VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI

UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

The benefits of teachers’ ways

of teaching new vocabulary to
the

second year students.

Students: Đào Thị Thắm.

Phan Thị Thanh Loan.

Supervisor: Nguyễn Thị Vượng.

Group: QH 08.E4.

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 March 2010.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This paper would not have been completed without the support of many people, to
all of whom, we are profoundly indebted.

First and foremost, we would to thank my supervisor Mrs. Nguyen Thi Vuong, for
her constant support and insightful comments which were decisive factors in the
completion of the study.

Last but not least, we are truly grateful to our families and friends for their continual
encouragements during the time we conducted the research.

Supervisor’s signature:

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 ABSTRACT
It is no doubt that teachers used many essential techniques in teaching new
vocabulary in English. However, despite enormous contribution of these methods from
teachers, the process of students’ learning and receiving vocabulary is still problematic.
This study was carried out aiming to find out the current ways of teaching new
vocabulary used by teachers to make students gain greater progress in acquiring the
new vocabulary. Moreover, this study was done with the purposes of finding out the
benefits of each way of teaching new vocabulary.

To fulfill the objectives, the combination of both qualitative and quantitative

methodology was utilized. The data from questionnaires with 65 second year students
was analyzed carefully.

The result of the study, in summary, was quite positive on finding that teachers used
many methods to teach new vocabulary. They are: using definitions, synonyms,
antonyms, context clues, situations, examples, ranking, visual aids, translation,
transcription and recording. And the method liked most by students is context clues.
The benefits of these ways not only enhance students’ abilities to receive but also use
vocabulary. Though the limitations have been unavoidable, the study is expected to be
beneficial to teachers, students and researchers of the related studies.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS.
I. Introduction.

1.1 Statement and rationale of the study.

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study.

1.3 Scope of the study.

1.4 Methods of the study.

II. Literature Review.

2.1 Key concepts.

2.1.1 Vocabulary.

2.1.1.1 Definitions of vocabulary.

2.1.1.2 The importance of vocabulary.

2.1.1.3 New vocabulary.

2.1.1.4 The difficulties of the second year students in learning new

vocabulary.

2.1.2 Definition of Benefits.

2.1.3 Teachers’ ways of teaching new vocabulary.

2.1.4 Ways to teach the meaning.

2.1.4.1 Verbal technique.

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 2.1.4.1.1 Definitions.

2.1.4.1.2 Synonyms.

2.1.4.1.3 Antonyms.

2.1.4.1.4 Situations.

2.1.4.1.5 Examples.

2.1.4.1.6 Ranking.

2.1.4.2 Visual aids.

2.1.4.2.1 Using pictures.

2.1.4.2.2 Using real objects.

2.1.4.2.3 Gestures, expression and actions.

2.2.1.3 Translation.

2.1.5 Ways to teach the forms.

2.1.5.1 Transcription.

2.1.5.2 Recording.

2.2 Benefits of teachers’ ways of teaching new vocabulary.

2.2.1 Benefits for students’ receiving vocabulary.

2.2.2 Benefits for students’ use of vocabulary.

III. Methodology.

3.1 Participants.

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3.2 Method of data collection.

3.3 Data collection procedure.

3.4 Data analysis method and procedure.

IV. Data Analysis and Findings.

4.1 Research question: What are teachers’ ways of teaching new vocabulary to the
second year students?

4.2 Research question 2: what are the benefits perceived by the second year students

of each way of teaching new vocabulary to help them to overcome the difficulties
and master new vocabulary?

V. Conclusion.

5.1 . Expected outcome and contribution of the research.

5.2 . Limitation of the research and recommendation for further research.

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 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

This initial chapter states the problem and the rationale of the study, together with the
aims, objectives and the scope of the whole paper. Above all, it is in this chapter that
the research questions are identified to work as clear guidelines for the whole research.

1.1 Statement and rationale of the study.

Nowadays, English plays an important role in the modernization and

industrialization of the nation. It is considered as the indispensable factor to help
people mingle the international environment as well as have high position in the
society. As a result, English is popularly taught in most schools and universities.

However, it is not easy to get good knowledge of English and it's difficult for
anyone--no matter how old--to understand what they read if they can't define the
meaning of each word in English. So, teaching vocabulary is regarded as the most

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essential in English acquisition. Without teaching vocabulary, many students can fall
behind in other subject areas and falling behind in vocabulary, which leads to falling
behind in reading comprehension and other skills. We have to admit that there are
challenges to teach vocabulary such as teachers have no time to sit one on one with a
student to review words and meanings, determine what words to teach and have
difficulty testing vocabulary. Due to that, finding the suitable teachers’ ways of
teaching vocabulary to students can help them easily memorize new words and
improve their attitudes toward learning vocabulary is a vital issue that urges us to do
this study.

Although there were some previous research papers related to the vocabulary
teaching such as “a study on the teaching of English vocabulary in secondary school”,
by Nguyen Quynh Van in 1997-1998 or “how to memorize vocabulary effectively”, so
on, we still decide to conduct this research based on a new aspect is the benefits of
ways of teaching vocabulary.

There is still a reason for doing this study is to satisfy our interests in the methods
teachers use to explain new words to the second year students and moreover, we may
be the teachers in the near future who need much knowledge about the methods of
vocabulary teaching. Doing this study will help us improve it much.

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study.

Our research aims at two main purposes. The first one is to investigate the methods
that teachers use to explain the new vocabulary to the second year students in Faculty
of English Language Teacher Education- University of Languages and International
Studies- Vietnam National University, Ha Noi. The second one is to find out the
benefits of each way of teaching new vocabulary to the second year students. Thanks to
that, we can know which way is the best and the most effective for the students’

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learning styles and give teachers some recommendations about using it more fluently
in teaching.

Our research questions:

1. What are teachers’ ways of teaching new vocabulary to the second year
students?

2. What are the benefits perceived by the second year students of each way of
teaching new vocabulary to help them to overcome the difficulties and master new
vocabulary?

1.3 Scope of the study.

Due to the limitation of time and our ability, we just focus on:

• The ways teachers use to help the second year students to master new
vocabulary.

• The advantages of teachers’ ways of teaching new vocabulary to the

second year students.

1.4 Methods of the study.

In order to collect appropriate data throughout process of researching, these

methods are made full use of:

• Qualitative: We find information from the documents and materials such as

books in the library, newspapers, magazines and internet, etc, which provide plenty of
information related to the topic, so critical reading is required along our research
process with a careful selection of materials.

• Quantitative:

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 + Questionnaires: We design questionnaires to collect primary data.
This method is both timesaving and reliable.

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

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 This chapter sheds light on the literature review of the study, which provides the
background for the research topic. To begin with, it is necessary to give definitions of
two key concepts namely “vocabulary” and “benefit”. After that, it seems almost
impossible to ignore the description of some methods that teacher uses to teach new
vocabulary to students. Finally, the last part of literature review focuses on the
advantages of these ways to the second year students.

2.1. Key concepts.

2.1.1 Definition of Vocabulary.

It’s obvious that there has not been only one but a plenty of definitions of
vocabulary. The American Heritage Dictionary defines vocabulary as follow:

1. All words of a language.

2. The sum of words used by, understood by or at the command of a

particular person or a group.

3. A list of words and often phrases, usually arranged alphabetically and

defined or translated; a lexicon or glossary.

4. A supply of expressive means; a repertoire of communication.

In this paper we are concerned about the sum of words that are necessary to be used
by and understood by students and teachers.

The Collins English Dictionary approaches vocabulary about linguistic aspects with
four details as:

1. (Linguistics) a listing, either selective or exhaustive, containing the

words and phrases of a language, with meaning or translations into anther language;
glossary.

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 2. (Linguistics) the aggregate of words in the use or comprehension of a
specified person, class, profession, etc.

3. (Linguistics) all the words contained in a language.

4. A range or system of symbols, qualities or techniques constituting a

means of communication or expression, as any of the arts or crafts a

wide vocabulary of textures and colors.

It’s apparent that all above definitions show the relationship between vocabulary
and words. In other words, vocabulary is defined as words. However, it seems
important to see clear definitions, a concise explanation as sited as follow:

“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, post office and mother-in law, which are made up of two or three words but
express a single idea. There are also multi-word idioms such as call it a day, 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 ‘items’ rather than ‘words” (Ur,
1996, p. 60).

In this sense, Penny Ur’s definition is the most satisfactory. According to Penny Ur,
vocabulary should be recognized as words we teach in a foreign language. He also
suggested that “a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word”, that is a
compound of two words or three words and multiword idioms expressing a single idea.

In conclusion, we tend to have vocabulary as a group of words that we use in

reading, writing, listening and speaking. Indeed, it is also reasonable and sensible to
say that, for the purpose of teaching vocabulary, vocabulary of a language is its all
words used to convey and receive information in oral and written communication.

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2.1.1.1 New vocabulary.

With simple view, new vocabulary can be seen as:

 New = - not existing before, recently made, invented, introduced, etc.

- Not used or owned by anyone before.

- Different from the previous one.

- Already existing but not seen, experienced, etc before, not familiar.

- Not yet familiar with something because you have only just started,
arrived, etc. (I’m completely new to this kind of words.)

(According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary International Student’s Edition,

pub, 7th, 2005.).

It is simply that new vocabulary is the words that students are not familiar with
before or they have not known before. Learners see vocabulary as being a very
important part of language learning and one of difficulties of learning vocabulary is
dealing with new words. All languages have words. The difficulties of new words in
any kind of languages never stop. However, the quantity of new words a student meets
depend on his or her vocabulary level, a word being new with this student can be
totally familiar with another student. And even a word being well-known to one also
considered to be new about meaning or usage.

In a nutshell, especially in the ways of teaching new vocabulary, as far as we are

concerned, new vocabulary is the words that students have not known their meaning,
form, pronunciation and usage.

2.1.1.2 The importance of vocabulary.

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 It is undeniable that vocabulary, one of three components of languages (grammar,
vocabulary, phonetics), has a main function in language. Actually, Michael Mc Cathy
stated that: “no matter how well the student learns grammar, no matter how
successfully the sounds of the second language are mastered, without words to express
a wide language of meanings, communication in the second language just can’t happen
in any meaningful way”.(Mc Cathy M., 1992).

In learning foreign language, vocabulary plays an important role. It is one of

elements that link four skills of speaking, reading, writing and listening all together.
The report of the National Reading Panel (2000) concluded: “the importance of
vocabulary knowledge has long been recognized in the development of reading skill”.
In order to communicate well in foreign language, student should acquire a large
number of words and should know how to use them correctly to express their ideas
more clearly and appropriately in a wide range of situations.

Lewis (1993) highlighted the significance of vocabulary as basic factor to

communication. The researchers do agree that learners do not understand the meaning
of keyword; they can not participate in the conversation, even if they know
morphology and syntax.

Whatever the idea you’re trying to express, whatever the grammatical structure
you’re trying to use, you won’t get very far without the right vocabulary. It’s no use
being able to request food in a restaurant if you don’t know the words “soup” or the
word “bread” or whatever food you actually need. Obviously, a wide range of
vocabulary can be the steady foundation for your success in learning foreign language.

To sum up, students have to try their best to gain a certain amount of vocabulary
through learning and practicing.

2.1.1.3 The difficulties of the second year students in learning new vocabulary.

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 Learners of a second language experience many difficulties during their learning
process. They may confront with the words that are totally unfamiliar or are being used
in many ways that for them are novel and possibly obscured. They may even meet
concepts that are simply not presented by words in the first language.

• English pronunciation is the first obstacle. The pronunciation in English

puzzles students a lot because the same letter has different sounds. For
example, the letter “a” in “bath” is not pronounced in the same way of that in
“bathe”. The “ou” in “South” is also different from “ou” in “Southern”.
Generally, verbs and nouns are pronounced differently although they are
written the same. Some researches show that words which are difficult to
pronounce are more difficult to learn.

• Spelling: the errors, either of pronunciation or of spelling, may be caused by

sound- spelling mismatches. This can contribute to the difficulties a student
has to face when learning new words.

• Length and complexity: There are some new words which are so long or so
complicated that students can not access them and remember them in a long
time. The length and complexity are always together with problems in
pronunciation and spelling.

• Grammar: Difficulties in grammar can be met at the same time when

students learn new vocabulary. Misunderstanding the meaning of grammar
form can influence on the process of learning new words.

• Meaning: When being introduced new words, the first thing students are
concerned about is its meaning. Learners are likely to confuse it. Words with
multiple meanings such as novel can also be troublesome for learners.

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 • Range, connotations and idiomaticity: Words that can be used in a wide
range of contexts will generally be perceived more easily than their
synonyms with a narrower range. Certainly, the connotations of some words
may cause problems, too. Also, words or expressions that are idiomatic will
generally be more diffident than words whose meaning is transparent.

2.1.2. Definitions of Benefits.

Benefit (noun):
• A helpful or good effect or something intended to help. (1)
+Ex: The discovery of oil brought many benefits to the town.
• The money given by the government to people who need financial help, for example
because they cannot find a job. (2)
(According to http://dictionary.cambridge.org:y.)
As far as what we are concerned about, benefits of ways of teaching are their good
effects on students’ vocabulary learning.
2.2 The teachers’ ways of teaching new vocabulary.

2.1. Ways of teaching the meaning.

2.1.1 Verbal techniques.

2.1.1.1 Definitions.

Definition is the popular way that the teachers describes or explains new words by
using several short statements, each one includes the target words. This technique has a
good impact on the students’ skill of guessing the meaning of words from the context.
To get the best result in conveying the meaning of words, definitions should concise,
clear, familiar and easy for students to understand. Obviously, it is important that when
using other words in order to define a new word, the defining words themselves are
within the learners’ current range.

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 It is one thing that words frequently come up incidentally, so simple, short and clear
definition is regarded as an effective way to teach new words when teachers do not
have visual aids or real objects in hand. For example, to teach the new word “job
hopping” (Interactions 2- Reading, Chapter 4, p.76) the teacher can give a short
definition like this “job hopping is jumping from job to job”. The student may be able
to understand the meaning of word easily when they knew word “job” and “jump”.

However, it’s worth emphasizing that the teacher should use it together with other
techniques such as examples, translations and context clues.

2.1.1.2 Synonyms.

In any languages, there are many words sharing the similar meaning. Those words
are called synonyms. Synonyms are similar but seldom the same. Big, large and
gigantic are all synonyms. Being able to develop a list of synonyms for common words
helps writers to use more vivid language. Using synonyms is a quick way in order to
help students to understand the meaning of new words. It is necessary for teachers to
use the closest synonyms.

Unfortunately, the using of synonyms does not work with the beginners because it
imposes an overloading task on them. Synonyms are convenient with inter and upper
intermediate students. The using of synonyms should be suitable for the students’ level
of words.

It goes without sayings that a number of words have similar meanings, but they still
have different usage for each situation. With upper intermediate students, teachers use
synonyms together with concise definitions or explanation to enable students to
recognize both similarities and differences between two synonyms. From that, students
can use them more correctly.

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2.1.1.3 Antonyms.

Like synonyms, antonyms have useful defining function and are, therefore, a
convenient teaching technique. Words with opposite meanings, like old and new, are
called antonyms. Again, like synonyms, the relation between such opposites is not
always black and white and the notion of “oppositeness” is troublesome. The opposite
of a short tree is a high tree, but the opposite of a short holiday is a long holiday. So,
this method not only widens students’ vocabulary knowledge but also requires a steady
understanding about words and their antonyms.

Using antonyms can bring greater advantages if teachers can choose appropriate
antonyms together with some explanations or definitions in case students
misunderstand.

An example of using antonyms as follows : When the teacher wants to teach the “
gorgeous” (New Cutting Edge- upper intermediate, Module 7, p.73), he/she can say “
gorgeous is the opposite of “ugly”. So, students can guess that “gorgeous” is very nice
or beautiful.

2.1.1.4 Context clues.

Instruction in specific types of context clues is an effective approach for teaching

students to use context to infer the word meanings. Context clues are words, phrases
and sentences surrounding an unfamiliar word that can give hints or clues to its
meaning. “Context can be viewed as morphological, syntactic and discourse
information in a given text which can be classified and described in terms of general
features”( Wang Jigging, 2005: 20).

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 There are three types of clues that teachers guide students to use to guess a new
word:

a. Punctuation: Definition of a new vocabulary item can be in parentheses ( ), after

a dash (-) or after a comma (,).

Ex: However, there is also a countertrend- a trend toward voluntary simplicity.

(Countertrend means a trend toward voluntary simplicity).

b. Another sentence: Sometimes a clue to the meaning of a new vocabulary item is

in other sentences or sentence part.

Ex: When he learned that the club was planning to admit women, the colonel began
to inveigh against all forms of liberalism: his shouting attack began with universal
voting and ended with a protest against divorce.

(In the second sentence, you see the meaning of inveigh against- attack/ protest.)

c. Logic: Sometimes simple logic helps you to guess a new word.

Ex: The educational system is a mirror that reflects the culture.

(You probably know the word mirror, so you can guess the word reflect means
show.)

Context clues is a way teachers use to teach incidental vocabulary. Texts are full of
“clues” about the meaning of words. The role of teachers is to point out the key words
or important words in texts that can be signed for understanding the meaning of other
words.

2.1.1.5 Situations.

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 A more general way to help students develop vocabulary is by using a scenario
which clearly contextualizes the target words. The use of illustrative situations is more
helpful when items become more abstract. To ensure that students understand, teachers
often make use of more than one situation or context to check that learners have
grasped the concept.

It is obvious that the meaning of a lexical item depends on the situation of

occurrence, thus teachers should always choose reasonable situations that are
interesting for their students.

In conclusion, using situation is an effective way to teach new words. The

situational presentation of new language items should be explored thoroughly.

2.1.1.6 Examples.

The most important aspect of vocabulary teaching for advanced learners is to foster
learner’s independence so that students will be able to deal with new lexis and expand
their vocabulary beyond the end of the course. Therefore, guided discovery should be
one of the main ways to deal with discovering the meaning. Guided discovery involves
asking questions or offering example that guides students to guess meanings correctly.
Examples range from the word to sentence. Take the word “mammal” as an example,
to introduce this word; the teacher can say that the meaning of “mammal” includes
“sheep”, “kangaroo”, “cow” and so on. Moreover, the teacher needs to explain more
clearly by telling that “fish”, “chicken” do not belong to “mammal”.

Another way is to provide students with example sentences, each one being a
typical instance of the target word in context. Here is a way the teacher gives sentence
examples for the word “scorch”.

Ex: I scorched my shirt when I was ironing it.

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 The meat will scorch when you do not lower the gas.

Teachers can give a sentence example or a lot of the sentences until students are
confident enough to venture an answer.

2.1.1.7 Ranking.

A ranking is a relationship between a set of items, for example, between two items,
the first one is either “ranked higher than”, “ranked lower than” or “ranked equal to”
the second one. If the teacher has several gradable words to introduce at the same,
he/she can introduce them together on a scale. For instance, the teacher can use
frequency, such as always- often- occasionally or motions can be used in this way, with
cherry- happy- joyous- ecstatic.

In fact, this technique is not used as popular as other methods because of difficulties
in distinguishing the level meaning of words.

2.1.2 Visual aids.

2.1.2.1 Using pictures.

Teachers can draw a picture on board, show a prepared picture or use pictures in
course book. Many teachers collect their own pictures from magazines, calendars, etc.
Especially useful pictures of items belong to the following sets: food, clothing, house,
furniture, forms of transportation plus a wide collection of pictures of jobs,
nationalities, sports, countries, so on. Not only can such pictures be used to present

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new vocabulary items, but they can be used to practice them. Here is a picture the

teacher uses when teaching the word “Mistletoe”:

The use of picture is a defining technique of the direct method. The teacher can
show the pictures at a time, says the word the picture presents or stick all the pictures
on the board and write the new word alongside. Of course, students can easily catch up
the meaning of words. The result of picture can be enhanced if teachers use clear,
attractive and illustrative pictures.

The printed pictures can be very useful for teaching new words and the teacher can
save time for preparing at home. For example, the picture in p.101 (Interactions 2,
chapter 5, part 2) can demonstrate the word “mehndi”.

2.1.2.2 Using real objects. (Realia)

Realia consists of actual objects which are used in the classroom to illustrate and
teach vocabulary or to serve as an aid to facilitate language acquisition and production.
This technique allows students to see, to hear and, in some cases, to touch the objects.
Using realia in English foreign language classroom serves to foster a more creative and
active teaching learning environment and promotes understanding of new words.

When using this way, teachers had better show the objects or point it, pronounce
the new word and then ask students to repeat. The word “mushroom”, for instance, can
be introduced as follows:

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 The teacher: (Hold the mushroom that he/ she brings to class)

_ Look! What is this?

Students: (No answer or answer in Vietnamese) nấm.

The teacher: Yes, it is a mushroom.

Read after me: mushroom.

Students: Mushroom.

The teacher: Hoa, what is this? (Point to the mushroom)

Hoa: Mushroom.

The teacher: write the word on the board.

2.1.2.3 Using gestures, expressions and actions.

Using a lot of gestures, expressions and actions is also considered as the helpful
way to teach new words quickly. Gestures may be used to convey the meaning of some
words. For example, when teachers present these words “happy”, “sad”, ‘angry’,
‘frightened” and “tired”, they should ask student to pay attention to her face and then
make the facial expressions when speaking out the word. Then students should speak
out the word and make facial expressions as the teacher did.

Using gestures or actions has big impact on students’ memory. Zhang Jonahing
(1994) pointed out: “when we memorize the vocabulary we should make our eyes,
mouth, ears and hands work together. Then different sense organs will stimulate
different areas of the brain and strengthen the memory so that we can memorize the
vocabulary quickly, rightly and firmly”.

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 Billows stated that “actual presentation of an action dramatically represents the
action better than any pictures can”. In conclusion, teachers should make advantage of
using gestures, expressions and actions in every classroom to explain the meaning of
the word in the quickest way.

2.1.3 Translation.

Traditionally, translation has been the most widely used means of presenting the
meaning of a word in classes. Translation means giving meaning of a word of a
language in another language.

Translating new words into Vietnamese can save the teachers’ time of using
unsuccessful explanation in English. Many teachers find it extremely effective in case
the new words are too complicated or to difficult to explain in English. For example, to
deal the word “infrastructure” (Interactions 2, Chapter 6, p.21), the teacher can say
“infrastructure có nghĩa là cơ sở hạ tầng”.

One of the advantages is that it is not time- consuming and thus leaving more time
for the study of some other important language aspects. Using occasionally the
students’ mother tongue in the classroom may have the additional benefit of
establishing a rapport and bonding with the students.

However, this way is not considered as a creative way because it makes students fail
to develop an independent L2 lexicon, with the effect that they always access L2 words
by means of their L1 equivalents, rather than directly. Also, because learners do not
have to work very hard to access the meaning, it may mean that the word is less
memorable.

2.2 Ways to teach the forms.

At the most basic level, knowing a word involves knowing:

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 - its form, and

- Its meaning.

Transcription and recording are two ways that teachers use when teaching the form
of the new words. When we pay attention to form of word, it means paying attention
to the constituents of words, to their spelling, to their pronunciation and to the way they
are stressed.

2.2.1 Transcription.

Transcription is the conversion into written, typewritten or printed form of a spoken-

language source. In a strict linguistic sense, transcription is the process of matching the
sounds of human speech to special written symbols, using a set of exact rules, so these
sounds can be reproduced later.

Providing learners with a transcription of words using phonetic script is a way of

highlighting the pronunciation visually. The phonetic transcription of “frightened” is
/'fraitnd/.

During the speaking and listening lesson, students only have a chance to hear the
sound of the word, so teachers can not use context clues or other ways to teach a new
word. Then teachers will write the phonetic script of sound on the board, get students
to pronounce and repeat it. Teachers can encourage students to guess the form of words
before giving the meaning of it. After all, learners are likely to form a mental
representation of the probable spelling of new words as soon as the first hearing them.

This useful strategy might be used to ask learners, soon after hearing a new word, to
attempt to spell it or pronounce it. If they are having trouble doing this, the teacher can
prompt them by reminding them of familiar words with a similar pronunciation or
spelling.

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2.2.2 Recording.

When teachers present the new vocabulary, teachers need to use many techniques to
help students to remember the words. Using recording will help students access the
pronunciation of the word-how to spell pronounce it-, the spelling of word- how to
spell it. Before going to class, teachers can record sounds of the word and show it in
the class when they teach the new vocabulary items. It may be a good idea to allow
students a few minutes to listen and repeat after the recording.

This method is not as popular as other methods because of lack of radio, CD player
or loudspeaker, but it is still regarded as an effective way to present the pronunciation
of words.

2.3. Benefits of teachers’ ways of teaching new vocabulary.

Nowadays it is widely accepted that vocabulary teaching should be a part of the

syllables and taught in a well- planned and regular basics. Some authors led by Lewis
(1993) argued that vocabulary should be at the centre of language teaching, because
"language consists of grammatical lexis, not lexicalized grammar”. According to
Graves (2000): “if we can get students interested in playing with words and language,
then we are not at least halfway to the goal of creating the sort of word- conscious
students who will make words a lifetime interest”. According to Nation Reading Panel
(2000) explicit introduction of vocabulary is highly effective.

A good way of teaching vocabulary can help students have receptive knowledge of
a wide range of vocabulary which means they can recognize the items and recognize its
meaning. Moreover, one of the things that needs greater attention is that the suitable
methods of teaching vocabulary can enrich the students’ productive use of a wide of
vocabulary. This means that students not only understand the meaning of words, but

26
also being able to use them appropriately, taking into account factors such as oral/
written use of the language; degree of formality, style and others.

2.3.1. Benefits for students’ receiving vocabulary.

The main purpose of the teachers when trying to use a variety of ways to teach the
new words is to make students make sense of and receive them easily. Actually,
students can pick up the vocabulary quickly thanks to the comprehensible vocabulary
instructional methods.

Among teaching methods, using translation helps students know a new word
quickly. Translation has advantage of being the most direct route to a word’s meaning.
It is therefore economical and especially suitable for dealing with incidental vocabulary
that may crop up in a lesson.

An alternative to translation- and an obvious choice of presenting a set of concrete

objects such as clothes items is to somehow illustrate or demonstrate them. This can be
done either by using pictures, real objects. Such an approach is especially is
appropriate if teaching beginners, and with mixed nationality classes where translation
is not an option. It is also a technique that has been claimed by practitioners of Total
Physical Respond, a method that promotes initial immersion in a high quality of
comprehensible input.

Using pictures can make students feel intelligible and memorable. Pictures will
attract students and promote attentiveness. Besides, using real objects can save time
and develop students’ ability to understand the new words more. It’s worth also
pointing that using real objects can increase new words’ retention in memory. As a
matter of fact, gestures, expressions and actions are also selected from the methods of
using visual aids to develop the students’ logical thinking and long memory.

27
 Of course, reliance on real objects, illustration or demonstration is limited.
Teachers will not have visual aids or realia in hand to teach incidental vocabulary. An
alternative way of conveying a new word is simple to use words- other words. This is
principle behind dictionary definitions. Non-visual, verbal means of clarifying meaning
include: providing a situation, giving several example sentences, giving synonyms,
antonyms and giving a full definition. First, an advantage of using situation is
encouraging students to learn how to use words in its appropriate situation. So, it is
undeniable that after that they can recall the word when they are in the same situation.
Second, in the way of using example sentences, learners have extra chance to get
information on the new word’s form and grammar. This is particularly good when they
can get a feel for the new word‘s range of use as well as typical collocations. Third,
using synonyms and antonyms is the keyword method may lead to significant
improvement in students’ vocabulary knowledge. Fourth, giving a definition brings
students opportunity to get more free- listening practice and acquire vocabulary.

Last but not least, using context clues is the way that helps students to receive new
vocabulary in every case without many difficulties.

2.3.2. Benefits for students’ use of vocabulary.

Not only does teaching methods influence on students’ ability to receive

vocabulary, but also they have big impact on skills to use them. Students use
vocabulary for speaking and writing, it means they use them for production. The way
that the teacher uses synonyms and antonyms usually can help students to widen a
large amount of similar words which they can use in writing to avoid repetition.

The usage of a word is one of the difficulties that students have to face popularly,
but when teachers use context clues to guide them, students will have a good sense of
how a word is actually used and they can identify the relationship among different

28
words in a context. Situation, even more specifically, enable learners to grasp how to
use a word suitable for a situation.

One thing should be noticed that collocation is one of the most important aspects in
learning a language. Both speaking and writing require learners to use the vast majority
of words with their right collocations. An example sentence includes new words and its
collocation is a good teaching method for students.

Ranking is also a significant technique when its result is to help students identify the
relationship among similar new words’ level. From that, we can use them more
correctly for a writing assignment or an essay.

We can not stop without mentioning the benefits of some ways of teaching
vocabulary for speaking skill. When teachers use gestures, expressions and actions in
class, students have extra speaking practice. So, it is sure that it is good for students’
speaking. To speak English well, learners need to have a good pronunciation.
Understanding their expectations in improving pronunciation, teachers use
transcription and recording as useful strategies to help students. Obviously, the use of
transcription can help students avoid negative effects of sound- spelling mismatches.
They will be more familiar with phonetic scripts. There is a more important technique
is to use recording. Listening the recording sometimes makes students vocalize the new
word clearly and identify the stressed syllables. This improvement lays a steady
foundation for good speaking skill.

In conclusion, the methods that the teacher uses to teach new words to students can
bring two main benefits: helping students acquire vocabulary more quickly and using
them more correctly in every case.

29
 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
3.1 Participants

As the aim of the research is to find out the benefits of the teachers’ ways of
teaching new vocabulary perceived by the 2nd year students to help them overcome
difficulties and master new words when learning English, it would be rational to search
for data from the 2nd year students of Faculty of English Language Teacher Education,
ULIS, and VNU. More precisely, 65 the 2nd year students are chosen to provide
information for the benefits they receive from their teachers’ ways of teaching new
vocabulary. That is, some students come from classes E4, E5, E6 and others come from
classes E10, E12, E18, and E20.

It is assured that all participants have experienced at least 5 years of studying

English and have more than one year exchanged the teachers’ ways of teaching new
vocabulary in the university. Therefore, they are able to realize the strong/weak points
of each teaching way and choose themselves the best ways in mastering new
vocabulary.

3.2 Method of data collection

Since the researchers’ initial purpose is for quantitative and qualitative research,
both methods of collecting data from books, magazines, internet and questionnaires are
employed in the hope of reinforcing validity and reliability of the research.

3.3 Data collection procedure

Generally speaking, data collection procedure comprises 5 steps as follows: Firstly,

the survey questionnaires were designed and prepared with worthy help from the
supervisor and peer discussion.

30
 Next after completion of the first drafts of the questionnaires, questionnaires were
delivered to 4 certain respondents. In that case, the questionnaires got trimmed and
became better fitted for a number of participants.

Then the goal set of questionnaires revised carefully was sent to 65 the 2nd year
students of English department.

After that all the answers from the questionnaires were collected and analyses
carefully.

Lastly after working with analysis and synthesis, the findings with exact number
and conclusion about the benefits of each way of teaching perceived by the 2nd year
students to help them overcome difficulties and master new words were drawn.

3.4 Data analysis method and procedure

All data conducted are based on the aims to answer two the research questions. To
more specific, after all data from the students were collected, the findings from the set
of questionnaires 2 and 4 would propose the implication for the research question 1
while that of questionnaires 1,3 and 5 would mainly help answer question 2.

Concerning question 1, all the results of how the new word are explained to the 2nd
year students and the appearing times of teachers’ ways of teaching new words at class
will be ranked from ‘never’ to ‘always’. Statistics obtained from the questionnaires was
placed in the form of bar charts and tables which can reassure the clear cut format and
facilitate the analytical task. The focus is on the frequent using of the teachers’ ways of
teaching new vocabulary.

In regard to question 2, with every implication that comes from questionnaires 1, 3

and 5 the research endeavors to explain the students’ options for the teachers’ ways of
teaching benefits of each way perceived by them to overcome difficulties and master

31
new vocabulary from that, the benefits of the way of the vocabulary teaching perceived
most by these 2nd year students is drawn and that way of teaching will be encouraged to
teachers to use it at class. A bar chart would be most recommended here to show, in
large scale, among 13 ways of teaching new vocabulary the 2nd year students receive
the most efficient benefit.

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALALYSIS AND

FINDINGS
In the precious chapter, the methodology applied in this study has been stated with
the description and justification of the choice of participants, process of data collection
and analysis in this chapter all data collected will be analyzed and discussed to reveal
the answer to each research question.

4.1 Research question 1: what are the teachers’ ways of teaching new vocabulary
to the 2nd years students?

As can be seen from the questionnaires, the frequency of new word explained by the
teachers according to students is not similar. That is summarized in the following bar
charts:

32
 40
30

20 responden
10

0
never rarely som etim es often alw ays

Figure 1: the frequency of explaining the new words by the teacher. From this chart
one thing can be seen is that the level of frequency of teachers’ explaining new
vocabulary is not high, mostly at the neutral level “sometimes” (33 students adopt this
choice) and “often” (agreed by 21 students). 6 students choose “always”. 5 students
express that their teachers rarely/never explain new word at class which means those
students’ chances of exchanging new words is still scared. From the table below, the
range of teaching new vocabulary that the teachers use is showed clearly.

Ways Never Rarely Sometimes Often Always No of students who

like the way best.
Definitions 1,5 % 15.4 % 30,8 % 36,9 % 15,4 % 11
Antonyms 4% 21,5 % 53,8 % 16,9 % 3,2 % 0
Synonyms 1,5 % 10,8 % 58,5 % 24, 6% 4,6 % 7
Context clues 6,2 % 13,8 % 38,5 % 33,8 5 7,7 % 11
Situations 3,2 % 2,5 % 43,1 % 27,7 % 4,6 % 8
Examples 1,5 % 20 % 36,9 % 33.8 % 7,7 % 3
Ranking 21,5 % 47,8 % 33,8 % 6,2 % 1,5 % 0
Pictures 38,5 % 36,9 % 16,9 % 1,5 % 4,6 % 10
Real objects 49,2 % 24,6 % 10,8 % 9,2 % 4,6 % 3
Gestures 9,2 % 23,1 % 38,5 % 24,6 % 4,6 % 8
Translations 4,6 % 16,9 % 52,3 % 16,9 % 9,2 % 2

33
Transcription 10,8 % 24,6 % 44,6 % 15,4 % 4,6 % 1
Recording 44,6 % 36,9 % 12,3 % 6,2 % 0% 0
Figure 2: Frequency of teachers’ ways of teaching new vocabulary.

• Definitions: 52,3 % of the respondents recognize this way of teaching used

frequently by teachers (with 15,4 % of them consider the definition as their
teacher’s main way of explaining new words and the others 36,9 % see it as a
popular way of their teachers). 30, 8 % of them show that their teachers
sometimes teach the new words by definition and only 16, 9 % seemed to never
be taught by this. From this, definition can not be regarded as a useful teachers’
ways of teaching new words.

• Antonyms: It’s clear that 20, 1 % respondents accepted antonyms are mostly
used by their teachers when explaining new words. More surprisingly, major
students (53, 8 %of them) agreed this way is sometimes used and the rest 26, 1
% of respondents, have never known this way of teaching. These numbers admit
that antonyms are still not applied popularly during teaching new words.

• Synonyms: the static show that 12,3 % of respondents say that their teachers
never synonyms when teaching new words, 58,5 % of them are sometimes be
taught and 29,2 % are always exchanged new words via this way of teaching.

• Context clues: Using context clues in explaining new words for students is quite
popular, 41,5 % agree that teachers help them guess meaning of words by this
way, 38,5 % of them are sometimes practiced it with the teachers and the others
( about 20%) are rarely explained via the clues of context.

• Situations: This kind of teaching new words is interesting, but it seemed not to
be commonly practiced. Only 32, 3 % of respondents are mostly put into

34
 situation to guess new words; 43, 1 % of them are sometimes played and 5, 7 %
of respondents are never introduced this way of teaching.

• Examples: The statistics states clearly that example is widely used in teaching
vocabulary to students. 41,5 % respondents say new words are mainly explained
by this way, 36,9 % of them assume that not commonly their teachers use
example to teach new words and 21,5 % show that example is hardly used in
explaining new items in language.

• Ranking: this way is not a common for students. 69,5 % of students answer that
their teachers rarely use it, meanwhile, 23,8 % says that ranking is sometimes
introduce and small rest recognize this way to be often used by their teachers.

• Pictures: like ranking, this sort of teaching is hardly common among students.
The number of students introduced this way by their teachers is limited, only 23
%; 75, 4 % of them are said not to be guided to learn new words by this
technique.

• Real objects: 73, 8 % of participants hardly see real objects to guess the new
words’ meaning in class, 24, and 6 % of them used to learn this way of teaching
new vocabulary.

• Gestures, expressions and actions: surprisingly, this way of teaching new

vocabulary is widely applied to students. 67, 7 % of respondents are learned to
explain new items by this, with 38, 5 % of them agree that their teachers
sometimes use this way and 29, 2 % of them are mainly taught like that.

• Translations: as can be seen from the statistics, 52,3 % are sometimes taught to
know the new words by teachers’ translating into Vietnamese , 16,9 % of
students are often taught like that & 9,2 % of them always have to learn by this

35
 way; 21,5 % of respondents never learn new words by teachers’ translating into
Vietnamese.

• Transcription: This way of teaching becomes more familiar when learning in

university. 44,6 % of participants say that new words are sometimes explained
by this way, 20 % of them said to be always taught like that, only 35,4 % have
never still know this way.

• Recording: recording the sound of new words helps students repeat is still
strange to many students, 81,5 % say that feel unfamiliar with this, only 18,5 %
of them are sometimes taught by recording.

In conclusion, there is a wide range of teachers’ ways of teaching new vocabulary to

the 2nd students. Basing on the collected statistics, the frequent use of each by teachers
is quite different. Recording, transcription, real objects, antonyms and rankings seem
rather new and uncommon ways. Meanwhile, context clues, examples, gestures,
expressions, actions, translations and synonyms are more popular. Moreover, as can be
seen the table above, the way of the teaching new words that the second year students
like best are definitions & context clues, with 11 out of 65 respondents choose
definitions and the same number of choice for context clues. The less favorite ones are
pictures with 10/ 65students, situations are likely by 8/ 65 and the same to gesture.
Examples, ranking, translations and recording are not much liked by the second year
students.

4.2 Research question 2: what are the benefits perceived by the second year
students of each way of teaching to help them to overcome the difficulties and
master new vocabulary?

Generally speaking, a large number of the 2nd students have to use English words for
four skills: speaking, reading, writing and listening every day. Therefore, they can not

36
avoid facing difficulties when meeting new vocabulary. The following bar chart
summarizes the result from question 1 in the questionnaire.

60
50
40
30
20 %

10
0
meaning form pronunciation usage
% 27.7 3.1 16.9 52.3
Figure 3: The percentage of points the 2nd year students find the most difficult.

Quite large portion of the 2nd year students (about 52, 3 % of respondents think they
are in trouble of new words’ usage which greatly present them from using language
naturally. Indifferent situations, 27, 7 % say they have problem if new words’ meaning
smaller percentage claim that new words’ pronunciation (recognized by 16, 9 %) and
form of words (recognized by 3, 1 %) are obstacles by their complexity and length.

From the difficulties encountered, the 2nd students expect a suitable way of teaching
from the teacher to overcome difficulties and master new words better. As can be seen
from the below chart 89,2 % respondents like teachers to guide them the way to guess
the new words, only 10,8 % of them would like to be taught in a direct way.

37
 10.8

guiding to guess
new words.

teaching new
words in direct
ways.

89.2

Figure 4: The 2nd year students’ choice for each way of teaching.

As the aim of the study, the 5th question mainly focuses on finding out the benefits
of each way of teaching new vocabulary perceived by the 2nd year students, especially
the method that most of students like best. The following chart states the result of this
question:

38
Figure 5: The valuation of the benefits of the ways of teaching new vocabulary.

39
 marks

recording 329

transcription 340

translation 323

gestures 358

real objects 345

pictures 351

ranking 324

examples 348

situations 358

context
364
clues

antonyms 350

synonyms 360

definitions 340

300 320 340 360 380

40
 As can be seen from the chart, the evaluation of each teaching perceived by the
second year students is ranked from the highest mark to the lowest mark. Context clues
get the highest mark (364/400) among the 13 ways of teaching new vocabulary which
show that a large proportion of the 2nd year students highly evaluated this way’s
benefits perceived. 360 marks is of synonyms, both situations and gestures get the
third same marks (358/400), the mark of antonyms is 350, example 348, real objects
345, definitions and transcription 340, recording 329, ranking 324, surprisingly, the
least high mark is translation 323 marks.

Thanks to the evaluation, the way of teaching new vocabulary (context clues) highly
evaluated by the 2nd year students is recognized. This way helps students solve difficult
points of learning English: usage, meaning, form. That is, students can know exactly
how new words is used in context, guessing the meaning based on other factors in the
text as well as recognize the word’ form. These are very useful, for four skills such as
doing reading exercises, using structures, choosing right words in writing, guessing
words’ meaning in listening tests, so on. This chart below will show which the benefit
of this way is better.

190 188

185

180
176 marks
175

170
guessing new words' give good sense of how a
meaning easily. word is actually used.

Figure 6: The evaluation of each benefit of context clues.

41
 From the chart, it’s clear that the mark of benefit “giving good sense of how a word
is actually used”, 188 marks, is higher than that of the benefit “guessing the new
words’ meaning easily’’, 176 marks. In the other words, students see that context clues
bring them the first benefit than the second benefit.

Summary:

From all of the points discussed above, the research show the benefits of each way
of teaching new vocabulary perceived by the second year students in helping students
overcome the difficulties and master the new words. The second year students not only
realize the most difficult points when mastering new words, have big view about each
way of teaching’ benefits but also evaluate and realize the most benefit of the way.
Base on this, teachers can have suitable adjust ion for their way of teaching new
vocabulary to their students.

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION
5.1 Expected outcome and contribution of the research.

First and foremost, the research collects a range of teachers’ ways of teaching new
vocabulary to the 2nd students, which contributes partly to the teachers’ acquisition of
vocabulary teaching methods.

The research gets down to find which ways of teaching new vocabulary are
common and those are still strange to the second year students. This reflects the
frequent use of each way at class; therefore, any unfamiliar ways of teaching can be
encouraged to more introduce to students in the near future.

42
 The utmost goal of the research is to bring successful learning outcome for students.
According to the findings from the analysis which show which way of teaching is liked
most by the second year students as well as evaluated the ways’ benefits perceived by
them. Suitable ways of teaching new words found are expected to be applied in
vocabulary lessons in order to bring outcome for students. In other words, teachers
should teach in the way that their students like and students will be sure to like what is
taught. This finding is important because it can motivate students to try their best
mastering new words and students will be much likely to be successful under the
teachers’ guide.

Last but not least, the research is expected to make some contribution to the benefits
of teachers’ ways of teaching new vocabulary to the second year students. Students can
be exposed to these benefits and to find out how such ways of teaching can bring the
most benefits for them, which can be applied in mastering new words.

5.2 Limitation of the research and recommendation for further research.

The research, on the one hand, only takes a deep look into some teachers’ ways of
teaching new vocabulary; therefore, this does not include other ways of teaching new
words. Besides, the scope of the research is still limited. The total initial number of
copies of questionnaire is 100, but only 65 are analyzed because they are completed
rightly. Therefore, the results collected are supposed not to be quite objective.
Hopefully, the findings can partly help teachers recognize the benefits of ways of
teaching new word perceived mostly by the 2nd year students as well as the way liked
best by them in order to have suitable ways of teaching new vocabulary to students in
the near future.

43
 APPENDIXES
Questionnaire

Hello everyone! ^.^! We are Dao Thi Tham and Phan Thi Thanh Loan, group 08.1.E4.
We are doing a research on the benefits of teachers’ ways of teaching new vocabulary
to the second year students. We hope to receive your co-operation by answering this
questionnaire as much carefully as possible. This will help us to gain the most reliable
and best results. Thanks you very much..!****

Circle only one letter to answer the following questions:

1. Which point do you find the most difficult when learning a new word.

a. Meaning.

b. Form

44
 c. Pronunciation.

d. Usage.

2. How often does your teacher explain the new words?

a. Never.

b. Rarely.

c. Sometimes.

d. Often.

e. Always.

3. Do you like your teacher to teach the new words in a direct way or guide you to
guess new words?

a. Teaching in a direct way.

b. Guide you to guess new words

4. Tick :The ways of teaching new word that your teacher use:

You
Ways Never Rarely Sometimes Often Always like
best

Definitions
Synonyms
Antonyms
Context clue
Situations

45
Example
Ranking
Pictures
Real objects
Gestures,
expressions
and actions.

Translation
into
Vietnamese.

Transcription
Recording
Other ways:
……………………………………………………………………………………………
…..
……………………………………………………………………………………………
…………………………………………………………………………….

5. Give marks for each benefit you get from the teachers’ ways of teaching new
vocabulary. The mark level shows the efficiency you receive from that benefit.

1 2 3 4

1: lowest mark.

4. Highest mark.

46
 Benefits. Mark Other benefits.

Definitions a. get extra free-listening practice. …….

(1) b. use new word more correctly. …….
Synonyms
(2) a. avoid repetition in writing. ……..
b. increase systematically
vocabulary. ………
Antonyms
(3) a. avoid repetition in writing. …….
b. increase systematically
vocabulary. ………
Context clue a. give good sense of how a word is
(4) actually used. ……..
b. guess new word’s meaning
easily. ……..

Situations a. learn how to use a new word in …….

(5) its appropriate situation.
b. recall the word longer. …….
Example a. get information on the new
(6) word’s form and grammar. ……..
b.get a feel for its range of use as
well as typical collocations. …….
Ranking a. identify the relationship among
(7) the similar new word’s levels. ……..
b. boarden the amount of similar

47
 word. ……..
Pictures a. feel intelligible (dễ hiểu) and
(8) memorable. ……..
b. promote attentiveness. …….
Real objects a. save time and understand the
(9) new word more. …….
b. increase new word’s retention
(sự giữ lại) in memory. …….
Gestures,
expressions a. have extra speaking practice. ……..
, actions. b. develop logical thinking and
(10) long memory. …….

Translation
into a. know a new word quickly. …….
Vietnamese b. cope with incidental (ngẫu
(11) nhiên) vocabulary easily. …….
Transcription a. avoid the potentially negative
(12) effects of sound-spelling. …….
b. be more familiar with phonetic
script. ……
Recording a. vocalize (phát âm) the new word.
(13) b. identify the stressed syllable. ………
………

48
 REFERENCE
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2. Nation, I.S.P (2001). Learning Vocabulary in Another Language. Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press.

3. Schmitt, N (2000). Vocabulary in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press.

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4. Schmitt, N & M. McCarthy (ends). (1992).Vocabulary: Description, acquisition
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9. Billows, F.L. The Techniques of Language Teaching. London. Longman.

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