ASSIGNMENT 3 (Groupwork)
Research Title: The Correlation between Vocabulary Proficiency and Reading
Comprehension and Performance: A Case Study of English-majored Freshmen in English
Reading 1 classes at IUH.
Research Questions
1. How does vocabulary proficiency correlate with reading performance among English-
majored freshmen in Reading 1 classes at IUH?
2. What factors contribute to the discrepancy between vocabulary knowledge and reading
performance in cases of "atypical" student results?
CHAPTER III: RESEARCH DESIGN
Methodology: Qualitative
Methods: Semi-structured Interview
TASK 1: Customizing Your Interview Procedure
Phase 1: Before the Interview (Preparation)
Who will be interviewed? 10 English-majored freshmen from the Faculty of Foreign
Languages at IUH who show "atypical" results (e.g., high vocabulary levels but low
reading scores, or vice versa).
How will you contact them? Participants will be contacted via Microsoft Teams or
Zalo using the student contact list provided by class monitors after their mid-term
Reading 1 results are released.
Where and when will the interview take place? The interviews will be held at the
IUH Self-study Center (Block A) depending on the participant's preference, scheduled
during weeks 10-12 of the semester.
What documents will you prepare? We will prepare a Participant Information Sheet,
an Informed Consent Form, and a printed/digital copy of the semi-structured interview
guide.
Phase 2: During the Interview (Implementation)
How will you introduce the session? The interviewer will begin by thanking the
participant, introducing the research purpose, ensuring confidentiality, and asking for
explicit permission to record the session.
How will you manage the questions? We will use a flexible interview guide. While
the core questions are fixed, the interviewer will adapt the order and use probing
techniques based on the participant's responses to encourage detailed sharing.
What recording tools will you use? We will use the built-in recording feature of
Google Meet (for online) or a professional voice recording app on a smartphone (for
offline), supplemented by handwritten field notes to capture non-verbal cues.
Phase 3: After the Interview (Data Management)
How and where will you securely store the audio files? Audio files will be renamed
using pseudonyms (e.g., Student A, Student B) to protect anonymity and stored in a
password-protected Google Drive folder accessible only to group members.
Who will be responsible for transcribing the data? Both members (Tiên Nhi and
Khánh Linh) will share the transcription task. We will use [Link] or Google Docs
Voice Typing to assist with the initial transcription before manually proofreading for
accuracy.
TASK 2: Developing the Interview Schedule (The Questions)
Research Question 1 (RQ1): How does vocabulary proficiency correlate with reading
performance among English-majored freshmen in Reading 1 classes at IUH?
Interview Question 1.1: Could you describe how your current vocabulary level affects
your overall performance in the Reading 1 mid-term test?
o Probe: Can you give an example of a specific reading passage where you felt your
word knowledge either helped or hindered you significantly?
Interview Question 1.2: To what extent do you agree that having a rich vocabulary is
the most important factor in increasing your reading speed and accuracy?
o Probe: Besides knowing word meanings, what other skills do you think played a role
in your exam results?
Interview Question 1.3: When you achieved your reading score, how much of that
result do you attribute to your vocabulary knowledge versus your exam-taking
techniques?
o Probe: Did you feel that knowing more words made you more confident during the
test?
Research Question 2 (RQ2): What factors contribute to the discrepancy between vocabulary
knowledge and reading performance in cases of "atypical" student results?
Interview Question 2.1: If you feel you have a high vocabulary level but achieved a
lower reading score than expected, what do you think was the main reason?
o Probe: Did factors like test anxiety, time management, or the complexity of sentence
structures affect you?
Interview Question 2.2: When encountering "polysemous" words (words with
multiple meanings) in a text, how do you usually handle the confusion?
o Probe: Can you recall a time when you knew a word but it didn't seem to fit the
context of the Reading 1 text?
Interview Question 2.3: How does your lack of familiarity with academic word forms
(prefixes/suffixes) interfere with your understanding of the main ideas?
o Probe: When you see a long academic word, do you try to break it down or do you
stop reading to look it up?