Teachers' attitution towards using checking techniques in teaching vocabulary at Bacninh specialized High School Bacninh province

Abstract

In learning a foreign language, vocabulary plays an important role. For many recent years, the aim of teaching and learning foreign languages in general and in English especially has shifted from a focus on the linguistic competence to an interest in the communicative competence. This trend in language teaching clearly has led to the increasingly important role of teaching and learning vocabulary.With the increase emphasis on vocabulary, nowadays, various vocabulary teaching methods and strategies have been introduced. After presenting words, how well the learners understand and retain these words is another matter that teachers must concern. It is necessary for the teacher to revise these words. Many different checking techniques have been introduced to help learners retain the vocabulary items. However, many different ideas and attitudes of the teachers at Bac Ninh Specialized High School (BSHS) have been raised for this step. In order to understand more about these ideas and attitudes, this research was carried out. (i) To explore what activities are commonly used by teachers to check their students’ vocabularies. (ii) To investigate the attitudes of English teachers at BSHS towards the current checking vocabulary technique. (iii) To suggest some activities that teachers of English should do to help their students retain the words that they have learned. The study reviews relevant theories related to the vocabulary teaching, namely, classification, principles, techniques, strategies, and attitude. To find the answers to the research questions, the study used a combination of qualitative and quantitative research approaches, which include document analysis and survey questionnaires. The current textbook and vocabulary teaching methods applied to teach English for students at BSHS were stated. Then, data collected from questionnaires was processed and analyzed. Besides, some specific vocabulary activities were designed to contribute to the completion of the study. The findings of the study indicate that the teacher should give students plenty of opportunities to practice and then use vocabulary in communicative situations. The students need introducing and guiding more strategies to retain the vocabulary that they have learnt.