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BANKING UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY
FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE
RESEARCH PAPER
An investigation into improving vocabulary for the Freshmen:
Problems and solutions.
Student’s name: Vương Bảo Liên
Student’s code: 030435190098
Supervisor’s name: Huỳnh Thị Bích Phượng
HO CHI MINH CITY, May 5th, 2021
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SUPERVISOR’S COMMENTS
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HCMC, …../……/………
Supervisor’s Signature
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Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .......................................................................................................................... 5
LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................................................... 6
LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................................... 7
CHAPTER I ................................................................................................................................................ 8
INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................... 8
1. Background to the study................................................................................................................................................. 8
2. Statement of the problem .............................................................................................................................................. 8
3. Aims and objectives of the study .................................................................................................................................... 9
4. Research questions ......................................................................................................................................................... 9
5. Scope of the study ........................................................................................................................................................ 10
6. Significance of the study ............................................................................................................................................... 10
7. Definitions of key terms................................................................................................................................................ 10
CHAPTER II ............................................................................................................................................. 11
LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................................................................... 11
1. Importance of English Vocabulary Learning ...................................................................................................................... 11
2. What make learning vocabulary so difficult. ..................................................................................................................... 12
3. Factors affecting Vocabulary Learning ............................................................................................................................... 12
a) Learner Individual Difference Factors ...................................................................................................................... 12
b) Social and Situational Factors................................................................................................................................... 13
4. The problem of learning English vocabulary for freshman university students in Vietnam. ............................................. 14
Vietnamese is a tonal language ................................................................................................................................ 14
English is a transformation language ....................................................................................................................... 15
5. Definition of Vocabulary .................................................................................................................................................... 15
CHAPTER III ........................................................................................................................................... 17
METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................................... 17
1. Research design ............................................................................................................................................................ 17
2. Research site ................................................................................................................................................................. 17
3. Sample and sampling procedures ................................................................................................................................. 17
4. Research instruments ................................................................................................................................................... 17
5. Data collection procedures ........................................................................................................................................... 18
6. Data analysis procedure ............................................................................................................................................... 18
CHAPTER 4 ............................................................................................................................................. 19
FINDING AND DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................ 19
CHAPTER 5 ............................................................................................................................................. 31
CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................................... 31
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LIST OF REFERENCES .......................................................................................................................... 33
QUESTIONNAIRE .................................................................................................................................. 34
PART I: PERSONAL INFORMATION .............................................................................................. 34
PART II: SURVEY ON LEARNING VOCABULARY...................................................................... 35
THANK YOU FOR YOUR CORPORATION .................................................................................... 36
PERSONAL REFLECTION .................................................................................................................... 37
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
A completed study would not be done without any assistance. Therefore, the author who
conducted this research gratefully gives acknowledgement to their support and motivation
during the time of doing this research as a requirement of completing Writing 4 course.
First of all, I would like to express my endless thanks and gratefulness to my supervisor Ms.
Huynh Thi Bich Phuong. Her kindly support and continuous advices went through the
process of completion of our research. Her encouragement and comments had significantly
enriched and improved our work. Without her motivation and instructions, the research
would have been impossible to be done effectively.
As a part of research: An investigation into improving vocabulary for the Freshmen:
Problems and solutions, our research has been done by contribution of all group members
and relevant student. So far, we would like to thanks to group members who took charge in
the process of data collection and data entry for doing this research.
I also acknowledge my thankfulness to Banking University of Ho chi Minh City where
supported for the research for me to complete our course.