Luận văn a study on using total physical response method tpr to improve english vocabulary for the second grade students at lomonoxop primary school

VIITNAM NAUHONAL UNIVERSITY, LLANOL UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES DAO THỊ PHƯƠNG THẢO A STUDY ON USING TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE METH

VIITNAM NAUHONAL UNIVERSITY, LLANOL UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

DAO THỊ PHƯƠNG THẢO

A STUDY ON USING TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE METHOD (TPR}

TO IMPROVE ENGLISII VOCABULARY FOR THE SECOND GRADE

STUDENTS AT LOMONOXOP PRIMARY SCHOOL

(Nghiên cứu về việc sử dựng phương phap Phan xa toan thin (TPR) dé nang cao

vn từ vựng tiếng, Anh cho học sinh lớp 2 trưởng tiểu học Lomonoxop}

MA MINOR THESIS (Type 1)

Major: English Teaching Methodology Course code: 8140231.01

HANOI - 2019

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATEONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES

DÀO THỊ PHƯƠNG THẢO

ASTUDY ON USING TOTAI, PIYSICAL RESPONSE METIEOD (TPR}

TO IMPROVE ENGLISH VOCABULARY FOR THE SECOND GRADE

STUDENTS AT LOMONOXOP PRIMARY SCHOOL

(Nghiên cứu về việc sử dụng phương pháp Phin xa toan thân (TPR) dễ nàng cao

vn từ vựng tiếng Anh cho học sinh lớp 2 trường tiểu học Loraoncxop}

MA MINOR THESIS (Type 1)

Major: English Teaching Methodology Caurse code: 814023101

Supervisor: Prof Dr Nguyén Hoa

HANOT - 2019

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

Thereby ackriowledge thal this study is mine, The data and [ndings discussed in the

thesis are true I further declare that this thesis has not been published elsewhere

Author

Dao Thị Phương Thảo

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This thesis could not be completed without the assistance of many people

Qn this occasion, 1 would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Prof Dr Nguyén Iga who had given me the valuable advice, guidance and also

motivation to complete this thesis,

It is an honor for me to extend my special thanks to the Head of English Department and all of my colleagues as well as the students in class 2Al at

Lomonoxop primary school Without their help and encouragement, T would not

bave accomplished my work

Finally I would like to show my deepest gratitude to all of my friends and my family, especially my parents, and my brother, whose continuous encouragement, support and love have helped me pass through insurmountable difficulties during

ABSTRACT

This study aims (a describe how Total Physical Response improves studcrits? English vocabulary retention as well as motivate them to study vocabulary

This research was conducted in a class with 25 students Tt is a Classroom Action

Rescarch using the eycle model of Kemmis and Taggart It adopted the conowrent

embedded strategy of mixed methods design Quantitative data from pre-tests and post-

tests as well as the result from the interviews were used Lo analyze the improvement of

the students’ vocabulary Qualitative data from observation, interview and the results of

the questionnaire were used to figure out the students’ attitude towards leaming English

by TPR

‘The research findings showed that, there was a significant improvement in students’ vocabulary retention after TPR was used in class Additionally, students expressed positive attitudes towards using TPR in their English vocabulary lessons

‘These findings can lead to the conclusion that the writer concluded that teaching

Tinglish vocabulary through TPR is very beneficial for the students in learning Fnglish vocabulary Therefore, the Tolal Physical Responsc melhod is

recommended for English teachers in teaching vocabulary

ii

2.1.1 Teaching English vocabiularV như

3.1.2 Teaching vocabntlary to young leamers

2.1.3 Teaching English vocabulary to young learners with TPR method

3.5.3 Field notœs sesovaneserssasaesonsneuicssnsseeeeersniitesesaneeetsoenseneecssnmeneensar ener OO

3.5.4 lnlervieWs 4 sms

4.1 Quesion 1 To what extent can the use of TPR method affect 2% graders” ooabulary retention ai Lomouoxop Primary Sehoolf seo 38

APPENDIX 5 POST-TEST 1 i se sen MĨ

APPENDIX 8 QUESTIONAITRE

APPENIIX 9 QUESTIONAIRĐ -

APENDIX 10 QUESTIONAIRE RESULT

APENDIX 11 ENTERVIENW cua Hee

APENDLX 12 ENTERVIEW ì oieee

APENDIX 13 INTERVIEW NOTE-TAKING SAMPLE

APENDIX 14, INTERVIEW SOTE-TAKING SAMPLE

vì

XT „ XI

„II

XVL

TAST OF FABLES

Table 3.1 Content for testing in cycle 1 - - 26

‘Table 3.2 Conteni for testing in cyole 2 àccccvcceceecscer 26

TTable 3.3 Field note samyple -22 2222k Xe Table 3.4 Tnterview participants description 29

‘Yable 3.5 Classification of Graded Scores cece eee ieee eens woudl

‘Table 4.3 Paired Samples Siatisties cycle .ccccsseccee 35

Table 4.6 PTe-tesf 2 seoTes cành 36

Table 4 10 Paired 3amples Test eyele 2 weit iene eee aS

vii

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

Tn this chapter the writer introduces the rationale, the objectives, the scope, and he

outline of the study Besides, the research questions and the significance of the

study are also mentioned

1.1 Rationale

Lnglish as a means of communication is widely used among people around the

world, Leaming vocabulary 1s, therefore, very important because vocabulary

provides learners with materials in order La produce complete utterances Tt is the

key component that links the four language skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing all together Wilkins (1972) wrote that “, while without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed”, We can often

manage to communicate with some usefl words or expression even without

grammar Lewis (1993} went further to argue, “Lexis is the core or heart of

language”

Ất the school where the research was conducted, the students start learning English

from grade 1 ‘The 2 graders have eight periods of English every week with the book Super Minds 2 published by Oxford University Press, (2013) The students

have chance to leam and practice using new vocabulary frequently However, how

to encourage students in leaming English vocabulary and guide them to leam it effectively are the two important points which needs putting under consideration by teachers Among many activities, {PR is considered to be a very useful way

because it can make used of the main characteristics of children It catches the attention of the children, it makes the children give attention to the form meaning or use of the words

1.2 Objectives

This study attempts to solve the problems which need positive solution They are

To knew how Total Physical Response help improve students’ English vocabulary

retention and how to motivate them to study vocabulary

1.3 Research questions

In order to gct the objectives of the study systematically, the following questions

1

are raised:

1) To what extent can the use of IPR method help improve 2" graders’ vocabulary

retention at Lamonoxop primary school?

2) What are the students’ artitudes towards using TPR in learning English vocabulary?

Additionally, the result of this research is expected lo be usetl as am additional

reference in carrying out further researches

1.6, Research outline

Chapter 1 is inroducion In this part, rationale, objectives, research questions,

benefits, scope and outline of the research are introduced

Chapter 2 is literature review which discusses the theoretical framework which

consists of the discussion about: Teaching Rrglish vocabulary, teaching Enghsh

vocabulary to young learners, teaching English vocabulary to young learners with

TPR method and attitude The previous studies in this field are also mentioned

Chapter 3 is methodology It covers the context of the research, research design, research procedure, data collection and data analysis

Chapter 4 is findings and discussions In this part, the findings of the research in

accordance with the two rescarch questions and some discussions are mentioned Chapler 5 is conclusion This chapler covers the main points of the rescarch, thie

conclusion and some implications and limitations of the study

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

Tn this chapler, the conceptual framework of this study which consisls of teaching

Lnglish vocabulary, teaching English vocabulary to young leamers, teaching

English vocabulary lo young learner with TPR method and attitudes The previous

studies related to this field are also mentioned by the writer

2.1 Conceptual framework

24.1 Teaching English vocabulary

2 LLL Definition of vocabulary

Tlomby (1995) defines vocabulary as ‘total number of words which make up the

language with rules for combing them’ while Linse (2005:121) considers if, as ‘he

collection of words that an individual knows’ According to Laufer (1997:54)

vocabulary learning is at the heart of language learning and language use In fact, it

is what makes the essence of a language Without vocabulary, speakers cannot convey the meaning and communicate with each other in a particular language Webster (1983: 2046} states that vocabulary is a list of words, and sometimes,

phrases, usually arranged an alphabelical order and defined: a dictionary, glossary,

or lexicon According to him, vocabulary is all the words of a language and they are

used by a particular person, class, profession, etc Sometimes, they are all the words

yeeogrived and understood by a particular person, alhough nol necessarily used by

him (in full, passive vocabulary)

Talking about the imporlance of vocabulary, Schmit (2600) emphasizes thal

“lexical knowledge is contral to communicative achievement and to the acquisition

of a second language” Other researchers such as Laufer and Nation (1999), Maximo

(2000), Read (2000), Gu (2003), Nation (2001) and others have realized thal Ihe

acquisition of vocabulary is essential for successful second language use and plays

an important role in the formation of complete spoken and written texts

From the above defirntions, il comes to the conclusion that vecabulary 13 an

important tool to express the idea For anyone who leams a second language,

vocabulary knowledge is considered as a crucial tool because vocabulary directly affects the success of communication Vocabulary proficiency depends much on the

quality and quanlily of the vocabulary that the learners have iasicred The richer

the number of word that the students can know, the better they can be in using language This study followed the definition of Linse (2005121) which defines

vocabulary as the collection of words [hal a-person knows

2.1.1.2 Types of vocabulary

There are many ways to classify vocabulary According to Judy K Montgomery

(2007), there are four kinds of vocabulary They are: Listening vocabulary,

speaking vocabulary, reading vocabulary and writing vocabulary Listening vocabulary are the words we hear and understand When people were the babies,

they just listen: thon look and gel the meaning of the words They continue to lean

new words this way all of their lives; Speaking vocabulary are the words people use

when speaking The number of peopte’s speaking vocabulary is much less than their

listening vocabulary most likely due fo the case of usc; Reading vocabulary is Ihe

words people understand when reading texts Among these words, there are words

people do not use in speaking vocabulary; Writing vocabulary are the words people

can retrieve when they wuite to express themselves They are strongly imtlucneed by

the words they can spell larmer (1991) divides vocabulary into two types: active

and passive vocabulary The first type, active voeabulary is the vocabulary (hat the

students have been taught and that they are expected to be able to use The second one, passive vocabulary refers to the words which the students are able to recognize

when they meet them, but which they will probably not be able to pronounce

Hayeraft, quoted by Hatch and Brown (1995) agrees that there are two kinds of vocabulary: receptive vocabulary and productive vocabulary Receptive vocabulary

is the vocabulary thai thal learners can understand when reading text or lisleninyg Lo

the text, Learners know and recognize the meaning of words when they see them This causes them to understand the text they have read but not used to speak

and write Produclive vocabulary is the words that are underslood and can be

pronounced by the learners The learners can usc these words well in speech and writing

Understanding the classification of English vocabulary will help teachers optimize

each type then have appropriate choices of vocabulary and methods when teaching

students

2.1.1.3 English vocabulary retention

According to Richards & Schmidt (2002) vocabulary retention is “the ability to recall or remember things after an interval of time In language teaching, retention

of what has been taught depends on the quality of teaching, the iterest of the

learners, or the meaningfulness of the materials”

Ellis (1995) states that learning a word, both in Ll and L2 involves various

components: processing audilory and visual inpul, producing spoken and wrilien

output, and knowing the syntactic and semantic relations between words, making it

a complex task Vocabulary needs ta be retained in the mental lexicon or lang-term

amemory belore it cart be recalled and produced in meaningful sentences Atkinson

and Shiffrin (1968) describe the process of remembering words in different stages:

afler a word comes im and atiention is paid to this hy the leamer, a transfer t shor- term memory takes place

‘This research followed the definition of Richards & Schmidt to investigate the

ability of recall aud remember the vocabulary of the studs after learning by

TPR method

2.1.1.4, Teaching English vocabulary

There are many comments related to teaching vocabulary According to Ratnawati

(2005), students do not use all the words we just hear or read in speaking or writing There are some words which remain ‘passive’ The ‘active’ vocabulary should be

presented and used systemalically Vocabulary should be always laughlin normal

speech utterances and the structures which the students know already should be

used to introduce new vocabulary Vocabulary items should be focus an one topic, words should be laughl again oven (hey are taught already when they are in the new

contexts Teachers can give the students an understanding of the meaning in many ways Additionally, vocabulary should be practiced regularly in many forms like transformation drills, questions and answers, cle They should be pul in many

stuctures and situations in which students can practice using it many tumes and the

last point is that students should be encouraged to leam the words which contain the

same Toots

Harmer (2001) mentions five techniques for teaching vocabulary in general, ‘he first technique is demonstration It moans the teachers use actions to illustrate the words which students will lean The second technique is explanation With this technique, teachers use diagram, textbook, board to explain the construction of language ‘Ihe third one is discovery It means new language form could be understood by letting students to discover them in a test or by looking at grammatical evidenes The fourth one is check question which is used lo check the students “understanding of the meaning and words usage in the text or paragraph The last technique is presentation With this technique, the teacher shows pictures, videos and also uses the mime, actions, and gestures to present the words

Th can be clearly seen that vocabulary should not be learnt in only individual words They should be put together with other words or in sentences, in contexts so that the leaming process will not be boring and passive like the traditional way Teachers need choose the appropriate techniques to help the students learn vocabulary in an cffcotive way

21.2, Teaching vocabulary to young learners

2.1.2.1 Characteristics of young learners

According to Scoot and Ytreberg (1990), children have five main characteristics First, thoy ask questions all the time Second, They rely on both spoken words and the physical representation of the words to convey and understand the meaning: They have definite views about what they like and do not like to do, Children have developed sense of faimess about what happens in the classroom and they begin to question the teachers’ decisions; They are able to work with

others and leam [rom others.

Slattery and Jane (2001 4) points out that young learners acquire through hearing and experiencing ‘They learn through doing things ‘hey love playing, learn best when they are enjoying and using their imagination and love playing with language sounds Young leamers’ grammar will develop gradually on its own They understand situations more quickly than the language used Additionally, they use language skills Jong before being aware of them They have a very short allention and concentration span and so need variety Young leamers are comfortable with routines and enjoy repetition They respond the language well through concrete things (visual things) rather than abstacl things, and need physical movements and

real activities to stimulate their thinking,

Young leamers have much energy and they like to be involved in activities which

aake them happy and release their energy They learn languages mostly by looking

and listening They can leam effectively through doing and playing They do not

think seriously about trying to lean vocabulary, they leam new vocabulary better in

natural ways and beeause they like to learn Children like learning by hearing the

sounds, by imitating and making fanny actions or sounds ‘They do not have serious

reasons for stulying English They do nol realize that they are learning a language

Therefore, let them sec a natural reason is necessary They are casily motivated but

also easy to feel bored with activities repeated many times They leam more

effectively through their real expericnes by direelly doing actions

Based on “Psikologi Perkembangan” written by Tum Pengembangan MKDK IKIP

Semarang (1989: 102), the elementary school students are the children between 6 to

12 They are in the smart age They often show what they know and are proud of it

‘There is a strong correlation between physical condition and school achievement Primary students intend to praise themselves, At the end of this phase, they begin te

have an interest in special subject

led (2015) highlights eleven key characteristios of primary learners: (1) Primary leamers find security in rhythm, ritual, and repetition; (2) Primary leamers learn through play, (3) They want to belong to a community that is sale, beautiful, and

good; (4) They explore the world with wonder, (5) Primary learners “understand” the world first through their bodies, (6) primary leamers seek independence and mastery;

7) The

ikvive in the natural world: (8) They use stories to construct meaning: (9)

‘They seek patterns in the world around them; (10) They construct their identities and

‘build cultural bridges; (11) They express themselves in complex ways

Obviously, primary students have diferent characleristics and altitudes that contrast

with the high school students and the key point is how to understand and make use

of these characteristics to support the teaching and leaming process

2.1.2.2 Teavhing English vocabulary for students in primary school

‘The students of the primary school may have different motivation levels towards learning In this case, teachers have to challenge and motivate their students to learn

somelhing new Teaching English vocabulary for children in primary schools is

different from teaching Dnglish for adult learners Therefore, methodologies and

techniques should be considered carefully by teachers when teaching English for

primary students

Brown (2001) lists out several teaching methods for language teaching,

Grammar translation method can be viewed as a traditional method which concentrates on memorization of vocabulary and grammatical mies It provides

vocabulary with direct translations to memorize Students will leam mostly by their

smother loryur They are passive in using target language

In direct method, the grammatical rules were not focused much, instead the

inferaction is paid much ailention Teacher explains new vocabulary using realia,

visual aids or demonstrations

1n audio-lingual method, teachers put new materials in dialogue forms Structural pattems are taught using repetitive drills Therefore, vocabulary is learned in

contexi There is a greal effort to gel students to produce ultcranices

Suygestopedia is the method which suggests thal the human brain could process

great quantity of materials if it is given the right conditions for leaming This is considered as a very effective way to help children lear vocabulary

In silont way method, students discover and croate the knowledge by thơïr own yathor than remember and repeal This method is suitable to improve student's

vocabulary in narrative text The svadent can discover some new words and try to

remain the words then they performance in front of the class

Total Physical Response (TPR) is also in this list In this method, leamers develop their comprebenston through carrymg oul commands and the imporative drills elicit

physical action before production With the second graders in primary school, the

purpose of teaching English is to introduce Inglish to the students in order to build them the ability of communicating in simple Unglish ‘Therefore, what teachers need

consider when selecting vocabulary should be the number of words which are

taughl and the sludents’ nesd When they prosont new vocabulary they should primarily try to enable students to recognize the words and their meanings perfectly Based on the explanations above about primary students and teaching vocabulary for primary students, it can be seen that students in primary schools like to see how things operale and they are interested in Iearning something by making them being

active in the classroom Teachers should choose the methods which are appropriate

with the children’s levels, characteristics and the cumiculum of the school they are

studying And among various methods which can be used in teaching vocabulary for children in elementary schools, TPR is highly recommended, since the TPR is

full with real situations being demonstrated

2.41.3 Teaching English vocabulary to young learners with TPR method

2.1.3.1 Definition of TPR

‘Total Physical Response (‘TPR) is a teaching method developed by James Asher, a

professor of psychology at San José State University, California, USA It was

designed lo support teaching-learting foreign language

Richard and Rodgers (1986) states that PR is a language teaching method which is

constructed around the coordination of speech and action It makes use of physical

(motor) aclivity Lo teach language According to Garcia (2001) there are two very important concepts in ‘TPR They are the total physical response involvement in

learning, process and the role played by the right hemisphere of the brain The first

10

concept refers to the using action responses to introduce the second language This

is influenced by the way people acquire their first language People listen before

speaking The babies listen io the sounds around them and then do things in

xespouse to their ufterances They do not speak immediately ‘they will speak when they are ready, The second concept is related to the brain hemisphere Our brain is

divided into two parls, lef and righl hemispheres They have different functions

‘The right brain controls physical movements and TPR is a right brain method of learning language because the language is learnt mostly through actions

Similarly, Asher (1977) focuses on the way thal children combine both verbal

and physical aspects to explain for this method A child responds physically to the speech of their parents The responses of the child are in tum positively

reinforced by Lhe speech of the parenis Tl is the combination of both verbal and

physical aspects

Larsen-Freeman (2000: 113) claims that Total Physical Response was developed in

order lo reduce the stress people feel when studying (orcign languages and thereby

encourage students to persist in thei study beyond a beginning level of proficiency

Obviously, TPR emphasizes the tink belween words and physical movement The

anain activity of TRP relates to the commands that teacher gives to students who

will obey the teacher’s commands, It will benefit a lot in helping the students recall

the words [hey have leartl because they would remember words better when using

their body movements

Learner roles

According to Asher (1997) Jearners of TPR are the listeners and performers in the

lesson, After listening to teacher’s commands, they use actions to respond to teacher They will physically respond in both individuals and in teams or in groups

They will follow the content determined by the teacher Learners are also required

to produce novel combinations of their own Learners monitor and evaluate their

own progress, They are encouraged to speak when they feel ready to speak - that is, whan a suflicionl basis in [he lmguage has been internalized

at

Teacher roles

According to Larsen and Freeman (2000: 113) the teacher is the director of all

students” behaviors Teacher is the person who determines the content of the lesson:

what to teach, who models Teacher plays a more active role in IPR, not students Therefore, careful preparation is necessary so that the lesson can run smoothly step

by sep This delermines the success of the lesson

Asher (1977) states that teachers’ role is not only to teach as to provide opportunities for leaming, The responsibility of teachers is also to provide the best

Kind of exposure lo language so thal the learners can internalize the baxie rules of

the target language ‘The language input that leamers receive is controlled by teachers They give learners raw materials which will help them construct in their

own minds Speaking abilities should be allowed to develop in learners al their own

natural pace Teachers should not interrupt to correct errors because this will

discourage leamers* learning process

2.1.3.2 Principle of TPR

‘TPR is an example of the comprehension approach to language teaching, Ln the

lesson using TPR, students are nol forced Lo speak Tnslead, teachers wail until

students acquire enough language through listening that they stat to spcak

spontaneously

Tua group study, Yultna (2014) lists oul 13 principles of TPR: (1) Meaning in the

target language can often be conveyed through actions Memory is active through leamer response Begining foreign language instruction should address the right

hemisphere of the brain, the part which controls nonverbal behavior The target

language should be presented in chunks, not just word by word; (2) The students understanding of the target language should be developed before speaking: (3)

Students can initially learn one part of the language rapidly by moving their bodies,

(4) ‘Ihe imperative is a powerful linguistic device through which the teacher can direct students’ behavior; (5) Students can leam through observing actions as well

as by performing the actions as welt as by performing the actions themselvas; (6) Tl

12

is very important that students feel succcssful Feclngs of succcss and low anxiety

facilitate leaming; (7) Students should not be made to memorize fixed routines; (8)

Correction should be carried oul in an unoblrusive manner, (9) Shudents must develop flexibility in understanding novel combinations of target language chunks They need to understand more than the exact sentences used in training Novelty is

also molivaling, (10) Language Teaming is more effective when il is Tun; (11)

Language should be emphasized over written language; (12) Students will begin to speak when they are ready; (13) Students are expected to make errors when they

first begin speaking Teachers should be tolerant of them Work ơn the fine details

of the language should be postponed unt students have become somewhat proficient”

Additionally, Blair (1992) slates four principles of TPR method The first principle

is that comprebension must be developed first before students speak because only

when the leamers have good comprehension, they can learn the new language best

The next prineiple is thal comprehension and memory are well acquired through

physical movement, He stated that sbidents need time to understand and response to

parts of language before Irying lo speak il oul when they are ready This is call

‘silent period’, The last principle is that by responding through actions, learners’

memory is activated and so they can understand the meaning of new vocabulary

Based on these above principles, Asher (2012) draws three learning hypotheses of

using IPR in teaching Kngbsh Kirst, children develop their comprehension by xesponding physically to their parents” commands It will help to develop their

speech naturally They acquire listening comprehension before starting to speak

Second, ‘IPR is related to right brain activities ‘hird, a stress free environment will

tenefit the second language leaming process like with the first language TPR

focuses on the meaning wilhoul pulling the stress on grammar rules or language

forms ‘This helps to create a comfortable environment for learners

Obviously, TPR methnd is widely used in teaching children Its principles mostly

base on the movement of the body and relale lo the right brain activities The

13

complexity of the input is gradually inercased Childron are involved in listening, responding to commands, and doing actions, and after some time they take over

from the teacher and give conunands themselves

2.1.3.3 Procedure of LPR

Asher (1977) states that there are four main steps in the procedures of TPR method:

1) Review this is the quick warm- up for studerts before the lesson Students move

with commands to review the vocabulary they leamed in the previous lesson

2) New commands: Teacher introduces the new commands

3) Role reversal: Students readily volunteer to command their teacher and classmates

4) Reading and writing Teacher writes new vocabulary items on the board and

gives scrilences to illustrate the words

According to Asher, TPR lesson plans should present the detailed commands that the teacher intends to use in his/her lessons He said

, “It is wise to write out the

exact ulleranees you will be using and especially the novel commands because the action is so fast-moving, ‘I'here is usually not time for you to create spontaneously.”

From these above characteristics and principles of TPR, i can be concluded that TPR is a great tool for leanung and teaching a second language for students

especially for children ‘The lesson plan of this research will apply this procedure 21.3.4 Types of vocabulary used in the lessons with TPR

TPR is largely about movement Verbs arc the mosl suitable type of

vocabulary for this method because teacher can easily illustrate them by

actions With the words that are not easy to be illustrated by doing actions like

nouns or sume adjectives, cle teacher can combine them with the suitable

verbs in lots of interesting ways For example: With some names of animals

teacher can guide the students to move, make the sounds or act out like these

animals; With some nouns, teacher can combine them with the verbs like

wear the hat, look at the mirror, sit on the chair, etc.

21.4 Attitudes

‘There have been numerous definitions given to attitudes, Attitudes is defined Baker (1992) as “a hypothetical construct used to explain the direvlion and persistence of buman behavior”, Likert (1932) defines the term attitude as “an inference which is

considers allitudes as “a disposition to respond favarably or unfavorably to an

object, person, institution, or event” Brown (2000) states that “Attitudes, like all aspects of the development of cognition and affect in human beings, develop early

in childhood and are the result of parents’ and peers’ alliludes, contact, with people

who are different in any mumber of ways.” Brown (2001) indicates that attitude is described by emotional involvements such as feelings, and relationship in

community Moreover, alliludes refer specifically to states of crohons and thought

relating to the target language, to the learning of the target language, and to the

culture of the target language Bagozzi and Burnkrant (1979) states three

components of affiturke: (1) Knowledge sboul the object, the beliefs, ideas components (Cognitive) (2) A feeling about the object, like or dislike component

(Affective) (3) A tendency-towards-aclion the object component (Behavioral)

Gardner (1985) considers attitudes as components of motivation m language

learning Students’ attitudes positively correlated with their achievement in linglish For instance, sludents with posilive affitudes towards learning a language were more

at an advantage compared to those with negative attitudes (Spolsky, 1969, Littlewood, 1984; Ilolmes, 1992, Norlida, 1997) Therefore, the importance of

attitudes in enhancing language learning was undeniable This study follows the

definition of Gardne

According to Simonson & Manshak (2001) there are four widely used and accepted

categories, or approaches, for collecting altitude mformation The first way is self

reports, where the members of a group report directly about their own attitudes With self-reports a person is asked to report on his or her own attitudes This information cam be provided orally through the use of inlerviews, surveys or in

15

written form through questionnaires, journals, or diaries, etc The second way is reports of others, where others report about the atttudes of a person or group Soctomelric procedure is also another way where members ol’ a group report about their attitudes toward other people Sociometrics are used when the researcher wants to see a picture of the patterns within a group The last one is records which are very helpful when they contain information relevant to the altitude area in

question

Within each of these categories, there are strategies for measuring attitude-related behaviors Altitude measurement is usually accomplished by questionnaires and

rating scales, interviews, written reports, observations Questionnaires and rating

scales are techniques that present information to a respondent in writing and then

require 4 wrillen response The second technique is irderv:

ws They are direel

meetings between two or more people in which the respondent answers questions A

survey is a highly structured interview Often surveys are conducted over the

{clephone, an approximation of face-to-face inlerviewing The advantage of

interviews is that the interviewer can actively give the questions and receive the

answers and also explore directly the facial or body languages of the interviewees

which may be very useful for understanding more theu foclngs The two major

problems with interviews are: They are very time consuming and sometime the

interviewer may influonce the interviewee The third technique of measuring

attitude is written reports, such as joumals, and diaries, etc They are the descriptions of activities and feelings written during the course The big advantage

of this approach is that reports provide a lot of information about a person's

experiences and feelings However they require a great deat of time by both the

respondent and the researcher The last instrument is observations where the

researcher has to dedicate Ins or her altention to he behaviors of an individual or

group in a nabural setting for a certain period of time

ierviews, field notes and observations were used

In this research, questionnaires, i

as the model of Simonson & Maushak

2.2 Previous studies

‘There are some researchers who also conducted relevant researches on this field

The first research is Pujiningsih’s study in 2010 This @ classroom aetion research 1a

identify the advantages of Total Physical Response method and to know whether TPR can improve students’ vocabulary in MI NU Manafiul Ulun Kudus School

This research combined both qualitative and quantitative «lata analysis to colleal the

data ‘The findings showed that there was an improvement in students *vocabulay after applying TP methed with the most significant improvement on spelling and

meaning The study also figured oul some weaknesses of TPR in using words in

sentence

The second research is Ni’mah’s research (2016) on the use of TPR to improve the

students’ vocabulary mastery This rescarch’s aim is to see the improvement of

student’s vocabulary after using TPR in leaming Besides, it focused on finding out

the procedure of teaching and learning method using TPR im vocabulary lesson The

yesearch was quite similar to the Nining Pujiningsih’s research TL was algo an action

xesearch After two cycles of applying TPR, the writer found out the positive effects

of TPR in helping studerts (o learn vocabulary not only in the number of words thal students could remember but also in their attention and participation Uì learnine,

process, The procedure of teaching and learning method using I'PR in yocabulary

lesson was also clarified

The third research was conducted in an elementary school in Indonesia by Tabrurrozi in 2017 The study aimed to deseribe how TPR improves students”

vocabulary leaming outcomes at the third-grade elementary school Guntur 3 South

Jakarta, Indonesia It was also an action research and followed four steps: plan,

class action, observation and reflection The writer calculated the average score of

students afler the pre-test and post-test im each cycle to collect the dala and also

found out similar results as the two above researches [PR method affected

positively to the improvement of students’ vocabulary

Oclaviany (2007) also conducted a classroom action research to imvestigale the

application of TPR in teaching English vocabulary to the fourth graders of Sd

Negeri 04 Krajankulon Kaliwungu Kendal in the academic year of 2006-2007 Lle also used pre-tesls and post-lesis to sce (he improverent of the resull, by percerlage

Questionnaire was also used to answer the problems of the study and field notes

were used to observe the situation of the class during each lesson The finding was

that TPR was very beneficial to the students in facilitating them it: learning English vocabulary

Latifa (2016) did the research on TPR by an experimental design Ile wanted to

tneasure the effect of TPR on vocabulary retention im his research The researcher

used quantitative approach to figure out the answer for the study problem ‘The

technique of data collection was the test and the researcher used t- Test formula to

caloulate the 1esull The post lesl resuill after applying TPR was Inigher (harr the pro-Lesh which showed a significam effect of TPR in students’ vocabulary retention

Dinh Nguyen (2014) conducted a research ta describe the procedure of teaching

Tnglish vocabulary to primary school children through TPR and to justify the importance and effectiveness of using TPR astivitics in teaching forcign language

vocabulary The researcher used mixed method which combined quantitative and

qualitative approach Observation, video recording, questionnaire were used to collect

the data In the conclusion, the researcher concluded that TPR could be an effective

way to introduce Unglish vocabulary and deliver explicit instructions It significantly benefited to students’ achievement in English vocabulary learning However, the roscarch was only conducted in three lessons 30 the resull was quils tentative

In this chapter, teaching English vocabulary, teaching English vocabulary to young leamers, teaching Knglish vocabulary to young leamers with ‘IPR method and attitudes are the four key areas which are explored by the researcher It can be

clearly seen from the rescarch reviewed thal understanding the features of

vocabulary, the characteristics of young learners will benefit teachers a lot in

choosing the appropriate vocabulary teaching methods for primary students Among

these methods, TPR is considered a very suitable and uscful way A review on

action research is alsa mentioned in this part to figure oul the main steps of an

IR

action research Some previous studics on this ficld are reviewed and put in comparison lo explore the similarities and differences among them Five out of six

researchers which are reviewed used action research while the other used

experimental research They used various tools to collect and analyze the results

like questionnaires, tests, observation, ctc and the findings were all showed that

TPR had sigmificant effect 1o the students’ vocabulary All the above reviews give

the researcher of this study valuable knowledge in order to conduct the next steps of

this research.

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

Tn this chapter, the research methods used in this study are discussed in detail Respectively, topics addressed in Chapter 3 are context of the research, participants, design of the research, research procedure, data collection and data analysis

3.1 Context of the research

The rescarch was conducted ina local class of a primary school in Hanoi

‘This is @ private school with five grades from I to 5 ‘here are 36 classes Lach class has 25 to 32 students English is considered as a very important subject together with Math and Literature in this school ‘The teaching materials for students include text books and other supplementary materials developed and selected by the teachers Students have eight English lessons a week in which six lessons are taught

by Vietnamese teachers and two lessons are taught by foreign teachers ‘To communicate with the native speakers fluently students need to now a huge number of words However, they slill meet some difficulties in learning vocabulary 3.2 Participants

The participants involved in the research were 25 students in the grade 2 class In this class, students were at the age of seven They started learning English since thoy were at grade 1 The book the students used to learn is Super Minds 2 (2013), published by Oxford University Press Students’ English vocabulary was at basic level In teaching process, it was realized that many students had less motivation in teaming new English vocabulary because the mimber of words they had to learn at grade 2 was much more than at grade 1 Students still leat in a passive and traditional way They fell bored and could not remember well when learning many new words or phrases Some students with low level felt stressful and did not like studying Knglsh,

3.3 Research design

To conduct this study, the researcher employed the class action research Tt followed, four stops: Planning, acting, obscrving and reflecting as the model of Kemmis and McTaggart (1988)

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Quantitative data from the tests was used to figure out the cffccts of TPR on the student’s vocabulary achievement Qualitative data from observation and interview

was used to explore Ihe student's atlitudes towards using TPR in learning Rrylish

vocabulary In addition, questionnaires were also used to provide further

understanding of the students’ attitudes and result from field notes also provided

amore information for the researcher about [he students’ voeabulary inmprovement 3.4, Research procedure

3.4.1 Action research

3.4.1.1 Definition of action research

According to Kemmis and ilenry as quoted by Allwright and Bailey (1991:44),

“Action research has been defined as a form of self-reflective enquiry undertaken by

parlicipanis int social silualions in order 0 nnprove the raliouality and justice of their

own social or educational practices, as well as their understanding of these practices

and the situation in which these practices are carried out” Allwright and Bailey

(1991) slafe that “lhe goals of action research are achieving local understanding and

developing viable solutions to problems” Harmer (2001: 344) concludes that action

vesearch is a series of procedures thal teachers can engage in because they wish to evaluate the success of certain activitics and procedures, Addiuonally, Elliot (L991;

49) states that “the fundamental aim of action research is to improve practice rather

than to produce knowledge” According to Cohan and Manion as cited by Nunan

(1992; 18), “the aim of action research is to improve the current state of affairs within the educational context in which research is being carried out”

3.4.1.2, Action research procedure

‘There are several ways to conduct an action research According Nunan (1992), there are seven steps in action research cycle:

Step 1 Initiation: In this step the teacher comes up with a problem which the

students do not seem interested or motivate What should be done?

Step 2, Preliminary investigation: ‘he teacher spends some time collecting baseline

data tlrough observation and recording classroom interaction

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Step 3 Hypothesis: After reviewing the initial data, the teacher forms the hypothesis that the students are unmotivated

Step 4 Inlervention: The teacher devises a number of strategies (or encouraging Ihe

students to relate the content of the lesson

Step 5 Evaluation: After several weeks, the classroom is recorded again There is

much greater involycrient of the students, and the complexity of their language and

student-led interactions is enhanced

Step 6 Dissemination: The teacher runs a workshop for colleagues and presents a

paper al a language conference

Step Follow up: ‘the teacher investigates alternative methods of motivating

students

Sugor (2005: 4) sels oul a straightlorward four step model of an action research

Clarify vision and target, articulate appropriate theory, implement action and collect

data, reflect on the data and plan informed action

Tra different study, Kemmis and McTarggarl ( 1988) suggest thal action rescarch

has four steps:

Step 1 Planning: Planing refers Lo the proposed stralegies to be developed and be cused in the rescarch The rescarcher arranges the schedule of the research

Step 2 Acting: Acting is which the teachers put the plan into actions in order to

collect information or data during teaching and leaming process

Step 3 Observing: Observing means the researcher refers to the observation of the phenomenon ocowred in the class, In observing process, the data and the problem is

gained through an observation sheet in every meeting The aim of observation itself

1s to collect the data which become the indicators of success a3 an unpact of the action that had been planned before

Step 4 Reflecting: Reflecting reflects the previous action or treatments for the nex!

cycle In this step, the researcher analyzes the data and make the conclusion act

‘based on the data gathered then compares them to the eriteria of success If there is

a weakness in the previous action, the researcher and observer discuss for the

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improvement in the next mecting The reflection’ result or conclusion is used as the source for the next action cycle

The model of Kemmis and McTaggart (1988) is shown in Figure 3.1 below:

‘MoTarggart to canduct this research

Sccondly, the list of students’ names was made

‘Thirdly, sheets for classroom observation and questionnaires, interview sheets were designed

In the next step, tests were made, Other materials and teaching, aids were also

The action in cycle ] was conducted through three lessons and two tests

Tu the first day, rescarcher gave sLudenis the pre-test of vocabulary which students would learnt after that The test included 20 questions The reseacher then spent about ten minutes left to introduce TPR method which would be applied in the next lessons In the next three lessons, the researcher used TPR to teach students three topics: classroom objects, daily routine and animals

At the end of each lesson, a quick check using TPR was given so that the research could see the number of words the students could remember

In the las! day of the ueatmont in cycle 1, the researcher gave studenls @ post-tesl

wilh the same structure with the pre-LesL

sucocss have been achieved or not The researcher then made the revising plan

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before conducting eyele 2

At the end of cach lesson, the res

cher did a quick check using TPR to sec how

anany students had the coirect answers after the lesson

In the last day of the treatment in cycle 2, the researcher gave the students the post-

test with the same structure with the pre-test

There wore four vocabulary tests in this study They wore two pro-tests at the beginning

of the two eycles and lwo post-tests at the end of the two cycles

The content of the tests in cycle 1 covered three topics:

Table 3.1 Content for testing in cycle 1

9 Classroom door, bookcase, wall, clock, window, board, cupboard, chau,

objects floor

1 | Dailyroutines Get up, get dressed, have breakfast, brush your teeth, go to

school, have lunch, play in the park, have dinner, go 1o bed

tk ‘Animals Zebra, monkey, hippo, parrot, snake, tiger, boar, crocodile

‘The tests in cyele 2 covered the topics:

Table 3.2 Content for testing in cycle 2

3 Places playground, cinema, swimming pool, park, hospital, town,

shop, bus stop, street, café, train station

Post test 2: January 224

Multiple choice, matching and odd one out were used in the tests to get the data ach

test would include 20 questions and all the four tesis had the same structure The

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students were familiar with these forms because the structure of the test followed the form of the test m the school

3) The students’ retention aller the learning process nsing TPR

A) The relevance between the vocabularies offered in this action research and the vocabularies that the students used and needed in their daily activities

5) The sustainabilily of the action research program

‘The researcher designed the questionnaire based on the criteria above The

questions are made in a simple, understandable aud interesting way for the students

†o finish because they wore just at grade two, Before conducting the questionnaire,

the researcher asked the colleague for addition input and suggestive feedback on

survey ilems This helped to invrcase the content validily of the questionaire The

xesearcher explained carefully all words that the students might not clear Ihe gifts were also given to the students after they finished the questionnaire It was a way to

encourage them to focus and did the questionnaire seriously

‘The students had to choose Agree, Disagree or Doubt for each statement in which

Disagree = | point; Doubt = 2 points; Agree = 3 points

Below are five main stalements in the questiormaire:

Question 1 | like leaming Linglish vocabulary by doing actions

Question 2 Doing actions when leaming English is good for me in studying

vocabulary

Question 3 I got better result after learning English by doing actions

Question 4 | can use the words | leamt in communicating with foreign people

Question 5 T want to sludy regularly by this way

3.5.3 Field notes

To observe the students’ learning progress and figure out the students’ attitude

towards leaning with TPR as well as collect more mfonnation about the students’

progress, the researcher used field notes In observing process, there were three components that the writer would focus on, they were: The participant of the

students, students’ altitude, students’ vocabulary progress and TPR quick check

result ‘he field note sample is as below:

Table 3.3 Field note sample

improvement at the end

Quick check

- Number of correct answers

= _Nusnber of incorrect answers:

Even though questionnaires are used, these instruments may not address all the

yesearch questions and accommodate unexpected issues thal anise These

weaknesses are overcome with another data collection method: face-to-face

interviews

At the end of the questionnaire, the rescarcher provided the information of the

interview purposes and process Due to the limited time of data collection, the

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xescarcher pÌaancd to mtorvicw six students which included three girls and three

boys In choosing sample of participants the researcher used the purposive sampling amethod This form of sampling is essentially stralegic and necessilates an altempl ta establish a good correspondence between research questions and sampling (Bryman, 2004) The inclusion criterion was based on the results of the pre-test 2,

post-test 2 after the treatment and the characteristics of cach children This means

the participants would include both active and less active or shy students, both students with much improvement and Jess improvement which help to increase the

objectivily of the result

Table 3.4 Interview participants description

Participants | Sex Pre-test 1 Pre-test 2 Characteristics

Tn order lo encourage the sludenis le volunteer for the interviews, (he siudents were

informed that a gifl was provided for cach interview participant in appreviation for their irae and help Since the purpose of the interview was (o oblain additional data

lo complement, refine, and contextualive the resulis [ron the questionaire dala, the

interview questions were developed in accordance with the themes in the

questionnaire which support the answer for the research questions

The researcher used semi- structured questions with guiding and probe questions

All the questions were made simple and understandable for the students The

researcher asked the colleague for addition input and supgestive feedback on interview questions before conducting the interview When conducting it, the

researcher explained carefully any words that the students were not clear

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Interview question 1

Guiding question:

What did learning English hy doing actions help you in learning vocabulary?

Probe questions:

Did it help you to remember more words?

Da you feel more confident when using English vocabulary after learning with this

Do you like this method?

Were you happy when learning by this method?

Do yeu want to study regularly with this method?

Tf the studenis’ answer im the previaus question meluded the idea for the nex question, the researcher could move Lo the ofher question The researcher could add some more questions to make the answer of the students longer so that their idea

could be clearer Because the students were only at grade 2, their answers were

usually short so the researcher encourages the students to talk more about their answers, not only say Yes or No

The interviews were conducted in a causal and natural style rather than a formal

question-answer pattern All interviews were audio-recorded To ensure that all interviewees would speak their minds in a language they are most familiar with, the

interviews were conducted in Vietnarnese ‘The interviews were then transcribed and

translated for analysis

‘the researcher then also categorized the students” answer for each probe question

into three levels: Agree, disagree and doubt then count the number of each answer

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