TECHNIQUES TO IMPROVE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY IN GRADES 10, 11

Steps of introducing new words To introduce a new word the instructor should carry out the following process: First, teacher uses the appropriate skills to elicit and provide meaning of

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A INTRODUCTION 1

I Reason for choosing the topic 1

1 Theoretical basis 1

2 Basis in reality 1

II RESEARCH PURPOSES 1

III RESEARCH OBJECTS 1

IV RESEARCH METHOD 1

V STRUCTURE OF TOPIC 1

B CONTENT 1

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH TOPIC 1

1.1 General principles of the vocabulary teaching 1

1.2 Steps of introducing new words 2

1.3 Tips to introduce new words 3

1.3.1 Visuals 3

1.3.2 Mime 3

1.3.3 Realia: 3

1.3.4 Synonym / Antonym 3

1.3.5 Translation 3

1.3.6 Situation or explanation 3

1.3.7 Example 3

1.4 Techniques of checking vocabulary 4

1.4.1 Rub out and remember 4

1.4.2 Slap the board 4

1.4.3 What and Where 5

1.4.4 Matching 5

1.4.5 Jumbled words 6

1.4.6 Bingo 6

1.4.7 Ordering 6

CHAPTER 2: SPECIFIC RESEARCH CONTENT 7

2.1 Current status of teaching vocabulary in Ethnic Minority Boarding High School 7

2.2 Experiment and experimental results 8

2.2.1 Experiment 8

2.2.2 Experimental results 10

2.3 Experience 10

C CONCLUSION 13

REFERENCE BOOKS i

FORM OF INVESTIGATING CURRENT STATUS OF TEACHING ENGLISH VOCABULARY IN ETHNIC MINORITY BOARDING HIGH SCHOOL ii

A INTRODUCTION

I Reason for choosing the topic

1 Theoretical basis

As we all know, 2010 - 2011 is the fifth academic year that whole education sector implements a “two zero” campaign with four contents to improve the quality of education, renovate textbooks, renovate teaching methods

on a comprehensive basis to develop student’s positive quality, initiative, creativity, consider student as center How the students understand the lesson, acquire the lesson the fastest, how to have exciting class, attract students to help them to master the lesson on the premises are always concerns for each teacher

in general and English teacher in particular Especially, English becomes a popular language all over the world at present, the aim of learning English is to

be able to use fluently to communicate To use English, learners must have rich vocabulary Therefore, at present one of the ultimate needs is that teachers have

to improve methods to help students have rich vocabulary to meet the communication needs

2 Basis in reality

In the process of teaching English textbooks in grade 10 and 11, I realize that there are still some inadequacies such as the number of new words in each lesson is too much while the teaching of vocabulary is only a part (maximum ¼)

of the duration of a lesson, so teachers don’t have enough time to provide all, if you try to provide the full amount of new words in the lesson, you will not have enough time to perform other activities In addition, content of lesson’s topic is difficult and abstract that also makes teaching words harder Some teachers still provide passive and inefficient new words by using mother language to translate, so students aren’t interested in studying That leads to the fact that the majority of students rarely remember new words

Chapter 1 is an overview of the research topic and chapter 2 shows the specific research contents The conclusion part shows contribution of the topic and makes some suggestions

II RESEARCH PURPOSES

III RESEARCH OBJECTS

IV RESEARCH METHOD

V STRUCTURE OF TOPIC

B CONTENT CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH TOPIC 1.1 General principles of the vocabulary teaching

In order to bring into play the positive quality, initiative, creativity of the students, the teachers need to organize the teaching process in the direction of activating the learners' activities At that time, the teacher is the only person who transfers the knowledge to the students, the students want to comprehend that knowledge then they have to learn themselves by their activities Therefore, when teaching vocabulary, teachers need to master the principles:

*Teach cover of the language

Firstly, the teacher reads vocabulary for the students to listen The teacher always has to start with listening activity Then, teacher provides the spelling of the word by writing the word on the board Finally, teacher provides the transcription and accentuation of words

*Teach the meaning of the word

The principle of providing English vocabulary is to make students discover the meaning of the word without using the mother language So students don’t learn vocabulary passively, don’t forget words that they study the very next day There are many tips to teach students to understand the meaning of words such

as using real objects, pictures, examples, explanations,

*Teach the grammar of the word

When teaching the grammar of the word, teacher notes that the past or past participle form of the irregular verb, special form when switching to plural nouns and other special cases

*Teach the use of words

For student to use the correct word, the instructor needs to show that which words can combine together, how to use words in specific contexts and can ask questions for student to use new words to answer

Generally, when teaching, if teacher guarantees the four principles above, student will be provided all the necessary vocabulary elements However, to teach a specific word, it is necessary to follow specific steps which will be presented in detail as follows

1.2 Steps of introducing new words

To introduce a new word the instructor should carry out the following process:

First, teacher uses the appropriate skills to elicit and provide meaning of the word, then introduces the word in English and pronounces that word three times (require clear pronunciation) Next, teacher asks whole class to repeat in chorus (2-3 times), then calls some students to check (2-3 students) and corrects wrong pronunciation After student can read the word, teacher writes new words on the board and provides elements as stress, transcription, part of speech then checks the meaning of the word in Vietnamese Finally, teacher asks student to write words into notebook

Example: Introduce “Detective” (English 10 – unit 13)

Firstly, teacher uses the example to introduce the word: "The adventure of Sherlock home is a detective film So what does detective man mean?" Student answers: "Trinh tham" Teacher introduces the word which teacher want to teach

in English: "So "Trinh tham" in English is detective." Then teacher reads 3 times, asks whole class to repeat and then calls 3 students to re-read the word to check student’s pronunciation and fix wrong errors if any Teacher writes new words on the board and shows students that stress of the word is on the second syllable and part of speech is an adjective Next, teacher asks questions to test

the meaning of the word: "What does detective man mean?" Student answers:

"Trinh tham" Finally, teacher requires the whole class to write the word which students have just learned in the notebook

1.3 Tips to introduce new words

1.3.1 Visuals

1.3.2 Mime

1.3.3 Realia:

Teacher brings the real thing to class to introduce to students

Example 1: Green bean

(English 11 – Unit 8: Celebration)

Example 2: Lucky money (English 11 – Unit 8: Celebration)

1.3.4 Synonym / Antonym

a Synonym

Teacher uses synonym to explain to students

Example: Decrease (English 11 – Unit 7: Population)

Decrease (v) = fall (v)

b Antonym

Teacher uses antonym to explain to students

Example: Increase (English 11 – Unit 7: Population)

Decrease (v) >< Increase (v)

1.3.5 Translation

Teacher translates the meaning of the word into Vietnamese for the students

Example: Conservation (English 10 – Unit 10: Conservation)

Conservation (N) = Su bao ton

1.3.6 Situation or explanation

Teacher gives the situation or explanation for the students to guess the meaning of the word

Example: Champion (English 10 – Unit 14: The World cup)

Teacher: You play a game Then you win You will be the champion What does the champion mean?

Student: Nha vo dich

1.3.7 Example

Teacher gives example for the students to guess the meaning of the word

Example: “Cartoon film” (English 10 – unit 13): Tom and Jerry, Micky mouse

Each technique above has its own strengths, however while teaching, teacher needs to be flexible in combining them to explain words as quickly as possible, not to waste time and help students remember new words easily and effectively

1.4 Techniques of checking vocabulary

In addition to the application of techniques to introduce words, to improve the efficiency of teaching vocabulary, teacher also has to apply the techniques of checking vocabulary as in diagram 2:

Diagram 2: Techniques of checking vocabulary 1.4.1 Rub out and remember

Teacher introduces the new word into a list on the board, writes the Vietnamese meaning next to each word Then students copy the new words into their notebooks and fold them Teacher deletes a word and asks students:

"What's this in English?" Students give the answer When all words were deleted, teacher requires students to read all deleted words based on Vietnamese meaning If there is time, teacher calls students to the board and asks students rewrite all new words which student learned This technique helps students memorize new words as soon as they are in class

Example: English 10 – unit 13: Film and cinema – Part A: Reading

……….: century

……….: a series

……….: motion

……….: existence

……….: character

……….: spread

1.4.2 Slap the board

Teacher writes new words on the board but not in order If teacher wants to know that whether students can remember or not, teacher can write Vietnamese

Techniques of checking vocabulary

Rub out and remember

Ordering

Matching

Jumbled words

What and Where

Bingo

Slap the board

meaning or hang pictures on the board Teacher calls two groups, each group consists of 5 or 6 people to the board Teacher chooses one student from each group, distance from these students to the board is equal Teacher reads clearly a word in Vietnamese, students must run quickly on the board and hit the corresponding English words Person who hits faster and more accurately will score point for team Teacher continues to choose other pairs In this technique,

if teacher reads English words, student will identify new words through listening If teacher uses Vietnamese meaning or pictures, teacher can check whether student can remember the meaning of words

Example: English 11 – unit 12: The Asian Games – Part C: Listening

1.4.3 What and Where

Teacher writes new words into circles on the board but not in order When all new words are on the board, teacher asks student to repeat new words in the circle Teacher deletes a word but does not delete the circle Teacher requires student to read again all words including deleted words by pointing to the empty circle This activity continues until there are no words on the board If there is time, teacher calls a student to the board to write down all the learned new words Teacher can give student mark By using this technique, teacher can check student’s ability of remembering new word

Example: English 10 – unit 14: The World cup – Part A: Reading

1.4.4 Matching

Teacher writes new words into a column on the left, writes definitions, meaning of words, hangs or draws pictures in the right column Teacher requires

Bea

m

Earth connection transmissioLive

n

Freestype swimmin g

t

students to match the words to the definition, meaning, or pictures in the right column

Example: English 11 – Unit 10 nature in danger

b co-exist b Các chất làm ô nhiễm

1.4.5 Jumbled words

Teacher encloses the cardboard on which new words are wrote but letters aren’t in order Teacher requires students to work in group Group that writes words the fastest, the most correctly, will get mark Teacher will correct if there

is wrong word Whole class reads again the words

Example: English 11 – unit 14: Recreation

1.4.6 Bingo

Teacher draws a table of 6 cells on the board Then teacher asks students to copy any 6 new words in learned words into the table Teacher reads new words

If students hear word which has in the table, students will cross that word If student crosses all 6 words, he/she will say "bingo" Person who says "bingo" first is the winner This technique can be used to test and revise new words taught in a lesson

Example: English 10 – Unit 15: cities

1.4.7 Ordering

Teacher writes new words on the board but not in order, students will copy

to notebook Teacher reads a paragraph Students number words according to order of appearance Teacher calls student to give the answer and reread the paragraph to check

Example: English 11 – Unit 12: The Asia Games – Part D: Writing

“To prepare for the 22th Sea Games, we had to do a lot of things First of all, we built My Dinh stadium and some more sport buildings Next, we upgraded National sports Centre and local stadiums Then, we widened the training areas and road to sports building We also promote and advertised the preparations for the Sea Games on the radio and TV Besides, we recruited volunteers to serve the Games Finally, we held a competition to choose an official song.”

*Answer keys: Recruited (4) Promote (3) Finally (5)

Upgraded (1) Official (6) Widened (2)

CHAPTER 2: SPECIFIC RESEARCH CONTENT 2.1 Current status of teaching vocabulary in Ethnic Minority Boarding High School

Ethnic Minority Boarding High School was established 48 years ago, has achieved remarkable achievement in recent years However, for English subject, the achievement is not still high English subject at the school has 5 teachers To find out current status of teaching vocabulary in the school and to ensure objectivity, I conducted to investigate 4 remaining teachers of foreign language group

Firstly, I ask them to answer the following question: "When introducing vocabulary, teachers often write on the board, then students will read or teachers introduce words before, then students will read and teachers write on the board." This question is asked to investigate the teacher's vocabulary teaching process The results are as follows:

Process of teaching new

words

Teach the reading, then write on the board

Writing on the board, then teach the reading

Table 1: Results of investigating process of teaching new words

The table above shows that only 2 teachers are teaching students how to read before teaching the spelling 2 remaining teachers write on the board first and then students will read words

Secondly, I ask the question "Teachers show how often they use tips to teach vocabulary by ticking the following boxes." This question is asked to investigate how often teachers use tips of teaching vocabulary I attain the following results:

Level Techniques

Frequently Sometimes Rarely Never

Situation & explanation 3 1

Table 2: Results of investigating how often teachers use tips of teaching vocabulary

Through table 1 we can see that techniques for introducing vocabulary use visual tools such as visuals (use picture or draw picture on the board), mime (use expression, manner, and action) and realia (use real things) that aren’t used frequently, rarely used or never used Two teachers sometimes use visuals and

two remaining teachers rarely use Three people never use mime tool and only one person rarely use mime tool Realia tool is never used Meanwhile, the verbal technique of introducing vocabulary is used more frequently The most commonly used technique is: Translation (all 4 people use frequently), next is situation and explanation (3 people use frequently and 1 remaining people sometimes use), third is example (2 people use regularly) and finally is synonym / antonym (2 people use regularly, 2 remaining people sometimes use)

The third question to investigate the student’s study of the vocabulary in class The question is as follows: "Teachers indicate how often to check the student’s study of vocabulary in class by ticking the following table." The answer is as follows:

Table 3: Results of investigating how often to check the student’s study

of vocabulary in class

Table 2 shows that the level is mostly occasional and seldom two people sometimes check and one people rarely check Only one teacher regularly checks and still one person never checks

Thus, it can be seen that the application of techniques to teach vocabulary

at the Ethnic Minority Boarding High School is quite frequent However there are still some points to make good: firstly, 1/3 teacher still teaches vocabulary according to method of writing words on the board and then teaching the reading Meanwhile the principle of teaching vocabulary is to teach the reading before writing on the board As well as students learn mother language, they must start listening and then imitate and learn spelling Secondly, when introducing vocabulary, teacher still uses rarely techniques of introducing words

by visual tools while students are more likely to be attracted by visual tools Thirdly, in addition to teaching vocabulary, teachers do not often check student’s study of vocabulary in the classroom Once teacher check vocabulary right in the classroom, students will remember more vocabularies and it is easier for the students to re-learn vocabulary at home

In short, in my opinion, if we can overcome the disadvantages above, surely the results of studying vocabulary of the students in particular and the results of learning English in general will be higher

2.2 Experiment and experimental results

2.2.1 Experiment

To know if using skills of teaching vocabulary mentioned above in a flexible way, whether student’s study quality can be improved or not, I conducted experiment

Firstly, I chose two classes with the same ability in four classes I was assigned to teach: 11B and 11G After that, I conducted to teach unit 15: Space conquest part A: Reading in both classes with different vocabulary introduction

In class 11G, I taught the new words as follows: I wrote word on the board first

and then taught how to read words, the new words were mainly introduced by translating into Vietnamese and I didn’t check student’s study of words in class

In class 11B I taught student how to read word, then I wrote words on the board,

I used many different techniques to introduce vocabulary and used "rub out and remember" to check again Detail as follows:

In unit 15: Space conquest – A: Reading, there are following new vocabulary that teacher needs to teach: Lift off, orbit, speed, uncertainty, tragic, rename

*Introduce “lift off”

- Teacher shows pictures to the students and asks

Teacher: What is it about?

Students: A spacecraft is being blasted off

Teacher: In English “blasted off” is lift off Now listen to me

Lift off (three times) Now listen and repeat Lift off (three times)

Students: Lift off (three times)

- Teacher calls 3 students in the class to read again (If they misread, teacher will correct right away)

- Teacher writes words on the board

- Then teacher explains that "lift off" is a verb phrase to the students

(Note that words have syllable which is difficult to read or students are easy to misread, teacher needs to write clearly transcription of that syllable for the students For words with two or more syllables, teacher teaches accent of the word to the students)

- Teacher checks the Vietnamese meaning of the word

Teacher: So what does lift off mean?

Student: It means “phong len”

- Teacher require students to write word that they have just learned in notebook

Same steps with the remaining words In the remaining words I used the new word introduction techniques as follows:

+ orbit (visuals):

+ Speed (example): 40km/h, 50km/h

+ Uncertainty (antonym) Uncertainty >< Certainty

+ Tragic (explanation) Tragic means very sad Tragic accident means that the accident is very serious

+ Rename (example): The street was renamed TRAN HUNG DAO