Vocabulary learning

SILESIAN SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND LANGUAGES

IN KATOWICE

DIPLOMA PAPER

Teaching Vocabulary to High School Students

Oskar Dragon

Supervisor:

dr. Małgorzata Marzec-Stawia

Reviewer:

dr. Justyna Ziębka

KATOWICE 2014

WYŻSZA SZKOŁA ZARZĄDZANIA MARKETINGOWEGO

I JĘZYKÓW OBCYCH W KATOWICACH

PRACA LICENCJACKA

Nauczanie słownictwa uczniów szkół średnich

Oskar Dragon

Promotor:

dr. Małgorzata Marzec-Stawia

Recenzent:

dr. Justyna Ziębka

Praca została złożona ………………………

Praca została przyjęta ………………………

KATOWICE 2014

WYDZIAŁ FILOLOGICZNY

Imię i Nazwisko: Oskar Dragon

Specjalność: Filologia angielska

Specjalizacja: Nauczyciel języka angielskiego i języka niemieckiego

Tryb studiów: dzienny

Rodzaj studiów: licencjacki

Oświadczenie

Świadom odpowiedzialności prawnej oświadczam, że niniejsza praca

dyplomowa została napisana przeze mnie samodzielnie i nie zawiera treści

uzyskanych w sposób niezgodny z obowiązującymi przepisami.

Oświadczam również, że niniejsza praca dyplomowa nie była wcześniej

przedmiotem procedur związanych z uzyskaniem tytułu zawodowego lub stopnia

naukowego.

Oświadczam ponadto, że niniejsza wersja pracy jest identyczna z załączoną

wersją elektroniczną.

data…………………………… ……………………………

(podpis studenta)

Content

Introduction ................................................................................................................... 4

Chapter I .........................................................................................................................

Theoretical background ................................................................................................ 5

1.2. Types of vocabulary ............................................................................................... 5

1.3. Word Classes .......................................................................................................... 6

1.4. What students need to know to learn new words ................................................... 7

1.5. Acquiring vocabulary ............................................................................................. 9

1.6. Types of memory ................................................................................................. 10

1.7 Presentation of new vocabulary ............................................................................ 11

1.7.1 Pointing .............................................................................................................. 11

1.7.2 Substitution ........................................................................................................ 12

1.7.3 Realia ................................................................................................................. 12

1.7.4 Using actions and gestures ................................................................................. 13

1.7.5 Using definitions and situation .......................................................................... 13

1.7.6 Translation ......................................................................................................... 14

1.7.7 Guessing the meaning from the text .................................................................. 15

1.8 Strengthening and practicing new vocabulary ...................................................... 16

1.9 Testing vocabulary knowledge ............................................................................. 17

1.9.1 Multiple choice .................................................................................................. 18

1.9.2 Cloze test ............................................................................................................ 19

1.9.3 True/false test ..................................................................................................... 20

1.9.4 Gap-filling .......................................................................................................... 20

1.9.5 Translation ......................................................................................................... 21

1.9.6 Matching ............................................................................................................ 21

1.9.7 Sentence completion .......................................................................................... 21

1.9.8 Oral testing ......................................................................................................... 22

1.10 Vocabulary lessons for the beginners .................................................................. 22

1.11 Vocabulary lessons for intermediate classes ....................................................... 23

1.12 Teaching vocabulary in advanced classes. .......................................................... 24

1.13 Mental profile of teenage learners ...................................................................... 25

CHAPTER II ...................................................................................................................

Research Design ......................................................................................................... 27

2.1. Research questions ............................................................................................... 27

2.2 Place and date of research ..................................................................................... 27

2.3 Research participants ............................................................................................ 27

2.3.1 Teenager students ............................................................................................... 28

2.3.2 The teacher of students ...................................................................................... 29

2.3.4 Research tools .................................................................................................... 29

2.5 Research procedure ............................................................................................... 32

Chapter III .......................................................................................................................

Research Results ......................................................................................................... 33

3.1 Questionnaire results ............................................................................................. 33

3.1.1 Occasions in which students meet new vocabulary and ways of dealing with it

.................................................................................................................................... 33

3.1.2 The effectiveness of strengthening vocabulary techniques ............................... 35

3.1.3 Effectiveness of vocabulary testing strategies .................................................. 37

3.1.4 Effectiveness of presenting vocabulary strategies ............................................. 37

3.1.4 Strategies which are used by the students .......................................................... 38

3.2 Semi-structured interview results ......................................................................... 38

Chapter IV .......................................................................................................................

Conclusions and Teaching Implications ..................................................................... 40

4.1 When students meet new vocabulary and what they do with a new word ........... 40

4.2 Strengthening vocabulary ..................................................................................... 41

4.3 Testing vocabulary ................................................................................................ 42

4.4 Presenting vocabulary ........................................................................................... 43

4.5 Strategies used by students ................................................................................... 44

Appendix no. 1 – Questionnaire for students in English ............................................ 45

Appendix no. 2 - Questionnaire for students in Polish ............................................... 48

Appendix no. 3 – Interview with the teacher .............................................................. 52

Appendix no. 4 - Interview with the teacher .............................................................. 53

References: .................................................................................................................. 54

Summary in Polish ...................................................................................................... 55

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Introduction

The author of the thesis intended to investigate and describe what the vocabulary

is and to describe and the techniques of vocabulary testing, presenting and strengthening

in teaching English to secondary school students.

The first chapter focuses on presenting the theory about vocabulary teaching.

This chapter is divided into six subsections. The first subsection contains general

information about the vocabulary,how vocabulary is absorbed by our memory and types

of memory. In the second subsection the author shows the techniques of presenting a

vocabulary by the teacher. In the third subsection the strengthening techniques of

vocabulary were placed. The fourth section presents the techniques of testing

vocabulary by the teacher. The fifth subsection contains information about lessons for

beginners, intermediate and advanced students. The last subsection contains the mental

profile of people who were tested.

The second chapter is a general description of the research design. This chapter

contains research questions, provide the place and date of the research, describe the

research subjects and research tools and explain the research procedure.

The third chapter serves as the research results presentation and description.

It contains various diagrams and statistical data in order to enable better understanding

of the results. The results of the interview with teachers are described in this chapter

as well.

The fourth chapter provides a commentary on the research results, explains the

possible reasoning behind the research subjects' answers and presents the conclusions. It

indicates the identified shortcomings and suggests possible solutions.

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Chapter I

Theoretical background

The first chapter contains terminology about vocabulary. In this work several

issues will be explained: what the vocabulary is, types of vocabulary, word classes, what

students need to know and remember while studying new vocabulary, how new

vocabulary is learned and remembered, techniques of presenting, strengthening and

testing vocabulary, vocabulary lessons for beginners, intermediate and advanced

students and mental profile of teenage learners.

1.1. Definition of vocabulary

Richards and Schmidt (2002) define vocabulary as a set of lexemes, which

consists of single words, compounds and idioms. “…vocabulary is the glue that holds

stories, ideas, and content together and that it facilitates making comprehension

accessible for children.” (Rupley, Logan, and Nichols, 1998/99, p.339). Words can be

used to speak and write or read and listen and they all involve both expressive and

receptive abilities with words. People without vocabulary knowledge will not be

successful readers. Language is part of our life because without it would be hard for

people to communicate. Vocabulary is more important than grammar because if a

sentence is not grammatically correct but rich in many correct words people can

understand what someone wants to say. Thornbury (2002) claims that people can say

very little using only grammar structures but they can say almost everything using just

words.

1.2. Types of vocabulary

In language are four types of vocabulary (Stahl, 1999; Tompkins, 2005;

Montgomery, 2007). The first type is listening vocabulary and these are words which

people hear and understand. Babies are listening how people speak all their childhood

and then as teenagers and adults continue to acquire new words this way. Most of grown

up people are able to recognize and understand close to 50,000 words.

The second type is speaking vocabulary. It includes words that students use in

everyday speech. The number of words which most adults use is relatively limited. An

average adult uses a mere 5,000 to 10,000 words in his conversations.

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The third one is reading vocabulary. This type includes words which people

understand during reading a written text. This vocabulary can be used in speaking and

listening vocabularies as well. Many words can be read and understood even if they are

not used in speaking vocabulary.

The fourth type is called writing vocabulary. It includes words that students

understand and are able to reproduce when they are writing a text.

1.3. Word Classes

Word classes are very complex issues. Thornbury (2002), Kolln and Funk (2008)

discuss seven word classes and they can be divided into two groups. The first group is

called closed class and to it no new items could normally be added. They usually

contain a relatively small number of items and they contribute to a grammatical

structure of the sentence. Closed class words cannot be explained in isolation because it

is tied up with the grammatical structures that they are part of. A closed class consists

of prepositions, conjunctions, determiners and pronouns.

Prepositions are words which characteristically express spatial or temporal

relation. Examples of prepositions are: in, from, with, for.

Conjunctions are words that connect other words. Examples of conjunctions are:

and, but, or, yet, so.

Determiners are words that introduce a noun. Examples of determiners are: the,

a, some, which, this, both.

Pronouns are words which replace a noun. When one word was used earlier in

the text pronouns can be used to replace them. Examples of pronouns are: he,

them, you, and me.

The other group of words is called an open class and they give information about

activities. These words belong to the major word classes which in any language tend to

be large. The open class group allows creating an unlimited number of new words

which can be added to these classes (Thornbury, 2002).

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Noun is a word that is used to name or identify a person, place, and thing. Most

nouns have singular and plural form. Examples of nouns: mom, teacher, book,

computer.

Verb is a word that describes an action or occurrence or indicates a state of

being. Examples of verbs: come, cook, drive, read.

Adjective is a describing word. Role of adjective is to qualify a noun, to give

more information about the object. Examples of adjective: interesting, bad,

good, ugly.

Adverb is a word that changes or qualifies the meaning of a verb, adjective or

other adverb. Examples of adverb: however, often, only, well, extremely.

1.4. What students need to know to learn new words

Studying new words is not just learning by heart; but their function in language

should be known as well. Pronunciation and spelling are important too. Students should

also know how to use them in a grammatically correct way, because some words cannot

be put in random places for sometimes it can change the meaning of the sentence (Ur,

1999).

Collocations can be problematic for students because they should be

remembered by heart. Collocations are conjunctions of two or more words which stick

together. An example of a collocation is make tea which means preparing a hot drink.

The best example of collocation used in everyday speech is “I made the bed”.

People use colocations because it is convenient and saves time. Something can be said

shortly; it is not needed to use the whole sentence.

Collocations are very commonly used in English. Strong collocations are words

that almost always are together. People will understand what other person wants to say

even if they do not use a strong collocation, however, if collocations will not be used

properly by us it would sound funny for a native speaker. If people want to use English

language properly, they should remember about collocations (Ur, 1999).

The next that students need to know while learning new words are aspects of

the meaning which can be divided into denotation and connotation. Denotation is the

literal meaning of the word, the dictionary definition. For example while looking up the

word 'snake' in the dictionary it will be discovered that one of its denotative meanings is

“any of numerous scaly, legless, sometimes venomous reptiles. It has long, tapering,

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cylindrical body and can be found in most of tropical and temperate regions.

Connotation on the other hand refers to the associations and emotional suggestions that

are connected to a certain word. Connotative and denotative words are not two separate

groups. They are two elements of a sign and connotative meanings exist together with

denotative one (Ur, 1999).

The next element that students should know while learning vocabulary is a

meaning relationship. The meaning relationship is the connection and cooperation the

meaning of one word with the meaning of others. This relationship can be useful in

teaching. This feature is divided into 6 groups.

The first group are synonyms; they are words that have the same or nearly the

same meaning as another word. The best example can be the following: bright, clever,

smart are synonyms of intelligent.

Antonyms are words that have an opposite meaning to the second word. For instance

word “wet” is an antonym to word “dry”.

Hyponyms are words whose meaning is included in that of another word, for example

dog, lion, mouse are hyponyms of word animal.

Co-hyponym is a word or phrase that shares the same hyponym as another word or

phrase. Superordinates are general concepts that cover specific items, for example

animal is a superordinate of dog, lion, mouse and the last one is translation and this

happens when one word is translated from foreign language to learners mother tongue.

The last aspect of vocabulary knowledge that Penny Ur (2009) considers for

necessary to acquire is word formation. Students should get familiar with its rules. Word

formation has got three subcategories; words created by derivation, words created by

compounding and words created by conversions. Derivation is a process of creating new

words by adding affixes to them like in 'shame+less+ness'. Compounding is a creating

new word by sticking two words together; for example 'earthquake'. Conversion is a

word which is known as zero-affixation; form of one word is changed from one word

class into another without any visual changes.

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1.5. Acquiring vocabulary

Thornbury (2002) mentions that knowing a word is one thing but being able to

use it properly is a different matter. In learning the first language the first words that

children learn are typically used for labeling. Labeling is using one word to describe

something or someone; for example a dog has a name, the dog or the doggie, but not

every four legged animal is a dog, some of them may be cats on horses. In other words,

acquiring requires not only labelling but also categorizing skills. Students should

categorize words into groups which can make learning process much simpler. Finally a

learner needs to realize that common words like apple and dog can be replaced by terms

like fruit and animal and that animal can include other words connected with species

such as cat, horse or elephant. The categorizing skills process involves a of network

building course which is a construction of a complex web of words.

Thornbury (2002) claims that learning L2 is different from acquiring L1 because

it is not natural. The big difference which can be noticed is the fact that students, who

are learning a second language, have already known one language – their mother

tongue. Learning a second language involves both: learning a new conceptual system

and constringing a new vocabulary network. Sometimes during learning a second

language, a mother tongue can cause problems to students. Students while they are

studying a new word can find one that may appear to be equivalent but its meanings do

not correspond. These kinds of words are called false friends. Examples of false English

friends for Polish native speakers are shown below:

actually (aktualnie in Polish means ‘at present’, ‘currently’)

chef (szef in Polish for ‘chief’ or ‘boss’)

pupil (pupil in Polish is a ‘pet’ or ‘favorite’)

history (historia in Polish means ‘story’)

It may cause the problem while studying. On the other hand, for Italians, it is not

a big problem because they have many more real friends than false friends.

During studying students can encounter words called strangers. Strangers are

words that have no equivalent in the L1 at all.

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To sum up, false friends, real friends and strangers are words that students have

heard or seen somewhere and now those words are understood for them, but they will

never be quite familiar as their mother tongue equivalents. It is due to the fact that some

languages came from different language families.

1.6. Types of memory

Learners need not only to learn words but also to remember them. The question is

how memory works? According to Thornbury (2002) and Arabski (1996), there are

three systems of human memory.

The first is short-term memory. It is situated in brain's capacity that holds a

limited number of terms of information (Arabski, 1996). It is the kind of memory that is

involved to hold in your head a telephone number. As long as you need it is in your

head. Duration of short-term memory is believed to be in the order of seconds

(Thornbury, 2002).

The second type is a working memory which focuses on words that are long

enough to perform operation on them. Learning and understanding depend on working

memory. In working memory people are storing and managing informations required to

carry out the complex cognitive tasks. Working memory can be easily checked. A

simple experiment which shows how strong student’s memory is can be checked like

this: students have to read certain words for example 10 or 20 times and then they have

to repeat those words; if someone repeats about 7 words it is a good result (Thornbury,

2002).

The last one is long-term memory. The long-term memory is a place in our brain

where information are remembered for a long time but if words are not repeated, they

will be forgotten. Information, in this case new vocabulary, can go from our short-term

memory to long-term memory and become remembered. It can last minutes, hours, days

or even decades to remember something (Arabski, 1996). Moreover, Thornbury (2002)

mentions that long-term memory has two types. The first one is declarative memory and

it includes all of the memories that are available in consciousness. It can be further

divided into episodic memory (for example events) and semantic memory (knowledge

about the world). The second type is procedural memory. It involves memories of body

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movement and how to use some objects in environment like driving a car or using a

computer.

1.7 Presentation of new vocabulary

Thornbury (2002) mentions that before presenting a set of new words the teacher

needs to remember about the following factors:

The level of the learners (beginners, intermediate, advanced).

Familiarity with the words (learners have met words before even though they are

not a part of their active vocabulary).

Difficulty of the items (vocabulary should be on student’s level).

‘Teachability’ – words which can be easily explained or demonstrated.

Teacher should not present too many words.

When the students are learning new vocabulary they need to acquire the

meaning and the form of new words. While the teacher is presenting new set of

vocabulary s/he should make a mental connection between them, for example, items of

clothing: shirt, trousers, jacket, socks, dress and jeans Thornbury (2002).

Thornbury (2002) and Ur (2009) mention that during presentation of vocabulary the

teacher should remember about repeating new words a number of times and repeat them

with students. This activity can be helpful for learners to remember new words better.

The first presentation works best when words are presented in context because learners

can work out the meaning for themselves. There are numerous vocabulary

presentations’ techniques.

1.7.1 Pointing

First is pointing and Curran (2000) mentions this technique is especially good

for the beginners. The teacher shows students illustrations on cards and points. Teacher

can also use posters, computer software or items that are in class. Pointing works best

with nouns which include food, clothes, animals, professions. Pictures are very worth

materials for language teachers. There are lots and lots of various pictures in magazines

and newspapers that teachers can cut. Teachers can also make his or her own pictures by

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drawing or he/she can just ask pupils to draw. Using this technique teacher can

introduce colours, actions and any adjective that can be easily illustrated. Paper pictures

are well worth because they can be easily sorted and reused whenever teacher will need

them. The advantage of cut-outs from magazines is that they are colourful. They look

realistic and when we can teach a various range of vocabulary on them. On the other

hand the black-and-white pictures, either cut-outs from newspapers or paper drawings,

can explore learners´ fantasy because they can simply imagine the colours.

1.7.2 Substitution

Substitution is a technique that can be used with students of all levels (Curran,

2000). It works very well with concepts and ideas that cannot be touched because they

are abstract notions. There are different ways to use substitution:

Synonyms – people substitute one word with another one.

Antonyms – people substitute one word they are familiar with for its opposite (Is

a Ferrari a cheap car? No it is an expensive car.) Substitution works great with

phrases verbs which usually have a one-word equivalent (Do you put off going

to the dentist? You postpone seeing your dentist).

1.7.3 Realia

Realia can make a huge difference in students’ learning. Realia engage them and

motivate them to learn. It is fun and sets a more natural learning environment

(Thornbury, 2004). Some realia teacher may use to introduce new vocabulary includes:

maps

tea sets, dishes

clothes

toy planes, trains, cars, animals, furniture

family photos

holiday items

plastic fruits and vegetables.

Thornbury mentions that the best way of using realia is when learners not only

see them, but also touch them or even taste them. It is great when the teachers speak

13

about, for example, beach and he or she brings a picture of it and describe how is and

what is there.

Realia should be used whenever it is possible. At first, it saves time and

secondly, the best way how to learn the foreign language is the way how people learnt

our mother tongue.

1.7.4 Using actions and gestures

Realia are limited in the choice of words that they can express. In this case

teacher should use miming, gestures and actions. Actions are also limited as they can

only express verbs. Further, also gestures are limited in adjectives (Richards (2001).

Richards (2001) claims that Total Physical Response work the best with

kinaesthetic learners mainly those who learn best by moving. This technique works the

best with children particularly when it comes to exaggerating emotions and facial

expressions, but adults may also enjoy miming. TPR works well with parts of the body

(I am touching my nose! Touch your nose!), actions (I am walking to the door), and the

imperative mood or commands (Sit down! Stand up!). Teacher can use flashcards from

magazines, calendars and sets of pictures of items belonging to the following sets of

words. Typical classroom commands might be:

Point to the orange

Put the pear next to the apple

Give the pear to Kamil

Offer the orange to Kasia

etc.

The main advantage in miming and TPR is that students are physically engaged

in the lesson. It is better to study by fun.

1.7.5 Using definitions and situation

Curran (2002) admitted that using definitions and situations to explain the

meaning requires certain knowledge of the language as well as general knowledge.

Students also should have an appropriate lexicon to be able to identify described word.

To be able to understand definition of the word “aunt” – my mother’s or father’s sister –

learners have to know who this brother really is. Definition is an explanation for word

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by using a definition of this word. It can be simple or not necessarily precise for

example mammal is an animal.

Situation does not just describe the target word but they use it in a certain

situation. For example – to inherit – father had money in bank then he died and his son

now has this money and now it is Daniel’s money. Daniel inherits it. It is much easier to

learners to remember a word when they have this word accompanied by some situation.

Methods mentioned by Thornbury (2002) and Ur (2009) are similar to the

methods mentioned by Curran (2000) except for the few.

1.7.6 Translation

Thornbury (2002) mentions that translation is traditional way of explaining the

meaning of words. It could be done by the teacher or by students using a dictionary.

This kind of presentation is very economical and it saves time. On the other hand, this is

not very effective way of acquiring new words because learners are passive recipients. It

only works with simple words like clothes, food because sometimes in L1 this word can

have different definition and because it is very easy it may mean that the word is less

memorable.

There are several kinds of learner dictionaries (Thornbury, 2002):

1. Dictionaries organized alphabetical

2. Dictionaries organized according to meaning categories. Each category

includes only a limited number of words and the definitions are provided in

the learner’s mother tongue.

3. Specialized dictionaries. These are, for example, dictionaries of idioms,

collocations or phrasal verbs, business dictionaries, technical dictionaries etc.

4. Picture dictionaries. These are organized either alphabetically or thematically

Children may need dictionaries for the whole period of their language learning

and the teacher cannot leave the dictionaries work to children but they should teach

them several strategies (Thornbury, 2002):

1. Look at the organization of the dictionary.

2. Look at the list of abbreviations and entries.

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3. Before looking for the unknown English word, think about its word class,

e.g. noun, verb, adjective etc.

4. After finding the word, check the word backwards. E.g. after finding the

word „kupić“ – buy, find in the English-Polish part „buy“ and check if the

meaning is the same.

When teacher use this kind of presentation the vocabulary should be repeated

very often and ask the student about the meaning in his mother tongue. Remembering

the words by experience seems to be more effective because students remember them

better than just by showing the pictures or drawings.

1.7.7 Guessing the meaning from the text

Guessing is a very useful way of learning phrases and structures (Thornbury, 2002).

Learners will always meet words that they will not understand but when they develop

the skill in guessing the meaning from the context their communication will be easier.

Learners may also learn a lot of grammar rules, as they will analyse the sentence. Just

make it simple – students are trying to recognize the meaning of the word. Here is an

example:

Listen to these sentences and see if you can work out what the word fancy means:

Number one: He is really nice but I don’t fancy him.[pause] Two: I fancy eating out

tonight. Don’t you? [pause] Three: Do you fancy a cup of coffee? [pause] Four: Fancy

a drink? [pause] Five: That guy on the dance floor – he really fancies himself. [pause]

And six: I never really fancied package holidays much. [pause] Ok, talk to your

neighbour and then I’ll read them again. (Thornbury, 2002).

Students hear the word fancy very often and in different contexts and finally,

they get information of the word’s form and grammar (if it is irregular or transitive) or

countable.

The teacher can choose from several ways of presenting vocabulary and making

clear its meaning. S\he can use these separately or in combination with each other. The

way to present the meaning of many abstract words is through the creation of a context

or a situation that is helpful when deducing the meaning of a word. When teachers want

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to present person’s feature as “innocent” it is very useful to create a character that is

innocent (e.g. a figure taken from the history).

Gower, Phillips and Walter (1995) mention that during presenting a vocabulary

via a visual and oral context teacher should check the students understand the meaning

of word. Teacher should also practice the pronunciation of new words and concentrate

where the word should be stressed, how it sound etc. Repeating is really helpful because

students can use to the correct pronunciation and then they will say it properly. The

teacher should write the words on the blackboard, show where word is stressed and

should write down the exemplary sentences with new vocabulary, s/he can try to make

those sentences more personal and memorable for the students as well.

1.8 Strengthening and practicing new vocabulary

According to Komorowska (2002), there are some ways of strengthening new

vocabulary.

The first idea is called imitation. In this technique is important to repeating

vocabulary with teacher. Four principles of this technique are:

First repeating should be repeated together to encourage and embolden students

to say this words loud.

Next the teacher should create small groups, which in time will be reduced up to

individuals.

Teacher is pointing a person that needs to repeat the word. Teacher should not

use his voice, he should just use eye contact and finger.

If students have troubles with repeating long and hard word Komorowska (2002)

suggest to repeat the word from the end, for example: “examination, -ation, -

nation, -mination, examination”.

At the end students should use this word in the sentences.

Another technique is KIM (Komorowska, 2002). A teacher says 10 words which

students are supposed to know. The teacher says them loud only once so students need

to focus. Students need to remember them, repeat or write on the paper. Teacher can

also write these 10 words on the blackboard and after few seconds erase it from the

blackboard.

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Excellent for students should be practicing by doing exercises in their books

(Komorowska, 2002). Students at the beginning should have very simple exercises only

for receptive use (students can understand the word when it is written or they hear it or

if it is spoken) than students need to do productive exercises (they should be able to use

words correctly). Very good for students are exercises like filling the gaps (…).

The last technique is associating the word with the letter or name (Komorowska,

2002). It is remembering a new word by matching it up with the name which is being

started to the same letter. A learner needs to write the name beside the word, for

example, a student takes a name ‘Daniel’ and needs to create a sentence using the first

letter of the name and this name ‘Daniel is drawing’. Associating the word with a

profession helps students to remember lexical material by using a profession which is

doing his or her duty. This technique helps to remember new word by thematic

association.

Contamination of word with the room helps to strength new words which are

connected with one room (Komorowska, 2002), for example bedroom or kitchen.

Student need to associate word with room. The more associations the better memorizing

is.

1.9 Testing vocabulary knowledge

According to Allen (1983) and Komorowska (2002) testing vocabulary is

important. Tests are mostly used to give a score and help teachers to define the level of

students' knowledge. It also helps teachers to solve a problem to which level group

students should be put to the advanced group or to the beginning one.

If teacher wants to write the own test, Ur (1996) suggests to focus on these elements

when creating a test:

Validity - Check that your items really do test what they are meant to.

Clarity - Make sure that instructions for each item are clear.

Do-ability - The test should be quote do-able: not too difficult, with no trick

questions.

Marking - Decide exactly how you will assess each section of the test and how

weighting (percentage of the total grade) you will give it.

18

Interest - Try to go for interesting content and tasks, in order to make the test

more

motivating for the learners.

Heterogeneity - The test should be such that lower-level students can feel that

they are

able to do a substantial part of the test, while the higher-level ones have a chance

to

show what they know.

Harmer (2007) presents four categories of tests:

Placement tests are used to divide students into groups according to their level of

knowledge. The tests must not focus only on one part of English such as present

simple but on the knowledge in broad term because we want to have an

objective picture of student´s present level of English .

Diagnostic tests are designed to show how good is a students. Diagnostic tests

can be used to expose difficulties of learner, gaps in the knowledge and skill

deficiencies during a course.

Progress or achievement tests are designed to measure learner’s language and

skill progress during the studying. Achievement tests work only if they contain

item types that are familiar for students. Achievement test should reflect

progress, not failure. These tests can also help to decide on changes to future

teaching programmes.

Profinency tests show a general knowledge of a student and ability. They are

used when people want to be admitted to a foreign university, get a job or obtain

some kind of certificate.

There is a review of types of tasks which will be specified later on: Multiple

choice, cloze test, true/false, gap-filling, translation, matching, sentence completion,

oral testing. These techniques will be described in more detail and the positive and

negative aspects will be analysed

1.9.1 Multiple choice

Multiple choice is a test wherein students are asked to select the best possible

answer (or answers) out of the choices from the list (Ur, 1996). The form of the multiple

19

choice can also vary, here are three possible forms:

He accused me of ...... lies.

a. telling

b. talking

c. saying

d. speaking

Everything we wanted was to hand.

a. under control

b. within reach

c. well cared for

d. being prepared

The best advantage of this kind of testing is that teacher does not have to worry

about subjectivity because only one answer should be correct. It is also very easy and

quick way of testing for examiner because he can easily correct this test by putting ticks

or crosses. Hughes (1989) proves that it does not show the real level of student’s

abilities because the examiner or the teacher can choose correct answer randomly. It

cannot also show the knowledge of grammar, because we do not know if the students

can use it in writing or speaking.

The next disadvantage is that these tests can be cheated because cheater can look

at someone’s test which is near and student can easily recognize what the person has

answered. Of course it can be prevented by giving several versions of tests (Hughes

1989).

1.9.2 Cloze test

Cloze test is essentially a fill-in-the-blank test. In this test has to complete the

gaps with appropriate words. Student has to supply the missing words that have been

removed from the text (Scrivener, 1998).

Example of a cloze test:

The long dark days and lack of a job made him feel_______

a) alarmed b) excited c) depressed d) satisfied

20

The advantage of cloze tests is that it is quite easy to create them. Teacher need

only to find a text and delete words from it. Nevertheless, Hughes (1989) does not

consider cloze test much reliable because teachers do not know what ability (speaking,

writing, reading etc.) of student it shows.

Scores of the test will always show part of students’ knowledge. Teachers should

observe students at work in class each day. Teachers before test should check which

words will be needed in the future Hughes (1989).

1.9.3 True/false test

According to a text or listening the teacher prepares a set of statements and

students must to circle true or false (Nation, 2001). This type of test is typical for

reading and listening tests but we can also test synonyms, antonyms and grammatical

forms.

Example of true/false test:

Angielski synonim polskiego słowa “dostać” jest:

To give Y N

to receive Y N

To get Y N

To become Y N

1.9.4 Gap-filling

This type of test can be used for various purposes; it can test, for example,

irregular verbs or prepositions (Scrivener 1998). The teacher creates some sentences

with gaps the student has to complete them but more than one possible answer should

be avoided (Ur, 1996).

Example of gap-filling with there is/there are:

______ a little dog in the park; ______ also a big cat. In this house ______

eight little

rooms and a big kitchen. ______ two lamps on the wall but ______ only one

lamp on that wall.

21

1.9.5 Translation

Students receive sentences or a text in their mother tongue and their task is to

translate them into English (Ur, 1996). Although, the method is easy for the teacher,

students hate it because it is very difficult for them. It also prevents students thinking

directly in English and they tend to translate things in their minds which are not good.

Ur (1996) claims that it is a quick way how to find out about students’

knowledge but marking may be quite difficult as there may be tens of variations.

1.9.6 Matching

Students have to match words that are written in their mother tongue with words

that are in foreign language. Students love this kind of test because it is easy to do

through matching teacher tests the meaning of words, usually words of the opposite

meaning (Ur 1996). This type of exercise is easier to design than multiple choice but Ur

(1996) stresses that the last pair of words, if the student has matched the pairs correctly,

can be matched without any knowledge because they are left.

Example of matching test:

Put these words into the correct column: apple, grape, carrot, banana,

cauliflower, spinach, strawberry, potato, cherry, melon

Fruit Vegetables

1.9.7 Sentence completion

Students are given incomplete sentences containing words that we need to test.

Their task is to complete these sentences so that they make sense. For example:

Finish the following sentences:

1. I feel depressed when...

2. I never have an appetite when...

3. It was a great relief when...

22

1.9.8 Oral testing

To know a word also means to be able to pronounce it well. Doff (1988) suggest

short oral tests on various topics about, for example, family, describing something. He

explains how to organize this in a large class: The teacher gives students several topics

which students have to prepare at home. Than teacher asks students about one of the

topic. The examination lasts not more than one minute. The teacher should evaluate

content and fluency.

1.10 Vocabulary lessons for the beginners

Allen (1983) mentions that in this stage our students are mostly small kids.

Teacher should arouse the interest of the students. It may be hard because children do

not have perception of time, they just think about things which are here and now. In

books that are for the first stage of English are words about things and persons in the

classroom that surround them, words like boy, girl, pencil, door, window. These words

are around them. It can be easily introduced. Walls, doors, windows are things that

student can see while they hear names in foreign language. Students also can touch

them. It is important because people remember better when they use their senses. In this

stage students have introduces basic vocabulary which they need to know because it

will be needed for defining more difficult words in later stages.

However, teaching new words may be very difficult because they do not feel the

need to know them. Student should feel the practical need. When students feel no real

need to learn something the teacher should create it. Of course teacher should not say

students that they must to learn it because it will be on the test because it is not real

need. Their real need is to communicate with other people outside of their mother

country, when they are in travel or with friend which know only English). The teacher

should remember that in his class are children that remember better when they hear the

word some of them remember better when they see the word. The teacher should know

which students are better in remembering words by hearing new words and who is

better in remembering vocabulary by seeing items. Unfortunately it takes too much time

and then teacher have too little time for more helpful activities (Allen, 1983).

Some books do not have translation and teacher should to explain the meaning.

For small children the best is to show the pictures or to show the real thing, also

explanations in students own language is a good option. Harder but also good can be

23

defining in simple English using vocabulary that students should already know.

Commands can be also very helpful. Each of us while listening own language heard

commands before spiking a single word. Even after small children start to talk they are

still repeating what adults are saying(Allen, 1983).

1.11 Vocabulary lessons for intermediate classes

Allen (1983) mentions that intermediate class can be defined as following:

intermediate students are those who understand most of words what they hear and read

in the class, but they still need native speaker’s help. At the intermediate level teacher

teach many words that students need. Lessons look like this for beginners – lesson

includes words for thing and persons whom students need in their daily live.

Intermediate students have one advantage – they have learned a large number of

words that can be used by teacher to define new vocabulary. It is very helpful because

intermediate students should hear only English from their teacher. Teacher should

accustom students to English language. For intermediate students is better when teacher

explain vocabulary in second language, because they will remember it better (Allen,

1983).

Another reason why teachers of Intermediate classes should use English is that

not every word can be explained by showing actions or through pictures. Teacher can

explain the words by creating the sentence and putting this word into it where other

words in the sentence are already known. Defining words by using of simpler English

words is not easy it requires experience in teaching English to speakers of other

languages. Teacher should not use definitions from dictionaries, because it does not help

the students, but the meaning of the word should be clear. Teacher cannot spend class

time thinking about how to explain the meaning of a word, it must be offered

immediately. Intermediate students need more help than students at elementary level. In

elementary teachers use only pictures, demonstrating actions or are pointing but in

intermediate classes teacher need to do more (Allen, 1983).

In intermediate classes teacher should learn more advanced vocabulary for

instance categories like buildings, parts of house, furniture, occupations, transportation,

weather, health and many more. Teacher should make a list of word categories to make

learning simple. In intermediate classes is good when students are divided into smaller

word groups. It is better because teacher can focus on learning. It is not possible at the

24

elementary level, because beginners do not have enough English to enable them to work

together in groups without presence of a teacher (Allen, 1983).

1.12 Teaching vocabulary in advanced classes.

According to Allen (1983) advanced learners have two major aims. It is

important to prepare students for the kind of English used by and for native speakers

and the another special aim is to help students to become independent, responsible for

their own learning. These kinds of students are at the end of the language program.

When they finish their course the students will have to depend on their own efforts and

habits of study and then dictionaries will be very important for them. They must know

how to use dictionaries well. On this level vocabulary becomes increasingly difficult

and teacher should not help students to learn all of them. When teacher will explain the

vocabulary on the blackboard there are three unfortunate results:

Students will be too dependent on the teacher.

Opportunities for learning to use a dictionary are lost.

Teacher does not have too much class time for the communicative use of

the language which is very important in this moment.

Students are using bilingual dictionaries which are maybe easier to use but not

effective. The best for students is you use dictionaries where are definitions of words.

Sometimes students can avoid of using dictionaries. Before opening the dictionary they

should follow these steps (Allen, 1983):

Thinking carefully about entire sentence in which the unfamiliar word

appears.

Look carefully at the word and what kind of word is it.

Think of some possible meanings for that kind of word

When students think carefully about sentence before seeking words in the

dictionary they may find that they do not need to look up the unknown word (Allen,

1983).

When many words need to be looked up teachers should divide the work among

students. Some of them are looking up more difficult words and other are looking up

25

easier. After some minutes the teams come together to share their finding and checking

it. This activity helps the students to develop responsibility and initiative (Allen, 1983).

1.13 Mental profile of teenage learners

According to Harmer (2001) age of our students is a major factor in teaching

vocabulary. People in different age have different needs and their cognitive skills are

developed at different levels but it will be focused on teenagers and adults. Teaching

should be done in groups appropriate to their age – in this case would be better for

teacher to study with students. Everything depends on individual learner's needs and

motivation.

Teenagers can be a hard age-group and they are the most difficult learners to teach

because this is the period of rebellion, opposition and disobedience. Dakowska (2005)

adds that learners at juvenescence age have a great capacity to learn, a great potential

for creativity and a passionate commitment to things that interest them. Working with

that group will bring a good work with young people that have ability to learn things

that they are interested in, but sometimes exhibit some problems with their behaviour.

Teacher has to teach systematically doing not only listening comprehension but teacher

should do didactic tasks which give students ability and language skills (Komorowska,

2001).

Logical memory dominates the mechanical one at this age and concrete thinking

develops into the abstract. The greatest aspect of teaching teenagers is that they have

developed a greater capacity for abstract thought as they grow up. It is a feature that

younger learners do not have (Harmer, 2007). Unfortunately, some of them do not even

realize it. Komorowska (2001) says that students’ interests are good motivation factors

which a teacher can use to choose the topic of the lesson. Also the choice of topic can be

motivating. Teachers should to know which topics will be boring for the students and

which will interest them. Predominantly teenagers want to be treated as adults.

The teacher can choose a topic whatever he or she wants to because the students

are able to talk about everything, even about abstract ideas. It gives possibilities of

introducing grammar terms and language rules.

The teacher can also make some activities longer than before and shorten the

time for revision because it is also mentioned that teenagers in this period

(Komorowska, 2001) students’ concentration becomes longer and they have a long-term

memory.

26

In this period students also have high reading and writing skills but adolescence

is also a time of students’ dislike for everything which is connected with school.

Students in this age are characterized by strong mental development which is

manifested by curiosity and independence of thinking and interests (Szałek, 1994).

These strong needs often go hand in hand with indifference and dislike to school

subjects as a main source of knowledge. They are bored.

The teacher who works with teenagers should remember that students are in a

period of searching for identity. They are ashamed when their options are not similar to

these of their friends and they value their friend’s options more than the teacher’s. It

happens because students look for friends (Szałek, 1994). Teenager’s needs sometimes

meet with a teacher’s disapproval. Students in this age can get easily influenced.

Teachers should also realize that the need of being noticed in the group is really

important at this age. Students want to be treated individually. They prefer when the

teacher calls their names and ask them about the opinion.

The most important but also the most difficult in teaching adolescent is that they

grow up at a different pace. Girls may be more mature than boys from the class but also

boys can be more mature than girls. Students are very changeable at this age which

requires the teacher to be a good observer and to use teaching techniques more flexibly.

Teenagers come from different environments and some of them can bring

problems into class from outside school. Teenagers have a great capacity, great potential

for creativity and a commitment to things that interest them. Teenagers, as Ur (1996)

suggests, are in overall the best language learners and the mission of teacher is to

provoke students intellectually.

27

Chapter II

Research Design

The purpose of the study is to gather information to establish a profile of a

teenagers (from 16 to 19 years of age) learning a foreign language and to explore and

understand teenager’s preferences and expectation in the field of English vocabulary

learning.

The study is limited to providing an informative picture of what they prefer and

what their expectations are. This research will show which techniques are considered as

efficient by the students and the teacher.

2.1. Research questions

The aim of this thesis is to provide data and insight into the perceptions and

experiences of teenagers, which will comprise a basis for further analysis and

conclusions. The research questions are as follows:

1. In which moments do students meet new vocabulary and how do they deal with new

word?

2. What techniques of vocabulary strengthening are the most efficient?

3. What techniques of vocabulary presentation are the most efficient?

4. What techniques of vocabulary testing are the most efficient?

5. What strategies do students use to remember new words?

2.2 Place and date of research

The questionnaires for students were administered in the School of Technical

and General Education (Zespół Szkół Technicznych i Ogólnokrztałcących) in

Tarnowskie Góry that provides English language lessons for teenagers.

The interview with the teacher from above mentioned school was held on 30 April,

2014 in Tarnowskie Góry.

2.3 Research participants

The participants of the research were students attending English lesson in

Tarnowskie Góry as well as a teacher who teaches English to teenagers on one of the

courses.

28

2.3.1 Teenager students

The subjects of the research were teenagers aged between 16 and 19 that were

studying English as a Foreign Language at Zespół Szkół Technicznych i

Ogólnokrztałcących in Tarnowskie Góry. The research was carried out among 58

students. The students were all between 16 and 19 years old. The oldest participant was

19 years of age. The students have been learning English as a foreign language for at

least 11 years. 35 boys and 23 girls took part in the research. Every class has 3 hours of

English language classes a week. The subjects were at the intermediate level of English.

The following tables present personal characteristics of the subjects participating

in the survey.

Total 58 100%

Sex

Women 23 39%

Men 35 61%

Table 1: Personal characteristics of the subjects: Sex

Total 58 100%

Age

16 8 13%

17 15 25%

18 23 39%

19 14 23%

Table 2: Personal characteristics of the subjects: Age

More than a half of the subjects (69%) hold an intermediate degree and the 18

are beginners. See table 3.

29

Total 58 100%

Classes

First class 18 31%

Second class 21 37%

Third class 19 32%

Table 3: Personal characteristics of the subjects: Classes

2.3.2 The teacher of students

The teacher who participated in the research holds a MA degree in English. The

teacher has been teaching for 6 years. In total the teacher has 8 years of experience of

teaching English as a Foreign Language to students of different levels.

2.3.4 Research tools

The questionnaire was carried out by the use of two independent tools. The first

are questionnaires which were distributed among the students of high school. The

second was an interview made with a tutor of one of the students. The questionnaire was

used to gather detailed and authentic information which would latter allow to create an

informative profile outlining preferences of students of English language. The questions

were created to extract the answer to the relevant research question. The questionnaires

comprised of 12 questions:

a) 5 Yes/No questions, e.g.

Where do you meet with new vocabulary?

1. during the lesson. Y N

2. When reading in school. Y N

3. When reading outside of school. Y N

4. While listening to songs and watching TV in English. Y N

5. When you surf the internet. Y N

6. While browsing the dictionary. Y N

30

b) 3 numerical scale questions, e.g.

Which vocabulary test strategies do you think are the most effective? For each

strategy select one number from 1 to 5; 1 if the strategy is least effective and 5 if

you think that strategy is the most effective.

1. Multiple Choice 1 2 3 4 5

2. Gap-filling 1 2 3 4 5

3. Cloze test 1 2 3 4 5

4.True/false 1 2 3 4 5

5. Translation 1 2 3 4 5

6. Matching 1 2 3 4 5

7. Sentence completion 1 2 3 4 5

8. Oral testing 1 2 3 4 5

c) 1 open question, e.g.

What methods or strategies do you find helpful during learning vocabulary?

Please select from the question no. 8 and justify why.

The questions centered around five problematic areas which were drawn from the

research questions. The first 3 questions were asked to obtain the personal

characteristics of the subjects.

Example:

Sex (Circle one):

Male Female

Questions from 5 to 7 were aimed to provide an insight to show in what

situations students meet new vocabulary and how they approach this problem. They had

to circle letter Y if they were agreeing with the answer or to circle letter N if they were

not agreeing with the answer.

31

Example:

What do you do when you meet a new word? Y N

1. I ask a person, that gives me the explanation Y N

2. I note it and look for the meaning later Y N

3. I look for the meaning in the bilingual dictionary Y N

4. I look for the meaning in monolingual dictionary Y N

5. I emphasize the word and I look for the meaning later Y N

The purpose of the next 4 questions was to determine students’ preferences as

for the techniques of strengthening vocabulary, presenting vocabulary and testing

vocabulary. The question was designed to help us to notice what methods students use

and which they consider to be more or less effective. In question 8 the students had to

circle letter Y if they were agreeing with the answer or the circle letter N if they were

not agreeing with the answer whereas in questions from 9 to 11 the students had to rate

the strategies in a scale of 1 to 5.

Example:

Which technique of strengthening vocabulary is the most effective?

1. Saying the words aloud 1 2 3 4 5

2. Repeating the word writing 1 2 3 4 5

3. Word list 1 2 3 4 5

4. Using the vocabulary when speaking 1 2 3 4 5

5. Using the vocabulary when writing 1 2 3 4 5

6. Doing a test to test my knowledge 1 2 3 4 5

7. Repeat the vocabulary regular 1 2 3 4 5

The last question was created to ask students about the strategies which they use

to remember new word. They had to choose the techniques from question number 8 and

students had to justify why they chose this technique.

Example:

What methods or strategies do you find helpful when you are learning

vocabulary?

32

The other tool used in the research was an interview with teachers. The

interviews were chosen to ask a teacher which techniques of strengthening, presentation

and testing they use.

2.5 Research procedure

The questionnaire was preceded by a pilot study conducted among 4 randomly

chosen people aged between 16 and 19. The subjects had no difficulties in

understanding the language of the questionnaire, however, some of them suggest that

question number 12 is not clear for them.

The questionnaire was administered on 24th

April 2014. The subjects were asked

to come on break lesson to the class and fill in the questionnaire in anonymously. All the

instructions were given in Polish to avoid misunderstanding. At the beginning the

subjects were instructed how to fill the questionnaire properly. The participants were

also reminded that the questionnaires were anonymous and they do not have to sign

them. Students were given 15 minutes to complete the questionnaire.

The semi-structured interview was held on 30th

April, 2014 with the teacher of

teenagers at school. The interview started with discussing about teaching children

generally, than, the interviewee was asked about the techniques of presenting,

strengthening and testing which are often used and which are considered as the best and

why.

33

Chapter III

Research Results

The third chapter provides results obtained by the author of the thesis in the

research he carried out. It consists of visual representation of the data gathered in the

process of the study as well as written description. In the first part of the chapter the

results of the questionnaire are presented and in the second part the answers provided by

the teacher in a semi-structured interview.

3.1 Questionnaire results

The following is a presentation of the results of the questionnaires filled by

teenagers attending English lessons in Zespół Szkół Technicznych i Ogólnokrztałcących

in Tarnowskie Góry.

3.1.1 Occasions in which students meet new vocabulary and ways of dealing with it

The subjects were asked about two questions which aim was to show in which

situations students meet new words and what they do in this situation. Question number

5 was to show when students meet new vocabulary. The choice was limited to 4 options.

Majority of the subjects (50%) selected the answer “during the lesson” as a prevailing.

The second (23%) was during listening songs and watching TV in English language. On

third place was the answer “during surfing in the internet” (15%). The last answer was

“during reading the text being outside of school” (12%). The research showed that most

of teenagers meet new vocabulary only during the lesson and rest of them meet a new

vocabulary doing other activities.

34

Figure 1: Occasions in which students meet new vocabulary

The next question aimed to check what students do, when they meet new word.

This question contained 4 answers. 56% of respondents look a new word meaning in the

bilingual dictionary. 34% of respondents ask someone for a meaning of the word. 10%

percent emphasize the word and look for the meaning later. Only one person (1%) looks

for the meaning in monolingual dictionary. For further details go to figure 2.

Figure 2: What students do when they meet a new word

50%

23%

15%

12%

during the lesson

during reading the text outsideof school

during listening songs andwatching TV in English language

during surfing the internet

56% 34%

10%

1%

1. looking for new wordmeaning in the bilingualdictionary

2. asking someone for ameaning of the word

3. ephasizeing the word andlooking for the meaning later

4. look for the meaning inmonolingual dictionary.

35

The last question was what strategies students are using to discover meaning of

the new word. The question contained 5 answers. 20 and 16 of the students respectively

stated that they “never” and “rarely” identify words to their part of speech. Only 8

students said that they always use this strategy. Also guessing form the context is not

popular in this group of students. Only 9 of them always use this strategy and only 5 of

them use it frequently. Most of the students prefer to use bilingual dictionaries. 30 of

them choose the answer “always” and 13 of them choose that they use it frequently.

Also asking a native speaker is quite popular. 14 of asking choose the answer “always”

and 20 of them choose the answer “sometimes”. As it is seen using monolingual

dictionaries is not very common.

Figure 3: Strategies used to discover meanings of new words

3.1.2 The effectiveness of strengthening vocabulary techniques

Questions 8 and 9 were to determine which techniques of strengthening

vocabulary are the most effective. The first question was asking how do students

remember a new word. In most cases (70%) students tend to create the image of the

meanings of words in their mind to consolidate words meaning. The second was relating

words' meaning with the objects they refer to remember (52%). Connecting the words in

the group (14%) and creating a sentence with the word (19%) were not very common.

34% 41%

0%

36%

17%

27% 17%

5%

32%

13%

20% 17%

20%

25%

34%

5% 9%

23%

0%

11%

14% 16%

52%

7%

25%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Analyze part ofspeech

Guessingfromt hecontext

Using bilingualdictionary

Usingmonolingual

dictionary

Asking a nativespeaker or

teacher

Always

Frequently

Sometimes

Rarely

Never

36

Figure 4: How students remember a new word

The answers elicited to question 9 were rated on a scale from 1 to 5; 1 meant

least effective and 5 meant most effective. The students had to assess which strategy of

strengthening the vocabulary is most effective. According to students the most effective

technique of strengthening vocabulary are word list and repeating the word regularly.

Least effective according to students are using words while writing and speaking.

Most effective

Least effective

Word list (21,3)

Repeating the word regularly (17,2)

Doing a tests to test a knowledge (14,3)

Repeating the word, writing (12,7)

Saying the word aloud (10,4)

Using words while writing with someone (5,2)

Using words while speaking with someone (4,6)

Table 1: The effectiveness of the vocabulary strengthening strategies

52%

30%

14% 19%

70%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Relate words withobjects refer

to

write the wordand its

pronunciation.

Grouping words Word uses in thesentence

Image word'smeaning

37

3.1.3 Effectiveness of vocabulary testing strategies

Question 11 aimed to determine which strategies of testing vocabulary are the

most effective and which are least effective. The results showed that almost all of the

subjects consider that filling the gaps/cloze test and creating a sentence using a word as

the most effective strategies of testing. Also most of the subjects think that true/false test

and translation from L1 is the least effective.

Most effective

Least effective

Filling the gaps (15,6)

Cloze test (14,3)

Sentence completion (13,7)

Oral testing (11,5)

Matching (10,9)

Throwing the word from the group (9,4)

Translation from L2 to L1 (8,1)

Translation from L1 to L2 (7,3)

True/false test (5,2)

Table 2: Testing vocabulary strategies.

3.1.4 Effectiveness of presenting vocabulary strategies

Question 11 were to determinate which strategies of presenting vocabulary are

the most effective and which are least effective. Most of the students choose

illustrations, realia and describing of the meaning or a thing as the most effective while

direct translation and drawing on the blackboard as least effective. The results are

shown in the table below.

Most effective

Least effective

Illustrations, realia (17,3)

Describing the meaning (16,7)

Definitions (15,3)

Showing the meaning using gestures (13,4)

Using a word in the context by a teacher (12,6)

Synonyms, Antonyms (10,3)

Drawing on the blackboard (9,4)

Direct translation (7,2)

Table 3: Effectiveness of presenting vocabulary strategies.

38

3.1.4 Strategies which are used by the students

As there are various learning ways, students were able to write down the method

that they use and explain why. There were five students answered this question. Four

students gave a same answer that they watch English movies in their spare time. This

method is alike the method of reading English book. By using both of these two

methods, students can encounter plenty of words and learn words in context. There is

one student wrote that learn English definition of a word. Learning English definition of

a word instead of Polish meaning can help students do not rely on mother tongue and do

not affected by Polish meaning of the word. In addition, students can understand the

word more deeply. This method has a relationship with the method of using a bilingual

dictionary, because the dictionary provides students a good definition of a word in both

Polish and English.

3.2 Semi-structured interview results

It was difficult to interview with the teachers. They did not have time to answer

to the question because they did not have much free time. Teachers are working in

Zespół Szkół Technicznych i Ogólnokształcących in Tarnowskie Góry.

The first question was: How do you present vocabulary and why? One of the

teachers answered that she teaches vocabulary by using pictures because she considers

that most of the students are visual and it is easy for her to catch their attention. While

the other teacher answered that she teaches vocabulary using sentences and short

reading because it is important for her that students learn how to read fluently. The

results show that one of them uses picture as a technique to teach vocabulary, but the

other uses what she thinks is best for students’ learning.

In the second question teachers had to answer what techniques they used to test

vocabulary. One teachers answered the most effective techniques could be filling the

gaps and creating a sentence with a given word for more advanced students but for least

students better could be true/false test and translation of the word from L1 to L2

because she does not want to discourage students to the language. The other teachers

answered that she prefers to ask orally and also to use cloze tests.

The last question was how they help to remember and strengthen new

vocabulary. Both teachers said that they group the vocabulary than they do tasks in the

books with the students because they think that it helps to strengthen new vocabulary

and they can control it. They think that weaker students are afraid to answer the

39

questions aloud so they can check it individually checking the answers during the lesson

with class.

40

Chapter IV

Conclusions and Teaching Implications

This chapter contains conclusions and recommendations with reference to the

results of the research described in the previous chapter. The conclusions helped to

construct teaching implications which could serve as a guidance for the teachers on how

to approach vocabulary teaching with teenagers.

The purpose of the research was to provide answers to five research questions,

which would help to show which techniques students think that are the best to

strengthen a new words. The next step was to show which techniques students think are

better to present vocabulary and to test vocabulary. The third step was to determinate

which techniques students use individually during learning new words and why. The

last step was an interview with teachers to find out what methods and techniques they

use.

4.1 When students meet new vocabulary and what they do with a new word

According to the research, the majority of the subjects meet new vocabulary

mostly during the lesson at school. Such a great number of these answers suggests that

most of students are not looking for new vocabulary and what is more, some of them

may not have a contact with a language aside from school. With reference to the results

it should be advised that teachers should encourage students to look for opportunities of

learning new words. It is worrying because the best way to learn vocabulary is to look

for the solution on their own. A good idea may be a notebook for vocabulary and a test

every week to check students’ knowledge.

The research showed that nonetheless some of the students meet new words

during watching TV series and listening songs and the lowest number of respondents

meet new words surfing in the internet and the last one was the answer “during reading

the text being outside of school”. These results show that half of the students are not

interested in learning English language outside of school but the other part of students

watch TV series in English or listen songs and check the words that they do not know.

With reference to that it may be advised to the teachers that they should encourage

students to self-study of language because students remember more than during the

lesson in the classroom because they feel the real need. The suggestion for a teacher

would be to watch a TV series or to listen to songs during the lesson with students to

41

make them interested in the language and to create a real need to study the language.

The results also show that most of the students when they meet new words look

for the meaning in the bilingual dictionary. This is not a good habit because students do

now know the full meaning of the word and they may have problems with using the

word in practice. Also many of respondents ask someone for a meaning of the word.

This way of solving this problem can be effective, because someone can describe the

meaning of the sentence and they will understand the meaning not a translation from

mother language. Some of students emphasize the word and look for the meaning later.

It is a bad habit for students, because they will forget about it and they will not feel a

real need and the last one was using monolingual dictionary. The teacher should

introduce the students how to use the monolingual dictionaries, because looking for the

meaning of the new word in this kind of dictionaries is the most effective for teenagers.

Students read the sentence and they know what it means in English and how it is used.

Also this kind of dictionaries should be used by students during the lesson and every

student should be provided with a copy.

4.2 Strengthening vocabulary

Most of students remember new vocabulary trying to create a picture with a

meaning of the word in their mind but also some of them relate words with objects. This

way of strengthening vocabulary is great but unfortunately students cannot imagine

every word. Some situations are hard to imagine. Some students choose that they write

the word and its pronunciation. This strategy can be helpful when the teacher introduce

during the lesson how to read a transcription properly. Thanks to the fact students will

be able to say a word in an appropriate manner. Least of students use word in the

sentence and at the end was grouping words. Grouping words requires a sacrifice of

time so maybe it is a reason why students do not like to use it. It is a pity that most of

these students do not use a word in the sentence because using this technique students

can use every word and it helps them to remember the word really fast. Referring to the

results, the advice is to show the students the easiest way of strengthening vocabulary,

because maybe some of them do it in a wrong way and it bothers them instead of

helping. Also teachers should practice phonetic transcription during the lesson.

The next results show that most of the students consider that word list, repeating

the word regularly and doing a tests to test a knowledge are the best strategies of

strengthening vocabulary, however saying the word aloud, using words while speaking

42

and writing are the least effective strategies. The teachers admitted that they group the

vocabulary and they do tasks in the books with students because they think that it helps

to strengthen new vocabulary and they can control what students are learning. Using a

word list actually students does not learn the words but learns the order in which the

words are written. It is worrying because it will be hard for them to remember the words

when students will have to use words in everyday life. Repeating the word regularly

allows to remember the word better because a person learns best by repeating the

activity and thanks to it the word can be rooted deeply in the memory. The advice that

can be given are that the teacher should do a test that will show which strategies should

be suited to the each student. It would help students to learn a vocabulary.

4.3 Testing vocabulary

The results show that according to students tasks like filling the gaps, cloze test,

creating the sentence using a given word and oral testing are the most effective to test a

vocabulary knowledge. Throwing the word from the group, translations and true/false

tests are least effective to test a vocabulary knowledge. The teacher answered that the

most effective technique for her is filling the gaps and creating the sentences with given

word for more advanced students but for weaker students better could be true/false test

and translation from mother tongue to foreign language while the other said that she

prefers to ask students orally.

It shows that students prefer tasks that are easy to do and where they have the

possibility of multiple choice. In this kind of test strategies the students can notice how

the word is used in a given context. Unfortunately this kind of exercises does not show

the real knowledge of students because they can choose a correct answer randomly. The

sentence completion can test not only vocabulary knowledge but also a grammar.

Oral testing can be a good strategy to test vocabulary knowledge of the students

because the student cannot cheat during this test and the teacher can also check how

students pronounce words. Translation is not a good strategy to test vocabulary because

the teacher is not able to check that the students understand the real meaning of the

word. It also applies to true/false tests. When the teacher wants to do a vocabulary test

he or she should create a test that is not so hard but also not so easy for students. The

test should contain few exercises where they can choose a correct answer but also a few

exercises that they have to think about the meaning of the word.

43

4.4 Presenting vocabulary

The results show that according to students illustrations, realia, describing the

meaning and definitions are the most effective and synonyms, drawing on the

blackboard and direct translation are the least effective strategies. Also teachers said that

they use illustrations and realia very often. One of the teacher said that she use pictures

because she considers that most of the students are visual and it is easy for her to catch

the attention of the students. The other teacher answered that she uses vocabulary using

sentences and short reading because it is important for her that students learn how to

read fluently.

Realia and illustrations are a efficient way of presenting vocabulary because

students are able to see the word but it is not a good strategy for a students that their

level of English language. This kind of strategies should be used mostly when the

teacher learn small kids because they learn better when they can touch, see and smell

the things and a vocabulary of teenagers is at a more advanced level.

The teacher using a description of the meaning can be more effective for

teenagers because they know the basic vocabulary and they will be able to understand

the description of the word given by the teacher. It also regards to the definitions.

Unfortunately synonyms, antonyms should not be marked as a least effective strategy

because using antonyms the student can understand the meaning without knowing the

Polish word meaning but only if student knows the meaning of the main word.

Drawing on the blackboard should not be used with the teenagers because it is

also like realia and illustrations; mostly for a small children and it is hard to show the

real meaning of the word. Direct translation is the worst strategy to present vocabulary

because as the previous strategy; it does not show the real meaning and the students

may have a problem to use the word properly.

The advice for the teacher could be to use definitions and descriptions of the

meaning with the students that their language level is high and they know most of the

vocabulary. The teacher can also use monolingual dictionaries during the lesson. If the

teacher have a weaker students that their vocabulary is not that rich he should use a

illustrations and also he can use students’ mother tongue to describe the meaning and to

introduce the definition because probably these students will have a problem to

understand the meaning in English.

44

4.5 Strategies used by students

The results show that almost all of students learn English language during

watching movies in English because they can encounter plenty of words and learn in the

context. One of the students wrote that s/he prefers to learn words with English

definitions. Thanks to it students can understand the meaning more deeply than

translating it. This only confirms that students learn better by doing some action than

just they are sitting and memorizing the words. The teacher should encourage students

to watch TV in English at home because they will unconsciously learn English

language.

45

Appendix no. 1 – Questionnaire for students in English

Age:

Sex:

Male Female

Class:

_____________________

1. Do you like to learn English?

YES NO

2. How would you rate your knowledge of the English language?

1. weak

2. good

3. very good

3. How do you think, it is important to study vocabulary while learning the English

Language?

Not important 1 2 3 4 5 Very important

5. Where do you meet new vocabulary

1. During the lesson Y N

2. During reading outside of school Y N

3. During listening songs and watching TV in English language. Y N

4. During surfing in the internet. Y N

46

6. What do you do when you meet new word

1. I ask someone for the explanation. Y N

2. I look for a meaning in bilingual dictionary. Y N

3. I look for a meaning in monolingual dictionary. Y N

4. I emphasize the word and I look for the meaning later. Y N

7. How do you discover the meaning of new vocabulary?

1. I analyse the form of a word. Y N

2. I try to guess from the context. Y N

3. I use bilingual dictionary. Y N

4. I use monolingual dictionary. Y N

5. I ask about the meaning of a word in English. Y N

8. How do you remember new word?

1. I connect sentences with things. Y N

2. I write the word and its pronunciation. Y N

3. I combine words into groups. Y N

4. I write words in a sentence. Y N

5. I imagine the meaning of the word. Y N

9. Rate on scale of 1 to 5. Which strategy of strengthening vocabulary is the most

effective

1. Saying the word aloud. 1 2 3 4 5

2. Repeating the word, reading. 1 2 3 4 5

3. Word list. 1 2 3 4 5

4. Using word while speaking. 1 2 3 4 5

5. Using word while writing. 1 2 3 4 5

6. Taking the test to check my knowledge. 1 2 3 4 5

47

7. Repeating words regularly. 1 2 3 4 5

10. Which strategies of vocabulary testing are the most effective?

1. Multiple choice. 1 2 3 4 5

2. Filling the gaps 1 2 3 4 5

3. Creating sentence using given word. 1 2 3 4 5

4. Translation from Polish to English 1 2 3 4 5

5. Translation from English to Polish 1 2 3 4 5

6. True/false test. 1 2 3 4 5

7. Oral test. 1 2 3 4 5

8. Matching 1 2 3 4 5

9. Throwing out a word from the group. 1 2 3 4 5

11. Which strategies of presenting the vocabulary are the most effective?

1. Illustrations, pointing 1 2 3 4 5

2. Showing using gestures 1 2 3 4 5

3. Synonyms, antonyms 1 2 3 4 5

4. Definitions 1 2 3 4 5

5. Direct translation from the native language 1 2 3 4 5

6. Drawing on the blackboard 1 2 3 4 5

7. Description of meaning 1 2 3 4 5

8. Word use in the context 1 2 3 4 5

9. Through the senses (realia) 1 2 3 4 5

12. Write down the methods that you use during learning the vocabulary and

justify why? Please select from the question no. 8

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

48

Appendix no. 2 - Questionnaire for students in Polish

49

50

51

52

Appendix no. 3 – Interview with the teacher

Interview No. 1:

T: Teacher

I : Interviewer

I: Welcome. I would like to ask you several questions about techniques of teaching

vocabulary. Could you give me some attention, please?

T: Sure!

I: The first question is how do you present vocabulary and why?

T: I prefer to use pictures because I think that most of the students are visuals and I can

easily catch an attention when they are not listening to me.

I: Ok, thank you and the next question is what techniques do you use to test vocabulary?

T: Can I divide it into most and least students?

I: Sure!

T: So the most effective techniques could be filling the baps and creating the sentences

with a given word for more advanced students but I think that for least students better

can be true/false test and translation from the mother tongue and from foreign language

because I think that when I will use too difficult exercises they will have a bad marks

and this could discourage them from learning.

I: Thank you. And the last question is how do you help to remember and strengthen a

new vocabulary?

T: Actually I do a tasks from the books with the students because we have to and the

books are created for that; to strengthen new vocabulary. Students are afraid to answer

aloud so they can check the exercises with everyone.

I: Excellent. Thank you for the Interview!

53

Appendix no. 4 - Interview with the teacher

Interview No. 2:

T: Teacher

I : Interviewer

I: Good Morning! I would like to ask you few questions about teaching students, can I

start?

T: Sure, go ahead!

I: Great. Could you tell me how do you present vocabulary and why?

T: I like to present vocabulary using sentences because I can check that students

understand the meaning and to check the exercise reading with students because is

important for me that students should know how to read fluently and that they should

not to be scared during reading exercises even, if their answers are wrong.

I: Thanks. The next question that I want to ask you is: what techniques do you use to

test vocabulary?

T: I like to ask orally because in this situation students are not able to cheat but when I

do a normal test I prefer to use cloze tests.

I: Thank you. The last question is: how do you help to remember and strengthen new

vocabulary?

T: I use books that students must have every lesson and I do topics that are included in

this books, I give them homework and when they do an exercises during the lesson I ask

them about the answer but when someone is shy, he can check it with everybody.

I: Ok. Thank you that you find some free time for me.

T: Your are welcome!

54

References:

1. Allen, V.F. (1983). Techniques in Teaching Vocabulary. Oxford American

English.

2. Arabski, J. (1996). Przyswajanie Języka Obcego i Pamięć Werbalna. Śląsk.

3. Based Activities for Academic Success. NCS Pearson Inc.

4. Dakowska, M. (2007). Teaching English as a Foreign Language. Wydawnictwo

Naukowe PWN.

5. Doff, A. (1988). Teach English. Cambridge University Press

6. Harmer, J. (2007). How to Teach English. Pearson Longman.

7. Hughes, A. (1989). Testing for Language Teachers. Cambridge University

Press.

8. Kolln, M., Funk, R. (2008). Understanding English Grammar. Longman.

9. Komorowska, H. (2001). Metodyka Nauczania języków obcych. Fraszka

Edukacyjna.

10. Montgomery, J. K. (2007). The Bridge of Vocabulary: Evidence

11. Nation, I. S. P. (2001). Learning Vocabulary in Another Language. Cambridge

University Press.

12. Richards , J. C. (2001). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching.

Cambridge University Press.

13. Richards, J. & Smitdt, R. (2002). Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching

and Applied Linguistics. Longman

14. Rupley, W., Logan, J., & Nichols, W. (1999). Vocabulary instruction in a

balanced reading program. Reading Teacher, p.339.

15. Stahl, S.. (1999) Vocabulary Development. Brookline Book.

16. Scrivener, J. (1998). Learning Teaching. Oxford: Macmillan.

17. Szałek, M. (2004). Jak motywować uczniów do nauki języka obcego? Wagros.

18. Thornbury, S. (2002). How to Teach Vocabulary. Pearson Education Limited.

19. Tompkins, G. (2005). Language Arts: Patterns of Practice. Prentice Hall PTR.

20. Ur, P. (1996). A course in Language Teaching. Cambridge University Press.

55

Summary in Polish

Celem niniejszej pracy dyplomowej było przedstawienie technik uczenia języka

angielskiego w szkołach ponadgimnazjalnych w Polsce oraz określić, które z tych

technik są najbardziej a które najmniej efektywne.

Rozdział pierwszy zawiera ogólną teorię na temat słownictwa, jak słownictwo

jest przyswajane przez ludzką pamięć, typy pamięci. W dalszej części pracy autor

przedstawia techniki prezentacji, testowania oraz metody utrwalania słownictwa.

Następnie znajdują się informacje na temat lekcji dla początkujących,

średniozaawansowanych oraz zaawansowanych uczniów. Na końcu rozdziału został

opisany profil osób, które były badane podczas tworzenia tejże pracy.

Drugi rozdział przedstawia badanie, w którym wzięło udział 58 uczniów w

wieku od 16 do 18 roku życia uczęszczających do szkoły średniej oraz dwoje

nauczycieli języka angielskiego. Rozdział ten zawiera pytania badawcze, omówienie

czasu i miejsca badań oraz podmiotów biorących w nich udział. Scharakteryzowano

również narzędzia badawcze oraz wyjaśniono podstawę ich zastosowania.

W trzecim rozdziale zostały zaprezentowane rezultaty przeprowadzonych badań

zgodnie z kolejnością wcześniej postawionych pytań badawczych. Badania zostały

przeprowadzone za pomocą ankiety oraz wywiadu. W rozdziale znajdują się również

szczegółowo opisane oraz graficznie przedstawione na wykresach i w tabelach wyniki.

Ostatni rozdział przedstawia wnioski z przeprowadzonych badań oraz sugestie

dotyczące nauczania, prezentowania, utrwalania oraz testowania słownictwa z

młodzieżą. Wnioski zostały przedstawione zgodnie z pytaniami badawczymi i

przeplatane są implikacjami, które mogą posłużyć nauczycielom w planowaniu kursów

i lekcji językowych. Z badań wynikło, że uczniowie nie są zainteresowani uczeniem się

języka angielskiego poza zajęciami w szkole, a tylko niewielka część uczy się w domu.

Większość uczniów szuka znaczenia słownictwa w dwujęzycznym słowniku. Większość

uczniów wyobraża sobie znaczenie w głowie lub łączy znaczenie z jakąś rzeczą podczas

utrwalania słownictwa natomiast znaczna mniejszość używa słowa w zdaniu i grupuje

słownictwo. Według uczniów najbardziej efektywną techniką testowania słownictwa są

uzupełnianie luk, tworzenie zdań za pomocą podanego słowa oraz pytanie ustne

natomiast tłumaczenie, wyrzucanie słów z grupy oraz test prawda/fałsz są najmniej

efektywnymi technikami.