KUMPULAN SKRIPSI BAHASA INGGRIS LEARNERS’ATTITUDES TO ENGLISH VOCABULARY

LEARNERS’ATTITUDES TO ENGLISH

VOCABULARY LEARNING STRATEGIES

1. Introduction

Classroom setting L2 (Second Language) acquisition mainly consists of two parts: teaching and learning. During 1980 and 1990 the ‘learner-centeredness’ theory became very popular. It concerns that learners is the main part of the language acquisition process. In the classroom, the teacher teaches students under the same condition using the same teaching method. However, some students can acquire the language successfully but some fail to master it. Why does this happen? Wenden and Rubin state that learners bring a varied repertoire of learning skills in the process of language learning (Wenden & Rubin 1987: xvii). It means that to master a second language, learners themselves should use some learning skills to make their learning more effective. In the 1970s, researches were conducted concerning this part. Since then language teaching activities have become increasingly learner centered. More and more studies show that apart from teaching methodologies, learner strategies are another important factor that can affect foreign language acquisition. They will help learners become more autonomous and make the learning process more effective.

From the aspect of vocabulary learning, it is very important not only to know the meaning of the word, but also to know all the aspects of the word. However, what does it mean to say we know a word? Taylor briefly listed the seven degrees of knowing a word posited by Richards: knowledge of the frequency of the word in language; knowledge of the register of the word; knowledge of collocation; knowledge of morphology; knowledge of semantics; knowledge of polysemy and knowledge of the equivalent of the word in the mother tongue (Taylor 1990: 1-3). Some students find it hard to master a word and when they want to express meaning they find it impossible to select a suitable word. Are words stored separately in the mind? In contrast, words are stored systematically in our minds. Aitchison states that words are not heaped in mind like autumn leaves. Instead, they are organized in a system. The underlying of the principles of the system can be found. (Aitchison 2003:5). So knowing the organization of the mental lexicon will help the second languages learners acquire vocabulary more easily.

This essay discusses the strategies used in second language vocabulary acquisition and the attitudes of different levels of students toward these strategies. It compares the use of these strategies with the learners’ proficiency of vocabulary.

1.1 Aim

First, this essay focuses on the strategies applied in second language vocabulary acquisition.

Second, the studies illustrate the attitudes to the strategies among successful and unsuccessful learners in their vocabulary learning. Third, it discusses the effects these strategies may have on their vocabulary learning.

1.2 Material

The first hand and second hand materials are introduced here. The reasons why I choose those materials are also explained in this section.

The first hand material used in this study is Chinese junior students in college, who have been studying English as a second language for almost ten years. The reason why I choose college students is that they have been studying English as a second language for a long time and are familiar with it. They are about 22 years old and study in the medical department. They are mature enough to have the learner autonomy. Since my study focuses on learning strategies, it is important that the learner’s cognition is fully developed so that he can be aware of the learning process. They have English classes twice a week. In the class the words they learn are mostly related to medicine. Since the words about medicine have some special characteristics, some kind of vocabulary learning strategies may be more useful. For example, the words of medicine used for stomachache may have the same suffix, so affixation may be used more frequently. They also have to take the College English Test (CET). The vocabulary tested in CET has nothing to do with medicine. Thus, they study English after class all by themselves. In this process, they may use some strategies when learning vocabulary. There are two groups and in each group there are fifteen students. One group is successful learners, who

have passed the CET 6, which means that they meet the English level requested for Chinese college students. The other group is unsuccessful learners who failed in CET 4. There is a great distinction of English proficiency between successful learners and unsuccessful learners, so the results may be more obvious and persuasive.

The second hand materials are established theories about second language acquisition, mental lexicon and learning strategies. Articles and case studies are also used as secondary materials.

1.3Method

The purpose of this section is to explain the main terminology studied in this essay. The motivation and the method used and the choice made are explained here. A specific description of how the study is conducted is presented in this section.

1.3.1 Terminology

According to Rod Ellis learning can be broadly defined as the internalized rules and formulas used to communicate in the L2 (Ellis 1985: 292). In this sense it is the same meaning with acquisition. However, Krashen use learning to refer to the development of conscious through formal study. Acquisition, for Krashen, is the spontaneous process of internalizing the rules from natural language use (Krashen 1981: 19-39). In this study, the students are Chinese students who study English in China. There is no target language environment, so it is impossible for them to acquire (definition of Krashen) the L2. The students not only learn English in formal classroom setting, they can also access English in daily life. For example: they often check the official web set of BBC. Thus, it is not exactly what Krashen defines as learning. In this essay, Rod Ellis’ viewpoint is chosen to define learning. It is the synonym with the word acquisition.

According to Oxford Advanced dictionary, strategy means the process of planning sth or putting a plan into operation in a skillful way (Oxford 2000:1743). Linguists give several definitions of learning strategy. According to Rubin it means the techniques or devices used by a learner to acquire knowledge (Rubin 1975:43). Stern defines it as broadly conceived intentional directions (Stern 1992: 216). O’Malley and his colleague define it as the operations or steps that are used by a learner to facilitate the acquisition, storage, retrieval or use of information (O’Malley et al 1985:23). Ellis states that learning strategies are the particular approaches or techniques learners employed to try to learn an L2 (Ellis 1997: 76).

Although there are slight differences among the definitions, they all stress the skills used in learning a L2. Appropriate strategies can help the learner acquire the target language moreeasily and efficiently.

1.3.2 Questionnaire

Questionnaires and interviews are used as research method in this essay. Questionnaire is a good way to access the learner’s point of view (Brace 2004: 7). It is convenient and easy to conduct. In this study it is used as the first step of data collection. There are 8 questions for the students to answer. They are about the strategies they would use when they learn vocabulary. Brace mentions that questions should be carefully contrasted and place in proper order in order to get the expected answer (Brace 2004: 43). The first 7 questions describe learning strategies and ask the students to choose from the four choices rating from very useful to not useful at all according to their own studying experience. Multiple choices are used in the 7 questions because it is easy to control the answers of the students and I can get the results I expected. The eighth question is an open answer question. There might be strategies that are not mentioned in the former 7 questions but are used widely by the students. The last question is designed to be a ‘what-’ question in order to give the students a chance to express their own opinions. The questionnaire can be found in the appendix.

The 30 students were chosen randomly by my friend who is a teacher in a medical college. The only standard is that 15 of them passed CET6 and 15 of them failed CET4. They took part in the study voluntarily. My friend collected their e-mail addresses and sent them to me. I sent the questionnaire to the students via e-mail. When they finished answering the questions, they sent them back to me via e-mail. I divided the questionnaires into two groups according to the grade of CET. One is successful learners who passed the CET6, and the other is unsuccessful learners who failed in CET4.

1.3.3 Interview

After the collection and analysis of the questionnaire, interviews were made to get more

specific observation. 5 successful learners and 5 unsuccessful learners were chosen to be the interviewees. The interviewees were the students who did the questionnaire. The results I got from questionnaires may show that learners have different attitudes to the vocabulary learning strategies, so the questions used in the interview may be different for each student. Although the questions are not exactly the same for all the interviewees, they are mainly about how they use these strategies in their study, what kind of effects they bring to them and the advantages and the disadvantages of the strategy. The successful L2 learners and the unsuccessful L2 learners were interviewed separately to see whether they have used some strategies properly when they learn vocabulary. Since the number of interviewees is limited, there might other viewpoints towards the vocabulary learning strategies that I cannot analysis in this study.

The interview was conducted in the form of computer-accessed personal interviewing. It is an interviewing technique that the interviewer and the despondence sit in front of computer and communicate through chatting software. Since the students I interviewed were all college students, they did not have difficulty in using computer. I interviewed the student using MSN, through which I could see the interviewee’s reaction to my questions and made judgment. The content of the interview was recorded for further analysis.

2. Theoretical background

In this section, the theories that are relevant to the study are introduced.

2.1 Behaviorism

Behaviorism is an influential learning theory concerning the psychological development of

the learner. Behaviorists believe that language acquisition is the result of habit formation

(Lightbown & Spada 1999: 9). They use the term of habits to explain all kinds of behavior

found in language acquisition (Ellis 1997:31). Behaviorism stresses the association between

the target language and the language learner. When the learner receives the linguistic input

from the target language, no matter whether it is verbal or non-verbal, the process of

association begins. Through practice the association becomes stronger, and through the

reinforcement the learner adjusts his language. A habit forms through this process, and the

language learning process is regarded as the habit-formatting process. The quality and

quantity of language input which learners hear from the environment can help them to form

the habit and have an effect on their success in L2 acquisition (Lightbown & Spada 1999: 9).

In this aspect, learning a language is mainly about putting language items into the learner’s

ears and through this learners are forced to establish a habit. When the habit is formed,

language system is established in the learner’s mind and the learner can make the conditioned

reflex to the language.

From the behaviorism point of view, the most helpful strategy of learning vocabulary is

hearing the word repeatedly. The more frequently the word is heard, the more it will impress

the learner, and the easier the learner will acquire the word. For example, a person often hear

the phrase ‘thank you’ when doing somebody a favor, and although at first he doesn’t know

what it means, gradually he would understand it means that they appreciate his help. As a

habit forms in his mind, the phrase ‘thank you’ impresses him with its meaning. In this

process, through repeated hearing learners can acquire vocabulary.

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2. 2 Comprehensible input and information processing

Different from the behaviorism point of view, Krashen, as an innatist, proposes five

hypotheses concerning L2 acquisition, one of which is the input hypothesis. Krashen claims

that only when comprehensible input is available, the acquisition would occur.

Comprehension and acquisition can occur only if the input is just beyond the learner’s current

level of understanding the target language (Krashen 1985: 3). It means that not any input can

be acquired by the learner, and when input flood comes only those just beyond the learner’s

cognition can be acquired. According to comprehensible input theory, incidental focus on

language item can be an effective way of learning language, as soon as the input is

comprehensible.

Krashen also emphasizes that undirected pleasure reading can be an effective way of learning

language (Krashen 1985: 27). In L2 vocabulary acquisition, the new words should not be too

easy or too difficult for the learner. When learning vocabulary it is important to control the

level of the word and make it match the level of the learner’s cognation. Reading for pleasure

is a good way to acquire vocabulary but the reading material should be just beyond the

learner’s level.

Another theory concerning incidental focus on language items is the information processing

theory. Miller claims that the information that human can pay attention to at a time is limited

(Miller 1956: 96). If there is enough space in mental for the input, acquisition will happen, no

matter learner pays attention on purpose or out of awareness. The information processing

theory sees the learner’s mind as an unlimited container. However, it does not always have

space. When it is temporarily full, it needs time to digest and then there will be extra space for

now language inputs. Thus, there is a limited amount of inputs that learner can acquire at one

time, no matter whether the input is learned on purpose or not.

According to this theory if there is too much new information, the mental processing will be

blocked, so it also stresses the comprehensibility of context. As for vocabulary learning, there

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should not be too much new vocabulary appears in the context. Nation states that for

vocabulary growth, extensive reading should contain no more than 5% of unknown words to

ensure that guessing and comprehension occur (Nation 2001: 233). When there is enough

space in mental storage and the comprehensible input is not too much, acquisition can happen

automatically. When reading a comprehensible context, a small amount of vocabulary can be

learnt and it can be greatly expanded if learners do a great quantity of comprehensible

reading.

As for vocabulary acquisition, the number of the new words for learner to learner at one time

is important. If there are too few, the ‘mental space’ will be a waste, and if there are too many,

learner will not acquire them all. Thus, when learning vocabulary the amount of input is an

important aspect to consider.

2.3 The interactionist theory

The interactionist theory stresses the conversational interaction. Much acquisition occurs

during the conversational interaction. Long argues that to acquire a L2, only comprehensible

input is not enough, the opportunity of interacting with other speakers is also necessary (Long

1983: 177-93). When communicating with L2 learners, native speakers will adjust their

language to make the learners understand their meanings. This kind of conversation can help

to make the input comprehensible. For example: in vocabulary acquisition, when there is an

unknown word that appears and causes difficulty in comprehension, the native speaker would

explain it in a more simple way and try to make the learner understand it. In this process, as

the learner needs to know what the speaker means, he or she will ask the speaker to repeat the

word and pay more attention for its explanation. In this way the word is acquired. Another

perspective on the role of interaction in L2 acquisition is provided by Evelyn Hatch. Hatch

argues that interactions can help L2 learners produce utterances that they would not be able to

produce by themselves. It is called scaffolding (Hatch 1978: 401-35). For example:

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Native speaker: Will you come later?

Learner: Sorry, I no come.

Native speakers: That should be ‘I can’t come’.

Though the answer of the L2 learner is not a correct sentence, he or she cannot produce it

without the interaction with the native speaker. When hearing the incorrect utterance of the

learner, the native speaker can help him or her to improve it. The environment where

conversation takes place also helps learners acquire L2. It forms context for the conversation.

When learning L2 vocabulary, the environment of the conversation can help learners

understand the word meaning. In L1 learning, children form concepts that would be beyond

their cognation, if they play with advanced people, such as adults. Learning through the

conversation with an advanced learner can improve their use of vocabulary.

Negotiation also helps learners to acquire L2. One of the important features of negotiations is

that both learners and speakers contribute to achieving the understanding. Learners need to

show where they understand or do not understand, and refuse to give up trying to understand

it. Speakers try to adjust their language and make it more comprehensible. Sometimes they

need to repeat, clarify, and explain. It can make the input comprehensible. From the aspect of

vocabulary learning, negotiation is also proved to be useful and commonly used. Ellis used an

example given by Grass and E. Varonis to explain the common use of negotiation

Hiroko: A man is uh. Drinking c-coffee or tea with uh the saucer of the uh uh coffee set is uh in

his uh knee.

Izumi: in him knee.

Hiroko: uh on his knee.

Izumi: yeah

Hiroko: on his knee

Izumi: so sorry. on his knee (Ellis 1997: 47).

Through negotiation the two language learners have achieved comprehension of the use of his.

In this process they both learned the usage of the word.

In the interactionist’s view, learning vocabulary does not only need comprehensible input, the

conversation interaction is also necessary. Learners can encounter new words during the

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conversation with native speaker, and native speakers would consistently modify their speech

in the conversation with non-native speaker to suit their language level (Lightbown & Spada

1999: 43). For the language that the native speaker use is justified, the learner can understand

and use it as a comprehensible input. During the conversation the learner also need to produce

output. It is a good chance to use the vocabulary they have already learnt. In the conversation

with advanced learners the learner of lower level may hear unfamiliar words from the

advanced learner and they can negotiate the meaning of the words. This is also a process of

acquisition and this will also impress the learner. When a word is learnt, the learner may use it

in the conversation with others.

The interacitonist theory shows that learning vocabulary through conversation should be and

effective strategy. Not matter communicating with native speaker or negotiating with other L2

learners, the learner can get benefit from the conversation.

2.4 Word meaning theory and meaning changes

Aitchison states that there are mainly two arguments about word meaning, the fixed meaning

assumption and the fuzzy meaning assumption. The fixed meaning assumption claims that for

every word there exists a basic meaning, when learners acquire the basic meaning of a word,

the core of the word is acquired. Opposite to the fixed meaning viewpoint, the fuzzy meaning

viewpoint argues that word cannot have a fixed meaning (Aitchison 2003: 41-52).

According to Aitchison, words have fuzzy meanings. She describes this vividly using a

metaphor that word meanings cannot be pinned down as dead insects. In contrast, they are

like live butterflies fluttering around elusively (Aitchion 2003: 41). She explains the

relationship between the word and the thing. First, people translate the thing in real life into a

concept. Then the word meaning overlaps with the concept to a large extent. Thus, the

concept may extend beyond the word (Aitchison 2003: 43). That means it is impossible to pin

down a definite meaning for a word.

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Word meaning changes through history. During this process, some words disappear, some

change thoroughly to other meanings, and some survive and develop more meanings. These

words become polysemy. There are only a few rare words that have one meaning. For the less

rare words, there are lists of meanings. As the word develops, new meanings creep in

alongside the old meanings making several meaning layers (Aitchison 2003: 154). In most

cases, there is a relationship between old meaning and the new developed meanings, such as

in metaphor, or metonymy. The relationship can be used to learn word meanings.

Words do not have fixed meaning. For a word, there are several layers of meaning. However,

the meanings do not shoot off in all directions. Instead, there are several types of meaning

change such as expansion, restriction, pejoration, amelioration, acceleration, retardation,

association, and differentation. Words are also usually used in metaphor, metonymy and other

expressions. This extends the meanings of words (Aitchison 2003: 151-61).

Since word meanings are fuzzy, when learning L2 vocabulary, it is impossible to translate the

word into a fixed meaning in the first language. Thus, learning vocabulary does not only mean

just memorizing one or some meanings of a word, it also means using the word appropriately

in a certain situation. In different situation the same word will show the different meanings.

Putting words in a certain situation and learning them through context would be an efficient

way to acquire vocabulary. Fuzzy meanings will be relatively fixed by the context.

2.5 Prototype theories and semantic network

Aitchison quotes Rosch’s definition of prototype that when mentioning a species of

something, people always tend to give the most typical one. The most typical one is almost

similar in most people’s eyes (Aitchison 2003: 57). For example when talking about bird,

people always think about robin instead of ostrich, because robin is the more typical bird in

most people’s mind. Prototype theory can be used to explain that people deal words in

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categories and people can recognize damaged examples of a category (Aitchison 2003: 57).

For example: the tiger with three legs is a damaged example of beast but people can still

recognize it is a tiger.

The semantic network is a network that represents the connections of concepts. The semantic net work shows that people do not deal with words separately. Instead, they are linked together and form an interconnected system. Aitchison arguers that people are likely to pick up words in pairs. For example: king and queen are linked together. Adults are likely to link word of the same part of speech together. For example: a noun can elicit another noun

(Aitchison 2003: 85). There are four main types of word association: coordination,

collocation, superordination, and synonymy. Coordination is the commonest association. It shows that words of the same category linked together. For example: when seeing the word apple, people would think about orange, banana, pineapple. Opposites also come into this category. For example: woman and man. Collocation is also a very common association. It shows that words are likely to be found together if they are used together in the speech. For example: phone and number are collocated together because of the use of phone number. Superordination is a less common association. It shows that a word can stimulate the word that includes it. For example: when seeing the word English, people would think about language. Synonymy is the least common association. For example: cheerful and happy.

(Aitchison 2003: 86)

Since the prototype theory and semantic network show the tight association between words, it

would be helpful for learners to learn vocabulary according to these associations. It might be

easier to learn the words that have connections between them than words that have no

relationship. For L2 vocabulary acquisition, learning the same species of words together

should be a good strategy to master words.

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2.6 The internal architecture of words

Aitchison claims that the affix is unlikely to be already attached in the lexicon if it can be

added on to a stem by a regular rule (Aitchison, 2003: 127). Nation states in Learning

Vocabulary in Another Language that most of the content words in English can change form

by adding prefixes (re-, un- in- dis- and so on) or suffixes (-ful, -less, -ly, -ness and so on).

These affixes can be divided into two kinds: derivational affixes and inflectional affixes

(Nation 2001: 164). Inflectional affixes are all suffixes. For example: books, -s is an

inflectional affix. Derivational affixes consist of prefixes and suffixes. For example: unknown,

un- is a derivational prefix, and comfortable, -able is a derivational suffix. The word

architecture theory states that the inflectional suffixes are commonly added when they are

needed in the speech (Aitchison, 2003: 136). For example: he goes to school. The suffix –es is

added to go, when it is necessary in the speech. However, derivational prefixes and suffixes

are already attached to their stems. For example: react and useful. A prefix always has a

certain meaning. When attached to a stem, the new word will have a new meaning transferred

from the prefix. For example: un- has the meaning of negation. When attached to happy, the

word unhappy has a new meaning which is ‘not happy’. A suffix can change the part of the

speech of the word. When a suffix is attached, a word may probably change its part of speech.

For example: ful is a suffix of adjective. When it is attached to the word beauty, the noun

changes its part of speech into adjective. The word Beautiful is an adjective. There are rules in

attaching affixes, so most of the words attached with affixes are regular. Affixation is one of

the important ways to create new words. There are seldom words that are invented out of

nothing; most of words are simply additions to the old words or recombination of existing

words (Aitchison, 2003: 175).

Learning word parts may be helpful to acquire vocabulary. The study of four prefixes un-, re-,

in- and dis- shows that approximately 60% of words with these prefixes can be understood by

knowing the meaning of the base word. With the help of the context and the less common

meanings of the prefixes, approximately 80% of the words with prefixes can be understood

(Nation 2001: 164).

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Affixation, compounding and conversion are three very useful ways of creating new words.

Affixation consists of suffixation and prefixion. Suffixation is a common method of forming

new word. There are three characteristics of suffixation. The first characteristic is that they are

attached to whole words. The second one is that they are added on to the major word classes.

The third one is that different word classes have their own suffixes. Different from suffixes,

prefixes are not often combined. Only one or two of prefixes can change word class.

Compounding is another way of creating new word. For example: aeroplane. The new

compound word must convey some further information. Furthermore, the relationship of the

two compound parts should be a permanent or habitual one. A third way of creating new word

is conversion. The most common conversion is from noun to verb. For example: I will text

you tomorrow afternoon. Here text means sent text message. The word text is used as a verb.

To understand the conversion, the context is always needed (Aitchison 2001: 175-87)

The internal architecture also can be used to direct L2 vocabulary acquisition. The prefixes

and suffixes all have their own functions and meanings, so when learning vocabulary, it is

much easier to divide the word in to several sections according to its formation. Adding

affixation is also a useful way to enlarge vocabulary. The stem will have a new meaning,

when it is attached with different prefixes or suffixes. Learners also can guess the meaning of

a new word according to its affixations. It also can be an efficient way of learning vocabulary.

2.7 Sound patterns

Aitchison claims in Words in the Minds that words are not stored evenly as they are written in

dictionary. Instead, they turned out to be stored unevenly, with some parts more prominent

than others. Then she further explains it as ‘bathtub effect’, which means that people

memorize the beginning and the ending of the word better than the middle part (Aitchison

2003: 138). For example: when memorizing literature, people are more likely to remember lt

and ture, and the middle part tera is always forgotten. Length of the word also has some effect

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on memorizing word by sound. The memory for the ends of long words was better than for

short words (Aitchisison 2003: 139). Aitchison also suggests that words with similar

pronunciation are not always helpful to memorize words they sometimes may block it

(Aitchison 2003: 147). The syllables within a word also have their own structures. The first

consonant is less attached to the following parts of the word. Thus, the words with similar

beginnings, similar endings and similar rhythm tend to be bonded tightly (Aitchison 2003:

146). The sound structure of the word might be used in learning vocabulary.

In Learning Vocabulary in Another Language Nation states that there is evidence showing

that through listening to a story learners can acquire vocabulary (Nation 2001: 118). However,

not all kinds of material are suitable for learner to learn new vocabulary through listening.

Nation concludes five conditions which are important for learners to learn vocabulary through

listening. They are interest in the content of the story, comprehension of the story,

understanding of the unknown words, and generative processing of the target vocabulary,

such as contexts, pictures, discussion and negotiation used to help learners stretch the

knowledge of the word (Nation 2001: 118).

Sound structure theory provides another strategy of learning vocabulary. Since words may be

stored according to pronunciation, learners can learn the words with similar pronunciations

together. It might be easier to learn words with similar sound patterns than those with

different sound patterns. In English, letters in the word have regular rules in pronunciation.

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