Graduation Thesis(3)

Graduation Thesis

Supervisor: Hoang Anh Thu, M.A.

Chapter 1

Introduction Page

1.1 Background of the study

2

1.2 The rationale of the study

3

1.3 Research questions

4

1.4 Statement of purpose

4

1.5 Significance of the study

5

1.6 The overview of thesis chapters

5

Student: Nguyen Thi Thuy Dung

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Graduation Thesis


This chapter provides a general introduction as well as the rationale of the study. In addition, it shows the statement of purpose and research questions which focus on the ways to build vocabulary for fast reading improvement, and finally it gives an overview of the significance and thesis chapters of this study. 1.1 Background of the study Globalization is an element that brings about change in the world. One of the remarkable aspects is language. English is the most widespread of the world’s language today. It has been estimated that there are 300 million native speakers and 300 million who use English as a second language and a further 100 million use it as a foreign language. It is the language of science, aviation, computing, diplomacy and tourism. According to the website “Exforsys Inc Execution for System” addressed http://www.exforsys.com/career-center/english-vocabulary/importance-of-englishin-international-business, English is considered as an ideal language for governments around the world, it is also prominent in business, education, world news and education. Half of all business deals are conducted in English. Two thirds of all scientific papers are written in English. Over 70 % of all post or mail is written and addressed in English. Most international tourism, aviation and diplomacy are conducted in English. Hence, learning English is extremely important. It is said that language is the words and phrases people use to communicate with each other. Each language in the world may have tens of thousands of words, if not hundreds of thousands. The more words that students know out of their language, the more eloquently they will be able to communicate their ideas to other people. They can open up a number of doors, especially when it comes to their study and career. Besides that, vocabulary is an element that educators will judge one’s intelligence. When English learners speak to the others, and they properly use words that are not spoken daily by the average person, they will convey the Student: Nguyen Thi Thuy Dung

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Graduation Thesis


impression because they are learners who are educated and well - read. They will also show that that they are great at carrying on a conversation. However, it must be emphasized that having a good vocabulary involves more than just being able to use fancy words when they speak. Vocabulary is very crucial and it is directly related to a language. What experts say about vocabulary and success : “English vocabulary level has been shown to be strongly related to educational success. In addition, it is related to the level of occupation attained”. (Bowker, R.,1981). “A rich vocabulary is a valuable asset and important attribute of success in any walk of life….” ( Elley, W.B., 1988) “ An extensive knowledge of the exact meanings of English words accompanies outstanding success in this country more often than any other single characteristic we have been able to isolate and measure” (O’ Connor, J., 1934 ) From the above mentioned issues, this thesis named “Suggested ways to build vocabulary for fast reading improvement” is conducted. Hopefully, this thesis is beneficial to E-major’s reading skills and academic performance at university. 1. 2 The rationale of the study: There are many underlying reasons why English majors seek to improve their vocabulary. It could be a work situation or perhaps for social reasons. However, the most important reason for building vocabulary in this study is that students easily achieve the power of reading – they can read fast and effectively thanks to their good vocabulary knowledge. Whatever the rationale behind increasing word knowledge, English major students should be aware of general obstacles they might confront. These obstacles are not very difficult to overcome. It is important that they are aware of the difficulties, so they will not feel inadequate as they begin the journey of improving their vocabulary.


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Besides that, the rationale behind developing their vocabulary could be a number of reasons. On a positive aspect, it does not matter who they are and what they do, if they are determined to build their vocabulary, they can do it. Some of the outstanding reasons E – majors should increase their word knowledge include:  The message will be conveyed clearly and accurately;  One’s overall communication is enhanced  Reading comprehension is increased ;  A rich vocabulary can help E-majors read fast and effectively;  Often, a learner with a rich vocabulary is held in higher esteem and regard;

 A well – developed vocabulary increases your ability to solve problems ( Edgier, 1999). 1.4 Research questions This research is carried out revolving around 3 fundamental questions as follows:  Are English majors at the Faculty of Foreign Languages, Banking University Ho Chi Minh City fully aware of the necessity of building vocabulary for fast reading? 

What are the common obstacles which prevent English – major students from reading fast? What is the correlation between vocabulary and fast reading?



What are the effective strategies for English majors to build their vocabulary for fast reading improvement?

1. 5 Statement of purpose There are 3 objectives in this research: 

Collecting E-major students’ opinions about issues regarding building vocabulary for fast reading improvement.


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Graduation Thesis 


Investigating the common difficulties students usually have to face with when they read as well as affirm the important role of vocabulary on fast reading.



Proving that a rich vocabulary is very essential for E-major students at Faculty of Foreign Languages, Banking University Ho Chi Minh City to acquire fast reading and the practice and effectiveness of suggested ways for enhancing new vocabulary.

1. 6 Significance of the study  Learning how to build a better vocabulary can be a profitable investment of both English majors’ time and effort. Effective methods for building vocabulary can bring a rapid improvement in English - major students’ vocabulary skills and result in better fast reading.  Acquiring a large vocabulary can benefit E-major students at university and

at work as well. It will enable to understand others’ ideas better and have the satisfaction of getting thoughts across more effectively. 1. 7 The overview of thesis chapters Chapter 1 discusses the background and rationales of the study, identifies its objectives of finding ways to build vocabulary for improving students’ fast reading. Chapter 2 gives an insight into the recent views, claims and studies relating to the relationship between vocabulary and fast reading in language acquisition. Chapter 3 defines methodology utilized in the thesis, including a statement of the research subjects, instrument and data collection procedure. Chapter 4 starts with the results from questionnaires as well as the background of further analysis. After that it reports and discusses the results related to hypothesis which highlight the relationship between vocabulary and fast reading.


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Graduation Thesis


Chapter 5 deals with the overall conclusion to be drawn from this study. It presents suggested ways to build vocabulary for E-majors in order to obtain better fast reading.

Chapter 2:

Literature Review Page

2.1 Introduction of Vocabulary

7

2.1.1 Definition of vocabulary

7

2.1.2 Different types of vocabulary

8

2.1.3 Definition of fast reading

9

2.1.4 The necessity of building vocabulary for fast reading improvement

10

2.2 Previous researches related to this study

12

2.3 Summary

13


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Graduation Thesis


In this chapter , all the recent views and studies revolving vocabulary and fast reading as well as

building vocabulary is a necessity for fast reading

improvement is mentioned. 2.1 Introduction of Vocabulary 2.1.1 Definition of vocabulary According to linguistics definition, vocabulary has four basic concepts. Firstly, it is defined as a listing, either selective or exhaustive, containing the words and phrases of a language such as vocabulary of arm in 1862, vocabulary of new denomination in 1821, vocabulary of dishes in 1825 and vocabulary to the understanding in 1662, with the meaning or translation into another language or glossary. Secondly, it is also the aggregate of words in the use or comprehension of a specified person, class and profession. Thirdly, it is all the words contained in a language. Fourthly, it is a range or system of symbols, qualities, or techniques constituting a means of communication or expression, as any of the arts or crafts wide vocabulary of textures and colors. Vocabulary is differently named from nation to nation. Some illustrations of this are from Old French, vocabulary was called vocabulaire, or from Medieval Latin we had vocabularium and vocabulary was also named vocabulum by Latin language. Some famous quotes about vocabulary are: “Short words are the best and old words when short are best of all” ( Churchchill, W., 2008); “ Prose, words in their best order. Poetry, the best words in the best order” (Coleridge, S.T., 1827); “The adjective is the banana peel of the parts of speech” (Fadiman,C., 2005); “ Man is a creature who lives not upon bread alone, but principally by catch words” ( Stevenson, R.L., 1850 – 1895 ) Student: Nguyen Thi Thuy Dung

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Graduation Thesis


There is no doubt that vocabulary plays an essential role in human life. An extensive vocabulary aids expressions and communication. Vocabulary size has been directly linked to reading comprehension. Particularly, it makes a significant effect on the speed of reading. On the other hand, linguistic vocabulary is synonymous with thinking vocabulary. It can be easily see that a learner may be judged by others based on his or her vocabulary. 2.1.2 Different types of vocabulary According to Pikulski and Templeton, there are four types of vocabulary. It is thought that vocabulary is simple words, it is, however, delving a little deeper than that. In order to develop vocabulary knowledge, students need to be aware of four main different types of vocabulary (see Chart 2. 1) Receptive Vocabulary

Expressive Vocabulary

Listenin g

Speaking

Writing

Reading

Meaning/Oral Vocabulary

Literate/Written Vocabulary Chart 2.1: TYPES OF VOCABULARY ( Pikulski & Templeton , 2004, p.2).


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Expressive vocabulary consists of words that we can use when we speak or write. Receptive vocabulary, on the other hand, refers to words we confront when we listen or read (Allen, 2006). Most often, English students require their expressive vocabulary knowledge to be far greater than their receptive vocabulary. With receptive vocabulary, English learners are receiving information and do not require as much understanding. This is, they can often comprehend the gist of what another person is saying without understanding every word in a sentence or conversation. This is especially true because they understand a spoken message with non verbal language and context clues. On the other hand, both listening and speaking are referred to oral vocabulary (Pikulski & Templeton, 2004). Apart from word meanings, oral vocabulary particularly relies upon correct pronunciation. Confusion and misunderstanding can result when words are pronounced incorrectly. Hearing a word said wrongly, or listening to a word that is not spoken by the way it is spelt, is often one of the largest issues for non – English speakers. This study is about “Suggested ways to build vocabulary for fast reading improvement”, therefore it mainly focuses on Receptive, Literate/ Written Vocabulary. 2.1.3 Definition of fast reading According

to

the

website

Wikia

Education

addressed

“http://

psychology.wikia.com/wiki/”, fast reading refers to a way of reading rapidly by assimilating several words or phrases at a glance or by skimming, or reading at speed significantly faster than normal. Fast reading is also a collection of reading methods which attempts to increase rates of reading without greatly reducing comprehension or retention. There is an absolute distinction between “normal reading” and “fast reading”. Fast reading needs less time but more effort than normal reading; however, fast readers need to understand the content profoundly, too. Fast reading is also characterized by an analysis of trade-offs between measures of speed and comprehension rates, and that those rates can be improved by practice. Much controversy is raised over this point. This is mainly because a Student: Nguyen Thi Thuy Dung

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Graduation Thesis


reading comprehension level of 50% is deemed unable by some educationalists (Carver, 1992). Fast reading advocator claimed “It is great success” and even stated that “It is a demonstration of good comprehension for many purposes” (Buzan, 2000). The trade-off between speed and comprehension must be analyzed with respect to the type of reading that is being done, the risks associated with mis-understanding due to low comprehension, and the benefits associated with getting through material quickly

and

gaining

information

at

the

actual

rate

it

is

obtained.

It is easy to read at a rapid rate when the readers are coming across familiar territory _ familiar words. In fact, students can slow down their speed when they face with difficult material. Words, difficult passages, and a lack of adequate time are estimated three of the most common reading obstacles. When coming across a word which makes the readers hardly understand, slow down and then pick up the pace again and continue to accelerate reading speed. As moving on, the meaning of the word either becomes apparent when taken in the context. As readers’ brain processes the paragraph, they can usually gain the meaning that is at first, completely unknown to them. Learning to adjust fast reading, slow down for important elements and difficult materials, and then speed up over familiar words. Fast reading bases on the content, time available and readers’ intention or purpose in reading. 2.1.4 The necessity of building vocabulary for fast reading improvement Vocabulary is considered as one of the most important components which leads to the improvement and effectiveness of fast reading. The need to build vocabulary is not limited to generalized social groupings. Vocabulary development is required by a wide cross section of society. The groups that often find the need to increase their vocabulary are college students and university students. Despite possessing a large number of vocabulary and gaining the contextual knowledge that assist understanding, college students and university students, particularly E – major students still find that they are required to improve their vocabulary. Student: Nguyen Thi Thuy Dung

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Graduation Thesis


The benefits of acquiring a rich vocabulary: 

E-major students are able to communicate and express their concepts and thoughts in a clearer and more accurate manner.



A million vocabulary will help the readers excel and make college and university students stand out.



Reading important documents becomes easier, faster and more enjoyable; Moreover , general communication is improved. Reading can be difficult to carry on at a rapid speed if a reader keeps on

coming across words that he or she does not understand or know what the meanings are. That is the reason why it is so important for English learners who want to improve speed reading skills is to improve their vocabulary knowledge. Improving vocabulary is one of the factors that E-major students need to make a continual effort on improving instead of just doing it one time and getting over it, because for example E-major students would not get very much value out of sitting down and reading dictionary before they begin to learn to speed read. The best benefit the learners will get from increasing their vocabulary is that they can also increase their reading speed at the same time. It is believed that the bigger their vocabulary is, the faster they will be able to read. Basically, vocabulary is important in word recognition – readers use pronunciation and meanings of words in their oral vocabulary to help them recognize words they see in print. They use trial pronunciation – if they find a match and it makes sense, they resume reading. Vocabulary is important to reading comprehension. Understanding individual words supports general understanding of passages. Vocabulary is also essential for reading to learn as well as learning to read. Vocabulary acquisition is crucial to academic development. Students need good word knowledge to succeed in basic skills, they need specialized vocabulary to learn the content of material.


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Graduation Thesis


2.2 Previous researches related to this study According to Tunar and William (2007) studies revealed that students’ knowledge of vocabulary can predict their achievement rate. Some ideas for improving vocabulary include: Practicing and repeating (verbal and written); Thinking about the word, what it does mean, and how can readers use it; Constructing a library of new words. This should consist of index cards with the word and variations (such as simple and past tense, meaning and sentence use). Besides that, according to McAndrews (2008), some techniques for developing receptive vocabulary include:  Being surrounded with rich vocabulary;  Actually hearing words from the context;  Having access to English and family language models;  Actively responding to words; and being able to classify sounds. McAndrews (2008) also suggested to build vocabulary, learners should:  Surround and immerge themselves in rich vocabulary;

 Being around limited vocabulary will not provide the scope that is needed to develop;  It is better if the learners hear words in context so they can learn the

different meanings and how they are used; It is beneficial if students hear and also have the opportunity to respond. This reinforces knowledge and provides a greater understanding. Being able to


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Graduation Thesis


hear, comprehend, analyze, and then produce a word in the form of reply will improve vocabulary. Turner and Williams (2007) suggested that practice and repetition in both verbal and written forms of vocabulary assist in improvement. Even in its spoken form, vocabulary knowledge involves knowing the different meanings of a word; how to use the word properly; fundamental forms and derivations; associations with other words; and any associated rules (Tekman & Daloglu, 2006). Knowing a word can be broken down into two types: 

Receptive – the students have the ability to identify a word when they hear it spoken or read; and



Productive – the students can produce the word when they write and speak it ( Tekman & Daloglu, 2006 ) Vocabulary knowledge can also refer to the number of words a person

knows and the depth at which the word is known (Tekman & Daloglu, 2006). It is common to hear and read words that English learners recognize but do not possess a thorough understanding. This is where context clues assist comprehension in both the written and spoken environment. 2. 3 Summary This chapter provides a review of the literature relating vocabulary and fast reading. It also points out the reasons why building vocabulary is a necessity for improving fast reading. The next chapter will describe the research methodology used to conduct this study.


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Graduation Thesis


Chapter 3:

Research Methodology 3.1 Research Subject

15

3.2 Methodology

16

3.2.1 Survey

16

3.2.2 Statistical analysis

17

3.3 Research Instrument

18

3.4 Data collection procedures

19

3.5 Possible outcomes

19

3.5.1 The necessity of improving vocabulary

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3.5.2 Several obstacles E – major students have to confront when reading

20

3.5.3 The drawbacks derived from students’ studying style

21


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Graduation Thesis


3.6 Limitations of the study

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3.7 Summary

22

In this chapter, the tools and techniques generated in the research as well as the ways to analyze all kinds of information are carefully explained. 3.1 Research Subject The subjects of this study consist of 100 students of Foreign Languages Faculty, Banking University HCM City. They major in English for Banking and Finance. Their age is at a range of 18 to 23. Most of them started to learn English when they were at secondary school. In their curriculum, they mainly focus on four skills in English such as speaking, reading, writing and listening. Besides that, they are also trained with translation, interpretation, American and English culture, American and English literature. Moreover, they are taught several subjects related to Banking and Finance. Some illustrations of this are: English for Bank Accounting, English for Stock Market, English for International Payment, etc…To make a good academic performance at university, students need to have knowledge of English, especially it is essential for them to master vocabulary. Hence, they easily access to difficult materials and they can learn from these materials if they have a large number of vocabulary. Table 3.1 The profile of subject Class 25AV 24AV 23AV 22AV


The number of students 20 20 30 30

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Graduation Thesis


The subjects are randomly chosen from each above class. It can be easy to see that the amount of time each class spent on learning English is very different due to different syllabuses. The results which collected from the survey are expected to be diversified. Therefore, the findings from the survey are much more accurate and useful to this thesis. In this study, the main subjects this thesis focuses on are students from 23 AV and 22 AV. It can be easily understood because most of third – year students and fourth – year students have to deal with a variety of English material with lots of unforeseen words or the level of difficulty is much more than those of first – year and second – year students. The subjects are very important for the writer’s study because through their responses, the researcher can evaluate their progress within a couple of years at Faculty of Foreign Languages and the ways they enhance vocabulary for fast reading. 3.2 Methodology There are two main methods utilized in order to achieve the set goals of this thesis. 3.2.1 Survey According to the website It’s About.com : Psychology

addressed

http://psychology.about.com/od/researchmethods/f/survey, a survey is defined as a data collection tool used to gather information about individuals. Surveys are commonly used in psychology research to collect self – report data from study participants. A survey may focus on factual information about individuals, or it may aim to collect opinions of the survey takers. A survey can be conducted in a couple of different ways. In one method known as a structured interview, the researcher asks each participant the questions. In other method known as questionnaire, the participants fill out the survey on their own.


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Graduation Thesis


Survey generally standardized is also important to ensure that it has reliability and validity. Standardization is also important so that the results can be generalized to the larger population. Some significant benefits that survey brings to the researcher: 

Survey allows the researcher to collect a large amount of data in a relatively short period of time.



Survey is less expensive than any other data collection techniques.

 Survey can be created quickly and administered.  Survey can be used to collect information on a wide range of things, including personal facts, attitudes, past behaviors and opinions. The research applied this methodology by using one instrument. It is questionnaire for students to collect their opinions about the importance of vocabulary on fast reading as well as ways to build vocabulary for improving fast reading. Details of this instrument will be presented in the next chapter 3.2.2 Statistical analysis During this phase, the researcher tried to analyze data collected from the survey participants applying statistical methods, mainly descriptive statistics. According

the

website

Research

Methods

Knowledge

Base

addressed

http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/statdesc.php, descriptive statistics are used to describe the basic features of the data in a study. They provide a simple summary about the samples and the measures. Together with simple graphic analysis, they form the basic of virtually every quantitive analysis of data. Descriptive statistics are used to present quantitive descriptions in a manageable form. In a study, the researcher may have lots of different measures or may have measure a large number of participants on any measure. Descriptive statistics help the researcher simplify large amounts of data in a sensible way. Each descriptive statistic reduces lots of data into a simpler summary. Every time the researchers try to describe a large set of observations with a single indicator they can take the risk of distorting the original data or losing important detail. Even given certain Student: Nguyen Thi Thuy Dung

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Graduation Thesis


limitations, descriptive statistics provide a powerful summary that may enable comparisons across people or other units. According to the website Wikipedia _ The Free Encyclopedia addressed http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descriptive_statistics, descriptive statistics are used to describe main features of a collection of data in quantitive terms. Descriptive statistics are distinguished from inductive statistics in which they aim to quantitively summarize a data set, rather than being used to support statements about the population that the data is thought to represent. Even when data analysis draws its main conclusions using inductive statistical analysis, descriptive statistics are generally presented along with more formal analysis, to give the audience an overall sense of the data being analyzed. The current study’s findings discovered by using descriptive statistics will help answer the research questions raised in chapter one. 3.3 Research instrument: Questionnaire is defined as an effective way to gather data from a potentially large number of respondents. Often it is the only feasible way to reach a number of reviewers large enough to allow statistically analysis of the results. A well- designed questionnaire that is used effectively can collect information on both the overall performance of the test system as well as information specific components of the system. It is important to remember questionnaire should be viewed as a multi – stage process beginning with the definition of the aspects to be examined and ending with interpretation of the results. Every step needs to be designed carefully because the final results are only as good as the weakest link in the questionnaire process. The questionnaire used in this study can help to build up the valuable information as well as clarify the facts for this study. The questionnaire consists of two main parts: (1) information of the research participants’ background together with their English levels, and (2) the participants’ opinions and attitudes about Student: Nguyen Thi Thuy Dung

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Graduation Thesis


issues concerning vocabulary and fast reading as well as ways to build up vocabulary for fast reading improvement. The questionnaire for English majors has thirteen questions. Some of the questions in the questionnaire are designed to be open – ended to serve the purpose of expanding responses. Questionnaire is the main instrument aiming to obtain the set goals of this study. The findings of the questionnaires will be discussed and analyzed in the next chapter. 3.4 Data collection procedures Data collected for this study came from questionnaire survey. Data was collected for over 6 weeks from the beginning of April to the middle of May. After the gist of the study was conducted and all revisions were set up, the researcher began to hand out the questionnaires to survey participants. The procedures of data collection are all recorded in the Table 3.2 below: No 1 2

Time Week 1 Week 2

Time to complete People to contact Contact supervisor Supervisor Obtain permission Head of Foreign for the study

3

Week 3 – 4

Languages

Department Carry out the gist 100 students of the of

the

study, Faculty of Foreign

administer 4

Week 5 – 6

the Languages

questionnaire Data analysis End of the study

Table 3.2 Procedure of data collection 3. 5Possible outcomes 3.5.1 The necessity of improving vocabulary Vocabulary plays an important part in learning to read. Vocabulary is also very essential for reading comprehension. Readers cannot understand what they are


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Graduation Thesis


reading without knowing what most of the words mean. As students learn to read more advanced texts, they must learn the meaning of new words that are not part of their oral vocabulary. It is thought if a language is a house, vocabulary will be as construction material to build up that house. Furthermore, knowing vocabulary of a language is a minimum self – requirement for those who want to learn a foreign language. Hence, it is definite that building vocabulary is very necessary for fast reading. The students at the Faculty of Foreign Languages themselves recognize that vocabulary is one of the most important elements that may affect the speed of reading significantly. Moreover, students hardly understand the passage well with their poor vocabulary knowledge. In this thesis, fast reading not only indicates the speed of reading but also refers to the way of understanding the passages. If students have a large number of vocabularies in their mind, they can easily adapt to difficult materials. Additionally, they can increase their reading speed. Therefore, vocabulary is considered to be very important for students who want to read well and have good academic results at university. 3.5.2 Several obstacles E – major students have to confront when reading Words, difficult passages as well as a lack of adequate time are expected 3 common obstacles that students have to deal with when they carry out reading texts. Among them, unforeseen words or new vocabularies are considered the most common one because vocabularies totally carry the meaning of the passages. One of the most persistent findings in reading research is that the extent of students’ vocabulary knowledge relates strongly to their reading comprehension and overall academic success (Backer, 1977; Davis, 1942; Whipple, 1925). The relationship seems logical; to get meaning from what they read, students need both good knowledge of vocabulary and the ability to use various strategies to find out the meaning of new words when they encounter them.


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Graduation Thesis


However, in this study students do not have very large vocabularies or effective words as well as learning strategies to achieve comprehension. Thus, an extensive vocabulary is the bridge between the word – level processes of phonics and the cognitive processes of comprehension (Kamil & Hiebert, in press). 3.5.3 The drawbacks derived from students’ studying style The obstacles which most of students have to face with during the time they are reading derived from themselves. Particularly, it is their self – evaluation and learning style. It can be an active style or a passive style. They learn the words when they come across or they learn it in advance. They enhance their vocabulary every day or some times a week. The time they read English material is enough or not. Although students recognize the importance of vocabulary, it is estimated that most of them do not spend much time on word – learning. Also, the time students spent on reading is not much. If students who study vocabulary every day, they can easily improve their rate of reading or they can understand the content of passage within a short time of reading. 3.6 Limitations of the study Although the researcher made her best effort to carry out this study, it still has several limitations. Firstly, this research has been based on the aspect of interest only – The students’ interest toward building vocabulary for improving fast reading. Additionally, a lot of related studies are necessarily conducted to get more convincing findings. Secondly, the instrument used in this study is only questionnaire. It lacks of interview or other different instruments such as telephone, mail and etc… If there are more instruments employed in this study, the results could be more persuasive. Thirdly, it is quite limited that the 100 participants in this study were selected from the Faculty of Foreign Languages, BU HCM City, the samples are Student: Nguyen Thi Thuy Dung

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Graduation Thesis


not extensive, consequently the results cannot be over – generalized. If the examination was extended to a larger number of students and to a broader range, the feasibility and probability of the study would be higher. The researcher is also English – major student who belongs to the same faculty of the participants; therefore, in order to avoid the subjective results, the recommendation for the future research can be conducted by triangulation, i.e.…, various resources, instruments and methods. As a result, the researcher would like to conduct more background variables, that are years of study English, whether they spend their time on studying English or English vocabulary, whether they are aware of motivation and targets in learning English, and their self – evaluation of suggested ways for improving fast reading. 3.7 Summary This chapter discusses the methodology for this study. Besides that, research instrument, research subject as well as data collection procedures are also presented clearly in this study. Finally, the researcher presents the possible outcome and limitations after carrying out the survey.


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Chapter 4:

Results and Discussion 4.1 Results

24

4.2 Discussion

39


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Graduation Thesis


This chapter is going to analyze and discuss the responses to the survey questionnaires from E – major students. On the modest scale of a Bachelor’s thesis, descriptive statistics will be mainly employed to demonstrate the correlation between vocabulary and fast reading, and to find out the opinions and attitudes of E – majors at the Faculty of Foreign Languages about the correlation between vocabulary and fast reading, strategies for deriving word meanings as well as ways to build vocabulary for fast reading improvement. 4.1 Results Survey questionnaire comprises 13 questions aiming to find out the figures about the following issues: (1) Students’ English background as well as their input and output English levels (2) Surveyed students’ attitudes towards the crucial role of vocabulary in reading comprehension (3) Students’ opinions about fast reading issue and its related common obstacles (4) The common reasons resulting in students’ obstacles when reading and elements that affect the students’ rate of reading (5) Students’ evaluations on

some suggested strategies for deriving

word

meanings to obtain fast reading and several ways to build vocabulary for fast reading improvement The analysis of results collected from the survey is presented below:


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Graduation Thesis


 Students’ English background as well as

their input and output

English levels

Points of time E - majors began to study English 4%

14%

Primary School Secondary School High School

82%

Chart 4.1 : Points of time E- majors began to study English Most of E – major students started learning English when they were at secondary school. Strongly over three – fourths of students (82%) learned English at secondary school as it is a compulsory subject at most of Vietnamese national secondary school. In particular,10 first – year students, 16 second – year students, 26 fourth – year students and all of third – year students (30 students) began learning English at secondary school. The data also shows that only 4 fourth- year students ( equal to 4%) began studying English at high school because English was not taught at their secondary school at that time. The other proportion - 14 %


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consists of 10 first – year students and 4 second year students who studied English at primary school. This is illustrated in chart 4.1

Students' English input levels 10

Advanced

20

Level

Upper - Intermediate

70

Intermediate Pre - intermediate

0

Elementary

0 0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

The number of students

Chart 4.2 Students’ English input levels

Level

Students' English output levels Advanced

30

Upper - Intermediate

30

Intermediate

40

Pre - intermediate

0

Elementary 0 0

10

20

30

40

50

The number of students


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Graduation Thesis


Chart 4.3 Students’ English output levels The charts 4.2 and 4.3 clearly present the English input and output levels of the surveyed E – majors. There is a considerable difference between chart 4.1 and chart 4.2. As can be seen from the charts, there is a variety of English proficiency of students taking part in this study. Basically, students at the Faculty of Foreign Languages are very good at English because it is a fact that their major at university is English and they are also taught other subjects related to English, so they must have a good knowledge of English for their pathway to be well – performed English students at BU. The data above can prove for this. It is easy to see the highest number of students’ English input levels generated by intermediate. It accounts for 70 students, equivalent to 70 %. The other 20 students have upper intermediate level, equivalent to 20 %. Just 10 students are advanced English learners. The English levels of students change profoundly after a certain time. An illustration of this is the number of intermediate English students decreases to 40 students whereas the number of upper – intermediate students increases to 30 students, 10 students in difference. Moreover, the number of advanced English students rises dramatically. The amount of advanced English learners accounts for 30%, increased by 20 students, equal to 20% compared to the chart 4.2 Students’ English input levels. Both of the charts show that there is no student who is elementary English learner. Actually, the levels here are evaluated by the English major students themselves. As for English major students, the findings here are considerably accurate as there is a regulation on the standard of English proficiency set by Foreign Languages Faculty. Students specializing in English have to accomplish the intermediate proficiency in the first and second year, the upper intermediate Student: Nguyen Thi Thuy Dung

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Graduation Thesis


level in the third year and advanced level in the last year. Before being students of Foreign Languages Faculty, at least 7 years of acquiring English, a compulsory subject incorporated into national curriculum from grade six to grade twelve, the students can obtain a considerably basic knowledge in this field. Additionally, after being equipped with a professional English program delivered by whole – hearted and enthusiastic lecturers at university, English students achieve more fluency in this subject. However, with a limited academic time at school, they are not provided enough practice time for what they have study in theory. For instance, when students attend reading lesson, all the time they spend on reading but not usually spend time on figuring out the element leading to read fast and effectively. Thus, it would be interesting to conduct the study to find out the ways to build vocabulary for improving fast reading.  Students’ attitudes towards the crucial role of vocabulary in reading

comprehension The figures from the survey show that most of English students have a deep understanding about the linguistic definition of vocabulary. Importantly, the charts 4.4 and 4.5 below present students’ thoughts about the crucial role of vocabulary in reading comprehension and its levels of importance. Most of students think that vocabulary plays an important role in reading comprehension. Eighty five percent of students strongly agree with this. Ten percent of students agree and just five percent of students is neutral. They cannot decide whether vocabulary is crucial for reading comprehension or not. This is presented clearly in the chart 4.4 below. .


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Graduation Thesis


The students' attitudes about the crucial role of vocabulary in reading comprehension 90 80 70 60 The number of 50 students 40 30 20 10 0

85

10 Strongly agree

Agree

5

0

0

Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree

Students' attitudes

Chart 4.4: The Students' attitudes about the crucial role of vocabulary in reading comprehension In order to clarify the crucial role of vocabulary in reading comprehension, the survey also aims to investigate students’ evaluation about the level of importance of vocabulary in understanding a reading comprehension. The data is presented in detail in the pie chart 4.5.

10%

15% 48%

very important important fairly important a little bit important

27% Student: Nguyen Thi Thuy Dung

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Graduation Thesis


Chart 4.5 The students' evaluation about the importance of vocabulary in understanding a reading comprehension Based on the pie chart, nearly half of students (48%) recognize the very important role of vocabulary in understanding a reading comprehension. A large vocabulary is thought to be an asset to readers. In fact, we have known for many decades that vocabulary is a strong indicator of reading comprehension (Anderson &Freebody, 1981; Davis, 1944; Singer, 1965 ). The other students also think vocabulary is important but it is possible that the other factors are more important than vocabulary to understand reading comprehension. From the analysis above, most of students think that vocabulary plays an essential role in reading comprehension. However, it is an interesting issue whether students’ English vocabulary levels are good enough to understand a comprehension deeply and quickly or not. Surprisingly, the data shows that nearly 90% of English students are not satisfied with their vocabulary knowledge. It means they have intention to enhance their English skills as well as English vocabulary for the convenience of reading.  Students’ ideas about fast reading issue and its related common

obstacles It is certain that vocabulary has a strong relationship with reading comprehension. If readers have large vocabulary, it is easier for them to understand a reading comprehension. However, the survey partly aims to explore the respondents’ opinions about fast reading – a considerably new academic concept in English major students’ curriculum. Definition Reading at speed significantly faster

SA

A

N

D

SD

46

43

11

0

0

than normal


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Graduation Thesis


Fast reading needs less time but more

51

40

9

0

0

effort than normal reading

Table 4.1 The definition of fast reading The data from the table 4.1 implies most of English majors understand the definition of fast reading correctly. It can be seen from the table 4.1 that most of students have the correct responses to the definition of fast reading. If they understand what fast reading means, they will get better results when reading than the others. Fast reading seems to be not a new issue with students. However, it is not easy for ESL students to read fast because words are born everyday. Each word can have different meanings when put in different contexts. Therefore, students possibly face with several common obstacles which prevent them from reading at a rapid rate. The data from the pie chart 4.6 will illustrate for this.

8%

0%

Words Difficult passages

22% 50%

A lack of adequate time Complex grammar Other

20%

Chart 4. 6 The obstacles that students have to face when reading fast Student: Nguyen Thi Thuy Dung

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Graduation Thesis


It can be easily seen that “words” is the striking factor that results in English students’ obstacles when they read. It accounts for 50% - considerably high proportion. The other two elements are difficult passages and a lack of adequate time, accounting for 20 % and 22 % respectively. The final one is complex grammar. Some of students think complex grammar prevents them from reading fast and effectively. It just accounts for 8%. Hence, three common obstacles which students have to face when they read fast are words, difficult messages and a lack of adequate time.  The common reasons resulting in students’ obstacles when reading fast

and elements that affect the students’ rate of reading The two pie charts 4.7 and 4.8 clarify the reasons why most of English students get into trouble when reading at a rapid rate. In order to better fast reading, students should have reading English material frequently besides their learning at university. However, English students do not spend much time on reading English material regularly. The chart 4.7 illustrates students’ frequency of reading English materials.

6% 14%

30% 1 - 3 times 4 - 6 times 7 - 9 times 10 times or more

50%


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Graduation Thesis


Chart 4.7 The frequency of reading English material The data presents English students do not read English materials regularly. It is expected they should spend more time on reading. The statistics are shown in the chart 4.7 clearly. 30% of students read for 1 to 3 times per week. It makes up a high proportion. The less time they read, the more obstacles they will have when they read because it is not easy to find out the meaning of the passages. Half of the students read English material from 4 to 6 times every week. Just 14 % of students read from 7 to 9 times a week. Only 6 percent read for 10 times or more weekly. They are supposed to read more as they are English majors and the time they read is expected much more than the other students. The less they read, the more difficulties they could get when reading is a certainty.

9%

10%

14% Less than 1 hour

23%

1 - 2 hours 3- 4 hours 5 - 6 hours More than 6 hours

44% Chart 4.8: The amount of time students spent on studying vocabulary per week


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Graduation Thesis


Based on the chart 4.8, the time students spend on vocabulary learning per week is not high. Just 9% of students spend more than 6 hours on studying. Unexpectedly, 10 % of surveyed students spend less than 1 hour for studying vocabulary. Additionally, 23% of students study from 1 to 2 hours per week. Around half of surveyed students – 44% spend from 3 to 4 hours on vocabulary learning. It means that E – majors do not often study vocabulary. If they spend more time on enhancing their vocabulary, they will meet less obstacles while they are reading than the others who do not. Summarily, both chart 4.7 and 4.8 give deep insights in the reasons why most of students have difficulties in fast reading. There are two considerable cases. Firstly, it is shown that English do not often spend time on reading English material whereas reading brings us countless benefits. Reading broadens our mind and certainly, our vocabulary can also increase. It could be at first students read a difficult passage with lots of new vocabulary and cannot guess the meaning; however, the other next times they read, these words can be familiar with them, so they can guess the meaning and save time getting stuck in these difficult words. Secondly, English students do not usually spend time on learning vocabulary weekly. When they were the English beginners, they usually learned new words. Some of them wrote down on their notebook and reviewed these words everyday. They spent time on learning vocabulary considerably. However, the learning time has decreased significantly when their English levels are higher. Regarding this issue, the chart 4.9 below presents clearly the elements that affect the students’ rate of reading. The results indicate that the content of the passages is the most important factor, accounting for more than 50 % of students, the next common factor is time available. The percentage is up to 27% and the last one is readers’ purposes or intention to read (23%).


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Graduation Thesis


The content of the passages

27%

Time available 53%

Readers' purposes or intention in reading

20%

Chart 4.9 The elements affecting student rates of reading

 Students’ evaluations on some suggested strategies for deriving word

meanings to obtain fast reading and several ways to build vocabulary for fast reading improvement


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Graduation Thesis


Another aim of the survey is to investigate students’ evaluation on the feasibility of below recommended strategies for deriving word meanings. the meaning words from the context

The comparison among three suggested ways for deriving the word meaning from the context 70

66 58

60

52

50 The number 40 of students 30 20

Excellent Good Fair Poor

10 0

30

28

24

14

10

8 0

0

0

Look Reread Read within the previous ahead for sentence sentences more clues Three suggested ways

Chart 4.10: The comparison among three suggested ways for deriving the word meaning from the context The chart 4.10 demonstrates that the three suggested ways are evaluated from fair to excellent. The rates of judgement fluctuate among these strategies. To have a deep analysis, we break it into small issues: The data shows that looking within the sentence is favored by most of students. 66 % of students think it is an excellent way to know the meaning of the words. The other strategies are also favorized by many students, 58 % and 52% respectively.


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Graduation Thesis


The comparison among three suggested ways for deriving the meaning words by looking in the word 56

60

Excellent 46

50 40

32

30

The number of 30 students

24

20

Fair 26

24

20

Good

42

Poor

10 0 Look for Look for base Look for root prefixes and words words suffixes Students' attitutes

Chart 4.11: The comparison among three suggested ways for deriving the meaning words by looking in a word The figures show that all three suggested strategies for deriving the meaning of the words by looking in the words give the clear evidence of their effectiveness. Among three suggestions, deriving the meaning of the words by “look for base words” and “look for root words” are chosen by most of students. Finally but importantly, the questionnaire also includes some ways to build vocabulary for fast reading improvement. The survey can find out the level of effectiveness and practice of suggested ways for building vocabulary by students’ self – evaluation.

Ways to build vocabulary


VE

ME

SE

SI

MI

VI

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Graduation Thesis


(%) Learning associated word together 25 Using picture and diagram 21 Organizing a vocabulary notebook 20 Expanding vocabulary through 17 analogies Guessing the meaning from the context Learning from dictionary Using flashcards

26 22 25

(%) 16 25 27 28

(%) 10 17 26 19

49 31 48

8 9 16

(%) (%) 17 18 18 19 13 14 14 15 8 17 6

9 14 5

(%) 17 0 0 7 0 7 0

Table 4.2: The effectiveness of suggested ways to build vocabulary for fast reading improvement According to the data from table 4.2, we can see easily that each of the recommended ways prove its different degree of practice and effectiveness. Each way is favored differently by students. They apply them in their studying strategies for vocabulary enhancement. However, it is interesting to find out among the seven suggested ways, “guessing the meaning from the context”; “organizing a vocabulary notebook”; and “using picture and diagram” are the most effective studying methods evaluated by surveyed students. In contrast, the other ways such as “Learning associated word together”; “Expanding vocabulary through analogies” and “ Learning from dictionary” are evaluated less efficient than the other methods. In reality, every above mentioned ways can help the learners to build their vocabulary efficiently if they know how to study and how to incorporate these methods because each method has its own advantages and disadvantages.

4.2 Discussion: To check the anticipated hypotheses, a variety of statistical analysis is computed. The results indicate that vocabulary is very essential for fast reading improvement. It is definite that rich vocabulary knowledge is an efficient tool to


38

Graduation Thesis


approach the way of reading fast. The data also gives the evidence of the effectiveness of several suggested ways to build vocabulary for fast reading. Major findings from this study are summarized as follows: First of all, data from the survey also proves that most of students have a deep understanding about the definition of vocabulary and fast reading. They recognize that vocabulary has a closed – knit relationship with fast reading. It can be shown via the three most popular obstacles students have to face when they read. Half of students supposed vocabulary is the most common reason preventing them from reading fast. Without rich vocabulary knowledge, they hardly read fast and efficiently. Indeed, for many decades, vocabulary is a strong indicator of reading comprehension (Anderson & Freebody, 1981; Davis, 1944; Singer, 1965). Therefore, it is easy to get stuck in a reading comprehension because of poor vocabulary. It takes them more time to read than the others who have good vocabulary knowledge. The only way to obtain fast reading is spending time on enhancing their size of vocabulary. Secondly, the survey also finds out the following reasons that lead to their difficulties in reading fast:  Most of E – major students do not spend most of their time on reading

English material, therefore the writer finds it very difficult for them to be adaptive to a reading comprehension with lots of new words.  Although many students do study vocabulary every week, the amount of

time for word learning is not an impressive number. The amount of time differs from one student to other students because of their study at university. This reason also results in their common obstacles when they want to read fast. From the above drawbacks, the survey recommends several ways for students to limit the obstacles and approach to fast reading. Most of students agree that the suggested ways can be effective and beneficial for them to improve their vocabulary. Student: Nguyen Thi Thuy Dung

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Graduation Thesis


It is easy to see that the seven ways to build vocabulary, all of them are evaluated to be efficient. However, different methods have different level of effectiveness through the evaluations of English major students. Students can choose a specific way to enhance their vocabulary but if they want to improve their vocabulary efficiently they can apply different ways, not just a way. It can bring them an exciting environment when they study and help them have a long term memory of words. The same way all the time will cause boredom and finally they will give up their target. Among the seven suggested way, “guessing the meaning from the context” is evaluated as the best efficient way. The students think that it can help them learn easily and remember longer. “Learning associated words together” and “Expanding vocabulary through analogies” are assessed as less effective ones. They are thought to be surprising figures. Expanding vocabulary through analogies is possibly an effective way; however, it is not very common way used by English students. It seems to be very new and some of students have not heard about this way before. If English students take notice about this way, they will recognize the numerous advantages of this way in the curriculum of second academic year at university. If the students know how to apply this method in their vocabulary strategy they will have a great success in studying vocabulary for fast reading. Besides that, the other five ways are effective, too. However, how to apply and how to study efficiently for improving fast reading are outstanding issues which students should pay more attention to. This can be shown specifically in the last chapter.


40

Graduation Thesis


Chapter 5

Recommendations and Conclusion 5.1 Recommendations

42

5.2.1 English Vocabulary Builder

42

5.2.2 Strategy for deriving word meanings

43

5.2.3 Suggested ways to build vocabulary for fast reading improvement

5.3 Conclusion

46 56

5.1 Recommendations: 5.1.1 English Vocabulary Builder: An Important Element for Successful Learning


41

Graduation Thesis


Building English vocabulary is feasible and effective with suitable learning tools and strategies. There are a number of general techniques that are used by those enhancing vocabulary and act as an English vocabulary builder. Implementing these within learners’ approach and they will definitely achieve the results. To enhance vocabulary development, there are four elements in learning strategy that will improve your vocabulary knowledge: active learning; purpose; context; and scaffolding (McCaffery et al. , 2007 ). Active learning can be seen as the opposite to passive learning. As an English vocabulary builder, it increases long – term retention. Rather than sitting back and passively taking in vocabulary, students should interact with the words and words exercises. It is one of the most effective ways to increase vocabulary knowledge. Learning for a purpose is another learning strategy that enhances vocabulary development (McCaffery et al, 2007). Prior to beginning, learners should be mindful of their goal. What do they want to take away from their learning? Do they want to learn a specialized vocabulary or a general level of vocabulary? Learning with a purpose in mind will help them focus on their intended goals and increase their learning. Context is also important as an English vocabulary builder. Learning within an environment where the vocabulary is used can greatly assist English learners’ learning experience. Placing importance on surrounding content and sentences also enhances students’ learning. Scaffolding is another technique that can be used to develop English vocabulary. Scaffolding occurs within a structured environment (McCaffery et al, 2007). It uses additional learning aids to reach a specific goal. In other words, it is planned and structured learning. To assist learning, scaffolding can involve the usage of questioning. Learners are asked to define words using their own descriptions or in presentations. Student: Nguyen Thi Thuy Dung

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Graduation Thesis


It is also extremely important that learners incorporate knowledge they already possess to act as an English vocabulary builder (Manyak, 2007). That is, drawing upon past life experiences and their knowledge of similar groupings of words to assist learning. Manyak (2007) suggests that existing vocabulary skills in one language should not be considered as an impediment to learn English vocabulary. Instead, they should be viewed as helpful. Students can heavily rely upon existing knowledge and life experience. They can put it in good usage when learning English vocabulary. 5.1.2 Strategies for deriving word meanings “To read and not understand is not to read at all” is considered as a very famous saying by Mathews (1966). To acquire a speed of reading and a deep understanding of a passage or a comprehension, it is very crucial that English major students have a good reading background as well as vocabulary. Improving one’s vocabulary is thought to be a necessary part of life. Sometimes a difficult passage or a comprehension leaves ESL learners a sense of awkwardness or confusion as to what they read with their poor vocabulary. On an optimistic aspect, there are methods for working out words’ meaning and to improve vocabulary. They are not difficult to apply band E – majors as well as ESL learner can put them into practice. One of the certain ways to develop vocabulary is to actively work out word meanings. Students should not try to rush to the reference material, analyze the word and discover meanings on their own first. Not only will this give them self – confidence, but it also enhance long – term retention. This process is called active learning. It contrasts to passive learning where the student sits back and it is essentially a sponge. Active learning will allow us to obtain richer vocabulary knowledge in a less period of time. It will equip us with the tools required to work out word meanings without actually having knowledge of the word. Chart 5.1 will Student: Nguyen Thi Thuy Dung

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Graduation Thesis


demonstrate an excellent strategy for deriving unknown words’ meaning to improve vocabulary. Chart 5. 1 Strategies for Deriving Word Meanings

Look careful at the word; decide how to pronounce it

Look around the word for context clues Look within the sentence Reread previous sentences Read ahead for more clues

Look in the word Look for prefixes and suffixes Look for base words Look for root words

Make your best guess of the word’s meaning

If you do not have a good idea as to the word’s meaning and if the word seems important, use a dictionary or a glossary.

If you think you have figured out the meaning of the word and if the word does not seem important , keep reading.

Taken from Pikulski and Templeton (2004, p.8) As we can seen from chart 5.1, in order to work out an unknown word meaning, firstly examine the word and look for what are known as context clues (Pikulski & Templeton, 2004 ). These can include words in sentences that exist around the unknown word. They offer hints as to what the word may mean. Sentences that surround the unknown word are useful in providing meanings. Another type of clue that will help us actively work out the meaning of an unknown word is that of prefixes, suffixes and roots ( Pikulski & Templeton, Student: Nguyen Thi Thuy Dung

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Graduation Thesis


2004). There is a consideration that whether English learners are knowledgeable of any word part that the unknown word might be based upon or not. Greever and Bachelor (1922) in The Century Vocabulary Builder refer to “verbal families” and although words from the English or Germanic – Scandinavian – English are relatively easily identifiable, those of Latin or Greek origin are more likely to be unknown to us. Students who have knowledge of the basic words in these families will be greatly assisted in building their vocabulary (Greever & Bachelor, 1922 ). All these offer important hints to improve vocabulary and to work out what a word might mean. Once learners have considered these methods, make a guess about the word’s meaning and write it down. They can then use reference material, such as dictionary, to look up the meaning. One suggestion offered by Pikulski and Templeton (2004) is to keep reading if the word does not seem significant or if English students have worked out the meaning correctly. This is a great technique for English major students if they are reading a book, are at the library or in a social gathering. If in an appropriate setting, however, don’t proceed. Make sure learners look up the word to find out if they are right. If not, note where they went wrong and learn from it. Summarily, whenever E – majors come across a word they do not know the meaning and have not enough time to reach for reference material, refer to these methods when working out word meanings and it might just save their time and their reading rate are speeding up.

5.2.3 Suggested ways to build vocabulary for fast reading The purpose of vocabulary learning should include both remembering words and the ability to use them automatically in a wide range of language Student: Nguyen Thi Thuy Dung

45

Graduation Thesis


context when the need arises (McCarthy, 1984). In fact, evidence suggests that the knowledge aspect (both breadth and depth) require more conscious and explicit learning mechanisms whereas the skill aspect involves mostly implicit learning and memory (Ellis, 1994). Vocabulary learning strategies, therefore, should include strategies for “using” as well as “knowing” a word. Those in need of improving their vocabulary can be from very different walks of life or in every different fields of study. Those seeking strategies for improving vocabulary skills can be from both English and non – English speaking background. The main aim of this study is to find out several efficient ways to build vocabulary for improving fast reading which is regarded to be very beneficial to English learner. If English students can master vocabulary well, they have numerous advantages in learning English. Basically, English students are good at English. However, the need of vocabulary enhancement is a certainty. Actually, each student has his or her own ways to build vocabulary. The following suggestions for building vocabulary are based on the study’s findings and hopefully they can help English major students improve their reading rate through their rich vocabulary. • Learning associated words together Building vocabulary word by word is considerably difficult to remember and apply the meanings into reading test to have an in – depth understanding about the reading comprehension. Definitely, when a student learns a new word and remember the meaning at that moment, but several days later he or she may forget it, the word hardly made a deep impression on the learner’s mind in case he or she does not learn other words related to the first word. Additionally, if students can apply this way to build their vocabulary, their vocabulary will increase in size significantly. They not only remember that word but also keep an image in their mind of the other words, too. Therefore, English majors should master a word’s meaning as well as the other related words’ meaning.


46

Graduation Thesis


When mentioning the method “learning associated words together”, the learners can think of learning words relating to three aspects: (1) meaning, (2) grammar and (3) the same root. English major students can decide which method is the most suitable for them to apply relying on their excitement as well as learning style.  Learn words with associated meanings together Learning words that are associated in meaning is a popular and useful way of organizing vocabulary study. Students can organize their vocabulary charts. It can be any kind of chart which students find it easy to enhance vocabulary. Certainly, they can randomly choose a main word or topic, then think of the other words which are related to the main word or topic. The spider chart below can illustrate for the way students can use to learn vocabulary:

list price

net profit

draft

MONEY MATTERS

wages

paymen t

cash flow

credit bad debt

 Learn words with a grammatical association together


47

Graduation Thesis


It is said that vocabulary is an unlimited source. However, it is divided into different categories. They could be words related to same word forms such as nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs or the grammar. To enhance vocabulary quicker, English major students are suggested to improve vocabulary through categories especially grammatical association. Study sample: 

Child, tooth and mouse are all singular noun ; They are words with irregular plurals ( children, teeth, mice )

 Foot, goose and ox are also singular words with irregular plurals ( feet, geese, oxen )  Information, furniture and luggage are all uncountable nouns  Milk, money and work are also all uncountable nouns  Learn together words based on the same root A word indeed can create several words with different meanings base on its root word. If English major students can understand a word root’s meaning, it is not difficult for them to master other words based on the same root. Take a look at the following example:


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Graduation Thesis


Pricey

Underpriced

Priceless

PRICE Price index

Market price

Price controls

• Using picture and diagram Learning vocabulary through pictures is not very often used by university students. As a nature, English beginners such as elementary students or secondary students prefer to use picture to illustrate the words they study whereas most of English materials which E – major students are provided at university or they have found themselves, actually lack of pictures. It is true that the English curriculum is very professional but the learners who have right method in acquiring English can acquire the knowledge as well as vocabulary. It is very hard and confusing to learn the word in book with full of words. They are recommended to buy picture books Student: Nguyen Thi Thuy Dung

49

Graduation Thesis


to build vocabulary. A book with full of colorful pictures makes the learners feel excited to begin their vocabulary enhancement journey. Words that can be grouped under a heading or a more general word can be drawn as a tree – diagram. It is a fact that improving vocabulary through pictures and diagram is thought to be an effective way. In reality, pictures might help learners remember vocabulary deeply and profoundly. Learners can definitely recognize the words easily when they come across the words that they have spent time on studying. Word tree can be useful Students are encouraged to study vocabulary by drawing a tree which contains lots of words relating to a specific topic. It is much possible than just studying words simply by writing down paper. There is a tendency that students prefer learning by pictures and diagrams because it is an impressive way.


50

Graduation Thesis 


Another tool to enhance vocabulary is by tables. It can help clarify collocations. Sample table is designed to illustrate the studying way: a car a

motorbike

a train

a horse

T fly to to

drive

+

ride

a plane +

+ +

+

• Organizing a vocabulary notebook It is said that improving vocabulary by a vocabulary notebook is a traditional way. In the era of modernization, most of students can study and improve their vocabulary by lots of English software which provide them a variety of exercises; however, to some extent it also shows its feasibility and effectiveness. This study suggests E – major students keep their personal vocabulary notebook. When English students come across any new words, take note of those words and find out the definition of those words, then write down in notebooks. Student can remember the words easily and deeply if they write down the words in notebooks. It is easy for them to review the words again. In spite of considering as a traditional way to learn vocabulary, many students use this method to enhance their vocabulary. There is not any specific way to organize a vocabulary notebook. It’s up to the ideas of learners. They can organize or note to make them feel easy and comfortable to study and review their notebook. Some suggested ways for them to organize their own vocabulary notebook  Organizing words by meaning : Students can divide notebook into different broad sections, with sections for words for feeling, words to describe places, words for movement, words for thinking, etc. In each section they can build families of words related in meaning  Using various types of diagrams


51

Graduation Thesis


Words can be grouped under a heading or a more general word can be drawn as different diagrams to easily remember words. The sample diagram below helps to clarify the way of study

coach

rail pass road

rail

motorway

single/ return TRAVEL

ferry sea

Charter fight air

cruise

apex fare

• Expanding vocabulary through analogies Analogy is one of the most powerful ways to expand vocabulary. This is because analogies force learners to think carefully about the words, which helps them retain what they have learnt about the word: “A thread of thought operates in analogies and true learning takes place, whereas in exercises that deal with disparate bits of information, retention is limited because thinking is not involved.” (Ignoffo, 519) An analogy, in this context, is an abbreviated form of a sentence completion exercise in which test takers must provide some of the sentence. Analogies often appear in GRE vocabulary questions (Graduate Report Examination). For example, consider the following analogy: Pilot: airplane : : sailor : boat Analogies like this are read as “pilot is to airplane as sailor is to boat”. Analogy tests and exercises typically take the following form: Novice: connoisseur : : Student: Nguyen Thi Thuy Dung

expert 52

Graduation Thesis


The students are asked to fill in the blank. Often, they are given multiple choices. In this example, their choices may be: •

Neophyte

• Demagogue • Epicure • Virtuoso To get the right answer _ neophyte _ learners need to reason that novice and neophyte mean the same thing and are opposites of connoisseur and expert. Thus, the exercise forces them to use a logical comparison – contrast mental pattern ( Ignoffo, 520) Other types of analogies force learners to use other thought processes, such as thinking about degrees and proportions, logical order, relationships between parts of speech, and grammar. The amount of thinking and elaboration that goes into answering analogy questions and makes analogies an even more powerful way to expand vocabulary than other methods, such as word lists, matching, and synonym – antonym exercises. It is a fact that building vocabulary by analogies is a new way. It is not preferred by most of students. However, students who have an in – depth understanding about analogies can expand their vocabularies easily and quickly. •

Learning from dictionary

Good dictionaries, especially learners’ dictionaries, can tell them a lot more about one than just its meaning, including: 

Word – class ( usually abbreviation n : noun, adj: adjective, etc. ), whether a noun is countable or uncountable, and whether a verb is normally transitive ( needs an object ) or intransitive ( does not need an object )


53

Graduation Thesis




Synonyms and their differences, e.g. friend is opposed to enemy / foe

 Collocations ( how words go together), e.g. living is often used in these those collocations : cost of living, make a living, standard of living, do something for a living 

Pronunciation: this will mean learning some symbols which are different from the letters of English alphabet.



Word stress: often shown by a mark before the syllable to be stressed or by fold type. Make sure you know how your dictionary marks stress.



Usage: how a word is used and any special grammatical pattern that goes with it, e.g. suggest + clause (not an infinitive ) – I suggest you bring her right away.

It is sure that dictionary proves its usefulness and effectiveness on both reading comprehension and vocabulary learning. Dictionary provides definition and related information, but students have to apply words to real life settings and experience to maintain a long – lasting vocabulary memory. •

Inferring the meaning from the context There are a number of clues which ESL learners may be able to use to

help them work out the meaning of an unfamiliar word 

Visual clues: a picture in a book or film footage in a TV news broadcast may help the learners make a wide guess about the unfamiliar words



The immediate context (other words around the unfamiliar word): these may make the meaning absolutely clear: ‘Suzanne picked one tall yellow gladiolus to put in her new crystal vase.’ Even if ESL learners have never seen or heard the word ‘gladiolus’, it will probably be obvious to them from the context that is a type of flower.



Grammatical clues in the context: it is not difficult to understand that “superstitious’’ must be an adjective in the sentence ‘Marsha is very


54

Graduation Thesis


superstitious’ or that ‘gingerly’ is an adverb in ‘Jackie tiptoed gingerly down the stairs’. • Using flashcard Flashcard is defined as a card printed with words or numbers and briefly displayed as part of a learning drill. Creating flashcards helps English major students study effectively and remember not only deeply but also significantly. 

Do not make flashcard too small, 4 x 6 are the best

 Carry them whenever  Review them often  Break into small groups for easier learning Advantages of using flashcard 

Chunking information into smaller categories to aid memory  Noun – person , places, things  Verbs – plural / singular or tenses  Phrases – common usage



Using color signal categories  Different colored cards  Highlighters



Using either written or visual information

 Easily rearranged and sorted  Can be used for different purposes  Lists of items  Grammar rules  Quiz prep – questions / answer  Size and portability  Easy to carry


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Graduation Thesis


 Use for short, frequent reviews  Review in spare time that is often wasted like waiting in line or between classes  Physically moving and manipulating the cards incorporate tactile learning  Writing down the material on cards aids learners’ memory in itself Ways to study new words by flashcard  A least once a day, go through pack of index cards, spend 10 – 15 minutes each time  Sort the cards into two stacks – those learners do not know  Periodically review the entire set of words to keep them fresh in mind. It is definitely there are a lot of ways to build vocabulary for reading fast and effectively. Specially, every learner can hire his or her own strategies which are suitable for him or her. Vocabulary is not very difficult to study. Importantly, learners should have their own effort and patience to study and achieve their goal. The several recommended ways above can be applied in English learners’ vocabulary enhancement strategies. Many students who joined the survey agree that actually the suggested strategies are practical and can be applied in their vocabulary improvement. Some of them also use such strategies to build their vocabulary. This study recommends that English learners should consider the feasibility and effectiveness of the above ways. Additionally, they can apply one main way to build vocabulary together with other ways because each way has its strong and weak points. We are E – major students, hence we should study in an active and feasible environment. As a result, we can achieve our goals, and the pathways to fast and efficient reading is obtainable. 5.3 Conclusion: The study has discussed how important vocabulary is to reading comprehension, especially concerning the aspect of fast reading. It is said that vocabulary is considered as a heart of any language. If a language is a house,


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Graduation Thesis


vocabulary will be material to build up that house. As a result, if learners can master vocabulary well, they will have countless advantages when they study a foreign language. This study also gives a deep insight in the relationship between vocabulary and reading fast. Additionally, it clarifies the essential role of vocabulary on fast reading. This study also shows that learners have to face with lots of obstacles when they carry out reading comprehension, it is definite that reading at a rapid speed is not easy for English major students. However, the strategies a learner uses and the effectiveness of these strategies certainly depend on the learners themselves (e.g., attitudes, motivation and prior knowledge), the learning task (type, complexity, difficulty and generality) and the learning environment (e.g., the learning culture, the richness of input and output opportunities). Hence, it can be possible and feasible if they can find themselves several suitable ways to enhance their vocabulary knowledge, and have learning method to limit the ineffective time when they read. This thesis helps learners overcome the obstacles in reading thanks to several suggest ways which are thought can bring the readers as well as English – majors the speed and effectiveness in reading. Hopefully, this study is beneficial to the English learners and brings them to the world without difficulties when they read. They easily obtain a deep understanding in the passage as well as their reading speed they read. As well as learners become better and faster readers, they will learn more words and build up the vocabulary they have. This is a very closed - knit relationship between vocabulary knowledge and fast reading. In summary, if a learner can master fast reading, it is a great way to enhance his or her knowledge and education individually. Learning vocabulary for improving fast reading is an excellent choice. Taking the time to learn the art of vocabulary and fast reading will benefit English learners in their personal life as well as their life at work, and it can also help them as they pursue a higher education as well.


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BIBLIOGRAPHY Bower, R. ( 1981 ). What Experts Say About Vocabulary and Success. Retrieved April 14th, 2010, from http://phaariz.wordpress.com/2009/09/23/improve-yourenglish-vocabulary-with-ultimate-vocabulary-2009/ Cornelsen Verlag. (2006). A Strategy to Improve Your Vocabulary. Retrieved April 16th, 2010, from http://www.write-better-english.com/vocabulary-flashcards.aspx Curtis, M.E. & Kruidenier, J.R. (2005). A summary of Scientifically Based Research Principles – Teaching Adults to Read. National Institution for Literacy. Ediger, M. ( 1999 ). Reading and Vocabulary Development. Journal of Instructional Psychology. Retrieved April 6th, 2010, from http://www.write–betterenglish.com/Million-Dollar-Vocabulary.aspx Hartmann, P. ( 2002). Interaction 2. McGraw – Hill Contemporary Holcomb, Z.C. ( 1998 ). Interpreting Basic Statistics – A guide and Workbook Based on Excerts from Journal Articles, 2nd edition. Pyrczak Publishing. Greever, G & Bachelor, JM. (1922 ). The Century Vocabulary Builder. The Century Co. New York.


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Ignoffo, M.F. ( 1980 ). The Thread of Thought – Analogies as a Vocabulary Building Method. Journal of Reading, 519. Kirn, E. & Hartmann, P. ( 2002).

Interaction 2 – Reading, 4th edition. The

McGraw – Hill Companies, Inc. Long, M.H. & Richard, J.C.(1987 ). Methodology in TESOL. U.S.A. Heinle & Heinle. Mc

Andrew,

S.L.

(2008).

Language

Understanding Language Development.

and

Vocabulary

Development

-

Diagnostic Literacy Assessments and

Instructional Strategies - A Literacy Specialist’s Resource. International Reading Association. McAndrew (2008). Proven ways to increase vocabulary. Retrieved April 14th, 2010 from http://www.ultimatevocabulary.com.blog/category/vocabulary-research/ Michael McCarthy Felicity O’Dell ( 2001 ). English Vocabulary in Use. Cambridge University Press. Patten, M.L. ( 2004 ). Understanding Research Methods - An Overview of the Essentials, 4th edition. U.S.A. McNaughton and Gunn Inc. Pattern, M.L. (1998 ). Questionnaire Research Methods – A Practical Guide. U.S.A Pyrczak Publishing. Pikulski, J.J. & Templeton, S. (2004). Teaching and Developing Vocabulary – Keys to Long – Term Reading Success, Houghtong Mifflin Company.


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Psychology website. Retrieved April 16th, 2010, from http://psychology.about.com/researchmethods/f/survey Pikulski & Templeton (2004). A Method for Working Out Words Meaning. Retrieved April 9th, 2010, from http://www.write-better-english.com/improvevocabulary.aspx Read Naturally, Inc.(2008). Take Aim at Vocabulary – Research and Rationale. Retrieved May 1st, 2010, from http://www.write-better-english-vocabulary.aspx Research Methods Knowledge Base website. Retrieved April 4th, 2010, from http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/statdes.php University of Alabama. ( 2009 ). Building a College Level Vocabulary – How to Remember New Words . Retrieved April 21st, 2010, from http://www.write-betterenglish.com/College-Matter.aspx


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Appendix Questionnaire

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APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE Dear participants, Please spend some of your time completing the questions in the questionnaire. They will be used as data for my study entitled “ Suggested ways to build vocabulary for fast reading improvement” , applying to English majors at the Department of Foreign Languages – Banking University, HCM City The answers you give are very valuable to me and help my study become more accurate and reliable. I promise all of they are confidentially analyzed and used for research purposes only. Notes: It is committed that your participations are voluntary and your answers are completely subjective and accurate. Part I: Background information: Class: Gender :

 25AV1

 24AV1

 23AV1

 22AV1

 25AV2

 24AV2

 23AV2

 22AV2

 Male

 Female

Question 1: When did you begin study English?  Primary school

 Secondary school

 High school

Question 2: Please self - assess your English level at two following points of time When you entered the university  Elementary


At the present time  Elementary

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Graduation Thesis

 Pre - Intermediate  Intermediate


 Pre - Intermediate  Intermediate

 Upper- Intermediate

 Upper- Intermediate

 Advanced

 Advanced

Part II: Students’ opinions and attitudes about issues relating to the correlation between vocabulary and fast reading as well as ways to build vocabulary for improving fast reading : Question 3: Vocabulary is defined as:  a listing containing the words and phrases of a language  the aggregate of words in the use or comprehension of a specified person, class and profession  all the words contained in a language  a range or system of symbols, qualities, or techniques constituting a means of communication or expression, as any of the arts or crafts wide vocabulary of the textures and colors  all of the above Question 4: Vocabulary is considered as one of the most important components of reading.  Strongly agree  Agree  Neutral  Disagree  Strongly disagree Question 5: How important is vocabulary in understanding a reading comprehension? Student: Nguyen Thi Thuy Dung

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Very important  Important  Fairly important  A little bit important Question 6: You are satisfied with your vocabulary level  Very satisfied  Moderately satisfied  Somewhat satisfied  Somewhat dissatisfied  Moderately dissatisfied  Very dissatisfied Question 7: Fast reading is defined as: Definition Reading at speed significantly faster

SA

A

N

D

SD

than normal Fast reading needs less time but more effort than normal reading ( Note: SA = strongly agree; A = agree; N = Neutral; D = disagree; SD = Strongly disagree ) Question 8: Have you ever experienced obstacles in fast reading ? If yes, please indicate which causes below prevent you from reading fast? ( You can check one or more )  Words ( new vocabulary )  Difficult passages  A lack of adequate time  Complex grammar Student: Nguyen Thi Thuy Dung

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 Other ( Please specify:…………………………….) Question 9: During an average week, how many times do you spend on reading English materials such as newspaper, magazine, fairy tale, e-book and so on?  1-3 times

 4-6 times

 7-9 times

 10 times or more

Question 10: On average, how much time do you spend on studying vocabulary every week?  Never studying

 less than 1 hour

 1-2 hours

 3-4 hours

 5-6 hours

 more than 6 hours

Question 11: Rank the importance of each of following items that affects the rate of reading. Write “1” next to the most important one; write “2” to the next important and “3” for the least one.  The content of the passages  Time available  Readers’ purposes or intention in reading Question 12: Here are some suggested strategies for deriving word meanings to obtain fast reading. Can you please rate it as following suggestions? Item 1: Looking around the word for context clues: Rating Look within the sentence Reread previous sentences Read ahead for more clues

Excellent

Good

Fair

Poor

Excellent

Good

Fair

Poor

Item 2: Looking in a word Rating Look for prefixes and suffixes Look for base words Student: Nguyen Thi Thuy Dung

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Look for root words Question 13: How effective are the following ways to build vocabulary ? VE = Very effective ME = Moderately effective SE = Somewhat effective SI = Somewhat ineffective MI = Moderately ineffective VI = Very ineffective Ways to build vocabulary Learning associated word together Using picture and diagram Organizing a vocabulary notebook Expanding vocabulary through

VE

ME

SE

SI

MI

VI

analogies Guessing the meaning from the context Using from dictionary Using flashcards Thank you so much for your kind support and cooperation !


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