A study on the effects of using pictures to present vocabulary to efl adult learners at elementary level

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY VO THI THANH HOA A STUDY ON THE EFFECTS OF USING PICTURES TO PRESENT VOCABULARY TO EFL ADULT LEARNERS AT ELEMENTARY LEVEL Field: T

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

VINH UNIVERSITY

VO THI THANH HOA

A STUDY ON THE EFFECTS OF USING PICTURES TO

PRESENT VOCABULARY TO EFL ADULT LEARNERS AT

ELEMENTARY LEVEL

Field: Theory and Methodology of English Language Teaching

Code: 60 14 10

MASTER THESIS IN EDUCATION

Supervisor: Dr TRAN THI NGOC YEN

Nghé An, 2013

ABSTRACT

Teaching vocabulary using pictures has been considered an effective technique to improve learners’ memory Research in this area has concentrated on the effects of pictures on students’ memorising word meaning and word spelling In the first place, this thesis seeks to determine if pictures can help learners improve their ability of word meaning memorisation Secondly, the thesis also looks at the effect

of pictures on memorising word spelling when they are applied to teach vocabulary The experiment was carried out among non-English mojored students at Nghe An Continuing Education Center for eight weeks Twenty students were taught vocabulary with the picture technique and the other twenty students were taught with the translation method Two scoring methods were used to measure the participants’ improvement in word meaning memorisation and spelling memorisation and it was found that the two scoring methods agreed with each other The results revealed that the participants in the treatment group outperformed those

in the control group in term of word meaning memorisation In contrast, the control group made a slightly higher increase than the treatment one in term of word spelling memorisation though the treatment group made an improvement in remembering word spelling during the course Therefore, some suggested solutions have been drawn out to help English learners improve their memorising of word spelling The possitive results from the study lead to the implication that pictures can be used as an effective method to improve students’ vocabulary retention and hence can promote students in learning vocabulary

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First of all, 1 would like to express my deep and faithful gratitude to my supervisor,

Ms Tran Thi Ngoc Yen, Doctor of Applied Linguistics, who I believe is the most wonderful supervisor, for her wholehearted, valuable direction, warm encouragement, useful materials and continuous support throughout this project Thanks to her enthusiasm and positive attitudes, the reasearch has been successfully completed

I also wish to thank all the staff at the post-graduate department for giving me assistance and all the lecturers, who have been urged me to do my best and widen

my knowledge on the subjects of the course curriculum Each of the knowledge units transferred to me has been one of the important and essential provisions and guidelines for the performance of my prevailing career and further studies

I am grateful to the administrators, teachers at Nghe an continuing education center for their cooperation and help Without that, it would have been harder for me to finish the project

My sincere thanks were also presented to my students for their participations in the experiment and all my colleagues for their support and recommendations so that I can fulfill this assignment

Finally, I would like to delicate this work to my family, who have been always beside me with encouragement and love

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT oo .ÔỎ

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LIST OF TABLES 11553 ,ÔỎ iv I03209)35160:17 1553 v

LIST OF ABBREVIATIƠNS nọ HH HH he VI I950.1492:018169:49)90/0019) 1 1

I8 on 1

In 1

I0 Toà ai an 3

1.4 Research quesfIons - 22222 t222.22122121.1711 11 1.errrrioro 1.5 Thesis format

1.6 Methodology ad 1.7 Scope of the 4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIENW 5-55 2E Hy 5 PP ii oan 5

2.2 Classification of VocablaTV - + + St x2 9E E111 1 1x1 kg 6 2.2.1 According to the concept of morpheme - +55 +5 ‡c+zxzx+srxrx 6 2.2.2 According to the meaning - 55+ 222 3 SESEEEE52151221212212111371221 xe 6 2.2.3 According to the function of vocabulary items In a sentence 6

2.2.4 According to the sequence Of USC eeceseeseeesesseseetestesesseeeeseeeeeneeeeneeeeneene 7 2.2.5 According to the use of word: Active and Passrve vocabulary 7

2.3 The role of vocabulary in language learning -. -: 5+5 s+scsrcrxsrrex § 2.4 What need to be taught in English vocabullarY? -. -s- 5+ esce‡xscxxsrxerxrrxee 11 PS co an 12

PP VUẮc co ố.ố 13

2.4.3 Collocafiom - 22+ ©2+22222222222122212221222127112711.21111.TT.T 1 re 14 PA na 14

PS NN( ii bạa 7a 15

2.5.1 Techniques In teaching vocabullarV - ¿5+2 St‡Ez‡£trkrxsrrxersrke 15 2.5.1.1 Visual techniques 15

PP ion 16

VN 001 17

2.5.2 Principles in teaching vocabullarY ¿- ¿5+2 2 +22x2S++Et2E2Et2Ezxsrxrxrrsrsr 18 2.6 Using pictures In language teaching - ¿55+ t x22 ‡xsEtzEzxrxtrxrrrrrvsrrrrsree 18 2.6.1 Pictures in foreign language teaching 5c St c>tzxvztzxvzxsrxrxrrrrer 18 2.6.2 Pictures in vocabulary feachng 5: t2 xxvEtrertrkrrterkrrerrree 20 PP VU No ca 20

PP Uy ẽ 23

2.6.2.3 Wall-pictures and posters, compiled picfures - s: s- 26 2.6.2.4 SemaniC ImapS - 5: 22222212 1 31211231711121112112 12121111171 re 27 CHAPTER 3 THE EXPERIMENT 552- 55 22crcerirerrrrrrrrerrirrrer 29 BLL Materials 29

3.2 Participants nh 31

khu ố 31

k» 32

3.4.1 Results from the word meaning fesfS - 6-55: 55+ vxvrerxerxerkrrree 33 3.4.1.1 The comparison of the scores on the first and the last tests made by nà 200) 34 3.4.1.2 The comparison of the scores on the first two tests and the last two tests made by the fWO ØðTOUDS - 5 + cà SE TH TH 211 11H rên 36 3.4.1.3 The comparison of the scores on the first four tests and the last four tests on word meaning made by the tWo QrOuUpS ccecccscesees ees eeseeeeeseeseesneeeneseeeeesnee 38 3.4.2 Results from the word spelling †eSfs - 555cc + sx‡rvervsrxrkrrree 41 3.4.2.1 The comparison of the scores on the first test and the last test on spelling made by the fWO ØðTOUS -. ¿22 St SE E2 3x SEEYtEEErtrktrrrrrrrrerirrrree 41

3.4.2.2 The comparison of the scores on the first two tests and the last two tests on spelling made by the fWO ðTOUS 5-52 SE 43 3.4.2.3 The comparison of the scores on the first four tests and the last four tests on spelling made by tWO ØTOUDS ¿c5 t2 tt tk 45 3.43 What were the change patterns that the two groups made during the

lÒU Tố ốố ốố ố ố ố a ố.ố 47

3.4.3.1 The patterns of progress on word meaning fesf :- 51

3.4.3.2 The patterns oŸprogress on spelling fesf -. -:s:-s:s+++ 53 E=s?v ốẽ 53

(937140530 109)/9001 0 0Ơ.A 58

4.1 Summary of the main findings ‹ + 55522 ‡Y+EEYEeEvrErktrrrrrrrrrrrrrsree 58 [V0 1 59

AB Limitations na 5 60

3039:3099 10005 62

13000980 00057 65

10009) B0: 66

100900690 67

10098090 68

1009005000 Đ 69

1509) B0 70

1009 BG€ 71

100090500 3— 73

13000908008 75

130009800 78

1100980 00T 1 86

1009800000 90

11

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1 Means and standard deviations of the first test and the last test on word

meaning for the treatment and confroÏ øroups -‹: +s+++ 34 Table 3.2 Result of score on the last test minus score on the first test on word

meaning by participants from the two ØTOUDS - 55:55: 35 Table 3.3 Means and standard deviations of the first two tests and the last two test

on word meaning for the treatment and control øroups - - 37 Table 3.4 Result of score on the last two tests minus score on the first two tests on

word meaning by participants from the two ØrOUpS - 38 Table 3.5 Means and standard deviations of the first four tests and last four tests

on word meaning for the treatment and conftrol øroups .- 39 Table 3.6 Result of score on the last four tests minus score on the first four tests

on word meaning by participanfs from the tWo 8rOUps 40 Table 3.7 Means and standard deviations of the first test and the last test on

spelling for the treatment and confroÏ 8fOUps - ‹:-: +s:->s: 41 Table 3.8 Result of score on the last test minus score on the first test on spelling by

participants from the fWO ØTOUDS ¿5-55-5252 sexy 42 Table 3.9 Means and standard deviations of the first two tests and the last two test

on spelling for the treatment and conftrol øroups -‹ ‹+ 43 Table 3.10 Result of score on the last two tests minus score on the first two tests on

spelling by participants from the two ðTOUpS 5:55:55: s++> 44 Table 3.11 Means and standard deviations of the first four tests and last four tests

on spelling for the treatment and controÏ øToups - -: 45 Table 3.12 Result of score on the last four tests minus score on the first four tests

on spelling by participants from the fwo ØTOUpS . -+ 46 Table 3.13 Numbers of participants for different change patterns on word meaning

Table 3.14 Numbers of participants for different change patterns on spelling tests53

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 3.1 Progress chart of participant A6/ inerease øraph - . : s: 48

Figure 3.2 Progress chart of participant B18/ decrease graph - 48

Figure 3.3 Progress chart of participant A15/ unchanged graph 49

Figure 3.4 Progress chart of participant A19/ gradual increase - 50

Figure 3.5 Progress chart of participant B17/ plateau increase - -. - 51 Figure 3.6 Progress chart of participant A19/ mixed Increase : s: 51

SD

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

participant in the treatment group participant in the control group standard deviation

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

Using visual techniques have been considered as an effective way in teaching vocabulary Using pictures is one of the techniques which has been applied most widely and common in language lessons in general and vocabulary lessons in particular Using pictures in teaching vocabulary benefits students a lot and thus can promote their learning A number of studies have shown the positive influence of pictures on students’ vocabulary memorising but there has not been any research on the effects of pictures on remembering word meaning and word spelling using the last score minus the first score method and the average scoring methods

This thesis explores the effects of pictures on remembering word meaning and word spelling One group of participants learned the vocabulary with pictures as a technique and the other learned with the translation method The experiment lasted

8 weeks with one section a week The results were compared to see which group gained the bigger increases in term of word meaning and word spelling memorisation The researcher delivered two types of tests (test on word meaning and test on word spelling) to each participant after every unit In addition, the average scoring methods and thelast score minus the first score method were used to measure the participants’ improvement

1.2 Rationale

The importance of vocabulary in English as a second language or English as a foreign language learning process has been widely recognized Much of previous research indicated that enlarging language vocabulary has been one of the objectives of many EFL learners We all know that vocabulary is an important language element that link four language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing together and makes communication flow smoothly "When our first goal is

communication, when we have little of new language at our command, it is lexicon that is crucial The words will make basic communication possible" (Hatch, 1983,

p.74) Anecdote studies have showed that many students have fairly good knowledge of grammar but are hardly able to express themselves properly because

of their vocabulary deficiency Vocabulary learning, therefore, has become central

to language acquisition, and interest in its role in second language learning has grown rapidly in recent years Specialists now emphasize the need of systematic and principled approach to vocabulary by both the teacher and the learner (Decarrico, 2001; Nation, 1994) How to help the learners remember well vocabulary items that they have learnt has become one of the concerns to the teachers

Many of our students have said that they try hard to improve their vocabulary knowledge However, they have to cope with many difficulties in learning vocabulary, especially in memorizing and recalling the word meanings or word form etc Students usually forget the words they learnt Although they spend most of their time learning vocabulary, the results are disappointing Therefore, the questions posed to teachers of English are how to help their students memorize words easily and effectively and how to motivate them in vocabulary lessons In order to do this, the teachers need to know ways that make learners find it easy to memorise the

words in class, as soon as the new words are taught One of the most effective

techniques is using pictures to present new vocabulary Most of us are familiar with expression ‘a picture is worth a thousand word’ Pictures are considered to be better remembered than words There is a wide variety of previous research into the effects

of pictures on memory Nelson (1979)’s sensory-semantic model proposed that pictures have an advantage for memorising because they contain a greater variety of unique visual features than do words Paivio and Csapo (1976) also demonstrated in their study that when shown a lot of easily named pictures versus their corresponding verbal labels, participants often have an easier time recalling the name of the pictures compared with the verbal labels This phenomenon has been referred to as the picture

superiority effect Also based on this idea, several studies have investigated the effects of pictures on memory and learning vocabulary such as Klinger, W (1998),

Carpenter, S.K, Olson, K.M and Hockley (2008) However, still there has not been

much research which explored the effects of pictures on word meaning and word spelling memorisation Hence, it would be useful to carry out the study on using pictures to present vocabulary in order to investigate how pictures effect on students’ memorisation of word meaning and word spelling

1.3 Aims of the thesis

The research was conducted with the aim of exploring the effects of using pictures to present vocabulary on students’ memory on word meaning and word spelling The effectiveness of two techniques for vocabulary memorizing: using pictures and using translation method were compared in the study The findings of research will be helpful for teachers in teaching vocabulary

1.4 Research questions

The thesis seeks to answer the following research questions:

1 Will the students remember word meaning better if the teacher uses pictures to present vocabulary?

2 Will the students remember word spelling better if the teacher uses pictures to present vocabulary?

1.5 Thesis format

The thesis comprises four chapters

Chapter 1 is the introduction, which provides a brief introduction, rationale and an

overview of the thesis

Chapter 2 is the literature review, in which the definition and classification of vocabulary, the role of vocabulary in language teaching, aspects of vocabulary need

to be taught, teachniques and principles in teaching vocabulary, and pictures in foreign language teaching will be discussed

Chapter 3 presents the experimental study, which aimed to scrutinize the effects of using pictures to present vocabulary on the students’ memorisation of word meaning and spelling The discussion and some suggestions for the study are also presented in this chapter

Chapter 4 contains the limitations, implications and conclusion

1.6 Methodology

The main methodology used in the project was experimental in order to find answers to the research questions The average scoring methods and the last score minus the first score method were also used to measure the effects of pictures on the participants’ memory Groups of students at the ages of 22 to 24 were involved in the study The study intended to explore how pictures effect on students’ ability of remembering word meaning and word spelling when they are used to present vocabulary in comparison of the translation method

1.7 Scope of the study

There are, of course, varieties of ways that help students remember vocabulary However, this research focused on the effects of pictures on word meaning and spelling memorisation Other aspects of vocabulary such as : pronunciation, grammar, collocation were not taken into consideration in the project This means the study extended to measure students' ability of remembering word meaning and spelling after every lesson The course book which the researcher used during the experimental course was the Lifelines Elementary by Hutchinson, published by Oxford University Press The study was conducted among non- English majored students aged from 22 to 24 and limited to the area of teaching and

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Definition of vocabulary

The word “vocabulary” came to English in the 16" century It came from the Latin word vocabulum which means “name” This actually makes sense because vocabulary is the names that we gives to things In the Macmillan English Dictionary, the word “vocabulary” means “ all the words in a particular language”

Up to now, there have been different definitions of vocabulary Each linguist gives his own definition According to Lewis (1993, p.89) vocabulary “ may be individual words, or full sentences- institutionalized utterances- that convey fixed social or pragmatic meaning within a given community”.Ur, in her book: “ A course

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in language teaching” defined roughly “ as the words we teach in the foreign language However, a new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word: a compound of two or three words or multi-word idioms” (1996, p.60) Pyles and Algeo also give their ideas about vocabulary They said “ when most of us think about language we think just about words It is true that the vocabulary is the focus

of language It is in words that we arrange together to make sentences, conversation and discourse of all kinds” (1970, p.96)

According to Harmer, if language structures make up the skeleton of a language, then it is its vocabulary that provides the vital organs and the flesh A word is a unit

of language that native speakers can identify, “words are the block from which sentences are made” Knowing a word means being able to do thing with it: to recognize it in connected speech or in print, to access its meaning, to pronounce it and to be able to do these things within a fraction of a second (Stahl and Fairbanks, 1986) Meanwhile, Hoang simply defined vocabulary as “words of a specific language” (Hoang, 2006, p.262)

In short, vocabulary is the total number of all the words that a language possesses, including single words, two or three-word items expressing a single idea and multi-

word idioms of which meaning can not be deduced from the analysis of the component words but only understood in the sentences; or in contexts, ete

2.2 Classification of vocabulary

In general, vocabulary can be classified in various ways according to different criteria Below are the most common ways of classifying vocabulary

2.2.1 According to the concept of morpheme

Based on this criterion, McCathy divides words in to three kinds (1990, p.5) They are: simple word, derived word, compound word A simple word has only one root morpheme For example: book, man, happy, eat A derived word has a root morpheme and one or more than one affixational morphemes For example: bookish, booked, unhappy eater And compound word has at least two roots with

or without affixational morphemes For example: book worm, man-made, lotus- eater

2.2.2 According to the meaning

There are two main kinds of meanings in a word, lexical meaning and grammatical meaning Vocabulary, therefore, can be divided into notional words and functional words (Read, 2000, p.18) The first ones are notional words, whose meanings are lexical, form a great mass of the speaker’s vocabulary They name objects, actions, qualities and have meanings in themselves They are nouns, verbs, adjectives,

adverbs, and so on The second ones are functional words, whose meanings are

grammatical, only have their meanings in relation to other words with which they are used They are particles, articles, prepositions, etc

2.2.3 According to the function of vocabulary items in a sentence

Performing different functions in a sentence, English vocabulary can be divided into

different items as parts of speech They are nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs,

prepositions and pronouns (Quirk,1987, p.18) Each part of speech has its own position complying with certain grammatical rules and relating to others

2.2.4 According to the sequence of use

This criterion refers to the frequency of occurrence of words There are three groups

of words which appear in different frequencies: high frequency words, low frequency words and specialized words High frequency words are the words that appear most often in printed materials According to Robert Hillerich “Just three words J, and, the account for ten percent all words in printed English” Low frequency words are words that almost every language user rarely uses, for example: eponymous, gibbous, bifiurcate, plummet, ploy, etc They may represent a rarely expressed idea, they may be similar in meaning to a much more frequent word or phrase, they may be marked as being old fashioned, very formal, belonging

to a particular dialect, or vulgar, or they may be a foreign words Specialized words are the words people who work in or study special areas of knowledge use a specific group of words, or specialized vocabulary, in talking about their subjects In the

medical field, doctors often use terms, such as: nosocomial pneumonia, sinusitis,

hypertension, asthma, bronchitis

It is necessary for the teacher to show his learners which group the learning words belong to because it is not important for learners to learn every word with equal concentration and in equal time but the words that are more commonly used This principle is very important in vocabulary learning

2.2.5 According to the use of word: Active and Passive vocabulary

Learners understand many more words than they use in their own conversations, i.e one's passive vocabulary is much larger than one's active vocabulary The total number of words actively used in one's whole life is much smaller than the total

number of words understood in one's whole life Even if we learn a word, it takes a

lot of practice and context connections for us to learn it well This means that one word has different meanings in different contexts When a word connected with different prepositions will give different meanings You can not be able to remember and use all words exactly at the same time So having a great English vocabulary doesn't mean that you can use these words and phrases and that you can remember them when you need them This is the difference between an active and a passive vocabulary

Passive vocabulary are words which a student can recognize but not necessarily use

in speaking or writing Passive vocabulary are useful for receptive skills such as reading and listening

Active vocabulary are words which students can both understand and use in communication Active vocabulary are especially useful for the productive skills such as speaking and writing Therefore, the secret is to try to "activate" the passive vocabulary knowledge

2.3 The role of vocabulary in language learning

Vocabulary is considered the strong foundation for learners to build up their communicative castles Concerning the significance of vocabulary, Wilkin (1972, p.110) states that “vocabulary is one of the three dimensions of languages (phonetics, grammar, vocabulary) Without grammar, very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed.” Vocabulary is the foundation of a language The size of vocabulary is an important criterion to evaluate a learner’s English level Without adequate vocabulary knowledge, a second language learner will have problems with conversational fluency and reading comprehension Rivers (1981) emphasizes the important position of vocabulary in a language: ‘Language is not dry bones It is a living growing entity, clothed in the flesh of words’ (cited in

Hoang,1985, p.23) The extreme significance of vocabulary in a language is also stressed by Saville and Troike (1976, p.87) by saying:

“Vocabulary is most important for understanding and knowing names for things, actions and concepts We can appeal to our common sense and experience in making this decision about priorities Many of us have gotten along in foreign countries, even shopping, getting directions, etc if we just knew the names of what we wanted although we had no idea how to structure grammatical utterances’

From what have been discussed above, it can be concluded that with non-native

speakers, vocabulary is needed as first in order to survive If a learner has a wide vocabulary, he can get himself understood and understand others easily; on the contrary, if it is limited, he will surely have difficulty in doing so Therefore, vocabulary is a ‘must’ for all English learners to acquire by all means

The importance of vocabulary raises question of how can learners increase their vocabulary knowledge Prator and Murcia (1979, p.3) pointed out that ‘Vocabulary

is expanded as fast as possible, since the acquisition of vocabulary is considered more important than grammatical skill’ Consequently, it goes without saying that teaching and learning vocabulary is a very crucial aspect in foreign language methodology It is always thought that learning vocabulary seems to be one of the easiest things about learning a language However; it is also one of the hardest things to do, especially when you have reached a certain level Vocabulary learning

or acquisition (in this study, learning and acquisition could be interchanged) is significant in learning a language, word meaning is the heart of language and nothing is more fundamental to meaning than vocabulary’ Learning vocabulary is like a process requiring time and effort investment In vocabulary teaching, teachers are advised to organize various learning activities to create motivation for learners To this point, learning process is synonymous with changing input into intake After provided with new information drawn from an input such as words’

meaning and examples, learners are probably required to rewrite or retell the whole message of the text When students can make sense of a new word that is the process of changing a new input becoming intake In other words, that is the process toward meaning and usages of that new word Learning vocabulary should focus on remembering words and using them automatically in the right contexts(McCarthy, 1984) Faerch, Hasstrup and Phillipson (1984) also considers vocabulary knowledge

as a link between being able to know meaning and usage of a word and know how

to use it in appropriate situations with suitable manners However, forgetting vocabulary that has been ‘learned’ earlier is one of the biggest problems in vocabulary learning The problem here is the burden or the big number of new words to remember that would make learners easy to forget the old ones Nation (2005) recommends the term ‘learning burden of a word’ and then clarifies it by listing typical questions pertaining to meaning, form and use of a word That burden is different from word to word due to its connection with learners’ existing language knowledge Evaluating the vocabulary learning is recommended to help

learners to deal with this fact

As a learner of English, our teachers have to face with the same difficulty as their students that there are too many words to learn but they do not have enough time to

learn them in As a result, the teacher needs to decide which words worth learning,

and learn how to organize his or her vocabulary learning It is very important for most learners to have an idea of whether they are making progress or not Finding that they are actually making progress can be a big help to their confidence In

addition, the more words the learner knows well, the more successful he is in

communication and the more information he can get from different sources such as books, newspapers, etc In other words, a good knowledge of vocabulary will help learners develop the four skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing Therefore teaching and learning vocabulary are significant in learning a foreign language, especially in the light of the communication approach

2.4 What need to be taught in English vocabulary?

There are several aspects of lexis that need to be taken into account when teaching vocabulary The list below is based on the work of Grains and Redman (1986, p.13- 52): Boundaries between conceptual meanings: knowing not only what lexis

refers to, but also where the boundaries are that separate it from words of related

meaning (e.g cup, mug, and bowl)

Polysemy: distinguishing between the various meaning of a single word form with several and closely related meanings (head: of a person, of a pin, of an organisation)

Homonymy: distinguishing between the various meaning of a single word form which has several meanings which are not closely related (e.g a file: used to put papers in or a tool)

Homophony: understanding words that have the same pronunciation but different spellings and meanings (e.g flour, flower)

Synonymy: distinguishing between the different shades of meaning that synonymous words have (e.g extend, increase, expand)

Affective meaning: distinguishing between the attitudinal and emotional factors (denotation and connotation), which depend on the speakers attitude or the situation Socio-cultural associations of lexical items are another important factor Style, register, dialect: Being able to distinguish between different levels of

formality, the effect of different contexts and topics, as well as differences in

Grammar of vocabulary: learning the rules that enable students to build up different forms of the word or even different words from that word (e.g sleep, slept, sleeping; unable; disability)

Pronunciation: ability to recognise and reproduce items in speech

According to Ur (1996), when the teacher teaches a new English words, he should,

by all means, provide his learners with its pronunciation and spelling, grammar, collocation, aspects of meaning

2.4.1 Word form

Each English word has its spelling and pronunciation Learners have to know all the spelling, pronunciation and irregularities of the word they are learning Teaching pronunciation is important It is one of the surest elements of language to fossilise and fossilise good and hard It needs to be taught properly at the very beginning of language study

It is very much necessary to teach correct pronunciation because pronunciation

involves for more than individual sounds Word stress, sentence stress, intonation,

and word linking all influence the sound of spoken English, not to mention the way

we often pronounce words and phrases together in casual speech

It is well-known that the teaching of English to Vietnamese learners presents unusual difficulties The biggest difficulty is that there is virtually no similarities between the two languages in the areas of sounds and/or rhythmic and intonation patterns The unusually rich system of the Vietnamese vowels (with 6 tones) and consonants can produce an extraordinary number of different sounds without having

to emphasize the final consonants in any syllables and without ever having to combine two or three consonants at any time English does not make extensive use

of two, three, four and even five consonants in "clusters" within syllables and at the

end of syllables Consonants such as "th" in "think" and "thought" present considerable difficulty for the Vietnamese native speaker Equally difficult are words like "picks" and "six" in which a "k" sound is followed by an "s" at the end of the word The difficulty is more than doubled in words like "sixth" and "sixths" which have, at the end of a syllable, the series "k-s-th" and even "k-s-th-s" Since consonants and consonant clusters are extremely important in English and of little

or no importance in pronouncing Vietnamese, the stumbling blocks to learning are impressive

As a result, during the teaching process, teachers should let the students be familiar with the articulators, the functions of them, help students writing correct transcription of the words, let the students be familiar with the dictionaries, and they should know how to use it Besides, teachers ought to help students practicing sounds more and more and give them more variety of pronunciation practice

2.4.2 Grammar

The grammar of a new word should also be taught to the learners They need to know the grammatical function, the unpredictable change of form in certain grammatical contexts, the regularity and irregularity, the singular and plural forms

of the new word so that they can use it correctly For example, teaching the verb

“pay”, we might give its irregularity in past form “paid”; when a noun such as “a foot” is taught, it should be given its plural form as “feet” Learners also need to know how suffixes and prefixes work How can we make the words precise and excusable opposite in meaning? Why do we preface one with im- and the other with in- ? Learners also need to know how words are spelt and how they sound Words like “conduct”, “increase” or so on are stressed differently when their grammatical function is different - as with nouns and verbs Word formation means knowing how words written and spoken and knowing how they can change their form

2.4.3.Collocation

Collocation is the way in which words are used together regularly in a specific language It refers to the restriction on how words can be used together in right contexts Thus, this is another piece of information about a new item, which may be worth teaching When introducing words like “to make” and “to do”, for example, the teacher may note that both words mean, “to perform” but can be distinguished

by the words they collocate with We often say, “to do the shopping” but never say,

“to make the shopping”

Many years ago, Firth defined collocation as ‘the company words keep’-their relationships with other words Another definition might be ‘the way words combine in predictable ways’ When we think of the number of words in English, the number of potential combinations runs into many millions Therefore, the first and most important fact about the nature of collocation is the sheer number of individual collocations which exist in English

Collocation also enables learners to identify multi-word items and further justifies their treatments as single items of the vocabulary Therefore, collocation can provide a useful framework for revising items, which are partially known, and for expanding the learner’s knowledge of them This importance role of collocation was stated by Lewis as:

“the reason so many students are not making any perceived progress is simply because they have not been trained to notice which words go with which They may know quite a lot of individual words which they struggle to use, along with their grammatical knowledge, but they lack the ability to use those words in a range of collocations which pack more meaning into what they say or write”

(Lewis,2000, p.14)

2.4.4 Meaning

Aspect of meaning consists of denotation, connotation, appropriateness and meaning relationship

The meaning of a word is primarily what it refers to in the real word, its denotation This meaning is found in a dictionary For example, dog denotes a kind of animal, more specifically, a common, domestic carnivorous mammal

A less obvious component of the meaning of a word is its connotation in different contexts or its connotative meaning This is the associations or positive or negative feelings it evokes The connotative meaning of a word is varied from context to another

Appropriateness is more subtle aspect of meaning that indicates whether a particular item is appropriate one to use in a certain context or not Thus, it is useful for a learner to know whether a certain word is very common, or relatively

2.5 Vocabulary teaching

2.5.1 Techniques in teaching vocabulary

Teaching vocabulary is a very important field, and it is more than just presenting and introducing new vocabulary to the learners Knowing words is not filling papers with new words and memorizing them What students need to understand is the word meaning in context and how words are used? To achieve this, teachers should use different techniques in teaching English vocabulary to motivate the learners, enrich their vocabulary and enable them to speak English properly The selection of

an appropriate technique depends on the age of the students, their skills, and interests as well as what the teacher think will bring desirable results The following are most commonly used techniques in presenting vocabulary items

2.5.1.1 Visual techniques

According to Gairns and Redman (1986) these techniques can include realia, pictures and mine, action and gesture Realia refers to the use of real objects in the classroom These objects help to make the meaning of word clear (for example: a

pen, a postcard, a ball, etc) The teacher may also use classroom environment: a chair, a table, a board Things in the classroom can also be “ touched ” The success

in learning depends on the number of senses involved in the learning process and, however, realia is a vital part in presenting vocabulary at the beginners level, where pupils learn words, using concretes

Pictures may be the most useful “aids” in language teaching, since they are used in

different ways There are pictures, flashcards, blackboard drawings, wall pictures,

charts, photos from magazines Those “aids” are used to explain the meaning of words or to create a situation and concept

Mine, action and gesture are considered as a technique which is useful for explaining the actions and grammar items Such concepts as jumping, smoking or the words: “from, on, to” so on are easy items to explain through performing those actions Mime, action is a great fun for children who like acting and moving very

much

All techniques introduced above are good for presenting new vocabulary to students

at the beginners’ level because they are very interesting and involving for them

Enumeration - this technique helps when any word is difficult to explain visually

We can say ‘clothes’ and explain this by enumerating or listing various items

Teacher may list a number of clothes, for example: dress, a skirt, trousers etc, and

then the meaning of the word will became clear The same is true of ‘vegetable’ or

‘furniture’ for example (Harmer, 1991)

Explanation - this is such a technique which is assigned to be utilized with upper- beginners, who already have some knowledge of English It is essential for the teacher to bear in mind that while explaining certain words he should use the language that is comprehensible for the students Moreover, the information about the frequency of the word should be included

Synonyms - this technique relies on explanation of meaning of new word by giving

other word, which students know and understand, and which means nearly the same

.For example: little-small, huge-big etc The number of synonyms appearing in textbooks is reasonable, in this way they can be introduced rather early

Antonyms - in this technique teacher explains the meaning of new word, by giving its opposite, if students know the word meaning contrary feature e.g warm -is not cold With saying the antonym the gesture of dent should be combined

Definition -is a suitable method for upper-beginners and relies on giving the definition of given word It can be simple, unnecessary precise and scientific definition, given by the teacher It can be the definition from the dictionary This is

a good method in mobilization of students to the usage of dictionaries

2.5.1.3 Polish equivalent

In this method the teacher gives the translation of given word in the native language The translation is the quickest way of demonstrating the meaning of vocabulary items However, being often exposed to this presentation technique, the

students may be discouraged from interacting with words Thus, when presenting vocabulary, the teacher is obliged to bear in mind the techniques and also the fact, that words are learnt better if introduced in groups (when one word can be associated with another) Furthermore, the lexical item, as is quoted above, must be taught in context The reason is that the meaning of many words can change, according to their use in particular sentences and particular context Although many linguists state that translation is not a good presentation technique, it is only considered dangerous for students if it becomes the only presentation technique

2.5.2 Principles in teaching vocabulary

There are several principles for successful teaching, which are valid for any method According to Wallace (1988) the principles are:

a Aim: what is to be taught, which words, how many

b Need: target vocabulary should respond students’ real needs and interests

c Frequent exposure and repetition

d Meaningful presentation: clear and unambiguous denotation oe reference should

be assured

2.6 Using pictures in language teaching

2.6.1 Pictures in foreign language teaching

As Hill (1990) pointed out, “the standard classroom” is usually not a very suitable environment for learning languages.That is why teachers search for various aids and stimuli to improve this situation Pictures are one of these valuable aids They bring

‘images of reality into the unnatural world of the language classroom’ (Hill, 1990) Pictures bring not only images of reality, but can also function as a fun element in the class Sometimes it is surprising, how pictures may change a lesson, even if only employed in additional exercises or just to create the atmosphere

Pictures meet with a wide range of use not only in acquiring vocabulary, but also in

many other aspects of foreign language teaching Wright (1990, p.4-6) demonstrated this fact on an example, where he used on a compiled picture and illustrated the possibility of use in five very different language areas His example shows employing pictures in teaching structure, vocabulary, functions, situations and all four skills Furthermore he pointed out that “potential of pictures is so great that only

a taste of their full potential can be given” in his book (Wright,1990, p.6) To be more specific, beside lessons where pictures are in the main focus, they might be used just as a “stimulus for writing and discussion, as an illustration of something being read or talked about, as background to a topic and so on”(Hill,1990, p.2) However, “pictures have their limitations too”(McCarthy, 1992, p.115) For example

in teaching vocabulary, pictures are not suitable or sufficient for demonstrating the meaning of all words (McCarthy, 1992, p.115; Thornbury,2004, p.81) It is hard to illustrate the meaning of some words, especially the abstract ones such as ‘opinion’

or ‘impact’ Therefore, in some cases, other tools are used to demonstrate the

meaning or alternatively pictures might be supplemented by other tools

There are many reasons for using pictures in language teaching As Wright (1990, p.2) pointed out that they are motivating and draw learners’attention Furthermore,

he refers to the fact that they provide a sense of the context of the language and give a specific reference point or stimulus Pictures, being suitable for any group of learners independently on age or level, can be used in lots of various ways As Hill (1992, p.2) stated,“What is done is limited only by the preparation time available, the visuals to hand and the imagination of the individual teacher.” Hill also listed several advantages of pictures, such as availability (one can get them in any magazines, on the internet, etc.); they are cheap, often free, they are personal (teacher selects them); flexibility - easily kept, useful for various types of activities (drilling, comparing, etc.), they are “always fresh and different”, which means they come in a variety of formats and styles and moreover the learner often wonders what comes next (Hill, 1990, p.1)

Another matter is the question of how to use pictures effectively It counts as general methodological knowledge that in learning languages, students should perceive the input through as many channels as possible Therefore it is important to include variety of stimuli in teaching It is important to find a balance and not to use pictures

or visuals only but to combine them with other techniques and different types of

stimuli (movement, verbal stimuli, sound, etc) Moreover, pictures used for

demonstration of the meaning should be repeatedly connected with the spoken and subsequently also written form of the word or chunk of language

2.6.2 Pictures in vocabulary teaching

2.6.2.1 Picture flashcards

Flashcards are those with simple words or pictures, which can be held up by the teacher or given out to pupils to use in pair work and group work In general, flashcards are used for different purposes and they bring positive results Flashcard

is divided into picture flashcards and word flashcards

Hill (1990) classified pictures according to their size into three ‘key’ categories They are large, medium and small

- “Large (20x30 cm): useful for whole-class work”

- “Medium (10x15 cm): useful for group-work”

- “Small (5x5 cm): useful for games and other group-work activities” (Hill, 1990, p 5) This classification applies to picture flashcards as well I have simplified Hill’s classification and divided them into two groups only The first group covers “Big flashcards” (about 15x20cm or larger), typically used by the teacher for whole-class activities such as presenting new language, controlled practice or as prompts for speaking activities The second group then covers “small picture flashcards” (smaller then about 15x20cm), usually used by students for working individually or for games and activities in pairs or groups

Big picture flashcards are very helpful tools in presenting and drilling forms of new words, since they draw learners’ attention and make these often boring activities more enjoyable And that is exactly what teachers need when presenting new language -to catch their learners’ full attention to raise their interest in the presented subject and hence also their motivation At the same time flashcards (as well as other forms of pictures and visual aids in general) enable students to link the meaning of the words with real-world images immediately When using flashcards in presentation, it is easy to involve learners actively and to combine the presentation with controlled practice The presentation of vocabulary with flashcards can be done in lots of various ways, for example in telling a story or just simply based on a set of vocabulary for a particular topic

Wright (1990) and Wright and Haleem (1996) listed several possibilities how to illustrate the meaning of a new word or a piece of language through pictures A single picture might often serve this purpose well enough; yet, employing several pictures might be in some cases preferable if not necessary to make sure that students get the correct idea about what aspect of the picture the teacher had in mind Displaying several different pictures with one identical feature should suffice for this purpose For example: to teach the phrase ‘to be horrified’, the teacher could show three pictures of people horrified by different things Contrasting meanings could be another possibility: The teacher works with two antonymous pictures, or similarly, compares two pictures with things very alike in their meaning, such as

‘hill’ and ‘mountain’ Yet another possibility is to employ the sense of a collective idea or to present the word asa part of a larger thing As for the first case, the verb

‘to work’ can be accompanied by pictures of different people working in various jobs; in the second case, the word ‘leaf’ can be put into context as a part of ‘a tree’(Wright 1990, p.139-144; Wright and Haleem 1996, p.5 1-52)

Big flashcards are suitable for vocabulary practice and testing To draw

students’ attention, it is advisable to reveal pictures in an interesting way Wright and Haleem (1996) presented several activities that might be modified for this purpose, such as ‘Flashing picture’, where the teacher just flashes the cards quickly and students guess or describe what they saw As another example might serve ‘The slow picture reveal’ (Wright and Haleem 1996, p.56-57) In this sense, the picture is used in a more meaningful and ‘real-life- communicative’ way than being just displayed for students to say what they can actually see This will probably have a greater impact on the retention of a piece of vocabulary again and also subsequently

on the ability to use it in communication Hill (1990) illustrated this idea on the example: “In the same way that the idea of holding up a pen and asking ‘What’s this?’, expecting the answer ‘It’s a pen’ is uncommunicative, it is uncommunicative

to hold up a picture of a pen and ask ‘What’s this?’ expecting the same answer

in individual practice of vocabulary, e.g.looking at a picture and guessing the meaning written on the other side Both Hill (1990) and Wright (1990) considered activities with this type of visual material very useful and presented plenty of them

in their books

Word flashcards are perhaps worth mentioning at this point, even though they are not actually pictures However, being used in a similar way as picture flashcards, they can often enrich the lesson On top of that, those two can be indeed combined and applied together, e.g in a matching or labelling activity

As Wright (1990, p.59) pointed out that word flashcards are most typically used in teaching reading and writing Nevertheless, they will find their use in teaching vocabulary too, offering valuable help mainly in teaching the spelling of newly learnt words, which definitely should not be neglected as it often is

2.6.2.2 Drawing

Drawing finds huge potential in teaching languages I must agree with Wright (1990, p.203) that in the first place, simple drawings can possibly substitute other forms of pictures Although some teachers may not be exactly proficient in drawing, they are eventually bound to find a way of drawing simple pictures for classroom use Wright (1990) stated that drawings “provide an immediately available source of pictorial material for the activities Students and teachers drawings also have a special quality, which lies in their immediacy and their individuality.”(Wright,1990, p.203) The element of individuality might have a significant impact on remembering, whether it is a unique expression of the teacher or even better, the expression of students when creating the pictures themselves The activity of drawing within the classroom could be perhaps divided into two categories: Drawing on the board carried out by the teacher for example to illustrate the meaning of new language in presentation and drawing as an activity of students in various, usually listening or reading, exercises

Drawing on the board

It is highly flexible during presentation and therefore bears several advantages, as Wright and Haleem (1996) listed among their board characteristics: “Texts and

pictures can grow in front of the class” or “can be erased, added to or substituted” This feature widens the teacher’s options how to present or review language in a meaningful way This is true for teaching structures as well as vocabulary For example in reviewing, the teacher draws only a piece of a picture on the board and invites students to guess what he or she is drawing This makes students curious, they desire to know what the answer actually is and it makes them speculate and reason their opinions and so on (Wright and Haleem 1996, p.6) In this sense, the picture is again used in a more meaningful way Wright and Haleem (1996, p.8) presented another very inspiring idea of using drawing on the board: They suggest using it in combination with flashcards or pictures from magazines For example, the teacher draws a scene and supplements it with individual pictures of people, animals

or things The authors presented this technique for teaching structure In my opinion

it is a wonderful tip for presenting and practicing vocabulary too, since this might put the vocabulary into context For example a house could be drawn and pictures of furniture could be placed inside, either by the teacher or by students This particular example can be used for the presentation or practice of names of rooms or furniture, prepositions of place, home activities, together with the phrase ‘there is/are’ or perhaps the present continuous etc This composition is again very flexible, as the pictures might be easily moved around the board and there is a lot to talk about while doing so

Drawing as a students’ activity

In general students love drawing: therefore exercises with drawing are rather popular, especially among young learners Pupils can relax while doing this calming activity and the combination of fun and well-being forms a solid ground for successful learning Drawing as an activity might serve a lot of goals( these often combined together) in learning lan gu ages It is often used to support developing particular language skills, mostly (but not only) listening and speaking Furthermore

it meets with a great benefit and usefulness in practicing or learning vocabulary,

especially when talking about elementary English, since a lot of essential vocabulary here are concrete and easy-to-draw Scott and Ytreberg (1993) specify that this type of activity“is particularly useful for checking object vocabulary, prepositions, colours and numbers It is not so useful for actions, since drawing people doing things is quite difficult for most of us.” (Scott and Ytreberg 1993, p.24) They furthermore pointed out that drawing exercises might often be time- consuming and so they advise “to keep th picture simple” ( Scott and Ytreberg

1993, p.23) However, the teacher can control this into some extent by setting an exact time limit or by telling students not to concentrate too much on the artistic quality Moreover, he or she can choose things easy to draw To sum it up, if used

in the right way, drawing is not wasted time at all, as it is often considered to be by some teachers There are several ways of using drawing as an activity in language teaching As was already mentioned, vocabulary is often practiced within exercises ocused at the same time on other aspects of language, such as skills and structures

This enables vocabulary to be used in context, which is more meaningful Besides,

vocabulary is hard to be separated from these other aspects of language anyway Very favourable is the listen-and-draw or alternatively the listen-and colour type of activity This can be organized either as teacher-to-class, student-to-class or as pair work Another useful exercise is the draw-and-describe type of activity, which is usually done in pairs Among other not so significant advantages of using pictures

students draw Allen listed: “When someone has drawn a picture of a scene, he

knows the meanings of the English words that the teacher will use while talking about parts of his scene The meanings are in his mind before he is given the English word (As we have noted, meanings often come before words in successful learning of vocabulary )” (Allen,1983, p.28) She had in mind students drawing pictures on the board for the teacher to subsequently work with However, a similar idea will go for other drawing activities students do When drawing a picture for the purpose of describing it afterwards him or herself, the student again knows the meaning in advance and most likely forms the language to be used in the following

speaking activity during the whole time of the process of drawing Moreover, in the reverse procedure, when a word comes before the illustration of its meaning, e.g.in listen-and-draw type of activity, the retention of the word or chunk of language is reinforced by the length of the process of drawing again

Drawings “are suitable as illustrations for personal expression.” (Wright,1990, p.203) That is yet another reason why to use drawing in language teaching - the fact that it gives students the opportunity to express themselves Every piece of drawing

is unique, projecting a piece of personality of its author as well as instant mood or state of mind This fact personalizes the learning subject and makes these pictures highly memorable along with the language connected with them

2.6.2.3 Wall-pictures and posters, compiled pictures

Wall-pictures are another valuable visual material for language classes In the first place, they can be displayed in the classroom to set English (or foreign in general) environment and then they function as another source of language to be absorbed by students in the process of natural acquisition Furthermore, they will find their use both in presentation of new language and controlled practice Wright and Haleem (1996, p.45) specified in their characteristics of wall-pictures that these are often complex pictures, illustrating a scene and containing lots of objects and details They are big enough to be seen by the whole class and they can be used instantly and repeatedly Due to their char acter, they are obviously suitable for presentation

of new language They put vocabulary into context and therefore make the presentation meaningful, which is highly recommended for successful retention of new words As Wright and Haleem (1996) pointed out, many words and various structures might be demonstrated by these complex pictures and subsequently many opportunities for controlled practice are given They listed several types of activities and games to spice up controlled practice, such as variations of the memory game, such as “Hide and seek” or “True/false game” and so on (Wright

and Haleem 1996, p.45-48) Compiled pictures may also be found in plenty variations of worksheets They are useful for individual written exercises on structure as well as vocabulary practice and for speaking activities in pair work These often occur in the form of handouts with two slightly differing pictures (or a picture and text), which are used in individual work or pair work Alternatively, different details can be missing in each picture, which can lead to information-gap type of activity for pair work Potentially, a single picture might be described or used for an objects-naming activity (e.g from the memory again for higher challenge) Activities with compiled pictures are usually popular among students, giving them an opportunity to apply their knowledge of vocabulary and structure in combination with their ability to speak in order to reach the goal

2.6.2.4 Semantic maps

Semantic maps, also known as word diagrams, are not exactly what people usually imagine under the heading ‘Pictures’ Nonetheless, they are visuals and they are very closely related to pictures When looking into this matter, it is even possible to claim that they actually are pictures - pictures of sense relations of words In any case, they are very valuable and highly beneficial not only in learning vocabulary but also, as Grains and Redman (1992) pointed out, as a tool for storing lexis already learned Therefore it is, in my opinion, convenient to mention them in this chapter Sense relations “are extremely valuable, and can provide a useful framework for the learners to understand semantic boundaries ” (Grains and Redman,1992, p.31) Semantic relations are useful not only to establish the meaning of vocabulary items but might be also very helpful to reinforce their retention and the retrieval of a word from the mental lexicon when it is needed Semantic maps, or “diagrams and trees”as these authors refer to them, make these relationships between words

“explicit” (Grains and Redman,1992, p.32) Semantic maps will find various functions in classes They can be used in presentations of vocabulary for a particular topic, making this vocabulary organized, withdrawing their relations They can be

used in brainstorming activities as a tool for vocabulary organisation again Furthermore, McCarthy (1992, p.97) listed other uses such as gap-filling activities, speaking activities for group-work, or “as reference device” as well as “recording device in the vocabulary notebook”

From my experiences, they are very beneficial, for instance, when students break up the vocabulary into several subcategories within the diagram in their vocabulary notebooks, they are capable of remembering vaster amount rather easily

CHAPTER 3 THE EXPERIMENT

3.1 Materials

The participants taking part in this study used Lifelines-Elementary as the main coursebook This coursebook is divided into fourteen topic-based units presenting and practicing vocabulary and grammar, as well as developing the four language skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking) After every two units, there is an extension to check the learners’ knowledge of the previous units

The Lifelines coursebook has an interesting feature that all vocabulary sections are learnt by topics It means that there are 14 topics corresponding with the 14 units:

- Unit 1: Numbers - Unit 8: Giving dates

- Unit 2: Classroom language - Unit 9: Verbs

-Unit 3: Describing people - Unit 10: Travel

- Unit 4: Time - Unit 11: Clothes

- Unit 5: Food and drinks - Unit 12: Parts of the body

- Unit 6: Daily activities - Unit 13: Phrasal verbs

- Unit 7: Parts of a house - Unit 14: The world

Eight units were chosen for the experiment (one unit per week), from unit 4 to unit 14 The vocabulary tests which were delieved to the participants after every lesson were the test on word meaning and the test on spelling Each test consists of ten questions about ten new words that the learners have learnt The total score is ten with one mark for a correct answer The test on word meaning is a kind of matching exercise which requires students to match the word with its definition The test on spelling is

a jumble letter exercise which requires students to reorder the letters to make a correct word Here are two examples of word meaning test and spelling test

Example 1: Word meaning test

Match the word with its definition

1 ver a an area of land in the country wed for growing crops

2 valley b a tall plant with leaves and branches on it

3 beach c a natural flow of water that continues in a long line across land to

4 tree the sea

5 bridge d a very high hill, often a lot of trees or rocks on it

6 island e an area of sand beside the sea

7.mountain | f a large area of land with a lot of trees

8 field g an area of water that is surrounded by land

9 lake h an area of low land between hills or mountains, often with a river

10 forest flowing through it

iIt’s built over a road or a river for people or vehicles crossing

j a piece of land that is surrounded by water

Example 2: Word spelling test

The following jumble letters make 10 correct words you have learnt Reorder them

9.a/k/e/lI —>y

The general test level Al was taken from the website www.englishtag.com/tests/level test elementary Al.asp and was used as a placement test to give to the participants before conducting the experiment The test consists of five parts Part A and B test students’ knowledge of grammar about the verb to be, the present simple tense, imperative Part C and D are about vocabulary with the common verbs and nouns

relating to the countries, nationalities, days, numbers, months, the weather, colours

Part E is about the use of prepositions such as : in, near, on, under Besides those parts, the researcher added 80 words which will be used in the experimental course

to make sure all the participants know them or not Thus the test is suitable, valid and reliable in measuring the learners’ knowledge of English who are beginners

3.2 Participants

This study was conducted with learners at Nghe an Continuing Education Center who are non — English majored students at the ages of 22 to 24, including eight males and 32 females They were randomly assigned into two groups : the treatment group and control group with 20 people in each All of them are English beginners Before the experiment, they were given a test so that the researcher made sure the ability of the participants involving the experiment at the same level Twenty students in each group officially became the subjects of the research and all information about them was gathered and analyzed in the next chapter Despite the fact that there might be some inevitable variables such as intelligence and characteristics which vary from person to person, the differences between two groups were limited to minimum

3.3 Procedures