The relationship between EFL first-year students' personalities and their preferred teaching methods: A case study in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam

Abstract

"When reading novels, EFL learners usually face problems with understanding properly the multiple meanings of words or those with different semantic features. This study of nouns in “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” by J.K Rowling focuses on the choice of meanings and aims to understand different semantical levels of English words used for classifying kinds of multiple-meaning nouns and discover the dominant types of multiple-meaning nouns. This study is a descriptive qualitative research using a text analysis technique to analyze the primary data from all words in the first six chapters of the novel. The researcher found 201 multiple-meaning nouns under the classifying of 104 homonymy, 52 polysemy, and 45 figurative cases (35 metaphor, 07 metonymy, and 03 synecdoche cases). According to the result, homonymy and metaphors are nouns’ most dominant types of multiple meanings. The findings can help EFL readers or learners discover the complexity of meanings and the importance of the context in resolving lexical ambiguity. Being aware of the complexity of layers of meanings, EFL learners can break down the stereotypes of selecting meanings for words in non-context and context. As a result, they can actively adjust the interpretation of words if the first or primary meanings are not suitable anymore. This current study can hopefully enhance the insight for learning and teaching multiple-meaning words for EFL through literary works. Keywords: multiple-meanings nouns, lexical ambiguity, figurative devices, literary works, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J.K. Rowling"