TESOL CONFERENCE 2011
DEVELOPING VOCABULARY – LEARNING
STRATEGIES FOR THE SECOND-YEAR STUDENTS
AT HAI PHONG MEDICAL UNIVERSITY
Presenter: Tran Thi Hoa, M.A.
Hai Phong Medical University
RATIONALE



Enlarging vocabulary is especially important
for learners of pre-intermediate level
The practice of learner training in Vietnamese
classrooms is still open to question
The local context of Hai Phong Medical
University calls for the idea of developing
learning strategies
AIMS OF THE STUDY


Improve Ss’ vocabulary learning through a
training program of learning strategies
Evaluate the strategy training program through
Ss’ perception
RESEARCH QUESTIONS


What are the problems that the students
encounter in their independent vocabulary
learning?
How effective is the strategy training
programme in helping the students learn
vocabulary, as perceived by the students?
SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The research focuses on the explicit
teaching of learning strategies.

Three strategy sets, namely Dictionary-related
strategies, Recording vocabulary and
Studying affixes, are taught.
METHODOLOGY

Method: Action Research

Participants:
+ 27 second-year students
+ The teacher – researcher
IMPLEMENTATION OF ACTION RESEARCH

Conducted for 10 weeks during the second
term of school year 2009 – 2010

Divided into three phases
IMPLEMENTATION OF ACTION RESEARCH

Phase One (Week 1-4)
_ Week 1: The students were explicitly introduced to
the vocabulary-learning strategy training programme.
Pre-treatment questionnaires were distributed
_ Week 2 – 4: The students were given a strategy
teaching lesson each week.
_ Three strategey sets were adapted from the
taxonomy of vocabulary learning strategies
suggested by Schmitt (1997)
IMPLEMENTATION OF ACTION RESEARCH

Phase Two (Week 5 – 7)
_ Phase Two provided the students with guided
practice by means of weekly word-learning records.

Phase Three (Week 8 – 10)
_ The students kept a free-style vocabulary diary for
their independent learning.
_ Post-treatment questionnaire survey was conducted
INSTRUMENTS OF DATA COLLECTION

Pre-treatment questionnaires

Post-treatment questionnaires
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
1. Research question 1: Students’ problems in independent
vocabulary learning
.
Figure 1. Students' problems in independent vocabulary learning
4.0
4.0
3.0
3.3
3.2
3.5
2.4
2.5
2.0
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
Not enough Not enough
time
materials
Not feel
interested
Not know
Not know
how to learn what to learn
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
1. Research question 1: Students’ problems in independent
vocabulary learning.
Ss’ biggest problem is “not knowing how to
learn vocabulary effectively”
2. Research question 2: Students’ perception of the
effectiveness of the strategy training program
Figure 2. Frequency of vocabulary strategy use before and after training
Mean of frequency
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
4
4.3
2.9
3.3
2.4
2.2
Dictionary-related
strategies
Vocabularyrecording
Affix-studying
Before training
After training
2. Research question 2: Students’ perception of the
effectiveness of the strategy training program
The students used the taught strategies more
frequently after they had participated in the
strategy training
2. Research question 2: Students’ perception of the
effectiveness of the strategy training program
Figure 3. Usefulness of the taught strategies
%
60
51.9
Dictionary-related strategies
Vocabulary-recording
51.9
50
Affix-studying
41
40
29.6
30
26
25.9
22
18.5
20
18.5
7
10
3.7
0 0
0
Mark 1
Mark 2
4
0
Mark 3
Mark 4
Mark 5
2. Research question 2: Students’ perception of the
effectiveness of the strategy training program
Dictionary-related strategies were considered
the most useful, then vocabulary-recording, and
finally affix-studying strategies
2. Research question 2: Students’ perception of the
effectiveness of the strategy training program
Figure 4. Effectiveness of the strategy training programme
11%
7%
15%
Mark 2
Mark 3
67%
Mark 4
Mark 5
2. Research question 2: Students’ perception of the
effectiveness of the strategy training program
The majority considered the training programme
highly effective
2. Research question 2: Students’ perception of the
effectiveness of the strategy training program

100% of Ss wanted to get further strategy
training.

Reasons:
- Know how to learn vocabulary effectively
- Feel more motivated and interested in learning
- Help to develop the four skills
- Important role of vocabulary in language
learning
PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS

Introduce Ss to the strategies of using a
bilingual dictionary and recording vocabulary as
early as possible.

Take account of the characteristics of each
strategy.

Conduct strategy instruction in a most explicit
way
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

10 weeks might be a relatively short time for
strategy training.

Future research into other vocabulary-learning
strategies is still much needed.