INTENSIVE AND EXTENSIVE READING

HO CHI MINH NATIONAL UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES (USSH)
FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE (EF)

AN INVESTIGATION INTO INTENSIVE READING AND EXTENSIVE READING FOR LEARNING VOCABULARY OF THE SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS OF ENGLISH FACULTY, USSH

A research submitted to

The Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature

By
LE THI XUAN VU

Supervised by
PHAN THI MAI TRANG, M.A
HO CHI MINH CITY, November 2012

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the study
“Without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed”
This conclusion by David Wilkins indicates the indispensable role of vocabulary knowledge in learning L2. In fact, there are three core components that constitute a language: phonetics, grammar and vocabulary. However, it is suggested that students should “see vocabulary as being a very important, if not the most important, element in language learning” (Anderson, 1999:25). Why? As can be seen, vocabulary appears in every skill of a language so learners with a limited vocabulary will find it more difficult in mastering English than those with plentiful of words. Hence, “giving attention to vocabulary is unavoidable” (Anderson, 1999:25) especially for those who are majoring in English.
Besides, the question of which skill is of most importance in learning vocabulary is still highly controversial since in each one out of the four basic skills presents different useful techniques and strategies. Several teachers and researchers, however, argue that reading is “probably the most important skill for L2 students” in academic study or learning context (Pretorius, 2000:35). Indeed, many researchers have discussed about the relationship between reading and vocabulary knowledge. They find out that reading, a complex process, has tremendous effect on students ' vocabulary knowledge. Nagy & Herman (1987:27) believes that […] learning of words during reading may be the easiest

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