The Effect of Learning Styles and Motivation on Students' Vocabulary Acquisition for Writing ...

385 Pages·2016·2.17 MB·English

Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria
Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research

Constantine 1 University
Faculty of Letters and Languages
Department of Letters and English Language

The Effect of Learning Styles and Motivation on Students’
Vocabulary Acquisition for Writing Purposes.
The Case of 2nd Year L.M.D Students of English at the University of
Constantine 1
Thesis submitted to the department of Letters and English Language in candidacy for the
degree of Doctorat LMD in Linguistic Science and English Language Teaching

By : Bellout Hadjer Supervisor : Prof. Hacène Hamada

Board of Examiners
Chairman : Prof. Saadi Hacène Prof. University of Constantine1
Supervisor : Prof. Hamada Hacène Prof. ENS Constantine
Member : Prof. Ghouar Omar Prof. University of Batna
Member : Prof. Keskes Said Prof. University Farhat Abes (Setif 2)
Member : Dr. Belouahem Riad Dr. University of Constantine 1
Member : Dr. Kaouache Saleh Dr. University of Constantine 1

2014
DEDICATION

To my parents for their affection and constant
encouragements.

To my brother and sister for their love and
kindness.

To all my colleagues and friends especially Chouaib for his
unflagging support.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Prof. Hacene
Hamada who directed me in the wonderful world of research with generosity and
patience. I thank him for his understanding, encouragements, valuable references and
precious advice.

I am also grateful and greatly indebted to Professor Farida Abderrahim for her
precious guidance and advices.

I also wish to address my sincere thanks to Dr. Labed Nacif, Dr.Nemouchi,
Dr.Laraba, and Professor Hacène Saadi for their generous help.

I owe my thanks to the head of the Department of Letters and English
Language Mr.Boughanout for his considerable help.

I extend my thanks to all the students for their full cooperation
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS

C.L.T: Communicative Language Teaching
CET: Cognitive Evaluation Theory
E.F.L: English as a Foreign Language
E.S.L: English as a Second Language
E.S.P: English for Specifie Purposes.
FL: Foreign Language
FD: Field Dependent
FI: Field Independent
IDs: Individual Differences
LA: languge Acquisition
L.M.D: Licence, Master, Doctorat.
LAD: Language Acquisition Devices
Ll: First Language
L2:SecondLanguage.
SL: Second Language
SLA: Second Language Acquisition
SLLs: Second Language Learners
SDT: Self-Determination Theory
TAVI: Text As Vehicle For Information
X: Number of words used by learners in their compositions
%: Percentage

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LIST of TABLES

Table 1: Principal Characteristics of FD / F I (Troike 2006)…………………………………....21
Table2: Teaching Techniques Appropriate for Each Cognitive Style (Willing 1987)………… 25
Table3: Features of Language Learning Strategies (Oxford 1990)…………………………. …42
Table4: A Comprehensive Inventory of Vocabulary Learning Strategies (Schmitt 1997) ….....52
Table5 : Four Views of Motivation (cited in Woolfork 2004)………………………………… 74
Table 6: Building a Concept of Motivation to Learn (Woolfolk 2004)……………………….102
Table7 : What is involved in Knowing a Word…………………………………………..........135
Table8 : Experimental Approaches to Language Teaching Research (Brown& Rodgers
2009)……………………………………………………………………………………………163
Table 9 : Teachers’ Degree……………………………………………………………….. 182
Table 10 : Teaching Experience………………………………………………………….183
Table 11: Teaching Experience of Written Expression Teachers by Level……………………184
Table12 : Teachers’ Instructional Decisions in Relation to their Students……………………186
Table 13: Learning Strategies that Teachers’ Favour………………………………………….189
Table 14: Rate of Students’ Motivation by their Teachers…………………………………….195
Table 15: Teachers’ Reaction When they Give their Students an Assignment………………..200
Table 16: Teachers’ Feedback When their Students Do Well ………………………………..201
Table 17: Teachers’ View about Competition iInl the Classroom………………………………201
Table 18: Rate of Teachers Who Present New words in Every Lesson………………………..204
Table 19 : Rate of Teachers Who Use Texts to Teach Vocabulary……………………………205
Table 20 : Rate of Teachers Who Explain all the Unknown Words in a Text…………….. ...206
Table 21 : Rate of Teachers Who Explain Words Before, During and After Reading………...207
Table 22: Techniques Used to Teach New Words……………………………………………..208
Table 23: Rate of Teachers Who Match or Mismatch their Techniques with their Students’
Strategies While Explaining the Meaning of Unknown Words………………………………..209
Table 24: Rate of Teachers Who Use/Don’t Use Needs Analysis with their students to teach
Vocabulary……………………………………………………………………………………...210
Table 25 : Rate of Teachers Who Check Students’ Vocabulary Learning…………………….212
Table 26 : Rate of Times Teachers Check Students’ Vocabulary Learning………………… ..213
Table 27 : Rate of Teachers Who Use Activities to Consolidate Vocabulary Items…………..214
Table 28: Techniques Used by Teachers to Check Students’ Recall of the Learned
Vocabulary...................................................................................................................................215
Table 29 : Learners’ Age………………………………………………………………………219
Table 30: Learners’ Gender……………………………………………………………………220
Table 31: Learners’ Choice to Study English………………………………………………….220
Table 32 : Students’ Justification about ‘Why they Choose to Study English at the
University’……………………………………………………………………………………...222
Table 33: Students’ results in their English Exams……………………………………………223
Table 34: Students’ Motivation to Study English……………………………………………..224
Table 35: How Students Express their Motivation…………………………………………….225
Table 36: Students’ Satisfaction with their Studies……………………………………………226
Table 37: Students’ Satisfaction about the ProgIrla ms of the Modules…………………………228
Table 38: How Students Consider their Teachers…………………………………………… 230
Table 39: How Students’ Like their Teachers to Be…………………………………………...231
Table 40: Students’ Answers about How Often their Teachers Iniciate Interaction ………….233
Table 41: Rate of Why Learners do not Participated in Classroom…………………………...234
Table 42: Students Feeling When Teachers Correct their Errors……………………………...235
Table 43: Rate of Times Teachers Initiate Interaction in the Classroom……………………. 236
Table 44: Students’ Thaughts about their Success ……………………………………………237
Table 45: Students View of What Teachers Should Focus on for Effective Teaching………..238
Table 46: Students’ Answers about how their Teachers Use Incentives…………………… .240
Table 47: What Students Prefer as a Skill to Learn Vocabulary………………………………241
Table 48: What Students’ Prefer as a Skill to Reproduce the Learned Words……………… 243
Table 49: Rate of What the Learners do When Encountering New Words While Reading….. 245
Table 50: Rate of Teachers Who Use Strategies/Activities that Fit or Do Not Fit Their Learners
Prefereable Manner(S) of Acquiring Vocabulary………………………………………………246
Table 51: Students’ View Towads Motivation While Reading to Acquire Vocabulary………247
Table 52: Rate of Help Considered by Students………………………………………………248
Table 53: Frequency of Vocabulary Use in Writing………………………………………… 249
Table 54: Students’ View About the Correlation Between the Assignements Addessed to Them
and their Needs…………………………………………………………………………………251
Table 55: Answer to the Word “Prevent”……………………………………………………...260
Table 56: Answer to the Word “Reliance…………………………………………………… .261
Table 57: Students’ Answers to the Word “Puzzles………………………………………… 261
Table 58: Students’ Answers to the Word “Particular”………………………………………..262
Table 59: Students’ Answers to the Word “Occupations” ……………………………………262
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Table 60: Students’ Answers to the word “Counteract” ……………………………………...263
Table 61: Students’ Answers to the Word “Reason” ………………………………………….264
Table 62: Students’ Answers to the Word “Judge”……………………………………………264
Table 63: Summary of the Students’ Answers to the Eight Words …………………………...265
Table 64: Number of Words Used by Learners in their Compositions………………………..266
Table 65: Students’ Evaluation of their Motivation to study English……………………….. 273
Table 66 : The Number of Words Used by Students in their Writing ………………………..289
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List of Figures

Figure 1: Dimensions of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation ( Harter 1981 Cited Williams And
Burden 1972 )……………………………………………………………………………………91
Figure2: Information Processing Model By Atkinson& Shiffrin 1968 (Cited In Matlin,
2003:11)………………………………………………………………………………………...123
Figure 3 : A schema of “Antique”……………………………………………………………..142
Figure 4 : Rate of Teachers Who Present New Words in Every Lesson………………………204
Figure 5 : Rate of Teachers Who Explain all the Unknown Words in a Text…………………206
Figure 6 : Rate of Teachers Who Explain Words Before, During and After Reading……… .207
Figure 7: Rate of Teachers’ Who Check Students’ Vocabulary Learning…………………….213

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Content

Intoduction…………………………………………………………………………………2
1. Statement of the Problem………………………………………………………………2-3
2. Aims…………………………………………………………………………………… 4
3.Hypothesis…………………………………………………………………………………4
4. Method…………………………………………………………………………………….5
5. Population…………………………………………………………………………………5
6. Tools of Research…………………………………………………………………………5
7. Structure of the Study…………………………………………………………………… 6-7-8
Chapter One :Learning styles/Strategies and Vocabulary Acquisition
Introduction 11
1.Definition of Individual Differences 11-16
2.Learning Styles and Strategies 16-17
2.1.Learning Styles 17
2.1.1.Definition of Learning Styles 17-20
2.1.1.1.Cognitive Styles 20-23
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2.1.1.2.Dimentional Framework of Learning Style 23-25
2.1.2.Learning Styles and Vocabulary Acquisition 25