An investigation into vocabulary learning and vocabulary learning strategies used by English-majored students at Banking Academy

BANKING ACADEMY

THE FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

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GRADUATION THESIS

TOPIC:

AN INVESTIGATION INTO VOCABULARY

LEARNING AND VOCABULARY LEARNING

STRATEGIES USED BY ENGLISH-MAJORED

STUDENTS AT BANKING ACADEMY

Student : NGUYEN BICH HIEN

Class : K22ATCA

Course : 2019 – 2023

Student ID. : 22A7510113

Instructor : DR. HOANG QUOC THINH

Hanoi, May 2021

i

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this dissertation is my original thesis submitted to the Faculty

of Foreign Languages, Banking Academy. This is a work done by me under the

guidance of Dr. Hoang Quoc Thinh - Lecturer at Banking Academy. This research

paper has not been submitted to any university or educational institution before.

Additionally, I acknowledged and cited all of the sources to which I referred for this

study.

Hanoi, 20 April 2022

Author

Nguyen Bich Hien

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This section is dedicated to those who have always stood by my side, supported me,

and assisted me in completing this thesis.

First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my respected teacher Dr.

Hoang Quoc Thinh. Thanks to my mentor's guidance and insightful comments and

feedback, it has helped me to complete my thesis as a researcher. His extensive

knowledge and enthusiastic support are the basis for my research.

I would like to thank all the teachers at the Faculty of Foreign Languages and

students of the Bank for the past 4 years who have always loved, taught and

supported me during my university life.

In addition, I would like to thank all the students who actively assisted me with this

research paper. Thanks to your contributions, my essay could be completed. I would

also like to salute Bui Hien and Truong Anh Phuong, who assisted me in reaching

K25, K24, and K23 students for the survey.

Above all, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to my beloved parents who

always make silent sacrifices and support me to complete my thesis regardless of its

difficulty.

Lastly, I would like to thank everyone for everything. I wish my loved ones a

lifetime of happiness.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION............................................................................................................................... i

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

TABLE OF CONTENTS................................................................................................................ iii

LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................... v

LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................ vi

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS........................................................................................................ vii

ABSTRACT................................................................................................................................... viii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION................................................................................................... 1

1.1. Statement of the problem and rationale for the study ..........................................................1

1.1.1. Statement of the problem .............................................................................................1

1.1.2. Rationale for the study .................................................................................................2

1.2. Objectives of the study.........................................................................................................3

1.3. Research Questions..............................................................................................................3

1.4. Significance of the study......................................................................................................4

1.5. Scope of the study................................................................................................................4

1.6. Structure of the thesis...........................................................................................................4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW....................................................................................... 6

2.1. Definition of vocabulary ......................................................................................................6

2.2. The importance of vocabulary .............................................................................................6

2.3. Classification of Vocabulary................................................................................................7

2.4. Student's difficulties in learning vocabulary ........................................................................8

2.4.1. Non-lexical factors.......................................................................................................8

2.4.2. Lexical factors..............................................................................................................9

2.5. Vocabulary learning strategies (VLSs) ..............................................................................10

2.5.1. Definition of Vocabulary learning strategies (VLSs).................................................10

2.5.2. Importance of vocabulary learning strategy...............................................................11

2.5.3. Classification of vocabulary learning strategies.........................................................12

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODS ..................................................................................... 16

3.1. Locale of the study.............................................................................................................16

3.2. Research design..................................................................................................................16

3.3. Participants.........................................................................................................................17

3.4. Research instrument...........................................................................................................18

3.5. Data collection procedure ..................................................................................................19

3.6. Data analysis procedure .....................................................................................................20

3.7. Reliability...........................................................................................................................22

CHAPTER 4: FINDING PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION............................................ 26

4.1. Findings presentation .........................................................................................................26

4.1.1. Findings on students' perception of the importance of vocabulary ............................26

iv

4.1.2. Findings on students' difficulties on learning vocabulary ........................................................28

4.1.3. Findings on vocabulary strategies............................................................................................37

4.2.1. Discussion on students' perception of the importance of vocabulary.......................................46

4.2.2. Discussion on students' difficulties on learning vocabulary................................................... 47

4.2.3. Discussion on vocabulary strategies.........................................................................................50

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION, LIMITATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS.................. 53

5.1. Summary of findings..........................................................................................................53

5.2. Limitation...........................................................................................................................54

5.3. Recommendations..............................................................................................................54

5.3.1. Recommendation for students....................................................................................54

5.3.2. Recommendation for lecturers...................................................................................56

5.3.3. Recommendations for further research ......................................................................57

5.4. Conclusion .........................................................................................................................57

REFERENCES............................................................................................................................... 59

APPENDICES ................................................................................................................................ 67

v

LIST OF TABLES

Chapter 3:

Table 3.1: Information on the Demographics of the Questionnaire's Respondents

Table 5.1: Coding survey table variables

Table 7.1 Reliability Scale of Students' perception of the importance of vocabulary

Table 7.2 Reliability Scale of Student ’difficulties in learning vocabulary

Table 7.3 Reliability Scale of VLS for discovering meaning of the word

Table 7.4 Reliability Scale of VLS for consolidating a word

Chapter 4:

Table 1.1: Survey students’ response on perceptions on the importance of

vocabulary

Table 1.2: Survey students’ response on difficulty of memory

Table 1.3: Survey students’ response on difficulty of teacher’s teaching methods

Table 1.4: Survey students’ response on difficulty of pronunciation

Table 1.5: Survey students’ response on difficulty of meaning

Table 1.6: Survey students’ response on difficulty of grammar

Table 1.7: Survey students’ response on using Determination strategy

Table 1.8: Survey students’ response on using Social strategy

Table 1.9: Survey students’ response on using Social strategy

Table 1.10: Survey students’ response on using Memory strategy

Table 1.11: Survey students’ response on using Cognitive strategy

Table 1.12: Survey students’ response on using Cognitive strategy

Chapter 6:

Table 5.1: Suggested vocabulary note-taking

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LIST OF FIGURES

Chapter 2:

Figure 5.1: Classification of VLSs devised by Schmitt (1997)

Chapter 3:

Figure 4.1: Level of Agreement

Figure 4.2: Level of Frequency

Table 7.1: Reliability Scale

Chapter 4:

Figure 1.1: The applied scale of measurement

Figure 1.2: Summary of students’ responses from Table 1.1 (in percentage)

Figure 1.3: Frequency of difficulty in learning vocabulary

Figure 1.4: Summary of students’ responses from Table 1.2 (in percentage)

Figure 1.5: Percentage of vocabulary students remember after a week

Figure 1.6: Summary of students’ responses from Table 1.3 (in percentage)

Figure 1.7: Summary of students’ responses from Table 1.4 (in percentage)

Figure 1.8: Summary of students’ responses from Table 1.5 (in percentage)

Figure 1.9: Summary of students’ responses from Table 1.6 (in percentage)

Figure 1.10: Summary of students’ responses from Table 1.7 (in percentage)

Figure 1.11: The use of dictionary by genre of the participant (%)

Figure 1.12: Elements of words that are looked up in a dictionary (%)

Figure 1.13: Summary of students’ responses from Table 1.8 (in percentage)

Figure 1.14: Summary of students’ responses from Table 1.9 (in percentage)

Figure 1.15: Summary of students’ responses from Table 1.10 (in percentage)

Figure 1.16: Summary of students’ responses from Table 1.11 (in percentage)

Figure 1.17: Summary of students’ responses from Table 1.12 (in percentage)

vii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ATC Faculty of foreign languages

VLSs Vocabulary learning strategies

DET Determination strategies

SOC Social strategies

MEM Memory strategies

COG Cognitive strategies

MET Metacognitive strategies

IELTS International English Language Testing System

M Mean

SD Standard deviation

viii

ABSTRACT

Title: Investigation into vocabulary learning and vocabulary learning strategies used

by English-majored students at Banking Academy

Author: Nguyen Bich Hien

Key words: ATC students, Banking Academy, Vocabulary Learning Strategies,

Difficuty learning vocabulary, perception on vocabulary.

Adviser: Dr. Hoang Quoc Thinh

This research was conducted to determine the actuality of vocabulary learning and

student vocabulary strategies at Faculty of Foreign Languages of Banking Academy.

The researcher explores students' perceptions of the significance of vocabulary and

the challenges they face when learning vocabulary. A questionnaire method bases on

5-level Likert scale is carried out among 171 students of the Faculty of Foreign

Languages, Banking Academy. In general, students recognize the significance of

vocabulary and strongly concur that instructors should devote more time to teaching

vocabulary. In addition, students acknowledge having many difficulties with

learning vocabulary, particularly in terms of word meanings. The survey results also

indicate that students employ a variety of strategies for acquiring vocabulary.

Despite utilizing so many vocabulary learning strategies, students are unable to

overcome their vocabulary learning difficulties. This study concludes with several

recommendations for both students and lecturers with the desire to improve students'

vocabulary learning.