USING FLASHCARDS TO TEACH VOCABULARY IN a PRIMARY SCHOOL IN THANH HOA PROVINCE

From theabove reasons, I have the ambition of presenting some effective suggestionsto teach English vocabulary in primary schools with hope that students will be interested in learning E

\ MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

MASTER ’S THESIS IN EDUCATION.

Supervisor : Assoc Prof , Ngo Dinh Phuong

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I hereby acknowledge that this study is my own work The data andfindings discussed in the thesis are true, used with permission, and have notbeen published elsewhere

Author

Nguyen Thi Be

For the accomplishment of this study, I have been fortunate to receive

a great deal of helpful assistance from many people

First of all, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to mysupervisor, Assoc.Prof, Ngo Dinh Phuong for his valuable guidance, excellentsuggestions and critical feedback throughout the research

In addition, I am greatly indebted to the students of the classes Itaught in order to experiment adaptation and gather information for mysurvey questionnaire and interview

I would also like to extend my sincere thanks to my friends, myclassmates, as well as my colleagues for their invaluable comments andencouragement

Last but not least, I am all too aware that despite all the advice andassistance, I feel that the project is far from perfect; it is, therefore, my soleresponsibility for any inadequacies and shortcomings that the study may beconsidered to have

Vinh , 2017

Author

Nguyen Thi Be

The student’s vocabulary mastery is still low because the student’s aredifficult in determining the meaning of words Also, the students havedifficulties differentiating the form of speech: noun, verb, adjective andadverb Meanwhile, the implementation of flashcard learning technique isimportant to help student’s vocabulary mastery The aims of this classroomaction research are to know the process of learning vocabulary usingflashcards, and to know student’s vocabulary improvement of usingflashcards

This research was conducted at Ly Tu Trong primary school in ThanhHoa city as the subjects of the research This research consisted of 30students of class 3B of Ly Tu Trong primary school

The method used in this study was the experiment with questionnairesurvey and the interview Vocabulary is central to English teaching andlearning These days, many English have altered their teaching vocabularymethods They are focusing more on communicative approach instead ofgrammar or translation one However, in some areas, especially in the rural,students have still experienced the old teaching methods which leads to theact that student feel bored with learning English For examples, as teachingand learning vocabulary reading and vocabulary, teacher lists the words onthe blackboard and translates into Vietnamese; students rewrite on paperand then try to learn by heart This method causes a situation wherestudents lack interest in learning vocabulary Therefore, there is a need toenhance students’ motivation in learning vocabulary Being aware of theimportance vocabulary, the researcher chooses the topic “Using flashcards inteaching vocabulary in a primary school in Thanh Hoa province With thistopic, the researcher would like to examine the current situation of teaching

and learning vocabulary in at a high school and find out the benefits offlashcards in teaching and learning vocabulary.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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LIST OF TABLES

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LIST OF FIGURES

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

Vocabulary is generally the total number of words that exist in a particularlanguage More specifically, it functions as the foundation without which anylanguage is impossible to exist in this world Learning a foreign language,especially English as a language of international communication throughout theworld, has now become essential to grasp the opportunity to reach information.Learning English vocabulary at an early age is the fundamental step to learnEnglish It stands to reason, as stated by (Edward, 1997) in his book thatvocabulary is one of the important factors in all language teaching and learnersmust continually be learning words as they learn structure and as they practicesound system Hence, English vocabulary is now introduced to learners from anearly education Thus without vocabulary communication in a second orforeign language is not possible in a meaningful way Using visual techniqueshave become effective ways in teaching vocabulary.Flashcards is a commonway that teachers use in vocabulary lessons

1.1 Rationale of the study

It is obvious that English is one of the most popular languages in theworld It is clear that English has become more and more dominant aroundthe world Nowadays , in some countries English is used as the mothertongue and other countries , as a second language in school

Vocabulary represents one of most important skills necessary forteaching and learning a foreign language It is the basis for the development

of all the other skills: reading comprehension, listening comprehension,speaking, writing, spelling and pronunciation Vocabulary is the main tool forthe students in their attempt to use English effectively It is true that thevocabulary is the focus of language It is in words that sound and meaninginterlock to allow us to communicate with one another, and it is word that

we arrange together to make sentences, conversation, and discourse of allkinds Besides, vocabulary really plays an important role because it appears

language learning However, it is not easy to study perfect Englishvocabulary Almost students often face up with some problems in learningvocabulary at first, especially primary students In fact, it is difficult tomemorize a new word with its meaning, spelling and pronunciation, manyprimary students are often confused with knowing how they can applygrammar into sentences, sometimes, they can not understand when beingopposed to video and audio Moreover, techniques to teach English inprimary schools is traditional with similar activities days by days, whichmakes students become fed up with learning English Therefore, interestingtechniques to teach English are necessary to help students learn Englishvocabulary better, they also attract students’ interest on English From theabove reasons, I have the ambition of presenting some effective suggestions

to teach English vocabulary in primary schools with hope that students will

be interested in learning English Due to my English knowledge limitationand the frame of this thesis , I would like to choose the research title: “

using flashcards to teach vocabulary in primary school in Thanh Hoa ”.

1.2 Aims of the study

My research is to provide some suggested techniques in teachingEnglish vocabulary in primary school to make students more interested inthe lesson as well as to master learned knowledge of that lesson in aneffective way

1. Find out the effectiveness of learning vocabulary using flashcards

2. Determine the students’ attitude towards the use of flashcards

3. Determine the teachers’ attitude towards the use of flashcards

1.3 Scope of the study

In fact, there are lots of various techniques to teach Englishvocabulary for primary students It requires much time and effort.Furthermore, English vocabulary includes meaning, grammar,pronunciation, and spelling This research focuses on the effects of using

of remembering word meaning, word spelling and word pronunciation whenusing flashcards Other aspect of vocabulary such as: grammar, collocation were not taken into consideration in the research The course book whichthe researcher used in the experimental course was 3rd Grade EnglishTextbook, published by Viet Nam Education Publishing House The studywas conducted among secondary students who were 8 years old They were

in grade 3

1.4 Methods of the study

A lot of methods have been applied to complete this thesis : Collectedreferences, books and websites related to teaching English and documentwere analyzed in details to form the theoretical background of this thesis Asurvey questionnaire and the interview were conducted for primarystudents at some schools in Thanh Hoa with a point of view to find out theirrecognition, attitudes, evaluation of the matter and the difficulties theyencounter as well as what activities they like doing in one lesson

1.5 Design of the study

The study is divided into five chapters: Introduction, TheoreticalBackground, Methodology , Results and Findings and Conclusion

Chapter 1, Introduction, includes rationale for the study, the aims, methods,scope, and design of the study Chapter 2 comes the second, in which atheoretical background was presented Chapter 3, the study comes next withthe responsibility for specifying the factors for the researcher to collect andprocess the study data Chapter 4 consists of findings and discussion, inwhich the data is described and discussed Chapter 5 comes last Aconclusion of the study, the limitations of the study, and suggestion forfurther research are also mentioned in the last chapter

1.6 Research question

Based on the delimitation the problems above, the researcher formulatedthe problems in this research as follow:

1. How does the use of flashcards affect the students vocabularyacquisition ?

2. How does using flashcards motivate the primary student ?

CHAPTER 2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

2.1 The Nature of Vocabulary

One thing that differentiates human from animals is verbal language orspeaking beside mind to think Humans can communicate with othersthrough verbal language, either to apply or to receive the information theanimal can not do When we observe a child first acquiring speech, we talk ofthis progress as a matter of learning new words, we are also likely to feelthat the adult speaker with largest vocabulary has the best command ofEnglish

2.1.1 What is vocabulary?

There are many definitions about vocabulary A vocabulary is defined

as "all the words known and used by a particular person" and “all the wordswhich exist in a particular language or subject” (Cambridge AdvancedLearners Dictionary) However, according to Sebastian Wren, Ph.D , thewords known and used by a particular person do not constituteall the words

a person is exposed to By definition, a vocabulary includes the last twocategories of this list:

• Never encountered the word

•Heard the word, but cannot define it

•Recognize the word due to context or tone of voice

•Able to use the word but cannot clearly explain it

•Fluent with the word – its use and definition

Another definition of vocabulary: vocabulary is knowledge of wordsand word meanings However, vocabulary is more complex than thisdefinition suggests First, words come in two forms: oral and print Oral

vocabulary includes those words that we recognize and use in listening andspeaking Print vocabulary includes those words that we recognize and use

in reading and writing Second, word knowledge also comes in two forms,receptive and productive Receptive vocabulary includes words that werecognize when we hear or see them Productive vocabulary includes wordsthat we use when we speak or write Receptive vocabulary is typically largerthan productive vocabulary, and may include many words to which weassign some meaning, even if we don t know their full definitions and‟connotations – or ever use them ourselves as we speak and write (Kamil &Hiebert, in press)

Besides, according to Webster s Dictionary (1993‟ :327) “ Vocabulary is

a list or group of words and phrase, usually in alphabetical order” In general,vocabulary is a component of language that maintains all of informationabout meaning and using word in language (Harimurti kridalaksana1993:27).It is one of the important factors in learning English besides soundsystem, grammar, and culture A vocabulary usually grows and evolves withage, and serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and 18acquiring knowledge Therefore, a person's vocabulary is the set of wordsthey are familiar with in a language

2.1.2 Types of vocabulary

According to Nation (2001), there are two kinds of vocabulary Theyare perceptive and productive vocabulary Receptive vocabulary refers to thewords that native speakers and foreign learners recognize and understandbut hardly ever use, it is used passively in either listening or reading.Productive vocabulary means that the students, which those are familiar,produce the words well known and used frequently in writing a sentence oressay and in speaking

According to Montgomery (2007) vocabulary is divided into four types thoseare listening vocabulary, speaking vocabulary, reading vocabulary, and

writing vocabulary It defines that vocabulary types from their usage duringteaching Listening vocabulary is the words students hear and understand,speaking vocabulary is the words used when they speak, reading vocabulary

is the words students understand when they read texts, through readingmany words can be read and can improve understanding, and writingvocabulary is the words that

students use when they try to express

Meanwhile, Grigg (2012) categorize the type of vocabulary into active andpassive vocabulary Passive vocabulary means, a person knows about thewords when he is listening to others people or understand a reading textmeans, while active vocabulary is the ability to a person to produce thewords both in speaking and writing It is related to the person ability

In contrast to Montgomery (2007), Wollacott (2013) stated that the fourtypes of vocabulary (listening vocabulary, speaking vocabulary, readingvocabulary, and writing vocabulary) are summarized just in active andpassive vocabulary

In general, vocabulary is divided into four types: reading vocabulary,listening vocabulary, writing vocabulary and speaking vocabulary

2.1.2.4 Speaking vocabulary

Speaking vocabulary consists of the words we use in everyday speech

A person's speaking vocabulary is all the words he or she can use in speech.Due to the spontaneous nature of the speaking vocabulary, words are oftenmisused This misuse – though slight and unintentional – may becompensated by facial expressions, tone of voice, or hand gestures However,according to Nation (1990:29), vocabulary is divided in the specificreference, such a word

2.1.3 Receptive vocabulary

Knowing a word involves being able to recognize it when it is heard( what is the sound like?) or when it seen ( what does it look like?) andhaving an expectation of what grammatical pattern the word willoccurrence This includes being able to distinguish it from word with similarform and being able to judge if the word form sound right or look right

word to stand for the meaning it represents and being able to think ofsuitable substitutes for the word if there any.

2.1.5 The importance of vocabulary

It can be said that vocabulary is comprised of four things: listening,writing, reading, and speaking All four of these elements are used to make

up a larger structure that is called literacy While literacy has been importantever since humans first discovered writing, it has become much moreimportant in the information age More than ever before, information hasbeen allowed to flow freely While much of this information is not veryvaluable, some of it can enhance your career, make you more productive, andeven save your life Your vocabulary is the element that will determine yourcultural literacy When many people think of vocabulary, they think of it as atedious learning process However, it is very vital to your success in ourworld of today It is no longer enough to just know what is happening in yourneighborhood, city, or country It is equally important for you to understandwhat is happening on a global scale Improving your vocabulary from anearly age will allow you to become informed It will allow you to successfullyconvey your ideas to others, and it can also improve your career outlook.Having said that, it is important for parents to focus on improving theeducation of their children from an early age

In general, vocabulary plays an important role in the development of eachlanguage, its importance is concluded in this list:

• An extensive vocabulary aids expressions and communication

• Vocabulary size has been directly linked to reading comprehension

• Linguistic vocabulary is synonymous with thinking vocabulary

• A person may be judged by others based on his or her vocabulary

2.2 Psychological features of primary students

The growth of six, seven and eight-year-old-children is slow butsteady They have gained control of their major muscles Most children have

a good sense of balance They can stand on one foot and walk on a balancebeam They enjoy performing physical tricks They enjoy testing musclestrength and skills They like to skip, run, tumble, and dance to music Theycan catch small balls They can manage buttons and zippers They can learn

to tie their shoelaces They can print their names They can copy designs andshapes including numbers and letters They use utensils and tools correctlywith supervision Older School-Age Children are very active with lots ofenergy Their fine motor and large motor skills have become much better

2.2.1 Social and emotional development

They think of themselves more than others until about a seven or eight.They play well in groups but may need some time to play alone Manychildren have a best friend and an enemy They tend to prefer playmates ofthe same sex Children often tell on each other This is done for two reasons:

to help them understand the rules and to get an adult's attention They donot like criticism or failure It is best to have each child compete againsthimself or herself not children They can be helpful with small chores Theyhave a strong need for love and attention from their parents They arebeginning to care about the feelings and needs of others They may enjoytaking care of and playing with younger children To them, "good" and "bad"are what parents and teachers approve or disapprove of They are starting todevelop a moral sense such as understanding honesty They begin to develop

a sense of humor and may enjoy nonsense rhymes, songs, and riddles Theybecome upset when their behavior or school work is criticized or ignored.When children are nine or ten year old, they have a strong need to feelaccepted and worthwhile They show their ability to be independent bybeing disobedient, using back-talk and being rebellious They preferindividual achievements over competition They like encouragement andsuggestions over competition They still look to adults for approval Theybegin to take responsibility for their own actions They like to join organized

groups They prefer to be with members of their own sex They look up toand imitate older youth They are beginning to build and understandfriendship They want to be accepted by the peer group.

2.2.2 Intellectual development

They can tell left from right Their ability to speak and expressthemselves develops rapidly This is important for success in school Theytalk to each other about themselves and their families During play, theypractice using the words and language they learn in school They start tounderstand time and days of the week They like silly rhymes, riddles, andjokes Their attention span is longer They can follow more involved stories.They are learning letters and words By six, most can read words orcombinations of words Like the social and emotional development, thereare some differences in children intellectual development, they need‟opportunities to share thoughts and reactions They see things as either

"black or white." They have interests which change often They are easilymotivated and eager to try new things They usually do best when the work

is done in small pieces They need guidance from adults to stay at a task toachieve their best In conclusion, being the 1st grade student is the mostimportant changes of children With new environment they mustconcentrate in a long time between 30- 35 minutes They are not curiouschildren like three-age-boys, moreover, they are enjoy discovering andunderstanding interesting things in life Primary students graduallydominate their curiosity in order to form the discipline and implementlearning regulations… All these above are children s challenges, the care and‟assistance of families, schools and society depending on the understanding

of scientific knowledge will help children overcome these difficulties better

2.3 The nature of Flashcards

Teaching techniques are the ways which are used by teachers topresent information to be learned The teaching resources best suited to the

students, such as the latest technology, may not be available to teachers,teachers must find the best techniques to teach the students using theresources available to them.

2.3.1 The understanding of Flashcards

According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, flashcard is a cardwith a word and sometimes it has some colorful pictures inside flashcardsare a simple, versatile and underexploited resource for teaching younglearners, states Admit (2009) Its versatility allows the teacher to use theircreativity to adapt different topics in images to teach vocabulary at low costand with recyclable value Flashcards cards are a suitable media thatmotivate children to learn vocabulary and later improve their English skillsYogyakarta (2014) since flashcard uses colorful images that catch learners’attention better than abstract concepts

Flashcards are very helpful tools in presenting and drilling forms ofnew words, since they draw learners attention and make these often boring‟activities more enjoyable And that is exactly what teachers need whenpresenting new language to catch their learners full attention, to raise their‟interest in the presented subject and hence also their motivation Thepicture is used in a more meaningful and real-life communicative way than‟being just displayed for pupils to say what they can actually see This willprobably have a greater impact on the retention of a piece of vocabularyagain and also subsequently on the ability to use it in communication Theteacher works with two antonymous pictures, or similarly, compares twothings very alike in their meaning, such as “hill” and “mountain” Yet anotherpossibility is to employ the sense of a collective idea or to present the word

as a part of a larger thing As for the first case, the verb “to work” can beaccompanied by pictures of different people working in various jobs; in thesecond case, the word „leaf can be put into context as a part of ‟ “a tree”(Wright 1990: 139-144; Wright and Haleem 1991: 51-52)

2.3.2 Kinds of Flashcards

In Longman Dictionary (1985:107), in language teaching, flashcards is

a card with words, sentence, or pictures It is used as an aid or cue in alanguage lesson It can be concluded from these definitions that flashcardsare cards with a word or words, or a sentence, or a picture on it used to learnand memorize vocabulary Flashcards are divided into two types: pictureflashcards and word flashcards

2.3.2.1 Picture flashcards

According to Wright & Haleem (1991:50), picture flashcards are cardswith pictures printed or drawn on having 15×20 cm They should be smallenough for the users to easily handle and big enough for the whole class tosee clearly The teachers can prepare them in free time at home Advantages

of picture flashcards are the attractiveness and colorfulness with detailswhich blackboard pictures do not have Picture flashcards are useful forpresenting, practicing and revising vocabulary of lessons

Figure 1 Flashcards of colors

2.3.2.2 Word flashcards

In Bowen (1982), word flashcards which are cards with words printed

on can be held up rapidly or “flash” by the teacher before the class A wordflashcard is about 8cm high and 10cm wide; and its length depends on thesize of class They are useful for representing words or structure

Figure 2 Word flashcards

2.3.3 Advantages of using Flashcards

Wright (1976: 80) claimed that students will get clear understandingabout the vocabulary material delivered by the teacher when they coverpronunciation, usage and illustration by picture of a word and they will notfeel bored when they are taught using flashcards thanks to the colorfulness

of pictures

According to Inayah S (2010) flashcards are easy for the teacher todeliver; therefore, it is more convenient for them not to carry heavy books.According to Haycraft (1978: 102) and Cross (1991: 120) there are someadvantages of using flashcards in teaching language: Firstly, flashcards can

be used for consolidating vocabulary and taken almost everywhere andevery when Secondly, flashcards are eye-catching and effective for any level

students Lastly, it is flashcard that provides learners with the link betweenL1 and the target language.

2.3.4 Disadvantages of Flashcards

There are at least some disadvantages of flashcard offered by Wright(1976: 82) Firstly, it is sometimes difficult for the teacher to find a suitablecard for each topic that is suitable with syllabus Secondly, flashcards are notbig enough for the students sitting in behind to see clearly Moreover, Inayah

S (2010) stated other disadvantages of flashcards: Firstly, flashcards are tooexpensive, and it takes teachers much time to make flashcards bythemselves Secondly, it is likely that some students misunderstand aboutteachers’ explanation when they see flashcards, so the goal cannot beachieved

In conclusion, flashcard is not only useful for representing vocabularybut also attract students because of colorful pictures; however, the expensiveprices, limited size, off –topic cards are drawbacks of this teaching aid.Hence, it is advisable for the teacher take consideration in the topic of lessonand the size of class to decide how to use flashcard properly

2.3.5 Overview of using flashcard in teaching vocabulary

In Vocabulary learning: A critical analysis of techniques, Oxford andCrokall claimed that using flashcards self-test vocabulary knowledge is apopular with students in L2 learning strategies It is a fact that learnerscan take advantage of the availability of this learning technique in bothtraditionally taught languages such as France, Spanish and ESL and lesscommon ones like Russian They said “With creativity and thought on thepart of the learner, flashcards can indeed be employed to provide greatercontext” For example, firstly, students can divide flashcards into differentgroups of words such as part of speech; words that are already learned vs.words still needing to be learned; past tense forms vs present tenseforms Secondly, learners might be provided visual contexts by taping to

flashcards to pictures of particular objects signified by the words on thecards Furthermore, learners can create a kind of semantic map byarranging flashcards on the floor with related words closer together andunrelated words further apart Finally, flashcards give studentsopportunities to add context by writing the new word sin complete,meaningful sentences on the cards.

In Improving Students’ Vocabulary Mastery Using Flashcards(Yosephus Setyo Nugroho*, Joko Nurkamto, Hefy Sulistyowati), flashcardsmake students more familiar with certain words and memorize them moreeasily because they can see, read and touch the object and raise theirmotivation and interest in teaching learning process They also gave somesuggestions for teachers and students about using flashcards Firstly, theteacher needs to identify the students’ behavior first before presenting thelesson; use interesting technique and media, such as flashcards as well asdevelop a good atmosphere in the class Secondly, the students shouldencourage themselves to learn more, to ask more, and to know more

The Effect of Using Vocabulary Flash Card on Iranian Pre -UniversityStudents’ Vocabulary Knowledge (Mohammadreza Khodareza Ph.D in TEFL,Islamic Azad University-Tonekabon Branch, Iran) gives conclusion of effects

of using flashcards to teach vocabulary It was concluded that students’vocabulary knowledge led to a higher level of vocabulary improvement byusing flashcards in teaching vocabulary Using flashcards facilitates theirinvolvement in the class work by sharing answers, trying to participate,paying attention, giving the examples, encouraging to take part in thelessons, participating as volunteers Therefore, consequently, the researchercan claim that vocabulary flashcard is a useful way of enhancing vocabularylearning and can play an important role in teaching and learning vocabulary

to Iranian pre-university students In addition, the result of this studyindicated that there was significant difference in the efficiency of flashcard

compared to traditional method The researcher gave four reasons toconfirm that learning vocabulary through flash card would lead to betterlearning than traditional method Firstly, students can review difficult wordsmore frequently than easy ones by separating cards into several categoriesbase on their difficulty level Secondly, learners are presented with a secondlanguage word and its definition on the other side of card; therefore, theycan easily practice new words and recall their meanings in as much as thewords appear on two different sides of the cards Thirdly, learning wordsthrough traditional method causes rote learning Finally, in traditionalmethod, some words may receive less attention than others because of theirparticular positions in the class Nevertheless, there is not such a problemwith the application of flashcard because they tend to be more flexible.

In Teaching Vocabulary, using Flashcards And Wordlist (A Experimental Study of Fifth Graders at One Public Elementary School inBinjai Universitas, Pendidikan Indonesia, (2013) and Elsa Yusrika Sitompulshowed that students’ vocabulary mastery improved after they were taught

Quasi-by flashcards and wordlist The students in experimental group admittedthat they could memorize the words easily, be more motivated to learningEnglish and understand vocabulary easily Moreover, it is recommended touse flashcards as a strategy to teach vocabulary to primary students

2.4 How to teach vocabulary to primary students

Teaching English to primary school students is not an easy task forteachers since they should introduce English as a new lesson for students.The students are expected to have the skills of language in simple English Sothe mastery of vocabulary is very important since it is essential inconducting communication There are several principles in teachingvocabulary in order to make the teaching learning process more interesting.They are as follows: It interests the learners It makes the learners giveattention to the spelling, pronunciation, meaning or use of word It gives a

chance for repetition According to some authors the fundamental reasonsfor teaching English at elementary schools are longer study results in greaterfluency and better pronunciation “One of the most important factorsinfluencing the development of the language proficiency is the amount oftime spent in working with the language When language learning beginsearlier, can go on longer and provide more practice and experience, leadingultimately to greater fluency and effectiveness” ( Helena Anderson,1993-3).The earlier a child stars to learn a foreign language, the easier it will be forhim/her to acquire better pronunciation It is proved by Krashen as quoted

by Helena Anderson: “Older learners have an advantage over children inalmost every area tested with a small advantage for children in the area ofnative like pronunciation at least in most classroom settings ’’ (Krashen ,

1982 )

In teaching vocabulary to children, teachers have to select suitablewords to be taught in the first stage The choice of words should be based onthe following consideration: Commonest words: “They are the words whichare commonly used or the words that the students need” It is important toteacher to make the words list before the lesson starts Its purpose is toknow what the most common words are used by the students Students‟need: “ The words that are needed be the students are usually worth to betaught to the students” Students need is a major consideration for teacher‟

to teach the primary students Sometimes they are interested in knowing thethings around them It makes them motivated to learn When thinkingabout vocabulary lesson in the first stage, the teacher of English in theprimary school should have the awareness of five facts as stated by Allen:Foreign words for familiar objects and persons are important to teach, but

we can not expect most members of the class to learn them easily Teachingsuch words will require special skill because students often feel their nativelanguage words for familiar objects and persons are all they really need

Students are very likely to feel that foreign words for familiar objects are notreally needed when the foreign language is not used for communication outside the language class When a student feels no real need to learnsomething, a feeling of need must be created by the teacher To creative instudents minds a sense of personal need for a foreign word, it is not enough‟

to say “ Here is the word to learn”, “Here is what the word means”, “ Theword will be very useful to you someday” Allen, (1983-3)

From the quotation above, it is concluded that in order to create a personalsense of need for a foreign word, teachers have to put the students in asituation which forces them to use the English words

2.5 Related studies

2.5.1 Improving students’ vocabulary mastery using flashcards

Improving students` vocabulary mastery using flashcards is importantfor our project because vocabulary is a crucial element in teaching a foreignlanguage The study is about a research conducted in Nigeria with fourthgrade students of SD Negeri II Watuagung academic in 2011 This projectwas developed to solve the academic problems from Watuagung students ofmastering vocabulary A preliminary investigation was done to have adatabase to compare The problems were seen from two indicators: first,their vocabulary score was low Second, the students did not have motivationduring teaching and learning process

The main aim of this research was to improve students’ vocabularymastery and students’ motivation when using flashcards To overcome theproblems, classroom action research was used It implemented flashcards as

a media tool There were two cycles of action In each cycle, the procedure ofthe research consisted of planning, acting, observing, and reflecting Incollecting the data, the researcher used qualitative and quantitativemethods The technique of qualitative data was interview, observation,document analysis, and test For the quantitative

data, the data was analyzed by finding and comparing the main scores

in pre-test and post-test descriptive statistics

The method used in this study was classroom action research Kemmis(1983) in Hopkins (1993) stated that action research is a form of self-reflective inquiry undertaken by participants in social including educationalsituation to improve the rationality and justice of their own social oreducational practices; their understanding to these practices, and; thesituations in which the practices are carried out (p.44) Also, the model ofclassroom action research in this study is modelled by Kemmis andMcTaggart in Burns, (1999, p 32) who stated that the model of actionresearch consists of four steps: planning, acting, observing and reflecting

Planning: Here the researcher prepares everything that is needed in

doing the action; for instance, she prepares a lesson plan, the material thatwill be used in the action, and she also prepares the evaluation material afterconducting the action to give information whether or not the speakingimproves

Acting: After preparing the lesson plan, the material and the

evaluation, the researcher implemented the plan In this study, theresearcher implemented flashcards games in teaching vocabulary; theflashcards games were done in the group She also administered pretest, thematerial, at end of the study, she did the posttest

Observing: The researcher observes the effects of the critically

informed action in the context in which it occurs Besides that, theresearcher also makes the observation sheet about the process in teachinglearning process

Reflecting: After doing the observation, the researcher continued to

the next step namely reflection In this step the researcher reflects how theteaching learning process runs

In this research, the data were collected by using some techniques ofqualitative and quantitative data collection The qualitative data werecollected from interview, observation, and documents (the photograph andstudent’s worksheet) The quantitative data were collected from tests, pre-test and posttest.

Based on the background, some problems were formulated Can the use

of flashcards improve students, vocabulary mastery at the fourth-gradestudents of Ly Tu Trong primary school? How is the learning motivation ofthe fourth-grade students of Ly Tu Trong primary school when flashcard isused? The research findings answer the above questions

The researcher achieved several findings that answer the researchquestions The research findings include the improvement of students’vocabulary mastery and the improvement from the students’ participation.First, the improvement of students’ vocabulary mastery, from the result ofthe tests (pre-test and post-test) in the first cycle and second cycle showedimprovement of the students’ vocabulary mastery This improvement could

be seen from the increase of the main students’ vocabulary score Second,the improvement of the student’s participation in the first cycle, students`enthusiasm and motivation increased in joining learning activity Theactivities outside the learning activity were minimized; it is because thelearning activities and the media which were used by the teacher wereinteresting for them In the second cycle, students were also active as groupmembers when they did the group task using flashcards The first two pointsfrom observational data and interview showed that the students’ motivationimproved because of teaching activity using flashcards

Finally, from the explanation, first, based on the quantitative data test and post-test, it can be concluded that flashcards can improve students’vocabulary mastery It is proved by the increase of students’ vocabulary

pre-mastery score Second, based on observational data field notes; flashcardscan improve student’s motivation in teaching and learning process.

Finally, it can be said that the existence of flashcards makes thestudents familiar with certain words They can see, read, and touch theobject Thus, after the lesson is over, they can memorize the words easily.They increased attention, motivation, and existence of flashcards improvedthe student’s achievement in mastering vocabulary The research finallygives three suggestions: the teacher needs to identify the student’s behaviorbefore presenting the lesson This is aimed to choose an appropriatetechnique; it is necessary for the teacher to use interesting technique andmedia, such as flashcards Just in this way, the students will be interested injoining the lesson; the teacher should be able to develop a good atmosphere

in the class, so that the students learn at comfortable situation

2.5.2 The effect of using vocabulary flash cards on primary students’ vocabulary knowledge.

The aim of this study is to increase the student’s vocabulary knowledgethrough using seven -step vocabulary flash card (VFC) as a model to boostvocabulary learning The study has two principal purposes: The first one istheoretical, this means to say that the study makes important contributionsfor language teaching vocabulary and the use of vocabulary flash cards Insecond place, the results can be used for those future researchers who want

to investigate in the same field The second is Practical that the studyprovides solutions to some problems in the teaching vocabulary field.Equally, it is going to be found that vocabulary flash card can motivate thestudents to learn English words and reinforce it The participants of thisstudy were 30 female primary students at a public school in Thanh Hoa.They were selected between the 100 students who participated in aproficiency test and their homogeneity was confirmed by utilizing thestatistical technique of t-test All participants were EFL learners Even, they

have the same language, and the teacher was the same for the two groups.Those students were divided into two groups of 30 learners to form theexperimental and the control groups of the study to be tested on the effect of

a new vocabulary learning tool The instruments used in this study included

a general test of language proficiency, post class mini tests and aquestionnaire survey The aim of a general test was to divide the studentsinto two homogeneous groups The post class mini tests were a vocabularytest prepared by the researcher based on the textbook of English 3rd grade.The results of the study indicated that though both methods enhancedvocabulary development of the learners from the pretest to the posttest, theexperimental group seemed to be better than the control group That is, theexperimental group students had better vocabulary scores than the controlgroup students at the end of the study

During the three-week study, both groups followed the same course

book which provided the students with a number of the new vocabularies(words) While the control group students learned vocabulary only throughtraditional method, the experimental group students learned vocabularyonly through vocabulary flash card as a new method

The experimental group students in the present study were shownexplicitly the vocabulary flashcard strategy, through they could try to achievebetter vocabulary learning The students found this strategy more effectivethan other strategies, and received help and feedback from the teacher.When they failed to only memorize a new word, they tried to use vocabularyflash card strategy, as they were aware of the existence of another strategywhich they could apply Finally, it was concluded that the contribution ofvocabulary flashcard in teaching vocabulary to students conduct to a higherlevel of vocabulary improvement Using

this visual mean facilitates learners’ participation into the class section

by means of sharing answers, trying to participate, paying attention, giving

the examples, encouraging to take part in the lesson, participating asvolunteers Interacting with each other in a warm- up activity, utilizing thenew words in the example, working on the vocabulary and pronunciation.The findings showed that participants in the experimental group, whohad received the treatments of vocabulary flashcard, demonstrated betterresults in the vocabulary test Thereupon, the researcher can claim thatvocabulary flash card is a useful way of enhancing vocabulary learning andcan play an important role in teaching and learning vocabulary to primarystudents.

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

3.1 Reality

In fact, the relationship between teachers, educational materials andstudents is always interdependent In addition, teaching and learningcondition is also very important factor All of those are really decisive inbringing success to lectures Because of the limitation of time, the surveyquestionnaires were only conducted in Ly Tu Trong Primary Schools in

Thanh Hoa province and found their reality The focus of surveyquestionnaires depended on the characteristics of teachers and students andthe teaching and learning condition in these schools, and on the design of theadopted textbook: English 3

English teaching staff at primary schools in Ly Tu Trong – Thanh Hoa isquite young and they are also enthusiastic in teaching and helping students.All of them graduated from colleges and universities and have experience inteaching English Before going to class, they always prepare their lecturescarefully and thoroughly However, sometimes they still keep the traditionalteaching methods Teachers just use their book and material related with thelesson in accordance with the teachers’ book In my opinion, interestingteaching aids need to be used in each lesson, especially at primary schools

There are nearly 700 students in Ly Tu Trong primary school , thereare 300 students at 3rd, 4th and 5th grades Because of applying theInstruction of Education and Training Ministry, in Thanh Hoa , almost ofprimary schools start teaching English for students from 1st grade.Therefore, the primary students who are learning English in Thanh Hoaprovince are about 4000 students Most of them are getting acquaintedwith English, so they do not understand about the importance of English inthe life I can find their activeness and eagerness in an English lesson.However, with the traditional methods, teacher lectures on the board, and

students takes down words and grammar in notebook Therefore studentscan not express their ability of logic and activeness Primary students are atthe age of eating, playing and sleeping Depending on this psychology, let’schildren know that learning English is like a game, in other words, teachersshould join the playing and studying together in teaching English forprimary students Therefore, during the time I observed at Ly Tu Trongprimary school I found that it is so necessary to apply new and workabletechniques for teaching English.

At Ly Tu Trong primary school , the teaching and learning condition isfairly good with a system of the new blackboards, modern equipments andright in size furniture All infrastructures are in good condition: classroom islarge and bright enough, chairs and tables are quite comfortable and wideenough In each class, there are a lot of illustrations English pictures forstudying, that why in English periods the class atmosphere is very pleasantand comfortable However, in these schools, only teachers can borrow books,magazines and newspapers in libraries In addition, there are not manyEnglish reference books, and teaching aids to study English are inadequate

So in class time, teachers often use visual aids but they are not rich That iswhy their lectures do not attract students’ attention and they appear quiteboring to the students To sum up, with these learning and teachingcondition Ly Tu Trong primary school is good environment to teach English.However, teachers need to collect and apply more and more new techniques

to teach English effectively and scientifically

3.2 Participants

This classroom had 30 students at Ly Tu Trong primary school Theparticipants were 12 girls and 18 boys with an age average between 7 to 8years old and their English level was basic Participants and threepractitioners that were in charge of collecting data and implementing theproject

Before taking part in experiment, they all had passed the generalEnglish test This test found no statistically significant difference betweentwo groups These scores of general English test of two groups are illustrated

in detail in the results section

The participants were divided into two groups One group was thecontrol group which was not taught with flashcards The flashcards had beenused in the experimental group The treatment finished the course inthirteen weeks with a session every week

3.3 Materials

To answer the research questions, the following resources were used:

3.3.1 Criteria of flashcards in teaching

In Using flash card to improve students’ understanding on presentcontinuous tense, Inayah S stated three criteria of making flashcards

Flashcard held up before the class should be visible, large enough for allstudents to see clearly details Furthermore, size of flashcards is flexibledepending on the size of the class (Wahyuni and Yulaida, 2014)

Picture flashcards need to convey messages which are related closely to thepurposes of the lesson to avoid make students confuse something

The way of using flashcards must be correctly Moreover, it is important forthe teacher to check the copyright of materials before they give to students

3.3.2 English textbook

As for the purpose of present study, the participants in the experimentalstudy used 3rd Grade English Textbook as the main course book There aretwenty topics in this course book All of them are to present and practicevocabulary and grammar, as well as develop four language skills (listening,speaking, reading and writing)

Vocabularies in the 3rd Grade English Textbook are learnt by topics.These are ten topics corresponding with the 20 units in the two terms

- Unit 1: Hello - Unit 10: What do you do at break time?

- Unit 3: This is Tony

-Unit 4: Are they your

friend ?

- Unit 5: Study habits

- Unit 6: Stand up!

- Unit 7: That’s my school

- Unit 8: This is my pen

- Unit 9 : What color is it ?

- Unit 12: This is my house

- Unit 13: Where’s my book ?

- Unit 14: Are there any posters in the room ?

- Unit 15: Do you have any toys ?

- Unit 16: Do you have any pets ?

- Unit 17: What toys do you like ?

- Unit 18: What are you doing ?-Unit 19: They’re in the park

- Unit 20: Where’s Sa Pa ?However, only units were chosen for the experiment, from unit 6, unit

8 and unit 9 There were three lessons during the experiment Thevocabulary tests which were delivered to the participants after every lessonwere the tests on word meaning, word spelling and word pronunciation.Each test consists of five questions about five new words they have learnt.The total score is ten with two marks for a correct answer In the wordmeaning test, the participants have to write the meaning of the words inmother tongue (Vietnamese meaning) The test on word spelling is a jumbleletter exercise which requires the participants to reorder the letters to make

a correct word In order to test word pronunciation, the participants wererequired to read aloud the words they had learnt then the researcherrecorded what the participants’ presentation Here are three examples ofword meaning test, word spelling and word pronunciation test:

Example 1: Word meaning test

Write the meanings of the words:

Example 2: Word spelling test

Reorder the letters:

1. i/b/d/r

a/l/e/p/p

3. l/y/l/e/w/o .

4. c/a/e/h/t/r/e

5. o/b/y

Example 3: Word pronunciation test

Read aloud the following words:

1. cat

2. duck

3. hello

4. goodbye

Before conducting the experimental study, the participants were given

a general test level A1 which was taken from the website:http://www.englishtag.com This test includes five parts Part A and B teststudents’ knowledge of grammar about the verb to be, the present simpletense, imperative and negative Part C and D are to test students’ vocabularywith the common verbs and nouns relating to the countries, nationalities,days, numbers, months, weather, colors Part E is about the use ofprepositions such as: in, near, on, under In addition, the researcher addedforty words which would be used in the experimental course to make surethat the participants had known them or not All the tests are suitable andreliable in measuring students’ English knowledge who are in grade 3

3.3.3 Observation

3.3.3.1 The reasons of choosing classroom observation

A key advantage of conducting observations is that the researcher canwitness what teacher and students actually do, rather than what they saythey do Observations can be made in real life situations, allowing theresearcher to access to the context and meaning so real-life data is collected

3.3.3.2 Description of classroom observation

The researcher would observe 6 lessons in two classes: three lessons in3A and three lessons in 3B Firstly, the researcher would attend three lessons

in 3A of experienced teacher to study the teaching method the teacher use toteach vocabulary Then she practiced teaching three lessons of 3B in whichflashcards were not conducted to teach vocabulary While the researcherteaches, she directly observed to find out whether using flashcards iseffective or not.

3.3.4 Questionnaire Survey

3.3.4.1 The reasons of choosing survey questionnaire

According to Polit & Hungler (1997:466), questionnaire is defined “amethod of gathering information from respondents about attitudes,knowledge, beliefs and feelings” Based on Advanced Design in NursingResearch (Brink and Wood (1998:293-298)), it can be concluded somecharacteristics of a questionnaire which bring the researcher benefits: Ascompared to the time required to conduct personal interviews,questionnaire is faster and less expensive so it save the researcher’s timeand money Respondents feel that they remain anonymous and can expressthemselves in their own words without fear of identification Therefore, it is

a good tool for the protection of the privacy of the participants Data on abroad range of topics may be collected within a limited period of time Theformat is standard for all subjects and is independent of the interviewer’smood

questions are to explore their attitudes towards the importance of teachingand learning vocabulary and how vocabulary is taught in English lesson Theeighth question is aimed at asking for their opinions on whether usingflashcards is useful or not The ninth and tenth questions are designed to seetheir opinions on the strengths as well as drawbacks of using flashcards Theeleventh question aims at asking their desire of continuing using flashcards.

3.5.5 Interview

3.3.5.1 The reasons of choosing interview

It is concluded from Doing Research in the Real World.London: SAGEPublications (Gray, D E (2004) that the purpose of interview is to allow theresearcher to collect information from a single person through askingquestions

Useful for gaining insight and context into a topic Interviewer may askinterviewee to provide in-depth context and discussion related to one ormore topic Interviews typically allow for more focused discussions andfollow up questions Individuals may offer information in interviews that‐they wouldn’t offer in a group context Interviews can be an excellentsource for stories and context The interviewer can observe the non-verbalbehaviors of an interviewee Interviews also offer an opportunity for theinterviewee to become familiar with the needs assessment and its objectives.Moreover, individuals in positions of influences may also appreciate theadditional personal attention that the interview can offer as opposed to asurvey or focus group

3.3.5.2 Description of interview

There were two sets of questionnaire for interview They usedVietnamese to minimize misunderstanding and make it easier forparticipants to ask and answer questions