USING QUIZLET IN LEARNING ENGLISH VOCABULARY FOR STUDENTS AT FACULTY OF ENGLISH, HANOI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

Contents I. Rationale 1 II. Literature Review 3 II.1. Vocabulary learning and its importance in L2 learning. 3 II.2. The importance of using technology in L2 learning. 5 II.3. Quizlet and some activities using Quizlet 7 III. Methods 11 III.1. Participants 11 III.2. Research instruments 12 III.3. Data collection procedure 13 III.4. Data analysis 13 IV. Findings 13 IV.1. Pretest 14 IV.2. Students’ attitude towards the effectiveness of using Quizlet in studying English vocabulary 15 IV.3 Students’ attitude towards the motivation enhancement of using Quizlet 17 V. Conclusions 20 Acknowledgement We wish to express sincere gratitude to Ms. Bui Thi Anh Van for her incredible support throughout the research process. Without her detailed guidance, we would not have been able to successfully complete this research paper. I. Rationale When it comes to learning a new language, the four critical skills to master are reading, writing, listening and speaking. To reach a certain level of proficiency, learners have to possess not only proper grammar, but more importantly, sufficient lexical resources. Indeed, Beglar and Hunt (2005) claimed that vocabulary learning is “the central component in successful foreign language acquisition”. So, how can we define “sufficient” in this context? In order to comprehend second language (L2) discourse, a language student must typically learn thousands of words. How many thousands depends on the kind of discourse. Research has shown that one must know at least 95% of the words in a given written or spoken text in order to understand it ((HsuehChao Nation, 2000). Therefore, it is becoming increasingly important to build up a large store of words. However, not everyone knows exactly the most suitable and efficient way to learn new words. As a result, vocabularybuilding strategies and resources are gradually receiving greater attention from teachers and students alike. Thousands of surveys and research have been carried out, followed by a number of creative, helpful learning methods introduced to L2 learners. In this research, we would like to focus on one single vocabulary enhancing tool that we find exciting and adaptable to this new generation of students: Technology. In the last years we have been able to observe an increase in using technology in education which does not involve only computers but also tablets, smartphones, Internet and all other modern tools of the 21st century. Several surveys have been conducted to validate the fact that technology using in teaching and learning is on the rise. According to a recent survey carried out by Versal in 2014 and 2015, teachers’ use of online tools increased by 6% (from 47% to 53%), the majority of assignments given to students is Internetbased.

STUDENT RESEARCH PAPER

USING QUIZLET IN LEARNING ENGLISH VOCABULARY FOR STUDENTS AT

FACULTY OF ENGLISH, HANOI NATIONAL

UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

Truong Bich Huyen

II.1 Vocabulary learning and its importance in L2 learning 3

II.2 The importance of using technology in L2 learning 5

II.3 Quizlet and some activities using Quizlet 7

III Methods 11

III.1 Participants 11

III.2 Research instruments 12

III.3 Data collection procedure 13

III.4 Data analysis 13

IV Findings 13

IV.1 Pre-test 14

IV.2 Students’ attitude towards the effectiveness of using Quizlet in studying English vocabulary 15

IV.3 Students’ attitude towards the motivation enhancement of using Quizlet 17

V Conclusions 20

Acknowledgement

incredible support throughout the research process Without her detailed guidance, we would not have been able to successfully complete this research paper.

I Rationale

When it comes to learning a new language, the four critical skills to masterare reading, writing, listening and speaking To reach a certain level ofproficiency, learners have to possess not only proper grammar, but moreimportantly, sufficient lexical resources Indeed, Beglar and Hunt (2005) claimedthat vocabulary learning is “the central component in successful foreign languageacquisition” So, how can we define “sufficient” in this context? In order tocomprehend second language (L2) discourse, a language student must typicallylearn thousands of words How many thousands depends on the kind ofdiscourse Research has shown that one must know at least 95% of the words in agiven written or spoken text in order to understand it ([ CITATION Mar00 \l 1033 ].Therefore, it is becoming increasingly important to build up a large store ofwords

However, not everyone knows exactly the most suitable and efficient way tolearn new words As a result, vocabulary-building strategies and resources aregradually receiving greater attention from teachers and students alike Thousands

of surveys and research have been carried out, followed by a number of creative,helpful learning methods introduced to L2 learners In this research, we wouldlike to focus on one single vocabulary enhancing tool that we find exciting andadaptable to this new generation of students: Technology

In the last years we have been able to observe an increase in using technology

in education which does not involve only computers but also tablets,smartphones, Internet and all other modern tools of the 21st century Severalsurveys have been conducted to validate the fact that technology using inteaching and learning is on the rise According to a recent survey carried out byVersal in 2014 and 2015, teachers’ use of online tools increased by 6% (from47% to 53%), the majority of assignments given to students is Internet-based

So, why is it that technology holds such a great impact on the modification ofteachers’ teaching methods? It has been proven that integrating technology intoeducation brings positive results in enhancing students’ motivation bothintrinsically and extrinsically Creating activities that arouse students’ curiosityand intrigue their interests in learning is without question a challenging task forteachers of all subjects Introducing technology infused lessons may prove to be abeneficial motivator for every grade level Because today’s students grow upwith a different digital landscape from their teachers’ (Jukes, 2008), they, mostlikely, are inspired and motivated by different technology [ CITATION Gra12 \l 1033 ].

An average teenager would probably rather spend hours in front of thecomputer’s screen than sit still for just 15 minutes reading textbooks Thus, itseems like a brilliant idea to incorporating education with digital media

Today’s digital natives speak a different language than their teachers do(Prensky, 2001) In a more digital world, online teaching tools are better forstudents’ memory (Miller, 2009) Online tools that promote content creationamong students, such as videos, audio podcasts, and webpages, are moreeffective strategies than traditional methods (Miller)[ CITATION Gra12 \l 1033 ] Inconclusion, technology integrated teaching and learning methods boost students’motivation and enhance their academic results

Among several ways that technology can be infused with education, we chose

to take a closer look into the use of digital media to learn vocabulary, morespecifically the use of Quizlet for its attractiveness and intuitiveness Also, unlikesome of the other systems, Quizlet is completely free Quizlet provides access tomillions of sets of flashcards created by users Cards can be made from scratch orcopied and modified from existing sets Quizlet, like many of the alternativeflashcard sites available, allows users to customize their flashcards and severalarrangements are possible, including the use of multiple languages and images.The Quizlet site also includes a text-to speech audio function, giving users theoption of hearing as well as reading card content In a recent study, Quizlet was

found to be more effective than using paper flashcards at improving vocabularytest scores (Imrie, 2014).

The aim of this research is to examine the apparent superiority of Quizlet anddigital flashcards in general In order to accomplish that, we actually madevarious types of Quizlet activities and had a number of second year students whomajor in English try learning a few sets of vocabulary through those activities.After working on the data, we will give clear answers to the following researchquestions:

- To what extent do students evaluate their interest in learning vocabularyusing Quizlet and its effectiveness?

- In what ways should students employ Quizlet to learn new words the mosteffectively?

II Literature Review

II.1 Vocabulary learning and its importance in L2 learning.

Vocabulary is the knowledge of meanings of words As mentioned in therationale, there are four main language skills to be acquired, classified into twocategories: productive skills and receptive skills Similarly, knowledge of wordscan also be categorized into two forms: productive and receptive [ CITATION Kam05 \l 1033 ]

Productive vocabulary is a set of words which can be used when writing orspeaking Most of them are well-known, common and frequently used words Incontrast, receptive or recognition vocabulary is that set of words, often lessfrequent in use, for which an individual can assign meanings when reading orlistening In general, receptive vocabulary is larger than productive vocabulary.During the process of learning a second language, vocabulary refers to one offour types, each of which represents a progressively increasing mastery ofvocabulary terms These four types are listening vocabulary, speakingvocabulary, reading vocabulary and writing vocabulary The first two types relate

to oral use of language, whereas the latter two are typically developed during theschool years.

Vocabulary knowledge has been recognized as a critical tool for secondlanguage learners for the past decades Many studies have been conducted tohave an insight into why vocabulary plays such an important role when it comes

to language learning, even when it seems to be rather obvious Underscoring theimportance of vocabulary acquisition, Schmitt (2000) emphasizes that “lexicalknowledge is central to communicative competence and to the acquisition of asecond language” p 55)

Researchers such as Laufer and Nation (1999), Maximo (2000), Read (2000),

Gu (2003), Marion (2008) and Nation (2011) and others have realized that theacquisition of vocabulary is essential for successful second language use andplays an important role in the formation of complete spoken and written texts(cited in Mofareh Alqahtani, 2015) Rivers and Nunan (1991), furthermore,argue that the acquisition of an adequate vocabulary is essential for successfulsecond language use because without an extensive vocabulary, we will be unable

to use the structures and functions we may have learned for comprehensiblecommunication Research has shown that second language readers rely heavily

on vocabulary knowledge and the lack of that knowledge is the main and thelargest obstacle for L2 readers to overcome (Huckin, 1995)

Being of paramount importance, vocabulary, on the other hand, has beenacknowledged as L2 learners’ greatest single source of problems (Meara, 1980).Unlike syntax and phonology, vocabulary has no specific rules that languagelearners can follow; therefore, they have no choice but to learn by heart all thewords they met throughout the learning process In other words, it is not clear inL2 vocabulary learning what rules apply or which vocabulary items should belearned first Another reason is that the vocabulary system is open-ended Oxford(1990) also claims that vocabulary is “by far the most sizeable and unmanageablecomponent in the learning of any language, whether a foreign or one’s mothertongue, because of tens of thousands of different meanings” Despite the extreme

difficulties coming from learning vocabulary, learners still have to deal with it on

a regular basis, for ‘‘vocabulary has traditionally been one of the languagecomponents measured in language tests’’[ CITATION Nor99 \l 1033 ]

Acknowledging the importance of vocabulary learning and several problemsfaced by L2 learners, researchers have worked hard for the past decades to findout the effective ways to make it easier for students to learn new words Thisresearch will look at a technology integrated learning method: using web-basedflashcards

II.2 The importance of using technology in L2 learning.

As mentioned in the rationale, more and more people nowadays have access

to modern devices such as computers, tablets, smart phones Accompanying thediverse types of technology is the widespread use of the Internet, which has beenone of the most essential parts of most people The most modern technologies ofthe 21st century found their way into almost every part of each industry Amongthe industries that push technology forward the most belong the military or thehealth care industry but the one we get in touch the most with is theentertainment industry (Ondřej Rambousek, 2014)

Now since most students are in touch with modern technologies and theyknow how to work with them, the time has come for technologies to be in theeducation industry as well They can provide many alternative ways of looking ateducation (Saettler, 2004, p 154) and help improve the old methods and evolvethe new methods of teaching Technologies in education are not limited only tothe space of the classroom but have the ability to reach out beyond the walls ofthe classroom and change many free time activities into educational activities

In the 1960s teachers started to use tape recorders, language laboratories andvideos (Dudeney & Hockly, 2007, p.7) The next phase of using technologies ineducation was Computer Assisted Language Learning also known as CALLwhich appeared in the 1980s Call is “the search for and study of applications ofthe computer in language teaching and learning (Levy, 1997, p 1) It containsgap filling exercises, matching sentence halves or multiple-choice activities

(Beatty, New York, p 8) These were the very first modern technology optionsfor teachers and they provided very simple activities which are still used todaylike for example digital games directly or indirectly connected to learning(Thomas, Reinders, & Warschauer, 2012, p 10), cited in Megan Clark (2013).

On the other hand, technology in education can also be used outside theclassroom Learners are more active and open to online Wikipedia, in which theycan find every source of information needed to complete their assignments or tosimply satisfy their curiosity of certain learning aspects without having to depend

on the teachers

Technology and technological devices can be used to motivate and engageEnglish language learners’ in the development of literacy and language skills(Traore & Kyei-Blankson, 2011; Ware, 2008) Learning a new language requiresincredible patience and nerves; therefore, if not being sufficiently motivatedduring the long and tedious learning process, learners might be discouraged to tryharder Research has shown that technology can help motivate students to bemore engaged in reading, especially when they interact with the text using certaininteractive technological tools By utilizing various kinds of technologicaldevices, language learners gain a “sense of freedom, motivation, andencouragement they need for learning” (Megan Clark, 2013)

Frank and Golonka concluded that “technology use has the potential to enhancefive primary functionalities of foreign language learning and teaching” (Frank etal., 2008, p 1) They are:

• Organization: Technology enables learners and teachers to organizelearning and instruction outside of the classroom, and it enables learners toreflect on and take control of their own learning

• Input: Technology expands access to a broader range of rich targetlanguage input than is available in the classroom and/or provided by thecurriculum, and it creates opportunities to individualize input

• Output and interaction: Technology expands opportunities for learners tocreate their own output and to interact synchronously or asynchronously withnative speakers and more proficient peers outside of the classroom

• Feedback: Technology creates opportunities to give and receiveindividualized, maximally effective feedback

• Collaboration: Technology enables collaborative, social learningsynchronously or asynchronously outside of the classroom

Among several ways to integrate technology with language learning, we chose totake a closer look into the use of digital flashcards to learn vocabulary, which hasbeen proven to be of great importance earlier in this research paper

II.3 Quizlet and some activities using Quizlet

Nowadays, thanks to the development of technology, instead of learningvocabulary with traditional paper flashcards, EFL learners could use digitalflashcards to enrich their vocabulary size The benefits of web-based flashcardprograms may even outweigh those of paper-based ones For instance, they canalso track students’ learning progress over time, promote motivation bystrategically introducing new words, present vocabulary using multimedia, andallow learners to study at any time in any location with an internet connection(Allum, 2003; Altiner, 2011, Hulstijn, 2001, McLean, Hogg, & Rush, 2013;Nakata, 2011), cited in TESL-EJ (Web-based Vocabulary Learning with Quizlet,

2015)

There is a number of Web 2.0 vocabulary learning applications available,such as Anki (ankisrs.net), Quizlet (quizlet.com), and Word Engine(wordengine.jp) However, Quizlet was chosen as the focus of this study

Quizlet is a free website providing learning tools for students, includingflashcards, study and game modes It is one of the most widely used flashcardwebsites and has more than one million registered users and eighty millionvisitors, and is a repository for over thirty million user-generated study set(Quizlet, 2014)

Currently, study sets in Quizlet are available for everyone without registeringfor an account Nevertheless, if you want to create your own study sets, you have

to sign up Once registered, users can get access to several Quizlet’s study tools,

as mentioned below:

• Flashcards Mode (shown in figure 1): Users start learning terms and theirdefinitions by “flip” or “flow” the cards The audio function provides learnerswith a useful model of pronunciation, and it can also be slowed down Thislearning mode promotes not only learners’ productive, but also their receptivevocabulary knowledge (Nation, 2008)

Figure 1: Flashcard mode

• Learn Mode: This mode (shown in figure 2) prompts the users with thewritten or spoken form of one side of a card A correct answer is put in the

“Correct” bucket, and an incorrect answer is put in the “Incorrect” bucket If thelearners do not know the answer and select “Don’t Know”, Learn makes youretype the answer correctly to continue It keeps track of what learners know andwhat they do not and retest them on their mistakes At the end, Quizlet gives afinal score for learners to evaluate their progress

Figure 2: Learn mode

• Speller Mode: In the Speller option (shown in figure 3), learners need totype what they hear If they type it correctly, they can move on to the nextquestion If there is a mistake in their answer, Speller indicates which lettersusers have missed so they can retry This mode is perfect for people who want torevise the pronunciation and spelling of a term

Figure 3: Speller mode

• Test Mode: In Test Mode (shown in figure 4), Quizlet will automaticallygenerate a random test using the terms and definitions from users’ set offlashcards Learners are able to customize Question Types (Written, Matching,Multiple Choice, and True/False), Prompt (Term, Definition, or both), and

Question Limit When finishing the test, users click “Check Answers” at thebottom of the page to see how they did This mode is highly beneficial as it can

be conducted as an assessment tool in the classroom

Figure 4: Test mode

• Game Mode: Quizlet keeps learning lively with two game activities,Scatter and Gravity In Scatter (shown in figure 5), a number of terms and theircorresponding definitions are distributed randomly over the screen What playersneed to do is matching the terms and definitions by dragging them with themouse in the fastest time possible In Gravity (shown in figure 6), learners have

to type in the correct answer to destroy asteroids before they hit Because itrequires students to actually type in the answer, the game pushes them to reallylearn the materials These two games not only enable learners to practice recalland typing skill but also arouse competitiveness among them, for it has the HighScore Table

Figure 5: Scatter mode

Figure 6: Gravity mode

III Methods

III.1 Participants

The participants involved in this action research study consisted of 22 secondyear students in class 64A, faculty of English, Hanoi National University ofEducation There were 22 girls participating in this study, and all of them major

in English In this semester, their course aims at improving their English

language proficiency from B1+ to B2 level according to Common EuropeanFramework of Reference.

These 22 sophomores are chosen to be the subject of this action research forseveral reasons Firstly, as their aim in the 4th semester is to develop theirEnglish language proficiency at B2 level, their lexical resource is of paramountimportance, for it shows their language capacity Research has shown that thevocabulary size of B2 level learners should be from 3250 to 3750 words andexpressions [ CITATION Mil10 \l 1033 ] Therefore, it is absolutely crucial for 22participants to possess a good range of vocabulary if they want to achieve thegoal Secondly, being class 64A’s members means that we will have great deal oftime to observe and evaluate our classmates’ performance

III.2 Research instruments

This study is an action research that employs both qualitative and quantitativemethods The first research instrument employed is a pre-test This test consisted

of 45 questions in 6 exercises These exercises varied in types, which werejumbled words, crossword, matching the words with their definitions, wordsearch, filling in the blanks, and finding one correct word for each picture.Student’s work was scored in order to see the final results The purpose of thispre-test was to measure the vocabulary size of 22 participants about 3 topics:School, Talking about Food, Babies & children (see appendix I)

The second research instrument employed is self-study activities The link of

3 Quizlet sets on https://quizlet.com was sent to all participants Participants wereasked to study these 3 sets outside the class Once they had finished all 3 Quizletsets designed by the researchers, they were recommended to create their ownstudy set (see appendix II) Afterwards, the link of their study sets should be sent

to the researchers In such a way, the participants could fully experience everyfunction of Quizlet Not only were they given a chance to broaden their lexicalresource provided by the researchers, but they would also have an insight of howQuizlet really worked through the making of their study sets In addition, the

links sent to the researchers ensured their participation in the self-study activities,making the research findings more convincing and trustworthy.

The third research instrument employed is a survey questionnaire Eachparticipant was given a 10-question survey to complete after finishing activities

on Quizlet This survey allowed the researchers to examine how the participantsevaluate the Quizlet in both fields of interest and effectiveness (see appendix III)

III.3 Data collection procedure

There are three steps of data collection procedure, which are:

 Pre-testing participants’ vocabulary size

 Organizing self-study activities

 Conducting a survey questionnaire

Firstly, participants’ vocabulary size was tested using a vocabulary worksheetmentioned in the Research Instruments Then, they were sent a link to Quizletwebsite, in which we had designed 3 sets of lexical resource on 3 familiar topics.After 1 week of self-studying, we conducted a survey (see appendix III) to collectall the data needed to examine the effectiveness of using Quizlet to learnvocabulary

III.4 Data analysis

After data were collected, we analysed them quantitatively and qualitatively

to find out the results of pre-test, then analysed and synthesized the results ofsurvey questionnaire and write the results according to some main points: results

of pre-test, students’ attitude towards the effectiveness of using Quizlet inlearning vocabulary

IV Findings

After analysing and synthesizing the pre-test and survey questionnaire

employed, the results will be now demonstrated in this part

Figure 7 Results of the Pre-test

Figure 7 shows the results of the pre-test As can be seen from the chart, mostparticipants did not perform well on the test, receiving rather low scores rangingfrom 0-29 pts in the total of 45, whereas only 14% of the participants surpassedthe average score This may result from the fact that their vocabulary knowledge

in the topics given is limited

For these participants all major in English, especially when they have alreadyreached B1+ level, it can be seen that their vocabulary level has not met therequirement Indeed, the pre-test only focused on 3 topics, yet they are allfamiliar topics: School, Talking about food, Babies & children This proves thatvocabulary studying at school is not sufficient, which resorts to differentvocabulary learning method outside the classroom, such as Quizlet

IV.2 Students’ attitude towards the effectiveness of using Quizlet in studying English vocabulary

Figure 8 Quizlet’s effectiveness evaluation

The ideas of participants about their own use of Quizlet are illustrated infigure 8 It is noticeable that most participants agreed that Quizlet is an effectivetool to learn lexical resource, given the fact that 63.64% of participants highlyappreciate the experience with Quizlet

Figure 9 Quizlet’s Effectiveness evaluation in 4 aspects

Figure 9 shows the results from the Likert scale given to the students Inthis research, the effectiveness was evaluated in 4 aspects, according to 4 modes

of Quizlet (Flashcard mode, Speller mode, Learn mode and Game mode) It can

be seen that the Learn mode was considered the most effective learning tool,scoring 4.55 out of 5 in the extent of effectiveness The other 3 mode which wereFlashcard, Speller, and Game had the weighted average of 3.64, 4.09, 4.09respectively This proved that all 4 Quizlet study modes were of great help