Third Assignment

Survey on measurement and evaluation in teaching and learning education Prof. Madia Dr. Baharin bin Abu

Ehsan Ataei

MP 101459

Mostafa Roustaei MP 101094 Saeid Farid MP 101394 Semester I 2011 Foundation I

Title: A Case study on Vocabulary-oriented teaching in IEC (Intensive English courses) reading classes in UTM University

Abstract

Based on inspections, there is not any vocabulary-oriented teaching and extensive reading in IEC (Intensive English courses) curriculum and teaching methodology. Based on our hypothesis, this shortage could result in low proficiency of students in meeting their academic needs. This case study examines students attitudes toward using Vocabulary-oriented teaching and extensive reading in IEC reading classes in UTM University. Among 39 IEC students, 3% were strongly disagree, 13% not sure, 19% disagree, 11% strongly agree, and 54% agree about the existence of problem in teaching vocabulary in IEC classes. Students could not learn vocabulary needed in their academic reading and writing, Results confirmed the hypothesis and it is recommended to apply vocabulary oriented teaching and use extensive reading in IEC course, in order to enrich students academic reading and writing.

Purpose This case study aims to find learners attitudes toward IEC reading classes, teaching Methodology and book syllabus and some elements of academic reading, which are vocabulary-oriented teaching and extensive reading. Hypothesis

It is assumed that lack of the lack of vocabulary-oriented teaching and Extensive reading in curriculum and teaching methodology of IEC classes result in low proficiency of students in meeting their academic needs.

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

Vocabulary

learning

is

fundamental

in

language

acquisition

regardless of the type of language which is taught (first, second or foreign language).For many years vocabulary learning was underestimated due to the power of structural approaches in which the emphasis was on grammatical and phonological structures. An important reason for the low status of vocabulary teaching and learning throughout 1940s, 1950s and 1960s was because of language teaching approaches based on American linguistic theories. Most influential was the Charles friess Teaching and Learning English as a Foreign Language (1945), he believed that grammar should be the fundamental pillar of language learning and also adopts a view of behaviorist psychology in which habit formation was introduced as an essential part in learning process. Because the emphasis was on teaching grammatical and phonological structures, the vocabulary needed to be relatively simple, with new words introduced only as they were needed to make the drills possible (Larsen Freeman 2000b; Zimmerman 1997).Assumption was that once students learned the structural frames, lexical items to fill the grammatical slots in the frames could be learned later, as needed. This approach of learning vocabulary is then rejected by Chomsky who believed that there is a rationalist framework in which the central assumption is being that language is represented as a speakers mental grammar, a set of abstract rules for generating grammatical sentences.

Language learning approaches based on this theory viewed learning as rule acquisition, not habit formation, and emphasized grammatical rules. Vocabulary was offered somewhat more importance, but the focus on rules of grammar still served to reinforce the idea that lexis was somewhat secondary. Then, Hymes (1972), while not rejecting Chomskys model,

extended it and gave greater emphasis to the sociolinguistic and pragmatic factors governing effective use of language. The teaching approach that evolve from these notions, referred to as communicative language teaching, promoted fluency over accuracy and consequently shifted the focus from sentence-level forms to discourse-level functions. This picture has changed dramatically within the last three decades. The challenge to the status began in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and by the late 1980s and early 1990s, vocabulary studies were developing exponentially and vocabulary teaching was coming into its own.

CHAPTER II METHODOLOGY Attitude is an important concept that is often used to understand and predict people's reaction to an object or change and how behavior can be influenced (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975) in order to evaluate this reaction this survey try to open a horizon toward further case studies on teaching 4 skills in IEC classes to the public dis satisfaction. In this case study we survey on the existence of a problem in teaching reading regarding to shortage in teaching vocabulary. In order to test this matter a questionnaire was designed in 20 questions based on the role of vocabulary in reading (reading comprehension, summarizing, paraphrasing) which are the common activities in EAP English for academic purposes also it was planned As Triandis (1971) mentioned based on component of likert type

questionnaire learner's feelings learner`s beliefs or knowledge and learners preferences about teaching vocabulary in reading classes. Participants Learners are new post graduate students with 5-5.5 Score in IELTS exam. Students have problem in learning vocabulary, It is very important because vocabulary knowledge will effect on EAP (English for academic purposes) they need this course for paraphrasing reading comprehension and summarizing in context of academic writing.

Face book inquiry (poll) Then, for being surer about this problem we add 104 students of IEC in one group in face book and ask them to fill the questionnaire based on this statement I am satisfied with the way of teaching vocabulary in My reading classes, students just need to tick appropriate box: 1-stongly agree 2- agree 3-not sure 4-disagree 5-strongly disagree

The points are 4, 3, 2, 1, 0 respectively; the result of the question is as follow: Strongly agree=4 person Agree= 19 person Not sure= 18 person Disagree= 30 person Strongly disagree=33 person Base on the poll (appendix I ) we had 104 participants more than 60% of them were dis satisfy with their classes So 5 likert type questionnaire was designed on line and also in paper form and was

distributed between IEC reading students the result from 39 questionnaire on line (Appendix III and in paper form Appendix II ) was as following. Main Themes based on questionnaire The results of this study can be divided into seven themes: 1-Extensive reading 2-Academic vocabulary 3-Vocabulary-oriented teaching 4-Using Authentic materials in teaching vocabulary 5-Learners` s general idea about teaching 6-Explicit vocabulary teaching 7-Teaching skills for Reading fluently Setting Intermediate English students with score band 5-5.5 in IELTS (international English language testing system) Participants: IEC English Reading postgraduate Students paper from on line and in

Validity All questions were designed base on major role of teaching vocabulary in Reading classes so although we could had some observations and interviews ( we had some interviews but because of the time we could not organize them ) for the validity of the questionnaire but questionnaire was enough to answer our research questions More research and case studies in this field also in relation between reading and writing will be needed.

CHAPTER III FINDINGS AND RESULTS

Gathering and analyzing of data when evaluating the attitude scales, positive attitudes have been graded from 5 to 1, and negative attitudes have been graded from 1 to 5. With the help Excel software calculations have been used and findings have been analyzed. Attitude plays a role in the process of learning a second language. Learners' attitude

Towards vocabulary-orientation teaching is assured to influence how Successful they will be in summarizing paraphrasing and reading comprehension as three major aspects of EAP (English for academic purposes 39 IEC learners fill up the questionnaire form and the analysis is as follows:

(Learners` s general idea about teaching) learners` attitude toward their reading class About 44% of students conveyed that they did not have any progress and 13% of them were not sure about their progress. (Vocabulary-oriented teaching) more than 60% of students in the poll were dissatisfied about shortage in vocabulary-oriented teaching in IEC classes. (appendix I) and in the questionnaire also about 70% of learners enounced which confirm our hypothesis about teaching vocabularyorientation that is not in the process of Reading teachers and classes in IEC. (See Figure. 1)

About 62% of learners insist on this fact that there is no relationship between their reading activities and writing, Using vocabulary in writing and the relationship between skills is very important. (See Figure. 2)

(Teaching skills for Reading fluently)74% of learners have low speed in their reading which affect fluent reading and the main cause is related to lack of vocabulary teaching in reading classes. (See Figure. 3)

(Academic vocabulary) about teaching academic vocabulary more than 50% of students agree that they did not learn it very much. (See Figure. 4)

About extensive reading more than 65% of students likes to have extensive readings, (in our informal interviews students talk about one project as an extensive reading which was their favorite. (See Figure. 5)

More than 60% of students are agreed that teacher implementation in vocabulary-oriented teaching was not found or weak ( in informal interviews students say they want their teachers to focus vocabulary and after that teach them some reading skills and also let them find their own text ( extensive reading ) and write some paragraphs based on the vocabulary that they have taught ( in some classes the teacher ask students to write in their classes but because there was no certain words in reading classes writing became none sense and not meaningful for the students.(See Figure. 6 )

In general among 39 IEC 3% strongly disagree 13% were not sure and 19% disagree and 11% strongly agree and learners 54% agree about the problem in teaching vocabulary-oriented . (See Figure. 7) they emphasis that it is necessary for them to know some certain words ( in academic context based on Liu Na and Nation (1985) also Nation & Waring (1997: l l) remark we need a vocabulary of about 3000 words which provides coverage of at least 95% of a text before we can efficiently learn from context with un simplified text.) If IEC students learn this vocabulary ( for sure they have learnt so many of them ) they can pass reading comprehension, summarizing,

paraphrasing better more over adding extensive reading helps them to get more familiar with the new word in their major as well as academic words. Suggestions for further studies We have several suggestions for further study. A longer qualitative case study should be conducted over the course of an entire semester in order to gain a complete picture of what is happening in IEC classroom. it is recommended to run a case study about vocabulary-oriented teaching in among all reading students and have pretest ( it can be IELTS reading test or some standard test in vocabulary proficiency ) and at the end of the semester have a kind of post test so with comparing this two test it will reveal that students have any progress in their vocabulary or not. Also another survey can be about the relationship of reading and writing class in EAP.it is clear that most of the students are not satisfied with most of IEC classes.It can be a problem about syllabus or teaching implementation which need more time observations interviews and case studies.

Implications The purpose of this case study was to examine how lack of teaching vocabulary affects the comprehension of meaning summarizing and paraphrasing. Additionally, the implications of this research are for IEC reading teachers. Several important points emerge from this study and give suggestions for how vocabulary should be taught in IEC reading classes. The first implication is the vital requirement for teachers to find new and innovative ways to teach vocabulary. Extensive reading is a good way for EAP students in IEC classes, because they have different majors so they can search and find their favorite texts and enrich their vocabulary through extensive reading and teacher can give the students some projects about it.

REFERENCE
Larsen-Freeman, D. (2000). Techniques and principles in language teaching, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, I. (1975). Belief, attitude, intention, and behavior: An introduction to theory and research. Reading

Hymes, D. (1972). On communicative competence, J. P. Pride & J. Holmes (Eds.) In Sociolinguistics: Selected readings, Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin Nation & Waring (1997: l l) Vocabulary Size, Text Coverage and Word Lists By Paul Nation and Robert Waring, 1997

Zimmerman, C. B. (1997) Historical trends in second language vocabulary instruction, In J. Coady & T. Huckin (eds.) Second language vocabulary acquisition, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Appendices

Appendix I

Appendix II Questionnaire Teaching vocabulary in IEC reading classes Dear Students Kindly answer following questions, your cooperation is highly appreciated. Statements: 1. I think I did not have any progress about vocabulary knowledge in my reading class.
2. After a semester I feel, I cannot summarize or paraphrase very well.

3. There is no relationship between vocabulary that i learn and my writing class so i think i will forget them.
4. I like to find vocabulary in other sources as well as my text book.

5. I cannot answer reading comprehension questions very well. 6. There is no plan for learning vocabulary in our class. 7. I am weak in reading comprehension. 8. I have a lot of unknown words in my reading book.
9. I feel I need more basic vocabulary to handle my reading.

10. My speed in reading is too low.

11. I have not learnt so many academic vocabularies in my reading class. 12. My teacher doesnt ask us to make sentence with new words.

13. I almost always use dictionary for paraphrasing.

14. My teacher doesnt use collocations in our reading class. 15. There arent various kinds of texts for our reading in class (texts from magazines,

articles, internet etc.)

16. We dont have Reading for fun in our class. 17. We dont have reading tests frequently in our reading class. 18. We dont practice on new words every session. 19. We dont learn new vocabulary of our readings before we read them. 20. We dont have so many class projects on learning new vocabulary.

Strongly Statements 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Strongly Agree Agree Not Sure Disagree disagree

19 20 Hope to have better English classes

Appendix III