An investigation into English high school teachers' beliefs and practices about teaching vocabulary learning strategies in Can Duoc district

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN PHUONG THAO

AN INVESTIGATION INTO ENGLISH HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS'

BELIEFS AND PRACTICES ABOUT TEACHING VOCABULARY

LEARNING STRATEGIES IN CAN DUOC DISTRICT

MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL

Ho Chi Minh City, 2019

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN PHUONG THAO

AN INVESTIGATION INTO ENGLISH HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS'

BELIEFS AND PRACTICES ABOUT TEACHING VOCABULARY

LEARNING STRATEGIES IN CAN DUOC DISTRICT

Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)

Code: 60 14 01 11

MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL

Supervisor: Nguyen Thuy Nga (PhD.)

Ho Chi Minh City, 2019

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STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that this thesis which entitled “An Investigation into English High

School Teachers' Beliefs and Practices about Teaching Vocabulary Learning

Strategies in Can Duoc District” is my work.

Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this paper does not

contain material published elsewhere or extracted on whole or in part from a thesis

by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma.

No other person’s work has been used without acknowledgement in the main

text of the thesis.

The thesis has not been submitted for any degree in any other tertiary

institution.

Ho Chi Minh, September 2019

NGUYEN PHUONG THAO

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would never have been able to finish this thesis if I had not been helped and

supported by so many people. I would love to express my greatest gratitude to them

here.

Firstly, my greatest appreciation goes to my beloved family for their greatest

encouragement, as well as for their financial and spiritual support. They have always

been willing to listen to my concerns about all the hardships that I came across during

my studying. They always raise me up whenever I fall. I would never have achieved

such a worthy reward without them.

Secondly, I am so proud to express my gratitude to my supervisor Dr. Nguyen

Thuy Nga who has guided me through the procedures of conducting my research. Not

only did she give helpful guidance towards my accomplishments, but she also paved

me the way for the solutions to all the problems that I have encountered.

My sincere gratitude is also extended to the proposal committee members.

They kindly shed light on how to make improvements on my research by giving me

valuable comments and feedback on my thesis proposal.

I am thankful to all lecturers at English Department, Open University for

fulfilling and broadening my knowledge during the time I studied there.

I’m also grateful to all my classmates in class TESOL 10 at Open University

who spent 2 years with me helping and supporting me to get through the Master

course.

Last but not least, I would like to thank all of my colleagues, principal, vice￾principals at Can Duoc high school for adjusting the timetable, which provided so

much convenience for me to pursuit my studying.

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ABSTRACT

This research discovered favorite vocabulary learning strategies (VLS) among

EFL high school teachers in Can Duoc district in terms of their beliefs and teaching

practices and investigated the relationship between teachers’ beliefs and their

instructional practices. The participants included 35 in-service teachers teaching at 5

high schools in Can Duoc district. By using a questionnaire including closed-ended

and open-ended questions, the researcher applied both quantitative and qualitative

methods to carry out the research. In terms of teachers’ beliefs in the usefulness of

VLS, the results showed that the teachers were highly aware of numerous strategies

as illustrated in their high favorite level. In their teaching practices, the respondents

frequently applied most of strategies that they considered useful in teaching process.

Nonetheless, some small gaps between awareness and practices of the respondents

were till displayed. In summary, although there still existed some slight negative

correlations due to some contextual influence, the findings revealed that there was a

remarkable positive correlation between teachers’ practices and beliefs. The findings

also implied that: (1) universities should have more courses on teaching VLS for pre￾service and in-service teachers; (2) teachers should take part in more courses to

improve their teaching; (3) learners should be more aware of the importance of

vocabulary and vocabulary learning strategies; (4) school administrators should

engage more in educational activities to figure out the problems of teaching and

learning vocabulary as well as vocabulary learning strategies to find out the effective

solutions for these problems. In addition, further researches on the same issue should

include more instruments of collecting data such as interview and observation to

ensure what the respondents reported in the questionnaire and interview corresponded

with what they practised in classroom.

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Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..................................................................................... ii

ABSTRACT............................................................................................................. iii

LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................. viii

LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................. ix

ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................................................x

CHAPTER 1 ..............................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................1

1.1 Background and Rationale of the study ........................................................1

1.2 Statement of the problem................................................................................3

1.3 Objectives of the study ....................................................................................4

1.4 Research questions ..........................................................................................5

1.5 Significance of the study .................................................................................5

1.6 Scope of the study ............................................................................................6

1.7 Thesis organization..........................................................................................6

CHAPTER 2 ..............................................................................................................8

LITERATURE REVIEW.........................................................................................8

2.1 Definitions of Language Learning Strategies (LLS) ....................................8

2.2. Vocabulary in second language acquisition...............................................10

2.2.1 The significance of Vocabulary Learning ............................................10

2.2.2 Knowing a Vocabulary Item..................................................................11

2.2.3 Existing vocabulary teaching strategies ...............................................13

2.3 Vocabulary learning strategies (VLS)........................................................14

2.3.1 Some definitions of vocabulary learning strategies.............................14

2.3.2 Classification of VLS ............................................................................15

2.3.3 VLS training............................................................................................23

2.4 Teachers’ beliefs and classroom practices.................................................25

2.4.1 Definition of teachers’ beliefs ................................................................25

2.4.2 Definition of classroom practices ..........................................................26

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2.4.3 The interrelationship between Teachers’ Beliefs and Classroom

Practices............................................................................................................26

2.5 Previous studies on teachers’ beliefs and pedagogical practices on VLS

....................................................................................................................29

2.5.1 The consistency between teachers’ beliefs and classroom practices..29

2.5.2 The inconsistency between teachers’ beliefs and practices.................32

2.5.3 The summary for the studies included in the literature review .........33

2.6 Research gap ..................................................................................................35

2.7 Conceptual framework of the study ............................................................35

2.8 Summary of the chapter ...............................................................................36

CHAPTER 3 ............................................................................................................37

METHODOLOGY..................................................................................................37

3.1 Research setting.............................................................................................37

3.2 Participants....................................................................................................37

3.3 Research instrument .....................................................................................37

3.3.1 Questionnaire as a Tool for Collecting Data ........................................37

3.3.2 The rationale for designing the Questionnaire ....................................39

3.4 Research procedures.....................................................................................42

3.4.1 Translating the questionnaire into Vietnamese ...................................43

3.4.2 Piloting the questionnaire ......................................................................43

3.4.3 Administering the questionnaire ...........................................................44

3.5 Data analysis ..................................................................................................45

3.6 Validity and Reliability .................................................................................46

3.6.1 Validity.....................................................................................................46

3.6.2 Reliability.................................................................................................46

3.7 Chapter summary..........................................................................................47

CHAPTER 4 ............................................................................................................48

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION .............................................................................48

4.1 Participants’ background .........................................................................48

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4.2 The answer to research question 1...............................................................49

4.2.1 Self-Reported VLS based on teachers’ beliefs .....................................49

4.2.2 Descriptive statistics on vocabulary learning strategies based on

Teachers’ Beliefs..............................................................................................51

4.2.3 Conclusion ...............................................................................................57

4.3 The answer to research question 2...............................................................57

4.4 The answer to research question 3...............................................................63

4.4.1 Correlation interpretation from quantitative survey on Teachers’

Beliefs and Instructional Practices.................................................................63

4.4.2 Self-Reported VLS based on teachers’ practices.................................67

4.4.3 Conclusion ...............................................................................................67

4.5 Discussion .......................................................................................................68

4.5.1 Teachers’ beliefs in VLS based on personal experience .....................68

4.5.2 Teachers’ practices on VLS in their pedagogical practices................70

4.5.3 The relationship between Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices of VLS....71

4.6 Summary of Chapter 4..................................................................................72

CHAPTER 5 ............................................................................................................73

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS..................................................73

5.1 Conclusion of the study................................................................................73

5.2 Implications of the study...............................................................................74

5.2.1 For universities and colleges................................................................74

5.2.2 For language teachers.............................................................................75

5.2.3 For school administrators and educationalists....................................75

5.3 Recommendations for future research ........................................................76

5.4 Summary of chapter 5 .................................................................................76

REFERENCES........................................................................................................77

APPENDIX ..............................................................................................................88

APPENDIX 1 .......................................................................................................88

APPENDIX 2 .......................................................................................................91

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APPENDIX 3 .....................................................................................................100

APPENDIX 4 .........................................................................................................109

APPENDIX 5 .........................................................................................................120

APPENDIX 6 .........................................................................................................126

viii

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1. Elements and processes in language teacher cognition

(Borg, 2006)………………………………………………………………….…28

Figure 2.2. Conceptual Framework ………………………………………..…...36

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 An illustration of vocabulary learning strategies proposed by Schmitt

(1997) .…………………………………………………………..……………...….17

Table 2.2 Summary of previous studies ……………………………………………33

Table 3.1 The summary of questionnaire………………………………………...…41

Table 3.2 Five-point Likert scales of teachers’ beliefs and practices…………...…..42

Table 3.3 Categories of mean scores based on preference level……………….……45

Table 3.4 Reliability coefficients of the first scale of the questionnaire…………...46

Table 3.5 Reliability coefficients of the second scale of the questionnaire…………47

Table 4.1 Background information of participants: years of teaching ……………49

Table 4.2 Self report of participants on vocabulary learning strategies……..………50

Table 4.3 Participants’ self report based on classifications of strategies……..……..51

Table 4.4 An overview of vocabulary learning strategies in terms of teachers’

beliefs………………………………………………………………………………52

Table 4.5 Teachers’ preferable vocabulary learning strategies in terms of beliefs

arranged from the most useful to the least useful strategies………………..……… 54

Table 4.6 Preferable strategies of teachers’ beliefs in VLS based on classifications of

strategies……………………………………………………………………..……. 56

Table 4.7 An overview of vocabulary learning strategies in terms of teachers’

practices……………………………………………………………..…………….. 58

Table 4.8 Teachers’ preferable vocabulary learning strategies in terms of practices

arranged from the most to the least frequently used strategies………...…………... 60

Table 4.9 Preferable strategies of teachers’ instructional practices on VLS based on

classifications of strategies…………………………………………..……………. 62

Table 4.10 An overview of preferable strategies of teachers’ beliefs and

practices………………………………………………………………...………… 64

Table 4.11 Pearson's Correlation Coefficient between teachers’ beliefs and

instructional practices of VLS…………………………………………………….. 65

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ABBREVIATIONS

EFL – refers to English as a Foreign Language which is the target language of

teachers and learners in this research

L1 – refers to First Language or learners and teachers’ mother tongue language,

which is Vietnamese Language in this study.

L2 – refers to Second Language which is English Language as a target language for

Vietnamese EFL learners and teachers.

LLS – refers to Language learning strategies employed by EFL learners and teachers

for English language acquisition.

SLA – refers to Second language acquisition which means the acquisition of the

English language in the current study.

TESOL – refers to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages.

VLS – refers to Vocabulary learning strategies employed by EFL learners and

teachers for vocabulary acquisition in English language.

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1 describes the research’s background along with the statement of the

problem which basically builds up the foundation for the researcher’s conceptual

framework of the present research. Other crucial elements namely, the study’s

objectives, the research questions, the study’s significance, scope of the study,

definitions of terms together with the overview of the study are also provided.

1.1 Background and Rationale of the study

Language is man’s most important present because language brings progress,

civilization and conveys culture. Above all the languages, English emerges as the

global language because it constructs a bridge across the obstacles made by the

existence of so many other languages and therefore globalizes the world

(Pandarangga, 2015). Regardless of its importance in the educational system of Viet

Nam, in the era of renovation and with the policy of opening door to the whole world

of Viet Nam, the English language comes out indispensably in all attributes of the

development of our nation and “becomes the first (and nearly the only) foreign

language that is being taught and learnt in Vietnam” (Hoang, 2018) ; hence, teaching

and learning English have been getting a special attention from our government

through the decision N˚1400 (2008), which indicates that the Vietnamese Ministry of

Education has discussed and approved of the 10-year National Plan for “Teaching

and Learning Foreign Languages in the National Formal Educational System in the

Period of 2008-2020”.

When English becomes the most frequently used foreign language, vocabulary

learning emerges to be the first basic step beyond all doubts since it is one of the key

elements in second language acquisition (SLA) and essential for all stages of English

education (Gardner, 2013; Thornbury, 2002). According to Schmitt (2010), all

stakeholders dealing with English language learning (i.e. students, teachers,

researchers, etc.) have come to the same conclusion that vocabulary knowledge has

a substantial contribution to SLA with plenty of evidence showing its strong

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relationship with all the language skills because no matter how successfully the

students can master the grammatical structures, no matter how effectively the sounds,

pronunciation, and intonation of L2 are learnt, communication in L2 cannot be carried

out in any successful way if there is a lack of vocabulary to convey a wide variety of

meanings (Mashhadi & Jamalifar, 2015). Therefore, Alqahtani (2015) has concluded

that vocabulary is an extremely crucial tool and plays a great role in acquiring another

language or language communicative competence.

In terms of vocabulary acquisition, many scholars have long been supporting

vocabulary learning strategies (VLS) to facilitate the process of vocabulary learning

and help with enhancing learners’ vocabulary knowledge (Carranza et al., 2015;

Nation, 2001; Schmitt, 2000). For the use of VLS, Schmitt (2000) has noted that

proficient learners make use of numerous strategies, organize their own learning and

they are aware of the connection between newly and formerly learnt vocabulary

items; moreover, they find strategies useful for their learning, which indicates that

strategy training should be incorporated in the classrooms. Nation (2001) also points

out that VLS can be implemented in every stage of vocabulary learning since

language learners are set free to take responsibility for their own learning process and

thus, training in VLS is necessary to develop learners’ vocabulary acquisition by

equipping them with sufficient understanding towards the goals of every particular

strategy.

There seems to be a commonly accepted fact that teachers seem to have a

tendency to instruct their students the same methods they were taught (Oleson &

Hora, 2014). Mashhadia and Jamalifar (2015) have implied that in the past, the

majority of learners of a second language were traditionally instructed with strategies

which did not focus much on vocabulary learning, teachers often left vocabulary

learning to students without teaching them strategies for learning and enhancing the

knowledge of vocabulary on their own (Lai, 2005).Additionally, in my own

experience, throughout my second language (L2) learning from primary to tertiary

level in Viet Nam, the introduction of VLS had rarely been made and explicitly

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mentioned concerning how to employ them to help learners enhance the learning

process. In Viet Nam, Vietnamese EFL students are mainly familiar with Grammar

Translation Method, a traditional teaching method, in which they are required to

memorize lists of provided words of the target language along with their Vietnamese

equivalents (Phan, 2018).

This is not only a problem of Vietnamese EFL learners but it can also be found

in many other Asian countries. Mongkol (2008, as cited in Boonkongsaen, 2012)

stated in his study that Thai EFL teachers still paid little attention to strategies in

vocabulary instruction, so he strongly recommended that teachers should have

supplied VLS to EFL learners so as to help them learn more effectively. Yang and

Dai (2011) also claimed that Chinese EFL learners mainly took advantage of rote

memorization in learning new vocabulary. They found that Chinese students

primarily depended only on rote repetition in learning lexical items; besides, they

both agreed that VLS should have been introduced to the students instead of having

them stick on one certain approach of vocabulary learning.

Even though the teaching and learning of vocabulary has increasingly been

accepted as an area of interest for many decades within the field of SLA, the lack of

effective vocabulary instruction still exists nowadays causing significant flaws in

teaching process of English language in many countries including Viet Nam.

Thinking back on my learning experience, my teachers did not teach me vocabulary

learning strategies, and to be honest I could not recall any instruction about teaching

vocabulary leaning strategies in pre-service teacher training program. Hence,

personally I got motivated to investigate teachers’ perspective towards teaching

vocabulary learning strategies with particular reference to English teachers at high

schools in Can Duoc district. This research’s aim is to find out the beliefs as well as

teachers’ actual practices on strategies of vocabulary learning.

1.2 Statement of the problem

The problems of using English among Vietnamese EFL learners have always

been emphasized in all education levels (Dao, 2018; Hayeck, 2016; Powel, 2016). A