Using songs to teach English vocabulary to Primary school children an action research at Dien Bien Primary school, Thanh Hoa province

Using songs to teach English vocabulary to Primary school children: an action research at Dien Bien Primary school, Thanh Hoa province Hà Thị Thu Hương Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ Luận vă

Using songs to teach English vocabulary to Primary school children: an action research at Dien Bien Primary school, Thanh Hoa province

Hà Thị Thu Hương

Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ Luận văn Thạc sĩ ngành: English teaching methodology; Mã số: 60 14 10

Người hướng dẫn: M.A Phùng Thị Kim Dung

Năm bảo vệ: 2012

Abstract Teaching vocabulary must be easy and enjoyable for young learners so that

the students easily keep the new words in their mind English teachers have to use good technique in teaching vocabulary to young learners There are many techniques used in teaching English vocabulary to young learners In this thesis, the writer uses songs as the technique in teaching English vocabulary to primary learners The aims of this research are to find out the effectiveness of using songs to teach vocabulary to elementary students and the learners’ responses toward this technique To obtain the data the writer conducted participant observations and delivered questionnaire to the third grade students The results of the study reveal that songs can be used effectively to improve students’ English vocabulary and the students have very positive responses

toward this technique

Keywords Phương pháp giảng dạy; Từ vựng; Tiếng Anh

Content

1.1 Statement of the Problem

English is one of international languages, which is used throughout the world and in many fields of life such as in Politics, Economics, Social and Education Therefore, English as a language in international communication is clearly needed by many learners to deliver thought and interact in a variety of situations Because of the importance of English, English has been taught to students since they are in the Elementary school

According to Yuliana (2003), teaching young learners is not like teaching adults because children have their own way of learning Since children like to play and have fun, the learning and teaching process should be suited with the nature the children themselves Larsen-Freeman (2000) state that in teaching English to young learner context, children will learn a foreign language more effectively under certain conditions

As the basic components of the four language skills (listening, reading, writing and speaking) vocabulary has to be mastered by learners Vocabulary is the main point to learn English Without having adequate vocabulary we will get difficulty to learn English In Elementary School, vocabulary is the first step to learn English, because without knowing a lot

of vocabulary in English the children will get difficulties in mastering English Thus, vocabulary should be the first priority in English language teaching and learning

To teach vocabulary in Elementary school, especially for children, is not an easy way Teaching children is different from teaching adults We must have extra power to teach them, because the children have certain characteristics and need certain treatment Therefore, in teaching vocabulary to young learners, it needs appropriate technique According to Brown (2001) technique is any of a wide variety of exercises, activities, or tasks used in the language classroom for realizing lesson objective In addition, in any kinds of language learning activities, techniques may certainly constitute an indispensable factor that facilitates every successful effort

in vocabulary mastery Therefore, we can say that techniques of teaching vocabulary to young learners are important because it can help the students learn easier and enjoy the material presented Furthermore, some sources explain techniques in teaching vocabulary in elementary school can be applied such as games, songs, memorization, dictation, etc Among these techniques, song is one useful technique to young learners because most children enjoy listening

to songs

Many empirical works were done to prove the theoretical consideration above Purwoharto (2002) study about the vocabulary teaching techniques of the fourth class students at MIN I Malang, Indonesia The study was conducted to know what the techniques used by the teacher and what the most appropriate technique to be employed by the teacher The research design used was descriptive qualitative design The result of the study showed that the teacher used two techniques in teaching vocabulary The techniques were guessing pictures and singing a song Between those two techniques above, students were interested in singing a song They were very enthusiastic because they were free to express their styles and they felt happy

In Vietnam, teaching English at primary school to children at grade 3 has been applied since 2010 Two years after the implementation of English at primary level, there are many problems of language teaching that can be identified as research subjects We could discuss about methods, material selection, and others Some study had been done to explore the use of modern equipments and techniques to find out the effective ways of teaching English to primary school children Vu Thi Luong (2002 cited in Do Thi Mai Chi, 2007) conducted a study on using games in teaching English to primary school children The research pointed out that game is a useful teaching technique in primary English language teaching; however, the teachers had many different opinions about them as well as difficulties in using them 90% of teacher in the study sample agreed that games are effective to language teaching but almost all of them complained that they did not have any book about using games in teaching so they used only some games repeatedly

In this research it is identified that teaching technique for primary level is challenging Moreover, we know that technique in teaching vocabulary is important to help students to increase their achievement in English Therefore, the researcher intends to do a

research: “Using songs to teach English vocabulary to Primary school children: an action research at Dien Bien Primary school, Thanh Hoa province” The reason of choosing this

research is the researcher believes that song is a useful technique in teaching vocabulary that supports the successful of learning and teaching process, especially to young learners who are learning English

1.2 Aims of the Study

This research is carried out with the hope that it could raise teachers’ awareness of using song in teaching vocabulary and provide them a useful teaching technique Through using song

in teaching, it could attract students’ interest in language learning Based on that, it is hoped to increase effectiveness of English teaching and learning process in Dien Bien primary school

1.3 Objectives of the Study

The main purposes of the study are to find out the effectiveness of using songs to teach vocabulary to elementary students and the learners’ responses toward this technique The statement of the problem can be formulated into the general research questions:

1 How effective is the use of songs in teaching vocabulary to elementary students?

2 How are the learners’ responses toward the technique?

1.4 Scope of the Study

The research was carried out with no ambition to cover all problems over all Vietnamese learners of English Scope of the research is limited as it is only conducted on the students in the third grade at Dien Bien Elementary school

1.5 The Significance of the Study

The writer hopes that this study will be useful for teachers of elementary level Practically, it is hoped that this research will give the guideline how to teach and learn language better, especially in vocabulary subject So, the teachers themselves are expected to improve their performance in teaching Beside that, they are able to use songs as an appropriate technique

in teaching vocabulary

Theoretically, this study is also expected to increase and enlarge the researcher’s understanding in using teaching vocabulary techniques and help the other researchers to provide information in mastering language components especially vocabulary

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