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Learning Strategies in Vocabulary and Reading for Second Language Learners

I. Report of My Tutoring Experience

My tutee, from Thailand, has been in the English Language Center (ELC) for nine months, and he is now in level 3. He wants to go to UMBC graduate school in some sort of Business & Management program; however, he did not get high enough TOEFL score to apply to the graduate school, so he is studying English in the ELC now. Therefore, he wants me to teach TOEFL vocabulary. In the beginning, we planned to meet once a week and two hours in each time, one hour for vocabulary and another hour for grammar, which would be a total of 16 hours in 8 sessions. However, we changed our plan to focus on only vocabulary study since we were running out of time for studying both. However, I helped him prepare for his grammar test twice when he had the exam in the ELC. Even though we basically tried to keep our schedule sessions based on our plan, we adjusted our tutoring sessions to our personal schedules. Therefore, it actually ended up total 18 hours in 11 sessions. However, we did not study more than two hours in one session because I thought that was the limit of his attention span.

In addition, I have attended his morning classes, from 10 am to 12 pm, with the permission of his teacher in the ELC since the end of February. Personally, I was interested in observing an ESOL classroom, so I asked the Academic director in the ELC to let me observe one of the classes. The reason why I chose his class among all the classes was I thought it might help me understand my tutee better by observing his attitude and social relationships in his class. And also, we went over only until lesson 4 instead of lesson 7 that we had planned before. It was because I did not want to be rushed only to keep up with the schedule plan. Since we did not have enough time to cover all 30 lessons in the book, it might be better for him to know how to study alone in the future.

In a word, it was one-on-one weekly tutoring with the TOEFL vocabulary book, Essential Words for the TOEFL, at the University Center building. The reason why we chose the University Center building was that there was a study place in the first floor for students. They provided round tables, chairs, and even white boards so that students could study in a group. There were usually a couple of groups studying whenever we had our tutoring there. However, it was not interruptive to each other to study because they basically kept quiet. I really liked the way the tables and chairs were placed. In Korean regular classrooms, we usually have individual desks and chairs in a row so it takes a long time to put desks together to do group activities. Since I believe that pair and group works with more communicative environment were very important in a language class, I prefer this type of setting to individual desks and chairs for a language class. Therefore, the physical setting for tutoring was very satisfying with both of us.

However, there were a few environmental barriers and limitations though. One-on-one tutoring was very effective and worthy in terms of a specific learner-centered instruction; on the other hand, it could be a disadvantage for a less-motivated or weak-willed student in terms of absence of competing peers. Another barrier was that the test score from our tutoring did not affect his academic career so his assignment from our tutoring was easily neglected when something happened around him.

Learners like my tutee, who is always around many friends and very sociable, are easily distracted by many variables unless they are very highly motivated to study by themselves. Specifically, it is hard to be self-motivated to study English as a second language. For instance, my tutee already graduated from an undergraduate in his county so he had studied English about almost 10 years; however, he said he never really liked English before. It was the same problem with my ex-students in high schools when I taught English in Korea. I had always been asked why they had to study English since they would live only in Korea forever. When I explained the roles of English nowadays such as an access to all valuable synchronized and a-synchronized information, a communication tool in the world, and so on, they seemed to understand the necessity of English. However, they easily lost their motivation because they never really saw a chance to use English except in classroom.

Especially, it was not easy for them to maintain new English words in EFL situation since the only chance that they could practice new words was in their classroom. Batia (2006) found that learners need to be exposed to a new word more than 10 times (Coady, 1997; Hirsh & Nation, 1992) and each time should be before they forget the word. Therefore, the amount of exposure in EFL setting was too finite to conserve the words that they learned and memorized. When I taught English in Korea, I used to repeat and elicit new words as much as I could in a class and tested them at the end of the lesson in order to compensate for this barrier.

During our tutoring, I also used same two strategies, more repetition and test, to help my tutee study vocabulary. First of all, I checked to see if he comprehend and remember new words. Before I explain how I taught, I would like to describe the content of our text book. This book, Essential Words for the TOEFL, contains 30 lessons and each lesson contains entries of 15 key TOEFL words. After these entries, there are 10 matching exercises. At the end of each lesson, there are two types of five TOEFL-like questions. Our main focus was, of course, entries of 15 key TOEFL words, which included the definition, different forms, synonym, and example sentences. When I taught new key words, I focused on comprehension of exact meaning of words by elaborating on definition, synonym, and example sentences. I went over all lists of words, and I made him close the book. After that, I asked him to identify the word that he was given the definition, synonym, or example sentences orally.

The reason why I made him close the book was I wanted him to experience both visual and auditory ways to study vocabulary. According to Brown (2000), "most successful learners utilize both visual and auditory input, but slight preferences one way or the other may distinguish one learner from another, an important factor for classroom instruction" (p.122). In usual classroom setting, we are more exposed to visual input than auditory input. However, I wished that he could figure out which way was more effective for him to study vocabulary through experiencing both way during our tutoring sessions. In my personal experience, auditory interaction was sometimes retained longer since it required more efforts to comprehend what I heard. For example,

learners can comprehend the meaning of a new word by looking at the text book even though they missed what the teacher explained; however, there is no clue to guess something unwritten in the text book if they did not pay attention to what the teacher said. From my several tutoring experiences, I have also found that students paid attention better when I kept reminding and checking comprehension orally. Especially in one-on-one tutoring, it was very effective to make less-motivated and easily distracted learners pay attention to the study with oral interaction.

One interesting thing was that he was usually good at explaining the meaning of the word orally when I asked him to describe it; however, he always had hard time to write the word in the blank of our review tests. I guess it was because he could bring his past knowledge in English to explain the meaning of the new word since he had 10-years of experience of English learning in Thailand. Therefore, he was able to describe the meaning of the new word even though his proficiency in English was limited.

Another way to help him retain new words was by using three types of test: diagnostic tests, formative tests, and review tests. The differences between diagnostic tests and formative tests were when they were given and whether they were scored. Diagnostic tests were given before key words lessons and were not scored; formative tests were given after key words lessons and checked how many he got even though the score did not affect his academic score. However, I used the same matching exercises from the text book for both diagnostic and formative tests. I copied the pages of matching exercises, which were made of 10 entries of multiple-choice questions with four choices to test knowledge of synonyms. With those exercises, I tested him before and after main studies of 15 key TOFEL words so he could be better motivated by seeing how his vocabulary knowledge was expanded through our tutoring. He usually got 2 of 10 in diagnostic tests and 8 of 10 in formative tests.

Review tests, which I made from our entries of 15 key TOFEL words, were given the following sessions. The purpose of this test was to force him a little bit to study and review what we learned. On five top questions of 10, I asked him to write the synonym of the word. On the remaining five questions, I gave him sentence completion tests. I expected him to write more words than he actually wrote in the test since we went over the lists of new words more than three times in each lesson and plus spent a lot of time to review the homework, two types of five TOEFL-like questions.

However, the result was very frustrating because the average percentage of the correct answer was less than 40 in all three lessons. It was obvious that our tutoring sessions were the only hours he studied. He admitted that he did not study for the tests and said sorry about it. Therefore, I announced him that we would have an ccumulative test on 10thsession so I wanted him to prepare for the test. He was very sorry not to study and promised me to study harder. However, he made me so disappointed again because his result in the accumulative test was increased only 10 %. He really apologized to me for not studying harder than he could have done. He had an excuse that he had an important test in the ELC so he had to prepare for the test. At the moment, I might have looked very frustrated and sad because he did not know what to do and begged me to give him one more chance to make up.

Personally, I enjoyed working with him since he always appreciated my help for his study. One time he brought 4 AZAR's English grammar books which I was going to buy. I told him to keep them for himself; however, he told me he would never use them and wanted to give me them since he was so sorry for making excuse all the time not to study harder. We had studied together based on fairly sound relationship.

The only problem was he was too busy to concentrate on his study. He had to help his father in a restaurant for a long time because his father owned one of the most famous Thai restaurants in downtown Baltimore. And also, he was too nice to refuse his friends' asking. He was the one who always drove to go somewhere with his all international friends in the ELC and he seemed to enjoy being around his friends all the time. However, it was really a big obstacle for him to keep up with his study. Therefore, I advised him that he needed to cut back off his social life for a while if he really wanted to get high enough TOEFL score soon to enter the graduate school.

To tell the truth, his second accumulative test in session 11 was also not satisfactory for me even though it was better than before, average 63% of correct answers. However, he seemed satisfied with the result since he started with very limited knowledge about TOEFL vocabulary. In this time, he told me he studied a lot to prepare for the test; however, he was too confused to remember the correct answer in the blank during the test. Therefore, I realized that the poor result was not only from his fewer studying hours, but also his ineffective studying behavior.

II.

Analysis of our Tutoring based on Research

I started to think about what was wrong with our tutoring: the way that the book presented new words, the way that I taught him new words, the way I tested him, and so on. Since I have always been interested in more effective vocabulary teaching and learning for even myself, I would like to know recent view of vocabulary learning in educational fields so I spent a lot of time to find references for this second journal, tutoring focus. Actually, I could find abundant research papers with the key-word, vocabulary learning; however, it was hard to find the one that fit to our tutoring environment. Therefore, I was so glad to find this study, "Comparing Focus on Form and Focus on FormS in Second-Language Vocabulary Learning", researched by Batia Lauer.

This is the study about comparing the effectiveness of Focus on Form (FonF) and Focus on Forms (FonFs) in new vocabulary learning incidentally and intentionally. This study examined sample of 158 high-school students in Israel, learning English as a second language for seven years. My tutee also has studies English in Thai for about 10 years. Therefore, the English level between my tutee and participants in this study might be similar.

To begin with this research, I should explain the concepts of terminologies, FonF & FonFs and incidental learning and intentional learning. First of all, Batia (2006) explained the concepts of FonF and FonFs as the following:

The distinction between the two, according to Ellis (2001), has to do with themselves and the language: In a FonFs approach students view themselves as learners of a language and the language as the object of study; in FonF, on the other hand, learners view themselves as language users and language is viewed as a tool for communication. (p.150)

Therefore, in a FonF approach lexical items (single words and multi-word units) are taught only within a communicative task environment; on the other hand, in a FonFs approach, lexical items are taught discretely in non-communicative, non-authentic language tasks (Laufer, 2006, p.150).

Secondly, Batia (2006) directly quoted the definitions of incidental and intentional learning from Hulstijn (2001) and Hulstijn and Laufer (2001): As incidental learning situation, in contrast to an intentional learning situation, is a situation in which individuals process new information without the intention to commit this information to memory...It is important to note that incidental learning does not mean unattended learning. Intentional vocabulary learning, on the other hand, refers to an activity aimed at committing lexical information to memory (Laufer & Hulstijn, 2001, p.10-11)

Therefore, in phase 1 of the study: incidental vocabulary learning situation, both learners in FonF and FonFs conditions acquired new words without noticing their upcoming test; otherwise, in phase 2 of the study: intentional vocabulary learning situation, all learners were announced to have a test after 15 minute memorizing time.

The result was very impressive for me because it was different from what I used to believe about vocabulary learning based on the view of communicative language learning. Like Batia stated (2006) educators have proclaimed that "most vocabulary in L2 is acquired from input, mainly reading input", and have stressed the importance of vocabulary learning in the context of meaning-centered language use (p.152). However, the result of this study was reversed: the score in FonFs group was significantly higher than FonF after phase 1 even though there was no difference between two groups after phase 2. Nonetheless, there was another issue to consider at this point: Could we really say that the difference between FonF and FonFs disappeared in intentional vocabulary learning condition? Phase 2 of the study was performed right after phase 1. Both groups, FonF and FonFs, were given a list of the 12 target words with definitions of meanings, examples and translations. After 15 minutes to memorize, they were tested. Therefore, intentional learning given to both groups was technically a Focus on Forms activity in terms of that "the words to be learnt were de-contextualized and became the object of study rather than tools for communication" (Batia, 2006, P.161).

In summary, Batia (2006) claimed that "since meaning-focused learning does not necessarily lead to a satisfactory vocabulary development, vocabulary instruction should also incorporate a form-focused

instruction (FFI)" (p.152). She was strongly in favor of FonF in second language vocabulary learning.

After I read this study carefully, I tried to examine my tutoring experiences based on this research. Our vocabulary study could be described as FonFs condition in the number of unfamiliar words acquired intentionally. First of all, it was definitely the condition of 'FonFs' in terms of that my tutee views himself as a learner of a language and the language as the object of study. There were three similarities between the condition of FonFs group in this study and our tutoring: This study selected a list of the 12 target words with translations and explanations in English; we studied 15 entries of key TOEFL words including the definition, different forms, synonym, and example sentences. One exercise in this study was choosing the correct meaning of the word from four options; we did matching exercise. Another exercise was 12 gapped sentences; we did sentence completion test in my review tests. (However, the difference was this study asked to complete each sentence from the list of the target words; there were no lists of words in my review test.)

Secondly, it was 'intentional learning' instead of incidental learning since we made all schedules in the beginning of the session and I always announced our upcoming test in advance. Even though the increase from his first review test to the last accumulative test was not significant, I know he would not review any one of the new words without tests.

Therefore, this kind of vocabulary instruction could be described as FonFs condition and intentional learning. Personally, I would agree with the necessity of FonFs in L2 vocabulary learning as Batia asserted. In second language vocabulary learning,vocabulary only instruction as discrete lexical items in non-communicative language tasks are worthy in terms of effectiveness. As English learner as a second language, I actually spent a lot of time to study vocabulary in forms of FonFs. That is realistically the fastest way to acquire large amounts of essential words in L2.

III.

Conclusion

Since the way that Essential Words for the TOEFL presented new words, the way that I taught him new words, or the way I tested him did not seem considerably wrong, I wanted to give my tutee a chance to criticize our tutoring sincerely and evaluate me as a tutor and himself as a tutee. He told me he really liked the book and my tutoring, but he was too busy to be a responsible student during whole-hour tutoring sessions. Therefore, he would like to finish this book during summer vacation and wanted me to help him if he has a question. I promised to give him a favor since he wanted to keep studying.

However, I wanted to give him practical advice: how to study, how to manage his time, and how to memorize new words effectively before we ended up our tutoring sessions. It was because I believed that learners could

benefit from "teacher-initiated advice," introducing teachers' own successful language learning experiences and useful techniques (Brown, 2001, p.219-220.) When I explained how to study, I demonstrated the way I prepared for the TOFEL test, especially vocabulary study. He seemed very interested and wanted to use the same techniques later.

After reflection about my tutoring style, I have seen some areas I could improve in. First of all, I could have been stricter toward my tutee rather than just being nice. It does not mean that I could have controlled the class completely and scared my tutee. I could have had stricter rules for him to be more responsible. For example, I could warn him that there would be no tutoring unless he got more than a certain grade on his tests or we could apply a fine system according to his test score. Secondly, I should have employed some techniques to elicit his motivation to memorize new words. For example, he could have been more motivated to study for tests if there was a competitor. Since there were many classmates wanting to prepare for TOEFL test, I could easily find another tutee to study together. Lastly, I could have spent more time to help him consolidate vocabulary. Since there were certain words that he always missed repeatedly on the test, I could use some techniques like vocabulary cards. Alan and David (2005) demonstrated that "vocabulary cards are invaluable in consolidating initial gains because of their portability, ease of use and the number of communicative activities in which they can be used, as well as their potential for increasing student motivation" (p.32).

Even though I have several-years of tutoring experience and two years of teaching experience in public schools in Korea, teaching is still challenging for me. Being a good teacher seems a life-long goal. The more I teach, the better I learn. I would say that it is sometimes frustrating and challenging to work with un-motivated and disobedient students. However, there is always a hope to lead them to successful learners with my assistance. Therefore, I still have so many things to learn and think about to be a respectable and needed teacher. That is also the reason why I love teaching. REFERENCES

Brown, H. D. (2000). Principles of language learning and teaching. (4th ed.). NY: Pearson Education Company. Brown, H. D. (2001). Teaching by principles. (2nd ed.). NY: Pearson Education Company. Hunt, Alan.,& Beglar, David. (2005). A framework for developing EFL reading vocabulary.Reading in a Foreign Language, 17, 23-59.

Laufer, Batia. (2006). Comparing focus on form and focus on forms in second-language vocabulary learning. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 63, 149-166. About the Author Min Ah Kang

Ms. Kang has been teaching ESOL in Prince George's County Public Schools since 2008. She was born in Korea and taught English at the secondary level before earning her Masters degree from UMBC in 2008. Ms. Kang completed the National Writing Project and is now a teacher consultant. Ms. Kang is also a National Board Certification candidate. In addition to teaching and serving on ESOL related committees, Ms. Kang is a

presenter for conferences such as Maryland TESOL in various topics related to the TESOL field.

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