Using flashcards in teaching vocabulary in the grade 10th class at chuong my a high school

Being aware of the importance vocabulary, the researcher chooses the topic Using flashcards in teaching vocabulary in the grade 10 th class at Chuong My A high school.. LIST OF FIGRUESFi

If it had not been for her treasury helps, I could not have finished my studyproperly My grateful thanks are also extended to Ms Tran Thi Hong Van – mysupervisor in my training at Chuong My A high school for her advice andassistance in keeping my progress on schedule and assisting me in collecting datafor my paper.

Secondly, I am particularly grateful for the assistance given by students inclass10D1 and 10D2 and other English teachers at Chuong My A high school fortheir simple but indispensable helps in my getting data for the study

Finally, I wish to thank my family for their support and encouragementthroughout my study

To complete this research, I would like to express my very great appreciation tothe ones who helped me for their valuable and constructive suggestions during theplanning and development of this research Thank you for all!

on paper and then try to learn by heart This method causes a situation wherestudents lack interest in learning vocabulary Therefore, there is a need to enhancestudents’ motivation in learning vocabulary

Being aware of the importance vocabulary, the researcher chooses the topic

Using flashcards in teaching vocabulary in the grade 10 th class at Chuong My A high school With this topic, the researcher would like to examine the current

situation of teaching and learning vocabulary in at a high school and find out thebenefits of flashcards in teaching and learning vocabulary

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

CLT: Communicative Language Teaching

SS: Students

LIST OF FIGRUES

Figure 1a: Students’ opinion on the importance of vocabulary

Figure 1b: Teachers’ opinion on the importance of vocabulary

Figure 2a: Students’ purposes of learning vocabulary

Figure 2b: Students’ difficulties of learning vocabulary

Figure 2c: Teachers’ difficulties of teaching vocabulary

Figure 3a: Students’ opinion on time consumption in teaching vocabulary

Figure 3b: Teachers’ opinion on time consumption in teaching vocabulary

Figure 4: Aspects of vocabulary to be taught in a lesson

Figure 5: Teachers’ major current vocabulary teaching method

Figure 6: Frequency of using flashcards to teach vocabulary

Figure 7: Stages at which teachers use flashcards to teach vocabulary

Figure 8: Opinion of students and teachers on the effect of using flashcards toteach vocabulary

Figure 9a: Benefits of using flashcards in teaching vocabulary perceived bystudents

Figure 9b: Benefits of using flashcards in teaching vocabulary perceived byteachers

Figure 10a: Difficulties of using flashcards in teaching vocabulary perceived bystudents

Figure 10b: Difficulties of using flashcards in teaching vocabulary perceived byteachers

Figure 11a: Students’ desire for using flashcards in teaching vocabulary

Figure 11b: Teachers’ desire for using flashcards in teaching vocabulary

Figure 12a: Results of the first post-class mini-test of 10D1 and 10D2

Figure 12b: Results of the second post-class mini-test of 10D1 and 10D2

Figure 12c: Results of the third post-class mini-test of 10D1 and 10D2

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Nowadays, English has become an international language all over the world Interms of teaching and learning English as the foreign language, vocabulary plays acrucial role Gover/Walter (1983:153) said “If language structures make upskeleton of language, then it’s vocabulary that provides the vital organs of theflesh”

In most English classes in Vietnam, the traditional Grammar-Translation Method

is the most popular to teach vocabulary In spite of many benefits, it cannot bedenied that it has revealed limitations in promoting students’ communicativecompetence Therefore, it is imperative that another method be found out to givestudents many chances to improve their communication skill There is no doubtthat using flashcards provides students with many benefits Firstly, a flashcardprovides learners with all aspects of a new word: pronunciation, usage andillustration by picture Secondly, colorful pictures on flashcards makes studentsfeel excited and pay more attention to lessons Moreover, it is convenient forteachers to deliver flashcards because they are small and light Finally, gamesusing flashcards create rather interesting environment in the classroom However,the application of flashcard still has some drawbacks The first disadvantage ofthis technique is that teachers sometimes find it difficult to choose suitable cardsfor each topic Furthermore, teachers are likely to spend more time and money inpreparing and making flashcards Finally, in a large- size class, flashcards are toosmall when being shown for students who sit at the end of the class to see themclearly

All things considered, this study would focus on the applying of flashcards inteaching vocabulary to the 10th form students in Chuong My A high school

2 Aims of the study

This study research has the aims to:

1 Present the current situation of teaching and learning vocabulary inEnglish classes at Chuong My A high school

2 Find out the effectiveness of using flashcard in teaching and learningvocabulary in English classes at Chuong My A high school

3 Provide some recommendations of using flashcard as suggestions forteachers to teach vocabulary in English classes at Chuong My A highschool

To achieve the goal of this research, the following research questions will besought:

1 What is the current situation of teaching and learning vocabulary in Englishclasse at Chuong My A high school?

2 What are the effectiveness and drawbacks of using flashcards in teachingand learning vocabulary in English classes at Chuong My A high school?

3 Scope of the study

Due to the limited time as well as the limited scope of a graduation thesis, thisresearch is only paying attention to the use of flashcards in teaching Englishvocabulary but not various kinds of visual aids Also, the research was conducted

on limited subjects of the grade 10th students at Chuong My A high school

4 Organizationof the study

The graduation thesis consists of five chapters, organized as follows:

Chapter I- Introduction: mentions the background to the study and rationale toconduct it, states the aims, scope, organization of the graduation thesis

Chapter II- Literature Review: represents theoretical background knowledge ofvocabulary, flashcards, and reviews some related researches

Chapter III- Methodology: states the subjects of the study, research instruments, aswell as data collection procedures employed to carry out this research.

Chapter IV- Findings and discussions: analyzes and discusses the results collectedfrom the classroom observation, survey questionnaire, interview and post-classmini-test Besides, the limitations of the study are introduced

Chapter V- Conclusion: summarizes what have been discussed in the previousparts, limitations of the thesis as well as provides some suggestions for furtherresearch

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW

II.1 Overview of vocabulary

II.1.1 Definition of vocabulary

“Vocabulary” is a term that is hard to definite exactly; therefore, there have been

numerous definitions of vocabulary Firstly, according to The7th edition Oxford

Advanced Learners’ Dictionary, vocabulary is “ all the words that a person knows

or uses; all the words in a particular language; the words that people use when theyare talking about a particular subject; a list of words with their meanings,especially in a book for learning a foreign language” (2010:1662) Secondary, in

terms of teaching and learning language, in A course in language teaching

(1996:60), Penny Ur defined vocabulary roughly “as the words we teach in the

foreign language However, a new item of vocabulary may be more than a singleword: a compound of two or three words or multi-word idioms” Thirdly, in

English- An Introduction to Language (1970:96), Pyles/Algeo also said “when

most of us think about language we think first about words It is true that thevocabulary is the focus of language It is in words that sounds and meaningsinterlock to allow us to communicate with one another, and it is in words that wearrange together to make sentences, conversation and discourse of all kinds”.Moreover, Wilkins (1972:111) shared this with his saying “without grammar, verylittle can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing conveyed”

In conclusion, vocabulary is a group of words that links the integration with fourskills: listening, reading, writing, speaking; therefore, teachers need takeadvantages of four skills for introducing vocabulary to students As a result, thisstudy discovers one of methods of teaching vocabulary combined other Englishskills

II.1.2 The importance of vocabulary

It is obvious that vocabulary is central to English language teaching Wilkinsproved this in his statement “without grammar, very little can be conveyed,without vocabulary nothing conveyed” (Wilkins, D A (1972:111) It means that

if without learning vocabulary, students cannot understand and express their ownideas Furthermore, it is vocabulary that serves as an effective means ofcommunication McCarthy shared this idea in his book Vocabulary (1990) “ Nomatter how well the student learn grammar, no matter how successfully the sounds

of L2 are mastered, without words to express a wide range of meanings,communication in a L2 cannot happen in any meaning way” Lewis (1993:89)believed that with a metaphor “lexis is the core or heart of language” It is pointedout that even without grammar, with some useful words, speakers manage tocommunicate

To make it short, it is very important for students to learn vocabulary in order tomaster English with their purposes Hence, the teachers should take consideration

in teaching vocabulary in classroom and enhance the importance of vocabulary

II.1.3 Types of vocabulary

1 According to Doff (1988:19), vocabulary is divided into:

- Active vocabulary: are words which students will need to understand andalso use themselves

- Passive vocabulary: are “words which we want student to understand” (e.g.when reading a text) but which they will not need to use themselves

2 Fromkin (2011:11) pointed out that “in English”

- Open classes: are nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs that make the largestpart of vocabulary, because we can and regularly do add new words tothese classes

- Closed sets: are the other syntactic categories as personal pronouns (I, me,mine, he, she, and it)

3 Nation (1990:4) classifies vocabulary into three groups: high frequency words,low frequency words and specialized vocabulary.

- High frequency words: include words that most frequently appear incommunication and printed materials of different fields of life

- Low frequency words: consist of words that seldom appear incommunication but appear in particular field

- Specialized words: include industry-specific terms, acronyms and ordinarywords that are used with special meaning

II.1.4 Aspects of vocabulary need to be taught

II.1.4.1 Pronunciation and spelling

According to Nation (2001), pronunciation and spelling is considered as spokenform and written form respectively Ur (1996:60) claimed that students perceivethese aspects when first encountering a new item and teachers should presentsound, stress and intonation of words accurately

II.1.4.2 Grammar

Considering the relationship between lexis and grammar Raevska (1971) said thatgrammar refers to the general facts of language and lexicology with special facts.She emphasized that there are some linguistic facts on lexical level which are noless general than those in grammar, especially word – building

A change of form is unpredictable in grammatical contexts or idiosyncratic waymay be connected with other words in sentence; therefore, teachers should providestudents with this information as soon as teach the base form For instance, whenteaching noun, it is important to introduce the exceptions of plural form of somenouns: child-children, mouse-mice, foot-feet, tooth-teeth, etc In terms of verb,teachers might explain the differences between transitive or intransitive verbs andirregular past form of verbs Furthermore, students need know how to choose the

correct prepositions following any verb or adjective (for example: apologize for,interest in).

II.1.4.3 Collocation

A collocation is two or more words that often go together These combinations justsound "right" to native English speakers, who use them all the time On the otherhand, other combinations may be unnatural and just sound "wrong" Thesepatterns or collocations, consist of pair of groups of words that co - occur withvery high frequency and are important in vocabulary learning

There are several different types of collocation made from combinations of verb,noun, adjective etc

Adverb + past participle used adjectivally

We entered a richly decorated room

The prisoner was hanged for committing murder.

verb + expression with preposition

We had to return home because we had run out of money.

verb + adverb

Mary whispered softly in John's ear.

II.1.4.4 Meaning

II.1.4.4.1 Denotation

According to Ur (1996:61), “The meaning of a word is primarily what it refers to

in real word, its denotation; this is often the sort of definition that is given in a

dictionary” For example, denotation of the word dog is a kind of animal; more

specifically, a common, domestic, carnivorous mammal

II.1.4.4.2 Connotation

Ur (1996:61) defined connotation is a less obvious component of the meaning of

an item and the associations, the positive and negative feelings it evokes, which

may or may not be indicated in a dictionary definition For example, the word dog

understood by the British people has positive connotation loyalty and friendship,whereas most Arab countries, it has negative connotation of dirt and inferiority

II.1.4.4.3 Appropriateness

A more subtle aspect of meaning that often needs to be taught is whether aparticular item is the appropriate one to use in a certain context or not It isimportant that students know that a certain word is common, or relatively rare; ortends to use in writing or speech; or is more suitable for formal than informal

discourse For instance, weep is a synonym of cry in denotation; however, it tends

to be used formally in speech and much less common

II.1.4.4.4 Meaning relationship

In Ur (1996:61), there are some meaning relationships:

Synonym: a word or expression that has the same or nearly the same meaning as

another in the same language For example, fertile, fruitful, abundant, are synonyms of productive.

Antonym: a word that means the opposite of another word; for example, ancient –

modern, attack – defend

Hyponym: aword with a particular meaning that is included in the meaning of a

more general word For instance, banana, strawberry, apple are hyponyms of

fruit.

Co-ordinates or co-hyponyms: other items that are the “same kind of thing”

Banana, strawberry and apple are co ordinates or co-hyponyms.

Superordinate: a word, category or level with a more general meaning, greater

range or higher level than something else Fruit is superordinate of banana,

strawberry, and apple.

Translation: words or expressions in learner’s mother tongue are changed much orless equivalently in meaning to the items taught

II.1.4.5 Word formation

Ruth Gains and Stuard Redman (1999) classified three main forms of wordbuilding of word formation:

Affixation: the process of adding prefixes and suffixes to the base item Compounding: the formation of words from two or more separated words Conversion: process by which an item maybe used in different parts ofspeech

They also emphasized in Working with Words (1999:48): “Focus on word building

is likely to pay dividends for the learner both receptively and productively Withreceptive skills; an understanding of all three aspects of word building is essential

if the learner is to make informed guesses about the meaning of unknown items”

Ur (1996) said that prefix and suffix help learners guessing the meanings of new

words For example, prefix fore- means before; suffix -ion, -tion, -ation, -ition means act or process Furthermore, he offered that another way to make new items

of vocabulary: a single compound word, two separate, or sometimes hyphenatedwords is combination of two nouns (weatherman, sunflower), or a gerund and anoun (swimming pool), or a noun and a verb (rainfall, haircut)

II.1.5 Approaches to teaching vocabulary

These days, teaching methods of foreign in general and of vocabulary in particularhave made many significant changes of the roles of teachers, teacher-studentsinteractive and student-student interactive It is worth giving information of someteaching vocabulary approaches However, there are several general principles forsuccessful teaching vocabulary According to Wallace (1988) the principles are:

- Aim – what is to be taught, which words, how many

- Need – target vocabulary should respond students’ real needs and interests

- Frequent exposure and repetition

- Meaningful presentation – clear and unambiguous denotation or referenceshould be assured

II.1.5.1 Grammar-Translation Approach:

In Rivers (1981:29), this approach “aims at inculcating an understanding of thegrammar of the language and training the students to write the new languageaccurately by regular practice in translating from the native language” Newvocabulary items with native-language equivalent are exposed through illustration

of grammatical rules and bilingual dictionaries were one of the most commonreference tools during the period of this methodology (Kelly, 1969) Advantages

of this approach to teaching vocabulary are easy to explain and useful to reinforcegrammatical knowledge; however, “one of the mains problems with Grammar-Translation was that it focused on the ability to analyze language, not ability to useit” (Schmitt, N 2000) Because this approach focuses too much on masteringgrammar and translation, learners lack competence of communicative vocabulary

II.1.5.2 The Direct Method

According to Richards and Rogers (1986), in the end of nineteenth century, theDirect Method was considered as the best-known “natural” method, benefitedfrom the debate that ensued during the Reform Movement Its appearance is the

answer to shortcomings of the Grammar-Translation Approach Meanings areconveyed through in target language and vocabulary of L2 is perceived naturally

in direct interactive Pictures and illustrations are used to present concrete words;only abstract words still introduced by traditional Grammar-Translation Method.Thanks to the Direct Method, learners have great opportunities improve oralcommunication and fluency of the L2 language in only target language exposure.The German scholar F Franke also shared this opinion “a language could best betaught by using it actively in the classroom” However, there are some drawbacks

in this method:

- Not many teachers are enough creative to create their own teachingmaterials

- It lacks sufficient attention of reading and writing skills

- It is not suitable in large classroom and public schools because of high cost

II.1.5.3 Audio-lingual Method

Audio-Lingual Method is an oral-based approach It drills students in the use ofgrammatical sentence patterns and is very successful in improving students'comprehension and fluency in speaking the target language Here the vocabulary

content is maintained at dialogs– learning through imitation and repetition.

Therefore, Coady (1993:4) concluded “It was assumed that good language habits,and exposure to the language its self, would eventually lead to an increasedvocabulary” (as cited in Schmitt 200:3)

I.1.5.4 Communicative Language Teaching Approach (CLT)

CLT is an approach that helps learners be more active in real life situationthrough means of individual, pair and group work activities It encourages learners

to practice the language they learn in meaningful ways as it requires them to takepart in a number of activities with different tasks This helps to improve learners'communicative competence Newton (2001) refers to this approach as a way that

can enable learners to manage their vocabulary meaning and develop theircommunicative skills at the same time.

a Advantages of CLT

Teacher-Student relationship is interactive, harmonious rather than traditionaleducation, the kind of master-servant relationship Communicative languageteaching encourages students to participate in lessons; the students became themain characters and learn English as a pleasure Richards (2006) mentioned thatCLT focuses on and aims at communicative competence; therefore, it enables thelearners to use the language in a communicative situation to satisfy their needs inreal-life communication

b Disadvantages of CLT

It is concluded from Krashen, Stephen D (1982) and Harmer, Jeremy (2001) thatCLT das some disadvantages Firstly, grammar rules are not presented Secondly,correction of errors may be absent or infrequent because the students are expected

to interact primarily with each other rather than the teachers Finally, it is difficultfor students with low level of proficiency in the target language to participate inoral communicative activities

II.2 Overview of flashcard

II.2.1 Definition of flashcard

According to Oxford Advanced learners’ Dictionary (1995:94), flashcard is a cardwith the word or words and sometimes a picture down it Furthermore, inLongman Dictionary (1985:107), in language teaching flashcards is a card withwords, sentence, or pictures It is used as an aid or cue in a language lesson It can

be concluded from these definitions that flashcards are cards with a word orwords, or a sentence, or a picture on it used to learn and memorize vocabulary.Flashcards are divided into two types: picture flashcards and word flashcards

a Picture flashcards: According to Wright & Haleem (1991:50), picture

flashcards are cards with pictures printed or drawn on having 15×20 cm.They should be small enough for the users to easily handle and big enoughfor the whole class to see clearly The teachers can prepare them in freetime at home Advantages of picture flashcards are the attractiveness andcolorfulness with details which blackboard pictures do not have Pictureflashcards are useful for presenting, practicing and revising vocabulary ofprevious lesson

b Word flashcards: In Bowen (1982), word flashcards which are cards with

words printed on can be held up rapidly or “flash” by the teacher before theclass A word flashcard is about 8cm high and 10cm wide; and its lengthdepends on the size of class They are useful for representing words orstructure

II.2.2 Criteria of flashcard in teaching

In Using flash card to improve students’ understanding on present continuous

tense, Inayah S stated three criteria of making flashcards

- Flashcard held up before the class should be visible, large enough for all students

to see clearly details Furthermore, size of flashcards is flexible depending on thesize of the class (Wahyuni and Yulaida, 2014)

- Picture flashcards need to convey messages which are related closely to thepurposes of the lesson to avoid make students confuse something

- The way of using flashcards must be correctly

Moreover, it is important for the teacher to check the copyright of materials beforethey give to students

II.2.3 Advantages and disadvantages of using flashcards

a Advantages of flashcards

There are some advantages of flashcards as follow:

-Firstly, Wright (1976: 80) claimed:

+ Students will get clear understanding about the vocabulary material delivered bythe teacher when they cover pronunciation, usage and illustration by picture of aword

+Students will not feel bored when they are taught using flashcards thanks to thecolorfulness of pictures

-According to Inayah S (2010) flashcards are easy for the teacher to deliver;therefore, it is more convenient for them not to carry heavy books.

-According to Haycraft (1978: 102) and Cross (1991: 120) there are someadvantages of using flashcards in teaching language:

+ Flashcards can be used for consolidating vocabulary and taken almosteverywhere and every when

+ Flashcards are eye-catching and effective for any level students

+ It is flashcard that provides learners with the link between L1 and the targetlanguage

b Disadvantages of flashcards

There are at least some disadvantages of flashcard offered by Wright (1976: 82)

- It is sometimes difficult for the teacher to find a suitable card for each topic that

is suitable with syllabus

- Flashcards are not big enough for the students sitting in behind to see clearly.Moreover, Inayah S (2010) stated other disadvantages of flashcards:

-Flashcards are too expensive, and it takes teachers much time to make flashcards

II.3 Overview of using flashcard in teaching vocabulary

In Vocabulary learning: A critical analysis of techniques, Oxford and Crokall

claimed that using flashcards self-test vocabulary knowledge is a popular with

students in L2 learning strategies It is a fact that learners can take advantage ofthe availability of this learning technique in both traditionally taught languagessuch as France, Spanish and ESL and less common ones like Russian They said

“With creativity and thought on the part of the learner, flashcards can indeed beemployed to provide greater context”

For example, firstly, students can divide flashcards into different groups of wordssuch as part of speech; words that are already learned vs words still needing to belearned; past tense forms vs present tense forms Secondly, learners might beprovided visual contexts by taping to flashcards to pictures of particular objectssignified by the words on the cards Furthermore, learners can create a kind ofsemantic map by arranging flashcards on the floor with related words closertogether and unrelated words further apart Finally, flashcards give studentsopportunities to add context by writing the new word sin complete, meaningfulsentences on the cards

In Improving Students’ Vocabulary Mastery Using Flashcards (Yosephus Setyo

Nugroho*, Joko Nurkamto, Hefy Sulistyowati), flashcards make students morefamiliar with certain words and memorize them more easily because they can see,read and touch the object and raise their motivation and interest in teaching-learning process

They also gave some suggestions for teachers and students about using flashcards.Firstly, the teacher needs to identify the students’ behavior first before presentingthe lesson; use interesting technique and media, such as flashcards as well asdevelop a good atmosphere in the class Secondly, the students should encouragethemselves to learn more, to ask more, and to know more

The Effect of Using Vocabulary Flash Card on Iranian Pre -University Students’ Vocabulary Knowledge (Mohammadreza Khodareza Ph.D in TEFL, Islamic

Azad University-Tonekabon Branch, Iran) gives conclusion of effects of usingflashcards to teach vocabulary

It was concluded that students’ vocabulary knowledge led to a higher level ofvocabulary improvement by using flashcards in teaching vocabulary Usingflashcards facilitates their involvement in the class work by sharing answers,trying to participate, paying attention, giving the examples, encouraging to takepart in the lessons, participating as volunteers Therefore, consequently, theresearcher can claim that vocabulary flashcard is a useful way of enhancingvocabulary learning and can play an important role in teaching and learningvocabulary to Iranian pre-university students

In addition, the result of this study indicated that there was significant difference

in the efficiency of flashcard compared to traditional method The researcher gavefour reasons to confirm that learning vocabulary through flash card would lead tobetter learning than traditional method Firstly, students can review difficult wordsmore frequently than easy ones by separating cards into several categories base ontheir difficulty level Secondly, learners are presented with a second languageword and its definition on the other side of card; therefore, they can easily practicenew words and recall their meanings in as much as the words appear on twodifferent sides of the cards Thirdly, learning words through traditional methodcauses rote learning Finally, in traditional method, some words may receive lessattention than others because of their particular positions in the class.Nevertheless, there is not such a problem with the application of flashcard becausethey tend to be more flexible

In Teaching Vocabulary Using Flashcards And Wordlist (A Quasi-Experimental

Study of Fifth Graders at One Public Elementary School in Binjai Universitas

Pendidikan Indonesia, 2013), Elsa Yusrika Sitompul showed that students’vocabulary mastery improved after they were taught by flashcards and wordlist.The students in experimental group admitted that they could memorize the wordseasily, be more motivated to learning English and understand vocabulary easily.Moreover, it is recommended to use flashcards as a strategy to teach vocabulary toyoung learners

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY

In this chapter, the researcher discusses the methodology used to study the use offlashcards to teach the grade 10th students at Chuong My A high school There arethree main parts: the subjects, data collection instruments and data collectionprocedures.

III.1 Subjects of the study

III.1.1 The teachers

There are 10 English teachers at Chuong My A high school It is an advantage thatnearly half of these teachers have taught English for over 6 years, they have achance to experience both old and new teaching English methods Hence, it ishoped that they can clearly see the effect of each on their learners The rest ofthose teachers are young teachers with over four years of teaching English

III.1.2 The students

In this study, there are total 95 students in two non-English major classes: 10 D1and 10 D2 All of them have studied English for 7 years Some of them are good atEnglish Others are of an average level According to their teachers, the level ofproficiency of students is pre-intermediate

III.2 Research instruments employed

III.2.1.Observation

III.2.1.1 The reasons of choosing classroom observation

A key advantage of conducting observations is that the researcher can witnesswhat teacher and students actually do, rather than what they say they do.Observations can be made in real life situations, allowing the researcher to access

to the context and meaning so real-life data is collected

III.2.1.2 Description of classroom observation

The researcher will observe 6 lessons in two classes: three lessons in 10 D1 andthree lessons in 10 D2 Firstly, the researcher will attend three lessons in 10 D1 of

experienced teacher to study the teaching method the teacher use to teachvocabulary Then she practices teaching three lessons of 10 D1 in which flashcardsare conducted to teach vocabulary While the researcher teaches, she directlyobserves to find out whether using flashcards is effective or not.

III.2.2 Questionnaire

III.2.2.1 The reasons of choosing survey questionnaire

According to Polit & Hungler (1997:466), questionnaire is defined “a method ofgathering information from respondents about attitudes, knowledge, beliefs and

feelings” Based on Advanced Design in Nursing Research (Brink and Wood

(1998:293-298)), it can be concluded some characteristics of a questionnairewhich bring the researcher benefits:

 As compared to the time required to conduct personal interviews,questionnaire is faster and less expensive so it save the researcher’s timeand money

 Respondents feel that they remain anonymous and can express themselves

in their own words without fear of identification Therefore, it is a good toolfor the protection of the privacy of the participants

 Data on a broad range of topics may be collected within a limited period oftime

 The format is standard for all subjects and is independent of theinterviewer’s mood

III.2.2.2 Description of questionnaire

The questionnaire including 11 questions for teachers is delivered at the beginning

of the study to investigate their opinions about the importance of vocabulary, thedifficulties in learning vocabulary and their comments on teachers’ teachingmethods The questions were all translated into Vietnamese to deliver to thestudents so as to avoid possible misunderstanding and to highly ensure that every

student could understand them thoroughly in order to give their ideas, especially inopened-ended questions

The details of questionnaire are as follows:

The first seven questions are to explore their attitudes towards the importance ofteaching and learning vocabulary and how vocabulary is taught in English lesson The eighth question is aimed at asking for their opinions on whether usingflashcards is useful or not

The ninth and tenth questions are designed to see their opinions on the strengths aswell as drawbacks of using flashcards

The eleventh question aims at asking their desire of continuing using flashcards

III.2.3 Interview

III.2.3.1 The reasons of choosing interview

It is concluded from Doing Research in the Real World.London: SAGE

Publications (Gray, D E (2004) that the purpose of interview is to allow the

researcher to collect information from a single person through asking questions

 Useful for gaining insight and context into a topic Interviewer may askinterviewee to provide in-depth context and discussion related to one ormore topic

 Interviews typically allow for more focused discussions and follow‐up questions

 Individuals may offer information in interviews that they wouldn’t offer in

a group context

 Interviews can be an excellent source for stories and context

 The interviewer can observe the non‐verbal behaviors of an interviewee

 Interviews also offer an opportunity for the interviewee to become familiarwith the needs assessment and its objectives Moreover, individuals in

positions of influences may also appreciate the additional personal attentionthat the interview can offer as opposed to a survey or focus group.

III.2.3.2 Description of interview

There were two sets of questionnaire for interview They used Vietnamese tominimize misunderstanding and make it easier for participants to ask and answerquestions

 Interview with students

Ten students were selected randomly to take part in the interview in which focused

on the five main point questions in order to answer research questions

 Interview with teachers

Ten teachers were asked for agreement to participate in the interview whichfocused on four questions to answer research questions

III.2.4 Post-class mini-test

Students take a mini-test after each lesson that the researcher attended As aconsequence, there are total 6 mini-tests The time duration for a mini-test is 10minutes A mini-test including 10 questions examines students’ memorization ofmeaning and usage of new words

III.3 Data collection procedure

In the first step, the class observation was carried out in order to see whetherflashcards are used in the lessons to teach vocabulary and if flashcards are applied,how efficient they are Then, the researcher would conduct practical teaching threelessons in which she used the flashcards and activities At the end of each lesson,the immediate feedback about how students responded and how well flashcardsexploited were provided in the classroom observation checklists

Next, survey questionnaire would be delivered to both teachers and students

Then, the researcher interviewed ten teachers and ten students Vietnamese wasused to minimize misunderstanding

Finally, post-class mini-tests were conducted to check whether flashcards wereuseful or not

CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

In this chapter, data collected from class observation, interview, surveyquestionnaire and post-test is analyzed and interpreted to have a look at the currentsituation of teaching vocabulary, the advantages and difficulties of usingflashcards in teaching vocabulary, and participants’ suggestions

IV.1 Data analysis

IV.1.1 Current situation of teaching and learning English vocabulary of the

10 th form students

The first eight questions in the survey questionnaire for students and teachers were

to collect data to explore the current situation of teaching and learning vocabulary

of teachers and learners Information taken from interview was a useful tool tosupport for more details

IV.1.1.1 Attitude towards the importance of vocabulary in teaching and learning English

44.00%

Figure 1b: Teacher's opinion on the importance of vocabulary

Very important Imporant Normal Unimportant

The chart 1 shows that students concern about the importance of vocabulary 68%

of students supposed that vocabulary was very important; 25% of them found it

important, 6% of them found it normal and only 1% of them claimed it was unimportant

In the chart 2, 56% of teachers shared that vocabulary was very important to learn English and 44% of them thought it was important No one said that it was normal

45.00%

6.00%

1.00% 2.00%

Figure 2a: Students' purposes of learning vocabulary

To get high marks of tests

To pass the entrance exam to university

To improve communication skill

To study aboard Others

As can be seen from the chart, 46% of students learned vocabulary in order to gethigh marks of tests Students’ performances are shown in tests; therefore, majority

of students make an effort to get high marks There are 45% of students whoclaimed that their purpose of learning vocabulary was passing the entrance exam

to university Since the 2015 entrance exam to university, candidates have to takethree compulsory subjects: Math, Literature and English As a result, all moststudents devoted to learning English in general and vocabulary in particular 6% ofstudents learned vocabulary to improve the communication skill From classobservation, the research found that students did not have enough opportunities tocommunicate with other; therefore, they focused on reading and writing skillsrather than speaking skill The percentage of students who learned vocabulary forstudying aboard and other purposes was 1% and 2% respectively Becausemajority of students live in rural area, they and their families cannot afford tostudy aboard Some students wrote that they learn vocabulary to watch favoriteEnglish films or read English comic books

In short, these statistics assisted teachers to do lesson plans which are satisfactory

to students’ aims of learning vocabulary

25.00%

24.00%

23.00%

Figure 2b: Students' difficulties in learning vocabulary

Cannot remember the meanings Cannot remember how to pro- nounce and spell words correctly Cannot remember word for- mations

Do not know how to use words in correct contexts

There are 28% of students who shared that they cannot remember the meanings.The percentage of learners who cannot remember how to pronounce or spell wordscorrectly is 25% When the researcher participated in class observation, she foundthat most of students made mistake in pronunciation than spelling words Thereason for this mistake perhaps is that they spend more time writing than speaking.24% of students found it was difficult to remember word formations The majority

of students (23%) do not know how to use words in correct contexts becausecontexts are associated with not only vocabulary, grammar but also culturalknowledge that students do not much concern about

28.89%

21.11%

22.22%

Figure 2c: Teacher's difficulties in teaching vocabulary

Students' lack of motivation Students' lack of interest Lack of teaching aids Lack of teaching time

The pie chart illustrates that students’ lack of motivation and interest shared the

proportion of 25% and 26% of teachers, taking up the first position of all sections

The two difficulties left lack of teaching aids and teaching time also contributed

considerably to teachers’ problems which make up 19% and 20% respectively

IV.1.1.3 Time consumption in teaching vocabulary in a lesson

Having a look at the chart, we can see majority of students (63%) shared the

opinion that their teacher often spent about 15 minutes in a lesson teaching new

vocabulary items while there was only 1% of them agreed that their teacher spent

a lot of time on teaching vocabulary, over 20 minutes The percentage of students

who said that teacher used about 10 and 20 minutes was 28% and 8% respectively

The chart represents that the number of teachers, accounting for 61% said that they

spent about 15 minutes teaching vocabulary 30% of them said that they often used

10 minutes for teaching new words The percentage of teachers who said that they

used about 20 minutes and over was 7% and 2% respectively

In summary, most of students and teachers shared the same opinion that teachers

often used about 15 minutes for teaching vocabulary Through class observation,

the researcher also agreed with opinion of teachers and students about amount of

time spent teaching vocabulary Moreover, she realized that teachers used 20

minutes or over in a lesson in which vocabulary is difficult or associated with

many academic fields

IV.1.1.4 Aspects of vocabulary to be taught

and

spell

Formation

All o

f the

se ab

ove0%

Figure 4: Aspects of vocabulary to be taught in a lesson

The bar chart shows aspects of a new word to be taught in a lesson surveyed byboth teachers and students It is realized that most of teachers (33%) revealed thatthey often taught four aspects of a new word: meaning, pronunciation and spelling,use and formation The percentage of students who shared the same opinion is32% Among four aspects, meaning is paid the greatest attention while formation

is the least one The problem could be seen when the observer attended somelessons of the experienced teacher They often introduced meaning, pronunciationand spelling but not formation Therefore, students did not have enough chances tomaster knowledge of word family of a new word which assists them to improvewriting skill

IV.1.1.5 The most frequently used techniques to teach vocabulary

Figure 5: Teachers’ major current vocabulary teaching methods

Most participants admitted that the techniques of translating into Vietnamese wasapplied most with 32% of students and 30% of teachers while 1% of students and2% of teachers shared that using real objects was applied The second, third, fourthand fifth places in turns belonged to techniques of combining different techniques,giving examples, using synonyms or antonyms, using audio-visual aids and usingbody languages

IV.1.1.6 Frequency of using flashcards to teach vocabulary

Figure 6:Frequency of using flashcards to teach vocabulary

The bar chart gives information of how often teachers use flashcards to teachvocabulary in class according to students and teachers’ answer As can be seen,there were some appropriate similarities when teachers and students were askedabout the same question Almost students (46%) and teachers (50%) claimed that

teacher sometimes use flashcards to introduce new words There was 10% of teachers said that they always used while none of the teachers stated that they

never used flashcards Only 7% of students declared that teachers always used

flashcards and 0% of them said that teachers never applied flashcards In

summary, the chart reveals that the majority of teachers do not frequently useflashcards in teaching vocabulary

IV.1.1.7.The use of flashcards at different stages of a vocabulary lesson

The chart revealed that 70% of teachers used flashcards in presentation stage Thepercentages of teachers who applied flashcards in teaching vocabulary in practiceand production stage were 20% and 10% respectively 10% of teachers usedflashcards to teach vocabulary in all of the stages.

IV.1.1.8 Opinion of students and teachers on the effect of using flashcards to teach vocabulary

Very effective Effective Normal Ineffective 0%

Figure 8: Opinion of students and teachers on the effect of using flashcards to teach vocabulary

From the chart, we can see a significant number of students and teachers (46% and

50% respectively) said that using flashcards made vocabulary lesson effective.

Secondly, there were 42% of students and 385 of teachers who stated that using

flashcards was normal 7% of students and 10% of teachers supposed that flashcards were very effective Finally, the percentage of students and teachers who realized the ineffectiveness of flashcards was 5% and 2% respectively In

conclusion, both teachers and students have positive opinion on effectiveness ofexploitation of flashcards in vocabulary lesson

IV.1.2 Benefits of using flashcards in teaching vocabulary perceived by students and teachers