the techniques.

Moreover, as the Strategic Mission Program is brand new, there has

absolutely been no research on any issue of this program.

2.5.2. In the world

The situation is quite the same in the world. There are numerous of

researches on techniques for teaching vocabulary in various

environments. Alemi, M (2010) conducted the study “Educational game

as a vehicle for teaching vocabulary”, in which she attempted to

investigate the role of using word games in expanding the learner’s

vocabulary. In “An investigation of two ways of presenting vocabulary”

25

(retrieved from eltj.oxfordjournals.org ) by Papathanasiou, E, the author

aimed at examine the two manner of L2 vocabulary presentation which

are presenting words in related fashion and semantically related

vocabulary. Researcher Pyle, D. wrote “Teaching vocabulary

meaningfully with language, image and sound” (2009). This study was an

exploration of how an instructional technique that uses language, image,

and sound - that of a meaningful presentation of language with image by

gradual, step-by-step sequencing - affects vocabulary acquisition.

Nevertheless, the effectiveness of techniques for presenting new

vocabulary has not been studied thoroughly in any specific real case.

http://eltj.oxfordjournals.org/search?author1=Evagelia+Papathanasiou&sortspec=date&submit=Submit

26

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

3.1. Settings




University. This is a new project that is first conducted by ULIS, VNU in

the academic year of 2010-2011. Students come from different

universities of VNU, who have not been qualified enough in English will

take a supplement course on this subject for one year. Their English

course consists of five modules, which will be studied within one year.

They aim at the level of at least 6.0 IELTS after the course. Most of their

first year time í spent on English studying only. The twenty classes of

Strategic Mission Program are divided into 3 main groups according to

students’ level: From QT1 to QT5 plus QT19 are classes at the highest

level, from QT6 to QT18 are middle-leveled classes, and QT20 is a

special class for students at the lowest level. This research focuses only

on the second groups.

Strategic Mission Program’s students have five 50-minute sessions

of English per day, and five days a week. Among the five sessions, the

first four are carried out by teachers. Students work with the course books

which are distinctively assigned for the program depending on each

module. The fifth session is for the tutors who are voluntary students

from English-major faculty to come and helps the students with any

questions they might have regarding the contents of the lessons in

previous sessions.

27

There are some features which should be noted about students of

Strategic Mission Program. Firstly, different from the English-major

course, the four skills (speaking, listening, writing and reading) are not

study separately but combined together in their course book. Only for

module B2 and C1, writing skill is split out with particular textbooks.

Next, from the second year on, they will study course of their majors in

English. Therefore, they need to reach the required English level, which

is also the main target of the English course in the first year.

3.2. Participants

The two targets involving directly in teaching and learning

vocabulary are students and teachers of Strategic Mission Program. These

are two certain participants of the research.

First, an approximately of 70 students from three classes in QT

group are chosen for collecting data. The three classes are picked

randomly from QT6 to QT18. This is the group of middle level. At the

beginning of the course, they are pre-intermediate students. At the last

module (C1), they are supposed to reach Intermediate level. As their

proficiency in English is lower than the other classes (from QT1 to QT5,

plus QT 19), new vocabulary would be more problematic for their

learning.

The following table tells in detail the course books used for this

group during five modules:

28

Modules Course books

A1 New English File – Ele

Pronunciation in Use – Ele

A2 New English File - Pre-intermediate

Pronunciation in Use - Ele

B1 New English File – Intermediate

Interaction 1 – Reading

Interaction 1 – Listening

Natural English - Intermediate

B2 Focus on IELTS Foundation Coursebook

Focus on skills for IELTS Foundation

Paragraph Writing

C1 IELTS Express – Intermediate

Effective Academic Writing 2

The Complete Presentation Skill Handbook

Course books used for this group during five modules

The research is carried out at the beginning of semester 2 so that

students have already had a certain experience through one semester of

the English course. They now can identify their own problem in learning

process and complete the questionnaire.

29

Second, teachers are the one who directly present new knowledge,

which they should be well-prepared for and thoroughly understand.

Consequently, for a study on techniques of presenting new vocabularies,

teachers are certainly an appropriate participant. Ten teachers are also

chosen randomly to do the questionnaire. Due to the fact that the teaching

staff for Strategic Mission Program changed after each module, and one

class might work with up to 10 teachers within one week, it is not

necessary to choose exactly the teachers who are in charge of the chosen

classes.

Another aim of questioning both students and teachers is to ensure

the objectiveness of the data. The students may not be fully aware of the

techniques used by their teachers, or they may not concentrate enough in

order to remember precisely what are taught in class. Therefore, it is

necessary to consider the response of both sides.

3.3. Instruments

As for a quantitative research, questionnaire and interview are

applied together so that the researcher can cover all the angles of the

issue.

3.3.1. Questionnaire

The purpose of questionnaire is to clarify the techniques of

presenting new vocabularies of teachers’ and students’ evaluation for

those techniques. Most questions are close so that the questionnaire will

not be time-consuming for the participants and more convenient for the

researcher to collect and analyze the data.

30

The strong point of questionnaire is the ability of collecting data

from a wide group of participants and it has fairly reliability (Mackey &

Gass, 2005, p29). “The questionnaire is a widely used useful instrument

for collecting survey information, providing structured, often numerical

data, being able to be administered without the presence of the researcher,

and often being comparatively straightforward to analyze” (Wilson &

McLean, 1994, cited in essaycapital.com)

Because of students’ limited English proficiency, Vietnamese

versions of questionnaire are specially designed for students to decrease

the probable difficulty for them.

3.3.2. Interview

As stated above, the data collected from questionnaire are only fairly

reliable. They may not be trustworthy enough due to the unwillingness of

the participants. As a result, interview needs to be carried out in order to

gather more concise information. For more specific details about the

techniques of presenting new vocabularies and their effectiveness,

interview will be applied for 10 students and 3 teachers. The interviewees

are chosen basing on the questionnaires. Another purpose of interviewing

is to check whether students really understand the options in the

questionnaires and if they thought carefully before answering or not.

The interviews are conducted confidentially and in friendly

atmosphere. The interviewees clarify some unclear points in the

questionnaire and elaborate more on some detailed information. The

conversations are recorded and transcribed later on.

31

3.4. Sampling

According to Hatch and Lazaraton (1991), the sample should

include at least 30 people in order to achieve the “normal distribution”.

From the statistical significance’s point of view, the needed number of

participants is around 50 for statistical significance. Moreover, the range

from 1% to 10% of the population is often said to be the “magic sampling

fraction”. Each of the 20 QT classes has an approximately of 25 to 30

students. Therefore, the researcher decided to distribute questionnaire for

three classes. After that, basing on the questionnaire, researcher chose the

targets for interviewing to collect more detailed information.

3.5. Procedure

3.5.1. Data collection

As earlier mentioned, the data collection procedure of this study was

conducted with two instruments: surveys and interviews, both designed

by the researcher.

First of all, the researcher distributes pilot questionnaire randomly to

three students and one teacher. If necessary, adjustment will be applied

afterward to come up with the final questionnaire. The copies of the final

one will be given out for the participants. The soft copies can also be

made used of and sent through email if that way is more convenient for

the participants.

Secondly, basing on the general situation withdrawn from the

answers for questionnaire, the researcher will design interview questions

to look for more details. All interviews will be carried out with informal

32

and friendly atmosphere. All information about interviewees is

guaranteed to be confidential. The content of the interviews will be

recorded by the researcher.

3.5.2. Data analysis

First, for the questionnaire, the data from close-ended questions will

be statistically analyzed to answer the research questions. With the open-

ended questions, synthesis and classification will be employed to analyze

data. After writing the transcripts of the interview recordings, the

researcher will use the same methods as above to analyze the

interviewees’ answers for more specific information.

33

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1. Findings

4.1.1. The frequency of using each technique in presenting the

meaning of new vocabulary as perceived by students:

Figure 1: The frequency of using each technique for presenting new vocabulary

as perceived by students

Figure 1 shows clearly that out of all techniques for presenting new

vocabulary, the least used one is the group of visual techniques. About

23% students said they never see these techniques used in class. The

majority asserted that they are rarely applied. Nearly two fifths claimed

that they are applied frequently (from often to always). Only 3% ticked

on “always” option for visual techniques group.

According to the data, translation seems not to be a highly

preferable technique. Although 14,8% student chose the option “always”

22,9

3 3 4,5 1,5

38,8

11,4 7,4

25,4

9

19,9

23,444,8

22,4

44,8

15,4

41,3

35,832,9 25,3

3

20,99

14,8 19,4

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Showing the meaning of

words visually

Showing words in context

Using synonyms or/ and

antonyms

Translation Combining different

techniques

Always

Usually

Often

Rarely

Never

34

for it, there another 30% who do not see the usage of this technique

regularly.

The techniques of using context, synonyms/ antonyms and

combining different techniques are exploited with roughly the same

frequency. All three of them receive the agreement of 85% to 90%

students for the categories from often to always. The first and the last one

are both used always in the opinion of one fifth of students.

Investigating the way teachers combine different techniques, the

researcher received fairly similar ideas from some students. Mainly, their

teachers use context together with visual instruments to illustrate the

words.

Figure 2: The frequency of using each sub-technique in “showing the meaning of

words visually” as perceived by students

Taking a closer look at the usage of visual techniques in figure 2, we

can see that realia is not a preferable tool for showing meanings of

13,4

49,3

5,9

59,7

41,8

14,9

25,4

8,9

25,4

1,5 0

44,8

0 09

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Using pictures Using realia Using mime

Always

Usually

Often

Rarely

Never

35

words. A half of students have never been exposed to this technique.

Another 42% said realia are rarely employed. Only 8,9% students often

learn new words through realia. On answering the question “How realia

are used in your class?”, student B claimed that his English teachers did

not use this tool so often and they mainly made use of the objects

available in class. However, objects I class hardly serve the topic in the

course book, hence they do not have much chance to be used.

As can be seen from the figure, the frequency of using pictures is

not high either. More than two thirds of students never or rarely study

new vocabulary through pictures. Among those, 13,4% said pictures are

never used.

Of all three visual sub-techniques, using mime is exploited the

most. This is the only technique that is always used according to 9% of

students. Other 70% confirmed that mime is usually or often employed by

their teachers.


words in context” as perceived by students

1,5 5,9 1,510,4

19,4

4,5

22,4

29,8

17,9

46,3

37,3

40,3

19,47,6

35,8

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Using examples Using situation Using explanations

Always

Usually

Often

Rarely

Never

36

Figure 3 shows that the frequencies of using each among 3 sub-

techniques in “showing the meaning of words in context” as perceived by

students are not remarkably different. Situation is the least exploited tool

since one fourths of students agreed that their teachers never or rarely use

situation to present new vocabulary. Meanwhile, this rate for the two

other tools is doubled (for using examples) and tripled (for using

explanations).

Remarkably, explanation is the most preferable instrument with the

confirmation of about three fourths of students, among those are 35,8 %

who chose “always” and 40,3% chose “usually”.

Using example technique has nearly the same frequency as using

explanations. But the percentage of students that that ticked on “never” or

“rarely” options of using examples (12%) almost doubles that of using

explanations (6%). The situation is reversed when it comes to the option

“always”. The number of students having chosen this option for using

examples is only more than a half of that for using explanations.

4.1.2. The frequency of using each technique in presenting new

vocabulary as perceived by teachers

4.1.2.1. The frequency of using each technique in presenting new

vocabulary according to teachers’ lesson plans

37

Figure 4: The frequency of using each technique in presenting new vocabulary

according to teachers’ lesson plans

From figure 4, it can be concluded that all techniques for presenting

new vocabulary are not neglected by teachers. More or less, all five

techniques have been put into teachers’ lesson plans. However, the

frequency of tending to use each one varies quite clearly. Outstandingly,

the techniques of showing meaning of words visually and translation

are rarely considered in lesson plans as 63,3% and 40% of teachers

claimed so respectively. On the other hand, the three techniques left seem

to be preferable, especially “showing words in context” with totally 67%

of teachers’ choice for “always” and “usually” options. Teacher A

explained the reason for not putting translation in her lesson plans:

I don’t put translation in lesson plan because it is not necessary to do so. It is

quite an “instinctual” technique. By “instinctual”, I mean when there is no

other way to explain the new words, teachers will automatically do this way.

0 0 0 0 0

63,3

0 0

40

0

30

33,3

50

60

60

6,7

56,7

50

0

30

010

0 010

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%


words visually



antonyms


techniques

Always

Usually

Often

Rarely

Never

38

Figure 5: The frequency of using each sub-technique in "Showing the meaning of

words visually" according to lesson plans

Figure 5 reveals more details about the frequency "Showing the

meaning of words visually" according to lesson plans. All three

instruments for this technique rarely appear in the lesson plans of at least

a half of teachers. The highest rate of “rarely” option belongs to “using

realia” technique with 80%. However, for pictures and realia, there are

still 10% of teachers who usually employ them in their lesson plans.

Mime are tended to be often used by 50% and rarely used by the other

half.

0 0 0

60

80

50

30

10

50

10 1000 0 0

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%


Always

Usually

Often

Rarely

Never

39

Figure 6: The frequency of using each sub-technique in "showing words in

context" according to lesson plans

The technique of showing words in context are fairly favourable as

showed in figure 6. The situation is exactly the same for the technique of

“using examples” and “using explanations” since each one receives two

fifths of ticks for “often” and three fifths for “usually”. It is obvious that

the most utilized instrument in the lesson plans is situation. Up to a half

of teachers usually consider it and 30% always put it into their lesson

plans.

4.1.2.2. The frequency of using each technique in presenting new

vocabulary in actual teaching sessions

0 0 00 0 0

40

20

40

60

50

60

0

30

0

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%


Always

Usually

Often

Rarely

Never

40

Figure 7: The frequency of using each technique in presenting new vocabulary in

actual teaching sessions

Figure 7 illustrates the frequency of using each technique in

presenting new vocabulary in actual teaching sessions as perceived by

teachers.

Among all techniques, visual techniques are exceptionally rarely

exploited by 66,7% of teachers. No one claimed that he/she always uses

this technique, and it is usually used by only 6,6% of teachers. The

second least applied technique is translation. One fifth of teacher rarely

make use of it. Only one other fifth chose the options “always” and

“usually”. Teacher A answered that although translating words directly

into Vietnamese could help to save time, this technique should not be

over-used. She assumes that “if we (teachers) translate all the time, I

think the students cannot understand and remember the word as well as

when they have to analyze the context or examples in English.”

Therefore, she chose to have her students think more through

0 0 0 0 0

66,7

0 0

20

0

26,7

40

80

50

50

6,6

43,3

10 10

50

0

16,710 10

0

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%


words visually



antonyms


techniques

Always

Usually

Often

Rarely

Never

41

explanations in order to help them understand and remember words

better.

For the other three techniques, no teacher said he/she rarely uses

them. Approximately 40% of teachers often employ “showing words in

context” and “combining different techniques”. That percentage for

“using synonyms/ antonyms” is 80%.

Of all five, the most actually applied technique “showing words in

context”, which receives the highest rate for “always” option (16,7%)

and secondly highest one for “usually” option (43,3%). All three teacher

in the interviews agreed that using context is the best way to show the

meanings of new vocabulary, both denotational and connotational ones.

“Combining different techniques” is the second choice because it is

rather complicated and time-consuming to carry out (according to teacher

C).


words visually” in actual teaching sessions

Visual techniques are generally not frequently used in actual

teaching sessions since at least a half of teachers ticked on “rarely”

0 0 0

7080

50

300

50

0

20

00 0 0

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%


Always

Usually

Often

Rarely

Never

42

options for each instrument, especially up to 80% for realia. However, it

is realia that is the only one employed usually by one fifth of teacher.

None of the teacher chose “usually” or “always” for “Using pictures” and

“using mime”. Each of the two techniques receive 30% and 50% of

“often” respectively.

Describing the way she used realia in class, teacher B said: “Most of

the time, I only use objects that are available around the class. It is

difficult to find and bring things to class.” She also explained that not

many words can be illustrated by real objects, so this technique is not

employed much by her.

Teacher C justified her reason for not using pictures frequently:

“Using picture requires careful preparation and a lot of time.” She needed

time to find the pictures that appropriate, simple and clear enough to

illustrate the word. Although pictures are beneficial for presenting the

denotational meaning of new words, they become impractical in the

context of the classroom. First, it would be costly if teachers prepare and

print pictures for every session. Second, one picture can hardly describe

more than one word. In that way, using pictures frequently is quite a

waste.

Teacher A thought that using mime is challenging for most teachers

if their body language was not flexible enough. This technique requires

good “acting/ performing skill” while not all teachers can master these

skills. “Moreover, if I don’t “act” well enough, the acting will become

awkward and the students still cannot catch the meaning I want to deliver.

In that way, mime turns out to be confusing and too complicated for

students” she explained.

43


words in context” in actual teaching sessions

Apparently, figure 9 proves that examples are the most highly

appreciate instrument by teacher in actual teaching sessions as three fifths

of teacher “usually” and 30% for “always”. Both of the two percentages

are higher than those of “using situation” and “using explanations”.

There is no percentage of “rarely” or “never” for all three

techniques. The rate of teachers who often apply situation and

explanation are 50% and 60% accordingly. According to teacher B, in

fact, teachers often combine these instruments and apply them at the same

time. “It’s difficult to clearly distinguish these three instruments. The

examples can also be the situations or explanations” she said.

Comparing the frequency of using each technique for presenting

vocabulary according to lesson plans and in actual teaching sessions, we

do not see much difference. The most outstanding dissimilarity is that in

0 0 00 0 010

5060

60

4030

30

10 10

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%


Always

Usually

Often

Rarely

Never

44

actual teaching sessions, the techniques of translation and using

synonyms/ antonyms are utilized more than having been planned.

In conclusion, taking a look at the frequency of using each technique

for presenting vocabulary as perceived by students and by teachers, the

researcher realized that despite the difference in terms of percentage for

the options of frequency, the general ratio among the frequency of 5

techniques are quite the same. According to the data from both sides

(teachers and students), the two most frequently used techniques are

showing words in context and combining several techniques. The

technique which is made used of the least is showing the meaning of

words visually.

45

4.1.3. The effectiveness of techniques for presenting vocabulary as

perceived by students:

Figure 10: The effectiveness of each technique for presenting denotational

meaning as perceived by students

Generally, from figure 10, we can say all five techniques are more or

less equally effective for presenting denotational meanings. The

percentages of students that believe in the effectiveness of these

techniques range from 58% (translation) to 75% (combining different

techniques). The combining of techniques is the most helpful one with

the agreement of about three fourths of students who chose “effective and

“very effective”, and none said it is ineffective.

There is not much difference in the number of students who affirm

the effectiveness of the other four techniques. However, it is noteworthy

that the rate of students considering visual techniques and translation as

“ineffective” and “little effective” are remarkably high comparing to that

8,51 0 1,5 0

10,4

3 613,4

1,5

25,4

25,432,8

28,4

22,4

37,3

45,7

41,822,4

35,8

18,424,9

19,4

34,340,3

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%


words visually



antonyms


techniques

Very effective

Quite effective

Neutral

Little effective

Ineffective

46

of the others. While there is only 1,5% to 6% of students said that

showing word in context, using synonyms/ antonyms and combining

techniques are of little or no effective, this percentage for “showing the

meaning of words visually” and “translation” are 19% and 15%

respectively.

Figure 11: The effectiveness of each sub-technique in "Showing the meaning of

words visually" for presenting denotational meanings as perceived by students

As viewed in figure 11, three instruments in visual techniques group

have approximately similar level of effectiveness. From a half to three

fifths of students agreed that these three sub-techniques are effective.

About one fourths claimed they are neutral in this question.

It is notable that more students do not find using realia effective

comparing to the other two instruments. Up to 14,9% ticked on

“ineffective” and 9% ticked on “little effective” options for using realia.

This percentage for using pictures and using mime and pictures are both

614,9

4,5

13,4

9

9

22,4

25,3

28,4

40,3 28,4 43,3

17,922,4

14,8

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%


Very effectvie

Quite effective

Neutral

Little effective

Ineffective

47

under 20%. Also, only a half of students assert the efficiency of using

realia, which is less than that of nearly 60% of the other tools. Even so,

the number of students who find using realia very effective is the highest

one among the three (22,4%).

Explaining the ineffectiveness of using pictures in presenting new

vocabulary, student D complained that pictures sometimes could confuse

her.

Some pictures in course book or handouts are too small and of poor quality,

hence I cannot figure out the images. Moreover, there may by too many

objects in one picture that distract me from the main object that I need to pay

attention to.

So, it is the choice of pictures that has impact on the effectiveness of

this technique. Unclear and complicated ones would reverse the effect on

students.

48

Figure 12: The effectiveness of each sub-technique in "showing words in

context" for presenting denotational meanings as perceived by students

It can be withdrawn from figure 12 that using explanations is more

effective than using the other two instruments. Almost 80% of students

thought that explanations are useful for them in studying denotational

meanings of new vocabulary. More than one third of those affirm that

using this tool is “very effective”. Only 17,8% do not highly regard the

efficiency of this technique while that of using examples and situation are

31,3% and 26,8% accordingly. The techniques of using examples and

situation are similarly evaluated by three fourths of students as “very

effective” and “quite effective”. It is notable that there are 6% could not

see the efficiency of using situation to present denotational meanings.

0 1,5 1,534,5 1,5

31,3 26,8

17,9

44,841,8

50,7

20,925,4 28,4

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%


Very effective

Quite effective

Neutral

Little effective

Ineffective

49

Figure 13: The effectiveness of each technique for presenting connotational


When it comes to presenting connotational meaning, there is variety

in the evaluation for level of effectiveness among techniques (see figure

13). Overall, combining different techniques is claimed to be the most

effective one with 35,9% of students’ choice for “very effective”, 29,8%

for “quite effective” and only 1,5% for “little effective”.

Showing words in context, using synonyms/ antonyms are rather

equally helpful for students as more than 60% of them agreed on the

effectiveness of these two techniques.

Translation technique receives a considerable rate of 14,9% for

“little effective” option. However, it is “Showing the meaning of words

visually” that is proved to be the worst technique for presenting

connotational meaning of words. Up to 24% students claimed that they

50 0 0 0

18,9

4,5 7,514,9

1,5

39,3

30,831,3

29,8

32,8

27,3

40,3

47,726,9

29,8

9,5

24,413,5

28,435,9

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%


words visually


Using synonyms or/ and antonyms


techniques

Very effective

Quite effective

Neutral

Little effective

Ineffective

50

could not learn connotational meanings effectively through visual aids,

and only 35 % approve the effectiveness of them.

Figure 14: The effectiveness of each technique in "Showing the meaning of words

visually" for presenting connotational meaning as perceived by students

Similarly to the result of the whole group, each techniques in

“showing the meaning of word visually” is given not much approval for

the option “very effective” in presenting connotational meaning, only

from 6% (using realia) to 13,4% (using mime). Of all three instruments,

mime seems to be the most appreciated tool with the highest rate for both

“very effective” and “quite effective” option (48% in total ) and the

lowest rate for “little effective” and “ineffective” options (15% in total).

The percentage of students who disapproved the effectiveness of using

realia is noticeably high (more than 30%). Among those, one third said

realia are not effective at all in presenting connotational meaning. To

310,4

1,5

21

22,4

13,4

44,735,8

37,3

22,3 25,4

34,4

9,5 613,4

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%


Very effectvie

Quite effective

Neutral

Little effective

Ineffective

51

answer the question “How can pictures help you to learn the

connotational meaning of new word?” student E said:

Pictures only are not enough to show the connotational meaning. It is

necessary that teachers ass more explanation. And we need no know the

denotational meaning, then we may infer the connotatinal meaning.

Figure 15: The effectiveness of each sub-technique in "Showing words in

context" for presenting connotational meanings as perceived by students

The situation is brighter for “showing words in context” sub-

techniques. Generally, the majority of students (from 59% to 69%)

asserted the effectiveness of these techniques for presenting connotational

meaning of new vocabulary. Only less than 6% did not find these three

sub-techniques effective for them. Using examples is slightly less

effective than the other techniques with the disproportion of nearly 10%

for “very effective” and “quite effective” options.

0 0 03 4,5 6

38,828,4 25,4

38,8

40,3 41,8

19,426,8 26,8

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%


Very effective

Quite effective

Neutral

Little effective

Ineffective

52

Briefly, it can be concluded that the two most effective techniques

for presenting vocabulary as perceived by students are “showing words in

context” and “combining different techniques”. Three sub-techniques of

the former one are equally effective in the opinion of students of Strategic

Mission Program.

4.2. Suggestions to improve the effectiveness of techniques for

presenting new vocabulary:

4.2.1. Suggestions by teachers:

In teacher’s opinion, there are two main kinds of difficulty when

using these five techniques to present new vocabulary. First, it is the

limitation in the characteristics of each technique. For examples, realia is

not frequently employed because they cannot illustrate the abstract nouns.

Second, the difficulties rise in the procedure of carrying out the

techniques. The techniques can be time-consuming to carry out,

demanding in preparation, too complicated for students or not appealing

enough for students. Giving the solutions for these problems, teachers

raise some possible remedies. Teacher B shared her experience in using

context to present new vocabulary:

I myself find using context to explain words effective and clear. However, it

seems that a number of students don’t think so. I guess it is because the

examples and situations are not good enough. They cannot attract students. I

think maybe the teachers need more sense of humour, or creativity to provide

interesting and effective examples or explanations.

For the difficulty when using visual instruments like pictures or

realia, teachers had the same point of view that they should be more

53

practical and flexible when applying this way. Teacher A contributed her

method:

Teacher can make use of the drawing talent of students. For example, once

I conducted a word game, I required one student from each team to

illustrate the words by drawing simple images onto the board. Certainly, the

teams chose their best painters. The activity was eagerly approved and I

could save much time and money on preparing the pictures myself.

The teachers suggested some more techniques that could be useful in

presenting new vocabulary. One method that was raised by most teachers

is using game. Teacher A said:

I think create a competitive vocabulary game is an effective way to increase

students’ motivation, such as some quizzes with marks to decide which

group is the winner, which is the loser, and the loser will have to do

something to “entertain” the whole class.

The game for presenting vocabulary can be diversity, depending on

the creativity and the aim of each teacher. The normal psychology of

students is to prefer playing than studying (according to teacher C);

moreover, four continuous periods for a session is rather long and tiring,

so games become helpful in both comforting students, offering them time

to take off stress and simultaneously drawing their attention. Andrew

Wright (1984) would agree with this opinion as he said language learning

is “hard work’ which requires effort at every moment and must be

maintained over a long period of time. Therefore, games encourage many

learners to “sustain their interest and work”. He also pointed out that one

more advantage of games is to help the teacher to create contexts in

which the language is useful and meaningful. In order to take part in the

games, students must understand and be able to respond to what is

happening. In that way, both the confidence and language acquisition of

them are enhanced.

54

Some teachers think that instead of explaining the words or

translating them for students, teacher can ask somebody in class to

clarify meaning (either explain or translate) for the other ones. “Learning

from classmates is more effective than from teachers to some extends”

said teacher B. The reason is that students in one class normally have the

common background knowledge, interest and general level of English

acquisition. Consequently, one student may understand what his/ her

friends need or how they want the words to be explained better than

teachers do. Moreover, students would be more open with their peers than

with their supervisors. They feel more comfortable to question the

speakers or require more clarification if the provided one has not been

satisfactory enough. The feeling of comfort is also a factor that affects the

efficiency of studying new knowledge.

Another techniques suggested by teachers is using questions.

Teacher C stated that she would use this instrument together with

translation because of the “very low level of English competency of

students”. The questions should be clear, simple and suggestive so that

students can gradually reach the meaning of vocabulary by themselves.

The last technique raised by teachers is having students use

dictionary. Teacher A said:

Sometimes, there are too many new words that teacher cannot handle all, as

in a reading text. In that case, students should figure out the word on their

own. Additionally, using dictionary is a skill that needs to be mastered as

students’ level improves.

There are some certain advantages of using dictionary. First, students

will access to both the meaning and the form (spelling and pronunciation)

of the word. This lessens the chance of misspelling and mispronouncing

55

the words due to the external affection. Second, the definition provided in

the dictionary is precise with examples to illustrate, which helps to avoid

misunderstanding due to ambiguous explanation by teachers. Last,

English learners should know how to read the dictionary properly. By

“properly”, it means that students should know what kind of meaning

they are looking up for, and which one among the provided meanings is

appropriate. However, having students use dictionary, teachers should

still explain more in case the examples in dictionary are too complicated

or not familiar.

4.2.2. Suggestions by students

More than one third of students confirmed that they would like visual

aids, especially pictures to be employed more in class for presenting new

vocabulary. Students A agreed: “I would love to learn new words through

pictures. They are easy to understand and interesting. Looking at pictures

help me feel more comfortable and less boring in class.” Nevertheless, as

mentioned in the findings, pictures used in class should be in good quality

in order to ensure their effectiveness.

One more technique which is approximately as preferred by students

as using pictures is showing words in context. They would like to be

provided with sentences or paragraphs including new words in order to

figure out the meaning by themselves. Students also suggested that

teachers should use simple and familiar explanations. Student A gave an

example:

When teaching about people’s characteristics, instead of giving us general

examples about someone named John or Tom, or some “he” or “she”,

56

teachers can take someone in my class as an illustration. It would be much

more vivid and interesting.

Some students claimed that using synonyms/ antonyms to present

new words is the best way. Student D said: “I like to learn new words by

synonyms and antonyms because this way helps me to understand much

faster and remember better. Furthermore, there are some general rules for

creating antonym like adding prefix. Therefore, if I have known some

rules, I can easily guess the meaning of the antonyms.”

One technique that quite a lot of students raised is providing new

vocabulary in theme/ topic. “We can draw mind maps to study words

better” is the opinion of student A. Studying new words in certain topics

together with mind maps helps students to remember words

systematically. Hence, this is a useful method to present denotational

meaning of vocabulary.

Lastly, using games is also a preferable method for presenting

vocabulary to students. Almost all students interviewed affirmed their

expectation of having more games in class. Especially, when there is a

theme for the lesson, games for new vocabulary is highly recommended

because they will be easier to carry out. Inputting a large amount of new

words is challenging and tiring for students at low level. Games help to

ease the stress and inspire students.

4.3. Conclusion

In general, there is not much difference between the frequency of

using each technique for presenting vocabulary as perceived by teacher

and as perceived by students. Both two targets confirmed the highest

frequency of “Showing words in context” and “Combining several

57

techniques” and the lowest one of “showing the meaning of words

visually”.

In the opinion of students, the two most effective techniques for

presenting vocabulary are “showing words in context” and “combining

different techniques”.

Suggesting ways to improve the effectiveness of presenting new

vocabulary, students stated that the five main techniques by Penny Ur

should be enhanced and employed more in class, especially using

pictures, synonyms/ antonyms and showing words in context. Besides

those techniques in the theory, teachers and students have quite different

ways to improve the effectiveness. Teachers have the tendency to require

students to work more, which explains their choice of techniques like

having students use dictionary or explain words for peers. From the other

side, students wish for more games and some changes in terms of the way

teachers apply techniques.

58

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION

5.1. Summary

After analyzing data from questionnaire and interviews, the

researcher found out that there is not much difference between the

frequency of using each technique for presenting vocabulary from the

perception of teacher and of students. Both two sides agreed on the

highest frequency of “showing words in context” and “combining several

techniques” and the lowest one of “showing the meaning of words

visually”. Regarding the instruments for showing words in context,

mimes (actions) is the most preferable one while realia are not applied

frequently due to some limitations of its. On the other hand, the three

instruments in “showing words in context” are equally employed.

In terms of the effectiveness of techniques for presenting

denotational meaning of vocabulary, most students confirmed that

combining different techniques is the most efficient method, and the least

useful one is the visual technique of using realia. For presenting

connotational meaning, once again, combining different techniques is the

most highly estimated method by students, and using realia is still the

worst one in their opinion.

Students and teachers of Strategic Mission Program have different

suggestions in order to improve the effectiveness of presenting new

vocabulary. AS for students, they would like the five main techniques by

Penny Ur should be enhanced and employed more in class, especially

using pictures, synonyms/ antonyms and showing words in context.

Besides those techniques in the theory, teachers and students have

suggested additional ways to improve the effectiveness. Both of them

emphasized the advantages of games for presenting vocabulary, which is

59

said to be able to keep the motivation of students. From one side, most

teachers seem to have the tendency to require students to work mentally

more, for which reasons they preferred techniques like having students

use dictionary or explain words for peers. From the other side, students

wish for more games and some alternations in terms of the way teachers

apply techniques.

5.2. Teaching implications

From the result of the study, the researcher believe that the key

factor affecting the efficiency of presenting new vocabulary is the way

each technique is conducted in the context of classroom. This depends on

how experienced and skillful teachers are. Taking using mime as an

example, we can see that if teachers want to apply this technique

effectually, they need to be creative and competent in order to use body

language smoothly without creating awkwardness and confusion.

It is quite surprising that some techniques are supposed to be useful

turned out to be less effective than expected like using visual aids

(pictures or realia). As a result, teachers should carefully consider the

quality of instruments and the procedure of using them in class.

One more experience can be withdrawn from the result of the

research is that teachers should pay more attention to the needs of

students and their background in general. Students’ interest, level,

difficulty, etc have considerable impact on the effectiveness of the

teaching techniques. Having understood those factors, teachers can have

more reliable criteria to base on so that to prepare and perform better.

5.3. Limitation of the study

60

First, due to the time limitation, the study could not explore

thoroughly all aspects of presenting new vocabulary. It only focuses on

techniques to present the meanings of new vocabulary. Moreover, the

method of the study was not enough to investigate all three aspects of

meaning but had to leave out the “appropriateness of a particular item in

a certain context”. Therefore, the finding of the study is not really

adequate.

Second, there were some technical problem shown up in designing

questionnaire and data analyzing. That led to some changes in literature

review and methodology. This is a disadvantage since the whole

framework is affected and the aim of the study also had to change.

Third, the little experience and knowledge of the researcher is

another limitation which made the study less insightful. Moreover, as the

target of the study (Strategic Mission Program) is brand new, there is

absolutely no previous study for the researcher to base on and to

compare. Consequently, the procedure of analyzing data and discussing is

rather challenging.

Last, options for question 4 in the survey questionnaire for teachers

(“What are the reasons for you NOT to use some techniques?) only serves

the aim of guiding; the researcher did not base on any expert’s opinion to

create the option. However, the researcher found out that somehow the

options had imposition on teachers. Most teachers just ticked on the

option without contributing their own difficulty. Consequently, the

information from this question is less authentic. This slightly decreases

the objectiveness of the study.

61

5.4. Suggestion for further research

Since 2011 is the first year of Strategic Mission, the program cannot

avoid certain problem in terms of syllabus, teaching method, course book

and materials. Accordingly, there is a large number of issue waiting to be

explored, discussed and improved. Researchers in the future have a wide

range of topic to choose. If anyone is interested in technique for

presenting new vocabulary, they can come up with methodology which is

qualified enough to investigate all aspects of meaning of words, or

explore the techniques to teach both the meanings and the forms of

vocabulary.

Researchers should also pay attention to students’ English level

when carrying out studies, especially when designing the questionnaires

and interview questions. Students may not be clear about some

complicated terminologies. If the data from questionnaire is not reliable

enough, guiding questions in interview should make up for it well.

62

REFERENCE LIST

Alemi, M. (2010). Educational Games as a Vehicle to Teaching

Vocabulary. Retrieved on April 3rd

from

http://www.mjal.org/Journal/Educational%20Games%20as%20a%20

Vehicle%20to%20Teaching%20Vocabulary.pdf

Allen, V.F. (1983). Techniques in teaching vocabulary. Oxford: Oxford

University Press.

Atkinson, D. (1987). The mother tongue in the classroom: a neglected

source? English Language Teaching Journal, 41(4), 241 – 247.

Carter, R., and T. McCarthy. (1988). Vocabulary and language teaching.

New York: Longman.

Channell, J. (1988). Psycholinguistic considerations in the study of L2

vocabulary acquisition. in Carter and McCarthy (eds.), Vocabulary

and Language Teaching, pp. 83-96.

Doff, A. 1988. Teaching English: A Training Course for Teachers.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Foreman, J., Gee, J. P., Herz, J. C., Hinrichs, R., Prensky, M. & Sawyer,

B. (2004). Game-based learning: how to delight and instruct in the

21st century, Educause Review, 39(5), 50–66.

Gairns, R. and Redman, S. (1986) Working with Words. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

Harmer, J. (1992). How to teach English. New York: Pearson ESL.

http://www.mjal.org/Journal/Educational%20Games%20as%20a%20Vehicle%20to%20Teaching%20Vocabulary.pdf

http://www.mjal.org/Journal/Educational%20Games%20as%20a%20Vehicle%20to%20Teaching%20Vocabulary.pdf

63

Hatch, E. and Brown, C. (1995) Vocabulary, Semantics and Language

Education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hatch, E. and Lazaraton, A. (1991). The Research Manual: Design and

Statistics for Applied Linguistics. New York: Newbury House.

Lazer, G. (1999). Using figurative language to expand students‟

vocabulary. ELT Journal 50, vol 1, Jan.1999, p.43-51

Levin, A. (1990) Does the Method of Vocabulary Presentation Make a

Difference? Canada: Tesl Canada Journal.

Mackey, A. & Gass, S. M. (2005). Second Language Research:

Methodology and Design. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum

Associates, Inc.

McCarthy, M. J. (1984). A New Look at Vocabulary in EFL. Applied

Linguistics, 5, 12-22.

McCarthy, M. J. (1990). Vocabulary. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Nation, P. (1997). Second Language Vocabulary Acquisition. Cambridge:


Nation, I. S. P. (1978). Translation and the teaching of meaning: Some

techniques. English Language Teaching Journal. 32 (3), 171 – 175

Pyle, D. (2009). Teaching Vocabulary Meaningfully with Language,

Image, and Sound. Birmingham: Brigham Young University

Pyles,T. and Algeo,G (1970). English, An introduction to language. New

York: Harcourt, Brace & World.

http://www.getcited.org/inst/144232

64

Reddy, V, H. (2010). Selection, Classification, Strategies of Developing

and Techniques of Teaching Vocabulary. Retrieved on April 3rd

2011

from http://www.eltweekly.com/elt-newsletter/2010/11/73-research-

paper-selection-classification-strategies-of-developing-and-

techniques-of-teaching-vocabulary-by-by-v-harindhar-reddy/

Richards, J.C. (1969) The role of vocabulary teaching. Oxford: Oxford

University Press.

Schmitt, N. (2000) Vocabulary in Language Teaching. Cambridge:


Tang, J. (2002). Using L1 in the English classroom. Retrieved on March

15th

from http://exchanges.state.gov/forum/vols/vol40/no1/p36.htm

Thornbury, S. (2002). How to teach vocabulary. Longman: Oxford shire.

Ur, P. (1996). A course in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

Wilkins, D. (1972). Linguistics and Language Teaching. London: Arnold.

Wright, A., Betteridge, D. and Buckby, M .(1984). Game for Language

Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wu, J. and Wang, B. The Role of Vocabulary in ESP Teaching and

Learning. ELT Journal 27, 223 - 234

http://www.eltweekly.com/elt-newsletter/2010/11/73-research-paper-selection-classification-strategies-of-developing-and-techniques-of-teaching-vocabulary-by-by-v-harindhar-reddy/



http://exchanges.state.gov/forum/vols/vol40/no1/p36.htm

http://www.google.com.vn/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CBkQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.elt-china.org%2Fpastversion%2Flw%2Fpdf%2Fwujiangwen.pdf&rct=j&q=Wu%20Jiangwen%20%26%20Wang%20Binbin&ei=dWS9TfSMFIXyvQP9sti1BQ&usg=AFQjCNEmfZevRTNfXwfV2gHjklv9y7bYSQ&sig2=F0BG6TaUqQTbkNV118AYeQ&cad=rja




65

APPENDICES

Appendix 1: Questionnaire for teacher

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS

My name is Nguyen Vu Xuan Lan from group 07.1.E1. I am carrying out

a study on THE TECHNIQUES BY TEACHERS IN PRESENTING NEW

VOCABULARY AND THEIR EFFECTIVENESS AS PERCEIVED BY

STUDENTS OF THE STRATEGIC MISSION PROGRAM IN VIETNAM

NATION UNIVERSITY. This questionnaire is an important part of my

research; therefore I would highly appreciate if you could spend time on

it. Thank you in advance

Personal information:

Name:……………………………………………

Email:……………………………………………..

1. According to your lesson plans, which techniques you often

intend to use for presenting new vocabulary to students? Rank

the following techniques according to the frequency of usage.

1 = Never

2 = Rarely

3 = Often

4 = Usually

5 = Always

66

Techniques Frequency of usage

1 2 3 4 5

1. Showing the meaning of words

visually

Using pictures

Using realia

Using mime

2. Showing words in context

Using examples

Using situation

Using explanations

3. Using synonyms or/and

antonyms

4. Translation

5. Combining different

techniques

67

2. In actual teaching sessions, how often do you use each technique for

presenting new vocabulary to students? Rank the following

techniques according to the frequency of usage.

1 = Never

2 = Rarely

3 = Often

4 = Usually

5 = Always

Techniques Frequency of usage

1 2 3 4 5


visually

Using pictures

Using realia

Using mime


Using examples

Using situation

Using explanations


antonyms

4. Translation


techniques

68

3. According to your estimation, how effective are each technique in

presenting new vocabulary to students? Rank the following

techniques according to the level of effectiveness.

1 = Not effective at all

2 = Very little effective

3 = Fairly effective

4 = Effective

5 = Very effective

Techniques Range of effectiveness

1 2 3 4 5


visually

Using pictures

Using realia

Using mime


Using examples

Using situation

Using explanations


antonyms

4. Translation


techniques

69

4. What are the reasons for you NOT to use some techniques? Put a ( )

on your reason.

Techniques Reasons NOT to use

Time -

consuming

to carry

out

Demanding

in

preparation

Too

complicated

for students

Not

appealing

to

students

Other

reasons

1. Showing the

meaning of words

visually

Using pictures

Using realia

Using mime

2. Showing words in

context

Using examples

Using situation

Using

explanations

3. Using synonyms

or/and

antonyms

4. Translation

5. Combining

different

techniques

70

For other reasons, please clarify here:

……………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………

……………………

5. Could you suggest some ways to improve the effectiveness of

presenting new vocabulary for students?

……………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………

…

71

Appendix 2: Questionnaire for students

BẢN ĐIỀU TRA DÀNH CHO SINH VIÊN

Chào các bạn, mình là Nguyễn Vũ Xuân Lan, sinh viên lớp 07.1.E1 trường Đại

Học Ngoại Ngữ, Đại Học Quốc Gia Hà Nội. Mình đang thực hiện khóa luận tốt

nghiệp với đề tài “Phương pháp dạy từ mới của giáo viên và tính hiệu quả qua sự

đánh giả của sinh viên Nhiệm Vụ Chiến Lược, trường đại học Quốc Gia”. Bản

điều tra này là một phần rất quan trọng quyết định sự thành công của đề tài

nghiên cứu, vì vậy mình mong các có thể bỏ chút thời gian để đọc và hoàn thành.

Mọi thông tin cá nhân của bạn sẽ được đảm bảo. Vô cùng cảm ơn sự hợp tác của

các bạn!

Thông tin cá nhân:

Họ và tên:……………………………………………………………

Lớp:……………………………………………………………….

E-mail:……………………………………………………………..

1. Giáo viên Tiếng Anh của bạn thường sử dụng phương pháp nào để

giới thiệu các từ mới trong bài học? Hãy cho điểm mức độ thường

xuyên theo thang điểm sau:

1 = Không bao giờ

2 = Hiếm khi

3 = Thường

4 = Thường xuyên

5 = Luôn luôn

Phương pháp Mức độ thường xuyên

72

1 2 3 4 5

1. Giải nghĩa từ bằng hình ảnh

Sử dụng tranh ảnh

Sử dụng đồ vật thật

Sử dụng hành động

2. Giải nghĩa từ dựa vào ngữ

cảnh

Đưa ra câu ví dụ

Đưa ra tình huống

Đưa ra lời giải thích

3. Dùng từ đồng nghĩa/ trái nghĩa

4. Dịch sang tiếng Việt

5. Kết hợp nhiều phương pháp

2. Theo bạn, từng phương pháp dạy từ mới có hiệu quả như thế nào

trong việc giúp bạn nắm được nghĩa đen (denotational meaning) của

một từ? Hãy cho điểm mức độ hiệu quả theo thang điểm sau:

1= Không hiệu quả

2= Ít hiệu quả

3 = Bình thường

4= Khá hiệu quả

5 = Rất hiệu quả

Phương pháp Mức độ hiệu quả

1 2 3 4 5

73






cảnh




3. Dùng từ đồng nghĩa/ trái nghĩa



3. Theo bạn, từng phương pháp dạy từ mới có hiệu quả như thế nào

trong việc giúp bạn nắm được nghĩa mở rộng/ nghĩa bóng

(connotational meaning) của một từ? Hãy cho điểm mức độ hiệu quả

theo thang điểm sau:

1= Không hiệu quả

2= Ít hiệu quả

3 = Bình thường

4= Khá hiệu quả

5 = Rất hiệu quả

Phương pháp Mức độ hiệu quả

1 2 3 4 5



74




cảnh




3. Sử dụng từ đồng nghĩa/ trái

nghĩa



4. Bạn có ý kiến gì để giúp cải thiện mức độ hiệu quả của việc dạy từ

mới cho sinh viên?

……………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………

……………

Cảm ơn các bạn đã hợp tác!

75

Appendix 3: Guiding questions for interview

A. For teachers:

1. How do you use realia and pictures?

2. Why don’t you use translation frequently?

3. In your opinion, what are the advantages of each technique?

4. What are the difficulties when applying these techniques?

5. What are your solutions?

B. For students:

1. Why do you find each technique is effective/ ineffective?

2. How can visual/ realia be not effective in showing denotational

meaning?

3. How visual show the connotational meaning?

4. What kind of realia do your teachers use?

76

Appendix 4: Sample of interview’s transcript

Time: April 18th

2011

Place: French Department

Interviewee: Teacher A

Q: Good morning. Thank you for being here. First, I would like to know

which ones among five techniques here you often use.

A: Among these ones, I prefer using situation and synonyms/ antonyms.

Q: How about visual aids? You don’t use them frequently?

A: I think it’s good to use visual aids. However, it’s time-consuming and

costly to prepare. You know, I will have to spend time searching for the

appropriate pictures and print them. That’s why I don’t use visual aids so

often. I only make use of pictures in textbooks or handouts.

Q: Have you ever used real objects? And how?

A: Yes, I used to, but only twice or three times. I pointed at some objects in

the class like “projector” or “air-conditional” when teaching those words. I

find using real objects is even more complicated than pictures since the

available ones are so limited.

Q: How about mime or actions to illustrate the words?

A: Using mime is challenging for me because my body language is not

flexible enough. This technique requires good “acting/ performing skill”. Not

all teachers can master this skill. Moreover, if I don’t “act” well enough, the

acting will become awkward and the students still cannot catch the meaning I

77

want to deliver. In that way, mime turns out to be confusing and too

complicated for students.

Q: According to your questionnaire, you never put “translation” in your lesson

plans, but still use them in class. Could you explain?

A: Translation in lesson plan: I don’t put translation in lesson plan because it

is not necessary to do so. It is quite an “instinct” technique. By “instinct”, I

mean when there is no other way to explain the new words, teachers will

automatically do this way. Moreover, teacher should avoid translating too

much.

Q: Why do you think so?

A: Normally, English teachers prefer to translate words directly into

Vietnamese to save time. But I think this method should not be over-used.

Translating is too easy-going. If we translate all the time, I think the students

cannot understand and remember the word as well as when they have to

analyze the context or examples in English. If students have to think more, I

think they will understand and remember better.

Q: One of your suggestions to improve the effectiveness of these techniques

is asking students to use dictionaries. I would like some more detail

explanation about this.

A: Yes. Sometimes, there are too many new words that teacher cannot handle

all, as in a reading text. In that case, students should figure out the word on

their own. Additionally, using dictionary is a skill that needs to be mastered as

students’ level improves.

78

Q: Just one more question. How do you use game in class and what is the

benefit of game?

A: I think create a competitive vocabulary game is an effective way to

increase students’ motivation, such as some quizzes with marks to decide

which group is the winner, which is the loser, and the loser will have to do

something to “entertain” the whole class.

Q: That’s the end of the interview. Thank you so much for your cooperation.

79

Appendix 5: Sample of interview’s transcript

Time: April 20th

2011

Place: French Department

Interviewee: Student A

Q: Chào em. Chúng ta bắt đầu luôn nhé. Chị muốn hỏi lại là trong năm

phương pháp dạy từ mới này, thì thầy cô lớp em sử dụng phương pháp nào

thường xuyên nhất?

A: Em thấy là thầy cô dùng cách giải thích và đưa ví dụ nhiều nhất.

Q: Em có thấy cách này hiệu quả đối với em không?

A: Có ạ. Em thấy cách này khá sinh động. Bằng cách phân tích ví dụ, bọn em

vừa học được nghĩa, vừa học được cách sử dụng từ.

Q: Bản thân em thích học bằng cách nào nhất?

A: Em thích thầy cô sử dụng tranh ảnh, vì như thế dễ hiều và thú vị. Nhìn

tranh ảnh trong giờ học giúp em đỡ thấy buồn chán.

Q: Tức là theo em, tranh ảnh là cách dạy từ mới hiệu quả nhất?

A: Thật ra cũng có lúc không hiệu quả. Thỉnh thoảng sử dụng hình ảnh để giải

nghĩa lại khiến em hiểu nhầm. Chẳng hạn như tranh trong sách hay trong tài

liệu được phát, có những tranh bé và tối nên em không nhìn ra. Hoặc là trong

1 tranh có nhiều thứ quá nên em bị lẫn, không hiểu vật chính mình cần nhìn là

gì. Chẳng hạn có lần bọn em học từ “puddle” (vũng nước), nhưng trong tranh

lại vẽ cả cảnh trời mưa và người đi đường nữa, nên nhìn tranh em không đoán

ra được “puddle” là gì.

80

Q: Vậy vấn đề là ở chỗ tranh ảnh không rõ ràng hoặc không phù hợp phải

không?

A: Vâng.

Q: Vậy còn đồ vật thật. Thầy cô lớp em có bao giờ sử dụng không?

A: Hầu như không ạ. Em nghĩ là sử dụng đồ vật thì khá rắc rối, khó chuẩn bị.

Chỉ thỉnh thoảng nếu có thứ gì đấy quanh lớp sử dụng được thì thầy cô mới

dùng nó để giải nghĩa thôi.

Q: Theo bản điều tra, em có chọn mức “bình thường” cho “độ hiệu quả của

việc sử dụng hình ảnh khi giải thích nghĩa bóng của từ mới”. Em có thể giải

thích tại sao hình ảnh giúp giải thích nghĩa bóng thế nào không?

A: Thật ra chỉ có hình ảnh thôi thì không đủ để nêu ra nghĩa bóng. Thầy cô

vẫn phải giải thích thêm. Và từ nghĩa đen bọn em mới suy ra nghĩa bóng

được.

Q: Em nghĩ sao về cách “sử dụng từ đồng nghĩa hoặc trái nghĩa”?

A: Em thấy cách này cũng hay và có hiệu quả. Vì như thế bọn em vừa được

học từ mới vừa ôn lại từ cũ. Ngoài ra, đôi khi em có thể tự đoán nghĩa hoặc

đoán cách viết dựa vào các quy tắc của từ trái nghĩa như thêm “un”, “in”…

Q: Còn về cách “kết hợp nhiều phương pháp khác nhau”, thầy cô em thường

sử dụng thế nào?

A: Thầy cô thương kết hợp đưa ví dụ kèm giải thích, hay là giải thích kèm với

một ít hành động, hoặc tranh ảnh kết hợp với giải thích thêm.

81

Q: Ừ. Bây giờ là câu hỏi cuối cùng cho em: Em có đề xuất hay mong muốn gì

để cải thiện độ hiệu quả của việc dạy từ mới không?

A: Có ạ. Em muốn thầy cô thêm một số cách khác như trò chơi chẳng hạn. Vì

thường bọn em học 4 tiết liên tục, nếu có trò chơi thì cả lớp sẽ có hứng và đỡ

mệt hơn. Ngoài ra, khi đưa ví dụ để giải nghĩa từ, em muốn thầy cô dùng

những ví dụ hài hước, đơn giản và gần gũi với bọn em. Như thế thì ví dụ sẽ

hay hơn nhiều.

Q: Ok. Vậy là buổi phỏng vẫn đã xong. Cảm ơn em rất nhiều!

the techniques by teachers in presenting the meaning of new vocabulary and their effectiveness as

Documents