The application of visual aids to tech vocabulary for young learners at a language center in binh duong province

--- ∞0∞--- PHAM THI HAI YEN THE APPLICATION OF VISUAL AIDS TO TEACH VOCABULARY FOR YOUNG LEARNERS AT A LANGUAGE CENTER IN BINH DUONG PROVINCE MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL HO CHI MINH CIT

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PHAM THI HAI YEN

THE APPLICATION OF VISUAL AIDS TO TEACH VOCABULARY FOR YOUNG LEARNERS

AT A LANGUAGE CENTER

IN BINH DUONG PROVINCE

MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL

HO CHI MINH CITY, 2022

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

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PHAM THI HAI YEN

THE APPLICATION OF VISUAL AIDS TO TEACH VOCABULARY FOR YOUNG LEARNERS

AT A LANGUAGE CENTER

IN BINH DUONG PROVINCE

Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

Major code: 8 14 01 11 MASTER OF ARTS IN TESOL Supervisor: Dr NGUYEN THI XUAN LAN

HO CHI MINH CITY, 2022

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC MỞ CỘNG HÒA XÃ HỘI CHỦ NGHĨA VIỆT NAM THÀNH PHỐ HỒ CHÍ MINH Độc lập – Tự do – Hạnh phúc

KHOA ĐÀO TẠO SAU ĐẠI HỌC

GIẤY XÁC NHẬN

Tôi tên là Phạm Thị Hải Yến

Ngày sinh: 05/07/1992 Nơi sinh: Nghệ An

Tôi đồng ý cung cấp toàn văn thông tin luận án/ luận văn tốt nghiệp hợp lệ về bản quyền cho Thư viện trường đại học Mở Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh Thư viện trường đại học Mở Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh sẽ kết nối toàn văn thông tin luận án/ luận văn tốt nghiệp vào hệ thống thông tin khoa học của Sở Khoa học và Công nghệ Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that this thesis entitled “ The application of visual aids to teach vocabulary for young learners at a language center in Binh Duong Province” is my own work Except where reference is made in the text of this thesis, this thesis contains

material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from publication of which I am the only author

No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the main text of the thesis

This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree of diploma in any other tertiary institutions

Ho Chi Minh City, March 2022

PHAM THI HAI YEN

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to express my deep indebtedness to Dr Nguyen Thi Xuan Lan who offered me tremendous guidance and supervisions The accomplishment of this paper could not have been done without her continuous encouragement and

suggestions which have been the facilitation during my hard time

My sincere appreciation also goes to the academics my friends and my colleagues who dedicated their time to supporting me in the completion of my thesis Thanks to them, I had a lot of inspiration throughout the process of the study

My deep thanks are given to my family members for their great personal sacrifices, love and unconditional support Throughout the pursuit of my academic growth, they have motivated and endlessly encouraged me, which was the foundation of my continuous efforts

Thanks also due the young learners who made the study possible by their

participation without which the feasibility of conducting this research could not be gained

I sincerely thank all the organizations and individuals for their facilitation of my implementation of the study Without their help, I could not have collected the data

to accomplish this paper

Ho Chi Minh, March 2022

Pham Thi Hai Yen

ABSTRACT

Learning vocabulary is considered very important for primary school level However, vocabulary mastery also brings about the difficulties for many young learners Therefore, there should be solutions to address problems faced by students

in learning vocabulary As such, this study was conducted to investigate if visual aids (i.e videos and pictures) improved students’ performance in terms of

vocabulary To achieve the goals of the research, tests and group interviews were employed as instruments The purposes of the tests were to determine student gains

in terms of vocabulary competence and the aims of the interviews were to get data related to students’ attitudes towards the application of visuals The quasi-

experimental study was the design of this research with 60 young learner

participants who were divided into two groups, namely control group and

experimental group While the control group was taught with translation techniques, the experimental group had experiences with videos and pictures as visual aids The findings of this study proved that students receiving lessons with visual aids had outstanding improvement after the treatment Moreover, the findings of the group interviews showed that students were motivated in learning and their performance concerning comprehension of word meanings improved significantly Finally, some recommendations for further research were also provided

ABBREVIATIONS

OUP Oxford University Express

CG Control group

EG Experimental group

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

ABBREVIATIONS iv

TABLE OF CONTENTS v

LIST OF TABLES ix

LIST OF FIGURES x

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background of the study 1

1.2 Statement of problem 2

1.3 Aim of the study 3

1.4 Research questions 3

1.5 Significance of the study 3

1.6 Thesis overview 4

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 Young learners 6

2.1.1 Definition of young learners 6

2.1.2 Young learners’ characteristics 6

2.1.3 Young learners’ learning 8

2.1.3.1 Attention span 8

2.1.3.2 Cognitive development 9

2.1.3.3 Sensory input 9

2.2 Teaching vocabulary 10

2.2.1.Vocabulary 10

2.2.2 Techniques of teaching vocabulary 11

2.2.2.1 Verbal techniques 11

2.2.2.2.Visual techniques 12

2.3 Young learners’ attitudes towards learning 16

2.4 Online learning for young learners 17

2.5 Teaching theory 18

2.6.Learning theory 18

2.7 Theoretical framework 19

2.8 Chapter summary 21

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY 22

3.1 Research objectives and research questions 22

3.2 Research design 22

3.3 Research site 24

3.3.1 The center 24

3.3.2 The population 25

3.4 The participants 25

3.5 Instruments for data collection 26

3.5.1 Tests 26

3.5.1.1 Pre-test 26

3.5.1.2 Post-test 27

3.5.2 Interview 28

3.6 Data collection procedures 30

3.6.1 Before collecting data 30

3.6.2 Administering of the pre-test 31

3.6.3 The treatment 31

3.6.4 Administering of the post-test 33

3.6.5 Administering of interview 34

3.7 Data analysis procedures 35

3.7.1 Analyzing quantitative data 35

3.7.2 Analyzing qualitative data 36

3.8 The trustworthiness of the study 37

3.8.1 Credibility 37

3.8.2 Transferability 38

3.8.3 Confirmability 38

3.8.4 Dependability 39

3.9 Ethics 39

3.10 Chapter summary 40

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 42

4.1 Findings 42

4.1.1 Impacts of visual aids on vocabulary outcome 42

4.1.1.1 The normal distribution of the pre-tests 42

4.1.1.2 Performance on the vocabulary pre-tests of two groups 43

4.1.1.3 Performance on the pre-test and post-test of control group 46

4.1.1.4 Performance on the pre-test and post-test of experimental group 47

4.1.1.5 Performance on the vocabulary post-tests of two groups 50

4.1.1.6 The normal distribution of the post-tests 51

4.1.2 Young learners’ general satisfaction with vocabulary outcome 52

4.1.2.1 Affective attitudes 54

4.1.2.2 Cognitive attitudes 57

4.1.2.3 Behavioral attitudes 59

4.2 Discussion 61

4.2.1 Impacts of visual aids on vocabulary outcome 61

4.2.2 Young learners’ general satisfaction with vocabulary outcome 62

4.2.2.1 Affective attitudes 62

4.2.2.2 Cognitive attitudes 63

4.2.2.3 Behavioral attitudes 64

4.2.2.4 Contribution 65

4.3 Chapter summary 65

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 66

5.1 Summary of the findings 66

5.2 Implications 67

5.3 Limitations of the study 69

5.4 Recommendations for further research 69

5.5 Concluding remarks 70

REFERENCES 72

APPENDICES 80

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1 Pre-test and post-test descriptions

Table 3.2 Vocabularies tested in the pre-test and post-test

Table 3.3 Descriptions of the experiment

Table 4.1 Descriptive statistics in the pre-test scores of two groups

Table 4.2 The normal distribution of pre-test scores achieved by CG and EG Table 4.3 Group statistics of pre-test scores obtained by CG and EG

Table 4.4 Independent samples t-test results for the pre-tests of CG and EG Table 4.5 Paired samples statistics in the pre-test and post-test of CG

Table 4.6 Paired samples t-test results of the pre-test and post-test taken by CG Table 4.7 Paired samples statistics in the pre-test and post-test of EG

Table 4.8 Paired samples t-test results of the pre-test and post-test

taken by EG

Table 4.9 Group statistics of post-test scores achieved by CG and EG

Table 4.10 Independent samples t-test results for the post-tests of CG

and EG

Table 4.11 Descriptive statistics in the post-test scores of two groups

Table 4.12 The normal distribution of post-test scores achieved by CG and EG

LIST OF FIGURES

Chart 4.1 Pre-test scores obtained by two groups

Chart 4.2 CG students’ performance in the pre-test and post-test Chart 4.3 EG students’ performance in the pre-test and post-test Chart 4.4 Post-test scores obtained by two groups

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

In the era of globalization, the integration among countries globally is more noticeable than ever before and English has become the language for

communication worldwide English is now used widely in all walks of life ranging from business, diplomacy, entertainment, education, to science and technology Therefore, learning English is very important as only when people equip themselves with English knowledge can they join in this global world Due to the importance of studying English, there has been the increase in the number of young language learners starting learning English at a young age Paralleling with this, both public and private schools around the world try to provide early language programs to meet the demands of learners (Mardasari, 2020) Concerning early learning and teaching, vocabulary play a crucial role as it is considered as a foundation for

developing language skills (Rahmadhani, 2015) However, teaching vocabulary for young learners is not easy (Juhana, 2014) Young learners learn vocabulary through visual things Via visuals, they can achieve the vocabulary level of their age

Recently, with the impact of the pandemic COVID-19, teachers around the world have tried to cope with online learning for young learners Teaching vocabulary for young learners with visual aids in online learning has been applied recently Young learners are engaged and learning vocabularies with visual aids in online classrooms

is effective (Brand, 2021)

Concerning Vietnamese setting, teaching English for young learners has gained attention in recent years Particularly, the National Foreign Languages Project 2008-

2025 was introduced to promote English language learning in all type of

educational levels, including learning English of primary school learners (Le & Do, 2012) Besides, teaching English for young learners outside the formal educational system has developed with the opening of many language centers Thanks to this non-formal educational sector, the quality of teaching English in Vietnam has been fostered (Hoang, 2010) Concerning the application of visual aids in teaching

vocabulary in Vietnamese context, there has been many studies conducted to

investigate the effectiveness of visual aids in teaching vocabulary in both formal and non-formal educational sector (Tran, 2018) Visual aids help students to

improve their vocabulary outcomes (Bui, 2012; Chung, 2016; Do, 2010; Huynh & Pham, 2011; Pham, 2010) With respect to attitudes of learners, the majority of students stated positive feelings towards the application of visual aids in vocabulary teaching (H T Nguyen, 2011; Truong, 2011) However, the application of visual aids to teach vocabulary in Vietnam in online classes for young learners is not paid attention by teachers Teachers still employ some traditional techniques to teach vocabularies like in offline classrooms, while online lessons- a more difficult mode

of teaching- require them to apply different techniques to maintain young learners’ attention There’s a need to make use of visual aids in online vocabulary teaching to create the variety of online classroom activities, which helps to control young

learners’ attention span and improve the vocabulary learning outcomes of learners (Ho & Nguyen, 2021; C N Nguyen, 2021)

1.2 Statement of the problem

Teachers are quite reluctant to familiarize themselves with the new methods in teaching The popular way of teaching vocabularies now in many schools in

Vietnam is providing students a list of words and their equivalents, which is not suitable for teaching young learners (T T X Nguyen, 2014) Concerning teachers

in private and public school system, many of them work at the language center after hours to increase their incomes They are reluctant to find something new for their teaching.The reason is that preparing teaching aids takes them a lot of time as well

as prevent them from increasing their incomes from additional jobs (Dinh, 2017) New things in lessons of a number of teachers are rare, which leads to the situation

in which students feel bored in lessons Among several ways to teach vocabulary, visual aids are considered to be suitable for teaching new words for young learners

as lessons with visual-based instructions are appropriate with young learners’

characteristics and modes of learning In addition, due to the breakout of COVID-19

pandemic, the closure of schools and English language centers has been a

phenomena in many places in Vietnam The shift from offline learning to online learning is a must (Dau, 2021) The researcher’s center is not exception From the above mentioned problems, the researcher would like to take visual aids into

consideration in the researchers’ lessons with the hope to suit the modes of learning

of young learners, help students achieve the vocabulary learning outcome of their age In addition, the supplementary materials are added into the lessons with the aim

to increase students’ engagement All the lessons are carried out online as a result of the breakout of COVID-19 pandemic Visual supplements, therefore, are compared with translation techniques to find out if there are differences in terms of students’ learning outcomes between two ways of teaching vocabulary

1.3 Aim of the study

This study is conducted to achieve the following aims:

-To investigate the effects of visual aids on vocabulary knowledge for reading

of grade 4 young learners in a language center

-To identify grade 4 learners’ attitudes towards the application of visual aids in teaching vocabulary in a language center

1.4 Research questions

To achieve the above aims, the research questions are:

1 To what extent do visual aids affect vocabulary knowledge for reading of grade

4 young learners in a language center?

2 What are grade 4 young learners’ attitudes towards the use of visual aids in

vocabulary teaching and learning in a language center?

1.5 Significance of the study

The significance of this study associates with the theoretical and practical

aspects While the theories are the foundations for teachers and other researchers to

examine the literature involved in the concepts young learners, vocabulary, visual

aids, the practice of using visual aids in teaching and learning vocabulary yields the

ways to apply visual-based instructions into teaching vocabulary

As far as theoretical values are concerned, the literature review provides the

clear understanding of the definitions of the term young learners, the characteristics

of young learners, young learners’ modes of learning In addition, theories related to the definition of vocabulary, the importance of vocabulary in reading for young learners as well as word knowledge in reading for young learners are clarified in this study What is more, this study also focuses on the comprehension of the term

visual aids, types of visual aids, the benefits coupled with the challenges of using

visual aids in teaching vocabulary The conceptual framework of this study is a contribution to the research field It provides an understanding of how visual aids contribute to learning, which helps them to change their perception of teaching vocabulary online for young learners Moreover, the framework is not only a core of this study but also a useful one for researchers who are interested in this field in the future

As far as the practical aspects are concerned, this study clarifies the

effectiveness of visual aids in promoting students’ engagement in class, enhance students’ comprehension of word meanings and in word level, sentence and text level on the part of students Teachers are of lenses in terms of the benefits of

visuals which change the atmosphere of the class, improve the performance of students in terms of word meanings Moreover, this study also affects teachers’ reasoning into practice via the identification of difficulties in using visual aids Those are aspects that require teachers to take into account prior to the applications

of visual aids in vocabulary teaching so as to achieve the instructional outcome

1.6 Thesis overview

This thesis consists of five chapters as follows:

Chapter 1 Introduction presents the background of the study, the research problems needed to address, the aims and the significance of the study

Chapter 2 establishes the theoretical background for the study by reviewing

related literature The review of how people defined the term young learners, young

learners’ characteristics, the manners in which young learners learn is carried out in the first part of this chapter In the next part, insights into how vocabulary is defined

in this thesis, the importance of vocabulary in reading for young learners, word knowledge in reading for young learners are explored Following this, the theories related to definitions of visual aids, types of and the benefits as well as challenges

of visual aids are put into consideration In the final part of this chapter, the research gap of this thesis is clarified

Chapter 3 clarifies the research setting, the population, the participants as well

as the sampling techniques, the research design coupled with its appropriateness in this study, the descriptions of instruments for collecting data, the procedures of collecting data including the administering of the pre-test, the treatments across two groups of participants, the administering of the post-test as well as the administering

of the group interviews and the protocols to analyze data

Chapter 4 explores the answers for two research questions via the analysis on the data of the tests and the interpretations of students’ responses in group

interviews In particular, the analysis on results of tests provides the findings for research question 1 and students’ voices in the group interviews are analyzed to answer research question 2 Through the findings of research question 1, the

application of visual aids in vocabulary lessons proves its effectiveness With

respect to the findings of research question 2, the young learners report their

positive feelings towards visual-based lessons

Chapter 5 presents the conclusion in terms of the key findings of the tests and the results from the group interviews, limitations of the research, the implications for practice and the recommendations for further research

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

Chapter 2 establishes the theoretical background for the study by reviewing

related literature The definition of the term young learners, young learners’

characteristics, the manners in which young learners learn is reviewed in the first part of this chapter The next part of this chapter examines the definition of the term

vocabulary in this thesis, the importance of vocabulary in reading for young

learners, word knowledge in reading for young learners Following this, the

researcher provides an overall picture of the theories related to definitions of visual aids, types of and the benefits as well as challenges of visual aids In the final part

of this chapter, the research gap of this thesis is clarified

2.1.Young learners

For young learners, the activities used in classroom contexts play an important role Learners’ achievements arise from the appropriate choices of teachers among approaches and methods of teaching If teachers hope to raise the possibilities of young learners’ making good progress in English mastery process, they should

know the concepts governing the term young learners, their behaviors and the

tendency in which their learning is optimal

2.1.1.Definition of young learners

In the book of Suyanto (2007) , young learners’ ages range from 6 to 12 years old Children who age between 6 and 8 years old are classified into younger group, whereas those whose ages are from 9 to 12 years old belong to older group When it comes to this study, nine-year-olds are stressed On top of that, in the following parts of this thesis, I am expected to address aspects mainly related to learners aged

9, that is, negotiate about children whose learning still depends on concrete objects and experiences, not the learners with abstract thoughts

2.1.2 Young learners’ characteristics

To teach young learners effectively, teachers need specific skills and intuitions which do not concur with those suitable for adult teaching This is explicable due to

children’ s short span of attention, their undeveloped cognitive abilities, the ways they acknowledge things around them and their inhibitions in learning Therefore, the short time in which they concentrate in one activity, their immature thinking, their habits to discover knowledge and inhibitions blocking them to learn gauge the modes of instructions teachers employ

Attention span of children deserves careful consideration when one examines young learners’ characteristics Attention span of children is very different from that

of adults The maximum of time children aging from 5 to 7 can persist in one

activity is 10 minutes, while at the age of six, seven and eight, children cannot concentrate after 15 minutes (Shin, 2006) When children face boring or difficult tasks, they easily lose interest, curiosity for extended periods of time (Brown,

2001) In particular, when primary school children lose their control of

concentration, they leave their schoolwork uncompleted, disrupt class activities, withdraw from tasks, underachieve and even refuse school (Stanley & Hansen, 1998) Given that children’ s disengagement is reckoned a risk for scholastic

achievements, it is crucial for teachers to manage children’ attention abilities

(Schlechty, 2001)

Another feature related to young learners is that their cognitive abilities are not fully developed While adult learners can approach abstract concepts in learning language, young learners cannot distinguish between concrete things and abstract things (Muthmainnah, Hasanah, & Nor, 2019) In reality, adults have good insights

of language functions and the purposes for which people use the language They are knowledgeable in terms of sophisticated rules of grammar, such as how the verb conjugates or what the role of adverb is They comprehend the syntactical

complexity and know the concepts governing punctuation and spelling (Cozma, 2015) Meanwhile, children have no ability to understand abstract matters such as grammar Word classes, discourse and phonological features are awkward to young learners (Bourke, 2006) As shown from the above discussion, the immature

thinking of learners prevents them from examining abstract concepts

One prominent characteristic of young learner is that their learning links to experiences (Cameron, 2001) They find meaning through interacting and doing (Cameron, 2003) They like working together in activities related to playing,

studying They are interested in moving their body, miming and gesturing (Scott & Ytreberg, 1990) Young learners prefer habitual and repeated activities They are cheerful, full of curiosity and imagination (Slattery & Willis, 2001) Apparently, children are labelled learners of experiential practices

As suggested above, learners are central to the practice of English teaching This has led to the scenario in which teachers take into consideration learners’ traits Their length of attention, intellectual development, the approaches in which they get familiar with the surroundings and their barriers in learning deserve teachers’

attention To get the best return from their teaching efforts, teachers cannot keep them away from examining those characters

2.1.3 Young learners’ learning

The most primordial thing teachers need to keep in mind is passing down the knowledge and skills to learners Nevertheless, the process of delivering knowledge

is unsuccessful if teachers are incapable of understanding the fashions in which

learners orient their learning It is our endeavor to better our knowledge about how

children learn signals more comprehension in the process to choose appropriate

modes of presenting information to them (House, 1997)

2.1.3.1 Attention span

Children’s capability to maintain attention correlates with their academic

performance at school since lack of focus prevents them from comprehending (Stasch, 2014) Not surprisingly, this accounts for teachers’ continuous attempts in controlling children’s interest span, in a belief that they are able to make young learners engage in lessons To those who teach young learners, the time children still stay focused is indeed a concern Hammering out the actions to make learners pay attention to the lessons is a must Besides creating a variety of classroom

activities, teachers should mediate between children’s learning and humor forms, stimulate learners’ curiosities and make good impression on learners through their enthusiasm to the subject matters, the lively ways of teaching as well

2.1.3.2 Cognitive development

According to Piaget, there are four stages of cognitive development which guide teachers to teach students according to their intellectual growth The first stage called sensori-motor extends from birth to around age 2 Sensory experiences and motor actions are prominent aspects of this stage Mental representations are not familiar with children at this stage (Krawczyk, 2018) Children who age from 2

to 7 belong to the second stage which is pre-operational stage Their learning is still simple and they do not have logic thinking (Taylor, 1996) In other words, they are incapable of identifying the quantity of something remains unchanged if people replace its container The concrete operational stage marks the opening of a great change in children’ s mind Children older than 7 years old show strong evidence of symbolic reasoning in recognizing that the shape of the container may change, but there is a conservation of liquid This is taken as a proof that they are capable of identifying that tall glass contains less water, but people can use a wide glass with the same amount of water to compensate These students have abilities to see things

in different angles and are proficient in grouping things into categories If they have the same set of objects, they are adept at observing and putting those objects into groups by different ways However, in this stage, children still need concrete objects

to test their own hypotheses in their learning The final stage called formal

operational development occurs when children reach the age of 11 and above In this stage, children have abstract thinking Complex problems which require

systematic approaches to solve are familiar to them (Pinter, 2011)

2.1.3.3 Sensory input

Children learn from what they see, hear and touch (Mercer & Mercer, 2001), that is , learning from different senses From the experiences they had, children

understand the world around them This implies practical, hands-on ways in

teaching which provide young learners the interaction with phenomena linking to actuality, tangible and physical properties (Telaumbanua, 2012) Many methods, approaches and learning theories support the acquisition through doing Total

Physical Response, hands-on activities , project-based learning, visual and

audiovisual techniques are suitable for young learners (Brown, 2001) As suggested above, children are prone to learning in the circumstances with all the senses

stimulated The top priority for teachers is to maximize young learners’ mastery through designing activities in which learners are of opportunities to discover things around them, to interact and to do things (Curtain, 1999)

2.2 Teaching vocabulary

2.2.1 Vocabulary

According to Linse (2005), vocabulary is all the words known or learnt by a child With a broader view, the definition of vocabulary mentioned by (Ellis & McCartney, 2011) provides the comprehension on vocabulary of young learners Young learners are supposed to be able to read words to get access to the meanings

of words From the mentioned definitions, the vocabulary in this thesis is mainly defined as the words young learners learn to read

Vocabulary in reading for young learners is very important Young learners usually struggle with reading comprehension The distinction between good readers and poor readers is their vocabulary knowledge.Vocabulary is a strong predictor of young learner reading ability Lack of adequate knowledge of word meanings prevents students from understanding the text The vocabularies children learn in primary school predict their reading comprehension in upper grades 90-95 % of word meanings should be known by a child to derive meaning from the text (Nagy

& Scott, 2000)

In the article of Nikolov (2016), the word knowledge in reading for young learners is mentioned In reading, young learners at the age of 9 need to understand

the meanings of familiar words Some task types that are appropriate to test word knowledge of young learners in reading are looking at the pictures and write the words from the given list; reading sentences, looking at the pictures and deciding if the sentences match the pictures; reading short gapped text with missing words and filling in missing words from given list; reading short descriptions and finding out the words; matching the pictures with the words

2.2.2.Techniques of teaching vocabulary

According to Harmer (2002), teachers should use L1 with caution as if teachers use L1 excessively, students are dependent on their mother tongue and they are not familiar with L2 in listening and speaking Moreover, using mother tongue in

teaching vocabulary may make students difficult to understand the words correctly (Ur, 1996) Concerning teaching vocabulary for young learners, translation is not an appealing method to give instructions According to (Phillips, 1993), young learners need holistic method to understand things around them Young learners need

concrete things which they are able to hold and see (Cameron, 2001) Visual aids serve as a perfect tool to generate meanings as they provide students with context of language use Concerning online learning, as young learners just sit in one place, they are not as active as in regular classes at school Listening to verbal instructions

of teachers only together with the lack of physical activities may affect their

attention For teaching vocabulary for young learners online, it is wise if teachers use visual aids The reason is that the screen of the computer is a barrier that makes the young learners and the teachers feel disconnected (Jamie, 2021) Visual aids

help online teachers to interact with young learners easily Unless there are visual aids, young learners learning online are easy to lose attention (Perry, 2020)

2.2.2.2 Visual techniques

Utilizing visual aids is an important teaching strategy that is employed by teachers However, to make the best use of those valuable tools, substantial thought should be given to the nature of them through how people define visual aids,

different types of visual aids that teachers employ in classroom environment and teacher gain obtained from taking advantage of such aids

Definition of visual aids

Visual aids are educational tools which appeal mainly to the view

(Merriam-Webster's collegiate dictionary, 1991) The noticeable point in this definition is the

effect of appealing to the sight of visual elements Another awareness from scholars which maintains the viewing values while covering the central concerns of learners, suggesting that visual aids are things that one can look at like a film, model, map, slides which facilitate learners’ process of understanding and memorizing the

information (Sinclair, Hanks, Fox, & Stock, 1992) Likewise, one more obvious way of conceptualizing visual aids also foregrounds the pivotal features of visual materials in that visual aid is defined as a picture, film, map, etc designed to support learners’ comprehension and strengthen their memory towards particular

information (Walter & Gillard, 2004) The common opinion in these three

definitions is the vision that simplifies the demonstrations and thus contributes to the success of learning However, the last two take us a step further to the theory as

in these ways of defining visual aids, the cognition of learners is added and their abilities of recalling information is emphasized In other words, learners possess not only the vision of things but also the depth in comprehending things

In fact, the term visual aids used in this thesis denotes transmitting types of

information, namely pictures and videos which help learners to engage in the

lessons, facilitate learners in comprehending word meanings

Types of visual aids

Finding and making our choices of visual aids require careful practice

Selecting those does not mean that we adopt the state-of-the-art ones Instead, the best selection is material that serves our purposes effectively There are

circumstances in which visual communication is too complex, which not only

provides students with no assistance but also makes them feel more difficult and confused Therefore, awareness of types of visual aids should be raised among teachers to give them a sense of confidence in using these teaching aids (Gorniak, 2019)

Picture

Teachers can use pictures to illustrate the vocabulary items as pictures are very helpful aids to support students in gaining the mastery of vocabulary meanings and are useful aids to motivate students in formal education (Wright, 1989) Pictures facilitate the learning process as students see the correlation between the pictures and the meanings of vocabularies Pictures can engage students via three ways which are games, prediction and discussion In addition, pictures are useful for having students predict what the pictures show Pictures can also be used for

discussion as pictures are of the nature of stimulating questions (Harmer, 2002) Online learning with pictures plays an important role in teaching vocabulary

Pictures can engage online young learners and make them understand the words

easily (Brand, 2021)

Video

With videos, students are enchanted in an environment with animation ,songs and collaborative activities Moreover, videos facilitate students’ understanding of word meanings in word level, sentence level and text level Learners approach to two simultaneous channels which are hearing and seeing They, therefore, have a feeling of connections with the pictures, the motion, the gestures, expressions and meanings of the words There are four common video teaching techniques to engage

students in class which are fast forward, silent viewing, freeze frame and partial viewing In fast forward technique, teachers fast forward the video Then teachers ask students what the video was all about and require students to make guesses about what the characters are saying When it comes to silent viewing technique, the video is played at normal speed, but without the sound Students are asked to guess what the characters are talking As regards freeze frame techniques, during a video sequence, teachers will “freeze” the picture and ask students to predict what

happens next In partial viewing technique, teachers cover most of the screen and students just have a partial view of the pictures Students are asked to tell what is happening on the screen (Harmer, 2002) Concerning teaching vocabularies online for young learners, videos are very important because the young learners are

engaged, excited in the lessons and illustrations of word meanings via videos are straightforward (Essa, 2020)

The benefits of visual aids

Instructional materials should meet learners’ needs and disciplines of the

pedagogy contexts (Council, 1997) Taking a look at the merits of visual aids, one can identify visual materials are reasonable choices for teaching as they feature in increasing comprehension in conjunction with retrieval abilities on the part of

learners in class, developing learners’ communication and refreshing learners

among constraints of educational environments With visual aids, the ultimate goal

of educators is achieved and the demand of learners is fully met

Visual aid games, activities related to prediction, discussion, collaboration, animation, songs are useful to make students engaged in class (Harmer, 2002) Games, prediction and discussion energize students Group work with visual aids is appealing (Butcher, 2003) Moreover, compared to purely oral teaching, lessons with visual aids make students engaged via animation, songs The lessons are lively thanks to the video-based activities which teachers carry out through different

teaching techniques In brief, classrooms with visuals are labelled exciting places

for learners to study For online young learners, the essential point is that teachers should get students’ attention Visual aids make them feel excited and stay focused (Wesch, 2020)

Visual aids help students understand meaning of individual words, words in sentences and words in text Meanings of individual words are easy to learn if

teachers provide learners with the sketches of things Even symbolic demonstrations bring fruitful results in understanding the concepts of new things (Ur, 1996) Words

in sentences are straightforward to learn as learners understand the whole sentence structure thanks to the pictures as cues (Al-khresheh, Khaerurrozikin, & Zaid,

2020) Students understand words in text when the gapped texts have visuals served

as cues (Nikolov, 2001) Videos as visual aids create good conditions for students to guess meanings of individual words, learn words in sentence structures Besides, texts in videos are easy to understand when learners watch videos for gist, for

details with contextual clues and do some quizzes, answer some questions (Harmer, 2002)

In the light of the facts outlined above, learners’ learning and visual aids are inextricably intertwined The adoption of visual tools can boost understanding, and reduce stress on the part of learners who have an appreciation for the vision and enjoyment aspects of the lessons There is a hope that teachers consider the

possibility of incorporating visual methods in classroom activities for the best return

of teaching and learning

Challenges of visual aids

Utilizing visual aids in teaching is beneficial to foster the mastery of vocabulary

on the part of students However, besides the benefits of visual aids, there are

challenges of visual aids which are obstacles in using them in class Teachers need

to be very sensitive in choosing appropriate aids to both facilitate students’ learning and make the use of those practical If the difficulties of video materials are beyond the actual levels of students’ English, they are able to feel frustrated (Wang, 2015)

In fact, materials can have unnecessary items and difficult language Difficult

lexical items in materials are pointless disturbance for learners as they are not demonstrated with simplification to meet learners’ competence levels (Richards, 2002) Although visual aids are necessary in class to make the lessons have the variety and boost students’ learning, they are also sources of challenges for teachers

to take into consideration Employing visual aids in classroom, teachers are advised

to not only consider the usefulness of the visual demonstrations but also examine the problems created by using those visual aids to make the most of visual

illustrations

2.3 Young learners’ attitudes towards visual aids

According to Wenden (1991), attitude has three components, namely affect, cognition, behavior Affect links to the feelings towards a subject Cognition relates

to the belief people have of something, while behavior associates with what people

do in response to the attitudes they have about subjects Students with positive learning attitudes have the tendency to engage in learning, while students with negative attitudes are easy to feel bored in the learning process Moreover, students’ behaviors decide the extent to which they participate the classroom activities

Positive cognition towards learning also affects students’ attitudes towards learning process Concerning young learners’ affection in learning, young learners like entertaining and fun atmosphere in learning When it comes to their cognition, according to Nikolov (2002), by the end of grade 3, young learners’ preferences were less restricted to playing aspects They start to have the concerns about

teaching activities They begin to question about the usefulness of the knowledge they learn Therefore, the cognition of young learners links to what they learn In terms of young learners’ behaviors in learning, if they enjoy learning, they will be willing to engage in the tasks, solve problem, learn knowledge and skills (Nikolov, 2002)

With respect to attitudes of young learners towards visual aids, findings of many studies indicate that visual aids make the learning atmosphere interesting and

the young learners reported the benefits, difficulties of visual aids as well as the ways to understand word meanings When it comes to affection, prediction,

discussion and games with pictures are reported to be interesting by the learners Moreover, answering questions, doing quizzes with animation, music via video-based activities are engaging According to Hu, Chiu, Leung, and Yelland (2021), young learners are engaged in lessons with visual aids Regarding cognition, young learners tend to evaluate the effects of visual aids on their vocabulary performance, the difficulties of visual aids (Lesia, 2018; Ur, 1996) Thanks to visual aids, learners are able to understand word meanings in word level, sentence level and text level Visual aids serve as cues for learners to comprehend the meanings In addition, visual aids also have difficulties Lexical items in videos may be difficult for

learners to comprehend When it comes to behavioral attitudes, young learners express the ways they engage in tasks, discover the meanings of words (Mukti, 2012; Nikolov, 2001) Learners have used strategies to understand word meanings such as asking teachers for explanation, finding the differences between two similar things, seeing visual aids as cues

When it comes to attitudes of young learners towards learning vocabulary online with visual aids, young learners feel visual aids interesting and vocabulary teaching with visual aids helps students understand the word meanings with ease (Usman & Yusuf, 2020) In the study of Yen and Mohamad (2020), visual aids integration in an online ESL classroom motivate students and ensures meaningful knowledge By the same token, the study of Q L H Nguyen (2021) indicates that online learning with visual aids facilitates students’ understanding of word

meanings and makes students engaged in the lessons

2.4 Online learning for young learners

Online learning is a form of distance learning in which learners use technology

to carry out the learning process and the instructions are performed via Internet (Siemens, Gašević, & Dawson, 2015) Online learning helps to expand the

opportunities students can approach learning with the flexibility of time, place and

pace of learning (Platt, Raile, & Yu, 2014) Moreover, with the development of technologies, online teachers also provide learners chances to experience interactive activities and the interdependence between learners is also promoted Due to the advantages of online learning, the promotion of online classrooms during COVID

19 pandemic has been carried out to maintain young learners’ learning (Dong, Cao,

& Li, 2020)

2.5 Teaching theory

In order to improve students’ learning outcomes, teachers are supposed to employ appropriate teaching theories in classrooms In this study, the researcher applies the theory of constructivism Making use of this theory, the researcher would like to achieve the pedagogical goals of constructivist learning which are embeding

learning in contextualization, encouraging student-centered learning by encouraging ownership as well as a voice in the learning process , providing learners with social experience through collaborative activities, using multiple modes of presentation (pictures, videos…), letting learners determine how they will learn (Vygotsky, 1978)

2.6 Learning theory

Learning theory plays an important role in helping teachers to understand what will affect the learning of their students Making room for constructivism is beneficial Under constructivist theory, since learning is an active process of knowledge

construction, the learning environment should not impart knowledge but rather support the learners’ construction of knowledge Learners can build their own

knowledge through the exposure of materials, experiences and situations Moreover, constructivist approach can facilitate language learning by giving learners activities related to communication and exchange of ideas

2.7 Theoretical framework

Viewing visual aids

Viewing pictures Viewing videos

Picture activities

-Prediction

-Discussion

-Game-based activities:

+Looking at the pictures and write the words from the given list

+Reading sentences, deciding if the sentences match the pictures

+Reading short gapped text with missing words and filling in missing words from given list;

+Reading short descriptions and finding out the words; matching the pictures with the words

Video activities

-Have the videos fasted forward and say the gist of the video

-Have silent viewing, partial viewing, pictureless listening and say the gist of the video

-Have frozen frames and answer questions about details

Outcome Understanding the meanings of the words in word level, sentence levels and text

levels

Supported by the chat box and breakout room in

Zoom platform

The theoretical framework of the current study is adapted from the framework

of Mayer’s cognitive theory of multimedia learning (Mayer, 1997) According to him, human understanding happens when learners are introduced the subject matter through multiple channels, namely visual and verbal channels Besides, they need to integrate the visual and verbal materials simultaneously to process the information easily The combination of all the materials is a good condition for students to really understand the subject matter However, students are expected to work with the information so that they are able to process it Applying the theory and the

framework of Mayer, the researcher recognizes that in this study, students have varying presentations of material, namely pictures and videos In addition, students have to process the information through activities which are supported with the chat box, the breakout rooms in Zoom platform such prediction, discussion, game-based activities with pictures, watching videos for gist, for details Doing the above

activities, students will achieve the outcome which is understanding meanings of words in word level, sentence level and text level

The researcher adapts Mayer’s framework as guidelines for data collection and data analysis In specific, this framework is used to guide the researcher to apply the activities in class It also guides data analysis as on the basis of the learning

outcome, the researcher designs the test

The research gap

Due to the pandemic COVID-19, teachers around the world have tried to

maintain young learners’ learning via online lessons The application of visual aids

in online vocabulary lessons has been carried out Learning vocabularies with visual aids in online platform has proved its effectiveness In Vietnam, teaching

vocabularies with visual aids is not new Many researchers have conducted the studies and reported the efficiency of visual aids in vocabulary teaching (Bui, 2012; Chung, 2016; Do, 2010; Huynh & Pham, 2011; Pham, 2010) However, teaching vocabulary online for young learners with visual aids is a new area of research in

Vietnam (Ho & Nguyen, 2021; C N Nguyen, 2021) Therefore, the researcher would like to conduct the study to see if online vocabulary teaching for young learners using visual aids can bring about the learning outcome expected and to examine young learners’ attitudes towards vocabulary learning with visual aids

2.8 Chapter summary

This chapter reviewed the definition of the term young learners The

characteristics of young learners concerning the examination of young learners’ attention span, their cognitive readiness, the approaches in which they get

acquainted with the outside world were also mentioned Besides, the modes of learning on the part of young learners were examined with carefulness As far as teaching vocabulary is concerned, definition of vocabulary, the importance of vocabulary in reading for young learners , word knowledge in reading for young learners, techniques for teaching vocabulary for young learners were considered carefully Furthermore, this chapter also investigated young learners’ attitudes towards learning, online learning for young learners Finally, a conceptual

framework to teach vocabulary in reading online for young learners was proposed and the research gap was pointed out clearly

In the next chapter, the research objectives, research questions, the participants, research design, the instruments for data collection as well as data analysis

procedures will be presented

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

Chapter 1 and 2 describe the context of the study and present the review of the literature This chapter presents the research setting, the population, the participants

as well as the sampling techniques, the research design coupled with its

appropriateness in this study, the descriptions of instruments for collecting data, the procedures of collecting data including the administering of the pre-test, the

treatments across two groups of participants, the administering of the post-test as well as the administering of the group interviews and the protocols to analyze data Recently, due to the pandemic COVID-19, the transition from offline learning

to online learning has been carried out in the researcher’s language center

Therefore, this study was adapted to suit the actual learning conditions of the center

3.1 Research objectives and research questions

As stated above, the research aims to find out the extent visual aid utilization affects students’ vocabulary learning and students’ attitudes regarding learning vocabulary with visual aids To achieve the objectives, the research questions are:

3 To what extent do visual aids affect students’ vocabulary knowledge for

to Creswell and Plano (2011), the data resources from mixed -methods design are multiple, descriptive and mix-methods design is appropriate for researchers who yearn to investigate the outcomes through scores and participants’ opinions When

it comes to the application of explanatory sequential mixed methods design, this type of mixed methods design requires researchers to collect quantitative data in the

first phase, analyze the findings and then collect the qualitative data in the second phase The main purpose of this type of mixed methods design is that explanatory sequential mixed methods design employs qualitative results to explain quantitative results Researchers can use the qualitative data to justify the initial quantitative fidings in greater details This study was a typical one of explanatory sequential mixed-methods design due to the fact that the researcher would like to collect data from multiple perspectives to have in-depth understanding of the results from the tests and the group interviews The description of this research could be seen from the pre test, post test and the group interviews The quantitative data were taken from the results of the pre test and post test and were used to answer the research question 1 which involved the effectiveness of vocabulary teaching on students’ learning outcomes with visual aids The quanlitative data derived from the group interviews were employed to figure out students’ attitudes towards the application

of visual aids in vocabulary lessons

This study also reflected features of a quasi-experiment which is a type of nonexperiment The choice of the design served as the method to seek the signs of causal relationship between visual aids, namely video and pictures as independent variables and vocabulary learning outcomes of the students as dependent variables When it comes to the reason to use quasi-experimental condition, randomization in the field of educational setting is rarely obtainable due to the factors concerning practical constraints and moral reasons One of those is the involvement of intact classes (Davies, Williams, & Yanchar, 2008) The current study was a quasi-

experiment because the practicality in terms of policy to have randomization was not feasible and as a result, true experiment could not be applied in this research Particularly, this research made use of the pretest-posttest design which is the most popular experimental research design The noticeable characteristic of this design is the use of the experimental group with the treatment and the training sessions prior

to the intervention The experimental and control groups take part in the pre-test and the post-test The pre-test ensures the homogeneity among the groups before the

experimental treatment, whereas the employment of post-test serves the purpose of determining the changes on the results of the intervention (Rogers & Révész, 2020)

3.3 Research site

3.3.1 The center

The study is conducted at a language center in Binh Duong Province It used to

be a small class with a small number of students and gradually, with the

development, more and more students come to form the center community of

hundreds of students The driving force of the center’s class operations is to lend support to students who seek the extra classes to have more practices related to their schoolwork The administration board is in touch with the parents through Zalo groups created for each class in which the important information, announcements and materials are given In addition, face-to-face meetings or phone calls are also means of communication between the center and parents This center attracts over

300 students at junior and senior high school levels There are three classrooms in the center which are equipped with fans, lights, air conditioners, the sound systems The rooms provide seats for over 20, 30 and 40 learners in classroom number 1, 2,

3, respectively The arrangements of chairs and desks allow learners to sit in rows Recently, with the spread of Covid-19, the center has to shift to online teaching and learning The center board supplies teachers with an account with unlimited meetings and account adds-on to inherit all the capabilities of the online platform and prevent interruptions or delays The learners stay at home and study via Zoom platform During the lessons, learners turn on the cameras and unmute the

microphones in response to teachers’ questions Teachers are required to equip themselves with technical skills with a view to maintaining technology-based

classrooms and addressing problems in a virtual environment Teachers can share screen to show students the content of lessons and the engaging sounds, videos or make use of the chat box to interact with learners, use the interactive whiteboard…

and have constant views of learners to achieve good classroom management,

enhance the interaction and give support for those with poor online experiences

3.3.2 The population

The majority of students in the center come from primary schools, secondary schools and high schools in the surrounding areas Most of the learners started to learn English at the center from their early years of primary schools and they keep following the classes for students of junior and senior high schools During daytime, they attend classes at the public schools At night, they spend some of their after-school hours at the center in hopes of have additional practices outside of the formal school system Each week, their time devotion to after-school lessons at the center

is 4 hours Every day, the center drives two nighttime classes, one from 6 p.m to 8 p.m and one from 8 p.m to 10 p.m For the children at primary school level, their involvement to center-organized lessons is mainly at weekend

3.4 The participants

This study employed the convenience sampling When it comes to convenience sampling, Dornyei (2007) indicated that when the target population is easy to

approach, available at a certain time or have the willingness to participate, they can

be grouped under a convenience sample According to him, it does not mean that the ease of accessibility drives researchers to recruit the participants The members

of the study need to meet some demands of the investigation The total number of students at grade 4 enroll in the course at the current time of the study were 60 students who belonged to two classes, namely class 4/1 and class 4/2 The majority

of them used to be members of classes for three graders at the center The learners got their English learning into gear officially from grade 1 The scores of the pre-test gave evidence to assign informative proficiency levels to learners Therefore, a pre-test was designed and given to all 4 graders of two classes On the basis of the results of the pre-test, 30 learners of class 4/1 had means of entry to control group and 30 learners made inroads into experimental group This assignment of groups’

names was done randomly As far as human resources in the center are concerned, this center did not employ foreigner teachers, so the researcher was the only one to teach English to students of two groups The students learnt online lessons provided

by the center twice a week with two hours for each day When it comes to online learning, students had necessary equipment for their studying They were required

to have stable internet connection to maintain their learning in class

3.5 Instruments for data collection

3.5.1 Tests

According to Jacobs and Chase (1992) , the amount of learning students gain after a course or school year is measured through an achievement test, which means measuring what learners learn from what they are taught during a certain period of time The benefit of achievement test is to boost students’ learning and check the effectiveness of pedagogical process via instructional output As far as test validity

is concerned, the validity of tests has to do with the alignment of the learning

outcomes and the aims of the tests Each item of the tests is expected to align with a particular objective (Phelan & Wren, 2005) In the test construction process of this study, test validity was made sure via the clarification of the goal of each test task, which reflected the teaching practice in class That meant the tests aped the

pedagogical aims

3.5.1.1 Pre-test

The pre-test was a kind of a paper-and-pencil test The test was developed through three steps The first step is outlining the objectives of the test The test objectives align with the word knowledge needed for young learners in reading which links to understanding word meanings in word level, sentence level and text level After having the test objectives, the researcher chooses the task types at the second step On the basis of the task types appropriate for testing young learners suggested by Nikolov (2016), the researchers choose three task types, namely matching the words with the pictures, looking at the pictures as well as deciding if