THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING LANGUAGE GAMES ON VOCABULARY LEARNING ABILITY FOR THE 5TH GRADERS AT TRAN HUNG DAO PRIMARY SCHOOL

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES TRAN THI LIEN THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING LANGUAGE GAMES ON VOCABULARY LEARNING ABILITY FOR THE 5TH GRADERS AT TRAN HUNG DAO PRIMARY SC

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

TRAN THI LIEN

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING LANGUAGE GAMES ON VOCABULARY LEARNING ABILITY FOR THE 5TH

GRADERS AT TRAN HUNG DAO PRIMARY SCHOOL

(Hiệu quả của việc sử dụng các trò chơi ngôn ngữ đến khả năng học từ vựng của học sinh lớp 5 tại trường tiểu học Trần Hưng Đạo)

M.A THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201

THAI NGUYEN – 2019

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

TRAN THI LIEN

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING LANGUAGE GAMES ON VOCABULARY LEARNING ABILITY FOR THE 5TH

GRADERS AT TRAN HUNG DAO PRIMARY SCHOOL

(Hiệu quả của việc sử dụng các trò chơi ngôn ngữ đến khả năng học từ vựng của học sinh lớp 5 tại trường tiểu học Trần Hưng Đạo)

M.A THESIS APPLICATION ORIENTATION

Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201

Supervisor: Dr Nguyen Thi Huong

THAI NGUYEN – 2019

DECLARATION

I certify my authorship of the study report entitled

“The effectiveness of using language games on vocabulary learning ability for the 5th graders at Tran Hung Dao primary school”

In fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts

Trainee

Tran Thi Lien

This study was approved by:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am deeply indebted to a number of people for helping me to make this M.A thesis possible First and foremost, my deepest gratitude goes to Dr Nguyen Thi Huong, my supervisor, who supported and encouraged me generously throughout this study Without her excellent academic guidance and support,

my thesis would not have been completed

I would like to sincerely thank the anonymous participants who contributed data to this study Without their outstanding cooperation, this thesis would not have been completed

My appreciation is also extended to a number of staff members of Department of Foreign Languages at Tran Hung Dao Primary school for their assistance in statistical issues and for their assistance in editing work

I would like to thank my family, especially my parents and my husband for their constant source of love, support and encouragement in times of difficulty and frustration

Finally, I would like to thank my readers for their interests and comments on this thesis

While I am deeply indebted to all these people for their help to the completion of this thesis, I myself remain responsible for any inadequacies that are found in this work

Tran Thi Lien

ABSTRACT

This study is set out to investigatethe effectiveness of language games used in classroom to enhance vocabulary learning among young learners The study adopts experimental research design, which involves both the use of qualitative and quantitative methods 70 fifth- grade students were divided into two groups, controlled and experimental groups, whose average mean test scores were similar The experimental group received treatment with the use of games

to enhance their vocabulary learning while the controlled group was taught with the traditional method The findings show that the experimental group on average scored higher than the controlled group in the post-test The survey questionnaire and observation also indicate that the students who were involved

in vocabulary games expressed a higher level of interest and engagement in the lesssons and reported improvement in different aspects of vocabulary, including spelling, pronunciation, meaning and use The study puts forward suggestions and implications for language teaching using vocabulary games for young learners

Contents

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1.Rationale 1

1.2.Research context 5

1.3.Aims of the study 6

1.4.Research questions 7

1.5.Scope of the study 7

1.6.Limitation of the study 7

1.7.Thesis design 8

CHAPTER 2: LITURATURE REVIEW 9

2.1 Vocabulary 9

2.1.1 Concepts of vocabulary learning 9

2.1.2 Aspects of Vocabulary learning 10

2.2 An overview of Language Games 15

2.2.1 Definitions 15

2.2.2 Games categories 15

2.2.3 Impacts of using games in vocabulary learning ability 16

2.3 Previous studies 18

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 21

3.1 Method of the study 21

3.2 Research Design 21

3.3 Participants 23

3.4 Data collection instrument 23

3.4.1 Pre-test and Post-test 24

3.4.2 Survey Questionnaires 24

3.4.3 Classroom Observation 25

3.4.4 Lesson Plan for group B 26

3.5 Data analysis 27

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 28

4.1 Findings 28

4.1 1 Pretest and posttest result 28

4.1.2 Questionnaire and observation result 29

4.2 Discussion 31

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 36

5.1 Recommendation 36

5.1.1.Tips for teachers in using language games for the fifth graders 36

5.1.2.Criteria for choosing games in the English class of young learner 39

5.1.3 Top languages games for vocabulary learning 39

5.1.4 Techniques to teach English for young learners at primary school 43 5.2 Conclusion 46

References I Appendix VII

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale

Nowadays, the trend of globalization with both economic and cultural integration among countries around the world makes learning foreign languages became general movement of the world population In 2015, the ASEAN Economic Community was found; it allows free movement of labor, which creates favorable conditions for professionals, skilled workers of the ASEAN countries to engage in commercial activities and cross-border investment in order to meet the shortage of human resources for other countries The integration among countries in the region and around the world also improves labors’ income and gives valuable experience for them, including Vietnam Thus, foreign languages will be the “gold ticket” of these labors, and the foreign languages proficiency is inevitable and imperative requirement if you want to work with foreign partners in the country as well as overseas

Among foreign languages, English has been considered as “Lingua Franca” (Foley, 2011) and the global language in the world Therefore, learning to communicate in English is important to enter and ultimately succeed in mainstream English speaking countries Working knowledge of the English language can create many opportunities in international markets and regions In many countries, especially in Vietnam, teaching and learning English has been paid attention more than ever before

In learning English, knowing adequate vocabulary and how to use them accurately plays an important role Wilkins (1972, as cited in Alqahtani, 2015) wrote that while without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary, nothing can be conveyed Additionally, Schmitt (2000) emphasizes, “lexical knowledge is central to communicative competence and to the acquisition of a second language Nation (2001)

further describes the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and language use as complementary: knowledge of vocabulary enables language use and, conversely, language use leads to an increase in vocabulary knowledge Indeed, people need to use words in order to express themselves in any language Most learners, too, acknowledge the importance of vocabulary acquisition In my experience as a teacher, I noticed the fact that students usually find it difficult to speak English fluently They usually consider speaking and writing activities exhausting because they keep on using the same expressions and words and very soon, their conversation is abruptly interrupted due to missing words Moreover, the main reason for such communication problems is the lack

of vocabulary Other students are confronted with the problem of forgetting the words immediately after the teacher has elicited their meaning or after they have looked them in the dictionary, and this a cause

of the lack of vocabulary

However, there are some limitations in the effectiveness of the teaching and learning vocabulary According to Huyen and Nga (2003), in context

of Viet Nam, even though students realize the importance of vocabulary when learning language, most Vietnamese students learn vocabulary passively due to several factors They consider the teacher's explanation for meaning or definition, pronunciation, spelling and grammatical functions boring In this case, scenario, language learners have nothing to

do in a vocabulary learning section but to listen to their teacher Vocabulary games are proposed to solve the problem Language games bring in relaxation and fun for students, and they will learn and retain new words easily Games create the motivation for learners of English because

of the competition between students Vocabulary games bring real world context into the classroom, and enhance students' use of English in a flexible, communicative way (Huyen and Nga, 2003)

Although we are all aware of the importance of learning English, especially the vocabulary, the best way to learn vocabulary is still controversial Some recent suggestions are the use of language games to help students learn vocabulary better

 According to Freeman (1986), learners enjoy language games they enjoy communicative involvement in the classroom He believes that games can provide a healthy and constructive competition Games can encourage learners discovering and voluntary involvement to the learning process, it can establish a better bonding between teacher and learners Finally, a good designed language games can create a real communication context in the classroom, which can help learners to improve their speaking ability

 Some researchers such as Nguyen and Khuat (2003) and Uberman (1998) have shown that students are tired of learning vocabulary in traditional methods such as rehearsing, writing words on papers or learning passively through teacher’s explanations, and this has created severe problems with learning skills Nguyen and Khuat (2003) believe students prefer to learn language in a relaxed environment such as vocabulary games They believe that in an interesting and communicative class learners can learn

80 percent of what they exposed to

 Laufer (1997) also argues that if fluency is understood as the “ability to convey a message with ease and comprehensibility”, then vocabulary adequacy and accuracy matter more than grammatical correctness

 With Hansen (1994) one of the advantage of the language game is that it can provide opportunity for shy students to involve voluntarily in classroom activities

 Lewis (1999) argued that games are popular among children because they like to play Through games, young learners could interact, discover, and experiment with their surroundings Using games not only enhances students’ motivation, but also provide an incentive and stimulus to use the language

 Vernon (2009) argued that games are an effective tool to teach vocabulary

to young learners Children participate and pay more attention because they enjoy themselves in the classroom, feel and do better during and after the game Repetition will be less boring and fun for children to which consolidates their learning of new words

 Huyen Ang Nga, (2003) and Uberman, (1998) agreed that games create a fun and relaxed atmosphere where young learners could learn fast and retain words better

 According to Allen (1983), games are important in teaching vocabulary because they highlight the necessary and important words to achieve the objectives of the game

 Harmer (2008) stated that in order to have the ability to speak English fluently, young learners need to have the ability to know the language features and to process information immediately Therefore, young learners must practice through appropriate variety techniques that aid their information process and simultaneous operations of the language

 Talking about applying language games on learning vocabulary, Abdikhah (1998) states from the psychological point of view, games have many benefits They can reduce inhibition of the learners especially if they are cooperating in the games not competing The shy and timid students who

do not show any tendency to participate in activities will feel more at ease and will participate more freely According to Nguyen and Khuat (2003), using games provides a relax and fun environment for learners, therefore, help them to learn better They believe learners interested in friendly competition, which motivate them to voluntarily involvement in the classroom tasks

The purpose of this thesis is to learn whether applying language games on vocabulary learning ability is effective To do the aforementioned effectively, we need to investigate and contrast the interaction between

teachers and students in using language games on vocabulary learning ability for the fifth graders at Tran Hung Dao primary school

1.2 Research context

Tran Hung Dao Primary School was established on August 11th, 1999, located in Tran Hung Dao Ward, Ha Long City, Quang Ninh Province and officially went into operation on August 10th, 2000 The school was established on the basis of merging primary schools of 3 schools with a long track record of teaching and learning, namely Trong Diem Secondary School, Kim Dong Secondary School, and Vietnamese - French bilingual block of Bach Dang Primary School

Thanks to the attention of the leaders of the Party, Government, and Education Department of Quang Ninh Province, the school has been equipped with a new, spacious and clean facility with a total investment of

up to VND 7 billion right from at the beginning of the establishment The construction structure is quite complete including a 3-floor school building with 15 rooms and a 2-floor building with full function rooms such as board room, informatics room, the office of the school board, room of accountant, administrative, library, medical and team accountants After more than 1 year of operation, the school built another 3-floor study area with 15 classrooms

With relatively complete facilities and qualified teachers with many years

of experience in learning and teaching, right in the opening ceremony of the first school year, teachers and students the school was very excited and proud to be the first school in the province to be honored The recognition

of Tran Hung Dao primary school in international standards in 1996-2000

is a major turning point of the school, marking an important milestone on the road of construction and development of the school

In addition to the quality of teachers, the attention from leaders of the Party, Government, and Education Department of Quang Ninh Province,

the contributions of parents and students, the relentless efforts to maintain the cultural and sports activities of the school also create conditions and motivation to help the school always fulfill its assigned tasks and lead in the primary block of Ha Long City

For many years of teaching English in elementary schools, teachers have shared some of the games they often apply and think to be very effective

in teaching curriculum These games can be used to check vocabulary or for vocabulary practice to improve communicative competence for all students Especially for weaker students, the games aremore effective Therefore, the study of “The effectiveness of using language games on vocabulary learning ability for the 5th graders at Tran Hung Dao primary school” should be carried out

1.3 Aims of the study

Learning vocabulary is a part of learning any language, one should think

of the way to achieve that goal The traditional methods for learning unknown vocabularies have not been so successful and students as well as teachers are tired of the routine ways of teaching words Learners also tend to be autonomous in their learning and they want to have control in their leaning

Thus, this study aims to investigate the effects of using language games on vocabulary learning ability for the 5th graders at Tran Hung Dao primary school and how the students feel about these activities

There are the objectives as:

i Explore the effects of using language games on vocabulary learning ability for the 5th graders at Tran Hung Dao primary school

ii Explore the students’ feeling toward to language games on vocabulary learning in English classes

iii Find out suggestions of using language games on vocabulary learning ability in teaching and learning process

1.5 Scope of the study

This section provides information about the scope of the study It provides information regarding the scope and scope that has been dealt with in this study

The research is studied on the fifth graders at Tran Hung Dao Primary School that explore the effectiveness of using language games on their vocabulary learning ability The respondents are 70 students in grade 5 Study duration: 3 months, 2 periods/ week Moreover, the research is carried out in 2019

1.6 Limitation of the study

Limitation provides barriers that researchers encounter in the survey process as well as during the study

There are many things that researchers cannot control, which greatly influences research results, making the survey inaccurate and unreliable Below are the limitations that we can easily see

 The results are based entirely on survey participants and observations, so the results are not highly precise

 In fact, there is not much research on English listening skills in Tran Hung Dao Primary School, and this limits the data source for reference

 Researchers are not allowed to choose more people to participate due to the influence of the scope of research

 Due to the disallowed condition, the researcher was only given a very small sample, only a few people could participate in the survey, so the

survey questions are chosen as general as possible to get general information

 The students selected for the survey, only in grade 5th, do not have much experience to answer the questions correctly, some are afraid, others rely

on the opinions of people around them, so the surveyors must support a lot when doing the survey, this takes a lot of time and the information obtained is not accurate

1.7 Thesis design

Chapter I is introduction part in which topic background; Tran Hung Dao primary school’s info; rational to the study; the aim of the study; research question; scope of the study and limitation of this study are presented Chapter II is Literature review part in which concepts of vocabulary, language games, as well as previous researches are presented

Chapter III is research methodology content The study presents some definition, Research procedure, Data collection instruments; data collection and Data analytical method

Chapter IV is findings and discussion content after analyzing data

Chapter V presents conclusion and recommendation of the study Moreover, limitation of the thesis and Suggestions for Further Research are also presented

CHAPTER 2: LITURATURE REVIEW

 In addition, Burns (1972) defines vocabulary as" the stock of words that is used by a person, class or profession

 According to Zimmerman cited in Coady and Huckin (1998), “vocabulary

is central to language and of critical importance to the typical language learning”

 According to Richards (2002:255), vocabulary is the core component of language proficiency and provides much of the basis for how well learners speak, listen, read, and write

 Nunan (1999: 101) states that vocabulary is a list of target language words

 Additionally, Diamond & Gutlohn (2006) suggest that vocabulary is the knowledge of words and their meanings This means that without establishing a strong vocabulary base first, comprehension and use of a

language will not be achieved In addition, the student should be able to recognize words, and know their meanings as well

 Talking about vocabulary, Lehr, Osborn, and Hiebert (in Kamil and Hiebert, 2005: 2-3) define vocabulary as knowledge of words and words meaning in both oral and print language and in productive and receptive forms More specifically, they use it to refer to “the kind of word that students must know to read increasingly demanding text with comprehension.”

 Furthermore, Diamond and Gutlohn (2006) in

“www.readingrockets.org/article state that vocabulary is the knowledge of words and word meanings.”

From the definitions above, it can be concluded that vocabulary is the total number of words that are needed to communicate ideas and express the speakers' meaning That is the reason why it is important to learn vocabulary

However, while the study of language in general and language teaching and learning in particular, one issue that remains controversial is which of these two factors is more important and more important Bipolar trends

change over time, but now the trend focuses on message-oriented attention

to fluency rather than accuracy

The concept of accuracy, therefore, is somewhat "forgotten" Although the current movement does not spend much of the paper on 'accuracy in language' as it deserves, the notion, clearly expressed in the communicative ability of the communicator, still plays an integral role in the process of teaching, learning and mastering a language

One of the problems of English learners is that they have to encounter rhythm and intonation Rhythm and intonation are the "music" of English Besides worrying about the sound of individual sounds, the students are in big trouble speaking Intonation in English is made up of natural stop points Native people stop naturally between sentences They speak the language according to the sentence, according to the short language Since they speak mainly in English, they are very clear and easy to understand

In contrast, many students learn English by memorizing singular words and when they say, they say one by one This led them to often stop in quite strange positions They form groups of unnatural words This leads

to very strange and unnatural rhythms that are hard for locals to understand This makes both the listener and the speaker frustrated This can be changed by learning English words by sentence and by speaking English in context The learners will learn phonetics, intonation, sound, swallow the sound in that sentence, then pronounce a standard sentence and know how to break the rhythm

 Word stress

English is a multi-syllable language; words with two or more syllables always have a pronounced syllable different from the other syllables in terms of length, height and height Which syllables are pronounced louder, higher and longer than the same syllables of the same word, we say the syllable is stressed On the other hand, the syllable falls into that syllable

When looking at the transcription of a word, the stress of that word is indicated by a sign (') in front, above the syllable

For example,

Happy / 'hæpi / stress falls on the first syllable

Clever / 'klevər / stress falls on the first syllable

Arrange / ə're nd / accent falls on the second syllable

Engineer / end 'n r / has two stresses: the main stress falls on the third syllable / nir / and the secondary stress falls on the first syllable /

For example:

From desert, there are two accents:

The accent falls into the first syllable / 'dezərt / it is a noun, meaning desert,

However, the accent falls into the second syllable / d 'z rt / verb, meaning abandonment, desertion

In English, there are some words, which are written alike, but the accents

in different places depend on the type Thus, the correct pronunciation of a word is the first element that helps students to understand and speak as native speakers

 Spelling

In "phonics", children will learn to read and be familiar with the letters They have the ability to communicate and pronounce very well, they will

match the sounds, which they know with the letters that they do not know

to learn to read

For example, with the word "met", read the three sounds: "m" - "e" - "t" The process of learning from simple to complex In the US, there is a game; adults read a word hard to children rewrite correctly Written correctly will be the point This is different from Vietnamese children, often knowing the script before learning how to pronounce it, (Sprinkel, 2000) Americans learn by ear When they meet a new unknown word, they will simply ask or notice how other Americans pronounce it Then, they just "copy"

If people ask an American about IPA, for example, "short" and "long", they will sometimes confuse Perhaps they will contemplate the difference after an analysis, but the Americans speak according to their habits and in their ears more than the typeface In contemplation, almost everyone in the world learns by listening, (Schreiber, 2013)

2.1.2.2 Meaning

In English, there are nearly 100,000 of relative words An indigenous English speaker can know 10,000 pronunciations (common) up to 20,000 unaccented Professor Nation points out that each person needs to know between 8,000 and 9,000 words in order to be comfortable reading a book Studying a mother tongue re-learner shows that a person with a vocabulary of 2,500 passive words and 2,000 proverbial words can speak fluently in one language, (Luther, 2018)

Before starting to learn vocabulary, the learners must understand the difference between each word in a word family By doing this, they will know how to use words more easily A word family is a group of words derived from the same root, (Dahlgren, 2008)

For example, active, activities, and activity are words in the same family.There is a difference between passive and active words Passive words are used when reading and listening, as you receive information

Active words are used when writing and speaking, as they are communicating In case the learners want to become proficient, they do not have time to think because the meaning of fluency is to communicate

in a smooth and easy way, (Alqahtani, 2015) Thus, the learners should set themselves the goal of developing their vocabulary in depth instead of broadening it

2.1.2.3 Use

The best way to memorize vocabulary is to deepen it, and to use it the students have to learn and remember the vocabulary by sentences and contexts In traditional English classes, in schools and textbooks, when learning vocabulary one often breaks down into sections and each one has

a list of words that the learner must remember Often, at the end of the lesson, the learners will see the words and the meaning of the words in their own language

People learn words from that list and try to remember them for the test Then, perhaps, the learner will forget, (Sinhaneti and Kyaw, 2012) That is the traditional way of learning today Unfortunately, this method of learning is not effective, because it forces learners to think too much when the learner just speaks easily and automatically, (Sinhaneti and Kyaw, 2012)

In a certain sense, sentences give the learners a lot of information They give the students more information than they can gather from a single word Sentences are often easier to remember, because they mean deeper, giving them a picture or story, especially when they learn and use it from what they hear or read, (BCcampus, 2018)

This is even true in the case of English: one can assess a person's education and social status through his phonetics (McDowall, 2002).This means that if an English learner wants to be able to use the language as a native speaker, and wants to be academically acclaimed, he or she must improve his or her vocabulary

However, for learners of English as a foreign language, learning and mastering pronunciation is a major obstacle because the orthography of the English language is "infamously useless" if one wishes to infer the pronunciation of a word from the word (Lecumberri and Maidment, 2000)

2.2 An overview of Language Games

2.2.1 Definitions

There have been different ways to define games The term “games” is defined as “a system in which players engage in an artificial conflict, defined by rules that result in a quantifiable outcome.” (Salen & Zimmerman, 2003) Additionally, McDonough (1993) stated, “Game- based activities can involve practice or oral strategies such as filling in questionnaires and guessing unknown information Even though these activities are called games, there by implying fun, they are also communications based and require the learners to use the information they find out in a collaborative way for successful completion of a particular task” (p 564)

Playing games is essential in foreign language learning and development because it contributes to the cognitive, physical, social and emotional well-being of children (Ginsburg, 2007)

It has the paradoxical effect of increasing a child’s attention span and improving the efficiency of thinking and problem-solving (Goldstein, 2012), an essential skill when learning a foreign language

Games also increase brain development and growth and have the power

to establish new neural connections (Manichander, 2016)

2.2.2 Games categories

Classifying games into categories can be difficult because categories often overlap

Hadfield (1999) proposes two ways of classifying language games First, language games are divided into two types: linguistic and communicative games Linguistic games focus on accuracy, such as supplying the correct antonym Communicative games presuppose successful exchange of information and ideas Hadfield also offers to classify language games into many more categories: sorting, ordering, or arranging, information gap games, guessing, search games, matching games, labeling, exchanging games; board, role play games

According to W Lee (1991), games can be classified into ten categories: structure games which provide experience of the use of particular patterns

of syntax in communication; vocabulary games in which the learners’ attention is focused mainly on words; spelling, pronunciation games; number games; listen-and-do games; games and writing; miming and role play; discussion games

There are some linguistic games or communicative games, some games will contain elements of more than one type: (1) Sorting, ordering, or arranging games; (2) Information gap games; (3) Guessing games; (4) Matching games; (5) Search games; (6) Exchanging games; (7) Labeling games; (8) Board games; (9) Role play games, (Klimova, 2015)

2.2.3 Impacts of using games in vocabulary learning

The above games help students play while learning not only in class but also in everywhere, everywhere, while also examining vocabulary effectively Games attract students to take lessons, especially reading comprehension, conversation to introduce the topic In addition, it can be used in extracurricular programs, English clubs, or encourage students to practice in groups The games also train their ability to judge, create, train reflexes quickly, decisively, confidence, create a happy atmosphere

Games help the teacher to create contexts in which the language is useful and meaningful Even though games are often associated with fun, we

should not lose sight of their pedagogical value, particularly in foreign language teaching and learning Games are effective as they create motivation, lower students’ stress, and give language learners the opportunity for real communication

Games have both positive and negative impacts on vocabulary learning

 Firstly,Games promote learners’ interaction Interaction comprises the nature of classroom pedagogy and classroom behavior According to

Hansen (1994), one of the advantages of the language game is that it can provide opportunity for shy students to involve voluntarily in classroom activities because pair or group work is one of the main ways to increase cooperation and involvement

 Secondly, Games improve learners’ language acquisition Thanks to the

motivation and interaction created by games, students can acquire knowledge faster and more effectively than by other means Games can stimulate and encourage students to participate in the activity since they naturally want to win Apart from having fun, students are learning They acquire a new language

 Next, Games increase learners’ achievement Games can motivate

learners, promote learners’ interaction, and improve learners’ acquisition

As a result, games can increase learners’ achievement, which means that learners’ test results, ability of communication, knowledge of vocabulary,

or other language skills can improve

However, games also have lots of negative effects and drawbacks on learning vocabulary

 First, it is hard to control time of speaking mother tongue of players

 Second, it takes much time and effort to prepare and implement games Teachers must find out or design suitable games, (Sigurðardóttir, 2010) When teaching vocabulary, they have to instruct their students to play games, which make presentation, explanation and practice of new words

shorter The other cons are noise during the time of playing games, (Bakhsh, 2016) This can affect the classes nearby

In short, although games bring some negative impacts, it is an effective and worthy ways to apply into teaching vocabulary

In fact, with the teacher classes held English games, students are very interested in learning hours; understand the deeper and more natural, less the inherent timidity With some classes, teachers do not put the game in the classroom, students may be afraid to speak; knowledge is not deep, afraid to attend school, not interested in the subject, (Talak-Kiryk, 2012) However, in order for the game to be effective, the teacher needs to be well prepared and flexible in time, and select the appropriate game for the lesson Teachers also need to be prepared for the necessary equipment In the process of organizing the game must go from easy to difficult, should not reverse it When the student loses, the penalty should be gentle, subtle, encouraging students to try more next time When playing, do not be biased or discriminate gender, or deliberately penalize any children, (Fisher, 1995)

While playing an English game, the clutter in the classroom is unavoidable This is likely to affect other classes, so the teacher must really be a dynamic host, solving every situation Surprisingly, it is possible to play a game effectively, (Thuy, 2015)

2.3 Previous studies

For the use of games that are highly effective in teaching and learning English, many authors have saved the importance of having teachers use the game as an integral part of teaching the language The research focuses on popular game organizing activities to help students participate

in classrooms, create a fun, relaxed, enthusiastic and collaborative English atmosphere In addition, the research also found the games that match the level of students The game will be difficult to implement if its

requirements or topics are inappropriate or out of reach of students They concluded that games used in language teaching always benefit both the teacher and the learner

There have been many researchers conducting studies about using games

in teaching English; however, the author only reviewed some studies about using games in teaching vocabulary through games

Rohani & Pourgharib (2013) conducted a study aiming at determination of effect of games on vocabulary gain of student 30 girl students from first-grade junior high school in Golestan (Iran) were chosen as control and experimental groups The control group was exposed to textbook teaching between pre-test and post-test; however, the experimental group was taught by games After analyzing the obtained data, there was no significant difference between the groups However, limitations of this study were students’ age group and time considerations The age of the participants in both the experimental and control group was fifteen and the time for experimenting games was a little bit short, so the collected data may not be persuasive

 In 1998, Azzuhri Busu Lemon carried out a research to exploring the effects of using gmae in teaching vocabulary to sophomore 28 participants from Sekolah Menegah Seri Ampang, Ipoh, Rerak was divided into two groups: controlled and experimental Controlled group used traditional method, whereas experimental one learn vocabulary through games which had been designed by the teacher Pre-test and post-test were conducted with cloze passage and short essays The reseesearcher distributed questionnaires and observation on the students’ behaviors The findings showed that the experimental group had better performance than the controlled one Nevertheless, if the mount of participants had been more, the result would have been more generalizable

 In the article “The Effect of Using Language Games on Vocabulary Retention of Iranian Elementary EFL Learners” in 2014, Marzieh Taheri aimed to investigate the effects of using language games on elementary students’ vocabulary retention Thirty-two numbers of students were chosen They were at the same level of proficiency and were assigned into two groups of 16 The controlgroup received traditional method of teaching vocabulary such as drills, definitions, etc and the experimental group was exposed to language games as a treatment The treatment of the study took four weeks, one session every week Analyzing the collected data revealed that the participants in the experimental group were able to recall the vocabularies more than control group over time In other words,

it can be concluded that using language games has very significant effect

in vocabulary retention and recall of the participants The study was conducted in a long time with three post-test, therefore the result was reliable, though it was time- consuming and easy to make the participants tired by the tests

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

3.1 Method of the study

The study uses mixed research method which involves both quantitative and qualitative techniques Qualitative research is concerned with understanding human behavior through the way in which the researcher's explanations Observations are made in a natural way, without the intervention of the researcher(McLeod, 2017) The process of observing, analyzing and explaining is subjective but well grounded, rich in data and targeted towards processes and events Quantitative research focuses on identifying the characteristics or causes of social phenomena without regard to the subjectivity of individuals based on the researcher's set-up and interventions This process is objective with little data and explanations with the aim to explain the problem(Denzin, Norman and Lincoln, 2005)

3.2 Research Design

The study follows experimental research design to explore the effectiveness of using language games for enhancing vocabulary learning According to Marczyk, DeMatteo & Festinger (2005), “Experiment research involves comparing two groups on one outcome measure to test some hypothesis regarding causation” (p.3) In this research, independent variable is the two different teaching methods One is the language teaching method that does not involve the use of vocabulary games and the other uses language games to promote the students’ vocabulary

There is not much difference between two groups of teaching content, and the teaching content of the two groups will get the same test at the end of the class Language games applied in teaching the experimental group include:

(1) Information gap games:

Definition: An information gap refers to when students don’t have all the information they need to complete a task or activity This game normally requires students to speak and to practice teamwork, working with their classmates to acquire the missing information Once they’ve learned the information from their classmates, they can fill the “gap” and complete the task or activity

Function: This clever type of game is a great way to get your students speaking Students must work together and communicate clearly in order

to successfully complete the given task

(2) Kim games:

Definition: This is a good game to help students quickly remember what they are looking through This game can be used to test old lessons or lead new ones

Function: The game develops a person's capacity to observe and remember details

(3) Hangman:

Definition: Hangman is a guessing game with paper and pencil for two or more players A player thinks of a word, phrase or sentence and the other person (s) tries to guess it by suggesting letters or numbers, in certain guesses

Function: The game helps students think as much as possible about an topic or with hints given

(4) Find the suitable piece:

Definition: Logic puzzles game for kids The learners need to find the correct piece in order to have a complete word or term/sentence

Function: This game is often used to reinforce the knowledge that students learn especially in terms of long sentences or vocabulary which is difficult

to remember

The students’ performance including their attitudes and the ability to use the target language in the classroom are dependent variables in this study

3.3 Participants

The participants were 70 fifth graders from two classes at Tran Hung Dao primary school, selected to join the survey and interview Moreover, there are five English teachers in Language department chosen to take the interview

More importantly, for the data to be used for the most objective and accurate comparison possible, in addition to the same number of students

in each class, the students’ average language proficiency (based on the average score of English results of students) in each class is almost equal Specifically, there are 35 students in the class, which only applies the old-style teaching method (without using the language game in learning English) There are 5 students ranked "Excellent" with the average score

in English from 8.0 or higher, 25“Good” students with average scores "X" that range between 6.5 <= X<8.0 and the “Average” 5 students had an average score “X” range between 5.0 <= X<6.5

Similar to the classroom using the old method to teach, among 35 students were chosen to do research with new methods (using language play in learning and teaching), there are 5 students ranked "Excellent" with the average score in English from 8.0 or higher, 25 “Good” students with average scores "X" that range between 6.5 <= X <8.0 and the “Average” 5 students had an average score “X” range between 5.0 <= X<6.5

3.4 Data collection instrument

The tools used for the study are from different types including questionnaires, interviews, classroom observation, pre-test and post-test The research is carried out on 70 the 5th-grade students in which they are divided into two groups They are group A and group B in which there are

35 students in each group

In-group A, the students have not experienced the usage of language games in promotion of learning vocabulary

In-group B, it includes the students who have experienced the game activities in learning vocabulary

Primary data is collected directly, so the accuracy is quite high, ensuring updating but time consuming and costly to collect Primary data may be collected from observation, recording or direct contact with the subject; It

is also possible to use test methods to collect primary data

3.4.1 Pre-test and Post-test

Pre-test and post-test were administered to two groups of students before and after the treatment

Class A Pretest X (treatment with no language games) Posttest Class B Pretest X (treatment with language games) Posttest

Then, the comparison of scores between two groups is the findings for impact of using language games on the students’ vocabulary learning ability at Tran Hung Dao primary school

in which the questionnaires are made very clear for the interviewee to understand and respond accurately to all questions Therefore, this

requires the researcher to understand the design of the survey, as well as the young students at Tran Hung Dao primary school To provide students with a better understanding of how to design the survey, the paper will analyze the sequence of steps and some issues to consider when designing the survey

Questionnaire follows Likert scale design Thus, itranges from one to five points For instance: 1: Strongly disagree; 2: Disagree; 3: No opinion; 4: Agree and 5: Strongly agree

3.4.3 Classroom Observation

Observation is a purposeful and planned process of students’ gestures, feeling in their natural learning of vocabulary to collect data, particularly characteristic of the English classes at Tran Hung Dao primary school Observations requirements:

 Firstly, clearly define the object of observation Observation is made in the natural state of the activity The observer should not intervene in the natural activity and behavior change of the students, the observer personally engage in game activities during the process of teaching and learning vocabulary to ensure the nature of these activities

 Secondly, clearly define the purpose and task of observation, so that the plan of observation is developed during the study and the program of each observation It is important to define a full or selective observation, from which all the eyes, ears or faces are recorded Without the program or plan, the data collected is difficult to reliably and cannot exclude random factors

 Thirdly, the records of results observed are assured long-term and systematic: that it establishes relationships relies on the typical nature of the manifestations of game activities and psychologies of the students All activities recorded by shorthand, observation minutes etc

Observation methods are as meaningful as the basic way to perceive things Observation uses one of two cases: discovery of a research problem: Hypothesis-testing hypothesis

Observations give the researcher specific, intuitive, but very scientifically meaningful materials that give true values for the study

Observation has the advantage of preserving the natural vocabulary learning and psychosocial expression from the students besides providing lively, specific, rich data

Observation is made quite simple and by the helps of the main English teacher of researching class, but the basic disadvantage of observation is that observers play passive roles, wait for learning process to take place,

do not proactively make them happen at will, difficulties in Evaluating the existence of the conditions that arose facts and therefore it is difficult to separate causal relationships

Classroom observation’s aim is to know the students’ feeling toward to learn with language games

3.4.4 Lesson Plan for group B

According to the lesson plan of grade 5 English, each unit will be divided into 6 periods (lesson 1,2,3), in which lessons 1,2 (including 4 periods) will be new knowledge, lesson 3 (including 2 periods) will review old knowledge, whereas, each period will last 40 minutes

In order to do the practice for group B, the 5th graders at Tran Hung Dao primary school with using language games on vocabulary learning ability,

I was given chance to do teach here in the limited time for lesson 1 (2 periods) of unit 7 “How do you learn English”, and the total experiment time is 80 minutes in one week in 3 months

For more info, the games that I used in lesson plan are “Hangman”, “Kim Game” and “Find the suitable piece”

3.5 Data analysis

The quantitative data are analyzed using descriptive statistics The result

of pretest and posttest from group statistics consist of the number of participant, the mean of the score and standard deviation All scores are calculated using SPSS

Additionally, to explore students’ attitudes toward learning English through games, descriptive statisticsare calculated on students’ responses

in the questionnaire and through findings of observation Quantitative data analysis presents descriptive statistics of data from questionnaire to determine students’ perceptions of their improvement in vocabulary learning and their opinion about the use of games Moreover, thematic analysis of interview and observation data through coding to identify descriptive statistics calculated on students’ responses

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Findings

4.1 1 Pretest and posttest result

a) Holistic average score

On average, the experimental group score slightly higher than the controlled group in post-test, 8.2 compared with 7.1 respectively

Table 1

mean score

Post-test mean score

The frequencies of scores according to the levels are presented in the following tables:

Table 2.Pre-test result

Table 3.Post-Test result

Post-test mean score of sub-tasks

The experimental group scored on average higher than the controlled group in all four types of tasks, i.e pronunciation, meaning, and use

Table 4.Post-test means score of sub-tasks

Tasks Controlled group Experimental group

(2) Disagree

(3)

No opinion

(4) Agree

(5) Strongly Agree

pronounce the new

words better after

(2) Boring

(3) Normal

(4) Interesting

(5) Very Interesting