An investigation of the English vocabulary knowledge of senior secondary school students in Hong Kong.

Ng, Chun Ho.Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 123-128).Abstracts in English and Chinese.ABSTRACT --- p.iiACKNOWLEDGEMENT --- p.ivChapter CHAPTER 1 --- INTRODUCTIONChapter 1.1 --- Introduction --- p.1Chapter 1.2 --- Reasons for Carrying out the Present Study --- p.2Chapter 1.3 --- Significance of the Study --- p.4Chapter 1.4 --- Research Questions --- p.7Chapter 1.5 --- Organization of Thesis --- p.8Chapter 1.6 --- Summary --- p.9Chapter CHAPTER 2 --- LITERATURE REIVEWChapter 2.1 --- Introduction --- p.10Chapter 2.2 --- Importance of Vocabulary --- p.11Chapter 2.3 --- Vocabulary Knowledge --- p.12Chapter 2.3.1 --- Definition of a ´بword´ة --- p.12Chapter 2.3.2 --- Definition of knowing a word --- p.13Chapter 2.3.2.1 --- Richards' eight assumptions --- p.14Chapter 2.3.2.2 --- Carter's seven characteristics --- p.16Chapter 2.3.2.3 --- Nation's model --- p.18Chapter 2.3.3 --- Receptive vocabulary versus productive vocabulary --- p.20Chapter 2.4 --- Vocabulary Learning and Acquisition --- p.21Chapter 2.4.1 --- L1 vocabulary VS L2 vocabulary --- p.21Chapter 2.4.2 --- Incidental learning versus Explicit learning --- p.22Chapter 2.5 --- Vocabulary Testing --- p.24Chapter 2.5.1 --- Vocabulary measuring instruments --- p.24Chapter 2.5.2 --- Vocabulary frequency levels --- p.26Chapter 2.5.3 --- Laufer and Nation (1999)'s Productive Vocabulary Levels Test --- p.27Chapter 2.6 --- Local Education System ´ؤ English Language Teaching and Medium of Instruction Policy --- p.28Chapter 2.6.1 --- Current trend in language testing --- p.28Chapter 2.6.2 --- Vocabulary wordlist --- p.29Chapter 2.6.3 --- Medium of instruction --- p.30Chapter 2.7 --- Recent Relevant Vocabulary Studies in Hong Kong --- p.33Chapter 2.7.1 --- Littlewood and Liu (1996) --- p.34Chapter 2.7.2 --- Barber (1999) --- p.34Chapter 2.7.3 --- Cobb and Horst (2000) --- p.35Chapter 2.7.4 --- Fan (2001) --- p.36Chapter 2.7.5 --- Chui (2004) --- p.37Chapter 2.8 --- The Need for Further Studies --- p.37Chapter 2.9 --- Summary --- p.40Chapter CHAPTER 3 --- RESEARCH DESIGNChapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.41Chapter 3.2 --- Participants --- p.42Chapter 3.2.1 --- Selection of participants --- p.41Chapter 3.2.2 --- Profile of participants --- p.44Chapter 3.2.2.1 --- Different streams of studies --- p.45Chapter 3.2.2.2 --- Participants' mother tongue and their English learning experience --- p.47Chapter 3.2.2.3 --- Participants' results in English in HKCEE --- p.47Chapter 3.2.2.4 --- Participants' results in HKCEE --- p.49Chapter 3.3 --- Instrumentation --- p.51Chapter 3.3.1 --- Questionnaire --- p.51Chapter 3.3.2 --- Vocabulary test --- p.52Chapter 3.3.3 --- Measuring productive vocabulary knowledge --- p.54Chapter 3.3.4 --- Vocabulary breadth measure --- p.55Chapter 3.4 --- Procedures --- p.57Chapter 3.5 --- Data Analysis --- p.59Chapter 3.6 --- Summary --- p.60Chapter CHAPTER 4 --- RESULTSChapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.61Chapter 4.2 --- Vocabulary Breadth --- p.61Chapter 4.2.1 --- Overall performance of Hong Kong senior secondary school students --- p.62Chapter 4.2.2 --- Comparing performance of students with different educational backgrounds --- p.64Chapter 4.2.2.1 --- "Students in the Science, Business, and Arts streams" --- p.64Chapter 4.2.2.2 --- Students from Chinese-medium schools and English-medium schools --- p.67Chapter 4.2.2.3 --- Students using textbooks written in different languages --- p.70Chapter 4.3 --- Correlation Between Students' Vocabulary Size and Their Success in English in HKCEE --- p.73Chapter 4.4 --- Common Mistakes in Students' Answers --- p.77Chapter 4.5 --- Summary --- p.78Chapter CHAPTER 5 --- DISCUSSIONChapter 5.1 --- Introduction --- p.80Chapter 5.2 --- Vocabulary Size of Senior Secondary School Students in Hong Kong --- p.80Chapter 5.2.1 --- General vocabulary --- p.80Chapter 5.2.2 --- "Problems encountered in reading, listening, speaking and listening" --- p.82Chapter 5.2.3 --- Academic vocabulary --- p.86Chapter 5.3 --- Comparison between the Present Study and Past Research Conducted in Hong Kong --- p.87Chapter 5.3.1 --- Chui (2004) --- p.87Chapter 5.4 --- Medium of Instruction Policy --- p.93Chapter 5.4.1 --- Effects of medium of instruction on vocabulary learning of Hong Kong senior secondary school students --- p.95Chapter 5.4.2 --- Effects of language of textbooks on vocabulary learning of Hong Kong senior secondary school students --- p.104Chapter 5.5 --- Significant Patterns Regarding the Performance of Participants of Different English Results in the HKCEE in the Vocabulary Test --- p.111Chapter 5.6 --- Summary --- p.112Chapter CHAPTER 6 --- CONCLUSIONChapter 6.1 --- Introduction --- p.113Chapter 6.2 --- Implications of the Present Study --- p.113Chapter 6.2.1 --- Recommendation to secondary school English teachers --- p.113Chapter 6.2.2 --- Recommendation to secondary schools in Hong Kong --- p.116Chapter 6.2.3 --- Recommendation to the Hong Kong Government --- p.117Chapter 6.3 --- Limitations of the Present Study --- p.118Chapter 6.4 --- Suggestions for Further Research --- p.120Chapter 6.5 --- Summary --- p.121REFERNCES --- p.123APPENDICESAppendix A Invitation Letter to Schools in Hong Kong --- p.129Appendix B Questionnaire for the Research Study --- p.130Appendix C Productive Vocabulary Levels Test --- p.132Appendix D Suggested Answers for the Productive Vocabulary Levels Test --- p.136"Appendix E Table 11 (Results of Scheffe Post-hoc Test for Comparing the Mean Scores of Students in Different Streams, Science, Arts and Business.)" --- p.137Appendix F Table 18 (Results of post-hoc test comparing the scores of students achieving different English grades in the HKCEE.) --- p.139Appendix G Table 27 (Results of post-hoc tests comparing the mean scores of students in different groups using different combinations of medium of instruction in junior forms and senior forms) --- p.144Appendix H Table 32 (Results of post-hoc test comparing the scores of students using textbooks written in different combinations of languages in junior forms and senior forms in the vocabulary test) --- p.15