A STUDY OF TECHNIQUES FOR TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY USED AT SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN BINHDINH PROVINCE

A STUDY OF TECHNIQUES FOR TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY
USED AT SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN BINHDINH PROVINCE
TABLE OF CONTENT
I. INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
2. Aims of the study 3. Organization of the study II.
LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Literature review 2.2 Theoretical backgrounds III. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 1.
Techniques for teaching English vocabulary used at secondary schools in Binhdinh province
1.1
1.2
1.3
2. Data collected from students’ questionnaires
2.1 Students’ background
2.2 Students’ attitude toward techniques for teaching English vocabulary used by their teachers IV. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATION 4.1 Conclusion 4.2 Implication
References
Appendix


A STUDY OF TECHNIQUES FOR TEACHING ENGLISH
VOCABULARY USED AT SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN BINHDINH
PROVINCE


I. INTRODUCTION
1.1
Rationale Nowadays, English plays an important role because it has become a effective medium and is used widen in many fields of life such as science, technology, foreign trade, education and so on. In addition, the more developing society is, the more necessary English is. Because English can help master a language, they will own a great knowledge. Besides English is considered to be one of the most popular language in the world. Pyles and Algeo (1970) noted that :
“When we first think about the language, we think about words. It is words that we arrange together to mark sentence, conversations and discourse of all kind ’’.

 In fact, vocabulary is the element that links the four skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing. The more words you know, the more you will be able to understand what you hear and read.
Studying English, students have chance to know many interesting things around the world. However, it is not easy work because English is very variety and complex.
English learners, especially the secondary students have to face up with many difficulties such as vocabulary, pronounce, grammar in which vocabulary is the most difficult problem. Almost students have difficulties in studying vocabulary at first. In fact, study vocabulary well is one of the keys which help learners step by step discover this interesting language. Therefore, there are also different ways to teach vocabularies so as to find out the best way myself when I teach.
I have tried various methods to teacher vocabularies throughout words game, using pictures, real things…I can give some questions and asks students to translate into
English or Vietnamese. Students can remember the words better and practice them so the teacher has important role of teaching specially teaching vocabularies. To upgrade our teaching skill, our group have chosen the subject:
“A study of techniques for teaching English vocabulary used at secondary schools in
BinhDinh province ’’. I hope it will be more or less useful for those who are concerned. 1.2
. Aim of the study
As we know, teaching English vocabulary play an important role for studying
English. Teacher play a main role in teaching and studying in school. They impart the new knowledge to the students, help the students to understand the new knowledge particularly and apply it in their life. Therefore, when teacher understand clearly about techniques for teaching English vocabulary, this is very useful for both teacher and students. Using different techniques for teaching English vocabulary is very necessary because it help the students to study English vocabulary effectively. Our study can help both teacher and student to know more about it. When teacher know more about techniques for teaching English vocabulary, they can use it better more effective. It also help their teaching to become easily and effectively more. Besides, students can remember English vocabulary better. It very useful for their learning
English in the future. Moreover, as we know, the government is worrying about communication using English of Vietnamese in comparison with another countries in the world. So, using different techniques for teaching English vocabulary can improve communication using English of Vietnamese. Aim of our study also help teacher know more about their students’ ideas. For example, the teacher can know what techniques for teaching English vocabulary student like is. It help they to change techniques which suitable with their students’

hobby. So, it help their teaching become better than before. Furthermore, teachers can use suitable techniques for their students’ understanding. From this, it help their students’ study become better. One more reason is that teacher can know what techniques suitable for their students’ understanding is from our study. So, it help teacher’s teaching to become successful in the future. Furthermore, it will help our education develop more and more in the future. Our study also give a lot of information of techniques for teaching English vocabulary. Therefore, teachers can chose techniques which most suitable for their students understanding when they teach English vocabulary in secondary school. Our group has chosen this subject because of some reasons.
First of all, we want to students who have cover background knowledge of English vocabulary. Secondly, the students have a lot of opportunities to approach with many ways of teaching English vocabulary, from this the students can choose or find out the appropriate techniques for learning English vocabulary. Besides, the students will feel enjoyable , interesting in learning of English vocabulary so that the students can get the good results., finding the best way of learning and teaching vocabulary and giving some suggestions throughout games are to improve learning vocabulary. Furthermore, we provide the theory to find the best way of teaching vocabulary and finding out methods to help students remember the words better
.
Finally, the study helps us find out the real situation of teaching and learning vocabulary at secondary school.

1.3.
Organization of the study
This study is divided into four chapters:
Chapter 1 is the introduction. It states the rationale of the study, presents the aims and organization of the study.
Chapter 2 is the literature review. It discusses the theoretical background of the study. It focuses on the ways of teach vocabulary .
Chapter 3 is the main part of the study which analyzes some common techniques for teaching English vocabulary. Finding out and giving data of the ways teach vocabulary at secondary school.
Chapter 4 is conclusion which gives a summary of what the study has achieved as well presents some implications.

II. LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Literature review The goal of this paper is to examine studies of vocabulary in BD province. Vocabulary and Its Importance
Words are the building blocks in a language. By learning the lexical items, we start to develop knowledge of the target language. Based on our experience of being a language learner, we seem to have no hesitation in recognizing the importance of vocabulary in L2 learning. Megara (1980) points out that language learners admit that they encounter considerable difficulty with vocabulary even when they upgrade from an initial stage of acquiring a second language to a much more advanced level. Language practitioners also have reached a high degree of consensus regarding the importance of vocabulary. The findings in
Macaro’s survey (2003) indicate that secondary language teachers view vocabulary as a topic they most need research to shed light on to enhance the teaching and learning in their classrooms. Therefore, it may be claimed that the role of vocabulary in L2 learning is immediately recognized and implications for teaching from substantial research are in great demand.

Vocabulary instruction is an integral facet of language acquisition. Most individuals have learned about 15,000 words by early adulthood in their native language with the vast majority of these words having been acquired incidentally through inferential meaning of words based on context (Pressley, 2006). Young children are rarely taught vocabulary through direct instruction when learning their native language. For second language teachers, the notion of teaching vocabulary has traditionally been one of utilizing a dictionary with relatively few deviations from a superficial treatment of the word. This method has been re­evaluated with modern research focusing on the effectiveness of explicit, context­embedded vocabulary teaching with activities that promote interaction and academic thinking, speaking, and writing (Miller & Gildea, 1987 as cited in Pressley, 2006).
2.2 Theoretical backgrounds
To master the techniques of improving vocabulary, especially at BD province, it is impossible not to mention the concept of vocabulary.
In fact, there are many definitions of vocabulary which can be found in many various resources. Here are some main definitions of vocabulary:
According to Steven Stalh (2005), it has been said that ―Vocabulary knowledge is knowledge, the knowledge of a word not only implies a definition, but

also implies how that word first into the world
‖ Vocabulary knowledge is not something that can ever be fully mastered, it is something that expands and deepens over the course of a lifetime.
Because instruction in vocabulary involves far more than looking up words in a dictionary and using the words in sentence. Moreover, vocabulary is acquired incidentally through indirect exposure to words and intentionally through explicit instruction in specific instruction in specific words and word­learning strategies. From the book entitled ―A course in Language Teaching
‖ written by
Penny Ur (1990:60) vocabulary is defined ―Vocabulary can be defined, roughly, as the words we teach in the foreign language.
However, a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word. For example “foot­path”, “railway station”, “forget­me­not”, which are made up of more than one word but express a single idea. There are also multi­word idioms such as ―once in a blue moon
‖
, where the meaning of the phrase cannot be deduced from an analysis of the component words. A useful convention is to cover all such cases by talking about vocabulary ―items
‖
rather than ―words
‖
. According to Richard, Platt (1992), vocabulary is ―a set of lexemes, including single words, compound words and idioms.”(p. 40). Whereas, the
Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (1995:1331) offered its own definition. Vocabulary here is simply understood as ―the total number of words in a language.” Nguyen Bang and Nguyen Ba Hoc (2002) considered their following definition of vocabulary as ―logical
‖
. According to them, when the term – vocabulary of a language was mentioned, it should be mentioned as consisting of all the words, compounds and idioms used to transmit information on both ―oral and written communication
‖
.
In conclusion, it is easy to see that there are many ways to define vocabulary. The way that linguists choose to define vocabulary depends on the way he assesses the importance of the components of each language.

III.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
1. Techniques for teaching english vocabulary used at secondary schools in Binhdinh province
1.1/ Using picture:
It’s the ways teacher using picture to the students guess the meaning of vocabulary. First of all, the teacher will read the new word. Then calls on some students repeat again. Write down the new word on the board. Next, show the picture before class and asks the students : “ What does this mean?”.The students need look at the picture and guess the correct vocabulary. After that calls on the students answer by Vietnamese. Teacher can give feedback and explain the word
“In English we say....”.Finally. Teacher will write down the meaning of the word .
1.2/ Synonyms:
It’s the ways teacher using synonyms to the students guess the meaning of vocabulary .
First of all
,
The teacher will read the new word. Then calls on some students repeat again. Next, write down the new word on the board.
Gives
synonyms with the new word. After that, the teacher need give time to the students guess about the vocabulary. Then asks the students : What does this mean?”
.
Calls
on the students answer. Finally, Gives feedback and write down the meaning of the word. 1.3/ Explaination :
It’s the ways teacher using explain to the students guess the meaning of vocabulary .
First of all
,
The teacher will read the new word. Then calls on some students repeat again. Next, write down the new word on the board. After that the teacher can explain the new word by some word that the students have leaned. Asks the students : What does this mean?”
.
Finally
,
Calls on the students answer.
Gives
feedback and write down the meaning of the word.
1.4/ Action: It’s the ways teacher using action to the students guess the meaning of vocabulary .
First of all
,
The teacher will read the new word. Then calls on some students repeat again. Next, write down the new word on the board. After that the teacher asks the students look at action of the teacher and guess the vocabulary.
Asks the students : What does this mean?”. Calls on the students answer. Finally,
The teacher can gives feedback and write down the meaning of the word.
1.5/ Using real thing:
It’s the ways teacher using the real thing to the students guess the meaning of vocabulary .
First of all
,
The teacher will read the new word. Then calls on some

students repeat again. Next, write down the new word on the board. The teacher can show the real thing before class and requires the students guess the vocabulary.
Then asks the students : “ What does this mean?”. After that calls on the students answer by Vietnamese. The teacher will give feedback and explains the new word
“In English we say....”. Finally, The teacher will write down the meaning of the new word .
1.6/ Antonyms:
It’s the ways teacher using antonyms to the students guess the meaning of vocabulary .
First of all
,
The teacher will read the new word. Then calls on some students repeat again. Next, write down the new word on the board. The teacher can gives antonyms with the new word and require to the students guess the meaning of vocabulary. Then asks the students : What does this mean?”. Calls on the students answer. Finally, The teacher will gives feedback and write down the meaning of the word.
2. Data collected from students’ questionnaires 2.1 Students’ background
Normal, teachers often teach vocabulary for students with simple methods such as using pictures, explaining the words or using real objects. v..v.. While using usual method but the teachers are constantly changing with each of these methods in the class will inspire students.
So to help students interested in learning vocabulary, the teacher constantly changing how to teach and use methods of teaching vocabulary.
2.2 Students’ attitude toward techniques for teaching English vocabulary used by their teachers
These are figures which are collected from some secondary schools in Binh
Dinh province.

Phuoc Hiep Secondary school
Class: 6A6
Techniques

Like Don’t like So so Using picture √

Translation
√

Drawing
√

Synonym
√

Class 8A7
Techniques

lik e Don’t like So so √
√

Explanation
Synonym
Drawing
√
Using picture √
Translation

√

Class: 8A4 techniques lik e Using picture √
Mine
synonym translation explanation

Don’t like So so √

√
√

√

Class: 8A5 techniques lik e Using picture √ explanation √
Translation
Flash card
√

Don’t like So so √

Tran Ba Secondary school

Class 6A6
Techniques

Like Don’t like So so Using picture √

Translation
Explanation
Real things

√

√
√

Class 7A1
Techniques

Like Don’t like So so Using picture √

Translation
√

Explanation
√

Real things
√

Synonym
√

Class 7A5
Techniques

Like Don’t like So so Using picture √

Translation
√

Explanation
√

Real things
√

Synonym
√

Tam Quan Bac Secondary school
Class 6A1
Techniques

Like Don’t like So so Using picture √

Translation
√

Explanation
√

Real things
√

Synonym
Mine
Antonym
Class 6A2

√

√

√

Techniques

Like Don’t like So so Using picture √

Translation
√

Explanation
√

Real things
√

Synonym
√

Mine
√

Antonym
√

Example
√

Class 9A4
Techniques

Like Don’t like So so Using picture √

Translation
√

Explanation
√

Real things
√

Synonym
√

Mine
√

Antonym
√

Example
√

Le Loi Secondary school
Class 8A5
Techniques

Like Don’t like So so Using picture √

Translation
√

Explanation
√

Real things
Antonym
Example

√

√

√

Class 8A1
Techniques

Like Don’t like So so Using picture √

Translation
√

Real things
√

Synonym
√

Mine
√

Antonym
√

Example
√

Class 9A3
Techniques

Like Don’t like So so Using picture √ Explanation
√

Real things
√

Synonym
√

Antonym
√

Example
√

Ngo May Secondary school
Class 6A1
Techniques

Like Don’t like So so Using picture √ Explanation
√

Real things
√

Example

√

Class 8A5
Techniques

Like Don’t like So so Using picture √

Flash card
√

Real things
√

Synonym
√

Example
√

Class 9A5
Techniques

Like Don’t like So so Using picture √ Explanation
√

Real things
√

Synonym
√

Drawing
√

Luong The Vinh Secondary school
Class 6A2

Techniques

Like Don’t like So so Using picture √ Explanation
√

Real things
√

Drawing
√

Class 8A1
Techniques

Like Don’t like So so Using picture √ Explanation
√

Real things
√

Synonym
√

Drawing
√

Flash card
√

Class 6 ( 234 students)
Techn
iques Percent
Total
%

Usin Explan Rea g ation l pictu thin re gs 220 40
94.0 17.09
1% %

Syno nym 215 92
91. 3.9
9% %

Dra
Exa
Anto wing mple nym

Mi ne 190
81.9
%

70 80
30 34.2
% %

60
25.6
%

120
51.3
%

Transl ation Class 7 ( 82 students) Techniques Percent
Total
%

Using picture Explanatio n Real things Synony m Translatio n 75
91.5

40
48.8

75
91.5

15
18.3

40
48.8

Class 8( 280 students)
Usi

Techn ng pict iques ure Explan ation Re Syno al nym thi ngs

Dra
Exa
Anto wing mple nym

Mi ne Transl ation Percent
Total
%

270 60
96. 21.4
4

25
0
89.
3

70
25

240
85.7

100
35.7

60
21.4

95 30
33 10.7
.9

Class 9 (124 students)
Tech
niques Percent
Total
%

Usi ng pict ure Expla nation 120 75
96. 60.5
7

Re Syno al nym thi ngs

Dra
Exa Ant wing mple ony m Mi ne 11
0
88.
7

40
32.2

40 30
32 24.2
.2

60
48.4

30
24.2

75
60.5

Transl ation Total :
From the above results, we can see that number of class 6 is 6 classes, class 7 is 2 classes, class 8 is 7 classes and class 9 is 3 classes. In these classes, there are 3 schools in the rural and 4 schools in the urban. The technique which is liked best is using picture.

IV. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATION
4.1 Conclusion
Teaching vocabulary only is a part of a period; however, it plays an important role for success of the period. Whether making sentences and communicating are good or not, it depends on students’ vocabulary too much.
Therefore, teachers have to help students not only understand the meaning of new words but also know how to use the new words. Practicing English vocabulary is a necessary and important thing because that helps students remember vocabulary longer. Furthermore, teachers should give students more opportunities to practice vocabulary in the best way, the teacher also introduce to them some vocabulary m learning methods. From that, students can choose the methods which are suitable for them. Beside, teachers have to guide student how to practice vocabulary not only at school but also at home. In the vocabulary teaching process, teachers have to pay

attention to students’ ability of thinking and using the vocabulary. In the other hand, to help students remember the vocabulary better, teachers need to guide them how to use vocabulary, how to make the sentences with new words. Teacher must change their teaching methods and find the new methods to help students like learning vocabulary; moreover, student can exchange some difficulties in their study with the teachers. Thanks to that, teachers will give them some measures to overcome the difficulties or help students know what their strength and weakness in studying vocabulary. After that, students can develop their strong points to study
English vocabulary better.

4.2 Implication
Although learning the vocabulary is very important, students have some difficulties. For example, they don’t have a lot of time to practice new words or know the good way to practice. Therefore, teachers usually change their teaching method and guide students more enthusiastic; teachers should encourage students to their views about learning vocabulary in English subject. Thanks to that, students can study English subject well.

References: language in the world. Pyles and Algeo (1970) noted that :  “When we first think about the language, we think about words. It is words that we