The effect of part-of-speech strategy instruction on Thai elementary school students' vocabulary knowledge. TITLE The effect of part-of-speech strategy instruction on Thai elementary school students' vocabulary knowledge.
INTRODUCTION
- Background of the study
- Purposes of the study
- Scope of the study
- Significance of the study
- Definitions of key terms
- Structure of the thesis
The current study examines the effects of word-part strategy instruction on primary school students' vocabulary knowledge in a Thai EFL context. First, it aims to investigate the effects of part-word strategy instruction on the acquisition of vocabulary knowledge.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Vocabulary
- Definition of vocabulary
- Types of vocabulary
- Word selection
Jo Ann Aeborsold and Mary Lee (1997) divided two types of vocabulary; Active vocabulary and passive vocabulary. These words are essential; Therefore, Nation (2008) suggests that these words should be placed on the first list of target words in any type of vocabulary development program.
Knowing a word
In accordance with the field of use is the ability to use the word with linguistic accuracy (grammatical functions) and appropriate affixes (collocations) and awareness of word usability (constraints in use), including register and frequency. Phonics, spelling and word rearrangement skills enable students to decipher the meaning of a word and use the corresponding word in a different context.
Goals of vocabulary learning
- Vocabulary size for second language learners
- Vocabulary size for Thai EFL learners
According to Hirsh and Nation (1992), the knowledge of 5,000 word families covers 98 percent of the vocabulary in simplified texts. Moreover, they would be familiar with 98 percent of the signs if they had word families.
Vocabulary Learning Strategies (VLS)
- Definition of vocabulary learning strategy
- Component of learning strategy
- A taxonomy of vocabulary learning strategies
- The effects of training learners on vocabulary learning strategy use
In addition, there are many vocabulary learning techniques in the field of learning strategy. In addition, several studies have implemented different vocabulary learning strategies to teach students, such as using a dictionary, context clues, memory strategies, etc.
Word parts strategies
- Word parts; prefixes, base words, and suffixes
- What is a word part strategy for remembering new words?
- Types of vocabulary activities and procedures
Prefixes are meaningful parts of words that are added to the beginning of a root or base word to change its meaning. Prefixes have meanings, and they add those meanings to the meaning of the root or base word. Break the unknown word into parts' and 'Relate the meaning of word parts to the meaning of the word'.
In addition to the concept of vocabulary strategy, there are many techniques related to teaching vocabulary. Cutting complex words'; the list of words will be divided into parts for the students. The word in brackets is taught, so the student must change the stem to the correct form.
Searching for etymologies'; etymology refers to the origin or derivation of a word (also known as lexical change).
Related studies
The findings support the hypothesis at the beginning of the study that the findings of the experimental group exceeded the control group, which claimed that vocabulary learning would be gained or increased after using the part-of-speech strategy. The instruments used in this study were the Vocabulary Learning Strategies Questionnaire and the English-Thai version of the Vocabulary Size Test. Consequently, the finding showed that the participant's use of general learning strategies was moderately related to their vocabulary size.
The author suggested that one of the most effective instructions for learning vocabulary was identifying the meaning of new words or unfamiliar words. The results showed that most students were able to apply the prefix knowledge they learned in class to distinguish the meaning of the same prefixes with different meanings. In conclusion, the findings of the previous studies provide empirical evidence that many related aspects of word knowledge can facilitate vocabulary acquisition and language development.
The similarity in the previous study showed positive effects of teaching part of speech using multiple learning strategies, and the participants were a large group, their age is more than 12 years old.
Summary
Finally, many findings have revealed and concluded that multiple aspects of word knowledge (form, meaning, and usage) together are more useful in vocabulary acquisition than a single knowledge alone. These findings support that part-word strategy instruction is beneficial and increases students' vocabulary acquisition. However, this study focused on the use of word sharing strategy for primary school children in the Thai provincial school context.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
- Research design
- Participants and setting
- Participants in the main study
- Research instruments
- The Word Segmentation Test (WST)
- The L1 Translation Test (L1TT)
- Test of Word Part Use (TWP)
- Attitude Questionnaires
- Test development
- Selecting the target prefixes and suffixes
- Selecting the prompt words for the current study
- The lesson plan
- Data collection procedure
- Establishing the reliability and validity of the tests
- Data analysis
- Summary
An example of the part-of-speech usage test is shown in Table 14 (see also Appendix C). The second section reports Thai primary school students' attitudes towards the part-of-speech strategy teaching on their vocabulary knowledge. To answer Research Question 1, the current study investigated the effects of part-of-speech strategy instruction on Thai elementary school students' vocabulary knowledge.
The overall results show that elementary school students' vocabulary knowledge increased after using word strategy instruction. Therefore, part-of-speech knowledge helps students connect the meaning of the part-of-speech to the meaning of the word. Part-of-speech strategy instruction increases students' word knowledge and reading, writing, and grammar skills.
The current study investigated the effects of word sharing strategies on primary school students' vocabulary learning and development.
RESULTS
Vocabulary knowledge tests results
- Word segmentation test results
- The L1 translation test results
- Test of word part use results
In this section, the overall performance on the segmentation test of Thai primary school students in experimental and control groups is reported. These findings suggest that Thai primary school students have improved their knowledge of word parts over time. These data imply that Thai primary school students' comprehension of word parts improved over time.
This result indicates the positive effect of word-part strategies on the development of vocabulary knowledge among Thai primary school students. These findings suggest that Thai primary school students have increased their knowledge of word parts over time. Specifically, Thai primary school students in both groups performed best on the word segmentation test, followed by the L1 translation test and the word part use test.
To summarize, this study indicates the positive effects of word-part strategies on increasing vocabulary knowledge among Thai primary school students.
The results of students’ attitudes toward word part strategy instruction
The highest average score is 4.63, obtained by statement 11 (Learning through word sharing strategy helps me to improve my vocabulary knowledge.). This shows that students agree that the word sharing strategy instruction helps them improve their vocabulary knowledge during the lecture. This highest score is followed by the score of statement 8 (Learning through word-parting strategy improves my vocabulary knowledge.) 4.33 and statement 9 (I feel that learning vocabulary through word-parting strategy will help me to recognize words faster.) 4.26.
These two results show that teaching word-work strategy plays an important role in increasing students' interest in lectures. However, the lowest mean score of 3.67 was obtained by statement 3 (I think using part-of-speech strategy instruction is a good way to learn vocabulary.), followed by statement 4 (I feel motivated when I learn vocabulary with part-of-speech strategy), 3.85, and statement 15 (The chunk-of-word learning strategy encourages me to learn more vocabulary.) 3.89. A few students can't learn better with word-of-mouth strategy instruction in their class because they can't concentrate better.
Summary
Students' vocabulary knowledge improved because the part-of-speech strategy can improve students' vocabulary knowledge that involves the use of part-of-speech. In contrast, twenty students were able to identify its meaning and its part of speech when instructed by the part-of-speech strategy. Finally, the current results revealed that the majority of students have a positive attitude toward word-work strategy instruction.
The present study shows that part-of-speech strategy instruction has significant beneficial learning effects in a Thai EFL elementary school context. The primary purpose of this experiment was to examine the impact of part-of-speech strategy instruction in a small elementary school context. The purpose of this questionnaire is to explore students' attitudes towards learning through the instruction of the Word Part strategy in the acquisition of vocabulary knowledge.
The survey consists of two parts: personal data and attitudes towards learning with the Word Part strategy.
CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION
The effects of word part strategy instruction in a Thai primary school context 60
For those students who did well on the test, the vocabulary strategy may have helped them break down the words. The L1TT was designed to measure a learner's ability to connect the meaning of a part of speech to the meaning of a word. Significant improvement can result from the principles of word formulation using part-of-speech strategies.
Paired t-test analysis also revealed a significant improvement before and after treatment, indicating the positive effect of the part-word strategy. Students learn to divide the unknown word into parts and connect the meaning of the part word with the meaning of the word. In conclusion, the results show that the students significantly improved their vocabulary knowledge, especially in the experimental group in which the word strategy part was used.
The results showed that the students had a high level of agreement, indicating that the students were satisfied with the word sharing strategy.
Conclusion
In addition, the results also show that most students enjoy learning with the vocabulary strategy because it helps them recognize words faster and easier.
Implications for pedagogical practices
Without background knowledge of roots and affixes to form the words, students are disadvantaged in vocabulary acquisition. Thus, the curriculum should place greater emphasis on vocabulary instruction through parts of words, starting at the primary level. In addition, English words that make up the majority of frequency words should be taught on a wider scale to help students reach the level of understanding necessary for reading and writing.
This is especially important in a foreign language context, as it will allow students to continuously use parts of speech as a lifelong tool for vocabulary acquisition. Finally, the lesson plan in this study can be a practical guideline for practitioners and researchers who would be interested in part-of-word strategies to expand their students' vocabulary knowledge.
Limitations
Recommendations for future studies
Teaching English vocabulary through Latin parts of speech to students learning English as a foreign language (Unpublished Master's thesis). Individual differences in the integration of information from context and parts of speech in the interpretation of unfamiliar kanji words. Vocabulary learning strategies used by Thai high school students in science, language, and English programs.
Test 1: The Word Segmentation Test
Test 2: The L1 Translation Test
Test 3: Test of Word Part Use
Questionnaire (English Version)
I think learning vocabulary using the word part strategy would help me recognize words faster.
Questionnaire (Thai Version)
Ethics Approval
